Happy Monday and welcome to some well deserved nice weather - finally! I personally have been dying to get back into my workshop and build more things and so now that it isn’t negative one billion degrees, it's buildin’ time! February was a super fast month packed with awesome moments - like when it was cold enough for boiling water to freeze instantly when thrown in the air or our ‘Dress Like a Teacher Day’ where I spent the day surrounded by mini-me’s and it was a riot. Anyways... we’re moving right along with the shenanigans and adventures in March.

Important Dates

Thursday, March 11^th – Online Parent Teacher Conferences (pm)

Friday, March 12^th – Online Parent Teacher Conferences (am)

Friday, March 12^th – No school for all students

Thursday, March 25^th – Fun Lunch (Boston Pizza)

Thursday, March 25^th – Spirit Day (Rainbow Day)

Friday, March 26^th – Last day before Springbreak

**The “Return to School Survey” form was sent home yesterday. Please have it filled out and returned by March 17^th. 

Language Arts

We have started a new novel study called, “Tuck Everlasting” by Natalie Babbitt. We’ve had some really interesting conversations so far about the idea of living forever. Here is the full text of Tuck Everlasting if you would like to follow along. We just read chapter 3 yesterday. 

We are taking a break from creative writing to do a quick unit on poetry. We will be covering styles such as: acrostic, alliteration, concrete, rhyming couplets, and haikus. Stay tuned for the debut release of our very own ‘Alphabet Aerobics’ - it’s going to be awesome!

Math

We have finished up our official units on multiplication and long division but will be revisiting it later in the school year. Since it’s easy to forget the steps for these concepts, please have your child complete a few practice questions as they practice their basic facts. For this I have shared a Fact Fluency section on the website for more practise resources. Also a reminder that since it is a new month, we will be having our March Fact Frenzy sometime this week.

We have begun our unit on Fractions and Decimals. We will begin by reviewing the parts of a fraction as well as equivalent fractions, before moving into the relationship between fractions and decimals. On the Math Resources page, if you scroll down to the Fractions & Decimals section I have shared many resources for each of the different concepts, skills and ideas related to fractions. There are tutorial videos, explanations and interactive resources to support each and every concept. With our initial focus on Proper vs Improper Fractions and the ideas of equivalency, the Interactive Fraction Wall is an example of how these interactive and visual resources can make a sometimes challenging concept much easier to understand.

Science

We have wrapped up our Weather Watch Unit and I will be returning their unit tests this week, which will then come to you in your child's yellow “Tests and Quizzes” duotang. We will be starting our "illuminating" and "electrifying” Electricity & Magnetism Unit this week and will complete some experiments that are sure to shock everyone (we came up with a bunch of electricity "Dad" jokes today - and yes, they were all amazing). Since students will not be able to share materials this year as they have done in the past, we have purchased enough materials for each student to have their own. This also includes their electric car kit which will be created at the end of the unit. We are asking each student to pay $22 to cover the cost of all their materials for this unit. Please reference the Electricity Kits Notice that was emailed to each of you for more information. Thank you in advance and you will soon be able make these payments through your MyCBE/PowerSchool account.

Social Studies

We have now covered the Atlantic Region and Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Region of Canada and have moved into the Canadian Shield. Students are really enjoying our Amazing Race challenges for each one, as well as the art work we’ve been creating for each region. 

Have a great week and as always, let me know if you have any questions and we’ll take it from there.

Sincerely,

Daniel Polsky
Grade 5 Teacher | Learning Leader
Fish Creek School | cbe.ab.ca
t| 403-777-6400 f| 403-777-6409
twitter @mr_polsky
instagram @mr.polsky

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