New Year, New You - January Update
Monday, January 16, 2023 2:13 PM
Important Dates
Jan 26 - Bell Let’s Talk Day
Jan 31 - IPPs coming home for signatures
Jan 31 - Report Cards released in PowerSchool
Fees
A reminder to please pay school fees either online on PowerSchool or in person at the office. If you can also please ensure you have paid for your child’s car kit in order for them to receive their own car to build for our electricity unit. Without payment, your child will not receive a car to build. We are also asking if you can please pay for our Telus Spark trip which is in February. This will help us determine if the trip is a go ahead or not in advance. Thank you!
In-School Experiences & Upcoming Trips
Here’s a list of upcoming events with approximate costs. Most importantly we have our Telus Spark field trip coming up in Feb and will be needing many parent volunteers to make this trip successful. Please let us know if you can volunteer so that we can check with the office on the completion of your volunteer clearance.
For the overnight camp we do need a commitment before we can forge ahead with planning. If you are able to volunteer please email your child’s teacher.
Language Arts
We have moved on from figurative language and are now exploring different parts of speech in order to make our writing more specific, descriptive, and expressive (adjectives, adverbs, specific nouns and verbs). We are working towards arranging these words in a variety of ways and enhancing our writing with complex and compound sentences. Once we have established and refined our new skills, students will apply their knowledge to an extended paragraph where they describe an event from the perspective of their favourite superhero. Studentscontinue to practise their reading comprehension skills through the Read Theory website and working with various non-fiction texts within Social Studies.
Social Studies
We have moved into exploring Canada’s First Peoples and how the Indigenous way of life was affected by where they lived in Canada. Students will be thinking like archaeologists and anthropologists, to investigate Canada’s Indigenous cultures. Students will research the ways of life (food, clothing, tools, transportation, beliefs, ceremonies, shelter) of the Indigenous peoples in Canada by exploring and reflecting upon the following questions and issues:
What do the stories of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples tell us about their beliefs regarding the relationship between people and the land?
How are the Indigenous cultures and ways of life unique in each of the western, northern, central and eastern regions of Canada?
How were the natural environment and geography of each region of Canada determining factors of the diversity among Indigenous groups?
What was the significance of the potlatch to the identity of the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast?
In what ways do anthropology and archaeology contribute to our understanding of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples?
Mat
We have begun our work on multiplication and division. They will master double digit multiplication and then we turn our attention to long division, using the DMSB algorithm. As a review and introduction, students reviewed the concepts and vocabulary shared in this video, Multiplication and Division of Small Numbers. While learning and mastering their basic facts is important at all times, it is particularly important with multiplication and REALLY important when working with long division.
For multiplication, feel free to use these resources while supporting your child as they work to master the algorithm and build their confidence.
When focus turns to long division you will all be receiving a detailed email with specific resources and information to support you and your child in this work.
Science
Classes 51-54 are wrapping up the Classroom Chemistry unit, and 54-58 are ready to finish up with Electricity & Magnetism, with each group anticipating the switchover in February. These units have run at the same time so that we could manage the sharing of supplies within our classes.
With Classroom Chemistry, students will continue applying their knowledge of the scientific method as focus turns to the use of acids and bases in everyday life. Hold on tight when we kick off a number of explosive (literally) experiments to learn about reversible (physical) vs irreversible (chemical) reactions. As always, we strongly encourage all students to regularly reference and explore the resources in the Classroom Chemistry section of the Science Resources page as well as the links shared on the Classroom Chemistry Web Links page.
Homerooms 54-58 began January with a look at magnetism, how magnetism works, how we can harness this powerful force and even create magnets with electricity. Over the next 2 weeks, students will build their own electric cars! Electric car kits have been purchased for students to use for this project. Families can find the $16. cost on MyCBE/PowerSchool in fees. Thank you to the people who have already paid. Yes, for those of you wondering, this is an awesome project and we’re stoked to build and then, most importantly, RACE!!! For any and all information or resources on the unit, please explore the links in the Electricity & Magnetism section of the Science Resources page as well as those shared on the Electricity & Magnetism Web Links page.
