Here we are in the last month winding up all of our courses.  Where did the time go… can you believe your child is almost in grade 6?! It’s  been a pleasure teaching the first and only group of Grade 5’s at Lakeshore School.  This month is filled with some exciting events as we finish the year off. The grade 5 team wishes you a great summer ahead!

Important Dates

June 5-7 Talent Show Auditions 3-4 pm

Thursday, June 8 - Complementary Course Showcase and Band Concert 5-8pm

Friday, June 9 - Non Instructional Day - No School

Monday, June 19 - Field Trip to Telus Spark (FINALLY!)

Wednesday, June 21 - Indigenous People’s Day

Monday, June 26 - Talent Show Rehearsal (tentative)

Tuesday, June 27 - Talent Show (tentative)

Thursday, June 29 - Last Day of School; Report Cards available online

Mrs. Quraishi’s Nicaragua Fundraiser for School Supplies

Mrs. Quraishi was selected along with 8 other teachers from across Alberta to travel to Nicaragua this summer. She will be travelling to the BOSAWAS Biosphere Reserve in Northern Nicaragua. BOSAWAS is the largest tropical rainforest north of the Amazon and is inhabited by the Miskito and Mayagna indigenous peoples. She will be working with teachers who are teaching in classrooms that lack supplies, curriculum materials, have very few desks and almost no books. With your donations, they can purchase supplies locally  - in Spanish – that they can deliver to these classrooms and help improve the quality of education there. Thank you for your support!

Click here to support Mrs. Quraishi’s Fundraiser for School Supplies in Nicaragua

Telus Spark Field Trip - Volunteers

Reminder that our Telus Spark field trip has been changed to Monday, June 19th. Thank you to those of you who reached out to confirm both your clearance and your availability. I will be in contact with you all this week.

Photos from the Photography Residency

We had a fantastic time with Lindsay Nichols, our photographer in residence. We learned a wide array of skills and techniques and we could genuinely see the difference in the quality of photos that we were able to take after. Throughout the experience, Lindsay was taking photos of the students and has kindly shared them with us all. 

You can view the photos here but NOTE: If you are sharing any of the photos, please seek permission from the parents of any other children who are visible in the photo(s). The code to download is: 3238.

Language Arts

Classes have begun a final read aloud with the modern classic, “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio. The story is so relatable because the main character is in Grade 5… entering school for the first time - in a middle school! Students will be working on identifying their connections to the text. Text to self, text to text, and text to world - connecting events and characters to their personal experiences. It’s a great story to inspire kindness. 

To end the year, we have been working on developing their sense of story as we explore creative writing - using all the skills with word choice and literary devices as we get to the stuff most kids love. They just love to write an epic story! We will be tackling planning and using different formulas, such as “stuck stories,” to help keep their stories relatively short and focussed. 

Social Studies 

This month we will study the changes that occurred in Canada immediately following Confederation, and how French and English became Canada’s two official languages. We will research the Famous Five - who they were, how they identified the need for change in Canadian laws, and how the changes brought on by their actions  affected individual rights in Canada. We will also assess and think critically about how economic booms and crashes affected ways of life in Canada. 

We will examine how Lester B Pearson’s initiative within the United Nations contributed to Canada’s identity as a peacekeeping country and how the adoption of the Canadian Flag affected collective identity within Canada. We will finish off our year discussing how the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a symbol of Canada’s emerging identity and the factors that led to the creation of Nunavut. 

Math

We finished working with measurement of area, perimeter, and volume this month. We are able to measure to the nearest millimetre, centimetre, and metre. We can consider volume as cm2 and mm3. We know that 1000 millilitres equals one litre, and can convert numbers of millimetres to centimetres and centimetres to metres. We really enjoyed solidifying our skills with a Minecraft activity designed and built by yours truly. Who doesn’t love when we get to play video games IN CLASS?! As we move into June, we will be cycling back into our patterns unit and working with algebra.  For practice at home, SolveMe Puzzles are an excellent challenge and resource for learning to balance equations. 

Science

Our Weather Watch unit began with a small inquiry into the difference between weather and climate and students investigated the climate of a vacation spot of their choosing to determine the best month to visit.  We followed with a basic understanding of the water cycle and considered how it contributes to weather patterns around the world.  We tracked weather patterns in our area, learned about the different kinds of clouds we were seeing, and how they are formed.  As we move into June, we will be learning about the symbols we use when forecasting weather as well as the different kinds of weather instruments, followed by us designing our own working versions.

As always, feel free to explore the links provided on the Weather Web Links page or the general Science Resources page.

Sincerely,

Daniel Polsky

Grade 5 Teacher | Lakeshore School
Calgary Board of Education | cbe.ab.ca
Instagram | @mr.polsky @lakeshore5s

Twitter | @mr_polsky

Website | mrpolsky.com