So much science!!

Dear parents,
Firstly, thank you so much for your constant support as we muddle our way through this job action. It's no fun at all, but I think what we're fighting for us worth it. Divide a math period by the number of kids in a junior class (or primary even) and it's clear that we're not able to be as effective as we would like to be. On Monday, Dewson parents supported us on the street with visits, coffee and so many pastries. We truly appreciate your support and your added voice. Hopefully this will be over soon... leaving by 3:45 is the absolute worst!

This week, we are working on writing our drafts of our fictional stories. Some students may be bringing this home from time to time so that we can keep this project moving along. We are also keeping up with our Club de Lecture and independent reading. By now, all students should have completed all their questions for their first Club de Lecture book and are just waiting to meet with me. If they are not done, they should show me when it is (ASAP) so that they can improve their mark for completion. Many students have been more successful using their new hard-copy reading log. By now, we should have at least 8 short entries completed, likely more.

We are doing a good job helping our reading buddies, showing our enthusiasm and working on modelling beginning reading skills such as pointing to each word.
Mme Gaudreault is enjoying working with our class and students are now working on a final video presentation for her. We are getting lots of extra time with her this week in order to finish this up.

In English, we have been working for some time on a reading, writing and media project based on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I think I mentioned this before the holidays. Students should now be ready to hand in a summary of the article as well as a paragraph outlining their personal opinion about this issue. We are working with partners to complete compelling posters to raise awareness about this issue. They are looking fantastic!

In math, this week we are focusing on 3D geometry. We are reviewing pyramids and prisms and making sure we can recognize them by their nets and create/draw nets for solids. The math homework this week is a little review of what we started with a couple weeks ago in this geometry unit. Next week we will have our review, pretest and test.

We have been VERY busy in science, doing a TON of experiments in both grades. The grade 6s, currently studying flight, have been experimenting with the concepts of air pressure and the Bernoulli principle. We've done a couple experiments that show how moving air creates an area of low pressure, in comparison to the still air surrounding. If the moving air is on top of an object (see paper in mouth pic) and there is higher pressure underneath, the conditions are right for lift... Take Off!! Please ask about this and the other experiments we've done recently.

The grade 5s, currently studying forces acting on structures, have just had a double class in order to do a big bridge building project. Not just your Popsicle stick and glue bridge like in grade 3. This time, we had wood, skewers, nails, hammers, saws, hot glue and hand drill and much more. The groups did a great job and were very safe with the tools and materials. We have at least one suspension bridge and two truss bridges in the mix. We will test these with a load of 500g and with the force of wind from a fan. We will also attempt to describe how the forces of compression and tension are working in our bridges. During our half day class, we also experimented with pulleys to reduce the effort force needed to move heavy loads. Groups tried to build compound systems that would reduce the effort force needed by half or more (measured using a Newton spring scale that we learned to use last week). 

Because of time, we are doing mostly in-class group work for these units, but I will shortly be assigning each grade one research question to work on independently and they will be writing a news article in response. This will be posted on Google Classrooms and due in mid to late February. You might have noticed in the To-Do section of this blog, a few important science dates. I believe Feb. 5 and 28 are for grade 5s, and March 6 is for grade 6s. These are days when we will have special guests and activities and it would be preferable to not book appointments for these afternoons. Thanks!

In art, we have completed our Inuit Printmaking project and the prints turned out wonderfully. I've shown some artsy friends who are quite impressed! Already students have been able to bring one print and their stencil home (they can use it again!), but the most successful print by each artist stayed on our bulletin board.

With this done, we have started a new drama project which we are excited about. Did I mention this? Jean de La Fontaine was a 17th Century French poet who wrote many famous fables (e.g., The Tortoise and the Hare) based on real issues and personalities. In partners or small groups, we will be acting out 8 of these fables. Each actor has been assigned a role and has a script. We will have to rehearse and memorize, of course, but we are also responsible for reading the actual fable and trying to uncover the moral or lesson to be learned, and figure out who our animal characters represent (for example, the lion often represents the king). We should be ready to present our fables pretty soon.

Ok, that's all I can think of for now!

Take good care,

Tamara

Happy New Year!

Dear families,
I hope you had a wonderful winter break! It's been great getting back to school and getting back into our routine. I am acutely aware of how limited my remaining time is, and there is still so much that I want to do with the class myself, so we are jumping right back in! Let me give you a little subject overview...

Language
In French, we are writing fictional narratives that we began planning before the break. We are currently selecting our final story idea that we will begin draft writing. Please ask about our ideas!
In our writing, we should be trying to incorporate the grammar rules we have been studying this year. Currently, we are learning to form the Imparfait, a past tense that is an alternative to the passé composé. We have discussed the appropriate application of each verb tense, and this was also included in our Club de Lecture work. Please ask about when we might use the passé composé v. l'imparfait. Making this choice will be next week's grammar homework.

Speaking of Club de Lecture, I'm sure I mentioned that before the holidays, each student began working in a small group of 4 on reading and understanding a short story. Vocab and grammar questions were due before the break and are being discussed in group meetings now. In our next meeting, we will discuss the comprehension questions and share our résumés. Following our work on this short text, I am hoping that each group can read a longer novel.

One change to our language program is that I have decided to change how we track our independent reading. I have found that students just aren't updating their online reading logs very often, likely due to the lack of computer access right at the time of reading something. I have given everyone a hard-copy reading log, which you may have seen. It's in a white duotang and can travel back and forth from home and school. I do hope it will be at school each day so that students can immediately note what they read during their silent reading time. I expect that 4 entries a week will not be a problem, since that much can be easily done just at school, but more entries are welcome.

Just before the break, we also began two new language initiative that we are continuing. First, we are partnering with Mme Potor's grade 2/3 class for reading buddies. We have now visited them twice and it's been lovely to watch. We have discussed how to help young readers and make this a fun experience for them. We know that in addition to teaching reading strategies, such as pointing to words, looking for letters, discussing the pictures and asking questions, we need to engage with the students themselves by asking about them, smiling, and showing our own enthusiasm. This comes naturally to many of us, but if reading a simple story to a younger student becomes boring, we are going to become the best actors ever and make sure that our partners see how fun reading can be!

We also started spending one language period a week with Mme Gaudreault in the library. She is taking us through a unit on intercultural understanding. In our last month with her, we are working on partner projects on a French speaking community in Canada. Grade 5s are focusing on Montréal and grade 6s are focusing on Banff. This project will culminate with partners making a video response to a question, which they will share with the class.

In English, we began a reading/writing project on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. We watched a couple videos and have read a lengthy article about this grave issue. Students have outlined the main idea and are finishing up summaries of the article (always practising those skills that we started working on earlier in the year). They will next share their own opinion on this topic and make a persuasive poster with a partner about this issue.

Math
Our unit this month is 2D and 3D geometry. We are currently working on describing shapes by number of sides, length of sides, types of angles (and measuring using a protractor), axes of symmetry and other details. We are also learning to build/draw figures following some instructions, e.g., select side lengths and angles. We have learned terminology for describing angles, triangles and quadrilaterals in French, and we have reviewed our protractor skills. Ask your student what the 3 angles of a triangle should add up to, and what the 4 angles of a quadrilateral should add up to. We have much more work to do in this unit, but we have already set our pre-test and test dates of Jan. 28 & 30 so that we can stay on track. In February we will tackle our first measurement unit and then we will just have to return to 4 strands once more before the end of the year.

Arts
In Visual Art, we had just started learning about Inuit printmaking. We learned that these prints were originally done usually using stone and that they often depict ancient ways of life, animals, landscapes, myths and stories. While many students did fantastic animal sketches, some of our artists researched Inuit legends and are creating a print that tells part of that story. Very exciting! Our sketches are carved into Styrofoam, rather than stone, but create beautiful prints nonetheless. We have a few more to finish and then I'll share a picture of the bulletin board!

In Drama, we are beginning a new project based on some famous fables by 17th C French poet, Jean de la Fontaine. While the characters are all animals, they represent real members or ranks of society (e.g., the King, a commoner) and each fable teaches a lesson or contains a moral, though you sometimes have to look for it. Students are each receiving their own script to work on, but with their partner or group, they must also figure out the message within their particular fable and who their animals represent.

Science
Students have had a chance to look over their rubrics for their previous units and independent projects. I did not require these to go home for signature, but you are welcome to ask to see it if you like. Our new units are Forces acting on Structures, for grade 5, and Flight for grade 6. Due to time, we will do more full group work in these units and just one short independent writing component. This will be to research and write a news article on either a natural disaster (forces) or important figure (flight). This is, of course, linked to our English language program.

Our grade 6s have already participated in a few experiments about the properties of air, which is important to our understanding of flight. This week, we built and tested our own hot air balloons, and did two cool experiments that proved that air takes up space, that hot air expands while cold air contracts, and also that air has mass. Please ask about the balloon on the water bottle experiment! Meanwhile, our grade 5s were treated to an extra field trip with Ms. Peek for their social studies program. Can't wait to hear about it on Monday!

Yesterday, I sent home the completed learning skills rubrics from December. Please sign and return this ASAP so that I know you've see it.

I think that gets us all caught up!
See you soon, Tamara