Reading and Writing:

We have been focusing on reading and creating nonfiction texts. We've been learning about the text features that writers add to their nonfiction books to help readers such as headings, photos with captions, fact boxes, glossaries, table of contents, etc. Students are researching a topic they wanted to learn more about so they can create a nonfiction page about a specific aspect of the topic they are intersted in. They will have the option to use Canva, or paper to create their layout. 

Math:

As we wrap up area and perimeter, a short unit about graphing and statistics will be our focus on the remaining weeks of 2024. Students will learn how to read and interpret graphs, and they will also collect data to create their own double-bar graphs.

Science:

We're finishing up our discussions about weather by creating weather instruments. Our classroom is filled with wind vanes, barometers, aenomometers, and more! I hope you get to see some of the final products.  Through various presentions this month, we will also be learning about assistive devices, soldering electronics, compost and soil!

Social Studies:

With so many cultural celebrations that happen this time of year, we'll be intergrating learning about these traditions and holidays in conjuction with your nonfiction reading activities. 

Math: 

We're almost done with our first math unit about large numbers. Students will be bringing home an assessment later this week to show you how they've been doing with it. We'll work on estimation strategies before moving into patterning and introducing students to introductory algebra later this month.

English Language Arts:

We've been working on many foundational skills, including paragraph writing, identifying the author's main idea in stories, creative writing both independently and with partners, and writing on paper and on our laptops. We'll be moving into reading nonfiction texts in the coming weeks to help prepare us for numerous research projects this year. 

Social Studies: Government

With the local election happening, we'll be taking part in the Student Vote program. This will cover our social studies outcomes for government structures, and students will get to learn about some of these issues being discussed by mayoral and counsellor candidates. We'll also set up a mock election with other grade 5 classes where students will vote!

Science: Weather

Hurricane season is a great time to talk about the weather. In the coming month, we'll be exploring the types of clouds and how they can help us predict the weather and designing and making instruments to measure the weather. We'll also explore weather folklore from various cultures that have helped predict the weather in the past. 

Health:

Our daily morning meetings are an excellent time for us to discuss social skills, how to handle situations when they come up, and to learn about strategies people use to keep organized. 

Any questions about what we're up to? Send me an email!

Our crew of 25 students has had a wonderful start to the school year. We've found a great balance between focused independent work and collaborative activities, and we continue to learn to follow routines independently. 

Learning is a social activity, so learning in school should be, too! We are constantly learning from each other and taking advantage of the experts in our room. Many of our activities this past month have been laying the groundwork for skills we'll need as we approach larger projects, and more independent learning this year. 

I also share what I'm doing in class on X (formely Twitter). This is primarily intended to share and collaborate with other teachers, but I encourage parents to follow along there as well! Here are some highlights from September.