June 2018

June 1, 2018

There's only 1 more month left of school! Where has the year gone?

In Language, we continued with our Early Societies presentations and also continued our work on pitches for our new and unique products. Students started to create ads - including slogans and jingles - in order to pitch their products to me. They will be continuing to work on their wrappers and will pitch their products on Thursday. 

In Math, we continued our work on angles. Students were asked to look at images and to measure and classify the angles in the image presented. They were also asked to complete their Kandinsky works of Art.

In Art, students completed their arpilleras and they are up in our hallways. It was great to see the stories that were developed through their collection of images. If you have a minute to pop up, please feel free to take a look!

In Science, students continued their presentations and started to look at the Life Cycle of objects such as CDs and cell phones. The goal is to identify the changes that products undergo in order for us to use them in the ways that we do. Students will create their own similar infographics based on their research of a product. We are also working to identify the difference between physical and chemical changes. We also continued our Design Solutions with our Kindergarten Buddies. Next week, we'll be taking a break to record our thoughts so far through an interview but stay tuned as our solutions are almost complete!

On Thursday, we were invited to attend a performance at the Fairview Mall Theater. It was great to be able to watch the story of a Cree girl as she interacts with and inspires her new-found friend and his horse. Next week, we are off to U of T on Tuesday for Go North. This is an opportunity for students to hear inspiring speakers and participate in STEM activities with close to 1000 students from across the TDSB. 

Please remember that this week is a shorter week with the PA Day on Friday. As such, Pizza Lunch will be on Thursday. The fun fair is only a couple of weeks away - June 20th, 2018.

June 7, 2018

Short weeks always have so much packed into them!

On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to go to the University of Toronto for Go North which was a day filled with innovation and STEM activities. After starting the day with inspiring keynotes from different women in STEM, students had the opportunity to make buttons and explore incredible innovations such as drones and the use of VR headsets. They also had the opportunity to build their own futuristic cities and created innovative bridges that were able to sustain a load. It was a great day celebrating STEM and learning all about the important world of engineering!

In Language we continued with creating our pitches and the students presented some amazing new products. From healthy donuts to worm-filled drinks, the students really thought outside the box in order to create new ideas and pitch them in creative ways. 

In Math, we continued our work around the nets of shapes, attributes of 2D and 3D shapes and angles. Next week, we will be moving on to probability and making connections from our experiments to data management.

In French, we took a break from our plays and started to look at time. Students participated in a variety of activities online and then were asked to use some of the vocabulary learned to write short sentences about their own days and times. 

In Science, the students continued their work on the infographics for life cycles of objects they use in everyday life. Next week, we will get back into our presentations. 

This week was all about metacognition with our Kinder Buddies. The grade 4/5s interviewed them about our Design Process. Students were asked to consider what they liked about our work together and given the chance to do it again, what they might do differently. Using Screencastify, we were able to capture some really great suggestions for the next build. 

The school year is coming to a close. There are a number of exciting things happening at school. We have our fun fair coming up on June 20th and as a class we will be celebrating the end of the school year with a party in the afternoon of June 28th, 2018. Remember to stay tuned to our What's On at Shaughnessy page for info on school events.

June 15, 2018

We were all about rants this week in Language. Students were tasked with listing different things that bothered them and then they began thinking about effective ways to communicate their message. From changing the tone of their voices to including a call to action, students were hard at work recording their rants and making changes to improve them. It was awesome!

In Math, we continued our work on Probability and started with the language we may use - certain, likely, probable, unlikely, impossible, etc. We also discussed the difference between theoretical and experimental probabilities as we started to make predictions and perform experiments. We took some time to reflect on how we might use fractions to represent probability. We also evaluated the fairness of simple probability games. On Friday, we started a Capacity Design Challenge where students were asked to design a container that would hold a capacity of 500 mL. We'll continue our work next Friday.

In French, this week was all about time. How do we tell time? Can we use our learning to record the activities of a typical day? Yes, and that's just what we did. 

In Science, we continued presentations and worked to understand the difference between physical and chemical changes a little more. The students are continuing to work on their infographics on the life-cycle of everyday products.

There are only 2 more weeks left of school! Please remember that the Fun Fair is next Wednesday in the evening. To those celebrating, Happy Father's Day. Enjoy the weekend!

June 22, 2018

It's almost the end of the year!

In Language we moved from rants into our passions with students working to create short TED Talks. Students were introduced to William Kamkwamba who powerfully shared his story about life in Malawi and creating solutions. Students were asked to consider their story. What has it been? What might it become? They were asked to write and consider what they would like their legacy to be. Some very powerful stories were shared during our work together. Next week, we work on reflecting on the year and considering what might be in store for us in the coming year!

In Math, we finished up our work on probability and continued to build our water bottles to hold a 500mL capacity. There are so many creative ideas coming to life with the use of found materials. Stay tuned as we get into pitching and testing next week.

In Science, students finally finished their Human Body Systems presentations and continued to work on their infographics for the life cycle of products. 

In French, we finished up our work on telling time and creating our own visual for a typical day. Next week will be all about online activities that we can use over the summer to keep us growing in our understanding and use of the French language.

On Thursday, we had a workshop on self-regulation and understanding our emotions. Students were asked to consider strategies that might help them when they are experiencing a variety of emotions. They were also asked to use some of the strategies as they worked through the session and to consider how they may feel before, during and after. This work ties in nicely with our work around the Zones of Regulation. I hope that they continue to use the strategies, students will identify which work best for them and see positives in the ways in which they are able to handle stress.

Next week is the last week! Report cards will be going home on Tuesday. Throughout the week, students will be bringing home work and projects from this year. On Thursday, it will be the last day of school. We will be celebrating our year together during the afternoon.