January 2018

January 12, 2018

Happy New Year! We're hitting the ground running as we try to finish up some of our tasks from before the break and thinking of where we will be going in 2018.

In Literacy, we focused on SMART Goal Setting and our #ONEWORD. While I'm not a fan of new year's resolutions, I think it's important to set a goal for what we hope to accomplish as we work towards being successful in 2018. Students were asked to think of one word that they would focus on for the year and also to create a SMART Goal. Their goal had to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. As we progress through the remainder of the year, I will be conferencing with students to see how I can support the achievement of their goal. We ended the week focusing on words and trying our hand at blackout poetry. We used familiar texts and pulled out words to create new meaning in the form of a poem. There were funny and powerful pieces created.

In Math, we continued with transformations and participated in a variety of hands-on and online activities to help solidify our understanding as we prepare for our quiz next Thursday. A review will be sent home on Monday with questions to consider for practice. 

In French, we are working on creating comics based on the events of our winter break. We are continuing to follow a model as we write short sentences that describe familiar events and adding pictures to bring these events to life. 

In Science, the grade 5s are still on their potato batteries. Before the break, we were able to get minimal power in order to light an LED, and this week, 2 groups were able to light their LEDs. We also took some time to consider the science behind our experiment and to reflect on why some groups ended up being more successful in lighting their LED in comparison to others. Next week, we will be taking a deeper look at renewable and non-renewable resources and ways in which to conserve energy.

Our board games are almost all finished. Next week, we'll take some time to play them and learn more about Canada and its government.

Next week is a short week with the PA Day on Friday, remember to check out What's Going On At Shaughnessy page for more info on what's happening this month. Have a great weekend!

January 18, 2018

Monday was Martin Luther King Junior Day and we celebrated by reading Martin's Big Words and then went on a hunt for his actual words - quotes - that resonated most with us. Once we found one, students began to create digital art representing the messages in the quotes. It was really inspirational to reflect on quotes that still hold great meaning. 

This week, we took some time to reflect on ourselves as readers. After answering questions from book selections to ways in which we persevere when reading challenging books, we had the opportunity to consider our reading habits in hopes of making improvements. Today, we solidified our novel choices and have begun making predictions about our texts and analyzing some of the characters that were introduced to us. As a class, we have also been reading The Mealworm Diaries as I model reading strategies that we might consider as students read independently. 

In Math, we finished our unit on Transformational Geometry with a quiz today. This week was all about review and practicing with peers and I'm certain that it helped us succeed. Next week we will be looking at Number Sense and Numeration by starting a unit on money.

In French, we are continuing with our comics from the holiday. Stay tuned to see what we were up to!

In Science, the grade 5s took some time to do a small Energy Audit in our school. In small groups, they explored different spaces and looked for areas in which we might be wasting energy. Next week, we will be coming up with a plan to be able to share our learning with the rest of the Shaughnessy Community and hopefully find ways to conserve energy both here at school and at home. 

In Social Studies, we have been creating collaborative posters sharing our learning about Canada and government. Students are working on using symbols and images that reflect Canada's diverse identity while sharing the benefits of being a Canadian Citizen to new comers.

Mr. Goudreau is a Teacher Candidate who will be working with on Tuesdays for the next 4 weeks and then he will be here for a 6-week block starting in February. He's had the chance to get to know many of the students so far and we look forward to having him as a part of our classroom community. 

January 26, 2018

This week was all about our novels! Every day, we took the time to read in class and to explore different strategies that help us gain meaning and understanding of our texts. From character development to the use of descriptive words to help with visualization, students took a closer look at their texts and some appreciated the hard work of authors a little more. Over the next week, we'll continue our work with our novels as we get ready to start Literature Circles. Please remember that tomorrow is Family Literacy Day. We took some time to visit our local Toronto Public Library today and students are all set with great reads for the weekend.

In Math, we started to look at what we already know about money and worked to solve a catering problem. We took a lot of time to understand and solve the problem and we also were tasked with trying to justify the amount of money that we think Lenore should charge the client. It was a rich task that took several days but it allowed us to understand money in a real life way.

In French, we are starting to explore Le Carnaval de Québec. Students had the opportunity to read a short graphic text and started to explore videos and the Carnaval website. Our focus over the next couple of weeks will be to take a look at French culture and work to demonstrate an understanding of information in French texts about aspects of culture in diverse French-speaking communities and other communities around the world.

In Social Studies we continued to explore Canadian identity and our posters representing the geographical regions of Canada and our levels of government.

In Science, we are working on creating websites, public service announcements and songs about Energy Conservation. There are some amazing ideas of ways in which to communicate their learning coming from the grade 5 students. I'm so excited to see their final products.

Next week, Victoria - our Co-op student - will be leading us in Art lessons related to shape and 3D drawings. So far we've explored many of the elements of Art and we're lucky to have her share her expertise with us.

Remember to take a look at the What's On At Shaughnessy page to keep on top of all of the activities that are happening at our school. With ukulele club, lego club, ball hockey, basketball and volleyball, there is a lot going on and the calendar might help to keep it all sorted out. Have a great weekend!