Hello, 5B families!
We had a lot of fun today—here are some photos! I hope you have an amazing Halloween night and safe! ***Please remember, we request that students do not bring candy to school as it can become a distraction from learning. Thank you for understanding.
Hello, 5B families!
In our Career Education class on Friday, students sure enjoyed Mr. Watson’s fun presentation about the plumbing profession! He compared historical waste management practices with modern day ones and gave us new appreciation for the convenience of running water.
We gained new insight into the complexity of plumbing work that demands technical knowledge, mechanical aptitude, problem solving skills, creativity, teamwork, attention to building codes, physical stamina, and sometimes quick thinking in emergency situations. It was also fun to hearing dramatic stories about working in the field! Wow!
Students examined pipes, fittings, and other gadgets, and they were enthralled with the task to work together to create a waste water piping system, which they tested with a marble. In the processes, they learned first hand about the importance of considering the grade of a pipe! Thank you for an awesome presentation, Mr. Watson!
Looking for More Guest Speakers!
What’s your passion? Please email Tiffany Poirier at tpoirier@cisdv.bc.ca if you have a profession, skill, hobby, craft, sport, area of passion, knowledge area or special experience that you could speak about in our 5B class. Don’t be shy—you are more fascinating than you realize! Hearing from passionate experts about their fields is one of the best ways to inspire learners to expand their horizons, and we thank you in advance for your gift of time and wisdom!
In Art class, students explored their creativity by starting to make Halloween pop-up cards and spooky haunted house watercolour scenes! We will finish these projects on Monday.
Hello, 5B families!
In Math class, we continue to work on rounding to the tens and hundreds place. Students have been using math manipulatives and reinforcing their understanding with flash card practice and dice rounding games.
Students who need extra practice were invited to take home the “Rounding Study Kits” this week.
In Language Arts, students are putting the finishing touches on their “Five Senses Halloween Poems”. As well, I have assessed and given specific notes on students’ Halloween expository essays on feedback forms. Students are now busy incorporating this feedback into their “good copies”—some are choosing to use the Chromebooks for this.
Students can submit either a neatly handwritten or typed final version.
As of today at 2:30pm, each student now has a working Gmail account and password to make it easy to seamlessly go between working on documents at school and at home.
In Science, we continue to explore the five senses and are getting ready for our final “Digestive System” unit test (happening on Monday, Oct. 30). We will do a full review of that content tomorrow, and students will have a study guide and notes on exactly the same kinds of questions they will see on the test. *Students who believe they would do better showing their knowledge in a non-test format are always welcome to propose a project or to meet with me for a “learning summary meeting” instead.
Today we previewed our next Science unit on the skeletal system with a short video and by doing some “Halloween Skeleton Art”; students were invited to do pencil sketches or paint. The goal was to have fun while starting to notice the ways the parts of the human skeleton fit together.
In Religion class, we have enjoyed some video excerpts from the “Alpha Course: Youth Series (Catholic Context)”. The course presents open-ended questions inspiring students to think, dialogue with one another, and research answers for themselves.
Hello, 5B families!
Today in Language Arts our students did a “Five Senses Visualization”, which was a series of open-ended questions inspiring them to imagine what they might experience on Christmas Day. We shared ideas, and I modelled how to organize thinking using a “Five Senses Mindmap”. We discussed how to transform simple descriptions into richer descriptive language. (For example, “I see mistletoe” might become “The freshly plucked mistletoe hangs in the doorway, its green leaves frosted and white berries glistening.”)
BUT WHY CHRISTMAS?!
Well, tomorrow’s challenge is for students to show what they learned exploring when they explore a more timely theme: Halloween. They will independently create their own mindmaps about what they imagine they might see, hear, taste, touch and smell on October 31st. These mindmaps will inspire Halloween poetry writing later in the week.
In Science class, we continued our focus on the five senses with an inquiry into the properties of lemons. Students were encouraged to discuss and compare their findings and record their sense data again on a mindmap template. We sure had some giggles making sour faces!
In Math, we are focusing this week on the skill of rounding! Although we started with a review of basic rounding to the tens place, we soared up to rounding into the ten thousands with some bonus questions today.
We practiced with a simple dice rolling game using a rounding chart. The tutorial videos below may help reinforce learning at home. (Tomorrow we focus on rounding to the hundreds place.)
In Career Ed., we took some time to discuss and reflect upon our learning with a mid-term self-assessment sheet on work habits, study skills, communication, social interactions, and achievement. Students brought home their reflection sheets to share with their parents/guardians today.
Hello, 5B families!
In Language Arts, we have been exploring different types of expository writing.
Our inquiry on Monday afternoon challenged small groups to “think like teachers” and read and assess four different “Halloween How-to” writing samples using a rubric. They were invited to write corrections and advice on the writing samples, evaluate them in the categories of Meaning, Style, Form, and Conventions, and give them each a final grade.
The purpose of this task was to familiarize students with the features of great writing and to reflect upon the ways their own writing is similar and dissimilar to each of the writing samples. We will continue working on these Halloween expository pieces this week through the proofreading and revising stages. (Students looking for extra writing practice and support may always write additional works for me, and I am happy to provide feedback.)
On Monday, we had a very special guest: Vanessa, a registered nurse in the department of endoscopy in the local hospital—this visit was a perfect tie-in to our Science unit on the digestive system! How did we get so lucky!?
Our students were fascinated to see and operate the endoscope and Roth net devices she brought in. We passed around these instruments as she described their functions in various procedures and situations. This was high-level medical learning!
Not only did Vanessa share her rich medical expertise with us, we were inspired by her character qualities that clearly add so much to her success in her profession. We could imagine how a calm, caring, and gentle demeanour and patience would be appreciated by patients, especially during times when they may be nervous about procedures.
The students asked so many excellent practical questions, and we advanced our understanding as a class tremendously! We now have more students interested in work in the medical field. Thank you, Vanessa!
Hello, 5B families!
Our class has begun an interdisciplinary unit in Science/Art/Religion/L.A. on the five senses, beginning with the sense of sight.
In Math class we have been learning about input/output tables and getting creative designing function machines.
Happy Friday, 5B families!
Let this joyful song be the soundtrack of your wonderful weekend!
The song is “House of the Lord”, by Phil Wickham. You can find the kids’ dance actions video at this link: https://youtu.be/-_dx2RC4CuM?si=nnbUCzz6oYSlt5k3
Don’t forget to come down to the parish tomorrow (Sat., Oct. 14) for the Bazaar from 9:30am-2pm!
Hello, 5B families!
Here is an overview of what we have been exploring lately in our class.
Click here to download KYAK magazine with lots of rich historical information for students about immigration to Canada:
Hello, 5B families!
Ready to feel inspired? This week in Career Ed., our students enjoyed discussing their dream jobs! It was very special to be in the room hearing their exciting and noble plans.
We established criteria for writing a well-structured paragraph, and then students got creative communicating their big visions.
I was so pleased to see so much determination and clarity of purpose at this young stage in life!
The students also practiced their public speaking skills while reading their “Dream Job” pieces aloud to partners and small groups. We proudly present to you this learning showcase of some of our great young leaders…
This week in Math, we continued reviewing how to write numbers in standard form, expanded form, and word form.
We have been learning this content through a variety of methods, including direct instruction, sorting games, hands-on math manipulatives (base ten blocks), small group practice, math songs, and tutorial videos. *The next important step is for students to reinforce this learning with practice at home. Mastering an understanding of place value is a vital building block in the grade 5 math program.
HOW CAN I HELP MY CHILD PRACTICE MATH? There are many video tutorials online (such as the one below) that may be helpful in supporting students to study place value concepts at home. Please visit this link to see some of my recommended math tutorials: scroll down to look under the category of Place Value and Standard, Expanded, and Word Form:
https://inquiryninja.com/math-tutorials/
Also, there is a free website some teachers and families like to use to create an unlimited number of math worksheets on a wide variety of topics. Check out www.commoncoresheets.com and search under “Value & Place Value” for dozens of versions of worksheets and answer keys.
In Science class, we continued to learn about the digestive system. Today we reviewed our study guides and this TED Ed video on digestion, then students were invited to illustrate their own diagrams of the digestive system as a study tool. As well, we watched a brief excerpt from “The Magic School Bus”, an episode about journeying inside the digestive system. Families who wish to continue watching the show, can find the link here.
Hello, 5B families!
We hope you are enjoying a weekend of reflection and togetherness. Here are some highlights from our learning on Thursday and Friday…
CAREER ED.: Learning about careers, academic disciplines, sports, hobbies, art forms, and other enriching domains is so interesting and inspiring when we hear from folks who are working directly in these fields. Please reach out if you have an area of specialty you would be willing to share with us as a guest speaker in our class. Our school’s diverse community is an incredible resource, and we love to learn alongside you!
Email: tpoirier@cisdv.bc.ca
(We ensure that all guest speaker presentations are carefully vetted and aligned with our curricular goals and school mandate.)
Tiffany Poirier 