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Hello, 5B families!

Here are some recent learning highlights from our classroom…

Dear 5B families,

Today we held our Remembrance Day assembly to honor the members of the armed forces who died in the line of duty during World War I and subsequent conflicts. We have been reflecting all week upon the sacrifices made by military personnel and the courage and dedication of those who fought for their country. We have been discussing the impact of war on society and the importance of promoting peace in big and small ways.

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In Math, we worked hard on multi-digit addition all week, and students have now brought home their first check-in quizzes on this topic. We start a unit on multi-digit subtraction next week.

In Language Arts, we continue to target the mechanics of writing (specifically grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and formatting).

Hello, families!

Here is a 5B learning update that may help spark conversation at home. We’ve launched our new Science unit exploring the respiratory system, and we continue to work through multi-digit addition in Math class.

In Health Ed., we have used the Open Parachute program to explore strategies for addressing stereotypes, discrimination, and bullying, and in Religion class we have gone deeper in learning about the Seven Sacraments and prayer practices.

In Social Studies, we have been investigating the history of Canadian involvement in WWI and WWII and the meaning behind Remembrance Day (Nov. 11), as well as National Indigenous Veteran’s Day (Nov. 8). Students have been expressing their learning through multiple creative modes, including by writing Remembrance Day poems. We are also preparing a special video performance of “In Flander’s Fields” for sharing on the blog this Friday.

Hello, 5B families!

I hope you are all enjoying a little bit more time to sleep in this weekend as we have now turned our clocks back one hour for Daylight Savings! Here are some notes on how we wrapped up our week.

In Math, we finished our Rounding unit and students were asked to bring home their quizzes to share with their families. We are now reviewing multi-digit addition with regrouping and using our rounding and mental math skills to self-check our work.

Here is a helpful video tutorial that you can use to review at home.

In Health Ed. this week, Mrs. Murphy has us thinking about what steps we can take to regulate our emotions and energy. She invited students into a creative challenge of designing plans for a new “sensory room” for our school. It was valuable learning time to reflect upon what environmental elements and tools can help us to re-focus.

On Friday afternoon, we enjoyed some time in our little buddies’ grade 2 class. We first watched their lovely singing performance and then had some creative centres time with them.

In Religion class, we reflected upon the ways people may tap into their spiritual connections to draw strength and work towards their goals.

Hello, 5B families!

Our grade 5 writers have been hard at work writing, getting feedback, editing and refining their Halloween expository essays and poems. We are delighted to share with you the writing pieces that have now reached the “final draft” phases.

Please see our “virtual bulletin board” below. (Click and hold each writing sample photo to be able to zoom in.)

HALLOWEEN EXPOSITORY ESSAYS:

POETRY & OTHER CREATIVE WRITING:

Students were invited to submit final drafts in either handwritten or typed form. Students had a 1-hour block to type their writing, yet a number of students finished their typing at home.

If you do not see your child’s essay or poem, it means he/she has not yet handed in a “final copy” that incorporated the feedback and corrections I offered on his/her original drafts.

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Today is “All Saints’ Day” and in Religion class, we explored the significance of this feast day. Earlier in the term we looked at the question of what a saint is, and today we discussed more about how all people may endeavour to live as saints through a closer relationship with God and striving to embody the virtues and values that Jesus taught and associated with holiness, compassion, and selflessness.

Amazing Field Trip Coming Up:
The Raptors Centre, Duncan
Friday, Nov. 17th

More information will come home later this week. I absolutely love the Raptors centre and have gone many times with my own sons. This is a wild bird sanctuary and rehabilitation centre—birds are not bread for captivity. Guests need to be at least 16 years old to sign up for the “close encounter” option to be able to hold a raptor, and so no students will do that during our trip. However, I will do an “eagle encounter” during our field trip so that students can observe that process, learn all about eagles directly from an eagle handler, and get closer to an eagle than they would ever normally be able to in life or as a regular guests of the facility. I’m so excited to share this joyful learning experiences with students! All birds are handled by highly trained and licensed professionals and guests are required to follow all safety guidelines and model respect the animals at all times.

Yes, both the Salish Sea Boat Trip & Cattle Point Tidal Pools Trip
will go ahead!

More details about these late February adventures will come to you mid-December.

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!