Hello, 5B families!
We had so much fun with our art on Monday, that we went deeper in our illustration explorations inspired by nature. Please enjoy these wondrous creatures you might see out and about on Halloween…
Hello, 5B families!
Wow! Our 5B class has come alive with excitement for simple machines in our Science and ADST classes. We are so excited to share with you the creative projects students envisioned and built upon over the last few weeks.
Tomorrow each student will bring home his or her “Simple Machines Quiz” and project assessment rubric; we have learned so much that goes beyond what any quiz or project grade can capture! I am so proud of all students for their efforts and learning achievements! They inspired one another and really grew as scientists and innovators!
Enjoy these photos, and we will keep adding a few more in the next few days. You can scroll to the bottom to see the assignment set up and criteria…
Hello, 5B families!
What items in nature are safe to use in our crafts?
In Health Education today, students learned to identify a few naturally growing items they may encounter in our school community that pose a safety risk: death cap and amanita muscara mushrooms and poison hemlock.
We talked about the identifying features of these mushrooms and poison hemlock, their lookalikes, the possible life-threatening side effects of their accidental ingestion, the signs of toxicity, and the need to avoid touching these things and protect oneself by hand washing and never eating any foreign items found in nature!
Then in Art class, we contrasted the previous discussion with attention to the many beautiful and safer natural items we can see in our school community, including various fallen leaves, pinecones, sticks, tiny crab apples and more. Students were reminded to always wash their hands after handling things found outside.
We appreciated the beautiful autumn colour scheme, and then students were challenged to use greyscale (white, grey and black) illustration to transform natural items into entirely new concepts.
Enjoy the gallery of artworks below…
In Math class, we have finished our unit on rounding and have been working on comparing and ordering numbers.
In Science, we continue to enjoy students sharing their simple machines projects—a special blog post with all the highlights is coming soon!
Students will also show their learning in this unit through writing a quiz on simple machines tomorrow. (They have had class time and support for studying this content for the last four weeks.)
In Language Arts, students have been finishing up writing projects, adding to their spelling dictionaries and getting prepared for their oral storytelling showcase.
Students are welcome to wear a costume this Thursday. It needs to be appropriate for school (not scary, no weapons, no masks, safe for playing and sitting at a desk, appropriately sensitive and not insulting to anyone’s culture, race, gender, etc.).
Feel free to reach out if you have questions.
For our school’s Halloween Howl event in the gym this Thursday afternoon, students may bring a flashlight–but it is not necessary to do so.
Hello, 5B families!
In Social Studies, the 5B class has been enjoying a unit on government—with a recent focus on understanding the democratic process and the BC election. Here is an overview of our learning journey…
We did independent research to learn about the parties and candidates using a variety online sources and friends and family. At all times, students are encouraged to think for themselves, form their own views based on evaluating information for themselves, and note how language choice and the omission or emphasis of certain information can shape opinions and reveal bias.
We watched and analyzed the leaders’ debates, taking notes on key points.
We explored a student resource kit that was graciously sent to us from Elections BC.
We took a bird’s eye view of some key election issues and each campaigning party’s stance and promises.
We conducted our own election simulation in class, endeavouring to follow protocols.
Then we tallied the results and three students choose to role play the leadership candidates and dramatized their responses to hearing our grand announcement: 1 vote for NDP, 7 votes for the Green Party, and 13 votes for the BC conservatives.
John Rustad (played by Lucas) gave a great impromptu acceptance speech and took tough questions from audience. He was quick on his feet to answer how he planned to deliver on his campaign promises—also adding he could make up any budget shortfall with “a lemonade stand in my yard.” The audience loved it! David Eby (played by Ethan) of the NDP and Sonia Furstenau (played by Lochlan) of the BC Greens gave gracious concession speeches and showed support of their competitors…what we witnessed as an audience was first class sportsmanship! There was lots of laughter and tonnes of learning!
Today, students are finishing writing paragraphs to answer this question:
I walked students through an example of how to pull together ideas, and gave a paragraph framework they can follow or adapt to make their own. I asked students to provide at least three detailed reasons for their decision. *I clarified that I will be evaluating the ways they express and support their positions (not their positions themselves). Alternatively, students had the option to write about the reasons why no party/candidate earned their trust and vote at this time.
MORE STUDENT WORK
Work will only be shared with a student’s consent and all names removed for privacy.
COMING SOON!
It is enriching for us to see and celebrate the kind of great research and critical thinking the 5B students have been doing.
So, I will keep updating this blog post with examples of students’ paragraphs once they are complete.
Wishing all 5B families a happy Thanksgiving!
Our open-ended creative challenge for students on Friday was to make any kind of 2D or 3D Thanksgiving art they like by meaningfully using and/or transforming papers printed with a collection of Bible verses on the theme of gratitude, thanks, and appreciation for God and His creation.
Students created beautiful autumn scene paintings, leaves, and even sculptures of Thanksgiving turkeys! 🦃 🍂 🍃 🍁
Hello, 5B families!
In Social Studies, today we started a new unit on government and looked at the big picture of federal, provincial and municipal government structures and roles.
Students were supported with research tips and links to begin gathering information to help them answer for themselves the question: who would you vote for in the upcoming BC election, and why?
Students were encouraged to explore different candidates’ platforms and campaign promises and approaches. (I monitor students’ searches to guide them to appropriate, approved sources of relevant information, while talking through why some sites may be considered more reliable than others.)
In Math, students brought home their “Number Patterns” quiz today. Everyone is welcome to study and do quiz rewrites as much as they like! Our next focus is reviewing multi-digit subtraction with regrouping.
In Career Education, we discussed strategies for taking ownership for our own personal organization and having the things we need at to school to be ready for the day—great practice for any future career! (If you are a firefighter and you show up to a burning building without your gear and a hose, you are not in a position to safely help and do your job!) So, students brainstormed, wrote, and illustrated a personal list of things they need to doublecheck that they have before leaving the home for school each day. These “Leaving for School Checklists” will be coming home tomorrow!
In Language Arts, we learned about writing in complete sentences, avoiding run-on-sentences, properly capitalizing the first word in each sentence, and concluding sentences with the appropriate end marks.
We also continue to strengthen and learn new reading strategies. Yesterday I introduced research-backed method for improving students’ comprehension of expository texts: “High 5!”
As well, students followed up their hummingbird reading comprehension work with the invitation to write and present a short speech for the class or to read aloud a pre-written speech.
Oral language skill development is a huge focus this term. Inspired by the educational talks we heard from the bird handlers at The Raptors last week, these three students wanted to share their own new knowledge about hummingbirds…enjoy!
Wild Food Day! Please note that October 10-17 our school is collecting donations of non-perishable food items to supports folks who could benefit from your generosity—this is a wonderful, tangible way we can show gratitude for what we have!
Mon., Oct 14 – Thanksgiving, school closed
Wed., Oct 16 – World Food Day Mass, FULL UNIFORM, 10:45am (Bring non-perishable food donations from now until Oct. 17)
Fri., Oct. 18 – Praying the Rosary for Peace (school-wide)
Mon., Oct 21 – Parent /Teacher Conferences 3:30-6:30pm (details coming soon)
Wed., Oct 23 – Parent/Teacher Conferences, 3:30-6:30pm
Wed., Oct 30 – Simple Machines Project is due (Students can finish and present these projects in class starting now if they are ready).
Hello, 5B families!
In Math, students have now brought home their addition quizzes; they are welcome to rewrite that quiz after having invested time in studying their corrections.
We are now working on a unit in number patterns (creating patterns with rules, identifying the next number in a pattern according to rules, and function machines). For example, see the video and sample worksheets below.
The creative enrichment invitation today was to create a more complex number pattern using more than one operator. Some students played with this concept using variables and exponents and even theorized about infinite sets.
In Health Education we have been learning about the difference between a “growth mindset” and a “fixed mindset”—and finding examples from history of how a growth mindset led to great discoveries and accomplishments.
As well, we have been using the “Open Parachute” curriculum to support SEL (social emotional learning) goals, such as in our recent lesson on “Negative Thought Traps”.
In Science, students continue to work on their simple machines projects. As well, students debriefed our trip to The Raptors last week in dialogue and wrote a “field trip reflection” to share what they had learned about animal science and conservation.
In Social Studies and Language Arts, we have continued exploring Indigenous stories.
Today we read and analyzed the message in the book “Flight of the Hummingbird” by Haida artist, Michael Nicoll Yagulanaas. Students made connections between this story and Catholic social justice themes.
See a video retelling of this story below…
Then we practiced reading comprehension strategies while analyzing an excerpt of science text about hummingbirds.
Students then had the option to choose a follow up activity: (1.) write a paragraph comparing and contrasting hummingbirds with another type of bird, (2.) write a speech about hummingbirds, (3.) practice reading aloud one of Ms. Poirier’s pre-written hummingbird speeches (grade level text or enriched vocabulary version).
Hello, 5B families!
Congratulations and a huge thanks to students, supervisors, families, and the majestic birds and their handlers for making our field trip to THE RAPTORS such a special and memorable day! Please enjoy our little “documentary” of the day…
A lady sitting on the benches behind our class during the flight demonstration marvelled at the students’ polite focus and said, “I was a teacher for 30 years, and THESE kids are REALLY well behaved! Wow!” What a sweet compliment for our class!
Literature connections! This trip was our meaningful way to celebrate our learning after completing an in depth study of Farley Mowat’s classic Canadian novel, Owls in the Family.
Hello, 5B families!
Tomorrow we wrap up a short but valuable week of learning with our Raptors field trip! (Scroll down for more reminders about the trip.)
In Social Studies, students had the choice to bring home their recent quizzes or put them in their portfolios.
In Math, we continue to build our skills and practice multi-digit addition. I ask students every day to bring home any unfinished class work to complete as homework. Worksheets are self-marked using an answer key or calculator, and I assess by daily observation, “math meetings” and marking students’ check-in quizzes (which will continue to happen on a usually bi-weekly basis). The next quiz will be on Monday on questions like these…
In Language Arts, students have continued to learn about how to form contractions with apostrophes and also use apostrophes to show possession.
As well, a major focus this week has been on learning to write powerful paragraphs that have a relevant title, hook, topic sentence, well-developed ideas, transition words, and a meaningful conclusion.
Over the week, students chose their own topics, brainstormed with a graphic organizer, wrote paragraphs of 5-9+ sentences, did their own edits, wrote a self evaluation, and handed in their “best work” for teacher feedback. Students had the choice to write, type, and/or use voice-to-text as needed.
As well, we finished our class novel study on “Owls in the Family” by Farley Mowat. Students learned about how to go deeper in their literary analysis through guided discussions and a scaffolded writing assignment.
We explored major themes of the novel and students chose one question to respond to in more depth. They learned about how to structure an organized reading response paragraph with references to the text, and I modelled how to compose a reading response at both a proficient and an extending level.
In Science, it’s exciting to see students making progress on their independent inquiry projects on simple machines. Please check in with your child to see what he/she is working on, and you can see previous blog posts for more information on this assignment.
In Religion, students have learned more about the magisterium and had rich discussions about their thoughts on the purpose of life.
We also enjoyed reading a Lego version of the Bible story of Noah’s Ark. Later this year, students will be tasked with choosing a 2-minute Bible story to retell to their little buddies in grade 2 but using puppets, props, costumes, a diorama, and/or other visuals like Lego.
As well, we continue to deepen our prayer practice by learning traditional prayers and praying in spontaneous moments with words from our hearts.
On October 18th, our whole school will participate in a 45-minute “Praying the Rosary for Peace” event on the theme of peace. More information can be found by clicking HERE.
We are rounding out our learning with a great video/discussion series with materials from Alpha Canada that was specifically created for a youth audience in a Catholic context. I invite you to learn more about the Catholic Alpha Course offerings online here: https://alphacanada.org/catholic-context/
Please note that if you are bringing items for the Parish Bazaar that they should be dropped off at school tomorrow by 9am. They need to have a listing of all ingredients used and the name and phone number of the family/person who contributed them. Please refer to the letter that was sent home in agendas earlier this week and via email. Thank you!
Please note the itinerary emailed to you today. Remember that tomorrow students should wear their FULL UNIFORM as we are representing our school and approaching this day with an academic mindset. However, students can choose the footwear they would be most comfortable walking around in at an outdoor facility. Students must bring a coat and understand that there could be rain. Bring a lunch and snack and full water bottle. Our bus leaves promptly at 10:10am. We are planning to be back by 3:00pm, but please understand this time is traffic dependent. I will update the school by phone if we think we will be later than expected. Please note that the updated list of parent/guardian volunteers we expect to have joining us is as follows…
*Please email me a.s.a.p. if you are no longer able to join us. (Please also make sure you have submitted your own entrance $18 payment via cash or Etransfer to the school at sp@cisdv.bc.ca. Make sure you indicate in your Etransfer that this is your payment for the 5B Raptors field trip.)
Make sure you budget enough time to find parking by our school and do not use the teacher’s parking lot.
Sat., Oct 5 – St. Patrick’s Parish Bazaar, 9:30am – 2:00pm
Mon., Oct 14 – Thanksgiving, school closed
Wed., Oct 16 – World Food Day Mass, 10:45am. We are collecting your donations of non-perishable food items from Oct. 10-16.
Mon., Oct 21 – Parent/Teacher Conferences on ZOOM from 3:30-6:30pm (details coming soon)
Wed., Oct 23 – Parent/Teacher Conferences on ZOOM, 3:30-6:30pm (details coming soon)
*Note that all students on an IEP will NOT have Parent/Teacher conferences on Oct. 21 and 23, but instead will have IEP meetings scheduled for another day.
Fri., Oct 25 – Pro-D, no school province-wide
Fri., Nov. 1– Pro-D, no school district-wide
Dear 5B families,
In Social Studies, we have been learning about the meaning of “Orange Shirt Day” and the purpose of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Please watch the video we created as a part of raising awareness and exploring our personal responsibility for justice, healing, and building a better future for all.
Students explored many ways to share their learning in our Social Studies unit over the last two weeks. Today we wrapped up the work on our video project documenting our learning journey with truth and reconciliation.
What are some ways we can work towards truth and reconciliation? See the ideas students chose to share below…
There was rich brainstorming, dialogue, research, artworks, Lego dioramas to tell challenging stories in accessible ways, and poster making. We listened to stories of residential school survivors and dove into the history from different perspectives. Students wrote quizzes and short written reflections today as well and used technology to record their ideas as needed.
Tiffany Poirier 