Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Welcome to the 2019-2020 School Year!
Dear Parents/Guardians,
I was so excited to meet all of the students today and look forward to a wonderful year of learning ahead! We spent the morning getting to know each other, learning classroom routines, etc. The first few weeks of school are all about establishing routines, classroom expectations, etc. It will take us a little while to settle in but today we were off to an excellent start! I will be teaching your child each morning. I teach the English subjects of Math, Language and Family Life. Mrs. Gravelle will be providing the students with Religion instruction.
Thank you to those parents who sent in donations of tissue, indoor shoes, pencil cases, etc. It is most appreciated!
Important Information about Snacks/Lunches/Allergies:
Your child should have enough food for 2 snacks and a lunch. I suggest that you send in 3 snacks in addition to a lunch. In the mornings, I strongly encourage them to eat healthy snacks only (fruit, yogurt, cheese, hummous and pita, etc.) and save their treats (cookies, chips, etc.) for lunch and/or their afternoon snack.
Please note that we DO have students in our class with severe, life threatening allergies and we would appreciate your cooperation in refraining from sending food with peanuts or tree nuts to school. Thank you very much for your understanding.
Agendas and Home-School Communication:
Today your child received their agenda and a bundle of notes, many of which are items that need to be completed and signed by parents at home. Please look through this material carefully and return necessary documents to school as soon as possible. Also, please sign/initial your child's agenda each night and check the agenda pocket for any notes, etc.
Student-Led Program Night September 11th from 5:30-7:00 p.m.:
Please take this opportunity to come and see your child's classroom and meet their teachers. There will be more information shared during the evening. I look forward to meeting the parents whom I have yet to meet!
Thank you!
Mrs. Stratford
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Correction to Last Post!
Please note that a correction was made to the previous post to reflect that the outdoor play day is on Wednesday, June 26th in the morning. Sorry for any confusion!
Update and Reminders
In Math we continue to explore fractions. We have also been talking about measurement concepts , specifcally the length of the sides of regular shapes (measured in cm and mm) as they relate to the perimeter (the distance around a shape) of shapes. We have exploring the concept of area (the amount of surface a shape covers) and learning to calculate area as L x W = Area, for squares and rectangles (gr. 5) or by counting the grid squares inside a shape and expressing our answer in square units (gr. 4). We are also exploring probability concepts by performing basic experiments with spinners and coins. In language we continue to examine the advertising techniques used by companies to sell products, journal writing and our morning debate and sharing circle.
Upcoming Dates and Reminders:
-Friday, June 21st, Seniors from 'The Ravines' retirement residence will be visitng St. Augustine in the morning
-Tuesday, June 25th, Term 2 report cards are distributed
-Wednesday, June 26th, Outdoor play day for all students in the morning
-Thursday, June 27th, last day of school for students
Monday, June 3, 2019
Update!
May has been a very busy month! With so much going on at school, it seems there has barely been any time to stop and smell the roses!
In early May, we celebrated 'Catholic Education Week.' We had a storytelling workshop with Daniel Richer about the seven Grandfather Teachings and it was amazing. Teachers and students alike were captivated for the entire hour plus performance. Friday's muffin breakfast and open house was a wonderful opportunity to host families and showcase some of the learning that has been taking place in the classroom and the school.
Language:
In Language we have wrapped up our 'Mystery Unit.' Students finished reading their individual mystery novels and we finally finished 'Treasure at Turtle Lake' which was our shared class read aloud. Joel and Paige found the missing jewels and there was some debate in our class as to whether or not, they deserved a portion of the loot as a reward for their great sleuthing. Most students thought that they did not deserve a monetary reward as returning the jewels to the relatives of the deceased owner was the 'right' thing to do.
Students completed their own mystery narratives in early May. Currently our writing focus is poetry. We have been looking at various forms of poetry such as Acrostic, Word-Count Cinquain and Haiku. Students have been writing beautiful Cinquain and Haiku poems inspired by animal and landscape photos from a couple of awesome websites devoted to nature photography. We will be moving onto Limericks next. We will continue to share our poems with each other from our classroom 'Author's Chair.'
Most days at school we debate a question or idea at our 'Sharing Circle' (from time to time we have an open 'Sharing Circle' whereby students can share whatever they'd like). Students have shown much improvement in their ability to listen attentively to the ideas of others as the talking feather is passed around the circle. They have also grown in their ability to consider both sides of an argument and articulate their ideas clearly and succinctly to their peers. We always record responses and do the math at the end of each debate by coming up fractions, expressed in their lowest possible terms, to represent the debate results.
We continue to receive letters from our friends at 'The Ravines' retirement residence. Each time we receive a letter it creates excitement and buzz in the classroom. Sometimes the letters are addressed to the class and other times to an individual student. We currently have two letters that we need to respond to. Reading and responding to the letters has helped the students to better understand the friendly-letter format. As well, they are strengthening their writing skills and learning how to communicate effectively through letter writing exercises (e.g. separating ideas into paragraphs, responding to questions asked, asking questions back, effective openings and closings to a letter, etc.). We are looking forward to hosting a group of seniors from 'The Ravines' on the morning of Friday, June 21st. It will be wonderful to meet our 'pen pals' in person and put faces to names!
We have only three more weeks of our weekly 'Word Study.'
Math:
Our main focus has been fractions in Number Sense and Numeration. We have learned that the denominator (bottom number) in a fraction represents the number of fractional parts of a whole and the numerator (top number) represents the number of fractional parts being considered. Grade 4's have been comparing and ordering fractions using their fraction strip tool and pictures/drawings. They also know how to identify the whole numbers and fractional parts in mixed numbers. In grade 5, we have been examining improper fractions and how they can be converted to mixed numbers and vice versa (11/10 as 1 and 1/10). In both grades 4 and 5 we have been looking at the concept of equivalent fractions and how you can create equivalent fractions by using common factors (e.g. 1/3 is equal to 3/9). In addition, we have examined how to represent numbers in standard decimal notation up to tenths and hundredths and how decimal numbers are related to fractions (e.g. The mixed number 1 and 3/10 be expressed in standard decimal notation as 1.3). As well as fractions, grade 4's have been practicing adding and subtracting decimal numbers and grade 5's have been practicing multiplying decimal numbers. I continue to emphasize with the students that they drill their multiplication facts at home in order to make these higher-level thinking applications of basic operations, easier and more successful. I also emphasize that if you have a good handle on your multiplication facts you will already know your division facts as the two concepts are so closely linked! Looking ahead we will be exploring a variety of mathematical concepts such as perimeter and area, probability and linear measurement.
In early May, we celebrated 'Catholic Education Week.' We had a storytelling workshop with Daniel Richer about the seven Grandfather Teachings and it was amazing. Teachers and students alike were captivated for the entire hour plus performance. Friday's muffin breakfast and open house was a wonderful opportunity to host families and showcase some of the learning that has been taking place in the classroom and the school.
Language:
In Language we have wrapped up our 'Mystery Unit.' Students finished reading their individual mystery novels and we finally finished 'Treasure at Turtle Lake' which was our shared class read aloud. Joel and Paige found the missing jewels and there was some debate in our class as to whether or not, they deserved a portion of the loot as a reward for their great sleuthing. Most students thought that they did not deserve a monetary reward as returning the jewels to the relatives of the deceased owner was the 'right' thing to do.
Students completed their own mystery narratives in early May. Currently our writing focus is poetry. We have been looking at various forms of poetry such as Acrostic, Word-Count Cinquain and Haiku. Students have been writing beautiful Cinquain and Haiku poems inspired by animal and landscape photos from a couple of awesome websites devoted to nature photography. We will be moving onto Limericks next. We will continue to share our poems with each other from our classroom 'Author's Chair.'
Most days at school we debate a question or idea at our 'Sharing Circle' (from time to time we have an open 'Sharing Circle' whereby students can share whatever they'd like). Students have shown much improvement in their ability to listen attentively to the ideas of others as the talking feather is passed around the circle. They have also grown in their ability to consider both sides of an argument and articulate their ideas clearly and succinctly to their peers. We always record responses and do the math at the end of each debate by coming up fractions, expressed in their lowest possible terms, to represent the debate results.
We continue to receive letters from our friends at 'The Ravines' retirement residence. Each time we receive a letter it creates excitement and buzz in the classroom. Sometimes the letters are addressed to the class and other times to an individual student. We currently have two letters that we need to respond to. Reading and responding to the letters has helped the students to better understand the friendly-letter format. As well, they are strengthening their writing skills and learning how to communicate effectively through letter writing exercises (e.g. separating ideas into paragraphs, responding to questions asked, asking questions back, effective openings and closings to a letter, etc.). We are looking forward to hosting a group of seniors from 'The Ravines' on the morning of Friday, June 21st. It will be wonderful to meet our 'pen pals' in person and put faces to names!
We have only three more weeks of our weekly 'Word Study.'
Math:
Our main focus has been fractions in Number Sense and Numeration. We have learned that the denominator (bottom number) in a fraction represents the number of fractional parts of a whole and the numerator (top number) represents the number of fractional parts being considered. Grade 4's have been comparing and ordering fractions using their fraction strip tool and pictures/drawings. They also know how to identify the whole numbers and fractional parts in mixed numbers. In grade 5, we have been examining improper fractions and how they can be converted to mixed numbers and vice versa (11/10 as 1 and 1/10). In both grades 4 and 5 we have been looking at the concept of equivalent fractions and how you can create equivalent fractions by using common factors (e.g. 1/3 is equal to 3/9). In addition, we have examined how to represent numbers in standard decimal notation up to tenths and hundredths and how decimal numbers are related to fractions (e.g. The mixed number 1 and 3/10 be expressed in standard decimal notation as 1.3). As well as fractions, grade 4's have been practicing adding and subtracting decimal numbers and grade 5's have been practicing multiplying decimal numbers. I continue to emphasize with the students that they drill their multiplication facts at home in order to make these higher-level thinking applications of basic operations, easier and more successful. I also emphasize that if you have a good handle on your multiplication facts you will already know your division facts as the two concepts are so closely linked! Looking ahead we will be exploring a variety of mathematical concepts such as perimeter and area, probability and linear measurement.
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
NUMBER TALKS
We often begin math class with a 'Number Talk.' I present them with a prompt/question/image and ask them: "What do you see, how do you see it?"Below are two examples of recent number talks that we did in class.
They produced a lot of great cross-strand math thinking from the image below.
Here were some of their math observations:
"I see lots of cubes"
'The white shapes look like hexagons'
'The white shapes look like hexagons'
"I see an ABC colour pattern of pink, green blue"
'The shapes get bigger from left to right"
'The shapes get bigger from left to right"
"It looks like the inside of a sphere because there is a curve"
"I see rectangular prisms"
Other times, I will give them the mini whiteboards and ask them to solve a number challange. During Monday's number talk I asked them to produce a three digit number with a given set of digits. Their goal was to use the digits provided only once and to produce number sentences that would equal the three digit number. They could combine digits in any way they wanted and use any operation of their choice (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division).
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Easter Cards for Seniors
This week we suspended work on our mystery stories and mystery unit in language in order to create Easter cards for seniors. A few other classes at the school are doing the same thing. Writing Easter cards to seniors is a way for us to build intergenerational bridges as well as connect with people in the larger community. In their cards, the students included a friendly letter and an Easter/Spring-themed acrostic poem. The cards will be delivered to 'The Ravines' retirement residence on Thursday and distributed to the seniors at their Easter luncheon this coming Easter Sunday.
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