REPORT CARDS...AT LAST!

The excitement was building this week as Report Card Day drew closer and closer! With our new system of two report cards and three conferences, January does seem like a long time to wait to see your child's progress on paper (I know...I was anxiously awaiting my 7 years old daughter's report from grade 2!). I hope it was worth the wait! We have a very hardworking class that knows how to set goals and reflect on their learning!

So what have we been up to and what is coming up:

LANGUAGE ARTS:

It was our final week of Van Allsburg stories. Not only were we reading and inferencing this week, but we were doing some creative writing! The students are working on creating a sequel to TWO BAD ANTS and this time their adventures take them into a school. Next week, I am hoping to integrate more technology and put them into a Photostory to produce a mini-movie! I've asked the students to finish their pictures for homework so we can scan them into the computers on Monday.

We also read Jumanji and the students were asked to write another page for the book. They had a lot of fun imagining themselves in the story and using descriptive language to write about the next daring "roll in the game". To celebrate the end of our unit, we watched the family movie "Jumanji " that stars Robin Williams Friday afternoon. It was interesting to compare the movie to the book...quite different!

Just a reminder, the January/February book reports are due on Friday, February 13th! Keep reading and feel free to start working on your rough copies in your Language Arts duotangs. I actually have received 2 finished ones already!!

Next week we begin our "Mini Unit on Public Speaking" to prepare us for T.U.S.C.! The students have been anxiously waiting for me to introduce and begin our T.U.S.C. program. If you are not already aware, T.U.S.C. stands for The Ultimate Speaking Club! It is a large part of our Language Arts program which encompasses 4 of the 6 strands in the ELA curriculum; writing, speaking, listening and presenting! Before the students begin actually preparing and writing speeches, we will be covering some of the basic skills involved in writing and delivering an effective speech.

MATHEMATICS:
Our focus this week has been on adding and subtracting decimals. The students have had to review their previous knowledge about regrouping and borrowing when adding or subtracting large numbers as well as the added component of "lining up the decimals" before calculating the answer. Next week we will be doing some problem solving that covers the relationship between decimals and money. The students will be receiving a review package for the final unit test on Wednesday which we will correct on Thursday! The final test on decimals will be MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH!

SOCIAL STUDIES:
It's been a fun week learning about the first European contact to North America...no, it was not Christopher Columbus but the Vikings!! We saw a cool movie where an actor played Leif Erikkson and retold his story of discovering the New World. We also visited an interesting website to learn more about the National Historic site of L'anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland where the Vikings actually settled in the 11th century.

SCIENCE:
This week the students finished up their "Stickability" experiment with glue. Ask your child which glue has the strongest property of "stickability"! As we went through this experiment, the students learned about how to correctly write a science experiment. We reviewed these steps on Wednesday as we experimented as a class with the property of buoyancy.
Next week we will be finishing up our exploration of properties of matter and have our first peek at Physical Changes!

FRENCH:
Our unit on "La Famille" has finally begun! The students created pictographs of their family members and labelled them in French. We discussed different items that could be found in a family album as the final project for this unit will be to create their own personal Family Scrapbook en francais!

ART:
In our final class of Art (in the classroom), the students began designing a poster for the Canada Day Challenge. I have made the completion of these posters optional. If the students are interested in entering, they must have their posters completed and ready to be mailed by February 25th. Mrs. Hillman is sending out a school mailing of all the students' posters who would like to be entered in the contest. The winning poster for the country will receive 4 tickets to the Winter Olympics 2010 in Vancouver!!!!




BLOGGER OF THE WEEK:



by Rachel







Hi my name is Rachel. I am the blogger of the week.
I am going to quiz you on your favourite thing going on in 5E.

My answers:
What do you like better?
Gym Music
Music

What do you like better?
Social Studies Social Studies
Science

What do you like better?
Out door recess in the winter In Door
In door recess in the winter

What do you like better?
Pen Pen
Pencil

What do you like better?
Math Math
French


To send us your answer, click on the word "comments" at the bottom of the blog and fill in your answer with only your first name and hit "Publish comment".

OTHER:

• Thank you for the baby photos! It's a fun activity for Valentine's Day and it represents a physical change to go from a baby to an adult (as well as making us "une famille"!)



• Please return the report card envelopes with the blue letters signed, as well as the letter regarding Family Life instruction signed as soon as possible.
  

Have a great weekend...did I hear it's supposed to rain on Saturday?

Mrs. Eby