5WM Class PAge
Read below to find out what is going on in 5WM this week
I am so blessed to be able to teach your child! The students in my classroom are so thoughtful and caring. Yesterday they threw me a "surprise" party for my birthday on Sunday. Over the lunch break, they blew up balloons and decorated the classroom. When the bell rang, they kept me out of the classroom until they got situated and then told me to come in. When I walked in they all yelled "surprise!" and sang Happy Birthday to me as they threw balloons and cheered. It was the sweetest thing and it made my whole day! I love these kids!
This past week, the students worked really hard in Language Arts. They continued working on their non-fiction magazine articles. A few of them finished all of their planning and all three of their rough copies. Many finished their planning and got a good start on their rough copies, and others did not finish their planning. All three rough copies are due on Tuesday. I have really been stressing this assignment to the students as I would like the marks to be on this upcoming report card. This upcoming week in Language Arts, students will be finishing up this magazine assignment, both their rough and good copies. In math this past week, we began our multiplication unit. The week started off with the students working in randomized groups to figure out a double digit multiplication problem. Most students resorted to repetitive adding, and one managed to get the answer. After this, I showed the students the Box Multiplication strategy and most students picked it up quite quickly. Over the course of the unit, students will be introduced to 5 different multiplication strategies and they are to be comfortable with at least one of them in order to complete their unit test. Judging by the understanding of the Box strategy, I do not think we will have issues with this unit . This upcoming week in Math, students will continue practicing the box strategy, work on a few problems in groups, and also learn the "split" strategy, which is very similar to the box strategy. Overall it was a great week- students were focused and motivated and we had fun as a class. Next week will be busy as well, but I am confident it will be productive and exciting too. I don't think there is ever a dull moment in 5WM! Take care and God Bless :) As I write this blog today, I am in disbelief that it is already almost March. I have been finished University for almost a year, I have been teaching grade 5 for six months and my very first teaching contract is coming to an end in just over a month. It feels like yesterday that I graduated high school and began university. Time is flying by much too fast!
The week before last (Feb. 13-17), we finished up our Poetry Unit in Language Arts. Students spent time preparing for a poetry slam that we did on Thursday with the other grade 5 class. Students were also introduced to their major writing assignment for Term 2. They will be writing 3 non-fiction articles about a topic of their choice. This upcoming week in Language Arts students will be working on this writing assignment. We will review descriptive writing, sequence and order writing, and lastly compare and contrast. It will be a busy week as report cards come out soon, but I am confident that it will be productive. In Math, we finished up our measurement unit. Students completed their study guide early in the week and wrote their unit test on Thursday. Marks were not as high as I would have liked, but as usual if a student would like to rewrite, that option is always available. We will chat about that tomorrow (Monday). This week in math we are beginning our multiplication unit. Students will spend the majority of the time solving problems and learning strategies to multiply double digit numbers. It is going to be a very busy month of March, and I have no doubt that it will fly by just as fast as February did! I hope you have a great week this week. God Bless :) To end the week yesterday, we chatted about what it means to run through life as opposed to jogging through life. We talked about the rewarding things that happen when you work really hard at something and how it feels better to try your best at everything you do. Food for thought! I got this quote from #Miss5th on Instagram. She is a 5th grade teacher in the USA with lots of great ideas!
This past week in Language Arts, we reviewed and practiced acrostic poems. Students drew a classmate's name out of a bucket. Whoever they drew from the draw was the person they were to write an acrostic poem for. Walking around the classroom and seeing the poems the students were writing was a lot of fun! These kids are so sweet. We also took some time to begin a health research project this week. Students are split into groups and are in charge of researching a substance (alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, caffeine, ibuprofen, or anabolic steroids). They are to come up with a presentation for their assigned substance and present it to the class when finished. We also have Alberta Health Services coming in to chat with the students about some of these topics as well. I believe it is important for students to learn about topics such as these in a safe, controlled environment rather than hearing about things from their friends on the playground. This upcoming week in Language Arts, students will continue with their research project, and they will also be presenting their best/favourite poem from our poetry unit during our poetry slam on Thursday. In math this past week, students were given the dimensions of a swimming pool and asked how much water it would be able to hold. I gave them no clues as to how to solve the problem and allowed them to think it through and try to solve it with a partner. Three of the pairs came to the correct answer and shared their results with the class. It was a good exercise for students to stop and think about WHY they are doing what they are doing to find the correct answer. After that, we discussed what volume and capacity is, and students did an activity with linking cubes to experiment with the concept of volume. We discussed measuring in cubic meters, cubic centimetres, as well as litres and millilitres. This upcoming week in math, students will complete and mark their study guide, and they will write their unit test on Thursday. Overall this has been a very hands-on engaging unit for students, so I believe they will do well on their test. Thank you to those parents who have volunteered to bring in food for our Valentine's Day Party! I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday. Have a great weekend! God Bless :) |