Launching New Units of Study

It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Meet the Staff night. For those who were unable to make it, I will try and send home a print copy of the evening.

Here is a link to an interesting article from Barry MacDonald, author of Boy Smarts, on the need for sleep. It is geared towards high school boys but I think it could be helpful to parents of both boys and girls.

Read the article here:

We have begun our science unit on Weather. If anyone has any connections to a local meteorologist that would be available for school visits, please let me know. Otherwise, I plan to have students write letters inviting one to visit our classroom. Our unit begins with looking at different measures of weather and the instruments used for measuring. You can help support your child by discussing weather forecasts at home, pointing out how this information is helpful in making decisions.

We can use your help. We are going to be conducting several experiments or making our own weather instruments in class. Items needed:

- 10 large wide mouth jars (no lid needed)
- 2L plastic bottles with lids (one for each child in the class ideally)

In math, we are beginning with patterns. Students are investigating increasing and decreasing patterns. They are learning strategies to solve problems where one variable is missing (i.e. 6 + _ = 9).

Learning French is exciting for students in grade five! Grade fours are also excited to be learning along with them (although they will not be receiving letter grades). I have created vocabulary sets using a website called Quizlet. Students can go to this website and enter TheFriesenFiles in the search box to find my sets. This will allow students the opportunity to practice French at home. We are currently looking at Halloween vocabulary for the next two weeks.

DPA is our daily physical activity breaks. The Ministry of Education requires students in grades four and five to participate in a minimum of 30 minutes of daily physical activity. During the afternoons, we have scheduled these breaks to help transition from one subject to another. Our favourite breaks so far are the playground circuit and a nifty website called GoNoodle.