Friday, May 29

 Hi parents,

We have a great day today. The spelling quiz went really well, I marked them all but forgot to hand them back. The students researched plant adaptations some more, and we brainstormed a big list of adaptations that help plants deal with different living conditions.

In math, we learned about fractions. We talked about a fmous fraction paradox, and looked at the Fraction Tower material. The students coloured in blank fractions to represent given numerators and denominators.

In writing, we started working on book reports, to go alongside the book in a box project. Students only had time to write their introductions so far.

Please help your child pick out 3-5 items for the Book in a Box project! They will be presenting this project next week. 

Have a nice weekend,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of May 31)

 Spelling List A (June 1 – 5)

I	son	eye	sun	one
won	know	hear	no	hear

 

Spelling List B (June 1 – 5)

stairs	flower	bored	two	right
board	write	stares	too	flour

 

Spelling List C (June 1 – 5)

weight	wood	hours	witch	lessen
would	which	wait	ours	lesson

This week's words are homophones! I tried to pick the ones I thought would be most useful to know but there are so many others, it might be fun to brainstorm a list with your child.

They're, their, and there, and buy, bye, as well as your and you're are also great ones to review.

Good luck!

Thursday, May 28

 Hi parents,

We had a great Fort Day today, but it was ridiculously hot in the school. The PJs were a crazy idea, in hindsight.

Still we did a lot of learning today. The wrapped up our unit on Telling Time with 'time phrases', which in many cases involved fractions (quarter after 8, half past 1, etc.) Which is perfect, because that's what we're learning about next. 

In French, we learned a bit about the Montreal Canadiens.

In Science we read about Plant Adaptations.

Tomorrow is our spelling quiz!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, May 27

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today. The students spent a long time working on their book in a box projects. I've done this project 3 years in a row now, tweaking it slightly each time and this is my favourite iteration of it. The students are turning their boxes into 3D models of settings in their bookx and its really cool.

We learned about 'energy pyramids' in science today. The students drew their own diagrams, and even invented a pyramid for a fictional planet with different plants, herbivores, and carnivores.

Fort PJ Stuffy Day - Tomorrow! (May 28)

Whole bunch of days combined tomorrow. The students are invited to bring a blanket, a pillow, and a stuffy to school, and wear their PJs. This was chosen by the students who won last month's table prize.

The stuffies are only able to come out if a possibly stolen elf toy is returned, though.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, May 26

Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. The students did good copies of their latest haiku poems.

We learned about telling time in math. This lesson went super well. I think it paid off leaving this till later in the year, when everyone is a lot better at counting by 5's. Will probably do the same next year. Students who already knew how to tell time answered challenge problems about 'elapsed time'.

We spent a lot of time working on the Book in a Box project too.

Have a nice night!

Zac

Monday, May 25

 Hi parents,

We had a good day today! In the morning, the students wrote haiku poetry. They used poetic words from a word list to make their poetry extra nice. This also challenged them to think outside the box with how they used words. 

We practiced this week's spelling words a bit, and the students quizzed each other to figure out what list they should work on. We talked about how getting 8+ correct means you're ready for the next level up.

In the afternoon, we worked on the Book in a Box project. The boxes are looking good so far and the kids seem really into it.

We also did an area and perimeter activity in which the students learned how two rectangles with the same area can have different perimeters, and that a long, skinny rectangle will have a longer perimeter than a shorter, wider rectangle with the same area.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of May 24)

 Spelling List A (May 22 – 29)

would	very	many	which	with
went	they	use	pull	because

 

Spelling List B (May 22 – 29)

about	should	they’ve	eight	myself
better	warm	done	bring	together

 

Spelling List C (May 22 – 29)

breath	airport	damage	honour	meant
judge	reason	either	since	worse

This week's words are 'need-to-know' sight words, which means they'll be harder to practice. I would recommend starting at list A - if your child gets 8+, try list B, if they get 8+ again, then List C. As the lists get harder, the words become less frequent. 

It is my dream to end a school year with everyone knowing how to spell 'they'.

Good luck!

Friday, May 22

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today with a lot of work period time. Performing at the Volunteer Tea was fun. I don't think the kids realized what a big audience they'd have! Thankfully we know those French songs super well.

In math, the students were tasked with finding the area and perimeter of their tables. They were allowed to use any unit of measurement they chose.

In Health, we learned a bit about social media and internet safety. We talked about the potential dangers of social media and how alogorithms are designed to show content that evokes an emotional response - often a negative one. 

At the end of the day, I sent home the spelling quizzes and the multiplication / division quiz re-dos. If you child wants another re-do, no problem! It only takes a few minutes to switch up the questions. Unlimited re-dos are available. I just want everyone to learn this stuff and feel confident that they know it.

Stay tuned for next week's spelling words, and have a nice weekend!

Zac

Thursday, May 21

 Hi parents,

We had a great day at Nose Hill Park today!

We did a ton of walking, exploring, and learning about the significance of the park, and the medicine wheel landmark. The students loved getting to experience this unique place and seeing the city from a completely different angle than our other field trips have allowed. Thanks so much to our parent volunteers. :)

Spelling quiz tomorrow! Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, May 20

 Hi parents,

We had another good day today. In the morning, we learned about perimeter. Students had to calculate the perimeter of a variety of irregular polygons, and find the missing side length when given a perimeter.

We did another 'School-wide Write', where every class in the school spent an hour writing about a picture prompt.  This was the prompt:

 

I think this one went better than the last one. The work we've done with story writing and descriptive writing seems to have sunk in! I had a lot of fun reading these.

In the afternoon, we worked on the Book in a Box project (email  coming soon), went outside for gym, and learned about Nose Hill Park's iconic landmark, that we will be visiting tomorrow.

Have a nice night!

Zac 

Tuesday, May 19

Hi parents,

We had a great day today. In the morning, we learned about finding the area of rectangles. The students made city skylines using these area rectanges for buildings.

We did spelling sentences for this week's 'aw' words. The math quiz re-do went pretty well from what I've seen so far - I was so happy when half the class told me they'd been studying!

Have a nice night,

Zac