Dear Parents and Students,
Welcome back after the Easter Break. Hope everyone had a great holiday.
Now that we are back we have a very busy couples of months ahead of us. Many tests and culminating activities are happening right now for report cards (yes that’s right report cards!) so it is important to be at school. If students are away, remember it is the student's responsibility to catch up on work missed. They must take the initiative to check their "absent folder", ask the teacher what was missed and go to homework club if needed. Student absences can greatly effect student achievement.
Students are continuing to write in their agendas on a daily basis. We continue to do frequent homework checks and follow ups to assigned tasks. Students are having difficulty meeting deadlines and completing work on time. Please help by monitoring their homework progress at home and if there is a note for incomplete homework in their agenda it should be completed and handed in the following day. They are certainly given plenty of class time to complete daily work so students should have very little homework IF they use their class time wisely. It is the students responsibility to complete, correct and ask for clarification about their weekly homework. However, please help support your child with their independence by questioning them about homework and due dates and monitoring their progress with regards to homework.
This term we are continuing to look at peer and self-assessment of certain tasks. As well, we will be putting a huge emphasis on character education and learning skills. Taking responsibility, being organized, being a team worker, being positive and optimistic are just some of the traits we will be looking for.
Thanks to all parents for continuing to play a supportive and encouraging role in your child’s education. And please if you have any questions or concerns at all please don’t hesitate to contact us by writing us a note in the agenda, or phoning us at school
905-655-8959.
Sincerely,
Mme. Guimont & Mrs. MacGregor
April 5th The Ned Show
April 10th-13th Yo Yo sales from the Ned Show
April 10th SCC meeting
April 12th Beach Day
April 16th Kurzweil computer training
April 19th Spring Dance 5:30-7:30
April 18th /19th See Hear Clinic
April 23rd -27th Pitch In week and Earth Week (Our class is in charge. Keep those posters coming in!)
April 23rd -27th Book Swap (Bring in your old books during the week of April 16th-20th to get your book bucks to spend at the book swap)
April 30th – Racing Against Drugs Field Trip Grade 5’s
May 10th Junior Spring Concert
Year End Trip Medieval Times Trip (Gr. 4)
Year End Trip (TBA) Gr. 5
Jump Rope and Hoops for Heart
Track and Field
Family BBQ
Spirit Days
Thursday April 12th Beach Day
Homework Club
At homework club you:
- Get extra help to reinforce your learning
- Get extra time to complete unfinished work
- Get time to study and prepare for tests
When Can I go to homework Club?
- Tuesday at lunch 12:05 (Portable 311)
- Thursday at lunch 12:05 (Portable 301)
- Friday at lunch 12:05 (Rm. 101)
**IMPORTANT **
Please check and sign the agenda on a daily basis. Please be aware that every night there should be something written in the agenda even if it’s to tell you there is no homework. STUDENTS are responsible for writing in their agendas every day and for letting us know whether there are notes in them. Please remind them of this responsibility.
A couple of things to keep an eye on are
- Weekly spelling words to practice (in English)
- Home reading in both languages 15-20 minutes nightly (you can alternate nights)
- Weekly math homework (needs to be completed on time!)
*Home Reading – Congratulations to those who have completed all their reading log sheets and have gotten their stickers. Even if you have not submitted all 7 reading log sheets there is still time to catch up. Just keep reading. Every student is expected to hand in one reading log per month. (Extra Home reading sheets are in the library. Just keep a sheet of lined paper in your room to jot down the titles – it will count!!) Remember this will be reported on on your report card!!
*Book Orders - Thankyou for continuing to order books. Remember with each order we are able to also build our classroom library!!!
MATH
- We are finishing up fractions
- Algebra
- Probability
- At home keep working on algorithms: multiplication tables up to 12 and division facts. Students are encouraged to practice a few minutes, on a daily basis.
- Completing exercises on the website of Nelson or ixl.com is also an excellent way to reinforce their daily learning.
- Problem solving and opened questions are still an important focus and is challenging for most students. We will keep working on this on a weekly basis. Please keep in mind that it is the process and the communication of the thinking that is the most important piece of the puzzle rather than the correct answer.
LANGUAGE
French
- We are currently working on reading and writing procedural texts.
- The “Dictee” is not a prepared test. Words are chosen based on student needs within the classroom. It is a way to develop and build their thinking and writing skills.
- Continue working on your Reading strategies (questionning, main idea and summarizing). Guided reading is still in place with the help of parent volunteers.
Oral communication is putting emphasis on listening skills and talking spontaneously through small presentation tasks.
- Home reading in French is strongly recommended on a nightly basis.
English
Home Reading DAILY
Participation in the Home Reading program is an expectation for grade 4 and 5 students. Daily home reading, a minimum of 15 minutes, is expected to be documented on the Home Reading log, signed by a parent and returned to school. (If your child reads for 30 minutes sign it twice). Some children have returned seven logs already. Please help your child meet this goal by encouraging home reading and signing the log. Thank you!
Reading
Reading - Reading strategies. They are visualization, predicting, inferencing, summarizing, questioning and connecting. Our main focus this term is inferencing. Students need to explain their thinking in their own words and with a quote from the text. You can be practicing this at home with any chapter book and this format. I infer…. Because….(use their own words and thinking). In the text it states… (Find a quote from the text)
- We are continuing to read "And Then it Happened" as our read aloud.
Writing
- Report Writing - students will use a RAN chart to organize their learning, wonderings, misconceptions, etc… Then they will draft, edit, peer edit and publish their reports on a famous artist. This is our culminating acitivity.
- Grammar – looking at capitals, periods, commas and apostrophes. Writing simple sentences.
- Spelling - Using grade appropriate text books
- Writing proper paragraphs. They need to include a topic sentence, detailed information related to the topic sentence and a conclusion.
SCIENCE
- Grade 4 – Light and sound
- Grade 5 – Matter
Social Studies
- Grade 4 – finishing up and presenting Province project after Easter and then moving on to Medieval Times Unit
- Grade 5 – Ancient Civilizations centres
Phys Ed
- Co-operative games
- Badminton
*Our gym periods are on days 1, 3 and 5. In order for your child to participate in gym they must have a pair of indoor shoes. Also students MUST have a change of clothes for gym. This does impact your Phys. Ed. and Learning Skills marks.
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