May 20 - 31

A Few Reminders:
There are quite a few events going on in June. Make sure to check the blog calendar!

• June 5 - Early Dismissal
• June 7 - BGRS Track Meet
• June 11 - Riverview Visit
• June 11 - Bike Rodeo
• June 12 - BOKS Wrap Up Party
• June 12 - Conservation Presentation
• June 13 & 14 Camp Warwa! Please fill out final payment & permission online. 
• June 18 - Devon Ripple Effects
• June 20 - Cultural Showcase @ EIA 
• June 22 - 23 Outdoor Ed Camping Trip
• June 24 - Triathlon Day!
• June 25 - Potter Party 
• Send in an old white or light grey shirt for our year end craft!
• June 26 - Wagner Natural Area FT
• June 27 - Free Swim Day & LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!

TWIN DAY

What a fun day! Everyone looked great!

ELA 

Students are working on e-Books All About Plants! This is our next unit in Science and during WeSearch Wednesday we are taking time to work in slides to create our very own all about plants book. 

Our main focus with this book is to recognize and use text features for our non-fiction writing. Students are working to use titles, subtitles, text, images with captions, labels and diagrams, bolding words for the glossary, and a bibliography page. 

Student have been using various resources - books, websites and videos - to gather information and record it in an organized way. This week they have taken that information and begun to write paragraphs on each topic. This week we dug deep into photosynthesis! 

We have also been working on our summarizing skills. We read a non-fiction reading and discussed how to write a proper summary. This is an essential skill that is often a struggle for students. When summarizing it is key to talk about the important points that are related to the main idea of the reading, without adding extra information that was not included in the reading. After reading through their passage, students read two summaries and determined which was a proper summary of what they read. 

We have also been fine tuning our reading comprehension skills. In small groups, buddy reading or independently reading, we have been reading through fiction and non-fiction and answering questions based directly on what was read. We have been working on a variation of "rainbow reading". Using multicoloured highlighters to highlight the question and then using the same colour find the evidence in the text to answer the question. This is in efforts to have them find the answer from the reading instead of trying to make up - or guess answers. 

Reader's Chair

Lailati read Mo Willems Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed 

Dakota read Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

MATH 

Over the past two weeks students have been working with Geometry. Some key terms that are new this year are congruent and symmetry. Congruent shapes are the same shape and size and shapes that have a line of symmetry have two parts that are congruent. 

Students explored these concepts through various centers over the week using manipulatives to create symmetry art, drawing symmetrical shapes and images and even some fun tech art! 

 

We also have been looking at 2D and 3D shapes and how to describe and sort them. Students had a quick refresher on the names of 3D shapes, what edges, vertices and faces are and how we can use these to describe/sort shapes.

A new shape for students this year is the right angle prism. 

 Right Angle Triangular Prism

Right Angle Prism  

We also had some math fun using play-doh to make some 3D shapes! I gave students hints based on vertices, edges and faces and they had to create the shape they thought was coming out of the bag! 

We also practiced our right angle shape making skills! 

SCIENCE

Shadows change as our day goes on. It's been tough, but we found some cloudless and sunny days over the past week and went outside to track our shadows! In pairs, students traced their shadows in the morning, and then again at the end of the day to see how their shadow changed. 

We also conducted experiments on which qualities make good and bad reflectors. With all the lights out, we tested various materials to narrow down the the best qualities. Good reflectors are solid, shiny, smooth and often metal. 

As we conducted the experiment students took sketch notes to record their observations. 

To wrap up our Lights & Shadows unit, we played Jeopardy! Everyone absolutely loved this review game and participated enthusiastically!  

Afterwards we completed a quiz on the concepts covered. 

SOCIAL

We have been reading and learning about the Voyageurs of Alberta's past. Students are working on a writing piece, that we will turn into an Adobe Spark video, telling the story of their Day in the Life of a Voyageur. As a class we brainstormed the sights, sounds and activities we would have to do in a day. Their writing is so fun and full of voice I can't wait for the videos!

Of course, we had to create out Voyageur cards first! 

DRUMFIT