Grade 5 Team Building 2015-2016

To help build our team skills and spirit in the first week of school, the class took part in a cup stacking challenge.  Each group was given 6 cups and an elastic apparatus to use to stack the cups in a pyramid.  No hands were allowed to touch the cups.  Here are some photos from that activity. So much fun! Lots of cooperation and communication.

Group Work Seminars 2015-2016

In our first week of school the students attended three one hour seminars in group work skills led by the resource teacher.  The first seminar began with a brainstorming session on what good group work looks like and sounds like.

The next part of the seminar was a discussion on the importance of listening when doing group work. The class then spent time brainstorming what good listening looked like.

(How many of us are guilty of that last point??)

To illustrate this skill the class was divided into groups of two.  The assignment was for one of the partners to tell the other about an activity that he/she really enjoyed.  The other partner was to listen and then retell the story in as much detail as possible.

The next part of the listening activity was a partner activity where partner 1 was to draw a given image based on the verbal instructions from the partner 2.

The first group of drawers had to draw this image of an owl.

The second group of drawers had to draw this image of an owl.

In the final part of the seminar during the first week of school, the students had to put into practise all of the group work skills and the listening skills they had been learning to create and present a poster on what good group work looks like and sounds like.

The Posters

Creating the Posters

Creating the Posters

Creating the Posters

Presenting the Posters

Presenting the Posters

Personal Best Test (re-post)

Basic facts are calculations that we should all be able to do very quickly in our heads.  To help with learning and instilling these facts in our memories, 5G will be doing weekly Personal Best Tests (PB's) in multiplication and division to the 12 times table.  For the tests, the students are given 132 basic facts.  They are given ten minutes to do as many of them as they can with the greatest accuracy. They achieve a personal best if they do the same number of questions in less time than previously or if they get more questions correct.  Their goal is to get better each time, thus, setting a new personal best!

In the first term, the questions are listed in their number families in order.  In second term, the questions are listed in their number families in mixed order.  And, in third term, all of the questions are mixed.

I encourage the students to work on their basic facts at home or in the car on the way to school, whenever they can fit it in, to increase their speed and accuracy with basic facts.

Homemade Paint Needed For Friday

This Friday, the class will be creating cave art paintings of Ice Age animals using homemade paints. For this project, each student has been assigned a homemade paint recipe to make and bring in on Friday morning. The following is a list of the recipes and which students should bring each. Experiment a bit. Some of the paints are very thin.  Perhaps boiling with a little bit of cornstarch will thicken the paint a little?...Thanks, parents, for helping out with this project!

Purple Colour - 5G Students #1, 2, 3
1/4 cup of blueberry paint made from fresh or frozen blueberries pressed through a strainer.
(no chunks)

Red Colour - 5G Students #4, 5, 6
1/4 cup of paint created by boiling red cabbage in a small amount of water.  It should be as concentrated as possible.

Dark Red Colour - 5G Students #7, 8, 9
1/4 cup of paint created by boiling beetroot in a small amount of water.  It should be as concentrated as possible.

White Colour - 5G Students #10, 11
1/4 cup of natural paint created from crushed white chalk in a little bit of water.  It should be nice and thick.

Yellow Ochre Colour - 5G Students #12, 13
1/4 cup of natural paint created from ground mustard in a little bit of water.  It should be thick - not too runny.

Black Colour -  5G Students #14,15
1/4 cup of natural paint created from ground charcoal in a little bit of water.  It should be thick - not too runny.

Green Colour - 5G Students #16, 17, 18
1/4 cup of paint created from condensed milk with many drops of green food colouring.

Bright Yellow Colour - 5G Students #19, 20, 21, 22
The yolk of a large egg mixed with 1/2 tsp of water and many drops of yellow food colouring.

Welcome Letter and Information about 5G 2015-2016

September 9, 2015

Dear Parents:

Welcome to a new school year! I am excited about this year and all of its possibilities and opportunities. Most of all I am excited about working with your children to help them become devoted followers of Jesus Christ, insightful thinkers, discerning decision makers, and compassionate community members!

This year we are excited to welcome a teacher-in-training to our team, Mrs. McCullough.  I am  looking forward to having her in the classroom.  She will bring a lot of energy and new ideas to our different subject areas.

Attendance

We encourage our students to be on time for school. The first bell sounds at 8:20.  All of the students are expected to be entering the school at that time, and seated and ready to go by the sounding of the 8:30 bell.  Students who enter the class after the singing of O’Canada following the 8:30 a.m. bell will be marked late.

The following is a brief outline of the various subject areas.

Language Arts

Listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing and representing are all essential skills used to achieve the five general learning outcomes for English language arts including exploring thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences; comprehending and responding personally and critically to oral, print and other media texts; managing ideas and information; enhancing the clarity and artistry of communication; and celebrating and building community.  The learning outcomes are not taught in isolation and they frequently overlap. There will be many opportunities for us to integrate language arts skills as we explore and research the science and social studies topics and participate in math and Bible activities.

Throughout the year themes related to social studies and science topics will connect students to a variety of non-fiction and fiction stories, novels, and other texts. Reading strategies are modelled, taught and practiced in a variety of ways. Whole class shared novels, small group guided reading, individual reading and literature circles are some of the activities students will be involved in.

Writing skills will be modelled and practiced in a variety of ways. The Six Trait Writing model is one method used to assess and teach writing skills. Spelling, grammar and editing will be incorporated into our lessons and practiced in a variety of ways.

Math

Math concepts will be introduced using many manipulative materials and the students will be involved in solving problems as we cover the following four strands of the mathematics curriculum.

Patterns and Relations

Number (number concepts and number operations)

Shape and Space (measurement, 3-D objects and 2-D shapes, transformations)

Statistics and Probability (data analysis, chance and uncertainty)

It is essential for the students to know their basic math facts for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We will be reviewing them throughout the year via personal best tests, but we encourage you to reinforce this at home too.

Science

Our Science program this year will consist of 4 main units of study. They are:

Forces and Simple Machines

Properties of and changes in Substances

Maintaining a healthy body

Weather

The school science fair will be held in March. All grade 5 students participate in the science fair. We will help the students with ideas and strategies and time frames. More information will be sent home at a later date.

Social Studies

We will be using the grade 5 social studies curriculum: People and Stories of Canada to 1867. The students will be introduced to the use of a textbook for this subject that will cover the following four clusters:

First Peoples

Early Europeans (1600-1763)

Fur Trade

From British Colony to Confederation

Bible

In Bible this year we are studying the books of Genesis and John. The students are challenged to memorize several verses each month. These will be shared with the students at the beginning of each month. It is also a privilege to integrate the truths of God’s word throughout our daily studies and activities. Our hope is that we will develop a closer relationship with God and a greater love for those around us.

Art

Art class will usually be on Fridays unless we are trying to finish a project that has a timeline. I have been known to have some fairly messy art projects.  Therefore, I suggest that the students not wear their best school clothes on these days or bring a painting smock (old large shirt) to be kept in their gym bags.

Homework

Homework will consist of home reading and basic facts practice if needed.  Sometimes students may need to collect items to be brought to school as well.  It is my goal to have the students complete all of their work in class time to alleviate the pressure on busy schedules.  This being said, if a student is not using his/her class time wisely, work may need to be completed at home.  In this case, I will email home to let you know what needs to be completed.

Communication

Communication between the home and the school is an essential component of a child’s education. Grade 5 students and parents at Linden Christian School will have access to a classroom blog this year to keep track of assignments, activities, websites and online tools. Please feel free to comment and ask questions on the blog. The 5G blog can be found at mrsgibbons5g.blogspot.ca. If questions and comments are of a more personal nature, the best way to contact me is via email at tgibbons@lindenchristian.org or feel free to make an appointment or just drop by the classroom.

To further facilitate communication we will maintain a parent class email group for important information and reminders.  Please contact Cindy Bogusky at cbogusky@lindenchristian.org if you would like to change and email address or add an additional email addresses to the contact listed on your registration package.  We can accommodate only two addresses.

Student Devices

Your child has been asked to provide a device to use at school this year. We will be integrating the use of technology into many subjects in many different ways. We will be using and creating on many online tools and exploring many websites.  We will be using Google Apps for Education for our writing process, presentation needs and more. Students are allowed to bring other devices (iPods, iPads, digital cameras) to school when we are creating multi-media projects.  If these are brought to school to use for educational purposes, the students are expected to abide by the technology terms of use policy as laid out by the school.

All of the students will have an email address. This email address is to be used solely for educational purposes. It is not to be linked to any personal sites such as Twitter or Facebook.

Although it is very important that the students do not share their usernames and passwords with others, we DO encourage you, as parents, to ask your child to share his/her username and password with you so that you can see the work your child has been producing, see any evaluations and assessments your child may have received, and to help us monitor his/her use as per the technology agreement that you signed.

The ethics of digital citizenship will be taught and at all times the privacy and protection of our students will be considered and maintained.

Chapel

The grade 5-8 Chapel is on Fridays (or the last day of the school week) from 9:30 - 10:15. You are most welcome to join us at that time.

Compassion Project

This year our grade five class will be participating in an exciting project. The class has a relationship with nine Compassion Canada children from around the world due to Mr. Mark Loewen who provides the funding. The students will be writing letters, praying for, and encouraging the sponsored children. We hope you will partner with us in praying at home for each of the children as well. At the end of the year, opportunity will be given to transfer the sponsorship of each of the Compassion children to your family if you so choose. This provides the opportunity for the 5G class to add more children to our group of nine and the opportunity for your child to continue the relationship begun in grade 5.

Volunteers

I welcome volunteers in the classroom. There are always things for you to do, even just supervising the students while they eat their lunch for 20 minutes. If you are interested in volunteering in any way, please email me.

I look forward to getting to know your children and meeting you. I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to teach your child in a Christian setting and know how important this responsibility is. I value your prayers and communication as we partner in the academic, emotional and spiritual growth of your child.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Teresa Gibbons

Welcome 5G 2015-2016

Our Mission and Vision

Welcome Students and Parents of 5G - 2015/2016!

I can't believe it is already time for the back-to-school race!  The off-season seemed too short.  However, as the leaves start to change colour and drop to the ground, I find the pre-race jitters are beginning to set in, as I am sure they are for all of you.  So as we begin our warm-up, I want to assure you that the race organizers are meeting and planning to make this race a great one, a race that brings success and accomplishment to all of the participants.

This blog will be used to post everything that you need to know for the 5G classroom.  For the students, it may look like things to be completed or gathered at home, links to assignments or links to websites and tools.  For the parents, it may look like messages, reminders and updates regarding classroom events and/or volunteer opportunities.  The blog will also highlight some of the projects and activities that we have done in class.  Please refer to this blog often and feel free to comment and ask questions.

Please note that any paper copies of forms from the school that your child receives will still come home with him/her.  I will mention on the homework calendar that the forms have been sent.  You will find a link to the homework calendar in the sidebar. 

I am looking forward to getting to know all of you.  Parents, please feel free to drop in and see what we are doing in the classroom. Every race needs cheerleaders and enthusiastic spectators!