September 11-18

The first week of school has flown by! Despite the heat and roofing, we've had a great first week together. We began our week by learning the classroom routines, including our community agreements. The classroom agreements are based on the Tribes method. They are as follows:
1) mutual respect
2) attentive listening
3) appreciation/ no put-downs
4) the right to pass and participate
5) safety first
Please ask your child about these agreements and how they help a classroom function well. 

Even though the week has been short, we've packed a lot in! This week in math students worked in groups to create calendars that will be displayed throughout the school year. We also developed success criteria for working together with others. We reviewed place value from previous years and focussed on numbers to 100 000 for grade 5s and numbers to 1 000 000 for grade 6s. Students expressed their understanding of numbers by placing them in place value charts, and by writing them in expanded form, standard form and in words. You can help your child with these concepts by writing down large numbers, like 345 609, and having them say the number in words. 

In language we established our classroom routines for independent reading and discussed how readers choose books. We also discussed how to choose a "just right" book, in order to progress as readers. Students wrote letters to their future selves, which they will read again in June. We also wrote down all our "I Can'ts" and had a funeral for them. We've changed our "I Can'ts" to "I'm learning to," and "I'd like to improve upon." 

We began our first inquiry, which is "What is Empathy?" We will be discussing this question and those related to it, like, "How can empathy create change?" and "What happens when there is lack of empathy?" over the next few months. We read books together on the topic, including, "Is There Really a Human Race?" and "My Teacher is a Monster!"

Finally, many thanks to Maggie and her dad Patrick for our surprise learning experience this week. Patrick brought in baby chicks for us to see and hold. We learned that you can put a chick to sleep by rubbing its stomach. Who knew?! I was impressed with the level of empathy that the students showed the chicks, in their great care of them. 

Important upcoming dates:

Monday, September 14th: announcement about Mono Cliffs for grade 6s

Tuesday, September 15th: pool

Tuesday, September 22nd: welcome back BBQ

Homework for this week:

There is no homework folder homework for this week, as the grade 6s may be away next week. Students need to continue to read daily for at least 20 minutes each day. Any unfinished work will also go home to be completed for the next day. 

Best,

Bronwyn Davidson