Understanding What You Read

Dear Grade Fives,

This year, we worked on a variety of reading activities with the learning intention of helping you to better understand what you read. I would like to refresh your memory about some of these activities.

tracking your reading: practicing two different reading strategies a week

daily reading: variety of times throughout the day to read

supported reading: nonfiction, often four readings: I read, you read, paired reading, individual reading

notes to paragraph: taking notes on a selection and rewriting notes as a paragraph

novel study: independent activity including finding details, supporting ideas, chapter summaries

literature circles: reading, completing tasks, and then discussing your work with peers

Please choose at least one activity and tell me why you think it helped you the most to understand what you read.

As always, I look forward to your thoughtful responses.

Love, Mrs. French

Goals for Grade Six

Good morning Grade Fives,

This is one of the last blog responses for grade five. I want to take a moment to just let you know how much I have loved teaching you this year! You are keen group of students who willingly tackle new experiences and learning opportunities.

Now, as you look forward to summer, I would like you to take a moment to think about grade six. Please write about one learning behaviour you are going to use next year to help you have a successful grade six year. What action will you take to improve your success in school.

As always, I look forward to reading your responses.

Love, Mrs. French

Lunch Hour Mix-up: Opinion/Fact

Hello Grade Fives!

For two weeks, you have been going outside at 12:00 for twenty minutes to play and then returning to eat your lunch. I would like to hear personal facts about how this is working or not working for you.

Using a paragraph structure, state your opinion (e.g. I like the new lunch schedule or I do not like the schedule). Support your opinion with personal facts or the impact this switch has on you (e.g. when I play first, I come in hungry and eat all of my lunch).

I would then like you to make any constructive suggestions as to how we can make this work for everyone if the school continues with this schedule.

As usual, I look forward to reading your thoughtful responses.

Learning Intentions: I can support my opinion with logical supporting personal facts.
Criteria: opinion, supporting personal facts, writing conventions

Love, Mrs. French

Math Concepts

Hello Grade Fives!

We are finished learning most of the grade five math concepts. I would like you to reflect on your current math skills. Which area would you like us to revisit and why? (try to describe the difficulty you are having)

a) numbers (reading, writing, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, fractions, decimals, percentages, mental math)

b) patterns and relationships (visual patterns, number patterns, growth patterns, functions)

c) Shape and Space (perimeter, area, volume, capacity)

As usual, I look forward to reading your thoughtful responses.

Love, Mrs. French

Technology: When It Helps the Most!

Hello Grade Fives!

Imagine that we decide to use technology for just one purpose in our classroom (e.g. learning to type, visualizations during math lessons, math practice, access to lessons or worksheets, research, presenting your learning using ppt or voicethread etc). I would like you to tell me which purpose you would want us to keep using and explain why. Think about which ‘purpose’ is most helpful to your own learning.

Once again, I look forward to reading your thoughtful responses.

Love, Mrs. French

Reflecting on Your Webquest

Hello Grade Fives!

You have all worked very hard on your French assignment. I would now like you to reflect on this learning. Please think carefully about your project and then respond to each of the following points:

1. Tell me three important things you learned about our French Canadian Culture.
2. Do you think you learned a lot or only a little?
3. Why do you think you learned a lot or just a little?
4. If you were to do this assignment again, what would you do differently in order to learn even more?

Once again, I look forward to reading your responses.

Love, Mrs French

Planning for Term Three

Hello Grade Fives!

Our second term is now over and you have all continued to work hard on developing good learning behaviours: listening carefully to lessons and instructions, completing work carefully and completely, checking your work over for errors, preparing for quizzes, and asking for help as needed. As we begin our third and final term, I would like you to think about which learning behaviours you are going to work on over the next couple of months. In today’s response, and in a correct paragraph form, please tell me which behaviours you have chosen and, in the support sentences, explain how you plan to accomplish these goals. I look forward to reading your responses. I will make every effort to help you accomplish the goal(s) you set.

Love, Mrs. French