November 20, 2020
Dear Parents,
We had a fun ending to our week this week with a special play date to learn how to play a number of physically distanced games. We were outside for an entire block and students were very tired afterwards!
In language this week we began learning about writing a fiction narrative, or a short story. We began the week by learning what a fictional narrative was and then we learned how to create a main character and some secondary characters. Afterwards we learned that the setting is where and when a story takes place, and that there may be more than one setting in a story. In the course of learning all of this we filled in graphic organizers to plan out the characters and settings for our own fiction Masterpiece which we will be writing in this unit.
In Reading, we continue to learn about making connections and we read a story called “The Sleepover”, which is an old EQAO reading test from 2009. we did not have time to bump up our answers this week so that will be our task for next week. We also read some selections in ReadWorks and Raz-Kids. We are continuing to develop our ability to respond to text by restating the question, and providing two or more good examples from the text.
In math we began learning about place value up to 1000, and how to write numbers in a variety of ways. For example we learn how to write numbers in written form, expanded form, and standard form, as well as using base ten blocks on a hundreds chart. we learn how to compare numbers up to one thousand and how to count to one thousand by hundreds and fifties.
We had our Science assessment on Tuesday and on Thursday we played Plickers to gather some more assessment information about what students could recall about Forces Acting on Structures. Our next unit in science will be Soils in the Environment.
This was also Kindness Week, and students did a great job of showing kindness to others throughout the week. We had a small challenge to fill in a number of kindness tasks listed in a chart, and although we did not finish all of the challenges, we did a great job, so we took some time Friday during last block to watch a movie and have a little treat.
Next week, the virtual Book Fair will be taking place. A flyer and note was sent home in your child’s agenda today. If you didn’t get it, then you can find it here. Also, photo proofs were sent home today as well.
Next week will be continuing learning about writing fiction and developing our ideas for our masterpiece. In reading we will be continuing to practice writing detailed responses that use evidence from the text and our own ideas. In math, we will be continuing to learn about place value, but will also be taking some time to learn about coding, which is new for the Ontario Curriculum this year. If you wish to introduce coding to your child at home, here is a great website that offers a number of interesting tutorials that walk students through developing a small computer program. In science, we will begin learning about soils.
A reminder that homework has begun again after the science presentations, and we are going back to having our weekly word wall quizzes on Fridays. Please do not feel pressure to complete the homework assignments, as it is simply extra practice for students. The weekly word wall quizzes are based on the words from the homework however, so it may assist your child in feeling better about them.
Finally, below is a link to our class photo album, which I have updated with pictures from this week, mostly taken during our play day today. Have a great weekend, and thank you once again for all your support.
Yours,
Chris Pouliot
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