Notes on a humid Friday

We had a great time at Holy Heart today: the production of Annie was exciting and very well-performed. Students were excited to see the live orchestra accompaniment, especially those who are just starting to learn instruments themselves!

By popular request, here is a link to a site we revisited today. It lets students generate music themselves. It loops forever. I apologize in advance. (note: Sorry, the link didn't insert the first time. Here is the site!

http://inudge.net/

I will post at length tomorrow about what we are doing in the upcoming couple of weeks. Students have some math review sheets to start working on this weekend (no further than Leçon 6, s'il vous plait), for our test next Thursday. October schedules have already been placed in their homework DuoTangs. I would ask all students to please bring their weather monitoring sheets to school with them on Monday.

Have a great weekend, and check back tomorrow afternoon for more info.

Today's blog post contains important information in French! Please ask your child to translate.

Aujourd'hui, c'était le premièr jour pour Band et Strings. Nous avons plusieurs élèves dans notre classe qui vont participer dans ces programmes cette année, et c'était très excitant. Aussi, un élève dans notre classe va jouer le role d'un oprhelin dans Annie demain, et elle nous a expliqué quelques détails a propos du spectacle.

Demain est notre Sweat a thon, un activité très important dans notre année à Beachy Cove. Nous essayons de mettre plus d'importance sur l'activité physique cette année, est c'est un bon façon de lever les fonds pour acheter les choses pour l'école. Si vous lisez cette phrase et vous êtes dans la classe de M. Paterson, disez le mot "Cornichon" à moi demain pour reçevoir un prix. Ne dit rien à les autres élèves.... c'est un sécret!

Back to a more familiar language, for a few more notes. I will be scheduling a math test officially for next Thursday; a review guide and sheets will go home tomorrow. Students can work on these sheets (up as far as we have covered so far) over the weekend. I expect them to be complete by Wednesday when we will do our final review for the test. These sheets will not be evaluated; they are a way for students to find out what they need to study more, and what I need to re-teach.

Students took home a new book today. If there are still problems with reading level or length of book chosen, let me know so I can help them find a new one tomorrow. Tonight's only "homework" is to create a second copy of a poem they wrote today. If students had Strings practice, they may not have finished their first copy. If that is the case, they can just do 1 draft on the piece of paper I supplied. They are to create a Colour Poem, a format they are very familiar with. If your child needs a refresher, the instructions are available here:

http://courses.missouristate.edu/shaejohnson/colorpoemexamples.htm

If you haven't been on the blog in a few days (or even if you have), I would suggest you and your child look at the links I have posted recently. They are a good way to review for math and a few other subjects. I also posted a dozen links about a week ago, in this post: http://grade5beachycove.blogspot.com/2011/09/some-links-and-tips.html

Let me know if you have any questions, and please check book bags for some notes that went home today. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Two live shows in one week!

We are getting very excited to go see Annie on Friday at Holy Heart Auditorium, but we had a special treat today with another show. This one was put on for us by Mme Curtis' class, entirely in French. Students had written a script about Rosa Parks, and acted it out for us. It was very well-written and performed, with a number of very touching and insightful moments. It really gave the class something to think about. When we got back to class, the students wrote reflections on how seeing something in a play (or for real) can make the message even more clear.

Your child may mention that I have started giving grades on some of the work they pass in. I will start marking more and more of their submitted work for them to review, especially when it is a task that reflects a number of concepts we have been working on. I won't be evaluating "pure homework", but anything we do in class is fair game. I have been taking more time to review verbs, spelling and grammar in class, so I will start to expect a higher level of each in their writing.

I am very happy with how the class is progressing, especially in terms of their questioning and reasoning skills. As we move along in the curriculum, these skills will serve them very well. Their answers are generally very well thought-out, and they are showing a much greater willingness to contribute to discussions and ask questions of me and their classmates.

I have placed a Band/String Ensemble schedule in students' Homework Binders. They highlighted/underlined the slots that they are practicing in, so I expect them to be prepared when they come to school each day. I will do my best to work around the band schedule, but there will be times when students will have to complete work or reading at home to make up for missed time. The class is aware of this, and they have all accepted this as a "necessary evil". I wish I could take band again.

That being said, I expect all students to be this good by the end of the year:



Students continue to bring in interesting items, stories and news from home and their communities. I try to give everybody a chance to present, even if it is for a brief amount of time. If I don't get a chance to let them present (in French, of course), I usually try to make time the next day. I would suggest that if your child has something they want to bring in (News, a curriculum-related item, trophy, etc.), they should prepare a small paragraph to read along with it. This will make is much easier for me to find the time and they presentation will stay on-topic.

Today I sent home a note from the office that details some changes in our technology acquisition strategy at Beachy Cove. The provincial government (what timing, eh?) has dedicated 14 SmartBoards to our school as part of a new initiative to get more technology in schools. We will also receive new classroom computers. This means that money gained at our Sweat a thon will be dedicated to acquiring an iPad 2 for each classroom. This will allow us great mobility of technology in the class, as well as a media platform, access to useful programs, and an interface that students are excited about.

If your child has pledges for the Sweat a thon, please send them along tomorrow. We will be absent in the morning on Friday, so I would like to have them into the office by tomorrow if possible. If a form has been lost or you need until Friday, please let me know tomorrow.

I am going to schedule our first Math test for later on next week. Yay Math Test! Students who were in my class last year that we always have some fun on Test Day. For that reason, today's Question du Jour is math-focused and includes most of the skills they will need to know from the first half of the unit. Please encourage your child to take their time with the question, and explain it fully. I will send home practice pages for the weekend, to serve as review for the test.

Here is a link to help students practice converting fractions to decimals:

http://www.mrnussbaum.com/death_decimals/index.html

Here is another that deals with decimal place value, which we will focus on the most. Experiment with it a bit, if your child is uncertain of all the terminology.

http://www.aaamath.com/plc51c-placevalues.html

I would encourage students to explore KidBlog a bit tonight, if they get a chance. There are several posts about our Beothuk project, as well as some weather-related items. I encourage anybody to share their Question du Jour answer if they would like to, or comment on another student's post.

What a fun day!

Today we had a chance to do some really fun activities, two of which included Mme Curtis' class as well. We also continued a read-aloud I started the other day, a book that the students are really enjoying. It is called The 13th Floor, written by Sid Fleischman, and it is a ghost/mystery story about a boy approximately their age. Exciting stuff!

This morning we took the first steps on our Social Studies research project. Students from both classes teamed up to start researching and asking questions about a variety of topics concerning early NL settlement. These topics range from Shelter and Transportation to Religion, Language and Arts. The class is very excited to be participating in the project, and I think they are already learning a lot. Most importantly, they are developing the important questioning skills that will allow them to learn even more!

In today's religion class we talked about the concepts of Loyalty, Honesty and Justice. We read a story in our book about students who find a coin purse, and how they deal with it. The class split up into groups to  write an ending to the story, and acted it out for the rest of us to watch. We reflected on these pieces, and discussed how challenging it can be to try to balance all three of these things in a situation. Some reactions showed great loyalty and justice, but not honesty. The class realized that displaying all three was very challenging, and was not "taking the easy way out"!

In the afternoon we went outside to do a science experiment. We measured the temperature of soil, sand and water over a 50-minute period to see how each absorbs heat over time. The students made their predictions and observations, and we filled in the time in between observations with some math and spelling games on the games court.

Band starts tomorrow; the flutes will be practicing with Ms. Shortall. String Ensemble has their first practice on Thursday. The class was also briefed on the Intramural setup, which will start soon. Students who prefect as well as play Intramurals must make sure that they have someone to cover their shift if the two coincide.

Talk to you all soon, please let me know if there are any problems or questions!

A quick note before my Grade-Level Meeting: More details tomorrow!

I have a 3:20 meeting, but here are a few notes to get everybody up to speed.

• I was very happy with the effort put into this weekend's assignment about the Beothuk and the early settlers of Newfoundland. A special thanks to those who drew pictures, found videos or pics and posted links
• Please keep monitoring the weather, this will continue to be a great tool for teaching vocab and material in Science.
• All students should now have an appropriate book for home reading in French
• Keep reviewing Mots de la Semaine, we will be doing review activities in class throughout the week, and I hope to see continued improvement.
• We will be having our Sweatathon this Friday (we will participate in the afternoon). If you have pledges or prizes to donate, please send them along with a note. Thanks!

Last-period gym anyone?

This year we have gym at 2:10 every Day 5, which leaves a bit of time to get my blog update done early. It feels a bit like they've just gone to the grandparents' house and I can take a minute to catch up on emails...

Today was another wild day; I'm not sure what's in the drinking water, but it's really upped the energy levels. As can be expected this time of year, I am having to remind students fairly often to speak in turn and not speak English when we are learning in French. These are both improving steadily, but it certainly is worth reinforcing as we go along.

I also talked to students about the French work they are completing at home, since some students are resorting to online translators and other such tools when working on homework. While these tools can be very useful for "one-off" searches for a particular word, we talked about how they are no substitute for generating your own work. I gave a demonstration of the shortcomings of these engines, and we looked at my correction criteria to see how work completed in this way is not something I can evaluate properly.

As mentioned at Curriculum Night, my focus with homework is to get students thinking and practicing in French. If there is a lack of time or your child is unable to complete a task, the best solution is to try their best and come and talk to me the next day. Taking a shortcut to "get it done" is never the best option, and I will not penalize anybody for taking their time and making a good effort.

That being said, I am very happy with the work being done at home. Students are coming to school on-time and prepared to work, which is as much as I can ask for! Many children in class have taken a particular interest in some of our projects and concepts, which has lead them to complete extra work and push their learning even further.

Mrs. Shortall gave out the band assignments today! Students who had band interviews are very excited to find out their instruments and get playing next week. Envelopes are going home today with all the necessary information. Also going home today is a newsletter and a form to update student information. This form is for the Eastern School District, who has a new piece of communication software that they are updating. It should be returned (signed) tomorrow, whether there are changes or not.

We also started our project on the colonization of Newfoundland. We had an exciting letter from an archivist at The Rooms, asking us to participate in a project. The class has accepted the challenge, and will begin preparing materials immediately. They will bring home a small project for the weekend/Monday, and have time to work on it in class as well.

Students can keep their weather-monitoring sheets in their bookbags, so we can use them in school and  they can monitor weather at home. I went through the sheets with them this morning in class, which should clear up any questions. Tonight's Question du Jour is about their Book of the Week. I showed the class today that many of the books have a useful glossary in the back that they can use to look up words that are complicated or new. This is also a great way to use online tools like Google Translate or Babel Fish.

Have a great evening, and talk to you tomorrow.

A quick update

Hi gang, just a quick update today. Staff meeting blended into KidBlog updating, which found me getting home at about 5:30... All good! Here's a few updates to make sure everybody's up to speed. I'm going through the rubrics for the Homework DuoTang I will send home later this week, but I will update a bit more later if I get a chance. Some notes:

• Students brought home their weather monitoring sheets today; these can be kept at home to monitor the weather throughout the next couple of weeks.
• Today's Question du Jour is about the upcoming Provincial Election. If students are having trouble finding information, try this site:                                               http://www.electionalmanac.com/canada/newfoundlandandlabrador/
• We start our Drama in Education project about colonial Newfoundland tomorrow. I think students will be excited by a letter we have to show them!
• We're having a lot of fun with place value. I have added some good links to this blog's right sidebar.

Sorry for the brief update, but I know that Mme Curtis has posted some updates as well. Her blog is linked on the right sidebar as well.

Is there a full moon?

There was a real hum of energy in class today; I guess a critical mass of students opted for Coco-Puffs over Shredded Wheat today. Days like this always have the potential to fly off the rails, but thankfully today it got channeled into some real productive energy. I am starting to notice that most students are speaking more French in class, which I am happy to hear. This is something I will get more picky about over the coming weeks. We got a lot of review accomplished in math, as well as additional practice writing out numbers and brushing up on place value. We played a fun game, one of the ones linked in my last post.

Students' homework tonight is to finish up a drawing they were working on in Health class. The idea is to represent themselves at age 5, age 10, and in the future. Students brainstormed lists of their interests (or projected interests) at each age, as a means of comparing them and seeing how things change over time. Each of the three panels on their drawing is meant to represent one of these ages, with all of their interests somehow represented.

We also got time to prep for our Drama in Education project about the Beothuk peoples and early colonization of Newfoundland, which will start tomorrow. I think the class will really enjoy this project. Tomorrow the class will bring home a letter that outlines what we will be expected to do by the project's directors.

I worked with the class on developing rubrics today as well. We took some existing rubrics that I found online and adapted them as the students saw fit. The topics they are meant to evaluate range from oral presentations to health class, and everything in between. I will finish altering these projects tonight and tomorrow, to include in their homework DuoTangs this week.

Tomorrow we will start a 2-week weather monitoring project. Students will bring home two sheets on which to record weather information. Some of this will be observable trends and conditions, and other elements will require listening to the radio or TV, or checking on the Internet. I would strongly suggest that you push them to work independently on this project, as the content is quite straightforward. It should be a neat opportunity for them to take ownership of the project and see it through over a period of time.

Please check out the post from Monday (yesterday) and feel free to explore some of the links. Students were especially interested in the Place Value math games on Gamequarium. Have a great night, and let me know if you have any questions.

Some links and tips

We had a great day today, focusing primarily on Math, French and Science. As I mentioned in Friday's post, here are some useful links that we will be taking advantage of throughout the coming weeks. I will link them in the sidebar (to the right) as well within the next week.

Social Studies: The Beothuk peoples and early colonists of Newfoundland

http://www.mun.ca/rels/native/beothuk/beohist.html : I will use this site to pull information from during our Drama in Education program about early Newfoundland settlement.

http://www.bigorrin.org/beothuk_kids.htm : This informational site is more kid-friendly; students will be using it for their own work.

http://www.mun.ca/rels/native/beothuk/beo2gifs/texts/howley17.html#jgnar : This is a source text that I will be translating for use in our projects; feel free to refer to it, and bookmark it in case it is needed as a supplementary reading later.

Math: Place value, counting and representing up to 1 000 000

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_152_g_2_t_1.html?from=category_g_2_t_1.html : This site allows students to practice working with place value. If you click on "Parent/Teacher" at the top of the page, there is a helpful tutorial.

http://www.gamequarium.com/placevalue.html : Gamequarium is a great site with plenty of good, interactive activities. I would suggst playing a couple of these games whenever students get a chance, just to improve comprehension and to get some practice in.

French: Grammar, Responding, Reading

http://w3.restena.lu/primaire/weiswampach/arend/01_02/2/histoires2.html : These are stories written by schoolchildren, and can be used for nightly assigned reading if your child doesn't have a book. They are also a good model of what I am looking for in their writing.

Science: Weather and Climate

http://www.meteo.gc.ca/city/pages/nl-24_metric_f.html : We will be monitoring weather over the next couple weeks; please use this site to find weather predictions and conditions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74mhQyuyELQ&feature=player_embedded&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active : This video is made up of images taken from the International Space Station. It helped students as they tried to visualize the scope of climate and the atmosphere.

Religion: Civil Rights and Peace-Making

http://www.rfi.fr/actufr/articles/070/article_39395.asp : This is a news account of the passing of Rosa Parks. It will be used as a reference for a project on Martin Luther King and other noted "Peace-Makers"

http://lpdw.free.fr/freedom/martinlutherbio.htm : This is a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. in French. It is above most students' reading levels, but excerpts will be used when we deal with this topic.

http://bharat.pagesperso-orange.fr/bio/gandhi.htm : Finally, this page is about the life of Gandhi. It is more approachable to the readers in our class, and will serve as a source in class.

English: Writing a business letter and analyzing text

http://www.infoplease.com/homework/wsbookreportelem.html : When I ask students to reflect on something they have written or on a text they are given (which will be frequent in English and French), I expect them to consider certain things. This site gives many examples of what I am looking for, either in formal reports or in individual reflections.

http://www.xerox.ca/office/small-business/tips/business-letter/enca.html : Students will be learning how to write business letters in class. If they need help, you can use this site to remind you of exact formatting details.

These links should be helpful, either directly or indirectly. Here are a few more notes specific to today's activities:

• We gave out new weekly tasks today, so it is worth checking with your child to see what they will be responsible for.
• I have prepared morning checklists, and almost completed the homework folders I mentioned last week. These will be a dynamic, changing document that students will be able to refer to throughout the year.
• Thank you for sending in book orders, they will be sent in today.
• If your child is using KidBlog frequently (as most are), please have them check my posts frequently. Also, any post not adhering to the "New Rules" will be marked as a "Draft" by me and sent back. Students can look at their drafts in the "New Post" tab under "Review Posts", and make any changes. Most often, the changes will involve capitalization, punctuation or French-language issues. It bears repeating that I will not reject posts for spelling, grammar or other similar errors.
• Today's Question du Jour is math-related. Students have been instructed already that any responses to math questions should be answered in full sentences.

Have a great night and let me know if you have any questions.

Storming out of the classroom

Not much more to add here! Today was obviously cut short because of the imminent storm. I will post with some links and notes on Monday to help with the next couple weeks, but here are a few notes for today.

• Lunch money was not refunded; any lunch orders from today will be honoured on Monday, so there is no need to send money.
• This weekend's homework is to post on KidBlog about the hurricane. I also posted about the new "Rules" we will be following for posting on KidBlog. I would suggest that students review these by logging in and clicking on my name to see the post in question.
• Scholastic book orders are due on Monday.
• I would like to have all permission forms and money in for our "Annie" field trip by Wednesday. Thanks to those who have already done so.
• Thanks you very much to Doug and Susan for hooking us up with (sorry for the pun) a wireless keyboard and mouse for the class. It was already put to use today. 
• I hope everything worked out today in terms of getting the kids home without too much hassle. If there is anything else we can organize to help with these plans in the future, just let me know.

Hope everybody weather the storm well (the sun just came out in St. Philip's), and please check back in tomorrow for some updates.

How do you solve a problem like (Hurricane) Maria?

Whew, what a busy day! Until we get the library rolling (starting Monday), Day 7 is a full day of uninterrupted class. This is a great opportunity to get some larger-scale projects completed, but can be exhausting for students. That being said, the class got a lot accomplished today. We are "face and eyes" into our curriculum now in all subject areas, and have laid most of the groundwork for our classroom rules and expectations. I prefer to keep these class guidelines flexible at first, since they seem to have greater effect when students are involved in their development.

Thanks to all those who came to Curriculum night! There's nothing like getting to meet you face-to-face, showcase some of my plans and let you see where your children spend their days. The children were very excited to see the notes left for them by their parents, and it seemed as though some had chatted with their parent(s) about what we were going to be doing this year.

First off, here are some links to sites that I showed you the other day. Many of these are also available in the PowerPoint, Word documents and on the sidebar of this blog.

• kidblog.org : The site we are using for student blogging. Students can play around with it for now (preferably in English), and I will be assigning specific tasks as we go along.
• http://www.glogster.com/ : This site is used to create projects and other fun presentations.
• grade4beachycove.blogspot.com : My site from last year; many pertinent links and tips
• http://www.stormpulse.com/ : This is the site students should use for today's Question du Jour
• The Strangest Sights on Google Earth : A gallery of crazy sights (and sites) as seen via satellite
• http://p4c.org.nz/ : The homepage of Philosophy For Children, a site that has many great ideas and lesson plans for helping students become more critical-thinking and analytical
• Bob's Educational Links : Just one of the many SmartBoard sites I take advantage of

I will continue to add sites throughout the year. Last year, some parents found it useful to create a Favourites folder to keep these links in for quick reference. They are also available (if you use the search tool) on this blog.

Today we spent time talking about weather at length, based on the reading the completed last night. I was happy to see that students had absorbed a fair bit of information and seemed very comfortable with some of the vocabulary we were learning already. We used some sites to track hurricanes and other weather patterns, and watched a video about how tornadoes form. Kudos to Erica, who notice that the direction of rotation is different depending on what type of storm we are looking at.

In Religion, we continued to talk about "Peace Makers". This unit looks at those in our current society and in history who have made extraordinary efforts to create peace and are good examples of how we all strive to participate in our communities. As an intro to the American Civil Rights hero Martin Luther King Jr., we talked about Rosa Parks and wrote a 1st person journal entry. These were very well-done and thoughtful.

We started a fun project today, called Global Children's Challenge. It is a healthy-living initiative that focuses on the use of pedometers to monitor activity in an effort to track and increase our healthy living habits. We will monitor these pedometers as a class and individually, and compare online to the other 120,000 students participating around the world. For that reason, they need to bring these to school each day to record totals.

Tomorrow marks the first turnover of home-reading books and "Words of the Week". Students should bring in their French books that I assigned last week, and I will chat with them and give them a new, more appropriate one. They will have a little assignment for the weekend/Monday that will relate to the book they have just finished.

One last note: I will be preparing a comprehensive Homework DuoTang to go home next week. This will contain details from rubrics and homework policy to schedules, weekly tasks, important dates, etc. I hope this will help students stay organized and avoid unnecessary confusion. Have a great evening, and don't leave your deck chairs outside.

Curriculum Night at BCE

To prepare for tonight's Curriculum Night festivities, I will not be posting a full blog entry. Here are a few relevant points for the next couple days:

• There is a field trip planned for September 30th. Details will go home tomorrow
• Scholastic orders are due on Monday the 19th.
• I have assigned a specific book to be read in French tonight, with no "Question du Jour". It relates to our unit about weather in Science.
• Keep the posts coming on KidBlog! It's great to see the enthusiasm. If your child is less inclined to post until they know a bit more, that is perfectly okay. I will assign a specific task on Friday.

See you at Curriculum Night!

The class who love school so much they skipped part of Gym



Just one of the fun activities that the class
graciously sacrificed today...

 Okay, so the title of today's post is sort of misleading. I'll explain more later in the post. That being said, we had a great time today as we start to get into the swing of things. Each day I notice that the students are getting more and more eager to participate and involve themselves in their learning and that of their classmates. Exciting times at BCE indeed!

We did our first Science experiment today, as an introduction to atmospheric science in our weather unit. The goal was to show that the air around us takes up space, so we used cups held underwater to show how air can displace water in another cup. The students really enjoyed the activity, so you may see this demonstrated at home tonight. It also bears mentioning that while I mentioned how air being trapped under a submerged vessel can be useful when a boat flips over (to help you breathe underwater), I in no way endorse the intentional sabotage of aquatic vehicles of any kind.

We also repeated and elaborated on an activity from last year. This involved viewing 2 videos, listening to a piece of music, and listening to a poem. The idea was to show students how to actively respond to something they hear, see or view in a meaningful way. We discussed how it is necessary to listen/watch/read carefully, then to think about what our reactions are in detail and record them. We shared these reactions, observed again, then reached final conclusions.



Yet another way to respond to videos?

 Responding is a key part of their evaluation this year, since it tends to indicate understanding very accurately. I impressed upon students that paying attention in class is their responsibility in the end, and how much they pay attention has a real effect on how well they can complete tasks later on. I was pleased with their responses, and I will give out French Duotangs before long that contains the information we discussed today. This should help when working on projects as the year goes on.

This afternoon we had several members of the Lion's Club visit to see a SmartBoard in action. We ran over into Gym class a few minutes, but the students were very courteous and waited patiently while I finished presenting to the group. I will try to sneak in a bit of outdoor fun later in the week.

I didn't assign any homework as a result of their actions, to thank them for being so patient and considerate. However, I can already see that some students have gone home and started using KidBlog! Great to see the enthusiasm in this new way of communicating. I encourage students to keep experimenting and posting throughout the week. I will start assigning specific tasks by the end of the week, but in the interim I encourage students to keep experimenting and posting things with French commentaries.

I hope to see you all at Curriculum Night, tomorrow at 7pm. Even if you are only able to attend for a short period of time, it would be great to touch down with you and pass along some important information. If you can't make it, please let me know.

A few more Monday messages

Not too much to add tonight! I was out for the morning with a doctor's appointment, so the class was left in the capable hands of Mrs. Dawe. They had their first choir class, and found out more about prefecting. Prefecting is a great activity for the students, wherein they supervise younger students at recess and lunch time.

I was happy to see some more posts on our KidBlog site today, even though it is still very much an optional "work in progress" activity. I will be expanding more on how to use the site and what my expectations are throughout the week, culminating in another "official" blog post that I will expect to have completed over the weekend.

After a bit of work on Newfoundland geography and an into to the indigenous people of Newfoundland, we will be starting a new Drama in Education. For those who had a child in my class last year, you will recognize this as the "Mr. Leblanc" role-playing activity. It will be a collaborative activity between the two Grade 5 EFI classes, and should run from Sept. 19th to October 14th. On the 14th, we will travel to Cupids to conclude our unit on early Newfoundland settlement.

See you at Curriculum night!

In meetings...

I will not be able to post a full update until this evening, so here are a few quick notes:

-Today's Question du Jour relates to the books students have been reading in French
-I sent home book orders. For those involved in my Scholastic fiasco last year, things have been sorted out. They are due next Monday
-Curriculum night is 7pm Wednesday, and I will be sharing critical information at that time. There will also be several ways to leave feedback for your child on their work so far and their goals for this term.

Talk to you later!

Everybody's working for the weekend

Today we officially started blogging as a class, using the education-specific site Kidblog. It is a program that some of my colleagues have had great success with, and the students seemed to get the hang of things very quickly today. We toured the site in detail, then students created an initial trial blog post. Any time they post it comes to me first for approval, so the site doesn't get flooded with posts. I will also try to comment on posts, and I hope that students will comment on their friends' ideas etc. as well.

For this weekend, I have told students to go ahead and play with the blog but not to expect me to "green-light" all of their posts. If they wish, your child can create drafts and play with formatting, or try to leave comments. If they would rather wait, that's fine too!

Some students met with Mrs. Shortall today to get an orientation to Beachy Cove's music program. Some students are joining the instrumental band, while others (with plenty of overlap in between) are going to join to string ensemble. Both are well-run, exciting programs that teach a great deal about music and other skills. I played in an instrumental band in school, and I have to say it was one of the more formative experiences of my learning as a child. It teaches great organization, control and memory as well as boosting confidence by providing you with unique skills. I can't wait to see the final product in June.

I sent students home with a Question du Jour as usual, and each student also has a French-language book to read now as well. These will be exchanged each Friday, or earlier if I am satisfied that the student has exhausted their options with that particular book. I will assign various response questions throughout next week. Some students are also bringing home band forms to sign and return, and others need approval to participate in intramural sports.

We are hoping to book a very exciting field field trip for the end of this month! All details will be disclosed next week, but I am very happy about the possibility of having another excursion. As I mentioned in a prior post, please let me know of any community events you think we may be interested in attending or monitoring in class.

Have a great weekend, and let me know if you have any questions.

Real Students of the OC (Outdoor Classroom)

We settled into more of a routine today, and it seems the students are getting more and more comfortable with some new routines and daily practicies. We started with "Saviez-vous que?" this morning, an activity where students share something with the class. This a good little start-up activity that gets the kids thinking in French, and lets them get things off their chest before we get going for the day.

I neglected to mention in yesterday's blog post, but the kids put together a great mural that showed what they had done over the summer. It's on our back bulletin board, so make sure to check it out when you come in for Curriculum Night. We had a few more details on some fun summer activities during "Saviez-vous que?" this morning.

The students had their first gym class, as well as a trip outside to use our new outdoor classroom. This is a great little spot out behind the games court with rocks for sitting and big open circular area for presenting, teaching etc. Mme Curtis and I teamed up to do an activity about weather, which will be our first unit in Science. It will concern everything from climate trends to Newfoundland weather, the atmosphere, natural disasters and renewable energy. This also crosses over to our Social Studies curriculum, where the focus is on Human Environments and the geography, flora and fauna of Newfoundland. I would encourage you to discuss the weather when possible with your child, to foster a (hopefully) increasing awareness and interest in the climate of their environment.

In math we did an estimation activity, where the students had to guess the number of beads in a large container. We started with a blind guess, then counted 100 and guessed again, then counted out 100 each (1,400 total) and made a group estimate. We estimated the final number to be about 14,000, which was near to some guesses (and not as near to others). It was a great way for students to start thinking about numbers and scale, as we move into place value activities that will go up to 1,000,000 this year.

To tie in with this activity, tonight's Question du Jour relates to estimation. I have asked students to estimate how many hockey players there are in Newfoundland. Using things they already know or can easily find out (how many people that they know play hockey, how many people are in their league/team, how many people live in Newfoundland), I have asked them to make an educated guess.

I don't want students to get hung up on exact numbers, but to show their workings a bit and talk through the information they used to make their guess. I am not assessing these for grammar or spelling, although I have a certain expectation that I know they can live up to. Parents' role in this project is more to offer help talking things through and keeping the work organized and tidy than to help with their French skills. Can't wait to see what they come up with!

I appreciate students' (and by extension, parents') punctuality so far, it makes a big difference when trying to get things started in the mornings. I notice a real relationship between how much time students have to get ready and how quickly they are able to jump into things in the morning. I like them to have time to socialize and get organized before class, so thanks so much for getting them here nice and early.

Here is a link for your brower's Favourites bar, something that should come in handy throughout the year. It links to the Association Communautaire Francophone de St John's, which is the home page of the St. John's Francophone Associataion. This is the group that operates out of Grands-Vents, the french-language school on Ridge Road. They have frequent activities and clubs in French, including concerts and festivals. I would encourage you to participate in any and all of these that interest you, or at least to inquire. If you see anything in an upcoming schedule that they class might enjoy, please let us know so we can take a closer look!

http://www.acfsj.ca/index.php

I sent home September's schedule today, as well as a newsletter distributed by the office. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please let me know. Have a good evening, and talk to you tomorrow.

Welcome to Grade 5.

Well, here we are back in the classroom! The kids seemed to get right into things this morning; perhaps the late start gave them more time to sleep? It was nice to see some familiar faces and plenty of new ones as well. I think we have a great mix in the class this year.

We spent most of the time today going over classroom protocol, rules and organization. I plan to keep things very simple when it comes to rules and routines, in an effort not to confuse the issue or give students too much to consider. In-class roles (cleaning, technology, agendas, schedule, les chefs, etc) will change weekly. Only one of these roles entails any work at home; that being "Nouvelles", wherein the student(s) responsible have to find something in the news to present briefly the next day. This can be trivial or serious, and they should be able to present it in a sentence or two in French.

My main priority in class is that all students feel very safe and able to express themselves in a meaningful way. I adhere very closely to the school's policy on bullying, particularly in the form of intimidation or verbal abuse. That being said, I don't see this as being a problem whatsoever given the fine group of students in our class. I want to use the many assets the students bring to the class each day, and help them achieve their own goals and improve their in-class performance. I will try to keep in steady communication with parents and guardians at home, with the hope that you will support this learning model as students bring home projects and reading each week.

I plan to make time daily for students to share things they have accomplished or participated in at home or in their communities as well. If your child wants to bring in something to share, please let me know so I can highlight it and set some time aside. We also have a place in the classroom to post newspaper clippings, awards and any other mementos that students want to share. If your child has some resource at home that they would like to use in class, I would also encourage them to bring it in.

Here are a few notes on upcoming events, etc.

• Curriculum Night will take place at 7:00pm on Wednesday, September 14th. It is critical that parents attend this evening in some capacity, since I will be passing on resources and information that will be of great help this term.
• I sent home an envelope full of forms to be returned. The sooner I have these back, the better.
• Tomorrow we will be using the new Outdoor Classroom! Please make sure students are dressed appropriately.
• September's schedule will be sent home by the end of the week
• This year, we will be participating in the Remembrance Day assembly and the Spring Concert.
• I will be giving students a weekly reading assignment in French, to be completed at home. This, along with a list of pertinent words to become familiar with, will be distributed each Friday.
• We will be using a Drama in Education program to study Newfoundland geography and early Beothuk-European interactions this fall. This will conclude with a visit to Cupids.

If you have any questions or concerns, I am always available via email at sampaterson@esdnl.ca. If you become a follower of this page (bottom right sidebar), you can also get automatic updates when I post. This site is also formatted for access by your smartphone or iPod. This site will often have links to useful sites and information that we are addressing in class, as well as musings and news on what we are up to. I welcome your comments and input.

For today, here are two links. The first goes to Glogster, a site that we will be using to create visual representations for some of our projects. I have already created a class account, and will give students their login information next week. This link takes you to a small tutorial that you may find interesting.

 http://edu.glogster.com/what-is-glogster-edu/

The second link is to Kidblog, an interface we will be using to create individual student blogs. Again, I have already created class profiles that will give each student access to our confidential class group. We will be using Kidblog as a group of 28 (my class and Mme Curtis' classes together). This link will give you an idea what Kidblog looks like, and show some screenshots.

http://kidblog.org/about.php

I've rambled long enough, have a good evening!