Dear Parents,
We've had a busy and productive week. Students storyboarded their animations and a couple of the groups began filming their stories on Friday. Next week, we'll continue to film, add sound tracks and then screen the final products. One of the nice things about this project is that it incorporates music, drama, visual art and some language.
In math, we've been practising long division and going back over double digit multiplication for students who need the practice. On Monday, those students will retest multiplication and, on Friday, there will be a short quiz on Division skills and Order of Operations (which you might also remember as BEDMAS*).
In language, we're finishing up the biography projects so that reports and presentations can begin after Thanksgiving. This week, everyone managed to finish up their rough drafts and get three peer edits, which I'm very excited about. On Monday, I'll begin conferencing with students who are ready with the following:
1. A finished second draft, preferably typed and double spaced.
2. A complete bibliography, timeline and portrait.
3. A plan for their puppet including a list of materials they need and what items are in each hand.
4. A list of the questions they plan to ask in their puppet interviews.
Students spent much of today working towards these goals. As always, some are ahead of others but I'm hopeful that many will be ready to go on Monday.
Over the next week, I'll confer with students individually and work with them to complete final drafts and write answers for the interview questions they ask. Around mid-week, we'll use some class time to work on puppets, so please help students remember to send extra materials they need for the puppets to school starting Monday.
With the biography project well on its way to being done, our next shift in focus will be towards Science and Social Studies. For the grade 5's, the municipal election will become a focal point for the government unit. For the grade 6's, we'll focus on Aboriginal issues in the news. For both, the upcoming visit from SciHigh will be an exciting opportunity to explore biology. We'll extract DNA from a banana, look at how police find DNA evidence at a crime scene, and look at some model animals used in research.
Finally, I know there's been a lot of paperwork flowing back and forth in recent weeks. I've been doing my best to stay on top of it all myself and want to thank all of you for doing the same.
All my best,
Ms. Goegan
*ie:
B= Brackets
E= Exponents
DM= Division and Multiplication
AS= Addition and Subtraction
