September 26 - 30, 2016

The time is beginning to fly here at Sagonaska... We must be having fun!


In language this week, we have started working on Summarizing.  We have been reading Roald Dahl's George's Marvelous Medicine.  Using this mentor text we have been asking students to begin summarizing what is hapenning in the story.  Summarizing a text while reading allows students to confirm and combine key ideas that they identified while they made their predictions.

Watch and listen to Davis and Gerrit as they explain the importance of summarizing.

Math has been very exciting this week.  Mr. Di Donato and a couple other teachers from Sagonaska went to Milton for some professional development.  While there, Mr. Di Donato learned mostly about how to use a variety of math tools (manipulatives) to help students understand and explain their thinking around new concepts they have learned.  The classroom got a new "math rug" and we have been using it to help with our number sense.  Our goal for this week is to go from additive thinking to multiplicative thinking.  It is amazing how well the students are doing with this first unit!

 In Sciecne we have started learning about biodiversity and the human body.  We went to the Frink Centre for outdoor education this week.  While on the trip, students got to see ecosystems and interrelationship first hand!  Understanding interrelationships is the first step in understanding biodiversity as well as the human body.

We celebrated a birthday this week!  In the tradition of Di Donato/LeSage, students choose their favorite meals and the teachers make it for the whole class!  Holly love's Greek salad so that is what we got to enjoy together!

Thursday was the Terry Fox run.  Sagonaska hosted their own run.  Students raised money for the Terry Fox foundation and participated in a run/walk yesterday.  As Terry is a hero to all of us, students AND teachers were encouraged to dress up as their favorite super heroes.

Good questions to ask your children this weekend are...

1. Can you explain why your teachers include a secret word on homework posts in Google Classroom?
2. How was the Terry Fox run?
3. Do you want to play the math games?
4. Can you read your Fluency passage to me?

Have a fantastic weekend with your children!

The Week of September September 19 - September 23

Three weeks in already! Time flies when you are having fun!

Language:
Students continue to investigate what effective readers do while reading. We captured student thinking on an anchor chart - it is quite detailed! 

We have also been learning about making solid predictions using fictional texts. We thought it was important to highlight the rules for fiction.  Please have your child explain - with the help of their Google Classroom- the rules of fiction. While you are looking at the Rules of Fiction Doc, ask your child to explain how we use Google Classroom.

We have been developing goals for the students.  These goals are posted on the goal board.  It is a great way for students to frequently be reminded of what exactly they need to do in order to progress.  Coming home tonight is a photo of your child's fluency passage and their fluency goal.  Please ask your child to first review their goal and then read the passage to you.  We think you will be very happy!

Math:
This week the students worked very hard on representing numbers! Again, have your child walk you through their notes in the Google Classroom.  Next week we are switching gears and are going to be investigating operations.

Here are some things to ask about when you are talking to your child about their week at school...

• Google Classroom
• "George's Marvelous Medicine"
• The Place Value system and how important the number 10 is to it
• Rules for fiction
• Predictions
• Define the problem
• Book Creator App

Next Week...

On Wednesday we are all going to the Frink Center for some out door education.  Long pants and long sleeves are  recommended. There is a coin collection happening for the Terry Fox run which we are participating in on Thursday.  There is a superhero theme so students are encouraged to be a superhero for the day!  We also ask that all of our students bring a reusable water bottle if they have one at home.  It is important for our brains to stay hydrated!

Stay Tuned...

It's Fluency Friday!

Every Friday morning, we take part in a consolidation activity called "Fluency Friday".  We have the students read their weekly fluency passages. The students have been reading nightly with residence Counsellors every night.  We find this activity builds confidence, strong listening skills and the ability to set attainable goals, in terms of what good readers do.

This can be a very scary experience for our students.  Here is what the kids said after the first time they read in front of the class.

Logan: "I was a little nervous, but I felt good after I was done."

Davis (second year): "I felt fine because I did it a lot last year.  I felt like it was boosting my confidence so I don't feel really as scared."

Holly: "I think I did an okay job. I was excited because I got to read in front of people and I don't do that very often."

Gerrit (second year): "I felt good because I got good feedback and I came away with a goal."

Landon: "I feel good because I read it and it's over now.  It wasn't scary because I could look at the back wall and the paper instead of the people in front of me."

Mac: "I felt okay because I was pretty scared.  I can't read in front of people.  I didn't feel that weird because there were only a few people."

Ryan: "I felt okay becasue I am not nervous because I know they won't mind if I get the word wrong."

So Far in Mr. Di Donato and Ms. LeSage's Class

We have been busy at Sagonaska!  We are working hard to take care of all of our start up activities.

The first thing we did was create a classroom respect agreement.  The students did a great job helping the teachers come up with great ideas so that we are able to work well together.

We started our "Tech Game Plan".  We are quickly learning how to organize our ideas using the app called Popplet. When your child gets home on the weekend, ask them how to use it! Students should be able to show you our "Smartie" writing activity plan.

Students should also explain how to use Google Docs.  Google Docs is one of the many Google Apps for Education (GAFE) that we use here at Sagonaska.

Next on the Tech Game Plan is Book Creator!  One of our favorites here in 5/6.

Students were introduced to mathematics.  The students did a fantastic job collaborating in teams to solve the tug of war problem. We have completed our Prime diagnostic and are diving into our first unit - Number Sense and Numeration.