October 24 - 28

Things got SPOOKY this week in 5/6!

In writing, students have started to learn about procedural writing.  We have started our shared writing (writing as a class to increase student understanding of a concept) of "How to Make a Delicious Box of Kraft Dinner".  Students will create an independent piece of procedural writing next week.

This is an excerpt from our Google Classroom.  The above screen grab is exactly what the students see when they open the shared Google Doc about Procedural Writing. Students can view it anytime, anywhere!

In reading we have been working very hard on decoding, fluency, comprehension and goal setting.  I asked Davis for a quick interview to help explain how to set goals.  Here is what we chatted about...

Davis explains how he set a goal for reading!

In math, students are doing a great job of explaining measurement.  More specifically this week, area of a rectangle and parallelograms.  We try to be as hands on in math as possible in math.

Mr. Mortaley stopped by with Sphero.  We investigated the attributes of rectangles and parallelograms using simple coding.  As part of a shared lesson, we created a simple program to make Sphero move in the shape of a square - which is actually a rectangle too!

This week was spirit week for the students and staff at Sagonaska.  Yesterday, students and staff took part in a door decorating contest.  There were three categories that won a pizza party next week, the funniest, the most creative and the scariest.  The creative minds of the students in Mr. Di Donato's and Ms. LeSage's class won for the scariest!  Thanks to the students for all their hard work helping with the decorations!

Good Questions to Ask Your Child over the Weekend...

1. What is the difference between perimeter and area?
2. What is your fluency goal? Can you read me your fluency please?
3. Ask students to list steps to something they are fluent at (What are the steps to making a sandwich? What materials do you need?)
4. Why is setting goals for reading important?

Things going on next week...

1. Orange and black day is on Monday.
2. Visiting teachers are coming on Monday.
3. Visiting Principals on Tuesday.
4. Review meetings begin next week!

Have a fantastic weekend with your family!

October 3 - 6 2016

This week in language we continued to focus on the comprehension strategy of summarizing. The strategies we have been teaching for summarizing are demonstrated through the use of an app called Book Creator and lend nicely to our weekly fluency activity.  Students are almost fluent with the Book creator app which means we will be introducing the students to the next app, "Explain Everything", this coming week.

In Math, we have been  learning about perimeter this week.  Finding the perimeter of a shape is a great way for students to use what they know about addition and repeated addition.  Students have shown us that they understand what exactly perimeter is.  Next week we will continue to work on perimeter in order to get at adding decimal numbers to thousandths.

In science, students have been hard at work building their Minecraft ecosystems.  The final task for science is for students to create an ecosystem in Minecraft.  Below is a screen grab of what the students see as an assignment.

Students have been working very hard on their reading.  Over the last two weeks we took time to re assess each of the students in grade 5/6.  The good news is that all of the students have increased their decoding skills!  We have come up very specific goals for each individual student.

Good questions to ask your child...

1. Can you review your Fluency goal with me then read your fluency to me?
2. What is perimeter? Show me a picture of something that illustrates perimeter.
3. What was your reading level at the beginning of the year and what is it now?
4. Can you please explain to me the sounding out strategy?
5. Can there be two digits in one place value column? Why or why not?