Reminder: Class photos are tomorrow.  These are not individual photos, but will have our whole class together.  Neat clothing and nice smiles are appreciated! 

Request for help:  We are currently looking at climate trends/norms/types for the different areas in Canada.  If you have family or friends could you please encourage your child to ask them about what the weather is normally like there (in the different seasons)?

Hello and happy Monday!

Please find attached the link to today's gymnastics pictures - all about jumps and the foam pit :)

Tuesday: Good copies of paragraphs are due.  Most students have finished but there are a few finishing their re-write.

Wednesday:  Walk (or bike) to school day.  Everyone is encouraged to use their own people power to get to school this Wednesday morning.  We'll also be tracking how many participants that we have from each class so lets make an effort!

Friday: Math weekly #5 is due.

Our crystals are growing!  We have some big ones, some growing along the bottom of jars, some growing on strings and some covering the top of the solution like the ice on a lake. Take a look at some of these ones that are growing well!

We've created our saturated solutions in Science and now we are waiting to see how our crystals grow. Thank you to everyone that sent in glass jars to help us with this, and keep posted, I'll put up some pictures of our crystal growth soon.  Fingers crossed that we'll have some good growth overnight :)

A final reminder also about Book Talk videos which are due by tomorrow.  Thank you to everyone that has already emailed them to me.  I am waiting on about half of the class still so please check in with your child about their progress.

Glass jars needed for making crystals in Science tomorrow (lids are helpful for transporting any crystals home next week :)

Due Wednesday are book talk videos.  I have a few great samples shared already. Looking forward to all of the rest!!

Spelling lists for this week also went home today and the test, along with the completed assignment #4 will be Friday. 

Here's the next edition of our gymnastics pictures.  Lots of rolls, tumbles and jumps today plus some amazing rope climbing too!

We are so proud of our very own Smart Cookie Ellie who got first prize for her Remembrance Day poster!

Reminders:
- Monday morning we are heading over to gymnastics again.  Please be sure that your child has appropriate clothing for full movement and flexibility.
- Next week we will be growing crystals in Science - students need a small (baby food) to medium sized glass jar (preferably with a lid) for growing and transporting their crystals.  Some scrap material can also be used as a "cozy" to help encourage crystal growth.  If you have any extra glass jars you are willing to part with, please send them along too in case someone forgets.
- Finally, don't forget to keep encouraging daily reading.  Both to make progress for upcoming book talks and novel reviews, but also to work towards consistent growth.

Just a quick reminder that this week's Math Weekly assignment is due tomorrow morning.  Many students have already handed it in, but please check in with your child tonight to see if they still have to completed it.

Also a reminder that next Wednesday book talks are due (please see the linked rubric and checklist posted last week) and in early February students will be completing a novel review for a chapter book they should be currently reading.  Daily reading remains a very important part of our LA program, and focus on the characters and main events will be a large part of our novel review.  Please take a few minutes each evening to talk at home about what is happening in the book your child is reading.

Thanks for all that you do to help support your child and their learning!

This week's homework assignment is Math Weekly #4.  This was handed out at the end of the day yesterday and is due by Friday morning.

During class today we'll also be working on our book talks.  These videos or live presentation are to be completed for sharing on Jan.25 of next week.  Students are encouraged to use a video program to help make their presentation unique and interesting for the audience.  Videos should then be uploaded into Google Drive and shared with me. Here is the link again to the checklist and rubric for this assignment.  Also - for finding the book level (vocabulary level) for a specific book students can go to AR book finder.  This link is also available from the LA page on this blog.

What a great start to our gymnastics!  So much fun this morning at the Rec. Centre.  If you'd like to take a peek at what we were doing follow this link to our folder of pictures so far.  More will be added next week too :)

Read, Read, Read!  

Our reading focus in January has changed from weekly reading records to two different assignments to show understanding of books that we have read.

Every student will be responsible for presenting one formal book talk.  This can be for a graphic novel, non-fiction book or a fiction book (not a compilation of comic strips though) that has been recently read.  These need to be ready to present on January 22.  Students can choose to present live to the class, or create a video at home ahead of time and email it to me so that we can watch it.  Please take a minute to look at the assignment expectation and discuss these with your child.

Also as a final project for a novel currently being read, students will be completing a novel review at the beginning of February.  We have looked through the assignment and questions in class, and discussed choosing a novel of appropriate length and reading level to complete it in time to do the assignment.  This can be a novel from either school or home but it should be the novel that is being read each day.  To see what will be expected for this assignment, please follow this link: Novel Review.

Thanks for helping us to encourage reading for everyone!

Two more upcoming assignments to make note of:

Science - separating mixtures posters, like these example by Tristan & Gibby, Louis, or this one by Kiersten, are due by the end of the day tomorrow.  Pay special attention to the pictures students have created using layering and cropping to fit their Science explanation.

Social - regions presentations need to be complete in their information and ready to be presented to the rest of the class by Thursday.

As always, thank you for checking in with your child to see how they are progressing towards completing these assignments!

Welcome back to everyone - I hope that you all had some fun family time as well as some time to relax and recharge over the holidays!

A change for the next few weeks - after seeing a lot of improvement in weekly reading records over the passed few months we will be taking a break from this formal assignment until the end of January.  Students are still encouraged to read every day and we will be doing some paired reading and responding, as well as some more book talks in class as alternate ways of sharing our understanding.

Our weekly homework assignment this week is in spelling with assignment #3 to go with it due on Friday. All words this week focus on the long i sound. Please check in with your child to see how they are progressing.

Finally - two more every exciting things!
1. Next Monday we are starting our gymnastics programs (Mondays at 11:00).  Please help your child to remember to bring appropriate comfortable clothing.
2.  Our family of Smart Cookies will be growing!  Joining our classroom this week will be two new students. Please take a few minutes at home to talk about ideas for making these new classmates feel comfortable.