Upcoming Reminders and/or Events:
- Trail Walk on Wednesday. Come join us at 8:45-9:15am on the trail.
- Family Literacy Day this Friday at Lochside. Parents & grandparents are invited to join us from 8:40-9:00am in our classroom to read together. We are going to make this 'flashlight Friday' and read without the lights and just our flashlights, headlamps, phone lights....whatever works!
- Non-instructional Day on Monday, January 29th. It is (I believe, our final) inservice day for teachers on the new BC curriculum. Elementary staff in Saanich are joining together in the morning for sessions on Indigenous Education, Core Competencies, and new resources. In the afternoon we'll be breaking into our school groups for collaboration conversations focused on the new curriculum.
Social Studies & Writing Studio: This week we are learning about Christopher Columbus through stories, videos, and historical records. We are focusing on bias, fact, and opinions as we read and are looking at the information from different perspectives and points of view, and reflecting on the effects of exploration on the explorers and Indigenous peoples. We will begin to look at explorers in Canada this week as well. Each lesson we check for understanding by answering 'Quest Questions' in our notebooks. We are practising answering in full sentences and using part of the question in the answer. We also reflect on the lesson through a quadrant. In each square we make connections, draw images, think about feelings & emotions, and record our further wonderings. This week we are also practising writing a paragraph giving our opinion and backing our opinion with evidence and factual information.
Math: We have started a unit on multiplication. This week we continue to look for patterns in multiplication to help us when faced with larger numbers. Grade 4s will be looking at 2 and 3-digit numbers by 1 digit. Grade 5s will be multiplying 2 by 2-digit numbers. We will explore both the box method and traditional method of multiplication over the next two weeks.
Spelling: This week we are learning about compound words. Ask your son/daughter what a compound word is!
Gym: This month we'll be focusing on basketball skills. This week we'll practice shooting a basket, defensive play, and learning the rules of the game.
Reading Studio: For the next couple of weeks we'll be looking at the types of conflict in stories. Character vs character, character vs society, character vs self, and character vs nature. We are learning about the types through story books and making connections to the types of conflict in the books we are currently reading.
Art: As we learn more about exploration we'll be doing some artwork with ships and learning about zentangles.