5C at Northern Lights School

Today we: -Created an orange shirt craft and wrote one thing we can do for Truth and Reconciliation on it. Students are bringing this craft home, please ask them to share it with you. As Elder Casey Eaglespeaker shared with us, “What is something you can do? Let this question inspire our work surrounding National Week of Truth and Reconciliation.” -Played Indigenous games in Physical Education. These games were introduced to us last year by Mr. Scout.

 Today we: -Took part in Truth and Reconciliation Week. We watched a session on Indigenous Heritage and Identity and learned about some of the ways that residential schools negatively impacted children and Indigenous families. We compared how children in residential schools felt to have children should feel in schools. We wrote one of our ideas on a leaf that will be apart of a school display for Orange Shirt Day tomorrow in our school.  -Worked on our "How the Rabbit Got Its Long Ears" storyboards. Ask me about how my storyboard is going, we will be finishing it up tomorrow! (see photos) Reminder: -Please wear an orange shirt in honour of residential school survivors tomorrow. 

 Today we: -Took part in Truth and Reconciliation Week. We watched a session on Indigenous Languages to help us develop a better understanding of how Indigenous Peoples are learning and sharing their languages. We read the book "When We Were Alone" and discussed the elements of Nokom's culture that she was not allowed to have in residential school. We then shared in circle important parts of our culture and how we would feel if we were not allowed to celebrate.  Reminders: On Thursday, September 29, students are encouraged to wear an orange shirt (or an orange article of clothing if they don't have an orange shirt) to recognize Orange Shirt Day and National Truth and Reconciliation Day. Orange Shirt Day is an opportunity for everyone to come together in the spirit of reconciliation to show their support of a safe, respectful and caring school community. Orange Shirt day began in 2013 when residential school survivor, Phyllis Webstad, shared how her orange shirt was ta...

 Today we: -Finished watercolouring our fish and adding details with vinegar and salt. Check out our art pieces at the Open House tonight between 5-7pm! -Practiced logging into the computers and created Prodigy accounts. Prodigy can be used at home for math practice and at school to practice specific skills assigned by the teacher. -Continued working on our "How the Rabbit Got Its Long Ears" storyboards. Reminders: -No school this Friday, see you on Monday!

 Today we: -Did the Terry Fox Run around the soccer field this morning. We set individual distance goals and worked hard to achieve them. -Used watercolour and started painting our fish. We are practising blending watercolour paint and created a rubric together. -Did a math assessement on area and perimeter with mild, medium, and spicy questions increasing in difficulty. We will review our work together tomorrow. Reminder: -Thursday is the Northern Lights School Open House, we hope to see you drop by between 5-7pm! -No school on Friday.

 Today we: -Had our first Makerspace class and got to build and explore with a variety of materials. (see photos) -Learned 2 new math games, one with dice and one with cards. Ask me to show you at home! -We read the book "You be You" and we sketched a fish as unique as us! We started practicing blending with watercolour and will be painting our fish tomorrow. Reminders: -Tomorrow is the Terry Fox Run. Please dress to be outside running and bring a water bottle. We are still collecting donations for the Terry fox Foundation. -Please check the two emails from Mrs. Swaroop today, one was about field trip volunteers for October 11 and the other email was about sending in a family photo. Thanks!

 Today we: -Started word work with our new groups and started working with our first set of words. This daily practice will help us learn our spelling patterns in our words and beyond. -Did an area and perimeter task moving around the classroom to find questions posted around the room. We worked with other students to solve the problems and reviewed our work as a class.  -Started creating our storyboards for the Indigenous story "How The Rabbit Got It's Long Ears". We created a rubric as a class so we are in agreement about the expectations for the project. Reminders: -We are continuing to collect money for Terry fox this week so please send in your donations. Our school's Terry Fox Run will take place on Wednesday morning. -Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather (rain, cold, snow, or heat). We had some very wet students after recess today so it is helpful to have a set of extra clothes in their backpack for these situations. Thanks for your help!

 Today we: -Practiced calculating area of rectangles in math through a whole class activity. Each student calculated the area of their rectangle based on the dimensions provided on their card. We then went around the classroom connecting our rectangle dimensions through a "I have... who has" activity. (see photo) -Listened to the oral Blackfoot story "How the Rabbit Got its Tail". We wrote jot notes and retold the story in circle. We will be continuing to work with this story on Monday by creating a storyboard. Reminders: -Terry Fox Run is on Wednesday. Please send any donations to school with your child. -Our School Open House is on Thursday 5-7pm. Please come to take a look around the school, our classroom, and meet Mrs. Swaroop.

 Today we: -Had our orientation session in the learning commons with Mrs. Barrowcliff. We were very excited to hear that we will be able to take library books home this year! -Had math class outside in the grass. We used our whiteboards to draw multiple rectangles with the same area. We calculated which of the rectangles had the smallest perimeter. We ended our time outside reading a Metis story about how the crow became black. Ask me to tell you about the story. Reminders: -We are collecting money for the Terry Fox Foundation, please send any donations to school with your child.

 Today we: -Started completing reading assessments with Mrs. Swaroop to identify our current strengths and areas for growth in reading. These assessments will help us set reading goals that we will work towards. -Played "Power of Ten" and dice games to work on our basic fact fluency in math. (see photos) -Shared what we knew about what "Physical Geography" is and created a description of the physical geography of Calgary on a graphic organizer including the climate, land, water, and what lives here (plants and animals). Reminders: -Terry Fox run is on Wednesday September 21. Students and families are invited to donate to the Terry Fox Foundation in the following ways: by contributing cash or cheques, made payable to The Terry Fox Foundation, to classroom collection boxes; or online. Online donations may be made  http://www.terryfox.ca/NorthernLights . Tax receipts will be issued by the Terry Fox Foundation for donations over $20.00. All monies raised through our eve...

 Today we: -Logged into the Chromebooks and went into Raz Kids to read digital books. Please check your email for information on how to support your child's use of Raz Kids at home. Your child should be reading for 20 minutes or more everyday at home. -Solved  problems involving area and perimeter of rectangles. We listened to a song that helps remind us of strategies for solving for perimeter and area. -Finished our "What If Everybody Did That" pages which will be binded into a class book. -Did a pre-assessment in social studies showing what we know about the geography and areas of Canada prior to starting to learn the grade 5 learning material. We showed on a map of Canada where we thought different cities, provinces, and territories are. We will revist our maps after we learn about the areas and geography of Canada to place more accurate borders and labels.

 Today we: -played a variety of rhythms with the boomwackers in music. -signed the classroom agreement. Ask me the actions that I should and shouldn't do to meet these agreements. -worked as a team to calculate the area and perimeter of our table. We measured with a ruler and showed our work on a large sheet of chart paper. Reminders: -Please return the parent questionnaire and digital citizenship forms that were sent home in the purple communication folders earlier this week. Students will not be able to use school Chromebooks until these forms are returned. Thanks!

 Today we: -Went to Country Hills Pond on a walking field trip. We created a map using words and drawings about what we saw, smelled, and heard (student examples in the photos). We enjoyed watching the ducks in the pond. -Played Chimney Dodgeball with a focus on giving our maximum effort to help our team. -Started writing our good copies of our "What If Everybody Did That" pages. Ask me what situation my page is about! -Played a math game called "Fill the Stairs" and practiced ordering numbers. Ask me to show you how to play the game; the materials needed are paper, pencils, and 2 ten-sided dice . Reminders: -Please return the parent questionnaire and digital citizenship forms that were sent home in the purple communication folders earlier this week. Students will not be able to use school Chromebooks until these forms are returned. Thanks!

 Today we: -Drew ourselves on graph paper and then calculated the area and perimeter of our shape. -Watched videos and looked at infographics to learn more about what wetlands do. We choose 6 pieces of important information to represent in our visual journals. -Started writing our own "What If Everybody Did That" pages following the writing format used on the picture book. -Used body percussion and drumsticks to create rhythms including whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and rests.

 Today we: -Read the book "What If Everybody Did That" and imagined the impact of multiple students not following the rules at school. We finished creating our classroom agreement: "I will respect myself, others, and the school. I will be kind. I will be an engaged learner." Ask me about these agreements. -Reviewed area and perimeter through an 3 act challenge. Ask me about what we did. -Created and discussed our observations, wonders, and inferences based on photos of a wetland. -Met Shadow (the classroom rabbit)! Reminders: -Wear purple on Thursday for "Wear Your Grade Colour" Spirit Day.  -We are going on a walking field trip to Country Hills Village Pond on Thursday. Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather, rain is in the forecast.

 Today we: -Read the book "All are Welcome" and brainstormed what we should do and not do to make people feel safe, welcome, respected, loved, energized, confident, calm at school. -Had our first music class and read the book "The Word Collector". We collected words connected to our past music experiences. We played the game "Beat Master" and practiced keeping the beat, following the movements of the leader, and had lots of fun! -Learned about Shadow, our classroom rabbit. We talked about how to interact with her, what she needs to live, and what to expect when she joins us in the classroom next week. -Played capture the flag with the other grade 5 classes in the field. We had our first Physical Education class and played line tag.