Week of September 30th-October 4th

Week of September 30th-October 4th  

Reminders for this week:

The Terry Fox Day was a huge success! Thanks to all those who participated and to everyone who donated to our fund-raising campaign. Bravo! If you haven’t already turned in your money and pledge forms, please do so as soon as possible 🙂

The Dental Clinic continues this week. Please make sure your consent forms (yellow sheets) have been passed in.

Here’s a look at what is happening inside our classroom this week:

Grade 5

French- For our dictée this week, we will continue to work on sentence structure and writing different forms of sentences that are accurate in French. We will then work on practicing using our tools (dictionary, Bescherelle) to help us when we get stuck in our writing.

In reading, we will continue to work on our “Carnet de lecture” (reading workshop journal). This week we will create a list of our interests and of different authors we like to read and will look at how to write and proof-read letters that express our thoughts in response to what we are reading.

In writing, we are writing a narrative text and are working on sharing what we’ve written respectfully with our peers. We will also continue to review the writing process.

Math-We are continuing to work on our estimation strategies and checking to see if our estimations are correct. We also are continuing to work on our math facts.

Science-As we continue our unit on sound, this week we will look at different tones and at how people and animals form and hear sounds in different ways. We will also experiment creating our own sounds in order to see the vibrations sound makes.  

Social Studies-Work continues on the unit “Bâtir une communauté.” Students are presently exploring the components of a community and will work towards their final project; creating a fictitious community of their own.

Grade 7 and 8 Science

This week, we will have our first test on the lab safety procedures and on the first few section of our unit on the Earth’s Crust. Then, we will continue our study of the earth; looking at soil, studying its layers and how its components help plants grow.

Have a great week!

Madame April Walker

Week of September 23rd-27th

Reminders for this week:

Fundraising will continue this week for our Terry Fox Walk which will take place on Friday, September 27th. If you have any questions regarding this project please contact the school.

The Preventative Dental Clinic will be setting up at our school this week. Be on the look out for forms that should be sent home later in the week.

It’s not too late to get your book order forms in 🙂 If you are interested in purchasing anything, could you kindly return those completed forms and payment no later than Tuesday, September 24th

Here’s a look at what’s happening at Gulf Shore this week:

Grade 5

French- The students continue to practice speaking French in class and as I indicated earlier, I am very pleased with their progress. Today we will have our first dictée on difficult words to spell in French and tomorrow we will begin to prepare for our second dictée on sentence structure.

In reading, we will keep working on building our daily reading routines. Students will start their “Carnet de lecture” (their reading workshop journal), will learn how to properly keep a list of books they’ve read and how to write a response to what they are reading.  We will also continue to explore different genres of literature.

In writing, we continue to set up our writer’s workshop and are exploring where ideas for writing are generated, including past experiences, likes and dislikes, things and people that are important to us, and through images, such as sketching a picture.

Math-With our math review almost complete, this week your child will learn to estimate sums and differences, and how to select and use estimation strategies to determine if his or her calculations are reasonable. Students are encouraged to use a variety of estimation strategies to add and subtract depending on the situation and the context. Calculating with number sense means that children look at the numbers and operations involved and choose the most efficient strategy. Ask your child to show you some of the different estimation strategies that he or she uses.

Here’s a suggestion for an activity you can do at home:

Newspaper Numbers

Take a page each from a newspaper and circle all the numbers in the articles and advertisements on that page. Then talk about the circled numbers. Which are estimates? Which are not? How can you tell? Next, both of you choose one number and describe it to one another in terms of its number of millions, ten thousands, thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones only. Then challenge your child to find your secret number while you identify her or his number.

Science-This week we will continue our unit on sound. We will explore how sound is formed through vibrations and we will experiment by “watching” sound and how it travels in waves.

Social Studies-Mme Isabelle is working with the students on the unit called “Bâtir une communauté.” Students are presently exploring the components of a community and will work towards their final project; creating a fictitious community of their own.

Grade 7 and 8 Science

This week, we will continue our unit exploring the Earth’s Crust. This week we will be looking at the work to extract minerals from the earth and at how erosion changes the landscape of what we see. Early next week, we will have our first test on the rules and expectations in the science lab and on the first few sections of our current unit of study. I will send home review material later on this week.

I hope you all have a wonderful week 🙂

Madame April Walker

Week of September 16th-20th

It was wonderful to get to meet so many of you last Thursday at our “Meet the Teacher Night.” I am anxiously looking forward to getting to know you all better as the year progresses.

Just a few quick reminders:

On Wednesday, September 18th, Mr. Martin Caird will be at Gulf Shore to take the students annual school photographs.

Fundraising will continue this week for our Terry Fox Walk which will take place on Friday, September 27th. If you have any questions regarding this project please contact the school.

There will be no classes this Friday, September 20th, as teachers attend their provincial learning day. Classes will resume on Monday, September 23rd.

I sent home a few Scholastic book order forms home with your child last Thursday. If you are interested in purchasing anything, could you kindly return those completed forms and payment no later than Tuesday, September 24th.

Grade 5

French- This week we will continue to practice always speaking french in class. I am very impressed so far with the students strategies to figure out words they don’t know and they are all working together to maintain our classroom climate “en français”. Last week, the students and I generated a list of words that they find difficult to say and spell in French. For homework this week, I would ask that they keep practicing those words in preparation for our “dictée” next week. We will also be working on using these words in class.

We will continue this week building our reading routines. We will look at when it is appropriate to abandon a book if we find it is too difficult, how readers are always thinking as they read and how they can share those thoughts with others after they finish reading and discussing different genres of books. In writing, we will continue to review the writing process, what good writing habits look like and how to generate ideas for our writing. We will also continue to work on forming good sentences and paragraphs that make sense.

Math-This week we will continue to review the concepts presented last year, especially fundamental concepts in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, in particular multiplication tables to 9 x 9. Students should continue to work on reviewing their multiplication tables at home each evening and on Thursday we will have a short evaluation to see their progress to date. We should be ready to start into the new math concepts early next week.

Grade 7 and 8 Science

We have started our unit exploring the Earth’s Crust. We have started to look at the layers of the earth and at different types of rocks and minerals and how to classify them based on their properties.

I hope you all have a wonderful week 🙂

Madame April Walker

Welcome to Grade 5 Immersion!

Bonjour!

I am so excited to be at Gulf Shore Consolidated this year teaching the Grade 5 Immersion class and the Grade 7 and 8 FI Science classes.

Our first two days spent together last week went by so quickly! We spent time getting to know each other, establishing our classroom code of conduct and sharing our summer experiences. I hope you all had a wonderful and restful summer and are ready for the exciting school year ahead!

I will use this blog throughout the year as a means to keep students and parents aware of any upcoming events, tests and projects. Additionally, here, parents will find valuable information about what is happening inside our classroom.

Week of September 9th-13th:

Important dates: September 12th 7:00 pm-Meet the Teacher Night

I am also missing a few of the student information, parent information, low risk and media consent forms that were sent home last week. Please have your child return these forms, along with $5.00 for their agenda books, if they haven’t already, as soon as possible 🙂

Grade 5

French- This week we will be practicing always speaking french in class. We will be spending some time reviewing common structures that are used daily in french and will be working on how to use our dictionaries, in addition to other strategies, when we encounter a word that we don’t understand.

We will be spending time talking about our interests in reading and reviewing how to choose books that are appropriate for our interests and reading levels. Students will have the opportunity to explore their own interests, as well as to interview a friend about theirs and present their findings to the class.  Additionally, we will review the elements of writing and will practice expressing our thoughts in french on paper.

Math-This week we will review the concepts presented last year, especially fundamental concepts in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, in particular multiplication tables to 9 x 9. Students should spend some time reviewing their multiplication facts at home, especially those tables that may cause them some difficulty.

Science-We will start our unit on sound and will begin to discuss the ways in which we listen and the sounds that we hear in our everyday lives.

Grade 7 and 8 Science

This year both the grade 7 and 8 Immersion classes will follow the grade 7 program, as the grade 8 class worked on the grade 8 program last year when they were in grade 7.

Last week we got acquainted and went over classroom expectations and procedures. This week, both classes will spend time going over the safety precautions needed to work in the lab and the vocabulary associated with lab equipment. Students will work on illustrating one of the safety rules and identifying possible solutions if every a problem were to arise.

Have a wonderful week! I look forward to meeting you all on Thursday evening!

Mme April Walker