It’s hard to believe that November has almost come and gone! As the weather has turned colder and that fluffy white stuff has begun to fly, I’d like to remind parents of the importance of making sure your child has the appropriate clothing to head outdoors. I would encourage students to also have an extra set of mitts or gloves in case theirs get wet 🙂

Don’t forget that the Gulf Shore Consolidated Home and School is taking pre-orders for Christmas trees, in an effort to raise money to fund their many projects here at the school. If you have any orders, please return them to the school on one of the collection dates (November 26^th, December 3^rd). All orders and remaining tickets must be returned by December 3^rd.

This week we will kick off our preparations for the Christmas season! On Monday, students will work with a buddy from a younger grade in order to create some decorations for Christmas trees in our community. In our own art classes, will we start to create some projects to decorate our classroom for the season. We are also working on our script for our Christmas skit, which we look forward to sharing at our concert on December 18^th.

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

Grade 5

French- This week for our dictée, we will be looking several expressions using the verb “avoir”. As always, students will be required to complete a small section of their worksheet each evening, in order to solidify what we have been working on in class together.   

During our reading periods over the next few weeks we will be working through some centre activities to help improve our vocabulary, our fluidity and expression when reading out loud, our oral comprehension and our strategies to solve unknown words. In addition, we will be working on our individual reading goals during our independent reading time and in our guided reading groups.

In writing, with our formal study of the descriptive text behind us, we will move back to starting our study of poetry, examining what a poem is and the elements that make up this type of text. We will read some poems together in an attempt to analyze the way that the author has written these texts. In addition, we will take some time to work on our writing goals during our independent writing time.

Math- This week, we will complete our study of two-digit by two digit multiplication and will have a short evaluation on that outcome. This is tricky concept for many students and thus, I would encourage students to take some time to review their strategies for solving such problems at home. As always, a solid understanding of the multiplication tables will go a long way to making this difficult task a little easier. Mid-week, we will be moving on to division; estimating quotients and solving three digit by one digit problems. Again, review of division facts at home will help your child to achieve success with this section of the curriculum.

Science-We have almost completed our unit on sound and this week we will continue to look at Canadian contributions in the area of sound and will discuss what life would be like without our sense of hearing.

Social Studies-Students continue to work with Mme Isabelle to complete their final project and brochure. I was lucky enough to have a sneak peek at the finished projects last week and they are amazing! I cannot wait to share them with you!  

Grade 7 and 8 Science

We have finally wrapped up our study of the Earth’s Crust and will now move on to our unit on Mixtures and Solutions. We will start by reviewing the different states of matter and how different substances are classified according to their properties.

Have an amazing week!

Madame April Walker

Just a few reminders for the week:

Don’t forget that the Gulf Shore Consolidated Home and School is taking pre-orders for Christmas trees, to help raise money to fund their many projects here at the school. If you have any orders at home, please return them to the school on one of the collection dates (November 19^th, November 26^th, December 3^rd). All orders and remaining tickets must be returned by December 3^rd.

There will be a Home and School meeting on Wednesday, November 20^th at 7:00pm.

There will be no classes for students on Friday, November 22^nd, as teachers will be attending professional development sessions. 

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

Grade 5

French- This week for our dictée, we will be finishing up our study of adjectives. While our formal study of adjectives will finish up this week, students are encouraged to keep reviewing them in order to increase vocabulary and to further enrich their writing 🙂 

During our reader’s workshop this week, we will review book choice and will work on strategies to enhance our responses to what we have read. We will also continue to work on our individual reading goals and to read in small groups. Later in the week, we will start some centre work to expand our vocabulary and to help improve things like expression and fluidity, as we read in French.

In writing, as we continue on with our study of the descriptive text, students will follow the writing process, in order to publish a descriptive text of their own.

Math- This week, as we continue to look at multiplying two-digit numbers, students are encouraged to use a variety of different strategies to multiply. Calculating with number sense means that children look at the numbers and operations involved, and choose the strategy that is most efficient for them. You may want to ask your child to show you some of the different strategies he or she uses.

Here is a suggestion for a game you can play at home:

Duelling Products

• Remove the jokers and face cards from a deck of playing cards.
• Use aces as 1 and tens as 0. Shuffle the cards and divide them equally between you.
• Each player turns over 2 cards and multiplies the numbers.
• The player with the greater product takes all the cards.
•   If both players get the same product, leave the cards on the table.
• The winner of the next round takes all the cards.
• The winner is the player with more cards after all the cards have been turned over.

Science-This week, we will continue to explore how sound effects are made and will create some of our own. We will also look at some famous Canadians, including Alexander Graham Bell, whose inventions and technologies have helped us hear sounds in various ways.

Social Studies-With work on building the models of our communities now complete, this week we will be begin creating our brochures to promote them in preparation for our village fair. 🙂

Grade 7 and 8 Science

We are almost finished our study of the Earth’s Crust. This week, we will review our final outcomes of the unit and will write our final test of this unit before starting our new unit on Solutions and Mixtures.:)

Have a great week!

Madame April Walker

I hope you all had a relaxing weekend and took some time to remember those who fought for our freedom.

It was wonderful getting to speak with you all last week during our Parent-Teacher interviews! I look forward to our Student-Led Conferences in February.

We are already almost halfway through the month of November and before we know it Christmas will be upon us. This week, we will start discussing ideas for our Christmas concert which will take place on December 18^th. To kick-start the season, the Gulf Shore Consolidated Home and School is taking pre-orders for Christmas trees to help raise money to fund their many projects here at the school. I sent home a package of tickets with each student last week and if you have any orders please return them to the school at your earliest convenience.

There are also several students who have not passed back their picture order forms. Please try to get those in as soon as possible (even if you are not ordering, we still require the prints).

I am sending home a book order this evening. If you are interested in purchasing any books, please have those orders back to me by Friday.

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

Grade 5

French- For our dictée this week we will continue to look at adjectives, describing words, as we work towards preparing a descriptive text. Each evening, students will be asked to complete a section of their review sheet. Many students may complete this work in class, but please check with your son/daughter to make sure that these activities are completed, as they are very helpful in studying and reviewing the material before our test on Day 6.

During our reader’s workshop this week we will continue to talk about what happens before, during and after we read. We will also begin our guided reading groups, will work on our individual reading goals, and will continue to respond in our “Carnet de lecture”. I ask that students read in French for 15 minutes each evening (Monday-Thursday). Your child may find it helpful to read out loud in French, in order to practice proper pronunciation and to solidify strategies we are working on in class. Even if you may not understand what they are reading, your support is much appreciated 🙂

In writing, we will continue on with our study of the descriptive text. We will be looking at several descriptive texts together and will study the characteristics of this text type. Additionally, our work on adjectives will help us to create short descriptive texts, using as many adjectives as possible, during our writers workshop.

Math- This week, we will continue to multiply mentally and to check our answers using estimations. We will also learn strategies for multiplying two numbers by two numbers and will work using manipulatives.  

Science-This week, in our unit on sound, we will continue to look at tone and will identify objects by the noises they make. We will also look at the work of those who create sound effects and will start to attempt to make some sound effects of our own.

Social Studies-The final projects are starting to take shape and work will soon begin on the brochures. I hope to post some pictures of these fantastic creations once they are completed.

Grade 7 and 8 Science

This week we will finish our study of the Earth’s Crust, continuing to look at how earthquakes, volcanoes and mountains are formed. We will also study the rock cycle and will begin preparations for our final test of this unit. A review sheet will go home late this week or early next.

Have an amazing week!

Madame April Walker

It was wonderful seeing all my students dressed up in their spooky and creative Halloween costumes last week 🙂

As November is now upon us, we will be taking time this week to remember those who fought for our freedom. Here at Gulf Shore we will mark the start of Remembrance Week with our Remembrance Day observance on Wednesday, November 6^th.  We will be working in art class to prepare a wreath to lay during this ceremony in honour of those who died for us.

This week, we will also be having be our first set of Parent-Teacher Interviews. I have sent home time sheets and if you haven’t already done so, if you could get those back to me as soon as possible it would be very much appreciated. I look forward to speaking with you all on Thursday and Friday 🙂  I am excited to share with you your child’s successes to date and their goals for the future. The students are a very important part of this process and thus, we will spend some time this week preparing our learning portfolios which will contain several self assessments, goals and samples of our work, which I will share during your interviews. As interviews will be taking place all day, there will be no classes for students on Friday, November 8^th.

On Thursday and Friday, during interviews, our book fair will be open. Feel free to stop by and take a look at the wonderful titles available for purchase.

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

Grade 5

French- For our dictée this week we will be looking at adjectives, as we work towards preparing a descriptive text. Each evening students will be asked to complete a section of their review sheet.

We have put our poetry unit on hold for the moment as we continue on in our reader’s workshop. This week we will be looking at stories of remembrance and will continue to respond to those stories in our “Carnet de lecture”. We will also be working on what happens in our head; before we read, as we read and after we have finished reading.

In writing, we will start working on our study of the descriptive text. This will help us as we prepare our brochures for Social Studies that will describe our fictitious communities and in Science, as we describe sounds that we like and don’t like. We will also continue to review the writing traits and the elements that make up a piece of writing.

Math- This week, we will continue to use our estimation strategies to check our answers and will continue to look at how to multiply and divide numbers mentally. Students are reminded to continue to review those facts that may be causing them difficulty.

Science-This week, in our unit on sound, we will continue experimenting with sound and how it travels and will look at different creating different tones.

Social Studies-The final project of creating their own fictitious communities is well under way and next we will start work making a brochure that will promote visitors to our community.

Grade 7 and 8 Science

I was very pleased with the results of the last test. You should be very proud of yourselves 🙂 This week, as we move on to the final portion of our study on the Earth’s Crust, we will be studying volcanoes, plate tectonics and earthquakes. 

Have a wonderful week!

Madame April Walker