Week 11

TWiG5: This Week in Grade 5

To all the students, family and friends of Grade 5, welcome to week 11. As we come off a very busy and successful Global Math Week please take time to pause and reflect on the awesome things that the students of Grade 5 are achieving every day. Please note that this week is also a busy one with Halloween so I would ask that we all read and take note of the important information below.

GLOBAL MATH WEEK: Learning, Exploring and Having Fun With Math

Parents enjoying the concept of the 1-2 Machine 

Thank you and congratulations to all those students and parents that participated in Global Math Week at CAC. Mathematics is truly a global entity and to have so many students and parents engaged and exploring mathematics is fantastic!

Reminders

Upcoming and Important Dates:

Tuesday, Oct. 24: No Assembly
Thursday, Oct 26: Halloween Parade at 2:30 PM. Parents are welcome.
Friday, Oct 27: Halloween Carnival from 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM.

Monday, Oct. 30 - Early Release Day (All students dismissed at 11:30 am)
Tuesday, Oct. 31 - House event assembly 7:55 am - 8:25 am. Parents welcome
November 5 - 9: Last week of ASA Session​ ​​1.

From the ES library

Digital Intelligence and your Child/ren:

21st Century Libraries for Parents session, October 25, 8:30 am. Join us in the MHS library for a presentation by our Information Services Director, Santha Kumar, on how to develop digital intelligence at home. Among other topics, we’ll be discussing how to develop a family tech plan and controlling screen time for children.

Kenn Nesbitt visit:

US poet and performer Kenn Nesbitt will be visiting CAC from November 7 to 9. Mr. Nesbitt is a dynamic performer who is sure to keep us entertained with his humorous poems and his tips on writing for children. He will have a school wide performance on Thursday, Nov. 9, 7:55 to 8:25 am in the ES Hall. He will be available for autographs after school on Tuesday and Wednesday. Books will be on sale at the front gate that week. His books are available in electronic format on the ES library catalog and on our Overdrive collection.

Halloween Celebrations: 
On Oct. 26th, Grade 5 will participate in a number of fun Halloween activities. Students can come to school dressed or partially dressed in their Halloween costume, as long as the costume does not interfere with learning. We will have regular classes during the morning. 
       At 10:10, students will be dismissed early from their specialist class and can finish putting on their Halloween costumes. Parents are welcome to come and help if it is needed.        At 10:30, Grade 5 will visit the photo booth. Students will have a pizza lunch during their regular lunch time. 
      After lunch, Grade 5 will have 4 activities set up in each classroom and will rotate around to each one. Thanks to the Room Parents who are helping with materials for the games!  
       2:30 The day concludes with the parade and parents are most welcome to attend. 

Costume Guidelines

In order for CAC to have a safe and fun Halloween everyone should check their costume follows the guidelines. We appreciate the variety of costumes and/or original designs.

• Remember come to school wearing your costume. Put make up, hairspray, etc… on at home
• Prop head wear (hats, caps, masks, etc.) may be worn, but not during class time
• No dangerous props ( knives, swords, toy guns, etc.) or high heeled shoes
• Practice some of our core values
• Respect - commenting positively on other’s costumes
• Responsibility - for wearing costumes according to our guidelines
• Creativity - for creating and planning your costume

MS Play

The MS Play is coming up; October 26th. Tickets are only 20 LE and the play is 35 minutes long, very good length for ES students and their families (it's quirky, but definitely appropriate for ES students).  Please promote the show!

Curriculum Corner

Writer's Workshop

This week we've continued to explore the Poetry Toolboxes - Meaning and Music. Students are realizing that poetry can be musical without having to rhyme. The three pillars of poetry: emotion, image and music have been inspiring our young poets to craft beautiful poetry. Georgia Heard and Ralph Fletcher continue to be our inspiration.

This is very important because the poets of Grade 5 are selecting their favorite poems to publish in digital form on a website called Glogster. The students are selecting their three favorites poems they wrote and another poem  from a mentor text. The poets also need to explain their choices in writing one of their poems and in choosing their mentor text poem.

Students have been invited and are encouraged to take their writing notebooks around with them where ever they go. You never know when an idea may come to you or a story may be created. We want live and breath like writers!

Reader's Workshop

The "Developing Understanding Characters" unit continues this week and students are busy doing important work as readers. Students have continued to jot and make inferences based on the actions, words, and feelings of characters, and using all the skills that they learnt and developed last week. This week the students will be using their inferencing skills and 'write long' about the books they are reading. Write Long means to take and interesting or revealing jot and develop it into a mini essay about a theme or theory about their book. This skill develops the reader's higher level thinking with regards to character and theme development. 

Math Workshop

This week we will have our mid-module assessment on Module 2. After the mid-module assessment the grade 5 mathematicians will begin to develop an understanding of two-to-three digit division.

Don't forget to click the link below and find some helpful tips and strategies for this module: 

TIPS FOR MODULE 2

Social Studies

This week students are embarking on an individual RAFT project. This is a project where the students have a choice of who they are reporting on and how they will report. The students have some creative freedom in this unit which is great!

A very important element of the RAFT project is the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange is one of the important events that happened as a result of the 'New World' conquest. Students are looking at both the positive and negative consequences of this event from two different perspectives- the Aztecs and the Spanish. 

Guidance Update – How to Be Assertive

“Don’t be a monster. Don’t be a mouse. Be assertive. Be YOURSELF!” – Dr. Pat Palmer

This week students will practice assertiveness skills.  Assertiveness means standing up for personal rights in direct, honest and respectful ways.

Students will learn the 3 ways people tend to act in order to get their needs met. Passive behavior (like a mouse) includes ignoring the problem or being unclear with personal rights, needs or wants. Passive behavior is disrespectful of personal rights and needs. Aggressive behavior (like a monster) includes yelling or demanding behavior. Aggressive behavior is disrespectful towards others. Assertiveness is the balance between passive and aggressive behavior. With assertive communication there is respect for others and for personal rights and needs.

Assertive behavior includes:

1.     Facing the person you are talking to

2.     Keep your head up and shoulders back

3.     Use a calm, firm voice

4.     Use respectful words that start with an “I” statement. Such as, “I am having a hard time concentrating. Please stop talking while the teacher is talking.”

Circle Solutions

This month we will work on having a growth mindset while highlighting students' strengths. 

We continue to work on building a strong sense of community within our classes. 






Have a super learning week everyone!

Your Partners in Education:

LeeAnn Kasal:   lkasal@cacegypt.org

Bonnie Greene: barmstronggreene@cacegypt.org
Jonathan O'Sullivan: josullivan@cacegypt.org
Caitlin Johnson: cjohnson@cacegypt.org