Merry Christmas

Have a wonderful holiday and a great break. See you in the New Year. Also a big thanks for all the gifts I received from all the students. I felt spoiled. I hope you parents like yours! 

Been awhile

Sorry life has been crazy in the household these days so I haven't had a chance to post. Here is a quick update:

1. Thursday is holiday sweater day so kids can were a nice or ugly sweater. 

2. Pj day is on Friday but those kids going for the choir field trip need to bring something nice to change into. 

3. Our class is in charge of assembling the hampers for the Christmas Cheerboard and so donations are welcomed. This was also one of our filed trips. The pictures tell it all. We packed 500 hampers in 1 hour. Boy are these guys fast! Great job. 

4. The Holiday concert was awesome! Mrs. Dunk is awesome! The kids were one of the most talented groups I have seen. I am so proud of their hard work. I am also so glad to be done with glitter! Sorry I could not be there that evening as it was my own son's concert. Will post some pictures too. 

Preparing parents

I thought this would be good to share with parents ahead of time because I use this to help with report cards. It is in the support document from the province

and I think parents are not aware of what the scale represents. If your child receives 1 they are not failing. ND would be a failing mark. I am not trying to make you worry but this is a document that I think is very helpful for parents. 

Also reminder that the specific conference meeting time for us to meet will be sent home tomorrow. You can always sign up the day of. Just fill a blank time.

Update

Sorry things have been crazy this last week with my grandma passing away and report cards but I will try and bring everyone up to speed.

The students finished their dioramas and started presented and unfortunately some will have to wait until Monday. The project quality was good by some but many groups will have to learn from this experience. 

The design process involves a lot of pre-planning and research in the beginning but many groups did not spend much time doing this. I had to stop several groups from building and send them back to that beginning step. The other problem was the written reports. Some groups did not include enough information and edit them well. Hopefully their diorama will compensate for this. I hope to have them marked by parent triads. They will be on display in the library for the week. To those of you who worked very hard congratulations . 

The Cheerboard trip has been rescheduled for Dec. 2. 

Also some of the late science design projects will be shared on Monday. 

Don't forget to bring in your triad conference sheet I sent home to schedule 10 minutes with me alone! I will be sending these back on Wednesday. 

Update

First order of business...

The students were given a design project for science. It is due on Monday. Students can take a picture and bring it in or email it to me at wjensen@sjsd.net. They can chose to bring it in to share otherwise. Students are encouraged to think outside the box. (Try not to help out as much as possible. I know it's hard because this challenge is sooo exciting.) 

I have included a picture of how I would get started so you have some idea. The objects do not have to look like the organ but just represent it instead. 

Next order of business is the diorama. We found that more time was needed and so students will have Thursday as well. This means that the plans, completed model and written report must be handed in Monday. Here is a picture of one that has come along nicely.

And a few others...

More business...

I will running my conferences differently then what you may have had in the past and have sent home a letter explaining it. This is a copy of the letter.

Please return the letter and also book online! 

On November 19th we will be traveling to the Cheerboard to pack hampers in the afternoon. If you would like to join us then please email me. If you have not done a criminal background check you can still volunteer but cannot come on the bus. This means I will give preference to those who have had the paper work done. I will let you know if you are needed through email. A permission slip will go home on Thursday. Thanks

November 1

The quiz in nutrition is moved to Tuesday. I feel that students will be better prepared that way. 

Here is a Halloween picture of the class. 

Halloween

Tomorrow we will be having a fun Halloween afternoon. Nothing fancy but we will be playing some games. Students are welcomed to bring a treat for each student but please remember to make sure it is nut-free. 

There will also be a quiz on nutrition in Science on Monday. Students should use a copy of the food guide, nutrition notes and old assignments to review for it. There will be some matching and short answers. 

 We have just started our Social Studies dioramas so they will have 3 double classes to work on it next week (that is over 6 hours of class time!) Students are welcome to bring their own supplies in. 

For Math homework students must count and sort their Halloween candy they collect. This should be done on a tally sheet. Instructions will be given on Friday. They wil use this data to complete some graphing activity. 

Another reminder is picture money was due today (you can do it online too). Also a new book order went out and they are due November 6. This is a great opportunity to get your kid excited about reading. I remember getting to pick out one book in every order and was excited when it arrived.  (Yes they were around back then but the books were only $1.25 each.) 

Sorry for the delay but our formal spelling program will start next week and I will be trying to do a Monday to Friday system. I will also be sending home Boston pizza reading sheets for any student wanting to do complete home reading. I do not use a home reading program in grade 5 but if a student needs extra support then a program will be set up. 

Have a great Halloween and check back for photos on the weekend. 

Potlatch success!

We had our potlatch today and it went well. (Okay I am a little tired, kind of life having a birthday party for 24 kids.) The food was delicious and thanks to those who brought it in. Also thanks to those who brought in their gifts. We were short a few but we managed to find enough stuff in my treasure box! 

Also I have to send a huge shout out to the moms who helped set up the food, serve it, and clean up. Thank you Mrs. Paterson, Mrs. Gaulton and Mrs. Arnason. Here are some pictures of the day. 

We will be starting our dioramas next week so if you have a box about the size of a paper box you can bring it in, along with any supplies you want to use. There will be 4 double classes to work on it in the class.

(Also I hope everyone had a chuckle about my spelling error in the social studies letter home! 😜 I will be correcting that one!)

Potlatch update

Tomorrow is the potlatch! The students will not need lunch. I have two parents who are helping set-up so the students will eat at 11:30 and then go out for a recess break. After lunch the students will share their totem pole and mask. Then we will play the gift stealing game to represent status. In order for this to take place I need every student to bring their assigned/chosen items. Please check below to verify. If you have gift beside your child's name then you need to bring in 2 gifts valued between $2 and $3. Hey can be dollar store items and need to be wrapped. They can even be wrapped in newspaper or paper. Any questions email me at wjensen@sjsd.net and I will get back to you ASAP. 

Drew-perogies/sour cream

Brayden- buns/butter

Garrett- meatballs

Julia - cheese and crackers

Ashly- casserole

Blake- macaroni 

Abby - hash brown casserole

Maya- drinks

Kyra - veggies and dip

Ava- salad

Sophie - fruit platter 

Jersey - salad or dessert

Any food can be sent in cold and we will warm it up or put in oven. Just send any instructions. Also plan for 25 people! 

Bringing gifts are:

Samuel

Jaime

Branden

Ian

Josh

Amber

Michael

Noah

Iliana

Diana 

Liam

Tyra

Hopefully you have all seen or heard about the letter that was sent home Ocotber 13th and this is not a surprise. If not then I told the kids they better suck up to their parent and do the dishes for them tonight. They should also start the conversation with, "I have something I forgot to tell you and I have learned my lesson..."

Mask making

Huge thanks to Mrs. Paterson for helping out in the class today. Things went well, except for the odd eye brow hair sacrifice! Here are some pictures. Also someone has volunteered to bring macaroni and cheese now.

SS letter that was sent home...

Also perogies are taken for the potlatch so cross them off your list! I have two parents for Friday so we do not need anymore helpers. Thanks 

October 18th

Reminder that tomorrow is mask making in the afternoon. We are still looking for any parent volunteers. The more the merrier. We will be starting right after lunch.

Also I have parents signed up for meatballs, buns and butter, zucchini casserole, and cheese/crackers. You can just write a note in the agenda or leave it as a comment on the blog. The students will not need a lunch on Thursday. 

Something happened to my original blog from Friday and so I will repost a picture of the letter that went home with the kids tomorrow at school. 

We will also be starting our dioramas soon in social studies and I will post an outline for parents on the blog too. This project will be done at school unless a student does not get a lot done in class time. Hope everyone had a good weekend! 

October 9th

Today was our second day with our artist in the classroom. Lynne is working with us to make haunted houses out of clay. The students really did a great job. She will be back next week after they are fired in the kiln so we can glaze them. We will be completing a creative writing assignment to go with them called "House For Sale". Look for them on display in front of the office just before Halloween. Here are some pictures.

Some of the students also participated in the Divisional Cross country meet. The course was just over a mile (1.2 to be exact). Boy were they fast! The fastest boy was from Athlone and finished it in 4:40. Here are some pics:

We finished our first math centre rotation today for place value and the small group instruction seemed to work well. I will try and post a video soon that shows the strategies used in our class. A great game we played on the iPad was Mathdoku! The kids thought it was going to be a price of cake but to their surprise it was quite a challenge, even on the beginner level. You might want to try it to help with your number sense. 

A few reminders for you as well:

- picture day is Tuesday

- hot lunch forms are due back on 14th

- book orders are due back on 14th

- chess club has started at lunch on a Day 6. 

- soccer forms are due back ASAP.

- I will need some parent volunteers soon to help make plaster casting masks but I will need to work around the artists schedules.

Have a happy thanksgiving! 

October 6

Things are progressing well in class with some of our routines. We have completed a round of guided reading where the students learned about text mapping on a scroll (just a photocopy of an nonfiction text that had been attached to form a continuous story.) Our first one was just two pages but the kids learned a lot from using these pre-reading strategies, without even reading the text. 

We had our first quiz and most students passed but a few learned to double check their quiz over before saying it is complete! They will be handed back as soon as two students complete the quiz as they were away. Everyone does already know their mark. 

We have TIA staring this week on Oct. 8 and 9th. We are using clay and will be making Haunted houses to go along with our descriptive writing activity. 

The autobiographies look great!

Tell me the secret word is Gimli. The first 5 students will get a treat! 

Friday, September 24th

We had our Terry Fox run this afternoon. This is the after picture! Students can still bring in money ($1 or $2) on Monday. 

We will have a quiz on Canada on Thursday. There is a map that I have sent home that highlights the important parts to remember. This is a summary study guide from the three maps we made in the last week. 

Here is a copy incase yours gets lost!  Also book orders are due on Monday! I will set up the credit card option later today. 

Here is a sample of some of the Autobiography stories that are completed already. 

Have a good weekend and if you read the blog this weekend make sure you tell your child the secret code word so they can tell me and get a treat! It is "Popcorn"!

New year!

Finally...
Welcome to our blog for the 2015-2016 school year. I had some technical difficulties with my password. (Never hyphenate your last name when you get married!) We are slowly getting into the swing of things and have completed some assessments. We have started our human body it in science so expect your child to lecture you on what you are eating! We are also reviewing Canada geography before moving into our aboriginal groups history.

In Language Arts the students are working on an autobiography project and are welcomed to bring in pictures of themselves. Hopefully they will be up to view at the BBQ on Thursday. In math we have been setting up our problem solving strategies and beginning place value.

I will get the calendar updated for you to access shortly.

For help with Math homework assigned March 10 please look under math tutorial videos. It should be at the bottom.

Spoons workshop

Today the students had a chance to participate in a French Spoons playing workshop! It was awesome.

Visit #2 to Bruce

Here is the task for today's meeting! 

The more uses that a group could come up for the sheet the better! 

Bruce cardboard games

The gym was full of games that some of the grade 7 students had made using cardboard and duct tape. They were very creative and we had lots of fun.