January 6th, 2017

Wow! What a long week it has been! We started off our morning with a Top Secret project that students are working on right now. Sorry, I can't given anymore details than that at this time; I wouldn't want to give anything away! 

In Math, we have finished practicing estimating addition questions. On Monday we will begin practicing estimating subtraction questions. Our three main strategies will remain the same though:

- Front-end Estimation: Use the first 1-2 digits of a number for your estimation. This strategy is probabily the easiest and the quickest, but it isn't always the most accurate. 

- Compatible Numbers: Choose an easier number to work with. It's that simple. One way to increase the accuracy of this strategy is to use rounding. Remember, for larger numbers (eg. 176 532), rounding to the nearest thousand (177 000) is more accurate than rounding to the nearest hundred thousand (200 000). The more original numbers you keep in your estimate, the more accurate your estimate will be. 

- Compensation: Round one of the numbers up and one of the numbers down to more compatible numbers. By doing this you "split the difference" meaning that your answer is generally more accurate than when you simply round the numbers to more compatible numbers. 

In Language Arts today we continued to practice making comparisons. Today we talked about the difference between comparing (looking for similarities) and contrasting (looking for differences). Students used word clues to help them to create comparison and contrasting sentences about "The Three Little Pigs" and "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs." We did some "Milling to Music" to share our thoughts. This is something we have done before. Students move around to the music; when the music stops playing, they find the closest person and share their thoughts with them. It is a great way to stimulate discussion and to make sure that students hear a variety of answers and opinions. Next, we added another fractured fairy tale to our shelf - "The Three Ninja Pigs." It was great to have a new text to make some comparisons too. Students also worked in small groups to practice some reading fluency today. Reading fluently means that students do the following:

To read fluently, students often need to practice reading a book several times. The first time through, students are getting to know the book, figuring out unknown words, etc. They are working on accuracy. The second time through, I encourage students to work on their rate and their punctuation. They are trying to read smoothly. Finally, on the third time through I encourage students to work on adding expression. Remember, you want what you are reading to be engaging to your audience! We will be using the original fairy tales (in this case, "The Three Little Pigs") to practice reading fluently. Today we read this story through to a small audience for the first time. On Monday we will try again to see if we can read more fluently. 

In Science today we were able to start our new unit on electricity! Today we learned about the journey that electricity as it travels to our homes and devices; this means that we had to learn about some of the ways that we can be safe around electricity. Check out these videos to get a full understanding of the safety tips we learned today: 
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Our first Healthy Bake Sale was an incredible success today. Students raised $123.75 for the Centre of Hope! That is incredible! Thank you so much to all the parents and students for their hard work and support. Out next fundraising day is on Tuesday - Bookmark Sale. 

Agenda
Language Arts:
- Read 20 minutes
- Book Talk (January 31st)

Math:
​- pg. 56 #6-9, 12
- Practice 4x, 8x, 9x, 3x, 6x, 12x, 5x, 10x or 7x tables

Health:
- PEAK Basketball (Monday)
- FRIENDS Home Activity 5A (Monday) 
 
Grade 5 Bookmark Sale - Tuesday ($2)
Tech & Trades Academy - Mondays (3:00-4:00 pm)
Grade 5/6 Guitar Club - Thursdays (2:45-3:45 pm)
CG Recyclers - Day 1 (lunch recess) and Day 4 (lunch)