Mrs. Higgs and Ms. Dick grade 5/6

 This week all the students worked on Reader's Theater. They practiced reading scripts from several Christmas stories using expression and fluency. On Thursday, each group performed their Reader's Theater for the class. They all did a great job.  Division continued to be our focus in math this week. Mrs. Higgs group applied what they know about long division to plan a party for the school. They had to use division to calculate how much of each item they would need to order. Mrs. D's group practiced some basic division facts by playing games. All students practiced their basic division facts by playing games in our Google Classroom.  We encourage all students to continue to practice their multiplication and division facts over the break. In science, the grade 5's made Borax crystals by using a solution of Borax and hot water. We discussed the parts of a solution (solute and solvent) and what they mean. The grade 6's learned about why we have seasons. This lesson happ

 This week for our morning challenges we practiced making our own 'Solve me puzzles". We are getting better at it. We have been using division to help us.  In writing we finished our story from last week and did a one day story. We looked at 3 picture prompts and decided which one we wanted to write about. We were trying to improve our story writing. We focused on using juicy words, elaborating, figurative language, hook, rising action, climax and conclusion. In math we started long divison and practiced equations. We learned 2 different ways to divide. The box method and the standard algorithm (there is a video about the box method in Google Classroom). Ms. D's group worked on divding by 2's. In gym we played volleyball and played a game called Newcomb. We did volleying, bumping and serving. In social studies, the grade 6's got study notes to study for the Democracy quiz next week. We also finished our political leaders trading cards. The grade 5's continued t

 This week in writing the students continued to work on their fictional narrative stories. We focused on elaboration and adding in juicy words and figurative language. When finished, the students used success criteria to mark their own work. In math, the grade 6's solved problems using factors and multiples. The grade 5's used their knowledge of multiplication to help them with basic division facts. Both grades then started learning about/ reviewing, long division. In science, the grade 5's started the classroom chemistry unit. We talked about the 3 states of matter and then made oobleck. We tried to determine if it was a solid or a liquid. The grade 6's completed the unit on trees and forests by determining how forests are used and how it compares to how they were used in the past. We reviewed the unit and started preparing for the quiz next Tuesday. In social studies, the grade 5's  started researching a  region of Canada. The grade 6's worked on the 3 branche

 In writing we worked on our fictional narratives. We practiced writing a problem, making it worse twice and then solved the problem. We wrote our jot notes on stickies.  We also watched a video story about the 4 seasons and learned about the parts of a story. The parts are, characters (protagonist/antagonist), setting, plot, climax, resolution and theme.  In art we used watercolour pencils to create penguins. In math the grade 5's had a multiplication check in. We also wrote multiplication word problems. We are now starting division. The grade 6's started doing factor trees. We learned about prime factorization. Some other students worked on skip counting by 2, 3, 5, and 9. For Fluency Friday we played Multiplication Squares. In gym we used scoops and scooters. We also played a dodgeball game called Infection. In science the grade 5's had a weather quiz. We are now finished our weather unit. The grade 6's looked at a timeline about how forests have been used over time.