News Feb.17th

Students were very excited this week as we won the Spirit Stick Award at the Valentine's Day assembly. This was a cooperative effort by the students and it really showed how they could work together and develop an idea into a performance.

As part of our study of historical fiction, student have started book clubs where they are discussing books together to gain a deeper understanding. As a book club member, it is important to follow book club guidelines and be an active member of the group. Not only do students need to come prepared to share their thinking, they need to be able to interact with other members of the group. Following their meeting students are completing a self reflection on the following:

• I was an empathetic listener by giving my complete attention.
• I responded to other group member's ideas.
• I asked questions to clarify my understanding of the book.
• I shared parts of the book that were important to me.
• I used discussion starters.
• I came prepared to the meeting with notes and tagged pages.

Here is a little clip of a book club in action.

We have continued to refine our essay writing skills by changing from personal essays to literary essays. The format is somewhat the same but we will also add on using quotes to support our thoughts.

In math we have started our unit on measurement. As we look at the four sections of measurement; length, volume, area and mass,  we will focus on choosing the appropriate unit,  use various measurement tools, estimate, problem solve and convert within units. Here are a few shots of our Measurement Olympic Games held on Tuesday. The team with the smallest difference between their estimate and their actual measurement were the winners. Congratulations to Jen and Roger!!

Physics of Sound is our new unit in science.  Students will complete several different experiments to further their understanding of how sound is produced, the characteristics and variables of sound and how the human ear is designed to receive sound.

Only two more weeks until the end of term! Students are starting to prepare for the student led conferences coming up in March.We certainly will have lots of learning to share!

Until next time,
Theresa Marriott