This week the students focused on improving their descriptive writing by including details such as speech, sound, similes, vivid verbs and onomatopoeias. They have shown great improvements, even when comparing day to day work.  We have been practicing starting with a ' barebones' sentence from our story plan:

We then brainstormed ideas around the features we know make interesting work:

We then crafted the ideas into our paragraph:

 

This was shared work; we all worked together to create this paragraph. The ideas came directly from the students. Is it messy? yes! Creativity is not neat and tidy but don't you think our work improved from that first sentence? The students are now busy writing their own stories with more independence. Next week they will have a chance to write their own story from scratch, all by themselves. Ask your child what we make sure to include in our work and have them give you some examples!

Here are a couple of examples of student work:

In math we have been tackling problem solving, finding multiple solutions for a problem, utilizing different methods to solve the same problem, AND multi-step problems.

Here is an example of the type of problems we have been solving. Maybe you can make up some of your own questions at home:

The answer to a problem is 16. What is the question?

7+ 8 = 15.

How many ways can you arrive at this answer?

Show your thinking.

We have begun our journey into the inner ear in science, and are starting to understand how vibrations are key in the process of hearing. How many parts can your child name?

 

In social studies we are continuing our discussions about being a global citizen, now focusing on education and the rights of a child.  Ask your child for reasons why some children are not fortunate enough to be able to attend school.

  

Finally - here’s a sneak peak of Ken Taylor’s most recent art installation completed by the entire student body last Flex Friday!