Winter is... still... here!!

Hi everyone,

A belated Happy New Year to you all!  I hope 2017 has been good to you so far.  We have a lot of interesting things going on here in our 5/6 class at Fieldcrest right now... let me share some of it with you!

*update - sorry, I forgot to add the link to the Bill Nye video on digestion!  Here it is:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3cq3tj 

Weekly Quizzes

Spelling
For those of you who are wondering in advance (or during the week) what our spelling words are, wonder no more!  Here's a link to help you assist your child in studying and preparing for their weekly spelling quiz:
http://www.spellingcity.com/BarrettFES/ 

Multiplication and Division
We have progressed past weekly multiplication quizzes, as more than 75% of our students were acing them.  For those students who were unable to achieve 80/80 on the quizzes, do not fret - continue practicing your multiplication facts and they will help you to develop your division facts!  Weekly division quizzes are now happening, and these are a little more challenging - students are encouraged to continue practicing both multiplication and division facts, as after March Break, we will be having quizzes that are a combination of both, and students will have to switch back and forth with their facts.  We will be starting a multiplication/division unit when we are finished our patterning unit, so having this base knowledge will hopefully make multiplying and dividing larger numbers a lot easier. If you'd like to make your own practice worksheets, try using the following site:
https://www.worksheetworks.com/math/basic-operations.html

Special Events

Last week, we had Charlotte, a local dairy farmer, come for her annual visit.  She showed us the process that milk takes from the cow to our grocery store - it was a great presentation and we can't wait to see what she shares with us next year!

Our Grade 5 students have had a lot of things going on this month... we had Scientists in the School in on Friday, and students learned about forms of energy, energy conservation, and were able to experiment with solar power.  They also have begun DARE, which will happen every Tuesday afternoon for 10 weeks.  Please ask your Grade 5 student what DARE is.
Our Grade 6 students will be having many things coming up in the next few months. No fieldtrips have been officially announced yet, but there will be information coming soon. Our Grade 6s are currently working on an Earth and Space Systems unit in Science, and at the moment are creating an alien from a different planet to participate in a conference later this month.  The date of this Alien Conference is to be announced!

Visual Arts

So this year, our students have blown me away.  One of my favourite activities to do with my students is rotational/reflective art. This year, the students were not only able to complete it incredibly quickly and with amazing dedication, but they did an incredible job!! Check out these beautiful pieces of art:
 
 
 

Please don't forget that report cards will be coming home on February 17th.

Have a great week!
Miss Skelton

December events

Hi everyone,

Welcome to December!  There is a lot happening this month - please see the following list:

On December 19, we will be having a Festive Feast!  Please see the google document (that you can edit) to sign up for a potluck item:
Sign Up for Barrett & Skelton Festive Feast
This document can also be accessed through student email addresses (students should know their login and password information):
Student Email

We are also continuing to collect for the local Food Bank - please consider sending in non-perishable items for members of our community who are in need.

Today - pictures come home!
December 6 - Hot Lunch forms due to the office
December 9 - Festive Hat Day
December 16 - Festive Sweater Day, Character Education assembly at 9:30 am
December 21 - Caroling for the first block in the gym
December 22 - Caroling for the first block in the gym
December 23 - PJ Day, last day of school for 2016

There will likely be more events coming up - please keep checking student agendas!
Have a great day,
Miss Skelton :)

New Science Units!

We started some new Science Units this week - students are invited to continue adding to, responding to, and asking questions on the following padlets - they've used them... please check them out!

Skelton's Grade 5s: http://padlet.com/sskelton/LSSkelton
Skelton's Grade 6s:  http://padlet.com/sskelton/solarsystem6
Barrett's Grade 5s:  http://padlet.com/sskelton/LSBarrett

Sugar Skulls and Coding

Over the past week, we've been working on drawing sugar skulls.  Students have done a beautiful job of participating in the creation of these beautiful, haunting skulls.  The following video gives a quick tutorial on how to draw a sugar skull:

I Can Haz Draw - Sugar Skulls

We also began coding today - coding is computer programming, and students are using logic and problem solving to design a set of commands to move characters through mazes. Please click on the link to the right to see what it's all about!  Students are welcome to use code.org both at school and at home.

I would also like to take this chance to congratulate our award winners for this month!  Kylah and Vito received the Character Awards for Cooperation and Lauryn received the Falcon Award for academic excellence. Congratulations!

Enjoy the weekend!
Miss Skelton

School Email

To check your email, please click on the following link:

Check your SCDSB Email

Peer Awareness & updates

Hi everyone,

I hope you've all been enjoying this beautiful October weather!  What a wonderful year we've had so far!

We were fortunate enough to have Shelly from Kinark in today to do a Peer Awareness session with our students, to help them understand how students with sensory sensitivities might perceive various tasks.  Please talk to your child about his or her favourite activity from this morning:
- skipping with yarn
- completing a puzzle together without talking
- reading and writing with glasses that have the lenses scratched up
- stringing beads while wearing gardening gloves

Our students were able to recognize how frustrating it might be to struggle with some of these items for a short time.  Our hopes are that they will be more empathetic toward students who may struggle with these sensory issues on a more regular basis. Thank you to our students for participating in such an active way! For pictures, please see the Remind feed at the right of the blog (or join us on remind and get the pics and updates as they happen!).

I've had some inquiries about our schedule, and would like to clarify a few items:
- with the addition of so many students and classes to our school, we will have an alternating Gym schedule with two Gym periods in Week A and one Gym period in Week B (this is to maximize the gym use for all 35+ classes).This week, we will have Gym in the first period on Day 2 and Day 3.  Next 5-day cycle we will have Gym in the first period on Day 2 only.
- a new (and hopefully relatively finalized!) schedule will be coming home in the next week.

Please remember to send in Dance-a-thon permission and pledge forms!
Also, tomorrow's a PD day, so students get to stay home :)

Have a great day,
Miss Skelton

October is here!

Hi everyone,

It's hard to believe, but October is already here!  I'm happy to say that students have settled into our new 5/6 well, and that every other teacher that comes into our class says it's a delight to be there :)  I'm already loving my students, but they've all been mine for a while, so I have a good excuse!

Before I mention our upcoming events and activities, I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who attended our Meet-The-Teacher night. It was wonderful to meet you, and if you weren't able to make it, I look forward to meeting you in the future!

If you haven't signed up for a conference time in November (after the progress reports go home), please contact me either through Remind or via email at sskelton@scdsb.on.ca.

We have a few things coming up this week:
Monday, October 3 -  weekly multiplication quiz;  spirit-wear day (wear Falcon clothes or green & black, our school colours); character ed assembly at 11:45 (which our students are presenting at/performing in, so if you'd like to join us, please do!)
Tuesday, October 4 - Officer Rob will be here to talk about Internet Safety
The rest of the week looks normal for now, but there's always something interesting that comes up at Fieldcrest, so look for updates!
Wednesday, October 5 - for those participating, the Cross Country meet

We've finished celebrating September's character trait of "caring", and we are now moving onto October's trait of "cooperation". Please talk to your child about the importance of this character trait!

Just a little to think about!

Have a great week,
Miss Skelton :)