Please don't see your shadow, groundhogs! Wow, it's almost February....so far so good for winter. Today is the school Spelling Bee. Good luck to all students participating.

READING
We will be completing chapters 9-10 in Moses, Me and Murder. It will be due Wednesday before they leave. I have still not received the first book report from some students. The second book report is due tomorrow (January 31st) for the 6s and February 9th for the 5s.

WRITING
The fairy tales are coming along very well. Many of the students are coming very close to finishing. Once they are all done and bound, they will read them to their Kindergarten and grade 2 buddies.

MATH
We continue to work on fractions, with a quiz coming on Monday or Tuesday. I would like all students to purchase a basic calculator, preferably by next week. We will be using calculators for many of the concepts covered the rest of the year.  It should not cost more than a couple dollars. A basic solar calculator, that can be found at the dollar stores or other retail stores, will be fine.  I have some that students could borrow, but it is much better if every student has  own.

SOCIAL STUDIES
The students are well on their way with their culture projects. There are some fabulous creations.
 

Better late then not at all! The last full week of January and the weather has not been too bad. Maybe the groundhogs will predict an early spring next week.

We survived tubing....what a great day we had! It definitely is colder this week. Make sure you bring warm clothes. There are no field trips planned for this week.

READING
The first Newbery book report is due this week. Grade 6s have their report due tomorrow and the grade 5s on Thursday. Make sure you pick books at your reading level so you can meet the deadlines. We also will be doing chapters 3-6 in Moses, Me and Murder this week.
WRITING
All Fairy tales need to be typed and edited this week. The students will have until the end of February to complete the pictures. It is important that they complete one picture every 2 days or so, to be on track to finish.
MATH
We began a multiplication/division challenge today. I will be testing the students on each row of the table I sent home. Each row that they master will earn them a B-buck. When they reach 5 B-bucks they will get an individual treat. When they all master the entire 9 rows, there will be a full class ice-cream party. Please help them practice at home. We will also be having a quiz on Friday on long and short division.
SOCIAL STUDIES
They are well on their way in planning their Create a Culture project. This is a group project, that will continue through the month of February. It will require the students to buy and bring supplies to school.
HACE
We are discussing gender roles in class this week. Yes, the homework is to watch 3 television shows.
 

Tubing at Harper! A big reminder about our tubing trip tomorrow. Make sure you are dressed appropriately. The best way is to wear layers of clothing, so you can adjust if it warms up. You need to remember your helmets, gloves, jackets, snow pants, and lunches (There is a concession, if you choose to bring money). I look forward to a fun day of tubing.
READING
The students should be working on their first book report. They are due on January 17th for the grade six students and January 19th for the fives. The grade five students need to be completing one every 15 days and the sixes every 10 days (adjusted a bit for weekends). We are also doing a novel study called Moses, Me, and Murder. It is about a murder that took place at Barkerville during the gold rush.
WRITING
I have edited half of the fairy tales and will hopefully be done the rest soon. The students then need to get working on the pictures.
MATH
Many of the students still have not mastered their times tables. There needs to be commitment to this at home. We are working on long and short division. There will be  a quiz next Wednesday.

Happy New Year!! Hopefully you all had a great break. Now it's time for the long, dark stretch to Spring Break. At least the days are now getting longer. We have a lot going on the next couple months. Firstly, please get the tubing money and permission to the school as soon as possible. We go tubing next Friday (13th). If you require financial assistance with this, please see me and I will help you.  
READING
We will soon begin a novel study about the Cariboo Gold Rush. Details coming soon.
WRITING
The students should be finished typing their fairy tales this week. As soon as I edit each of them, they can begin drawing the pictures. This will be due the end of February. Believe it or not, it will actually take that long to complete most of them.
MATH
We began long division today. This can be a very difficult concept for some students. Please help them at home if you can. A video that they can watch to reinforce what we are doing in class is from Khanacademy. This video has longer examples. This site also allows you to do practice questions. I love it!

Last week before Christmas Break!!!! Don't forget to get secret Santa gifts in by Thursday. We will open them on Friday. Friday is also PJ day, ending with a full school movie in the gym. All students need to have their fairy tale rough copies finished and be typing them this week. The students can log into their school accounts by going to the Norkam website and following the Free NX Linux Access link. You may need to update Java first, but then they can access their writing at home. When we return in January, they will edit and begin to draw the pictures.  You should have also received a permission slip for the tubing trip on January 13th. Please get the permission and money in A.S.A.P.  As always, if you have any questions please contact me at the school by phone or email rbonderud@sd73.bc.ca.  Have a great Christmas break and see you in 2012.

It's a short, but busy week. Wednesday afternoon is the dress rehearsal for the Christmas concert and Thursday and Friday afternoons are the performances. Don't forget to continue looking for or making creative gifts for our Secret Santa gift exchange, which will occur December 16th. 

READING and WRITING
The students have been reading fairytales, and they began creating their own original fairytales. We brainstormed the elements of a fairytale and they were all given the assessment rubric. They need to have a rough copy finished and be  ready to start typing by next Tuesday (December 13th). The goal is to have the fairytale completely written and typed into the word processor by the middle of January, so they can then begin illustrating (which will take several weeks). This week we will also learn about words that are often confused in writing, such as all ready and already, breath and breathe, cloths and clothes, desert and dessert, lose and loose, etc.

MATH
We will continue to work on multiplication of 2-digit by 1-digit, 2-digit by 2-digit, and with decimals. We did a quiz last week, but it was obvious by the results that the students needed more time with this concept. Many of the students still do not have their times tables mastered, which is making it very difficult for them to have success. Please continue to work on mastery at home.

Less than a month until Christmas!!!! A few reminders. All students have agreed to participate in our Secret Santa on December 16th. Each student has the name of one student from the class. Your child needs to buy (no more than $10), or make, a creative gift for their secret person. Please wrap the gift and put the person's name on it. Do not put who it's from (that's the secret part). The point is to be creative. The dollar stores are great places to buy inexpensive things or Claire's for girl things. Some ideas for great homemade gifts could be Christmas baking, handmade ornaments or burned cds with popular music. Any gift that had thought put into it is a great gift. As well, don't forget that Friday is an early closure, so the kids go home at 12:30. If any parents wish to speak to me Friday afternoon, please contact me to arrange a time. Students also get the day off on Monday,  as teachers will be doing  professional development. 

READING 
We finished our novel study. Please get your child to show you their story map and discuss the assessment rubric. The students are now reading fairytales.
WRITING
This week they are learning about prefixes and suffixes. They will soon begin writing and illustrating original fairytales.
MATH
We continue to learn about multiplication (2-digits by 1-digit and 2-digits by 2-digits).
SOCIAL STUDIES
Today the students will be presenting their projects.

It feels like winter is coming...brrrrrrr! Good luck to the boys volleyball team as they begin playoffs this week.

READING
Sammy Keyes story maps are due this Friday.
WRITING
This week we will be learning about synonyms, antonyms and homonyms. They should also have a web and topic sentence completed for their persuasive paragraph.
MATH
Today is a quiz for factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers. We will then be working on multiplication and division. Continue to practice using tenmarks.
SOCIAL STUDIES
The grade five students are finishing their fur trading forts and the grade six students their country projects. They all need to be completed and ready to present by Monday, November 28th.


Don't forget that tomorrow is pizza day!!

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about what we are doing in class or if you wish to know about your child's progress. rbonderud@sd73.bc.ca

Five weeks until Christmas Break....where has the time gone? It's going to be a relatively quiet week, as far as things happening around the school, but the students will  still be working hard in all subjects.

READING
The students are working on an 8 box story map showing the main events of the story. Each box contains a description, picture, and thinking and talking bubbles and should clearly explain the events of the story. This will be due Friday, November 25th.

WRITING
'We continue to learn about punctuation, dictionary skills and persuasive writing. 

MATH
We will be finishing factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers this week, ending with a quiz either Friday or next Monday.

SOCIAL STUDIES
The grade 5 students should be well on their way with their fur trading forts and the grade 6 students should have most of their research completed for their country study. All projects are due Monday, November 28th.

SCIENCE
We completed our electricity unit, ending with the students creating a circuit board with a switch. Our next unit, we will learn about extreme environments.