Welcome Grade 5 Students, Parents/Guardians

Hello Grade 5 Class and Parents/Guardians, I would like to welcome you to the Grade 5 class Educational blog! This is an online resource that will help parents/guardians and students overcome homework difficulties. Each week, I will post tips, explanations or samples of work in order to reduce confusion of the Ontario Curriculum.

Grade five is an exciting time as children embark upon new adventures in the world of learning. This is a year of important transitions, as well as one in which acquisition of new skills is accelerated. I hope to make your child's grade five year a fun and exciting learning experience, and I hope to instill a love of learning that will last throughout your child's years of schooling. I believe that open communication between parent/guardian and teacher plays an important role in the success of each student. Should you ever have any questions, concerns, or comments about your child, please do not hesitate to contact me by telephone or email.

As the Internet can be a very interesting place to visit, I will expect the children to be logging into this Edublog. I would like to take this time to ask all the parents and students to look at the following website to review safety online internet rules, Safe Kids.

I would like to take the time and thank you for participating in your child's education. My hope is to help your child have a successful and exciting year!

Sincerely,

Ms. Boni

Classroom Etiquette

Below, please find our classroom rules that we created at the beginning of the year. It is important that each one of you follow these rules in order to create a positive learning environment in our classroom.

The Great Prime Ministers of Canada

Throughout the past month, we have been learning about current political figures in Canada. It is now your turn to research a historical political figure and do a biography on their lives. You will research a Prime Minister using different resources and create a biography poster about them.

Make sure you include the following in the biography poster:

- Personal information

- Time in office

- Major Accomplishments in their life

- Interesting Facts

Below, I have provided you with two websites that you can use in order to do your research.

The Prime Ministers of Canada

The Prime Minister in Canadian Life and Politics

In addition to the resources that I have provided, you are to find and use two (2) extra resources that will guide you with your search. By the end of the week, I would like for you to come to class with your two additional sources, as well as the historical figure you will be researching.

Numbers! They're All Around Us!

We finally come to the wonderful world of Math! I know a lot of you may think that math is not important, but did you ever stop and think that numbers are a part of our everyday lives?

When we buy something at the store, we are using numbers! When we need to know what time it is, we look at numbers! They are everywhere! They are even in the food we eat! You are all probably thinking, “Miss, how is that possible?” Well imagine a pizza and how it is divided – that is a form of a fraction, which is made up by numbers!

In the next couple of weeks, we will be looking at fractions, what they represent and how they are represented. For next week, I would like each of you to bring in a recipe, either from your parent's/guardian's cookbook, from a magazine or the Internet. Try to find a recipe that has lots of fractions on it!

In the meantime, in order to refresh your memory about fractions, go to the following website to review your fraction skills:

Fractions Revision

How Do Our Bodies Work?

The human body is a great science topic to explore. We are all naturally curious about our bodies and we have lots of first-hand knowledge and experience about how our bodies function. You know that your bodies are continuously changing as you continue to grow, but how does it all happen?

In the beginning of this fascinating unit on the human body, we will examine the basic structure and function of the major organs in the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, excretory, and nervous systems. Don’t panic, it may seem like a lot, but the human body is all interconnected and very interesting to learn about!

We will begin the unit by looking at the fun and exciting world of the digestive system! Go to the following website - Kids Health - and answer the following questions:

Name at least 4 organs that are part of the digestive system and their function.
Why is the digestive system an important part of your body?
When does digestion begin?
The stomach has three important jobs. What are they?

These questions are to be completed and brought in for our next Science class.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

As all of you have just finished reading your independent novel study, it is now time for you to become a newspaper reporter! You will take on the role as a newspaper reporter and write a news story about the characters, conflict, and any major events. Remember that your parents/guardians, classmates and I will be reading the article, so make sure to make it eye-catching and add interesting details that will want us to pick up the novel and read it for ourselves. In addition, make sure to use a lot of descriptive words that we learned in class the last couple of weeks.

The following are parts of a news story you need to know and use for your assignment:

The HEADLINE names the story

The BYLINE shows the name of the author

The BEGINNING gives the most important idea

The MIDDLE tells more about the story

The ENDING gives the reader an idea to remember

Make sure to be creative in your news story, use legible and eye-catching fonts, use graphics and/or pictures and provide a proper layout of the article. Remember to make it fun and interesting for your audience to read!Check out the following website on further steps on how to write your newspaper article:

How to Write a Newspaper Article

Check out the following websites, as well as locate a newspaper in your home to see how professional news reporters layout their news story!

The Toronto Star

The Globe and Mail

I would like each of you to look at examples of different newspaper articles and their layout. You will have time in class to do this assignment.

Educational Links of the Week

In order to freshen up your mind, check out these games to practice, expand, and enhance your knowledge! The following websites will help you with the topics that we will be reviewing this week.

Education Place is a great website to review your vocabulary skills. You will be needing these skills to help you with your news story in Language Arts. Sharpen your vocabulary skills in order to intrigue your audience when they are reading your article!



Do you think you may have the skill and knowledge to be the next Mathonaire? If so, go to the following website and test all your skills and knowledge and maybe you may become the next Mathonaire!



Want to find out more about the Prime Ministers of Canada and Canadian politics, check out the following website and test your skills at CPAC.

Homework Help

Need some additional assistance with your homework, click on Homework Help - Yahoo! Kids and find information about any subject.

Scholastic Kids Homework Hub is also an excellent website that will allow you to ask any homework questions that you may be struggling with.

Useful Resources

Below are a list of websites that I find to be very useful.

Dibdabdoo is an excellent resource that may help you when you need to brainstorm topics for future research assignments.

If you are ever stuck and need a little extra help, A Math Dictionary For Kids is a useful website that you can use to study and build on your math vocabulary. This website is an interactive dictionary that explains many mathematical terms in simple language.

Have some extra time in your hands, with nothing to do? Click on the Fact Monster to find out interesting facts about people, places, science, math, and a variety of different material that will get your mind thinking!

Not sure how to spell a word? Go to the online dictionary to help you with any assignments.

The Ministry of Education is an excellent website that provides parents and students information about Ontario's education system. For students, there are numerous educational links that give helpful hints on how to surf the internet, help you with your homework, provide ideas on how to ace tests, ideas on how to create awesome projects, and so much more! For parents, this site provides you with information regarding your students education, curriculum expectations, recent provincial averages for EQAO, and a lot more.