The Homepage of Mrs. Goosen
Just sending a reminder that tomorrow is our class decorating party – please send along any extra Christmas decorations you have. We will return them before the break.
BYO Mug for hot chocolate tomorrow!
It’s also Pay to Wear Casual – $5 minimum per student.
Thank you!
It is hard to believe that it is already the end of November! How the last few months have flown by! Here is a snapshot of what we did this week:
Reading: We are almost done reading Wonder! We looked at character traits and the power of punctuation this week.
Social Studies: Students are working in groups to write a story about the superhero they’ve created to represent a region of Canada. They are putting together a presentation to showcase their hero, the natural resources they include, and what the impact would be if the region were destroyed. The heroes are very creative and it is so fun to see all of the learning from the last couple of weeks start to come to life.
Art: Everyone is creating their own artistic representation of each major region in Canada.
Math: We have been learning about the different multiplication properties and started working on memorizing our times tables.
Genius Hour: This week we began genius hour. Below I have a letter explaining a little more about Genius Hour this year.
Writing: We have started exploring Event Stories and have been working on an outline for our first story.
Bible: This week we have begun learning about Advent.
We have several things coming up this week:
Christmas Concert Filming on Monday: Students should come to school wearing a Christmas themed outfit – regular casual clothes with a toque or scarf, Christmas sweater or outfit is also great.
Pay to Wear Casual on Tues, December 1st: Tuesday Dec. 1st we will kick off our Food Drive event with a Pay to Wear Casual day for all students. Each student must make a minimum $5.00 donation to participate.
Donations can be made using any of the following methods:
Cash will be brought to the classroom and submitted to the office.
Christmas Decorating & Hot Chocolate Afternoon (BYOMug) on Tues, December 1: On Tuesday we will be decorating our classroom for Christmas! If you have any extra Christmas decorations we could borrow, please send them to school on Monday or Tuesday. We will return them before the Christmas break. We will also be having some hot chocolate – please send along a mug for your child.
Genius Hour:
Dear Parents,
Something exciting is happening in your child’s classroom. Your child was recently introduced to Genius Hour! Genius Hour will provide your child the opportunity to research a topic or idea
that he/she is passionate about.
Why is Genius Hour important?
The number one reason Genius Hour is important is because your child will take ownership in
his/her own learning. This research is intended to spark curiosity and encourage life-long
learning, imagination, perseverance, self-awareness, and adaptability. It’s also intended to
provide a sense of purpose for learning.
How will Genius Hour work in the classroom?
Your child will first choose a project topic of his/her interest. After that, your child will
formulate a question that will guide his/her research. Once the project is approved, your child
will then be given time in class to work on the project. Research materials (books, computer,
iPads, etc.) will be provided for your child to research with. When the project is complete, your child will be asked to present his/her learning to an audience.
How does Genius Hour fit into our standards?
Not only does your child get to choose a topic that he/she is passionate about, but the research and the presentation for this project also ties perfectly into our grade-level standards! A few examples of these standards are stated below:
Draw inferences and formulate conclusions based on multiple sources.
Combine pertinent information from several sources on the same topic to help gain an
understanding of a topic.
Present his/her learning in a meaningful, sequential, and clear way.
How can you help out?
There are many ways you can help. Once your child chooses a project, he/she may need help with expanding his/her thinking to help formulate new ideas. Discussing your child’s ideas and providing some guidance as to where to find useful information will be important. If you have access to the Internet at home, your child could conduct some of the research there. Finally, you (yes you) may be an expert in the area of which your child chose. If this is the case, it’s possible that you could offer some expertise and knowledge.
As your child’s teacher, I am excited to offer this learning opportunity and look forward to this
new adventure. If you have any questions about Genius Hour, please feel free to contact me.
Upcoming Dates:
Nov. 30 – Christmas Concert Filming
Dec. 1 – Pay to Wear Casual for Salvation Army & Christmas Decorating Party
Dec. 4 – Knights Day
Dec. 11- PD Day
Dec. 16 – Silly Sweater Day
Dec. 17 – Last Day of School & Class Christmas Party
Dec. 18 – Christmas Break
The class has been LOVING these Math videos! I told the students I would post the videos to the blog!
The first is Multiplication Mash Up – times tables. The second is properties of multiplication. Both are catchy and cute! Enjoy!
Happy Sunday to you all. I hope you have had a great weekend! Below is a snapshot of what we have been up to this week as well as some things we have coming up.
Math: we have been working on the foundations of multiplication. This week students will begin learning their multiplication facts. I will also send home a sheet at the end of the week that students can use to help them learn their facts.
Reading: We’re making great progress in our novel study and focused on making meaningful predictions this week.
Social Studies: We’ve been looking at the heroic qualities of the different physical regions of Canada through individual and group work.
French: Students studies their French vocabulary words and had a quiz on Friday. They will come home tomorrow.
Fall Fun Day: We had a LOVELY time with the Grade One class on Friday afternoon! Students broke into groups and spend time doing an art project in Miss Evans room and playing games in our classroom. I was so proud of the sweet way that the students interacted with the Grade One’s, making them feel so welcome! We look forward to spending some more time with them in the future.
Christmas Concert Recording on November 30th: Grade 4-6 will be recording their Christmas songs. We’d love it if they could dress in Christmas style clothing. Christmas clothing will be worn to school that day. No need to purchase any outfits or look for specific costumes.
Some ideas are: 1. Regular street clothes adding scarf or toque. 2. Christmas outfit if you already own. i.e. Christmas sweater (ugly Christmas sweater is fine). If you have any questions please direct them to Lorrie Dekoff at ldekoff@highroadacademy.com
Genius Hour: Students are very excited to begin Genius Hour this week! Our regular Genius Hour day will be Friday afternoons. Stay tuned for more information coming home this week!
Dress Up Days:
November 25th: Western Day Dress Up
November 30th: Christmas concert Christmas wear
December 1st: Pay to wear casual for Salvation Army ($5 minimum)
Upcoming Dates:
Nov. 25 – Intermediate Chapel
Nov. 25 – Western Dress-Up
Nov. 27 – Knights Day
Nov. 30 – Christmas Concert Filming – Gym Closed
Dec. 1 – Pay to Wear Casual for Salvation Army
Dec. 4 – Knights Day
Dec. 11- PD Day
Dec. 16 – Silly Sweater Day
Dec. 17 – Last Day of School
Dec. 18 – Christmas Break
Pictures of our Fall Fun Afternoon:
All day yesterday I thought it was Thursday! So sorry about the confusion! Fall fun day is tomorrow…I promise! 🤪🤪
Good afternoon. Last week I sent an email asking for games to be sent as we were having a fall fun afternoon with the Grade ones. I had mixed up my dates and we will be doing this tomorrow. Please send along any games that might be enjoyed by Grade one students. Thank you!
Good morning!
Here is the link for today’s interviews. If you are coming to the school for an interview, please come on in at your scheduled time.
https://meet.google.com/qvg-faby-ubn
I look forward to seeing you today!
We had another great week here in the Grade Five classroom! Here’s a snapshot of what we did this week:
Math: We are learning about multiplication.
Writing: wrote a personal narrative on a special friend.
Reading: We continued to ‘explore’ idioms and are ‘stretching our minds’ in many new ways. We also learned about the power of the tiny quotation mark.
Social Studies: We are learning about the many different kinds of regions that Canada has. The one that we looked at this week is physical features.
Science: This week we looked at the amount of waste we bring to school – and the students had a ‘waste free lunch’ this week. I was proud of the effort students made on Tuesday and I encourage them to continue this during the school year. =)
Art: Our elements of art project is hanging up in the classroom, they look amazing!
French: We worked on phrases for greetings and leave takings. We will be having a quiz next Friday.
Parent Teacher Conferences: I look forward to meeting with you on Monday. For those who are meeting remotely, I will email you link on Monday morning. If you are having trouble connecting, please send me an email at pgoosen@highroadacademy.com. I have the link listed below in case you need to double check your interview time.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qe8DaSUqlsYt4UafD5AeH_97C9Ll3K2uM1naEvUaukw/edit?usp=sharing
Grade One Fall Fun Day: My apologies for getting the date wrong – it’s Friday, November 20th. Please send along games anytime next week.
French Quiz: Your child has brought home some french vocabulary words to study for a quiz on Friday, November 20th. Please help them get ready for this quiz.
Upcoming Dates:
Nov. 16 – Interim Interviews
Nov. 20 – Knights Day
Nov. 25 – Western Dress-Up
Nov. 27 – Knights Day
Dec. 1 – Pay to Wear Casual for Salvation Army
Dec. 4 – Knights Day
Dec. 11- Pro D Day
Dec. 17 – Last Day of School
Parent Teacher Interviews: If you haven’t signed up for an interview yet, please follow the link. I would love to have parents signed up by Friday.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qe8DaSUqlsYt4UafD5AeH_97C9Ll3K2uM1naEvUaukw/edit?usp=sharing
Fall Fun Afternoon: Our class is in a cohort with Miss Evans grade one class. We will be having a fun fall afternoon together on Friday. If students could bring games that would be suitable to play with younger children, that would be great! We are looking forward to spending time with these sweet friends!
Scholastic Order Forms: These came home today. We have two ordering options – you can use the code and order online or you can send the order in with $$ to me. I will be placing an order next Wednesday, October 18th.
Thank you!
We had a lovely week here in the Grade Five classroom! Here is a snapshot of what we did this week:
Math: We are reviewing the basics of multiplication this week and will continue building on this foundation next week:
Writing: We did a final edit of our last writing piece, started our outline for our next piece of writing on friendship and took a look at how to add ‘triple-scoop’ words to our writing.
Science: This week in Planet Protectors we learned about collective impact – and how together we can have a big impact on the amount of garbage we make. We took a look at our lunches and learned ways we can decrease our daily lunch kit garbage.
Art: Students collaborated on poppy art this week…the result is BEAUTIFUL! (picture below)
Reading: Our focus this week for our novel study was on figurative language, mostly on idioms.
Social Studies: We are learning about the structure of government and our connection to the monarchy over time.
Bible: We started a new unit on Promises God has for me. This week students looked at different Bible passages and pulled out the promise that God has for them in each passage.
Things Coming Up…
Health Checks: We are asking that every family be diligent in conducting health checks every day.
Parent Teacher Interviews: A post went home this afternoon about the upcoming interviews. I would like to meet with each family either on the 16th or anytime around that date. Please sign up as soon as possible. Email me if the 16th doesn’t work and we can figure out a better time for you.
Waste Free Lunch: This coming Tuesday we are going to do our best to bring a Waste Free Lunch. This lunch will ideally be free from any garbage. Please encourage your child to pack a lunch that comes in reusable containers this Tuesday.
Remembrance Day: There is no school next Wednesday due to Remembrance Day. A video will be coming home soon for you to enjoy.
Upcoming Dates:
Nov. 11 – Remembrance Day – School Closed
Nov. 13 – Knights Day
Nov. 16 – Interim Interviews
Nov. 20 – Knights Day
Nov. 25 – Western Dress-Up
Nov. 27 – Knights Day
December
Dec. 1 – Pay to Wear Casual for Salvation Army
Dec. 4 – Knights Day
Dec. 11- PD Day
Dec. 17 – Last Day of School
