Summer Math Materials (as requested)

I hope you’ve had a great start to your summer vacation! Last week, I had some requests for math material suggestions (books and websites) for extra practice over the summer, and I thought the information would be useful to everyone.

For basic operation practice (e.g., math facts, times table, basic computations/concepts), there are many books on the market such as Math Smarts (ISBN: 978-1-897164-15-0), My Ontario Math Workbook, Tree House Ontario Math (ISBN:9781894854733). Many of these books are available at Target, Walmart, Scholar's Choice or Chapters.

During the school year, we used the textbook series Math Makes Sense. We didn’t use the accompanying workbook very much (other than a few pages here and there). You can contact the publisher, Pearson, to purchase the workbook.  It's about $11, and each lesson begins with a quick "review" section.  You can also Google “Math Make Sense grade 5 workbook”, and locate a copy uploaded by a teacher in Saskatchewan. It doesn't match perfectly with the Ontario version, but it is close. The textbook is also available from the Toronto Public Library. Most of the copies are for use in the library (the one at the Thorncliffe branch is located in the Children’s Reference area), but a few copies can be borrowed for a few weeks (they’re presently holds for the copies at different branches across the city, but you can add your time to the list and request to have it shipped to the Thorncliffe Park branch).

This year in math, we focused a lot of problem solving. I firmly believe that students need to master basic computations (e.g., add or multiply numbers), AND apply them to solve problems and real-life situations (e.g., know when to add, subtract, multiply or divide). The following are a few books that promote some of the higher-order thinking we’ve been practicing in class: Groundworks: Reasoning with Number (ISBN-13: 978-1404520318), Road to Reasoning (ISBN: 9780070947528). The second book is very expensive, but you can check to see if the library has copies. Also, if older brothers and sisters attending UofT or York, they have access to the Faculty of Education libraries at the universities and can borrow books from there.

A great free resource is the EQAO website. You can download questions from previous years (I would recommend ones within the last 5 years, as the test today is a bit easier than the ones given when the test first started 10 years ago). Most of the questions on the test are open-ended problem solving questions, and would be a great practice for students next year. The questions are designed for Grade 6 students (at end of the school year), and may be too hard for your child right now. You can modify the question for them by changing the numbers (e.g., instead of 5 digits, change the numbers to 4 digits), or by breaking the questions down for them (e.g., if it involves 3 steps, give the question to them 1 step at a time).

While I believe academics are important, I also want to encourage students to take some time to relax and have fun. After working hard for 10 months, students need some “downtime” and decompress before entering Middle School. Spend some time outside, and be active! As adults, we can become burnt out if all we’re doing is work - students also need a balance between working hard and having a chance to play! Summer’s also a great time to spend time as a family - there’s a lot of learning to be done through board games (e.g., logic, reasoning, communication, taking turns, patience and character building).


I wish you and your families all the best, and have a great and wonderful summer!

Ontario Elections - Students called it!

Before the actual election day, about 170,000 students across Ontario (including all the Grade 5 students at TPPS) participated in Student Vote 2014. Over 1600 schools were registered, representing all 107 ridings.

Students in Ontario voted to give the Liberals a majority government, with 62 seats. Here is a video with the result summary:

Summary Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzpaoEcasFU

Here are the detailed results from Student Vote: http://studentvote.ca/on/results/

You can view the results for all of Ontario, just your riding (pick from the drop down menu) and also for our school (click on our school name).

As of right now (with some polls still being counted and reported), most news sources have declared a majority Liberal government, based on the adult citizens’ vote. It looks like the students and adults agree!

Recognition Assembly - note: date error

The Recognition Assembly for Grade 5 students is being held on Tuesday, June 24 (not June 25, as I had previously listed on this blog).  I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused!  The assembly will take place at 1PM, and an invitation will be sent home shortly.

Pot Luck Party - Friday

A few weeks ago, our class filled our Marble Jar and earned a party.  However, due to scheduling conflicts and the need to finish a number of in-class assessments, I'd ask the students to post-pone their reward.  They gracious accepted my request, and we are having our Pot-Luck Party this Friday.  I'd asked students to write persuasive pieces to convince me of their party ideas, and Milodi did a great job presenting his reasons and arguments in a logical manner.

On Friday, students can bring a snack or treat to share with their classmates.  We do have a food allergy in our classroom (various seeds), and need to be cautious about ingredients.  After speaking with the student, he said that he can avoid any food items containing the allegens, as long as he knows the ingredients.  If the item is purchased, I've asked students to bring in the packaging with the ingredients listed.  If the item is home-made, please include a list of ingredients used.  Thanks for your co-operation in this matter!

June 9-20, 2014

Reading: Poetry
Writing: Persuasive Writing
Math: Measurement - Mass, Capacity & Volume, Algebra
Science (Ms. Halliwell): Body Systems
Social Studies: Provincial Election, Municipal Government, Advocating for Change
French (Ms. Bordonaro): Parts of the Body
Music/Drama (Ms. Craigg): Instruments
Visual Art: Tessellations, Number Cube Art
Phys. Ed (Ms. Minutillo): TBA

Social Studies

Charter of Freedom & Rights

In class this week, we’re learning about the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizens. In class, we took a quick look at the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom. Some students asked for copies of it, and while I will be giving everyone hand-out with the summary (in child-friendly language), I will not be printing out the full charter. Here is an online version:

http://charterofrights.ca/en/27_00_01

The charter has also been translated into different languages (along the left hand side bar) as well.

Elections Debate
I’ve also encouraged students to watch (parts of) the Provincial Election Debate tonight. It will be airing on CBC from 6:30-8:00. It’ll be a good chance for students to get to know some of the issues and a chance to hear from Tim Hudak (who didn’t submit videos to The Student Vote website).

Student Vote 2014

As part of our Social Studies unit, our students will be taking part in “Student Vote 2014”. We will be following the provincial election and all TPPS Grade 5 students will vote in our own election on June 10. Over 1300 schools across in Ontario will also be holding elections, and all the results will be combined to see which party the students would choose, if they were allowed to vote.

To help students make informed decisions, we submitted questions for the party leaders. The organization CIVIX, which is coordinating the event, compiled the questions and chose 5 questions for each party leader.

Here are their answers:
http://www.studentvote.ca/on2014/the-leaders/

*please note that these are the responses they have received thus far, and more may be added as parties contribute their answers

I have also asked students to pay attention to the news and identify some of the party platforms and campaign promises. They can watch the news on TV, listen to it on the radio, read newspapers (print and online), read campaign materials. We will be constructing a bulletin board at school to compare and contrast the different parties.

As they say, practice makes perfect! I hope that through our discussions and activities, all our students will claim their right to vote, and fulfill that responsibility, when they turn 18 one day.