This week we finished our first Unit of Inquiry and started our second, it was a great opportunity for us to look back, which helps us to plan forward. Students started the week by completing their end of unit reflections which they will be sharing with you at the upcoming 3 Way Conferences in November.
Thank you so much to the parents who have been in touch with suggestions for field trips for our new Unit of Inquiry, exploring How The World Works. Our Central Ideas is: Scientific understanding of force and motion facilitates problem solving. In this unit we will be studying the science behind forces and motion, and students will be designing and creating their own Rube Goldberg machines (Chain Reaction Contraptions). Over the holidays they are encouraged to seek out materials that they think could be useful when it comes to building their machines, preferably recycled materials, such as: old toys, wrapping paper tubes, aluminum foil, cardboard, water bottles, toilet paper or paper towel tubes, cereal or cake-mix boxes, books, cans, dominoes, funnels, marbles, golf balls, string, buckets, cups or bowls, batteries, and magnets to name a few.
In Unit of Inquiry this week we started to unpack our Central Idea and students were introduced to chain reaction contraptions! In particular we saw some amazing examples of Rube Goldberg machines, and students are very excited at the thought of creating their own. The provocations made us think about how long the creators must have spent building these, and they also made us wonder how many attempts it must’ve taken to get it right! This is great as much of our focus during this unit will be on grit and perseverance.
In writing, students chose one example of a Rube Goldberg machine to plan and write about in an On Demand Assessment, which is a pre-assessment to guide the teaching of this unit. Some students used the opportunity to continue their preparation at home ready for the assessment which meant they were extremely well prepared, and should be commended for taking ownership of their own learning. These are the skills we are really focused on in Grade 5 this year.
In maths, students were naming decimal fractions in expanded, unit, and word forms by applying place value reasoning. This built on to the skills they already had of partitioning numbers, but as they are all learning, maths is really levelling up in Grade 5! They are becoming more aware of the importance of using all the tools they have at their disposal to help them to check and re-check that their answers are correct, in particular, their own personal place value charts.
We ended this term by gaining our second RUTF pack ( ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) that will be delivered to severely malnourished children around the world) on Kids Power by completing another 10 Kids Power Ups. See them in action: HERE. See them gaining the RUTF: HERE.
As we are now settling into our learning routines, and students are working hard to ensure that they play their part in making the teaching and learning a positive experience for everyone, students had the opportunity to choose for themselves a well deserved end of term treat! They chose to end the term with a movie and pizza day, which they all enjoyed. We are proud of you Grade 5. Come back to school well rested and with even more determination to do your very best every day.
Wishing you all a restful break. Best wishes, Team G5.
