It was a busy last week before our winter break, with Sports Day being the main event! Our students had an amazing time showing off their athletic skills and just having fun participating in all the events! It is always healthy to have some friendly competition, and it was nice to see students supporting one another no matter of their house team.
REMINDER: Thank you to those who have already returned the signed permission slips for the Grade 5 Muscat trip in February. If you have not yet done so, please send them when your child returns to school. We must have confirmed numbers to go ahead and make the bookings!
Students were able to gain further understanding of the size difference between the planets in our solar system using fruits brought in by Ms. Cora. We measured the distances between the fruits to be proportional with their actual distance in space, and wow, it was amazing to see just how far the planets actually are and how difficult it is to see some of them! We read ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ asking students how this is connected to space. Students were able to identify Earth as being our ‘just right’ planet that we can live on. They were then asked to write their opinion to answer the question: “Is there life on other planets?” and to place it on the opinion line according to how strong their opinion was. They then learned about how scientists have discovered other planets that may also potentially be habitable, and after this, they were asked to rethink their opinion, and if it had changed, to write a new opinion on a different colour and add it to the opinion line. What do YOU think? Is there life on other planets? Talk as a family…
In Maths we have been looking at different strategies to multiply multi-digit numbers together such as arrays, repeated addition, partitioning, grid method, short and long multiplication and lattice. We will be looking into these strategies in more detail after the holidays and practising using our favourites. With practise, we hope that students can become an expert using one of the strategies and feel confident to use it when tasked to multiply larger numbers.
Looking ahead to when we return from break, students will be ready to start their own personal inquiries into an element of space using a guided inquiry journal. We will begin to practise note taking and note making. We will continue to explore science-fiction texts and look at how we can use a story mountain template to plan for writing to ensure we have included all elements of a narrative story and stay organised. In maths we will continue to practise multiplication of multi-digit numbers and move into different division strategies.
You can find all of the photos from this week: HERE
Wishing you all a safe and wonderful winter break! Looking forward to seeing you all in the New Year!
Warm Wishes, Grade 5 Team!
