Week 14

Hello Ramsay Families, 

Here are a few reminders of upcoming events happening in December: 

December 15th – Holiday sweater day 

December 16th – Holiday hat day 

December 17th – PJ Day and last day of school before the holidays 

Additionally, please see message from Ms. Serra regarding the taping of the virtual holiday performance this coming Thursday: 

 

Dear Parents, 

We will be videotaping our Virtual Holiday Performance on Thursday December 9th.   This performance is called the Tree in Celebrations.  We are asking students to dress in a festive way for the video.  Any of these options are fine: 

-any festive holiday wear 

-any clothing your child associates with a celebration 

-plain red, green, black or white shirt (if a shirt has a picture on the front we can just turn it around) 

Please let me know if you have any questions about this. 

Thank you so much for your support! 

 

Jennifer Serra 

Music Teacher 

Ramsay School 

Math 

In math this week, we extended our learning of multiplication to include double-digit multiplication strategies.  We began our learning by first working on our mental math strategies by determining the product of a 2-digit number by a multiple of ten. 

E.g. 20 x 24 = 480, 200 x 24 = 4800, 2000 x 24 = 48 000 

  

As a class, we then moved into determining the product of 2-digit numbers using both a pictorial array method and the traditional algorithm.  Working with both strategies supported students in making the connection between multiplying the one & tens place of one digit by the one’s and ten’s place of the second digit.  

  

Learning objectives for the lessons this week included: 

-       I can apply mental mathematics strategies for multiplication. 

-       I can demonstrate an understanding of multiplication (2-digit by 2-digit) to solve problems. 

 

 

ELA 

In reading instruction this week, we began to look at the comprehension strategy of summarization.  Summarizing requires students to recall important events, sequence and paraphrase.  Over the next several weeks we will be using non-fiction texts, and different learning strategies, to support students to analyze a text and then share and record their short summaries.  Our lesson goals include: 

-       Summary consists of main idea and important details only. 

-       I can use text structure to summarize the main ideas and detail. 

-       I can use text features and structure to summarize the sequence, causes and effects, and problem and solution. 

  

In writing this week, we continued our understanding and application of figurative language by learning about personification and onomatopoeia. Students will be using these writing techniques to add detail and description to a winter scene poem they will be comprising this upcoming week. 

  

Additionally, students also began to look at several prefix definitions to support our vocabulary development.  Students are investigating the meaning of several prefixes that will further support their understanding of word parts, and to help them apply this knowledge to read unfamiliar words in complex texts. 

 

 

 

 

On Monday, our class joined Ms. Elders and the Grade 4/5 class for a Community Walk along the Elbow River pathway. The focus of our walk this week was an extension of our learning in both Social Studies and Science. Students were asked to document their observations about the weather, temperature and cloud cover. Additionally, students were asked to find a “sit spot” where they could reflect and journal about the story of Chanie Wenjack. Prior to our walk, we watched a video about a local Calgary school, who had documented their learning around “Walk for Wenjack.”  Here is a link to the video that served as an excellent provocation for our work.  

Walk for Wenjack 

Guiding Question: 

How does learning about one person’s story give us an idea about the impact of residential school on people in Canada? 

 

French 

Learning Objectives: I can demonstrate an understanding of vocabulary associated with common clothing items and basic accessories. 

I can express simple written messages by copying, labelling, substituting words or using simple concrete sentences based on available models. 

In French, we are learning vocabulary about common clothing types and how to communicate this orally and through writing in French. This week, students focused on winter clothing and were asked to draw a picture of a person wearing winter clothing and then write about it. They were given the following prompts to support them in completing the work.  

C’est l’hiver! Je porte ___________________________. 

 Je porte ________________________.  

Je porte __________________________.  

Je porte ________________________.  

J’aime l’hiver! 

This activity will prepare students for their final summative task where they will create a script for a fashion show, in which they will describe their peers' clothing in French as they walk the runway.