January Learning Update

Hello Families,

Our focus on well-being continues with our school wide self-portraits and our artistic representations on our doorways.

For the month of January, the students:

· Practicing reading news articles to determine the 5 W’s and recording jot notes to summarize articles

· Designed multi-media presentations with an awareness of audience engagement to represent understanding of current events

· Developing coding skills, such as loops, conditionals and abstractions, with a robotics program from Telus Spark

· Studying the Earth and our solar system, including space exploration and the use of technologies

· Describing the location of points on a coordinate grid (Gr. 5)

· Identifying relationships between the sides and angles of a polygon (Gr. 5)

· Representing arithmetic sequences and pattern rules utilizing a table of values and algebraic expressions (Gr. 5)

· Characterizing how volume takes up space (Gr. 6)

· Analyzing and expressing Algebraic equations (Gr. 6)

Next month, we will be:

· Examining the historical, social and cultural text to determine how changes in context affect actions, behaviours and characters in text through a guided novel study of Refugee

· Writing to inform, explain and persuade for a variety of purposes and audiences, including composing an expository text connected to the study of a planet in Science.

· Understanding statistical representations such as stem-and leaf, frequency tables, double bar graphs to determine frequency and mode mode and frequency (Gr. 5)

· Combining like terms in algebraic equations (Gr. 6)

· Modeling algebraic equations (Gr. 6) 

Ask your child:
1. What is important for you to learn in this new year? 

2. Teach a family member how to design a simple galaxy game by using Scratch.

Please note:

· Practice Mathletics to review daily lessons at home.  Ask your child to share their log-in information.

· Communication about school choices for students entering Grade 7 next was sent home at the beginning of this month and should be reviewed before the Open Houses begin in January.

· No School on Friday, January 30.  It is a Professional Development Day.

· Science Field Trips on February 3 and February 10.

· We are excited to say that we have found an alternative program to make up for the outdoor school week that was missed in October of 2025. The Grade 5 and 6 students will have the opportunity to attend overnight outdoor school from May 5th - May 8th . We will be reaching out with more information soon! 

Respectfully,

Mrs. Calvert and Mrs. Jonsson

Grade 5/6 Teachers - L & L Teacher

December Learning Update

Hello Families,

We have been very busy with our drama residency with Trickster Theater Company.  Our representations of belonging demonstrated our commitment to well-being and belonging in our school community.

For the month of December, the students:

· Practicing reading comprehension strategies, such as utilizing text features to locate main ideas

· Learning about Energy in our physical world to analyze forces and relate them to interactions between objects.

· Practicing standard algorithms to multiply (3X2 – Gr. 5)

· Factoring of different numbers (Gr. 6)

· Introducing exponents and exploring the ways in which they affect equations and numbers (Gr. 6)

Next month, we will be:

· Practicing reading news articles to determine the 5 W’s and recording jot notes to summarize articles

· Designed multi-media presentations with an awareness of audience engagement to represent understanding of current events

· Developing coding skills, such as loops and conditionals, with a robotics program from Telus Spark

· Studying the Earth and our solar system, including space exploration and the use of technologies

· Describing the location of points on a coordinate grid (Gr. 5)

·  Identifying relationships between the sides and angles of a polygon (Gr. 5)

· Characterizing how volume takes up space (Gr. 6)

· Analyzing and expressing Algebraic equations (Gr. 6)

Ask your child:
1. What does respect look like, sound like and feel like?

Please note:

· Winter break begins on Friday, December 19.  School resumes on Monday, January 5, 2026.

· Robotics lessons from Telus Spark for the first week of January

· No School on Friday, January 30.  It is a Professional Development Day.

Respectfully,

Mrs. Calvert and Mrs. Jonsson

Grade 5/6 Teachers - L & L Teacher


November Learning Update

Hello Families,

We have been very busy with our fitness this month, including in-line skating and a basketball residency. We look forward to our drama residency with Trickster Theater Company in December.

For the month of November, the students:

· Composed a persuasive writing passage based on Canadians with Heart and make our world a better place

· Examined the historical origins of words in the English language, including Greek, Latin, French, First Nation, Metis and Inuit words

· Read a class novel entitled, Touching Spirit Bear, developing reading comprehension through character analysis of the protagonist

· Reviewed place value of numbers larger than millions and basic facts fluency (Gr. 5)

· Applied multiplication and division processes to whole numbers and decimals (Gr. 6)

· Experimented with conservation of area in parallelograms and triangles (Gr. 6)

· Explored decimal numbers through the use of a number line (Gr. 6)

· Studied the fundamentals of Democracy and decision making and how that connects to different types of government

Next month, we will be:

· Practicing reading comprehension strategies, such as utilizing text features to locate main ideas

· Focusing on jot notes and key vocabulary to record specific information and create summaries for non-fiction text

· Learning about Energy in our physical world to analyze forces and relate them to interactions between objects.

· Practicing standard algorithms to multiply (3X2 – Gr. 5) and divide (3÷1-Gr. 5)

· Factoring of different numbers (Gr. 6)

· Introducing exponents and exploring the ways in which they affect equations and numbers (Gr. 6)

Ask your child:
1. What is ‘mindfulness’? How do you practice this skill? What do you do as a calming strategy?

2. What has changed with our character, Cole Mathews, in our class read aloud, The Touching Spirit Bear?  Why did this happen?

Please note:

· There is no school on Friday, November 28.  It is a System Professional Development Day.

· Parent – Teacher Interviews are on Thursday, November 27 from 4:30 – 8:00, virtual interviews will be available on Friday, December 5 from 1:00 – 3:00.

Respectfully,

Mrs. Calvert and Mrs. Jonsson

Grade 5/6 Teachers - L & L Teacher


September Learning Update

Hello Families,

Thanks to the families for attending the ‘Meet the Teacher’ event on Thursday, September 18 and the Outdoor School Parent Information Meeting (Grade 5 and 6’s).

Each month you will receive a classroom update. This will provide an overview of topics and concepts covered in class and will outline learning activities for the upcoming month.

For the month of September, the students:

·       Created our classroom learning community through discussions and activities based on our overarching idea of, ‘Well-Being is…’ by connecting this idea to the Indigenous Medicine Wheel  

·       Learned about the important parts of the brain and how each directly corresponds to personal learning needs

·       Reviewed basic facts and place value by playing games

·       Designed a self-portrait utilizing fractional Math and a variety of collaging techniques

Next month, we will be:

·       Practicing reading comprehension strategies, such as making connections and predictions and identifying character feelings through class read alouds

·       Focusing on using descriptive words, figurative language, voice and hooks in persuasive writing passages

·       Developing understanding to represent numbers within 10 000 000 (Grade 5) and 1 000 000 000 (Grade 6) including developing basic fact fluency, 12X12 (Grade 5) and prime factorization (Grade 6)

·       Learning about living systems and investigating the impact of plants and trees in ecosystems

Ask your child:
1. What is ‘mindfulness’? How does this relate to learning and our brains?

2.  What is well-being?  What are the four different components of well-being connected to the Medicine Wheel?

Please note:

·       We will be going on a community walk on Friday, September 26, in honour of Orange Shirt Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

·       There is no school on Monday, September 29.  It is a Professional Development Day.

·       There is no school on Tuesday, September 30 for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

·       There is no school on Monday, October 13 – Thanksgiving Day and Monday, October 20 – Municipal Election.

·       School Photos are on Tuesday, October 14.

·       Please return the Acknowledgement of Risk forms for Outdoor School.

·       Grade 5/6 Outdoor School October 27 - 31.

*L & L Students will be learning the same or similar concepts throughout the curriculum with personalized learning levels.

Respectfully,

Mrs. Calvert and Mrs. Jonsson

Grade 5/6 Teachers - L & L Teacher