Who We Are

"All the wonders you seek are within yourself." 
-Thomas Browne

Our dispositions, attitudes, and experiences play a significant role in shaping who we are and how we approach the world. These aspects of our personality influence our reactions to challenges, our willingness to take risks, and our ability to learn from our experiences.

This week in the Grade 5/6 classroom, we explored concepts to help us tune in to our current theme, Who we are, through the lens of the mindsets we have such as: 

The Power of YET

Goal Setting

Perseverance

Building Our Skills

Creating Habits

The Importance of Mistakes

and of course, 
Having A Growth Mindset

Using the visible thinking routine called Claim-Evidence-Reasoning, the children guessed what our current unit is, based on the clues that they gathered through our provocations. It was wonderful to see each one of them explore how they can deepen the way that they answer questions by citing evidence and reasons to support their claim.

The children also began sharing their wonderings about the unit based on the learning experiences that we had so far. Some of their wonderings are quite powerful, such as one question on what mindset means. A lot of them are also curious as to why I haven't revealed exactly what the unit is about, as I do want them to deduce it on their own based on the information that they have. 

I am excited to see where this unit will take us, especially as we start to reflect more on our own personal mindsets and the way we approach challenges, and maybe even life in general. 

It has been a wonderful first full week with the Grades 5/6s, and I look forward to journeying further with them in discovering what it means to be truly who we are.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

Your homeroom teacher, 
Ms. Pam

The Adventure Begins Here

And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of new beginnings.

- Meister Eckhart

Welcome to School Year 2024-25!

The start of a new school year often brings with it a sense of renewal and a chance to start fresh. It's an opportunity to set new goals, make new friends, and approach learning with a positive attitude. We can also look at it from the perspective of gratitude, one in which we look at the blank page of a new year as something to be thankful for. 

The first day of school welcomed the 5th and 6th graders with an inquiry into gratitude.

They also had an opportunity to create a Tiny Gallery of Gratitude where they share snapshots of things that they are thankful for -- whether it's in the form of a friend or something that makes them happy.

The children had a gallery walk to see if they have similarities with their classmates this year, and to look for new things that they didn't know about their friends. It was quite refreshing to see that they can still learn something new about each other despite being together for a few years.

We discovered that we are truly grateful for our diversity in Grades 5/6.

Since we are all different, we recognize that we also learn differently. The children had the opportunity to share who they are as learners through a series of visible thinking prompts that we read and reflected on individually and as a class.

It was clear from the reflections and questions of the children that we all share the same goal: 

to have a fun and meaningful learning experience this school year. 

We also recognize that we play an integral role in making this goal happen.

The second day of school allowed the children to tune into what it means to be a good friend.

We read a short book called Big Friends by Sarah Davies that highlights the dynamics of friendship. After this, each child was asked to design a paper doll that reflects the best version of themselves.

We talked about how our words and actions affect who we are and how we perceive ourselves and asked each child to tear the paper dolls of their friends for every unkind word spoken or action done.

The reactions of the children were clear indicators of the impact of the activity's message: 

that our choices have an impact on those around us.

We used everything we learned about each other in the past two days to create our essential agreements in Grades 5/6. These underscore the things we value as a class and the promises we make to each other to create a memorable year for everyone. 

Have a wonderful weekend to all of you.

Your homeroom teacher,

Pam

 

Grades 5/6 Timetable

TIME	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
8:35 am	Unit	Unit	PE 5/6	Unit	Unit
9:25 am	Unit	Unit	PE 5/6	Unit	Unit
10:15 am	Break/Snack
10:45 am	Unit Math/Lang	Unit Math/Lang	Unit Math/Lang	Unit Math/Lang	Unit Math/Lang
11:35 am	Unit Math/Lang	Unit Math/Lang	Unit Math/Lang	Unit Math/Lang	Unit Math/Lang
12:25 pm	Lunch (25 mins) // Recess (25 mins) [50 mins total]
13:15 PM	JFL/Kokugo	JFL/Kokugo	Music 5/6	JFL/Kokugo	Music 5/6
14:00 PM	Unit IT	Music 5/6	Unit	PE 5/6	JFL/Kokugo
14:45PM	Unit	Art	GFL 5/6	Art	GFL 5/6
15:30 PM	Dismissal