Have a great summer!

Good morning,

     As I sit here with my morning coffee, getting ready to head into MY last day of the year, I am reflecting on the year we've had together. I want to thank you all, parents and students, for helping to make this an amazing year. I truly felt the teamwork culture as we learned from each other and worked to make this year a huge success. Parents, I felt the support from you as you trusted me with your children each and every day. Students, you showed up to school each and every morning, with a big smile and boundless energy,  ready and willing to take on the day.
     I am extremely proud of each and every one of you. I have no doubt, St.Gabriel's is in good hands with you as our school leaders in Grade 6. I encourage you to make the best of your year, by getting involved, joining teams and clubs. Challenge yourselves to step out of your comfort zone and make new friends. Lastly, remember, "You can make a difference", and this includes your own learning. Take control of your education by reflecting, reviewing, practicing and seeking help.
     Have a wonderful summer with your families! See you all in September!

                        Please enjoy our last day video!

Good Luck to Abby and Taylor!!!

This week, the Destination Imagination team, comprised of grade 5 students will be heading to a global competition in Tennessee, We wish them the best of luck, and know they will be St. Gabriel's proud. We hope to connect via skype with Taylor and Abby if their busy schedule permits.

MATH: 
We are into our Measurement unit. Please see the tab above for the learning goals and supporting links.

LANGUAGE:

The students have completed their social justice awareness websites. In groups, they selected topics of interest to them. Each member was responsible for a page of information. Please see the attached document with links to all the websites.

Social Justice Website links

We are now heading into our poetry unit.

FAMILY LIFE:

The students will be starting Theme 3 (“Created Sexual: Male and Female”) in Family Life.

In Theme Three we will:

• explore the idea that we do not have bodies, we are bodies; God created us as body/spirit persons
• consider the major systems of the body, and learn that the reproductive system has unique characteristics
• learn about the adult female and male reproductive systems and about human fertility in adult women and men
• discuss the physical changes of puberty, as well as some of the emotional and social changes

Have a great week.

Mrs. Hanna

EDUCATION WEEK

What's On This Week

Monday: Music Monday -whole school sing-a-long, across Canada at 1pm  
              Book Fair viewing day

Tuesday: Easter Mass 9:30 am at St. Isidore's Church. Parents and friends are invited to join us at the mass. Grade 5s are the hosts and will be leading the prayers and singing.

Wednesday:  Doube Lunch Day - This is our last one of the year and we are hoping to make it our best yet! Please bring in a bagged lunch to be delivered to the mission for those in need.
Book Fair visit. Please bring cash or cheque if you are interested in purchasing any books from Scholastic

Thursday: The Grade 6's have been involved in an entrepreneur program this year. The students have created items for sale and will have their booths set up Thursday. All proceeds will go to CHEO. Items will range in price from $1 - $5.

Friday: Muffin Breakfast. Families are invited to gather for coffee/juice and muffins at 8:00 am. We are asking parents to bring 6 muffins (nut free please) to share with others. The breakfast is in the front foyer. At 8:30, the classroom doors will be open for parents to visit.
9:15 - News Show - Parents are welcome to stay for our school News Show.

FINAL WEEK FOR YEARBOOK ORDERS
This year, the yearbooks will be hardcover and in full colour. They are going to be a great keepsake of the year. Books are on sale until May 8th and they are $20. You can place your order online by following this link.

Order online: http://www.YearbookOrderCenter.com 
School Code: 15978

DESTINATION IMAGINATION FUNDRAISER

A team of Grade 5 students are working very hard to raise funds to help offset costs involved with them traveling to Tennessee to represent St. Gabriel and the Ottawa Catholic School Board in the competition for Destination Imagination. We are very proud of our friends' successes and would like to see them compete globally.

To help them, please consider ordering a Pizza Kit from Little Ceasars. $5 from every kit, will go to the team. There will be prizes awarded to top sellers in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.  Please share this link and let's help Taylor and Abby (from our class)

Please follow the link below to sell the links:
http://www.pizzakit.ca/fundraising-products?shop=1&f=333068&s=250905

Group ID#: 136257
Fundraiser ID #: 333068
Delivery Date: May 17

Have a wonderful week everyone,
Mrs. Hanna

Happy Easter! I trust you've all had a wonderful long weekend with your families.

IMPORTANT!!!!
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Education will be filming in our class, capturing some of the wonderful work that the Grade 5's have been doing. A permission letter was sent home with students on Thursday. PLEASE return the release form on Tuesday. More details can be found on the letter.

Social Justice Awareness Project - Non-Fiction Writing
A form was emailed to each student on Saturday, asking you to select a topic for our Social Justice Awareness project. If you have not already done so, please take a minute to complete the form to select your topic choice and one other friend that you would like to see in your group.

Social Justice Topics CLICK HERE

YEARBOOK ORDERS
This year, the yearbooks will be hardcover and in full colour. They are going to be a great keepsake of the year. Books are on sale until May 8th and they are $20. You can place your order online by following this link.

Order online: http://www.YearbookOrderCenter.com 
School Code: 15978

DESTINATION IMAGINATION FUNDRAISER

A team of Grade 5 students are working very hard to raise funds to help offset costs involved with them traveling to Tennessee to represent St. Gabriel and the Ottawa Catholic School Board in the competetion for Destination Imaginatin. We are very proud of our friends' successes and would like to see them compete globally.

To help them, please consider ordering a Pizza Kit from Little Ceasars. $5 from every kit, will go to the team. There will be prizes awarded to top sellers in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.  Please share this link and lets help Taylor and Abby (from our class)

Please follow the link below to sell the links:
http://www.pizzakit.ca/fundraising-products?shop=1&f=333068&s=250905

Group ID#: 136257
Fundraiser ID #: 333068
Delivery Date: May 17

MATH
We will be continuing to work with 2D geometry, as per goals listed in the tab above. Please practice creating triangles, using a protractor with given angles. Many students were requiring more practice with this concept. Please see me if you need more support in this area. 

Have a great week.
Mrs. Hanna

Week of April 3-10

What's up this week?

Goodbye to Ms. R.

Ms. R is a first-year student teacher from Ottawa U. and has been with us since September. Friday is her last day with us at St. Gabriel's. We appreciate all the hard work and commitment she has shown each and every student in our class. She has really grown as an educator this year and we wish her great success next year as she pursues year 2. Thank you Ms. R! You will be missed.

Math
Geometry: Please see the math expectations and goals for geometry in the tabs above. Students are encouraged to achieve their green circle, at least 3x a week in ReflexMath. This will strengthen math facts, which will be beneficial across all strands in Math.

Language

The students did a wonderful job on the first installment of Griffin Radio. Please see the enclosed doc for links to the various podcasts. The students were tasked with finding an interesting article in Newsela. They then summarized the article as a group. Individual opinions were then written and shared.We hope you take some time to listen to all the wonderful articles and opinions.

Week of March 27-March 31

What's up this week?

Math:

Unit test: Fraction on  Tuesday, March, 28
*equivalent fractions
* changing improper to mixed fraction and mixed to improper
*ordering least to greatest
*fraction to decimals

We will begin Geometry this week. Please check the tab above for learning goals and links to practice.

ReflexMath: Don't forget to continue to use this program to build fact fluency. It is recommended that you achieve your green circle at least 3x a week. If you can do 5x a week, even better!

Language:

The podcasts are coming along. Stay tuned for links to the interesting summaries and opinions.

Have a great week.
Mrs. Hanna

Welcome Back!

Welcome back and welcome spring!!! 

I would also like to welcome our new student Josh from Connecticut. We look forward to getting to know you better. By the looks of your first day, you fit right in and have already made some new friends. 

Language

This week we will be working on creating podcasts to share our opinions about some current events. Stay tuned for our Griffin Radio Podcasts.

Math

We are continuing to work on Fractions, Rates and Ratios. Please take a few minutes to read the page above for detailed information and learning goals for this unit. We will wrap up with a unit test next week. 

Students are seeing the advantages of becoming fluent with their math facts as we work through our math problems in class. You are encouraged to work at achieving your green circle at least 5 times a week. 

Book Sale Results.

Thank you to so many of you for donating books for our Used Books Sale. The students worked very hard creating bookmarks, organizing and collecting books, promoting our sale and running the event. They raised close to $1400 for the Therapeutic Clown Program at CHEO! We are so thrilled and proud of our Grade 5 students.

Tower Garden Update

We cleaned out the towers before the March Break. It was time to cut down the weeds and clean out the tower. The Garden Club have set the seeds for peppers, tomatoes, egg plant and a few other vegetables. Stay tuned for pictures. 

Have a great week everyone.

Mrs. Hanna

Countdown to March Break!

This half of the year is whipping by so quickly!

Destination Imagination!!! Two of our classmates are on this team! Abby and Taylor have been working very hard all year to compete in a city-wide competition. St. Gabriel's group entered in the Science category and place 2nd place overall! They now advance to provincial competition in Toronto. Go Griffins!! Good luck Taylor and Abby!

What's up this week?

Tuesday: Our Grade 5's are running the Book Sale for CHEO all day. Don't forget to bring in a few dollars (that you've earned doing extra chores) for gently used books, to buy a piece of tape to tape the teacher to the wall and you'll also want tickets on our Mystery Box. The value of this box is over $100 and fun for the whole family! (If buses are canceled, our sale will be Thursday.)

Wednesday: Grade 4 and 5 Carnival d'Hiver all afternoon. Dress according to the weather as you will be outside.

Friday: Grade 5 PJ DAY! We will be taking a block to snuggle up and read! Bring your favourite book, snuggle blanket or toy to curl up and read!

Have a great week off! We will see you back in class on Monday, March 20th.

Mrs. Hanna

Week Feb 27-March 5

This week will begin our Lenten Journey.

Ash Wednesday: All parents are invited to join our school community on Wednesday at 10:30 am to receive the blessed ashes.

The Grade 5's are in full swing with their Social Justice projects. They are working very hard towards their goal for raising funds for the Cheo Therapeutic Clown program.

News from the BOOK SALE!

Date: Tuesday, March 7th

We are still looking for more books to sell. It's a great time to empty your bookshelf of books you are no longer using. If you have children's books to donate, please send them in as soon as possible.

Lettuce Sales are going strong! If you would like some organic mixed lettuce, don't forget to bring $5. All this will be donated to the Clowning Program. 

Annie at All Saints

Permission slips went home today for our trip to All Saints, this Thursday. Without permission, the students will have to remain at the school for the morning. NO PHONE CALLS will be made home that morning. Please be sure to bring your signed permission forms back to school.

Have a great week everyone,

Mrs. Hanna

Week Feb. 13-18

What's Up This Week?

Social Justice Project News: The committee of students organizing the book sale are looking for gently used children's books for the sale in March. If you have any books at home that you are willing to part with, please send them to school as soon as possible so the students can begin sorting and pricing.
The lettuce sales are going strong and the towers continue to produce wonderful lettuce crops. If you are interested in purchasing a bag of organic lettuce, please send in $5.
All proceeds from our Social Justice initiatives are going to support the Therapeutic Clowning Program at CHEO.
Stay tuned for news from our Chew For CHEO committee as they are getting organized for their fun activity for a great cause.

Language:
The Book Clubs have wrapped up their reading assignments. The students worked very hard during this project and were really engaged in their book club chats. They are now working collaboratively to promote their books, in a creative way. I will post links to their projects...stay tuned!

Math: We will be continuing our Number Sense Unit with the focus on Multiplication and Division. Students should be working towards improving fact fluency, using ReflexMath. Achieving their green circle, at least 5 times a week, will go a long way to improving their fluency. Students are already beginning to see the benefits of knowing their math facts when working on word problems.

Next Monday is Family Day...don't forget it's a school holiday too!

Have a great week everyone!
Mrs. Hanna

Week of Feb. 6 - 13

What's Up This Week?

Thursday: NewsShow at 1:00pm

Please click here to read a request from our Kindergarten wing. They are working towards gathering old shoes for "Souls for Souls".
Souls for Souls


Math
We are working on our Multiplication and Division Unit this month. Please check out our curriculum goals in the tab above. You will also find links to extra practice sites. Remember to work for your green circle in ReflexMath to build your math fact fluency. Getting a green circle at least 4x a week, will help your fluency tremendously!

Language
We are in the last week of our Book Clubs. Be sure to complete your books and your weekly jobs by Friday. The discussions have been fantastic and it's wonderful to see the students so engaged in their novels and their group discussions. Keep up the amazing work!

This week, we will be continuing our work on biographies. Each student has selected a saint to study. They will be writing their biographies and creating a poster to teach others about their chosen saint.

Report Cards will be going home next week. There are no formal interviews at this time. If you are interested in meeting with any of your teachers, please let us know by email and we can make arrangements.

Have a great week everyone!
Mrs. Hanna

Week Jan. 16 - Jan. 22

Saints

Who is your favourite saint? What is your experience with saints? This month, we will be studying saints. How is a Saint decided? Who are some of our saints? Students are encouraged to have a discussion with their parents about their favourite saints.

We will be learning about biographies as well. By the end of the unit, students will be asked to choose a saint to research. They will be asked to write a biography about their favourite saint.

Book Clubs.

Each Friday, students will gather in their book clubs to discuss this week's readings. They are expected to have their reading completed, as well as their job for the week. Remember to keep the book in your bag, so you can read at home and at school. If you haven't already done so, please bring in a mug (to leave for the month) for hot chocolate. Student's will be asked to complete their tasks in the library if they aren't ready for Friday.

There is a tab for Book Clubs above. There you will find the group's reading schedule and job chart.

Math

We will be wrapping up Data Management this week. Our next unit will be Multiplication and Division. Students are encouraged to build their fact fluency by logging into ReflexMath at least 3x a week. The goal is to get your "green dot" at least 3x.

Lettuce Sales

The tower is continuing to produce wonderful harvests of organic lettuce. If you are interested in purchasing a bag, please send in $5. All proceeds go to CHEO.


Have a wonderful week everyone.
Mrs. Hanna

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2017!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and is refreshed and ready for the new year.

Lettuce Sale:

Our tower is growing wild. We will have an organic lettuce sale on Monday for students in our class. Supply is limited this round, and we will have more for sale shortly. If you are interested, please bring in $5 for approx. 250gm bag of lettuce. (One bag per family please) ALL proceeds will go to the Therapeutic Clown Program at CHEO.

January Book Clubs 

This week we will be organizing our book groups, based on your selections in December. You will be given your books on Friday and the clubs will start up next Monday. Every Friday (starting next week) we will be serving hot chocolate. Please bring in your favourite mug to leave at school. Make sure your name is on the mug.

Have a great week.

Mrs. Hanna