Our First Week

We had a great first week back! As this was a new school for me this year, the students were excellent in helping me figure out the schedule of the school. A BIG thank you to all of you for helping me find my way.

We kicked off the first week with a photobooth where we had the opportunity to get our "sillies" out. Students enjoyed taking pictures with their friends as we begun talking about the importance of building a school and classroom community.

This week was all about building TEAMWORK! We begun our engineering challenges where students had the opportunity to work in groups to try to overcome some engineering challenges. For example, one group had to create a pyramid using plastic cups, one elastic with four pieces of string attached. It was great to see groups talk through the process in order for them to construct their tower without it toppling over.

Another engineering challenge was to build the tallest marshmallow tower using a limited amount of spaghetti, tape, and string.  These groups persevered! Just when they thought there was no possible way to build this tower, they collaboratively shared ideas to create a free standing tower.

I think one of the favourites was creating the 20 paper tower challenge. One of the toughest challenges thus far. The requirements were that students could only use 20 pieces of paper. No tape, glue or staples. Check out some of these towers! One group made it all the way to 93cm. Now that's TEAMWORK!
                                                                                                                                                             

Our week wasn't complete without getting to know each other. We spent a good part of the weekgetting to know our likes and dislikes and hearing all about our summer holidays. One of our first week back routines was getting to know our expectations for this school year. I asked the students what they expected of their classmates, their teachers and of grade 5. We had some great discussions around student and teacher expectations.

We had our first friday at the "Tinker" space where students explored building, creating and sharing their talents. I know that this will become a great place for students to explore and discover their talents. I look forward to this space each week!

A BIG thank you to all for helping make the first week back a success! Thank you for your prompt return of signed permissions. This is very helpful in starting the new school year. This week we have our first school mass which is this coming Friday at 9:30. Just a heads up, our meet the teacher night is scheduled for Tuesday September 22, 2015 beginning at 6:45pm to 8:00pm. I love forward to a great 2nd week.

Ms Porcari