Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Newsletter
This year
will be
different in
many ways!
Highroad Academy
THIS WILL BE
THE ONLY
PAPER
NEWSLETTER
YOU WILL
RECEIVE THIS
YEAR!
Learning does not just happen within the four walls of our school!
September 6, 2016
CORE SUBJECTS
Grade Four and Five is a busy year!
With FSA tests scheduled for mid-year
for the Grade 4s, students have a lot of
work and curriculum to cover. However,
Mrs. Colceriu and I have a number of
fun, interactive, collaborative, exciting
and challenging projects planned for
both Grade 4 and Grade 5.
For our Language Arts program, we will
be focusing on the Reading Powers
program. We will be starting as a class
exploring literature and responding to
literature. As the year moves on, we
will transition to more student led
reading discussions through the use of
Literature Circles. Poetry and spelling
will also be major parts of our Language
Arts reading program. For writing, we
will be using a mix of the Writing
Powers program with the Blended Style
and Structure model. Both systems are
great ways to help students develop
competency in both aspects of writing:
Collaborative
Dynamic
Interactive
Challenging
Mrs. Colceriu will be teaching our Grade
4/5 Social Studies curriculum with
several fascinating topics to look
forward to. Grade 4/5 Social Studies
topics include: Geography of Canada,
TECHNOLOGY
Technology will play an important part
in our Grade 4/5 year. However, it is
important that it is not the focus of
learning. Rather, technology is one of
the many tools we use to make sense of
our world. Our focus will be on how
t e ch n o l o g y c a n c o mp l e m e n t o u r
curriculum in a dynamic and
interactive way. Several tools will be
used including the use of Chromebook
laptops in the classroom. We will also be
going through some basics of coding as
a beginning look at how the internet
works.
page 2
Highroad Academy
As you may or may not be aware, one of the areas of focus in the Elementary and Primary
department has been communicating through the use of blogs. Our class blog will be an
important part of our parent/teacher communication. The blog contains lots of interesting
articles, links, videos and resources to help bring the curriculum alive and into the home
where you can share what your child is learning. It is vital that you have the ability to
access our blog on a daily basis! You can visit our blog at:
http://mrhclassblog.edublogs.org/
Throughout the year, students will be involved in practicing spelling words and
memorizing Bible Verses. Students will be given their spelling words and Bible Verses on
Mondays and tested on those words and verses on Fridays. To help you organize and help
your child, Bible verses will be standardized across the department with all students
working in the same section of the bible. For spelling, our class also uses a website called
Spelling City which allows students to practice spelling words, play games and prepare
for their spelling tests.
There are so many exciting things happening this year, it is hard to fit them all in this
newsletter!
Think! Projects - As part of the Science program in our class, students will be
bringing home projects designed to force students to think outside the box and
be creative. Creativity is an important part of learning and we want to help
students stretch their creative muscles. Collaboration will be key and parents
and other family members are encouraged to help. These projects are
mandatory and will be part of their Science mark.
Genius Hour - This is something that all the teachers in the Grades 4-6 will be
continuing this year. Google introduced a concept a number of years ago
where 20% of worker time was devoted to any project they were interested in
exploring more. This helped promote creativity and passion for learning. We
want to build that concept into our week as well. We feel that for so much of
the school year, we tell students what to do and learn. This is an opportunity
for students to pursue an idea/concept or project they are interested in and
passionate about. To that end, one hour of the week will be given to students to
pursue a passion or interest they have. They will complete a project based on
that passion and present it to the rest of the class. These projects will be
worked on throughout the term and be presented at the end of each term. We
will be using a number of resources to help us including a free website called
DIY.org to help students gather ideas for projects. We are really excited by this
idea and feel that this will inspire a passion for learning and creativity.
Uniforms - As directed by the school board, the intermediate department will
be strictly enforcing the uniform policy this year. While we understand that
circumstances sometimes make it difficult to adhere to the policy, all parents
are required to be familiar with the policy and ensure that their child has the
appropriate uniform pieces. All infringements will be followed up on. With the
new policy, infractions will be communicated in a series of steps. The first
communication about an infraction will be an informal request to looking into
an issue with the uniform. The second communication will be a formal note/
phone call/discussion with the teacher about the uniform infraction. The third
communication will be a formal letter from Mr. Morris asking the parents to
comply with the uniform policy. Finally, any actions needing to be taken past
this stage will involve parents meeting with Mr. Morris to discuss
arrangements for complying with the uniform policy.
page 3
Highroad Academy
Lets
Get Acquainted!
Please fill in the form as completely as possible!
1) Childs Name
2) Birthdate
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
3) Parents Names
_______________________________________________________________
4) Address
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Highroad Academy
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Always
15) As we plan projects this year, we are hoping to gather some information to see what tools may be available for your child to
use. Please check all that apply:
__ Computer
__ Highspeed Internet
__ GPS Device
16) Are you interested in having your child be involved in after school clubs? ____ Yes
__ digital camera
_____ No
If so, what kinds of clubs would your child be interested in participating in?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
17) As we plan for Genius Hour this year, we would like to take a survey of parents to see what skills, hobbies or
interests you may have that may be helpful to students working on projects. What skills or hobbies do the adults in
the family have?
Mom: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dad: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Highroad Academy