Hooray for May!

With the month of May will (hopefully) come the sun, warmer weather, and new blossoms! Also, we are almost in our final stretch of teaching before the summer – yay! There are some fun things to talk about this month with your students.  At the beginning of this month a lot of students will be celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr, to mark the end of Ramadan. A favourite topic in May is, of course, Mother’s Day! This can also lend itself well into a discussion about gender roles and parenting.  There is also Victoria Day - the unofficial start of summer!  As well, those with a green thumb will start to get their yards summer ready and gardening is a great topic to teach your students! Click below to find a reading skill-using activity on the history of Mother’s Day, a PPT on Victoria Day, and a writing/listening skill-using activity on “How to Plant Flowers”: 

Here are some other observance days:

May 7 – National Child and Youth Mental Health Day in Canada

May 9 – National Nursing Week in Canada

May 15 – Energy Conservation Week in Ontario

May 17 – National Day Against Homophobia in Canada

Remember to check our Google Classroom and Avenue pages for updates and lots of helpful links posted by Danielle, who will be hosting another Avenue workshop on Friday May 6th at 10:00 am. 

As we are (almost) heading into reporting season, remember to fill out your assessment log forms to track student progress and help you when it comes time to change benchmarks. Stay tuned for a HARTS refresher by Marina and I closer to reporting time -TBA. If you are still having a hard time with creating rubrics, here are some very easy rubrics that were shared by Tania:

You can find the items below here!

As always, a huge thank you to Kate for her monthly plans, and everyone who continues to share resources and materials with our team! You’re all awesome!  

Have a wonderful month,

Haleema and Marina