In this post I will be writing a reflection about my amazing year in Grade 5 and final year at the SMUS Junior School because next year I am going up to the middle school!

Term 1
This term went from September to December. At school, we learned about multiplication, division, the fur trade, the gold rush, the human body, soccer, cross country running, gymnastics, French, Japanese, life skills, choir, and strings. We also got kindergarten buddies! My buddy’s name is Sammy, there is never a moment where she isn’t adorable!

I really enjoyed studying the fur trade because it was interesting to see how people in the 1600-1800’s traded. I thought that killing beavers just to use their fur for beaver pelt hats was animal cruelty. In October we took a trip to Fort Langley in Vancouver. We got to school at 7:00 am to leave by 7:10 am. We took the 9:00 am ferry to get there by 11:00 (it took about 2 hours to drive there). Then we left at 3:00 to catch the 5:00 pm ferry, we ate at the buffet! We got back by 8:00. That was a trip I will never forget.

Term 2
This term was the shortest, but one of the greatest! This term went from January to March. We learned about long division, more multiplication, fractions, jet toys and gravity, explorers, the Canadian Pacific Railway, basket ball, badminton, French, Japanese, choir, and strings.

I really enjoyed learning about the Canadian Pacific Railway because I never knew how hard people worked, maybe even losing their lives, to build something that really put Canada together as a country. We split up into groups of 3. I was with 2 of my friends. We were chosen to study the Decision, join USA or Canada? We each chose a person to research and play in a tableu. I chose William Seward, Secretary of State for the Unitied States of America. My friend Tori, who was in my group chose Amor de Cosmos (changed his name from William Smith to Amor de Cosmos) and the third person in my group, Theo chose John Macdonald. It was really fun making the tableau’s, we even made beards out of felt! Now I know not to take life for granted, people had to suffer way more than just having a bad hair day!

Term 3
When we got to this term, I couldn’t believe the year was almost done! This term was my favourite. We learned about Decimals, volume, fractions, our environment, our resources, greek mythology, politics, track and field, French, Japanese, the opera, and strings.

Besides the Opera, my favourite thing that we learned this term was politics. I found it very interesting to learn what the different parties think about class size, pipelines, pine beetles, minimum wage, lunch programs, university fees, programs for special needs, and so on. After we got the basic facts about the different parties. We got put into groups that were different party inspired. I was in a group with Logan, Carson, Tori (again), and Emily. We called our group Echo. We were Green inspired so we tried hard to put a lot of thought into environment. We had a budget of 1 million dollars for each ministry. We had 4 different ministries: Child and Family Development, Environment, Education, and Health. I was in Education. I got 27% of the budget which is $27,000. We had to do some research on our ministry to have a prepared speech.

On Election Day, each group needed to have a song, a slogan, a jingle, a logo, a short commercial, and each person needed a speech. Our leader (Tori) gave an intro at the beginning of our time to present, then health (Emily), then education (me), then child and family development (Carson), then environment (Logan), and finally the conclusion from the leader. Our group came second by only 2 votes! It’s amazing how one single vote can change the whole country. It was really fun and a great learning experience!

Not to sound modest or anything, but I am going to share my achievements. The last four went in my record of achievement that the grade 5’s got at the closing ceremonies!

Always came first in Track and Cross country
Participated in most after school sports
Participated in service club, red cedar book club, tech club, French club, and dance club,
Honour roll (A average)
Alumni Association Award (in honour roll, in sports teams, good sportsman ship, supports school arts programmes, kind and considerate, respectful)
Slegg bowl (in honour roll, responsible, outstanding contribution in class)
M.A.W Bridgman Memorial Award (demonstrated artistic and creative ability in art, strings, choir, and drama)

This year has definitely been one of the greatest and it was so hard to say good bye to the Junior School! I have made some really good friends and met some really nice and funny teachers that have made my learning experience stand out from my other schools. Thank you Junior School teachers!