Merry Christams Everyone!

We had a great last day that was filled with fun. In the morning we had some time to work on crafts including making christmas ornaments, reindeer candy canes and recycled Christmas cards. (although some left their crafts at school!).
Next we had a Character Education Assembly, where our class presented our collaboration efforts with the kindergarten class. We also got so sing lots of Christmas songs which we all enjoyed
Finally, we had our "treats" and game time. We got to play different games like Guess Who and Battleship and even Disney Scene It on the smart board. Thanks to everyone who brought in tasty treats for everyone to share. Also thanks to everyone for their cards, gifts, treats and especially their holiday cheer!
I'll try and update the blog over the holidays with some fun websites and activities that you can try out.

Wishing everyone and their families a safe and happy holiday season! See you next year!

SNOW DAY!

So yesterday was a "snow day" or rather "freezing rain" day. I hope there aren't too many this winter, but it's always better to be safe rather than sorry. During these days students usually have the opportunity to ask any questions about what we are learning about, do some arts and crafts, play with math manipulatives and even watch a movie.

Today is our official "Movie Day". Most of the class has chosen to watch Elf which will be held in the gym. Our own classroom will be a host to those who are watching the Smurfs.  The school has provided students with popcorn at no cost! Yum! We will also use some of our time today to clean out our desks, cubbies and lockers so that they are nice and tidy when we come back after the holidays.

Tomorrow is the last day of classes before the break. In the morning I hope for us to be able to do some arts and crafts, and there is a character education assembly where some of the class will be presenting our collaboration acivity that we did with our reading buddies. Then, after lunch we will be having our own "party" where there will be some snacks and games for everyone to play. Feel free to bring in an appropriate board game or playing cards.

 I am afraid with everything that is going on we won't be able to get to our spelling test this week - as I haven't even given out the words yet! Spelling will resume after the holidays. A Monday Mission is being sent home for the holidays as well as three dinner dazzle words. Independent reading journals are due on Friday and both the math test and social studies test need to come back to school signed as soon as possible. There is a Math Re-Test today for some who wish to improve their mark!

FYI

A letter has been sent home about a site that you can visit as a great resouce for some learning at home. Try and check it out at some point. I can't post this site in a public location (like a blog) so if you didn't get the letter, make sure your child lets me know know so I can send another one home with the info on it.

Next Thursday is our movie day (with popcorn available to be purchased) and Friday I would like to have a craft/game day. I have reminded kids that we are a part of the Healthy Schools Act and any snacks brought it should be as healthy as possible.

Since there is only 3 practical math classes left, we are not starting a new unit, but will be working with problem solving and money amounts. When we come back from break we will start a Geometry unit looking at 2-D shapes.

Problem Solving

Today I went to a workshop with other grade 4 - 6 teachers with the Arnprior family of schools. We were looking at using problem solving to help students understand math concepts and ultimately help them move through the PRIME phases (a type of math assessment). I really was happy to hear that we should be teaching math through problem solving as this is something I totally agree with and is why we have a "daily problem".

With the daily problem, students are encouraged to use the problem solving model that we have displayed on the board. Also, students have the option of picking from 2 or 3 different questions depending on what level they are comfortable with. What I learned today is that I need to incorporate more dialogue between students during this process in hopes that then when they are working independently, they are able to ask themselves their own questions in their heads to help them answer questions. I'm sure this will be a work in progress for a while, but I am excited to get started with it!

Our new Science unit

Last Friday I was away at another NTIP meeting. I found it very worthwhile as it dealt with technology and special education. I was able to use one of the sites that I learned about today as we played some games about light and sound on the smart board.

Below is a link to some other interactive activities, just click on Light or Sound and it will take you to a list of the activities.
http://www.bnl.gov/slc/interactivewebsites.asp#Light

Remember our hands are OPAQUE which means no light passes through them, so we are able to make . . .
shadow puppets!
Check out some ideas here:
http://www.blifaloo.com/shadow-puppets/index.php


Yes, we have finally started our science unit about light and sound. First we will be learning about the properties of light and sound, or in other words the things about light and sound that makes it what it is. I hope for us to be able to work through some discovery centers soon. After Christmas break we will start to investigate more about how light and sound are a part of our lives.

Also just a note that the next few days in math we will be reviewing perimeter and area and our test for it will be on Friday.

We have homework?!?!

I feel like homework has been going home more frequently recently. I hope no one feels too overwhelmed. I understand that students have extra curriculars and that homework can't always get done. As I have informed students, having incomplete homework is only a concern if it happens constantly. I generally don't give out homework for the sake of it, but sometimes I like to have some work going home so that parents and guardians can be involved and know more about what their kids are learning. In terms of math, our class, that is 75 minutes long, usually consisting of Mad Minutes, our Daily Problem, a short lesson and then 20 - 30 minutes to work on practice problems. Ususally that should be enough time to complete the 4 - 5 questions, but lately I feel that I spend so much time having the students quiet down during the transition of different activities, they are not able to have enough time to complete work in class. I just want to ask students and parents to be patient as we work on our listening skills and realize that we shouldn't always have homework if we work hard in class. I believe math class can be fun, but we always need to take care of buisness first . . . and lately there's been a lot of buisness.
Soon we will be starting into our math games to practice numeration skills, so we have that to look forward to!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

A little update!
Tomorrow night (Dec 8th) is the Christmas Concert fundraiser for the playground expansion project. It starts at 6:30 and tickets are $7 at the door.

Also, you can bring in any Canadian Tire money that you have lying around. Funds will go to buy toys for underprivilaged children.

We will be working on collaborating with our reading buddies and helping them make a "count down to Christmas" art activity.

If anyone has any leftover cards from last holiday season that we can cut up and use for an art project, please bring them in by next Friday.

We are beginning to look at making inferrences in our reading. This is the first step to being able to answer higher level thinking questions. To make an inferrence, we need to use clues and our own knowledge to make conclusions or to figure something out. Stories, articles and books don't always say everything right there on the page. Sometimes things are implied or hinted at and we have to figure them out. It's all about reading "between the lines"

Tomorrow is the Canada Test and then we will start our Science unit of Light and Sound.
Finally, in math, we are looking at finding the area of shapes using grid paper and today we figured out how to find the area of squares and rectangles without using grid paper: Area = length x width!

Main Idea

We have finished working with finding the main idea in our readings. This was our critical pathway for the last couple of weeks. I'm happy to say we were able to get 65% of the class scoring a level 3 or 4, which is up from the initial 23% of the class scoring a level 3 or 4. Good work everyone!

The next couple of days we will be working on the review of Canada and its geographical regions. The main idea of this unit was to figure out how Canada's landforms and resources shape our culture and economy.
The test for this will be on Thursday, following our self evaluation on Wednesday. Self evaluation is important so we can see where our strengths and weaknesses are and how we can improve.

We are going to be using area and perimeter to make some "area art" this week which will then be able to be seen on display in our hallway. Our learning goal is to be able to calculate the area and perimeter of our drawings using 1 cm grid paper.

No Monday Missions this week - take some time to make up a fun game involving multiplication at home.
Dinner Dazzle word has been given.
Spelling words have been written in agendas - remember to study these this week - test on Friday
Independent Reading Journals are due on Friday as well. I enjoy reading all about your books and asking questions about them to help you explore them more.

Happy Friday Everyone!

We played our Canada Board Games today and I think realized how important it is to have rules for games and how these rules need to be detailed so others can play the game. We used this opportunity to also practice self assessment and the assessment of others, seeing what it's like to take the point of view of a teacher when they are marking student work.

I was not in class during the middle block today, as I was learning about how I can help students move through the PRIME phases in math class. There will be an assessment in PRIME coming soon and I am still learning about how this new assessment tool works. However, today I was given lots of good ideas to help us fill in our learning "gaps" which will ultimately help all students succeed in developing higher level thinking and problem solving in math. I'm excited to play all the new games we have learned about. At home, you can practice you addition, subtraction and multiplication facts still. The Monday Missions that are sent home are great ways to practice some of these skills.

We are continuing working through our measurment unit in math as well. Today the class looked at perimeter and most have taken home some homework to practice. Next week, we will be looking at area. Remember perimeter is like a fence around the yard while area is the grass.

Finally, we are working establishing our learning goals and looking at them on a daily basis now. Learning goals are the things we hope to learn during each lesson of the day. By identifying these goals, we know what to set our sights on and can see the steps of how to get there.

Have great weekend everybody!

Do you like lima beans?

We read "A Bad Case of Stripes" today as our read aloud and had a reading response about the main idea of the story. A student had a great idea about a website we could use and we ended up having Sean Astin (from Lord of the Rings) read the book to us as we watched on the Smart Board. Below is the link where you can hear the story again or take part in some of the extra activities available.

http://www.storylineonline.net/

Also, students are working on their "Crayon Crackdown" posters that are about the dangers of drinking and driving. These are due on Friday. On the back they need to include their first name only, grade, teacher and school.

It's library day tomorrow, so please remember any books you may have at home that need to come back and be renewed or returned.

Finally, the Character Education Assembly has been resheduled to Monday morning from Friday.

Saying good-bye to November . . .

As we end our first month together, we have started working on our Canada board game in Social Studies and we will be able to play these games on Friday when they are complete. Next Tuesday, we will finish up with the unit test.
During math today we braved the cold weather and measured distances on the school ground. Next we will be looking at perimter and area.
We will continue to work on finding the main idea of our readings during language and we have started to look at how to edit our work as well.
This week:
- Monday Mission and Dinner Dazzle have been sent home as well as this weeks spelling words.
- As always, Independent Reading Journals are due on Friday
- Mad Minutes continue  . . .
- Character Education Assembly on Friday.

Blog Updates

Just a few changes I've made to the blog. You can now sign up for email notices when new posts are made and anyone can leave comments now. There is a survey posted that you can participate in for fun also along the side, below where you can feed the fish :)

New Math Unit

We had our patterning math test this week and although some did very well, some students might like to bump up their grade.  Once you complete the self-monitoring review while looking back over the test with someone at home, you can take the re-test on Monday, Nov 28th during the recess time. This is recommended for anyone getting below a level 3-.I always have high expectations for my students and it always pays off in the end because I try and give many opportunities for students to succeed.
(The tests have been sent home to be signed and returned. )
You may have noticed more math homework coming home. Sometimes in math we just need to practice, practice, practice! Also, we need remember to use our class time for completion of text book work appropriately. Usually the last 30 minutes of math class is dedicated to this, after which there should only be a few, if any, questions for homework. When you complete work in class it also gives you the opportunity to ask questions for anything you don't understand.

We have now started our new math unit in measurement and are looking at measuring length using different units such as centimetres, metres, millimetres and kilometres. Try and measure some things around the house this weekend and if you go for a drive, see if you can keep track of the distance you travel to get an idea about the length of a kilometre. (Also, having a ruler in class now would be beneficial, so if you don't have one, try and pick one up this weekend to bring to school.)

Hope everyone has a great weekend and see you back at school on Monday when we will start our exciting new Social Studies project . . .

Giraffe and Bird

We read a book today called "Giraffe and Bird" as a read aloud in class. We discussed the main idea of this book. See if you can retell the main idea of the book to someone at home tonight. Remember that the main idea is like the moral of the story.

Also, you can go to the link below to read an interview with the author, Rebecca Bender, about the creation of this book:

http://www.openbookontario.com/news/writing_rebecca_bender

Canada - our very diverse country!

As we prepare for the culminating activity and test in social studies, I found this website that is a good summary of the different resources and industries in each province and territory. It's worth a look over at home for interest or review and to encourage some discussion around the dinner table as well!

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/discover/section-13.asp

Remember our "Big Question" is How do Canada's landforms and resources shape our culture and economy?

Coming this week . . .

Just some reminders about what's coming up this week:

• Eva Olsson is giving her presentation on Thursday at 7:00 pm for those of you who are attending.
• Muffin Mornings have started. On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings muffins will be for sale for $1 or add a juice box for $1.50. Money is being raised for the Build a Brick Campaign. We will be having a review on Tuesday and a math test involving number patterns on Wednesday Nov 23rd. Spelling test will be on Friday as well as Monday Mission, Dinner Dazzle and Independent Reading Journals will be due Friday as well.
• The Monday Mission is "Monster Math" it requires the use of dried beans, but you can use any type of small item for it.
• As always - practice those multiplication facts!
• Raffle tickets will be sent home to win 2 Senator Tickets. Proceeds will help fund the grade 8 trip.
• If you haven't already sent back signed progress reports, you can do so now :)

Critical Pathway -SUMMARIZE

We have come to the end of our critical pathway where we were working with summarizing. I'm happy to say that 65% of the class was able to increase their scores from the initial results and we have raised the amount of students getting a level 3 or above from 23% to 56%. Also, initially 54% of the class scored below level 2 and now 0% of the class scored below level 2. Good work everyone!
Our new pathway in Language will be determined following our CASI assessment next week! After this we will be able to set a new language goal as well. Have a great weekend everyone!

Pink Day

It is Pink Day on Nov 17th. This day was created after a boy was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. Bystanders wanted to show their support and show they are taking a stand against bullying by wearing a pink also. Please show you say no to bullying and wear something pink!

Bullying Awareness Week

This week is Bullying Awareness week. Bullying is a big issue facing boys and girls of all ages. We want to raise awareness about this in hope of prevention. All students should know that teachers are here to talk to if they have any type of problem, including bullying. The one rule in our classroom revolves around respect: Treat others like you would want to be treated.
Below are the school quotes of the week. We will be looking at them each day and discussing what they mean. Feel free to discuss them at home as well and talk about what they mean to you.

“The only people you should try to get even with are those who have helped you”

“We all have a built in warning system that is called a conscience.  It tells us what to do when something is wrong and it can keep us from doing the wrong thing.  Don’t be upset when your conscience bothers you – that’s just the warning bell”

“If you witness an act of disrespect toward another person, don’t be silent!  You have an obligation to ask the disrespectful person to stop, or tell an adult.  It will make you feel better about yourself”

“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.  Find ways to enjoy the people around you.”

In summary . . .

We are continuing to work on summarizing in language so I just wanted to "summarize" the week for everyone.
We have set our math goal which is: To create and solve number patterns that grow, shrink, or repeat. Patterns are all around us, see if you can find some this weekend.
Mad Minutes has taken off and some are still on their 2 x's so you can practice them this weekend.
We are learning about Canada's geographical regions and have discussed the Atlantic/Appalachian region, the St. Laurence Lowlands and started to look at the Canadian Shield. Our big question is "How do Canada's landforms and resources shape our culture and economy?" See if you can find some food at home or in the grocery store that was grown somewhere in Canada.
Finally, today we had our Remembrance Day assembly and our visit from Captian Mark.Thanks to all who showed their respect for our soldiers and veterans today.
Have a great weekend!

Remembrance Day

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day, a time to reflect on all who have served and continue to serve our country. It is a time to remember what they have given up for our freedom and the freedom of others. Please wear a poppy in honour of all soldiers. If you need a poppy, we have them here at school and a donation if possible would be appreciated. In the morning we will have our Remembrance Day Assembly and in the afternoon we also have a speaker from the military coming into our class.

New Independent Reading Journals

We have started using our independent reading journals. Students have been given the instructions on how to use these and it is a way of them being accountable for what they are reading during independent reading time in class. As well, it helps them to practice their writing skills and to work on developing higher level thinking and assessing their own learning. These journals are due in at the end of the day every Friday. I will read them over the weekend and respond to each student individually. The ideas of what they can write about are posted inside the front cover of their journals.

NTIP Workshop

I was away today at a New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) workshop where I was able to work with other new teachers and experienced teachers in the areas of assessment and evaluation. We talked about how we as teachers need to be aware of all the opportunities to assess students, not just with your standard "test". I will be doing my best to work with students to help them understand their own learning and how to assess their own work, looking at what they know and what their next learning steps are going to be. It was a very informative and worthwhile workshop and I am glad I was able to attend.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent teacher interviews are coming up on Nov. 17 and 18th. I am excited to meet everyone and discus any questions you might have.