When is a Tuesday another day?

. . . When it's a Sundae Tuesday!
Our class brought in the most money for the coin drive for the library and we won ourselves a Sundae treat. Save room for dessert next Tuesday after lunch!

We looked at characteristics of an interview today and then had a sneak peak at the Movie Trailer for the City of Ember. You can check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkSFsbv6eUg&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

Please don't watch the movie yet though - we want to watch it as a class after we finish reading the book!

Math quiz tomorrow about fractions, but I think we still need to spend more time on this as it is a big concept that many students still need to practice.

LEAPING into March this week

As we wrap up Feburary, we have a quiz about fractions and decimals coming up on Thursday, March 1st. This is to see if we can move on to another math strand, or if we need another week working out some kinks about fractions.

In Science, we are looking at pulley and gear systems and designing a tree house or crane that uses at least one of these. Remember to bring in any materials that you can use to help with your construction.

The Helping Hands fundraiser is finished and we raised over $5 000 in a month for the new playground structure. A HUGE thank you to everyone who helped, especially a very special school mom who was the backbone of this frundraiser, donating hours and hours of work towards this and who will be sporting some colourful highlights tomorrow!

A reminder to buy a lock for your locker for those who don't have one.
Spelling Quiz Friday.

We are wrapping up the last of the public service announcements on Thursday and Friday so bring in any props that are needed.

Waste Free Lunches

As we look into having more waste free lunches, here is a site about the different kinds of plastics out there. Another reason why our new metal water bottles are so great!

www.lunchwithoutwaste.com/SmartPlasticsGuide.aspx

Waste free lunches might require a bit more time to prepare, but are much healthier, cheaper and better for the environment, so well worth it!

A typical disposible lunch includes:
- sandwiches in plastic bags
- bags of chips, cookies
- single use yogourt and fruit cups
-snacks in plastic bags
-juice boxes, juice pouches, water bottles
- plastic spoons
- plastic and paper bags

A waste free lunch could include:
- sandwiches and main dishes in reuseable containers
- cloth napkins
- metal forks and spoons
- reusable drink containers
- reusable lunch bags

By buying food in larger amounts, rather than single serving portions, you often get healthier options and always save money (who doesn't like that?) Of course the odd treat like a granola bar or fruit roll up is fine, but it's all the little changes are what add up to make a big difference.

For more tips and ideas check out:
www.wastefreelunches.org/parents.html

Punctuation Saves Lives!

Well ... maybe a stretch, but it could be the difference between "Let's eat, Grandma!" or "Let's EAT Grandma!" (run Grandma run!)

We have started to look at the proper ways to use apostrophes.
To see what NOT to do, check out the following song and video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc2aSz9Ficw&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

"Don't use an apostrophe in its unless you mean it is"

Also, you can click here to practice your apostrophe and soccer skills!
http://www.firstschoolyears.com/literacy/word/punctuation/apostrophes/interactive/possapos.swf

Also, we are continue to read the City of Ember as a class and discover new and exciting things about where Lina and Doon are living. As we read, we write down new words, draw our visualizations and use inferences to try and solve their Instructions puzzle to see if there really is a way out of Ember.

In Language, one of our learning goals is:

"I will be able to identify features or characteristics of a variety of text"

We have non-fiction and narrative down, but need to work on some other types now as well and work on being able to support our answers.

The Critical Pathway of Inferences is still going on as well. We make inferences all the time and we are now looking at making inferences to figure out words.

There have been no Dinner Dazzle words sent home, as we have been working as a class to create our own words. A big goal of mine is to help expand everyone's vocabulary (NOTE: Apostrophe used to show possession!)

In Math, we are working with fractions and developing a "math tool kit". Today we made our fraction strips. To check out interactive fractions strips online, visit the site below:

http://www.mathplayground.com/Fraction_bars.html

Finally, in Science, we are looking at Pulleys and Gears. Next week we will start making our model of a tree house, or crane that uses at least one pulley or gear system. Remember to say up some of those materials this weekend that might come in handing during building time!

Public Service Announcements will be "filmed" tomorrow and Friday.
Spelling quiz on Friday
Character Education Assembly Friday
Art and Library on Thursday
No more Monday Missions as of this time, however we are playing lots of math games in class now to develop our Math Facts and Mental Math skills.

For more practice at home, check out Math Trainer:
 http://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/math-trainer-addition.html

Eco Friendly

We are working hard here at AJ to reduce our impact on the environment. I was just informed that we produce 200 juice boxes a day! That is 40 000 each school year. Many of these are still ending up in the garbage. Canada`s Food Guide suggests having a piece of fruit over fruit juice. Also, parents could save money by buying large juice containers and sending it in reuseable containers, such as the new metal bottles. In grade 4 we are looking to do our part to help and I would like to start composting in class and have a litterless lunch day once a week.

Fraction Time!

A big area for stuggle for many students (and adults) are fractions! (AHHHHH)
This is a part of our number sense and numeration area of the curriculum.
We are determined to learn fractions (and decimals) so that we don't have to be afraid of them anymore!
We made tangrams and worked with them this week and next week we will be making fraction strips and working with ten frames more.
Here are some sites with some online interactive games that involve fractions and a great at home help for parents too:

http://www.visualfractions.com/Games.htm

Lots to see here:
http://www.coolmath4kids.com/fractions/index.html


In art today we made monochromatic pictures. I have to say everyone did a great job! We were inspired by how the character Lina in The City of Ember made a picture with just one pencil crayon.

In Language we looked at the use of italics, quotations and apostrophies in our shared reading.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend and spends some time with family!

Pulleys and Gears

We have started learning about pulleys and gears in science. Below is one of the best video clips that I have found about how they work. We watched it in class, and here it is if you'd like to watch it at home.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T7tGosXM58&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

Also, we haven't investigated too much with gears yet, but here is the video we watched in class today about them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_i3PJIYtuY&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

Remember tomorrow is Valentine's Day so dress up in all the "love" colours!

Show some school spirit!

Next week is SPIRIT WEEK! Just a reminder about it:
Monday - 80's Day
Tuesday - Valetine's Day
Wednesday - Crazy  Hair Day
Thursday - PJ Day
Friday - AJ Day

Also, we have a few fundraisers underway:
Helping Hand mittens for the new playground - our class is currently in the top 5! Great job everyone!
Penny Drive for the library - bring in any unrolled pennies or change - prize for top class - Sundae Day and prizes for top student as well
We have an upcomming fundraiser involving themed baskets that we will sell raffle tickets for. This will be done to raise the last bit of money for the brick by brick campaign for the school in Kenya. Each class will be making up a basket with donated items from students and families and teacher. Our theme is "movie night" so you can start thinking of ideas.
Candy grams for Valentine's day are one sale for $1.
Finally, a few students from the grade 4 class wanted to help the brick by brick foundation as well and we have made bookmarks that are being sold in class and soon to the rest of the school for $0.25 each or 5 for $1.
I know it is a lot of fund raising but the idea is that everyone doing just a little will produce big results.

I got to go to a PRIME workshop and am very excited to continue working with everyone to develop our numeracy skills in math. Currently we are working with fractions and decimals.
Try and find some ways you use estimation everyday.

In Language we are working on inferring and text features as our critical pathway.

We have started a new unit in science about pulleys and gears.

Finally, public service announcements will begin filming next week!

A very short week ... but a long post!

Well another "inclement" weather day came upon us (maybe that could be a dinner dazzle word!)

Today we reviewed terms in science about light and sound by making our own wordsearches.
In math, we worked on our numberation skills playing math games. Tomorrow there probably will be homework sent home for everyone though about adding and subtracting decimals. (just a heads up!)
In the afternoon, we had the Grade 2 class join us as we watched "Horton Hears A Who!" I had never seen it before and I highly recommend it!
Here, try out the following activity from "Seussville" about making your own story:
http://www.seussville.com/games_hb/storymaker/story_maker.html

Also, for philosophical parents, you can generate at home discussion about the movie from the site below:
http://www.teachingchildrenphilosophy.org/wiki/Horton_Hears_a_Who

Since Friday is a P.A. Day, I would still like to have our science quiz tomorrow. It has a lot of fill in the blank type questions, so I think that everyone will be able to give it a good try. I just want to see where we are with our knowledge of light and sound before we move on.

Health posters are due tomorrow as well.

On a different note, I hope that everyone enjoyed Unique Me day yesterday as well as the Recycle Rock. It was a fun day and I'm glad everyone was able to show off their spirit and uniqueness.
During our character education assembly, I was awarded with the "Green Teacher Award" - I always use reusable containers for my water and lunch and we have done a few projects in class that involve using recycled materials.

Our class is doing a better job of keeping waste and recycling where they belong. I have some really great helpers who are checking the garbage for recyclable materials and the recycling for garbage who are earing "caught being green" awards. Our goal is to get the Green Classroom Award next month! The arrival of our new waterbottles should help with that. They are being sent home with a note and should be washed with soap and water before use (no dishwasher). Everyone is encouraged to put their names on the bottom and use them as much as they can instead of plastic water bottles. I hope to organize some litterless lunches in the near future as well.

Think of the wastes involves with plastic water bottle use.

• The waste in the manufacturing process for plastic water bottles (energy, transportation, etc).
• The waste in the bottling process (energy, water, transportation).
• The potential health risk of chemical leaching into the water the detrimental effect on landfill sites and recycling programs.
• The high rate of uncaptured plastic water bottles

Below is a link that hopfully encourages everyone to use their new water bottles!
http://www.greenlivingonline.com/article/get-rid-plastic-water-bottles