Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky

66 and 99! The quotation marks of course!

We have worked at using quotation marks in our writing, and now we are also looking at how they are used in our reading as well. They are not always used to show that someone is speaking. Although not as catchy as the Apostrophe Song, here is a link to a Quotation Song. I encourage you to dance and sing along!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBO6fKfPuRg&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

Looking at quotation marks used when showing sarcasim, check out the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4dUkoenQGA&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

I am currently marking the math quizzes from today and they will go home this weekend to be looked over, signed and brought back. It looks like we need some more work in a few areas:

- memorizing multiplication facts to 9 x 9
- understanding what division means
- knowing division facts to 81 divided by 9 because we know how the inverse relationship between multiplication and division - a.k.a the fact families
- knowing the distributive property of multiplication (our Break it Down! method)
- explaining our thinking (but we're getting better!)

Medieval Times

Medieval Times can be very interesting and exciting to study. However, they were known as the "Dark Ages"
We have been learning about how people lived, and some of the conditions they lived in. The Black Death was something that happened at this time and had a huge impact on history. Myself, with having a background in the study of infectious disease, virology and microbiology . . .find the plague more interesting than some.  Below are some more interesting and interactive websites to check out at home!

To learn more about the plague during this time:
http://medievaleurope.mrdonn.org/plague.html (ignore the ads)

See the spread of the disease in only a few years:
http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/templates/student_resources/0534600069_spielvogel/InteractiveMaps/swfs/map11_1.html

A rat's life!
http://www.imaginon.org/fun/whippingboy/aratslife.asp?themeid=2&activityid=9

See if you can "Fling the Teacher!" by answering questions about the Black Death - these are tricky!!!!
http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/games/fling/plague/index.shtml


In math, we want to see how we are doing with Algebra and operational number sense, so there is a quiz tomorrow. Homework has been sent home that should be completed as soon as possible and might be a good way to practice for the quiz tomorrow. I have been very impressed over the last few days at how students are starting to show their thinking and realize that they can figure math questions out by using many different methods.

Remember we can:
- use counters
- use an open number line and "jump"
- change it up!
- break it down!
- use an array
- line it up
- use algorithms
It's all about seeing the "happy" numbers in a question and going from there!

Raffle tickets still on sale! Bring back any unused ones also!
Spelling quiz Friday.
Good copy of fairy tale due tomorrow for Mrs. Hill
Reminder to take home any tree house/crane projects or they will be recycled at the end of the week.
French homework due Friday.

MARCHing onward . . .

We have finally finished our read aloud of The City of Ember and also finished watching the movie. We found out that the book and the movie had some similarities and some differences. Books are always better than their movies it seems! Below is a link to the official website of the author in case you are interested in reading some more of her books in the series. Keep in mind, that these books are at a grade 5 - 6 reading level. There are other activities on the site that are worth looking at as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

We will continue to examine this novel as we work in language with summarizing, synonyms, quotations and points of view.

In math we are continuing to work with numbers and their operations. Today we tried adding and subtracting large numbers by using an open number line. Tomorrow we will work on multiplication using arrays. These strategies are designed to help us see how numbers work and slow down our thinking when we are trying to problem solve. They will give us a better understanding of operations and what really is going on when it comes to working with whole numbers.

In gym class today we started a small unit that is a part of the art curriculum as well . . .DANCE! We looked at some of the trendy dances through the last few decades and turned our room into a dance floor to display our "moves". We found out that dancing is quite good exercise as we "twisted" up a sweat! Below are the two videos that we watched and danced along to in class. We also then did the Twist, and the Macarena!

Evolution of Dance part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

Evolution of Dance part 2
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=evolution+of+dance+2&oq=evolution&aq=2&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_l=youtube-reduced.1.2.0l4.1911l3088l0l4584l9l9l0l5l5l0l122l398l3j1l4l0.&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

We hope to be able to come up with some of our dance routines in the near future.

We are still working at becoming a certified green school and everyone is helping to do our part. We really appreciate everyone who works hard to bring in waste free lunches and recycling the things that we do bring in. I would really like to start composting soon as well. Below is a site that you can look at at home for ideas and fun activities:

http://www.kidsbegreen.org/

Finally, upcoming for this week:
- spelling quiz Friday (words given out tomorrow)
- Lunch orders due tomorrow
- raffle tickets for baskets $1
- take home building projects by end of week, or they will be recycled.
- Math quiz on Thusday!

Spring Fever!

Welcome back from the March Break! I hope everyone had great times with friends and family, I know I did!

It's a very hot first day of spring today!

A reminder that as the weather gets warmer, we can wear layers of clothing that we can take off to help keep cool, while remembering the dress code for the school as well - no spaghetti straps and no short-shorts! Now is a perfect time to be using our water bottles in class as well - but for drinking only - there will be no one giving themselves a "shower" because of the heat. After lunch recess, everyone comes in and has silent reading time to cool down. Also, even though everyone might not have snow boots anymore, you are still expected to have outdoor and indoor shoes . . .and wear them in the appropriate locations.

We have started looking at Medieval Times in Social Studies.
Our Learning Goal is:
 "I will be able to describe what life was like during Medival Times in Europe (500 - 1500 C.E.)"
Some of the Success Criteria are:
- I can describe characteristics of castles
- I can describe daily life of medieval people and compare it to life now
- I can describe and understand the Feudal System
- I can make questions to guide my learning and research
- I can create a model of a castle and label it
- I can create a coat of arms
- I use and understand the appropriate vocabulary
- I can use a graphic organizer to summarize information.
There are some very fun activities that I hope the class can participate in while learning about this time in history. The Middle Ages covers about 1000 years, so there is a lot of information to get through, and obviously we can't learn everything there is to know about this time. I encourage you to look with someone at home at some of the clips or documentaries found on the internet. There is a series from the History Channel about the Dark Ages on YouTube, but it does have some violent parts shown (it is the Dark Ages after all) so I recommend that you have an adult watch any of these with you.
There are still many other sites you can visit if you are interested, or want to learn more about Medieval Times. Check out the ones below:

For some good reading and information:
http://www.learner.org/interactives/middleages/

Pictures of Famous Castles:
http://www.everycastle.com/

The Knighting Ceremony (good information and links, but lots of advertisements)
http://www.ehow.com/info_10003927_information-knighting-ceremony-medieval-knight.html

My Favourites!
 (make your own coat of arms!)
http://www.childrensmuseum.org/castles/games.php

explore a castle
http://www.childrensmuseum.org/castles/games.php

Jousing tournament:
http://www.tudorbritain.org/joust/index.asp

One of our Critical Pathways in Reading has been about learning how and when to use (or not use) apostrophes. In the beginning, 38% of the class understood why apostrophes were used in writing, based on the results of the "mini CASI" which was given. After working with apostrophes and listening to the "Apostrophe Song", I'm happy to report that 100% of the class understand the two purposes of when we use an apostrophe in writing based on our last reading response. We will now move on to looking at quotation marks and continue with the pathway of using inferences.

We are almost done reading the City of Ember and hope to be able to watch the movie on Friday and discuss all the similarities and differences between it and the book.

Thanks to everyone who dontated to our movie themed fund raising basket- it looks great! Raffle Tickets for baskets are $1!

Play Day

Part of tomorrow is a play day where school teams will rotate through various fun activities. There are outdoor activities and it is quite wet out there, so make sure you dress appropriately and bring a change of clothes (at least extra socks!) This will be a kick start to the March Break next week!

A newletter has gone home with information about what we have and will be covering in class.
Also, some extra (optional) fraction work has gone home. I do encourage everyone to try it, although I know that it is not possible for everyone, especially if you are travelling.

When we come back from break, I hope to start looking at decimals and algebra in math. Below are some sites to try at home:

http://www.math-play.com/Equation/Equation-Game-Online.html

http://www.vectorkids.com/vkvariable.htm
- choose addition or multiplication
- max number 10
- play
-start
- type answer and press enter

http://www.funbrain.com/guess2/index.html

My faves!
Addition: http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/SumSense/sumadd.html
Subtraction: http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/SumSense/sumsub.html
Multiplication: http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/SumSense/summulti.html
Division: http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/SumSense/sumdiv.html

Art Attack!

In Art class today, we demonstrated and understanding of the proper and controlled use of art tools, materials and techniques as we created night time drawings with black paper and chalk. Check out the video below about this!  I hope to use some of these to put up in the school library for the Art in the Library for the next few months.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESuDGsw6qoM&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

In math, we are still looking at fractions and decimals. Experiment at home with measuring cups this weekend, looking at how fractions are involved in cooking and baking. . . maybe you'll even bake something yummy!

In Language, we did a reading response about The City of Ember. Over the past week, we looked at exemplars of responses to see what it takes to get a level 3 or 4. From this we are able to develop the success criteria. We are looking at identifying and explaining different characteristics of a variety of texts, such as interview, fiction, non-fiction etc.

A reminder that articles for the fundraising basket are still being accepted.
Rough copy of story is due on Monday for Mrs. Hill.

Have a great weekend everyone!