Yes, we still need to do school work!

I know that now that the warm weather is here, we all can just taste summer just around the corner ... but we are still in school and there will still be learning going on, right up until the very last day! So come prepared to class to work and have fun!

Here is what we are working on this week:

In language we are starting to look at the format and features of a diary or jounal. We will reading "Diary of a Fly" as our read aloud, and most student have read this before, or another diary from this series. Then, to tie in with our habitat unit, students will be writing a diary of a chosen animal themselves.

Spelling (time related) - workbook and quiz: Friday

In math, we are working on finishing up measurement by taking a quick look at time.
Our math learning goals are:
I will be able to tell time on an analog clock to the nearest minute
I will be able to determine elasped time

Success Criteria:
- I know how many seconds in a minute, minutes in an hour, hours in a day, days in a week, days in each month, weeks in a year, months in a year, years in a decade, years in a century and years in a millenium.
-  I can can read an analog and digital clock
- I can estimate elapsed time
- I can read and create time line

We have done some fun activities with this unit, including designing watch concepts and we will be making personal timelines as well (which will tie in with language when we look at autobiographies)

Below are some sites that have some activities involving time

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/earlymath/clock_shoot.htm

http://www.thatquiz.org/tq-g/math/time/

interactive clock:
http://www.time-for-time.com/swf/myclox.swf

clock timeline
http://www.teacherled.com/resources/elapsedtime/elapsetimelineload.html


We are continuing with Habitats in science and made a food web outside today with ourselves and some yarn. This way, it was easy to see how everything is connected together and if one organism in an ecosystem or habitat is effected, many others are effected as a result.  We are also continuing to look at movie clips about animal life as well.

Some extra information:

build an online habitat
http://www.switcheroozoo.com/games/habitatgame.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/habitats.shtml

check out this clips to build your own habitats at home! watch in order (they are not long)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lUsCFDAS4M&list=PL66088158FF933E91&index=1&feature=plpp_video&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3noXhWAM28&list=PL66088158FF933E91&index=2&feature=plpp_video&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT5mFr4ojgA&feature=relmfu&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNf3gVgEiBE&feature=relmfu&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKVmkaw4e34&feature=relmfu&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0EjNAEXMuw&feature=relmfu&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

Oh what a tangled web . . .

We have started our habitat unit in science. We have watched some clips about animal adaptations, as all animals have many things that help them adapt, to be able to live in their own habitats. Some animals have physical adaptations, and some animals perform behavioural adaptations. Below are some links to videos about animal adaptations.

Next week we will be focusing on the transfer of energy, food chains and food webs. Below are some links where you can create your own food chains and food webs:

carnivors, herbivors and producers in different habitats
http://www.gould.edu.au/foodwebs/kids_web.htm

for this one, just scroll down and click on "Create a Food Web"
http://www.vtaide.com/png/foodchains.htm

Our Learning Goal is:

We will be able to understand how plants and animals live together in habitats and how human effect habitats.

The success criteria for this goal:
- we will be able to use appropriate vocabulary: (habitat, population, community, adaptation, food chain, food web, producer, consumer, decomposer, scavenger, carnivors, herbivors, omnivors and population capacity, endangered, extinction)
- we will be able to discuss adapatations that animals have to help them live in their habitats - both physical and behavioural
- we will be able to demonstrate and understanding of food chains and webs and how energy is transferred
- we will be able to describe ways that humans are dependent on natural habitats and how we effect them
- we will be able to use scientific inquiry and research skills to investigate positive and negative impacts of human interactions with natural habitats, including reasons for extinction

Tomorrow in math we will be having our measurement test on mass, volume and capacity. This was a straight forward unit and all seem to crasp the concepts very well. Next week will be the re-test for the division test that has been sent home to be signed. Next, we will be looking at probability.

Remember to practice your multiplication tables at home!

In language, we have started Literature Circles and the novels for discussion in the groups have been assigned and given out. Students will be reading these books for the next 3 weeks and meet twice a week to conference about the reading and to complete their jobs, such as summarizer, discussion leader, word wizzard etc. This will end with a culminating task. We are still looking at parts of speech and have finished learning about alliteration.


Hope everyone has a great long weekend!

It's been a while!

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you in "Blog-land". Sorry about the lack of posts in the last couple of weeks - but let's get back on track! I was able to catch up with most of you last week at the Open House!

This week, we are finishing up looking at reading poetry. We have made inferences about poems, made connections with poems, evaluated poems and created visualizations. Also, small groups presented poetry readings for their oral communication. We will be starting into small group/independent novel studies for the rest of the year, ending with a fun project!

In Language, we are also looking at parts of speech such as common and proper nouns, action verbs and verb tenses, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions and conjunctions
Below are some sites to help you learn these:

Games
Try: Rats: Nouns and Verbs
http://www.gamequarium.com/partsofspeech.html

Blast from the past: Schoolhouse Rock clips!!!
Nouns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pFEiDd9nuY&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
Verbs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MfeH0ZXEVs&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
Adverbs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDwXHTcodNg&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
Adjectives: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbgZfQNBFS0&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

Mad Libs!
http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/games/mad_libs/
http://www.eduplace.com/tales/

Also, we are working hard at making connections. When we read, we can make a connection to ourselves, to another piece of text, or to the world (like the moral of the story, or a big idea). When writing a reading or listening response, it is the connections that we can make that really bump up our marks!

In terms of media literacty, we will be looking at magazine ads and comercials and what techniques they use to get people to buy their products. This will tie in with substance abuse in health as well.

In Math, we have taken a break from looking at division problems and have started into Measurement. Our goal is to be able to estimate, measure, record and compare:

Mass - g or kg

Volume - units cubed (^3)

Capacity - mL or L

Try and find some items at home that tell you their mass or capacity on the packaging.
Everyone seems to be learning this quickly and there will be a quiz to check in on Wednesday and then the final test sometime next week. After this, we will look at time, probability and finally work a bit more with fractions and decimals again.

Our wonderful Medieval Times unit is almost all wrapped up today, ending with the unit test. I think I could teach this unit all year, there is so much to cover and so much interesting history from this time. Everyone seems to really enjoy all of the activities that we participated in, especially the feast! Thanks to all who brought in food and costumes!

We will be ending the year by looking at the science unit of Habitats. During this, students will have the chance to research and report on an animal of their choice and its habitat.

The Open House was a huge success and I was able to say hello again to many friends and family. The flash mob was very nice to watch and everyone said how much they enjoyed watching it. Also the new play structure is up and running - I've never seen anything like it! We are trying to take advantage of the nice weather and this wonderful new play structure by going outside and playing on it during our gym time. This also means there are no lines and no crowding like there can be a recess.
We will be finishing up our medieval tournament in gym by having a knighting ceremony and awarding prizes. The knight school activities that students planned looked at fitness and safety. Next we will be looking at growth and development.

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day weekend and everyone is looking forward to the May long weekend coming up!