Tag Archives: math

Keeping Warm!!

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Good Morning Everyone!

Anyone else getting a bit tired of our “deep freeze” weather?! Unfortunately it looks like we have a bit more of this until it starts to warm up. With these cold temperatures comes indoor recess. Indoor recess is usually fun for a few days BUT then we all realize how much we appreciate getting outside, getting fresh air and getting the chance to run and play. Has anyone been braving the cold after school?! My Hudson sure doesn’t mind these Arctic temperatures…we are having a hard time trying to get her to come inside!! I’d still rather live in one of the coldest cities than deal with other weather related catastrophes. We are Canadian. We are tough! We’ve got this 😉

What a week we just had!! Here’s a glimpse of what we learned and experienced!

-Since it was the highlight of the week we might as well start with Harry Potter Day!! It took us the majority of the day to watch the whole movie but it was totally worth it! Thank you so much to those of you who contributed snacks, drinks and “props”. There was so much to choose from! One of my favourite parts of the day was watching the kids’ faces as the movie was playing. Whether they’d seen it before or it was their first viewing there was pure joy on their faces!!

We did a reflection and comparison about the movie and the book. As far as movies go I think they did a pretty good job keeping true to the story but there are a few things that are quite different. It’s was fun to spot some of those differences!! I’ve also noticed a lot of kids reading the other books in the series!

-We’ve had two sessions in our Ancient Civilization Book Clubs. I know my groups have been learning a lot about Egypt and I look forward to hear about what the other groups thought about their civilization! We will finish the reading portion this week and then see where the students want to take their learning from there!

-Subtraction is going strong! The students are able to regroup with very few errors!! Try out a few questions at home to see your child’s progress. If you are able to work on additinabs subtraction facts at home I continue to recommend that. We’ve pushed our basic fact assessment to this week. This will really help us do some  targeted instruction and practice.

-We are about 70 pages into Crenshaw and so far so good! Most of the kids think there’ll be a bit of magic involved in this one…we’ll have to keep reading to find out!!!

-The students seemed to enjoy doing our word work (spelling) this week. All students had their word list and an overview of why we were doing this in their mailbox all week (since Monday) so I hope everyone received those! I can only remind the class so many times to empty their mailbox before the responsibility shifts to them! Reminder: assessments will start on Monday (tomorrow).

-We did another research day for our Ancient Civilization projects and I was able to check in with 6 groups. I will continue to check in with the remaining groups to make sure guiding questions have been answered, there is a plan for the written component coming up and that everyone is happy and on track with their progress.

-We’ve had one chance to make our groups and work on our new dance routine. This week we will have at least another two opportunities to choreograph and practice!

-We submitted our Top 5 Reasons that the Jets Should Read to our Class! Keep your fingers crossed that we are selected! We wrote a fantastic persuasive letter as a class. I’d be persuaded if it was me choosing the winner!! #GoJetsGo

-The book orders haven’t come in yet. They emailed that the order was sent out on Wednesday, so it could arrive any day now.

What’s Up This Week?!

-More Crenshaw, more Ancient Civilization research, more book clubs, more subtraction, math fact assessment, more indoor recess?!, more dance AND no school on Friday, February 1st!

-Ms Mary from the Green Action Centre is with us on Wednesday to teach us more about making a positive impact on the environment.

-Murray is with the class on Wednesday, which means Genius Hour time!

I think that is about it for now. Stay warm!!

Until next time,

Danielle

 

And Just Like That…It’s June!

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Hello Everyone & Happy Saturday!

Last week seemed to go by impossibly quick! Sadly, I think that is going to be the norm for the remainder of the school year 🙁

Here is what happened lsat week at school and what will be happening this week!

Book Clubs: The end is near! We have a work period on Monday, a rehearsal for our presentations on Wednesday and then our final presentations on Friday! We will be making some final decisions about how to proceed with our Drama sessions and then let the kids know what to expect!

Math Groups: We are working on fractions and how we use fractions in our everyday lives! We are counting by 1/2s, 1/3s, 1/4s and 1/10s and also doing compatible fractions. For example: If I ate 1/2 of a pie, what fraction did I not eat? (In other words what fraction do you need to get to one whole). Or 4/10 of the kids in the class were away today, what fraction of the kids were at school? The progression of compatible numbers continues! First we needed to learn compatible numbers (number pairs) to 10, then 20, then 50, then 100 and now fractions!

Mathantics Fractions are Parts

IF you are still challenged by recalling or determining compatible numbers to the whole numbers I listed above…please practice! It is so helpful with addition and subtraction in mental math if you know those number pairs.

1+9=10        9+1=10

2+8=10       8+2=10

3+7=10      7+3=10

4+6=10     6+4=10

5+5=10

*Use those facts to help you with 20! 50! 100!

If you know that 2+8=10, then 12+8=20 and 22+28=50 and 32+68=100

Use the number pairs for 10 to get you to the next group of 10 (22+8=30 and then think about what you need to get from 30 to 50 which is 20 so 22+28=50).

Practice for a few minutes each day!

“Let’s do compatible numbers to 50” “I have X, you have?” and your child will determine the fact that is missing. Example: If you have “34” and you are looking for the missing added to 50. On paper this would look like 34+?=50.

We are still asking that families practice skip counting at home if your child isn’t able to skip count fluently. If they are having to stop and think by counting on, then they need more practice. Students should be able to fluently count by 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 10s. 6s, 7s, 8s and 9s may still be developing.

Once your child is able to count then they are ready for multiplication fact practice. If you have flashcards then pull those out and practice for a few minutes each day. You can split them into piles of “mastered” and “still working on” or see how many they can get in a given time and compare each day, etc. Turn it into a game!

You can do the same things with division facts. We’ve made the connection that division facts are the commutative property for multiplication facts! If you know 3×4=12 you also know that 4×3=12, 12/3=4 and 12/4=3 🙂

Uptown Funk Multiplication Song

Multiplication Rap (x2 or x3)

3 Times Table Song

4 Times Table Song

5 Times Table Song

6 Times Table Song

7 Times Table Song

8 Times Table Song

Read Aloud: We finished Wishtree! It was a lovely story about friendship and belonging. I hope the kids have talked about the story at home. It got a “slow clap” from the kids when I finished reading, so I think that means they liked it! We will be starting our final read aloud book for the year…The Wild Robot Escapes! If you already own the book  you are welcome to bring it in and follow along as I read!

Compost Presentation! Ms Mary came to school on Friday to teach us about composting and soil. She was very enthusiastic and passionate about the subject. Compost is something that I’ve been thinking about lately and she definitely provided us with great information.

I am hoping that next year we take on composting at school!

Plants: Our plants are growing! We will let them grow for another week at school and then think about sending them home! Some of the plants will need to leave their Ziploc bag home and be planted in a container that will give them more room to grow! I love it when the kids come racing in to the window to see if their plant has grown overnight! We worked with a partner and compared two plants using a Venn Diagram. This way we could see how the plants were similar and different. Our “classroom pets” are growing too! Well…some of them! We are learning about which of the growing environments we created are best suited for pumpkin seeds 🙂

We will wrap up our Observation Station with 122 & 126 this week. We’ve observed and documented the same spot outside since there was still snow on the ground! It will be super neat to pull all our pictures and notes together to see how our nature spots have changed with the change of season.

Volunteer Tea: Thanks to all of our wonderful volunteers for making helping out in so many ways. It means a lot to have connections between home and school 🙂

*Due to the performers at the Volunteer Tea we will have to change Genius Hour to this week. I’ll do some planning and let the kids know on Monday when a good time will be. I’m thinking about Thursday as of now.

Family Life/Health: We have met twice and will have two more lessons this upcoming week and two more after that.

*Book order is due on June 11so we have enough time to get those final orders in!

This week will we also do more learning about provinces (hint-there will be a connection to our upcoming Drama activities!), do an art project about provincial flowers, get back to our outdoor education (I regrettably let the weather dictate a few days of not going outside) and create a giant kindness calendar for the whole school! This is part of your Ask Me question for the weekend: Through Seesaw send me an idea of what we can add to our calendar to inspire our school community to show kindness to themselves, others and the earth. This idea came from the calendar below that we found in the copy room at school. Now we want to make a kid/family friendly one instead!

Have a nice weekend 🙂

Until next time,

Danielle

Sunday Funday!

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Hello Everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I’m sure the beautiful weather got many of you outdoors! It’s hard to believe that it has been so hot already and it’s still only May!

Here’s a little recap of last week at school

-Outdoor Classroom Day! We spent day outside doing mostly what we do inside, with the exception of technology! Some of the kids loved it, some liked it and some would rather spend a shorter time outside (like we are doing for our 30 for 30). It. Was. Hot! Which was part of the reason some kids didn’t love it (and why some did)! It’s important for us to get outside regardless of the weather. We can’t spend 5 months inside because it’s too cold…or 3 months in br sure it’s too hot! We just need to adjust to the weather! On Tuesday we moved around to find shade, took a break inside for lunch and choir and made sure to drink plenty of fluids. The community clean up and seed planting seemed to be on the list of favourite activities. Thank you to the 3/4 team for taking on this outdoor adventure. A big thank you to the students who are self proclaimed “not outdoorsy people” for not only participating, but making the most of their day

-Our seeds are starting to sprout! Stay tuned via Seesaw to watch the growth process! As the kids notice changes they will snap a photo and label it with any important information and add it to their Seesaw portfolio. This is a great way to talk about this experiment at home!

-We have another growing experiment happening at school! This is also your Ask Me question for the weekend! Together we brainstormed different places to  grow plants in the room where the amount of sunlight would vary and provide different watering options for our pumpkin seeds. We have settled on 6 different ideas and now you need to make a prediction and comment what seeds you think will have the best growth (via the Seesaw post). We have charts up around the room to track the watering schedule and growth. This should be fun!!

-Our Book Clubs are almost over!! We will finish reading/making this week and then share our experiences and recommendations with the other groups. Groups that are making iMovie trailers will have their video posted to Seesaw as they are finished. What a fantastic app! The kids are doing a great job creating the trailers and making the connection that it’s actually the technology version of writing a book recommendation!

-Divide and Conquer! We are working through division, fractions and decimals right now! These are often the concepts that students “fear” the most…until we get going. Then they realize that we use these skills in our everyday lives and that knowing how to add/subtract/multiply and understanding place value all really help! However, some students are realizing that not having recall for the multiplication facts is affecting their speed for learning the basic facts for division. By now we should be able to recall the facts for 2 to 20, 5 to 50, 10 to 100, 3 to 30 and 4 to 40. The students may still be developing the answers for the remaining facts, but they should be able to determine them using a strategy they know. Take a few minutes each day to listen to your child skip count or do flashcards. It’s will help with their confidence 😊

What’s happening this week?!

-Family Life is starting! You all should have received a note to give you the heads up. Helen is working with the grade 4s and I will be working with the grade 3s. In grade 3 we will talk about personal safety and families. The grade 4s will learn about growth and development in changing bodies.

-We Belong Vertical Groups #3! Our final session will happen on Tuesday! The students will rotate to whichever activity they haven’t done yet. I believe our cluster will be going to the treaty activity.

-We will continue our daily edits, listen to Wishtree and post our May reading and writing samples. It will also be days 23-27 of our 30 for 30 challenge!!

-The 30 day environmental pledges should be completed by now. We will be checking in with the school and community to ask if they’ve completed their pledge and then take our posters down. We generated a lot of interest and many important conversations. Well done 123!!

That covers it for this week! I’m sad not to be ending this post with a #GoJetsGo but our team has a great season and we will be ready for a new run to the cup for 2019!

Until next time,

Danielle

Cinco De Mayo!!!!!

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Happy Weekend Everyone!

I hope that you find time to enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful spring weather this weekend! Let us know what you’ve been up to via the Ask Me question on Seesaw or the Home Reading folder!

We have completed the first ten days of our 30 outdoor challenge at school!! We’ve been lucky to have had some gorgeous weather but let’s be honest…I think we need some rain to help get the dusty streets and sidewalks under control! Reminder: there is no school on Monday so Day 11 of our outdoor learning will not take place until Tuesday!

Tuesday is also our 3rd running club meeting. As you know, we’ve decided to change things up and have run club in the mornings this year (8:10 on Tuesdays and Thursdays). We have had about 40 kids join us so far but would love even more! This run club is about developing/maintaining a healthy lifestyle and getting some fresh air. Being outside before school has actually helped those of us involved get a great start to the day! It’s not too late to join! Students in the run club in grades 4-6 do not have to participate in the Fit Run in June. So if that’s holding you back…don’t worry. You can be new to running to join or you can also walk and work your way up to running. Parents: Thank you for joining us! You don’t need to commit to coming each session or even each week. You can choose to help supervise, you can walk or you can run. We’ve had at least 5 parents out to each session so far and we really love the community feel that it creates having students, parents, daycare and teachers out together. We hope to see you soon!!!

Here’s a recap of last week at school!

-We finished A Boy Called Bat and have started a new book called The Wishtree. On Friday we actually sat outside our window near a tree which might just become our very own Wishtree! I also finished pre-reading The Wild Robot Escapes and have decided (by request) that it will become our next (and possibly final) read aloud choice. Some students have already chosen to purchase and read their own copy of the book and are aware that there was a chance I’d be reading it to the class. Those students are welcome to bring in their copy and read along with me when the time comes!

-The grade 4 book club was a success. We had 20 kids join us!! I think we have time for one more book… then it’ll be summer book club time! We will let the grades 4-6 kids know ASAP about the book choice and the meet/eat/treat time. Grade 3s you will get your chance at a book club in the summer. That one will be open to all students (tell your friends in the other classrooms) 🙂

-Book Clubs with 122 and 126 are going well too! We will finish our books by the end of the month and present a maker piece to the other groups. After that…we will keep this time slot to do some drama!!

-We have been doing a daily edit to help develop editing skills. Each morning the students are greeted by a message on the board. It’s a letter that outlines what is taking place on that day. They get a chance to fix an error before the announcements begin. After the announcements we finish up any corrections as a class until the letter makes sense. The kids love being detectives! Give it a try at home! We are looking for: uppercase letters in the correct spots, punctuation, homophones, contractions and spelling of commonly used words.

Looking for a weekend edit?! Copy this out (be mindful of proper letter formation) and bring it to school on Tuesday. Good luck finding all the errors!

-Multiplication is going pretty well. Some students would benefit from at home practice of skip counting and basic facts. This can be done anywhere and anytime! Out for a walk or in the car or during the intermission of the Jets game…just ask some questions! Example: skip count by 4s to 40, name the doubles facts to 20+20, explain how any factor multiplied by 4 is related to doubles, use flashcards, etc. Throw in some addition/subtraction/compatible numbers too!! This will all help to develop recall and 5 minutes if regular practice can go a long way 🙂

-Our first We Belong Day with our vertical teams was great! We (123,124,125 and PM Nursery) listened to a great story, did some dancing with Mrs. Silk and then wrote down a word that described how dancing made us feel! Next time the kids will change stations and the teachers will repeat the same activity with a new group of students! Great job on remembering to wear clothing that reflected who you are. We loved hearing all the stories about why you chose your outfit 🙂

What’s happening this week/month?!

-May 17 is Outdoor Classroom Day and May 18 is Planting Day so we are thinking of combining these two themes and spending the day outside (Friday, May 18). Any ideas?! We have some ideas but would love to hear what you’re thinking!

-This week we will choose our plant/soil/environment inquiry topic. I will be asking the students to write down their top 5 wonderings and we will go from there!

-We will also continue our research on provinces and territories

-Monday is Day 2 and because there is no school there is also no Genius Hour. I’m thinking about giving the kids time on Friday instead. There are a number of students/groups ready to present their work. So we will make time for that and for a work period as well

-Don’t forget to get your book order in if you plan on making an order this month. I’ll be sending that in this week. After that you’ll have one more chance to order before summer!

-As many of you already know, Murray is taking a team of Grade 6 students to the Global Finals for Destination Imagination!! If you are interested in supporting this exciting opportunity please visit the GoFundMe page below!

I think that’s all for today! Enjoy your weekend!

#GoJetsGo

Until next time,

Danielle

March Madness!

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Hi Everyone!

Happy weekend! Today I am going to share a quick overview of our week and give you some details about next week at school! Next week might feel a little like “March Madness” as we prepare for Student LED Conferences BUT we will have lots of great learning to share with you come Thursday and Friday…we promise not to disappoint!

Recap!

-Our Literacy Circles with Room 122 have come to an end. We had a lot of fun learning about different ecosystems and are ready to share what we know with each other and with members of the school community. Each group has made a poster that will be put up just before conferences! The art piece that the students have created are very neat as well…but you’ll have to wait to see those too!

-We are still reading The Magic Misfits and will finish by Spring Break for sure!

-March is Nutrition Month! I know that many of the kids enjoyed tracking what they ate last weekend. Feel free to continue this activity. I can print off more copies of the tracking sheet for those students who are interested! During these lessons about nutrition we need to remember that it is our goal to educate and to make positive changes in our health, but not to shame or judge others for what they are eating.

-Multiplication is going well…I woke up singing the ‘Multiplication Mash Up’ the other morning!! On Friday we used games, flashcards, decks of cards, whiteboards and manipulatives to practice basic facts. The kids chose a partner and worked on addition, subtraction or multiplication to try and develop recall for facts. They had a choice of partner and activity. Some kids even invented their own games. I always like math sessions like this because the kids learn so much from each other as well as put their math skills into practice. Next week we will use LEGO as a manipulative and see what the class can come up with! Hint: Think arrays!

-We are always trying to use proper mathematical language so I post a changing “Math Word Wall” to help remind students of the proper terminology. Our newest terms are factor and product. Check with your child to see if they can tell you what that means!

-We have finished talking about contributions from Canada’s North (for now at least). It was fun to see what kinds of things we have or use today that originated from Indigenous cultures!

-The book order has been submitted and the books should arrive sometime next week!

-The Ask Me question this weekend is about writing about what you have read this weekend (in the Home Reading folder). I’m always so interested to see what the students are reading at home. From the Home Reading folders I can help make suggestions of reading material based on interests of the kids (to help other students choose books to read). Reading a series is great. It’s also great to take a break and read books that are not challenging. We do however, need to strike a balance of what we read and learn to love a variety of reading material.

We didn’t make our goal of keeping reading logs up to date in February and March isn’t looking much better. There are students who are always logging and I appreciate that so much! For some other students when I don’t see anything written it makes me wonder if you’re reading at all. It’s so important to develop regular reading habits, despite how busy we are with activities and special events. Fostering a love of reading now can last forever 🙂

I found this Tweet from the National Council of the Teachers of English and thought that it was fitting to share. I really encourage families to have a Read Aloud time with stories as we all as chapter books. It’s such a great way to develop literacy skills!

-Our animal research is complete!! We will take the notes we’ve made from doing research and organize them into sentences and paragraphs in our own words. We will also give credit to where the information came from. These informational writing pieces should be ready for you to read at conferences!

Next week!

Speaking of conferences…I have a checklist for each student to keep track of things that need to be ready to share with parents. This will help to keep each student organized as we continue to work on time management and accountability. Also-since we will be seeing you soon there might be a lull in Seesaw posts (to make sure some of our learning is something we haven’t shared with you yet). As always…thank you for your Seesaw comments. We really love the “likes” and hearing what you have to say about our learning. Guess what?! You will have a Seesaw task to do with your child at conferences! It’s a reflection piece! We are going to post some “talking points” for you to think about before conferences begin and then families will create and post a video to Seesaw during the conference that will become part of the students’ online portfolios!!

-We are borrowing some new technology from the WSD! On Monday we are getting Spheros…which are like “coding balls”. Our goal is to learn to use them and create a game that families can play together during conferences!

-We will continue to use Twitter as a way to learn more about animals, their habitats, adaptations for survival and the impact humans have on the environment. There are so many great examples on Twitter about the things we are learning about. The kids LOVE looking through what I’ve “liked”. I was against Twitter a few years ago. I guess it’s because I didn’t understand it or how it could benefit me as a teacher. I’m so glad that I developed an open mindset! There is junk to sift through of course, but the conversations based on the ‘good tweets’ we’ve had and the questions that have come up are so valuable. When I find something “cool” or “unusual” or “surprising” I actually can’t wait to share it with the class!!

-WTW Test Update: All students from Ms Solomon’s groups and Helen’s group have a test on Monday. Students were all reminded (more than once) to transfer their words over to their Home Reading folders. I hope you were all showing great responsibility and are ready for Monday!

Enjoy your weekend! Have fun reading!! I’m headed out to pick up a new book that might just become our next Read Aloud choice!! (Any guesses on what it might be about?!)

P.S.- Report cards go home on Monday. You will also receive your conference time. It is written on the pink sheet that you wrote your preferred time on. Only one copy of the pink sheet is sent home, so if it isn’t with your child’s report card then it has been sent home with a sibling!

-Time change is happening this weekend…don’t forget to  “Spring” your clocks forward an hour!

Until next time,

Danielle

Louis Riel Weekend!!

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Hi Everyone!

I’m not sure about you…but after such a busy week I’m super excited it’s the long weekend! I hope you all have a chance to relax and spend some time outdoors. That’s my plan anyway!!! Oh…and read. I just started a new book and I’d love to finish it this weekend!!!

Here is a recap of our busiest week yet!!

-Genius Hour is still going strong. Some students are almost ready to present their first project! As students finish their projects they will share and start a new inquiry! The next Genius Hour work period will be on Wednesday. Please come prepared to work!!

-The Circle of Life performance was truly amazing. I hope that those of you were able to attend enjoyed it as much as we did. Seeing things come together was such a neat experience. Now I know what 1000 kids on stage looks like! Thanks to Ms V for all her hard work. She did an awesome job teaching us 17 songs with coordinating actions. That is quite a feat!!! I’m also pleased to report that your children were fantastic Montrose ambassadors. They did everything we asked of them and more! Great job remembering to arrive early, wear the black shirts, hair up and pack a lunch!!!! #BAM

-We had a fun, yet relaxed Valentine’s Day! The students came up with so me pretty fun valentine holders and showcased the 4Cs as they created and executed their plans! We made kindness cards for each other, exchanged cards and had a few treats. I opted out of giving traditional cards and put up a picture of a heart I found in nature and wondered what the reaction would be…to my surprise the class told me I brought enough joy to them and they didn’t need a card. How sweet! I’ll take it 😉 !!! A few students chose to make their own homemade cards and some wrote their name in handwriting. Good job everyone!

-Winter Fun Day was postponed again. The weather hasn’t been kind to us 🙁  I’ve heard it might be this upcoming Thursday and will confirm that later on this week.

-Art with 122: The art looks amazing. Anyone who has missed or not completed a task will have a “make up day” sometime very soon!

-The green screen project with Murray is…what should we say…a work in progress! We have 3 videos completed BUT we have a few students who know how to create these mini movies (which contain the love letters to our favourite food) and they will work with all the other students to finish those up next week! These will be posted to Seesaw…you are in for quite a treat!

-We are about 70 pages into the Magic Misfits. The kids seem to like it so far and we hope to read more next week!

-The Ask Me question is posted on Seesaw. I’ve attached the blog link again so you can access this easily and get some ideas. Basically the kids and I thought that after a busy week it was fitting to write our Top 3 Things About the Week! Please write the responses in the Home Reading folder!! Speaking of which…no luck in bringing the Home Reading folders more regularly in February 🙁 Sometimes I don’t see folders for weeks and weeks. I like to know what the kids are reading at home so I can make suggestions for reading material, have them make reading suggestions to other kids, see if regular reading is happening and the folder is a great tool for taking notes back and forth between home and school. It’s a communication tool that helps keep things organized. Let’s put forth a better effort in using our folders for these purposes. Also, if you haven’t  updated your monthly reading graphs please do so. It’s much, much, much easier to record the monthly reading IF we are current with the daily recording. Please remember that the students are more than capable of recording their own data and being responsible for bringing the folders daily.

What’s Up for Next Week?!

-No school on Monday (Happy Louis Riel Day)!!

-Tuesday: Students in Helen and Ms Solomon’s WTW groups have spelling tests. They were asked to transfer their words this week and in case they have forgotten I have attached the word lists to Seesaw. The cherry group has a test on Thursday (unless there is Winter Fun Day) and the word lois has also been sent via Seesaw. The actual list and instructions of how the test will be done will be sent home Tuesday.

-Math: Some students have brought home some subtraction work to complete or correct. Grade 4s are to do any 15 questions per page of the subtraction and Grade 3s are asked to do 8 questions per page! Please have the books ready to hand in on Tuesday!!

-Time! We talked about what we know about time and here is what we came up with…

Some students are able to tell time easily and some cannot yet read the clock. Check in with your child this weekend to see what your child knows about time! It seemed like a good “time” to bring my this up since the Olympics are on and we need to know what time it in in Korea!!

Here are a few flashcards and a new magnetic clock we have at school to help learn how to tell time (not to be confused with ‘times’ which is actually known as multiplication;)

-The grade 3s will start working in their Mental Math Dictionaries and start to do multiplication this week. So far we know that multiplication is repeated addition. It is easier to learn how to think of numbers in groups than it is to skip count. It is also time saving AND sometimes in math we look for shortcuts and get to be “lazy”! Choosing to multiply instead of skip counting and doing repeated addition is one of those opportunities!! Being able to skip count by 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 10s will be very helpful for now. Need some practice at that? Spend a few minutes each day skip counting on paper or orally!

-The grade 4s will continue to work in their Mental Math Dictionaries with Helen. They will also review subtraction and work through some reminders for multiplication before they jump into some new concepts.

-For health we are ready to talk about the food groups and learn to read nutritional labels. Please send in any labels you can so we have an assortment to choose from. We will talk about calories, vitamins, serving size, etc. We will also talk about what kind of nutrition athletes need in order to train and compete!

-On Tuesday we will have some time in the lab to do some research for our animal/habitat projects. IF you have your recording sheet at home please bring it back to school. Throughout the week we’ve seen some cool tweets about animals and the impact humans have on their life. I’m attaching a link that Helen found that has some good information on many different animals! Feel free to check it out!

http://www.arkive.org/

That’s it for now!!! Have an excellent weekend!

#GoJetsGo

Until next time,

Danielle

 

January or July?!?

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Well, well, well…isn’t this mild temperature a nice break? How long can it last? I am hoping until Thursday, January 25 at least (to allow for a great day at the Zoo!).

This week’s Ask Me question was posted on See Saw and is to be answered in the Home Reading folders. The reason I started posting the Ask Me question on See Saw is because I can go into more detail than before when the kids were writing one sentence. It is also convenient for you to contact me with any questions. It’s too bad that we cannot post an activity and have you answer using See Saw…but this is the best we can do…for now at least!

The Ask Me question is about students naming their “Top 3 moments of last week”. I’d also like the students to go into some detail as to why those are their top moments and what they have learned.

Here is a recap of last week!

-We read a lot of Pax! I know that it is kind of a heavy book, with content that is allowing for a lot of conversation, but the class is doing great with it! It is really helping to spark some questions, wonderings and thoughts about habitats and the impact of humans and natural disasters have on animals.

-I’ve been finding some great material on Twitter about nature and animals. Each day we’ve been looking at these tweets, reading the articles and watching video clips that go along with them. Why have we never done this before?! The sharing we have during and after this time of day is very impressive. If you find anything worth sharing while you read the paper, surf the net or peruse Twitter please let me know. It’s teaching us about things that are happening on our planet RIGHT now!

Discovery of Canada’s Deepest Cave Found in B.C.

Caribou Rescue

Octopus Colour Change

4Ocean

We also looked at areas such as the oil spill of the coast of China and the impacts on the environment, animals and the world and a new underwater cave found in Mexico that is believed to be the biggest flooded cave ever that might link back to the Maya Civilization AND Helen shared a video about the most disgusting pile of garbage that is just lying in the ocean.

This is powerful stuff and a great conversation starter for home too!

-We did some more research on the White-tailed Deer. This is our starting point for our next inquiry. We are going through some of the research together to help learn the process of how to take notes, scanning websites to make sure they are credible and what we are looking for and taking down the website names to give credit to those who wrote the material that we are borrowing from

Facts about deer

Facts about deer

-We are pretty much done with addition and have started subtraction. Over the past weeks we have been meeting in Grade groups and really focussing on math concepts. We are slowing things down, using lots of manipulatives, playing games, doing mental math to build recall of basic facts, etc. Back in Room 123 we will do one more day of addition practice and send that work home! I will keep families informed of students who can benefit with more practice with 3 and 4 digit addition and basic facts. If you have flashcards at home…use them, even just a few minutes per day. *See last week’s post for some of the ideas we came up with as a class to practice math at home.

-We did all 3 writing samples that we said we would be doing last week! Narrative, Informational and Persuasive! Check out what the very persuasive writers of Room 123 convinced me to do…

Global School Play Day

After reading through everyone’s work it is clear that we have great ideas and have been working hard on choosing exciting words instead of always using common words. Some of the students are really able to demonstrate a sense of voice and their writing really sounds like ‘them’. There was a lot of evidence of titles and an attempt at opening and closing sentences. This is something we will continue to work on. Editing skills are going to be a real focus. It seems that the students can tell me all the ‘rules’ but are not always transferring these skills into their everyday writing.

-Circle of Life choir: we’ve been practicing all of the songs for the divisional musical! Ms V says a note will be sent home early next week.

-Zoo field trip! The kids have ranked the 3 choices for the programs we have set up for the zoo (field trip on Thursday, January 25).

ARCTIC ECOLOGY

Discover what it means to be an Arctic ecologist. Students will discover the growing field of Arctic ecology through an active exploration of the Journey to Churchill exhibit.

AWESOME ADAPTATIONS

How do animals survive the heat and rain of the tropics or the cold winters in the Arctic tundra? Students will learn how animals survive in their habitat and study specific characteristics of animals here at the Zoo through age appropriate activities! Choose from Arctic or Tropical Adaptations.

RAINFORESTS

Tropical rainforests are considered the lungs of the planet. Through a variety of activities, you will discover how rain forests provide valuable resources like medicine, habitat, and oxygen. Their location, geography and climate provide an essential support system to an immense variety of animals, plants, and people.

The 3/4 classes will be mixed and put into groups based on interest. We will do our best to give everyone their first choice of program BUT the group size has a maximum and each teacher should be bringing the same amount of students.

After the programs we will have lunch and explore the zoo. I’m able to take one volunteer. If you are interested…please let me know!

-AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) Awareness Day on Wednesday, January 17. If you saw our Instagram post you would’ve seen the name of each of the 6 stations. It was a great day to educate the students about different methods of communication. Lori (from Room 113) came to talk to us yesterday about her job in the Autism Centre. She showed us this amazing video which helped us to learn more about Autism.

Amazing Things Happen

 

I hope that helps give you some ideas to write about!

As for next week…

-No school on Monday, January 22

-The book order has been sent in! Books should arrive next week 🙂

-I am still missing a few field trip notes. If you haven’t signed and returned the note please do so right away

-Tuesday is Outdoor Education day. Let’s cross our fingers the weather cooperates and we can get outside and play!

-My goal is to read another 50-60 pages of Pax. I think we will finish by the end of the month!

-I’m going to try and create an editing activity for See Saw that the kids can do from the computer lab. No idea if it will work, but if it does I think it can really help with editing practice and show you, as parents, where your child can benefit from more practice

-We are going to be learning about Canada’s North in the next few weeks. We are going to look at our North through the Arts

-I’m hoping by the end of the week the students will have an idea of what animal they would like to learn more about. They will be studying their habitat and the impact things like weather, natural disasters, human activity, etc. have on that animal and their habitat.

Have a great weekend. Enjoy the weather!

Until next time,

Danielle

Welcome 2018!

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First post of 2018!

I hope you all had a fantastic break and a great first week back to the routine of school! As much as I love the extra time to spend with my family and getting refreshed, I also enjoy getting back to those routines!

Here is a little glimpse of what we did during this past week of school…

-We started a new book! It is called Pax by Sarah Pennypacker. It is about a boy, Peter and his fox, Pax. I read this book over the summer and knew that I wanted to read it to the class. We are about 70 pages into the book and it seems that the class is pretty interested so far. Ask your child their first impressions of Pax!

-We started a new round of Words Their Way (WTW).  We meet with Room 122 and 126 three times a cycle to work on sorting words following particular spelling patterns. After we have finished with the words they will be sent home to practice before having an assessment. *The exception is Ginny’s group. She runs her group a little differently and uses ongoing assessments.

-We’ve been doing some guided meditations during mindfulness time. Ask your child how they are liking that so far! I have used a mixture of mediations I’ve found online and also ones from an app I have called Insight Timer. Anyone use anything different and had success with it?

-In Math we continued working with Room 122 in our grade groups. We also spent some time reviewing basic facts for addition and subtraction as well as reviewing regrouping in addition and subtraction. We did another Number Talk with a focus on using ‘landmark’ or ‘friendly’ numbers.

For example: 38+55

We can think of this as 40+53 instead. We gave 2 from the 55 to the 38 making the new sentence 40+53. This is a lot easier to add using mental math. The landmark or friendly number in this example is 40. This kind of activity is easy to try at home!

Other things to do at home…(we brainstormed some ideas together at school)

*Basic facts for addition and subtraction are all the combinations of 1 digit numbers (2+2, 6+9, 7+3, etc.) and the corresponding subtraction facts.

-Use flashcards to build instant recall of basic facts (for addition, subtraction then move into multiplication and division when ready). Can you answer the questions in 3 seconds or less? The ones you can do using recall can be taken out of the package and then you can leave the ones you still need to practice

-Turn to two different pages in a book you’re reading and first add them to find the sum then subtract them to find the difference *Remember to start with the ‘whole’ (largest number) when doing subtraction

-Ask what time it is then ask how many minutes until the next hour (like doing compatible number to 60)

-Grab some coins and count them to find the value

-Use a deck of cards to create a game that helps with basic facts

-Play board games where you need to use your math skills

-Borrow some dice from a game you have and make up your own game! You could add two dice together and see if your sum is larger than your partner’s or you can roll the dice to make a 2,3,4 digit number and roll again to find another addend or a subtrahend to create your own math equation

 

-Have any other ideas? Let us know!!!

-We finished up our unit on Rocks and Minerals. We shared the reports we had written before the holidays and the kids were so impressed with each other. The list of “Things we learned about rocks and minerals” was crazy long! Next on the agenda for us is Habitats! We are going to begin by doing a group project on the white-tailed deer, then students can choose their own animal. We have an exciting plan to kickstart this inquiry…stay tuned for more details (to be sent home ASAP!)

-The library is looking BEAUTIFUL! Murray did Yoga in there on Thursday and the kids really loved it. If you haven’t had a chance to see how it looks make sure you take a peek when you can! Soon we can return to book exchange!

-We did 2 working periods for Genius Hour! This is what the “Ask Me” question was about this week. I sent you all a See Saw message about what you can talk to you kids about and what they can do for me. Please chat about their project and have them write me their next steps. If you haven’t already done so please total the minutes read for December and graph that data in the front of the Home Reading folder 🙂

What’s Up For This Week?!

-Another week…another 50-70 pages of Pax to read!

-We will be doing another round of writing samples to see where we go next as far as lessons go. We do a narrative, persuasive and informational sample each term and look for patterns in what students can do independently and what we can work on in either a whole class, small group or individual setting.

-We have outdoor education tomorrow (Monday, January 15)…weather permitting! If it’s too cold we will either use the gym or do some dance activities in the classroom. We will continue to go outside during the winter months when we are able, so please send your kids with the proper clothing!

-It is also Circle of Life choir day tomorrow! We will meet with Ms V twice tomorrow to continue working on the songs we are performing for the WSD Divisional Musical. A note will be sent home ASAP to fill you in on everything you need to know about this upcoming event.

-On Wednesday, January 17 the grades 1-6 will be participating in AAC Awareness week! AAC stands for Augmented and Alternative Communication. We will be participating in stations in the gym that help us learn more about how people in our school, community and life communicate in different ways.

-Our next Genius Hour session is on Wednesday as well. We will work on our projects from 2:30-3:30. Please make sure that your child has what they need to work on their project. There are many materials to use at school, however certain materials may need to come from home. If anyone would like to help out on Wednesday we could always use an extra set of hands during this busy time of day! Just let me know!

-The January Book Order has been sent out and is due on Friday, January 19!

-There is no school on Monday, January 22 🙂

Have a great week!!!

Until Next Time,

Danielle

Feeling Special!!

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Happy Weekend!

What?!?!? It feels like it was just Monday!! They do say that time flies when you’re having fun…and Life in Room 123 is no exception 😀

I came home to this scene on Friday…I just had to share!

How many deer do you see?!
P.S. I have a regular Buck that hangs out in the yard…I’ve named him Hela …short for Hellebuyck 😉 #GoJetsGo

What. A. Week! (Let’s recap!)

– We told you our plans to contact Esta Spalding AND things couldn’t have been more exciting for us! I loved getting your responses about our news via See Saw! It was so great to hear that the kids came home and wanted to talk about how Esta actually wrote back to us (and promptly I might add!). It was also pretty cool to share what we wrote to Esta (through See Saw) before I sent away our letters. Can you believe that she’s going to send us a sneak peek of her newest…not yet published book?!!! She has made a believer out of us! Next up…writing to Jon Scieszka since we have finished Frank Einstein and the Anti Matter Motor?!?! Maybe!!!

-Now that you know we are done reading our latest read aloud you should know that we’ve already started another! It’s called The Unicorn in the Barn. At first there were a few skeptics, but it has started out in a pretty interesting way!

-This leads into this week’s Ask me question! The question reads “Ask me about read alouds in 123.” The goal is for the students to talk to their families about what we are reading (or have read) and why we read together. What learning happens during read aloud time? We had a chat about this and some great answers came up, such as:

-to talk about different types of books, to be introduced to new authors and series, to expand our vocabulary, to practice comprehension skills such as making inferences and checking for understanding, to make connections to other books and experiences and to hear how fluency, accuracy and expression is modelled. I love, love, love this time with the kids. I feel like we learn so much from each other during this time of day. Have a conversation and have the students write down some of the things you’ve talked about together about the read alouds of 123!

-Math! This week we made connections between place value and addition and subtraction. Below are some photos to show what we’ve done at school and suggestions for  you to do at home for those students who could benefit from extra practice 🙂 *Tip: Pay close attention to the + or – (that is one area the students are working on for sure. Makes a big difference if you are adding when you are supposed to be subtracting!)

Let’s review some math language for addition and subtraction!

Try doing some examples at home 🙂

What’s Happening Next Week?!

-No School on Monday! (Day 5)

-Tuesday we have our extra choir time for the Circle of Life performance in February. Day 6 is our most musical day! It is also Outdoor Education day, so please dress for the weather!

-We have 2 days with Murray next week. Our time with him is coming to an end 🙁 We will continue reading through our research and will put what we’ve learned into our own words. So far we are learning lots!!!

-Book orders are due on December 1!

-Genius Hour will happen again on Day 2 (Thursday). Everyone has an idea submitted. Some kids who had similar ideas have decided to join forces. Some kids have already changed their ideas. This is totally okay! Our interests may shift, the research that we were hoping for may not be out there, we may decide that the initial idea doesn’t work for the timeline we have…there are many reasons why our ideas could change. That’s part of the process. Has anyone come home and talked about Genius Hour at home yet?!

-We will try to post more math learning via See Saw. I really enjoyed having the kids find a skill they wanted to share with parents and have me film as they explained their learning, played a game they invented or worked through problems. This “choose your own math” time is a hit!

The Number Talks we’ve been doing are also a great way for the students to share their strategies, learn from each other and practice mental math.

Ask what the kids notice. Try to listen vs tell. We are more interested in the strategies used than the answer at this point

In the above example (which we did last week). We talked about how 39+16 seems challenging, but if we think of it as 40+15 instead, we feel more confident in answering the question “in our heads” vs working it out on paper! 39+16=40+15 and the actual sum is 55!

28+39=27+40

59+13=60+12

23+49=22+50

We can think of this as making “Landmark” or “Friendly” Numbers!

Before I go…Hudson has a message she wants to share with you!

Have a great weekend!

Until Next Time,

Danielle

Term 2 Here We Come!!!

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Another week…another weekend!

I’d like to thank all the families for coming out this past week to chat about your child’s progress. It’s so nice to connect with families, set some goals for the upcoming term and really build strong relationships.

It was also very exciting to introduce See Saw to you!! I think this is a great tool for students, families and teachers! Over half the families have already signed up!! I’ll be trying out the “Announcement” feature soon to make sure it works how I think it is supposed to! Please feel free to comment on your child’s work. We will also be using See Saw in the computer lab a few times a cycle so students can read their comments and comment on the work of their classmates. We are trying to focus on proper sentence structure when typing, as we would if we were using pencil and paper. We will continue to review and discuss what makes a “good comment”.

About Last Week!

-Book orders arrived and the next one is due on December 1st

-Turkey Toonie Tuesday started and will run for the next few weeks. Thank you to those families who made a donation

-We are about half way through Frank Einstein! The book has inspired one of our students to create his own robot for Genius Hour (more info about Genius Hour further down this post!)

-We started a mini inquiry (or minquiry!) about the Fitzgerald-Trouts/Esta Spalding. As a group we think she needs to continue writing books for the series and have come up with some suggestions for her. At first it was simply  a writing exercise…but in this age of technology why wouldn’t we at least try to connect with the author (Spalding)?!! Let’s see where this takes us!

-Our final rocks and Minerals project with Murray is underway. Our time with him is up at the end of December (there are actually only about 10 more sessions with him)!! Groups have been formed based on interest and questions we still want to answer. I’m really looking forward to making connections between rocks and Minerals and the world around us. This will naturally lead into our study of habitats for January!

-Thanks to Tony and Derrick for bringing in a HUGE map for the kids! It was so cool to have such a large map of Canada in the gym. We even got to walk on it!! The kids had a blast locating places they’ve traveled. They learned about some important “map features” . It was a pretty neat experience!

-Murray did a really fun Yoga class with us last week. I had the pleasure of coming in at the end of class when the group was sharing what they had created. The task was to build something inspired by Yoga. Some kids had Lego people doing poses, some created indoor/outdoor Yoga spaces and some reflected on Yoga being Peace. Hearing how the kids described their creations and connections was truly beautiful

-Ask me…this week’s question reads “Ask me to print the alphabet using my best printing (uppercase and lowercase letters). This task is part of our ‘printing program’. We are going back to basics for a bit before starting cursive writing. If I can’t read what your child is saying it makes it difficult for them to show their thinking!

Looking Ahead!

-We are going to be transferring what we know about place value into multi digit addition and subtraction with regrouping. This is often an area where kids “get stuck”. We will work through problems in many different ways to help each child feel confident and comfortable!

-Genius Hour! I know I’ve mentioned this a bit before, but here’s a refresher if you need one! Genius Hour is when students have voice and choice to learn about something they’re interested in. So far we’ve been brainstorming ideas and watching videos to help inspire us! It’s a year long project, so we aren’t looking for a topic that will only require an hour of research! Some of the students have written me a proposal for their project and are starting to do some research.

Watch this video to learn a bit mire about the idea of Genius Hour! It’s a great video minus the use of the word “geeky” 🙁

There is a chance your child will want to work on their project at home. This is totally fine with me as long as they still have things to work on during Genius Hour at school (Day 2 from 2:30-3:30 is our scheduled working time as of now)

I can’t wait to see what they will come up with!!! Again…have any special talents we can tap into?!?!! Let us know!!!

Have a great weekend!

Until next time,

Danielle