October 26th to October 29th

Our focus in Social Studies this year is Canada.  We began with discussing what we know and love about Canada.  Some of the things the students loved about Canada were; the variety of wildlife, the great protection and safety, that we are a Democratic country and that everyone has the right to an education.

We continued working on descriptive paragraphs with interesting beginnings including sound effects and actions for our "Me In A Box" objects.

In math, we wrapped up our focus on patterns in math.  We worked on estimation and measurement as we explored the height, weight and circumference of pumpkins.  We worked on strategies on how to make an estimate and how an estimate is different from a guess.  We also worked on making Halloween "Dollar Words".  When making dollar words; a = $0.01, b = $0.02, c = $0.03 and so on.  The students brainstormed words they associated with Halloween and worked to calculate the value of the words, with a goal of finding a word with a value of $1.00.  It is a great activity to practice adding sums and to develop strategies for how to add multiple numerals.  Students, as a secret homework activity, work with your parents to find a dollar word and bring that word to share with the class. (How many of you are reading the blog?!)

The Halloween festivities were a great deal of fun.  It was wonderful to see so many fantastic costumes.

With our recent half days and PD days, there has been no time to squeeze in the home journals.

Please remember that we have In-Line skating next week on Tuesday and Wednesday.

October 19th to October 23rd

We had a fantastic afternoon exploring Confederation Park on Monday afternoon. We observed and recorded information about the weather, animals and plants in the park. We then created art using objects in nature such as twigs and leaves. The art was inspired by the work of Andrew Goldsworthy, an artist who uses nature to create temporary sculptures.

In Math, we worked on an assessment from our work with patterns.  Below are some examples of the questions we worked through.  Have your child share with you how independently they were able to complete the charts and predict the patterns.  Many students had a difficult time with more complex growing patterns such as the pattern with the yellow tiles.

In writing, we worked on writing description paragraphs, explaining the importance of the various objects we placed in our, "Me In A Box" project.  We worked on writing interesting paragraph beginnings such as beginning with dialogue.

October 13th to October 16th

It was a short and sweet week in room 4!

We worked on our descriptive paragraphs on pomegranates. The writing that came from this activity was incredible.  The students worked on adding interesting words and descriptions to describe their pomegranate.  They then worked to edit their work with a focus on a variety of sentence beginnings and sentence lengths.

"When you eat the seed it pops and all the delicious juice squirts into your mouth." C.M

"The smell of the pomegranate is like a freshly cut apple." A.D

"When you plop one in your mouth, your taste buds go wild." K.W

"They cling to the white spongy membrane that is like armour for the seeds. It protects them." N.K

The students put the final touches on their "Me In A Box", adding a poem, photograph and words to describe themselves.  We have begun sharing our work. It has been so wonderful to see the confidence as the students have shared their work.

Me In A Box

In math, we continued to look at a variety of patterns.  One of the more challenging skills has been to predict how the pattern will grow or change.  Today we challenged ourselves by looking at the Fibonacci Sequence.  The sequence begins with 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5.  Students, can you see if your parents can figure out the pattern?  We then looked at examples of the Fibonacci Sequence in nature.  Have your child share some of the examples with you.

Building A Growing Pattern

Representing The Fibonacci Sequence On Grid Paper

In health, we have been working on how to be positive and effective communicators.  We discussed the questions below as a tool to help us when working with others.

All students in the school will be bringing home a work sample to share their work in writing and mathematics. Please take the time to have your child share their work with you.

October 5th to October 9th

After a week away in Spain, it was great to have Ms. Reschke back in class this week.  The students began the week exploring pomegranates, a fruit that originates in Spain!  The students had a fantastic time opening, touching and tasting the pomegranates.  We worked on using our 5 senses as we explored the pomegranates, adding our ideas to a writing planner that will help us write descriptive paragraphs next week.

The students have been very excited by our unit on plants.  The students planted a variety of seeds including radishes, carrots and celery.  We are recording our observations on the growth of our seeds each day.  We have been reading a variety of fiction and non-fiction books about plants, learning about the different parts of the plants and their function.  We are also testing to see what happens when you open up a pumpkin and add soil and water.  Will the seeds from the pumpkin grow?  Can we grow a pumpkin in a pumpkin?  Some students worried that with so many seeds, there would be too much competition for space, light and nutrients.  Others felt that the pumpkin could crack from the pressure of so many roots growing.  It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks.

As a connection with our plant unit, we created pumpkins using ink pens and zentangle patterns.  Have your child explain to you what a zentangle pattern is.

In math, we have continued our work on Patterns and Relations.  The home journal this week shows some of the work that we have been doing.  The students should be able to determine a pattern rule, create a chart tp record and reveal the pattern and describe in their own words how the pattern grows.

September 28th to October 2nd

It is hard to believe that we are already in the month of October. Time is flying by!  We finish each day by representing a favourite experience or activity on our monthly calendar. It is a wonderful way to reflect on our day and our month. With the end of the month comes the completion of our first monthly calendar.

We had a fantastic week of swimming lessons. It was incredible to watch the confidence and skills gained in only one week!

In science, we began our first unit, "Plant Growth and Changes". We started by exploring a variety of seeds. We then grew our own sprouts in mason jars. It was exciting to see how quickly our seeds grew into something we could eat and enjoy. 

We started a new class read aloud, "The One And Only Ivan" by K.A. Applegate.  Inspired by a true story about a gorilla who spent 27 years living in a cage in a mall, the book follows Ivan during his time in captivity. The book explores friendship and how relationships can impact others and ourselves.  Before reading, we researched mountain gorillas.  By knowing more about how gorillas live in the wild, we can better understand what life would be like for Ivan in captivity.

The students worked on an activity called, "Figure Me Out". They came up with a variety of math equations to represent numbers that were important to them such as their age, birth month and number of people in their family. 

Thank you for all the work that was put into the home portion of the "Me In A Box" project.  We will be finishing up the school portion of the project next week. We are excited to have the students share their efforts. 

The students have been a tired bunch with our daily swimming. We therefore had no homework or home journal this week. 

Have a wonderful weekend.