Good afternoon!

Today we reviewed the concept of a timeline. A lot of students had forgotten about using a timeline, and were unsure of what these graphic organizers were, so today in Social Studies students were challenged to create a timeline of Lac La Biche. The timeline format we used also had students going on a sort of treasure hunt. We had previously read the pages in our book on Lac La Biche, but now they had to recall the information to record in their timeline. The students were given the year, and had to find out what important part of Lac La Biche’s history took place that year. This was a great activity to review this concept. It also challenged students to not only read the body of text in a textbook, but to read sidebars, footnotes, captions, etc. Students often forget to read these important pieces of information, and some of the dates were hiding in these trickier places.

In Science today we moved on to Wheels and Axles. In order to get a better understanding of what a wheel is and what an axle is, students added wheels to our previously built popcan dragsters. This forced students to discover the important aspects of wheels including shape, size, etc. We also were able to discover that the axle is the moving component on most wheel and axle systems. The turning of the axle moves the wheels. Then we compared rollers to wheels and axles, and we discovered something! Axles and rollers have a lot in common. In fact an axle is a roller! Great job today everyone!

Homework: Multiplication Quiz (6x and 7x) – Friday

                         Spelling Quiz – Friday

                         Read 20 minutes

                         Reading Journal (Friday)

                         Math: Whole Number Review Sheet (tomorrow)

                         Social: Lac La Biche Timeline (pg. 46) – Monday

                         Health: FRIENDS Home Activity 2A and 2B (tomorrow)

                         Music: Evaluation Sheets (Friday)

Good evening!

Today was the first day that we had French here in our classroom, and it went really, really well. Thanks to all of the students for their flexibility with the change, but I am actually really excited to be teaching French, especially after two great starts today! Our Grade 4s are starting a unit called “All About Me!”. Today students learned some French adjectives that could be used to describe someone’s personality. We then took turns playing a guessing game, where we looked at the french word, a picture clue, and then tried to guess the English word. All of our new vocabulary has been recorded in our duotangs, and we will be continuing with adjectives next class. The 5s also started a new unit today. We started “Les Vetements!”. Students also recorded some new vocabulary in their French duotangs, and then the Gr. 5s and I practiced posing and responding to some questions. I asked them a question, and they helped me to formulate the correct answer. Students were expected to answer in full sentences, and they did a WONDERFUL job. I was very impressed with the participation and effort that went into your responses Gr. 5!

Homework: Reading Journal (Friday)

                         Read for 20 minutes

                         Spelling Quiz (Friday)

                         Multiplication Quiz (Friday – 6x and 7x)

                         Science: Weather Watch Books – ASAP

                         Health: Activity 2 A and 2 B

Weekly Spelling Words: celebration, reliance, relocate, reaction, relation, rebate, relate, react, tolerance, election

Good afternoon!

Today we started a power point assignment in Computers. Students get to pick one of the following topics: wildlife, space, travel agent, and sports. They then work to create a 15-25 page slide show about their topic. Slides have to have animation of some sort, and should be interesting and contain pictures. This is an activity designed to let all the students have a chance to create a power point presentation. Some students may choose to work on this project at home, however, we will have 3 more computer classes to continue working on this assignment.

In Art today we create a class mosaic using shape. Each student was given a square piece of paper with part of a circle drawn on it. Each student decorated the tile (using crayons, markers, pencil, pencil crayons or paint) in a way that represented themselves. The tiles turned out beautiful. Now for the difficult part! I have to put all those circles together!

Homework: Read 20 minutes

                    Math: Gr. 5 – pgs. 94-95 #1-14

                    Science: Weather Watch Books – ASAP

                    Health: FRIENDS Home Activity 1A and 1B

                    Rainbow Lunch Challenge – pack a lunch with all 4 food groups!

Here is the link for our power point assignment. This website includes project descriptions, a marking rubric (our class will not be marked on timing), and a how to create a bibliography page.

Computers: Power Point Assignments

http://ssjhs.rale.k12.wv.us/academics/tgraham/8th%20Grade/power_point_assignments.htm

Good afternoon!

Sorry for the missed post yesterday, I had a meeting at 4:00 pm that went longer than expected!

Today students started work on informational writing. We read to paragraphs, both about different explorers, and examined whether or not the author had included the who, what, where, when, and why for the reader. We also discussed why these things would be important to consider in instructional writing. We will be working more and more with non-fiction texts/writing this year, while still practicing our narrative writing.

We also had an opportunity to have literature centers today. As promised, I will share a little bit more about our centers as we work our way through them. Students have had centers twice this week (yesterday and today). They work in levelled groups to complete different tasks at different centers. The last center I shared was our Independent Reading Center. We also have a Buddy Reading Center. In the Buddy Reading Center students pair up to read a fiction/non-fiction selection together. This week we have a fiction book, Akiak: A Tale from the Iditarod by Robert J. Blake. When students have finished the selection they are allowed to play with the literacy ball. Students pass the ball back and forth and when their pointer finger lands on a question, they have to answer it! Some of our questions are: What is the title and who is the author? What was your favorite part? How did it end? What happened in the story? What is the setting? Who are the main characters? You can see that our questions are focusing on having students recall the parts of a story.

Today I sent home a small letter about Science Fair. If students would like to purchase a trifold display board for their project, I will be sending out an order next week (January 18th). The boards are $5.54. Students DO NOT have to order a board to participate in the fair, and they are more than welcome to purchase them themselves elsewhere, such as at staples, I just wanted to send the offer out to all the 4-6 classes if anyone is interested. I know many of you are getting anxious to receive information about Science Fair. A letter to parents will be going home next week that includes all the information (rules, requirements), the dates of our fairs, and the student logbooks. I will also be helping students to research project ideas in Computers and during a library class next week. Thank you for your continued patience as we get the last bit of information ready to go out!

Homework: Multiplication Quiz – Tomorrow

                         Read for 20 minutes

                         Reading Journal – Tomorrow

                         Spelling Quiz – Tomorrow

                         Math: Gr. 5 – pgs. 94-95 #1-14

                         Science: Weather Watch Books ASAP

                         Health: FRIENDS Home Activity 1A and 1B

Homework: Multiplication Quiz (5X, 11X)

                         Spelling Test (Friday)

                         Read 20 minutes

                         Reading Journal (Friday)

                         Science: Climate Project (Tomorrow)

                                           Weather Watch (ASAP)

                         Health: FRIENDS 1A + 1B (Monday)

Good afternoon!

Today we started off our morning with some multiplication. The Grade 4s are actually finishing up their multiplication lessons. They will be completing some review activities throughout the week before we move on to division. It is essential that students continue to practice their multiplication at home, as we will continue to have weekly quizzes throughout the year. The Grade 5s have started 2-digit multiplication. Today we looked at working with areas, drawing different models, expanding the numbers, and a more traditional place value method. Students will continue to practice 2-digit multiplication, and I have encouraged the Grade 5s to consider using the strategy that they are most comfortable with, until we are all a little more comfortable with using larger numbers.

In Science today we discussed rollers. Students were challenged to use their hands to flatten a large piece of clay, and then were given rollers. We were able to see that it reduced the amount, and time of the work that needed to be done. We also discussed force and friction today. We attempted to pull a student sitting in a large bin across the floor, but friction made it difficult. When the bin was placed on rollers, it was much easier to move the bin, and there was much less friction.

Social Studies today involved us beginning to look at the Boreal Forest region. We did a great deal of work today. We discussed landforms, climate, and vegetation. We focused primarily on using this information to consider what industries may be at work within our region. Tomorrow we will be looking at animal life.

Homework: Multiplication Quiz (Friday – 5s and 11s)

                         Read for 20 minutes

                         Reading Journal (due Friday)

                         Spelling Test (Friday)

                         L.A.: Story Prompt (pg. 27 – Purple Book)

                         Science: Climate Project (Thursday)

                                           Weather Watch books – ASAP

                         Health: FRIENDS Home Activity #4 (tomorrow)

Weekly Spelling Words: brightness, rightness, bigness, risen, brighten, resign, signer, birth, night, sight

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a good break, and got to spend some time relaxing with family and friends.

In class today we started off by having our first classroom meeting of the year. We played “Pass the Clap (with Choices)” as our energizer, and we were able to talk about the importance of not just working well with our friends, but working well together as a whole class. This is something that we are going to continue discussing throughout this month. We ended our meeting by sharing “My favorite thing that I did on break was…” Students are able to share or pass, depending on their comfort. My favorite moment was watching the fireworks with my family!

In Science today we discussed our new unit – Building Things! This unit is going to present some unique opportunities within our classroom. It is going to involve a lot of hands on work, and opportunities for experiments. Our Grade 5 students are also going to be leading some of these activities. The Grade 5 students are going to be taking on different leadership rolls throughout this unit. Today we split into groups, and we discussed simple machines. In this unit we will be studying six simple machines: screw, lever, pulley, inclined plane, wedge, and wheel and axle. Students were challenged to tell me what they know about these machines, and what they would like to know about these machines. This was a great chance for some students to review, and for other students to explore our new topic.

In Language Arts we are continuing on with our writing unit. We are still working on Narrative Writing, but our focus has shifted towards adding description. Students planned a story using the following prompt: “How long have I been asleep?” said the mother as she took another bite. This planning sheet (pg. 27 in Purple Books) is due tomorrow. We will be continuing with description, and also discussing persuasive writing as we continue on in Language Arts.

In Health today we finished Session 4 of FRIENDS. Session 4 is all about red thoughts or green thoughts. Red thoughts are negative thoughts that might make us more worried or upset. Green thoughts are positive thoughts that will help us to relax and calm down. We practiced identifying these thoughts, and discussed what might happen or how we might be feeling as a result of them.

Homework: Read 20 minutes

                         Reading Journal (Friday)

                         Spelling Test (Friday)

                         Multiplication Quiz (5s and 11s – Friday)

                         L.A.: pg. 27 in Purple Book

                         Math: Gr. 4 – pg. 103 #1-2

                         Science: Climate Project (Thurs.)

                                            Weather Watch Books!

                          Health: FRIENDS – Home Activity #4 (Wednesday)