Homework: Read 20 minutes
Math: Gr. 4 – Complete Extra Workbook
Gr. 5 – Show What You Know Questions
Science: Projects (April 15th)
Social: Regions Project (April 9th)
Month: March 2013
March 27th
Good afternoon!
We had a busy day today. In French today we watched the following video that showed students a day at a school in France.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bDTG8Wc46M
Students were able to notice some of the similarities and differences between the school day in France and the school day in Canada. Some differences we noticed were: kissing the teachers hello and goodbye, raising a finger instead of your hand, the length of the school day was longer, and they had a big, family style lunch.
In Language Arts we worked on our Writing Workshop. In our writer’s notebooks we discussed commas today. Specifically, we discussed the following rules about commas:
- Use a comma and a little conjunction to connect two independent clauses.
Eg. He hit the ball well, but he ran toward third base.
- Use a comma to seperate elements in a series (three or more things), including the last two.
Eg. He hit the ball, dropped the bat, and ran to first base.
This lead us to discuss what an Oxford comma is. The students all learned about why it is called an Oxford comma, but also why it is so important. Ask your student tonight to explain the difference between these two sentences:
- Logan went to the grocery store to buy celery, tomatoes and bacon.
- Logan went to the grocery store to buy celery, tomatoes, and bacon.
For MacDonald Island tomorrow, please ensure that students pack the following items:
- A healthy snack
- A water bottle
- A swimsuit and towel
We will bring our school shoes to wear in the gym. Lunch will be provided, but we will be able to have a morning snack if students are hungry. We will be leaving school at 9:00 am, and will be leaving MacIsland to return to school at 2:20 pm.
Homework: Read 20 minutes
Social – Regions Project (April 9th)
Science – Projects (April 15th)
Book Orders – tomorrow
March 26th
“To have great poets, there must be great audiences”
– Walt Whitman
Good afternoon! What a great day. The Gr. 4 students have finished their unit on Measurement. They have been asked to complete their review questions for homework tonight, that way if they struggle with a question or want to review a concept, we will have time to get together before their unit test (on April 10th). The Gr. 5 students began to study the connection between capacity and volume. We will be continuing to look at this lesson tomorrow.
In Science, the Gr. 4’s examined compound machines. A compound machine is made up of 2 or more simple machines. We looked at a bike, and a lawn mower, and labelled the simple machines present. Students were then asked to find 2 compound machines from a magazine and create a compound machine collage. Students were also asked to label the simple machines that existed in their compound machine. Tomorrow we will be completing this unit by reviewing some concepts, and getting to play a review game! The Gr. 5 students started to study electromagnets. We demonstrated how an electromagnet works, and worked together to create the strongest electromagnet possible. We discovered that copper wire, thick wire, and multiple loops will create a strong electromagnet. Want to experiment some more at home? Check out the link below for an online electromagnet!
http://www.fossweb.com/modules3-6/MagnetismandElectricity/activities/electromagnet.html
In Language Arts today we completed our spoken words poems. Students worked extremely hard on this difficult activity. They were asked to write a small story/paragraph about what they know (using our lists from yesterday). Then, using the skills we learned when we created found poems, turn your writing into a poem. Students did a wonderful job, and thanks to everyone who was brave enough to share their poem with the class. Snaps to all of you! If you want to share your poem tomorrow, we will also have some time then.
Homework: Read 20 minutes
Math: Gr. 4- pgs. 166-167 #1-16
Gr. 5 – Lessons 9 + 10 (Extra Workbook)
Health: Home Activities (due tomorrow!)
Social: Regions Project (due April 9th)
French: Quiz (tomorrow!)
Science: Projects due (April 15th)
Book Orders – March 28th
MI Permission Forms – tomorrow please!
March 25th
Good afternoon!
In Math today, the Gr. 4 students completed their last lesson in their Measurement unit. The Measurement test will be on April 10th. Today the were exploring different rectangles that have the same area. Each group was given 48 tiles, and asked to construct as many different rectangles with an area of 48 as they could. The Gr. 5 students continued to discuss capacity. Each group was given a measuring cup, and asked to estimate the capacity of different containers in mL. This proved to be challenging, and we had to review some of our measurement benchmarks. We added two new referents to our repertoire today. An eye dropper holds approximately 1 mL, as well as a ones cube from our base ten blocks. The Gr. 5 students will also be writing their Measurement unit test on April 10th.
In Language Arts today we discussed spoken word poetry. The students are going to be writing these poems tomorrow. Today we focused on 3 statements that you can use to give you confidence while writing poetry:
- I Can
- I Will
- It can be specific to me
Students were then asked to write a list called “10 Things I Know to be True”. We will be using these lists to write our poems tomorrow. We compared lists today and saw that usually:
- Someone knows the same thing as I do
- Someone knows something that is the opposite of what I wrote
- Someone knows something that I don’t know
- Someone knows something that I thought I knew everything about, but they’ve changed my perspective
We discussed how spoken word poetry is easy to connect to because of these qualities. People are able to connect to something in the poem, because it reflects something from or missing from their own experiences. Tomorrow we will be changing our statements into poems. A lot of what we discussed today comes from Sarah Kaye’s TED talk entitled “If I Ever Have Daughter”. We listened to only the first part of her discussion, and used it as a jumping off point for our lesson and discussion today. See link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0snNB1yS3IE
Homework: Read 20 minutes
Math: Gr. 4 – pg. 165 #1-4
Gr. 5 – pgs. 153-154 #1-9
Health: Home Activities (Wednesday)
Social: Region Project (April 9th)
Science: Projects (April 15th)
French: Gr. 4 – Quiz: adjectives, the date, the months (Wed.)
Gr. 5 – Quiz: clothing, weather (Wed.)
Book Orders – March 28th
MI Permission Forms – Tomorrow please! (March 28th is trip)
March 21st
Good afternoon!
Today we got a lot of work done! Students were very busy. In Math today, the Gr. 4 students were practicing problem solving. We are still working with area, but today we highlighted one of the problem solving strategies that we have been using throughout the year – drawing a picture. Students were encouraged to use pictures to help solve the area questions.
Eg. Zoe bought 4 large squares of plywood to make the floor of a pen for her rabbits. She arranges the squares so that whole sides are touching. Find all possible shapes for the floor of the pen.
The Gr. 5 students are looking at capacity. Today we discussed what capacity means, and looked at the units for measuring capacity. We have started with litres (L). We are using cups as a benchmark to help us with litres (eg. 4 cups = approximately 1 L). We will be looking at milliliters next week.
In Science today the Gr. 5 students finished examining switches. They were challenged to create a switch that would still allow the lightbulb to light up using aluminum foil and paper clips. All the students did a great job! I saw a lot of creativity in how students problem solved to design their switches. This activity was especially helpful, because students are able to see that they can design a switch out of readily available conductive materials, which directly relates to the project that went home yesterday.
The Gr. 4 students finished discussing Screws. We discovered how difficult it would be to just push a screw into, or to pull out of a material (in our case a cardboard box). Instead, we had to twist the screw, following the direction of the inclined plane. A screw is just an inclined plane wrapped around a pole. This means that even though we have to travel a further distance when using screws (in the rotations it takes to put them in), they still make work easier, and are much stronger than other building materials.
Today is World Poetry Day! To celebrate we constructed some Found Poetry. In order to do this, we had to discuss something that I think is incredibly important to remember when writing a poem – anything can be a poem. We “found” a piece of writing around the classroom, and added lines, breaks, and punctuation to turn that piece of writing into a poem. Here are some of our poems:
Pain of Learning ABCD EFG, HIJ K, LMNOP QRS, TUV WXYZ! Math What time is shown on the clock. Can you tell from the clock, if it is morning or afternoon? Math Strategies If he has 43 all together, And 2 are Blue, Then to find the Red I need to solve 43 = 2 + __Found poetry is also a great introduction to rhythm. In order to practice this, we read our poems aloud, giving each other “snaps” if we liked the poet’s work. It was a lot of fun, and students all were very creative in finding their inspiration.
Homework: Read 20 minutes
Math: Gr. 4 – pg. 163 #1-3
Gr. 5 – pgs. 149-150 #1-9
Social: Regions Project (April 9th)
Science: Projects (April 15th)
Family Movie Night @ 7:00 pm
MI Permission Forms! – ASAP (March 28th deadline)
Book Orders – March 28th
March 20th
Homework: Reading Journal (tomorrow)
Multiplication Quiz (tomorrow)
Spelling Quiz (tomorrow)
Read 20 minutes
Social: Regions Project – April 9th
Science: Projects – April 15th
MI Permission Forms – ASAP
Book Orders – March 28th
Family Movie Night – Tomorrow @ 7:00 pm
Science Project Handouts:
Gr. 4 – Simple Machines Project
Gr. 5 – 5N Simple Switch Project
March 19th
Good afternoon!
We had a great day today. This morning, we started off our day with a presentation by the Classroom Agriculture Program. We learned a lot about agriculture in Alberta. For example: Did you know that south of Grand Prairie is one of the best places to grow peppers in Alberta? I didn’t! We discussed cattle farming, as well as other forms of agriculture. We even got to grind up some canola seeds to press out some canola oil. It was a great presentation, and the students were awesome participants. The presenters were really impressed with our classroom.
In Science today the Gr. 5 students continued their exploration of electricity. Today we discussed parallel circuits and series circuits. We also looked into short circuits. Students worked together to build their own parallel and series circuits, and we had a demonstration of a short circuit. Tomorrow on to switches! The Gr. 4 students completed their study of wedges, and began to look towards screws. We will be finishing our Gr. 4 Building Things unit shortly, and will be having a unit test shortly after the break. Tomorrow we will finish discuss screws, and we will also start looking at complex machines.
Homework: Reading Journal – Thursday
Multiplication Quiz – Thursday
Read for 20 minutes
Spelling Test – Thursday
Math: Gr. 4 – pg. 160-161 #1-9
Gr. 5 – pg. 147 #1-5
Social: Regions Project (April 9th)
Science: Gr. 5 – Masters #10-11
Gr. 4 – pgs. 50, 56 (Learning Logs)
Family Movie Night – March 21st @ 7:00 pm
Book Orders – March 28th
Youth Dodge-ball Tournament
Date: April 13th, 2013
Time: 10 am – 2 pm
Cost: $25/child
Grades: 4-6
Sign up at: http://www.macdonaldisland.ca/programs/search/youth-dodgeball-tournament
or contact Selena Smith (selena.smith@macdonaldisland.ca) with questions or concerns.
Words in Motion Poetry
Earlier this year, some of our students submitted entries into the Regional Municipality’s Words in Motion Poetry Contest. We are excited to announce that 12 Timberlea students had poems selected, and 4 students from our class were among those chosen! All of our students should be proud though, as the poems submitted by everyone in our class were wonderful!
The Fort McMurray Public Library will be hosting an event to unveil the poems, and to celebrate poetry. It will take place on March 27th, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, in the Fort McMurray Public Library at MacIsland Park. Everyone who submitted a poem is welcome to attend the event! Refreshments will be served.
Want to see the winning poems? Visit: http://www.woodbuffalo.ab.ca/Assets/words+in+motion/Poems+from+Elementary+School+Students.pdf
lundi le dix-huit mars
Bonjour!
The Grade 5 students missed some class time this morning to participate in the Apple School research, which left the Gr. 4’s and I some time to work on some Gr. 4 math. We reviewed using square centimeters to find the area of a shape/object. Then we moved on to discussing square meters. Students built a meter stick out of newspaper (using rulers to help), and then used their homemade meter sticks to estimate the area of objects in our classroom. This was a great review, because it requires students to not only think in meters, but in cm. We had to review that there were 1oo cm in 1 m, and that if an object is slightly over a meter, it might be about 115 cm long, etc. Students did a great job, and there was lots of great teamwork being done.
In French today the Gr. 4 students worked on some of their new vocabulary. We have been discussing birthdays, and now we are learning some fun vocabulary that can go with this topic. Today we reviewed sweets. Some of our new vocabulary is close to it’s English counterpart, and others are very fun! Try asking your student what the following mean:
- le bonbon
- le gateau
- le sucre
- la glace
- la barbe à papa
The Gr. 5 students reviewed some of the French compliments/criticisms that they have been learning. Then we used these compliments to pair up to write conversations about clothes. Here is an example:
Sebastien: Bonjour!
Eloise: Bonjour!
Sebastien: Qu’est-ce que tu portes?
Eloise: Je porte un pantalon brun, et un t-shirt vert. C’est parfait!
Sebastien: Ehhh… moi, j’aime pas du tout.
Eloise: Pardon?
Sebastien: Tu es bien habillé!
We are going to be sharing our conversations with each other next class.
Homework: Read 20 minutes
Reading Journal (Thursday)
Spelling Quiz (Thursday)
Multiplication Quiz (Thursday)
Math: Gr. 4 – pg. 158 #1-6
Social: Regions Project – April 9th
Family Movie Night – March 21st @ 7:00 pm
Book Orders – March 28th
No School – March 22nd or March 29th
Spelling Words: comfortable, footrace, barefoot, marble, camel, metal, coral, able, motel, combat
March 15th
Good afternoon!
We had a wonderful Friday. Students were given a Social Studies project today. We discussed this project yesterday in class. The project is a menu. Students order an appetizer, a main course, a side dish, and if they are still hungry dessert. We have completed the appetizer sections in class. All students are responsible to complete a main course and a side dish. I have given all the students a graphic organizer to help with their research, and they had computer time today to get started. Each student is researching a region of Alberta, or a region of Canada. This project will be due on April 9th, but I have asked students to not leave this project to the last minute, as we will also have a Science project coming home shortly. If you need some help with your research, check out the links below!
Gr. 4 Resources
http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/sszi/en/index.html
http://raysweb.net/specialplaces/index.html
Gr. 5 Resources:
http://members.shaw.ca/kcic1/geographic.html
http://web2.uwindsor.ca/edfac/student/griff-3.htm
Lost your assignment page or your graphic organizer? No problem! Just click on the links below and print off a new copy from home!
Geography Unit – Graphic Organizer
Homework: Read 20 minutes
Language Arts – pg. 103 (6+1 Writing Traits)
Math: Gr. 4 – workbook up to and including lesson #10
Gr. 5 – workbook up to and including lesson #7
Health: Home Activity 7A
Book Orders – March 28th
March 14th
Homework: Reading Journal – tomorrow
Read 20 minutes
Spelling Quiz – tomorrow
Multiplication Quiz – tomorrow
Language Arts: pg. 103 – 6 + 1 traits
Math: Gr. 4 – complete up to and including lesson #10
Gr. 5 – complete up to and including lesson #7
Health: Home Activity 7A
Book Orders – March 28th