What a wonderful Friday! We started off our Friday with Computers. The Gr. 5 students were doing some research for our current Health Unit. They researched some of the causes of, myths about, and solutions for acne. This is something we are going to discuss together on Monday in class. The Gr. 4 students completed a Science activity called “The Secret Life of Trees” which was a great way for them to explore some of the topics of their final Science Unit.
In Art today we continued to build our masks to use in Social Studies next week. They turned out wonderfully. Students will be using the masks in a final snapshot activity. This time students must include each character in each snapshot. That will require groups to do some inferring about what some of the background characters might have been doing during different parts of the story. For example, what where the Mom and Dad doing while Allashua is out fishing? They must also include one sentence of narration for each snapshot. Again, students have to retell the story using only three snapshots, so a lot of summarizing and determining of importance has to occur.
Another busy day. Only 20 days left! Where does the time go? Today both grades completed their current math unit. The Gr. 5 students were working on the “Show What You Know” problems from their book, and the Gr. 4 students continued to explore symmetry and lines of symmetry. The Gr. 5 students will be having their Unit Test on Monday, which means that they had math help today and again tomorrow. Today we reviewed recognizing and the attributes of 2-D shapes. Tomorrow we will review 3-D shapes. Don’t forget to attend the recess review session if you feel like you need some help! The Gr. 4 students will be having their math Unit Test on Wednesday of next week, so their extra help sessions will be Monday and Tuesday at recess. Again, anyone is welcome to attend!
In Science today, the Gr. 4 students reviewed the Study Guide for their upcoming Unit Test with me. This study guide reviews concepts from Light and Shadows that will be useful to them when studying their upcoming Unit Test. The Gr. 4 students will be writing a Unit Test on Monday of next week, and all students took home their Green Workbooks and Study Guides tonight. Start studying right away, don’t leave it until the last minute. The Gr. 5 students conducted an experiment on identifying acids and bases. We reviewed the PH scale (something covered in our Discover E workshop) and were able to work with different colours of litmus paper today. Students tested vinegar, rubbing alcohol, lemon juice, canola oil, water, and soapy water using yellow, red, and blue litmus papers. The red litmus paper turns blue in the presence of a base. The blue paper turns red in the presence of an acid. The yellow paper remains yellow for acids, green for neutral, and blue for bases. Students correctly identified that the vinegar and lemon juices were acids. The water, canola oil, and rubbing alcohol were neutrals, and the soapy water was basic. The Gr. 5 students will be writing a Unit Test on Wednesday of next week, so keep an eye out for their Study Guide that will be going home shortly.
In Social Studies today we completed our study of First Nations oral storytelling. Students looked at the Northern First Nations groups (with a focus on Inuit communities). We discussed the difficulties of day to day survival, and the strategies employed by these groups. Then we shared our last story. Today’s story was unique in that it is based on a traditional story. It was A Promise is a Promise by Robert Munsch. This story follows an Inuit girl who does not follow her parents instructions to stay away from the cracks on the ice, and some of the difficulties that follow her. We are currently making masks to help with our retelling of this tale, and we will continue to work on them tomorrow as our weekly art project.
Want to check out A Promise is a Promise online? Check out Robert Munsch’s website and listen to all of his stores read aloud! Robert Munsch has more in common with First Nations storytellers than you might think, and he actually considers himself to be an oral storyteller first and an author second. The link is: http://robertmunsch.com/book/a-promise-is-a-promise-2
Can you believe that it is almost June? The school year has just flown by! We started off our day with some Math. The Gr. 4 students are exploring symmetrical sides, and the Gr. 5 students are exploring the bases and faces of pyramids and prisms.
In Science today the Gr. 4 students finished examining colour. We discussed the primary colours of light (red, blue, green) and the secondary colours of light (cyan, magenta, yellow). We also learned that when you mix colours of light, you can have the following combinations:
red + blue = magenta
blue + green = cyan
green + red = yellow
magenta + cyan = blue
cyan + yellow = green
yellow +magenta = red
red + blue + green = white
cyan + yellow + magenta = black
We will continue to explore this concept tomorrow, and then we will be working on creating some optical devices. The Gr. 5 students reviewed reversible and irreversible changes. We then demonstrated an irreversible change by mixing vinegar and baking soda. We knew that a chemical change was occurring because a gas was produced (bubbles/fizzing, odor). Students will continue working with chemical changes tomorrow.
We started our Novel Study today. We are reading Farley Mowatt’s Owls in the Family. This is a great novel, that meets some of our Social Studies outcomes as well. By reading about Farley’s experiences growing up in rural Saskatchewan, students will be getting a much deeper understanding of the differences between some of the regions of Canada, and the way that geographic can impact our way of life. Today we travelled through the prairies with Farley and his friend Bruce. They were looking in nearby bluffs for owl eggs. They had to walk over lots of sloughs to get to the bluffs. Does anyone remember what a bluff or a slough is? Let me know tomorrow if you do!
Homework: Read 20 minutes
Reading Journals (Friday)
Multiplication Quiz (Friday)
Spelling Quiz (Friday)
Math: Gr. 4 – pgs. 234-235 #1-4
Gr. 5 – pgs. 244 # 1-4
Social: Creative Journal entries (tomorrow!)
Science: Gr. 4 – transparent, translucent, opaque, etc.
Today was insanely busy for all students. The Gr. 4’s and I travelled to the Metis Festival. I want to thank all the Gr. 4 students for their wonderful behaviour on this trip. It was extremely crowded and hectic, but our class stuck together and got to do as many things as possible. I really appreciate your wonderful listening skills, and the great patience and respect you all showed today. We would have been much later if it wasn’t for you!
The Gr. 5 students were working on a number of tasks, but perhaps our most exciting was an art activity. The Gr. 5 students were able to share what we have learned about Haida art with 4 other Gr. 5-6 classes today. They read the first story of the totem pole, shared what we learned about totem animals, and then taught the students the Haida art project that we completed last week. I’ve heard from a number of teachers that it went very well, that you all showed excellent leadership, and were able to take charge of such busy classrooms! Well done! I’m really proud of all of you. I’m sorry that some of you thought that we had gone for DPA without you. This was NOT the case. We were on the bus, as we were almost 20 minutes late returning from Metis Festival. We’ll talk about it on Monday some more, but thanks for working together at the end of the day today.
Homework: Read 20 minutes
Math: Gr. 5 – pgs. 236-239 #1-12
Social – Creative Journals
Note – Gr. 4’s, if you left homework behind today where we were running so late, do not worry about it! We will catch up together on Monday.
I hope everyone had an enjoyable long weekend. We got right back to work today, starting with Language Arts. Last week we discussed the importance of rhythm in poetry by reading The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll. We also practiced finding the rhythm of the poem through it’s syllables. We discovered that The Walrus and the Carpenter has a pattern of 8-6-8-6-8-6. Want to try and find the pattern for yourself? Check out the first stanza:
The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright —
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.
Today we expanded on this knowledge by writing Haikus. A Haiku must be 17 syllables in length, and is usually about nature or the seasons. It is broken into 3 lines, and has a pattern like this:
Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables
Here is an example of a Haiku:
Leaves
Falling from the sky,
Carelessly blowing by me,
Hiding from the cold.
Today students were challenged to write two Haikus. Their first Haiku had to be about a season, however, they could not use the Season in their poem. They had to try and describe images or situations that would convey their Season instead. This is part of showing, not telling (a descriptive writing technique that we have been working on). Their second Haiku was their choice. They could do a favourite sport, food, animal, or riddles! It was up to them to be creative.
This week Aboriginal Awareness Week for Alberta Schools. We are celebrating with something new each day. Today was Art day. We didn’t start a new project, but continued to work on the Art project that we started last week that celebrated Haida culture. However, we did continue with our discussion of First Nations’ oral traditions in Social Studies today. Today we looked at the Woodland First Nations groups, and read a Cree story. This story was about a brother and a sister who snare the sun. We discussed how sometimes stories can be used to explain natural phenomenon, in this case why the days get shorter and darker in the winter, and longer and brighter in the summer! We used our snapshot activity once again, only today students could only use one snapshot to summarize the story. This meant a lot of discussion had to occur about what each group wanted to portray. Tomorrow we will be using masks to finish this story telling unit. Stay tuned for news from Aboriginal/Multicultural Sports Day tomorrow! The weather is supposed to be beautiful!
Don’t forget that tonight is Family Literacy Night! Come to the school from 5:00-7:00 pm and enjoy some First Nations/Literacy inspired performances.
Homework: Multiplication Quiz (Thurs.)
Read for 20 minutes
Language Arts: Haikus
Math: Gr. 4 – pg. 228 #1-4
Gr. 5 – pgs. 232-233 #1-8
Book Orders: May 23rd
Metis Festival: May 24th
Our Haida artwork on display in the Gym!A lot of work went into these images.
We had a great day, filled with a lot of fun! First off, let me congratulate all of our students who participated in the Talent Show. I know I was impressed by, and really had a great time watching all of Timberlea’s amazing talent. It was a nice way to spend the morning, and everyone who has been working so hard to practice at home, it was really nice to be able to see all of your hard work pay off into some amazing performances.
After Talent Show, we started a First Nations art project. We have been studying different First Nations groups in Social Studies, and last week we looked at the Pacific Coast First Nations, focusing on the Haida. Today we did a Haida art project. As a class we explored some of the different totems used by the Haida, and we discussed some of the meanings associated with different animals. We learned about otter’s quirkiness, wolf’s generosity, falcon’s clear judgement, beaver’s helpfulness, deer’s liveliness, woodpecker’s understanding, salmon’s confidence, bear’s pragmatism, crow’s charm, snake’s healing abilities, owl’s easy going nature, and goose’s work ambition. We then students different Haida images. Students looked at the strong, dark form lines, and the ovoid, u-shapes, and s-shapes associated with Haida art. We also discovered lots of hidden eyes and grinning faces! Students then used simple shapes to create their own Haida totem’s. Students were asked to use thick forms lines to create images of their animals, and then add details and colour in reds, blues, and yellows. Check out some of our work below!
Homework: Read 20 minutes
Math: Gr. 4 – pgs. 224-225 #1-6
Book Orders – May 23rd
Intent Forms – DUE ASAP!
Metis Festival – May 24th
Some of our Haida projects.You can see the strong, dark form lines.As well as the ovoid shapes and hidden faces!
Want to learn more about some of the animals mentioned above? Check out the link below and choose your animal totem!
Today we were fortunate enough to have the Discover E team from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Engineering come and visit us. They came to do a Chemistry demonstration. This demonstration taught students the difference between a chemical and a physical change. Once we understood that a chemical reaction is a non reversible change that might result in: a gas being produced, a light being produced, a change in temperature, a change in colour, etc. we were able to witness some pretty cool chemical changes. The first experiment involved mixing some hydrogen peroxide, soup, food colouring, and water. This is experiment help us to learn what a catalyst is (something to speed up a chemical reaction). When the catalyst was added a colourful foam was produced. This foam caused an increase in the temperature, demonstrating a chemical change. We could even see steam! Our next experiment involved lighting a $20 bill on fire. The demonstrators covered the bill in isopropyl alcohol and water. They then lit the bill on fire. Since alcohol burns at a lower temperature than water boils, the alcohol is burned off before the bill becomes hot enough to have the water evaporate and the bill catch on fire. Finally, they lit a combustible powder on fire. In order to do this, they had to find a way for the powder to have as much oxygen as possible (because we need oxygen for something to burn). They put the powder in a can with some candles, put the lid on it, and then through a tube blew the powder to spread it out. The powder caught fire, blowing the lid off the can. It was pretty amazing. Check out some of our pictures below. Thanks to our presenters for their hard work today.
The Gr. 4 students started Geometry today. They began by examining shapes such as rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, cones, pyramids, etc. and comparing them to objects that we see in life. We also discussed the attributes of these objects, such as their bases and faces.
In Social Studies we discussed the Eastern Woodland Hunters (Algonquin) and the Eastern Woodland Farmers (Iroquoian). We discussed some of the culture differences between the groups (ex. food resources), and how this impacts day to day life. We were particularly interested to learn about the importance of the three sisters (corn, beans, squash), and that the Iroquoian groups had a complex democratic system. These groups would meet to in local, tribal, and confederate groups as needed, and reached decisions through consensus, often meeting well into the night.
In Language Arts today we discussed rhythm. As mentioned in a previous blog, we will be returning to poetry to continue discussing poetic devices, off and on until the end of the year. Today we discussed rhythm in poetry and syllables. Students were then challenged to try and discover the rhythm of “The Walrus and the Carpenter” by Lewis Carroll. It was difficult at first, but once the poem is written out, many of us were able to use the syllables to help figure out the pattern (8 syllables, 6 syllables, 8 syllables, 6 syllables, etc.). We are going to be using our new knowledge next week to write some Haikus.
We had a great, interesting, and very different day today. Our Gr. 5 girls were gone to Girl Power at Syncrude Sports and Wellness Center, so we had some Gr. 5 boys join our class today in their place. Our classroom was definitely full, but we had a lot of fun and we got a lot of work done.
We started off with some First Steps Reading Activities. Today we were working on the following reading strategies: predicting, inferring, and synthesizing. To do this we listened as a class to Roald Dahl’s “The Enormous Crocodile.” We split the story into three parts, and after each sections we worked through an activity that corresponded to a reading strategy. After the first part of the story we worked on predicting. Students pretended to gaze into a crystal ball and tried to think of what the future had in store for the crocodile. We had a crystal ball anchor chart at the front of the room, and students were able to come and add a post-it with their prediction to the crystal ball. After the second part of the story we worked on inferring. Students worked in pairs or groups of three to interview one another. They had to be a character from the story (The Enormous Crocodile, Mary, Toto, Humpy Rumpy, School Children, Mugglewump, the Rolly Polly Bird, or Trunky) and ask and respond to questions from their characters perspective. I saw a lot of great creativity go into some peoples answers. Finally we worked on synthesizing. Students graded the crocodile using our current rating scale (P, M, A, B, NE) on his abilities. They looked at his sneakiness, cleverness, and his ability to make friends. We had some different responses for the first two, but most of us agreed that he should recieve an NE for making friends – he didn’t even try!
For French today we reviewed our numbers from 1-31. This is an activity that we haven’t done in a while. We did this by player bingo. Students created their own bingo sheet and I called the numbers in French. This requires students to practice their listening skills. I also write the French number on the board, to help students who are more visual. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of people were really close to winning!
This afternoon we worked on Health. We worked on our First Aid. The Gr. 5 girls we be getting the opportunity to work on First Aid in two weeks when the boys are gone. Today we worked on: ESM, Choking, CPR, and Severe Bleeding. We had a lot of fun practicing, and everyone was working hard. It was great to see how well students did at remembering the steps, and working together.
