Good afternoon!

This morning we started our morning off with our weekly multiplication review quiz. Students answered questions on their 9x and their 11x tables today. We only have the 12x tables left! But don’t worry, we aren’t going to be done reviewing after that. We’ll be keeping our Olympic spirit going by starting Multiplication Olympics the following week. Who will win the gold medal?

Today we completed our Term 2 writing prompt. We give 3 standard writing prompts each year to all the Division 2 students. All classes are given the same picture prompt, and asked to plan and write a story in the same amount of allotted time. This is not a test. It is merely to give the teachers some more information about our classes strengths, weaknesses, and to help us with our planning and instruction for the remainder of the year. In order to help us with our prompt, we did review the parts of a story that we learned earlier in the year. We watched the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6I24S72Jps

This led to a discussion on the 5 parts of a short story:

1. Setting (where, when)
2. Conflict (what – problem)
3. Theme (why – moral)
4. Plot (what, how – story mountain)
5. Characters (who)

Students can use their understanding of these elements to help them to plan their story from the picture prompt. We also reviewed the graphic organizer that we used earlier in the year for story writing – story mountain.

This provides a visual for students to use when planning and structuring their short stories. Students were given time to discuss the picture prompt within their seating groups, to plan their story, and then they had an hour to write their story. Everyone was so respectful of one another, and of the expectations throughout this activity, it was wonderful! Thanks everyone for you positive attitudes!

Have you started your Science Fair project yet? I want to remind all students and parents that Science Fair is on March 6th! That is the week we return from convention. Science Fair is mandatory for all Grs. 4-6 students, and we use it to help us access each students current level of understanding with their Science Skills and Processes from the Report Card outcomes. Many students have approached me with questions about the logbook. The logbooks do need to be completed to the best of the students ability, but they are certainly allowed to approach me with questions next week. You could also consult this sample logbook, which has an example project entered into it:

Student Logbook Exemplar

Having trouble with you display? What not consult the following image!

Please don’t hesitate to bring your questions or concerns to school on March 3rd, but please, I can’t stress enough, if you haven’t started your project yet you need to do so immediately!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Science: Science Fair – March 6th

Have a good break!

Good evening!

We started off our day with our ending unit problem for Math. Students always complete a final group problem at the end of a unit to help solidify what has been learned and to inspire students to think a little deeper about the topics we have covered. Students worked in 5 groups to answer some problems on pgs. 116-117 of our textbook. They were able to work as a team to answer the problems, and it was up to each group to choose whether they wanted to use addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division to solve the problems. The students were also able to choose their own strategies. After the problems were completed, groups were challenged to write their own story problems using the information provided. We are going to use these problems to build a cool, interactive math bulletin board outside of our classroom. Check out one of the problems created below.

In Social Studies/Language Arts today, students continued their work on their Canadian Shield journal entries. Today was our last day to rainbow edit these pieces. Not sure what rainbow editing is? We’ve provided the list below. It is a step-by-step plan to help students to use some of the great grammar and writing skills that we have been learning this year. Students are able to go back over their own work, and try and find problems or areas that they can fix. This requires some patience and some deeper thinking about what they have written. They also broke into pairs and completed a “Glow and Grow” sheet for their writing.

Glow and Grow

This requires students to peer edit each other’s work. They are suggesting at least 2 things that they loved about each other’s writing (a glow) and at least 1 thing that they think their partner could improve upon (a grow). After students had completed their self and peer editing, they started their good copies. These copies are due tomorrow.

This afternoon we were joined by Ms. Redfurn and the Westwood Jazz Band. Students were able to listen to and ask some questions of the band. The purpose of this presentation was to get students excited and interested in some of the programs that will be becoming available to them over the next few years. Students may be interested in looking into taking Band when they reach École McTavish or Westwood, and this provided them a sneak peek of some of the amazing things that are coming up! I myself enjoyed the performance, because I used to be a member of Westwood’s band program, playing the clarinet, tenor saxophone, and bass clarinet throughout high school. Can you believe that over 10 years later the uniforms are still the same?

We also had a small celebration with Ms. McNeil and Suellen from Canadian Mental Health today, because students have successfully completed the FRIENDS unit! Students were awarded their completion certificates, treated to some healthy snacks, and were able to watch about 1/4 of a movie before the end of the day. Thanks for your hard work and dedication throughout this unit everyone. I know Ms. McNeil is very proud of you.

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Reading Journal – tomorrow

Multiplication Quiz – tomorrow (9x and 11x)

Science – Classroom Fair March 6th

Social – Good copy of Journal Entry

 

 

Good evening!

We started off our day by reviewing the comparing reading strategy. We have been reviewing all of our reading strategies over the last few weeks, and will continue to keep adding new strategies to our resource books. Today we finished an activity that we actually started yesterday. We were comparing Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief with the movie version. We discovered that there are a lot of differences. One student even remarked, “the book was so thick but that movie… it was short!” We compared the two using different Venn Diagrams. Not every group used the same diagram, so students had to watch how they organized their information. I’ll post pictures of our finished work tomorrow, but for now take a look at the 3 different diagrams we used. Do you know how to use each of these diagrams?

In French today we started our last topic in our School Unit. We looked at the parts of the school. We used this fun youtube video to introduce some of the vocabulary that we are going to be learning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCOrA-f4dQk

We will be using this vocabulary to design our own schools and then we will have completed this unit. Next up… Animals!

In Science today we completed our discussion of short circuits. The students and I have been discussing what a short circuit is and why they are so dangerous. Electricity always takes the shortest path, so that means that you have to be careful how you wire things. Students were able to create a working closed circuit today using 2 wires, a battery, and a light bulb. We then added another wire between the light bulb and the battery. It looked something like this:

As you can see, the light bulb does not light up and the battery is overheating. This is because the electricity travels much quicker through the shortest path, producing too much friction. We also explored switches today. Students were all given some switches and asked to determine how they worked. Students were able to open and close their circuits by using the switch. When the circuit is open, the light bulb will not light up. When the circuit is closed, it will! See our examples below:

Want to practice building circuits at home? You can visit the Circuit Construction Kit here: http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/circuit-construction-kit-dc

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Reading Journal (Friday)

Multiplication Quiz (Friday)

Science: Science Fair (March 6th)

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Reading Journal – Friday (Ninja – Read a newspaper or a magazine article. Tell me 3 things you have learned)

Snack Shack – Wednesdays ($1-$5)

Library – TOMORROW

Science: Science Fair (Classroom Fair – March 6th)

Health: FRIENDS pg. 104 #9A

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.” – A. A. Milne

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today we started our morning off with some Valentine’s vocabulary in French we learned some of the following expressions:

• Je t’aime (I love you)
• Je pense à toi (I’m thinking of you)
• Sois mon valentin / ma valentine (Be my Valentine)
• Tu es spécial / spéciale (You are special)
• Tu es chouette (You are great)
• Tu es cool (You are cool)
• Tu es magnifique (You are magnificent)

We also learned some Valentine’s themed French terms of endearment:

• Mon amour (My love)
• Mon ange (My angel)
• Mon chéri / Ma chérie (My dear)
• Mon trésor (My treasure)
• Mon petit chou (My little cabbage)
• Ma puce (My flea)

The last two were our favourites! We used this vocabulary to make some Valentine’s for our Grade 1 buddies. Check out the great examples at the bottom of the page.

Thank you to everyone who brought in snacks for our Healthy Food Buffet. I am always overwhelmed with the generosity of our 5N families, and we always have such wonderful healthy treats to enjoy for our classroom parties. It is really appreciated, and I know how much work it can be to get some of those things together, so thank you very much! Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day everyone, we’ll see you on Tuesday!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Snack Shack – Wednesday ($1-$5)

Science: Classroom Science Fair – March 6th

Good afternoon!

We started off our day with Computers. Students had two tasks that they could complete today. The first was to research an entry for the “Name the Puppy 2014” Contest that the RCMP is currently holding. Students visited websites to research some good names for a German Shepard puppy. The name had to start with G, had to be 9 letters or less, and it could be 1-2 syllables. We had some wonderful suggestions: Garsen, Gable, Gift, Gore, Gunner, Gita, Grace, Garron, etc. Many of the students used the link below to help them find a name. Students also had a small Internet scavenger hunt on the Olympics that they were allowed to complete. The challenge here is in using search engines effectively, which many students found out today can be very tricky.

Today we also made 6 paper mache volcanoes with our Grade 1 buddies. These volcanoes are going to be pained once we return from Teacher’s Convention, and then they are going to be put on display and used during Family Math and Science Night on March 12th. Stay tuned for more details!

Science Fair is rapidly approaching. If you student has yet to choose a Science Fair Project, I strongly suggest looking at it over the coming week. Our classroom fair has been moved. We will be having our classroom fair on March 6th, rather than March 3rd. This gives everyone a little bit more time to return from Teacher’s Convention and to work on any last minute details. Our school fair will then be on March 13th as a result. Students have previously participated in the Science Fair, but sometimes that logbooks can still be tricky. I’m always available to help, and students are encouraged to bring me any questions or concerns that I may be able to answer!

Computer Class Link:

http://www.babynames.com/index.php

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Reading Journal – Ms. B Does the Homework

Wednesday – Snack Shack ($1-$5)

Book Fair – tomorrow during class and during PTIs

Parent-Teacher Interviews – tomorrow and Thursday

Math: pgs. 110-11 #1-3, 5, 6

Unit Test (Thursday)

Electronics Day – Thursday (bring a donation for the Center of Hope)

Valentine’s Party – Friday (bring permission forms!)

Glow-Grams – Wednesday ($1/each)

Good evening!

Today we started off with some writing in our Writer’s Notebooks. Students free-write every morning as they come in, however, today we had some Olympic inspiration for students. They were asked:

›Imagine you are speaking to one of the Canadian Olympians and they are feeling a bit nervous. What would you tell them to help them perform at their best?

Students do not need to respond to the suggested topic, they are more than welcome to continue with a free-writing topic that they have been working on or that they chose from the idea pages of their Writer’s Notebooks, it is just something to help those of us who are running low on ideas or are maybe a little sleepy this morning! Stay tuned for our Olympics question tomorrow!

In Math today we started our review of multiplication and division. The last lesson in our book is all about problem solving – multi-step problem solving! These are problems that require students to complete more than one calculation before they are able to solve. This takes a lot of thinking and really challenges students understanding of all the Math operations we have learned this year (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). Try out this example below:

Susan is saving up to buy a new bicycle. In order to earn some money, Susan babysits for her neighbour. She also delivers newspapers. Susan earns $5 every day she delivers newspapers, and she delivered newspapers the entire month of January. If Susan has earned $236 towards her new bicycle, how much money has she earned babysitting?

Well…

We know that… Susan’s babysitting $ + Susan’s newspaper $ = $236

So… $236 – Susan’s newspaper $ = Susan’s babysitting $

Susan delivered newspapers every day in January. January has 31 days.

She earns $5 / day

So Susan earned $5 x 31 days…

5 x 31 = 155

That means Susan earned $155 delivering newspapers.

Then… $236 – $155 = Susan’s babysitting $

236 – 155 = 81

That means… Susan has made $81 babysitting.

As you can see, multi-step problems encourage students to really think deeply about a problem. They also have to perform more than one operation in order to solve them. Knowledge of basic facts will really help to increase student speed and accuracy, so keep practicing multiplication at home as often as possible!

We will be having a classroom celebration for Valentine’s Day this upcoming Friday. Students are encouraged to bring in some creative, healthy treats to share with the class. We will also be watching Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Students selected this movie because we have just recently finished reading the book aloud during our snack. If you would prefer that you student did not participate in this activity, please send me an email or a note in the agenda as soon as possible.

Don’t forget about PTIs! I’m looking forward to seeing lots of you on Wednesday or Thursday. Visit the following link to schedule your appointment: http://timberlea.schoolappointments.com/admin/

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Reading Journal – Not this week (Ms. B does the homework!)

Wednesday – Snack Shack ($1-$5)

Math: Unit Test (Thursday)

Parent-Teacher Interviews – Wednesday and Thursday (see above)

Electronics Day – Thursday (bring donation for Center of Hope)

Valentine’s Party – Friday

Book Buddies: Bring newspapers for tomorrow!

Glow Gram – $1/gram (order on Wednesday)

Health: FRIENDS pg.88 #8A

Good afternoon!

What a wonderful Friday. We started off with a weekly Classroom Meeting. Our energizer this morning was actually a game that we are really familiar with, “This is a What?” Today we used a pink bandanna. I heard lots of creative responses like: a parachute, my hair, a kite, and even a mashed potato! We also reviewed our TRIBES agreements today. It has been a few weeks since our last Classroom Meeting, and I wanted to review our expectations. We talked about Attentive Listening, Mutual Respect, Appreciation Statements – No Put Downs, and the Right to Pass. Our main topic of discussion today was our Bathroom Passes. We have been testing out a new system of asking to go to the washroom in our classroom. We have been doing it for two weeks now, and at the end of two weeks we usually try and review how something is going as a class. Here is how the system works: At the beginning of each week students are given 4 bathroom passes, they can use these passes to go to the washroom throughout the week, a student with 4 passes at the end of the week receives a sticker on their reward board. How is this possible you ask? Well… the bathroom passes are NOT to limit students going to the washroom, they are meant to encourage students to visit the washroom during our natural transitions times instead of during a lesson. Students can go to the washroom without submitting a bathroom pass: first thing in the morning, after recess, after lunch, during recess, during lunch recess, during lunch, on our way to a specialty class (eg. gym, music, computers, library, book buddies), or during any cleanup time within the classroom (eg. after an experiment, art, etc.) while groups are getting reorganized. The bathroom passes encourage students to do their best to wait for one of these ideal times throughout our day. If they can’t wait… they have a bathroom pass! As stated above, this is only our second week using this new system. Today during Classroom Meeting we heard some negative reviews: “It isn’t fair that you only get a sticker if you have 4 passes. Some people try really hard, but HAVE to use a pass during the week”, “4 passes doesn’t feel like enough. I find it too difficult”, and “People should be rewarded for trying their best, not just for how many passes they used.” All of these were great feedback about how things were going. Here are some of the positive reviews that students shared: “Now people don’t just go out into the hallway to talk to their friends. They stay and do their work”, “Class isn’t being interrupted as often. We don’t always have so many students at the washroom”, and “It is a good reminder to only go when you NEED to, not when you WANT to.” I was really impressed at how thoughtful everyone was when evaluated the bathroom passes. In the end we decided to modify how we use the passes a little bit. We’ve decided that we all agree that more students should be rewarded for their effort. The class actually came up with the solution, without my help or suggestion, which was wonderful! They decided that students with 4 passes will receive a howler and a sticker. Students with 3 passes will still receive a sticker, and that if I know of a student that has tried really hard, they might get a sticker as well. We are going to keep trying out the bathroom passes with this solution, and we’ll talk about it at a Classroom Meeting at least two weeks from now.

In Science today we discussed series and parallel circuits. We discussed some of the advantages of wiring a circuit in series: the light bulb gets brighter and the flow of electricity increases. We also discussed the advantages of wiring a circuit in parallel: the batteries last longer. Check out our examples below:

We also had some time to use our GoNoodle account for DPA today and we helped our Classroom Champion reach his maximum level! Check out our reward certificate below!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Snack Shack – Wednesday ($1-$5)

Math: Unit Test (Thursday)

pgs. 106-107 #1-9

Parent Teacher Interviews (Wednesday and Thursday) – http://timberlea.schoolappointments.com/admin/

Thursday – Electronics Day (bring a donation for the Center of Hope)

Friday – Valentine’s Party (Healthy Food Buffet)

Health – FRIENDS pg. 88 #8A

Good afternoon!

We had a wonderful time skiing today. It was a little chilly first thing this morning, so we were all encouraged to come in and take some long warm-up breaks. This afternoon, however, we all were outside skiing and snowboarding up a storm. Thanks to all the parent volunteers. Having extra eyes on and around the hill really does make a huge difference and it is really appreciated.

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Multiplication Quiz – Tomorrow! (5x, 8x)

Math: Unit Test (Thursday)

Pgs. 106-107 #1-9

Health: FRIENDS – pg. 88 #8A

Good afternoon,

Another short post today, but only because I want to highlight some important information for the parents. Today we received a press release from the Fort McMurray Public School District about an incident that occurred in the Timberlea area. We were told that there was an attempted abduction in Timberlea near Holy Trinity High School. Police are currently looking for an individual in their 40s to 50s with dark hair and a mustache, possibly driving a pickup truck. Due to this incident, the students and I once again reviewed the importance of never talking to strangers. We also went over the following “Stranger Danger Guidelines” as a class:

1. Don’t talk to strangers.
2. Never accept a ride or gifts from strangers, or even someone you may know, without checking with your parents first.
3. Keep a safe distance from strangers and cars that approach you.  If you are approached by a stranger, seek help immediately.
4. Trust your instincts, if you feel you are being followed or something is not right, seek help immediately.
5. Use the buddy system, avoid walking anywhere alone. There is safety when in numbers!
6. When seeking help, always go to a trusted adult – teacher, coach, police officer, other parent, or older siblings.
7. Report any suspicious activity to your local school and police department.

Below is a picture of the press release can also access the information from the following weblink: http://fmpsdschools.ca/2014/02/05/attempted-abduction-in-timberlea/

Please take the time to review this information this evening with your students, and if you have any information in regards to this incident please contact the RCMP immediately.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be our second day of skiing at Vista Ridge. As of right now, it does look like skiing will go ahead, however, the students and I discussed this afternoon how important it is to come prepared. I’ve asked them to come prepared for both situations. Please bring warm clothing, equipment, etc. just in case we go skiing, but also bring homework, a packed lunch, etc. just in case skiing is cancelled. Timberlea Public School will be doing it’s best to keep parents informed about whether or not we are going skiing. To check to see if the status changes, you can follow Timberlea Public School on facebook. It will be posted either late this evening or early tomorrow morning if it is decided that we will not be skiing (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Timberlea-Public-School-Fort-McMurray/222004461191455)

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Reading Journals (Friday)

Multiplication Quiz (Friday) – 5x and 8x

Math: Unit Test (next Thursday)

pgs. 106-107 #1-9

Ski Day: TOMORROW (come prepared – see above)

Health: FRIENDS pg. 88 #8A