“My favourite poem is the one that starts ‘Thirty days hath September’ because it actually tells you something.”  – Groucho Marx

Good afternoon,

Today we started off with our last predicting activity. Yesterday students were told that we were going to read “Strega Nona” by Tomie de Paola. Students were given a list of words from the book to consider to help them to predict what they thought would happen in the book. The words were:

• Calabria-a region in Italy
• Grandma Witch-an old woman who knows magic
• Magic Pot-a cooking pot that has magic powers
• Predict-using the pictures, the title, and what you already know to make guesses about a story before, during and after reading

Afterwards students were allowed to watch some of the book (narrated by Tomie de Paola). We paused throughout the book to add to or to change our predictions. We considered questions like:

• “What do you think now? Why?”
• “What in the text makes you believe that?”
• “What changes need to be made to our predictions?”
• “What do you think will happen next?”

Did you like “Strega Nona”? Want to watch it again at home? Follow the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULUG8IIo9-8

In Math today, we continued to practice using variables and equations to help us to describe and to solve word problems. An example would be:

Students who did not finish their practice problems should be completing them this evening for homework.

We also were able to earn our first GoNoodle certificate today for all of our activity breaks. Check it out below. I’ve also included links to our review sheets for our French Quiz on Monday. Feel free to print them and to practice at home all this week.

French Links:

Days/Months

Numbers 1-100

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math – pg. 22 #1-6

Website Release – ASAP

Picture Day – THURSDAY

French – Days of the Week/Months of the Year Quiz (Monday)

Interested in Attending a Writer’s Workshop? Information below:

Write On! Poster

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts – Writer’s Notebooks (last day to complete all assigned tasks!)

French – Days of the Week/Months of the Year Quiz (Monday)

Website Release F0rm – ASAP

Book Orders – Tomorrow!

Picture Day – Wednesday

Breakfast Club Benefit Concert – October 24th

Did You Know…? The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million.

Good afternoon,

Today we started off with some group work challenges to help inspire us. We have been having a little bit of trouble working in groups over the last few weeks, so we decided that this was something that we needed to practice. Students worked in their table groups. Each group was given some snap cubes. Ms. Ingram and I had built a beautiful snap cube statue. Students were challenged to build the same statue that we had built. There was a catch though. The statue was hidden under a blue bin. Groups could only send one student up at a time to look at the statue, and each student could only look for 5 seconds. The first time students completed the challenge, there were some things that we struggled with. Some groups were getting frustrated and not being respectful to their entire group, some students were not staying on task or participating, some groups were struggling to include everyone in the activity. However, a lot went right! Groups worked together, were encouraging, they kept going even though the task was difficult. We discussed what went right and decided that we would try again. This time groups would come up with a plan! They would ask themselves: What do we need to do? and How are we going to do it? Then, focusing on some of the successes from the previous round, students tried the activity again, with great success. Afterwards we went over some expectations for group work in our classroom. Students are actually going to sign a contract on Monday promising to do their best to follow the expectations. You can check out the contract below:

Group Work Contract

Next we worked together on some Math. Students were challenged to try and see if they could recognize any patterns in tic tac toe that would help them to come up with a better strategy to win the game. At first we played regular tic tac toe, but then we played a four square version. I won’t give away our winning strategy, because I know a few students wanted to try this out again at home.

We also practiced our Cardinal Directions today with these cool maps from Canadian Geographic. Stay tuned for more fun Mapping activities!

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/mapping/offthemap.asp

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts – Writer’s Notebooks: Memory Hands and Hate Faces

Picture Day – October 1st and 2nd

Web Release Form – due ASAP

Book Orders – September 30th

No School Tomorrow – I’ll see you all on Monday 🙂

Did You Know…? When you die your hair still grows for a couple of months.

Good evening,

We started off today with our Monthly Virtues Assembly. Each month our school focuses on a virtue. The virtue for the month of September is humility. We also take the time to discuss bullying each month. This month students took an anti-bullying pledge. This is the second year that our whole school has taken this pledge and we are looking forward to continuing to focus on anti-bullying at a school level this year. You can review the pledge at home by following the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv1d0kjMORE

We also take time each month to recognize the great things that have been happening in our classrooms. Each month classrooms give out an award for the following: classroom citizen, apple student, star student, reader of the month, and Timberlea spirit. The classroom citizen is someone who consistently helps out in and around their classroom and throughout the school. The apple student demonstrates a commitment to our Apple Schools focus of healthy eating and healthy living. The star student is someone who has demonstrated dedication and hard work to their school work. The reader of the month is someone who demonstrates a love and commitment to reading. Finally, the Timberlea spirit award goes to a student that exemplifies our virtues. Congratulations to all of our winners for the month of September. Keep up the good work everyone!

Today is Math we worked on problem solving. Each unit has a lesson that focuses on a problem solving strategy. So far in class we have discussed inspection, making a table, guess and test, and drawing strategies. Today we focused on drawing diagrams to help us to visualize the problem. Students work to complete the problems on pgs. 18-19 of their Math Text, first as a class, then in small groups, and then individually. I was very pleased with the participation that I saw from everyone. Don’t forget to keep practicing solving problems at home! Have you tried some of the extra problems that come with Math 5 Live (link on right)?

This afternoon we were able to enjoy the nice weather. We were able to go for our Terry Fox walk. Students watched a small video today discussing Terry Fox and his accomplishments. We actually watched the first video in Jamie McDonald’s video journal of his run across Canada in 2013, raising money for SickKids. You can follow the link below to watch this video. While Jamie finished his run last year, watching his video journal of his trip is truly inspiring. Check out his youtube channel to see more.

Video One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ghdTH2Oxw&list=UUH6k6kFcfZ1SqvVqcpCPFeQ

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts – Writer’s Notebooks: Hate Maps

Website Release Forms – ASAP

Book Orders – September 30th

No School – Friday

Agenda

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts – Writer’s Notebook: complete unfinished work (Authority List, Heart Map, Treasure Map, Memory Hand)

Terry Fox Walk – tomorrow (Participation forms required for student participation!)

Website Release Form – ASAP

Book Orders – Sept. 30th

Did You Know…? Karoke means “empty orchestra” in Japanese.

Good afternoon,

We began our day with some Social Studies. We have been working on Mapping in Social Studies. We have been practicing our provinces, capitals, and territories, but we have also begun learning how to read and create maps. Students were working on using details in order to give more specific directions last week and even created maps of our classroom. Today we began discussing cardinal and intermediate. Many students were already familiar with the cardinal directions (North, East, South, West). We spent some time learning and creating fun mnemonic devices to help us remember the order of the Cardinal Directions. When I was in school we were always taught “Never Eat Soggy Weiners”. Today the students made up their own. We had some really creative ones from “Never Enter Shreck’s Washroom” to “Never Energetically Slap Walrus'”. Remember, pick one and use it to help you remember the order of your cardinal directions. We then completed our “Spot Game” activity from last week. This time students needed to give directions on how to draw the spot but we added a compass to the page. Students were expected to use the compass to give specific directions. After, we added the intermediate directions (Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest) to our compass. Students practiced being able to label a compass, even if North was not at the top of the compass. See the example below:

 

Then we completed our “Spot Game” for the final time today. Students were challenged to describe the location of the spot using a compass that did not have North at the top as their exit card from class before Recess.

In Math today we continued to review Lesson #3. Students were working in groups today. Each group was given some pattern blocks and asked to create an increasing pattern. Then students needed to create a table about the pattern that they had created. You can see my example below:

 

Students are becoming much more comfortable at recognizing the increasing patterns and creating algebraic expressions to describe them. The whole class still needs some time to practice decreasing patterns, which we will continue to review tomorrow.

In French today students reviewed their Numbers from 0-31. Students should be familiar with their French numbers from previous years, but we will be learning the numbers up to 100 this year, so this was a great place for us to start. It also ties into our previous lessons. We have been working towards being able to write and discuss the date in French. We have practiced the days of the week, the months of the year, and now numbers! Students were challenged to solve some addition problems in French:

 

Then students played BINGO to continue practicing their ability to recognize French numbers. Once we finish with Calendar, we will be moving into Seasons, Weather, and Clothing!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts – Writer’s Notebooks: Memory Hands (tomorrow)

Terry Fox Walk – Wednesday (permission forms needed ASAP)

Website Permission Forms – ASAP

Did You Know…? The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

Today we started with our quiz on the provinces, territories, and capitals. Students did a wonderful job and many students remembered all the provinces, territories, and capitals! On Monday, we will have our last quiz on this. This quiz will be slightly different, to challenge students to demonstrate what they know. Need to practice at home? Check out the September links on the right. After, students reviewed the Great Lakes. That lead to a discussion on why so many communities are built on or around a major body of water. Students discussed the benefits such as resources (fishing, farming), access to water, and transportation options. We wanted to see if this was a pattern that continued throughout Canada. Using our knowledge of capitals, students examined a Canada map to see which capitals were near or on a body of water. What we discovered was that all the capitals were at least close to (in the case of Regina) a river, lake, or ocean. We will have to continue to explore how bodies of water impact settlement and ways of life in Canada throughout the year.

In Art we reviewed the primary, secondary, analogous, and complimentary colours that we studied last week. Then we discussed warm and cool colours. We have started a new project that we will be continuing next week. Students are using warm colours and cool colours to create contrast in their pieces. Check out some of our works in progress below!

In Science today we explored the role that the sun plays in temperature. First we examined how the movement of the Earth around the sun creates the seasons. To do so we looked at the following resource:

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/mclass/season_simulator.html

Then we did a class experiment to discuss how the sun impacts daily temperatures. We used chart paper and a flashlight to track the “sun’s” (our flashlight’s) movement across the sky at 6:00 am, 10:00 am, 12:00 pm, 3:00 pm, and 6:00 pm. While we discovered that all of the paper was covered by the sun’s rays at 12:00 pm, we wondered why it might be warmer around 1:00-2:00 pm than it was at 12:00 pm. This lead us to discuss how the air and earth are absorbing the heat – something that we will continue to discuss next week!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts – Writer’s Notebooks: Treasure Maps (Monday)

Math – pgs. 15-16 #1-5, 7, 8 (Monday)

Social – Classroom Maps  (Monday)

Terry Fox Run – Wednesday (Permission Forms needed ASAP)

Classroom Website/Twitter Permission Forms (ASAP)

Did You Know…? Cats sleep 16 to 18 hours per day.

Good evening,

Today we began with some Language Arts. Students have been practicing making predictions this month. Today we completed an activity that we are already familiar with. We used the “Think Sheet” to help us make predictions about a book. What was different about today’s lesson was the questions we were asking ourselves before our reading took place. Using the cover and title of a book, students brainstormed some questions that they had about the book. Check out some examples below:

Then students made a prediction about their question. Finally, we were able to watch the book. Often during a reading lesson, I utilize Tumblebooks as a way for us all to be able to see and hear the book. You can also use Tumblebooks at home. Check out the link below (and on the sidebar). The username is fmpsd and the password is books. Today we watched “Rapunzel and the Seven Dwarfs” by Willy Claflin.

http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/home_tumblebooks.asp

After finishing listening to the book, students were able to think about whether or not their predictions had been correct. The students and I also discussed their home reading today in class. Each month students will be asked to complete a book report on reading they have done at home or at school (during silent reading). Students are encouraged to read at least 20 minutes every night. As the month begins to draw to a close (already!) students were reminded today that if they have not begun to read a novel at school or at home, they should begin to do so this week. The assignment will go home next week so that students can begin to complete their work. Each month’s report will focus on assessing students’ understanding of our monthly reading strategies.

In Math today students began Lesson #3 of our current unit. Today’s lesson is challenging for many students. Students today were continuing to look at patterns. Today they were looking for patterns in problems and tables. An example is below:

Example: Alex made a chart listing the properties of some figures she had created in Math class.

Figure	Dots
1	6
2	7
3	8
4	9
5	10

Write an expression to express the pattern rule that Alex used to complete her work.

Figure	Dots (Figure Number + 5)
1	6 (1 + 5)
2	7 (2 + 5)
3	8 (3 + 5)
4	9 (4 + 5)
5	10 (5 + 5)

You can replace figure number with the variable f. Thus an expression that could be written to describe the pattern between the Figure and the Dots would be f + 5. 

This is a difficult concept for MANY students, and we will continue to explore it in class tomorrow.

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Social – Provinces/Territories/Capitals Quiz

Spirit Week – Summer Send-off tomorrow (bring a Food bank donation)

Welcome Back BBQ – tomorrow @ 5:00 pm

Did You Know…? Odontophobia is the fear of teeth.

Good evening!

Today we started off with some Social Studies. Students who were present yesterday got back their first quiz no the provinces and territories. They were asked to put these into their Social Studies duotangs so that they could study them for our quiz on Friday. All students will be writing the quiz again to see if they can beat their score. Got +13 the first time? Try and see if you can spell them all with no spelling mistakes to challenge yourself! We have been using songs throughout the last two weeks to help us study and review concepts. One day last week we even wrote our own songs. Well… on Friday we are going to record one of those songs and turn it into a music video! Today we decided to learn a little bit more about the provinces and territories we are studying. Students were asked to practice using the index of their Social textbook. They selected a province and then shared something unique or interesting about it with the class. Look at all the ideas we found:

Tomorrow we are going to be using these ideas to make some props and equipment for our music video!

In Math today students continued to work on Lesson #2 of their Patterns and Equations unit. Students who did not finish the practice questions in class were asked to take it home to complete the questions at home. In our classroom we have been trying to do something different with our practice questions. We have been completing the questions backwards. If students were assigned pgs. 11-12 #1-4, 6 then they would complete the questions in the following order: 6, 4, 3, 2, 1. We are trying to work on our homework in this order so that students are tackling the most difficult questions right away. The benefit of working on these questions at school is that there are other students and teachers that are available to help. Sometimes when we work on Math at home, it can be difficult for parents to help students without having been a part of the lesson. This way, students should be working on questions that are review or more fact based than problem-solving based while at home, making homework completion a little easier for everyone.

In Science today we started to explore air. Students watched a Wonder of the Day video from Wonderopolis (see side links) about Hot Air Balloons. What we learned was that hot air is less dense and thus rises. Cool air is more dense and falls. Then we started to look at thermometers. Students practiced reading thermometers, as well as holding and using thermometers. As a class we wondered: “Where is the hottest air in our classroom? the coolest?” Each group was then given three thermometers to place around the classroom. We have some on the floor, the walls, desks, bulletins boards, windows, even the ceiling! Tomorrow we will check the temperature of the thermometers and hopefully the results will give us some clues to help us to infer how air moves in indoor environments.

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math – pgs. 11-12 # 1-4, 6

Family BBQ – Thursday @ 5:00 pm

Spirit Day – tomorrow is Sports Day (bring Food Bank donations)

Picture Day – October 1st and 2nd

Terry Fox Run – September 24th (Form due ASAP)

 

 

Did You Know…? In the average lifetime, a person will walk the equivalent of 5 times around the equator.

Good evening!

Today we began with our Social Studies quiz, but first we had a few expectations that we needed to go over as a class. Some were familiar to the students from previous years, others were not. In our class when we write a test or quiz:

• We do NOT talk.
• We keep our eyes on our own paper.
• We read through the test twice! First as a class, second on our own.
• If I don’t know the answer or understand the question I should skip it and come back to it later.
• If I still don’t know the answer, I can ask Ms. B for help.

The reason that we read through our test twice, is to give our brain time to use our schema. In order for our brain to access our prior knowledge, it might need a little time. If I read through the questions slowly and carefully, my brain will start looking for the information. Then when I am ready to answer, it will be easier to remember what I have already learned! This is also why we skip questions. Maybe our brains just need a little more time to find the solution, or maybe there is something else on the quiz/test that might help me. Students did a great job with these expectations. We marked the quizzes as a class. Students wrote what they got correct on the top of each page. So… if you got 8 right, you got to write +8. On Friday, we are going to have a chance to try and beat our first scores. Need to practice at home? Look at the links on the homepage!

In Math today we started Lesson #2. We are using patterns to help us to solve problems. This is very similar to the work we were doing with the Math 5 Live on Friday. An example would be:

“Sam makes $6 / hour babysitting. How much will Sam make in 2 hours? 3 hours? 4 hours? 5 hours?”

Students would need to organize the information in a chart, and work to see if they can use patterns to help them complete the problem.

Eg.

Hours Work	Amount Paid ($)
1	6
2
3
4
5

 

Hours Work	Amount Paid ($)
1	6
2	6 + 6 =12
3	6 + 6 + 6 = 18
4	6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 24
5	6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 30

The above shows an example that students could use to complete the table. They could also use multiplication, skip counting, etc. Be sure to show your work to explain your answers.

In French today we began discussing the Months of the Year. We looked at 2 videos to help introduce the concept (and yes, 1 was another song) and then we practiced our vocabulary on the Promethean Board with some matching questions. Don’t forget to start practicing your French at home. We may have a quiz on your vocabulary sooner than you think! Check out the links below to review at home:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_u2SigckNQ

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Social – Provinces/Territories/Capitals Quiz (Friday)

Family BBQ – Thursday @ 5:00 pm

Spirit Day – Hat Day tomorrow (bring Food Bank Donations)