Agenda:
Read 20 minutes
Language Arts: Paper Bag Character Studies (October 30th)
Book Orders – October 30th
Pajama Raffle Tickets – $2/each (tomorrow last day to purchase)
Breakfast Program Benefit Concert – October 24th
Parent Teacher Interviews – October 21st and 22nd (sign up at http://timberlea.fmpsdschools.ca/)
Agenda:
Read 20 minutes
Language Arts:
Math:
Pajama Raffle Tickets – $2/ticket (on sale tomorrow and Thursday)
Website Release Forms – ASAP
Book Orders – October 30th
Did You Know…? Elephants are the only mammals that can’t jump.
Good evening,
Today we started our morning with Science for a change. We are beginning to learn about the Water Cycle. We actually watched another Magic School Bus episode to help us begin this topic. Students were challenged to watch the video and then to share the steps of the water cycle. We learned that there is: evaporation, condensation, saturation, and precipitation. Then we decided to demonstrate the water cycle for ourselves. Using hot water, we actually created the water cycle right here in our classroom – in sandwich bags. Check out the pictures at the bottom! Next week we’ll review, and then we’ll start looking at clouds. It’s all building up to our being able to begin predicting the weather!
We completed our review on our Patterns and Equations unit this morning as well. Students will be writing their Unit Test on Tuesday. Please help your student to review this long weekend. They can do questions out of their textbook, use the textbook online (see links on right, username: timberlea_teacher password: educator2009), work on their extra workbooks, or use the Mathletics (see links on right). Remember to get some rest, drink lots of water, and come prepared on Tuesday.
In Language Arts today students looked more closely at narrative writing. Together we annotated a piece of narrative writing, examining the structure and some of the key elements. It was great to look for description about the main event. We found action sentences, dialogue, and more. I can’t wait until we start writing some narrative pieces of our own!
Agenda:
Read 20 minutes
Language Arts:
Math:
Book Orders – October 30th
Breakfast Program Benefit Concert – October 24th
Website Release Forms – ASAP
No School – tomorrow or Monday (see you on Tuesday!)
Did You Know…? The word “lethologica” describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.
Good evening!
Today we started off working in our Writer’s Notebooks. Students spent a great part of September preparing the Writer’s Notebooks. Now we are working on writing in them. Students are working towards building their stamina in writing. To do this we are trying to write in our books on a consistent basis. We are aiming to write in our notebooks at least once a week. Today we wrote in them for about 10 minutes. Students must write for the full 10 minutes, no talking, no getting off task. If they are unsure of what to write about, they can look in their notebook at some of our preparation pages. All they have to do is flip to their Heart Map or Authority List and pick something from the page. Our writing time will slowly increase as students become more and more comfortable with writing. Even myself and Ms. Ingram try and write during this time! Today I was trying to write a haiku!
In Math today students began preparing for their Unit Test on Tuesday. We reviewed Lessons #1-3 as a class, and then students worked in their small groups on the “Show What You Know” questions in their textbook (pgs. 30-31). These questions are a great comprehensive review of the chapter work. Students will be given more time to work on these questions tomorrow. Looking for other ways to study for your Math test? Try Mathletics. I assign students weekly Mathletics tasks to be completed at school and at home. Students all had 5 tasks to complete today. These tasks are chosen because of their connection to our curriculum, but also to allow for some differentiation to occur. If a student has been doing really well, I may select more challenging tasks for them. If they have been struggling, I can choose a task that might help them to review a concept or idea that they need more work on. Students can use the Mathletics all year, and are strongly encouraged to use it at home.
In Computers today, students also looked at using the nutritional information labels on food products to help them to make some healthy decisions. We played this game from nourish interactive that had students comparing different items based on their nutritional information. Want to play again? The link is below!
Agenda:
Read 20 minutes
Language Arts:
Math:
Website Release Form – ASAP
Math Help – Every Wednesday from 2:45 – 4:00 pm
Breakfast Program Fundraiser – October 24th
October Book Orders – October 30th
Computer Class Links:
http://www.nourishinteractive.com/kids/10-grocery-store
Did You Know…? A skunk’s smell can be detected by a human a mile away.
Good evening,
Today we started with a lesson on Writing. Students have been closely examining three different kinds of writing over the past few lessons: expository, narrative, and opinion writing. Today students focused on expository writing. They reviewed the purpose of expository writing (to inform) and then they worked together to annotate a piece of expository writing. They examined the paragraphs (introduction, body, conclusion), finding the main idea (reading topic sentences), the purpose of the introduction and conclusion paragraphs, paying close attention to structure and format. This will lend itself well to our upcoming activities where students will be editing and writing their own expository pieces.
In Math today, students completed day two of Lesson #7. We reviewed our lesson from yesterday, practicing writing an equation for and solving multiplication/division questions. Then students were given time to finish their practice questions from the day before. The questions (pgs. 27-28 #1-10) that were not completed in class were to be brought home for homework. Students were then able to continue working in their extra workbook or to play a Math game. Don’t forget that our Unit Test will be next week (Tuesday). Students are encouraged to begin practicing at home. Why not use your mathletics account? You could also review and answer questions from previous lessons. The after school Math program will begin tomorrow at 2: 45 pm. We will be meeting in our classroom to review for the test together.
In Reading today, students began to practice our October reading strategy – connecting. Today we focused on text-to-text connections. We discussed the importance of including supporting details when making a text-to-text connection. Using this sentence starter really helped us: “This book reminded me of __________ because…” To practice beginning making text-to-text connections, we looked at “Big Anthony and the Magic Ring” by Tommie dePaola. We have looked at “Strega Nona” in the past. Today, we were able to easily see connections between the two books. They shared many of the same characters and the story structures were very similar. Poor Anthony! Every time he tries to do magic he seems to get into some kind of trouble. If you liked the story, watch it again from home!
In Science today, we reviewed our experiment testing the effects of the sun on the land temperature and the water temperature. We then used these knowledge to learn about land breezes and sea breezes. Take a look at the picture below to help summarize our learning!
Agenda:
Read 20 minutes
Language Arts:
Math:
Website Release Form – ASAP
Book Orders – October 30th
Breakfast Program Benefit Concert – October 24th
Psssssstttt…. here is something extra from yesterday. Below is the French DPA that we did yesterday that some students loved and wanted posted on here so they could do it at home.
Did You Know…? There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long (eye, hip, arm, leg, ear, toe, jaw, rib, lip, gum).
Good evening,
Today in Math we started the last lesson of our patterns and equations unit. Students today were working at solving and writing equations for multiplication and division problems. You can see an example below:
Students will be completing Day 2 of Lesson #7 tomorrow. We will be using our time on Wednesday and Thursday to review the unit. Students will have their Unit Test on Tuesday, October 14th. Students will be required to finish their extra workbooks to submit on this day as well. Students are given time in class to work on their review and their extra workbooks. Students who use their class time effectively should be able to do the majority of their test preparation during classroom time. Remember that extra Math help starts this Wednesday from 2:45 pm – 4:00 pm. If your student is struggling with our current unit, it is recommended that they attend this Wednesday so that they can access this extra support before their test on Tuesday.
In Social Studies we started our final activity of our Mapping unit. Students created a map of our classroom for me earlier in the unit. This map had students direct me to their desks. Today students received their initial maps from me to use as inspiration (the rough draft) of their new mapping assignment. They must create a more detailed map of our classroom, once again directing me to their seat. However, this map must include the concepts that we have been studying in class. They need to include a compass (cardinal and intermediate directions), a legend, and a scale. We added a challenge for students that really want to show off what we learned in this unit. Some students are attempting to create coordinates (lines of longitude and latitude) that they can use to further direct me to their desks. We will continue to work on these maps during class time.
In Health today students began looking further at our personal health choices. Today specifically we discussed how students can make healthy eating choices. Students were asked to examine 3 different boxes of cereal to determine which box they felt was the healthiest. They used the ingredient lists and nutritional information as their guides. We all agreed that the Whole Wheat Cheerios contained the least amount of sugar, making them a fairly healthy choice. Some of us preferred the Flax Plus because it contained to highest amount of fiber. We all agreed that the Muslix, while still a healthier choice than other cereal options, had the highest amount of sugar and the lowest amount of fiber, making it the least healthy option of the three.
Agenda:
Read 20 minutes
Language Arts:
*** NOTE*** – Many students did NOT complete their Language Arts homework over the weekend. Students were tasked with finding a piece of expository, narrative, or opinion writing to share with the class. Students were directly taught these terms over two lessons last week, and they all have notes in their Writing duotangs summarizing their learning that they were asked to use to help them with this task if so needed. This work MUST be completed by tomorrow. Ms. Ingram needs these examples to prepare further lessons on these topics. Students who fail to complete to complete the homework two days in a row, will be missing recess until the homework is complete.
Math:
Book Orders – due October 30th
Website Release Form – ASAP
Breakfast Program Benefit Concert – October 24th
Did You Know…? 1 in 5,000 north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue.
Good afternoon,
A permission form went home today about Math Help Sessions. Each Wednesday from 2:45-4:00 pm, Ms. McNeil, Mr. Rutledge, Mrs. Kelly, and myself will be hosting extra Math practice sessions. These sessions are open to any student, at any time. Students do not have to attend every session. Students are encouraged to attend if they have been having difficulties with our daily Math lessons and homework. Students who are comfortable with the work wouldn’t need to attend. Students should be encouraged to attend the sessions if they want further support at any time during the year, and as stated above, they can also stop attending if they no longer want or require support. It is basically a drop-in program run on an as needs basis. For students to attend, they do need to bring in the permission forms provided. If the form gets lost, let me know and I would be happy to send one home at any time throughout the year. Our first session will be next Wednesday, October 8th, in our classroom.
*We understand that many of our students are unable to attend after-school programs due to childcare and busing. If your child requires extra support and cannot attend an after-school session, please encourage them to speak to me at school so that we can build some time into our day.
AGENDA:
Read 20 minutes
Language Arts – Prediction Book Report (October 14th), Paper Bag Character Study (October 30th)
Math: pg. 24-25 #1-8
French: Days of the Week/Months of the Year Quiz – Monday
Website Release Form – ASAP
October Book Orders – October 30th
Volleyball Forms – due tomorrow
Math Help Forms – due before students attend a session (ask Ms. B if you need a form)
Good evening,
We started today off with some Language Arts. Students went to the library for the first time today. Then we looked over our two book report activities for the month of September. The first is a prediction sheet. Students have been practicing predicting throughout the month of September. Now they are going to make and track some of their predictions about one of their library books. They have two weeks to complete this activity. You can view the sheet below:
The other book report activity is a “Paper Bag Character Study.” Students will be closely examining and representing one of the characters from a book that they read during the month of September (remember, we should be reading at least 20 minutes every night!) and then presenting it to the class. The full outline for the project can be viewed below, and students have the full month of October to work on it:
In Social Studies today, we continued to review latitude and longitude. Students were reminded that while longitude runs from North to South, it actually measures East to West on the globe. Latitude runs East to West, but it actually measures North and South on the globe. We listened to this great song to help us to get on track:
http://www.teachertube.com/video/latitude-and-longitude-is-useful-one-direction-remix-341388
Then students played a game in which they had to use coordinates of longitude and latitude to help them to rescue as many castaways from a shipwreck as possible. We played a similar, treasure finding game, at the link provided below during computers class. Students also accessed their Mathletics accounts for the first time today. Remember, you can (and should) access your Mathletics from home when possible. It is a great way to review and practice the concepts taught in class, and to build fluency with basic facts.
Computer Class Links:
http://www.abcya.com/latitude_and_longitude_practice.htm
Agenda:
Read 20 minutes
Language Arts – Prediction Book Report (October 14th), Paper Bag Character Study (October 30th)
French – Days of the Week/Months of the Year Quiz (Monday)
Volleyball Permission Forms – due Friday
Website Release Forms – ASAP
Picture Day – TOMORROW!
