Good evening,

Our final night of Science Fair themed posts! Again, the links below can be really helpful in completing Science Fair projects:

WBRSF Elementary Judging Rubric

Science Fair Display Board Sample

Possible Science Fair Questions

Science Fair Project Logbook – Exemplar

ScienceFairStudentLogbook

Today we also reviewed some of the sections that students have been struggling with together as a class. We did our own experiment, and we wrote a question, hypothesis, the materials, and variables as we went. I want to remind students of the variables using our examples from today:

MANIPULATED VARIABLES: These are variables that you change on purpose in your experiment. It is what you are testing.

RESPONDING VARIABLES: These are the changes that happen in your experiment because of what you changed. It is the result.

CONSTANT VARIABLES: These are the variables that are held constant or are assumed to stay the same during the experiment.

So the manipulated variable from our experiment today was where we positioned the light bulb. We connected the light bulb differently in the circuit each time. The responding variable was whether the light bulb lit up or not. We knew we had a complete circuit if the light bulb lit up. Finally, our constant (or controlled) variables were the materials we used: the wire, the battery and the light bulb. As we never changed anything except the light bulb position, we knew that the responding variable (whether the light bulb lit up) was directly affected by how we changed the light bulb’s position.

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math:

• Math Help – Wednesdays from 3:00 – 4:00 pm
• Practice multiplication (mastering 2x, 4x, and 8x tables)

Science:

• Classroom Science Fair – March 3rd
• School Science Fair – March 6th

Have a great break! See you in March!

Good evening,

I already told the students that we wouldn’t be updating the blog this week. Instead, I wanted to make sure all students had access to these resources to help them to complete their Science Fair Projects:

WBRSF Elementary Judging Rubric

Science Fair Display Board Sample

Possible Science Fair Questions

Science Fair Project Logbook – Exemplar

ScienceFairStudentLogbook

As well as: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_guide_index.shtml

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math:

• Math Help – Wednesdays from 3:00 – 4:00 pm
• Practice multiplication (mastering 2x, 4x, and 8x tables)

Science:

• Science Fair Check-in (Data Analysis, Conclusion) – Thursday
• Classroom Science Fair – March 3rd
• School Science Fair – March 6th

Multicultural Dinner Theater – tonight

SPCA Used Book Sale – February 16th – 20th

Have you finished your Science Fair project yet? Check out these links to get some extra tips! Each resource was also discussed in yesterday’s blog more in depth.

ScienceFairStudentLogbook

Science Fair Project Logbook – Exemplar

Possible Science Fair Questions

Science Fair Display Board Sample

WBRSF Elementary Judging Rubric

Want to keep learning about Allesandro Volta? The link we used in class is below. You could also try out some of these cool electricity games to help celebrate his 270th birthday:

http://kids.saveonenergy.ca/en/games/index.html

Computer Class Links:

http://www.famousscientists.org/alessandro-volta/

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math:

• Math Help – Wednesdays from 3:00 – 4:00 pm
• Practice multiplication (mastering 2x, 4x, and 8x tables)
• Pg. 118 #6-10

Science:

• Science Fair Check-in (Data Analysis, Conclusion) – Thursday
• Classroom Science Fair – March 3rd
• School Science Fair – March 6th

Multicultural Dinner Theater – tomorrow

SPCA Used Book Sale – February 16th – 20th

Looking for some resources to help with your Science Fair projects? Look no further!

Science Fair Project Logbook – Exemplar

• Filling our your logbook is difficult for many students, especially if you are unsure of some of the vocabulary. Take a look at this example project created by Ms. Barrington. She included research, variables, materials, etc. for her experiment. By reading through the example, you may have a better idea of how to finish your own logbook.

Possible Science Fair Questions

• Want to know the types of questions a teacher or Science Fair judge might ask you? Take a look at the sample questions. This is great for students who want to practice at home!

Science Fair Display Board Sample

• You’ve finished your logbook, completed your trials, but now what? Take a look at this sample of how this student set up their trifold board. This is also a great resource for students who are wanting to organize other displays or posters.

WBRSF Elementary Judging Rubric

• Want to know what the judges are looking for? This is the rubric that we will be using in our classroom, at school, and at the Regional Science Fair. Make sure that you feel that you have included or worked on all of the existing elements. You also have a paper copy in your logbooks!

Science Buddies: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_guide_index.shtml

• Want some advice on how to write a strong hypothesis, procedure, conclusion, etc.? Check out the Project Guide on Science Buddies for some great tips!

Don’t forget, Science Fair projects are due on March 3rd!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math:

• Math Help – Wednesdays from 3:00 – 4:00 pm
• Practice multiplication (mastering 2x, 4x, and 8x tables)

Science:

• Science Fair Check-in (Data Analysis, Conclusion) – Thursday
• Classroom Science Fair – March 3rd
• School Science Fair – March 6th

Multicultural Dinner Theater – February 19th

SPCA Used Book Sale – February 16th – 20th

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math:

• Math Help – Wednesdays from 3:00 – 4:00 pm
• Practice multiplication (mastering 2x, 4x, and 8x tables)
• Pg. 118 #1-5

Science:

• Science Fair Check-in (Data Collection) – Thursday
• Classroom Science Fair – March 3rd

Parent-Teacher Interviews – February 11th and 12th (register at http://timberlea.fmpsdschools.ca/)

Book Fair – February 9th-12th

Multicultural Dinner Theater – February 19th

SPCA Used Book Sale – February 16th – 20th

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math:

• No Math Help today due to Parent-Teacher Interviews
• Practice multiplication (mastering 2x, 4x, and 8x tables)
• Pg. 118 #1-5

Science:

• Science Fair Check-in (Data Collection) – Thursday
• Classroom Science Fair – March 3rd

Parent-Teacher Interviews – February 11th and 12th (register at http://timberlea.fmpsdschools.ca/)

Book Fair – February 9th-12th

Valentine’s Celebration – tomorrow

Multicultural Dinner Theater – February 19th

SPCA Used Book Sale – February 16th – 20th (bring donations this week)

Did You Know…? Many species of moth feed on the tears of larger animals. Tears are a surprisingly nutritious broth of water, salt and protein.

Good afternoon,

Today students started recording their responses to their Problem of the Day in a Math journal. Students have always been responsible for answering a Math Problem of the Day each morning. Now students are responsible to record the problem, record their work, record any corrections, and to explain their Math reasoning. We are using the following template to help us:

We will be doing a Math journal entry every day Monday-Thursday from now on. They won’t always be answering Problem of the Day questions, so stay tuned to see some of our new entries!

In Math today we began a cumulative review of Units 1-3. We will be reviewing the main topics covered in our Patterns and Equations, Whole Numbers and Estimation, and Multiplication and Division units before we move on to Measurement. Today students review equations and expressions, and will be assigned some practice questions tomorrow on those topics.

In Language Arts today students continued to practice their creating images reading strategy. This is a strategy that we began exploring before the winter break, and that we wanted to explore a little more in depth before moving on to a new strategy. Today students practiced visualizing. We read through some descriptive passages together, and students were asked to create a movie in their head of what they could see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. Afterwards they shared their responses with the class. As a challenge, each group was assigned a descriptive passage and asked to work together to draw a comic version of their passage. This is a great way to communicate some of the things students could see, hear, feel, touch, and taste, and they all worked very hard to finish them today. Check them out below. Hint… this might be a clue to our upcoming February Novel Study!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math:

• No Math Help tomorrow due to Parent-Teacher Interviews
• Practice multiplication (mastering 2x, 4x, and 8x tables)

Science:

• Science Fair Check-in (Data Collection) – Thursday
• Classroom Science Fair – March 3rd

Parent-Teacher Interviews – February 11th and 12th (register at http://timberlea.fmpsdschools.ca/)

Book Fair – February 9th-12th

Valentine’s Celebration – February 12th

Multicultural Dinner Theater – February 19th

SPCA Used Book Sale – February 16th – 20th (bring donations this week)

Did You Know…? The Viking Leif Erikson got to America about 500 years before Columbus. He landed in Canada around 1000 AD and called it the Vinland.

Today we started editing our first drafts of last week’s paragraphs. Students have been doing a great job at starting to look for capitals, end punctuation, etc. in their work. That’s why this is the last time we are using this checklist. Our next editing week will have something added to it. Keep the challenges coming!

Don’t forget, our school is hosting a Multicultural Dinner Theater, Thursday, February 19th. There will be student performers from Grs. 4-6 taking part in the dramatic production, and dinner includes hummus with pita bread, Italian salad, perogies, paneer, chickpea curry with rice, and assorted sweets. Tickets can be purchased at school from Mrs. Dube. They are $5 for children under 5 years, $10 for children between 6-18 years, and $15 for adults.

We are also looking for parent volunteers that may be available to help with the preparation and cooking for the above Dinner Theater. Experience with food handling is appreciated, but not necessary. The Dinner Theater will take place from 5:30-7:00 pm and food preparation will take place at Timberlea School beginning at 12:00 pm. If you are available to help make any of the food, please contact Mrs. Power at karla.power@fmpsd.ab.ca for more information. Thanks in advance for your help!

The SPCA committee will also be having a used book sale the week of February 16-20. We will be collecting gently used books this week (February 9-12). All proceeds will go to the Fort McMurray SPCA.

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math:

• Math Help – Wednesdays from 3:00 – 4:00 pm
• Practice multiplication (mastering 2x, 4x, and 8x tables)

Science:

• Science Fair Check-in (Data Collection) – Thursday
• Classroom Science Fair – March 3rd

Parent-Teacher Interviews – February 11th and 12th (register at http://timberlea.fmpsdschools.ca/)

Book Fair – February 9th-12th

Valentine’s Celebration – February 12th

Multicultural Dinner Theater – February 19th

SPCA Used Book Sale – February 16th – 20th (bring donations this week)

Did You Know…? If every vampire fed once a month and turned their victim into a vampire, all humans would be vampires within two and a half years.

Good evening,

Today students continued to work on our Math tessellations that we began earlier in January. Students finished their tessellation using a multiplication fact. Other students worked on creating tessellations using division facts. Check out the pictures below to see samples of some of our work! Remember, students have a Math test on Monday. Please ensure that your student finds time to review this weekend. They can study in one of the following ways:

• Textbook – try some practice questions from each lesson
• Mathletics – all students can access their www.mathletics.ca accounts from home
• Study Sheet – try the following study sheet for some sample questions (Multiplication and Division Study Guide)

In Science today students worked in groups to build circuits. We were testing different configurations of circuits to determine whether or not we had built a complete circuit. To do this we used a lightbulb, a wire, and a 1.5 V battery. What we discovered is that the circuit is complete if the negative terminal is connected to the positive terminal of the battery. However, they have to be connected using a conductor of electricity! For the lightbulb to light up, it must be part of this complete circuit. This means that we have to properly connect the lightbulb at both the threaded metal base and the lead tip. Want to keep practicing at home? You can use the program that I used on the board in class by clicking on the following link: http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/circuit-construction-kit-dc .

Our classroom will be having a Valentine’s celebration on Thursday of next week (February 12th). We will be having a small classroom party. Students are welcome, but do not have to, bring valentines cards on Thursday, but please ensure that students bring enough to include everyone in our classroom. We have 26 students in our classroom, and students took home a list of first names today. On Monday we will be learning some Valentine’s related French vocabulary and making French valentines. Thursday morning we will be doing some Valentine’s themed Language Arts and Math activities. Thursday afternoon we will be having some healthy snacks and watching a movie. We are having a small classroom challenge to see which student can prepare the most creative healthy snack. For some ideas and suggestions see the links below or visit my Pinterest Board (https://www.pinterest.com/arb5/school-parties/) or the Timberlea Pinterest Page (https://www.pinterest.com/timberleaschool/). Please do not feel that students need to bring in something on Thursday, they do not. I’ve also provided a list of potential movies that we may be watching, they are: The Thief and the Cobbler, The Pebble and the Penguin, Shrek, and The Tale of Despereaux. If you have a strong preference for one of the movies or would prefer that your student does NOT watch one of the above, please let me know as soon as possible and I will plan accordingly.

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math:

• Math Help – Wednesdays from 3:00 – 4:00 pm
• Practice multiplication (mastering 2x, 4x, and 8x tables)
• Unit Test (Monday)
• Pgs. 110-11 #1-3, 5, 6

Science:

•  Science Fair Check-in (Data Collection) – Thursday
• Classroom Science Fair – March 3rd

French:

• Clothing Assignment (Monday)

Parent-Teacher Interviews – February 11th and 12th (register at http://timberlea.fmpsdschools.ca/)

Book Fair – February 9th-12th

Valentine’s Celebration – February 12th

Did You Know…? Cockroaches predate dinosaurs by at least 100 million years.

Good evening,

Today students completed their weekly paragraph. This week students were challenged to write about their favourite subject or why Toque Tuesday is important. Next week we will be editing and publishing new paragraphs. That means we will be able to do some work with the paragraphs we published last week. Those paragraphs will come off the publishing board, peer edited, and then placed in students new writing folders. Keep an eye out for activities involving these paragraphs later in the year! Remember… we’ve only written 3 drafts of these paragraphs. We aren’t even close to the number of drafts that they made in the Austin’s Butterfly video!

In Math today, students worked on solving problems that involve multiplication and division. We have our Unit Test on Monday. Please make sure students are taking the time this weekend to review. Need an idea on where to find study ideas? Try mathletics. All students have had new activities added to their accounts. Students can also be using their textbooks to study. Try and solve some of the practice questions from each lesson. Finally, students will be getting the following study guide tomorrow. It has a sample of the kinds of questions students might see on the test. If you can answer these questions, you can be confident that you are prepared. Feel free to print out a copy tonight to get a head start!

Multiplication and Division Study Guide

In Science today, we started Electricity. Students were introduced to some of the safety considerations that we have to consider when using electricity. To help us, we watched these videos:

Then we conducted our first experiment. Students were each given 1.5 V batteries and a wire. Once students had connected the negative and positive terminals of their batteries, the wire started to heat up. Some of the wires actually became hot to the touch! That’s because their was no load. Without a load, the electrons move extremely quickly through the wire. This movement causes friction. Too much friction can cause wires to heat. This is a safety consideration and can lead to electrical fires. Our next experiment… to cause a small electrical fire. Students were asked to consider what would happen if we changed the materials from the first experiment. In our first experiment we used copper wires that were covered with an insulator. Even though the wires get hot, the insulator adds some protection around the wire. What if the material wasn’t able to withstand the amount of friction created by the movement of electrons? We conducted our second experiment using some steel wool. When the electrons try and pass from the negative terminal to the positive terminal through the steel wool, it catches on fire! Electrons move too quickly when passing through the steel wool, causing a lot of heat. The steel wool is not as durable as the copper wire, and catches fire from the heat. This was a fun experiment, but not one we should conduct at home without supervision! Next up… circuits!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math:

• Math Help – Wednesdays from 3:00 – 4:00 pm
• Practice multiplication (mastering 2x, 4x, and 8x tables)
• Unit Test (Monday)
• Pgs. 110-11 #1-3, 5, 6

Science:

•  Science Fair Check-in (Procedures, Materials, Variables) – tomorrow
• Classroom Science Fair – March 3rd

French:

• Clothing Assignment (Monday)

Friday – Pajama Day (final donations)

Parent-Teacher Interviews – February 11th and 12th (register at http://timberlea.fmpsdschools.ca/)