“Today is an ephemeral ghost… A strange amazing day that comes only once every four years. For the rest of the time it does not “exist.” In mundane terms, it marks a “leap” in time, when the calendar is adjusted to make up for extra seconds accumulated over the preceding three years due to the rotation of the earth. A day of temporal tune up! But this day holds another secret—it contains one of those truly rare moments of delightful transience and light uncertainty that only exist on the razor edge of things, along a buzzing plane of quantum probability… A day of unlocked potential. Will you or won’t you? Should you or shouldn’t you? Use this day to do something daring, extraordinary and unlike yourself. Take a chance and shape a different pattern in your personal cloud of probability!”
― Vera Nazarian

Happy Leap Day!

Today we started with our 5x tables quiz. Students are now working on their 12x tables, which are the last that we will be working on. After this, we will be working on Multiplication Olympics. Stay tuned for more details!

Students were assigned to new Spelling groups today, based on recent assessment. Check in the front of student agendas to see students new group. That means that we also received new Spelling words:

The Green Group has not been assigned any words this week. This is because I need to complete another assessment with these students to gain some more knowledge about their skills before I assign them to their new group.

Our Healthy Bake Sale today was a success! We have raised $70 so far. Tomorrow we are going to sell our remaining items to see if we can make it to our goal of $100. Remember, friends and family can also donate online at: http://support.ontariospca.ca/site/TR/CupcakeDay/Cupcake16?px=1475942&pg=personal&fr_id=1610. Spread the word!

In Art today we have moved on to Form. This is an element of Art that we have already begun exploring with our most recent project – using line to make our 2-D trees appear more 3-D. Today we started with changing a 2-D object (paper) into a 3-D object (sculpture). We did some origami! We used the following Art Hub for Kids video to help create some pretty cute origami fish! Check out the pictures below:

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts:

• Book Club Books – tomorrow!

Math:

• 12x Tables Quiz – Friday

Science:

• Data Analysis/Conclusion Check-In – February 29th
• Classroom Science Fair – March 7th (Monday!)

Health:

• Home Activity 3B (FRIENDS)

Grade 5/6 Floor Hockey – No Floor Hockey until April

STEM Club – Monday, Thursday 3:00-4:00 pm

Grade 5/6 Basketball – Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm

Did You Know…? Schubert slept with his glasses on in case he got an idea during the night.

Good afternoon,

Today our Grade 4 students had a quick review of how to multiply by 0, 1, and 10. This was not the trickiest lesson we have had this year because we have already been learning about and practicing our times tables. However, students did have time to practice. Any work not finished in class will be brought home for homework.

In Language Arts today we had a grammar lesson. Earlier this year we had been learning about nouns and proper nouns. Today we discussed plural nouns. Students quickly realized that to make most nouns plural you simply add -e or -es. However, what about irregular plural nouns? We came up with a few examples:

Then the students helped to complete a few more:

We also illustrated a few examples:

In Social Studies today we continued to work on our Regions projects. I did not send home Regions projects for homework over Teacher’s Convention Break as previously discussed. I told the students that if they worked on homework over the break I wanted them to focus on their Science Fair projects. That means that we will continue working on our projects in class when we return. They will likely be sent home at the end of our first week back.

We also had our Virtue of the Month Assembly today. This month’s virtue is Kindness. Congratulations to our Virtue winners this month: Kylie, Shawn, Kaleb, Safiya, and Alex H. Keep up the great work!

Today we discussed Instagram as a class. Some of the students mentioned that they thought it was cool that Mr. Rutledge’s class has an Instagram account. So… now so do we! If you would like to follow our class on Instagram, click on the icon on the side links or follow Bob the 4/5M Frog @bobfrogm on Instagram. I’ll be posting a few pictures each week featuring some of the work our class is doing. Sorry! Bob will be posting some pictures each week featuring some the work our class is doing. Remember, before having ANY social media accounts, you need to ask your parents permission!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Math:

• Grade 4: pg. 88-89 #1-5, 9, 10
• 10x Tables Quiz – Monday, February 29th

Science:

• Data Analysis/Conclusion Check-In – February 29th
• Classroom Science Fair – March 7th

Health:

• Home Activity 3B (FRIENDS)

National Cupcake Day – February 29th (see SPCA Project page)

Grade 5/6 Floor Hockey – Wednesday, 3:00-4:00 pm

STEM Club – Monday, 3:00-4:00 pm

Grade 5/6 Basketball – Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm

Did You Know…? Entrance to the Tower of London used to be free if you brought a dog or a cat to feed to the lions.

Good evening,

We had a busy day in Gr. 4/5M. Our Gr. 4 students continued to apply their new knowledge of doubling as a multiplication strategy today by practicing with some word problems. Tomorrow we move on to a new strategy. Unfinished work from class may be brought home for homework.

In Health today we returned to working in our FRIENDS books. Today we started to discuss relaxation and how important it can be to reduce stress and anxiety. This strongly relates to all the work we have been doing with Mindfulness! Today we practiced two new relaxation strategies that we can use. Both of them had students tense and relax their muscles. Some students really enjoyed this new strategy, but some students didn’t like how tensing their muscles made them feel afterwards. These students would be better served to keep practicing deep breathing, etc. instead. We also discussed some of the physical signs of stress that we might see in our bodies like trembling knees, hands, dry mouth, headache, dizziness, etc. Students are bring home some homework over the break. They are being asked to complete some relaxation exercises with their families. They are completing a menu as part of Home Activity 3B. Find some time over the next week to get outside or play inside as a family so that your student can share some of the ways that they found time to take a break and relax.

In Science today our Grade 5 students did some review on what we have learned about switches. Switches provide a safe and easy way to open and close a switch. We don’t want circuits to be connected at all times, think of the power we would waste! When the switch is open, electricity is unable to flow through the circuit; the circuit is incomplete. We added this review to our Interactive Notebooks. Students also started experimenting with wiring batteries and light bulbs in series. The Grade 4 students completed an experiment on wheels and axles. Today we experimented with moving the placement of the axle. We found that if the axle is off-centre, the “box” goes up and down and takes a great deal of effort to move. Placing the axle in the centre allows the “box” to easily move forward. We als added this to our Interactive Notebooks.

In Language Arts today we continued to work on writing our Persuasive Letters on whether or not junk food should be banned in schools. Students who did not finish their writing today in class have been asked to complete it tonight for homework. Tomorrow we will be editing, revising, and publishing these pieces.

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts:

• Book Club Reading (schedules on Reading page) – Due February 19th
• POWER Writing – due tomorrow

Math:

• Grade 4: pg. 85 #7-10
• 10x Tables Quiz – Monday, February 29th

Science:

• Data Analysis/Conclusion Check-In – February 29th
• Classroom Science Fair – March 7th

Health:

• Home Activity 3B (FRIENDS)

Pink Shirt Day – Friday February 19th

National Cupcake Day – February 29th (see SPCA Project page)

Grade 5/6 Floor Hockey – Wednesday, 3:00-4:00 pm

STEM Club – Monday, 3:00-4:00 pm

Grade 5/6 Basketball – Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm

Did You Know…? In the Polish version of Scrabble, the letter Z is worth one point.

Good evening,

Today the Gr. 4 students continued to work with doubling as a multiplication strategy. Any unfinished work has been brought home for homework.

In Language Arts today, all students worked in their POWER Writing duotangs. Students finished organizing and many began planning a persuasive letter. Our topic is, “Should School Ban Junk Food?” Remember what we learned in class today Grade 4/5; it isn’t enough to have an opinion, you need to back it up! You need a strong argument that you can defend with ideas and details. We will continue working on this piece of writing throughout the week. Students also got some feedback on a previous piece of writing and added them to their new writing portfolios. We will be revisiting these portfolios throughout the year to continue practicing editing and revising.

In French today, we learned about some important people in our school:

• Ami(e) – Friend (extra e for girls)
• Camarades de classe – Classmates
• Professeur – Teacher
• Directeur/directrice – Principal (Male/Female)

We are going to be making some trading cards highlighting some of these people next week!

We also participated in Yoga Day today in remembrance of Mrs. Jamieson. Thanks for the great attitudes everyone!

We are working on our culminating projects on our Regions in Social Studies. Students had time to work on them today and will get more time on Friday. To view the project and expectations at home, visit our Social page on Regions/Mapping.

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts:

• Book Club Reading (schedules on Reading page) – Due February 19th
• POWER Writing (Planning/Organizing) – due tomorrow
• Words in Motion Poetry Contest – extended (due Feb. 18th)

Math:

• Grade 4: pg. 84 #1-5
• 5x Tables Quiz – Thursday

Science:

• Data Analysis/Conclusion Check-In – February 29th
• Classroom Science Fair – March 7th

Pink Shirt Day – Friday February 19th

National Cupcake Day – February 29th (see SPCA Project page)

Grade 5/6 Floor Hockey – Wednesday, 3:00-4:00 pm

STEM Club – Monday, 3:00-4:00 pm

Grade 5/6 Basketball – Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm

Hello Families,

Students in Classroom 4/5M are getting excited about our fundraising for Cupcake Day in support of the SPCA!  Our class will be holding a Healthy Bake Sale on the 100th Day of school, February 29th, 2016. Our goal is to raise $100 on the 100th Day! We are hoping to have some students and volunteers who will be able to help us bake enough muffins to meet our goal. Families who are unable to bake but would still like to participate can donate fruit for fruit cups that we will also be selling. Students will be supervised and assisted by teaching staff as they sell their healthy treats in the atrium on February 29th. Students who are not able to bake or bring fruit will still be participating by helping to plan, organize, and run the event.  

Students have brought home a form in the Agenda tonight asking families to indicate how they will be helping contribute to this project. The sooner I get those forms back, the sooner we can finalize our plans. Thanks everyone!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts:

• Book Club Reading (schedules on Reading page) – Due February 19th
• Words in Motion Poetry Contest – extended (due Feb. 18th)

Math:

• Grade 5: pg. 130 #2-8
• 5x Tables Quiz – Thursday

Science:

• Data Analysis/Conclusion Check-In – February 29th
• Classroom Science Fair – March 7th

French:

• Colours, Shapes, Numbers 0-31 Quiz – February 17th

Pink Shirt Day – Friday February 19th

National Cupcake Day – February 29th (see above)

Grade 5/6 Floor Hockey – Wednesday, 3:00-4:00 pm

STEM Club – Monday, 3:00-4:00 pm

Grade 5/6 Basketball – Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm

 

Did You Know…? All rose petals are edible, and can be used to make milkshakes, sherbet, cake, cookies and sauces.

Good afternoon,

We had a busy day today. In Math, our Grade 4 students completed their Unit Problem for Whole Numbers. Our Unit Problem was a project that students were working on in pairs. Students chose a region of Alberta and researched 8 animals from their region. They were then asked to write the weight of their animal in multiple forms (eg. standard, rounded, expanded, etc.) and to list their animals in order of smallest to largest. Students also completed an Animal Profile on one of their animals, researching the weight and size of their animal and expressing them in multiple forms. Partners then combined their animals into a new creature, using addition and subtraction to help calculate their new weight and sizes. This was a really fun project, and I was very pleased with everyone’s efforts. Tuesday… on to Multiplication and Division!

In Science today, the Gr. 5 students completed an experiment on switches that they have been working on. Students were challenged to create their own switch from a file card, two paper clips, and tinfoil. I can’t wait to see everyone’s creative designs! The Gr. 4 students continued to compare and contrast rollers/wheels. Today we learned that a wheel travels a further distance (for one rotation) than the smaller axle. Want to know more? Check out this video below:

In Social Studies today, both the Gr. 4 and the Gr. 5 students started to put our research on our regions to good use. We started our final project today. You can check them out below:

Train Tour of Alberta

Train Tour of Canada

Students are pretending to travel across either Alberta (Grade 4) or Canada (Grade 5). Students need to draw a picture of their region and write a letter home about the following:

• where they are
• what they are doing
• a major landform or body of water
• the climate (weather)
• the people

Students will be given more time next week to work on these projects. After that, they will be coming home for homework.

In Computers today, students completed the “Tell them From Me Survey” that the Alberta Government asks students in Grs. 4-6 to complete each year. This survey is mandatory but is completely anonymous. The results are used to help schools and school districts plan school growth plans, etc.

Tell them From Me Survey – https://alberta.ourschool.net/login.htm

This afternoon we had our Classroom Celebration. Thank you to everyone that brought in snacks or sent cards with their students. I really appreciate the generosity and support. The students and I had fun outside with our snow painting. It was also fun to be able to watch a little bit of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” We of course couldn’t watch it all… not until we are done the book!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts:

• Book Club Reading (schedules on Reading page)
• Words in Motion Poetry Contest – extended (due Feb. 18th)

Math:

• Grade 5: pgs. 50-53 in workbook
• 5x Tables Quiz – Tuesday

Science:

• Data Collection Check-In – February 16th
• Classroom Science Fair – March 7th

French:

• 3rd attempt for La Politesse Quiz – MOVED to TUESDAY
• Colours, Shapes, Numbers 0-31 Quiz – February 17th

Family Valentine’s Dance – February 11th, 6:00-8:00 pm, School Gym (entrance by donation)

National Cupcake Day – February 29th (Details TBD)

Grade 5/6 Floor Hockey – Wednesday, 3:00-4:00 pm

STEM Club – Monday, 3:00-4:00 pm (STEM CLUB WILL BE HELD ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16th NEXT WEEK DUE TO FAMILY DAY)

Grade 5/6 Basketball – Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm

Another short post due to parent-teacher interviews. Sorry!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts:

• Book Club Reading (schedules on Reading page)
• Words in Motion Poetry Contest – extended (due Feb. 18th)

Math:

• Grade 5: get test signed
• 5x Tables Quiz – Tuesday

Science:

• Data Collection Check-In – February 16th
• Classroom Science Fair – March 7th

French:

• 3rd attempt for La Politesse Quiz -Thursday
• Colours, Shapes, Numbers 0-31 Quiz – February 17th

Parent Teacher Interviews – February 9, 10th (sign up at http://timberlea.fmpsdschools.ca/)

Classroom Celebration – Thursday (students welcome to bring snacks, bring water bottles)

Family Valentine’s Dance – February 11th, 6:00-8:00 pm, School Gym (entrance by donation)

National Cupcake Day – February 29th (Details TBD)

Grade 5/6 Floor Hockey – Wednesday, 3:00-4:00 pm

STEM Club – Monday, 3:00-4:00 pm

Grade 5/6 Basketball – Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm

Short post tonight because of parent-teacher interviews, sorry!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts:

• Book Club Reading (schedules on Reading page)
• Words in Motion Poetry Contest – extended (due Feb. 18th)

Math:

• Grade 5: pg. 124 #1-5
• 5x Tables Quiz – Tuesday

Science:

• Data Collection Check-In – February 16th
• Classroom Science Fair – March 7th

French:

• 3rd attempt for La Politesse Quiz -Thursday
• Colours, Shapes, Numbers 0-31 Quiz – February 17th

Parent Teacher Interviews – February 9, 10th (sign up at http://timberlea.fmpsdschools.ca/)

Classroom Celebration – Thursday (students welcome to bring snacks, bring water bottles)

Family Valentine’s Dance – February 11th, 6:00-8:00 pm, School Gym (entrance by donation)

National Cupcake Day – February 29th (Details TBD)

Grade 5/6 Floor Hockey – Wednesday, 3:00-4:00 pm

STEM Club – Monday, 3:00-4:00 pm

Grade 5/6 Basketball – Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm

Did You Know…? In Portuguese, Brazil nut pods are called ouricos, or ‘hedgehogs’.

Just a few updates on things occurring in our classroom and at school this week. The first is a reminder to parents that parent-teacher interviews take place this week: February 9th and 10th. Interviews on February 9th will be from 5:00-8:00 pm, and interviews on February 10th will be from 3:30-6:30 pm. Parents do need to register for parent-teacher interviews online at http://timberlea.fmpsdschools.ca/ as in previous years. If you are having difficulties registering, let me know and I will do my best to assist you. Please keep in mind that each appointment is only scheduled to be 10 minutes. To meet with everyone in as timely a manner as possible, I will be doing my best to keep each interview within 10 minutes. If you have questions or concerns that you feel need further discussion, we can always set up another time to meet and address your concerns. Also keep in mind that as there is no break between appointments, it is likely that throughout the evening that teachers may become slightly behind. Please be patient, I will do my very best to keep the appointments as close to the scheduled time as possible and to see everyone in the order that they have booked their appointment.

Our school will be having a Family Valentine’s Day Dance on February 11th from 6:00-8:00 pm. Entrance will be by donation to our Gr. 6 Edmonton trip. As with previous family dances, students from ECDP to Gr. 5 will need to have a parent or guardian bring them to and supervise them throughout the dance. Students cannot be dropped off and picked up at a later time. Our STEM Club will also be running a Photo Booth in order to take Family Photos. These photos will be made available to parents and families through our school website the following week.

Finally, our class will have a small classroom Valentine’s celebration on February 11th. If your student is planning on bringing Valentines for the class, we ask that they bring a Valentine for each student in the class so that all students can celebrate and be included in our celebration equally. I emailed home a list of first names for the students in our class, for parents who will be helping their student to address Valentines ahead of time. Bringing Valentines to school is of course optional, and not in any way mandatory. Students are also welcome to bring APPLE School appropriate snacks to share with the class. I emailed home a document from our APPLE School coordinator, Mrs. White, with some healthy Valentine’s Day snack ideas. You can also refer to our classroom (https://www.pinterest.com/ abarrington0788/) or Timberlea (https://www.pinterest.com/ timberleaschool/) Pinterest pages for ideas. As always, students do not need to bring in snacks to participate in our celebrations. Snacks are appreciated but not mandatory in any way. Students will be creating French Valentines during our French classes this week and will be participating in some classroom party games on Thursday. If you do not want your student to participate in our Valentine’s celebrations, please let me know as soon as possible so that I can make the necessary adjustments or accommodations for your student.

See you at Parent-Teacher Interviews!

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts:

• Book Club Reading (schedules on Reading page)
• Words in Motion Poetry Contest – extended (due Feb. 18th)

Math:

• 5x Tables Quiz – Tuesday

Science:

• Data Collection Check-In – February 16th
• Classroom Science Fair – March 7th

French:

• Colours, Shapes, Numbers 0-31 Quiz – February 17th

Parent Teacher Interviews – February 9, 10th (sign up at http://timberlea.fmpsdschools.ca/)

Family Valentine’s Dance – February 11th, 6:00-8:00 pm, School Gym (entrance by donation)

National Cupcake Day – February 29th (Details TBD)

Grade 5/6 Floor Hockey – Wednesday, 3:00-4:00 pm

STEM Club – Monday, 3:00-4:00 pm

Grade 5/6 Basketball – Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm

Did You Know…? Ambisinistrous is the opposite of ambidextrous – being no good with either hand.

Good afternoon,

Our Grade 4 students had a test on Whole Numbers today. Students are actually bringing home their Math test this evening. Take a look at the test this weekend with your student and then please sign and return the tests to me. Any questions or concerns can be sent to me via email or shared at Parent-Teacher Interviews next week!

In Language Arts today, students completed their revision of their paragraphs on which season they would like to see all year long. Students were asked to make sure that they had finished these paragraphs and were given time today to revise them using their editing checklist:

Questions	YES	NO	CORRECTED
1. Did I re-read my writing to check for mistakes?
2. Did I start each sentence with a capital letter?
3. Did I end each sentence with a period, an exclamation point, or a question mark?
4. Did I space my words and write neatly?
5. Did I indent at the beginning of each paragraph?

After editing their paragraphs, we were actually able to type and publish our writing today as well during our Computer time. I’m excited to see some of the improvements that I’m already seeing in student writing since we published our first paragraphs. We also started a new writing activity today called “POWER” writing. POWER stands for:

• P – lan
• O – rganize
• W – rite
• E – dit
• R – evise

This is all about practicing and making a writing process a part of our routine when we write; which will help us to make sure that we are turning in a draft that truly represents our best work. Today we started a piece of POWER writing using a video prompt to get us started. The prompt asked students to consider, “Should schools ban junk food?” Today students started the P section of POWER writing – Planning. Take a look at my planning page below:

You can see that I thought about my audience, 3 reasons for my opinion, and tried to come up with some initial ideas to defend my opinion. I can’t wait to move on to O – organization, next week to get my ideas in order and to stretch them out a bit. I am really excited to see students’ opinions on this topic. I know we had quite a few students who strongly disagreed with me. I can’t wait to read your defense!

The Gr. 5 class had a presentation today from Canadian Mental Health on Internet Safety. Take some time this weekend to discuss with your student some of the information that they would have learned in this presentation and to consider if there are any choices or decisions that you can make as a family to make sure that your student is being responsible and safe online.

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Language Arts:

• Book Club Reading (schedules on Reading page)
• POWER writing – Planning Page (Monday)
• Words in Motion Poetry Contest – extended (due Feb. 18th)

Math:

• 11x Tables Quiz – Monday

Science:

• Gr. 5 – left-hand pages, interactive notebooks (Monday)
• Data Collection Check-In – February 16th
• Classroom Science Fair – March 7th

French:

• Colours, Shapes, Numbers 0-31 Quiz – February 17th

Parent Teacher Interviews – February 9, 10th (sign up at http://timberlea.fmpsdschools.ca/)

Family Valentine’s Dance – February 11th, 6:00-8:00 pm, School Gym (entrance by donation)

National Cupcake Day – February 29th (Details TBD)

Grade 5/6 Floor Hockey – Wednesday, 3:00-4:00 pm

STEM Club – Monday, 3:00-4:00 pm

Grade 5/6 Basketball – Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm