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.

Science1 Science4-2

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