Hello parents!
We have been working on a new social studies project in our classroom. It is the last big project of our grade 4 year. It will be due on Thursday, May 28th. They are creating a poster about a European explorer who came to Canada. Just so there are no questions, I am going to list the expectations of the poster below. Students have an information package with everything they need in their social studies duotang. They have been given 3 large blocks of time with computers (in class) to research and print pictures. Many have used this time well and accomplished a lot. If so, they should be focused on putting together the poster with all their information at home.
Here are the expectations that have been given to students:
*Everything they need is included in the package given to them
The poster must include:
- Name of explorers in big, bold letters
- At least three printed pictures of the explorers (or pictures related to them)
- A hand-drawn flag of the country they came from
- The explorer's date of birth and death
- A world map containing: The route of the explorer's journey, country they came from (coloured in) and area(s) they explored (colored in)
- A paragraph describing their major discoveries and their voyages
- A paragraph describing their family and life before exploring
- Three interesting facts
- Three resources used to collect informaton (websites, books etc.) - these must be listed!
*These are the minimum things a poster should include! Students are welcome to add more information and images
Paragraph Expectations:
Students are including 2 paragraphs (topics listed above). They should have one copy on their poster and HAND IN AND ADDITIONAL COPY. This is so I can mark them without writing all over their posters they worked so hard on! If students are writing them by hand instead of typing/printing, please have them bring it to me so I can make a copy for them before they attach it to their poster (no need to hand write it twice!) Paragraphs should include:
- An indent to begin the paragraph
- An INTERESTING introduction sentence that grabs your readers attention
- 8-10 sentences long (including introduction and conclusion sentences)
- End with a conclusion sentence
- Edited for correct punctuation, spelling and capitalization
GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!
Wednesday, 20 May 2015
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Welcome Back
Welcome Back!! Spring break has come and gone and we are into the third (and final) term of the year! We have lots to look forward to this term. We were pleasantly surprised, when we all came into the classroom on Monday, that our seed potatoes that we planted just before spring break, have sprouted and grown quite substantially! Yesterday we measured them and documented some observations we had. We will continue to do so until they are ready to harvest (and eat!). We finished measuring and observing our daffodils before spring break - and it's probably a good thing we did, since most were picked or broke off over the break! As many of you may have heard, we lost all our alevin right before spring break, so sadly we won't be able to see them turn into fry (this would have begun happening very shortly). But, I think it was still a good learning experience and we will still be dissecting a salmon in the near future! Stay tuned for that!
Today we talked about 3 important goals that our class is going to have for the final term. Our first goal is "Getting homework done on time". This has been a constant struggle for some students and it can be difficult when a student gets behind in homework and needs to get caught up. To inspire them to work towards this goal, I am starting a new homework reward program. I will track who hands in assignments on time. Once 10 assignments have gone by, whoever handed in all 10 will get a prize. The second round will be a little different, as I will be looking to reward not only those who get 10 out or 10, but also those who IMPROVE on the next round.
Our second goal is "Completing work to the best of our ability". I have noticed that some students have not been taking their time on assignments and completing work that is messy and sometimes unlegible. If I cannot read or understand what has been written, it will sometimes needs to be redone. I am hoping students will do their best and apply themselves. Finally, our last goal is "Raising a quiet hand to speak". This is just a reminder for an expectation that was set at the beginning of the year. A few have forgotten and sometimes call out answers or forget to raise their hand respectfully. I'm sure we'll all be working hard towards these goals this term!
Today we talked about 3 important goals that our class is going to have for the final term. Our first goal is "Getting homework done on time". This has been a constant struggle for some students and it can be difficult when a student gets behind in homework and needs to get caught up. To inspire them to work towards this goal, I am starting a new homework reward program. I will track who hands in assignments on time. Once 10 assignments have gone by, whoever handed in all 10 will get a prize. The second round will be a little different, as I will be looking to reward not only those who get 10 out or 10, but also those who IMPROVE on the next round.
Our second goal is "Completing work to the best of our ability". I have noticed that some students have not been taking their time on assignments and completing work that is messy and sometimes unlegible. If I cannot read or understand what has been written, it will sometimes needs to be redone. I am hoping students will do their best and apply themselves. Finally, our last goal is "Raising a quiet hand to speak". This is just a reminder for an expectation that was set at the beginning of the year. A few have forgotten and sometimes call out answers or forget to raise their hand respectfully. I'm sure we'll all be working hard towards these goals this term!
Tuesday, 17 February 2015
Classroom Update! Lots of Exciting Things!
I thought I should do a quick classroom update to share some things that have been (or will be going on in our classroom).
First of all, as many parents probably heard, our salmon eggs have started hatching! We had one alevin hatch yesterday and I'm sure more will begin to follow very soon! We have 110 eggs and have only lost one in the process so far (which is better than normal). So hopefully soon we will have 109 alevin swimming around the tank. We will keep them at a cool 5 degrees so they don't turn into fry and lose their food sac until we are back from Spring Break (once they turn to fry they need to be fed 4 times a day - not very easy when I'm in another country! ;)
Also, we planted daffodil bulbs in the ground this fall. They have been growing fast! We just started measuring and tracking their height on a bar graph today! I wasn't expecting them to come out of the ground so soon and so quickly, so some are already measuring 20 cm tall! We will measure and graph them each week to see how high they can grow and compare the growing rates from week to week.
More exciting news - our class will be planting and harvesting POTATOES! I will be picking the potatoes up this week and once they have had a chance to sprout, we will be planting them in groups! (Right before Spring Break). The students will get to take care of their potato plants; put them out in the sun, water them... and eventually harvest and EAT THEM! This program is great because it teaches students the benefits of growing their own food, how to garden and also shows them how delicious home grown produce can be!
Speaking of food... we have begun trying new fruits and vegetables in class and the students have been eagerly trying the random tastes of fruits and vegetables I have brought in. I have really appreciated all of them being willing to TRY it and for the most part, they have been very open minded to the new tastes! We tried starfruit on Monday, today we tried fennel and tomorrow we will be trying parsnips or beets. There's lots more that we will be trying in the next few weeks.
Finally - the Creative Creatures! Wow! The students all worked so hard and did a fantastic job on their creatures. They really should be proud! They are displayed around our room - so if any parents would like to come have a look, feel free! The students have presented them to their classmates and did a good job answering any extra questions their peers had. On Thursday we have invited Mrs. Pearce's and Mrs. Letendre's classes to come in and view our creatures. This will help us work on public speaking and answering questions. Plus, they worked so hard on them that it will be nice for them to show off their accomplishments!
I took some photos to share on the blog, but sadly the picture upload isn't working - I will try later, or perhaps get them developed for our term books!
First of all, as many parents probably heard, our salmon eggs have started hatching! We had one alevin hatch yesterday and I'm sure more will begin to follow very soon! We have 110 eggs and have only lost one in the process so far (which is better than normal). So hopefully soon we will have 109 alevin swimming around the tank. We will keep them at a cool 5 degrees so they don't turn into fry and lose their food sac until we are back from Spring Break (once they turn to fry they need to be fed 4 times a day - not very easy when I'm in another country! ;)
Also, we planted daffodil bulbs in the ground this fall. They have been growing fast! We just started measuring and tracking their height on a bar graph today! I wasn't expecting them to come out of the ground so soon and so quickly, so some are already measuring 20 cm tall! We will measure and graph them each week to see how high they can grow and compare the growing rates from week to week.
More exciting news - our class will be planting and harvesting POTATOES! I will be picking the potatoes up this week and once they have had a chance to sprout, we will be planting them in groups! (Right before Spring Break). The students will get to take care of their potato plants; put them out in the sun, water them... and eventually harvest and EAT THEM! This program is great because it teaches students the benefits of growing their own food, how to garden and also shows them how delicious home grown produce can be!
Speaking of food... we have begun trying new fruits and vegetables in class and the students have been eagerly trying the random tastes of fruits and vegetables I have brought in. I have really appreciated all of them being willing to TRY it and for the most part, they have been very open minded to the new tastes! We tried starfruit on Monday, today we tried fennel and tomorrow we will be trying parsnips or beets. There's lots more that we will be trying in the next few weeks.
Finally - the Creative Creatures! Wow! The students all worked so hard and did a fantastic job on their creatures. They really should be proud! They are displayed around our room - so if any parents would like to come have a look, feel free! The students have presented them to their classmates and did a good job answering any extra questions their peers had. On Thursday we have invited Mrs. Pearce's and Mrs. Letendre's classes to come in and view our creatures. This will help us work on public speaking and answering questions. Plus, they worked so hard on them that it will be nice for them to show off their accomplishments!
I took some photos to share on the blog, but sadly the picture upload isn't working - I will try later, or perhaps get them developed for our term books!
Monday, 5 January 2015
Welcome Back!
Hello everyone!
I hope you all had a very fun and enjoyable Christmas break! Happy New Year to everyone!
We are already back to our normal routines in the classroom. We will be finishing up our subtraction unit and probably have a test on it in the next week or two in math; we have also begun our "Habitats and Communities" unit in Science. I just set up our fish tank today in preparation for our salmon eggs which should possibly arrive next week! The students are getting very excited and were eager to ask questions today while I was setting up the redd and treated water for our salmons' habitat! We will also begin preparation for our FSA testing which happens in grade 4. It's an assessment for the province that focuses on students abilities in reading, writing and math up to this point. So it will be a busy next couple months!
As you may have heard and seen in the newsletter I sent home during the last week of school, Mrs. Ellison has begun visiting the classroom and is working on slowly returning to do some teaching! Miss D is still teaching full time and still around the school but at times Mrs. Ellison may teach some of the lessons or work with students one-on-one.
As you may have noticed, your child brought home a different version of spelling today. I wanted to go over the new expectations for spelling tests. They will be done this way until June.
1. On Mondays students will have the spelling pretest where they will try all the words. They do not need to study for this test. It is used to see how far they have come in their studying when they complete the actual test on Fridays. Once we complete the pretest, students will mark them and hand them back. Any word spelled incorrectly will be fixed in class and should be carefully written down CORRECTLY.
2. Corrections for the spelling pretest will be due Tuesdays. Students need to write each word 3 times on a new piece of lined paper from their duotang (in pencil!). They should list the corresponding number of the spelling word, then write it out 3 times correctly. Students who get a lot wrong on the pretest may be given permission to write each correction 2 times.
On the bottom or back of the corrections page, students will be asked to also include 3-5 sentences with each sentence using a spelling word CORRECTLY. These are due Wednesdays and will be sent back if any additional corrections need to be made.
3. On Wednesdays, students will be given some time in the mornings to work on their spelling books and the rest will be due for homework on THURSDAY still (I originally said Friday, but it's hard to keep up when kids forget homework that's due on a Friday!). A mark will be assigned for these pages so please make sure students bring them to school on Thursday and don't forget them at home! :)
If you have any questions please feel free to email myself or Mrs. Ellison :)
I hope you all had a very fun and enjoyable Christmas break! Happy New Year to everyone!
We are already back to our normal routines in the classroom. We will be finishing up our subtraction unit and probably have a test on it in the next week or two in math; we have also begun our "Habitats and Communities" unit in Science. I just set up our fish tank today in preparation for our salmon eggs which should possibly arrive next week! The students are getting very excited and were eager to ask questions today while I was setting up the redd and treated water for our salmons' habitat! We will also begin preparation for our FSA testing which happens in grade 4. It's an assessment for the province that focuses on students abilities in reading, writing and math up to this point. So it will be a busy next couple months!
As you may have heard and seen in the newsletter I sent home during the last week of school, Mrs. Ellison has begun visiting the classroom and is working on slowly returning to do some teaching! Miss D is still teaching full time and still around the school but at times Mrs. Ellison may teach some of the lessons or work with students one-on-one.
As you may have noticed, your child brought home a different version of spelling today. I wanted to go over the new expectations for spelling tests. They will be done this way until June.
1. On Mondays students will have the spelling pretest where they will try all the words. They do not need to study for this test. It is used to see how far they have come in their studying when they complete the actual test on Fridays. Once we complete the pretest, students will mark them and hand them back. Any word spelled incorrectly will be fixed in class and should be carefully written down CORRECTLY.
2. Corrections for the spelling pretest will be due Tuesdays. Students need to write each word 3 times on a new piece of lined paper from their duotang (in pencil!). They should list the corresponding number of the spelling word, then write it out 3 times correctly. Students who get a lot wrong on the pretest may be given permission to write each correction 2 times.
On the bottom or back of the corrections page, students will be asked to also include 3-5 sentences with each sentence using a spelling word CORRECTLY. These are due Wednesdays and will be sent back if any additional corrections need to be made.
3. On Wednesdays, students will be given some time in the mornings to work on their spelling books and the rest will be due for homework on THURSDAY still (I originally said Friday, but it's hard to keep up when kids forget homework that's due on a Friday!). A mark will be assigned for these pages so please make sure students bring them to school on Thursday and don't forget them at home! :)
If you have any questions please feel free to email myself or Mrs. Ellison :)
Monday, 1 December 2014
Winter Updates!
Well, December has arrived and there are only three weeks until Christmas vacation. It will be a VERY busy three weeks in our classroom so I thought I'd post with a few updates!
A notice went home today, but just incase any parents didn't recieve it yet - our Grade 4 Christmas Concert will be held on Monday, December 15th at 6:00. We are doing a production with Mrs. Pearce's class of "Santa Goes Green". We will be busy practicing over the next two weeks so we can give our best performances! In the notice, I have asked for some donations of recyclable items, spare Christmas wrapping paper, gift bags and bows, as well as a few additional things. If anyone can have a look over the list and donate whatever you can, it will be GREATLY appreciated! We will be recyling or donating all the items after the concert is finished in two weeks!
Some students are already asking what they should wear, so even though I'll be sending a notice home regarding this next week, I thought I should include it incase any parents have questions too! We don't want anyone to feel the need to go buy anything so please just use what your children have in their closets!
Santa - we will provide a santa costume
Mrs. Claus - wear a dress and apron
Elves - All the elves that have speaking parts (mailroom, workshop & additional elves) will be provided with an elf hat. They can either dress in green or dress in nice clothes (button up shirt, nice pants, dresses etc.) Green shirts with large logos etc. could be turned around or inside out if that works for some students
Choir - everyone else who doesn't have a speaking part will be part of the choir. They can dress in nice clothing (button up shirt, nice pants, dresses etc.). If they would like to wear an elf hat, santa hat or reindeer antlers from home, they are welcome to do so
Again - please don't feel the need to purchase anything - this time of year is expensive enough! :)
Another thing I'd like to remind parents and students about is to DRESS WARMLY! It has been very cold the past few days. Unless it is raining very heavily, the students go outside at recess and lunch. They are expected to have hats, gloves, scarves and jackets (or whatever they need to keep warm). Please make sure your child is leaving the house dressed warmly enough to spend these times outdoors.
Thanks so much! I'm looking forward to our busy, fun, Christmas-y month!
A notice went home today, but just incase any parents didn't recieve it yet - our Grade 4 Christmas Concert will be held on Monday, December 15th at 6:00. We are doing a production with Mrs. Pearce's class of "Santa Goes Green". We will be busy practicing over the next two weeks so we can give our best performances! In the notice, I have asked for some donations of recyclable items, spare Christmas wrapping paper, gift bags and bows, as well as a few additional things. If anyone can have a look over the list and donate whatever you can, it will be GREATLY appreciated! We will be recyling or donating all the items after the concert is finished in two weeks!
Some students are already asking what they should wear, so even though I'll be sending a notice home regarding this next week, I thought I should include it incase any parents have questions too! We don't want anyone to feel the need to go buy anything so please just use what your children have in their closets!
Santa - we will provide a santa costume
Mrs. Claus - wear a dress and apron
Elves - All the elves that have speaking parts (mailroom, workshop & additional elves) will be provided with an elf hat. They can either dress in green or dress in nice clothes (button up shirt, nice pants, dresses etc.) Green shirts with large logos etc. could be turned around or inside out if that works for some students
Choir - everyone else who doesn't have a speaking part will be part of the choir. They can dress in nice clothing (button up shirt, nice pants, dresses etc.). If they would like to wear an elf hat, santa hat or reindeer antlers from home, they are welcome to do so
Again - please don't feel the need to purchase anything - this time of year is expensive enough! :)
Another thing I'd like to remind parents and students about is to DRESS WARMLY! It has been very cold the past few days. Unless it is raining very heavily, the students go outside at recess and lunch. They are expected to have hats, gloves, scarves and jackets (or whatever they need to keep warm). Please make sure your child is leaving the house dressed warmly enough to spend these times outdoors.
Thanks so much! I'm looking forward to our busy, fun, Christmas-y month!
Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Term Books & Parent-Teacher Interviews
Well, our first term is coming to an end! This Wednesday report cards will be sent home and I will be conducting my parent-teacher interviews on Thursday! This week we will be preparing "Term Books" in class which showcase some of the work we have done for the first term. The kids worked hard on them yesterday and we will hopefully be finishing them today! They're a great way to get a glimpse at what we are learning - and also a wonderful keepsake! I have sent schedules home for the interviews, stapled in planners, but please let me know if anything changes and you can no longer make it. A quick email or note in the planner will do. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and discussing the progress each student has been making!
See you soon!
Miss D
See you soon!
Miss D
Monday, 10 November 2014
Math Test & Daffodils!
I just wanted to update everyone, incase there were any questions about the upcoming math test this Friday. The math test is on 4-digit addition with carrying (aka. regrouping). (Example: 8,432 + 3,456). The students have all shown a good understanding of the carrying strategy but should do a little bit of practicing at home. They should continue to check that they have carried (and shown this by placing the 1 above the correct column) and that they have added CORRECTLY. The main reason why students get answers wrong during our math lesson is that they have made simple adding mistakes. Checking answers and practicing flash cards will help them prepare and do well on the math test!
And DAFFODILS!
On a totally separate note, our class planted daffodils in a school garden on Friday. Each student got to plant a bulb and label it with their name. We analyzed the inside of a daffodil bulb and discussed what plants need to grow. The students dug a hole approximately 8 inches deep and made sure to plant the bulb with the roots down so that the plant will grow correctly. They had a great time and took care in finding a spot to put their bulb. We're looking forward to tracking their growth this spring! Here are a few pictures!
And DAFFODILS!
On a totally separate note, our class planted daffodils in a school garden on Friday. Each student got to plant a bulb and label it with their name. We analyzed the inside of a daffodil bulb and discussed what plants need to grow. The students dug a hole approximately 8 inches deep and made sure to plant the bulb with the roots down so that the plant will grow correctly. They had a great time and took care in finding a spot to put their bulb. We're looking forward to tracking their growth this spring! Here are a few pictures!
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