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!

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

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!

Science Quiz

Hello all!

We have been learning about light in science the past couple weeks and we have a quiz coming up on Thursday. The quizzes aren't long and are made up of matching, multiple choice, fill in the blank and true/false questions. There will be a short quiz at the end of each chapter we do! I will try to update the blog and review what the quiz is covering each time so that there aren't any questions about what should be studied! To study for a quiz it's best if the students know the vocabulary in their science dictionary (located in the duotang), and go over the "review" section of the text book chapter.

Our first quiz is on natural and artificial light which is chapter 4 in our textbook and goes with the corresponding duotang pages. Students should know the differences between the two and be able to give examples of both. It will consist of:

7 questions - given light sources that need to be labelled natural or artificial
1 question - multiple choice
5 questions - true or false
1 question - sentence answer

Halloween!

Tomorrow is Halloween so we will be celebrating at McMillan! I just wanted to give a few reminders about our Halloween expectations! Here at the school our celebrations don't start until after lunch, so students are asked to bring their costume in a bag and will be given time after lunch to change before the events start! At 1:20 we will be doing our annual costume parade through the hallways, heading to the gym where we will dance the MONSTER MASH! Parents are welcome to attend this event and join in! There will be an extra surprise for everyone too! After the monster mash, we will be heading back to our classroom to have some snacks and small class party where the kids can play board games or do activity sheets until the end of the day.

Please remember that replica weapons and scary masks should not be brought to school!

I hope everyone has a very safe and happy Halloween!!

Milton Randall DRUMMING!

Today was such an eventful day for our whole school - especially the grade 4's and 5's! Milton Randall, a percussionist, came and did a Afro-Brazilian Drum Experience! Our class spent some time with him throughout the entire day, practicing a series of drums, chants and dances. He was quite the character and taught the students how to "talk" with the drums! They had a fantastic time learning and then, at the end of the day, they got to present their skills to the entire school!

If you'd like to learn a little more about the musician, Milton Randall, check out this website


And here's a YouTube video of another school taking part in the performance! This video will show essentially what we all got to do today!

You Tube Video


Keep your eyes posted on the McMillan televisions and the year-end slideshow for some pictures! Mr. Bird was snapping them all day!

Have a great weekend!

Salish Weaving!!!

Today we had such a wonderful presentation in class! We had a First Nations presenter come in and teach us all about Salish weaving! The kids had a blast and were really engaged and on-task, working all day on their beautiful creations! The students learned about the variety of materials used in weaving and learned about different patterns and what each pattern means. Then, they got to try their hand at weaving and make their own piece. Students paired up, two to a loom, and worked hard all day on their weaving. Hopefully they are all very proud of what they did, because they looked great! I snapped a few pictures at lunch; I may have missed some since a few students were already done and had their pieces of the looms already. Maybe a few kids can spot theirs!

Place Value Test on Friday

As most of you may know, we have our first math test on Friday - Place Value! The entire class has been showing a good understanding of the concepts so far and should hopefully be very successful on the test! Here are a few things to study!

Students should know how to give me the numbers in standard form

Example: 3,456

They should also know how to represent a number in expanded form

Example: 3000 + 400 + 50 + 6

Another form we have been practicing in class is word form

Example: Three thousand four hundred fifty-six

*For word form there are a few things to remember! We don't use the word "and" when writing out the numbers and spelling does not count! (as long as I can tell what they are trying to write)

Finally, the students may need to represent number in picture form using base ten block drawings

Example: You can view a video and some images of base ten blocks here: http://www.mathatube.com/base-ten-block-understanding.html

Good luck & happy studying!

What can YOU do to achieve this goal?

Today was our final "Post-it note" question - What can you do to achieve your goals? The students thought back to the goal they set on Tuesday and wrote on a Post-it note, sharing a way that they could work towards their goal. I've shared some below!

A goal I have this year is...

Today for our "post-it note" activity, I had the students finish the sentence, "A goal I have this year is...". I loved some of the responses! I think what I like best about this activity is there aren't any names on it so students feel free to be more open about what they write - and it's fun for me to try and guess who sets which goals. I think my favorite one was "to be more like Terry Fox". We've been learning about setting goals in class (for Health & Career) and Terry Fox always ties in so perfectly with this and is a great role model to learn about!

Here are some of their awesome responses!

"All About Me" Lap Book!

On Wednesday of last week, the students were given a criteria page and a file folder (folded into a "lapbook") to complete their homework assignment - the "All About Me" Lap Book! I thought I would post my example on here so that parents at home can see what a lap book looks like and what I'm expecting. Students will do lap books in grade 4 and 5, so this will help them get familiar with the format and how it's put together! I had hoped to have an example to show them sooner, but students never want to leave me theirs to keep as an example because they are such a great keepsake! I finally had some time this weekend so I put one together, which the class will see on Monday :) I hope this helps clarify any questions that you may have!

So here we go! Here is a picture of the front of the lap book. It should have the student's name on the front (doesn't have to be sideways but it's so much easier to make it big and bold this way) and a photo of them. If you are unable to print or find any photos to use for this project, they can do a detailed/colored drawing of themselves!

On the inside of the lap book students should have roughly 5 sections (with headings). They should include one on "Family & Friends" or "Family & Pets" (etc.), one on "All About Me" where they share what is important to them and a little more information about themselves. There should also be three additional sections where they can share about hobbies, interests, sports etc. (Three passions). Here's what the inside of mine looks like when you open up the two front flaps:

The students can arrange the areas however they like, this is just an example! It would be nice if students could include a photograph or two. They can dress it up using drawings, stickers, construction paper or whatever else they like!

Here are some close ups of the different sections in my "All About Me" lap book:

All About Me

Hobby: Stamp Collecting

Hobby: Gardening

Hobby: Traveling

Family