Tuesday, June 25th, 2019
*Science-A special thank you to all of the groups who have presented their discoveries on plastics and composting! We have learned that specific plastic numbers are unsafe to store food and should be avoided! Your research also determined that some plastics may contain toxic chemicals such as BPA and when purchasing items, ensure your plastic containers are BPA Free! Groups also discussed the major issue plaguing our planet today, and our Room 17 scientists agree there is a massive plastic problem that is negatively impacting our oceans and marine life. What steps can you take to reduce the plastic problems?
*Math-Today you received 3D triangular prism nets that you can cut out and build. How are the nets different? What are the mathematical names of each prism?
Monday, June 24th, 2019
-Thank-you Room 17 for an amazing Camp OHS Sports Day! You showed leadership, responsibility and teamwork all through the day. Please teach your parents a new camp song tonight and tell them who the guest speaker was! Share one or two important messages from the guest speaker.
-Please have your Maverick Research Books here tomorrow as we will be finishing typing up our information.
Thursday, June 20th, 2019
*Science-All of our amazing plants went home today! Well done, botanists! You will want to replant your plants in your garden at home, especially the potato plants that are approximately 57 cm tall!
-We continued our research on Waste and Our World using technology where our information is being interpreted, organized and formatted using Google Slides. You and your team will need to be super ready for your presentation date. Two groups are presenting on Friday morning and the rest of our teams will present on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
*Math-How did you determine if the geometric shapes are congruent? If the shape has been transformed, can the second shape be congruent?
Wednesday, June 19th, 2019
*Science-This was an out of this world lab today! We classified our Tomatosphere plants into their two plant seed groups: L and M. We then carefully counted the number of plants that successfully germinated into the dicotyledon stage and discovered the L group had 21 out of 32 successful germinations at 65.6% and the M group had 20 out of 29 successful germinations at 68.9% . We then took a geiger counter which measures the amount of radiation being emitted from the plants and soil. The highest reading came from the M group at 37 counts compared to the L group at 23 counts. Based on both sets of data, we then deducted that group M could have been the group exposed to higher levels of radiation on the ISS. Then we submitted our data into the Tomatosphere website and we were correct-Group M seeds spent one month on the ISS in the Winter of 2017!
*Math-Today we created our own game of congruent 2D shapes where our partner had to determine how many shapes had a congruent matching shape. We transformed the shapes through rotations, flips and slides to discover the actual shape did not change size, just simply moved!
Tuesday, June 18th, 2019
*Math-What is a congruent shape? How do you show that a shape has congruent edges? How did you draw congruent squares this morning? How would you calculate the interior area? Perimeter? Does the shape change if you turn, slide or flip the image?
*Science-We continued our research this morning and discovered further safety issues regarding the use of plastics, where to deposit hazardous waste materials safely in Calgary and items that can be composted into rich soil. If you are researching hazardous waste or composting, your slides will be geared towards your specific disposal of materials. Examples: Where are hazardous materials treated in Alberta? What items/products are labelled hazardous? Where do we place used hazardous materials? What items can be safely composted? Where are materials composted into rich soil in Calgary?
Friday, June 17th, 2019
*Science-Today your team continued your research on composting, hazardous waste or Plastic Identification Number item! You can continue to gather research before next week to add to your Google Slides. Remember to complete your slides to include:
-Introduction Slide-Your Names, Research Topic
-Symbol and Chemical Name
-Products/Items
-Characteristics (Example-squishy, soft, bendable, tough, strong, colored, opaque, etc.)
-Safety-Should the item be heated in the microwave, dishwasher, hot water? Can you safely reuse the item more than once or does plastic molecule leakage occur? Does your plastic contain B.P.A.? Is your number a single use plastic? Plus more!
-Interesting Information that you discovered!
-Other
*Math-In your legend, how are you itemizing the rooms in your new blueprint of your home? How are you documenting the total area of each room? What tools will you need to calculate the perimeter of your home?
Wednesday, June 15, 2019
*Math-Bring your signed Math test back to class this week! This morning we worked on the detailing of the exterior and interior sections of our homes! As an architect, what structures did you include in the exterior of your home to bring in the natural light into your home? To meet fire code, what did you need to include in each room? How will you calculate the area of the hallways in your blueprint?
*Science-Thank you so much to Brynlee for sharing her great photos of Ottawa's recycling and composting bins! What did you and your team discover about your plastic number this morning? Is your plastic safe to heat in the microwave or dishwasher? Can you safely reuse the plastic for storing food?
Tuesday, June 14, 2019
*Math-How are you designing your first home using grid blueprint paper, ruler and your active mind? As an architect how do you capture important additions such as windows, doors, stairs and accordion doors? Mathematically, how will you calculate the area of each room in the interior of your home?
*Science-Through research using technology what important ideas have you discovered about your plastic number? Are all plastics safe to eat food from, babies to teeth on, dogs to chew, heat up in the microwave or accidentally in your car? When we watched Discovery videos this morning on the Great Garbage Patches throughout our oceans, what surprised and shocked you the most? Then we read an important news article regarding our Trudeau government's Waste and our World plans for the year 2021. How will these actions positively impact our planet?
Monday, June 13, 2019
-What buddy activity did we create today? Have you enjoyed the responsibility of being a big buddy? What leadership qualities do you need to be an amazing big buddy? Think of some of your favorite experiences you did with your little buddy and some of your little buddy's best qualities so that you can make them a special thank-you card in the days ahead.
-As we started our Maverick paragraphs we reviewed the importance of a topic sentence and a concluding sentence and having events listed in chronological order to make it easier for our readers to understand.
-What is a Venn diagram used for? Explain your Venn diagram from The Wild Robot today.
Thursday, June 6, 2019
*Math-When you measured the edges of your desk, what did you discover? What unit of measurement did you use for your desk edges, cm or m and why? Which edges of your desk are congruent and which symbols did we use to indicate the edges on your diagram? Why did the designer of your desk place the longer edge with the placement of your desk tray? What happened when you turned your desk and sat at the smaller edge? When you designed the enclosure for a domesticated bunny, how did you calculate the perimeter?
*Science-What did you learn about the world of plastics this morning? How did we determine how to classify the plastics you brought to class? Which identification numbers do scientists use to classify the types of plastic?
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
*Science-Today we completed programming our EV3 robots and we are so proud of our abilities to program the memory brick with our teams! Which maze did your robot successfully navigate? Which challenges did you overcome? What changes to the programming would you recommend?
-Waste and Our World-When you watched the two informative videos on the problems of waste on our planet and the overabundance of plastics in our oceans, which problems do you think need solutions? How are we going to classify the plastics you brought to class? How are the plastics different and what similarities did you observe?
*Math-It was time to study the 24 hour military clock! Why do we need to include 12 more hours on clocks? Which professions use the 24 hour clock everyday and why? What is a quick math trick to calculate the conversion of the 24 hour clock into a 12 hour clock?
-We completed our setting cards for our Book Club. Students should now be completed their title card, first character card and the setting card. We are in a very exciting part of our Read Aloud book The Wild Robot. Tell your family what the climax of the story is! One student replied that this is the same feeling they got watching the Avenger movie so we know the author Peter Brown has done his job creating ultimate suspense and excitement!
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
*Math-Students wrote their multiplication Math test this morning!
-We have previously calculated the item cost for each Summer Fun Kit and kept track of the cost of each item!
This morning we included the GST cost at 5% and calculated the net cost of each bag using traditional multiplication! What is the total GST for each bag?
*Science-This morning we continued our design tasks in robotics! How are you ensuring your robot is able to navigate your maze with accuracy?
-Remember to bring 3-5 plastic items to class tomorrow! Due Wednesday, June 5th.
*Grade 4 Celebration-See you this evening at 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. for our Summer Fun Kit Celebration.
Friday, May 31, 2019
*Science-Today we google searched to discover the information regarding the Air Quality Index. What did we find out regarding Calgary's air quality this morning? Then we watched a news video regarding the forest fires in Northern Alberta. How many people are being evacuated from their homes?
*Math-When you drew the face of a clock, how did you ensure your numbers were corrected placed? How did you match the digital and analogue time of 10:30 a.m.? Where did you draw the short and long hands?
-Remember to study for your Math multiplication test on Tuesday.
*Pancake Breakfast!-We had a lovely pancake breakfast this morning. Thank you so much to the Stampede Team for the tasty pancakes and beef sausage patties! So yummy!
Thursday, May 30th, 2019
*Math-When you team was determining how to move the minute and hour hands on an analogue clock, how did your team achieve success? We then google searched how drawing a clock is used as an important tool to screen people for signs of neurological disorders. We analyzed a number of drawings and discovered how the numbering and placement of numbers varied. What are the signs of dementia and alzheimers? How can we help others?
*Science-Students worked in their teams as we continued the programming of our robots. We also saved our programs onto the desktops or downloads, to ensure our programs are available for the next day.
Remember to search around your home for 3-5 small plastic objects to bring to class by next Wednesday!
Wednesday, May 29th, 2019
*Math-What time is it? When you used the Judy clock this morning, how did you check the hands to ensure your time was correct? What is a great way to memorize which hand is the hour and minute hand? What happens to the hour hand as you increase the amount of minutes within each hour? Why are our clocks 12 or 24 hours in length?
*Science-Today every group had success programming their EV3 robot! From installing straight movements, backwards, various angled turns with sounds, teams are starting to navigate their robot through tight turns to ensure the robot stays within the perimeter of the maze! Well done, engineers!
Tuesday, May 28th, 2019
*Math-Today we continued our learning on how to calculate the quotient of 2-3 digits by 1 digit using long division. Remember to complete the mini study booklet at home to prepare for your multiplication test next Tuesday. Be confident with using the modern box and traditional methods of multiplication, with and without regrouping of 3 digits by 1 digit.
*Science-Today you continued programming your EV3 robot as you worked on a number of movement challenges. How is your group working together to achieve success? Which maze challenge did your group choose and which sounds are you adding to your canvas program?
-We also discussed and completed our Zoo Green Team documentation this morning! Which green initiatives do you think decrease the Zoo's eco footprint the most? How could the Zoo's Green Team continue to reduce their carbon footprint?
E.A.-Which Summer Fun Kit bag did you deliver this morning?
Thursday, May 23, 2019
*Science-Today we started programming our EV3 LEGO Mindstorm robots! We quickly observed the programming canvas is completely empty, except for the start button! Using the action blocks at the bottom, we determined how to move and program the blocks to create the correct movements for our robot to skillfully travel within our maze! Programming from scratch! We love a new challenge!
*Math-This morning we worked in small groups as we calculated the cost of each item in our Summer Fun Kit. Using traditional multiplication, long division, adding and mental math, what is the total cost of all of the items, before profits? Based on our calculations, what is the net profit of each bag sold? What is the approximate percent of profits compared to the cost? Which single item in the kit is the most expensive to purchase?
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
*Math-When you were practicing division groups, when did you have a remainder? If you were able to cut the tiles to fit evenly into the groups, what will you have now? What is an easy way to calculate how many tiles fit into the smaller groups?
*Science-Today we observed our botanical fruit, fruit and vegetables to determine if they successfully germinated! What did you observe? What could cause a seed to not fully germinate? Which new seeds did you plant today to hopefully increase our germination rate?
*What was the climax in The Wild Robot chapter The Journey where Brightbill is telling Roz about his migration south. Students should be finishing their jot notes on their Maverick on the sections of Early Life, Contributions and Legacy. You are welcome to ask your parents for help and gather jot notes on Maverick at home and bring to school. We are preparing to write three paragraphs on our Maverick. The students took very creative pictures to go with their "I Am"poems today.
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
*E.A.-We had a very productive morning, getting our gift bags organized and presenting our business plan to other classrooms! Together our class assembled 24 bags filled with the, "Summer Fun Kit" materials to sell! What percentage is our profits? How much money for each sold gift bag will go to the Calgary Homeless Foundation?
-Remember to read the, "Important Dates" page to ensure you have included the information needed for your Showcase letter. Please note, this is an optional assignment!
*Math-Fraction test going home today! Well done! How did you model the division groups when there is a remainder? When you are calculating the quotient using long division, where do you record the remainder?
*Science-This morning we unearthed our potted potatoes to determine if there had been any stem or root growth from the potato "eyes". When you observed your potato what did you discover? Then we decided to replant another potato from a darkened bag, that had full growth! How will the new potato roots and stems grow using the force of gravity?
Tuesday, May 14th, 2019
*Math-This morning we wrote our Math test on Fractions!
*E.A.-Today we brainstormed ideas for the information that will be included with the Lemonade pack in the EA Summer Fun Kit bag. The instructions will help students to create, open and run their own Lemonade Stand business!
*Zoo-Thank you to our parents who will be joining us on our field trip tomorrow! Remember to bring 2 snacks, a lunch, water bottle, pencil crayons and pencil (from your desk) and reusable plastic bag (to sit on during lunch)!
Monday, May 13th, 2019
Our Maverick research is ongoing and students are working on recording jot notes for their Maverick about their life, their contributions to Alberta and their legacy. We explored different roles for EA project (Summer Fun Packages) to raise funds for the Calgary Homeless Foundation. We discussed the roles and job descriptions for Finance, Marketing, Pre-Packaging, Assembly, Delivery and our Celebration of Learning Committee (June date TBD). Which role interests you the most and you think your strengths/skills/interests will contribute to the organization? Mrs. Schoenberger led us in our first "Yoga by the Rocks" session of the year. The students enjoyed this time in nature and practicing mindfulness and building their strength and flexibility.
Friday, May 10th, 2019
*Happy Mother's Day-Have a lovely day with your amazing mom on Sunday! Remember to give your mom the special gifts you made for her!
*Science-This morning we completed the planting of our Tomatosphere seeds based on 2 main groups: Control group grown in natural, Earth conditions and Treatment Seeds exposed in Space environment on the ISS. When we searched the environmental challenges occur in Space, what did we discover? Which group do you hypothesize will have the greatest success in germination?
*Math-Today we used hands on materials to divide the main number into groups! How can we use mathematical sentences to determine the division equations?
-Remember to review for your Fraction test (spend Sunday with your family!) which will be on Tuesday!
Thursday, May 9th, 2019
*Math-Today we wrote Math study cards for our Fraction quiz on Tuesday, May 14th! You can also complete the study questions in your mini study booklet as well. You can use the eighths fraction tiles to practice placing fractions in order! Perhaps you could play a mini penny golf game and record the fraction to the flag!
*Science-Space Seeds! Today we started our really neat, out of this world, investigation of our Tomatosphere seeds! We are so fortunate to be active scientists in a Canadian Space Agency seed study across Canada and the USA. We received 2 main tomato seed packets from Tomatosphere, labelled "L" and "M". Why did the scientists give us two different groups of seeds? What environmental conditions were the seeds exposed to might affect their germination and germination rate? How did we prep the growth medium this morning for the tomato seeds? Why would astronauts in the International Space Station or on the Human Mission to Mars need to grow botanical fruits like tomatoes in space?
Wednesday, May 8th, 2019
*Science-Today we planted Bee Friendly plants in our classroom! Which plant varieties did you choose-Pansies, Babies Breath, Nasturtium and/or Johnny Jump Ups? Why would bees be attracted to these specific plants? Once the plants germinate and sprout, where could you transplant the plants around your home?
*Math-How did you achieve success with your 3 digit by 1 digit traditional multiplication? How is your memorization of basic multiplication facts helping you to calculate the correct product? How can you keep track of which place value you need to carry?
*In the afternoon we had a session of putting the finishing touches on a gift and card for a very special someone in our life. Don't want to give too many details (wink wink)!
Tuesday, May 7th, 2019
*A special thank you to Anna and Thomas for their fine leadership skills this morning! Anna and Thomas did an exceptional job as they introduced our guest speakers from the Calgary Homeless Foundation.
-What did you learn this morning that changed your views on homelessness? Where did Jessica and her dad live when they were homeless? What small town and structure did Madison's family live in when they did not have a home for up to 5 years? How did they survive? When they were hungry, which organizations fed them and provided meals? Where did they go for medical care? What can cause a family to become homeless? How are we making a positive difference in our community to eliminate homelessness in Calgary?
*Math-Today we continued our inquiry on multiplying 2-3 digits by 1 with and without regrouping. How are you regrouping place value? Where do you record the carrying of place value?
Monday, May 6th, 2019
-Students started playing their recorders in music class.
-We started our Maverick Inquiry Project today. What Maverick are you researching? Websites for information include googling these words together:
glenbow mavericks English
heritage minutes
Canadian Encyclopedia
Blackgold social 4 builders
-Students are typing their "I AM" poetry as a google doc. They can begin to think about what photo they could take of themselves that would represent their words in their poem.
Friday, May 3rd, 2019
*Science-Today we had an exciting botany lab where we dissected and prepared microscope slides on the various parts of a tulip flower and leaf. How did you collect the brightly coloured pollen for your slides? What did you observe? When you focussed the tulip petal using 40 or 100x, what shape were the cells? Could you see the cellular walls? Did you team successfully cut open the pistil to obtain the small female ovules near the base? When we watched 3 short informative videos on bees, what do scientists hypothesis that is leading to their decrease in population? How will the decreasing population affect plant life and food chains on Earth?
*Math-We raised the bar today using the traditional algorithm of multiplication. Using non regrouping and regrouping, we determined you carry the place value over to the higher place value, just like when we add! Were you surprised how easy it is to compute the product when you take small steps? Did you try the challenge questions and did you achieve success?
Thursday, May 2nd, 2019
*Happy Birthday, Brume!
*Math-This was an exciting Math class! Today we learned how to use the traditional method of 2 by 1 digit multiplication without regrouping! We were all achieving success as we multiplied the ones place value first and then the tens. Did you use the coloured numbers to help you visualize the order and place value when multiplying?
*Science-bzzz bzzz We had an amazing Science class this morning as we focussed on why plants need petals? We discovered that in order for flowering plants to produce seeds, two main events need to take place! What are the two events-pollinat___ and fertiliza____. Then we found out the flowering plants have male and female DNA in two main sections in the flower! How can the male pollen make its way to the female stigma and style? What living and nonliving things help fruit, vegetables, nuts and crops pollinate?
Wednesday, May 1st, 2019
*Happy May Day and Mental Health Day
*Science-Which petal specimens did you observe with your microscope today? We sampled 2 main species of flowering plants: Daisy Pom Yellow and Purple as well as the Mini Button Pom Pom Green! How did you remove the specimens to prepare for your slides? How were the cell shapes different from the Orchid petals that we observed yesterday? Why do flowering plants benefit from brightly coloured or sweet smelling flower petals?
*Math-What strategies did you learn today when multiplying base ten numbers? How can the base 10 method help you when computing the product using the modern grid strategy? Which practice questions did you successfully complete this morning?
Tuesday, April 30th, 2019
*Science-How did you set up the plant specimen for the microscope slide? How did you ensure the specimen was a thin slice? When you observed the orchid flower and leaf, under 40x, what structures did you see? How did your team successfully focus each specimen?
*Math-How did you calculate the expanded notation of numbers to the thousands place value? Did you complete the challenge question this morning? When you are practicing the modern method of multi digit multiplication, how did you use the base 10 and expanded notation to set up your problems?
Monday, April 29th, 2019
We enjoyed hearing about all of Saturday's "snow" adventures from Room 17 students. We are watching a video about a family settling on the prairies in 1907 and some of the struggles and rewards that came with moving west. What was the significance of Eliza putting out the vase? We started our Maverick inquiry project today with finding out why each Maverick is significant. What is a maverick? Why are they important to Alberta? Room 17 will pick one Maverick to research in the days ahead.
Friday, April 26th, 2019
*Science-We wrote our Science quiz this morning! At the end of the morning, we placed our microgreens into a plastic bag all ready to take home! Remember to read the, "Home" page to ensure you meet food safety recommendations prior to consuming your microgreens!
*Math-Today we started practicing the modern method of 2 digit by 1 digit multiplication using the box or grid method! We will also learn the traditional cross multiplication algorithm as well, and we will double check the product using the modern method! Both methods in action!
Thursday, April 25th, 2019
*Math-Which strategies did you use to complete your fraction tiles to tenths? When you were calculating where to place the lemonade cups, what strategies helped you to achieve success? Which lemonade cup was the fullest? Which lemonade cups were equal in volume? Tomorrow we are going to start a new unit, learning how to multiply 2 digit numbers by 1 digit!
*Science-Remember to review your study cards tonight for your Light and Shadow's quiz tomorrow! You will need to draw and label the directions, where the Sun rises, sets and where the Sun is located at solar noon in Calgary. Then as a talented fisher girl or guy (like the water scene you designed in class), where will you successfully fish to prevent your shadow from spooking the fish? Remember that fish will instinctively swim away from a moving dark shadow in the water! The shadow could be a predatory bird like an ea___!
*After our class survey, students stated they would like to take their microgreen plants home tomorrow, rather than harvesting/eating the plants! Perhaps we could grow more microgreens starting next week, where in a couple of weeks, we can enjoy the tasty plants at school!
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
*Justin-Thank you to Justin and his family for the great photos of San Francisco. Students were very interested in learning about Alcatraz and Justin explained some of the history using the Smart Board. Justin also showed us a beautiful photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and we discussed the engineering accomplishments of the suspension system supports along with a long deck span reaching across the strait!
*Math-How did you construct your fraction tiles using neon colored paper? When recording your fractions on each small section, how did the denominator change? Which fractions were you able to fold the tile in half creating 2 symmetrical sections? Which fractions were the most challenging to build?
*Science-How did you take care of your micro green plant today? What happened to the top of the soil in each plant container? When do you think we should be able to harvest and eat the delicious micro greens?
*Students gathered in their new book club group to find several potential titles for their next book club. After locating these books they considered each book, discussed what they found appealing about each book, and decided as a group which book to read. What is the title of your new book club book?
*We started preparing to write a new poem called an "I AM" poem. We brainstormed different adjectives to describe ourselves. Which two adjectives best describe you?
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
*Earth Day-This morning we watched the new Disney trailer, Penguins and discussed what predators hunt for penguins and the environment where penguins live. With our little buddies, we went to the Native Plant Park and swept gravel, cleaned, sorted garbage and celebrated our beautiful planet.
*Math-How did you determine where to place the scuba air tank for snuba on the fraction tiles? Which students had the least and most air in their tanks? When you completed your basic multiplication math minute, what is your total score? How has your overall success improved from the beginning of memorizing basic facts to 9 x 9?
*Science-You will have a Science quiz on Friday. You can review your study cards on the rotation of Earth, which direction the Sun rises, sun at Solar Noon and where the Sun sets, which direction to fish during morning, lunch and dinner to prevent your shadow from spooking the fish?
Thursday, April 18, 2019
*Math-How did you model the different amounts of birthday cake in Math? What strategies did you use to determine which fraction of cake was the greatest? How did the numerator and denominator change for each cake? Remember to return your signed test.
*Science-We are so fortunate that every plant pot of microgreens has successfully germinated! Well done, botanists! When you carefully removed one microgreen plant, what plant parts did you observe? What happened to the old seed coat? What type of root system (taproot or fibrous) does your microgreen have? How can you tell the difference? Which additional structures did you observe on the root system and what is the purpose? Here's a question you can research for fun! When did plants first appear on Earth? How many years ago?
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
*Provincial Election-This morning we were invited to visit the election taking place in our gym! The returning officer discussed the voting process and we walked through the stations to see where voters sign in, pick up their ballot, vote and then place their ballot into the ballot box! Great questions were asked: Can children vote in the election? Can kids run for positions? Which countries do people not have the right to vote?
*Math-Using integers we determined the overall scoring of various golfing rounds using different pars. When you use fewer shots than the par, what happens to your score? Is there a Par 1 on golf courses? How do you calculate your total score at the end of 9 holes? How did you use fractions to determine the length of your shot?
*Science-How did we prep the potatoes for planting? What will happen to the potatoes in a few weeks? How do the potatoes produce new potatoes?
Monday, April 15th, 2019
We explored "signs of spring" outside in our beautiful nature areas with our little buddies today. Students then created an acrostic poem SPRING poem together. We started our tennis lessons today! What way does the "flashlight" or end of the racket need to facing when getting ready for a forehand return? We are almost finished building our social studies 3D models and will be ready to present our understanding and connections with our classmates. I am impressed with the effort and details going into the projects. I will post photos on the blog in the days ahead. During book club we wrote two responses on the ending of our books and if we would recommend our book to our friends to read. Two students received letters back from our letter writing activity. What was the special surprise in the letters today?
Friday, April 12, 2019
*Math-Math tests went home today! Students, you did an amazing job on your test, where you carefully graphed and analyzed the data! In Math today, we are working on creating a Penny Golf green that focusses on the fraction to the flag/hole and then calculate the integer based on the relation of strokes to the hole. We started playing our first game, learning various golf term such as par, under par, birdie, eagle, bogey, fraction to the flag, etc. Next week we are going to design hazards that if we land in the hazard, it will affect our score!
*Science-Today we spent time to observe and draw our microgreen seeds using lenses. Upon discussing our observations, we noted that microgreen seeds vary in their smell! From earthy, musty, sweet, sugary, and spicy we had a great time noting the differences! Then we paid attention to the shape, size (using mm or cm) and colour of the seeds. After recording our observations neatly, we had an amazing gallery walk where we celebrated our work.
Thursday, April 11, 2019
*Science-It was an amazing microgreen day today! This morning, each student chose their microgreen seeds and planted their seeds in a container ensuring the seeds were well spaced in the soil! Which microgreen did you choose? What colour and shape were the seeds? How will you take care of your microgreen plants? How are microgreens used in restaurants? How could you serve your microgreens at home? Why are microgreens so nutritious?
*Gym-We had our final skate today, under the glowing lights of a disco ball! Skating to great songs, students practiced a number of moves to increase their ability to stop, do crossovers and low movements! How did your skills improve this week? What are you proud of? Could you try skating at home and around your neighbourhood?
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
*Science-How did you complete your plant label card for your botanical fruit, fruit or vegetable? What do the colored dots represent? Which color(s) did you add to your label and why? How are we taking care of the seeds?
*Math-Today we started penny golf to determine which fraction to the flag, each hit/stroke earned. Using the fraction tiles, how did we calculate where the penny landed in relation to the total fraction of a whole? Tomorrow we are going to start designing our golf green on large paper where we can set up games of golf to determine the fraction to the flag for each stroke!
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
*Math-Students completed their Math test this morning. How did you work through a problem that was challenging? How did you use your time effectively? Did you answer questions in numerical order or based on which problems you felt most confident?
*Gym-We had our first in line skate this morning! Which type of stopping method did you use the most?
How did you gain balance when you skated? During the challenge activities, what are you proud of?
Friday, April 5, 2019
*Science-What steps did you take to plant your botanical fruit, vegetable or fruit? What was challenging this morning? How did Thomas and Ian prep the avocado seed for planting? Could you also do the same steps at home when you make guacamole and have a left over seed/pit? How did our class prep the carrots for planting? Will we be able to grow a new carrot from the small portion of the root?
*Math-How did you calculate the equivalent fractions in the art pieces you created today? How did you change the numerator to determine how many circles or eggs to color? Remember to study for your test on Tuesday. You have taken your study cards home to review the concepts on the weekend.
Thursday, April 4, 2019
*Science-When we observed a variety of plants today what did you discover? How did we classify the plants into 3 groups? What criteria do scientists use to determine if a vegetable is a botanical fruit? How do chefs classify vegetables? How did your team extract the seeds from the botanical fruit and other fruits? How large were the seeds, what shape and color? What did your team do to prepare the seeds for planting?
*Math-Your Math test on graphing is next Tuesday. Your study cards summarized what you need to understand for the test. You will need to be confident with setting up a pictograph and bar graph to show sets of data using a key. Then you will interpret the data using mode (most data), where the data clusters (data that is similar), the range of data (lowest to highest), sample size (number of people in your survey with total number of votes) and what the data indicates.
*Art- Today we collaborated on designing our whole class 3D Geometric Wall Art. Students took turns adding pieces to the art until we were pleased with the final masterpiece. We considered warm/cool colors and complimentary colors on the color wheel as we decided which color to add next. Students also experimented with different angles for the shapes. Creativity and imagination were alive in Room 17 today! It has been interesting to observe the children fold these structures on their own now and devise new uses and purposes for these 3D shapes.
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
*Math-What strategies did you use today when completing your Math Minute to 9 x 9? When solving the cake problem, how did you calculate how many pieces of cake each person received based on the fraction? During your Math Challenger, what did Julius Caesar calculate which affected our yearly calendar? How often does a Leap Year occur and why? Would other planets have a leap year? Math study cards went home today on pictographs, bar graphing and statistics of data.
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
*Math-Today we started memorizing basic multiplication facts to 9 x 9. We showed a number of ways to help memorize and or learn the 8 and 9 times facts. Which method did you find most helpful? Could you use the hand method easily for the 9 facts? With the number 8 facts, did the table of numbers help you to visualize the pattern?
*Science-We developed a mini rubric to help us evaluate our inquiry design task challenge on fishing and shadow placement. When your team reviewed the three criteria; designing the fish, people, rods and dock, placement of directions and accuracy in fishing based on three times of day, what overall evaluation did you receive? Which area(s) could you have improved? How did your team achieve success with your project and in which areas?
*Art- We are creating a new art project with 3D Geometric shapes we folded from different colors of square paper. The students enjoyed this challenge and worked cooperatively to achieve success>! In math they will pattern these shapes into a beautiful collaborative piece of 3D wall art. Watch the blog in the days ahead for photos of the finished product.
Monday, April 1, 2019
Welcome back! It was so nice to see everyone today and hear about all of the adventures and experiences over the break. Students wrote and illustrated "Steps for an Awesome Spring Break" in their journals and then shared with their peers. We started to plan and label our 3D models for our Social Studies research. What materials will you need? What materials will our school have and what can you recycle or bring from home? We will begin our building once the designs have been reviewed.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
*Math-When sketching the total amount of a fraction, how do you ensure you are shading the correct number of pieces? If the numerator equals the denominator, how much of the shape will you colour? In your daily life, when do you use fractions?
*Science-How did your team complete your fishing scene ensuring care to detail, with an artistic flair and with all of the components? When constructing the "floating" docks, how did you connect the sections to ensure your fisher girl or guy can access each section, without falling into the water? Tomorrow you will connect your learning to determine where you can successfully fish from each dock while paying close attention to the location of your dark shadow! How would birds of prey ensure their shadow does not spook their soon to be, breakfast, lunch or supper?
* For our read aloud novel The Wild Robot we sketched the beaver and deer characters and found some interesting facts about these two Alberta animal species. How many logs does the average beaver chew down each year? How long does it take an industrious beaver to chew a log? Why do beavers need to chew logs? We continued recording our social studies research information. The students are eager to take this knowledge and apply it to a task design of building a 3D model connected to their learning.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
*Math-What is the difference between a numerator and a denominator? What mnemonic did we invent to remember which number is the numerator and which number is the denominator? When we said the fraction out loud, how do we say the denominator?
*Science-How did you rig your fishing rod and line to catch and release your paper art fish? When you designed your paper fish, how did you artistically represent each side? Tomorrow you and your team will be constructing a dock for your little fisher girl or guy to stand on as they fish! On a clear day, how will the placement of the Sun relative to the Earth affect your shadow in the water? When fishing, why will you want to pay close attention to your shadow placement?
Monday, March 18, 2019
We created Limericks with our grade one buddies today. Where do limericks originate from?How many lines does a limerick have? Which lines rhyme? How did you make your poem funny or silly? Did you notice a pattern in your poem? We continued our social studies research working as a team and used the laptops to gather additional information. Ms. Paul gave us an overview of the Scholastic Book Fair and we found some interesting titles that we could add to our home libraries.
Friday, March 15th, 2019
*Math/Science-It is estimated that over 3 billion people on Earth eat fish on a regular basis. We also discussed how people who live in coastal regions, often depend on fish as their main food source. When fishing, how do we ensure our shadow does not spook away the fish? Why are fish spooked by a moving shadow or a change in shadow on the water? For our design task, how are you designing your paper art fisher girl or guy? What species of fish would you and your team like to design? How will you rig an object to create a fishing rod with moveable fishing line? How can you catch and release the fish or land the fish for food? When fishing how will you use your shadow to your advantage?
Thursday, March 14th, 2019
*Math- 3.14 International pi Day! Using a string and a circular can/cup holder/beaker/vase/pizza, etc., how did you prove pi? What did Archimedes discover over 2200 years ago? When you cut the string to match the diameter of the can, how did you check the perimeter using the string? How many times did the little string go around the perimeter? You can show your parents tonight!
*Science-We had a lovely morning outside, measuring shadows using a small shadow stick, a Mr. Sketch felt pen! How did the shadow change from 9:40 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.? Why did the shadow change? Which celestial object is moving; the Sun or the Earth? When you used your body or the blue sphere, how did you model one day on Earth? We then did a google search to discover how fast our Earth rotates! How fast does our Earth spin or rotate each day? How many times faster than highway speed at 100 km/hr? Did the speed surprise you?
*Learning-We are investigating various forms of inventive tools to help us focus during our learning. In our classroom we now have; 2 stand up desks, 3 under the desk cyclers, bubble seat cushions and super neat fidget gadgets from Fidgetland made of small rings and moveable metal parts.
*Students have started a social studies group research project on voyageurs, fur trade, storytelling/celebrations, and buffalo jumps. Which group are you in? What questions do you have before you begin your research? The groups will be creating a 3D model connecting to their topic area after spring break.
Wednesday, March 13th, 2019
*Math-When you were cutting the cakes into symmetrical fractions, which cake pans were easier to determine the equal pieces? How could you divide a heart shaped cake into even quarters? If you turned the cake on the side, could you cut the cake into even quarters?
*Science-In your team, how did you determine what a year is on Earth? How long is one year on Earth? What is one day on Earth? When are our shadows the longest and the shortest in Calgary?
Tuesday, March 12th, 2019
*Daylight Savings TIme-In Math we had great discussions regarding why we turned our clocks back one hour early Sunday morning!
*Math-When you evaluated your bar graph using the mini rubric our class designed, what were your strengths? Which area would you improve and why? During our first class on fractions, which different cakes can be easily divided into equal pieces? Which shape is very difficult to create symmetrical pieces?
*Science-How did you and your team use the blue and yellow spheres to represent a day and a year on Earth? How long is one day and one year? Why does our shadow length change in one day?
* Social Studies- Who were the voyageurs and why were they an important part of the Fur Trade? Describe their canoe (material, length, weight) and how they got it around dangerous parts of the river system.
Monday, March 11th, 2019
Happy 10th Birthday to Cielo this past Saturday!
We read the story Hiawatha and the Peacemaker and learned how a peacemaker unites five Indigenous tribes who were at war. We compared this story to Chief Crowfoot who also tried to obtain peace instead of fighting. Crowfoot was involved in Treaty 7 and negotiated for his people.
In Phys. Ed we are focusing on Basketball skills for the month of March. How do you keep the best control of the ball when dribbling? What does "BEEF" stand for when shooting the ball?
We started to write friendly letters and examined the parts of a friendly letter. Who are you writing your letter to? What are you trying to communicate in your letter?
Friday, March 8th, 2019
*Math-What animal was the mode and why do you think your classmates chose that specific animal? How can we prevent the extinction of animal species? How can we make a positive difference in protecting the habitats and livelihood of animals?
*Which special little treat did you graph today? How did your data compare with your classmates? How did the little snack boxes differ in product? How could a company increase profits while providing a peanut free treat for kids and their families?
*E.A.-We had an amazing meeting with our E.A. representatives, where we discussed the next steps in our business plan. How could we maximize profits while ensuring we are providing support to the Calgary Homeless Foundation? What products do you think we could sell to our community? What products do you think would help families live better, healthier lives while taking care of our environment? How can we increase our profits through the selling of great merchandise?
Thursday, March 7th, 2019
*Math-How are you graphing your survey data using a bar graph? When using the mini rubrics, how are you ensuring you are meeting/going beyond grade level expectations? What strategies are you implementing to ensure your data is correctly calculated and recorded onto your bar graph with accuracy?
*Science-Based on our observations, where does our Sun rise in the morning? What happens at lunch time and during dinner? Which celestial object is actually moving throughout the day? When you used your little shadow person, how did you model the Sun and Earth in one day? Where did your group place the flashlight to represent the Sun?
Wednesday, March 6th, 2019
*Math-This morning we completed setting up our mini rubrics for bar graphing. After many discussions we decided to include 4 criteria which must be present in order to create an accurate graph. Tomorrow we will graph our survey data and then critique our own work based on the mini rubric.
*Skating-It was very chilly this morning, so we went outside a few minutes late, at 11:00 a.m. We want to send a special thank you to Danica’s mom for helping us tie our skates this morning! We are all looking forward to our last class skate tomorrow morning, and like true Canadians, we will embrace the outdoors!
*The students have been working in small groups to complete our research on three charities of interest for our EA (Entrepreneural Adventure) project. The students used the website www.charityintelligence.ca to find information and ratings on a variety of charities. Within their groups they narrowed the three charities down to one charity and created a poster to present to our Room 17 classmates. As a classroom we will vote on one charity and then present this charity to our Grade 4 peers on Thursday.
Tuesday, March 5th, 2019
*Math-Today we surveyed our classmates on various questions regarding the Conservation Status of animals. When we surveyed, we focussed on using a neutral, non biased voice to ensure we did not influence the voting. Now we are formulating mini rubrics to determine which criteria in bar graphing need to be in place in order to achieve a high score.
*Science-When you used your mini shadow person, what did your team discover? Where is the Sun in the sky in the morning, lunch time and at dinner time? How does the placement of the Sun relative to our home in Calgary affect our shadow? What time of day do we have giraffe or hippo legged shadows?
Monday, March 4th, 2019
We celebrated the beginning of March with Ian's birthday today as well as outdoor skating. The students had so much fun practicing their skating skills while demonstrating team work and perseverance. Thank-you to Brynlee's Dad and Ronan's Mom for volunteering this morning for skating. In Book Club we discussed and wrote a response to our favorite part of the novel so far. We tried to make a connection to our own lives, another book or movie, or a story we have heard. In The Wild Robot which new character did we meet that is a marsupial, nocturnal, and are known for mimicking the appearance and smell of a dead animal when threatened?
Thursday, February 28th, 2019
*Science-Students received their test scores this morning! Well done, scientists. Tests will go home next week once all students have written.
*In your lab today, why did the penny disappear? At what angle could you see the penny? When did the penny disappear from your viewpoint? Could you try this experiment at home?
*Math-How are you setting up the organization of survey data in your table? What categories are you including in your large T Table? How will you and your team ensure each person only votes once?
Wednesday, February 27th, 2019
*Science-You wrote your test today on the, Law of Reflection! You showed a lot of patience and perseverance as you drew and labelled your diagrams. Well done, scientists!
*Entrepreneurial Adventure- This morning and afternoon we met with Ms. Hassen's room as we searched charity sites using technology. Which charity is scoring high for transparency, low overhead and administrative costs? Which charity gives the majority of funds to the actual cause? Which charity would you like to learn more about? How does the charity you were researching help our planet?
*In Book Club we had a nice chunk of time reading our novels and then made a prediction about what was going to happen next in the story and support our prediction with reasons why from the book. It will be exciting to read ahead and see if your predictions come true.
Tuesday, February 26th, 2019
*Science-When you placed a dry penny under the beaker filled with water, what did you observe? If you changed your view and scrunched down, how did the image change? What is causing the changes to occur? Remember to review for your Science test tomorrow on the Law of Reflection!
*Math-When we viewed two short videos on conservation, what question does your team want to survey? How are you going to keep track of your data? What happens if one person votes more than once?
*Dance-Gym-Thank you to our parents who were able to join us today during gym! We had a great time learning various hip hop dance moves to a number of songs! A special thank you to Prestige Dance Academy for teaching us this past week!
Monday, February 25th, 2019
We viewed and discussed two videos today in Social Studies on Powwows, Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump and Writing on Stone Provincial Park. Students who have visited these sites shared their experience and stories as we learn about Alberta's past and First People. In our Novel study (The Wild Robot) and Book Clubs we continue to gain insight on our main characters.
Friday, February 22nd, 2019
*We had our first meeting with our Grade 4 peers regarding our exciting E.A. (Entrepreneurial Adventure) program where your strong business minds will build a plan that will make a difference in the world around us. Our partner B.M.O. Bank Manager, Greta, will work alongside us on our banking journey as we support a charity through our savvy business plan!
Thursday, February 21st, 2019
*Science-When you placed the plastic fork into the beaker of water, what did you observe? Have you observed this at home or when you were at a restaurant? When you moved the fork around the water, how did the image change? What is causing the fork to "change"?
*Science Test-Go over your study sheets that will go home tomorrow. You can also practice your labs at home using a flashlight and a mirror. The following concepts that you learned in your labs will be on your test:
*Which materials are excellent, good or poor reflectors? Why?
*What happens when you reflect light off a mirror?
*Where is the, "normal"?
*The angle of light going into your mirror is called the, Angle of Incid____. The angle being reflected is called the, Angle of Reflect___.
*Because light travels in a straight l___, it's path is predictable.
*How did you prove the Law of Reflection? Did you use colours in your labs to show the Angle of Incidence and the Angle of Reflection?
*If you were to use gym equipment (like we did in class), how could you show the Law of Reflection using a wall?
*Math-How are you setting up your bar graph for success? Which axis is the x? How can you remember which is the y axis? Which data do you place on the x and the y axis? How is your bar graph different from the pictograph?
Wednesday, February 20th, 2019
*Math-We voted to survey our class regarding our favourite two holidays! What was our sample size this morning and how did we check to ensure everyone voted twice? Once we have completed our pictograph, which graph will set up in Math class tomorrow?
*Science-The formation of a rainbow is very interesting! Physics in action! How can we see the coloured spectrum of white light? When we used the clear dish this morning, how did your classmates model how white light enters and exits a raindrop? What two amazing phenomena need to take place in order to form a rainbow? When you rotated your colour wheel, how did you change the center of gravity to increase the number of rotations?
Tuesday, February 19th, 2019
*Math-When you were graphing the Valentine's data, what did you use for your key? How did you determine how to represent a fraction in your pictograph diagrams? During Valentine's which gift purchased in stores across Canada, would be the mode sold and why?
*Science-How did you create the colors of white light within your color wheel? Which color did we have a challenging time creating on our wheel? When you spun the wheel, what did you observe? Did you have more success at rotation speed, when you placed the wheel at a lower or higher center of gravity?
*Olivia, Jana, Taryn and Danica shared their Rocky Mountain writing. We published our good copy of our Senryu poems. Watch on Thursday for samples of the poems on the BLOG. Our next novel study will be The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. Students created a title page for our new novel study by visualizing the robot.
Wednesday, February 13th, 2019
*Students finished creating their heart oil pastel art. Each piece is unique and when displayed together a strong sense of connectedness is revealed. Updated photos under the BLOG. Ask me what a Senryu Poem is. We created Senryu poems with the themes based on love, friendship, peace, belonging, and family.
*We had a lovely Valentine's Celebration where we shared our Valentine's, ate delicious food and danced and sang to our favourite songs! A special thank you to our families for providing lovely treats and Valentine's for our class!
Tuesday, February 12th, 2019
*Math-Which yummy game of strategy did you play in Math today? How did you increase your ability to win more rounds? Did you anticipate your partner's tic tac moves? During the collection of data, what is the mode number of immediate family members in our class? What was the range of data for the number of people in our family? Which data surprised. you and why? If we were to survey families in the early 1900's what could we discover?
*Science-Based on your light challenge today, were you able to refract the light more than once? How did you successfully set up your lab today? What caused the rainbow to form? Were you able to create a partial or full rainbow? In nature, what conditions need to occur in order for rainbows to form?
Monday, February 11th, 2019
Winter Carnival Day- We celebrated together at the assembly this morning and our classroom sang Frere Jacques while playing the xylophones. Danica shared ornaments of Bonhomme from when her parents attended the Carnaval of Quebec. In the afternoon students led their little buddy and guided them through several Winter Carnival stations. Tres Bien!
Friday, February 8th, 2019
*Science-When refracting the light, was your team able to create a double rainbow? How did you set up your lab create a longer path of refracted light? Your team had a challenge to determine if you could invert the rainbow? What happened?
*Math-We had an eye popping class today! When we completed our pictograph on eye color what was the mode color for our class? What surprised you about the results? What was the range of data? How did your hypothesis compare to the actual results? When we used technology to search human eye colour, what other eye colors can be observed in the iris?
Thursday, February 7th, 2019
*Science-How were you able to refract the light using a prism? When you drew the colours, did you draw a partial or full rainbow? Where did the colours originate? When you rotated the prism where you able to turn the rainbow upside down?
*Math-Upon the interpretation of our, "Favourite Sport" pictograph, which sport was the mode for our class? What surprised you about the data? How could our Sport choices change depending on the season? When we used technology, we discovered an amazing "Canadian Winter" sport in Dubai! What was the total cost to build this structure in an indoor mall? If you and your family were to ___ there for one hour, what would be the cost?
Wednesday, February 6th, 2019
*Math-Remember to return your signed test. Well done, mathematicians! We were surprised when we discovered that candy is a multi billion dollar business! How do stores increase your temptation to buy candy or even more candy? Where are the highest sale items placed in the store? The next time you go to a grocery store, check out where the candy is placed in the store and on which shelves? During our survey, which candy had the highest and lowest frequency?
*Science-How did your team use the beautiful prisms to change the light? What happened to the beam of light as it entered and exited the prism? What observations did your team make when you were able to show the light as it exited the prism? Did your team determine the term scientists use to describe this event?
Tuesday, February 5th, 2019
*Math-Today we started our first pictograph where we determined our survey question; "What is your favorite color?" When we collected the data and analyzed the number of votes and tallies, how did you determine the frequency? What could cause your frequency to be different from the sample size? How did you determine the sample size? Which colour was the mode?
*Science-How did you test each material to determine if the object can reflect light? What characteristics did all of the excellent reflectors contain? How did they vary compared to the poor reflectors? If you were to design clothing with reflectors, which materials would you choose and why?
Monday, February 4th, 2019
We cozied up in Room 17 and watched the movie Wonder. The students noticed many similarities and differences between the movie and the book. This week we will complete a movie review and a more detailed analysis of the book and movie. In Book Club we read more of our novels and completed a summary of what has happened in our book so far including characters, setting, and plot. Students were encouraged to make personal connections in their responses. Stay warm tonight!
Thursday, January 31st, 2019
*Remember there is no school tomorrow. See you on Monday!
*Math-You received your Math test score today on addition and subtraction! What are you proud of? Math tests will go home as soon as everyone has written their test!
*Science-Why are reflective materials on clothing an innovative invention? What materials work well to reflect light in the dark? If you were to design reflective clothing, what materials would you choose and why? What materials in your kit today were excellent reflectors?
Tuesday, January 29th, 2019
*We are starting a time line for social studies where the students will document milestones or special memories over their ten years of beautiful living! I have asked them to spark up a conversation with you today and find out a few details about the day they were born, the age they started walking/talking, and any other special trips or memories that are significant to them to record on the timeline.
*We are getting close to finishing our novel Wonder and will watch the movie on Monday and contrast/compare the movie and the book.
*Math-Today we reviewed the Study Booklet for our Math test tomorrow. On the place value page, you can choose which 5 digit numbers you will be adding or subtracting. Can you have more than one digit per place value? What can happen to the number if you have more than one digit in each place value? Remember to complete your Study Booklet for tomorrow's test!
*Science-Which objects in your lab kit were translucent, opaque or transparent? How did you test each item to help you classify into the 3 groups? Which object can cast a shadow? In our classroom can you find objects from each classification group?
Monday, January 28th, 2019
*In Social Studies we read about Alberta's beginnings, Joseph Tyrrell and fossils in the badlands. We watched a short video about fossils at Dinosaur Provincial Park. Several students shared their personal connections with spending time in the badlands, exploring the hoodoos, and finding dinosaur bones and fossils. What type of equipment do paleontologists use? What is the difference between an archaeologist and paleontologist?
*We worked with our little buddies using MIRAs and symmetry with snowflakes. We read a book about Wilson Bentley who was the first snowflake photographer in the early 1900s.
*In Book Club Jordyn and Olivia presented the reasons why they chose their novels. Students had 25 minutes to read their books together.
Friday, January 25, 2019
*Math-Study booklet going home today. Complete one page per day to help you review the main concepts in addition, subtraction, place value and number sense. Your test is next Wednesday.
*Science-In your lab kit today, which objects did light pass through? Which objects acted like a thick brick wall, and did not let light pass through? Which objects were in between? What do scientists call these objects? What conditions need to take place to create a shadow?
Thursday, January 24, 2019
*Science-When you used the mini rubric, what mark did you give your team for proving the Law of Reflection? How could your team improve your lab for next time? If you were to add more mirrors to the system, where would you place the last mirror?
*Math-During our review of place value, how did you determine where to place the digits when working with numbers in the ten thousands place value? Can you have more than one digit in each place value? How did you show when you needed to borrow from the lower place value?
-Your Math test on addition and subtraction/place value, budgeting, number line, problem solving is next Wednesday. Study sheets are going home tomorrow, which you can complete by the test date.
*Constable VanWaes visited our classroom today. She read us the book Mrs. Peabody's Apples. Share with your parents what happened "First, Next and Then" in the story. What were the main messages from the story? The students brainstormed messages from the story and chose four that meant the most to them to copy into apples in their journals.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
*Math-When you recorded your regrouping using subtraction on your mini whiteboard, how did you keep track of when you needed to borrow from the higher place value? How can you mathematically check to ensure your subtraction answers are correct? How did you prove your answers? You will be having a Math test next Wednesday. For the weekend, you will receive a few practice questions which you can complete at home! The best way to study for a Math test is to.....
*Science-How did your group prove the Law of Reflection using various colours? Using a mini rubric, how did your group achieve success? As a team, how did you use more mirrors to create a myriad of reflections?
-Today we placed your beautiful Total Lunar Eclipse drawings on the front whiteboard! We celebrated your work and how you captured the colours, shading and shadowing during the eclipse on Sunday evening. Well done, astronomers! (If you went to sleep before the Eclipse, could you now draw the Moon using some of the websites we viewed yesterday?)
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
*Science-When you were proving the Law of Reflection, what colors did you use to represent the Angle of Incidence and the Angle of Reflection? How many mirrors were you able to set up in your continuous beam of light? When you were observing the angles, what did you notice? How did you determine where to draw the normal?
*Math-When you are practicing subtraction, how did you keep track of when you borrowed from the higher place value? How did you record when you carried the amount over to the lower place value?
Monday, January 21, 2019
The Boreal Forest and Canadian Shield groups presented their natural region today. We tested our knowledge by playing a jeopardy review game. Here is the link for the game:
https://www.playfactile.com/abregionsreview?fbclid=IwAR3-YOAFKrx1DH-d0kJX_FZtxMQ1QML9Qr7hZ_RPiYbW2WvFCpkM9rC3rag
We started our title page for our Book Club novels in a special response journal.
Our Wonder vocabulary word was "immaculate". Ask me what this word means!
Friday, January 18, 2019
*Math-When we used money to represent each digit in subtraction, why did we need to regroup the $100 bill? Which equation would we not need to regroup or exchange the $100 bill for tens? When you exchanged the $100 bill, how many tens did you now have? If there were 0 ones, what was the next step? How did you keep track of each time you regrouped the place value?
*Science-Stay tuned for Sunday evening! Hopefully we will have clear skies over Calgary so we will have a great view of the Lunar Eclipse! Remember to go to bed at your regular time! You can practice why we are having a Lunar Eclipse at home using a ball, orange, apple, etc. to represent the Moon! Could you ask your mom or dad to be the Sun and you could be the Earth!
Thursday, January 17, 2019
*Science-How did you and your team show what will take place in the night sky on Sunday evening? How did you align the celestial objects; the Moon, Earth and Sun? On Sunday night, if it is cloudy, we will not be able to see though the clouds to view the eclipse! Let’s hope for clear skies where Calgarians will be able to view the full Moon! Remember you need your sleep. So go to bed at your regular time and ask your parents to take a photo for you!
*Math-How are you and your partner determining ways to represent the various amounts of money? When focusing on place value, what is the penny and nickel? We would say or write one hundredths for the penny and five hundredths for the nickel! What is the place value for the dime, quarter and fifty cent piece?
*We started our Rocky Mountain art writing responses today and beautiful words and images emerged from the pages. To support this writing assignment students are applying writing skills such as using descriptive vocabulary, strong verbs, sensory words, figures of speech, and including feelings and personal experiences to improve their writing. Stay tuned for next week for some samples posted on the BLOG.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
*We had a special presentation today with Zeus McClurkin from the Harlem Globetrotters! Ask your child what his important message was to share with us (hint TEAM - talk, empathy, ask questions, mobility). He showed some amazing ball handling skills and we even got to see a slam dunk! He holds the world record for most slam dunks in a minute. Several students asked for the information to purchase tickets when they are at the Saddledome January 23/24. You can purchase tickets online.
*Science-A special thank you to Olivia, for sharing her neat glow in the dark, slime!
A great light and shadows event will be taking place around our Earth on Sunday evening! When you were working with a flashlight and sphere, how did you model the eclipse? What will happen to the Moon on Sunday evening? How long does it take for the Moon to orbit the Earth once? What is the Moon's phase on Sunday? Take home the handout where you can share with your parents your homework assignment. Let's hope for clear skies, without clouds so Calgarians can view the Moon on Sunday!
*Math-What strategies did you use when you were playing the basic facts dice game with your partner? What was your score? During the money section of our lesson today, how did you represent each amount three times? Which coins did you use the most? How do we correctly say each amount of money using place value terms? (Hint...tenths, hundredths)
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
*Science-A special thank you to Danica for sharing her picture of an Angler Fish! How does the bioluminescent light increase the chances of survival? Thank you to Taryn, for bringing her, "Mega Glow" slime to class!
While observing the Law of Reflection, how did you and your team reflect the light using a number of mirrors? What observations did you make regarding what angle the light reflects off each mirror?
*Math-How did you and your team calculate three different ways to represent the total amount of money? Which coins did you use the most? How did you check your answers to make sure your totals were correct? During the pair of dice Math game, how did you and your partner keep score?
*The Parkland & Foothill regions shared their cereal box project with the class today. After all the regions have shared we will play a Alberta Natural Regions Jeopardy game to review the information we have learned.
*Our Rocky Mountain art is complete and photos are now posted on our BLOG. Written reflections will begin on Thursday and displayed with our art in the days ahead.
Monday, January 14, 2019
*Language Arts
We reviewed the "hamburger" paragraph writing which is a visual for how to write a strong paragraph with a topic sentence, supporting details and a conclusion sentence. We will apply this format when we write a Rocky Mountain paragraph this week. We had our first book club session today! We were given a visual chart with different reading comprehension strategies and word attack strategies for reading unknown words. Show your parents how we sit together during book club so that we can hear our group members the best. We worked in our journal drawing photos to represent what happened first, next and then for the section of our book we read today.
Friday, January 11, 2019
*Math-This morning we played the dice basic facts game. How did you and your partner take turns calculating the product of the dice? When you went into your Bank, what was the total amount in your savings account? How did you show when you needed to borrow from the higher place value?
*Science-A special thank you to Taryn for sharing her great bioluminescent organism, called a ______! Why would this oceanic organism need to have bioluminescence? When you were with your lab team, how did you prove the Law of Reflection using mirrors and flashlights? What happened when the light reflected off the mirrors? Did you observe a pattern?
Thursday, January 10, 2019
*Math-Today your savings account increased by $10.00 to $20.00. How did you borrow and exchange the money from the higher place value? What is the maximum amount of money you placed into the ones place value? When your first customer arrived, how much money did they withdraw from their account? How did you keep track of their transactions?
*Science-A big thank you to Justin for bringing in a great photo of a bioluminescent pelagic sea slug! What biological advantages would the sea slug have for illuminating in the dark ocean? When you were in your lab today using the materials, how did you prove if light travels in a straight or curved line? How did you set up your lab to prove the accuracy of your hypothesis?
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
*Science-Charting our amazing discoveries, we found out we had listed a number of organisms that can actually produce their own light using three components: luciferin (a protein), luciferase (an active enzyme to start the reaction) with oxygen for glowing! Then after watching a, "Ted Talk" on bioluminescence we found out that 80% of organisms that can bioluminate are found in the _____! You can research your favourite bioluminescent organism and bring a picture using your computer printer to class! How does biolumination increase one's survival in the dark, depths of the ocean?
*Math-Today we set up a "Bank" in class, where we named our bank and brought in customers where they withdrew money from their savings account. We then started keeping track of the transactions which is helping us to understand why we have to borrow from the higher place value. When you only had a $10 bill, how did you make change for the amount your customer withdrew? How did you group calculate what is left in their account? How did you exchange the $10.00 bill?
Could you actually open a savings account at your local bank, where you can start saving money for University, to purchase sporting equipment, your favourite game, etc. while earning interest? Have a great talk with your parents tonight!
* We are beginning book clubs with Room 15 starting next week. Today the students chose a novel with their group that they found a common interest to read. Book clubs will be on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Groups will read aloud together and then respond to the text in a variety of ways to show their understanding. What book did your group choose for book club? Have you read a book by this author before?
Tuesday, January 8, 2019!
*Happy New Year! Here's to an amazing year filled with discoveries, connections, happiness and great times with your friends and family!
*Science marked rubric went home today. Your rubric assessment was based on 4 main areas where your goal was to design and construct a vehicle with a body, attached to a chassis with axles and wheels using recycled/reused materials. Then your team attached a propulsion system to the car body/chassis to create vehicle momentum.
*Science-We started our third unit in Science today, Topic D: "Light and Shadows". Working in groups, scientists brainstormed what light sources are classified as natural or man made (artificial). Researching types of fish that have light sources was really fascinating! We found out we need to be afraid of the light, if we approach a bioluminescent angler fish!
*Math-We discussed how Canadians take care of refugee families from around the world. Focussing on helping a small Syrian refugee family in Calgary, we calculated which food items we could "purchase" for two meals while staying on a budget. Through team work, many students challenged themselves to purchase items that would match their budget of exactly $40.00. Students were surprised at the high cost of beef, so they chose an alternative protein at a reduced cost, such as couscous or tofu! Lining up the decimal we talked about why the decimal is important and how we need to add digits based on place value.
*We created a journal response about our holiday break. We looked at different types of lines artists use for inspiration and creativity. The students chose a different type of line to use in the numbers 2019. They chose six different response questions to answer about their break. A few examples were: "The most beautiful thing I saw... I helped.... The best gift I gave... I can't wait for.... I want to try harder at..." We watched a video and saw images of paintings from artist Jen Aranyi. Using pencil drawing, sharpie outlining, and watercolor paint we re-created her mountain paintings with our own special touches. This art will be completed this week as well as a written response to accompany the paintings. Watch for photos on the blog later this week!
Friday, December 21st, 2018
We wish all of our families an amazing Christmas and Winter holiday! Have a wonderful time with your families! Looking forward to the New Year where we will continue exploring the world around us!
Thursday, December 20th, 2018
* Arjun, Amaan, Jordyn and Gwenyth read their Phobia Stories today. The students provided specific feedback and asked questions to the authors. We continued to work on our Travel Alberta Weekend Getaway books and using technology we learned how to copy and paste images. The students found three images for activities they would like to try. They will write details about each activity in the New Year.
*Science-We gathered in the plaza this morning, as teams ran their vehicle distance trials. Using a variety of propulsion mechanisms, students were proud of their results! Based on your trials, which distance were you proud of? What adjustments did you make to your vehicle as you pretested your prototype this week?
*Math-Today we had great discussions about, "Toy Mountain" and the, "Teddy Bear Toss". Students were surprised and saddened to learn that some children will not receive any presents on Christmas day. We talked about why some families might be homeless and how we can help others during this season. Students then created their budget shopping, as they searched for toys within their, "Toy Mountain" budget.
Wednesday, December 19th, 2018
*Science-When you were testing your vehicles today, what adjustments did you make to improve the momentum? During your distance trials, what was the greatest distance your vehicle travelled?
*Math-When you are paying for items with cash, how do you round the cents? When do you actually pay more than the price when paying with cash? When do you pay less than the actual price?
Tuesday, December 18th, 2018
*Math-When you were "shopping" this morning, what was your budget? How do you make sure you are staying within your budget rather than going over (debt)? When you calculated the total amount for each group of items, how could the total vary depending on which method you used for payment? How did you round the total cost?
*Science-Which part of the design and building process did your group work on today? How are you attaching the propulsion system to make sure you have enough momentum? What changes have you made to your vehicle to improve the aerodynamics and rotation of the wheels?
* Today we worked on our Alberta Natural Regions 3D map and completing our special crystal ornaments. Thanks to Donna (Olivia's Mom) and Sarah (Owen's Mom) for volunteering to help with these projects. The students worked on their Travel Alberta Weekend Getaway booklets looking at accommodations. We visited the trip advisor and travel Alberta website. If students did not finish their page please help them complete this tonight listing the name of the place they will stay, how much it costs per night, the trip advisor rating, and amenities. With our little buddies we placed our bird seed ornaments in the tree as a special gift to the birds this holiday season. We watched a video and had a discussion about the importance of providing food, water, and nesting materials during the winter months.
Friday, December 14th, 2018
*Math-When you were shopping within your budget this morning, what happens when you pay by credit card or debit card versus cash? When paying cash, when do you round the total up, down or keep the total the same? Why do we need to round the total when paying with cash?
What is the value of each coin?
*Science-Which part of your vehicle did you focus on today? How are you ensuring the wheels and axles are placed securely to your vehicle?
Thursday, December 13th, 2018
*Math-How did you set your numbers on the number line? Did you use your ruler or your finger to estimate the fraction of where to place each number? In regards to our Christmas/Holiday budgets which will start tomorrow, what did you learn about the penny? When and why did the Royal Canadian Mint stop minting the penny? How can you tell the difference between each coin?
*Science-Which section of your vehicle did your team work on today? Did you use the electric hand drill or glue gun to help you? How do you ensure you are collaborating your ideas and design strategies when working with your team? How are you going to attach the propulsion system to your vehicle which will increase the potential energy?
As a class we created a summary from the story Christmas Cobwebs for our special holiday project coming home next Friday. We reviewed the names submitted for the "Name the Reindeer" contest. Through the process of voting we got the list down to six qualifying names and then voted as a class on "Jeff!" You will notice his name tag tomorrow! Three more students shared their phobia stories- Jack Na, Jana and Brynlee. Students gave them specific feedback on their stories.
Wednesday, December 12th, 2018
*Math-How did you and your partner ensure your numbers were placed correctly on the number line? Which new numbers did we add to our number line today? Which numbers did you find the most challenging when determining their numerical order relative to the numbers previously placed onto the number line?
*Science-When starting the construction of your new simple machine vehicle, which tools did you and your team use? If you used the electric drill alongside Ms. T , how did you meet safety requirements? How is your team going to attach the propulsion mechanism to increase the potential energy of your simple machine?
*Congratulations to all the choir students and a special high five to our Room 17 Choir students Owen, Gwenyth, Taryn, Brynlee and Danica. We got to preview the dress rehearsal for the Winter Concert this afternoon and it was an amazing afternoon of singing and handbell performances. You sounded lovely! Good luck tomorrow night at the concert. We folded an 8 page book for our Travel Alberta Getaway and started our title page. All students should have their destination chosen for this project.
Tuesday, December 11th, 2018
*Science-Today we met with our new teams to discuss construction ideas for our new vehicles! What propulsion mechanism will you be installing? How can you ensure the axles have full rotation with low drag? How are you going to incorporate the amazing materials you brought to class?
*Math-How did you ensure your number was accurately placed on our classroom suspended number line? What number started and ended the number line? If you had a fraction card, how did you determine where to place the number? What challenges occurred and how could we correct numbers that need readjusting?
Monday, December 10th, 2018
Talia, Justin and Taryn shared their phobia stories with our class reading with expression. Expression is an important part of reading a story with exaggeration. We read Wonder and did a character sketch of August from the information we gained from Jack Will's perspective. We started our Travel Alberta weekend family get-aways today. Students used the Travel Alberta website and travel guides to find a destination they think their family would enjoy. Please have your destination chosen by Tuesday afternoon. We created a Kindness Holiday Tree that features acts of kindness to share with others.
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
*Science-Today we completed our Beakerhead Ingenuity Challenge using only masking tape. Delving into the future we captured the amazing technology and environmental designs that we predict will be invented in the future!
*We chose our groups today for the second vehicle challenge where we will only use reusable or recyclable materials for the body, axles and wheels with an added propulsion mechanism.
*Math-Today we continued practicing multiple addition with and without regrouping to the ten thousands place value. We are feeling more confident with regrouping and understanding the mathematical rules when carrying and regrouping.
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
*Science-Today we ran our first distance trials of our vehicles using the inclined plane! We had amazing success as your vehicles moved with the help of gravity, to various distances! How did your car travel today? Did you car successfully move at or beyond 3.5 meters?
*Two handouts in Science went home today. You now have your study guide for Gears and Levers test for next Tuesday. Then a letter to help you begin planning ideas for your recycled vehicle! Tomorrow we will choose your teams!
*Math-We continued coding in the plaza where we programmed the "Space" visuals to include Saturn and the Earth as they orbited the Sun! Then we included a rocket that blasted off and moved around the darkened, starlit night!
Monday, December 3, 2018
We started creating an art piece to display with our phobia stories for conferences. The students used task design and their imagination to plan and create their art. We had our first coding session using Scratch. The student created a space background and using sprites, costumes and formulas had the different planets line up and flash!
Friday, November 30, 2018
*Science-When you tested your cars in the plaza, how did your car travel on the inclined plane? Did you need to make adjustments to your car to help create greater momentum? When you placed your car on the inclined plane, did you and your team find an optimal angle to increase the potential energy?
*Beakerhead-What did you and your team work on today? How is your structure innovative in design? Are you predicting where our species will form a new colonization? What type of fuel will you need to harness?
Thursday, November 29, 2018
*Math-Today we drew our Fibonacci number using bubble formatting. Once we sketched our number we artistically drew a number of fractals inside each number! Together we will form the first 22 numbers of the sequence which will be showcased around our classroom! Which fractals did you draw in your Fibonacci number(s)?
*Science-Today we decided that we could change the diameter of the straws that allow the wooden dowel axles to spin. We agreed that the larger diameter straws created more movement of the axles thus causing the cars to turn unxpectantly. Most groups chose to remove yesterday’s straws and replace each axle. What did your team decide today? In our Beakerhead 3018 challenge, each team continued to design and construct their tapigami structure. What is your team creating?
*For our phobia stories we will create a piece of art to display with our published stories. Please plan what 3D art you would like to create and what materials will be required. There are a variety of materials located in the art room at school that students will access.
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
*Science-We had amazing success today as each team completed the initial construction of their vehicle! Each car contains unique detailing and various artistic techniques to showcase windows, sunroofs and car body designs. Then we moved into the plaza to run our first trial runs using inclined planes! Well done, engineers!
*Math-In relation to our pattern inquiry, we searched today for a variety of sources to find images of fractals. We discovered that fractals are repeating patterns often found in nature! Which fractals did you find to be intricate and beautiful! Which fractals surprised you and why? How can you incorporate fractals into your Fibonacci bubble number?
*We continue to work on the body of our Phobia Stories. We used laptops and google docs to type our stories today. The students had French this afternoon.
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
*Science-Today we watched the video from NASA when the keen scientists watched the successful landing of InSight probe onto the surface of Mars! We discussed the latest image taken on the surface of Mars that showed the small rocks and coloured red/brownish soil in the background! Then we continued working on the design of our cars as we focussed on the attachment of the roofing. We are super proud of our car designs and the artistic additions of detailing look amazing!
*Math-Fibonacci sequence continued to live in our classroom! We realized that after 20 numbers, the sequence is increasing in value at a fast rate! We are looking forward in choosing one number to draw, colour and represent! Then we will need to place the numbers in numerical order starting with the number zero!
Thursday, November 22, 2018
*Math-Some mathematicians say this gentleman from Pisa, Italy was the most talented Western mathematician of the Middle Ages. What did we learn about Leonardo Biggolo? What logic pattern did he study that occurs in nature? When we began the logic pattern starting with the number 0, then in sequence number 1, what operation did he/we use? Why is November 23rd celebrated as World Fibonacci Day? Why is he know as Fibonacci?
*Science-What did your team design today as you worked on constructing your vehicle from scratch? How is the vehicle body sleek and aerodynamic in design? What colour scheme did your group choose for the car body, windows and detailing? What are you proud of? In Beakerhead, what tapigami structure is your team building that will be invented by the year 3018?
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
*Math-We continued practicing our basic facts of addition with regrouping. Which practice question sheet number are you working on today? What strategies are working for you to ensure your addition is accurate?
*Science-Today we continued to work on our vehicle designs! Then we moved to Beakerhead where we brainstormed the year 3018! What modes of transportation do you predict will be invented by the year 3018? What type of fuel will we harness to use for transportation? Will your tapigami focus on how we will travel into space, space tourism and perhaps architecturally unique space homes?
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
*Math-Today we worked a series of addition computation problems to the ten thousands place value. Which practice questions did you find most challenging? Did you remember to carry and show the regrouping above the next highest place value?
*Science-You and your team partners began sketching the main shape of the car body. How did ensure the main outline was aerodynamic with low drag? Which car are you analyzing to help you design a modern, sleek prototype? Which colours are you choosing for the main body? Are you going to add detailing to the side of your car? How did you ensure the car body is able to wrap u dear the chassis to create a good seal for air flow?
Monday, November 19, 2019
*We are beginning to start the body or middle of our phobia stories. The students are planning the main event and problem including description and main character's thoughts and feelings. We read three chapters of Wonder and read about what a patient, selfless, and loving sister Via is to Auggie. Students were given their Alberta Natural Region groups today and have started their research using websites.
Friday, November 16, 2018
*Math-Today we practiced how to add 4 and 5 digit numbers using regrouping. We analyzed how to successfully regroup based on each place value. Then we modeled the various base 10 blocks that represented numbers to the ten thousands place value. We all agreed we are feeling more confident and successful with fewer errors!
*Science-What prototype are you designing your car? Which car body has low drag with high aerodynamics? Can you find a photo online or in your neighborhood of a car that you can use to help you design your car body? How are you and your team going to ensure your vehicle can have enough momentum to travel at least 3.5 m past the edge of an inclined plane? What force will you use to get momentum?
Thursday, November 15, 2018
*Math-Today you created your own 5 digit math addition problem that you intentionally placed 2 mistakes: regrouping, place value, basic fact errors, double digits in one place value. You then switched addition cards to see if you could find their errors and then correct their "mistakes". Did your math partner correctly find your errors? Were you able to successfully find their mathematical errors? Which errors do you think you are working to correct?
*Science-When we viewed various vehicles in wind tunnels, how did the shape of the car body affect drag? Which structures did engineers design to decrease drag and increase fuel efficiency? How did the design shape of the truck improved to decrease fuel consumption? What design is your group going to create?
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
*Math-Math test goes home today! Well done, mathematicians! Please return your signed test.
-Today we analyzed the main problems that can occur when we add two numbers. We determined there are 4 main problems that can occur: place value, two digits in one place value, using subtraction with addition and incorrect basic facts when adding. Then we decided to devise an addition questions that had more than one mistake. What mistakes did you intentionally make in your problem?
*Science-When your group used the stickies to classify the levers into their classes, which levers did you successfully match? How did your team determine the classes of levers?
*Today we did an act of kindness and service for our little grade one buddies and the Calgary Food Bank. With the help of Mr. C, and our educational assistant student (Miss Jaenen), we harvested the root vegetables from the community garden that the kindergarten students planted and cared for in the spring and summer. This was an amazing educational experience for the students! Everyone worked so hard and persisted until the job was complete! We kept a few carrots to taste fresh from the garden and had an interesting discussion about why fresh garden carrots tasts differently than store bought carrots. We shared the beginning of our phobia stories with two other students and were provided 3 stars and a wish to use to edit the beginning.
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
*Math-How did you prepare for your test today? Did you practice the questions on your study cards? Did you ask a parent to write new questions for you to solve? Did you play algebra dice at home?
*Science-How did we classify levers into groups based on the position of the fulcrum? How many different classes of levers have scientists developed? Which class of lever do you use the most in your kitchen? Which invented lever do you think is the most intricate? Which lever would you invent to help decrease the amount of effort to move a load? Check out our Blog page which shows us watching the Beakerhead webinar on Tapigami! Then after we watched the webinar, we decided to create a beautiful Remembrance Day flower for Remembrance Day.
Monday, November 12, 2018
*Should Calgary make a bid for the 2026 Olympic Games? The students in Room 17 discussed the main reasons some Calgarians will vote "yes" and why some will vote "no" on Tuesday, Nov. 13th. As we follow this news story please watch news coverage on Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning and tell the results of the plebiscite!
*We started writing the beginning of our phobia stories using a hook sentence. The students used our classroom writing folder resources to help them include strong verbs, interesting adjectives, character descriptions, and showing vs telling. We are excited to share these stories with you at parent teacher conferences in December!
Thursday, November 8, 2018
*Math-How did your team model the addition question using base 10 blocks? When we were modeling regrouping of place value, how did you correct the mistake? What happens to the total number if you forget to regroup a place value? What number do you need to regroup? Why are the hands on materials called, "Base 10 blocks?"
*Science-When you were using the hands on simple machines, how did you determine where the fulcrum was located? Are any of the simple machines similar in relation to where the fulcrum, load and effort are located? Why is a lever considered a simple machine?
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
*Math-This morning you developed a set of study cards to help prepare you for the Math test next Tuesday. There are 4 main sections to the test, that are hilighted in your study cards. Take the main questions that are in your study cards and create new questions that you can practice. You can also play Algebra dice at home, just like we did in class, to help you balance each equation!
*Science-Which levers did you use today at home and in Science class? Which lever did you think is the neatest, most creative invention developed as of today? When you use a spoon, knife or fork, where is the fulcrum, load and effort located? How does a lever increase the mechanical advantage to lift a load?
*Ask me about Hook Sentences and the three ways to begin a story that "hooks" the interest of the reader. We verbally practiced these three ways to begin our phobia stories and will start writing our beginning paragraph soon.
* There is an Alberta Regions note going home today. Please help your child complete the form and return it back to school as soon as possible. It will be exciting to see and discuss as a class which parts of Alberta we have visited and explored. Students will choose their top regions they are interested in researching and be assigned a small group project for one of the regions.
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
*Math-Math Study Cards on Algebra will go home tomorrow. Your test will be next Tuesday, November 13th.
*Science-How did you design a hand beater to increase the rotation speed of the beaters? How did the ratio between the driver and the driven gears change? When you observed the hand beater in class, what was the ratio between the driver and driven gears? How do the gears work together to create speed or torque? When you were discovering connections using levers, how did you use a lever to move a load from your desk?
*We story mapped the beginning, middle and end to our phobia stories using pictures. We worked with student Partners from Ms. Hassen's class to share ideas for setting, the main problem and how the problem can creatively be resolved at end of our stories.
*As Remembrance Day approaches we read the poem In Flanders Fields by John MCcrae and analyzed what the author meant in each line. Some new vocabulary words we encountered were "quarrel" and "foe".
Monday, November 5, 2018
We started a new story today that will be based on phobias and exaggeration. What is the name of the figure of speech where you use an exaggerated statement not meant to be taken literally? ... Hyperbole! We drew a picture of our phobia in a simple way then an exaggerated version of the picture that we will use as our story starter. Today we read a book about Peace with our buddies and created a row of torn paper art poppies. We watched a video on the Canadian peace keeping mission and brainstormed words to describe our peace keepers and soldiers. Each student picked 3-5 significant words to use on their poppy art. The results are stunning!
Friday, November 2, 2018
*Math-Today you and your partner played, Algebra Dice, using many faced dies! How did you calculate how to balance both numbers in your equation? What strategies worked for you?
Thursday, November 1, 2018
*Math-Today we Google searched the weights of various organisms classified as, "Endangered Species", in Canada. Once we determined the weights, we then created balanced algebraic equations to determine how we could balance the teeter totter!
*Science-When you were working with your team, how did you determine if the simple machine was invented for speed or power? Which kitchen simple machines were used for speed? How were the driver gears built differently compared with the driven gears? When the simple machine was invented for power, how was the gear ratio different compared to simple machines for speed?
Wednesday, October 31st, 2018
*Amazing job on the assembly this afternoon Room 17 and all the OHS Grade 4 students! You were excellent leaders as you taught the whole school the Ghost Busters dance! Thanks Ronan and Jordyn for being our confident and articulate MCs. Have a safe and fun Halloween.
*Math-This morning we estimated the weight of the heaviest pumpkin in the USA for 2018. Our estimations ranged from 56 kg to 2 108 kg! Then we googled the most updated information to discover the pumpkin that was grown in New Hampshire weighed the equivalent of a small car at 1 149 kg! Then we hypothesized how the farmer was able to use simple machines to lift the heavy pumpkin! Using algebra teeter totters, we then formulated a number of equations to balance the heavy pumpkins!
Tuesday, October 30th, 2018
*Remember to bring your costume, board game and treats (if your family is bringing a treat for our afternoon celebration) in the morning to school.
*Math-Today we solved algebraic equations using the letters to spell, "Halloween". Then we decided to find out how many smaller words are hidden inside the word, "Halloween". So far we have discovered 40 words and then we translated the words back into their number! We thought it was neat that you can find the hidden number that matches the letter, and then use that letter/number to form other words!
Monday, October 29th, 2018
We are preparing for our Halloween Assembly on Wednesday. We were student leaders today and taught the three other grade 4 classes our Ghost Busters dance. In Phys.Ed we were enganged and excited with the new Halloween stations. Ask me how many Ghosts our two classes captured! In Art we are almost finished our poppies. We created these delicate flowers and will put the finishing touches on in the next few days. In our Novel Study we are now hearing Auggie's sister Via's perspective on growing up as the big sister to a brother with special needs.
Thursday, October 25th, 2018
We watched a short video on the significance of the poppy as we worked on the next steps of our Remembrance Day art project. It involved paint and splattering the paint! I was impressed at the students' willingness to pitch in and the responsibility they displayed as they worked as a team to clean up the room after our painting! You can't even tell we painted! We will continue this art project into next week and I will post a picture on the Blog once it is completed. The students made some thoughtful reflections on our novel study Wonder. We are at the part of the story where it is Halloween at Beecher Prep and Auggie encounters a situation with his friend Jack Will where he feels betrayed by the words Jack said to Julian. The students are excited to delve in and read more! Next week- promise!
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
*Math-At home this week you will be practicing to memorize your basic multiplication facts. You have been working on moving your short term memory facts into your long term memory. At school you learned how to increase the number of brain messages which will help you to retain the basic facts. Look at the equation. Say the equation out loud. Hear the equation. Now flip the card over, say the product (answer) out loud. Now say the equation and the answer together using your voice! Then say the equation with the product again out loud, 3 more times! Then move to another card. Practice 10 to 15 minutes per night. Remember to be calm. Practice your basic facts when you have had a snack and you are wide awake. All of these factors will help to increase your memory consolidation!
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
*Math-How did you determine which operation to use in your algebraic equation? How did you ensure the left side of your equation balanced the right side? With the series of 3 numbers, did you use guess and check to determine the operation(s)?
*Science-Which sections of the LEGO Dacta hand drill, did you and your team work on today? How will you set up the interior gear train systems to move the drill? Which typs of gears will move the drill-driver, idler or driven? How do you determine the order of the gears?
* The students finished the Alberta Geographical Region vocabulary terms. They recorded these definitions with writing and showed their meaning through pictures. It is important to understand the meaning of climate, vegetation, bodies of water, natural resources, animal life and land forms before we begin researching the regions.
* Ask me about Show vs Tell to be a descriptive writer. Using visualization, the senses, and strong verbs I can convey my ideas with amazing description.
Monday, October 22, 2018
We spent some time today working with our little buddies on "ghostly O" word families. The big buddies brainstormed some Grade 4 level words that contain the "oo" sound like in balloon. The students learned some new vocabulary working with these words such as "monsoon".
At our assembly Room 17 students will lead the Ghostbusters dance for our school. We have been practicing our dance moves so that we can leaders for our performance! We are aiming for synchronization!
We learned a new game in Phys. Ed today called Table Ball! It was fun and challenging at the same time!
Friday, October 19, 2018
*Science-When you were writing your Science test today, how did you ensure you answered each section? How did studying help you write your test?
-How is Spirograph related to gears? How can you use the gears to create a beautiful drawing?
*Math-Using numbers and an x, how were you able to balance the equations? How did you prove your answer(s) to be correct? Which operations did you use in your equations today?
Thursday, October 18, 2018
*Math-How did you determine the equation for the bat cave problem? How many bats entered the cave? How did you ensure your equation was balanced? When you were working with your flashcards, how are you deciding which basic facts go into your Long Term Memory or your Short Term Memory pile?
*Science-When you placed little pieces of tape on top of each gear, what did you discover? When you turn the first gear clockwise what happens to the second and third gear in your gear train? Why are some gears changing directions? What artistic set uses gears to help you draw neat and beautiful drawings? Remember to study for your Pulley's test tomorrow!
* Language Arts- We have been looking at strong verbs and how they can make your writing come alive compared to simple words. The students have been making webs with their strong verbs. Instead of using the word "eat" try gobble, slurp, devour, or munch. We read the story Eagle Dreams and students recorded on their white boards strong verbs the author used throughout the book.
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
*Math-How did you create an algebraic equation for Justin's problem? Could you include any number when 0 is multiplied by an unknown number to equal 0? What is the purpose of the number 0? In your Math Minutes, what strategies are you using to ensure you successfully answer a high number of questions in 1.5 minutes?
*Science-We are geared up for Science! Where can you find gears in your home? How did you and your team create a gear train using various sizes of gears? How did you use the axles? What is the purpose of gears?
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
*Math-When given 3 numbers and an unknown number, how did you set up algebraic equations to ensure the left side of the equation always equals the right side? What operations did you use? Did you incorporate more than one operation in your equations? When you received your Math test, what were you proud of? Remember to share your Math test with a parent!
*Science-Egyptian pyramid structure challenge! How did you and your team use simple machines to move a live load of "stones" up an inclined plane? What angle worked the best? Did you use rollers and if so, how did they work? What other materials worked for your group? How did the ancient Egyptians use simple machines to move heavy slabs of rock across the land and to various heights on the pyramids?
*Science Test-Remember to start reviewing your Study Sheets that went home today! Spend 15 minutes per night reviewing your labs!
Monday, October 16th, 2018
We used adjectives to describe the different geographical regions shown on the Alberta Shield. Ask me to describe the Rocky Mountains, Grasslands and Prairie Fields with my descriptive words! We started our geographical regions map. We worked with our little buddies to collect nature items and enjoy the beautiful fall afternoon searching for different nature items using our senses. We ended our day reading our novel Wonder and practicing our keyboarding skills using the laptops.
Friday, October 12, 2018
*Math-What strategies/tools did you use to achieve success with your Math test? Did you use the hands on cubes/squares or did the plain paper help you to record your calculations?
Did you underline the key numbers or math concept words to help you?
*Hidato-How did you determine the number patterns in the Hidato puzzles? How did Dr. Benedek create the logic puzzles to challenge your math brain? How do the puzzles increase in difficulty level?
*Science-Will your group successfully use the inclined plane to move the heavy load? What challenges will occur in your roller system when you increase the angle to move the live load? Which ancient civilization used the same system to move heavy blocks of stone?
Thursday, October 11, 2018
*Math-How did you ensure your algebraic equation was balanced? How did the lever help you to ensure the left side of the equation equals the right side? When you worked on your basic multiplication facts in your Math Minute, how did your score change from yesterday?
-Test tomorrow. 2 pages in length. Tonight you can practice skip counting in increasing and decreasing patterns and determine the rule with the operation. You can find small hands on materials at home and practice placing them into equal bags. Then determine the operation for each group.
*Science-When your group helped design the large roller track, how did the amount of effort to move the load surprise you? How did your group move a heavy load 3 m using only 6 rollers?
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
* Language Arts- We reviewed nouns, proper nouns and adjectives. We described images from each of the AB regions with adjectives.
*Social Studies- We watched a video of three of the AB geographical regions (Rocky Mountains, Grasslands, and the Foothills) and made jot notes and sketched pictures from the information. Calgary is located in the Grassland region.
*Math-Your Math test is on Friday. Study at least 15 minutes tonight and Thursday evening. Use your study cards that we made in class to help you. There will be 3 main parts in your test on Friday: Skip counting with mathematical rule, drawing arrays and labelling with the mathematical equation, patterns where you record the data an organized T Table, extend the table based on the mathematical rule and calculate the rule going down the table plus going across the table.
-When you practiced your Math Minute today, what strategies did you use?
*Science-How did you determine where the friction is located in your roller? What did your group determine are the most important features of your roller? How is your roller used as a simple machine?
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
*Math-How did you use a symbol to represent how many cookies were in the algebraic equations today? What is the difference between a dozen and a baker's dozen cookies? Which numbers did you use in your equations today?
*Science-Congratulations, scientists! Thank you for bring your roller to class! What roller did you bring to school today? When you use your roller, where does friction occur? How could you reduce the friction of your roller? Example: Would flour on the rolling pin, decrease the amount of dough that sticks to the counter or roller?
Friday, October 5, 2018
*Math-How did you determine the unknown number in the algebraic equations? What strategies did you use? Did you use addition and subtraction in your calculation section in your Math book?
*Science-When your team built a section of rollers, how many meters was your track? How long was our roller track today? What happened to the roller pencils as the live load moved over your section?
Remember to bring a roller from home! Is your roller a traditional roller that does not have an axle or does your roller have an axle?
Thursday, October 4, 2018
*Math-How did you calculate the value of each Halloween object in your algebraic equation? What happens to the value of the object when you use the same object in a different equation? Can one objects have 2 different values?
*Science-How did you and your team use the simple machine-roller to move a heavy load with low friction? What challenges occurred in your system? How would you decrease the movement of rollers? Where do we find rollers in our everyday lives?
Homework!-Bring one roller to class by Tuesday. Label with your name! Think! Where is the dead load? Where is the live load? Where does friction occur? Where do you place your effort?
*We used the laptops today to practice our keyboarding skills before the student had French. In French they learned the colours en francais. The students are bringing home their stunning Thanksgiving art for you tonight. Enjoy and have beautiful Thanksgiving everyone. We feel so grateful to be working and learning with your children this year in Room 17.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
*Math-Today we made new triangular popsicle frames for Thanksgiving where we calculated the mathematical relationship between each frame based on the number of edges! What was rule going across the T Table? Why did this pattern work? Then when you started constructing your pumpkin towers, how is each tower different from the tower before?
*Science-This morning, we worked on designing various pulley systems by drawing the increasing mechanical advantage in each system. Why is it easier to lift a live load if the mechanical advantage increases?
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
*Math-Today we made a model of framed popsicle sticks to calculate the total number of edges. How did your team work together to build the frames? In your T Table when you organized your data, what was the rule going down from frame to frame? How many edges did each frame share? What was the rule going across your T Table?
*Science-This morning we built a water well to determine how we could actually move the groundwater up to the surface using a pulley system. How did your team get success with your live system? What challenges did you overcome as you were trying to move the water? In a working water well, what structures will be added to ensure safety?
Monday, October 1, 2018
Today we made a leaf for our 3D gratitude tree. We reflected on what we are thankful for and why we feel this way.
In art we are making plaster leaf prints. The students were amazed with the transfer of the veins and stem into the plaster from the fresh leaf. We used a variety of leaves from different types of trees. You will see our final masterpieces in the days ahead.
In Language Arts we completed our rough drafts for our All About Me Journal Covers and will complete a good copy to be displayed in our journal.
We have completed our jot notes and information for the Alberta Provincial Symbols. Ask me about the six Alberta Symbols! We will sketch a picture in our journal using all of the symbols.
Friday, September 28, 2018
*Math-Today we drew LEGO brick problems and we calculated the interested increasing pattern between each tower! We then worked on our Math Challenger problems, determining how to draw various arrays to group different sets of pulleys! Remember to return your signed test.
*Science-How did your group become successful with your clothesline system? What challenges did you overcome? Based on the rubric we discussed, what was your team's overall achievement score for today's lab out of 4? On Tuesday, your team will need to apply your understanding to build a working water well pulley system! The challenge is on!
Thursday, September 27, 2018
*Math tests went home today. How did you use the small papers to help you with your calculations? What worked for you? Did you underline key words?
-What strategies did you use to determine the rule going across the T Table for the cookie and sunflower problems? Did you use guess and check? Did your Math toolbox kit in your desk help you today?
*Science-How did your team set up your clothesline today? What challenges did you overcome? What would happen if the live load was heavy? When the live load is near the pulleys, what happened to the string and/or pulleys?
-We had an amazing Terry Fox Run together this afternoon. There was a strong sense of community, belonging, and generosity. Susan Morgan, a former OHS parent, was our guest speaker from the Terry Fox Foundation. She provided a motivational talk highlighting Terry Fox's hope, determination, and perseverance. Before our run Mr. Quon announced that if our school raises $3000 this year for the Terry Fox Foundation, Mr. Parsons will shave his beard! Thanks Room 17 for being postive leaders and taking such good care of your grade one little buddies during the assembly and run.
Estimate how many laps our class ran together. You will discover the actual number tomorrow!
Wednesday, September 26,2018
*Math- Students wrote their quiz today! What strategies did you use to compute the numerical response questions? Did you use the extra paper to record your calculations? Did you underline key Math words? During Math class, how did you calculate the pattern of snowflakes within each larger cluster?
*Science-How did you and your team construct a clothesline using 2 single pulleys with a long string? What challenges did you overcome when you attached the pulleys to a standing structure? Predict what would happen to your clothesline if the clothes were very heavy?
How was your team successful with the challenge?
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
*Math quiz tomorrow (25 questions: multiple choice, short answer) for all Grade 4's -See Home page for details.
*Math-When you created your T Table for the Living Wall Inukshuks, how did you calculate the number of light and dark green plants you would need to complete each structure?
How did you calculate the rule going down and the rule going across?
*Science-When you worked with your team, what was the maximum mechanical advantage your team set up using the pulley system? How did the amount of effort change from mechanical advantage of one to four?
*Social- We are learning about the Alberta provincial symbols. Today we reviewed jot notes and how to take the most important information from a piece of text and record it in short form. We researched the Wild Rose, Great Horned Owl and the Big Horn Sheep. Is it legal to pick the provincial flower or hunt the provincial mammal?
Monday, September 24, 2018
-Today we began our All About Me response to our Letter Art. We organized and categorized our ideas using a web.
-We shared our Marathon of Hope journal pages with our little buddies and ran a practice lap for the Terry Fox Run on Thursday. Each lap is .5km. Terry Fox ran a marathon each day (with an artificial limb and cancer) which is 84 laps (42 km). Simply amazing...
-In Social Studies we finished our Map of Canada. Some interesting observations were the borders dividing provinces and territories, Thunder Bay (where Terry's race ended), as well as that Nunavut has a massive land area compared to its small population.
Remember to bring a toonie for Terry this week.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
In Language Arts we have been researching the Marathon of Hope. Students used the ipads to explore the website terryfox.org where they found important information, photos and stories. They recorded answers to the 5 W's (and how?) from the website and from watching an inspirational video. Students had many personal connections with people in their lives that have had cancer. In our Journal we completed a Marathon of Hope page with answers to our questions on a Maple Leaf. Terry Fox is a Canadian Hero and teaches us about many important virtues. We will share our journal page with our little buddies and help them learn about Terry Fox.
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
*Science-This morning we watched a live feed from the International Space Station where an astronaut was working on the exterior section while on a space walk! When we viewed the CNN video where astronauts talked about their daily life on the I.S.S. what did you learn? What do you think would be challenging as an astronaut and what experiments would you conduct on the I.S.S.? What questions did you write for our Beakerhead speaker tomorrow morning?
*Math-What numerical patterns did you calculate on the Living Wall Inukshuk? How did the T Table help you to organize your data? How did you extend the T-Table when building more Inukshuks? Remember to bring back your signed Math quiz!
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
*Today we interviewed a partner that we did not know very well and asked them different questions related to the Circle of Courage- Independence, Mastery, Belonging and Generosity. As we answered the questions we got a bead to add to our circle. Our "mini" beaded circles will be on display in our classroom. A class picture is in the middle of the circle symblozing we are all part of the circle.
*Math-Today we worked on completing our Math Tools purple folder which will include a 10 x 10 multiplication grid and our 100's chart which we completed. Then we worked on writing our own set of flashcards so we can memorize multiplication facts from 1 x 9 to 9 x 9. Remember to be neat. Use a thin felt pen and take your time. Your flashcards (in an organza bag) are due next Tuesday, Sept 25th.
*Science-How did your team set up your vertical 2 pulley system? Did you notice the change in the amount of effort versus a one pulley system? How did you group achieve success?
Monday, September 17, 2018
*We met with our little buddies from Grade One today! We discussed and filled out a, "get to know me" sheet with our little buddy!
Friday, September 14, 2018
*Math-You wrote your Math quiz today. What strategies did you use to help you understand what the questions were asking? Did you circle key numbers or underline words like use addition or subtraction? Did you sketch or model numbers using base 10 blocks?
*Science-Today you used 2 pulleys in your system to lift a live load of books! What happened when you placed your pulleys in a vertical line with a moveable pulley attached to your bucket? How did the amount of effort change when you went from using one single pulley to 2? If you are lifting a heavy load of cement, what mechanical advantage would ensure you are lifting using less effort?
Thursday, September 13, 2018
*Math Quiz-tomorrow based on the number concepts you learned in Grade 3!
*Math-Today you demonstrated on the smart board, various patterns you discovered in the multiplication grid up to 10 x 10. What are square numbers? Where are the square numbers located on the grid? Can the skip counting of numbers increase and decrease? Can you extend the skip counting of a number past the grid?
*Science-The effort was on today! How did your team increase the mechanical advantage of your pulley system from 1 to 2? To have a M.A. (Mechanical Advantage) of 2, how many supports were attached to the bucket? Where did your team connect the pulleys to the beam? What did you observe regarding the amount of effort you used to lift the live load?
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
*Welcome to MRU Educational Assistant Student Amanda Jaenen who will be joining our class for her field studies every Wednesday until mid November.
*Parents- please complete and hand in your school forms package at your earliest convenience!
*LA- Please finish two Wonder response questions for tomorrow. Please let Mrs. Meier know if you need assistance gathering your "All about Me" pictures for Art on Monday.
*Math-What patterns did you observe in your 10 x 10 multiplication grid? Are the patterns horizontal, vertical or diagonal? How can you use skip counting to help you memorize your basic facts, by the end of Grade 4 up to 9 x 9?
*Science-How did your team use the pulley system to lift a live load of books vertically? What challenges did your team overcome? Where did you place the effort in relation to the live and dead load? If you let go of the string, what force acts on the load? How could you decrease the amount of effort in tomorrow's pulley system?
Tuesday, September 11th, 2018
*Social studies- Working in small groups the students created a classroom map using different manipulatives to represent the objects in our room. The concept of scale was introduced and modeled. Students used their map "prototype" as a guide as they drew the map on paper. We will add colour, details, and a legend/key to our Room 17 Classroom Map to make it easier to read and interpret.
*Homework for Monday! Please gather 8-10 "All about Me" small pictures that are rectangular or square in size (no larger than 4 cm by 4 cm). These photos should represent or symbolize things you love, like to do, and what makes you unique and special. You need to be able to orally tell and explain why you chose each picture. Students can use technology, magazines, or draw and color the pictures. If you require colour printing, and do not have a colour printer, you can email the file and I will print your page for you. [email protected] Please keep your pictures in a ziplock bag with your name on the outside (so they do not get lost) and hand in on or before Monday. This art will be used for our visual journal covers and displayed for conferences.
*Science-Some scientists state this living organism is the heaviest on our planet? Where did we find this organism? How could this deciduous tree weigh more than a whale? If a forest fire hits an Aspen grove, how can the species survive?
*Botanical Leaf Art-How did you use the glitter glue to capture the formation of the vein structure on your Aspen leaf? Are the veins alternate or are they opposite? How did you use the fall sparkly colors to show the artistic representation of your leaf?
*Math-When you were calculating the numbers on your multiplication grid, what strategies did you use? How are you ensuring your numbers are neatly printed? Do colors help you to see the pattern of each number group?
Monday, September 10th
We started our Novel Study Wonder by R.J. Palacio. We created a title page by recreating the front cover of the book using different shapes and shades of paper. What is the significance of the front cover with a "blank" face and only one eye? Did the beginning of the book grab your interest and attention and make you want to read more? How did the author achieve this?
We had our first French class today with Madame Ghira! French will be from 2:15-3:15 p.m. on Day 4.
Ms. Paul introduced us to the learning commons space, our library collection, and the how to properly check-out and care for our library books. She challenged us to an Amazing Race scavenger hunt where we used ipads to scan codes for clues and used the camera to gather pictures of our clues. We received our library cards and signed out our first books for the year! We need to have a book each day at school for our silent and shared reading times.
Please sign and return the form package that came home last week.
Friday, September 7, 2018
*We had our, "Welcome" assembly this morning!
*At 11:00 a.m. we had our first fire drill. The entire school took just over one minute to line up outside! We observed the fire alarm is very loud and also shines bright lights into the hallway!
*Science-WOW! We had great success designing and building a single pulley system to lift a live load from the ground. How did you and your team rig your pulley to ensure the string moved with low friction? What did you group use for the live load? What were you proud of today as you worked together with your team?
Thursday, September 6, 2018
* Please wear your Olympic Heights clothing or school colours to the Welcome Assembly tomorrow morning if you can!
*Reminder! Your Math Challenger homework is due tomorrow morning. Remember to give yourself time tonight to finish your diagrams and T Table! (You want to be organized to ensure you complete your homework tonight, rather than rushing tomorrow morning during breakfast).
*Science-During your lab today, how did your team use the hands on materials to design a single pulley system? Which ways could you place the wooden beam to support the live and dead load? What load would your team like to support in your simple machine system? What challenges do you think will occur when you add more live load to the Rona bucket?
*Math-Which classmate's pattern problem did you solve today? How did you calculate the rule? When calculating the rule, did you extend the problem to include more numbers? What mathematical strategies worked well for you today?
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
*This morning we had a desk change! How are you going to positively work with your classmates to ensure you are also engaged in your learning? What strategies work for you? In our classroom, how do we create a dynamic environment where everyone feels safe to take learning risks while being supported?
*In Math class, when we brainstormed, "What is a pattern?" what did you determine? When you devised your own mathematical pattern, did your number sets increase or decrease? How did you calculate the rule for your pattern? When a number of your classmates were at the front of the classroom, which characteristics formed the various patterns?
*During our first lab in Science (Wheels and Levers), what did you discover when you experimented with a single pulley? How do the various parts of a pulley work together? In your daily life, have you observed a pulley in action?
Tuesday, September 4th, 2018
*We had a fabulous morning getting to know each other! What length of string did you pull from the book? Who was in your group? What did you learn about your classmates?
*In, "The Whale and the Snail" book, how did the humpback whale become beached? How did the students work together to support the rescue efforts of the whale? How does beaching negatively affect marine mammals?
*When you designed your eye-catching glass bead Earth, which bead textures and colours did you choose to represent our beautiful planet?
*Your Math Challenger homework is due on Friday. Plan which evening you will be working on your homework.
*As begin our journey of learning together in Grade 4 we will create a water colour art piece on Thursday with your inspirational quote. Please find (or create your own) an inspiration quote that speaks to you, is important and meaningful to you, and will guide your year in Grade 4. The quote may be about topics or virtues such as friendship, caring, creativity, trying new things, perseverance. Resources we looked at together showed "inspirational kid quotes" online and we read several from 365 Days of Wonder- Mr. Browne's Book of Precepts by R. J. Palacio. You will need to have chosen and written down your quote on a piece of paper by Thursday afternoon of this week. You can borrow my book tomorrow (Wednesday) if you would like to find a quote! Please remember to write the name of the person who said the quote if it shows this information.
A few example: "Kindness is like snow. It beautifies everything it covers." -Kahlil Gibran
"You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
Parents you will get to view this beautiful and inspirational art piece at our Meet the Teacher time.
*Science-A special thank you to all of the groups who have presented their discoveries on plastics and composting! We have learned that specific plastic numbers are unsafe to store food and should be avoided! Your research also determined that some plastics may contain toxic chemicals such as BPA and when purchasing items, ensure your plastic containers are BPA Free! Groups also discussed the major issue plaguing our planet today, and our Room 17 scientists agree there is a massive plastic problem that is negatively impacting our oceans and marine life. What steps can you take to reduce the plastic problems?
*Math-Today you received 3D triangular prism nets that you can cut out and build. How are the nets different? What are the mathematical names of each prism?
Monday, June 24th, 2019
-Thank-you Room 17 for an amazing Camp OHS Sports Day! You showed leadership, responsibility and teamwork all through the day. Please teach your parents a new camp song tonight and tell them who the guest speaker was! Share one or two important messages from the guest speaker.
-Please have your Maverick Research Books here tomorrow as we will be finishing typing up our information.
Thursday, June 20th, 2019
*Science-All of our amazing plants went home today! Well done, botanists! You will want to replant your plants in your garden at home, especially the potato plants that are approximately 57 cm tall!
-We continued our research on Waste and Our World using technology where our information is being interpreted, organized and formatted using Google Slides. You and your team will need to be super ready for your presentation date. Two groups are presenting on Friday morning and the rest of our teams will present on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
*Math-How did you determine if the geometric shapes are congruent? If the shape has been transformed, can the second shape be congruent?
Wednesday, June 19th, 2019
*Science-This was an out of this world lab today! We classified our Tomatosphere plants into their two plant seed groups: L and M. We then carefully counted the number of plants that successfully germinated into the dicotyledon stage and discovered the L group had 21 out of 32 successful germinations at 65.6% and the M group had 20 out of 29 successful germinations at 68.9% . We then took a geiger counter which measures the amount of radiation being emitted from the plants and soil. The highest reading came from the M group at 37 counts compared to the L group at 23 counts. Based on both sets of data, we then deducted that group M could have been the group exposed to higher levels of radiation on the ISS. Then we submitted our data into the Tomatosphere website and we were correct-Group M seeds spent one month on the ISS in the Winter of 2017!
*Math-Today we created our own game of congruent 2D shapes where our partner had to determine how many shapes had a congruent matching shape. We transformed the shapes through rotations, flips and slides to discover the actual shape did not change size, just simply moved!
Tuesday, June 18th, 2019
*Math-What is a congruent shape? How do you show that a shape has congruent edges? How did you draw congruent squares this morning? How would you calculate the interior area? Perimeter? Does the shape change if you turn, slide or flip the image?
*Science-We continued our research this morning and discovered further safety issues regarding the use of plastics, where to deposit hazardous waste materials safely in Calgary and items that can be composted into rich soil. If you are researching hazardous waste or composting, your slides will be geared towards your specific disposal of materials. Examples: Where are hazardous materials treated in Alberta? What items/products are labelled hazardous? Where do we place used hazardous materials? What items can be safely composted? Where are materials composted into rich soil in Calgary?
Friday, June 17th, 2019
*Science-Today your team continued your research on composting, hazardous waste or Plastic Identification Number item! You can continue to gather research before next week to add to your Google Slides. Remember to complete your slides to include:
-Introduction Slide-Your Names, Research Topic
-Symbol and Chemical Name
-Products/Items
-Characteristics (Example-squishy, soft, bendable, tough, strong, colored, opaque, etc.)
-Safety-Should the item be heated in the microwave, dishwasher, hot water? Can you safely reuse the item more than once or does plastic molecule leakage occur? Does your plastic contain B.P.A.? Is your number a single use plastic? Plus more!
-Interesting Information that you discovered!
-Other
*Math-In your legend, how are you itemizing the rooms in your new blueprint of your home? How are you documenting the total area of each room? What tools will you need to calculate the perimeter of your home?
Wednesday, June 15, 2019
*Math-Bring your signed Math test back to class this week! This morning we worked on the detailing of the exterior and interior sections of our homes! As an architect, what structures did you include in the exterior of your home to bring in the natural light into your home? To meet fire code, what did you need to include in each room? How will you calculate the area of the hallways in your blueprint?
*Science-Thank you so much to Brynlee for sharing her great photos of Ottawa's recycling and composting bins! What did you and your team discover about your plastic number this morning? Is your plastic safe to heat in the microwave or dishwasher? Can you safely reuse the plastic for storing food?
Tuesday, June 14, 2019
*Math-How are you designing your first home using grid blueprint paper, ruler and your active mind? As an architect how do you capture important additions such as windows, doors, stairs and accordion doors? Mathematically, how will you calculate the area of each room in the interior of your home?
*Science-Through research using technology what important ideas have you discovered about your plastic number? Are all plastics safe to eat food from, babies to teeth on, dogs to chew, heat up in the microwave or accidentally in your car? When we watched Discovery videos this morning on the Great Garbage Patches throughout our oceans, what surprised and shocked you the most? Then we read an important news article regarding our Trudeau government's Waste and our World plans for the year 2021. How will these actions positively impact our planet?
Monday, June 13, 2019
-What buddy activity did we create today? Have you enjoyed the responsibility of being a big buddy? What leadership qualities do you need to be an amazing big buddy? Think of some of your favorite experiences you did with your little buddy and some of your little buddy's best qualities so that you can make them a special thank-you card in the days ahead.
-As we started our Maverick paragraphs we reviewed the importance of a topic sentence and a concluding sentence and having events listed in chronological order to make it easier for our readers to understand.
-What is a Venn diagram used for? Explain your Venn diagram from The Wild Robot today.
Thursday, June 6, 2019
*Math-When you measured the edges of your desk, what did you discover? What unit of measurement did you use for your desk edges, cm or m and why? Which edges of your desk are congruent and which symbols did we use to indicate the edges on your diagram? Why did the designer of your desk place the longer edge with the placement of your desk tray? What happened when you turned your desk and sat at the smaller edge? When you designed the enclosure for a domesticated bunny, how did you calculate the perimeter?
*Science-What did you learn about the world of plastics this morning? How did we determine how to classify the plastics you brought to class? Which identification numbers do scientists use to classify the types of plastic?
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
*Science-Today we completed programming our EV3 robots and we are so proud of our abilities to program the memory brick with our teams! Which maze did your robot successfully navigate? Which challenges did you overcome? What changes to the programming would you recommend?
-Waste and Our World-When you watched the two informative videos on the problems of waste on our planet and the overabundance of plastics in our oceans, which problems do you think need solutions? How are we going to classify the plastics you brought to class? How are the plastics different and what similarities did you observe?
*Math-It was time to study the 24 hour military clock! Why do we need to include 12 more hours on clocks? Which professions use the 24 hour clock everyday and why? What is a quick math trick to calculate the conversion of the 24 hour clock into a 12 hour clock?
-We completed our setting cards for our Book Club. Students should now be completed their title card, first character card and the setting card. We are in a very exciting part of our Read Aloud book The Wild Robot. Tell your family what the climax of the story is! One student replied that this is the same feeling they got watching the Avenger movie so we know the author Peter Brown has done his job creating ultimate suspense and excitement!
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
*Math-Students wrote their multiplication Math test this morning!
-We have previously calculated the item cost for each Summer Fun Kit and kept track of the cost of each item!
This morning we included the GST cost at 5% and calculated the net cost of each bag using traditional multiplication! What is the total GST for each bag?
*Science-This morning we continued our design tasks in robotics! How are you ensuring your robot is able to navigate your maze with accuracy?
-Remember to bring 3-5 plastic items to class tomorrow! Due Wednesday, June 5th.
*Grade 4 Celebration-See you this evening at 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. for our Summer Fun Kit Celebration.
Friday, May 31, 2019
*Science-Today we google searched to discover the information regarding the Air Quality Index. What did we find out regarding Calgary's air quality this morning? Then we watched a news video regarding the forest fires in Northern Alberta. How many people are being evacuated from their homes?
*Math-When you drew the face of a clock, how did you ensure your numbers were corrected placed? How did you match the digital and analogue time of 10:30 a.m.? Where did you draw the short and long hands?
-Remember to study for your Math multiplication test on Tuesday.
*Pancake Breakfast!-We had a lovely pancake breakfast this morning. Thank you so much to the Stampede Team for the tasty pancakes and beef sausage patties! So yummy!
Thursday, May 30th, 2019
*Math-When you team was determining how to move the minute and hour hands on an analogue clock, how did your team achieve success? We then google searched how drawing a clock is used as an important tool to screen people for signs of neurological disorders. We analyzed a number of drawings and discovered how the numbering and placement of numbers varied. What are the signs of dementia and alzheimers? How can we help others?
*Science-Students worked in their teams as we continued the programming of our robots. We also saved our programs onto the desktops or downloads, to ensure our programs are available for the next day.
Remember to search around your home for 3-5 small plastic objects to bring to class by next Wednesday!
Wednesday, May 29th, 2019
*Math-What time is it? When you used the Judy clock this morning, how did you check the hands to ensure your time was correct? What is a great way to memorize which hand is the hour and minute hand? What happens to the hour hand as you increase the amount of minutes within each hour? Why are our clocks 12 or 24 hours in length?
*Science-Today every group had success programming their EV3 robot! From installing straight movements, backwards, various angled turns with sounds, teams are starting to navigate their robot through tight turns to ensure the robot stays within the perimeter of the maze! Well done, engineers!
Tuesday, May 28th, 2019
*Math-Today we continued our learning on how to calculate the quotient of 2-3 digits by 1 digit using long division. Remember to complete the mini study booklet at home to prepare for your multiplication test next Tuesday. Be confident with using the modern box and traditional methods of multiplication, with and without regrouping of 3 digits by 1 digit.
*Science-Today you continued programming your EV3 robot as you worked on a number of movement challenges. How is your group working together to achieve success? Which maze challenge did your group choose and which sounds are you adding to your canvas program?
-We also discussed and completed our Zoo Green Team documentation this morning! Which green initiatives do you think decrease the Zoo's eco footprint the most? How could the Zoo's Green Team continue to reduce their carbon footprint?
E.A.-Which Summer Fun Kit bag did you deliver this morning?
Thursday, May 23, 2019
*Science-Today we started programming our EV3 LEGO Mindstorm robots! We quickly observed the programming canvas is completely empty, except for the start button! Using the action blocks at the bottom, we determined how to move and program the blocks to create the correct movements for our robot to skillfully travel within our maze! Programming from scratch! We love a new challenge!
*Math-This morning we worked in small groups as we calculated the cost of each item in our Summer Fun Kit. Using traditional multiplication, long division, adding and mental math, what is the total cost of all of the items, before profits? Based on our calculations, what is the net profit of each bag sold? What is the approximate percent of profits compared to the cost? Which single item in the kit is the most expensive to purchase?
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
*Math-When you were practicing division groups, when did you have a remainder? If you were able to cut the tiles to fit evenly into the groups, what will you have now? What is an easy way to calculate how many tiles fit into the smaller groups?
*Science-Today we observed our botanical fruit, fruit and vegetables to determine if they successfully germinated! What did you observe? What could cause a seed to not fully germinate? Which new seeds did you plant today to hopefully increase our germination rate?
*What was the climax in The Wild Robot chapter The Journey where Brightbill is telling Roz about his migration south. Students should be finishing their jot notes on their Maverick on the sections of Early Life, Contributions and Legacy. You are welcome to ask your parents for help and gather jot notes on Maverick at home and bring to school. We are preparing to write three paragraphs on our Maverick. The students took very creative pictures to go with their "I Am"poems today.
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
*E.A.-We had a very productive morning, getting our gift bags organized and presenting our business plan to other classrooms! Together our class assembled 24 bags filled with the, "Summer Fun Kit" materials to sell! What percentage is our profits? How much money for each sold gift bag will go to the Calgary Homeless Foundation?
-Remember to read the, "Important Dates" page to ensure you have included the information needed for your Showcase letter. Please note, this is an optional assignment!
*Math-Fraction test going home today! Well done! How did you model the division groups when there is a remainder? When you are calculating the quotient using long division, where do you record the remainder?
*Science-This morning we unearthed our potted potatoes to determine if there had been any stem or root growth from the potato "eyes". When you observed your potato what did you discover? Then we decided to replant another potato from a darkened bag, that had full growth! How will the new potato roots and stems grow using the force of gravity?
Tuesday, May 14th, 2019
*Math-This morning we wrote our Math test on Fractions!
*E.A.-Today we brainstormed ideas for the information that will be included with the Lemonade pack in the EA Summer Fun Kit bag. The instructions will help students to create, open and run their own Lemonade Stand business!
*Zoo-Thank you to our parents who will be joining us on our field trip tomorrow! Remember to bring 2 snacks, a lunch, water bottle, pencil crayons and pencil (from your desk) and reusable plastic bag (to sit on during lunch)!
Monday, May 13th, 2019
Our Maverick research is ongoing and students are working on recording jot notes for their Maverick about their life, their contributions to Alberta and their legacy. We explored different roles for EA project (Summer Fun Packages) to raise funds for the Calgary Homeless Foundation. We discussed the roles and job descriptions for Finance, Marketing, Pre-Packaging, Assembly, Delivery and our Celebration of Learning Committee (June date TBD). Which role interests you the most and you think your strengths/skills/interests will contribute to the organization? Mrs. Schoenberger led us in our first "Yoga by the Rocks" session of the year. The students enjoyed this time in nature and practicing mindfulness and building their strength and flexibility.
Friday, May 10th, 2019
*Happy Mother's Day-Have a lovely day with your amazing mom on Sunday! Remember to give your mom the special gifts you made for her!
*Science-This morning we completed the planting of our Tomatosphere seeds based on 2 main groups: Control group grown in natural, Earth conditions and Treatment Seeds exposed in Space environment on the ISS. When we searched the environmental challenges occur in Space, what did we discover? Which group do you hypothesize will have the greatest success in germination?
*Math-Today we used hands on materials to divide the main number into groups! How can we use mathematical sentences to determine the division equations?
-Remember to review for your Fraction test (spend Sunday with your family!) which will be on Tuesday!
Thursday, May 9th, 2019
*Math-Today we wrote Math study cards for our Fraction quiz on Tuesday, May 14th! You can also complete the study questions in your mini study booklet as well. You can use the eighths fraction tiles to practice placing fractions in order! Perhaps you could play a mini penny golf game and record the fraction to the flag!
*Science-Space Seeds! Today we started our really neat, out of this world, investigation of our Tomatosphere seeds! We are so fortunate to be active scientists in a Canadian Space Agency seed study across Canada and the USA. We received 2 main tomato seed packets from Tomatosphere, labelled "L" and "M". Why did the scientists give us two different groups of seeds? What environmental conditions were the seeds exposed to might affect their germination and germination rate? How did we prep the growth medium this morning for the tomato seeds? Why would astronauts in the International Space Station or on the Human Mission to Mars need to grow botanical fruits like tomatoes in space?
Wednesday, May 8th, 2019
*Science-Today we planted Bee Friendly plants in our classroom! Which plant varieties did you choose-Pansies, Babies Breath, Nasturtium and/or Johnny Jump Ups? Why would bees be attracted to these specific plants? Once the plants germinate and sprout, where could you transplant the plants around your home?
*Math-How did you achieve success with your 3 digit by 1 digit traditional multiplication? How is your memorization of basic multiplication facts helping you to calculate the correct product? How can you keep track of which place value you need to carry?
*In the afternoon we had a session of putting the finishing touches on a gift and card for a very special someone in our life. Don't want to give too many details (wink wink)!
Tuesday, May 7th, 2019
*A special thank you to Anna and Thomas for their fine leadership skills this morning! Anna and Thomas did an exceptional job as they introduced our guest speakers from the Calgary Homeless Foundation.
-What did you learn this morning that changed your views on homelessness? Where did Jessica and her dad live when they were homeless? What small town and structure did Madison's family live in when they did not have a home for up to 5 years? How did they survive? When they were hungry, which organizations fed them and provided meals? Where did they go for medical care? What can cause a family to become homeless? How are we making a positive difference in our community to eliminate homelessness in Calgary?
*Math-Today we continued our inquiry on multiplying 2-3 digits by 1 with and without regrouping. How are you regrouping place value? Where do you record the carrying of place value?
Monday, May 6th, 2019
-Students started playing their recorders in music class.
-We started our Maverick Inquiry Project today. What Maverick are you researching? Websites for information include googling these words together:
glenbow mavericks English
heritage minutes
Canadian Encyclopedia
Blackgold social 4 builders
-Students are typing their "I AM" poetry as a google doc. They can begin to think about what photo they could take of themselves that would represent their words in their poem.
Friday, May 3rd, 2019
*Science-Today we had an exciting botany lab where we dissected and prepared microscope slides on the various parts of a tulip flower and leaf. How did you collect the brightly coloured pollen for your slides? What did you observe? When you focussed the tulip petal using 40 or 100x, what shape were the cells? Could you see the cellular walls? Did you team successfully cut open the pistil to obtain the small female ovules near the base? When we watched 3 short informative videos on bees, what do scientists hypothesis that is leading to their decrease in population? How will the decreasing population affect plant life and food chains on Earth?
*Math-We raised the bar today using the traditional algorithm of multiplication. Using non regrouping and regrouping, we determined you carry the place value over to the higher place value, just like when we add! Were you surprised how easy it is to compute the product when you take small steps? Did you try the challenge questions and did you achieve success?
Thursday, May 2nd, 2019
*Happy Birthday, Brume!
*Math-This was an exciting Math class! Today we learned how to use the traditional method of 2 by 1 digit multiplication without regrouping! We were all achieving success as we multiplied the ones place value first and then the tens. Did you use the coloured numbers to help you visualize the order and place value when multiplying?
*Science-bzzz bzzz We had an amazing Science class this morning as we focussed on why plants need petals? We discovered that in order for flowering plants to produce seeds, two main events need to take place! What are the two events-pollinat___ and fertiliza____. Then we found out the flowering plants have male and female DNA in two main sections in the flower! How can the male pollen make its way to the female stigma and style? What living and nonliving things help fruit, vegetables, nuts and crops pollinate?
Wednesday, May 1st, 2019
*Happy May Day and Mental Health Day
*Science-Which petal specimens did you observe with your microscope today? We sampled 2 main species of flowering plants: Daisy Pom Yellow and Purple as well as the Mini Button Pom Pom Green! How did you remove the specimens to prepare for your slides? How were the cell shapes different from the Orchid petals that we observed yesterday? Why do flowering plants benefit from brightly coloured or sweet smelling flower petals?
*Math-What strategies did you learn today when multiplying base ten numbers? How can the base 10 method help you when computing the product using the modern grid strategy? Which practice questions did you successfully complete this morning?
Tuesday, April 30th, 2019
*Science-How did you set up the plant specimen for the microscope slide? How did you ensure the specimen was a thin slice? When you observed the orchid flower and leaf, under 40x, what structures did you see? How did your team successfully focus each specimen?
*Math-How did you calculate the expanded notation of numbers to the thousands place value? Did you complete the challenge question this morning? When you are practicing the modern method of multi digit multiplication, how did you use the base 10 and expanded notation to set up your problems?
Monday, April 29th, 2019
We enjoyed hearing about all of Saturday's "snow" adventures from Room 17 students. We are watching a video about a family settling on the prairies in 1907 and some of the struggles and rewards that came with moving west. What was the significance of Eliza putting out the vase? We started our Maverick inquiry project today with finding out why each Maverick is significant. What is a maverick? Why are they important to Alberta? Room 17 will pick one Maverick to research in the days ahead.
Friday, April 26th, 2019
*Science-We wrote our Science quiz this morning! At the end of the morning, we placed our microgreens into a plastic bag all ready to take home! Remember to read the, "Home" page to ensure you meet food safety recommendations prior to consuming your microgreens!
*Math-Today we started practicing the modern method of 2 digit by 1 digit multiplication using the box or grid method! We will also learn the traditional cross multiplication algorithm as well, and we will double check the product using the modern method! Both methods in action!
Thursday, April 25th, 2019
*Math-Which strategies did you use to complete your fraction tiles to tenths? When you were calculating where to place the lemonade cups, what strategies helped you to achieve success? Which lemonade cup was the fullest? Which lemonade cups were equal in volume? Tomorrow we are going to start a new unit, learning how to multiply 2 digit numbers by 1 digit!
*Science-Remember to review your study cards tonight for your Light and Shadow's quiz tomorrow! You will need to draw and label the directions, where the Sun rises, sets and where the Sun is located at solar noon in Calgary. Then as a talented fisher girl or guy (like the water scene you designed in class), where will you successfully fish to prevent your shadow from spooking the fish? Remember that fish will instinctively swim away from a moving dark shadow in the water! The shadow could be a predatory bird like an ea___!
*After our class survey, students stated they would like to take their microgreen plants home tomorrow, rather than harvesting/eating the plants! Perhaps we could grow more microgreens starting next week, where in a couple of weeks, we can enjoy the tasty plants at school!
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
*Justin-Thank you to Justin and his family for the great photos of San Francisco. Students were very interested in learning about Alcatraz and Justin explained some of the history using the Smart Board. Justin also showed us a beautiful photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and we discussed the engineering accomplishments of the suspension system supports along with a long deck span reaching across the strait!
*Math-How did you construct your fraction tiles using neon colored paper? When recording your fractions on each small section, how did the denominator change? Which fractions were you able to fold the tile in half creating 2 symmetrical sections? Which fractions were the most challenging to build?
*Science-How did you take care of your micro green plant today? What happened to the top of the soil in each plant container? When do you think we should be able to harvest and eat the delicious micro greens?
*Students gathered in their new book club group to find several potential titles for their next book club. After locating these books they considered each book, discussed what they found appealing about each book, and decided as a group which book to read. What is the title of your new book club book?
*We started preparing to write a new poem called an "I AM" poem. We brainstormed different adjectives to describe ourselves. Which two adjectives best describe you?
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
*Earth Day-This morning we watched the new Disney trailer, Penguins and discussed what predators hunt for penguins and the environment where penguins live. With our little buddies, we went to the Native Plant Park and swept gravel, cleaned, sorted garbage and celebrated our beautiful planet.
*Math-How did you determine where to place the scuba air tank for snuba on the fraction tiles? Which students had the least and most air in their tanks? When you completed your basic multiplication math minute, what is your total score? How has your overall success improved from the beginning of memorizing basic facts to 9 x 9?
*Science-You will have a Science quiz on Friday. You can review your study cards on the rotation of Earth, which direction the Sun rises, sun at Solar Noon and where the Sun sets, which direction to fish during morning, lunch and dinner to prevent your shadow from spooking the fish?
Thursday, April 18, 2019
*Math-How did you model the different amounts of birthday cake in Math? What strategies did you use to determine which fraction of cake was the greatest? How did the numerator and denominator change for each cake? Remember to return your signed test.
*Science-We are so fortunate that every plant pot of microgreens has successfully germinated! Well done, botanists! When you carefully removed one microgreen plant, what plant parts did you observe? What happened to the old seed coat? What type of root system (taproot or fibrous) does your microgreen have? How can you tell the difference? Which additional structures did you observe on the root system and what is the purpose? Here's a question you can research for fun! When did plants first appear on Earth? How many years ago?
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
*Provincial Election-This morning we were invited to visit the election taking place in our gym! The returning officer discussed the voting process and we walked through the stations to see where voters sign in, pick up their ballot, vote and then place their ballot into the ballot box! Great questions were asked: Can children vote in the election? Can kids run for positions? Which countries do people not have the right to vote?
*Math-Using integers we determined the overall scoring of various golfing rounds using different pars. When you use fewer shots than the par, what happens to your score? Is there a Par 1 on golf courses? How do you calculate your total score at the end of 9 holes? How did you use fractions to determine the length of your shot?
*Science-How did we prep the potatoes for planting? What will happen to the potatoes in a few weeks? How do the potatoes produce new potatoes?
Monday, April 15th, 2019
We explored "signs of spring" outside in our beautiful nature areas with our little buddies today. Students then created an acrostic poem SPRING poem together. We started our tennis lessons today! What way does the "flashlight" or end of the racket need to facing when getting ready for a forehand return? We are almost finished building our social studies 3D models and will be ready to present our understanding and connections with our classmates. I am impressed with the effort and details going into the projects. I will post photos on the blog in the days ahead. During book club we wrote two responses on the ending of our books and if we would recommend our book to our friends to read. Two students received letters back from our letter writing activity. What was the special surprise in the letters today?
Friday, April 12, 2019
*Math-Math tests went home today! Students, you did an amazing job on your test, where you carefully graphed and analyzed the data! In Math today, we are working on creating a Penny Golf green that focusses on the fraction to the flag/hole and then calculate the integer based on the relation of strokes to the hole. We started playing our first game, learning various golf term such as par, under par, birdie, eagle, bogey, fraction to the flag, etc. Next week we are going to design hazards that if we land in the hazard, it will affect our score!
*Science-Today we spent time to observe and draw our microgreen seeds using lenses. Upon discussing our observations, we noted that microgreen seeds vary in their smell! From earthy, musty, sweet, sugary, and spicy we had a great time noting the differences! Then we paid attention to the shape, size (using mm or cm) and colour of the seeds. After recording our observations neatly, we had an amazing gallery walk where we celebrated our work.
Thursday, April 11, 2019
*Science-It was an amazing microgreen day today! This morning, each student chose their microgreen seeds and planted their seeds in a container ensuring the seeds were well spaced in the soil! Which microgreen did you choose? What colour and shape were the seeds? How will you take care of your microgreen plants? How are microgreens used in restaurants? How could you serve your microgreens at home? Why are microgreens so nutritious?
*Gym-We had our final skate today, under the glowing lights of a disco ball! Skating to great songs, students practiced a number of moves to increase their ability to stop, do crossovers and low movements! How did your skills improve this week? What are you proud of? Could you try skating at home and around your neighbourhood?
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
*Science-How did you complete your plant label card for your botanical fruit, fruit or vegetable? What do the colored dots represent? Which color(s) did you add to your label and why? How are we taking care of the seeds?
*Math-Today we started penny golf to determine which fraction to the flag, each hit/stroke earned. Using the fraction tiles, how did we calculate where the penny landed in relation to the total fraction of a whole? Tomorrow we are going to start designing our golf green on large paper where we can set up games of golf to determine the fraction to the flag for each stroke!
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
*Math-Students completed their Math test this morning. How did you work through a problem that was challenging? How did you use your time effectively? Did you answer questions in numerical order or based on which problems you felt most confident?
*Gym-We had our first in line skate this morning! Which type of stopping method did you use the most?
How did you gain balance when you skated? During the challenge activities, what are you proud of?
Friday, April 5, 2019
*Science-What steps did you take to plant your botanical fruit, vegetable or fruit? What was challenging this morning? How did Thomas and Ian prep the avocado seed for planting? Could you also do the same steps at home when you make guacamole and have a left over seed/pit? How did our class prep the carrots for planting? Will we be able to grow a new carrot from the small portion of the root?
*Math-How did you calculate the equivalent fractions in the art pieces you created today? How did you change the numerator to determine how many circles or eggs to color? Remember to study for your test on Tuesday. You have taken your study cards home to review the concepts on the weekend.
Thursday, April 4, 2019
*Science-When we observed a variety of plants today what did you discover? How did we classify the plants into 3 groups? What criteria do scientists use to determine if a vegetable is a botanical fruit? How do chefs classify vegetables? How did your team extract the seeds from the botanical fruit and other fruits? How large were the seeds, what shape and color? What did your team do to prepare the seeds for planting?
*Math-Your Math test on graphing is next Tuesday. Your study cards summarized what you need to understand for the test. You will need to be confident with setting up a pictograph and bar graph to show sets of data using a key. Then you will interpret the data using mode (most data), where the data clusters (data that is similar), the range of data (lowest to highest), sample size (number of people in your survey with total number of votes) and what the data indicates.
*Art- Today we collaborated on designing our whole class 3D Geometric Wall Art. Students took turns adding pieces to the art until we were pleased with the final masterpiece. We considered warm/cool colors and complimentary colors on the color wheel as we decided which color to add next. Students also experimented with different angles for the shapes. Creativity and imagination were alive in Room 17 today! It has been interesting to observe the children fold these structures on their own now and devise new uses and purposes for these 3D shapes.
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
*Math-What strategies did you use today when completing your Math Minute to 9 x 9? When solving the cake problem, how did you calculate how many pieces of cake each person received based on the fraction? During your Math Challenger, what did Julius Caesar calculate which affected our yearly calendar? How often does a Leap Year occur and why? Would other planets have a leap year? Math study cards went home today on pictographs, bar graphing and statistics of data.
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
*Math-Today we started memorizing basic multiplication facts to 9 x 9. We showed a number of ways to help memorize and or learn the 8 and 9 times facts. Which method did you find most helpful? Could you use the hand method easily for the 9 facts? With the number 8 facts, did the table of numbers help you to visualize the pattern?
*Science-We developed a mini rubric to help us evaluate our inquiry design task challenge on fishing and shadow placement. When your team reviewed the three criteria; designing the fish, people, rods and dock, placement of directions and accuracy in fishing based on three times of day, what overall evaluation did you receive? Which area(s) could you have improved? How did your team achieve success with your project and in which areas?
*Art- We are creating a new art project with 3D Geometric shapes we folded from different colors of square paper. The students enjoyed this challenge and worked cooperatively to achieve success>! In math they will pattern these shapes into a beautiful collaborative piece of 3D wall art. Watch the blog in the days ahead for photos of the finished product.
Monday, April 1, 2019
Welcome back! It was so nice to see everyone today and hear about all of the adventures and experiences over the break. Students wrote and illustrated "Steps for an Awesome Spring Break" in their journals and then shared with their peers. We started to plan and label our 3D models for our Social Studies research. What materials will you need? What materials will our school have and what can you recycle or bring from home? We will begin our building once the designs have been reviewed.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
*Math-When sketching the total amount of a fraction, how do you ensure you are shading the correct number of pieces? If the numerator equals the denominator, how much of the shape will you colour? In your daily life, when do you use fractions?
*Science-How did your team complete your fishing scene ensuring care to detail, with an artistic flair and with all of the components? When constructing the "floating" docks, how did you connect the sections to ensure your fisher girl or guy can access each section, without falling into the water? Tomorrow you will connect your learning to determine where you can successfully fish from each dock while paying close attention to the location of your dark shadow! How would birds of prey ensure their shadow does not spook their soon to be, breakfast, lunch or supper?
* For our read aloud novel The Wild Robot we sketched the beaver and deer characters and found some interesting facts about these two Alberta animal species. How many logs does the average beaver chew down each year? How long does it take an industrious beaver to chew a log? Why do beavers need to chew logs? We continued recording our social studies research information. The students are eager to take this knowledge and apply it to a task design of building a 3D model connected to their learning.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
*Math-What is the difference between a numerator and a denominator? What mnemonic did we invent to remember which number is the numerator and which number is the denominator? When we said the fraction out loud, how do we say the denominator?
*Science-How did you rig your fishing rod and line to catch and release your paper art fish? When you designed your paper fish, how did you artistically represent each side? Tomorrow you and your team will be constructing a dock for your little fisher girl or guy to stand on as they fish! On a clear day, how will the placement of the Sun relative to the Earth affect your shadow in the water? When fishing, why will you want to pay close attention to your shadow placement?
Monday, March 18, 2019
We created Limericks with our grade one buddies today. Where do limericks originate from?How many lines does a limerick have? Which lines rhyme? How did you make your poem funny or silly? Did you notice a pattern in your poem? We continued our social studies research working as a team and used the laptops to gather additional information. Ms. Paul gave us an overview of the Scholastic Book Fair and we found some interesting titles that we could add to our home libraries.
Friday, March 15th, 2019
*Math/Science-It is estimated that over 3 billion people on Earth eat fish on a regular basis. We also discussed how people who live in coastal regions, often depend on fish as their main food source. When fishing, how do we ensure our shadow does not spook away the fish? Why are fish spooked by a moving shadow or a change in shadow on the water? For our design task, how are you designing your paper art fisher girl or guy? What species of fish would you and your team like to design? How will you rig an object to create a fishing rod with moveable fishing line? How can you catch and release the fish or land the fish for food? When fishing how will you use your shadow to your advantage?
Thursday, March 14th, 2019
*Math- 3.14 International pi Day! Using a string and a circular can/cup holder/beaker/vase/pizza, etc., how did you prove pi? What did Archimedes discover over 2200 years ago? When you cut the string to match the diameter of the can, how did you check the perimeter using the string? How many times did the little string go around the perimeter? You can show your parents tonight!
*Science-We had a lovely morning outside, measuring shadows using a small shadow stick, a Mr. Sketch felt pen! How did the shadow change from 9:40 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.? Why did the shadow change? Which celestial object is moving; the Sun or the Earth? When you used your body or the blue sphere, how did you model one day on Earth? We then did a google search to discover how fast our Earth rotates! How fast does our Earth spin or rotate each day? How many times faster than highway speed at 100 km/hr? Did the speed surprise you?
*Learning-We are investigating various forms of inventive tools to help us focus during our learning. In our classroom we now have; 2 stand up desks, 3 under the desk cyclers, bubble seat cushions and super neat fidget gadgets from Fidgetland made of small rings and moveable metal parts.
*Students have started a social studies group research project on voyageurs, fur trade, storytelling/celebrations, and buffalo jumps. Which group are you in? What questions do you have before you begin your research? The groups will be creating a 3D model connecting to their topic area after spring break.
Wednesday, March 13th, 2019
*Math-When you were cutting the cakes into symmetrical fractions, which cake pans were easier to determine the equal pieces? How could you divide a heart shaped cake into even quarters? If you turned the cake on the side, could you cut the cake into even quarters?
*Science-In your team, how did you determine what a year is on Earth? How long is one year on Earth? What is one day on Earth? When are our shadows the longest and the shortest in Calgary?
Tuesday, March 12th, 2019
*Daylight Savings TIme-In Math we had great discussions regarding why we turned our clocks back one hour early Sunday morning!
*Math-When you evaluated your bar graph using the mini rubric our class designed, what were your strengths? Which area would you improve and why? During our first class on fractions, which different cakes can be easily divided into equal pieces? Which shape is very difficult to create symmetrical pieces?
*Science-How did you and your team use the blue and yellow spheres to represent a day and a year on Earth? How long is one day and one year? Why does our shadow length change in one day?
* Social Studies- Who were the voyageurs and why were they an important part of the Fur Trade? Describe their canoe (material, length, weight) and how they got it around dangerous parts of the river system.
Monday, March 11th, 2019
Happy 10th Birthday to Cielo this past Saturday!
We read the story Hiawatha and the Peacemaker and learned how a peacemaker unites five Indigenous tribes who were at war. We compared this story to Chief Crowfoot who also tried to obtain peace instead of fighting. Crowfoot was involved in Treaty 7 and negotiated for his people.
In Phys. Ed we are focusing on Basketball skills for the month of March. How do you keep the best control of the ball when dribbling? What does "BEEF" stand for when shooting the ball?
We started to write friendly letters and examined the parts of a friendly letter. Who are you writing your letter to? What are you trying to communicate in your letter?
Friday, March 8th, 2019
*Math-What animal was the mode and why do you think your classmates chose that specific animal? How can we prevent the extinction of animal species? How can we make a positive difference in protecting the habitats and livelihood of animals?
*Which special little treat did you graph today? How did your data compare with your classmates? How did the little snack boxes differ in product? How could a company increase profits while providing a peanut free treat for kids and their families?
*E.A.-We had an amazing meeting with our E.A. representatives, where we discussed the next steps in our business plan. How could we maximize profits while ensuring we are providing support to the Calgary Homeless Foundation? What products do you think we could sell to our community? What products do you think would help families live better, healthier lives while taking care of our environment? How can we increase our profits through the selling of great merchandise?
Thursday, March 7th, 2019
*Math-How are you graphing your survey data using a bar graph? When using the mini rubrics, how are you ensuring you are meeting/going beyond grade level expectations? What strategies are you implementing to ensure your data is correctly calculated and recorded onto your bar graph with accuracy?
*Science-Based on our observations, where does our Sun rise in the morning? What happens at lunch time and during dinner? Which celestial object is actually moving throughout the day? When you used your little shadow person, how did you model the Sun and Earth in one day? Where did your group place the flashlight to represent the Sun?
Wednesday, March 6th, 2019
*Math-This morning we completed setting up our mini rubrics for bar graphing. After many discussions we decided to include 4 criteria which must be present in order to create an accurate graph. Tomorrow we will graph our survey data and then critique our own work based on the mini rubric.
*Skating-It was very chilly this morning, so we went outside a few minutes late, at 11:00 a.m. We want to send a special thank you to Danica’s mom for helping us tie our skates this morning! We are all looking forward to our last class skate tomorrow morning, and like true Canadians, we will embrace the outdoors!
*The students have been working in small groups to complete our research on three charities of interest for our EA (Entrepreneural Adventure) project. The students used the website www.charityintelligence.ca to find information and ratings on a variety of charities. Within their groups they narrowed the three charities down to one charity and created a poster to present to our Room 17 classmates. As a classroom we will vote on one charity and then present this charity to our Grade 4 peers on Thursday.
Tuesday, March 5th, 2019
*Math-Today we surveyed our classmates on various questions regarding the Conservation Status of animals. When we surveyed, we focussed on using a neutral, non biased voice to ensure we did not influence the voting. Now we are formulating mini rubrics to determine which criteria in bar graphing need to be in place in order to achieve a high score.
*Science-When you used your mini shadow person, what did your team discover? Where is the Sun in the sky in the morning, lunch time and at dinner time? How does the placement of the Sun relative to our home in Calgary affect our shadow? What time of day do we have giraffe or hippo legged shadows?
Monday, March 4th, 2019
We celebrated the beginning of March with Ian's birthday today as well as outdoor skating. The students had so much fun practicing their skating skills while demonstrating team work and perseverance. Thank-you to Brynlee's Dad and Ronan's Mom for volunteering this morning for skating. In Book Club we discussed and wrote a response to our favorite part of the novel so far. We tried to make a connection to our own lives, another book or movie, or a story we have heard. In The Wild Robot which new character did we meet that is a marsupial, nocturnal, and are known for mimicking the appearance and smell of a dead animal when threatened?
Thursday, February 28th, 2019
*Science-Students received their test scores this morning! Well done, scientists. Tests will go home next week once all students have written.
*In your lab today, why did the penny disappear? At what angle could you see the penny? When did the penny disappear from your viewpoint? Could you try this experiment at home?
*Math-How are you setting up the organization of survey data in your table? What categories are you including in your large T Table? How will you and your team ensure each person only votes once?
Wednesday, February 27th, 2019
*Science-You wrote your test today on the, Law of Reflection! You showed a lot of patience and perseverance as you drew and labelled your diagrams. Well done, scientists!
*Entrepreneurial Adventure- This morning and afternoon we met with Ms. Hassen's room as we searched charity sites using technology. Which charity is scoring high for transparency, low overhead and administrative costs? Which charity gives the majority of funds to the actual cause? Which charity would you like to learn more about? How does the charity you were researching help our planet?
*In Book Club we had a nice chunk of time reading our novels and then made a prediction about what was going to happen next in the story and support our prediction with reasons why from the book. It will be exciting to read ahead and see if your predictions come true.
Tuesday, February 26th, 2019
*Science-When you placed a dry penny under the beaker filled with water, what did you observe? If you changed your view and scrunched down, how did the image change? What is causing the changes to occur? Remember to review for your Science test tomorrow on the Law of Reflection!
*Math-When we viewed two short videos on conservation, what question does your team want to survey? How are you going to keep track of your data? What happens if one person votes more than once?
*Dance-Gym-Thank you to our parents who were able to join us today during gym! We had a great time learning various hip hop dance moves to a number of songs! A special thank you to Prestige Dance Academy for teaching us this past week!
Monday, February 25th, 2019
We viewed and discussed two videos today in Social Studies on Powwows, Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump and Writing on Stone Provincial Park. Students who have visited these sites shared their experience and stories as we learn about Alberta's past and First People. In our Novel study (The Wild Robot) and Book Clubs we continue to gain insight on our main characters.
Friday, February 22nd, 2019
*We had our first meeting with our Grade 4 peers regarding our exciting E.A. (Entrepreneurial Adventure) program where your strong business minds will build a plan that will make a difference in the world around us. Our partner B.M.O. Bank Manager, Greta, will work alongside us on our banking journey as we support a charity through our savvy business plan!
Thursday, February 21st, 2019
*Science-When you placed the plastic fork into the beaker of water, what did you observe? Have you observed this at home or when you were at a restaurant? When you moved the fork around the water, how did the image change? What is causing the fork to "change"?
*Science Test-Go over your study sheets that will go home tomorrow. You can also practice your labs at home using a flashlight and a mirror. The following concepts that you learned in your labs will be on your test:
*Which materials are excellent, good or poor reflectors? Why?
*What happens when you reflect light off a mirror?
*Where is the, "normal"?
*The angle of light going into your mirror is called the, Angle of Incid____. The angle being reflected is called the, Angle of Reflect___.
*Because light travels in a straight l___, it's path is predictable.
*How did you prove the Law of Reflection? Did you use colours in your labs to show the Angle of Incidence and the Angle of Reflection?
*If you were to use gym equipment (like we did in class), how could you show the Law of Reflection using a wall?
*Math-How are you setting up your bar graph for success? Which axis is the x? How can you remember which is the y axis? Which data do you place on the x and the y axis? How is your bar graph different from the pictograph?
Wednesday, February 20th, 2019
*Math-We voted to survey our class regarding our favourite two holidays! What was our sample size this morning and how did we check to ensure everyone voted twice? Once we have completed our pictograph, which graph will set up in Math class tomorrow?
*Science-The formation of a rainbow is very interesting! Physics in action! How can we see the coloured spectrum of white light? When we used the clear dish this morning, how did your classmates model how white light enters and exits a raindrop? What two amazing phenomena need to take place in order to form a rainbow? When you rotated your colour wheel, how did you change the center of gravity to increase the number of rotations?
Tuesday, February 19th, 2019
*Math-When you were graphing the Valentine's data, what did you use for your key? How did you determine how to represent a fraction in your pictograph diagrams? During Valentine's which gift purchased in stores across Canada, would be the mode sold and why?
*Science-How did you create the colors of white light within your color wheel? Which color did we have a challenging time creating on our wheel? When you spun the wheel, what did you observe? Did you have more success at rotation speed, when you placed the wheel at a lower or higher center of gravity?
*Olivia, Jana, Taryn and Danica shared their Rocky Mountain writing. We published our good copy of our Senryu poems. Watch on Thursday for samples of the poems on the BLOG. Our next novel study will be The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. Students created a title page for our new novel study by visualizing the robot.
Wednesday, February 13th, 2019
*Students finished creating their heart oil pastel art. Each piece is unique and when displayed together a strong sense of connectedness is revealed. Updated photos under the BLOG. Ask me what a Senryu Poem is. We created Senryu poems with the themes based on love, friendship, peace, belonging, and family.
*We had a lovely Valentine's Celebration where we shared our Valentine's, ate delicious food and danced and sang to our favourite songs! A special thank you to our families for providing lovely treats and Valentine's for our class!
Tuesday, February 12th, 2019
*Math-Which yummy game of strategy did you play in Math today? How did you increase your ability to win more rounds? Did you anticipate your partner's tic tac moves? During the collection of data, what is the mode number of immediate family members in our class? What was the range of data for the number of people in our family? Which data surprised. you and why? If we were to survey families in the early 1900's what could we discover?
*Science-Based on your light challenge today, were you able to refract the light more than once? How did you successfully set up your lab today? What caused the rainbow to form? Were you able to create a partial or full rainbow? In nature, what conditions need to occur in order for rainbows to form?
Monday, February 11th, 2019
Winter Carnival Day- We celebrated together at the assembly this morning and our classroom sang Frere Jacques while playing the xylophones. Danica shared ornaments of Bonhomme from when her parents attended the Carnaval of Quebec. In the afternoon students led their little buddy and guided them through several Winter Carnival stations. Tres Bien!
Friday, February 8th, 2019
*Science-When refracting the light, was your team able to create a double rainbow? How did you set up your lab create a longer path of refracted light? Your team had a challenge to determine if you could invert the rainbow? What happened?
*Math-We had an eye popping class today! When we completed our pictograph on eye color what was the mode color for our class? What surprised you about the results? What was the range of data? How did your hypothesis compare to the actual results? When we used technology to search human eye colour, what other eye colors can be observed in the iris?
Thursday, February 7th, 2019
*Science-How were you able to refract the light using a prism? When you drew the colours, did you draw a partial or full rainbow? Where did the colours originate? When you rotated the prism where you able to turn the rainbow upside down?
*Math-Upon the interpretation of our, "Favourite Sport" pictograph, which sport was the mode for our class? What surprised you about the data? How could our Sport choices change depending on the season? When we used technology, we discovered an amazing "Canadian Winter" sport in Dubai! What was the total cost to build this structure in an indoor mall? If you and your family were to ___ there for one hour, what would be the cost?
Wednesday, February 6th, 2019
*Math-Remember to return your signed test. Well done, mathematicians! We were surprised when we discovered that candy is a multi billion dollar business! How do stores increase your temptation to buy candy or even more candy? Where are the highest sale items placed in the store? The next time you go to a grocery store, check out where the candy is placed in the store and on which shelves? During our survey, which candy had the highest and lowest frequency?
*Science-How did your team use the beautiful prisms to change the light? What happened to the beam of light as it entered and exited the prism? What observations did your team make when you were able to show the light as it exited the prism? Did your team determine the term scientists use to describe this event?
Tuesday, February 5th, 2019
*Math-Today we started our first pictograph where we determined our survey question; "What is your favorite color?" When we collected the data and analyzed the number of votes and tallies, how did you determine the frequency? What could cause your frequency to be different from the sample size? How did you determine the sample size? Which colour was the mode?
*Science-How did you test each material to determine if the object can reflect light? What characteristics did all of the excellent reflectors contain? How did they vary compared to the poor reflectors? If you were to design clothing with reflectors, which materials would you choose and why?
Monday, February 4th, 2019
We cozied up in Room 17 and watched the movie Wonder. The students noticed many similarities and differences between the movie and the book. This week we will complete a movie review and a more detailed analysis of the book and movie. In Book Club we read more of our novels and completed a summary of what has happened in our book so far including characters, setting, and plot. Students were encouraged to make personal connections in their responses. Stay warm tonight!
Thursday, January 31st, 2019
*Remember there is no school tomorrow. See you on Monday!
*Math-You received your Math test score today on addition and subtraction! What are you proud of? Math tests will go home as soon as everyone has written their test!
*Science-Why are reflective materials on clothing an innovative invention? What materials work well to reflect light in the dark? If you were to design reflective clothing, what materials would you choose and why? What materials in your kit today were excellent reflectors?
Tuesday, January 29th, 2019
*We are starting a time line for social studies where the students will document milestones or special memories over their ten years of beautiful living! I have asked them to spark up a conversation with you today and find out a few details about the day they were born, the age they started walking/talking, and any other special trips or memories that are significant to them to record on the timeline.
*We are getting close to finishing our novel Wonder and will watch the movie on Monday and contrast/compare the movie and the book.
*Math-Today we reviewed the Study Booklet for our Math test tomorrow. On the place value page, you can choose which 5 digit numbers you will be adding or subtracting. Can you have more than one digit per place value? What can happen to the number if you have more than one digit in each place value? Remember to complete your Study Booklet for tomorrow's test!
*Science-Which objects in your lab kit were translucent, opaque or transparent? How did you test each item to help you classify into the 3 groups? Which object can cast a shadow? In our classroom can you find objects from each classification group?
Monday, January 28th, 2019
*In Social Studies we read about Alberta's beginnings, Joseph Tyrrell and fossils in the badlands. We watched a short video about fossils at Dinosaur Provincial Park. Several students shared their personal connections with spending time in the badlands, exploring the hoodoos, and finding dinosaur bones and fossils. What type of equipment do paleontologists use? What is the difference between an archaeologist and paleontologist?
*We worked with our little buddies using MIRAs and symmetry with snowflakes. We read a book about Wilson Bentley who was the first snowflake photographer in the early 1900s.
*In Book Club Jordyn and Olivia presented the reasons why they chose their novels. Students had 25 minutes to read their books together.
Friday, January 25, 2019
*Math-Study booklet going home today. Complete one page per day to help you review the main concepts in addition, subtraction, place value and number sense. Your test is next Wednesday.
*Science-In your lab kit today, which objects did light pass through? Which objects acted like a thick brick wall, and did not let light pass through? Which objects were in between? What do scientists call these objects? What conditions need to take place to create a shadow?
Thursday, January 24, 2019
*Science-When you used the mini rubric, what mark did you give your team for proving the Law of Reflection? How could your team improve your lab for next time? If you were to add more mirrors to the system, where would you place the last mirror?
*Math-During our review of place value, how did you determine where to place the digits when working with numbers in the ten thousands place value? Can you have more than one digit in each place value? How did you show when you needed to borrow from the lower place value?
-Your Math test on addition and subtraction/place value, budgeting, number line, problem solving is next Wednesday. Study sheets are going home tomorrow, which you can complete by the test date.
*Constable VanWaes visited our classroom today. She read us the book Mrs. Peabody's Apples. Share with your parents what happened "First, Next and Then" in the story. What were the main messages from the story? The students brainstormed messages from the story and chose four that meant the most to them to copy into apples in their journals.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
*Math-When you recorded your regrouping using subtraction on your mini whiteboard, how did you keep track of when you needed to borrow from the higher place value? How can you mathematically check to ensure your subtraction answers are correct? How did you prove your answers? You will be having a Math test next Wednesday. For the weekend, you will receive a few practice questions which you can complete at home! The best way to study for a Math test is to.....
*Science-How did your group prove the Law of Reflection using various colours? Using a mini rubric, how did your group achieve success? As a team, how did you use more mirrors to create a myriad of reflections?
-Today we placed your beautiful Total Lunar Eclipse drawings on the front whiteboard! We celebrated your work and how you captured the colours, shading and shadowing during the eclipse on Sunday evening. Well done, astronomers! (If you went to sleep before the Eclipse, could you now draw the Moon using some of the websites we viewed yesterday?)
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
*Science-When you were proving the Law of Reflection, what colors did you use to represent the Angle of Incidence and the Angle of Reflection? How many mirrors were you able to set up in your continuous beam of light? When you were observing the angles, what did you notice? How did you determine where to draw the normal?
*Math-When you are practicing subtraction, how did you keep track of when you borrowed from the higher place value? How did you record when you carried the amount over to the lower place value?
Monday, January 21, 2019
The Boreal Forest and Canadian Shield groups presented their natural region today. We tested our knowledge by playing a jeopardy review game. Here is the link for the game:
https://www.playfactile.com/abregionsreview?fbclid=IwAR3-YOAFKrx1DH-d0kJX_FZtxMQ1QML9Qr7hZ_RPiYbW2WvFCpkM9rC3rag
We started our title page for our Book Club novels in a special response journal.
Our Wonder vocabulary word was "immaculate". Ask me what this word means!
Friday, January 18, 2019
*Math-When we used money to represent each digit in subtraction, why did we need to regroup the $100 bill? Which equation would we not need to regroup or exchange the $100 bill for tens? When you exchanged the $100 bill, how many tens did you now have? If there were 0 ones, what was the next step? How did you keep track of each time you regrouped the place value?
*Science-Stay tuned for Sunday evening! Hopefully we will have clear skies over Calgary so we will have a great view of the Lunar Eclipse! Remember to go to bed at your regular time! You can practice why we are having a Lunar Eclipse at home using a ball, orange, apple, etc. to represent the Moon! Could you ask your mom or dad to be the Sun and you could be the Earth!
Thursday, January 17, 2019
*Science-How did you and your team show what will take place in the night sky on Sunday evening? How did you align the celestial objects; the Moon, Earth and Sun? On Sunday night, if it is cloudy, we will not be able to see though the clouds to view the eclipse! Let’s hope for clear skies where Calgarians will be able to view the full Moon! Remember you need your sleep. So go to bed at your regular time and ask your parents to take a photo for you!
*Math-How are you and your partner determining ways to represent the various amounts of money? When focusing on place value, what is the penny and nickel? We would say or write one hundredths for the penny and five hundredths for the nickel! What is the place value for the dime, quarter and fifty cent piece?
*We started our Rocky Mountain art writing responses today and beautiful words and images emerged from the pages. To support this writing assignment students are applying writing skills such as using descriptive vocabulary, strong verbs, sensory words, figures of speech, and including feelings and personal experiences to improve their writing. Stay tuned for next week for some samples posted on the BLOG.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
*We had a special presentation today with Zeus McClurkin from the Harlem Globetrotters! Ask your child what his important message was to share with us (hint TEAM - talk, empathy, ask questions, mobility). He showed some amazing ball handling skills and we even got to see a slam dunk! He holds the world record for most slam dunks in a minute. Several students asked for the information to purchase tickets when they are at the Saddledome January 23/24. You can purchase tickets online.
*Science-A special thank you to Olivia, for sharing her neat glow in the dark, slime!
A great light and shadows event will be taking place around our Earth on Sunday evening! When you were working with a flashlight and sphere, how did you model the eclipse? What will happen to the Moon on Sunday evening? How long does it take for the Moon to orbit the Earth once? What is the Moon's phase on Sunday? Take home the handout where you can share with your parents your homework assignment. Let's hope for clear skies, without clouds so Calgarians can view the Moon on Sunday!
*Math-What strategies did you use when you were playing the basic facts dice game with your partner? What was your score? During the money section of our lesson today, how did you represent each amount three times? Which coins did you use the most? How do we correctly say each amount of money using place value terms? (Hint...tenths, hundredths)
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
*Science-A special thank you to Danica for sharing her picture of an Angler Fish! How does the bioluminescent light increase the chances of survival? Thank you to Taryn, for bringing her, "Mega Glow" slime to class!
While observing the Law of Reflection, how did you and your team reflect the light using a number of mirrors? What observations did you make regarding what angle the light reflects off each mirror?
*Math-How did you and your team calculate three different ways to represent the total amount of money? Which coins did you use the most? How did you check your answers to make sure your totals were correct? During the pair of dice Math game, how did you and your partner keep score?
*The Parkland & Foothill regions shared their cereal box project with the class today. After all the regions have shared we will play a Alberta Natural Regions Jeopardy game to review the information we have learned.
*Our Rocky Mountain art is complete and photos are now posted on our BLOG. Written reflections will begin on Thursday and displayed with our art in the days ahead.
Monday, January 14, 2019
*Language Arts
We reviewed the "hamburger" paragraph writing which is a visual for how to write a strong paragraph with a topic sentence, supporting details and a conclusion sentence. We will apply this format when we write a Rocky Mountain paragraph this week. We had our first book club session today! We were given a visual chart with different reading comprehension strategies and word attack strategies for reading unknown words. Show your parents how we sit together during book club so that we can hear our group members the best. We worked in our journal drawing photos to represent what happened first, next and then for the section of our book we read today.
Friday, January 11, 2019
*Math-This morning we played the dice basic facts game. How did you and your partner take turns calculating the product of the dice? When you went into your Bank, what was the total amount in your savings account? How did you show when you needed to borrow from the higher place value?
*Science-A special thank you to Taryn for sharing her great bioluminescent organism, called a ______! Why would this oceanic organism need to have bioluminescence? When you were with your lab team, how did you prove the Law of Reflection using mirrors and flashlights? What happened when the light reflected off the mirrors? Did you observe a pattern?
Thursday, January 10, 2019
*Math-Today your savings account increased by $10.00 to $20.00. How did you borrow and exchange the money from the higher place value? What is the maximum amount of money you placed into the ones place value? When your first customer arrived, how much money did they withdraw from their account? How did you keep track of their transactions?
*Science-A big thank you to Justin for bringing in a great photo of a bioluminescent pelagic sea slug! What biological advantages would the sea slug have for illuminating in the dark ocean? When you were in your lab today using the materials, how did you prove if light travels in a straight or curved line? How did you set up your lab to prove the accuracy of your hypothesis?
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
*Science-Charting our amazing discoveries, we found out we had listed a number of organisms that can actually produce their own light using three components: luciferin (a protein), luciferase (an active enzyme to start the reaction) with oxygen for glowing! Then after watching a, "Ted Talk" on bioluminescence we found out that 80% of organisms that can bioluminate are found in the _____! You can research your favourite bioluminescent organism and bring a picture using your computer printer to class! How does biolumination increase one's survival in the dark, depths of the ocean?
*Math-Today we set up a "Bank" in class, where we named our bank and brought in customers where they withdrew money from their savings account. We then started keeping track of the transactions which is helping us to understand why we have to borrow from the higher place value. When you only had a $10 bill, how did you make change for the amount your customer withdrew? How did you group calculate what is left in their account? How did you exchange the $10.00 bill?
Could you actually open a savings account at your local bank, where you can start saving money for University, to purchase sporting equipment, your favourite game, etc. while earning interest? Have a great talk with your parents tonight!
* We are beginning book clubs with Room 15 starting next week. Today the students chose a novel with their group that they found a common interest to read. Book clubs will be on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Groups will read aloud together and then respond to the text in a variety of ways to show their understanding. What book did your group choose for book club? Have you read a book by this author before?
Tuesday, January 8, 2019!
*Happy New Year! Here's to an amazing year filled with discoveries, connections, happiness and great times with your friends and family!
*Science marked rubric went home today. Your rubric assessment was based on 4 main areas where your goal was to design and construct a vehicle with a body, attached to a chassis with axles and wheels using recycled/reused materials. Then your team attached a propulsion system to the car body/chassis to create vehicle momentum.
*Science-We started our third unit in Science today, Topic D: "Light and Shadows". Working in groups, scientists brainstormed what light sources are classified as natural or man made (artificial). Researching types of fish that have light sources was really fascinating! We found out we need to be afraid of the light, if we approach a bioluminescent angler fish!
*Math-We discussed how Canadians take care of refugee families from around the world. Focussing on helping a small Syrian refugee family in Calgary, we calculated which food items we could "purchase" for two meals while staying on a budget. Through team work, many students challenged themselves to purchase items that would match their budget of exactly $40.00. Students were surprised at the high cost of beef, so they chose an alternative protein at a reduced cost, such as couscous or tofu! Lining up the decimal we talked about why the decimal is important and how we need to add digits based on place value.
*We created a journal response about our holiday break. We looked at different types of lines artists use for inspiration and creativity. The students chose a different type of line to use in the numbers 2019. They chose six different response questions to answer about their break. A few examples were: "The most beautiful thing I saw... I helped.... The best gift I gave... I can't wait for.... I want to try harder at..." We watched a video and saw images of paintings from artist Jen Aranyi. Using pencil drawing, sharpie outlining, and watercolor paint we re-created her mountain paintings with our own special touches. This art will be completed this week as well as a written response to accompany the paintings. Watch for photos on the blog later this week!
Friday, December 21st, 2018
We wish all of our families an amazing Christmas and Winter holiday! Have a wonderful time with your families! Looking forward to the New Year where we will continue exploring the world around us!
Thursday, December 20th, 2018
* Arjun, Amaan, Jordyn and Gwenyth read their Phobia Stories today. The students provided specific feedback and asked questions to the authors. We continued to work on our Travel Alberta Weekend Getaway books and using technology we learned how to copy and paste images. The students found three images for activities they would like to try. They will write details about each activity in the New Year.
*Science-We gathered in the plaza this morning, as teams ran their vehicle distance trials. Using a variety of propulsion mechanisms, students were proud of their results! Based on your trials, which distance were you proud of? What adjustments did you make to your vehicle as you pretested your prototype this week?
*Math-Today we had great discussions about, "Toy Mountain" and the, "Teddy Bear Toss". Students were surprised and saddened to learn that some children will not receive any presents on Christmas day. We talked about why some families might be homeless and how we can help others during this season. Students then created their budget shopping, as they searched for toys within their, "Toy Mountain" budget.
Wednesday, December 19th, 2018
*Science-When you were testing your vehicles today, what adjustments did you make to improve the momentum? During your distance trials, what was the greatest distance your vehicle travelled?
*Math-When you are paying for items with cash, how do you round the cents? When do you actually pay more than the price when paying with cash? When do you pay less than the actual price?
Tuesday, December 18th, 2018
*Math-When you were "shopping" this morning, what was your budget? How do you make sure you are staying within your budget rather than going over (debt)? When you calculated the total amount for each group of items, how could the total vary depending on which method you used for payment? How did you round the total cost?
*Science-Which part of the design and building process did your group work on today? How are you attaching the propulsion system to make sure you have enough momentum? What changes have you made to your vehicle to improve the aerodynamics and rotation of the wheels?
* Today we worked on our Alberta Natural Regions 3D map and completing our special crystal ornaments. Thanks to Donna (Olivia's Mom) and Sarah (Owen's Mom) for volunteering to help with these projects. The students worked on their Travel Alberta Weekend Getaway booklets looking at accommodations. We visited the trip advisor and travel Alberta website. If students did not finish their page please help them complete this tonight listing the name of the place they will stay, how much it costs per night, the trip advisor rating, and amenities. With our little buddies we placed our bird seed ornaments in the tree as a special gift to the birds this holiday season. We watched a video and had a discussion about the importance of providing food, water, and nesting materials during the winter months.
Friday, December 14th, 2018
*Math-When you were shopping within your budget this morning, what happens when you pay by credit card or debit card versus cash? When paying cash, when do you round the total up, down or keep the total the same? Why do we need to round the total when paying with cash?
What is the value of each coin?
*Science-Which part of your vehicle did you focus on today? How are you ensuring the wheels and axles are placed securely to your vehicle?
Thursday, December 13th, 2018
*Math-How did you set your numbers on the number line? Did you use your ruler or your finger to estimate the fraction of where to place each number? In regards to our Christmas/Holiday budgets which will start tomorrow, what did you learn about the penny? When and why did the Royal Canadian Mint stop minting the penny? How can you tell the difference between each coin?
*Science-Which section of your vehicle did your team work on today? Did you use the electric hand drill or glue gun to help you? How do you ensure you are collaborating your ideas and design strategies when working with your team? How are you going to attach the propulsion system to your vehicle which will increase the potential energy?
As a class we created a summary from the story Christmas Cobwebs for our special holiday project coming home next Friday. We reviewed the names submitted for the "Name the Reindeer" contest. Through the process of voting we got the list down to six qualifying names and then voted as a class on "Jeff!" You will notice his name tag tomorrow! Three more students shared their phobia stories- Jack Na, Jana and Brynlee. Students gave them specific feedback on their stories.
Wednesday, December 12th, 2018
*Math-How did you and your partner ensure your numbers were placed correctly on the number line? Which new numbers did we add to our number line today? Which numbers did you find the most challenging when determining their numerical order relative to the numbers previously placed onto the number line?
*Science-When starting the construction of your new simple machine vehicle, which tools did you and your team use? If you used the electric drill alongside Ms. T , how did you meet safety requirements? How is your team going to attach the propulsion mechanism to increase the potential energy of your simple machine?
*Congratulations to all the choir students and a special high five to our Room 17 Choir students Owen, Gwenyth, Taryn, Brynlee and Danica. We got to preview the dress rehearsal for the Winter Concert this afternoon and it was an amazing afternoon of singing and handbell performances. You sounded lovely! Good luck tomorrow night at the concert. We folded an 8 page book for our Travel Alberta Getaway and started our title page. All students should have their destination chosen for this project.
Tuesday, December 11th, 2018
*Science-Today we met with our new teams to discuss construction ideas for our new vehicles! What propulsion mechanism will you be installing? How can you ensure the axles have full rotation with low drag? How are you going to incorporate the amazing materials you brought to class?
*Math-How did you ensure your number was accurately placed on our classroom suspended number line? What number started and ended the number line? If you had a fraction card, how did you determine where to place the number? What challenges occurred and how could we correct numbers that need readjusting?
Monday, December 10th, 2018
Talia, Justin and Taryn shared their phobia stories with our class reading with expression. Expression is an important part of reading a story with exaggeration. We read Wonder and did a character sketch of August from the information we gained from Jack Will's perspective. We started our Travel Alberta weekend family get-aways today. Students used the Travel Alberta website and travel guides to find a destination they think their family would enjoy. Please have your destination chosen by Tuesday afternoon. We created a Kindness Holiday Tree that features acts of kindness to share with others.
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
*Science-Today we completed our Beakerhead Ingenuity Challenge using only masking tape. Delving into the future we captured the amazing technology and environmental designs that we predict will be invented in the future!
*We chose our groups today for the second vehicle challenge where we will only use reusable or recyclable materials for the body, axles and wheels with an added propulsion mechanism.
*Math-Today we continued practicing multiple addition with and without regrouping to the ten thousands place value. We are feeling more confident with regrouping and understanding the mathematical rules when carrying and regrouping.
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
*Science-Today we ran our first distance trials of our vehicles using the inclined plane! We had amazing success as your vehicles moved with the help of gravity, to various distances! How did your car travel today? Did you car successfully move at or beyond 3.5 meters?
*Two handouts in Science went home today. You now have your study guide for Gears and Levers test for next Tuesday. Then a letter to help you begin planning ideas for your recycled vehicle! Tomorrow we will choose your teams!
*Math-We continued coding in the plaza where we programmed the "Space" visuals to include Saturn and the Earth as they orbited the Sun! Then we included a rocket that blasted off and moved around the darkened, starlit night!
Monday, December 3, 2018
We started creating an art piece to display with our phobia stories for conferences. The students used task design and their imagination to plan and create their art. We had our first coding session using Scratch. The student created a space background and using sprites, costumes and formulas had the different planets line up and flash!
Friday, November 30, 2018
*Science-When you tested your cars in the plaza, how did your car travel on the inclined plane? Did you need to make adjustments to your car to help create greater momentum? When you placed your car on the inclined plane, did you and your team find an optimal angle to increase the potential energy?
*Beakerhead-What did you and your team work on today? How is your structure innovative in design? Are you predicting where our species will form a new colonization? What type of fuel will you need to harness?
Thursday, November 29, 2018
*Math-Today we drew our Fibonacci number using bubble formatting. Once we sketched our number we artistically drew a number of fractals inside each number! Together we will form the first 22 numbers of the sequence which will be showcased around our classroom! Which fractals did you draw in your Fibonacci number(s)?
*Science-Today we decided that we could change the diameter of the straws that allow the wooden dowel axles to spin. We agreed that the larger diameter straws created more movement of the axles thus causing the cars to turn unxpectantly. Most groups chose to remove yesterday’s straws and replace each axle. What did your team decide today? In our Beakerhead 3018 challenge, each team continued to design and construct their tapigami structure. What is your team creating?
*For our phobia stories we will create a piece of art to display with our published stories. Please plan what 3D art you would like to create and what materials will be required. There are a variety of materials located in the art room at school that students will access.
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
*Science-We had amazing success today as each team completed the initial construction of their vehicle! Each car contains unique detailing and various artistic techniques to showcase windows, sunroofs and car body designs. Then we moved into the plaza to run our first trial runs using inclined planes! Well done, engineers!
*Math-In relation to our pattern inquiry, we searched today for a variety of sources to find images of fractals. We discovered that fractals are repeating patterns often found in nature! Which fractals did you find to be intricate and beautiful! Which fractals surprised you and why? How can you incorporate fractals into your Fibonacci bubble number?
*We continue to work on the body of our Phobia Stories. We used laptops and google docs to type our stories today. The students had French this afternoon.
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
*Science-Today we watched the video from NASA when the keen scientists watched the successful landing of InSight probe onto the surface of Mars! We discussed the latest image taken on the surface of Mars that showed the small rocks and coloured red/brownish soil in the background! Then we continued working on the design of our cars as we focussed on the attachment of the roofing. We are super proud of our car designs and the artistic additions of detailing look amazing!
*Math-Fibonacci sequence continued to live in our classroom! We realized that after 20 numbers, the sequence is increasing in value at a fast rate! We are looking forward in choosing one number to draw, colour and represent! Then we will need to place the numbers in numerical order starting with the number zero!
Thursday, November 22, 2018
*Math-Some mathematicians say this gentleman from Pisa, Italy was the most talented Western mathematician of the Middle Ages. What did we learn about Leonardo Biggolo? What logic pattern did he study that occurs in nature? When we began the logic pattern starting with the number 0, then in sequence number 1, what operation did he/we use? Why is November 23rd celebrated as World Fibonacci Day? Why is he know as Fibonacci?
*Science-What did your team design today as you worked on constructing your vehicle from scratch? How is the vehicle body sleek and aerodynamic in design? What colour scheme did your group choose for the car body, windows and detailing? What are you proud of? In Beakerhead, what tapigami structure is your team building that will be invented by the year 3018?
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
*Math-We continued practicing our basic facts of addition with regrouping. Which practice question sheet number are you working on today? What strategies are working for you to ensure your addition is accurate?
*Science-Today we continued to work on our vehicle designs! Then we moved to Beakerhead where we brainstormed the year 3018! What modes of transportation do you predict will be invented by the year 3018? What type of fuel will we harness to use for transportation? Will your tapigami focus on how we will travel into space, space tourism and perhaps architecturally unique space homes?
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
*Math-Today we worked a series of addition computation problems to the ten thousands place value. Which practice questions did you find most challenging? Did you remember to carry and show the regrouping above the next highest place value?
*Science-You and your team partners began sketching the main shape of the car body. How did ensure the main outline was aerodynamic with low drag? Which car are you analyzing to help you design a modern, sleek prototype? Which colours are you choosing for the main body? Are you going to add detailing to the side of your car? How did you ensure the car body is able to wrap u dear the chassis to create a good seal for air flow?
Monday, November 19, 2019
*We are beginning to start the body or middle of our phobia stories. The students are planning the main event and problem including description and main character's thoughts and feelings. We read three chapters of Wonder and read about what a patient, selfless, and loving sister Via is to Auggie. Students were given their Alberta Natural Region groups today and have started their research using websites.
Friday, November 16, 2018
*Math-Today we practiced how to add 4 and 5 digit numbers using regrouping. We analyzed how to successfully regroup based on each place value. Then we modeled the various base 10 blocks that represented numbers to the ten thousands place value. We all agreed we are feeling more confident and successful with fewer errors!
*Science-What prototype are you designing your car? Which car body has low drag with high aerodynamics? Can you find a photo online or in your neighborhood of a car that you can use to help you design your car body? How are you and your team going to ensure your vehicle can have enough momentum to travel at least 3.5 m past the edge of an inclined plane? What force will you use to get momentum?
Thursday, November 15, 2018
*Math-Today you created your own 5 digit math addition problem that you intentionally placed 2 mistakes: regrouping, place value, basic fact errors, double digits in one place value. You then switched addition cards to see if you could find their errors and then correct their "mistakes". Did your math partner correctly find your errors? Were you able to successfully find their mathematical errors? Which errors do you think you are working to correct?
*Science-When we viewed various vehicles in wind tunnels, how did the shape of the car body affect drag? Which structures did engineers design to decrease drag and increase fuel efficiency? How did the design shape of the truck improved to decrease fuel consumption? What design is your group going to create?
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
*Math-Math test goes home today! Well done, mathematicians! Please return your signed test.
-Today we analyzed the main problems that can occur when we add two numbers. We determined there are 4 main problems that can occur: place value, two digits in one place value, using subtraction with addition and incorrect basic facts when adding. Then we decided to devise an addition questions that had more than one mistake. What mistakes did you intentionally make in your problem?
*Science-When your group used the stickies to classify the levers into their classes, which levers did you successfully match? How did your team determine the classes of levers?
*Today we did an act of kindness and service for our little grade one buddies and the Calgary Food Bank. With the help of Mr. C, and our educational assistant student (Miss Jaenen), we harvested the root vegetables from the community garden that the kindergarten students planted and cared for in the spring and summer. This was an amazing educational experience for the students! Everyone worked so hard and persisted until the job was complete! We kept a few carrots to taste fresh from the garden and had an interesting discussion about why fresh garden carrots tasts differently than store bought carrots. We shared the beginning of our phobia stories with two other students and were provided 3 stars and a wish to use to edit the beginning.
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
*Math-How did you prepare for your test today? Did you practice the questions on your study cards? Did you ask a parent to write new questions for you to solve? Did you play algebra dice at home?
*Science-How did we classify levers into groups based on the position of the fulcrum? How many different classes of levers have scientists developed? Which class of lever do you use the most in your kitchen? Which invented lever do you think is the most intricate? Which lever would you invent to help decrease the amount of effort to move a load? Check out our Blog page which shows us watching the Beakerhead webinar on Tapigami! Then after we watched the webinar, we decided to create a beautiful Remembrance Day flower for Remembrance Day.
Monday, November 12, 2018
*Should Calgary make a bid for the 2026 Olympic Games? The students in Room 17 discussed the main reasons some Calgarians will vote "yes" and why some will vote "no" on Tuesday, Nov. 13th. As we follow this news story please watch news coverage on Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning and tell the results of the plebiscite!
*We started writing the beginning of our phobia stories using a hook sentence. The students used our classroom writing folder resources to help them include strong verbs, interesting adjectives, character descriptions, and showing vs telling. We are excited to share these stories with you at parent teacher conferences in December!
Thursday, November 8, 2018
*Math-How did your team model the addition question using base 10 blocks? When we were modeling regrouping of place value, how did you correct the mistake? What happens to the total number if you forget to regroup a place value? What number do you need to regroup? Why are the hands on materials called, "Base 10 blocks?"
*Science-When you were using the hands on simple machines, how did you determine where the fulcrum was located? Are any of the simple machines similar in relation to where the fulcrum, load and effort are located? Why is a lever considered a simple machine?
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
*Math-This morning you developed a set of study cards to help prepare you for the Math test next Tuesday. There are 4 main sections to the test, that are hilighted in your study cards. Take the main questions that are in your study cards and create new questions that you can practice. You can also play Algebra dice at home, just like we did in class, to help you balance each equation!
*Science-Which levers did you use today at home and in Science class? Which lever did you think is the neatest, most creative invention developed as of today? When you use a spoon, knife or fork, where is the fulcrum, load and effort located? How does a lever increase the mechanical advantage to lift a load?
*Ask me about Hook Sentences and the three ways to begin a story that "hooks" the interest of the reader. We verbally practiced these three ways to begin our phobia stories and will start writing our beginning paragraph soon.
* There is an Alberta Regions note going home today. Please help your child complete the form and return it back to school as soon as possible. It will be exciting to see and discuss as a class which parts of Alberta we have visited and explored. Students will choose their top regions they are interested in researching and be assigned a small group project for one of the regions.
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
*Math-Math Study Cards on Algebra will go home tomorrow. Your test will be next Tuesday, November 13th.
*Science-How did you design a hand beater to increase the rotation speed of the beaters? How did the ratio between the driver and the driven gears change? When you observed the hand beater in class, what was the ratio between the driver and driven gears? How do the gears work together to create speed or torque? When you were discovering connections using levers, how did you use a lever to move a load from your desk?
*We story mapped the beginning, middle and end to our phobia stories using pictures. We worked with student Partners from Ms. Hassen's class to share ideas for setting, the main problem and how the problem can creatively be resolved at end of our stories.
*As Remembrance Day approaches we read the poem In Flanders Fields by John MCcrae and analyzed what the author meant in each line. Some new vocabulary words we encountered were "quarrel" and "foe".
Monday, November 5, 2018
We started a new story today that will be based on phobias and exaggeration. What is the name of the figure of speech where you use an exaggerated statement not meant to be taken literally? ... Hyperbole! We drew a picture of our phobia in a simple way then an exaggerated version of the picture that we will use as our story starter. Today we read a book about Peace with our buddies and created a row of torn paper art poppies. We watched a video on the Canadian peace keeping mission and brainstormed words to describe our peace keepers and soldiers. Each student picked 3-5 significant words to use on their poppy art. The results are stunning!
Friday, November 2, 2018
*Math-Today you and your partner played, Algebra Dice, using many faced dies! How did you calculate how to balance both numbers in your equation? What strategies worked for you?
Thursday, November 1, 2018
*Math-Today we Google searched the weights of various organisms classified as, "Endangered Species", in Canada. Once we determined the weights, we then created balanced algebraic equations to determine how we could balance the teeter totter!
*Science-When you were working with your team, how did you determine if the simple machine was invented for speed or power? Which kitchen simple machines were used for speed? How were the driver gears built differently compared with the driven gears? When the simple machine was invented for power, how was the gear ratio different compared to simple machines for speed?
Wednesday, October 31st, 2018
*Amazing job on the assembly this afternoon Room 17 and all the OHS Grade 4 students! You were excellent leaders as you taught the whole school the Ghost Busters dance! Thanks Ronan and Jordyn for being our confident and articulate MCs. Have a safe and fun Halloween.
*Math-This morning we estimated the weight of the heaviest pumpkin in the USA for 2018. Our estimations ranged from 56 kg to 2 108 kg! Then we googled the most updated information to discover the pumpkin that was grown in New Hampshire weighed the equivalent of a small car at 1 149 kg! Then we hypothesized how the farmer was able to use simple machines to lift the heavy pumpkin! Using algebra teeter totters, we then formulated a number of equations to balance the heavy pumpkins!
Tuesday, October 30th, 2018
*Remember to bring your costume, board game and treats (if your family is bringing a treat for our afternoon celebration) in the morning to school.
*Math-Today we solved algebraic equations using the letters to spell, "Halloween". Then we decided to find out how many smaller words are hidden inside the word, "Halloween". So far we have discovered 40 words and then we translated the words back into their number! We thought it was neat that you can find the hidden number that matches the letter, and then use that letter/number to form other words!
Monday, October 29th, 2018
We are preparing for our Halloween Assembly on Wednesday. We were student leaders today and taught the three other grade 4 classes our Ghost Busters dance. In Phys.Ed we were enganged and excited with the new Halloween stations. Ask me how many Ghosts our two classes captured! In Art we are almost finished our poppies. We created these delicate flowers and will put the finishing touches on in the next few days. In our Novel Study we are now hearing Auggie's sister Via's perspective on growing up as the big sister to a brother with special needs.
Thursday, October 25th, 2018
We watched a short video on the significance of the poppy as we worked on the next steps of our Remembrance Day art project. It involved paint and splattering the paint! I was impressed at the students' willingness to pitch in and the responsibility they displayed as they worked as a team to clean up the room after our painting! You can't even tell we painted! We will continue this art project into next week and I will post a picture on the Blog once it is completed. The students made some thoughtful reflections on our novel study Wonder. We are at the part of the story where it is Halloween at Beecher Prep and Auggie encounters a situation with his friend Jack Will where he feels betrayed by the words Jack said to Julian. The students are excited to delve in and read more! Next week- promise!
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
*Math-At home this week you will be practicing to memorize your basic multiplication facts. You have been working on moving your short term memory facts into your long term memory. At school you learned how to increase the number of brain messages which will help you to retain the basic facts. Look at the equation. Say the equation out loud. Hear the equation. Now flip the card over, say the product (answer) out loud. Now say the equation and the answer together using your voice! Then say the equation with the product again out loud, 3 more times! Then move to another card. Practice 10 to 15 minutes per night. Remember to be calm. Practice your basic facts when you have had a snack and you are wide awake. All of these factors will help to increase your memory consolidation!
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
*Math-How did you determine which operation to use in your algebraic equation? How did you ensure the left side of your equation balanced the right side? With the series of 3 numbers, did you use guess and check to determine the operation(s)?
*Science-Which sections of the LEGO Dacta hand drill, did you and your team work on today? How will you set up the interior gear train systems to move the drill? Which typs of gears will move the drill-driver, idler or driven? How do you determine the order of the gears?
* The students finished the Alberta Geographical Region vocabulary terms. They recorded these definitions with writing and showed their meaning through pictures. It is important to understand the meaning of climate, vegetation, bodies of water, natural resources, animal life and land forms before we begin researching the regions.
* Ask me about Show vs Tell to be a descriptive writer. Using visualization, the senses, and strong verbs I can convey my ideas with amazing description.
Monday, October 22, 2018
We spent some time today working with our little buddies on "ghostly O" word families. The big buddies brainstormed some Grade 4 level words that contain the "oo" sound like in balloon. The students learned some new vocabulary working with these words such as "monsoon".
At our assembly Room 17 students will lead the Ghostbusters dance for our school. We have been practicing our dance moves so that we can leaders for our performance! We are aiming for synchronization!
We learned a new game in Phys. Ed today called Table Ball! It was fun and challenging at the same time!
Friday, October 19, 2018
*Science-When you were writing your Science test today, how did you ensure you answered each section? How did studying help you write your test?
-How is Spirograph related to gears? How can you use the gears to create a beautiful drawing?
*Math-Using numbers and an x, how were you able to balance the equations? How did you prove your answer(s) to be correct? Which operations did you use in your equations today?
Thursday, October 18, 2018
*Math-How did you determine the equation for the bat cave problem? How many bats entered the cave? How did you ensure your equation was balanced? When you were working with your flashcards, how are you deciding which basic facts go into your Long Term Memory or your Short Term Memory pile?
*Science-When you placed little pieces of tape on top of each gear, what did you discover? When you turn the first gear clockwise what happens to the second and third gear in your gear train? Why are some gears changing directions? What artistic set uses gears to help you draw neat and beautiful drawings? Remember to study for your Pulley's test tomorrow!
* Language Arts- We have been looking at strong verbs and how they can make your writing come alive compared to simple words. The students have been making webs with their strong verbs. Instead of using the word "eat" try gobble, slurp, devour, or munch. We read the story Eagle Dreams and students recorded on their white boards strong verbs the author used throughout the book.
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
*Math-How did you create an algebraic equation for Justin's problem? Could you include any number when 0 is multiplied by an unknown number to equal 0? What is the purpose of the number 0? In your Math Minutes, what strategies are you using to ensure you successfully answer a high number of questions in 1.5 minutes?
*Science-We are geared up for Science! Where can you find gears in your home? How did you and your team create a gear train using various sizes of gears? How did you use the axles? What is the purpose of gears?
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
*Math-When given 3 numbers and an unknown number, how did you set up algebraic equations to ensure the left side of the equation always equals the right side? What operations did you use? Did you incorporate more than one operation in your equations? When you received your Math test, what were you proud of? Remember to share your Math test with a parent!
*Science-Egyptian pyramid structure challenge! How did you and your team use simple machines to move a live load of "stones" up an inclined plane? What angle worked the best? Did you use rollers and if so, how did they work? What other materials worked for your group? How did the ancient Egyptians use simple machines to move heavy slabs of rock across the land and to various heights on the pyramids?
*Science Test-Remember to start reviewing your Study Sheets that went home today! Spend 15 minutes per night reviewing your labs!
Monday, October 16th, 2018
We used adjectives to describe the different geographical regions shown on the Alberta Shield. Ask me to describe the Rocky Mountains, Grasslands and Prairie Fields with my descriptive words! We started our geographical regions map. We worked with our little buddies to collect nature items and enjoy the beautiful fall afternoon searching for different nature items using our senses. We ended our day reading our novel Wonder and practicing our keyboarding skills using the laptops.
Friday, October 12, 2018
*Math-What strategies/tools did you use to achieve success with your Math test? Did you use the hands on cubes/squares or did the plain paper help you to record your calculations?
Did you underline the key numbers or math concept words to help you?
*Hidato-How did you determine the number patterns in the Hidato puzzles? How did Dr. Benedek create the logic puzzles to challenge your math brain? How do the puzzles increase in difficulty level?
*Science-Will your group successfully use the inclined plane to move the heavy load? What challenges will occur in your roller system when you increase the angle to move the live load? Which ancient civilization used the same system to move heavy blocks of stone?
Thursday, October 11, 2018
*Math-How did you ensure your algebraic equation was balanced? How did the lever help you to ensure the left side of the equation equals the right side? When you worked on your basic multiplication facts in your Math Minute, how did your score change from yesterday?
-Test tomorrow. 2 pages in length. Tonight you can practice skip counting in increasing and decreasing patterns and determine the rule with the operation. You can find small hands on materials at home and practice placing them into equal bags. Then determine the operation for each group.
*Science-When your group helped design the large roller track, how did the amount of effort to move the load surprise you? How did your group move a heavy load 3 m using only 6 rollers?
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
* Language Arts- We reviewed nouns, proper nouns and adjectives. We described images from each of the AB regions with adjectives.
*Social Studies- We watched a video of three of the AB geographical regions (Rocky Mountains, Grasslands, and the Foothills) and made jot notes and sketched pictures from the information. Calgary is located in the Grassland region.
*Math-Your Math test is on Friday. Study at least 15 minutes tonight and Thursday evening. Use your study cards that we made in class to help you. There will be 3 main parts in your test on Friday: Skip counting with mathematical rule, drawing arrays and labelling with the mathematical equation, patterns where you record the data an organized T Table, extend the table based on the mathematical rule and calculate the rule going down the table plus going across the table.
-When you practiced your Math Minute today, what strategies did you use?
*Science-How did you determine where the friction is located in your roller? What did your group determine are the most important features of your roller? How is your roller used as a simple machine?
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
*Math-How did you use a symbol to represent how many cookies were in the algebraic equations today? What is the difference between a dozen and a baker's dozen cookies? Which numbers did you use in your equations today?
*Science-Congratulations, scientists! Thank you for bring your roller to class! What roller did you bring to school today? When you use your roller, where does friction occur? How could you reduce the friction of your roller? Example: Would flour on the rolling pin, decrease the amount of dough that sticks to the counter or roller?
Friday, October 5, 2018
*Math-How did you determine the unknown number in the algebraic equations? What strategies did you use? Did you use addition and subtraction in your calculation section in your Math book?
*Science-When your team built a section of rollers, how many meters was your track? How long was our roller track today? What happened to the roller pencils as the live load moved over your section?
Remember to bring a roller from home! Is your roller a traditional roller that does not have an axle or does your roller have an axle?
Thursday, October 4, 2018
*Math-How did you calculate the value of each Halloween object in your algebraic equation? What happens to the value of the object when you use the same object in a different equation? Can one objects have 2 different values?
*Science-How did you and your team use the simple machine-roller to move a heavy load with low friction? What challenges occurred in your system? How would you decrease the movement of rollers? Where do we find rollers in our everyday lives?
Homework!-Bring one roller to class by Tuesday. Label with your name! Think! Where is the dead load? Where is the live load? Where does friction occur? Where do you place your effort?
*We used the laptops today to practice our keyboarding skills before the student had French. In French they learned the colours en francais. The students are bringing home their stunning Thanksgiving art for you tonight. Enjoy and have beautiful Thanksgiving everyone. We feel so grateful to be working and learning with your children this year in Room 17.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
*Math-Today we made new triangular popsicle frames for Thanksgiving where we calculated the mathematical relationship between each frame based on the number of edges! What was rule going across the T Table? Why did this pattern work? Then when you started constructing your pumpkin towers, how is each tower different from the tower before?
*Science-This morning, we worked on designing various pulley systems by drawing the increasing mechanical advantage in each system. Why is it easier to lift a live load if the mechanical advantage increases?
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
*Math-Today we made a model of framed popsicle sticks to calculate the total number of edges. How did your team work together to build the frames? In your T Table when you organized your data, what was the rule going down from frame to frame? How many edges did each frame share? What was the rule going across your T Table?
*Science-This morning we built a water well to determine how we could actually move the groundwater up to the surface using a pulley system. How did your team get success with your live system? What challenges did you overcome as you were trying to move the water? In a working water well, what structures will be added to ensure safety?
Monday, October 1, 2018
Today we made a leaf for our 3D gratitude tree. We reflected on what we are thankful for and why we feel this way.
In art we are making plaster leaf prints. The students were amazed with the transfer of the veins and stem into the plaster from the fresh leaf. We used a variety of leaves from different types of trees. You will see our final masterpieces in the days ahead.
In Language Arts we completed our rough drafts for our All About Me Journal Covers and will complete a good copy to be displayed in our journal.
We have completed our jot notes and information for the Alberta Provincial Symbols. Ask me about the six Alberta Symbols! We will sketch a picture in our journal using all of the symbols.
Friday, September 28, 2018
*Math-Today we drew LEGO brick problems and we calculated the interested increasing pattern between each tower! We then worked on our Math Challenger problems, determining how to draw various arrays to group different sets of pulleys! Remember to return your signed test.
*Science-How did your group become successful with your clothesline system? What challenges did you overcome? Based on the rubric we discussed, what was your team's overall achievement score for today's lab out of 4? On Tuesday, your team will need to apply your understanding to build a working water well pulley system! The challenge is on!
Thursday, September 27, 2018
*Math tests went home today. How did you use the small papers to help you with your calculations? What worked for you? Did you underline key words?
-What strategies did you use to determine the rule going across the T Table for the cookie and sunflower problems? Did you use guess and check? Did your Math toolbox kit in your desk help you today?
*Science-How did your team set up your clothesline today? What challenges did you overcome? What would happen if the live load was heavy? When the live load is near the pulleys, what happened to the string and/or pulleys?
-We had an amazing Terry Fox Run together this afternoon. There was a strong sense of community, belonging, and generosity. Susan Morgan, a former OHS parent, was our guest speaker from the Terry Fox Foundation. She provided a motivational talk highlighting Terry Fox's hope, determination, and perseverance. Before our run Mr. Quon announced that if our school raises $3000 this year for the Terry Fox Foundation, Mr. Parsons will shave his beard! Thanks Room 17 for being postive leaders and taking such good care of your grade one little buddies during the assembly and run.
Estimate how many laps our class ran together. You will discover the actual number tomorrow!
Wednesday, September 26,2018
*Math- Students wrote their quiz today! What strategies did you use to compute the numerical response questions? Did you use the extra paper to record your calculations? Did you underline key Math words? During Math class, how did you calculate the pattern of snowflakes within each larger cluster?
*Science-How did you and your team construct a clothesline using 2 single pulleys with a long string? What challenges did you overcome when you attached the pulleys to a standing structure? Predict what would happen to your clothesline if the clothes were very heavy?
How was your team successful with the challenge?
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
*Math quiz tomorrow (25 questions: multiple choice, short answer) for all Grade 4's -See Home page for details.
*Math-When you created your T Table for the Living Wall Inukshuks, how did you calculate the number of light and dark green plants you would need to complete each structure?
How did you calculate the rule going down and the rule going across?
*Science-When you worked with your team, what was the maximum mechanical advantage your team set up using the pulley system? How did the amount of effort change from mechanical advantage of one to four?
*Social- We are learning about the Alberta provincial symbols. Today we reviewed jot notes and how to take the most important information from a piece of text and record it in short form. We researched the Wild Rose, Great Horned Owl and the Big Horn Sheep. Is it legal to pick the provincial flower or hunt the provincial mammal?
Monday, September 24, 2018
-Today we began our All About Me response to our Letter Art. We organized and categorized our ideas using a web.
-We shared our Marathon of Hope journal pages with our little buddies and ran a practice lap for the Terry Fox Run on Thursday. Each lap is .5km. Terry Fox ran a marathon each day (with an artificial limb and cancer) which is 84 laps (42 km). Simply amazing...
-In Social Studies we finished our Map of Canada. Some interesting observations were the borders dividing provinces and territories, Thunder Bay (where Terry's race ended), as well as that Nunavut has a massive land area compared to its small population.
Remember to bring a toonie for Terry this week.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
In Language Arts we have been researching the Marathon of Hope. Students used the ipads to explore the website terryfox.org where they found important information, photos and stories. They recorded answers to the 5 W's (and how?) from the website and from watching an inspirational video. Students had many personal connections with people in their lives that have had cancer. In our Journal we completed a Marathon of Hope page with answers to our questions on a Maple Leaf. Terry Fox is a Canadian Hero and teaches us about many important virtues. We will share our journal page with our little buddies and help them learn about Terry Fox.
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
*Science-This morning we watched a live feed from the International Space Station where an astronaut was working on the exterior section while on a space walk! When we viewed the CNN video where astronauts talked about their daily life on the I.S.S. what did you learn? What do you think would be challenging as an astronaut and what experiments would you conduct on the I.S.S.? What questions did you write for our Beakerhead speaker tomorrow morning?
*Math-What numerical patterns did you calculate on the Living Wall Inukshuk? How did the T Table help you to organize your data? How did you extend the T-Table when building more Inukshuks? Remember to bring back your signed Math quiz!
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
*Today we interviewed a partner that we did not know very well and asked them different questions related to the Circle of Courage- Independence, Mastery, Belonging and Generosity. As we answered the questions we got a bead to add to our circle. Our "mini" beaded circles will be on display in our classroom. A class picture is in the middle of the circle symblozing we are all part of the circle.
*Math-Today we worked on completing our Math Tools purple folder which will include a 10 x 10 multiplication grid and our 100's chart which we completed. Then we worked on writing our own set of flashcards so we can memorize multiplication facts from 1 x 9 to 9 x 9. Remember to be neat. Use a thin felt pen and take your time. Your flashcards (in an organza bag) are due next Tuesday, Sept 25th.
*Science-How did your team set up your vertical 2 pulley system? Did you notice the change in the amount of effort versus a one pulley system? How did you group achieve success?
Monday, September 17, 2018
*We met with our little buddies from Grade One today! We discussed and filled out a, "get to know me" sheet with our little buddy!
Friday, September 14, 2018
*Math-You wrote your Math quiz today. What strategies did you use to help you understand what the questions were asking? Did you circle key numbers or underline words like use addition or subtraction? Did you sketch or model numbers using base 10 blocks?
*Science-Today you used 2 pulleys in your system to lift a live load of books! What happened when you placed your pulleys in a vertical line with a moveable pulley attached to your bucket? How did the amount of effort change when you went from using one single pulley to 2? If you are lifting a heavy load of cement, what mechanical advantage would ensure you are lifting using less effort?
Thursday, September 13, 2018
*Math Quiz-tomorrow based on the number concepts you learned in Grade 3!
*Math-Today you demonstrated on the smart board, various patterns you discovered in the multiplication grid up to 10 x 10. What are square numbers? Where are the square numbers located on the grid? Can the skip counting of numbers increase and decrease? Can you extend the skip counting of a number past the grid?
*Science-The effort was on today! How did your team increase the mechanical advantage of your pulley system from 1 to 2? To have a M.A. (Mechanical Advantage) of 2, how many supports were attached to the bucket? Where did your team connect the pulleys to the beam? What did you observe regarding the amount of effort you used to lift the live load?
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
*Welcome to MRU Educational Assistant Student Amanda Jaenen who will be joining our class for her field studies every Wednesday until mid November.
*Parents- please complete and hand in your school forms package at your earliest convenience!
*LA- Please finish two Wonder response questions for tomorrow. Please let Mrs. Meier know if you need assistance gathering your "All about Me" pictures for Art on Monday.
*Math-What patterns did you observe in your 10 x 10 multiplication grid? Are the patterns horizontal, vertical or diagonal? How can you use skip counting to help you memorize your basic facts, by the end of Grade 4 up to 9 x 9?
*Science-How did your team use the pulley system to lift a live load of books vertically? What challenges did your team overcome? Where did you place the effort in relation to the live and dead load? If you let go of the string, what force acts on the load? How could you decrease the amount of effort in tomorrow's pulley system?
Tuesday, September 11th, 2018
*Social studies- Working in small groups the students created a classroom map using different manipulatives to represent the objects in our room. The concept of scale was introduced and modeled. Students used their map "prototype" as a guide as they drew the map on paper. We will add colour, details, and a legend/key to our Room 17 Classroom Map to make it easier to read and interpret.
*Homework for Monday! Please gather 8-10 "All about Me" small pictures that are rectangular or square in size (no larger than 4 cm by 4 cm). These photos should represent or symbolize things you love, like to do, and what makes you unique and special. You need to be able to orally tell and explain why you chose each picture. Students can use technology, magazines, or draw and color the pictures. If you require colour printing, and do not have a colour printer, you can email the file and I will print your page for you. [email protected] Please keep your pictures in a ziplock bag with your name on the outside (so they do not get lost) and hand in on or before Monday. This art will be used for our visual journal covers and displayed for conferences.
*Science-Some scientists state this living organism is the heaviest on our planet? Where did we find this organism? How could this deciduous tree weigh more than a whale? If a forest fire hits an Aspen grove, how can the species survive?
*Botanical Leaf Art-How did you use the glitter glue to capture the formation of the vein structure on your Aspen leaf? Are the veins alternate or are they opposite? How did you use the fall sparkly colors to show the artistic representation of your leaf?
*Math-When you were calculating the numbers on your multiplication grid, what strategies did you use? How are you ensuring your numbers are neatly printed? Do colors help you to see the pattern of each number group?
Monday, September 10th
We started our Novel Study Wonder by R.J. Palacio. We created a title page by recreating the front cover of the book using different shapes and shades of paper. What is the significance of the front cover with a "blank" face and only one eye? Did the beginning of the book grab your interest and attention and make you want to read more? How did the author achieve this?
We had our first French class today with Madame Ghira! French will be from 2:15-3:15 p.m. on Day 4.
Ms. Paul introduced us to the learning commons space, our library collection, and the how to properly check-out and care for our library books. She challenged us to an Amazing Race scavenger hunt where we used ipads to scan codes for clues and used the camera to gather pictures of our clues. We received our library cards and signed out our first books for the year! We need to have a book each day at school for our silent and shared reading times.
Please sign and return the form package that came home last week.
Friday, September 7, 2018
*We had our, "Welcome" assembly this morning!
*At 11:00 a.m. we had our first fire drill. The entire school took just over one minute to line up outside! We observed the fire alarm is very loud and also shines bright lights into the hallway!
*Science-WOW! We had great success designing and building a single pulley system to lift a live load from the ground. How did you and your team rig your pulley to ensure the string moved with low friction? What did you group use for the live load? What were you proud of today as you worked together with your team?
Thursday, September 6, 2018
* Please wear your Olympic Heights clothing or school colours to the Welcome Assembly tomorrow morning if you can!
*Reminder! Your Math Challenger homework is due tomorrow morning. Remember to give yourself time tonight to finish your diagrams and T Table! (You want to be organized to ensure you complete your homework tonight, rather than rushing tomorrow morning during breakfast).
*Science-During your lab today, how did your team use the hands on materials to design a single pulley system? Which ways could you place the wooden beam to support the live and dead load? What load would your team like to support in your simple machine system? What challenges do you think will occur when you add more live load to the Rona bucket?
*Math-Which classmate's pattern problem did you solve today? How did you calculate the rule? When calculating the rule, did you extend the problem to include more numbers? What mathematical strategies worked well for you today?
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
*This morning we had a desk change! How are you going to positively work with your classmates to ensure you are also engaged in your learning? What strategies work for you? In our classroom, how do we create a dynamic environment where everyone feels safe to take learning risks while being supported?
*In Math class, when we brainstormed, "What is a pattern?" what did you determine? When you devised your own mathematical pattern, did your number sets increase or decrease? How did you calculate the rule for your pattern? When a number of your classmates were at the front of the classroom, which characteristics formed the various patterns?
*During our first lab in Science (Wheels and Levers), what did you discover when you experimented with a single pulley? How do the various parts of a pulley work together? In your daily life, have you observed a pulley in action?
Tuesday, September 4th, 2018
*We had a fabulous morning getting to know each other! What length of string did you pull from the book? Who was in your group? What did you learn about your classmates?
*In, "The Whale and the Snail" book, how did the humpback whale become beached? How did the students work together to support the rescue efforts of the whale? How does beaching negatively affect marine mammals?
*When you designed your eye-catching glass bead Earth, which bead textures and colours did you choose to represent our beautiful planet?
*Your Math Challenger homework is due on Friday. Plan which evening you will be working on your homework.
*As begin our journey of learning together in Grade 4 we will create a water colour art piece on Thursday with your inspirational quote. Please find (or create your own) an inspiration quote that speaks to you, is important and meaningful to you, and will guide your year in Grade 4. The quote may be about topics or virtues such as friendship, caring, creativity, trying new things, perseverance. Resources we looked at together showed "inspirational kid quotes" online and we read several from 365 Days of Wonder- Mr. Browne's Book of Precepts by R. J. Palacio. You will need to have chosen and written down your quote on a piece of paper by Thursday afternoon of this week. You can borrow my book tomorrow (Wednesday) if you would like to find a quote! Please remember to write the name of the person who said the quote if it shows this information.
A few example: "Kindness is like snow. It beautifies everything it covers." -Kahlil Gibran
"You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
Parents you will get to view this beautiful and inspirational art piece at our Meet the Teacher time.