Today we began our morning with some practicing multiplication and division. Students looked at the following questions:
Science projects are coming along and constantly evolving. Continue to have your child show you their progress in Google Drive. In math we are wrapping up our Division Garden Activity. Students have solved a series of word problems and designed a "garden" using grid paper. After lunch we did a short read aloud. Moose and his mother have a very honest conversation about his sister. His family is devastated when Natalie is not accepted into the Esther P. Marinoff School because she is not "ready". In reality, it is because she is too old to be admitted into the program and now we are not sure what the family will do. Today was our big visit to Doctor Martha Cohen! It was loud, busy and very exciting. The grade 5 students did some small team building activities with the students and then showed the grade 4's around the school. There is another open house the evening of June 1st to welcome any and all new families for the 2017-18 school year. The staff will be available from 6:00 to 7:30pm to tour you around the school, provide information about their programs and answer questions. Lastly, below are a few photos from the year end celebration for the Destination Conservation Workshop. It was a great opportunity for a few of our students to go and present "The Paper Towel Problem" and what our Eco-Savers are doing about it. Reminders: May 18 - Fun Lunch (Little Caesars) May 19 - PD Day (No School) May 22 - Victoria Day (No School)
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Today we began our morning with an eye opener that had students looking at different units to measure. We discussed how to choose appropriate tools for measuring items like a pencil or how to measure the distance travelled in a car. Some students did presentations today, as part of their legacy project, asking classrooms to track how much water they use when flushing the toilet and then challenging them to use less water when washing their hands. A second group is beginning a grade 4 clothing swap and information can be found below: When: May 24, 2017 Where: Room 145 What: Bring in clothing items you no longer want or need to exchange with other grade 4 students. Bring in clean, undamaged items between May 16 - 23. * Any clothing items that are not swapped will be donated. * In math students began a division activity where they have to complete long division questions and show their work as an array in a Division Garden. They will be working on this activity for the next few days. Practicing long division questions at home with your child will allow them to be better prepared for this activity. During read aloud, our main character confronts his mother about why she hides his sister's age. The family begins to recognize they can no longer continue to pretend that Natalie is 10. She is growing up and the family is hopeful she will be better able to function if she is accepted into a special program. We are learning about differences, compassion and the importance of family.
New literacy stations were introduced. Students are playing language arts bingo, typing their first draft of a story, researching about Mason Bees (after watching a grade 2 presentation), etc. Lastly, we had a guest in our classroom this afternoon. We had a presentation about agriculture and how it has evolved over the past 100 years. We learned about wheat, farming practices from past to present and the importance of feeding the world. Ask your child what they learned. Reminders: May 18 - Fun Lunch (Little Caesars) May 19 - PD Day (No School) May 22 - Victoria Day (No School) This morning we worked on using water colour paint and Sharpie markers to create something beautiful. It will be a surprise that your child will bring home this weekend.
Our work in science was also quite successful. Some students have finished gathering data for their projects and are working on figuring out how to present it visually (graphing). Many groups also got a chance to conference with the teacher to discuss next steps or edit their written work. Miss Nanavaty was away today so we had a guest teacher in physical education. We continued to have soccer rallies. The students are lots of fun to watch. They have become very good at passing, making themselves open for a pass and taking shots at the nets. In math we are focusing on using base ten blocks to give us a visual of how division with remainders works. Reminders: May 12 - Scholastic Orders Due May 19 - PD Day (No School) May 22 - Victoria Day (No School) This morning for an Eye Opener students really had to stretch their thinking. They were given the following word problem: Mr. Turnbull's class raised $3100 to buy new computers. If a computer costs $800, how many computers can they buy? Students were told that they could figure it out using addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. Ask your child to explain the strategy they used. Our expertise of Google Slides and Google Docs is growing. You can logon and access your child's profile from home and have them explain what they have been working on in Science. We also had the chance to catch up on some work. Students have finished their character poems based on the novel "Al Capone Does My Shirts" and they've turned out great. Check them out below. After lunch students continue using mathematical vocabulary related to addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They are being asked to think deeply about specific vocabulary words and give examples. Students continue to practice their soccer skills in physical education and are working on their song for their Celebration of Learning.
A very big thank you to all the families that participated in Walking Wednesday and Wasteless Wednesday Lunch. It was a success. Reminders: May 12 - Scholastic Orders Due May 19 - PD Day (No School) May 22 - Victoria Day (No School) Today we began our morning with a hidden message. Students had to use the alphabet code to find: When you are dividing you are splitting objects into equal groups.
In word work, we created small flip books similar to what we did yesterday. We talked about how suffixes change the meanings of words. Like when we add an -s/-es it means plural (more than one). We continued on with division and multiplication. Students completed their division questions/word problems and used multiplication to find a hidden message. Today we had another beautiful afternoon to play several games of soccer outside. The students are doing a great job of passing and encouraging each other to keep trying. Students looked at Google Slides as part of science. Students can now see what others are working on and help edit/improve each other's written work. As part of our Legacy Projects we are sending out the following information to families: Waste Free Lunch In an effort to reduce the amount of waste we produce at New Brighton School some of our grade 4 students are challenging their peers to pack a waste-free lunch. Currently many students bring lunch items in single-use plastic bags, aluminum foil, or wax paper. That results in an average of 8500kg of waste per year! You can find more information about how to pack a waste free lunch here (http://www.wastefreelunches.org/what-is-a-waste-free-lunch-program.html#what-does-it-look-like). Walking Wednesday Each Wednesday, beginning on May 10, students at New Brighton School are encouraged to participate in WALKING Wednesday! This means students can walk, ride or scooter to school in an effort to promote a healthy lifestyle and a healthier environment. A fundraising letter was sent home with your child in their backpack. Reminders: May 10 - School Council Meeting May 12 - Scholastic Orders Due May 19 - PD Day (No School) May 22 - Victoria Day (No School) Today we began our day with an "Eye Opener" that had us look at data. Students had to answer questions that required them to add or subtract. Students also used the information to create a bar graph. In word work we learned about what a prefix is. A prefix is something that comes before a word to give it meaning. For example, some students gave suggestions such unwanted, unkind, pregame, non-biodegradable. We were outside to play a game of soccer today for gym. There was a competitive and recreational side. Students that were feeling confident in their skills were on the competitive side and those who felt less comfortable were on the recreational side. Students continued on our poems that were connected to our characters from the novel "Al Capone Does My Shirts". We helped our peers edit and wrote the good copies in our visual journals. Check out our wok in the slideshow below. In math we practiced division. We continue to recognize how fact families help us divide and how multiplication is connected to division. Your child needs to know their basic facts :) Our read aloud was very exciting today! We have read that Natalie's birthday is the day before her interview. Her family is nervous she will have a fit. Piper visits her and sets her off. She begins getting upset, tearing up her drawings. Moose takes her for a walk and she sets off to see the prisoner 105.... she has never followed her own path. As part of our legacy project we are writing scripts to help us prepare what to say for our presentations at the Celebration of Learning. These will be marked and sent home later this week. Reminders: May 9 - Kernels Popcorn Day May 10 - School Council Meeting May 19 - PD Day (No School) May 22 - Victoria Day (No School) Today our friend Haven celebrated her 10th birthday! We began the day by looking at prepositions. Students had to look at several different preposition words and fill in the appropriate preposition word to complete three sentences. They then had to come up with a paragraph where they used prepositions independently. During math students were given a big challenge! Using the May calendar they created earlier in the morning they had to make 3 (3x3) squares on their page. They then had to find a way to find a total for all nine digits as quickly as possible. Mrs. Otterson demonstrated one example to the class. There was a hint: there is a faster way to find the total if they looked for a pattern and used what they knew about multiplication to help them. A few students have already discovered my trick and the rest will learn it tomorrow :) Students continue their journey into Alberta's past and we have just reached the year 1905, when Alberta joined Confederation and became a province.
In the gym students continue to practice their soccer skills. They focused on dribbling the ball, trapping the ball, side lunge kicks and passing to a partner in a controlled way. We also continued our work in science. Students are getting the hang of working in Google Drive (you can access this from home to see what your child has been working on) and being contributing members of a team, delegating tasks to ensure the work gets done. Tomorrow is Hats on for Mental Health Day! Don't forget to wear a hat to raise awareness for good mental health. Reminders: May 10 - School Council Meeting May 19 - PD Day (No School) May 22 - Victoria Day (No School) Happy first day of May! Spring is finally in the air and we are enjoying playing outside during recess. This morning we began our day with some math questions. Students had to answer the following:
In social studies students have been looking at the history of Alberta, from the FNMI people that first inhabited the province to the present day. We have been researching and having discussion about some of the events and people that helped shape the province. The students have been very opinionated! During math Mrs. Otterson spent time showing the students how base ten blocks can be used to provide a visual for what numbers are found in the quotient. Have your child try a 2 digit by 1 digit division question at home and explain their thinking using place value (base ten drawings). After lunch we came to the climax in our read aloud novel. Moose has become a much bigger risk taker and is sneaking through a hole in the fence that attaches the prison to the rec yard. He is searching for a convict baseball in hopes to secure his friendship with Scout. After looking and finding nothing, Moose returns to find his sister Natalie is gone!! While listening to the novel read aloud, students are completing a CSI (colour, symbol, image) visual journal page. We began new literacy stations today. Students are being asked to sort and complete sentences that use the math vocabulary we have learned and then show their understanding by showing an example of a matching equation. We are also writing scripts for our legacy projects. Reminders: May 3 - Hats on for Mental Health (here is the link) May 10 - School Council Meeting May 19 - PD Day (No School) May 22 - Victoria Day (No School) Today we solved a secret message that asked the students "What will be your legacy at New Brighton School?" We then wrote it in handwriting and were asked to create a secret message for a friend to solve. It was great fun!
Students wrapped up their literacy stations in guided reading this week. During our IRIS time students read aloud from a book of their choice. Then they had to make a comment about what they felt they were doing well as a reader and one comment about where they felt they could improve. If they did not have a chance to finish their comments they will be given time next week to complete. In math, students revisited the division game we played yesterday, where they had to use counters and put them into equal groups, occasionally ending up with remainders. Reminders: May 1 - Library Bus May 3 - Hats on for Mental Health (here is the link) May 10 - School Council Meeting May 19 - PD Day (No School) May 22 - Victoria Day (No School) We began our morning Eye Opener by making words. The big words were "floor hockey" as we finished our unit in the gym today. Miss Nanavaty has not told us what our next unit will be, so it is a big mystery.
We worked with a partner to do some investigation. We are creating a timeline of Alberta looking at all the important people that made Alberta the province it is today. Tomorrow we will continue learning about who helped forge the West! Ask me about someone I learned about today and comment in the blog. In math we played a division math game where we partnered up and chose a two digit dividend, rolled a dice and then divided the counters into equal groups. Sometimes there were remainders and students are beginning to make the connection to decimals. Students have also finished their writing for our "Steps for My Legacy Project" which they will bring home tomorrow for you to see. After some research and conferencing with the teacher some of us have had to make changes to our plans, while others began the next steps in their plan. For read aloud today, students did a CSI. They had to choose a colour that the book represented, a symbol that was important and a picture or an image that came to mind while listening to the chapter read aloud. We have also been working really hard with Miss Lysak in music as we learn a special song for our Celebration of Learning! A big shout out to her for all the hard work she is putting in to help us prepare :) Lastly, in science we moved all of our writing for our project into Google Docs and have shared it with the teacher so she can help us edit before printing! We can access google docs from home. You child only needs to know their google email address and password and they can share all the awesome work they've been doing! Reminders: May 1 - Library Bus May 3 - Hats on for Mental Health (here is the link) May 10 - School Council Meeting May 19 - PD Day (No School) May 22 - Victoria Day (No School) |
Mrs. OttersonTeacher at New Brighton School and lover of the great outdoors! Archives
June 2017
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