Tuesday, December 16

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. Normally this last week of school is more laid back, but our class kind of decided that most of November should be 'laid back', and as as result we're spending this week working hard to catch up.... 

But it was still a fun day. 

We used the Ipads to take photos of our sock snowmen. We actually had a lesson on 'photography' and how to effectively use lighting, backgrounds, and perspective to create a powerful photo. We also learned how to edit the photos using filters,  contrast, and brightness, and how to airdrop.

Later, the students used their photos for 'snowman diary' entries, which turned out awesome. I had a feeling the kids would get really into that prompt since they're treating their snowmen like their own flesh and blood.

Here are some of the pictures:

There are even more but they weren't taken in a format I can upload to the blog, sadly.

We also did some tricky math mashups, played Elf Switch in gym, and finished up work from last week.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, December 15

Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today! Our snowman craft turned out fantastic. The kids are already so attached to them. They're very cute.

We went over this week's spelling words and also met up with our buddy class to finish our cards to community helpers.

We had quite a bit of work time to finish up jobs from last week. 

There are a bunch of important dates coming up this week so I'm going to dedicate the rest of this post to those.

Math Quiz - December 17

We are having an addition and subtraction quiz on Wednesday, December 17. It will cover all the things we've learned about adding an subtracting so far this year. Students will be able to use the stamp game or other Montessori materials. I am also a big believer in re-tests, so if your child isn't happy with their performance, there will be opportunities to retake the test (same problems and format, different numbers) down the road.

Muppet Christmas Carol Viewing - Dec. 17, 18, 19

We will be watching a Muppet Christmas Carol for about a half hour a day over the course of the last three days of school.

Caroling

Spirit Week

Have a nice night!

Zac

Spelling Words (Last week before winter break!!)

  Spelling List A (Dec. 12 – 19)

gift	bells	snow	tree	Santa
sled	card	eggnog	toys	scarf

 

Spelling List B (Dec. 12 – 19)

cozy	Christmas	lights	cookies	joyful
merry	peace	jolly	cheer	baking

 

Spelling List C (Dec. 12 – 19)

chimney	turkey	elves	festive	humbug
Scrooge	present	ornaments	warmth	Rudolph

Some very festive words this week - easier in the sense that they are all probably familiar to the kids, but more difficult in that there's no unifying spelling patterns.

Good luck!

Thursday, December 11

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today. In the morning, we learned about 'concrete poetry', which is basically poetry that is created to visually represent the thing it is describing. The students learned that they were going to be writing their own concrete poems about snowflakes. We brainstormed some awesome words and phrases to describe snowflakes, and then looked at how we could take those and arrange them so they actually looked like a snowflake. I was really impressed by the words they came up with as a class, I'm thinking this one is going to turn out really well when we move on to good copies.

We learned the letter 'd' in cursive. We had Music, and then for French, we learned a bit about the Quebec Winter Carnival, and 'bonhomme'. I showed the class the infamous Bonhomme song. It has been stuck in my head since I was in Grade 4. I'm glad I can pass the torch along.

In the afternoon we had Buddies, and then afterwards, we learned about an especially simple kind of simple machine, the inclined plane (ramp). The students were tasked with the challenge of building ramps out of classroom materials, to allow a skateboard to move from the floor onto a chair. 

Sock Snowman Supplies Wanted! - Monday, December 15

We will be making sock snowmen on Monday. Please send a sock (used is fine - just no holes) to school with your child, as well as 2-3 cups of rice, coffee beans, or another 'filling' material, if you can. I will also be providing rice, and extra socks, so everyone will be able to participate no matter what - but having extra supplied will allow us to make bigger, fuller snowmen. :)

If you have extra patterned fabric, please send that as well, so we can use it to make sweaters for the snowmen.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, December 10

 Hi parents,

We had a really productive day today. I don't have much to report because we spent so much time finishing the big tasks we started earlier this week, and last week - the art projects, the art project reflection, and the addition and subtraction word problems. These word problems are really tough. I truly feel that if the students can solve these, then they know their addition and subtraction.

Which means.... we will be having an addition and subtraction quiz next week, on Wednesday, December 17. The quiz will include some 2 and 3-digit addition and subtraction problems, as well as a few word problems, and some problems in the format: "____ - 5 = 10", "6 + ____ = 20", etc. Grade 4s will have to do some decimal addition and subtraction.

Our artwork will be up on display in the hallway for the next few weeks!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, December 9

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. The students spent a lot of time working on Addition and Subtraction word problems. We also finished up art, and did Spelling Sentences, with the twist that every sentence needed to be a different length.

We met up with our buddy class and read book about helpers in the community.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, December 8

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today!

In the morning we worked a lot on those art projects. Many students finished, and started writing about how their art was inspired by another piece. The display is starting to come together.

We went over the new spelling words, had Music, and played a fun new game in gym called Ice Cream Cones.

In the afternoon we had a fire drill, did Daily LA, and learned about addition and subtraction word problems. We talked about how the stamp game, or the standard algorithm, can be used as a tool to solve real-world math problems.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of Dec. 7)

 Spelling List A (Dec. 5 – 12)

food	cool	room	poor	sooner
troops	scoop	moose	igloo	rooster

 

Spelling List B (Dec. 5 – 12)

doomed	proof	maroon	bamboo	gloomy
lagoon	moonlit	raccoon	cartoons	seafood

 

Spelling List C (Dec. 5 – 12)

school	smoothly	loosen	tycoon	cocoon
ballroom	mushrooms	soothing	foolish	typhoon

Easier words this week. Just because it's almost Christmas.

Good luck!

Friday, December 5

 Hi parents,

We had another pretty good day today. We spent most of the morning working on the art project we started earlier in the week, and many students are finishing up their good copies now. I'm really enjoying reading the names they've come up with for their artwork.

We had the spelling quiz but I haven't had a chance to mark them yet.

In math, we did another one of those 'math mash-ups', where symbols represent different values and students have to figure out each one.

In Gym we played 'Mario Kart'.

Stay tuned for next week's spelling words, and have a nice weekend!

Zac

Thursday, December 4

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today. In the morning, we did the next step of our art project, in which the students started to plan their own art pieces, based on the ones they'd studied yesterday. Some students have even started on their actual good copies.

We had a cursive lesson, Music, and a French lesson, in which we learned a few simple Christmas-themed words, as well as the essential word/phrase 'c'est', meaning 'it is'. 

We did Daily LA, and in the afternoon we had a great discussion about charity and volunteering, and homelessness. 

Tomorrow is our Spelling Quiz! The words are hard, so practicing once more at home might be a good idea.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, December 3

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today! Sorry for the lack of blog yesterday, I had some meetings after work. 

Yesterday was not such a good day but the students really got their act together together. I told them things are going to be a bit more strict for a little while, and I think today they really took that to heart and started putting their best effort in.

We're starting personal art projects, inspired by the TREX display in our library. Each student in the class has chosen one piece that 'inspires' them. We've analyzed the artwork and made observations about the colours, mediums, emotions, and messages. Students are then going to create their own piece of art, using a medium of their choice (within reason), that is inspired by the original piece. They will then explain how their creation was inspired by the other art piece.

In math, we're still working on subtraction. Its getting more and more advanced though. We've started looking into regrouping over multiple zeros. The stamp game, once again, is enormously helpful for this.

We've looked deeper into 'volunteering' and 'charity', and read a couple books that gave great examples of children who created their own charities. We also talked about simple things we can all do to volunteer - shovelling snow, helping around the house, or reading with a younger child are all great examples.

Our Spirit Week is coming up soon-ish! See the post below for more info.

Have a nice night,

Zac