Wednesday, May 13

 Hi parents,

We had a really great day today. The students were exceptionally focused and hard-working, and we got through a whole bunch of stuff.

In the morning, we talked about parts of speech, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Students were tasked with writing 'super sentences' that included each of the above. For example: "the sneaky (adj,.) elf (noun) quietly (adv.) entered (verb).

We also went over the Montessori symbols for parts of speech. 

In math, we did more measurement, and learned about inches and feet. Students created big imperial 'rulers' on the floor using tape, and then measured their heights in feet and inches.

We had an awesome kickball game and the Blue Bandits won 10 - 8. Sportsmanship was exemplary.

In the afternoon we had an absouletly silent quiet reading block. Students had 25 minutes to read their chosen books for the Book in a Box project.

We ended our day with Social Studies, and read an article about the Hudsons Bay Company and its legacy in Canada. Students worked in pairs to answer comprehension questions.

Wheelchair Basketball Forms

At the end of the day, I handed out the math quizzes from last week, as well as more forms, these ones for our upcoming Wheelchair Basketball residency. Please bring those back ASAP, as well as the field trip forms if you haven't already - I'm sorry they're the same colour I know that's confusing.

Math Quiz Re-Do - Tues. May 19

On Tuesday, May 19, students will have an opportunity to re-do the multiplication and division quiz. The Re-do will feature the same format of questions, but with different numbers. We have practiced factoring every day this week, and I am confident the students have made huge growth in that area. I have also met with small groups of students to work on long division, and 'fill in the blank' problems. I am asking all the Grade 4s to re-do the quiz (the first version was too easy), and making ot optional for Grade 3s. I will use whatever score is higher when doing report cards, so there's really nothing to lose in trying it again.

Tomorrow is our spelling quiz!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, May 12

 Hi parents,

We had a busy and productive day today. In the morning, we did Spelling Sentences, with the twist "Haiku Practice" - every sentence had to be either 5 or 7 syllables.

We reviewed factoring some more. I'm confident if we were to re-do the division and multiplication quis tomorrow (which we won't - it'll be next week), scores would already be a lot better.

In other math / health & life skills news, we explored financial literacy further. The students created pie charts to show how they could Spend, Save, and Share a given quantity of money. We talked about how some people may spend, save, and share equal quantities of money, while others may choose to save more, and how overspending could be a risky move. We also learned about credit and debit cards, and the dangers of credit card debt.

In the afternoon, we spent 20 minutes on quiet reading. Students read their chosen 'Book in a Box' novels, and we shared a bit about what happened so far.

We ended the day with even more math, and learned how to measure curved lines using a measuring tape.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Forms for this will go home tomorrow!

Monday, May 11

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. In the morning, we learned a bit about Finanical Literacy. We learned about the purpose of banks, and the history of banks, and then the students wrote about hypothetical short term savings goals.

We went over the new spelling words, and in math, we learned about measurement, using cms, mms, and ms. 

Book in a Box Project

We went to the library as a class, and the students chose novels for the "Book in a Box" project. This is a big-ish project that I like to do every year, which has three parts:

1. Students choose and read a novel, over the course of the week. The purpose of this project is to encourage kids to move from picture books into full length chapter books, and experience the joy of reading, even when a book doesn't have any / as many pictures.

2. Students decorate a cardboard box to represent a prominent setting of their chosen novel.

3. Students choose three items that represent important characters, events, or themes in their novel. They write a paragraph about each item, explaining its significance, and present to the class.

We will be working on this project in class this week, but students who need more time to finish their novels can bring them home.

Please send any small cardboard boxes you may have around the house! Cereal boxes, shoe boxes, coffee cans, etc. Doesn't need to be a specific shape, just has to be big enough to fit three small trinkets.

Field Trip - May 21 - Nose Hill Park

Thanks to everyone who has sent back their forms already, and to the parents who have offered to volunteer. We are good to go for volunteers now. :)

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of May 10)

 Spelling List A (May 8 – 14)

early	daily	truly	only	ugly
lily	sadly	manly	likely	gladly

 

Spelling List B (May 8 – 14)

family	really	curly	simply	surely
lovely	hourly	easily	merely	lively

 

Spelling List C (May 8 – 14)

exactly	totally	frankly	utterly	orderly
luckily	ghastly	ideally	elderly	monthly

The theme for next week's words is the -ly suffix. We'll be talking about how -ly is applied following a 'y' (easy --> easily), an 'e' (simple ----> simply), and various words where it doesn't really mean anything specific, its just there (lily, only, ugly).

Happy Mothers Day!

Friday, May 8

 Hi parents,

We had a great end to our week. In the early part of the day, we went to the gym to watch the other classes perform their songs. Our class also got to perform again.

We met with our buddies and did some measuring (that's out next unit in Math).

We spent most of the day doing work period.

And of course we had the spelling quiz, which I haven't marked yet. 

Have a great weekend!

Zac

Thursday, May 7

 Hi parents,

We had an awesome day today - it was basically just a 6 hour work period! The students had plenty to do, between their Canadian History Comics, animal paragraphs, Mental Health pages, math, and secret art projects.

I hope to see you tonight at the Spring Event!

Zac

Wednesday, May 6

 Hi parents,

We had an awesome day today. In the morning, the students took a bunch more jot notes for their animal research project. Tomorrow we're going to start the writing portion from scratch, using only the jot notes, to prevent any plagarism, and hopefully reduce students making up information on the fly.

We talked about Mental Health, and six big factors that can play a big part in it: water, sun, food, movement, sleep, and love (positive relationships of any kind). The students did pages in their sketchbooks to show they're personal favourite ways of meeting each of these goals.

The afternoon was my favourite part of the day. We started working on Canadian History comics, and they're turning out so well, better than I'd even hoped. Students were given six choices for topic that included various explorers, the voyageurs, and the War of 1812. They watched educational videos and created comics to retell historical events.

Tomorrow is the Spring Event!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, May 5

 Hi parents,

We had a bit of a tough day today, although the math quiz went pretty well!

The struggle today came when the students attempted to turn their (very limited) jot notes about their chosen animal into short paragraphs. Many students were taking phrases directly from the books, or making information up completely, in order to 'fill out' their paragraphs. Tomorrow we may have to have an emergency 'jot note' lesson to ensure students have enough information to work with.

I am about halfway through marking the math quizzes and so far they've been going pretty well. The quizzes have shown me which students still need extra practice, and I'll make sure to work with those kids each morning until they're on track. We'll have a re-do quiz later in the month.

We learned about the War of 1812 in Social Studies today. We talked about howeven though the war was essentially a 'tie', it helped build Canada as a nation and showcased its fighting spirit.

Have a nice night, and remember to remind your child to wear a hat tomorrow! I will try my best to remember mine.

Zac

Hats on for Mental Health Day - Tomorrow!

 

Monday, May 4

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today.

In the morning, the students had time to plan for their animal research writing, which is due on Friday. Despite having all of last week to gather information and take notes, and an hour today to plan, many students only wrote about five words on their planning sheets. I'm hoping for 3 paragraphs of 3-5 sentences each so I'm a little nervous about how this one will turn out...

We went over this week's spelling words, and talked about suffixes. We also had Music.

In the afternoon, we did Daily LA, and then revisited the Skip-Counting Challenge. This time the students only had 60 seconds, instead of 90. I was really happy with how this one went! Most students are able to count fairly high by all numbers partially by memory, and to efficiently use their fingers (this is actually a great and totally valid strategy) for unknown numbers. Accuracy is more important than speed.

Multiplication & Division Quiz - Tomorrow! 

This quiz features:

-8 basic fact problems, multiplication and division

-6 "fill in the blank" basic facts (for example, 3 x ___ = 12) (Grade 3 only)

-4 long multiplication problems (e.g. '342 x 4 = _____') (Grade 4 only)

-2 word problems involving basic facts

-4 long division problems (Grade 4 only)

-A 'factor tree' problem (Grade 3 only)

-A picture problem in which students must write an equation to describe a situation

Have a nice night,

Zac

When the teacher says they need a volunteer but doesn't say what you're volunteering for:

Happy May 4th :)

Spelling Words (Week of May 3)

 Spelling List A (May 1 – 8)

joyful	useful	lawful	helpful	playful
endless	useless	jobless	helpless	careless

 

Spelling List B (May 1 – 8)

hurtful	painful	hopeful	peaceful	truthful
reckless	harmless	fearless	flawless	worthless

 

Spelling List C (May 1 – 8)

grateful	doubtful	youthful	dutiful	resentful
merciless	shameless	priceless	pointless	flightless

We're looking at two suffixes this week: -ful and -less. This is a great opportunity to experiment with building new words, to build a strronger understanding of how suffixes affect meaning. -ful and-less are cool because you can use them to create opposites too, for example, 'useful' vs. 'useless'.

Good luck!