Wednesday, May 31 - BLOG HOMEWORK

 Hi parents and students,

Our class sadly did not earn enough points for a French party through classroom cleanups. But this bonus homework should help get us there!

Homework: Complete one or more of the following activities. Each activity is worth 1 point.

1. Write two complete sentences in French.

2. Write a Haiku about light or darkness.

3. Draw and label a picture of the setting of Ticket to Curlew. Include as many details as you can!

4. Solve: "I am planting flowers in pots. I have 81 seeds, and 9 pots. How many seeds should I put in each     pot, if I want each pot to have the same number of flowers?

5. Do 30 minutes of physical activity. Write down what you did, and have your parent / guardian sign it for     proof of accomplishment!

Spelling Words (Week of May 28)

 Spelling List A (May 30 – June 2)

Butter	Eyes	Running	Slept	Strong
Pink	Rings	Mind	Think	Single

 

Spelling List B  (May 30 – June 2)

Animal	Deliver	Hospital	Since	Worse
Sitting	Cutting	Kingdom	Winning	Shipping

 

Spelling List C (May 30 - June 2)

Painstaking	Export	Assume	Idle	Stupendous
Undoing	Unwavering	Engaging	Retiring	Inviting

I'm back from outdoor school and ready to do some spelling lessons. I can't even wait.

This week we're revisiting the -in family. I tried to pick some tricky words this time around. 

Good luck!

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of May 21)

 Spelling List A (May 21 – 26)

Balloon	Mark	Shiny	Anything	I’ve
Fixed	Baked	Coded	Packed	Wicked

 

Spelling List B  (May 21 – 26)

Cover	Battle	Fright	Sauce	She’ll
Urged	Spaced	Stepped	Crowded	Partied

 

Spelling List C (May 21- 26)

Previous	Provide	Require	Contact	Depart
Unsolved	Copied	Unwrapped	Sophisticated	Tired

This week's quiz went much better! We dedicated a bit more time to intentional, effective practice, and the results spoke for themselves. I've noticed the -ed ending has been giving the class some trouble, so we're revisiting it this week. :)

Good luck!

Friday, May 19

 Hi parents,

We had a great week!

I don't usually do weekly blog posts so I'll try my best to highlight some of the main things we worked on.

Smudge

Today we had a traditional smudge ceremony. We sat in a circle and burned sage. The students were exceptionally respectful and seemed to enjoy it. It's amazing to see how much knowledge and appreciation they already have for indigenous culture and history.

Fractions & Decimals

We've continued to learn about fractions, and we've now extended our focus to include simplifying fractions, making equivalent fractions, and converting basic 'tenth' fractions into decimals. We have also just started working on adding and subtracting with decimals.

Light and Shadow

We're moving into a new unit in science - Light and Shadow! Please send a labelled flashlight to school with your child on Tuesday, May 23 if you are able, as these will help with some experiments we've got planned.

Netball

The students had their second and third netball sessions this week. It's an awesome game that encourages teamwork and strategy over individual 'all-stars'. 

"My Favourite" Paragraph

The students have been working away at their paragraph writing all week. What started as a brainstorm / mindmap activity has now been turned into a rough draft, then edited and revised extensively, and finally rewritten as a good copy. This task was meant to be a follow-up to the snack writing we did earlier in the year, and when comparing the two, it's easy to see how much the students have come as writers. This paragraph task was done with significantly more independence, but is as good - or in many cases, much better - than the students' first attempts. I'm really proud!

Poetry Reading

We did some fantastic work around poetry this week! The students used Epic! to find a poem of their choice, read it, practice it, and then recite it aloud in front of the class. A lot of students felt pretty nervous about this, but rose to the challenge and impressed themselves and their classmates!

Ticket To Curlew

We're still chugging away at Ticket to Curlew. The class continues to be engaged and most students participate actively in our vocabulary / reading comprehension discussions.

French Party?

If we can earn 200 points as a class, we will earn a special "French Party" at the end of the month! Complete with baguettes, croissants, and maybe even wine grape juice.

I'm Away at Outdoor School Next Week

Just a heads up - I am volunteering to help out at Outdoor School with the grade 5/6 students next week, so there will be a guest teacher in the classroom. I will not be able to reply to emails!

Have a nice weekend!

Zac

Gardening Club

 Gardening Club

 

Ms. Green and Ms. Greenhall are happy to be starting up gardening club at LBS! This club will take place on Thursdays for the whole lunch period.  If your child is interested in joining, they are committing to attend every Thursday until the end of the year. The first information session is on Thursday May 25^th. We look forward to making our LBS garden a beautiful place to be! 

- Ms. Green and Ms. Greenhall

 

Monday, May 15

 Hi parents,

Today we learned more about fossils and fossil fuels. We also sorted rock specimens by colour, texture, lustre, and type. 

We started working on a three part writing prompt, which is essentially an updated version of the 'snack writing' task we did earlier in the year. The hope is, by comparing the two tasks, it will be easy to see the growth that students have made in their writing this year. 

This writing task is a bit more flexible, as it challenges students to write about 'their favourite _____'. This could be a part of nature, an activity, a pet, or anything else. While the task is broader, the expectations are the same - write a detailed paragraph with lots of engaging vocabulary!

In the afternoon, we played Netball once again, and then we learned about simplifying fractions. The students had no idea what I was talking about until they started using the Montessori materials, and then it made sense. Or more sense, anyway. 

We ended our day with Daily LA.

I will only be updating the Blog on Fridays from now on!  

At least until the end of May. This is because our next few weeks are looking incredibly busy. We've got a sharing assembly coming up, and a bunch of other stuff, and I want to make sure I stay on top of it and we end the year on a high note. I will send a School Messenger when Daily Blogs return. :)

Have a nice week!

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of May 14)

 Spelling List A (May 14 - 21)

Bear	Classes	Morning	Touch	Young
Rocks	Coal	Fossil	Sandstone	Dull

 

Spelling List B  (May 14 - 21)

Built	Drawer	Engine	Ninth	Wrist
Mineral	Igneous	Sediment	Magma	Lustre

 

Liste de Mots C (Mai 14 - 21)

Chat	Chien	Garcon	Fille	Mere
Pere	Merci	Ecole	Bonjour	Oui

Back by popular demand - it's French List C!

The french accents aren't working on Blogger for some reason. But they'll be on the actual lists that the kids use to practice.

Good luck!

Friday, May 12

Happy Friday!

We made it through one of our busiest week's of the year. Today we had our spelling quiz, and I am sorry to say, most people still were unable to correctly spell 'field'.  :( 

We're going to talk next week and once again talk about the difference between effective practice rather than just word copying. 

We worked on a special Mother's Day activity which I hope you will enjoy seeing on Sunday!

The students explored the wide range of fraction materials available in our classroom, and used these to show equivalent fractions. We went outside for a lap around the field and some time on the big playground.

And, we ended our day with Music. 

Next week promises to be almost as fun as this one was, as we'll have more Netball sessions, more rock experiments, and we'll even start learning about decimals. 

For the month of May, the table groups of Room 4 are collaborating to try to earn 200+ points. If we do, we will earn le grand prix - a French party! So on that note, here's the blog homework for the weekend:

BLOG HOMEWORK: (+2 Points)

Imagine you are super hungry. You order your favourite pizza in the world, but sadly, you have to share it. Would you rather have...

a) 5/9 of the pizza?

b) 1/2 of the pizza?

c) 11/18 of the pizza?

**Hint: Try representing each fraction with the same denominator... And watch the video!

Have a nice weekend,

Zac

 

Thursday, May 11

 Hi parents,

We had an awesome day today! Most of our morning was spent learning about rocks, minerals, and fossils. Students got to handle and experiment with a wide range of rock specimens. They described each rock's texture, colour, and lustre, and determined whether the rock featured crystalline shapes. They also tested for the presence of carbonates, which can be determined by putting the rock in vinegar and watching for fizzing and bubbling. Finally, they used talc and tiles to determine the relative hardness of each specimen.

Our second activity involved learning about fossils. We observed fossils, both through images and actual specimens, and made predictions about what animal or plant may have left them. We also saw how fossils can be created by imprints, like a dinosaur's footprint.

In the afternoon, we had Music and Gym, and read Ticket to Curlew with Mr. G.

Here are a few pictures from our "Rock Day"!

And here are some pictures from our field trip - sorry for the posting delay, I was having some issues with Blogger.

Tomorrow is our spelling quiz! Have a good night,

Zac

Wednesday, May 10

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today. In the morning the students did a fantastic job writing about our trip to Ann and Sandy Cross. It was a typical 'personal response' writing task with a catch - every sentence had to begin differently! The students worked silently for a half hour without any reminders at all, and got a ton of work done. With report cards around the corner, this is the time of year for them to start bringing their A-games.

We did Daily LA, and a quick science lesson on the hardness of different rocks and minerals. We learned how the Mohs Scale is used to rank substances by hardness. We watched the video below, and use pieces of talc to scratch a variety of rocks.

Learn About The Mohs Scale

In the afternoon, we played kickball, had Music, and then half the class worked with our buddies in a 'fraction bingo' game, while the rest of the class worked on a life cycle project.

Tomorrow is unofficially "Rock Day" - we'll be doing lots of activities around rocks and minerals. Should be a good one!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, May 9

 Hi parents,

We had a great field trip today. Miraculously, the weather cooperated, and we were able to do our full hike without any issues. We learned about how important the land is, how it was used in the past, and how we can take care of it for the future.

We saw a hummingbird!

It was also really cool looking out at downtown Calgary in the distance, behind hills of striped fields of wheat.

I will post pictures soon. :)

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of May 7)

 Spelling List A (May 7 – 12)

Almost	Anyone	Move	Match	Push
Horse	Ranch	Alberta	Curlew	Field

 

Spelling List B  (May 7 - 12)

Copy	Guard	Handsome	Return	Squirrel
Field	Pasture	Prairie	Gallop	Lilies

 

Spelling List C (May 7 - 12)

Equivalent	Preserve	Challenge	Indignant	Formal
Prairie	Gopher	Settler	Pioneer	Field

Ticket to Curlew themed words for this week, as well as the usual sight words. I put field on all three lists because just about everyone spelled it 'feild' when we wrote our haiku poems.

Please also quiz your child on these two words:

1. They

2. Went

We're still struggling with them.

Have a nice weekend!

Zac