Wednesday, January 31

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. It was fun to see the literary character costumes, and Rooms 2 and 3 put on a great assembly. 

In the morning, we talked about the terms 'protagonist' and 'antagonist', and the students wrote in their journals about their favourite heroes and villains. Again, they did an excellent job on this one.

We're working on building more efficient work habits for the morning work period. We tried working for a solid 15 minutes, in complete silence, to see how much we could get done, and a lot of students were able to finish all their math and French work in that short time! In a Montessori classroom, students who finish early get to work on 'Responsible Work Choices' - lots of students complain that they wish they had more time in the day for these. The best way to make that happen is by completing routine work more quickly!

In the afternoon, we continued learning about wheels, axles, and vehicles. This time the grade 3s worked with K-Nex, while the Grade 4s got to use Lego.

Thanks to your Scholastic Book Orders, we now have enough money to buy another K-Nex set for the classroom - this one is focused on Simple Machines, and pairs really nicely with all the work we're doing in Science.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, January 30

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today! The rollercoaster is finished:

In the morning, we talked about "literary genres" (fantasy, mystery, action, sci-fi, etc.) and the students wrote about their favourite types of books. Their work really exceeded my expectations. I wasn't sure how this prompt would go over, but the students took it seriously, and many of them wrote paragraphs (with topic sentences and everything!) without even being asked. It's awesome to see that those skills have stuck around.

In math, we learned about inches and feet, and measured lines scattered around the classroom using these units.

In the afternoon, we had Daily LA and Music. We also did another "Mad Minute" and graphed the scores.

Tomorrow is "Dress Up As Your Favourite Literary Character or Author" Day! 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, January 29

 Hi parents,

Today we reviewed the last couple chapters of A Rover's Story, and then the students wrote the next chapter, based on what they thought would happen next. It was awesome to see how well they captured the personalities of the characters, and referenced specific events from earlier in the book.

We're doing more "mad minutes" this week, and this time, we're tying in some graphing as well. The students are creating line charts to document their scores for each day. It's pretty amazing to think that at the start of the year, we were doing 6-8 basic facts for Morning Math, and now many students are getting through 20+ basic facts in just two minutes. 

In the afternoon we did Daily LA, and learned about the -ow sound for spelling. We also learned about 'tension' and 'elastic' forces.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words! (Week of Jan. 28) & Literacy Theme Day

 Spelling List A (January 26 – February 2)

now	how	owl	town	meow
down	cows	crowded	vowel	brown

 

Spelling List B (January 26 – February 2)

somehow	frowning	gown	towers	power
however	shower	powder	clown	flower

 

Spelling List C (January 26 – February 2)

drowsy	jowls	scowl	browse	powerful
flowery	downtown	countdown	showdown	empowerment

Good luck!

Friday, January 26

 Hi parents,

Today was a nice way to end our week. In the morning, the students did another "pop quiz" math check-in, that basically was just a more formal version of what we do every day for morning math. They did much better on this one than the one we did on Wednesday, which is reassuring. Moving forward I hope they'll treat morning math as though it were a 'quiz', and give their work a bit more time and effort.

We put our folding skills to good use today, and helped to organize the school's Lost and Found bin:

Please take a look at the pictures and see if there's anything you recognize.

We had our spelling quiz, and went outside to play kickball. When we got back, the students had more time for building and testing vehicles using K-Nex and Lego.

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

Zac

Thursday, January 25

 Hi parents,

We had another good but somewhat unruly day. What I mean by this is that when the students are actually working, everything's great, but the transitions between activities have been painfully slow and I find myself asking 3+ times for students to put things away, line up, come to the carpet, etc.

In the morning we learned French personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, we, etc.) We learned that in French, you can make sentences using just a personal pronoun and a verb, (for example, "I am eating" is "Je mange") and the students wrote their own sentences in French.

In math, we practiced measuring perimeter using rulers. The students measured the perimeters of books in the classroom. We talked about how with rectangles, you only need to know the length and width, because the parallel sides are the same length.

In the afternoon, we had Music and Daily LA, and we read A Rover's Story.

Tomorrow, we're going to have a spelling quiz, and a very short (6 questions) addition and subtraction review, because I've noticed that the students have been a bit lazy with their morning math, and I don't want them to lose the skills they worked so hard to build.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, January 24

Hi parents,

The fun science continued today in room 6, as we delved further into the topics of wheels, axles, and forces.

The students brainstormed examples of "low-friction", "high-friction", and "elastic" activities. For example, a low-friction activity would be watersliding or skiiing, while a high friction activity would be anything that requires grip.

The Grade 3 students experimented with different Lego wheels, and built and tested racers. The Grade 4 students learned how to construct effective wheel systems with K-Nex.

 In math, the students worked in Table Groups to measure the length of the hallway - in mm. This was an awesome activity that was as much as test in teamwork as it was in mathematical thinking. In the end, the group that was most successful was the one that chose to measure a single floor tile (which was 30cm), then could the number of tiles along the hall, and multiply that by 30cm, and then by 10. The groups who chose to repeatedly use increments of 100cms also got pretty close! 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, January 23

 Hi parents,

Here are some pictures from our "Chonker Cat Challenge". As you can see in the top image, the Chonker Cat is unable to slide down the ramp on its own. There's too much friction. The students looked around the classroom to find, design, and test different 'devices' that would allow the cat to move down the ramp, by reducing friction. We learned that wheels and rollers are an excellent way to drastically reduce friction, but also that smooth objects can often do the trick on their own.

The new science curriculum is really fun. Looking forward to more experiments and building in the future!

On that note - the rollercoaster is coming along nicely:

The students have done 100% of the work. I have not helped once.

In math, we looked further into the concept of Area. The students drew rectangles and other polygons, and determined the area by counting up the number of 'squares' in each shape. We learned how to use the unit 'cm squared' when writing area.

In the afternoon, we had Daily LA, Music, and Cubby Clean-up time.

As part of our work around Montessori Practical Life Skills and Grace and Courtesy, we're planning to start "Tea Time Tuesday" next week. This will give students an opportunity to practice basic skills like making tea, pouring, drinking a hot beverage, and cleaning cups. 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, January 22

 Hi parents,

We had a rowdy day today and the whole class ended up serving 5 minutes of "Listening Club" time at recess. 

That being said, a lot of good learning still happened. It often just took a little longer to get started.

In the morning, we watched this episode of Science Max on Friction, and learned about friction, and some cool experiments we might try soon. We also talked about the term "Applied Force", which is basically any time an object is physically pushed or pulled by a person or thing.

We did a quick experiment with friction, in which we used 3 different inclines and tested which objects would slide down, and which would stay in place. 

In math, we continued working on measurement, by creating Minecraft-inspired self portraits, and measuring the perimeters as well as the area. Thankfully this was done on grid paper, so the students didn't need rulers or multiplication.

In the afternoon we did some fact-fluency practice (the return of the Mad Minute), practiced spelling, and did Daily LA.

Have a nice night!

Zac

Spelling Words (Jan. 19 - 26)

 Spelling List A (January 19 – 26)

sigh	high	sign	light	might
night	right	fight	sight	flight

 

Spelling List B (January 19 – 26)

higher	eight	knight	height	weight
thigh	midnight	bright	mighty	sleigh

 

Spelling List C (January 19 – 26)

highest	nightmare	eighty	weighted	straight
tonight	highway	freight	neighbour	eyesight

This week's focus is the -igh blend, an especially challenging one - good luck!

Friday, January 19

 Hi parents,

Happy Folding Friday! 

We had a pretty good day today. Energy levels were a bit high during our folding lessons and I'm worried the kids didn't fully grasp how meditative it can be to fold clothes. That being said, I think it went really well overall, and if nothing else, the students walked away with some basic skills, and an awareness of how organization can help them in their daily lives.

We also talked about how having the discipline to fold and put away your own clothes can be a great way of showing responsibility. If you always remember to fold your clothes, you're more likely to remember to feed a pet, pack a lunch, get to bed on time, etc.

We had Music today, which is rare for Fridays, and did some more measurement in math. The students learned how they can measure large objects using a single ruler, through iteration (repeatedly using the ruler to mark increments of 30cms).

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

Zac

Thursday, January 18

 Hi parents,

We had a good day today. It was nice to get to go outside again for second recess.

In the morning, the students worked in pairs to research the Prairie Grasslands region of Alberta, using the textbooks. We learned about the drastic changes that have occurred over the past couple hundred years - namely the development of cities and farmland. We also looked at Nose Hill Park, and the city's decision to reduce the number of trails to allow the natural environment to stay better preserved. 

In math, we continued learning about measurement, and also introduced the concept of 'perimeter'. The students drew and measured a variety of rectangles in their math books.

In the afternoon, we had Daily LA, and music. As part of our exploration of "Forces", we started watching this Science Max episode: https://www.tvokids.com/school-age/videos/science-max-season-1/newtons-3rd-law

The students have also started to build a giant K-Nex Rollercoaster set, as a responsible work choice. It was too hard for me when I was 8. They seem to be having a better time with it thankfully.

Remember that tomorrow is "Folding Friday", and it is also our Spelling Quiz!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, January 17

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. In the morning, the class learned about 'commas', and practiced using them in sentences. We discussed how commas can be used to list things, to indicate pauses, and to separate related ideas in writing. The students did quite well with this, so I'm hoping to see commas popping up more frequently in their regular writing tasks.

In math, we continued to learn about measurement. The students measured a variety of things in the classroom using centimetres, and then measured those same objects in millimetres, building a stronger understanding of how the two units are closely related.

We continued to learn about 'forces' in Science, though this was the first time we formally introduced the topic. We studied Newton's First Law, which states: "An object that is not moving will stay still until a force makes it move, and an object that is moving will keep moving until a force stops it."

The students experimented by using different forces to move markers (mostly whacking).

Remember that Friday is FOLDING FRIDAY!

Have a nice night,

Zac 

Tuesday, January 16

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. We started learning about measurement, and talked about millimetres, centimetres, and metres. The students brainstormed some approximate ways of thinking of each unit. For example, "a metre is about the armspan of an 8 year old", "a centimetre is about the width of your pink", "a millimetre is about the width of a pencil line".

We did some regular journal writing, where students had the option to write about their weekends,  or create 'third person' paragraphs about themselves.

In the afternoon, we had Music, Daily LA, and Spelling Practice.

Friday, January 19 - "Folding Friday"

This Friday, we're going to be delving into some Montessori Practical Life Skills, and the students will be learning how to effectively fold clothing. Each student is asked to bring an additional shirt, pair of pants, sweater, and pair of socks. I will send a school messenger about this as well.

Have a nice night,

Zac 

Spelling Words!

 Spelling List A (January 12 – 19)

boat	roar	hoax	oatmeal	coat
soak	coal	load	cocoa	croak

 

Spelling List B (January 12 – 19)

board	coach	foaming	loaned	coating
shoal	throat	loaves	loading	rollercoaster

 

Spelling List C (January 12 – 19)

encroach	overload	poacher	abroad	upload
oasis	scapegoat	coastline	toadstool	approach

Good luck!