Thursday, February 29

 Hi parents,

We had another great day today. In the morning, the students worked on their fossil artwork (the project they've been working on with Ms. Davies), and then we learned about Leap Year.

After that, we moved on to French. We talked about some famous French landmarks / symbols, and then reviewed the phrase "Je m'appelle". The students drew themselves as tourists in France or Quebec City, and filled in "Je m'appelle" worksheets. We also learned about French colour words.

In math, we had our first official lesson on Multiplication. We watched this classic episode of Numberblocks, which in my opinion is the best intro to multiplication on the market: 

Then, we used the Coloured Bead Bars material to model some multiplication equations. We discussed the meaning of 'product', and went over some strategies for solving multiplication problems with and without materials.

We ended our day with art with Ms. Davies.

Tomorrow is our spelling quiz! Have a nice night,

Zac

Book Fair!

 

Wednesday, February 28

 Hi parents,

We had a great pink shirt day today. In the morning, the students chose from four different pink shirt day-related writing tasks. Then, we had our "Angles Redemption Quiz", and I'm happy to report that the students did super well on it. We're definitely ready to move on to multiplication.

In the afternoon, we went to the Pink Shirt Day sharing assembly, which was wonderful, and then did Daily LA. We ended our day by having gym outside.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, February 27 (Pink Shirt day TOMORROW!)

 Hi parents,

We had another good day today!

In the morning, we revisited our exploration of forces and simple machines (which we are just about finished now) and learned about gears. We talked about where we can find gears, and what they're used for. The students used K-Nex to build their own simple gear systems.

After that, the students explored stations dedicated to reviewing the angles concepts that they didn't seem to grasp on our quiz last week.

We're going to have another angles quiz tomorrow which should be a breeze based on how well the class did today.

I honestly don't think any extra practice is needed, but if you did want to study at home tonight, it would be best to review:

-Rays vs. Line Segments

-How angles relate to a circle (i.e. how angles are used to indicate different rotations from 0 - 360 degrees)

In the afternoon, we had Music, daily LA, and Art. Tomorrow is Pink Shirt Day! Please encourage your child to wear pink if they have it, and if not, maybe just a favourite shirt or something in a similar colour.

Have a nice night!

Zac

Monday, February 26

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty typical Monday today. It was a good day.

In the morning, the students finished up Jing Wo letters from last week, and then we worked on journal writing or picture prompt stories. The students did better with these stories than the previous ones - again, we focused on the idea of having a plan of the beginning, middle, problem, and end of the story before starting. If your story has those four elements, you're set. You can always add more details, twists, and events afterwards to make it more interesting.

In math, we reviewed the Angles Quiz from last week. The students did pretty well, and its clear they have a fairly solid understanding of angles. We could use a bit more practice in these areas:

• Rays, Line Segments, Vertices
• How angles relate to circles / rotation (ie. 180, 360, etc.)
• Accurately measuring angles with protractors 

We'll spend a couple more days on these concepts and have an alternate assessment on Thursday.

In the afternoon, we did Daily LA, and then learned more about Alberta's fossil history. We learned how fossils form, and that most animals / plants do not become fossils when they die - it's a very rare occurrence. We also learned about the badlands.

We ended our day by practicing this week's spelling words and going over the "oi" sound.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words! Week of Feb. 26

 Spelling List A (February 24 – March 1)

join	soil	oily	foil	avoid
coin	coil	point	voice	Oilers

 

Spelling List B (February 24 – March 1)

noisy	moist	choir	stoic	boiling
spoiled	choice	poison	toilet	pointer

 

Spelling List C (February 24 – March 1)

exploit	rejoice	thyroid	pointy	poised
hoist	appoint	turmoil	moisture	paranoid

Good luck!

Friday, February 24

Hi everyone, 

Happy Family Literacy Day!

We had a great day today but I don't have too much to write. We had a long work period this morning to finish up a whole bunch of tasks from earlier in the week. The students did an excellent job on their Jing Wo Thank You letters, their fossil artwork, and on preparing for the spelling quiz.

We had our Angles quiz and it's clear that the students have got a pretty good handle on the concepts we've learned. I haven't finished marking them yet. As always there will be an opportunity for a re-write for anyone who isn't happy with their scores.

The last part of our day was dedicated to Family Literacy Day. Students buddied up and read with friends and family, and it was quite wholesome. 

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

Zac

Thursday, February 22

 Hi parents,

We had an awesome day today. In the morning, our whole school met in the gym to watch an amazing Lion Dance performance, courtesy of Jing Wo! Jing Wo is a not-for-profit organization in Calgary that seeks to share and preserve Chinese Culture, predominately through the art of Lion Dance. The performance was incredibly energetic, entertaining, colourful, and fun. The people from Jing Wo answered some thoughtful questions from the students afterwards.

http://jingwo.com/

When we got back to the classroom, we started writing Thank-You letters to let Jing Wo know how much we enjoyed the experience.

In math, we did an activity around finding similarities and differences between angles. We talked about different ways that angles could be sorted into groups based on shared attributes.

We're having a review of Angles tomorrow! The one thing I think the class could use a bit more practice with is just the terminology. If you have time, please review these at home:

Vertex: The point where two lines meet and an angle is formed.

Line Segment: A line that has a beginning and end.

Ray: A line that just keeps going and going, usually depicted with an arrow.

In the afternoon, we had Daily LA and Music. We also had an art lesson with Ms. Davies.

Have a nice night!

Zac

Wednesday, February 21

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today.

In the morning, the students used Epic! to research Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year and the Lion Dance. They learned about the Zodiac, and were very interested to learn about the qualities traditionally associated with their Zodiac animal. We also learned a bit about the origins of the Lion Dance, and how the unique image of the Chinese lion is a result of it featuring attributes from four different animals.

We were very fortunate to have a student in our class bring in an actual 'head' from a Lion Dance costume! The students had a great time experimenting with the pulleys that controlled the eyes and ears.

In math, we learned about how angles relate to rotation. We talked about the terms '180' and '360' and how they're often used in sports like skateboarding and snowboarding. The kids already seemed pretty familiar with those terms so this lesson was a breeze. We're wrapping up our unit on angles and will have a quick quiz on Friday to see if we're ready to move on. I realize that's a quick turn-around, but rest assured we will not move on unless the students have really got the hang of it. I think they already do.

In the afternoon, we did Daily LA and spelling, and read about the fossil history of Alberta.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, February 20

 Hi parents,

I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend. We had a good day back at school today. In the morning, the students wrote in their journals about their long weekends, or a variety of alternative writing prompts that they came up with as a class.

In math, we practiced measuring and naming angles in a 2-D dimensional drawing of a park. 

In the afternoon, we had a great discussion about AI, and the implications of a future where people may not have to work as hard, and how that might impact our wellbeing, for better or for worse.

We had Daily LA and Music, and ended the day with another art lesson from Ms. Davies.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Family Literacy Day - Friday, Feb. 23

 

Wednesday, February 14

 Hi parents,

Sorry about the lack of a blog yesterday, it was a pretty busy day. I'll summarize the highlights:

Yesterday, we did a big science task, in which the students experimented with angles and simple machines, by creating ramps, building K-Nex vehicles, and then sending the cars off the ramps in order to clear a small gap. Students made predictions about what angle would be optimal for their ramps, and then used protractors to ensure their ramps were at that angle. It was super fun and a little bit hectic.

We also had Music and Daily LA.

Today was another fun day, though surprisingly less hectic. Most of our day was dedicated to our Valentines task, in which the students made blank cards with their pictures on them, and then wrote nice things in all of their classmate's cards. 

In the afternoon, we helped our buddy class do the same thing. Students who brought additional Valentines from home handed them out at the end of the day.

As great as Valentines was, the best part of the day was our visit with Jace Jax and Henry Hama, who recently published their third book in the Kiddsburgh Chronicles series. This book was all about Valentines day, and told the story of a couple of kids on an exciting, rhyming Valentines adventure. They took time after the reading to teach the kids about the process of writing and illustrating books. It's a lot of work!

Tonight is the family dance! I hope to see you there! :) Also - we've been working on dance moves in gym this week. Please remind your children of the versatile and stylish 'step touch', and that tag is not a form of contemporary dance.

Have a wonderful Family Day weekend,

Zac

Monday, February 12

 Hi parents,

We had a good day today! The students did some fantastic writing in the morning, where they had the choice to either write about their weekend, or, to write a "really short story", using 5-7 sentences. The purpose of this second task was to help students see the importance of having a plan before starting a story. Often, when students write stories, they'll do an amazing job introducing the characters, and setting the scene, but then eventually they'll lose interest and end with "to be continued".  We're going to start doing a lot more creative / story writing in the upcoming months, so this task served as a good baseline to see where everyone's at.

In math, we learned the vocabulary terms "ray", "line segment", and "vertex". The students used their protractors to draw and measure angles, while also identifying the vertexes, line segments, and rays in their work.

In the afternoon, we did Daily LA and Spelling Practice, and had some extra work period time as well.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Feb. 9 - 23)

 Spelling List A (February 9 – 23)

auto	aunt	haul	because	taunt
haunt	aura	laugh	sauce	vault

 

Spelling List B (February 9 – 23)

pause	audio	gaunt	fauna	faulty
automatic	because	Lauren	launch	author

 

Spelling List C (February 9 – 23)

auburn	cauliflower	nausea	autumn	caught
Aurelius	pauper	aurora	auction	centaur

These words are really tough, and because next week only has three school days, we're putting off the quiz until the 23rd.

Good luck!

Friday, February 9

 Hi parents,

We ended our week on a high note today. In the morning, Mr. Wade concluded his 3-part lesson series on editing and revision. Earlier in the week, he'd challenged the students to write as much as they could, about any topic, in 5 minutes. Today, the students revisited that writing, and edited out the repetition and run-on sentences. As you can probably guess, there was quite a bit to fix!

We did a bit of a quiz in social studies today, on the natural regions of Alberta. The students did awesome with this activity. It's clear that they know the main features of each region, and we can start moving on to new topics. 

We also concluded our Mad Minute saga, and the students brought their mad minute booklets home. We talked about how progress is almost never linear - the line charts on the front of their booklets are evident of that! Feel free to complete the extra problems at home if you'd like your child to get some more practice.

The students wrote their spelling quizzes, and we ended our day with a big classroom cleanup, and a bonus Music class.

Have a nice weekend!

Zac

Thursday, February 8

 Hi parents,

We had another pretty good day today. In the morning, we learned about the word 'multiculturalism'. We talked about how evidence of multiculturalism is all around us in Alberta - from the huge selection of restaurants we enjoy eating at, to holidays we and other people celebrate, the music we listen to, clothes we wear, languages we speak, and more. The students brainstormed as many examples of the presence of different cultures in Alberta as they could. 

In math, we continued practicing measuring angles using protractors. We talked about the importance of where to write an angle measurement, to ensure it is clearly labelled (mostly for teachers who are marking you on it).

We have been playing volleyball in gym, and working on the skills of volleying, setting, and serving. Although our school gym doesn't have nets, the students still had a great time and many of them expressed an interest in playing volleyball outside of school too!

In the afternoon, we had Daily LA, Music, and Art with Ms. Davies.

Tomorrow is our spelling quiz. Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, February 7

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. In the morning, Mr. Wade taught the class more about revising and editing, and we focused on removing repetitive sentences from writing.

In math, we did an "Angle Hunt", and found examples of acute, obtuse, and right angles around the school. 

BLOG HOMEWORK - ANGLE HUNT EXTENSION (+1 point)

Continue the angle hunt at home, by finding 2 more examples of each type of angle!

We kept learning about the natural regions of Alberta, and working on our landscape pages from yesterday. 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, February 6

 Hi parents,

We had a really good day today! It was a testament to how much the students can do when they focus and stay on task. We ended up having a lot of free time today - not for lack of work, but because everyone worked so efficiently. 

In the morning, we reviewed the six natural regions of Alberta, and the students created pages in their sketchbooks to showcase them. They drew beautiful landscapes and wrote jot notes to summarize their defining features.

After that, we learned how to use protractors to measure angles. I expected this to be way more challenging than it was (based on previous years), but the kids really enjoyed it, and had it pretty much mastered within an hour.

Our first tea time Tuesday was a big success. I'd like to start doing "Tea Time Tuesday" on the first Tuesday of each month.

In the afternoon, we had work period, spelling practice time, and then Ms. Davies (who teaches morning kindergarten, and is also a very talented artist) led an art lesson on drawing pattern snakes. 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, February 5

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty great day today. In the morning, Mr. Wade taught the class about run-on sentences (and how to fix them). 

We also learned more about angles, including how to label angles as 'acute', 'obtuse', 'straight', and 'right'.

In the afternoon, the students made modifications to their vehicles, to allow them to move using wind / breath.

We ended our day by discussing this week's very challenging spelling words. The students practiced their words by sorting them into categories, based on what sound the 'ui' made in their words.

Also - sorry about the double 'guide' on List B! My bad!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words! Week of Feb. 4

 Spelling List A (February 2 – 9)

suit	ruin	fruit	juice	build
fluid	them	of	what	went

 

Spelling List B (February 2 – 9)

built	guilt	guitar	fruity	guide
bruise	guide	druid	cruise	rebuild

 

Spelling List C (February 2 – 9)

builder	wetsuit	ruined	guinea	guild
lawsuit	conduit	tuition	recruit	languish

I had a hard time putting these lists together. -ui just makes so many different sounds, many of which don't really makes sense phonetically. It might be helpful to challenge your kids to identify what sound 'ui' makes in each word, so they can see firsthand what an unusual letter combination this is.

Good luck!

Friday, February 2

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today! We finished A Rover's Story (But I will reread the last chapters again next week for anyone who missed them), and then the students wrote about what they thought of the book.

We did our spelling quiz, and then learned about Right Angles in math. The students found examples of right angles in the classroom.

We read a book about Groundhog Day, and then split into Grade 3 and 4 groups for Science and did more building. 

That was pretty much the day!

Tea-Time Tuesday - Tuesday, February 6

We are going to have our first "Tea Time Tuesday" next week, to practice Montessori practical life skills, as well as Grace and Courtesy. If your child is interested in participating, they will need to bring:

            -A mug / cup

            -A teabag

            I will provide the hot water. Unfortunately I'm not able to provide tea due to CBE regulations. 

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

Zac

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today! We finished A Rover's Story (But I will reread the last chapters again next week for anyone who missed them), and then the students wrote about what they thought of the book.

We did our spelling quiz, and then learned about Right Angles in math. The students found examples of right angles in the classroom.

We read a book about Groundhog Day, and then split into Grade 3 and 4 groups for Science and did more building. 

That was pretty much the day!

Tea-Time Tuesday - Tuesday, February 6

We are going to have our first "Tea Time Tuesday" next week, to practice Montessori practical life skills, as well as Grace and Courtesy. If your child is interested in participating, they will need to bring:

            -A mug / cup

            -A teabag

            I will provide the hot water. Unfortunately I'm not able to provide tea due to CBE regulations. 

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

Zac

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today! We finished A Rover's Story (But I will reread the last chapters again next week for anyone who missed them), and then the students wrote about what they thought of the book.

We did our spelling quiz, and then learned about Right Angles in math. The students found examples of right angles in the classroom.

We read a book about Groundhog Day, and then split into Grade 3 and 4 groups for Science and did more building. 

That was pretty much the day!

Tea-Time Tuesday - Tuesday, February 6

We are going to have our first "Tea Time Tuesday" next week, to practice Montessori practical life skills, as well as Grace and Courtesy. If your child is interested in participating, they will need to bring:

            -A mug / cup

            -A teabag

            I will provide the hot water. Unfortunately I'm not able to provide tea due to CBE regulations. 

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

Zac

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today! We finished A Rover's Story (But I will reread the last chapters again next week for anyone who missed them), and then the students wrote about what they thought of the book.

We did our spelling quiz, and then learned about Right Angles in math. The students found examples of right angles in the classroom.

We read a book about Groundhog Day, and then split into Grade 3 and 4 groups for Science and did more building. 

That was pretty much the day!

Tea-Time Tuesday - Tuesday, February 6

We are going to have our first "Tea Time Tuesday" next week, to practice Montessori practical life skills, as well as Grace and Courtesy. If your child is interested in participating, they will need to bring:

            -A mug / cup

            -A teabag

            I will provide the hot water. Unfortunately I'm not able to provide tea due to CBE regulations. 

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

Zac

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today! We finished A Rover's Story (But I will reread the last chapters again next week for anyone who missed them), and then the students wrote about what they thought of the book.

We did our spelling quiz, and then learned about Right Angles in math. The students found examples of right angles in the classroom.

We read a book about Groundhog Day, and then split into Grade 3 and 4 groups for Science and did more building. 

That was pretty much the day!

Tea-Time Tuesday - Tuesday, February 6

We are going to have our first "Tea Time Tuesday" next week, to practice Montessori practical life skills, as well as Grace and Courtesy. If your child is interested in participating, they will need to bring:

            -A mug / cup

            -A teabag

            I will provide the hot water. Unfortunately I'm not able to provide tea due to CBE regulations. 

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

Zac