Happy Spring Break!!

Thank you to all the parents, students and volunteers that helped make our Cake Walk successful this year! It is one of the bigger fundraising events towards our Gr. 4 Year End Trip! 

YOU ALL ROCK!

This week was JAM PACKED with lots of events, floor hockey, celebrations and learning!

Reading:

As we grow as readers, it is important to be able to distinguish between fact and opinions in text. This was our skill we introduced this week and will continue to work on through out the year. 

 A fact is something that can be proven true or false; Cotton Candy is made with sugar and corn syrup. 

An opinion is a personal belief about something; I think Cotton Candy is the BEST thing to eat at a fair.

There are some clue words we can look for to let us know if a statement may be fact or opinion. 

Introducing this strategy, I read aloud the book Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, which is fun, hilarious and based almost entirely on opinion! Drawing the Duck/Rabbit, students stated their opinion on which animal they thought the book was about, and then paired up with a like-minded peer! Together they wrote some opinions they have about their animal of choice. 

Next I asked them what type of books we often find facts in? Right away we all thought of Non-Fiction as a great source to find facts! In their pair groups, they read through non-fiction books on Epic! about their animals and wrote out some pretty interesting facts! 

Author Study

Students spend some time this week connecting to various texts by Jon Scieszka. 

As we continue to read a moral a day from Squids Will Be Squids, we spend time discussing what we think the wayward lesson might be from each one page story. 

Reading aloud two different morals to the students, they chose which they could personally connect to best thinking back on previous personal experiences. 

We experimented with some fun lettering and word art while we wrote out morals! I personally love doing this when taking notes, or writing a quote out. I think they really liked it! 

Next they had to explain what the moral meant to them in their own words. This can sometimes be tough for some kiddos, but they worked their best at it! 

Digging into their personal experiences they thought of times where they might have learned a lesson similar, or thought of this moral before making a decision. 

For some fun and creative writing, students did a writign activity to go alone with Jon Scieszka's  Cowboy & Octopus. This book, much like others by Jon, is a collection of short stories between two new friends and is HILARIOUS. The main thing I wanted students to take note of in this story was how the dialogue was written, especially how we use quotation marks. 

We did a little mini lesson on how to write with dialogue, how our quotation marks close in the words that character has said, and brainstormed alternative ways people talk besides "said". 

One short story is a failed Knock Knock joke told by Octopus to Cowboy. In pairs, students wrote their own knock knock joke, put it into a google drawings with correct use of quotation marks and then uploaded to Seesaw with a recording of them reading it! This was an awesome way again to see how their fluency of reading was, gauge their ability to read with expression, and hear their funny voices for each character! I absolutely love how these turned out, and have to thank BM for persuading them to work in partners instead of individually. 

Students were encouraged to use different fonts and colours to similate the way the Jon Scieszka's books are written and illustrated. 

Math 

We continued to practice our rounding and estimating skills this week, with a small introduction to estimating and measurement. 

I found students will still struggle to round to the nearest place value in number that had more than that specific digit. 

i.e:

In our hallway we created a walking number line and discussed which digits tell us to round down or up. We created numbers and practiced walking where to on the number line they would be, what their multiple of 10, 100 or even 1000 would be on either end, and which we would round up to. For the most part, they are starting to get the hang of it! They need some reinforcement when it comes to using these rounded numbers to add and subtract. 

Science 3

Students finished up their hearing and sound unit this week! We did a Kahoot! to check in on key understandings from the unit. 

Science 4 

Inclined planes & Wedges! These simple machines have a lot to do with each other and help us get work done! Students learned the features of each and some real life examples (Did you know our teeth are wedges?!). Then we took to the halls to test out some theories! 

The more inclined a plane, the shorter the distance - BUT the greater the effort! I had a weighted box and students worked to push the box up a set of stairs. 

How can we make our effort less? 

If we create a longer distance, with a lesser incline, our effort is less! 

World Down Syndrome Day!

As a class we did some learning on what Down Syndrome is and how children are born with it. I shared a video with students that gives perspective. 

ROCK YOUR SOCKS is a way that we can raise awareness for those with Down Sydrome, spread knowledge and understanding and embrace that we're all different and alike! 

Students decorated their own mismatched socks and named some likes to show this!

HAVE A GREAT SPRING BREAK EVERYONE! 

Thank you to all the families who made it out to Student Led Conferences! The kiddos loved getting to show you around our room and some of the activities we do!

A Few Reminders:
The Cake Walk is coming up this week! Please read over the parent letter that was sent home at the beginning of March. It is hoped that every Grade 4 Student brings in a cake to help fundraise!

SPRING BREAK - Is Almost Here!

No school on Friday March 23rd.

SPRING BREAK March 24 - April 3. 

ELA:

This week we read a book by Lynne Truss about apostrophes in relation to possessive nouns. Students learned about plural possessive nouns this week and where the apostrophe gets placed in these words. 

Possessive Nouns show that something belongs to someone/something. 

"That's Ms. Potter's Pizza!" 

The apostrophe goes before the s. 

Plural Possessive Nouns show that something belongs to a group. 

"That's the students' ice cream."

The apostrophe comes after the s in this case. 

However, some irregular plural nouns will need the -'s added. 

"It is all the children's food"

We are continuing to read our daily morals from Squids Will Be Squids.

As a little St. Patrick's Day fun, I read the students Leprechaun on the Loose! After reading, we talked about some of the best ways to catch a leprechaun. Then we began planning! This is a procedural writing project,  How to Catch a Leprechaun has students writing directions using the cue words First, Next, Then, After and Finally. Students came up with some excellent plans, and even drew their traps!

Math:

Our big skill of practice this week was rounding and estimating, which was pretty tough for these kiddos to remember! By the end of the week, I think we were almost pros at it. We spent a lot of time reviewing how to round up and down to tens, hundreds and thousands. 

Then once we got the hang of that, we started to add our numbers to estimate sums.

Students also wrote a quiz on multiplication and these will be sent home next week. 

Science 4 

Levers! 

Boy did we have fun this week with levers! Students got to test out the difference a fulcrums position makes in relation to the effort needed to lift an object. Some of you may have gotten to partake in this experiment on Tuesday! 

Science 3

We conducted an experiment this week to test the best materials use when wanting to sound proof an object. We discovered that hard objects reflect the soundwaves, therefore not reducing the volume. Softer, squishier materials absorb the soundwaves and lower the volume, therefore they would be better materials to choose when soundproofing. 

As a group, we discussed the important of sound in communication. We discussed how it helps us better communicate and understand each other. For some fun, students took videos using Screencastify of them saying a sentence and we are going to watch them together to try and read lips! 

Next we took a look at the human's ability to hear frequencies and created a human hearing trading card. This is in preparation of comparing the human's hearing ability to that of animals. Students will be working on animal research next week, and completing a animal hearing trading card. 

Art

I am so impressed with how our Picasso Portraits turned out! Students worked very hard on created their own unique piece. 

Fantastic, Foxy, Feast-y Week!

A Few Reminders:

ELA:
We have been all about Fantastic Mr. Fox! Students worked on both a book review and a movie review this week.

Before we started our book review, we discussed the different points of view a story can be written in.

First Person is when the story is told from his/her perspective. Much like the Dork Diaries series.

Second Person is when the reader is placed in the story, which is how the Goosebumps Choose Your Own Adventure book are written.  

Third Person is when the story is told from an outside view, by a narrator. 

As a class, we discovered that Fantastic Mr. Fox was most definitely told in the Third Person Point of View. 

Students then got busy writing their book reviews! We discussed things we liked, or did not like, and what we thought of the book. 

Students then designed their own cover for the novel. I allowed them to use how to draw videos to create their own version of Mr. Fox and his Family. 

As I am sure you heard, on Wednesday we had our own Feast! I was a bit behind on some classroom rewards so I treated the class to pizza & ice cream! 

Students completed a Venn Diagram, comparing the characters, plot and setting of the book to the movie. 

Then, since we wrote out our book review I thought it would be fun to do a video review of our movie! 

And finally, students wrote an opinion paragraph on whether they enjoyed the movie or the book more. 

Overall, we had a great time exploring this book!

Author Focus: 

This month we are going to take some time to read various books from Jon Sciezska. He is a hilarious children's author and was the focus of our WeSearch Wednesday this week! Ask your child what they learned about him! 

We are currently reading from Squids Will Be Squids, which has 1 page fables with off the beaten path morals. As we read each fable and moral, we are making connections to self and world. We discuss which moral we know that is reminds us of, and how we think of it. 

The moral: "Squids will be Squids" reminds us of the common saying, "Kids will be Kids". We talked about how we can relate to this moral, and if we have had a personal experience similar to this. 

SPELL OFF!

To practice our Spell-A-Thon words, we did a spell off! Students from each grade/Hogwarts House competed in a raise against time to spell their words!

Science 4 

Our wall web of simple machines turned out great! 

We started off this week by taking a closer look at a few different types of simple machines. The first being the roller. It is thought that the roller came before the wheel - and even was used by Egyptians to move rocks while making the pyramids! Students got to test out/demonstrate how rollers make some work easier! 

Next in history comes the Wheel and Axle. This simple machine can be found in many different items in our world! Wheel and Axle often help us make work easier by moving objects and reducing the friction between the object and the ground. 

A wheel and axle you can find in your home would be a door handle! The handle acts as a wheel, and when it is moved the axle is moved a small distance. 

Another example would be on the wheel of a dirt bike. Here the axle is moved a small distance to make the wheel cover a larger distance. 

Next we looked at Levers! There are 3 different types of Levers and they differ depending where the effort, load and fulcrum are. 

Ask you child if they know their three different levers! Just remind them, the word lever comes the levier the French word meaning "to raise". 

See if your child can point out the effort, load and fulcrum on each photo. 

First Class - EFL (Like Eiffel Tower)

The fulcrum is always between the effort and the load. The effort and load will travel in opposite directions. 

Second Class - ELF 

The fulcrum is at the opposite end of the effort and load, and the effort and load move in the same direction. 

Third Class - FEL

This last lever is when the load is at the end, and can be seen for a lot of these kiddos on the rink! 

Some key terms we discussed this week were: friction, force, effort, load, fulcrum and work. See if your child can explain which each means!

Then students set off around the school looking to find, label and describe some simple machines we can see! 

Science 3

Students have been working with their instruments this week to create their very own music videos! 

Coming Soon!

Social 4

We are starting to look into the country Tunisia! Students spent some time this week learning about Tunisia and it's capital city, Tunis. We looked at how life in Tunis is different from our own and what types of services they have. 

Tunis is a large city on the coast with beautiful beach resorts. They also are home to large souks, which are covered markets that sells many different goods, spices and glassware. 

We also learned some fun facts! Did you know some Star Wars Films were made in Tunisia? In Matmata, there are Berber homes. These are homes that people dig out and live underground. 

Does this set look familiar to you?

Next week we will start to look more into the culture and daily life of Tunisia. 

Art

We have begun to work on our Celebration of Arts pieces! We looked at the works of various artists in history to observe how texture can be made with paintings. 

Next, we took to make the background for our upcoming masterpieces! Using forks as our tool, we created textured backgrounds using our knowledge about different types of lines and directions.