8 Crazy Days!

We have had some of the busiest days at school yet! 

Bike Week went great with lots of safety tips and fun in the Bike Rodeo! 

Then came Swim Week! Everyone did great in their lessons, and I don't think we could have asked for BETTER WEATHER! 

Caught some Slow Mo action!

Grade 3's had an eventful day at the Ukrainian Village! It was so amazing to take a step back into the early 1900's and experience this open air museum! 

A Few Reminders: 

Grade 3's will be swimming Monday AND Wednesday next week. 

Grade 4's will be swimming Wednesday ONLY. 

We are heading to Newsies at John Maland on Tuesday, May 29th. 

Friday June 1 is Western Dress up day! 

June 6th is Early Dismissal and our second Wellness Day Afternoon. 

Camp Warwa is coming up! We will be staying over June 14 - 15th. 

Grade 3's go to the U of A gardens on June 14th. 

Volunteer Appreciation is June 19th. 

Free Swim days are June 25-27th. 

ELA:

We have been reading, reviewing, and writing Fairy Tales! 

Students have read various versions of the "Three Little.. " somethings with a Big Bad character! We have done comparison activities, discussed preferences and have begun to write our own fractured fairy tales! 

Students are working to write a substitution story, with their own creative characters and setting. This is a chance for them to work on adding all the skills we have learned thus far this year; varied sentence starters, show don't tell, stretch a sentence, and writing in  logical sequence. 

So far there are some hilarious titles, with engaging beginnings!  Students worked on creating each aspect of their story, one bit at a time. 

Before getting started we brainstormed different types of adjectives to help us add detail to our stories. While I read aloud, Three Little Pugs and the Big Bad Cat students wrote down as many adjectives as they could, afterwards adding them to the category they belonged to. 

First was characters. We compared the different characters from each story and looked for similarities in character traits. 

We also brainstormed what traits the Good nad Evil characters have in each story. 

Then they created traits for the characters in their stories. 

Next, they worked on creating a strong beginning, using various sentence starters and details. 

Students will continue to work on the middle and end of their stories next week. 

Math

We are continuing to work through various strategies to solve division problems and build our basic fact knowledge. 

Students have worked with: 

• Fact Families
• Repeated addition and subtraction 
• Making sets 
• Sharing into groups 

to solve various problems. 

A skill we are working to reinforce, is reading word problems and determining whether to multiply or divide to solve the problem. 

We had a quick quiz this week, and this area is where most students needed reinforcement and practice. We went over the quiz together to strengthen understanding. 

Science 3 

We have wrapped up our Survivor unit, and moved onto Animal Life Cycles! 

You may have heard about some visitors we have in our room - Caterpillars! 

Students are going to observe the butterflies as they grow, and note the changes in their specific life cycle. 

Science 4 

Students are continuing to work on their TTT projects! Currently, they are building self propelling cars that need to travel at least 2 meters. 

Here are the trailers from our Marble Tracks!! We invited 4C to come over and watch our trailers and tell us whether they would purchase our toy or not! 

Ukraine, Survivor and TTT!

A Few Reminders: 

Bike Safety starts next week!

• Please make sure you have filled out the permission forms online. 
• Students can bring their bikes to school Monday morning and store them in the gym. 
• Bike Rodeo 2018 will be on Thursday. 

No School May 18th - PD Day 

Swimming week starts May 22 - 25th. 

• Please make sure you have filled out the permission forms online. 
• Reminder: Grade 3's are gone to Ukrainian Village May 24.
• We swim Tuesday - Friday from 12:30 - 1:30. 
• Grade 3's make up swim day will be Monday May 28th. 
• May 28th - June 1st Grade 3 & 4 ONLY swim on Wednesday May 30th from 1:15 - 2:15. 

Grade 3's go to the Ukrainian Village on May 24th. 

Newsies on May 29th

• Please make sure you have filled out the permission forms online. 
• We will be going to John Maland to watch the high school students perform. 

THANK YOU

to the Devon Bike Association for checking our helmets on Friday! 

And to our Health Nurses for teaching us about Helmet Safety! Everyone was happy to see Henry the Egg again! 

ELA

We have started a new unit on Fairy Tales! I like to do Fairy Tales in the spring, as it seems like such a magical time of year! 

We started by reading different versions of Goldilocks. Starting out with a classic version, we discussed how most fairy tales are adapted from the original stories and how authors write them with their own spin. 

This version is more modern and as we read it, we stopped to identify where we find each of the 5 story elements; Main Characters, Setting, Problem, Solution and Title. 

Next, we read a personal favourite of mine Goldilocks and the 3 Dinosaurs by Mo Willems. This tale is similar in some aspects, but then quite hilarious and different. See if you can have your child retell you the story! 

Using a venn diagram, we discussed the differences and similarities in both versions. Students worked in partners to complete this and then we shared as a class. 

The last version we read was another Fractured Fairy Tale, Believe Me, Goldilocks ROCKS! It was as we read this book we began to discuss what a fractured fairy tale was, and how each story we read was different. 

Lastly, the students wrote about which was their favourite version, describing their favourite scene.

Math 
Our main focus is still on division. Students worked on solving division problems in various ways, and how we can share when we divide or create groups.

Students also worked on Fact Families, relating multiplication to division.

We also worked with word problems and how to solve them using division.

Science 4 
These Twisted Trio Toys employees are working hard! Students are working at their own pace through their building tasks. Each group is also making a commercial to advertise their marble tracks! Stay tuned!

Science 3 

Survivor continues! This week students worked through challenges to see whether a larger or shorter gap creates a stronger arch, 1 pillar vs. 4 pillars, and pillar shapes (triangular, cylindrical, or rectangular). 

Riverview Visit! 

The grade 4's spent a morning shadowing Grade 5 Students at Riverview! This included participating in class lessons, following them between class transitions and (I think their favourite part) recess!

Education Week!

A Few Reminders:

Bike Safety is coming up!

• Monday May 7th - Bike Safety Presentations
• Friday May 11th - Helmet Checks from the Devon Bears Students need to bring their bike helmets to school. 

May 14th - May 17th Bike Safety Week! Students need to bring their bikes to school on Monday. 

• May 17th Bike Rodeo

Spring Photos Tuesday May 8th

• Grade 4's Grade photos on Tuesday. Bring something that represents who you are!

Grade 4 Transition Day at Riverview Middle School May 9th

May 18th PD Day - No School

May 21st Victoria Day - No School

Education Week
This week we jam packed with wonderful events for the students.

We kicked off our Education week with a delicious pancake breakfast and PJ Day! Thanks to all the staff who helped feed us, it was YUMMY!

On Tuesday, we were lucky enough to have a guest author visit us, Joan Galat. Joan is a local author who has written many children books, including the Dot to Dot series, and has been a paid writer since the age of 12! Her story was so fun for the kids to listen to and ignite some fire in them to become lifelong writers!

We also had a Celtric performer come and play us lovely songs on her fiddle. Do you know the difference between a fiddle and a violin? There isnt' one, they're the same thing!

She played tunes from Ireland, Scotland, and related then to the regions of Canada we were most likely to find them. She even did a number in the form of Metis fiddle playing.

We also did some work with our Kinder buddies! I can't tell what it is yet, but you will see in a couple of weeks :) Students worked one on one to show them how to create a piece of digital art.

Our Haiku Project is done! On Friday, I sent home some QR codes in the students agendas. If you scan their QR Code you can see what they created! If you are missing those QR codes, you can get them here.

Students wrote a Nature Haiku. Grade 3's had to choose a type of landforms (hills, oceans, etc.) and Grade 4's had to choose a region of Alberta (Rocky Mountains, Canadian Shield, etc.) Then using what they learned about Haiku's they wrote their very own poem, coloured the picture and created a Tellagami! This is an app where they can make an avatar and read their poem. Check them out!

Math 
This week we wrapped up our measurement unit and started talking division!

We took our work outside, and introduced division with some physical movement! Students worked with hoola hoops and bean bags to solve some simple division problems. When we're sharing and dividing, its always important to make sure we have equal groups.

Sets are the amount of groups we share objects into, and our answer is how many are in each group. Students worked through some problems in class throughout the week. Next week we will continue with division and work on word problems and division.

Science 4 
The Grade 4's are HIRED! Now that they have learned about the different types of simple machines, it is time to see if they can put their knowledge to work!
They are now hired on by TTT - Twisted Trio Toys and will be working at their own pace to create various types of recycled toys - thanks to all the supplies you have been sending in! This week we looked at various types of toys, their purpose, function and pros and cons.

Next week, in small groups, they will begin to plan and build their very own!

Science 3 
Our Grade 3's are stranded! SURVIVOR has begun! Students are working in their tribes to complete challenges on the island to test and build with various materials.

Each team receives points for teamwork, completed work, diagrams and following instructions.