Miss Potter's Corner: Jan 21-24

A Few Reminders:

January 28 - Grade 4's go to Rabbit Hill! Please fill out the permission forms online.
January 28 - Raptor Spiritwear store is open online!
Girls Floor Hockey has started. Practices are Mondays and Wesnesdays after school (3:15pm - 4:15pm).
January 31 - REPORT CARDS ARE ON POWERSCHOOL. We will not be sending home printed versions, please check online to view your child's progress. Don't forget to check assignment comments, there is a lot of information there.
January 31 - Outdoor Ed Meeting after school (members only)
Feb 1 - No School PD Day
Feb 7 & 8 - No School Teacher's Convention
Feb 11 - 13 - Skating Week )9:45 - 10:15 every morning.).
Feb 14 - RMS Pancake Breakfast
Feb 18 - Family Day No School
Feb 22 - Wellness Day (pm)
Feb 27 - Pink Shirt Day

ELA

Our grammar focus this week was on the difference between common and proper nouns. We discuss this often in our daily writing, and took time this week to determine the difference in hopes that students continue to apply this knowledge into their writing.

My favourite way to get our brains moving is to have the students discover their own learning. I gave them 24 different cards with words on them and let them come up with their own sorting rules. This was my first year where every group sorted them into noun groups - person, place and thing! Some things must be sticking!!!

Next, I asked them to look at the words and sort them into two groups based on how they look. The secret here is that some of the words were capitalized, proper nouns (Alberta, Mrs. Green, Lion King). Others we common nouns (province, teacher, movie). This time, only one group noticed this! Once I told students the rule, they went about matching the proper noun to the common noun.

A Proper noun names a specific person, place or thing. Every word in the name or title is capitalized.

A common noun is the general name for a person, place or thing.

During Read to Self, students were given a Google Doc to record any proper nouns they could find, and then determine what common noun group they may belong to.

During our WeSearch Wednesday students are using the skills we have worked on over the year to research a topic of their choice - sort of! The one tiny catch is that I had them choose any topic from a site of my choice, PowerKnowledge Earth & Space Science. They spent some time collecting notes, and then verbally sharing what they learned with their peers. It is pretty awesome to hear them having conversaion about the Energy Crisis, Ocean Biomes and Saturn's rings! (Did you know every 15 years Saturn's rings are actually barely visible due to lack of reflection of the Sun?! I didnt!)

Another week, another Book Club started! This week our group started Bookstore Burgular. As a group we will read through the book, engaging in discussion, making predictions and in the end writing a review.

MATH

This was our week to wrap up subtraction! This continues to be a tough skill for most students. The process involved in regrouping and borrowing multiple times can be confusing to some. Students are encouraged to work through the problem, one place value at a time.

We had our quiz on Wednesday, and on Thursday I met with students in small groups to go over their work. For the most part, I see a very big difference between everyday work and quiz work. Student skill levels do not always match and I take this into account when marking these. When we work through quizzes in small groups we engage in discussion about the questions, walk through the steps and processes to each question and how to solve the problem.

You will not see an assignment in PowerSchool for the Quiz - Their mark will be reflected in Subtraction 3 -4 digits.

SCIENCE

Last week we had our demonstration on how the fulcrum effects the effort needed to lift an object. As a class we discussed the difference in the demonstrations and created visuals for our notes.

We also discussed Inclined Planes and where we can find them in our world. Students are continuing to take visual notes while they work and are doing an amazing job!