Friday, 25 May 2018

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! 
The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad RobotThree Little Pugs and the Big, Bad Cat

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! 


Monday, 14 May 2018

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! 

Image result for goldilocks and the three bears bookWe 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! 
Image result for goldilocks and the 3 dino
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!