Skiing, Snowboarding and Skating!

It has been a very active week for us! This blog will be an update for the past two weeks!

Last Wednesday, our student braved some cold weather as we walked over to visit Riverview Middle School! Luckily we quickly warmed up by a delicious pancake breakfast. Afterwards, student moved around the school with Leadership students on a guided tour. It was pretty amazing to see how excited a lot of our kiddos are about their next step!

Monday was an absolute perfect day for Skiing and Snowboarding! The students had an absolute blast at Rabbit Hill, and I bet there were a lot of sleepy faces after school. They all gave their best out there, and even some first timers really rocked it!

In Language Arts, students have been working on spelling, grammar and reading strategies through Daily 5. Students spent some time practicing their Spellathon words in preparation for this weeks test! During word work students were able to use various materials to practice their Spellathon words, such as, stamps, rainbow writing, letter tiles and whiteboards. Students also took this time to catch up on any spelling they had missed over the previous weeks.

We are continuing to read aloud Seven Dead Pirates and participate in class discussions based on the text.

This was our last week for skating! I think every student really improved from Day 1 to Day 8! Way to go boys and girls!!


In Math this week, we have been working on our multiplication basic facts by practicing different strategies to solve them and playing math games. The students learned how to play Salute this week, which is a 3 person game and only requires a deck of cards. If you have a deck of cards at home, use the cards 1 - 8 and give it a try!

In Science, we are digging deeper in the meaning of pre and post consumer waste. We have started to think about products, their raw materials, and the different processes it takes to manufacture them.

The question we have in our minds is - How much waste do we produce? How can we minimize our waste?

In Art, the students created some Pop Art Hearts! This project is inspired by the artist, Burton Morris, and students used bright coloured paper to create the "Pop Art" look, and then trimmed out highlights using white paper. Not everyone is finished, but they are looking great!! 

        

 

Reminders: 

- Please fill out Waste Management trip forms, we go on February 28th. 

- Spellathon Tests went home today! Please return your pledge money!

- Family Day is Monday! No school - get connected with family and not devices! Try our challenge -  spend time without an electronic device this Family Day. 

- Pink Shirt Day is next Wednesday! This is our stand against bullying!

Winter Walk Day!

Hey everyone! It was a bit of a shift in the week with our Tuesday PD Day, but we still managed to get lots done!

The past two Fridays our class has taken time to visit our grade peers and work on some coding! On Fridays, we have our own tech block, where students have been exploring hour of code activities - this is where they use block coding to work through creating, playing and developing games on the computer.
Last Friday, we visited 4B and worked on building Flappy Bird levels! Students worked through 10 lessons on how to add graphic changes, characters and points systems to create their own custom levels. Below is a video of a student who created his own level and gets to test it out!

In Language Arts this week we started a new novel as a class, Seven Dead Pirates. This is a read aloud book, and after reading we are completing reading response activities about the book. First, we created movie posters to introduce the main characters, setting, discuss possible plot predictions and to write down any questions we may have. 

Our second activity was to choose a section from the book to draw and describe. This is where we really tap into our visualization and describe why we think this scene was important to the plot of the story thus far. 

In spelling, our focus was on long a patterns (ay, ai, eigh). We played a few quick review games on the different sounds vowels make (long vs. short). In grammar, we are focusing on verbs! To demonstrate this, we started our lesson with a game of charades! Verbs are most often action words that are found in the predicate of the sentence. They often describe what the subject is doing. 

In Math this week we are started in on Multiplication and demonstrating this process by drawing arrays and repeated addition. For arrays, we discussed that rows are horizontal (imagine rowing a boat and how your arms move) and columns are vertical (like the columns that hold up a building). When we look at a multiplication sentence, our rows are represented by the first number, number of columns is represented by the second. Using two coloured die, students worked in pairs to create multiplication problems, draw their corresponding arrays, and write out the fact family.

In Science, we have discussed the different ways we can sort human waste. Humans create waste by using products that are manufactured. We came up with definitions for Manufacture and Consume, using class discussions to talk about what types of products are manufactured, how we consume them and what do we do with the waste? 

Then we brainstormed products that are disposable (one time use), Durable (intended to last forever), Non-Durable (intended to last more than once/twice but not forever). 

Next week, we will take a look at how products are packaged and how it benefits the consumer vs. the environment.


Wednesday we had our Winter Walk! (Thank goodness it was Wednesday and not Thursday)
We bundled up nice and warm and enjoyed the winter outdoors. The sun actually came out of hiding and seemed to shine on us!

Reminders: 
- Next week is Teacher's Convention - There is no school Thursday or Friday. 

Lots of Permission forms on Powerschool!!!! Please fill these out ASAP
- Pancake Breakfast and Walk to Riverview Middle School will be next Wednesday morning.

- Rabbit Hill is on Monday February 13th, and Skating will also be the Tues, Wed, Thurs that week.

- Waste Management Field Trip is on Feb 28th! This is a half day field trip where students learn about how waste is processed in our local communities.

Skating Week!

Skating was so much fun this week! The students really enjoyed getting out on the ice, and for some it was a first time skating in a long time! Our next week of skating will be Feb 14 - 17. 

In Language Arts this week, we have been doing lots of reading comprehension. I have been working with students in small groups to assess understanding of sequence and recalling of information they have read. 

Our spelling focus this week is on digraphs (ch, tch, sh, th) and where they can be found in a word. A digraph is where two (or more) letters make one sound. The students have been working through word sorts and their spelling sheets independently during Word Work in Daily 5. On Fridays, students complete their tests on Spelling City. 

Our grammar focus this week and when to properly use possessive pronouns. These are pronouns that show ownership of an object by a noun. 

One type of possessive pronoun stands alone, "The book is mine."

The second type comes before a noun, " That is my book."

To practice this skill, students paired up and were given a sticky with a possessive pronoun on it. Then they moved around the classroom, writing a sentence on their sticky using that pronoun and attaching it to the noun/object! 

 

In Math, we have been working through math centers and practicing our basic facts. On Monday, I have the opportunity to attend a math games-based PD and it full of fun activities! I have taken some time to work with students in small groups and teach them a game called "Betweeners". Students are given anywhere from 2-5 dice, each one representing a certain place value. In groups of three, students roll their dice, and then try to arrange their dice to be an "in between" number. This means they're not trying to be the highest or the lowest! It really has them using their problem solving skills and mathematical process of comparing numbers. 

In Science, we are continuing to discuss waste in our world and the ways human produce and process waste. As humans, waste is anything we have used and no longer need so we discard. This can then be sorted by waster, recyclable, waste and compost. 

Students have learned that we recycle 4 different categories; paper, plastic, aluminum and glass. We also compost our organic waste in two possible ways - bin/pile or worm compost (vermiculture!). 

In Social, we are digging deeper into our Natural Resources and how they make our province and its regions unique. They are able to identify the raw materials resources come from and where they can be found in our province. 

Please make sure to check Powerschool for upcoming field trip permission forms! We have a lot going on in Feburary! 

Hello Parents!
Just a few reminders about February! It's going to be a busy busy month!

Wednesday, February 1 – Winter Walk
Once again, Robina Baker Elementary School is participating in this school-wide event by going on a wonderful wintery walk in Devon’s trail system. Grades 1-4 will depart the school at 12:45pm, walk for approx. 45mins before returning to school for some Hot Chocolate generously provided by The Town of Devon.

Wednesday, February 8 – Pancake Day
The Grade 4s will be participating in the Pancake Day at Riverview Middle School (RMS) as a part of our transition to Grade 5 Plan.  At 9 am all three Grade 4 classes will go to RMS (about a 5 minute walk) for a free pancake breakfast.  After the yummy breakfast provided by RMS, the students will get a tour of the school and then they will walk back to Robina Baker.

Monday, February 13 – Ski Trip
Monday, March 6 – Ski Trip
The Grade Four classes will be going skiing twice this year. This first trip is February 13 with the second one occurring on March 6.  For both trips we will leave the school promptly at 8:40 am and arrive back at the school at 4:00 pm. If your student normally takes the bus home they will need an alternate ride home from the school that day. Every child is required to take a lesson at their level and will then have the opportunity to free ski the remainder of the day.  Students require a bagged lunch and proper winter wear (ski pants are a must).

**We will need volunteers on and off the hill for this trip. Please let me know if you are interested.

Tuesday, February 28 – Edmonton Waste Management Centre
The Grade Four classes will be going to the Edmonton Waste Management Centre.   We will leave the school promptly at 8:30 am and arrive back at the school at 12:30 pm.  Students will tour the EWMC facility which ties into the Science 4 curriculum of Waste and Our World.

**I will be looking at the survey from the beginning of the year to contact those who expressed interest in coming on this trip.

It has been a wonderful week for weather! It's been so nice to get our outdoor recess' back!

Quick Reminders: 

Skating starts on Monday! Please ensure your child comes prepared with appropriate equipment!
Our skating schedule can be found on the Calendar tab of this blog.  

Skiing! Our Ski Dates for Rabbit Hill will be Monday, February 13th and Monday, March 7th. More details on pricing will come closer to the date. 

This Week ...

 In Language Arts this week, our reading focus was to recognize that stories and writing follows a sequential order. We have worked on sequence in our personal writing, through our How To projects, so they did really great with this! 

Writing this week, our focus on KidBlog was to start creating multiple paragraphs. When working on our Talk About it Tuesday this week, students expressed their opinion on which fictional school they would rather attend - Hogwarts or Bailey Elementary - based on books we have read aloud as a class. Students then worked with the O.R.E.O format to state their opinion, give valid reasons and add an explanation or example as to why their reason is valid. With this idea, students created multi-paragraph writing, with each paragraph having their own topic the supported their overall main opinion. 

Here are some examples of student's work. 

We also started spelling this week! On the side of our blog there will be updates of our grammar and spelling focus. 

In Math this week, we have continued with our focus on Subtraction problems. We are reinforcing and practicing basic math skills to help us with borrowing and subtracting large numbers. 

Students are encouraged to play games or use Mathletics to practice their basic facts at home. 

In Social, the students are wrapping up their chapter and studying of the 6 Geographical Regions of Alberta. As a class, once students had presented their projects last week, we created study notes. This was an opportunity for students to build strong note-taking skills. We practiced basic studying strategies to help us prepare for our Regions quiz. 

As a class, we reviewed our notes, determining what we thought was important information on a region. Afterwards, the students separated into their houses to play a quick quiz game to see what they could remember. Then came the quiz. 

In Science, we started discussing - What is Waste? What types of Waste are there? and What do we do with it?

Students were asked to brainstorm all the types of waste they could think of and put it on a sticky, and then on the board. 

As a group, we sorted the waste into 3 different categories. I then put those stickies on paper and asked the students to try and come up with a rule for all the types of waste on their page. 

The rules they came up with were "Reusable Waste", "Non-Reusable Waste" and "Compost".

Through reading, we now know, there are various types of waste, and we would rename these groups: Recyclable, Organic (biodegradable) and Garbage(Solid/Liquid/Hazardous).  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back! I hope everyone had an awesome time over the break!

Heads up! Our skating schedule has been finalized! Please click here to view our skating times Jan 23-26.

To participate in skating, all students need to wear CSA approved helmets (i.e. hockey helmets - students will need full cages if they would like to play shinny, downhill skiing helmets, horseback riding helmets, BUT absolutely NO BIKE HELMETS. 

Our school does have skates and helmets available to be borrowed by students should they not have skates that fit or a helmet meeting the CSA requirement. 

JACKETS ON! Please remind your child they must wear their outdoor jackets while skating. Gloves are also required (they keep fingers warm and offer protection!) Ski pants are encouraged.

We are in need of one off-ice supervisor to join us. If you are able to come to one or more of the dates/times please let me know ASAP. It will be a first come first serve basis.

As a way to share about our holiday break, we started a fun activity - TWEETS!
Students used a graphic organizer to organize their memories from their break in sequence. Then through peer editing, students read each other's worked and checkedfor grammar errors, spelling, capitalization of proper nouns and proper use of punctuation.

Once they had them planned, students worked with a template within google slides to create their own Twitter pages (these are not real pages online). They did a great job with this and are becoming quite the tech savvy bunch!!

In Math, we began talking about subtraction of numbers up to 10, 000. We worked with base ten blocks and manipulatives to solve subtraction problems, eventually working borrowing tens into our lessons as well. Some students are still working to understand this process and are encouraged to practice at home on Mathletics.

In Science, we started discussing our new unit - Waste and our World. A main focus for the next few weeks will be what waste is, how humans create waste and how we can reduce/improve our biological footprints.

In Social, we have been finishing and presenting our Alberta's Regions Projects. Students have been working on these since before the break and have been doing a great job presenting.

In Art, we did a guided drawing of a snowman! They turned out so unique and cute!

 


Reminder's for next week:

Jan 18 is Beach Day - Dress in your fun beach wear, keeping it school appropriate!