We're Back! Jan 7-11

A Few Reminders:

• January 11 - Ms. Potter Away all day. 
• January 18 - Elder Florence Visit during Assembly
• January 21 - 24 - Skating week! Check Calendar for times. Parents are welcome to join! Please email Ms. Potter if you would like to join us! Permission forms are online. 
• January 21 - Girls Floor Hockey tryouts begin (times TBA)
• January 28 - Grade 4's go to Rabbit Hill! Please fill out the permission forms online. 
• January 28 - Raptor Spiritwear store is open online!

I hope everyone had a lovely break! Our week started off we a new house sorting! Students were sorted into new houses for the next semester.

Once in house they had some time for House Huddles. This is going to be a time for the students to gather in their house and have about 10-15 minutes of topic guided peer conversation. This week they discussed their breaks! It was great to see them interacting with each other and going outside their immediate friend circles to share.  

After their sharing time, they worked on their KidBlog posts sharing about their break in writing. 

We also had  special visitor this week - Ms. Betty and her new pup MOLLY! 

ELA

Reading 

This month, I will be working with students in small group book clubs. During this time, students will work on practicing reading strategies, reading aloud to their peers, analysis of characters, theme and setting. The first group I am working with is reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. 

At the end of the month the students will work on summary projects on their books. 

Writing 

First thing we did this week was talk about resolutions! As it is that time of year. However, this year I wanted students to take what we have learned throughout of Waste and our World unit and write a special type of resolution - Earth Conscious ones! 

As inspiration I showed the students this video about packaging in Australia to light the fire on how we can work to reduce the amount of waste created by people. 

As a class, we discussed the different ways we can realistically work towards being more earth conscious through recycling, reducing, and reusing items! 

They came up with some wonderful and creative ways to help our Earth in 2019!

Math 

We have started our unit on subtraction! Throughout the week, we have been working on retraining our brains to subtract numbers instead of add! This can be a tougher transition than you think! 

Students have been working on estimating differences - this is really tough for them! They all want to do the exact math, which is wonderful, but they cannot make the tie between rounding & estimating. When estimating you round a number and then subtract to find a estimated difference. 

They have also begun to work with subtraction problems that require regrouping. We are taking time and doing lots of practice! 

Science 

We're onto a new unit! Wheels & Levers! We had a great introduction to this unit and got to do hands on tasks when the Bennett Center came in November. 

This will be a quick information and demo based unit. We will work through new information, and then observe demonstrations of Simple Machines. 

This week we looked at ROLLERS! This simple machine, like most machines, helps us put in LESS effort on tasks. We demonstrated this by moving students across the room using rollers! Watch the videos below to see our attempts today!

Science Trial Videos

TRIAL 1 - No Rollers 

We observed and B's effort to move W on a scale of 1 - 5, and then B shared what she felt. The average was a 4 on this trial. 

TRIAL 2- With Rollers

Everyone was in shock and awe as W glided easily across the floor by just a small push from B. 

We took turns moving across the room on the rollers so everyone could feel how little effort was needed. 

Catch up from 2018 

We had a few students who finished up their product flow charts before the break! We had 3 classes to work on them before break, and one this week. There are still a few students who need to finish! 

Social 

We are continuing to work through our regions by taking notes and adding to our My Maps project. Stay tuned for the final product!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Congratulations to our Potter House Cup Winners.....'

GRYFFINDOR! 

These kiddos worked hard, and came from behind and beat out their competition! Students receive points on a team basis from participation in class discussion, model behaviour and kindess to others. 

It was very close - the closest I have ever had!

 AND this is GRYFFINDOR'S FIRST EVER HOUSE CUP! Way to go!

On Monday, we all received a very important notice! There was a special mission for us to complete - and it came right from the big man - SANTA! 

Students have been working on sharpening the google skills! Working through a Google Slides project, all week we've been adding to our skills. So far, we've worked on how to use shapes, text boxes, word, art, attaching links, Google Earth, Google Maps and adding images to our presentation! 

This project was adapted from a booklet made by Digital Divide & Conquer on TPT

Task One: You've found out your mission, now text your Best Friend to ask for their help! 

Using shapes, text boxes and images students created text conversations with their friends to plan to find Santa's List!

 

 

Their second task was to search the world for the list! Students chose to either search continents, countries or cities. Then used Google Earth to find the location, and then linked it to their search list.

If you were to click on the location, the link would take you to that exact spot in Google Earth!

ie. New York City, USA

The third task was to look in our own town! As a class, we brainstormed all the places in Devon a couple of elves might visit and why! 

Using Google Maps - Street View - students found these areas, screenshot them and placed them into their slides explaining why they think they would visit there.

 

And of course - they had to check their own neighbourhood! Taking a birds eye view - or house - shot of their neighbourhood, students made paths using the line tool of where they thin the elves may have gone. 

At last, they have found the list! Using Pixlr Editor (a photoshop program}) students photoshopped themselves, holding the found list, in a snowy back ground! Then they created an instagram post all about it!

  

It was a super fun week of learning tons of different tech skills!

Math 

We wrapped up our addition unit! Of course this is a skill we will touch on all year, but for now we are done learning it! We had our quiz on Wednesday and everyone did great! One area I noticed we all struggled with was problem solving. Looks like we'll be doing lots of practice in the new year!

Science 

Students have begun their product flowchart projects. This is where they trace how a product is harvested, manufactured, packaged and purchased by the consumer. We're so close to being done! We will finish them in the new year. 

We will also begin our Wheels & Lever unit in the new year. 

Social 

Did somebody say FOOTHILLS? We took a  look at the next region of study, once again reading about the landforms, vegetation, and animal life here. 

Thank you to everyone for an awesome first half of the year! 

We also took some time to make some heartfelt cards for the Holidays! You might see one coming to you soon! 

We also had an AWESOME last day together! 

The Grade 4 Team whipped up a pancake breakfast and hot chocolate! 

Dec. 11-14

Only one more week left!

A Few Reminders:

• Dec. 20th - Potter Cup Party!
• Dec. 21st - PJ and Stuffies movie afternoon. 

Leduc #1 - The Good Oil Days!

We absolutely loved our visit to Leduc #1! It was so interesting to learn the ins and outs of the oil industry, how the rigs work, the science behind it all and of course a bit of history! Students were engaged the entire time and even had to put some of their Grade 3 science knowledge about rocks to work!

ELA 

Students have been working incredibly hard on finishing up their Night Before Christmas stories! Using the original poem by Clement C. Moore, students have adapted it to create their very own story. It was a challenge working with all the rhyming words - and sticking to a theme - but they go it done!

Using Google Slides, they have added picture to each page to create their own colouring books! Thanks Mrs. Spreen for this awesome idea!! 

I will be keeping these up in the classroom from now until the end of January for students to read each others. If you would like to see a copy, they can always show you from their google drive!

Math 

We are still working away on addition - and now with regrouping! Students are working on addition problems with numbers up to 4 digits.

We have worked on solving problems with various strategies - using base ten blocks, breaking them up into expanded form and using our basic fact knowledge. Using base ten blocks especially helps when we discuss regrouping, as they can physically see the trade of ones for tens. 

 We started by solving 2 digit addition problems, reviewing how to regroup tens to ones. Then we branched to 3 digit (regrouping tens to hundreds) and 4 digit (regrouping hundreds to thousands). 

Science 

We have been studying how various packaging materials are made. Students will know use this knowledge to complete a product/packaging flow chart project! They will choose a manufactured food and create a flowchart that shows how the product is made and packaged, how the package is made and how the consumer uses and disposes of the product. 

Social

Two Regions down, Four to go! Students are digging deep into the regions of Alberta spending time researching the different landforms, climate, vegetation, animals, resources and daily life. 

This week they worked on putting their information into their MyMaps creations! Here is a video to give you a peak into what we're doing. 

Christmas Dress up Fun!

Dec. 3 -6

A Few Reminders: 

• Dec 10, 11, 12 - Kids Paint Days! Check Weekly update and email for sign up options. 
• Dec. 11th - We are heading to Leduc #1! Please check PowerSchool for the online forms.  
• Dec. 20th - Potter Cup Party!
• Dec. 21st - PJ and Stuffies movie afternoon. 

All that hard work sure paid off! The Christmas Concert was absolutely wonderful! I was not able to snap pictures of the performance (as I was on ipad duty!) but here are a few snaps of the cuties before heading in!

They look SO GREAT!!!

ELA

Reading

 This week we have been getting into the Christmas Spirit by reading various versions of T'was the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore. While reading, we have been taking note to compare the characters and their relative setting. Each version the Santa is a little different, reindeer can be very different and they are directly related to where they take place. Below are the different versions we have read: 

Now we are beginning to write our very own versions! Some working titles so far are: A Penguins Nights Before Christmas, A Unicorns Night Before Christmas and even an Albertan's Night Before Christmas!

We also have finished our Historical Fiction read aloud: Knights at the Kitchen Table by Jon Scieszka. This was an awesome book about three boys who get transported back in time to the middle ages!

After reading, we recapped the book taking notes on the important details: characters, setting, problem, solution and events. Students took this information and started a diary writing project. They retold the story, in diary format, as if they were there for the whole story! An of course, each one of us had to have a knight's name! 

Here are some student samples:

Math

Students have started addition! Using our newly acquired rounding skills, we started out with some estimating of sums. Students were given exact numbers, and rounded them to the nearest ten, hundred or thousand to complete the problem. 

i.e. 619 + 768 = 600 + 800 

Then we moved onto adding with 2 digits - which everyone did exceptional on! Some students needed reminders that we always start in the ones place, and move left as we solve. 

There was some confusion about carrying, and we needed to do some refreshers on who we regroup ones to tens, tens to hundreds, and hundreds to thousands. This skill will come in handy when we start doing addition of 2 digit numbers with regrouping next week. 

Science

The Life Story of Packaging! 

We have been learning all about how different packaging materials are made! So far students have taken notes and created flowcharts on the life of a carton and a glass bottle. Students created their flowcharts in google drawings and we able to add images to create posters!

Next week we will finish up with the life of a plastic bottle before we start our product flowchart project! 

Social 

Students have been back to the research and learning about our next region - the Boreal Forest! Through reading passages, buddy reading textbooks, students have been filling in their graphic organizers collecting information. 

Ask them about the Boreal Forests: vegetation, climate, landforms, animals, natural resources, jobs and daily life!