October 31, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: Math mystery case due Thursday
Class Photos
Gift Card Fundraiser form sent home
Photo forms due Fri
Happy Hallowe'en!

What did we do today?

• This morning in math, the grade 3s used arrays to become chocolate bar builders and the grade 4s had a guided practice of how to use partial products to multiply.
• In gym, we started our skipping routines.  We got into groups of 4-6 people and Ms. Jones gave us a task sheet to record our routines on.  We have to complete 10 tricks, 1 being a hoop trick.
• After recess, we had social studies.  We looked at four fossil pictures in our text books. Working as paleontologists, we determined where it was found, sketched a picture, and answered the question of "What clues does this fossil tell us about Alberta's past?"
• Mrs. Wilkens read us a book in health called The Big Bad Wolf Is Good.  We had to identify who was the rock brain in the story.
• After lunch, we had the Halloween Parade and we got to see many costumes!
• After the parade, we had art.  We took our cast fossils and we modge podged them onto our paleontologist field journals.
• At the end of the day, Mrs. Wilkens opened a package she received in the mail.  Inside it had a Tibetan Singing Bowl.  Some people got to try it.  It is a gift to us to help us manage our noise pollution and to refocus us on our learning.

Questions:
1. How well will the singing bowl work?

October 28, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

For music, bring in a picture if you know of someone who has fought in a war.
Halloween parade Mon afternoon- bring costume if you wish.
Bookorders due next Fri

What did we do today?

• This morning, we made cast fossils.  We pressed an item into plasticine to make a mold. Then we put plaster of paris in the mold and they will dry over the weekend.  
• We also finished making our field journals.  Ms. Kidd even gave us some library pockets to hold things like notes and pencils.
• After social, we wrote a good copy of our tree descriptions and directions.  Ms. Jones gave us a rubric to mark it and to guide us with our writing.  After that we went out into the Whispering Woods.  We received another groups picture and description/directions and we had to go find that tree. We also had to rate their writing and how well their directions were on the rubric.  They got pretty soaked so we had to redo them on a dry one when we came back in.

Questions:
1. Did everyone find their tree?
2. Did anyone find the teacher's tree?

October 27, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: Bring an item(s) to fossilize tomorrow
For music, bring in a picture if you know of someone who has fought in a war.

What did we do today?

• This morning in math, we played an array game, where we had to roll two dice and create arrays on a piece of grid paper.  We were competing against a partner to cover up the paper.
• Today in gym we continued our skipping and hula hooping in groups of three.  Next week we will be starting routines in groups of four-six people.
• After recess, we had some catch up time to finish our place value spiders, work on our story ideas or complete our science posters.
• In music, Ms. Stephure read us a book about the poppy and we practiced our "Silent we Stand" song and we practiced our Cups karate.  See music blog for link to the "silent we stand" lyrics.
• In Daily Five today, Ms. Jones showed the grade 3s how to write an ending with a twist. The grade 4s worked on writing their spooky stories in their journal.
• This afternoon, we started making our paleontologist field journals using reused materials, such as old file folders, paper, string and screws and wax.

Questions:
1. No time today.

October 26, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: Math mystery case due tomorrow
Marty Chan book order form due tomorrow
Photo proofs given out today

What did we do today?

• This morning in math, the grade threes practiced creating arrays to represent multiplication while the grade fours were at the carpet with Ms. Jones to work with partial products.  Then we had to try some ourselves.  
• Ms. Jones also introduced the "secret student".  Everyday a student's name will be behind the Secret Student poster, and no one knows who!  If they show good student expectations, then their name is revealed and celebrated!  If not, it remains a secret. Today's student was not revealed...
• Today in gym we continued our skipping and hula hooping in groups of three.  
• After recess, in science we worked on finishing our noise pollution posters, as the due date was today.  Some of us came in at lunch to finish our mast"ear"pieces.
• During Daily Five/ language arts, we started to write our spooky stories.  The grade 3's continued to plan theirs while the grade 4s started writing in their journals.
• In Daily Five today, the grade 3s started brainstorming for a spooky story.  The grade 4s finished our plot map for their spooky story.
• Today in music, we listened to Hedwig's Theme by John Williams and we had to answer three questions to that song.  The first one was about the first sound and what it makes you think of.  The second was which instruments did we hear and the last one was what would you change.

Questions:
1. How many students will have their names revealed this year as the Secret Student?
2. Will the Secret Student be revealed tomorrow?
3. Will we do something about hearing for Fresh Air Friday this week?

October 25, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: Math mystery case due Thursday
Marty Chan book order form due Thursday

What did we do today?

• This morning in math, Ms. Jones showed the grade 3s what an array was and reviewed it with the grade 4s.  She gave us a few problems to solve using arrays, with the grade 4s buddying up with a grade 3.
• Today in gym we did skipping and hula hooping in groups of three.  We had nine stations, where we had to do activities like: hula with your arms and legs, skipping side by side with the same rope, crossovers, spinning the hula hoop like a top and the jog and jump.
• After recess, we had buddies.  Using a username and password, we helped our buddies receive more Starfall.  
• We had computers today and we did Mathletics. On Mathletics Ms. Jones assigned us two tasks before we could go on Mathletics Live.  Some of us also signed in to our Google CBE email accounts.
• In Daily Five today, the grade 3s started brainstorming for a spooky story.  The grade 4s finished our plot map for their spooky story.
• After library, we got time to work on our science noise pollution posters.  We have until tomorrow to work on them in class.

Questions:
1. What will all of our posters look like when we put them up in the school?
2. Which spooky story will be the most descriptive?
3. Will we still be doing the skipping rotations tomorrow? -yes.

October 21, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Marty Chan book order forms due Monday

What did we do today?

• We started Fresh Air Friday by talking about what groups do.  They get along, respect others, are on task, use quiet voices, participate and stay in their groups.
• We went to Barrett Park and listened to sounds in four areas.  We had to draw symbols of what we heard on our maps where we heard them.  Since we did not have the ipads for this activity today, we had to use a 1-10 rating scale.
• We went to the Whispering Woods and find a tree that we would describe.  We then wrote words describing it, we had to take a picture and we had to explain how to get there using cardinal directions and use some of our newly voted trail names.  One group even found a honeycomb from a abandoned wasp nest.
• Those detectives that solved and handed in five weekly cases in a row got their first detective prize.

Questions:
1. What will be the most popular book that Marty Chan wrote?
2. How many people will get one of his books?
3. How many groups next week will find another group's tree in under two minutes?
4. What will be our next math mystery?

October 20, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Marty Chan book order forms
Here is a historical minute about a famous person in Alberta's history https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m_4Gc4AYaI

What did we do today?

• Before and after gym this morning, we made place value spiders for our spider webs.  We had to make a number and show it in standard form, expanded form, model form and in writing.  We also had to write a number that was bigger than ours or smaller than ours.
• In gym, we started long rope skipping.  In groups of 4-5, we made a jump wheel and we had practice skipping with two people at the same time.  We also tried jumping into an already swinging rope.
• We had an author visit us named Marty Chan.  He told us two stories about him, which were inspirations behind two of his books.  It took up most of our time between recess and lunch so we didn't get music. (but it was worth it!)
• In health, Ms. Wilkens showed us a video about the Unthinkables.  We also had a fire drill at this time.  After we watched the video, we got to draw our rock brain moments and how we could have dealt with it better.
• In social studies, we got a map.  We are learning about where you can find fossils in Alberta.  They are Drumheller, Castle Mountain, Taber, Fort McMurray, Milk River and Grande Cache.

Questions:
Did not have time today. :(

October 19, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: Math mystery case due tomorrow
Marty Chan will be visiting us tomorrow after recess.  There will be an opportunity to buy books ($5-10) and get them signed by the author after.  For information you can check out http://martychan.com/group-list/mystery-books/ and http://martychan.com/group-list/barnabas-bigfoot-books/
Here is a historical minute about a famous person in Alberta's history https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m_4Gc4AYaI

What did we do today?

• We had a change in our schedule to start the day!  We had Daily 5 and language arts first.  During that time, we had to finish our typing, and work on our Daily 5 reading activities.
• In gym, we practiced different skipping skills such as the crossovers, and the skier.  We then played Mirror Mirror, where we had to mirror the skipping skill our partners were doing.
• In science, we finished our rough drafts of our noise pollution posters.  To keep us more quiet, the organizers in our groups used the decibel app to measure how loud we were working.  We were MUCH more quieter than yesterday.
• In music, Ms. Stephure showed us the Cups karate.  Some of us got to our yellow belts, which is the second belt.
• At the end of the day, in math, the grade 4s went with Mrs. Wilkens.  We completed math questions that had us represent numbers in expanded form, standard form, with a place value chart and in written form.  The grade 3s finished their LAST SLA task, which was a math problem about a farm field trip.  Yay!

Questions:
1. Which group will have the best description about noise pollution?
2. When will Ms. Jones talk about our necklaces again?
3. Does Marty Chan star in movies too?
4. What part of Alberta will we learn about first?

October 18, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: Math mystery case due Thursday
Author visit on Thursday

What did we do today?

• Today in math, we learned our morning routine will have a new part to it called mental math.  After our Brain Stretch we are to solve given basic facts.  Some of us have adding and subtracting, some of us have multiplication and the rest have multiplication of double digit numbers.
• In gym, we practiced different skipping skills such as the double bounce and skipping backwards.  We then played Colour Jump Tag again, but this time we could take breaks by pretending we were skipping.  If we got tagged we had to go to the hospital and do a skipping drill that we did today.
• After recess, we had buddies.  We helped them log into the computer and into Starfall.
• After our buddies, we had science.  We had to continue creating our rough draft for our noise pollution posters using our rubric to help us.
• In language arts, the grade 4's got ready to write a creepy story with Mrs. Wilkens.  She gave us a pre-write organizer and we had to make story cubes to make our stories. The grade 3's finished their written SLA answering the question, "If you could go anywhere, where would you go?"  During this time, we also had library.
• At the end of the day, we did our spiderweb art.  Some of us were able to finish and put salt on them to make them look mottled.

Questions:
1. What will be our next project in art?
2. Will we learn about shapes in math?- yes, later this year.
3. When will we do division in math? -November
4. What will we do next with our buddies?

October 17, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: Math mystery case due Thursday
Treat day tomorrow-bring 25¢
Author visit on Thursday

What did we do today?

• Today we had to start the day with a double class meeting, so our math was moved to the afternoon.  During the class meeting, we re-visited the story Filling A Bucket.  We also had a story read to us about empathy.  We are going to try really hard to fill buckets and show more empathy to our school mates.
• In gym, we experimented with hoops and skipping ropes, as that is our new unit.  We also played a game called Color Jump Tag, which is similar to Hospital Tag.
• After recess, we went to the library to have our photos taken. Cheese!
• In science, we started our plans for our noise pollution posters.  We need to have what noise pollution is, and Ms. Jones and Ms. Cowdy gave us a rubric to help guide us with our work.
• We finished typing our nature art and our reading activities during Daily 5.
• In math, we had one more day to finish our place value centers.
• Mrs. Wilkens showed us what we will be making in art tomorrow.  We will be making spiderwebs with pastels, watercolour paint and salt.  After we will be adding math spiders.  We also will be helping our Kindergarten buddies with this art project too! Mrs. Wilkens is now going to be our third teacher in the afternoons!

Questions:
1. When will we get our picture proofs back?
2. Will the author read any of his books to us on Thursday?
3. When will we start multiplication and division start?- this month

October 14, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

School photos Mon- come to school looking good for photos!
Treat day Tues.

What did we do today?

• We went outside to Barrett Park before and after our snack.  Before our snack break we had to draw a map of the park, making sure we had landmarks (trees, signs and bushes), the cardinal directions, the paths and the roads. 
• After the snack we saw what the shape of Barrett Park actually is on Google Earth, which is an irregular shape.  We went back and started a listening walk of the park.  We had to record what sounds we heard using symbols, which we will put into a legend.  We also recorded the decibels of each area-which we also placed on our maps.

Questions:
1. What was the highest decibel number recorded in Barrett Park?- 95 db by the road facing construction and Simon Fraser.
2. What are we going to do next Fresh Air Friday?
3. Will we be going to Nose Hill sometime?- yes.

October 13, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Big Box Fundraiser forms due or undamaged box of cards returned ASAP
Fresh Air Friday tomorrow!  Dress appropriately for the weather.  Wear good shoes to play soccer outside.
School photos Mon

What did we do today?

• We started this morning with math, where we did our brain stretch problems and then went to our place value centers.  We also had to show our work from those centers.
• In gym, we continued our soccer centers, making sure we were keeping the soccer ball on the ground.
• In Daily 5, we had a Read to Self time for 20 minutes.
• In music, we did this game where it was Ms. Stephure against us.  She has a rhythm that is four beats that we had to guess.  If 70% of us got it right, we got a point.  We won!  We also practiced the Cups song.
• Today in health, Mrs. Wilkens talked to us about the Unthinkables and who they are.  Unthinkables are "villains" that sometimes make us do unexpected things, such as be in someone's personal space.  She also started to tell us strategies to help us defeat them.
• In language arts, the grade 3s had to make a plan for their writing SLA, while the grade 4s heard a story read by Mrs. Wilkens.  She would leave out words that we had to fill in with a strong verb.  After that, we had time to finish our nature art writing and pictures.

Questions:
1. What will the teams be for the outdoor soccer team tomorrow?
2. What will we do next music class?

October 12, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: Social map due, sleep journals overdue
Big Box Fundraiser forms due or undamaged box of cards returned ASAP
Fun lunch Thurs
School photos next Mon

What did we do today?

• In music, we practiced the cups song and this time we learned the lyrics to the song. We also did a listening game where we listened to a classical music song and we wrote what what the song reminded us in our music journals. 
• In math, Ms. Jones called out some people to go to the blue table and do some work! We continue to work on place value in our math centers. 
• In science, we did an activity where we had to list unpleasant, pleasant, and sometimes pleasant sounds. One of them was a dog barking!
• In daily 5, we finished our writing in our journals and cops(ing) it! And then some of us typed up our work on the computer. 
• In gym, we did a game of soccer and stations. 

Questions:
1. Which class will win the pizza party for the big box fundraiser? 
2. When will we have our first spirit day?
3. When are we going on our first field trip?

October 11, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: Social map due, sleep journals overdue
Big Box Fundraiser forms due or undamaged box of cards returned ASAP
Fun lunch Thurs
School photos next Mon

What did we do today?

• In math, we continued to work on our place value centers and some of us finished our tickets to start.
• In gym, we had to find a buddy to practice dribbling and passing.  Then we played a game called Get the Ball, where the ball was put in the middle of the gym and you had to race your partner to get to the ball and safely trap it back on your end line.  Then we did this as villages and finally as two teams.
• After recess we had our first buddies get together.  We read stories to them as their computer accounts were not ready yet. :(
• In science, we continued to work on our how we hear worksheets and we coloured our folding ear diagrams.
• In Daily 5, we got to choose whether to do Read to Self or Read to Someone.  We did this independently while some of the grade 3 students finished their SLAs.
• Today was Tuesday, so we had library exchange.
• In language arts, we worked on finishing our nature art journals and some of us started to type them on the computer.

Questions:
1. What books will the author next week be presenting to us?
2. What is our next unit in gym?  Skipping and hoop games.
3. When will we do our first soccer game in gym? Tomorrow

October 6, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: sleep charts are overdue! Bring in by Tues.  Social map due Tues.
Big Box Fundraiser forms due or undamaged box of cards returned by Tues
Fun lunch next Thurs- deadline for orders is today- see www.Healthyhunger.ca to order.
No school tomorrow or Mon
Book orders due Tues
School photos October 17- see background form
School Council needs two parent volunteers to work a Casino shift, please email Shannon King if you can do so.

What did we do today?

• In math, Ms. Cowdy showed us four place value games.  To play these activities we had to complete a ticket with two three digit addition questions and two three digit subtraction questions.
• Today we stayed inside for gym again.  We played this game called Rainforest.  We had to dribble our soccer ball around the gym and the dots on the floor.  If we touched the dots we had to do 6 toe taps.  After we added sharks to make it tougher.  Then we played a game of Bulldozers.
• After recess in Daily 5, we continued to work on our journals and Read to Self activities.
• In music, we continued practicing the Cups song. We also practiced our Remembrance Day song.  The people who sit on the first blue and green riser got to share jokes, rhymes, or songs.
• In health, we reviewed our sleep charts.  Using our data, we had to add up how much sleep we got and divided it to figure out our average number of sleeping hours.  We also reflected on whether we had to change our sleeping patterns.
• The grade 3s continued to work on their digital SLAs while the grade 4 students did a spelling test and had time to catch up on unfinished work.

Questions:
1. When will we start multiplication? Division?
2. Will we have guided reading this year?-Yes
3. Will we be having weekly spelling tests?

October 5, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: complete sleep chart for tomorrow, Math mystery due tomorrow, journal planning due tomorrow
Big Box Fundraiser due October 11
No school Fri or next Mon
Book orders due Monday
School photos October 17- see background form

What did we do today?

• This morning, we did the the base ten block subtraction.  This time we had to use red cubes to make the blue ones vanish.  On some of the questions we had to borrow from the tens, hundreds and thousands place.  To visit this site, go to http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/category_g_2_t_1.html
• It was too cold to play soccer outside, so we played soccer hoopla and the game recycle in the gym.  We had four teams with four soccer balls in a hoop and we had to steal another team's soccer balls and bring them back to our own hoop.
• In social studies, we labeled a map of Alberta.  We also got into a group of three and we brainstormed animals, cities and landmarks that we knew were in Alberta.
• In Daily 5, we continued to work on our Read to Someone activities.
• For music, we are learning the Cups song using cups.  We also watched a video of the Cups song.  We also learned and practiced the buttercup rhythm; and a Remembrance Day song.
• At the end of the day, the grade 3s worked on their SLA's while the grade 4's Read to Self and completed a menu activity to show their understanding.

Questions:
We were so busy we ran out of time.

October 4, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: complete sleep chart for Thursday, Math mystery due Thursday, journal planning due tomorrow
Big Box Fundraiser due October 11
No school Fri or next Mon
Book orders due Monday
School photos October 17- see background form

What did we do today?

• In math, we got to go on the computer and work with virtual base ten blocks to solve addition questions.  We grouped the ones to make tens, the tens to make hundreds and the hundreds to make thousands.
• In gym we had to make a group of three and we practiced passing the soccer ball with one person in the middle.  That person had to stand with their legs wide so that the ball could go through.  Then Ms. Jones made it harder by having that middle person do jumping jacks.  And then we joined another group of three and played a game of keep away.  We also practiced passing and trapping with a partner.
• In science, we learned how the human ear worked.  We watched a video showing the ear.  The pinna funnels sound into the ear canal.  The sound waves vibrate the ear drum which moves the hammer, anvil and stirrup. After that, the waves go into the cochlea which is filled with liquid and tiny hairs.  The liquid moves the hairs, which transmit a nerve message to the brain which identifies the sound.  We also found out that ear wax is important because it prevents infections and dirt from damaging the sensitive skin in your ear canal.  We made a folding ear out of paper to remember to different parts of the ear.
• In Daily Five the grade 4s worked on completing their Read to Someone activity while the grade 3s were in the library starting their SLA assessment in reading.
• We continued working on our writing and artwork for language arts.  Most of us have started our first draft of our write up.

Questions:

1. In the library, there is a poster of a girl who has had the same cancer as Terry Fox.  How many people have had this type of cancer?

October 3, 2016

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: complete sleep chart for Thursday, Math mystery due Thursday
Library tomorrow- bring books
Big Box Fundraiser
No school Fri or next Mon
Book orders due Monday

What did we do today?

• Mrs. Polski was our special visitor to start the morning.  We did our brain stretch question with her.
• We started soccer in gym.  We learned how to dribble and trap the ball.
• After recess, we had science.  We finished our loud sounds scavenger hunt and then we went to the different areas of the school to record their decibel levels.  Some classes were in the hearing loss risk zone.  That means if we stayed there for 8 hours listening to that level of sound we might experience hearing loss.
• Our representatives from student council spoke to us about spirit days after lunch and we voted on our top three choices, which were share day, crazy hair day and twin day.
• In Daily Five we read with a partner.  Then to check for our understanding, we had to roll a dice to choose an activity folder.  We then chose an activity to complete which we must do on our own.
• At the end of the day, we did another journal writing activity.  This one is about our artwork.  We had to plan what words would describe our work using our senses and juicy nouns, verbs and adjectives.

Questions:

1. How long until we play our real first soccer game?
2. How much money did we raise for Terry Fox? $1500.00
3. What was the closest decibel level recorded?  Where was it located?