September 12, 2014
Happy Friday! Our first full 5 day week of school is nearly finished. (The students are in PE as I write this.)
This week we have begun our Science unit: Light and Shadows. We have done a few experiments with flashlights and different objects in our classroom. We have learned that some objects can emit light and others can reflect it.
Our Social Studies classes have led us on a discovery of the cardinal and ordinal directions as well as the provinces and territories of Canada. We will be having a quiz on the provinces and territories next Thursday. Hopefully, the students remember to review their notes over the weekend.
Math has begun with the Patterns unit. We have discussed position patterns, number patterns and calendar patterns. We have also begun to do some work with multiplication facts. We will need to know our basic facts quickly and easily by the end of grade 4, so please help at home with this skill. A few good sites that I like are: multiplication.com; mathletics.ca (ties into Alberta curriculum); and mathfactcafe.com. If you know of some other good sites, please share them with me. Of course there are many other ways to practice basic facts, and anything you do will help.
Language Arts - we have been introduced to QUICK WRITES which is a timed, topic specific period of writing. The students are given a topic - which has been suggested by them in the topic jar - they receive some time to plan their writing, and then they have 5 minutes to write about the topic. After the writing is completed, the students count the number of words they have written, it is recorded, and their goal is to beat their own number the next writing time.
We have had some incredible stories shared from our Quick Writes.
Please remember that next Friday (September 19) is our first PD day. There will not be any students in attendance that day.
Also remember to check the Power School parent portal for any fieldtrip forms or permission forms that may be requiring your attention.
Have a great weekend - hope the weather is nicer next week!
Mrs. Spreen
Happy Friday! Our first full 5 day week of school is nearly finished. (The students are in PE as I write this.)
This week we have begun our Science unit: Light and Shadows. We have done a few experiments with flashlights and different objects in our classroom. We have learned that some objects can emit light and others can reflect it.
Our Social Studies classes have led us on a discovery of the cardinal and ordinal directions as well as the provinces and territories of Canada. We will be having a quiz on the provinces and territories next Thursday. Hopefully, the students remember to review their notes over the weekend.
Math has begun with the Patterns unit. We have discussed position patterns, number patterns and calendar patterns. We have also begun to do some work with multiplication facts. We will need to know our basic facts quickly and easily by the end of grade 4, so please help at home with this skill. A few good sites that I like are: multiplication.com; mathletics.ca (ties into Alberta curriculum); and mathfactcafe.com. If you know of some other good sites, please share them with me. Of course there are many other ways to practice basic facts, and anything you do will help.
Language Arts - we have been introduced to QUICK WRITES which is a timed, topic specific period of writing. The students are given a topic - which has been suggested by them in the topic jar - they receive some time to plan their writing, and then they have 5 minutes to write about the topic. After the writing is completed, the students count the number of words they have written, it is recorded, and their goal is to beat their own number the next writing time.
We have had some incredible stories shared from our Quick Writes.
Please remember that next Friday (September 19) is our first PD day. There will not be any students in attendance that day.
Also remember to check the Power School parent portal for any fieldtrip forms or permission forms that may be requiring your attention.
Have a great weekend - hope the weather is nicer next week!
Mrs. Spreen
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