Wednesday 16 December 2015

December 16

Today at school we started off by doing problem solving until recess. After recess we had writing until lunch. After lunch we had theme, we made houses of the aboriginal people out of toothpicks, paper, and glue. Then we had recess, after recess Miss Pattie read to us. Then we had gym.

Tuesday 15 December 2015

December 15

Today is the day of our winter concert! For the first two periods we had writing. After recess we had library, we picked out a lot of good books. Then we went to watch the grade two's and three's practice for their winter concert tomorrow. After lunch we waited 15 minutes to sing our songs at the concert. Some of the songs were: There's a Candle, This holiday, Japanese Christmas Carol and The Festival of Lights. Now we are going to listen to Miss. Pattie read. We are going to sing tonight at 7:00 See you tonight.

Monday 14 December 2015

December 14

Today was great day. We started with practicing our music for the winter concert.  After recess we had buddy reading.  We had health.  After lunch we had theme.  We are making an aboriginal village.  We are using toothpicks, glue, and paper.  After recess we had one more period of theme.  Now we are doing our blog entry, then silent reading.


Arrival time for students for the winter concert is 6:30.  They should meet me in the classroom at that time.

Book review due January 4th, Students are encouraged to hand it in early (before break) so they don't forget.

Spirit Week all week - check out the schedule to know what to wear.

Friday 11 December 2015

December 11

Today we practiced the winter concert in the big gym we sang a lot of songs that were from different cultures. We also went over almost everything we have learned in French the past few weeks with partners and the whole class. We learned how to also say our age in French. We played a French version of "Spot it!" and "Old Maid". We coloured a bunch of snowflakes in one picture and are going to be hanged in the gym. We are now reading.

Spirit Week


Thursday 10 December 2015

December 10

Today was a good day. we started with math. we had to solve 4 math questions. After math,we had a music. In music, we practiced for the winter concert, every class is doing two songs in the middle of the stage. The songs are all about winter holidays. After music, we got an extra few minutes for recess!! After recess, we did three ''Say Somethings'' in our book club groups. After we were done with our book club groups, we had to finish our pieces for one of the water organizations. Once we were done with that,we got to eat our lunch. Right after lunch,we went straight in our theme class. In theme class, we talked about voyageurs, they're pretty interesting. For the end of the day,were reading a new book called "Terror in Winnipeg". Tomorrow is going to be a new and awesome day!!

Wednesday 9 December 2015

December 9

We started off the day with music. Then we had writing. We worked on our writing pieces that were due on Monday as homework. After a nice recess, we continued on writing. After that, we had an half an hour earlier lunch because we had to see the Royal Canadian Air Force (R.C.A.F.) which went on for about 45 minutes and it was AWESOME! When we came back it was almost time for recess. After recess we had class meeting. Now Miss Pattie is reading ' Because of Mr. Terupt'.

Tuesday 8 December 2015

December 8

Today was a big day. To start off this day we had problem solving. Then we had music, in music we practiced our songs for the winter concert. We had writing for two periods. After lunch we had theme and in theme we did a poplet and then we worked on our Hudson Bay map. After recess we had reading. After reading we had gym.

Monday 7 December 2015

December 7

Yay! A new week of school! For first period we had math. In math we used the white boards to do our math facts. Next period we got into our book club groups and did three say somethings. After recess we had library, we picked out a lot of fun books! Then after library we had music. In music, we practiced all of our winter concert songs, and practiced the recorder part. After lunch we had theme, in theme we researched the HBC and the NWC. After recess Ms.Rae read us "Because of mr.terupt. Now we have gym.

Friday 4 December 2015

December 4

Today was a great day! We started the day with music, where we practiced our christmas songs for the christmas concert. After music, we had reading buddies where we shared readings we chose and read to the grade ones. After recess, we did writing where we worked on outlines for lake Winnipeg foundation or Free The Children on how we can support either cause, and the reasons behind it. After lunch, we had theme where we learnt about the fur traders, and hudson's bay company. We then presented our explorer posters to our class, each group had different explorers. After recess we had health where we learnt about boundaries, and cyber safety. Now we have reading, where Ms. Pattie is reading "Because of Mr. Terupt" out loud to the class. We're happy its Friday !!

writing persuasively

For the second part of our year, as a school, we will be focusing on Water.  This class has a huge amount of information about Lake Winnipeg and the Lake Winnipeg Foundation.  We are trying to decide which issue is greater - the problems facing Lake Winnipeg, or the work that Free the Children does with Water.  In class we have talked about what we need to create a paper, we have prepared an outline to follow.  The students were to choose an issue that meant more to them and create an outline to follow about that issue.  Today we wrote a couple practice paragraphs.  The introduction and a transition, and the second paragraph.  The students now have to take their own ideas and come up with the first four paragraphs for their piece.  Next week, we will be working further with this.

Thursday 3 December 2015

December 3

Today we had a special guest talking about Simple Machines. We made our own catapults with popsicle sticks, clothespins, a plastic spoon and metal clips. In French we went over everything we have been learning and read Napolèon and did a quiz on the book. We also did a French game called "Spot It". In Theme we worked in groups and searched up what events happened during 1000-1800. Then we had Music and practiced our winter concert songs. We just made a timeline of what happened in the 1000-1800. Now Miss Pattie is reading "Because Of Mr. Terupt".

Wednesday 2 December 2015

December 2

Today was a great day. We started off with math. In math today we had to solve a math problem. The math problem was about leaves. After math, we had a gym class. In gym, we had an exercise with medicine balls. After that exercise, we played a game called ''doubles dodgeball". After gym class we had an very fun recess. After recess,we were choosing to support the Lake Winnipeg  foundation or support the Me to We foundation. Then it was lunch time!! After lunch, we were finishing our explorer poster. We hope tomorrow will be as good as today.

Current Assignments:
Outlines for our water writing are due by Friday.  This will enable us to move on.
Explorer Posters are due tomorrow Morning.  We had lots of class time.
Next book review is due January 4, but feel free to hand it in early!

Tuesday 1 December 2015

December 1

Today was pizza lunch day! we started off with Music. We went over the songs for our Christmas concert which is on the 15th of December. After Music, we read a book called, One Well. We read it to learn a little bit about water. After recess we wrote about what the book got us thinking about. After that we had our pizza lunch! It was DELICIOUS! We also watched the Magic School Bus while we ate our pizza. We then had Theme. We went outside and measured the size of a viking's knorr ship. When we came in, we started our posters about vikings and explorers from a long time ago. Today was early dismissal. YAY!


Monday 30 November 2015

November 30

To start the day off we had problem solving, then we had music. In music we went over the winter concert. Then after recess we had french where we had clock buddies. After lunch we had theme and we watched some videos about the history of other countries. After recess Miss Pattie started to read to the whole class. Then we had gym.

Thursday 26 November 2015

November 26

Yay!! There's no school tomorrow. We started our day off with music. In music we worked on our winter concert songs. Right after music we went straight to buddies. After recess some of us finished our sculpture writing. Then it was health. In health we tried to guess other peoples symbols that they chose to represent themselves. After lunch we had theme we presented our island projects. After recess we were finishing our work for our conferences tonight. Now we are finishing unfinished work.

Wednesday 25 November 2015

November 25

Today was a fun day.  We started off with math.  We worked on multiplication of some really big numbers.  Then we had gym.  We continued to work with Dimitry on the Mosaic.  It is going to be a really big circle.  We are getting excited to see what the final project will look like.  In theme we worked on our simple machine projects.  After recess, we had writing, we are writing about our sculptures.  

Tuesday 24 November 2015

November 24

Today we learned almost everyone's phone number in French. We watched another video of the detective game in French and practiced our numbers in French. After first period we had Gym. We did some fitness workouts. After lunch we had Theme and made our complex machines. After recess we had writing and wrote about our awesome work we did with the Seven Sacred Teachings. Now we are listening to Miss Pattie read "Because Of Mr. Terupt."

Monday 23 November 2015

November 23

Today was a great day because we started off with music. In music class, with practiced with room 14 for the winter concert. After music we went to the science room to help make a mosaic. Then we went to an assembly about not bullying. After the assembly, we wrote our thoughts about the assembly.  Last but not least, we started a four day project about making a model of a complex simple machine. We hope that the whole week will be as good as today.

Friday 20 November 2015

November 20

Today was a very FUN and busy day! We got plenty of work done. We had problem solving this morning. After a very cold recess, we had French. We figured out the boy's name in Detective X. The boy's name was Luc Têtu. We sang a song in French after. After a magnificent, playful lunch, we had Theme. We worked on our portfolios for student-led conferences which are on the 25th, 26th and 27th. Next we have gym which is usually fun. We are looking forward to showing our parents what we've been working on in class at conferences. We hope you have a great weekend, don't forget to sleep in and get LOTS of sleep!

Thursday 19 November 2015

November 19

Today was the first snow fall of the year! To start this day we had the Kenyan boys choir. Then we had writing, in writing we drew pictures representing our community and our school. After writing we had library. We took out 3 books that are suppose to last us 2 weeks. After library, we had music and practiced for our christmas concert by singing christmas carols. After lunch we had theme, where we learnt about what the aboriginals invented and what the europeans didn't have when they arrived on the land. Then we did art and in art we did some sketches for our big school project.
After recess we had writing, where we wrote in our agendas and then Miss Pattie read a book to us. then we had gym.

Wednesday 18 November 2015

November 18

(bring) the bell rings for school, time to go inside and learn. For first period we had music. In music we practiced our winter concert songs. After we went straight to buddies. Our reading buddies are so cute they read us three books then we read back. Then after recess we had writing. In writing we presented our legends. After writing, we had health with Ms. Danaluk we talked about reflection and reaction. After the yummy lunch we had theme. In theme we revised and did our good copy. After last recess we learned about the parts of a bison. Then we did our agenda and now Miss.Pattie is reading a new book to us called "Because of Mr. Terupt." We hope we enjoy the book. Have a good week!

Tuesday 17 November 2015

November 17

Today was really fun. This morning we had math, we had to solve a page of math questions. Then we had gym where we played team handball. It was so fun! After recess we had art and met an artist, Dimitri. He will be showing us how to make Mosaic tile art. After lunch we had TIA and we got our tealight candle holder sculptures back. They were really good, it was awesome. Then we had theme and we finished up our rough copy Legends so they are ready for the good copies. After recess we read the book The One and Only Ivan. It was a fun day!

Monday 16 November 2015

November 16

Today we played a detective game in French. We also sung the ABC's in French and learned more French conversations like "hi my name is .....". We started the day off with math. In math we did "expanded notation" multiplication and tried to beat Miss Pattie at it. After Math we had Gym. We played team handball. After French we had lunch. Then we had Theme. In theme we learned about myths and legends and had to make our own legend about nature. Now Miss Pattie will read "The One And Only Ivan". 

In agendas tonight:  permission form for RCAF performance, information about wasteless lunches, appreciation activities for patrols.
Conference booking site is open - some slots will fill up fast.

Multiplication again

We've been working hard at our long multiplication.
Here are a couple of examples to help you out.

Multiplication using Carroll Diagram

Multiplication using expanded notation

Good Luck

Thursday 12 November 2015

November 12

Today we had a travel through time.  This afternoon we saw a timeline from 40000 BCE to 2015 CE on a long and thin piece of paper. This morning we did some problem solving then we did some writing. After lunch we did theme, that is when we did the travel through time activity now we are going to gym.
Black Table

In math we looked at a new way to look at multiplication.  The students were given an equation and the answer.  They then had to prove it.  The method for proving the equation is shown in a post from last November 28th.  I have challenged the students to prove the equation 62x84=5208 five ways by the end of their long weekend.  There will be prizes!

I've included an example - only 4 more ways needed! (If you checked the Blog)


Monday 9 November 2015

November 9

Today we had our second TIA class.  We coloured our sculptures by putting a glaze on them.  Some of the glaze colours don't look anything like they will after being fired.  It will be interesting to see what they finally look like next week.
We started our day with music.  We played the papaya song.  In writing we talked about Rememberance Day.  We read a book called "A Poppy is to Remember".  We read with our reading buddies today.  We had health, we talked about what we want to be and our dreams.  Also, that we should never give up on our dreams.  After lunch we had theme.  We had to finish our projects today because we are presenting them tomorrow. We are looking forward to the Rememberance Day assembly tomorrow, our choir is singing.  We are looking forward to two days off this week - one for Rememberance Day and one for Report Card Writing.

Friday 6 November 2015

November 6

Today was a very fun and busy day! We started the day off with math. We scanned QR codes with math problems and we had to try to solve them. There were 16 questions. Once someone solved a question, they had to put it on the white board and Miss Pattie looked at it and if the answer was wrong she took it off the whiteboard. We had gym right after. We practiced our 3-1-3s for team handball. At the end of gym we played a tag game. After recess we had French. We learned a new room, the kitchen. We talked about what was in our kitchen. After lunch, the patrols had patrol training. The people who were not patrols went to room 8 to work on their Theme projects. After recess we had art. We finished our autumn art work. We added the leaves to our trees. We hope we have a good weekend and we hope you have a great weekend too!

Thursday 5 November 2015

November 5

We started the day off with math.  We started using the Carroll Diagram method (sometimes called House Method) for solving multiplication.  We are starting to get closer to the standard algorithm that our parents know.  After recess we had French.  We went over our "Napoleon" questions.  Then we played "Spot It" in French.  At lunch there was choir rehearsal.  They are sounding really good.  They will be performing for our Rememberance Day service. We had indoor recess all day again today.  It is still raining!  In theme we continued working on our projects comparing an Aboriginal Group to our island settlement.  We had gym this afternoon.  We played a game, working on our accuracy skills so we are ready for team handball.  

Wednesday 4 November 2015

FYI

FYI

November 4

We started our day off with music.  In writing we worked on the conclusions for our graphs.  We met in small groups and did a couple "say somethings" with Ms. Pattie.  We are getting ready to be independent with our book clubs.  We also looked at what we are eating on our islands, are we close to Canada's Food Guide?  We had our class meeting today.  In the circle we get to thank another person, or we get to get help with some problem we are having.  After lunch we had theme.  We did some research, we have to compare a pre-contact Aboriginal group with the society forming on our island.  We are hoping that Ms. Pattie is going to read from "The One and Only Ivan".

Homework reminder:  Graphs and conclusions should be handed in by now.
Second book review is due Monday.
Pizza lunch forms are due next Thursday.
Our next Integrated Arts class is Monday.

Tuesday 3 November 2015

November 3

We worked with a lot of clay today.  We went to the science room and made our clay statues representing the seven teachings.  We started our day with problem solving.  We used a new strategy - making a picture or a diagram.  After recess we had writing, we did a response from our book club books.  We had to take one of our connections to the text and expand on it in our notebooks.  It was raining today, so we had indoor recess for all of our recesses.  We had our first Integrated Arts session this afternoon.  It is early dismissal today.

Monday 2 November 2015

November 2

This day could not have been better.  We had three periods of Art!  We are working on a painting using watercolours.  We started the day with math.  We wrote down the equation and the answer then we had to prove our answer and explain it in our math journals.  In Writing we were introduced to the books for our book clubs.  There were six different titles to choose from.  We got to choose our starting book.  We had time to read today and make connections.  We had library today.  We had music,  we watched a video that student council made about the Rock - Paper - Scissors Contest.  After that we practiced on the instruments.  After lunch we had art.  We have gym next.

Thursday 29 October 2015

October 29

We did a lot of different things today.  We used K'nex to explore simple machines.  We started off with the correct number of pieces for our machine, but they were the wrong ones.  We had to trade with other groups to get the right pieces.  The trick was we had to do our trading - silently.  When we finished we had to explain our machine to the class.  We had gym this morning - we played Murder Ball.  In the game we have to hit as many people as we can with the balls.  In French today, we recorded ourselves reading "Napoleon" in French.  We also looked at the graphs of precipitation and temperature on our islands.  We started writing conclusions about the graphs.  We are looking forward to tomorrow and the Halloween parade.  

Wednesday 28 October 2015

October 28

Today we learned many new things.  We reviewed the Seven Sacred Teachings, each one has an animal that represents it.  We made sketches for our sculptures that we will be doing next week.  We started a new problem solving strategy, draw a picture.  We had gym this morning.  We played two Halloween games.  After recess we had French.  We learned a new room - the dining room!  We are super excited for Friday and our Halloween party in the afternoon.

Homework for Friday - the write up on the first few days on our Islands!
Also we have our second book review due on November 9th.

Tuesday 27 October 2015

October 27

Today was a very busy day.  We worked on a lot of things and finished many of them.  We had music.  We had to write down notes on paper.  Then we had writing.  We read a chapter of Hatchet and then we did a "Say Something" about a connection we made in that chapter.  After recess we had a finish up period.  We worked on a couple of different writing assignments that are in progress.  After lunch, we had theme, we worked on our precipitation graphs for Winnipeg, and our island.  Next we have class meeting.

Monday 26 October 2015

October 26

Today we had a substitute for the morning.  Her name was Mrs. Kennedy.  She did Math, French, and Writing with us.  In math she gave us questions and we had to solve them using the carroll diagram method of long multiplication.  In French we got together with a partner and we talked about the rooms in our house.  In writing we were editing our letters to Ms Pattie.  After writing we played the Geography game with Mrs. Kennedy.  After lunch Ms. Pattie was back; we had theme.  We made a food pyramid for our islands.  We included insects, plant eaters, meat and insect eaters and a top predator.  We are looking forward to gym.

Thursday 22 October 2015

October 22

Today some of us were at an important Choir meeting.  We did a lot of moving today.  Going places and doing stuff.  We had a lot of fun.  We read with our buddies.  We learned a new song in music.  We also played on the instruments in music.  After recess we talked about and then made a poster about connections when we are reading.  We had health.  We learned about parts of our brain and what they do.  In theme we looked at what animals could be on our island.  Next we have reading.  We are looking forward to our long weekend!

Wednesday 21 October 2015

October 21

Today was a catch up day.  We had math, we finished the math sheet from yesterday.  We are working on double digit multiplication using an array.  We had gym, since we had finished our soccer unit, we played bench ball.  We had french, we wrote about our living rooms, independently!  We played "Old Maid" to practice our counting.  For two periods of theme, we spent catching up on a variety of assignments.  After recess, we graphed the temperatures for our islands.  We are looking forward to finishing the chapter of Hatchet from yesterday.

Tuesday 20 October 2015

October 20

Things are rolling today.  We are making a lot of progress.  We started the day with Math.  We reviewed multiplying with arrays, then we looked at using a Carroll diagram.  Then we had gym, we went outside to play soccer.  We got to go on the structure while we waited our turn to play.  After recess we had French.  We reviewed all the rooms that we can talk about in French.  We also learned some new vocabulary.  At lunch recess some people went to a presentation on vermicomposting.  They got to play with worms.  After lunch we had theme.  We worked on graphing the climate of Winnipeg.  Next we will graph the climate of our island.  We are excited for early dismissal today.  In our school, the Conservatives won the election - we were wrong!

Monday 19 October 2015

Student Vote results

Last week 94 students in grades 4 and 5 cast their vote in the Student Vote election.  They voted for the same candidates as we're running in our riding.  Our results were as follows:
Liberal - 21
Conservative - 41
Green - 22
NDP - 9
From conversations in the hallway, there was one issue that swayed a lot of the student votes here.

Manitoba wide the results were:
Liberal - 8 seats
Conservative - 5 seats
NDP - 1 seat
Green - 0
31 151 students across Manitoba voted

Nation wide - over 800 000 students voted from nearly 6000 schools

At this point as I am logging off for the night, the Liberals are winning our riding with 51.8%;  90/180 polls reporting

October 19

Today we started off with music.  We continued to work on the song with the Orff instruments. We had writing; we wrote a letter about ourselves to Ms Pattie.  This afternoon we had a substitute for two periods while Ms. Pattie was in meetings.  We worked on responsibilities on our islands and the story of the first few days on our island.
We are looking forward to hearing the results of our school's Student Vote, after the polls close tonight!

Friday 16 October 2015

October 16

Today we had two teams counting the ballots in our ballot boxes from Student Vote.  Yesterday we held voting for the other 4/5 classes in our school.  We had jobs such as poll clerk whose job was to cross student's names off of the elector's list.  The Deputy Returning Officer folded and initialled the ballots before handing them out.  We also had someone at the door, guiding people to the correct line.  The ballot counters have to keep their totals a secret all weekend and Monday.  They aren't allowed to tell anyone what their totals were.
There was choir at lunch on Thursday.  They are learning songs for Rememberance Day.
Today we had French.  We made up a board game using our vocabulary words.  We also played Old Maid - a counting game.
We worked on our islands again.  Our islands were to be finished and we have written scripts.  We then used Explain Everything to record ourselves talking about our island.  Miss Pattie will make QR codes to go with our maps.  We are looking forward to gym next.

Thursday 15 October 2015

October 15

Today was Student Vote day, we were very busy and ran out of time to write our blog:(
We'll be back tomorrow!

Wednesday 14 October 2015

October 14

There were a lot of kids involved with music today.  Part of the Brass section of the
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra came to play for us today.  We learned about the trumpet, the trombone, and the french horn.  There was no tuba there today.  They were playing music written by Bach as well as other artists.  We also had music class today.  Mr Bychuk showed us a couple videos about the brass family so we were ready for the orchestra presentation.  We learned that playing a brass instruments involves buzzing, not blowing!  In Health we did some yoga poses and reviewed what we talked about last week.    It seemed like a long time since we saw our reading buddies, we were glad to see them again.  In theme we presented our Keynotes on the Aboriginal groups of Canada.  We took patrol cards to the different classrooms and had them signed.  We then brought them back to be laminated.  It was a fantastic, busy day.

Tuesday 13 October 2015

Multiplication Strategies

In class we have moved beyond basic facts and are learning different strategies for long multiplication.  I have created a couple of videos showing what we have been doing in class.

The following is multiplication using base ten blocks on a t-chart

https://youtu.be/0GqJ6vPiWiQ

The following is multiplication using an array

https://youtu.be/8oO80GZY9Q8

stay tuned for more strategies in the upcoming weeks

Miss Pattie

October 13

The day for Student Vote is getting close.  We are voting on Thursday.  We practiced and then started presenting the four political parties to the other classes today.  We have started out second long multiplication strategy.  We used base ten blocks and built arrays to help us multiply larger numbers. In theme we worked on our islands some more.  We talked about the responsibilities of our citizens and the rules/laws that they had to follow.  We are hoping for some more "Hatchet" today.

Friday 9 October 2015

October 9

Today there were a lot of kids doing a lot of things.  We had a math sheet in math today.  In gym we had a Thanksgiving themed game.  We had Bus Ridership with Bus Driver Bob.  He gave us all bracelets that his Brother-in-Law made.  We had theme this afternoon.  We wrote scripts for our presentations of our islands.  Our maps have to be finished by Tuesday.  We are looking forward to our long weekend.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thursday 8 October 2015

Criteria for a Great Book Review

We looked at a number of book reviews, we decided that they had several things in common.
1.  The title and author were at the top
2. The book review started with a hook - just like our writing.  We need to hook our reader.  Often with a question.
3.  We need to tell a bit about the story, not too much though!
4.  We need to tell a bit about the main character.
5.  We need to ask some leading questions - things the reader will want to read to find out.
6.  We need to recommend the book to an age group or grade; we might even give it a rating.
7.  Finally we need to take credit for our work - we need to sign our name!

Here is a sample from the book Miss Pattie is reading to us in class:

Hatchet
by Gary Paulsen
Could you ever make an emergency landing of a small plane and then survive weeks alone in the wilderness?  Brian is on his way to meet his father, when his plane crashes into a lake in Northern Canada.  He is alone with no supplies and no way to get help.  There are bears, porcupines, turtles, and other creatures all around him.  Will Brian get out of this alive?  I recommend this book for kids in grade 5 and up.
by Miss Pattie and students of room 12

(finally - don't forget to hand in your good copy - edited!)

October 8

Today had kids running races, working on ipads, and discussing issues here at school.  We are getting ready for the election, preparing our posters to present to the other classes.  We had a lot of jobs getting done, and due dates coming up for some of them.  We read some book reviews and discussed what they have that makes them great.  Now it is our turn to write a book review.  Stay tuned for criteria.

Wednesday 7 October 2015

October 7

Today we had another great day.  First off, we had math.  We had to promise that we wouldn't freak out about multiplying larger numbers.  Once we broke it down with a strategy, it wasn't that hard.  After that we had writing.  Some people had to work on finishing their Terry Fox paragraphs.  After recess we had French.  We had to write down what was in our room.  After lunch we had theme.  We continued on our projects about the Aboriginal groups.  Once we have finished our research, we will plan out how we are going to design our Keynote presentation.  Next we have reading and then we will end the day with Gym.

Tuesday 6 October 2015

October 6

Today was a busy, but fun day.  We started out with problem solving to warm up our brains.  Before we could start, we had to do 100 math multiplication fact questions.  After recess we had library.  Then we had music.  In music we learned how to play Rise Up, on Xylophones.  We also played four corners.  After lunch we had theme.  We started researching the different First Nations peoples of Canada.  We got into groups of four and each group had a First Nations group.  Today will be early dismissal.

Monday 5 October 2015

October 5

Today we did something new!  We were talking about elections.  We looked at the different political parties.  In our riding we have representatives from the Green Party, the Conservative Party, The Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party. Miss Pattie told us that we are taking part in Student Vote.  The grade fours and fives get to vote.  There are almost 2000 schools across Canada taking part.  We separated into groups to work on posters to represent the four parties in our riding.  We will be presenting these to the other classes, to help them decide how to vote.  We had to research on the ipads, and record information about the party platforms.
We had our pictures done today.  We had Health with Mrs. Danyluk today.  We did some Yoga poses and focusing our brain.  Today we had Music after lunch.  We are hoping for some "Hatchet" today.

Friday 2 October 2015

October 2

Yay, today we were the first class into the school.  We started off with math.  Then we had a second jungle gym.  We got to pick our favourite station for our last station.  After recess we had a substitute for period three and four.  The substitute told us stories about his brother.  After lunch we had theme.  We measured, drew and cut out all the items we had on the list for our sea chest.  After recess we had a fire drill.  Next we have reading.  We are looking forward to our weekend.

Thursday 1 October 2015

October 1

Brrrring, That's the sound of the bell, telling us to line up for class.  We had a blast in Math, we learned a new game "Numero".  Math was followed by gym; it was jungle gym today!  It was the first jungle gym of they year.  It was exciting for everyone.  After recess we had French.  We are starting to communicate with each other in French!  We played the game "j'ai... qui a..."  In theme today we talked about simple machines.  They are screw, wedge, inclined plane, pulley, wheel and axle, and lever.  Then we watched a couple videos about simple machines.

Tuesday 29 September 2015

September 29

Do you want to know what we did today?  We had the day of our life!  We started off with math.  We played a game called BACON.  The die is rolled, we total our score and watch out for the Pig!  if the pig is rolled, we lose our score.  Then we had writing.  We wrote more about Terry Fox.  We talked about revising and editing our piece.  After recess we had French for two periods.  We had to talk about the rooms in our homes in french.  Then we made appointment clocks.  We are waiting to see what those are for.  After lunch today we had a short patrol meeting.  It was supposed to be longer, but Constable Buduhan was sick today.  We took pictures of each squad for the bulletin board. Theme was next, we are working on the maps of our islands.  Some people are almost done.  We had recess and we are hoping for a chapter of Hatchet.  Last period is gym, we're sure it will be fun.

Monday 28 September 2015

September 28

To start our day we had problem solving.  In problem solving, we had to choose our problems from one of the four different categories.   The first category is easy, and they get harder as they move up. After recess, we had library, followed by music.  During music we were at the instruments, we played the song we learned on Friday.  After lunch, we had theme.  We reviewed our maps.  We sat on the carpet and shared our ideas about our maps.  Some of us are ready to start our good copies.  Today was an awesome day.  We are hoping to read next.  We will end the day with gym, we are hoping for a good class with the substitute.

Friday 25 September 2015

September 25

Today is Friday!   We had music for our first period.  Later we had our first visit with our grade one  reading buddies.  After recess we had writing.  We had health today too.  We learned and practiced some Yoga poses and balloon breaths.  After lunch we had theme again.    In theme we had to choose a location for our island.  We started drawing a map of our island.  We are hoping Miss Pattie has time to read more from Hatchet.

Thursday 24 September 2015

September 24

Today we started off with math.  We learned a new game.  Then we had gym.  We had double French.  We learned parts of conversations that we can have.  We can ask each other how old we are.  At lunch today was the first meeting of the intermediate choir.  After lunch we had theme for three periods again.  Most of us finished our lists of supplies for our sea chests.  We started making plans for when we first step off of the boat onto our island.  We're hoping Miss Pattie reads more from Hatchet next.

Wednesday 23 September 2015

September 23

Today we started off with math.  We played a game called "Scoot".  We had to solve the math question, and when Miss Pattie called Scoot, we had to move to a new place and solve that question.  Then we had gym, we played bench tennis.  After recess we had French.  We played a game called J'ai..., Qui a...  Miss Pattie read a book in french,  we had to use the pictures and words we knew to figure the book out.  After lunch we had Theme.  We used the ipads again, we were working on our lists for our sea chests.  We continued with this after recess as well.  We are starting our final copies of what we are bringing to our new settlement.  We had three periods of Theme today. We will finish the day with reading.

Tuesday 22 September 2015

September 22

Today we started off with music.  We did another partner dance, it was a square dance. Then we had writing.  We had to write down different starters for a paragraph about Terry Fox.  We had Theme after lunch.  Then we had a special guest come in.  The guest talked about having a hearing loss.  She brought two bears with hearing aids so we could look at them.  Today is early dismissal.

Students who come to me with the message "I saw it" will receive a prize tomorrow!

Monday 21 September 2015

September 21st

Today was a busy and awesome day.  We started off with a math game.  We threw a ball and whichever question our thumb landed on, that was the one we had to answer.
We talked about our Theme project for the year.  We are going to start our own island country.  We started by planning what would go in our sea chest of supplies.  We are limited in what we can bring.  Everything must fit into the sea chest, and it can't weigh more than us.
After recess we had French.  We talked about common sentences that we should know.  Next we played a game.  Then we worked on wordsearches to practice familiar vocabulary.  After lunch we had Theme again.  We used the ipads to research size and weight of some of the items on our sea chest list.  We had a fire drill before recess.  Next we have gym.

Friday 18 September 2015

September 18, 2015

Today we started off with problem solving.  We worked through the problems together.  We had our first library class today.  After that we had music.  In music, we learned a dance with partners.  Our partner kept switching throughout the dance.  After lunch we watched a video and we took some notes about Terry Fox.  Miss Pattie read us a book and we wrote a paragraph.  Next we will have gym.  We are hoping that we will have fun in gym.

Thursday 17 September 2015

In Math this morning, we looked at the multiplication table.  We focused on the facts that we already know and realized that there aren't many that we have to learn.  We learned a song that can help us learn the facts for each family.  Gym was great today, we got to play a new game called Gold Hunt.  We had French today for the first time.  We put the labels in our personal dictionary.  After lunch we had theme.  We listed the rules we had at home and at school.  We made nominations today for a variety of school committees.  We made a Y-chart for what writing looks/sounds/feels like in our classroom.  We had a great day, we had so much fun.

September 17th

We did a lot of stuff today.  We started off with music.  In music we played mirror.  We each had a partner, one person would do something and the other person had to copy them at the same time.  We had our first class meeting today.  We passed 'Spike' around and we had to either thank someone or tell something that we would like to change.  Then Mrs. Danyluk came for Health.  We introduced ourselves and something about ourselves.  Then she read us a story, Celia.  At lunch today, everyone who wanted to be a patrol, came to our room and watched a training video.  After lunch we had some free time.  After recess we talked about and discussed the writing process in our room.  Now we hope Miss Pattie reads us some more Hatchet!

Tuesday 15 September 2015

Today was a great day.  We started our day with math, we played a game.  In art we traced our hands, we drew things about us and that we like on it.  Then we cut it out.  We talked about the multiple intelligences.  We brainstormed and listed different careers and the intelligences that are good for each of them.  We made a community brain to represent our class.  We had another fire drill.

September 14th

Today was a magnificent day.  First we had music, Mr Bychuk reviewed lockdown procedures with us.  Next we did some writing.  We wrote about our daily 5 choices.  We did a lot of writing today.  This morning we had our first fire drill.  After lunch we learned about the smarts and different learning styles.  We took a survey to see what our strengths were.  We finished our work early so we got to go out early for recess.  This was day 2 of the school year done!

Friday 11 September 2015

Today was the first day of our new school year.  We had so much fun.  We made bookmarks this morning.  We hung from the monkey bars by one hand and Miss Pattie took our picture.  Next these will be cut out and laminated.  While the pictures were being taken we had some extra recess time.  We drew self portraits of ourselves.  They turned out great.  We drew pictures around them to represent things about us.  We made personal pennants to decorate the room.  This was our amazing day.

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Water

We have been continuing our learning about the 5 pillars Free the Children uses to help and empower villages around the world.  We first looked at the pillar of water and sanitation.  The students learned about people not having running water to use, or not having clean water.  We learned about illnesses that can be caused by unclean water.  Then we learned that this is not just a problem for third world countries.  This is a problem here in Canada, and even here in Manitoba.  The students remember how awkward it was this past winter when we had a boil water advisory for a couple of days, they couldn't imagine having to live like that all the time.  


This time learning about water has been eye opening for the class.  Next we are moving on to alternate income.


Monday 6 April 2015

Back to school

Spring break is over and we are back to work.  A quick review of writing decimals, estimating, adding, and subtraction, working with those decimals to the thousandths place.  Next we looked at comparing decimal numbers.  Which is larger, smaller.  This can be tricky if you don't think the number through.  
Before the break we looked at the rights of children and we had discussions about empowerment and the five pillars of Free the Children.  We talked about making a difference, how big things can start with just one person.  This week we are looking at water and sanitation.  Why is this an issue?  What can be done?  We are reading the book "Hope Springs" by Eric Walters.  We are also listening to a presentation by room 3 on water issues here in Canada.  The problems that Lake Winnipeg is having and the problems in drought stricken countries, can all come back to how we treat water as a never ending resource, when really, it's not.
In theme we talked about rebels and resisters.  How the classification as one or the other is usually determined by the person telling the story, and which side they are on.   We then completed a chart on the loyalists.  Who where they, why were they loyal, to whom, where did they go, what happened to them, and how their lives changed after they had to leave the southern colonies and move to British North America.

Tuesday 31 March 2015

Siege of Quebec

The siege of Quebec starts much further back.  In class we prepared a timeline of New France and important events along the way. 
1607 - the first British colony at Jamestown
1608 - first wintering at Quebec by the French
France and Britian never really got along, and by the end of the 1600's were fighting over control of the fur trade, this meant that the colonies were fighting too
1713 - Treaty of Utrecht is signed, France gives up control of the areas around Hudsons Bay, NFL, and Acadia.  The Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island is also built by the French to keep the sea passage open and free.
1755 - Acadians are deported
1756 - 1763 the Seven Year War - Britian and France are fighting each other, each trying to take over the other's colonies.
1758 - general Wolfe captures Louisbourg for the British.
1759 - General Wolfe sailes up the St. Lawrence river and prevents supplies from reaching Quebec
That fall the Battle of the Plains of Abraham - it lasted 15 minutes, Wolfe and Montcolm (British) both die.  The British go on to capture Quebec 
1760 - spring - French try to recapture Quebec, driven back by British reinforcements
Sept. 1760 the British capture Montreal as well
This isn't recognized until 1763 - Treaty of Paris, the war is over and New France is now British
Britain has had a lot of expenses with all these battles and sieges.  The way they try to turn this around is through taxes and other rules imposed on the colonies.
The southern colonies do not like this at all
1760 - the British demolish Louisbourg
1774 - the Quebec Act is passed by the British parliament, it allows the French people to keep their religion, their land system, and civil law
The southern colonists didn't like all of this on top of the other things they weren't happy about
1774 - the first Continential Congress - an airing of grievances by the southern colonists
1775 - the beginning of the War of Independance
Dec of 1775 - the American Continential army attacks Quebec City.  This became the Americans first major defeat.  The Americans had captured Montreal in November, then moved onto Quebec.  The Americans maintained a blockade, but in the spring, British reinforcements arrived.  The Americans were defeated then.

Friday 27 March 2015

Reading decimals

We have been continuing to work on reading decimals and large numbers with zeros.  We talked about adding and subtracting with decimals. It is very important to add or subtract like values - tenths to tenths.  Line up the decimals to make this easier.  

We also built a cubic meter.  We discovered how many students can fit in a cubic meter.

Monday 23 March 2015

March 23

In math today, we looked at how one whole is divided up into smaller pieces when we are talking about fractions.  We made a fraction strip that allowed us to compare tenths, hundredths, and thousandths.

 We practiced showing fraction amounts and looking at the components of each.

In writing, we are starting a large inquiry project.  We watched a short video and then talked about what empowerment means.  The small words 'we' and 'power' are in the larger word and they both are part of the larger meaning.  We read about Chris and Marc Kielburger, how Chris read a headline one day, told his class about it, and ended up starting a world wide organization called Free the Children.  

In social studies, we are looking at information on our remaining topics.  From the development of New France into a thriving community, to the Seige of Quebec, the Loyalists, the further development of the fur trade, the Metis, the Red River Settlement, Immigration, British North America of the 1800s, and ending up with Confederation.
Next we'll decide what we'll tackle next.



Friday 20 March 2015

Chemical and physical changes

We placed steel wool in a test tube over a beaker of water, what will happen?  Lots of predictions happening.


We also looked at our examples of physical and chemical changes.

Physical changes - making a salad, dissolving sugar in water, bending an object, cutting something, melting wax, chewing, cutting wood - sawdust, melting ice.

Chemical changes - baking soda and vinegar (gas produced), burning a candle (heat produced), rusting iron (colour change), burning paper or wood, digestion, cooking food, decomposition.

Decimals

The students are pretty comfortable with place value of whole numbers.  So it must be time to introduce the reading of decimals.  They have seen decimals in our measurement unit, but there were a lot of 'points' being said.

They know that our number system is a base 10 system and that each 'level' going up is 10 more, and that getting smaller means it is ten pieces of.  Now they need to understand that the same thing happens across the decimal.  Next to the decimal is the tenths, then the hundredths, and then the thousandths.  The decimal is where they finally get to use that 'and' that they wanted to say before.
Practice writing numbers up to millions and then with up to three decimal places.  Also writing the number words for each of the numbers.

Science

When a substance changes state, does the mass of the substance change?
We looked at several substances, found their mass, and then we changed their state, mostly by adding heat.  We found that the mass of each stayed the same.  Even in the case of baking soda and vinegar, where a gas is produced, we found that the total mass did not change.

We talked about and watched a movie on physical changes and chemical changes.  
Physical changes alter the characteristics of a substance, but they do not produce new substances.  Physical changes include changes in size, shape, or state.
Chemical changes produce a a new substance with its own characteristics and properties.  Clues that a chemical change has taken place is a colour change or that heat and/or light is produced.
Students made a list of physical and chemical changes.  Later today we'll check their lists and see how they did.

Volume

Finding volume is tricky.  Remembering that the formula for finding the volume of a rectangular prism (box) is length times width times height.  We practiced calculating the volume for a number of different sized boxes.

Wednesday 18 March 2015

Book reviews

Scholastic is challenging classrooms to read 100 books.  They will then donate books to those who don't have.  I have upped the challenge for my grade fives.  They have to demonstrate that they have read the book by writing a good book review.  They have until the end of May to read and write 5-6 books and reviews.  The first one is due this Friday.  The second will be due after Spring Break.  Their criteria for good book reviews is in an earlier post.  Their writing must also be neat, easy to read, and edited at a grade 5 level, as discussed in class.

Properties of Substances

In science, we have been working on characteristics of substances.  How scientifically, we can look at texture, flexibility, buoyancy, colour, hardness, strength, solubility and mass to categorize different substances.  Today in class the students were given different substances and they had to categorize or discribe each by the given descriptors.  The students had a tendancy to want to label or identify the substance, they needed to be reminded that, that wasn't today's job.

Tuesday 17 March 2015

The Rights of Children

We are starting an area of learning about the rights of children.  The students are brainstorming about what they know or think they know about children's lives around the world.  They came up with quite a list.  They focused a lot on what children don't have.  So I asked the question: What should all children have the right to?
The students have a pretty good grasp on the topic.

Then we brainstormed what we want to find out


We read a book that had a shortened version of the stories of Malala and Iqbal.  Two children from Pakistan.  The students briefly talked to each other about what struck them from the stories.  The. They went back to their desks and wrote about what they were thinking.



Monday 26 January 2015

Division - just what is it they are doing?



Long Division – new
__________
3) 829


We are treating the numbers as their true value.  So, it’s not 3 into 8, it is how many times does three go into 829, or you may want to start with 3 into 800.

I teach them to use ‘nice’ number first.  These are numbers that multiply easily – 1, 10, 100, and 1000.  

It doesn’t matter which they choose.  In this case they could be using 100, 10 or even 1s (the ones will take a long time)

3 x 100 is less than 800 so it will work.  
  _________
3) 829
  - 300        x100
     529        (I can take another 3x100 from that)
-    300 x100
     229 ( at this point 3x100 is too much, so 10s)
     - 30 x10
     199 (hmm maybe a couple of 3x10s)
-    180 x60
       19 (now ones – I can use my fact knowledge here)
      -18 x6
         1 ( can’t get any more groups of 3 – so that is my remainder
(count up the numbers of groups I multiplied out
100+100+10+60+6

276 r 1
    3) 829 Don’t forget to write in the answer and remainder



Friday 16 January 2015

Owl Pellets

We dissected owl pellets in class today.  Once they got started, it was so quiet in the room.  We had really good pellets and we found sculls, jaws, and lots of smaller bones.  It was interesting to think about how these skeletons have similarities and differences to our own.