We have finished half of our FSA assessments and it's Valentine's Day. This seems like a good time to share thoughts and good times with one another.
Here is a great number operation game you can play anywhere at anytime. We played today in class and stretched our thinking independently and collaborating with friends. First of all you select 5 random numbers between 1-10. Then you choose a target number between 11-20. The object of the game is to create equations that equal the target number. You may use the operations; addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We encouraged the use of brackets to organize our calculations. You may only use the random numbers once. We created equations using 3, 4 and even 5 of the random numbers. Have fun and have a great long weekend!
Free style, breast stroke, back stroke and butterfly stroke! On Tuesday, some students in Grade 4 participated in the VISSA swim meet at Commonwealth Pool. The swam with courage and enthusiasm and represented SMUS admirably. For many of them this was their 2nd swim meet ever and some tried strokes for the very first time. Congratulations to all the swimmers. On Thursday, January 31st we participated in Backwards Day. We met each other in the school yard lined up backwards, wearing clothes backward and even entered the school backwards. Some teachers even did their classes in a backwards order: it was a fun way to end January! What is the difference between backwards and opposite?
Grade 4J Update
Hello all, Here we are in February, so hard to believe. Our class has suffered from lots of colds and flus; let’s hope we have had the worst of it! Updates I encourage you to check our class blog regularly for information about our learning in and outside of the classroom. The students have also been responding to their learning using their own blogs which you can connect to from our class website and blog. I am still building this site but try to post information and photos of different events happening regularly. If it is helpful you can subscribe to the RSS feed on the website which will inform you of updates made to our Grade 4j class blog. www.msrees.weebly.com password: student4j Wildlife Reserve Book Launch – At the end of last term, both classes worked collaboratively with Rachel Boult to prepare a non-fiction soft cover book. Each student has two pages of text and visuals allocated to the animal that they researched. The children have had a sneak peek at the book, we anticipate being able to order these books once the proof has been finalized. Stay tuned for this exciting opportunity for our students to be ‘published’ authors. Curriculum Mathematics –Measurement is now our focus. We will be working on calculating elapsed time, using money and linear measurement. You can support your child by asking how long something might take or ask him/her questions such as: “If we leave at 4:30pm and it takes 2 hours and 10 minutes to travel, what time will we arrive?” -FSA practice will continue with problem solving activities discovering ways to best represent full solutions. Writer’s Workshop –We are continuing with our mini-lessons and have started to plan important events in our legend. We are working hard to notice the difference between telling stories and summarizing stories! In addition, students will be practicing with more written pieces similar to what they will encounter with their FSA’s. Reader’s Workshop – An in-depth study of different genres as well as visualizing and questioning strategies continue to be our focus. We have also started a new read aloud novel Wonder by R. J.Palacio. Science – We are continuing to explore different aspects of weather and will start a project incorporating recording weather from a specific location and researching extreme weather events. Social Studies- We are learning about different aspects of culture represented by First Nations in Canada. We are looking forward to our Field trip to the museum next week. Reminders Emily and Oliver will be students of the week for February. VISSA Swim Meet – Feb. 5th– Students may come in PE strip. Please refer to the email sent out by Nicky Newsome. Victoria Symphony – Feb. 12th. Look for details about this trip to be sent home soon by Mrs. Smith Royal BC Museum Field trip February 13th. Please see the attached parent information form for more details. Student Led Conferences will take place on March 13th, 2013. Please see the attached letter, there will also be a hard copy sent home today. With gratitude, Jane |