Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Welcome May, and don't leave so fast - May 10, 2019

Almost two more full weeks behind us with only seven more to go.  Time flies/

In math we finished fractions and we have now moved onto decimals.  We will revisit the topic of fractions, just as we will be soon embarking on multiplying with numbers using many digits.  As a result, we have been practicing our multiplication basic facts non-stop using daily quizzes, game cards and now Kahoot as well.  I think the latter method is the favourite :).

In French we have been working on "Les bas du pensionnat" and we will continue to do this.  We have also started reading as groups some French books.  Mme Adeline has also given to us some book reviews to create of books that the students could select from the library.  Although some of the books are in English, the reviews will be done in French.  And, while the students don't know this yet, these reviews will be turned into review/recommendation videos in French.  I will be providing more details soon.  We will also have work coming up for the Gala Oratoire.  Information will be coming home soon.

In English we have been working on many things, including our Autobiographies (many awaiting my feedback), Planet Protectors Academy (please send back the mission files - students earn points for those for their teams) and have also now started our second book study of the Wrinkle in Time.  Do not watch the movie at home :).  Each student now has a book to read from.  I have allowed them to take home their books but only if they bring them back every day (they are allowed to read ahead.)  If they forget their books, they will no longer be allowed to bring them home.

These past weeks we focused a lot on our games for the Coding Quest program.  All students will be able to attend the event at SAIT on May 23rd.  We still have tons of work to do to be presentation ready but I think the excitement is building now.  Some of the students have also been bitten by the "Coding" bug.  YAY! :)  Scratch is an easy way to get started down that path.  Lots of material can be found on their website (https://scratch.mit.edu) and the Coding cards that I use in class can be found at Indigo and possibly other stores as well.

In Science we also started working on Plants and will be incorporating it with lights and shadows as light is an essential component for the life of a plant.  We will also be building vehicles that move with solar panels, thus touching on how essential light is to many things (not just plants) and how we can use light as a viable solution (one of many) to our many environmental problems as well.

In Religion we explored how God has gifted us with the planet that we live on and we explored how to take care of it through the story of The River Keeper: the story of a family who embark on helping the environment and protecting our rivers for future generations to come.  

We continue to explore Indigenous history and culture through our book in Les bas du pensionnat and we will be doing more research in Social Studies on the peoples of Alberta (including les voyageurs and other populations) soon.

ChangeMaker Challenge:
This year, with the Environment at the forefront of our minds, we participated in a ChangeMaker challenge and have submitted a video.  While the video was edited by me (students have not seen the final product yet), the photos were taken by the students.  This is our call to action video which we will try to find time to share with the whole school so that we can encourage everyone to keep our schoolyard clean and help keep our garbage out of our forests and waters.  This is the first time I am sharing this video, so please take a look and be kind :).  With this video we have successfully completed part of the challenge; we still would like to organize some sort of cleanup event for the entire school (or at least with our class).  We will see when and how that unfolds.  Lots of planning to still go into that and the brainstorming has yet to happen.

Homework: 
Home work was Math (S26), English (week 11) and the assigned French Raz-kids books.
No spelling test this week.  The test will take place next Wednesday (May 15).  Words are already posted.  Sentences will be posted soon as well.

Upcoming Important Dates:
Monday, May 6 (Jour 2)
- Healthy Hunger

Tuesday, May 7 (Jour 3)

Wednesday, May 8 (Jour 4)
- Chess Club @ lunch
- Library

Thursday, May 9 (Jour 5)

Friday, May 10 (Jour 6)
- Gym

LOOKING AHEAD:

- Thursday May 16 - Weaselhead Glenmore Park Field Trip with Gr. 5,6
- Friday May 17 - PD Day - NO SCHOOL
- Monday May 21 - Victoria Day - NO SCHOOL
- Thursday May 23 - SAIT Arcade (Coding Quest)
- Saturday May 25 - Gala Oratoire @ the New Public Library
- May 27-31 - Scholastic Book Fair

Have a wonderful evening!

Friday, April 26, 2019

Update from an even shorter week - April 26, 2019

Another short week full of excitement...

Here's a short update from this week. 

Math:
- This week we continued working on fractions and understanding how to represent a fraction of a whole.  Next week we will start comparing fractions and even manipulating them.
- This week I gave out 9 certificates in Mathletics.  Lots of great work accomplished by the class.
- We also continued to practice our multiplications through quizzes, "around the world" games and even by showing our Grade 1 buddies how we practice our multiplications using a deck of cards.  With our grade 1 buddies we focused on addition at first, but then many were ready for trying out some multiplications too.
English:
- In English, we continued working on our Autobiographies and many more are now ready for proofing.
French:
- We continued reading "Les bas du pensionnat".  We finished the first chapter and next week we will start analyzing and understanding the book through guiding questions.
Coding:
- This week we continued on our coding and we also succeeded at coding a few small games using Scratch instruction cards.

These short three days we also had 3 gym classes, hymn sing and we worked with our grade 1 buddies.   Most exciting of all though was a show by a high school band performing this morning.  Here are some pictures.  The band was made up of 60 members.  It was absolutely amazing as many of the students attested to it afterwards. The band boasted instruments of all kinds (clarinet, trumpet, saxophone, violin, piano, drums, etc...) and performed 9 songs for us.  After the show the performers took some time to introduce to the our students their instruments.  For many, including myself, this was an incredible experience.
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Spring Variety / Talent Show

Here is a photo our Grade 4 incredible Talent Show performers.  This was rare and unique demonstration of the many talented students we have the pleasure to teach every day.  I recorded most of the performances rather than take photos so I don't really have many more.  Hope everyone else does :).  I was truly proud of the talent in our class and am extremely grateful for having such a wonderful parent council for organizing this event.  
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Chess Club

We continue to run the chess club every Wednesday and Friday and I will be sending out more information about the tournament soon.  Everyone is welcome to come and play. :)
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Homework: 

There was no homework this week.  Next week we will have homework as before.

Upcoming Important Dates:
Monday, April 29 (Jour 3)
- Healthy Hunger

Tuesday, April 30 (Jour 4)
- Library

Wednesday, May 1 (Jour 5)
- Chess Club @ lunch

Thursday, May 2 (Jour 6)
- Gym

Friday, May 3 (Jour 1)
- Chess Club @ lunch

LOOKING AHEAD:

- Thursday May 16 - Weaselhead Glenmore Park Field Trip with Gr. 5,6
- Friday May 17 - PD Day - NO SCHOOL
- Monday May 21 - Victoria Day - NO SCHOOL
- Thursday May 23 - SAIT Arcade (Coding Quest) - Tentative
- May 27-31 - Scholastic Book Fair

Have a great weekend! 

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Update from a short week - April 24, 2019

Hope everyone had a great Easter Break!  Last week was a short one and this week will be as well.  Nonetheless, we will make good use of every minute we have together :).

Here's a short update from last week.  Friday I will have an even shorter update for this week :).

Math:
- Last week we started working on fractions.  We are continuing with this work this week.  Fractions tend to be very scary but so far so good :).
- We also continued working on Mathletics earning even more certificates.  I handed out 8 certificates today for the last two weeks.
English:
- Last week we continued our Autobiography projects.  We will be using Book Creator to write our final stories sometime next week.
French:
- We are continuing to read "Les bas du pensionnat".  It is not an easy topic and we do take time to address questions and discuss important points that are raised in the story.
Coding:
- Last week we also continued working with Scratch.  The games for Coding Quest are now in full development.  This week, we are also taking some time to learn how to code in Scratch as we continue to work on our projects.
Religion / Art:
- Below are pictures of the watercolour art we did last week representing the night Jesus died on the cross for all of us.  Some of the students did not get to make one, hence the fewer paintings.  Each one has a unique way of representing the sadness and hope of that night.
In Art, we also did a bit of Photography last week.  We had a variety of items and shapes to find and photograph in our class.  We then followed this up with finding and taking photos of garbage in our school backyard.  We will be using these photos to promote the need for a backyard cleanup event or events for our school.  More to come on this.
For Easter, we also had a game where students had to work with partners to solve some puzzles in French and earn chocolate Easter eggs.  The students found these puzzles fun even if some of them were more challenging.  We also learned that hard work pays off - even in chocolates sometimes.
Finally, for Earth Day (April 22), we created Agamograph Art.  Not all are finished, but here is a sample.  They are very cool and help us remember that the Earth is a precious place and the only place where we humans can live.  As such, we need to take much better care of our beautiful home.
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Spring Variety / Talent Show

APRIL 25, 2019 @ 6:30 PM


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LENTEN FOOD DRIVE

Although our school is small, we still pulled together a good amount of food for the Lenten Food Drive.  This will truly help many less fortunate.  Thank you for everyone's generosity.  Here are some photos of our school's boxes before they were taken.
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Homework: 

NO HOMEWORK THIS WEEK!


Upcoming Important Dates:
Monday, April 22
- EASTER MONDAY - NO SCHOOL

Tuesday, April 23
- PD DAY - NO SCHOOL

Wednesday, April 24 (Jour 6)
- Gym
- Chess Club @ lunch

Thursday, April 25 (Jour 1)
- Variety Show @ 6:30 PM

Friday, April 26 (Jour 2)
- Hymn Sing, Grade 1 Buddies, Gym
- Chess Club @ lunch

LOOKING AHEAD:

- Thursday May 16 - Weaselhead Glenmore Park Field Trip with Gr. 5,6
- Friday May 17 - PD Day - NO SCHOOL
- Monday May 21 - Victoria Day - NO SCHOOL
- Thursday May 23 - SAIT Arcade (Coding Quest) - Tentative
- May 27-31 - Scholastic Book Fair

Have a lovely evening!