November 30th

1) Book Fair starts Wednesday!
2) Work on your RRJ entry - due this week
3) Gr. 4 - Work on Zoo Assignment
4) Finish food label comparison chart and question for Tuesday
5) Finish last reading log entry for tonight

November 29th

1) Book fair starts Wednesday (see the note that went home)
2) Finish bullying graph if it's not done (some students finished in class)
3) Bar graph quiz tomorrow

• Students will be asked to construct a bar graph tomorrow. If you're not sure what to do for a bar graph, please find and review the success criteria on this blog. 

4) note home about extra school clothing 

5) Important letter home from Mr. Gardner 

6) continue filling out your reading log 

November 28th

1) Practice reader's theatre script
2) Grade 4's - finish ALL of the sheets on castles
3) Read out loud with someone at home and put it into your reading log
4) Grade 4 science - finish your zany zoology package

November 27th

1) Pizza orders due tomorrow!
2) Practice reader's theatre script
3) Finish social studies work

• grade 4's all castle pages done (try your best to fill in the labels on your diagram, but if you can't get all of them we'll finish them together tomorrow) 
• Castle Links (look for the Castle Terminology page)
• grade 5's finish the 2 story organizers on Hercules and Persophene and Demeter 
• Demeter and Persephone
• Hercules
• 4) Finish 3 food label comparison chart and summary question for Tuesday. If you want you can come in at recess to work on it with the iPad app 

5) Grade 4 science - steps 1-6 complete for Wednesday 

November 26th

1) Pizza orders due November 28th
2) Practice reader's theatre scripts
3) Fill out reading log
4) Grade 4 science - Steps 1-6 complete for Wednesday

November 21st

1) Pizza orders due November 28th
2) School council fundraising survey due November 30th
3) Finish math textbook work
4) Parent and teacher interviews tomorrow night or Friday morning
5) Scholastic book orders due Monday
6) Read out loud for 15 minutes with someone at home and fill out your reading log

November 20th

1) Review progress report, sign and return envelope
2) Parent and teacher interview form is in the progress report envelope
3) Scholastic orders due Monday
4) Finished your published draft of The Old Black Fly Landed on my Personal Treasure
5) Read out loud for 15 minutes
6) Grade 4 science assignment due tomorrow

November 19th

1) Important letter home from Mr. Gardner
2) Read for 15 minutes out loud and fill out your At Home Reading Log
3) Finish hand art for Monday
4) Grade 4's - Zany Zoo Science assignment due Wednesday
5) Complete and return fundraising form
6) Sign and return Arts Package form

November 16th

1) Complete and return the School Council Fundraising Survey
2) Sign and return Art Package Form
3) Finish 2 large graphs on our class' eating habits

Success Criteria for a Bar Graph (developed by our class)

• bars are the same width and evenly spaced out 
• clear accurate labels are used for the x and y-axis 
• a title is used that clearly says what the graph is showing 
• colour is used only used to enhance the organization of the graph 
• the scale that's used on the y-axis should count up by the same amount each time and the numbers should be evenly spaced 
• The scale for the y-axis should be reasonable (numbers to too high or too low) 

Students should use the data that I shared with them in Google Drive. They are to pick one or two categories to graph on the accurate side. The accurate side should show a graph that meets all of the success criteria points above. The inacurate graph should have one or two mistakes on it; like leaving a label off or making the spaces in between the numbers on the y-axis uneven. 

4) Get health and decalogue rubric signed

November 14th

1) Sign and return Arts Program Package by Friday
2) Sign and return parent and teacher interview form by Friday
3) Grade 4 Sibbald Point trip tomorrow!

• come prepared for the weather 
• bring your lunch 
• bring a mug and fifty cents for hot chocolate 

November 13th

1) Grade four students go to Sibbald Point on Thursday. Please dress for all the weather possibilities.
2) Finish social studies (see yesterdays blog entry for details)
3) Finish typing up your Old Black Fly on my Personal Treasure page (do this in Google Drive)
4) School Council not home
5) Grade fives - finish nike sheet for science

November 12th

1) Bring in empty cookie, cereal or cracker box
2) Finish social studies for Wednesday

• Grade 5's - finish Greek Gods page at recess if you're not done. This will need to be done in Comic LIfe at recess. I will make myself available over the next two days if you need time
• Grade 4's - Finish serfs package. This includes questions 1 to 5 in the package and the visual organizer that you should've picked up at the end of the day today. 

3) Finish DPA bar graph 

• Students should have some data recorded in their math journals. This data is on the number of laps done by our class during DPA. Students are to create graphs displaying this data. 

4) Finish your rough draft of The Old Fly Landed on my Personal Treasure page. 

5) Grade 5's finish Nike sheet for science 

November 9th

I am so proud of my students today. Each and every one of them did a fantastic job during our Remembrance Day assembly. They performed admirably and many parents, students and teachers commented on how great they were.

1) Bring in an empty cereal, cracker or cookie box
2) Grade 4's - finish your good copy of your coat of arms (should be coloured and very neat)
3) Fill out and return parent and teacher interview forms
4) Finish rough draft of your personal treasure

• Students are working on generating ideas in their writing. By picking 6 'personal treasures' that mean the world to them, they can communicate who they are while writing. Below, you will find an example of a personal treasure page. 

Example of a Personal Treasures Page

November 8th

1) bring in donation for your poppy
2) finish your post card for peace
3) line art due tomorrow
4) fill in and return parent and teacher interview
5) finish life treasure brainstorming

November 7th

1) Bring in empty cereal, cookie or cracker box
2) Work on RRJ entry
3) Fill out and return parent teacher interview forms
4) Practice your part of our Remembrance Day poems
5) Read November update on this site
6) Remembrance Day assembly this Friday at 10:20am , parents and family are welcome to attend

November 6th

1) Picture orders due tomorrow
2) Grade 4's - finish your rough copy of your coat of arms
3) Grade 4's - bring in your Sibbald Point forms
4) Decalogues due tomorrow
5) Bring in empty cereal, cookie or cracker box

November 5th

1) Work on reading response journal
2) Grade 4's - work on your coat of arms. Read over the materials, then follow the instructions on page 39 to plan your coat of arms (in your T-table), then do your rough draft on the actual coat of arms you have.
3) Practice your part for our Remembrance Day poem (The Candles)
4) Read November update

November Update

Winter is coming. Batten down the hatches!

Math 

We're two math units in and are just starting up one of my favourite units in math - data management. Data management is a great unit in math that allows us to collaborate and create some meaningful work on computers.

Reading

We are finishing our connections unit and moving on to reading with fluency. Reading with fluency is basically being able to read out loud. Reading out loud is a skill that needs to be taught and practiced. Students will start to ask to read to someone at home on a regular basis. I'm asking that each student read out loud for about fifteen minutes with someone at home. Students can read a variety of texts to someone at home. The reading doesn't have to be limited to novels or fictional works. Students can read magazine articles, recipes when helping you in the kitchen or instructions when you're making them put together your new Ikea bedroom set! Finally, students will have a reading log that will have to be signed nightly by someone at home.

Writing

We are continuing or Me Time Capsule assignments and are finishing up our word work on verbs. After finishing our Time Capsule assignment we will begin a writing unit on organizing ideas and writing about medieval times or early civilizations. We will continue to work on paragraphing (grouping ideas together), capitalization, commas and proper nouns.

Social Studies

We're continue to work on Medieval times and ancient civilizations. We're quickly approaching the hands on portion of this unit when we'll have a chance to build some medieval weaponry (that is safe of course!) and castles or other ancient structures.

A Few Reminders and Requests

Chess Club

A few students in the class have inquired about starting up a chess club. I think this is a fantastic idea that will allow students to play one of the world's best games, while socializing in a productive manner. Unfortunately, I don't have any chess boards and don't have funds through the school to buy boards. If you have any old or lightly used chess sets our Chess Club will greatly appreciate your donations. 

Remembrance Day

Our class will be doing a choral reading of a poem for our Rembrance Day Assembly this Friday at 10:20. Students will be in small groups reading one or two lines to contribute to the poetry reading. All family members are welcome to attend. 

Being Mindful of the Time 

Coming to school on time helps us get ready for the day. By arriving late, we are often a bit stressed out  and not able to fully prepare for what's ahead. In addition, we also need to respect school rules and expectations and arriving on time ready to learn is one of them. Students who consistently arrive late to class will start paying that time back at morning recess. Hopefully, this will motivate them to arrive on time.

Completing School Work at Home

Completing homework on time is also an important expectation that needs to be addressed with some of us. The majority of the homework that is assigned is work that was not finished in class. By not completing that work some of us are starting to fall behind with our schoolwork. This has a negative impact as the more we forget to do our work, the further we get behind. Please try and remember to check this blog and check your agenda for work that needs to be completed. Parents, please sign your son/daughter's agenda nightly. 

November 2nd

1) Grade 5 science - finish healthy eating chart
2) Work on RRJ entries - section one AND 2 due next week

• for section number two students have to pick TWO connection activities to complete. These activities can be found at the back of their reading response journals. Each activity should be at least a paragraph long 

3) Grade 4's - fill out and return Sibbald Point form 

4) Finish connections page for Where the Big Fish Are 

• Students should finish ONE connection per section of their visual organizer. That means they should have one text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world connection done 
• Student should use EXACT sentences or quotes when filling out the lefthand side of the organizer and 4 or 5 sentences when describing what their connection is 

5) Sign and return math test 

6) Sign and return Important Book rubric 

7) Finish art for next Friday

November 1st

1) sign and return math test
2) sign and return Important Book rubric
3) finish verb page
4) Grade 4's fill out and return Sibbald Point form
5) Grade 5 science due Monday