Look What We've Been Doing

 Genre Tasting

This week we partnered up with 4A and participated in a Genre Tasting morning. The students loved this format of being exposed to a variety of different book genres. They made a reservation with a group of 6 students and rotated through 8 different genre tables. The genres that we focused on this time were - Biography, Informational, Science Fiction, Humor, Graphic Novels, Realistic Fiction, Fantasy and Fairy Tales. After spending some time looking at the books they were "served", they chose one and read a portion of it. Following this, they completed a rating sheet of their book and had some time to share with their table mates. After rotating through all 8 tables, the students completed a reflection and were served a little treat. The students loved this activity!

 

 

Remembrance Day Ceremony

The grade 4 students did an amazing job reciting "In Flanders Fields". There were also some students who sang in the choir, led by Mrs. Stanski.  

The students also worked hard on poppy art that was displayed in the gym for the ceremony. 

Our Kidblog posts for the week were:

Weekend Update - Monday

Talk About it Tuesday - Favourite Reading Genre

WeSearch Wednesday - What is Climate?

Week in Review - 3 Things I Learned, 2 Things I Liked and 1 Question I Have

We spent some time learning about verbs. A verb is a word that shows the action in a sentence. It shows what someone or something is doing. 

We also spent some time reviewing the cursive letters A and D. We will work our way through the alphabet focusing on the proper formation of all of the letters. 

In Math, we completed our assessment on the first few lessons in our Place Value unit. The students were assessed on the following outcomes:

- identifying the place value of digits in two, three and four digit numbers

- writing number words for numbers up to ten thousand

 Congratulations to our XtraMath stars!! Extra practice at home is sure paying off!

 

In Social Studies, we began our study of Alberta - A Sense of the Land. We started by filling out a KWL chart about Alberta. We also completed a dictionary dig to learn the definitions of some common terms that will be used throughout the unit. 

 

We also completed an assignment where the students had to research the climate in several cities and towns in Alberta. They were given the Government of Canada - Alberta Weather Conditions link in classroom. They were asked to find the minimum and maximum temperatures for each place and record it in the chart. Using this information the students were asked what they noticed about the temperatures throughout Alberta. 

Congratulations to our first STUDENT OF THE WEEK!!

REMINDERS....

Happy Halloween!

THANK YOU to all of the parents that sent in food for our party!! Thank you to Mrs. Delbridge for the delicious cookies and thank you to her daughter, Brooke, for the jack-o-lantern oranges all week! So many treats!

The students also enjoyed either the games room, craft room or movie room for the afternoon on the 31st. It was a fun, exciting afternoon!

The students also participated in a Halloween STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) challenge to create a Creature Catcher. Working against a criteria and constraints list in partners, the students designed a device to catch as many "creatures" as they could over a 8.5x11 piece of paper. The students were given 4 meters of yarn and 4 pipe cleaners. They were given 30 minutes to plan and design their catcher. The catchers were tested to determine their effectiveness and then the students had to reflect on their design. This was a very open ended activity and it required critical thinking and problem-solving. They loved it!!

In L.A., we spent some time working on Haunted House Real Estate Ads to go with our Haunted House artwork. We brainstormed nouns and adjectives to describe the house and the things inside and we worked through the format of a real estate ad. This was definitely a favourite writing activity for most of the students in the class and the finished product was so well done! They have been published, printed and will be put in their memory binders for the end of the year.

Our Haunted House art project turned out AMAZING! The students took their time, mixing colour slowly into their white paint, to create an effective glow from the moon in the sky. They then chose, cut and assembled their haunted house with broken, boarded-up and crooked windows and doors. 

In P.E. we reviewed throwing and catching skills to assess student progress. Overhand throw, overhand throw to a moving target and catching skills were assessed. This October mark will soon be on PowerSchool.

Congratulations to our XtraMath Stars, who completed the addition level! Please remind your child to practice XtraMath at home, to master these facts. 

In Math, we are working through writing numbers, place value and representing numbers with base ten materials. 

In Science, we spent some time comparing products and the packaging used. We also discussed how different types of packaging affects the consumer and the environment. This lead to research on unnecessary packaging...why would some products have extra packaging, is it necessary and could they use less?

Congratulations to our Laser City prize winner for the month of October! Students are encouraged to read and record nightly and additional sheets can be filled out each month.