Good evening!
I've got a little more time to write tonight.
In Language Arts, we have been working on reinforcing and solidifying the concepts of selecting appropriate books and learning to "read to self". The reason why we are spending so much time ensuring that the class understands these concepts is because I will be running guided reading groups at this time and it's critical that the students are able to read independently and use their time wisely in practicing their decoding skills, reading fluency and comprehension. The books that students chose from our class library should be at their reading level - studies have shown this is the best way to improve their reading fluency. In the coming days, we will begin to work on traits of reading - looking at visualizing and lifting great "lines" from the books that we are reading. (The intention is not to deepen understanding, but to also get them to connect what great authors do to enhance their writing).
In Writing, we have started the process of using our Writer's notebooks as an outlet to our ideas and thoughts. Each morning after word sorts, students are asked to "empty your head". This means that they can write down whatever they are thinking - be it something they did last night, something exciting that is coming up, or even things that are bothering them (like the tiresome homework that they have to complete!). The purpose in providing this time is so that students will be ready to take in and write about the things that I may present in the mini-lesson that follows this time in our schedule.
We have also begun to generate lists in our Writer's notebooks: Expert Lists, Best Lists and Worst Lists. We will spend another few days generating ideas for writing and will follow that up by activities that help to build writing fluency (again, based on reading-writing connections).
We officially began our first round of Word sorts this week. So far, the Red and Blue groups have had their word sorts introduced to them and by the end of the week, the Green and Orange groups will also be ready to dive into the sorts that we've been "trained" for.
Solar systems will be our first unit in Science. We will follow that very closely with a unit on Weather. A field trip is tentatively planned for the end of November/Early December to the Space Centre in Vancouver. By that time, Division 4 should be experts on the Solar System!
Last week, we began to look at the various geographical forms last week by reading a book called "Me on the Map". We came up with a sentence to help us remember (hopefully you've seen this already -- asked the students to take it home to practice):
Super - Street
Cats - City
Put - Province
Cup - Country
Cakes - Continent
Everywhere - Earth
We began to work on our own "Me on the Map" pieces which will hopefully be completed this week. In the coming week, we will also start to look at the significance of maps and the various components that you need in order to properly read a map. The students will be asked to draw their own maps with the grade 4's requiring greater details. The grade 4's will also soon be assigned a "mini project" which will mostly be completed in class but may require some work at home. A short oral presentation will follow the completion of this project - more information to come!
A last little note before I finish off for the night: On October 18th (Parent-teacher conference day #2), I will be attending the WE day event with PG's WE team. Since it takes place at Rogers Arena, I will most likely not get back to school until about 4-5pm (fingers crossed that traffic cooperates on that day). Since PT conferences begin at 2pm on that day, I will be needing to schedule some make up times - most likely the additional times will be (on top of Wednesday, October 17th):
Tuesday, October 9th
Monday, October 15th
Tuesday, October 15th
Time slots are:
3:15-3:30
3:30-3:45
3:45-4:00
4:00-4:15
4:15-4:30
If you prefer any of these times, please let me know soon.
Until next time!
IT
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Updates
Hi All,
A few things to note:
- previews and a news note are coming home today
- I'm sending home the first Scholastic order of the year - apologizes that it's both September and October. I was waiting for the grade 4 leaflet to arrive, but it seems like they are not going to bother sending it after I put in the request a few weeks ago. We will have to make do for Sept/Oct. Hopefully we get the grade 4 version in November. My apologies! Orders will be due on Friday, Oct. 5
- Gymnastics tomorrow - many thanks to our volunteers - got an overwhelming number of people responding to our call for help! THANK-YOU!!
- Homework has started up - you probably saw some Math come home last week and yesterday.
In Math, we are currently working on patterning with a focus on organizing data in tables/charts and trying to find the connection between the graphical representation and the numerical patterns.
Last week, we built "rectangles" by first colouring square strips and examining the difference between odd/even numbers. We noticed that all the odd numbers did not form rectangles while the even numbers did. We then paired the strips off randomly to see if we could discover a pattern in adding odd and even numbers. This is an activity we still need to follow up and debrief on.
A few things to note:
- previews and a news note are coming home today
- I'm sending home the first Scholastic order of the year - apologizes that it's both September and October. I was waiting for the grade 4 leaflet to arrive, but it seems like they are not going to bother sending it after I put in the request a few weeks ago. We will have to make do for Sept/Oct. Hopefully we get the grade 4 version in November. My apologies! Orders will be due on Friday, Oct. 5
- Gymnastics tomorrow - many thanks to our volunteers - got an overwhelming number of people responding to our call for help! THANK-YOU!!
- Homework has started up - you probably saw some Math come home last week and yesterday.
In Math, we are currently working on patterning with a focus on organizing data in tables/charts and trying to find the connection between the graphical representation and the numerical patterns.
Last week, we built "rectangles" by first colouring square strips and examining the difference between odd/even numbers. We noticed that all the odd numbers did not form rectangles while the even numbers did. We then paired the strips off randomly to see if we could discover a pattern in adding odd and even numbers. This is an activity we still need to follow up and debrief on.
Another activity we've been working on is using an increasing number of smaller rectangles to build larger ones and looking to see how many rectangles we can spot. We've talked about "habits of mind" and taking the time to think, observe and re-check before answering. I think the activity also forced many of the children to look at the shapes more closely and in a new way. Yesterday, we de-briefed the homework from the weekend and came up with the numerical pattern:
Soon, we will be working on adding another layer to determining patterns: describing the pattern using words. This is always challenging for students so I will provide many opportunities to practice (some may be in the form of homework).
Many updates to share, but my time is running a little short this morning. Will attempt to post again later this week!
Have a lovely day!
Friday, September 14, 2012
Writer's Notebooks
Hi All,
I sent home some information about our class today with those students whose families did not make the open house. Please do not feel pressured to get through all the information, I know I included a lot! Be on the look out for our gymnastics field trip notice as well :)
Today we finally got our Writer's notebooks. We've been doing a lot of talking in the past two weeks in preparation for today. The goal was to make the children aware that each of them have many stories inside of them that they can share - these stories can become part of their writer's notebooks. Their homework is to decorate the covers (backs too, if they wish) - they are to create a collage of pictures of things that are important to them. They need to cover only the yellow sections of their book with none of the yellow showing when they are finished (leave the black binding uncovered). They also need to have their name on the cover so that I can identify who it belongs to. This is due on Wednesday.
We also began our Solar System unit today. We briefly talked about how planets orbit, rotate and revolve around the sun.
We spent quite a chunk of time preparing for reading. The class is using the IPICK acronym to select books:
I - I Choose - I pick out my own books!
P - Purpose - Why do I want to read it?
I - Interest - Does this book interest me?
C - Comprehend - Do I understand it? (Open to a page, read it, ask yourself "Do I understand it?")
K - Know - Do I know all the words (Use the 5 finger rule. Open to a page, if there are more than 5 words that you can't read, the book is not meant for you (yet))
Today we familiarized ourselves with the classroom library and learned about handling the books, the organization of the books and how to re-shelves the books once we are finished with them. We then spent time reviewing how to "read to self". This involves a few things:
- Getting started right away
- Reading the entire time
- Keeping your mouth quiet
- Keeping your body still
- Staying in one spot
- Treating the books gently
We modeled both correct and incorrect behaviour and will continue to do so next week. The students will also begin to build their reading stamina in order to reach the desired 20-30 minutes of uninterrupted reading. We have also been discussing the purpose of read to self - building fluency (ability to read smoothly, use appropriate phrasing and expression) and to develop reading comprehension (understanding). In the coming weeks, once read to self has been firmly established, their independent reading practice time will allow me to pull students and work in small groups on reading skills that pertain to them. Generally speaking, I will be establishing about 4-5 reading groups which as based on their reading abilities.
In Math, we have begun our patterning unit. We started of easy - building geometric patterns, reviewing "core" and the names of the different pattern blocks. This week, we've begun to look at growing patterns. Yesterday, we built squares using 1 tile, 4 tiles, 9 tiles, 16 tiles, etc. and then charted them in a T-chart. We related this pattern to "groups of" and multiplication. Today, we built growing triangles and learned another type of growing pattern: 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, etc.
If you were unable to make the open house and have any questions/concerns, please feel free to contact me.
Have a great weekend!
I sent home some information about our class today with those students whose families did not make the open house. Please do not feel pressured to get through all the information, I know I included a lot! Be on the look out for our gymnastics field trip notice as well :)
Today we finally got our Writer's notebooks. We've been doing a lot of talking in the past two weeks in preparation for today. The goal was to make the children aware that each of them have many stories inside of them that they can share - these stories can become part of their writer's notebooks. Their homework is to decorate the covers (backs too, if they wish) - they are to create a collage of pictures of things that are important to them. They need to cover only the yellow sections of their book with none of the yellow showing when they are finished (leave the black binding uncovered). They also need to have their name on the cover so that I can identify who it belongs to. This is due on Wednesday.
We also began our Solar System unit today. We briefly talked about how planets orbit, rotate and revolve around the sun.
We spent quite a chunk of time preparing for reading. The class is using the IPICK acronym to select books:
I - I Choose - I pick out my own books!
P - Purpose - Why do I want to read it?
I - Interest - Does this book interest me?
C - Comprehend - Do I understand it? (Open to a page, read it, ask yourself "Do I understand it?")
K - Know - Do I know all the words (Use the 5 finger rule. Open to a page, if there are more than 5 words that you can't read, the book is not meant for you (yet))
Today we familiarized ourselves with the classroom library and learned about handling the books, the organization of the books and how to re-shelves the books once we are finished with them. We then spent time reviewing how to "read to self". This involves a few things:
- Getting started right away
- Reading the entire time
- Keeping your mouth quiet
- Keeping your body still
- Staying in one spot
- Treating the books gently
We modeled both correct and incorrect behaviour and will continue to do so next week. The students will also begin to build their reading stamina in order to reach the desired 20-30 minutes of uninterrupted reading. We have also been discussing the purpose of read to self - building fluency (ability to read smoothly, use appropriate phrasing and expression) and to develop reading comprehension (understanding). In the coming weeks, once read to self has been firmly established, their independent reading practice time will allow me to pull students and work in small groups on reading skills that pertain to them. Generally speaking, I will be establishing about 4-5 reading groups which as based on their reading abilities.
In Math, we have begun our patterning unit. We started of easy - building geometric patterns, reviewing "core" and the names of the different pattern blocks. This week, we've begun to look at growing patterns. Yesterday, we built squares using 1 tile, 4 tiles, 9 tiles, 16 tiles, etc. and then charted them in a T-chart. We related this pattern to "groups of" and multiplication. Today, we built growing triangles and learned another type of growing pattern: 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, etc.
If you were unable to make the open house and have any questions/concerns, please feel free to contact me.
Have a great weekend!
Friday, September 7, 2012
Welcome to a new school year!
Hi All,
I hope everyone had a terrific summer and are ready to be back at school. It has been a very exciting week and we are starting to get to know one another (or reacquaint!), form new friendships and start to develop a new learning community.
Next Thursday evening, on September 13th from 6:15-7:15, Port Guichon will hold our open house. This year's format will be quite informal - it is a time for you to come in and take a look around and meet me. I will have handouts regarding our classroom routines, expectations along with some information about the programs I will be using in our core subjects. This is also the time for you to bring along any questions that you may have regarding programming! We will hold off on talking about individual students at that time, but if you have any questions/concerns, please let me know and we can set up an alternative time to sit down and talk.
Speaking with the children, there have been a number of questions arising regarding being in the 3/4 split and in particular, tables! I will begin with tables: many of the students were disappointed to not have their own desks. I have explained to them that we spend a great deal of time working with concrete materials (manipulatives) and we often work together in partners and groupings. Tables offer a lot more space for them to spread out their tools and also provide greater opportunities to communicate and work in teams. Each student is keeping most of their own personal supplies in a pencil case which is stored in their group's tray. However, certain materials will be shared to simplify matters. The students agreed that this was a good compromise.
Regarding the 3/4 split: Both grades will receive instruction that directly address their grade level expectations. (I was happy to hear that the grade 4's were relieved that they would be getting harder work!). Science and Socials for both grades will be covered.
Part of my teaching philosophy is to provide instruction and practice based on individual students' abilities. Although students may see it as if they are learning/doing the same thing as everyone else in the class, slight modifications in my lessons or assignments actually can either accommodate or challenge students. For example: in Math, if we were practicing addition, I may give one student 1 dice and ask them to roll single digit numbers while another student may have to roll 2 dice to generate double digit numbers.
If you have any further questions regarding the split and how I will be running my program, please ask!
Supplies:
As most of you have noticed, I have asked for additional supplies. I am hoping to go through some of the notebooks next week and will be sending home notes to those that are running low on either inter-lined or wide-ruled books. (Based on my research from last weekend, Staples was still selling them and they were running for $0.69/book). Each child needs at least 4 wide-ruled exercise books (dark blue covers). They may eventually run out at some point in the year, so you may want to send a couple of extra books. Any unused books will be sent home at the end of the school year.
Each student needs to have: (I told them I encourage them to reuse any gently used items)
pencil case or box
1 blue pen
1 red pen
Yellow, pink, green highlighter
set of playing dice (for home)
playing cards
water colours
1 sharpie black felt pen - medium
1 black felt fineliner
1 box of tissues
I have also purchased composition books for each student. These will become their readers and writer's notebooks (each student has 3 composition books - 2 for writing, 1 for reading). I would greatly appreciate it if you could send $2 to cover the cost of these books.
It's been a long post, so I'm going to end it here. Have a terrific weekend and see you on Thursday!
I hope everyone had a terrific summer and are ready to be back at school. It has been a very exciting week and we are starting to get to know one another (or reacquaint!), form new friendships and start to develop a new learning community.
Next Thursday evening, on September 13th from 6:15-7:15, Port Guichon will hold our open house. This year's format will be quite informal - it is a time for you to come in and take a look around and meet me. I will have handouts regarding our classroom routines, expectations along with some information about the programs I will be using in our core subjects. This is also the time for you to bring along any questions that you may have regarding programming! We will hold off on talking about individual students at that time, but if you have any questions/concerns, please let me know and we can set up an alternative time to sit down and talk.
Speaking with the children, there have been a number of questions arising regarding being in the 3/4 split and in particular, tables! I will begin with tables: many of the students were disappointed to not have their own desks. I have explained to them that we spend a great deal of time working with concrete materials (manipulatives) and we often work together in partners and groupings. Tables offer a lot more space for them to spread out their tools and also provide greater opportunities to communicate and work in teams. Each student is keeping most of their own personal supplies in a pencil case which is stored in their group's tray. However, certain materials will be shared to simplify matters. The students agreed that this was a good compromise.
Regarding the 3/4 split: Both grades will receive instruction that directly address their grade level expectations. (I was happy to hear that the grade 4's were relieved that they would be getting harder work!). Science and Socials for both grades will be covered.
Part of my teaching philosophy is to provide instruction and practice based on individual students' abilities. Although students may see it as if they are learning/doing the same thing as everyone else in the class, slight modifications in my lessons or assignments actually can either accommodate or challenge students. For example: in Math, if we were practicing addition, I may give one student 1 dice and ask them to roll single digit numbers while another student may have to roll 2 dice to generate double digit numbers.
If you have any further questions regarding the split and how I will be running my program, please ask!
Supplies:
As most of you have noticed, I have asked for additional supplies. I am hoping to go through some of the notebooks next week and will be sending home notes to those that are running low on either inter-lined or wide-ruled books. (Based on my research from last weekend, Staples was still selling them and they were running for $0.69/book). Each child needs at least 4 wide-ruled exercise books (dark blue covers). They may eventually run out at some point in the year, so you may want to send a couple of extra books. Any unused books will be sent home at the end of the school year.
Each student needs to have: (I told them I encourage them to reuse any gently used items)
pencil case or box
1 blue pen
1 red pen
Yellow, pink, green highlighter
set of playing dice (for home)
playing cards
water colours
1 sharpie black felt pen - medium
1 black felt fineliner
1 box of tissues
I have also purchased composition books for each student. These will become their readers and writer's notebooks (each student has 3 composition books - 2 for writing, 1 for reading). I would greatly appreciate it if you could send $2 to cover the cost of these books.
It's been a long post, so I'm going to end it here. Have a terrific weekend and see you on Thursday!
