Another update

** Posted earlier tonight, please read the below post as well - for grade 3 parents!**

This past week, our class has been using pedometers (still working on that term, you might be hearing about the "thermometers" they've been wearing) during the day to measure the number of footsteps they've been taking each day. It's been a terrific way to talk about numbers and to get the children moving - sometimes a little too much! I can't tell you how funny it is to watch a child take quick little steps to get from point A to point B or to have them quickly running on the spot! Next week, we will be working with the calculators to figure out how many steps they've taken in total, how many their table group has taken, and how many our CLASS has taken as a whole! We are also going to use the data to create some graphs. I haven't decided how long we will continue to use the pedometers, but it's definitely making them a little more aware of how much walking they do throughout the day. So far, none of them have hit the 14K step mark - this is apparently how many steps active children should be taking daily! 

In Writing, we've been talking about reviews - how good reviews include a recount of the book without giving away the ending, an opinion and a rating of the book. They are currently writing a short review which will be for homework if it's not complete tomorrow. This is due for Thursday as we will begin to type up our reviews on the laptops on Thursday afternoon.

We've begun to talk about Questioning and it's importance as a reader. We read the story "the Rough Faced Girl" (First Nations folk tale that is sort of like Cinderella) - lots of terrific questions generated from this story. We did a lot of modelling and discussion around the questions we could ask before, during and after reading. I was really glad to hear that some of them figured out that when we ask the question "what was the author's message?" helped them to deepen their understanding because the hidden message was "beauty comes from within".

We spent an entire afternoon on Science and Socials today. It was a good work session. The grade 4's have started their unit on light and sound - they were talking about artificial vs. natural light and did a quick picture sort. They are going to be having a chapter (very short chapter!) review next week and a quiz will follow soon thereafter. 

The 4's also learned about where names of places around BC and Canada came from. They learned about a place in BC called Namu. Namu's named originated from an orca. They completed a page in their duotangs about people names. There were a few that did not finish, their work was sent home and is due tomorrow as the sheet was worked on together with Mrs. Rosychuk.

The grade 3's had their Heritage projects introduced today. We went through the package that was sent home and talked about what was expected. They were given examples of each component, so hopefully they can explain it to you! They all seemed to be pretty excited about it - heard some comments like "this is going to be so cool!" and "ooo.. I'm going to ask my Gram!"

The 3's also began an experiment on testing the strength of three kinds of pillars. They got so excited testing the cylindrical pillars that the 4's began to wonder what was up. I think one group was able to stack 14 textbooks on top of their cardboard pillar before it toppled over. Triangular and rectangular pillars have not yet had a chance to be in the spotlight!

I've attached a poster from our school counsellor, Mrs. Switzer. Just for anyone who may be interested. Feel free to pass the message along to any other parents you know!

Grade 3's Heritage Project

Hi All,

I introduced the grade 3 Heritage project this afternoon. It was meant to go out last week, but we just didn't get to it. The dates should have been changed,  I think we caught everything except one:

For numbers 2, 3 and 4 (Family Photos, Elders Speak, and Artifact), that will be due Friday, March 8th. Everything is pushed back by one week.

I think they are pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing. If there are any questions or problems, please let me know and we can figure something out!

Ack! A Month??

Wow!!! Where did time go? I thought I'd only missed 2-3 weeks of posting.. it's been a month!!

First: Happy Valentine's Day to all!
Our class had a super time ... we had a LOT of fruit.. so much that I had to send some of it home. Many thanks to those that sent some in. The children really enjoyed their fruit kabobs, especially the chocolate dip. C&C also brought cookies to share, but we ran out of time and stomach space, so they agreed that we'd share them on Monday - an extension to V-day treats!

It's been a busy few weeks. I've really pushed the kids quite hard and it's still not done yet! Here's a run-down of what's been happening:

Math:
We've been intensely working on addition/subtraction with 3 or 4 digit numbers with regrouping. Many of them are either over the "hump" or just nearing the peak of the "hump" of subtraction. By "hump", I mean the part where they are struggling to understand what is happening when they are "borrowing" (we now call it REGROUPING, because really, it's not borrowing, there is no returning of numbers!!) to subtract but are very close to being able to work out problems without any adult prompting of what to do. 

Some children have also been exploring polygons - what regular polygons and irregular polygons are. We also had to briefly review the 3 kinds of angles (acute, right and obtuse) during that conversation. They discovered that regular polygons are:
- 2-D
- have an even number of sides
- have an even number of angles
- is an enclosed shape.

We also did an activity where they were given a irregular polygon and they had to use the pattern blocks to figure out how to build the irregular polygon. I tried this activity during a professional workshop - it was not easy! The purpose was to challenge them to move the shapes around to places where they might not expect them to be and to also be willing to rotate them. A lot of spatial thinking involved!

For other groups, we have been starting to work on the concept of multiplication and it's meaning. We represented multiplication through "groups of". In fact, I will NOT be letting the grade 3's talk about "times" until they are very solid on the concept of "groups of". We talked about examples such as:

There are 5 table groups in our class, each table group has 4 students - this means that there are 5 groups of 4. We modelled it with blocks and then proceed to experiment to see if we could re-arrange the "students" and have 4 tables of 5. What do ya know, it does! From there, the idea of either skip counting or repeatedly added is reinforced. If it's 5 groups of 4, that means we had 4 five times: 4+4+4+4+4. 

For those that are a little more confident in "groups of", they started to work on representations with arrays. As a class, we talked about where we might see arrays in real life:
- windows on a building - perhaps 4 floors of 5 windows each - a 4X5 array
- muffins in a tray - maybe 4 by 3 array
- eggs in a cart
- rows of people in a theatre
Those children were then assigned a number and asked to find all possible arrays using that number. For example, whomever had the number 3, had to use square grid paper to cut out a 3X1, 3X2, 3X3...3X10 arrays. 

In the coming weeks, some students will start to explore single and double digit division, single to double digit multiplication, perimeter and area, and everyone will continue to work on addition/subtraction and we will also begin working on fractions. For some students, we continue to work on the concept of patterning - defining a patterning, extending a pattern, identifying it's core. 

Reading:
As many of you know, our focus lately has been on non-fiction text features. I don't know if the kids perceive this as "reading", but it really is a reading skill! As they go up in the grades, there will be a greater and greater demand in reading non-fiction text, particularly when they hit grade 5. It is important that they understand the different parts of this genre as it will help them to better comprehend or, to even know where to look in order to figure out what they are reading about. Before we created our foldable non-fiction text booklets, we went through each feature and glued a small summary about it into our reader's notebooks.

In the coming weeks, we will turn our attention back to the genres from the 30 day book challenge and will also begin to work on questioning and inferencing as reading comprehension skills.

Writing:
We've had many mini-lessons that have focused on a number of writing strategies:

• Stretching sentences - using question words to help us make our sentences longer and more 
• Word choice - we explored quotation marks and at the same time slid "tags" in there. We looked at how using words other than "said" when a character is talking can change the entire mood of a sentence:
• Example: "Come to house" said the boy vs. "Come to my house" whispered the boy vs. "come to my house" snickered the boy.
• Introductions (aka Super Ways to Start) - we examined a number of different strategies to write an introduction. We talked about how the introduction is a "snapshot" of the entire piece of writing
• Conclusions (aka Wrap Around Endings) - we learned that the conclusion is also a revisit of the introduction using different words. Sometimes, we can include our own emotions to make the conclusion feel "final"

We also learned about "recounts" and how it's basically a retell of something that has happened. This could be from the news, the radio, someone talking on the phone about something that happened recently, something you write in your journal, etc.

We identified the introduction, conclusion, body, action words (verbs) and time words that were used to write a recount.

From there, expository writing was introduced. When we finally did our bubble gum writing, everything kind of "magically" fell into place. The children were all quite comfortable writing introductions and conclusions. They worked very well in "stretching sentences" and using great adjectives and verbs. We took the time to go through the writing process - brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing and final drafts. Although their pieces were short, they were very concise and used some excellent language - I was very impressed with a lot of their writing! 

Science:

Grade 4's are finishing up their unit on Science. We will have our presentations next week. This week was just too short and too busy! Next week, we will also begin our unit on light and sound.

Grade 3's - will continue to work on structures. There is a bridge building competition that is hosted by the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC each year. It is my HOPE that we can complete our unit in time to potentially enter any interested students in this competition. It is being held on Sunday, March 17th in North Vancouver. No details have been released, but I will keep you posted!

Socials:

Grade 3's are finishing up their unit on Canada. Next week, I will be introducing our Heritage project. Part of the project is exploring their own family histories and part of it will be learning research skills and applying these skills to research pioneer life.

Grade 4's are still working on First Nations. This is actually a HUGE part of the grade 4 curriculum - the bulk of it! I'm planning a field trip on UBC's museum of Anthropology in order for us to examine the importance of the Cedar tree to the First Nations groups in BC. I've been on this field trip before and it is an excellent one (fascinating as well) - a great learning opportunity for not only the 4's, but the 3's as well. 

We've had quite a number of students off sick this week. I hope that they all have a wonderful weekend but also get some time to rest and either get healthy or keep healthy! :) 

Staying Healthy

Hi All,

With all the talk about the nasty bug(s) going around in the news, we've been on "high alert" here in Division 4. Please keep your child at home if he/she is not feeling well.

In an attempt to keep us all healthy, we've been insisting that the children wash their hands before snack and lunch (no more asking, it's a must-do task now!). To prevent a large crowd in the washrooms and at the sink, half of the students use hand sanitizer (we switch between washing/sanitizer each day). The tables are sanitized each day, but we may need to step that up a notch as well! 


I'd appreciate any donations of medium-large sized hand sanitizer to help us out!

Many thanks!

Fours a Winner

I'm sending home a new Math game today called "Fours a Winner". I introduced it to the class on Wednesday and they played it during Math yesterday. Hopefully they can help you with the directions, but just in case:

FOUR'S A WINNER

Materials:

• 2 distinct pieces for each player (probably around 20 pieces each) - try smarties, cereal, coins
• 2 paper clips

Number of players: 2

Objective: to be the first player to get four in a row (horizontally, diagonally or vertically)

Directions:

1. Place two of the paper clips on one of the numbers at the bottom of the page
2. First player - move ONE paper clip. Add the two numbers that the paper clips are on. Place your marker on the board according to the sum of the two numbers added. Ex: Paper clip #1 is on 3, paper clip #2 is on the 4. 3+4 = 7. Place your marker on the number 7 somewhere on the board.
3. Second player - move ONE paper clip. Add the two numbers that the paper clips are on. Place your marker on the board according to the sum of the two numbers added. 
4. Continue playing until someone has four in a row. 

We talked about how this is a strategic game. Not only are you trying to get your own four in a row, but you are trying to block the other player's four in a row. In order to do so, you may need to adjust your plays ahead of time - if you need a larger number on the board, you may need to move the paper clip to a larger number.....

Enjoy and have fun!

Happy New Year!

Welcome back!

I hope everyone's holiday was nice and restful! Back now for 3 days and it seems like Christmas was a long while ago....

We've been busy! Here's the summary:

Writing:
We've been talking about introductions, conclusions and stretching out our sentences. We've examined a variety of ways to start a story and how authors use their introductions to wrap up their writing with a "wrap around conclusion". This week, we examined expanding our sentences by asking a variety of questions. We did a few as a class, in small groups and independently and today, we turned to our own writing. The children were asked to identify sentences that were "shrunken" and try to stretch it out after we played around with two examples. The children are now into our Writer's Workshop routine and all have appointed days to conference with me. This is one on one time where they get to share part of what they are working on. We talk about the strengths of their piece and identify 1-2 things that they may need to try, revise or edit. 

Reading:
We continue to work on building connections. Before Christmas, I shared a matrix with the class - it identified what I was looking for when I graded their connections. I think they are starting to realize that they cannot connect to anything (ex. the girl has a red shirt, so do I) - their connections need to help them better understand the text. Now, to work on expanding the explanations in order to deepen the understanding.....!

We will also start to work on identifying the main idea and supporting details in both fiction and non-fiction text. This is an important skill, particularly as they get older. 

As many of you have noticed, we also started a 30 day book challenge. The goal of the challenge is to expose the students to a variety of genres that they may not normally choose to read. We've been gradually looking at different genres and their traits. In general, I try to read a couple of examples to them and have them form connections to the examples that we examine.

Math:
Continuing to build on patterning, numeracy and operations! Some students are working on representing double digit addition using the base ten blocks and representing it using pictures, numbers and expanded form (ex: 24's expanded form is 20+4) both with and without regrouping (everyone's working at their own pace), while other groups are working on triple digit addition/subtraction with and without regrouping while still others are working on double digit multiplication.

For some, we've learned a little about perimeter through patterning. I asked the children to identify a pattern through the perimeter of squares - what's the perimeter when you have one square? What about when you add a 2nd square and they are stuck together? How about a third? My hope is that eventually, we can connect this back to algebraic thinking and ask - what's the relationship between the number of squares vs. the perimeter?

This group, a group of students worked on double and triple digit addition/subtraction questions with 1 unknown number. We started off simple:
2+  £     = 6

Knowing that,

£ + 2 = 6

6 -  £     = 2

6 - 2 = £

We tried applying it to larger numbers. It's still a concept that needs practice, but they are starting to feel a little more confident. Once they have addition and subtraction down, we'll work on seeing whether they can identify the relationship between multiplication and division!

Science:
Grade 3's are beginning a unit on Structures and Materials. Yesterday, we examined a bunch of different structures from around Canada and talked about the shapes and materials that we thought might be used. Towards Spring Break, we will be (hopefully), constructing our own bridges. The BC Engineers usually host a Bridge building competition around that time, and it is my hope that someone in the class will be interested in participating! Who knows, perhaps we have some future Iron Ring-ers in the class?!

The Grade 4's are still working on their unit on Weather. They will be having a quiz on Tuesday (I told them what was on it - they should have notes!). Once we finish this quiz, there will be a few lessons on animals and weather and the unit will be pretty much finished. I will be asking them to do a cumulative project at the end. I don't anticipate that the project will be a large one, but it will require a bit of research and they will be required to present it to the class.

Social Studies:
The class will be going to the Cannery in Richmond - relates to our Socials curriculum, particularly about Community (grade 3) and First Nations (grade 4). More details to come!