Friday Oct 9th

Notices:

Parent teacher times are assigned

and a confirmation of the time went home with your child today

We began the morning with our weekly test.  This weeks test contained Spelling, Science and Math.  Socials this week was an examination of the new coins and a look at different aspects of our Canadian identity connected with each possible coin selection, so there was nothing specific I needed covered on the Friday test.  I am not sure if I will get all the tests marked and the data entered into the computer in time for the test to go home with your child today.

As we were lining up to come back in for recess the kindergarten teacher complimented 'I' for helping two kinders.  Good job I. 

As soon as we got settled back from recess the fire alarm went.  We had not told the students it was happening so it was a more realistic drill.  Everyone did well.  We managed to evacuate everyone out of the school in 1minute 35 seconds.  The fire chief complimented us as their goal is to get everyone out of a building in less than two minutes.  M. from my class got stung by a bee, after an initial yell, which quieted the whole school who did not know what had happened, he stood very quietly for the rest of the drill.  Great Job everyone great job M.  

After recess the students prepared for and began a dissection of a shrimp as part of an I-pad presentation using the App. Book Creator. I first explained the expectation for behavior using the I-pad and respect to the animal we were examining.  The students organized themselves into pairs The activity was a great success and I heard lots of amazing examination and vocabulary as the students took pictures, measured, labeled, cut, ripped, poked, prodded, examined, hypothesized, and then tasted the cooked shrimp I caught earlier in the week. The activity took from recess until noon.

We will finish up the I-pad part next week.

After lunch we worked on the I-pad projects then went to buddies and ended the day in Gym.  Great day everyone.  See you Tuesday. 

.

Thursday October 8

Thanks to Mrs. Dagg organizing the turkey trot and Mrs. Burley's support a students from each class won a turkey.  I caught N's mom lugging the heavy load to her car.   I offered to help but she said carrying this turkey and laundry are the only heavy lifting exercise she gets.  Enjoy the exercise and the turkey and Thank you Mrs. Dagg and Mrs. Burley
 

Notices: 

Book fair notices went home today

 

We began our day with a writing assignment in our M.E.  The students had to write a two part response today.  We are still talking things we are thankful for  so part A was The best gift I ever received and Part B was the best gift I ever gave.

As It was picture day I showed one of my favorite  Calvin and Hobbes series of strips where Calvin has his school pictures.  I laughed and laughed, not sure if the students did.    

We worked on our writing until 9:30 when we went to library where Mr. K talked about the bookfair that will be held at the same time and days as the parent teacher interviews.  Next Wednesday and Thursday the 14 and 15th of October from 11:45 to 5:00 pm.  Mr. K also told us that part of the proceeds go to buying books for the school library.

After recess we went to get our pictures taken.  Many students dressed up, and many did not.  Some that dressed up even had nice new shoes.  Others even wore clothes they did not really like but wore them anyway... Either way memories are being made.  Our Calvin and Hobbes for the day reminded us that like Calvin's picture day we are making memories not just taking perfect pictures. 

 

Once we got back from picture the students were off to music

After lunch and silent reading   we continued our discussion about Canadian themes by looking at designs submitted for the 150 anniversary of Canada
Today we looked at things Canadians are passionate about.  The students chose one of the 5 designs and wrote about why they liked the design they chose.  We believe that these designs might be for the 2017 nickle because of the First Nations beaver design in the mix.

You can vote online for your choice up until tomorrow, Friday the 9th

http://www.mint.ca/store/coin-design-contest/contest-vote-form.jsp?lang=en_CA&rcmeid=van_CoinDesignVote

In our SongOff contest: 'Can You Feel the Love" from the Lion King beat "Halloween" from the Nightmare Before Christmas.  Because we had missed a few days we had a second challenger from Shrek the musical.  M's choice from the Lion King has won again so if it beats tomorrow's suggestion it will advance to the finals.

After lunch the students had Gym with our P.E. specialist.  

After Gym we moved to science.  I have combined two similar science themes, one from grade 3 and one from grade 4 from the mandatory curriculum for next year. 

Grade 3:  

Living things are diverse, can be grouped, and interact in their ecosystems.

Grade 4: 
All living things and their environment are interdependent.

We talked about the shrimp noting that:

Shrimp are found all around the world because they adapt easily to the many changes in water conditions.

 

 Shrimp are part of our ocean community.  They are part of the crustacean family which includes crabs, lobsters and barnacles.

 

Shrimp are invertebrates.  That means that they do not have a backbone, instead, shrimp have a hard shell called an exoskeleton.  

We compared our skull to the shrimp's exoskeleton and did a demonstration of the advantage of having an exoskeleton like invertebrates rather than being all fleshy like humans. We did this by showing that we build our exoskeletons with things like bike helmets which protect us from being hit on the head by rulers etc.  

Shrimps are omnivorous which means they eat a variety of both plant and animal species.

Shrimp are food to many other predators both in and out of the water such as fish, crabs, sea urchins, starfish, sea-birds whales and humans 

Note: All underlined words will be on tomorrow's test

they will have to be able to pick crustaceans out of a list and match the other words to their best definition.

There will be no Socials on tomorrow's test just some addition, the usual spelling words (next, left, help, please, believe, many, very, been, seen, she, between, three, easy, sea, leave) and the Science above.

We listened to Elvis sing a song about shrimp and shrimping, then the students completed a food web for shrimp in their Science duo-tangs.

Everyone is quite excited because we are going to do shrimp dissections tomorrow.

Great day everyone.... see you tomorrow.

 

Wednesday Oct 7

Notices:

School Photos Tomorrow

Wednesday Express

(the school weekly information sheet with all you need to know about what is happening at school)


Don't Forget to Support our School Coupon books, 
a very good deal, to all your friends and family

We began the day by taking the list we filled in yesterday and wrote and drew 10 of the things they are thankful for  in their ME.  The list included 17 things from the  smells and sounds they are thankful for to foods and people.  I am always impressed with the insightful understanding children have about themselves.

Melinda, our school counselor visited the class and took our students through the book "What is a Thought"  This picture book is a poetic and engaging book that introduces children  to the amazing, creative power within us all: thought. It is not a book about changing thoughts or changing behaviors, but rather a story to help children (and adults!) see how their own thinking creates their lives, moment to moment, day to day.

After recess the students continued on their 3d art project they began with Ms. K on Monday.  This activity takes way more time than I am used to with the older grades, however, the students are doing an amazing job so it all balances out.  You can get a view of our finished results at parent teacher interviews.

 At 1133 today the students went to music where they had a chance to play musical instruments.  Very Cool Mrs. Awalt.

After lunch we read for 25 minutes, worked on handwriting. Almost everyone is keen on handwriting and one or two students have amazing handwriting skills even for an adult, and these students are just in grade 3 and 4.

This was followed by a whole school assembly.




Great day everyone... See you tomorrow