Tuesday October 20

Notices:

Friday Pro-D No School

Thursday we have a reptile show coming to our class. Very Cool

Next month's Hot lunch program forms went home

Scholastic Book order forms went home as well

We began the day talking about what makes a safe and good Halloween costume.  The students then wrote about their best Halloween costume ever.



Today we began the next phase of our music listening program looking for the best halloween song.  We had  fox vs a brilliant skeleton song from the 1930's.. that was my vote, however the fox song won.

Halloween Safety program was held in the Library with our Police Liaison Officer, yes the one dressed like the prisoner.  Ha Ha.

After recess we went to the computer lab and the students typed their Halloween costume story then had to make a Who Am I riddle with 5 questions about something.  For Example:

I am  yellow, white, orange, green or sometimes red

I weigh about 6 kilograms

My name comes from the Greek word ‘pepon’

I have many faces

You can cook me and make me into a pie

WHAT AM I

Answer A jack-o-lantern

 We will continue doing this twenty question activity for the week, It is kind of like 20 Questions, although we are only doing 5 - 10, a classic game that has been played since the 19th century. One person thinks of an object and the others playing have 20 chances to guess what it is. A great game for long, boring car trips, study halls, or as a vocabulary expansion game for language learners.

At 11:30 the students went off to music with a couple going off to serve the hot lunch program.

After lunch we read for 20 minutes then carried on with our Social studies theme, Where we live, comparing different types of housing, modern and traditional.  Today we looked at the tipi, doing a one page report on the roles men and women had in the community around the tipi.  The students then made a 3-d model out of paper of a tipi .  The folding and cutting was more complex for the students than I expected, however,  after a few failed attempts, the students managed to get the hang of it and it turned out great.  The students will add 3 dimensional extras tomorrow.

 We then cleaned up and headed home.   K helped me cut and put up our new window silhouettes of cats.  

  Great day everyone... see you tomorrow.

 

Friday Oct 16

 Notices: 

Please bring back the care kit for the earthquake backpack.  Hopefully we do not ever need to use them, however, at the end of the year it is fun to open them up and see what was in them again.

We began the day with our weekly spelling, socials, math and science test.  I did not get the marks entered on the computer so the tests will come back next week on Tuesday.

We may have a secret master spy in our midst.  A strange message appeared on our library computer.  HMMM very suspicious.

We read a poem by Shel Silverstein called Have Fun.  I started by getting various students to read it out loud. I stopped them quickly if they did not add the proper intonation but quickly went back to them to try again.  I then asked them to think about what the poet was really saying, and how you would use intonation to express meaning.  Then We talked about what the poem is really saying.

Have Fun

It's safe to swim 

in Pemrose park.

I guarantee

There are no sharks

The students then had a chance to try and read it again in the proper voice.  We talked about how complex a simple poem can be.  It can be read all sincere, it can be read menacingly, it can be read as though your trying to convince a brother or sister or enemy to go swimming.   I love Shel Silverstein's poetry.  It is funny and quirky and rings true to children in grade 3 and 4 although Shel said

 "I would hope that people, no matter what age, would find something to identify with in my books, pick up one and experience a personal sense of discovery."

 The students will be seeing a lot more of Shel Silverstein, Uncle Shelby as he called him self.  After the reading the students had to use Handwriting to write out the poem and add their own creature into the pool.

 

 P shared some treasures of her mom's recent travels to UK and other exotic places.  P loved the little Tiara from the land of Queens and princesses, and a couple of keys from a bridge in Dublin where her mom carved her and here brother's names into a lock and attached it to a bridge. Thanks P for bringing a sense of adventure to our room.

Thursday October 15

Notices:

Please bring your Save Around Victoria coupon books or money. Thank you.

*** Please promote hand washing as 7 students were absent today ***

The students began the day writing in their ME (morning exercise book) They were to write about something they do or like to do outside school that they are good at.  We brainstormed a list of things [sports, music, dance, camping, fishing, art, going to camp, church Sunday school, guides scouts]  The title was 'Amazing Me.' I like to find the things the students like and talents they have.  Knowing activities that students do lets me know if and when I should send homework (work they have not finished) or cut them some slack on due dates.


At 9:30 we went to library and did a book exchange.  Mr. K talked about what to do in case of a drop and cover drill in the library, which is the same and different from the classroom.  Then the announcement came on we began our 'Drop, Cover, Hold On' drill,  Like our fire and other drills we regularly practice portions of our emergency plan,

When we came in after recess the students were excited to begin silent reading as they just had their library class.

After 20 minutes of reading the students  filled in their reading logs.  The students that were finished all their around the class art work projects had time to work on finishing their power point programs started on Tuesday, or their I-pad shrimp projects,

After that the students went to music and were dismissed in preparation for our Thursday parent teacher conferences.


On the test tomorrow there will be the usual spelling words, (pitch drink swim life while I my light buy eye which find why kind try) some addition of 4 addend single digit numbers, Science be able to label the antenna, eyes, tail, walking legs, swimming legs, and the part they eat, when shown a picture of a shrimp. and Socials about the Igloo. They should know the highlighted words and be prepared to answer multiple choice questions about them.

Igloos are built of snowblocks (not ice) in very cold places. An igloo is a dome-shaped building, with blocks of snow  built up in a spiral. The roof has a small hole for ventilation. The short tunnel door goes down under and stops the heat from flowing outside and keeps the igloo warmer than the outside weather. 

In fact sometimes when they have more than one family living close by they build a network of igloos connected together by tunnels.

 .... It was great to see all the parents yesterday. See you all tomorrow  Mr. W

Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday October 12-13-14

Monday: Thanksgiving No Schol

Thanksgiving turkey handshake.

Tuesday  

Notices:

There will be Tuesday morning sports for those grade 3 and 4's who are interested.  The numbers are limited so get those first come first serve forms in.

Tuesday morning's SongOff was 'First Time in Forever' from Frozen against 'Life is a Highway' from Cars.  Life is a Highway won.

We began the day with spelling.  The students worked with the words in a variety of ways to emphasize the different learning styles: Visual (looking, visualizing),  auditory (saying, hearing), sensory (writing it out).  The students really enjoy the visualizing activity where they look at a rectangles that represent the shape of the word.

We took a gym break to finish off an activity I call wolf pack, that we had begun a couple of weeks ago.  In the end it came down to four..... Who was going to win?

Well done P.  It was lots of fun dodging, dipping, diving and dodging.

After recess we went to the computer where I introduced the students to power point.  Each student got to choose an animal of their choice for this first project.   I was impressed at how fast they picked this introduction up and helped each other create the beginning of some great projects.

The students went from computers to Music.  They are learning about rhythm and practicing songs for the November Remembrance day assembly.  

In the afternoon we had silent reading followed by Social Studies where we are beginning to look at different types of housing and comparing it to our housing in Victoria.  We started by watching video's and reading about Igloos.  Very interesting and an amazing use of material in the natural environment to survive in the high arctic.

Wednesday 1/2 day

Book Orders are finally in.

On Wednesday we worked hard to finish all back work and prepare for the Parent teacher interviews in the afternoon.  We also took a break to look at the Scholastic book fair in the gym going on Wednesday and Thursday in the afternoons.

It is wonderful to meet all the students and their families.  Great day everyone.  See you tomorrow.