Week 23

We had a terrific, busy and stellar week.

In Math, we learned a new subtraction strategy called "Shift It". This strategy doesn't work with every subtraction equation. It only works with equations where you can add or subtract to both numbers in your equation and it makes them friendly. A friendly number is a number that ends in a 5 or 0. To build our efficiency we played a "Shift It race" with a partner.

In Science, we used computers to research information about 3 out of the 6 simple machines, which include levers, wheels and axles, and inclined planes. We conducted research to help us understand the background knowledge needed for our simple machines park project. In a lever, the parts are the fulcrum and the straight bar. In a wheel and axle, the parts are the wheel and axle. In an incline plane, the one part is the slanted surface.

In Social Studies, we finished our New Roots of Alberta and shared our research with the class. We learned that people from Europe (British, Scottish, French) and the East Coast of Canada came to Alberta to trade goods for animals furs, such as mink, marten, muskrat and most of all for beaver fur. We also learned that the voyageurs helped transport fur to Alberta by traveling on canoe. The Metis invented the York boat and Red River carts to help with travel issues.

We also had an assembly for Pink Shirt day to stand up against bullying! Here are some pictures:

Passion Project!

This week, Alex presented his Passion Project on American Ninja Warrior. We learned that in order to be successful as a competitor, you need to train all year. Typically rock climbers, gymnasts, pole vaulters, and free runners do well in this type of competition. 

Our spelling pattern next week: 
Be careful when spelling words with the /ô/ sound that you hear in fault and dawn. The vowel digraphs au and aw make the /ô/ sound, and they sound alike. 

Some examples include:

claws

fault

causing

dawn

straw

drawings

launch

sauce

jaw

haunt

yawn

fawns

awkward

gnaw

audience

scrawl

fraud

gaunt

restaurant

shawl

Reminders:

Simple Machines Project: 

• Materials: We will be constructing playground parks for our simple machine unit, so please continue collecting items to use for the project such as, popsicle sticks, cardboard, straws, bottle caps, string, cardstock, pipecleaner, rubber bands, plastic lids/containers, tinfoil, thimbles, buttons, toothpicks, putty, etc. 
• Field Study:Please pack knit gloves (gloves you can use a pencil with) next week as we will be taking notes outside.

Friday, March 1st: No school tomorrow, March 1st 

Week 22

This week we had a great, ultimate and amazing week.

In Science, created a Simple Machines concept map to prepare for our Simple Machines Park Project. We will be learning about the different simple machines. We will need to start collecting the following materials to build simple machine models (don't worry about decorating):

• cardboard
• tinfoil
• paper towel rolls
• thin/thick drinking straws
• assorted wooden pieces
• thimbles 
• bottle caps
• buttons
• pipe cleaners
• thin/thick popsicles sticks 
• skewers
• toothpicks
• key rings
• clay
• wax sticks
• yarn
• hot glue gun / hot glue sticks

In Social Studies, we continued working in our research groups. We have been learning about New Roots of Alberta and using our textbook to find more information. For example, we learned more about Father Albert Lacombe. He was a Catholic priest who came to the West in 1852 to live in Alberta. He helped the missionaries speak with the Cree by creating a Cree dictionary. He also built hospitals, schools and played a big role in encouraging people to move to the West. 

In Math, we learned a addition strategy called "Give and Take". When using this strategy, we need to add a number to make it one of our numbers friendly, and then need to subtract the same amount from the other number or total. 

Example: 
155+256=
(add 5 to 155) 
(subtract 5 from 256)
160+251= 411

We finished working with Cathy Beveridge. We finished our 4 frame plan perspective writing. Some students shared parts from their descriptive writing.

Our spelling pattern next week: 

The letters ie and ei can be vowel pairs or digraphs. They are vowel pairs in pies and seize, brief and sleigh.

Use this rhyme to spell words with ie and ei:
I before EExcept after COr when sounded as A

Some examples include:
dried
fields
brief
relief
shriek
weigh
believe
sleigh
receive
eighteen
seize
neighbours
receipt
amplifies
chiefly
freighter
deceive
perceive
pies
diet

Reminders:

• Simple Machine Project: We will be constructing parks for our simple machine unit, so please start collecting items (at home) to use for the project. Please see the list above.

• Human Sexuality Unit: Please return your forms for our Human Sexuality unit ASAP.

• Pink Shirt Day: Pink Shirt Day is on February 27th

• No School: There is no school next week on Friday, March 1st. 

Have a fabulous weekend!

Week 21

We had a experiential, wonderful and lovely week.

We have been continuing to work with Cathy Beveridge. This week we practiced our descriptive writing pieces based on our 4 frame plan. We wrote about a moment in our First Nations character life that provoked a strong emotion. 

In Math, we worked on a couple of open-ended math problems. These included Subtraction Surprise and Triangular Numbers. 

Here were some of our solutions for the problem Triangular Numbers.

In Social Studies, we started our partner and group research about fur trading Alberta. 

We will be starting our new unit in Science, "Wheels and Levers". Last week we had our Mad Science presentation. Our presenter was not only knowledgable, but also very crazy, hilarious and silly! We learned about pulleys, inclined planes, levers, wedge and screws. 

Next week, our next spelling pattern is:

In vowel pairs, two vowels come together to make one long vowel sound. The second vowel is silent.   

In vowel diagraphs, 2 vowels come together to make a vowel sound that can be long or short. 

Example:

vowel pairs

 between 

vowel diagraphs

eagle

Practice Words

between 

eastern 

breeze 

clues 

hoed 

meaning 

tiptoes 

reason 

treating 

roasted 

freedom

loaned 

approach 

measure 

glued 

instead 

eagle 

boasted 

fleet 

meadow

Reminders:

Report Card Envelopes - Please return your report card envelopes (and thanks if you already have!)

Winter Weather Clothes - Please remember to have children bring snow pants and boots during the colder, wet season. The field can get very wet as snow melts. Extra socks in their backpack would be great as well.

No School Days - There is no school this upcoming Thursday, Friday and Monday. 

Week 20

We had a delightful, wonderful and joyful week.

In Science, we have been continuing to learn about convex and concave lenses. A convex lens is curved out and makes objects look bigger. A concave lens is thinner in the middle and thicker on the outside making objects look smaller. We conducted two experiment this week: The Broken Pencil Experiment and the Lenses Experiment. We gained some experience with the Scientific Method (Question, Hypothesis, Materials, Procedure, Observations, Conclusion).

In Math, we have learned the "Open Number Line" subtraction strategy. We start by writing down the bigger number (from our number sentence) on our number line. We minus the thousands/hundreds from our smaller number, then we subtract the tens, and finally we subtract the ones. We needed to make sure we broke up numbers so that our difference was a friendly number. 

 

In Social Studies, we presented the research we gathered for our First Nation peoples. We shared information about their family life, jobs and roles, and traditional clothing/food, stories and legends, transportations, beliefs/customs, languages, their daily life, celebration, art/music/dance, and other facts. 

We have been continuing to work with Cathy Beveridge. This week we created a Nisitapi boy or girl character. We made a poem to describe their personality, character/physical traits, dreams, fears, regrets, their family role, what they're proud of and clothing. When we created names for our characters the first word in their name was an adjective (descriptive word) and the second word in their name was something you find in nature, such as the names Lone Wolf, Shooting Star, Summer Waterfall, Rotten Squirrel, and Blue Beaver.

Reminders:

Valentines Day - Children are invited to bring cards for their classmates on Wednesday, Feb 13th to exchange. To avoid any hurt feelings, please send cards for every student in your child’s class. Of course, this is optional and you may choose not to participate. Due to CBE policy there can be no food items and/or candy with the Valentine cards.

Report Card Envelopes - Please return your report card envelopes (and thanks if you already have!)

Winter Weather Clothes - Please remember to have children bring snow pants and boots during the colder, wet season. The field can get very wet as snow melts. Extra socks in their backpack would be great as well.