Category: Current events

We have been enjoying “place based learning” with all this snow landing at our feet.  Our class seems to hold the record for bringing the most toboggans or other toys to make sliding down the hill more efficient.  Many students have been challenging themselves building ice sculptures.  What did you like most about snow at school? 

The “Hour of Code” also took place at Buckingham this week.  Our class helped the primary classes learn how to turn on laptops or ipads, and log in to the school internet (not always trivial), and then search for “Code.org” to get them started.  Check it out at  https://code.org/.  A highlight I noted was a grade 4 student teaching a teacher how to code using this website.  I know they both enjoyed the experience.  I think all the students enjoyed working with buddies.  What do you think make learning to code fun? 

Welcome back from your two week holiday!

We have had a terrific day of learning!  I thought I’d share a few photos as conversation prompts with your children tonight.  When you ask them what they did today, and they answer “nothing” you can use these to help guide their thoughts.

Topics we are exploring now:
Math 5:  Fractions / Equivalent Fractions. Can you name some equivalent fractions for the image below? 
Writing.  Topic: Your choice. 
Goals: 1. Make it interesting
2. Make sure its not confusing.

Science: Solutions and Mixtures. If you want to check out the video we were watching today click here!  H.W. is to find and make a list of solutions and mixtures at home, and think of an experiment you might like to do.  We will soon be linking this to “body systems” !  Stay tuned.

Today’s homework was to play outside and enjoy the sun, then later read for pleasure!

Don’t forget to bring gym strip everyday.  Track practice is tomorrow 8:05 am.

This month we have anti bullying day coming,

Chinese New Year, and Healthy Heart activities as well as our focus on Habit #4: Think Win Win.

In class, some of the big ideas we are focusing on learning about are:

• Writing: text features, poems, persuasive writing, and short stories. To see some of our class poems, click here
• Reading: developing good strategies for improving comprehension and fluency. To access the chapter assignments, click here.
• Social studies: Things that have shaped Canada and  past discriminatory practices in Canada
• Science: Resources – renewable and non-renewable and which  is the most important resource
• Math – we are almost finished our unit on developing  multiplication and division strategies –  UNIT TEST will be at the end of next week.
• French- we just finished making some very creative mobiles to explain a little about ourselves, our likes and dislikes.

Technology skills: are helping us communicate our learning, but also helping students develop their understanding of how to be a great digital citizen.

Please comment on which theme you think is most important to recognize and explain your reason.  Write your comment in the format of a short letter to me.

Today we logged on to our computers and used WORD to create a list of things we have done so far this year. There were several things that the students wanted to highlight:

Brainstorm of our Ideas

Pumpkin patch – sunny day, Oct 27^th, hot chocolate, buddies,

Science- arcade, marble drop experiment

PE – dodge ball

Cross country – competition, running, winning

Odyssey

3 D art – cool

Lavel’s disappearance

Students were asked to choose one topic to write about for our blog.

stay tuned for our student “NEWS”.

Here is a sample of what you might see coming:

In the news! Division 3 participated in the annual great pumpkin hunt on Tuesday Oct 27^th.

This isn’t what actually looked like, but it felt like it was a huge field of pumpkins at our school….
Today we got to help our little buddies carve their pumpkins.

It was lots of fun.

What kinds of problems did you encounter when you did this task? Did you need to collaborate? How did you solve your problems? Please leave your comment as a letter to me by clicking on the “comment” link below.

FYI for tomorrow:

Costume parade will begin after 1 pm. If you wish to bring costumes, students will be invited to put them on at lunch time. This will be followed by a class tasting of “healthy” snacks. We have discussed bringing fruit (to dip in chocolate), or muffins or other healthy snacks to share. This is not intended to replace any meals so please provide a normal lunch for your child.
Thanks

Hello students and parents of Division 3 2015!

We have a fantastic year to look forward to.  Please check here to see if we have any news and exciting things to report about our class.  This blog is intended to help students develop good digital citizenship by practising using social media in a positive and safe way.  We hope to make connections with the outside world and each other outside of class. Hover your mouse over the text to see if I have added a link to another page for you to learn more about a topic (such as orange shirt day).

Notices:

It seems like there have been hundreds of papers going home requiring signatures, information or money.  Trust me, this will slow down soon.  Having said that, the beginning of the year is always busy as we do what we can to ensure good communication between you  and the school to keep you informed. Please always check the pocket at the front of the planner, and sign the daily page to help your child develop a routine for good organization.

Student comments today:

Mark says – PE is awesome.

Emma says – Our whole class signed up for handball intramural!

Chun says – Today we watched Bill Nye the Science Guy (Simple Machines)

Max says – School is sort of awesome

In the news:      

SS:The federal election is fast approaching.  Have a conversation with your child about what this means to your family.  In class we are reviewing the political map of our country, and will soon be reviewing levels of government.  We will then be looking at other systems of government.

Tomorrow is “ORANGE SHIRT DAY”   In a press release sent out yesterday, the Assembly of First Nations has asked all Canadians to join First Nations in wearing an orange shirt “in the spirit of healing and reconciliation”.

Science/PE:  Next Week is free transit week.  We are currently planning to go swimming at Eileen Daily pool on Wednesday ( 11-3pm) .  Parent volunteers are needed to do this trip.  Please watch for the permission slip coming home soon.  In order to ensure this is a “free” field trip, please make sure your child’s B-active pass is up to date. (Just go to your local Burnaby Parks and Rec centre and sign up.).

Division 3 had the best ever field trip on Monday April 20. We went to the Vancouver Aquarium. We saw many interesting displays about animals and their habitats including those believed to be endangered species. The highlights also included seeing a 4-D movie about sea monsters from long ago. Many thanks to parent leaders for their help keeping us safe, and to TranLink for providing free bus passes for the entire class for the day! We were the lucky recipients of a field trip draw in the fall.

Here is the question for you to answer by clicking on the “comment” icon and writing me a letter :

Do you think wild animals should be kept in captivity in places like the aquarium? Explain why or why not.

Homework and Notices:

Language Arts:

• Work on your draft for your speech (“Lets Think Differently)
• Use thesaurus to add to your “juicy word” list
• Read 30 mins daily. Practice prediction skills (Quiz Monday)
• comment on this blog about the ONE WORD writing. You may google ONE WORD and try writing for practice on the word you are given!(Ask parent to help get you started and remember not to put private information on there!)

Math

• Grade 5 : Lesson 6 Homework sheet and #1-3 in text
• Grade 6:  Test corrections, signature and reflections

Music

• Don’t forget $10 for recorder
• grade 6’s will be joining the other grade 6’s for guitar starting Monday

Social Studies

• Grade 5: Immigration – study definitions and why people immigrate to Canada or Emigrate from another country.
• Grade 6: Ancient China – geography- 2 questions and 2 pictures due Tues  (colour pictures and add details based on what you read in the text)

Art

• Worked on memory bags today and cutting out picture of memory bags.  These should all be completed by next Tuesday morning. Take home any work needed to complete.

Notices:

• parent teacher interview times sent home today. If you did not request an interview you will still have a form sent home unless you indicated you did not need to meet me. Please call the school or put in note in the planner if you can not make this time.
• movie night notice for next Friday night

Guest blogger Diya and Gia:  Welcome back to school! Hope you all had a Happy Christmas and Merry New Year!!! We are almost through our first week!

Homework

Read 30 minutes every day

Speech pick a topic and start an outline

Grade 5 Math – Page 91 #10 Due Friday + 1-3 Page 94 and a homework sheet – due Monday

Grade 6 Math- Page test corrections and reflection with parent signature-Friday

Grade 6 French- Green page : Name (info) Due Friday. To practice your French comprehension you can google: Brain pop in French and choose a topic to listen to for free!

Ebola outbreak article – finish vocab, read and make 5 questions – due Tues Jan 13

Bring $10 for recorder

Sun Chip day tomorrow.

Movie night: Friday  Jan. 16 6pm. – Free. Parents must supervise their children at all times. Thank you.

Buckingham Students (and staff) wowed audience with amazing HIP HOP dances last night.  Thank you to all of you for your hard work.  Tell me what you thought about the performances yesterday.  What was your favourite part?  Did you enjoy dancing? What was easy or hard to do?

Guest bloggers  are Alyssa and Jessica
and comment from Nathan about Microbeads

Polluting the earth

-Read 30  minutes everyday

–Speeches on current events – 1 minute long (your choice  of topic) You need to be ready to share your speech by Monday, Tues or Wed. next week.

-Math 5 homework p.66 #7-13 Monday

-Math 5 test lessons 4-7  Monday

-S.S. Water Management -Tuesday

-Book Study -Friday

-French 5 numbers sheet and practice ”diologue”-Monday

-Math 6- return test! Do as much of the input output machines as you can.

– Word study  sentences-Friday

We discussed some current issues in class today. One topic that came up was polluting our earth.

Too much nasty smoke!

Please comment on your thoughts about pollution. Do you pollute our earth?

Microbeads

Nathan Cai Grade 4

Hello fellow readers! There has been a serious discovery that our grade four class has learned. Do you know what that is? It is microbeads. They are small plastic beads that are in personal care products such as toothpaste, face wash, and many more. Microbeads are the shiny dots in Crest and Colgate toothpastes and deep clean face washes. The microbeads cause pollution to the oceans and the great lakes because they are non biodegradable. After it enters the sewer system, it affects our food chain because the fish eat the beads, and if we eat the fish, it will enter our bodies. Luckily, there are some companies that are banning the use of microbeads. Thank you for reading my paragraph on microbeads.

Check in to see what some of our other readers and writers think about microbeads, and other forms of pollution!