We’ve had another exciting week full of learning and activities. Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to:
Language Arts: Sentence Structure and Variations This week, we continued to work on our sentence structure and sentence variations. We’re still figuring out the best ways to combine sentences to make our writing more interesting. 
For example, instead of writing “The cat is black. The cat is small,” we can combine these sentences to say, “The black cat is small.” Another example is changing “I like to read. I like to draw,” to “I like to read and draw.” Keep practicing these combinations to make your writing flow better!
It was “dress rehearsal” week for your Reader’s Theater performances. Every group presented to the class on Thursday. You were given feedback about your speaking skills ( clarity, volume, speed, expression, and preparation) from your classmates as well as from Mrs. Davis. All of you have been working hard to memorize your lines and are now working on how to best “deliver” them. It is very common for nerves to impact speed and volume. 
As you continue to practice, remember to slow down not only in saying your individual lines, but also between lines… just “take a beat” between lines, before jumping to the next. Speaking a bit louder will also ensure that the audience hears everything. Next week are final presentations! Keep practicing between now and then!
Math: Multiplication Facts In
math, we spent some time working on our multiplication facts. We learned some helpful strategies to remember the harder equations, like the 7’s, 8’s, and 9’s. For instance, for the 9’s,
- 9 x 8: The first digit is 7 (one less than 8), and the two digits (7 and 2) add up to 9. So, 9 x 8 = 72.
- 9 x 9: The first digit is 8 (one less than 9), and the two digits (8 and 1) add up to 9. So, 9 x 9 = 81.
- 9 x 10: The first digit is 9 (one less than 10), and the two digits (9 and 0) add up to 9. So, 9 x 10 = 90.
This trick makes it easier to remember the 9 times tables because you just need to find the first digit (one less than the number you’re multiplying by 9) and then make sure the two digits add up to 9. Keep practicing, and you’ll have these down in no time!
C’est L’Hiver! (It’s Winter time) and we are busy learning some new French vocabulary pertaining to this time of year. 
In Quebec, Carnaval is a big festival that is celebrated from Fri, Feb 7, 2025 – Sun, Feb 16, 2025. 
We have been trying to learn the theme song “Bonhomme, Bonhomme” that is sung during this festival. It’s a catchy tune, but has some tough timing and is pretty fast, but we’re getting much better at it!! We also started making a flip book called “Que Porter en Hiver” (What to wear in Winter). Each section of the book describes what to wear on our head, on our body, on our legs and on our feet. Once the book is finished the sections can interchange between the three “bodies” we dressed for winter.
Science: Oceans, Tides, and the Moon In science, we studied the oceans and tides and how they are related to the moon and the sun. We learned that the moon’s gravity pulls on the Earth’s water, causing tides. We also explored the indigenous perspectives and beliefs about these natural phenomena. We watched videos and read articles about the Haida and the Cree. 
The Haida have oral stories about how the Raven brought the sun, moon, and stars to the sky. Also, they have story how the sun and moon are brothers, sharing the job of giving light to the world by working together. The Cree tell stories about the moon and sun being a brother sister duo who couldn’t work together to keep the fire going that lights up the world. As a result, their father split the job into two and had his son (Sun) light and warm the world for half the day and his daughter (Moon) light up the night much less so that people could rest. Working together, the siblings keep light in the world. These stories help us understand the importance of the sun and moon in different cultures.
Guess What?? We’re going on a virtual trip around the world!! This is a big project that not only our class is doing, but 3 other grade 4/5 classes are participating in as well. But… before we can do any travelling, we need a PASSPORT– which is what we spent Thursday and Friday doing! We completed our cover design and the ID page of our passport. 
We also added on to our growing list of facts about each continent. If you haven’t been able to finish the continent information yet, the assignment is still on TEAMS, so please get that done over the weekend.
Digital Literacy: Media and Mood We also had a digital literacy lesson about how media can affect our mood. We discussed how different types of media, like music, movies, social media,
and even books can make us feel happy, sad, excited, or even anxious. We learned to be mindful of how much time we spend on screens and consuming media and to choose media that makes us feel good.
Physical Education: Basketball Skills We 
continued to play 3 on 3 basketball. Everyone is getting really good at blocking, dribbling, passing, and shooting. It’s great to see how much you’ve all improved and how well you’re working together in teams!
Next week is FAMILY LITERACY WEEK! There are so many activities that we will be taking part in as a class ( Guess the Teacher, School Wide reading, Guest Readers, Literacy Trivia, and Rebus Puzzles) as well as some activities that you can do at home starting this weekend!
You all have taken home the family literacy activity grid. The goal is to do at least 7 of the activities on the grid, but try to do as many as you can! There are some fabulous activities on there! Which ones will you complete?
Here is your Blog Response activity this week.
Choose someone to tell one of the Indigenous stories we heard this week to. Pick your favourite one or the one you remember the best. Tell the story, as best you can remember it so we can practice oral story telling. When you are done, ask the person you told the story to the following two questions and type their responses into your blog response page.
- Who was your favourite character in the story and why?
- What was one thing you believe the story was trying to teach us?
Keep up the great work, everyone! Let’s look forward to another week of learning and fun.
Mrs. Gil and Mrs. Davis