Day: October 15, 2015

REMINDER: Field Trip tomorrow. Please be on time to school, as we leave at 9:15 AM for the trip to Science World. Students should bring a disposable bag lunch and their jacket. Please do not send money with them, as they will not be able to go to the snack area or store at Science World. We will return to the school at 1:45 PM.

I have sent home parent conference notices with your assigned time for Oct. 21/22.

We have a Pumpkin Patch event on October 28, so see the yellow notice sent home.

Today we started by introducing the TUNING IN booklet I spoke about on parent night. We went over non-fiction features of articles that give us the information we need, what makes a good reflection, and explained the criteria for this language arts reading and writing activity. All of the articles are at reading levels appropriate to the group, and many come from kid science websites with vocabulary at the back of each article should it be needed. They can spread out the work on this booklet over time, and reflections for this round are due by October 30th. They have a letter in the booklet explaining the program. Please sign it so they can show it to me either tomorrow or Monday.

Then to continue our discussion about how personal choices impact the body systems, we read about food and diet choices and had a discussion about the types of sugars, GO/SLOW/WHOA, and food ingredients. I encourage all students to look more closely at the labels of their foods at home. Over the next three days they are to record what they eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had some great questions and discussion about strangely worded ingredients in the things we eat, such as cochineal extract, monosodium glutamate, sucralose, aspartame and more.

Students are finishing up their lab report on the bacteria, fungi and molds found at school sites. The last part of their lab is the write a conclusion with statements about what they think now that they have this data. We discussed how scientists have a responsibility to report on what they know. What will we do with this data? Who will we tell? What ACTION can we take on this learning? They are to record their ideas on the report and we will see which ones we may have time to do, as there was great interest in sharing their data.

The afternoon was music class, followed by an Earthquake Drill. Then we worked on an art project utilizing acrylic paint. We wouldn’t usually do art so much in one week, but there is a Burnaby City contest with entries due on October 20th for the grade four group, and this will give them an opportunity to participate. We will see what we have time for in terms of finishing projects, Math and discussing French tomorrow afternoon when we return. If not, back on track for Monday! Also, don’t forget that on Monday the Book Fair begins. There are posters up at the school with information, and we will get a preview as a class.

Thank you again for your support!

Today we had a full day of activity. First, we completed the Caribou Math Test. Some students had difficulty logging in due to receiving codes for the wrong grade level, but after solving our technical glitches, everyone was able to participate. If they use the code I provided today, they can log in tonight to see their scores.

Our second task was a class meeting dedicated to organizing details for our Halloween Party on October 30th, creating a Cards Club for free choice time and setting some parameters for participation, and discussing some concerns that have come up in class.

Afterwards we did a final check on our petri dishes and documented the results. Tomorrow we will discuss the results and see where the worst bacteria, mold and fungus could be found and what we will do with the data!

In preparation for an art project for the winter card competition in Burnaby, we went over the element of COLOUR and created a complex colour wheel with primary, secondary and tertiary colours. If anyone did not finish theirs today, it was homework. This will prepare us for working on a larger monochromatic painting of a winter scene using acrylics.

Finally, we had a session of PE in the Gym, with some fitness exercises and some volleyball time.

Tomorrow we will return back to our Math work begun on Tuesday, discuss what French learning will look like, talk about “Go, Slow and Whoa” as related to diet and its effect on our health, and finish the lab write up for our experiment with bacteria. The students will work together on diagnosing a disease in groups, as well.

A reminder to return any blue parent conference sheets, as I have already begun scheduling. If you still have the white blog permission slip, please get it in. The field trip is on Friday — please do not be late as we leave at 9:15 AM. We will not return until 1:45 PM. Be aware that students are not allowed to go and purchase lunch, snacks or souvenirs during our visit due to time and logistics. They should bring a bag lunch that can be easily disposed of after eating. Thank you for your help!