Category: General Update

Hello Everyone,

Please read the notice regarding our field trip on February 26th, Friday. You can find it here if you did not receive one.

Today we began by reading some articles out of the book Inquiry: A Guide to 21st Century Learning. This is a grade 4/5 level book that I use to help students break down the skills they need to do inquiry and research things they want to know more about. The first section was on listening skills. What does active listening look like?

• Be positive
• Make eye contact & use active listening body language
• Listen for signal words
• Think about what is being said
• Take brief notes (but focus on listening more)
• Write down questions and ask them at an appropriate time
• Review the speaker’s message after listening to ensure you understood
• Avoid poor listening habits such as daydreaming or giving up on a speaker’s ideas. Hear them out.

Thank you to Peter’s mom who came in today for 30 minutes to talk about her experience emigrating from Syria and to explain her work as a consultant helping people to immigrate into Canada. This provided us with a great opportunity to use listening and interviewing skills.

The second article from the book was about Taking Notes and Citing Sources. For science, each student will choose an animal that migrates and learn more about it. They will be using the iPad app Puppet Pals to make a mini presentation about that information. In preparation, students were asked to research the answers to these questions we brainstormed together (put your research with each question in your notes and include a source!):

• How does the animal migrate?
• Where does it live and travel when migrating (migration route)?
• Why does it migrate?
• What “cues” or tells it to migrate?
• What biomes does it live in?
• What does it look like?
• What is the animal’s scientific name?
• What is the animal’s diet?
• What type of animal is it? (mammal, reptile, etc.)
• Five AWESOME facts about the animal that we would not already know.

We will be performing our Reader’s Theatre on Friday, so please make sure you bring any costume or prop items before then. Tonight, scripts are going home so everyone can practice lines. They don’t have to be memorized, just well rehearsed.

Scholastic Orders due Friday, February 5th.

Tuning In Article Reflections due Friday, February 12th.

Hello Everyone!

Well, the groundhog did not see his shadow! That is good news — early spring!

Today, we began by preparing props and costumes for our Reader’s Theatre pieces being performed on Friday for Literacy Week. Please remember that any props or costumes you are bringing from home need to be here tomorrow so we can practice with them.

We will be starting a new round of Tuning In articles. Under the Articles of Interest section of the blog, look at the links under Unit 3 Migration and Science. Students are asked to reflect on six of those links. Four of them must be reading articles, but up to two of them can be videos. Please remember to 1. report briefly on what you read so I know you read the article, but more importantly, 2. tell me what you think! To reflect means to connect to the article in some way, writing down your thoughts. Questions are okay, but the reflection should not be a list of questions. Show some deeper thinking about what you are reading. If the article is not one you can reflect on deeply because it is not interesting to you, move on to another choice.

Unit Work today involved discussing the many, larger groups of immigrants that have come into Canada. These include, but are not limited to:

• French Immigrants (1627-1760)
• United Empire Loyalists (1775 – 1790)
• Irish Immigrants (1820 – 1850)
• Asian Immigrants (1870 – 1914)
• Eastern European Immigrants (1870 – 1914)
• Jewish Immigrants (1919 – 1945)
• Political Refugees (1960 – present)
• Economic Immigrants/Refugees (1980 – present)

We split into groups to do a think, pair, share, meaning students read about one group to find out the push and pull factors involved in their immigration story. They have a sheet to fill out that will help them report to the class about that particular group.

After our guest teacher read a book for literacy week, we began our science work talking about migration cues for animals. What lets an animal know they need to migrate? We discussed seasonal cues, magnetic fields, and more. Students were asked to watch the videos at this link for four different animals that migrate. Then, determine which cues we talked about apply to the animals, recording answers on the migration cues sheet provided in class. For homework, please think about what animal that migrates you would like to investigate further!

Tomorrow, don’t forget to wear pajamas and bring a favourite stuffie if you want! As part of Literacy Week, we will have random drop everything and read moments throughout the day, during which you need to have a book available, we will drop what we are doing, and we will read in our pajamas. Ms. D is bringing a book, too, so make sure you have something to read.

Oh, and Peter’s Mom is coming to talk about immigration tomorrow! I look forward to hearing from her about her work with Canadian immigrants.

Have a great night!

 

Hello Everyone!

Today began our activities for LITERACY WEEK and we had a great session reading with our grade 2/3 buddy class and Ms. Lee. We also practiced our reader’s theatre scripts, as Division 5 will be doing presentations of these for other classes in the school on Friday. We are doing the stories Stephanie’s Ponytail and Mortimer by Robert Munsch, the story No Bath Tonight by Jane Volen, and The Wizard, the Fairy, and the Magic Chicken by Helen Lester. Students have been asked to begin looking for prop and costume items at home, although we will spend time in class making most of what we need.

Special thank you to Adrian’s mom Jane who came in to talk about her immigration experience with the students today. We also had the opportunity to talk about active listening skills and how to do an interview, as each student was asked to come up with a question to ask. When students do their final project of the year, they will be required to do research that not only involves books and the web, but also relies on an expert! They will need to know how to do an interview and take notes, so we will practice this before then. Anyone have an immigration experience they want to share? Please let me know as it will help us develop these skills!

Students had an opportunity to put new questions on the wonderings board regarding our unit, so that Ms. D would know what everyone is interested in for future classes. There were great questions about how animal migration affects human migration, how genes help us understand the journey of humans in the world, and how the study of past human migration is helpful to us now. Thank you everyone for the deep thinking around these questions! Homework is to finish the immigrant thoughts sheet, putting yourself in the shoes of an immigrant to another country.

We also worked on our Quilt of Belonging squares. Please continue to look for symbols that could be helpful to your quilt square!

Library is tomorrow. Several students have overdue books, so please look at home and bring them in!

If you have any Words Competition entries, please bring them in. We have received an extension to bring them in, as long as they get in before Friday.

Have a great night!

 

Good Evening,

A short update from Thursday. Today we:

• Continued Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library and we are almost done talking about the Reading Power of Connection. Next up: Questioning while we read.
• Talked about genetic traits and how common certain ones are in society. Homework is to read page one of our new packet on genetics, which explains what DNA is.
• Discussed how immigration has shaped the place we live in and how Canada is home to many, many cultures. On Monday, we will do an art project based on the Quilt of Belonging. Each student needs to think of symbols and pictures that represent the culture or cultures they most identify with based on their family history.
• Had some time to work on the Words Competition for those who are interested, as those entries are due Monday, February 1st, and must be typed.
• Worked with Ms. Hetrick on music for the afternoon.

Tomorrow we will:

• work on metric measurement practice in math
• have time to continue thinking about our passion project to be done as the last unit of the year
• take our quiz on commonly misspelled words from our Tuning In article reflections
• practice our Reader’s Theatre group presentations, which we will do for other classes in the school as part of Literacy Week all next week
• go to the Celebration of Learning assembly at 10:45 AM
• have free choice time and music!

Reminder: I am looking for people who can share their experiences immigrating to Canada. Please let us know if you can come and share with the class. You do not need to do a presentation, but rather, just be willing to be interviewed by the class.

Ms. D is away tomorrow to work with a colleague on the Advanced Learning team on a teacher professional development workshop around the new curriculum. Did you know we are already using the new curriculum as we work this year? I will see everyone bright and early on Monday!

Hello Everyone,

Classroom Visitors: If anyone has a parent or someone in their family who has an interesting immigration story to share, please let me know as soon as possible.

Unit Migration Work: Today, we continued our discussion around human migration by looking at the point system Canada uses for deciding who can immigrate into the country. Yesterday, students had read the profiles of applicants and prioritized the top five people they would let into Canada. Today, they used Canada’s immigration point system to see if their choices would have been allowed into Canada. What kinds of criteria do countries look at when allowing people to immigrate and why? Homework is to finish the Canadian Point System sheet if you were unable to complete it today.

Words Contest: Any student wishing to submit a poem or piece of prose for the District’s annual writing contest can do so before February 1st. Ms. D gave some class time today to think of ideas and write, and more time will be given tomorrow.

• There are four categories for each age level including English poetry, French poetry, English prose, and French prose.
• Prose pieces should not be more than 500 words.
• Entries should be suitable for all audiences.
• Submissions should be original works and not be from previous years.
• Entries should be typed to be easily read by judges
• Entries need a submission sheet (please see Ms. D for one)
• If you want Ms. D to edit it, then I am happy to help, but please have it already typed on on a USB for review on Monday, Feb. 1st.

LA: Today we continued our read aloud and Reading Power work around making connections. We finished through Chapter 9 today and everyone is enjoying the novel immensely! Please make sure your connection sheets from the packet are complete, as I will collect them and check them after we complete tomorrow’s read aloud period.

Math: We looked at a unique way of remembering the metric stair conversion chart, drawing it in a different way from last time. Students practiced conversions and timed themselves doing quick metric thinking. If not done, please finish pages 1 and 2 only of those practice problems.

Science: As part of human migration, we are investigating genetics, so today we looked at common human traits and surveyed who had these characteristics within our class community. Homework tonight involves asking your parents about these traits and completing a quick t-chart about where your own traits came from, mom or dad.

Have a great night!

Hello Everyone!

Today we began by finishing the watercolour on our beautiful zentangle trees. We will put backings on the artwork when dry and then display them in the classroom. Look for pictures to come on the blog!

In Math, students are preparing for a measurement bingo game by doing some conversions that use all sorts of metric and imperial terms for measuring mass, length, liquid, etc.

For our Unit Work, we looked today at a map I have displayed in the classroom called A Developing World. Yesterday, we identified push and pull factors that result in the migration of people, and today, we discussed why some countries would have a greater pull than others. What is a first world country? We identified factors that may give a country a better quality of life, such as overall surface area (lots of land), population, life expectancy, education enrolment rates, and GDP (Gross Domestic Product.) The map allows you to see how countries are rated across the globe. We discussed why life expectancy may be higher or lower in certain countries. Would it be more important to educate women or men in a country, if you were trying to improve the overall level of education?

Who would you let in to the country? How do we determine who gets to come in to Canada? Students read 15 profiles of potential immigrants and then prioritized five individuals for entry, giving three reasons why they would allow each person. Tomorrow, we will compare notes and then rank those individuals according to the real Canadian immigrant point system. Is it hard to get into Canada as an immigrant?

Visitors to the classroom. Does anyone have a person from their family who would be willing to be interviewed by the class for their immigrant experience? They would need to be able to understand English, and the more interesting their experience coming into Canada the better. Interviews would be brief and would not involve a presentation, although the person would need to be able to answer questions about why they chose to come to Canada, how the immigration process went, were there any difficulties during that process, etc. Please let Ms. D know as soon as possible!

LA: We continued to read our novel study about Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. If you miss a read aloud chapter, you can borrow the book during class time to catch up, or if you know you are going to be out for awhile, please look for a copy in the public library to use as a resource. At this time we have not read any more than Chapter 5, so please do not read ahead. Also, students chose today from a list of potential literature circle books. Later in February, we will organize into reading groups around 4-5 different novels.

Science: We looked at vocabulary for the different types of animal migration and made flashcards for these new words. Then, students had some time to look up one animal that migrates to learn a bit more about the animal. Each person will get to focus on an animal of their choice that migrates as part of our science work.

Science Games Teams. We will have a meeting at recess on Thursday to get organized, as there are some things you need to know and to prepare before going. Naomi’s mom will be assisting us as a coach. Make sure you mark March 5th as busy all day. We have to be at Science World at 11:45 AM.

Thank you and have a great night!

 

Hello Everyone,

Today, we continued our unit work by talking about the push and pull factors that cause human migrants to travel in the world. We also identified the difference between the words emigrant (exiting a country) and immigrants (going into a country) and talked about how migration can be both within a country internal and outside of the country external. Looking at data of human migration, we charted some of the major migration routes into North America, mainly through the United States, although Canada is also a major destination for migrants in the world. Students need to finish the map and two quick questions if they did not get it done this morning.

In my previous post, I discussed our Spelling Quiz for Thursday.

Today we also began exploring fiction reading, using a comprehension tool called Reading Power. Through this tool, we will listen more carefully to the voice in our head while we are reading, recording the connections, questions, visualizations, inferences, and metacognitive thinking moments we have while listening to a story. Students have a packet they will work on primarily in class, and Ms. D will be reading aloud the novel Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. Later we will be doing a mini project to show our understanding of the book.

During PE, we had a quick work out with music, and then students worked with their groups on the dance they are choreographing themselves for presentation to the group. Students have been asked to ensure they all know the music they have decided to work with (look it up online or shared within the group), think of the story they will tell through the dance, and to incorporate movements from other areas of PE (not just dance — use basketball, volleyball, gymnastics moves, etc.) We will continue working on this. Many people have been absent for illness, so we will not be presenting these until next week.

Finally, we are putting the finishing touches on our zentangle trees for art by doing a watercolour wash in shades of warm or cool colours. We first experimented with colour on a spare sheet of paper, and then began to apply them in the space around the tree. By leaving the center blank, we are practicing emphasis of the shape of the tree. I look forward to the final result!

Please save the date for February 26th for a field trip to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary. Notice to come. For those in Science Games, please be aware of March 5th as our date for the competition — starting at 11:45 AM.

Thank you and have a good night!

 

Happy Friday Everyone!

Just a short update for today, as we had Young People’s Concert all morning and then music in the afternoon:

Leadership Camp/Conference for February 19th at Burnaby South — A notice was sent home today, with an application on the back, for a leadership camp for grades 4-7 on the District Professional Development Day Feb. 19th. Limited space available. $20 fee. Applications due Feb. 5th.

Biomes — If anyone did not finish the biomes map due today, please finish. Some students were over-thorough with responses, which made the assignment take too long. Instead of a definition, characteristics and some animals, some students were copying everything they read about the biome online. Make sure you are practicing good time management and listen to criteria so you aren’t spending too much time on one assignment. 

Art — On Monday, we will do the watercolour portion of our tree art, so fine lining is due Monday (please finish at home as we have had lots of time during the week to do this in class.)

End of Year Focus Topic — We talked today about our focus topic for unit #6, where you will have time to do independent research on a topic of your choice. We have brainstormed topics, and with one topic students are supposed to come up with eight questions based on our wonderings board in class.

Have a great weekend! What a lovely way to end the day — free choice time and sunshine outside!

Hello everyone,

A number of people have been absent this week due to illness, so I wanted to take a moment to post some information should anyone have missed something or feel like catching up. I don’t usually post all of our worksheets this way, mostly because much of what I do is either in hard copy or is not a worksheet. Please do check in with me when you return to class after an absence, as I will provide copies of what you missed and give you time to finish it since you were away.

Math: 

Continue with the Skyscrapers handouts through p. 28. In class, we have done a measurement sheet, which is hard copy. Those who have it can make sure it is finished. In class yesterday, I went over the conversion stairs for the metric system. On the Math is Fun website, you can get a full explanation of the prefixes and a version of the chart I made in class. Here is also a great website for doing conversions between the imperial and metric systems, whether you are doing length/width, volume, area, etc. See Science Made Simple.

Unit Work — Science:

Yesterday we completed watching the Planet Earth Video from BBC that refers to the migration of animals from pole to pole. You can see it online if you missed a part: Pole to Pole. 

While watching the video, please fill out the answers to this worksheet to follow along: Planet Earth Pole to Pole WKSHT

On the back of the sheet, please define what is a BIOME and which ones you saw within the video. We will be looking more closely at the following biomes: Aquatic, Rainforests, Tundra, Taiga, Desert, Temperate, and Grassland. We recognized that when we do research on biomes, there are other names used and some others that may be identified; therefore, we will focus on the list above just to be consistent. Today, we reviewed information on all of these biomes via the Missouri Botanical Garden website. Use this map Blank Map Nat Geo Migration and as you read the website information about each biome, colour the map to represent the general area you would find each one in the world. You will need to make a colour key to represent each biome. On the back of the map, please write all of the biomes down, define them (what are there characteristics), and tell me some plants and animals found there. Please make sure to reach through each section on the website for valuable information.

Want more information on biomes? You can look at: Fact Monster Biomes, Blue Planet Biomes, UCMP Berkeley Biomes websites.

Unit Work — Socials:

If you haven’t finished it already, please complete the Family Tree Sheet

Today, we will look closely at human migration patterns and begin to discuss push and pull factors for the movement of humans across the globe. One of my favourite sites for migration patterns is People Movin and we will review it today. We will also talk about the human journey of migration via this National Geographic migration graphic. Here is a simple map that shows migration patterns Patterns Human Migration and a chart that we will review in class Migration Data Table Nat Geo. Using the chart, please fill out this sheet Global Patterns Human Migration  We will get time to do the chart and human migration sheet tomorrow, as our discussion today ran over.

TOMORROW: We will be going to the Young People’s Concert. Please arrive on time as we will load buses directly at 8:50 AM.

I hope this helps!

Ms. D

Hello All,

Sorry for the delay in getting this up here, but I had meetings today after school! Exciting things coming up in the months to come, so they were good meetings!

Today, we began our new unit. The focus statement is: Human migration is a response to challenges, risks, survival, and a natural need to explore. During the course of the unit, we will be talking about:

• The reasons people move throughout the world
• Human migration and its impact on Canada and the world
• The nature of exploration
• The similarities between humanity and other animals as related to migration

We began our discussion today by defining migration and seeing what we already know about the topic. Following this, we talked about how everyone has a story of movement in their lives, either within their core family (you, mom, dad, siblings) or through the extended family. Everyone was asked how many times they have had to move in their short lifetimes — the record was 11 times! Ms. D, at a different stage in her life, has moved 13 times. To further investigate this movement, everyone is filling out a basic family tree going back to great-grandparents. On the back of the paper, I have asked everyone to write down what they know about their family’s movement story — where have they lived, what countries did they come from, how many times did they have to move, whether between houses, cities, or continents. Tomorrow we will share this information and begin charting it on a map.

If anyone would like to try charting their family tree online (this is not required at all), then you could check out Family Echo.  You need to set up an account so the tree will be saved. It is not required to do this and paper is fine for tomorrow. If there is any information you can’t find out from your family, that is okay, too.

We also talked today about animal migration and began a discussion of the reasons animals move by watching Pole to Pole from the BBC Planet Earth Series. For Science related to our unit, we will be looking at animal migration and biomes. My hope is that we will be going on a special trip February 26th to talk about bird migration, but stay tuned and save the date! Will try to get it confirmed as soon as possible.

In math we continued working on our Skyscrapers math, marking a few pages and then assigning p. 26-27. We also talked about measurement with more depth, discussing the differences between the metric and imperial systems. Tomorrow’s “at the door first” challenge is to find out the history of why Canada changed to the metric system. Students went around the room using both systems to measure a variety of items.

On February 22nd, Friday we have the Young People’s Concert – please be on time. We have to leave right away. As soon as the bell rings at 8:50 AM, we will be going to load the bus. If you arrive late, please see if we are out front already at the buses loading if the classroom is locked, otherwise, check in at the office.

Have a great night!