Class Blog


October 22 Update

Here’s a peek into our past few weeks…

Literacy:  

– We have been practicing non-fiction reading by making webs to organizing the main idea and supporting details of texts. 

– We examined synonyms, antonyms and homophones to expand our vocabulary and improve our spelling. 

– We practiced proper paragraph structure by describing what we like about the Fall season. We used the writing process to brainstorm ideas, write a first draft, edit and revise our draft, and then write a final copy.

– Our first narrative writing activity of the year was based off a picture prompt. Students wrote a story about a boy who was experiencing a problem and the stories needed to describe a solution to the problem.

– We are now focusing on persuasive writing and adding more detail and descriptive words to our writing. To practice this, students will be writing a ‘Haunted House for Sale’ ad.

FSA (Fundamental Skills Assessments): Grade 4 Students have completed the 2 numeracy parts of these government assessments. Next week we will complete the 2 literacy sections.

Grade 3 Science: While the Grade 4s work on the FSAs, the Grade 3s are completing a science unit on landforms with Mrs. Devine.

Math: We’ve been working on addition with regrouping, including word problems. Many students have been challenging themselves to complete my mystery math pictures using a grid and codes. To prepare for the FSAs, the Grade 4 students also had some lessons on graphing.

Science: We are focused on the question: How does the movement of the Earth and the moon affect living and non-living systems? First, we learned about the Solar System and how the rotation and revolution of the Earth causes day/night and seasons. Next we will examine the movement and phases of the moon and why we have tides. Then, students are starting an investigation of nocturnal animals.

Mrs. Tina from the CVRD came to teach us about our Comox Valley Watershed. We talked about the local ecosystem and ways we could protect our water.

Art: Recent art projects have included turkeys, Jack o lanterns, mystery pictures, and skeletons to decorate the gym for the Halloween dance. Next we will learn how to draw haunted houses to accompany our Haunted House for Sale writing activity.

ADST: We have been coding Indi Robots in the library.  

PE: It is volleyball season and the students are learning the skills and rules of this fun game. 

Photos –

Our final PowerPoint presentations:

       

Our cross country runners!

A solar system reading scavenger hunt:

Thanksgiving turkeys:

     

Jack-o-lanterns:

PJ/Stuffy day:

   

Random fun:

   

Volleyball:

  

Our little buddies:

Making skeletons for the Halloween dance:

Indi Robots:

Watershed Presentation:

Halloween Treats… thanks London!

September 30

It was a busy first month! The Terry Fox run, the open house, and Orange Shirt Day were all included along with our regular lessons and activities.

We are finishing up our Socials Studies unit on Canada and the World and are about to start our first Science unit which examines the affects of the motions of the Earth and moon. This will include an investigation of seasons, tides, the phases of the moon, and nocturnal animals. The Grade 3s will complete an additional Science unit on landforms while the Grade 4s participate in the Fundamental Skills Assessments later in October.

Literacy: After focusing on printing, proper capitalization, and practicing proper sentence structure, we will now learn how to compose strong paragraphs. We have started our weekly spelling routine and the students have begun an independent online reading program (Reading A-Z) that will help build reading comprehension skills as well as oral reading fluency. Students are practicing their oral presentation skills by presenting their ‘All About Me’ PowerPoints.

Math: We are wrapping up our pattern and number sense units before moving into multi-digit addition and subtraction. We will continue weekly number sense routines throughout the year. We have completed some basic addition and subtraction drills to build speed and accuracy.

Little Buddies: Our buddy class will be Mrs. Bowley’s kindergarten class. Now that they have had some time to get settled into the school, we are looking forward to doing lots of fun activities together! We will meet on alternating Wednesdays.

Weekly Forest Walk:

Autumn Trees: Warm vs Cool Colours

Pablo Picasso Art Display:

More PowerPoint Presentations:

       

Listening to ‘The Wild Robot’:

ADST (Applied Design Skills and Technology): Coding Indi Robots

Orange Shirt Day:

 

Welcome to Division 10

We are off to an amazing start in Division 10! Here are some of the things we’ve been up to: 

Math: We warmed up with some geometry, basic addition and subtraction, patterns, and a number sense assessment (SNAP). 

Literacy: We completed a spelling assessment, a summer writing activity, and already have 3 entries in our writing books. Students are taking turns reading with Mrs. Wilson one on one and we are enjoying our first novel, The Wild Robot.

Social Studies: Our first unit is an overview of the the continents and oceans and the special symbols and features of Canada. We are currently researching each continent and writing facts to summarize what we learn.

PE: The class has gym with Mr. McKee twice a week and Mrs. Wilson three times a week. We’ve been playing cooperative games to learn the gym routines, have fun, and get lots of exercise. We are also playing handball to learn the fundamentals of team sports (offence, defence, positioning, and working as a team).

Community Building: We begin each day with a morning meeting so that everyone gets a chance to speak and practice active listening. We also completed a group challenge (The Longest Paper Chain) that focused on speaking kindly and working together.  

Communication/ADST: The students learned how to use PowerPoint to communicate their learning/knowledge. First Mrs. Wilson presented a PowerPoint about herself, and now the students are creating their own PowerPoints to present to the class.

Art: We learned all about Pablo Picasso, who was one of the first artists to show that art doesn’t need to look perfect and realistic. Then we created self portraits using his concept.             

Word of the Month: This month our word is ‘friendly,’ a perfect word to start off a new year with new classmates!

Photos

Our class:

Playing with our new friends:

Pablo Picasso Self Portraits:

Reading our first novel, The Wild Robot:

Tangram Puzzles in Math:

Friday Fun-Day Stations (The Grade 4s were with Mrs. W and the Gr. 3s were with Mrs. Devine so unfortunately I don’t have photos of the Grade 3s):

Playing handball in PE:

Thursday morning ‘open gym’ to start the day:

 

Birthday Sundaes:

Longest Paper Chain Team Challenge:

   

Our First Power Point Presentation! Amazing work, London!

Forest Walk: