Problem Solving

 I am happy to report that we were able to get outside for recess not once but twice today!!  The sun even made an appearance this afternoon.😎. Please ensure your little learner has mitts and a toque everyday.  There were a few of us standing around without and complaining of cold, yet there is a simple fix.  Children who are dropped off in the morning still need to be dressed for the weather.

We were solving some world problems in math this morning and fixing a given answer that was not correct.  Problem solving in math is difficult and we are trying to help with strategies to get going and help yourself.  

Read 20/10 record it  and bring all reading sheets to school tomorrow for a classroom total.

Decimals

 We were unable to get outside today due to the wind chill so if you are thinking your child needs to go for a run you would be right!  I am hopeful for tomorrow.  Please be dressed for the weather.

Grade 4's were introduced to decimals today through the use of money.  We talked about how many pennies in one dollar and the number of pennies in one dime.  We related that to fractions and voila - mystery of decimals solved!  Grade 3's were independently working on their multiplication - making arrays and looking for patterns.

Possessive nouns were covered this afternoon with a quick lesson and then a little activity.  I have noticed that my writer's use a possessive every time they add an s.  Now we just need to get the apostrophe going the right way.

Read 20/10 and record it for Reading Give It A Shot - Thursday I will record how long we have all read if you could please send all recording sheets to school that day.

Class Update

 We have been using our mentor text, Akiak, to learn about facts and opinions.  We have discussed the difference between a fact and opinion, written some facts and opinions and sorted facts and opinions about the story.  Today we drew Akiak together and then wrote facts about him around our drawings.

We have been working with fractions in the classroom - naming them and writing them.  Grade 4's have begun comparing fractions using greater than and less than.  

While the grade 4's have been creating a poster about objects that emit light the grade 3's have been working on life cycles and classification of animals.  So much going on here!!

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Reading Give It A Shot

 I Spy Fractions was the game we played in math.  Good old fashioned I Spy writing fractions with the correct numerator and denominator.

Akiak by Robert Blake is our mentor text this week.  We started with a prediction before we began reading by collecting all the information we could from the cover of the book.  Some of us had to adjust our thinking but we are good readers.

Reading...Give it a Shot 

BHS has enrolled in the Calgary Flames reading program.  Students will be bringing home tracking sheets to monitor how much they read each day.  Can you please sign the spot needed if they are reading at home?  

When your child reads 100 minutes they will earn one reading card. Once they collect all 24, they can move onto the bonus card collection of Harvey the Hound doing funny things! The reading  starts today (Monday, January 18^th) and ends March 26^th. Teachers will be tracking totals in order to hopefully win a virtual visit from the Calgary Flames. The more they read… the more chance we have of the Calgary Flames visiting our school virtually!   

Thank you for your support and work with encouraging your child to read!  

Go Flames Go!

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Triple Scoop Words

 One of our goals this year is to be authors that make their writing interesting.  We know that if an author used the same words over and over the writing would be boring.  Today we took the time to find some of the best words possible.  We brainstormed triple-scoop words - not just plain words - sad, mad, good but triple scoop - devastated, furious, amazing to keep in our writing folders for future use!

Ask your little author what triple scoop words mean to them.

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Grade 4 math homework

 Grade 4's are bringing home math work that they had not completed before the winter break.  Please check with your little learner to see if this includes them.  It may take some of them several evenings to get caught up.

Thank you for sending back the paper package of work from last week.  Today we shared our stories about our special grown up and the grade 3's shared their array projects which were awesome.  If your child did not bring their envelope today then perhaps they could bring it tomorrow.  Thank you for supporting your learner at home.

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On-Line Work

 I am marking work in the google classroom every morning.  I will return all work to students with a comment or a mark.

I sent back all the research work that was handed in firstly because it was intended to take all week, secondly the answers were often one word and thirdly they were full of spelling, capital and period mistakes.  Remind your little learner that quality counts.  Even on-line.  A rubric was included so you can see what mark you will get even before you submit your work.

Writing should have continued today about the special grown-up in everyone's life.  Once the writing is complete then it can be shared with mom/dad/grandma etc.  If that person could give the little write a star (compliment) and a wish (something to improve) that would be great.  Then authors need to use a green marker/pencil crayon to edit their work.  They need to:

- underline 3 spelling mistakes or .C corrections

- change 2 words

- rearrange 1 sentence to sound better

Ask themselves - is there a simile in this writing?

did I use adjectives to describe my special grown-up that will put a picture into the head of my reader?

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Welcome Back

 Welcome back to school!!

I am so very pleased to say that we will be back in the classroom on Monday January 11 as per the governments announcement yesterday afternoon.  Online meetings are going well but it's just not the same.  Just a reminder that the link to the classroom will not go live until just before 10, 11:30 and 2 for security reasons.  Right after the meet I will remove the link so students can not remain in the room alone.

We have started a mini unit on fractions online and when that work is done students can submit it to me.  I will check every morning for completed work.  There is also a research piece to compare Alberta to another country.  That project is meant to take all week.

Yesterday your young author should have chosen a person they know and love very much to focus a piece of writing on.  That person can be a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle and began the planning process on the graphic organizer: Connecting to a Special Grown-up.  Today they were to use the ideas from their planning sheet to write about their special grown up.  We are all working on making our writing interesting to our reader and using techniques such as similes, adjectives, and facts followed by a detail.  Tomorrow they will need to share their writing with you! 

As always if you have questions or problems I'm an email or phone call to the school away!

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