Good afternoon families of room 18!
Here is a quick recap of what we worked on today:
We began the morning with an introduction to wetlands in the form of a K-W-L chart. In this activity, students present what they already know about wetlands and questions they have about wetlands. It is very possible that we all had a case of the Mondays, but students had many questions they would like answered but were slow to offer up what they already knew about Wetlands. I have a feeling they know more than they let on, though. Over the next few weeks, students will be working on a Wetland project as a performance task.
After this, we had music and then came back to class to work on some finish up activities. Many students are now finished their Ted Harrison Art, with a few needing to donate some of their lunch hour tomorrow in order to access the pastels in the classroom. While students were working on this, we also worked on finishing up more of our assessments from our last social studies unit. This is the assessment that involves either a two minute recording or a short write up reflecting on how certain documents or processes changed Canadian identity.
We also built some mathletics time into our morning because there is a schoolwide challenge going on and because I have not provided oodles of class time to work on mathletics, our classroom is currently in last place. Oh dear! Over the next few weeks, we will build this into our math time while splitting between grade 4 and 5 curriculum.
This afternoon we discussed a new story planner and began brainstorming how to structure the story for our best work, went to gym to play badminton, read aloud from Fish in a Tree and did guided reading to catch up on what we have missed over the last little bit.
Reminders:
-Fun lunch order forms due Wednesday
-Fun lunch on May 8th
-Spring photos are on Wednesday
-Grade 5 vaccinations on MAY 10TH!
Monday, April 30, 2018
Friday, April 27, 2018
Friday, April 27, 2018
Good Afternoon families of room 18!
Today we had a day of artistic expression!
We began the day by discussing the final edit on our first narrative story. These stories will be printed by me today and reviewed for feedback this weekend prior to beginning our next narrative story. Students are being encouraged to work through providing actionable feedback for their peers. This is a tricky concept for students who often revert to "I like your story" as feedback.
We also spent a fair amount of time working on our pastel art inspired by the style of Ted Harrison. Students have all begun their good copies and should have these completely finished on Monday. They will be posted on our walls for the next month until our next attempt at painting and are looking really good!
To finish off our day, we had a reading session with our buddy grade 2 class and then went down to gym for a combination of fitness Friday and badminton.
Reminders:
-Fun lunch money Due May 2
-Spring Picture Day: May 2
-Fun lunch on May 8th
Chelsea Laird
Learning Leader and Teacher, Beddington Heights School
Calgary Board of Education | www.cbe.ab.ca/b372
t | 403-777-6610
f | 403-777-6613
Today we had a day of artistic expression!
We began the day by discussing the final edit on our first narrative story. These stories will be printed by me today and reviewed for feedback this weekend prior to beginning our next narrative story. Students are being encouraged to work through providing actionable feedback for their peers. This is a tricky concept for students who often revert to "I like your story" as feedback.
We also spent a fair amount of time working on our pastel art inspired by the style of Ted Harrison. Students have all begun their good copies and should have these completely finished on Monday. They will be posted on our walls for the next month until our next attempt at painting and are looking really good!
To finish off our day, we had a reading session with our buddy grade 2 class and then went down to gym for a combination of fitness Friday and badminton.
Reminders:
-Fun lunch money Due May 2
-Spring Picture Day: May 2
-Fun lunch on May 8th
Chelsea Laird
Learning Leader and Teacher, Beddington Heights School
Calgary Board of Education | www.cbe.ab.ca/b372
t | 403-777-6610
f | 403-777-6613
Thursday, April 26, 2018
Tuesday, April 26, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18!
Here is a recap of what happened in our class over the past couple of days:
In Language Arts we have been examining trends from our first narrative writing story where we can find improvement moving forward. We will have one more period for students to complete typing their story into their blog and before printing them off for feedback. Yesterday, we looked at alliteration and will be looking to include this figurative language style in our upcoming final narrative story.
Math: We are now finished with our board games! We discussed the problem solving process as this was a big part of identifying and working through issues with our game that needed to be addressed before players could enjoy the game fully. A big point of focus was how students were able to persevere and adjust the design of their games according to peer feedback in such a positive way. We then compared this perseverance to some of the problems we encounter in other areas of our daily classroom life and discussed how we can use this skill in other areas. Today we began to discuss our new unit in math: measurement. We started by discussing where we use measurement in our every day lives and reviewing the 12 hour clock. The grade 4 and 5 curriculum is very different for this unit so there will be much more separation during this work.
Science: I will be looking over our last performance task for science, our greeting cards, and sending these home on Monday for students to show you. We will begin our new unit on Wetlands next week.
Social Studies: Students reviewed the last few topics covered in our Canadian Identify unit and are preparing to record their final thoughts in a vlog tomorrow throughout the day. We are also crafting a class flag and Charter of Rights and Freedoms to examine how our "Room 18" identity differs from the Canadian Identity. We will be debating and voting on which flag best represents our identity next week.
Art: This week we are focusing on the work of Ted Harrison and will be completing a pastel work to display in class tomorrow.
I was away from school this afternoon, please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or concerns.
Reminders:
-Fun Lunch money due May 2nd
-Fun Lunch: May 8th
-Spring picture day: May 2nd
Here is a recap of what happened in our class over the past couple of days:
In Language Arts we have been examining trends from our first narrative writing story where we can find improvement moving forward. We will have one more period for students to complete typing their story into their blog and before printing them off for feedback. Yesterday, we looked at alliteration and will be looking to include this figurative language style in our upcoming final narrative story.
Math: We are now finished with our board games! We discussed the problem solving process as this was a big part of identifying and working through issues with our game that needed to be addressed before players could enjoy the game fully. A big point of focus was how students were able to persevere and adjust the design of their games according to peer feedback in such a positive way. We then compared this perseverance to some of the problems we encounter in other areas of our daily classroom life and discussed how we can use this skill in other areas. Today we began to discuss our new unit in math: measurement. We started by discussing where we use measurement in our every day lives and reviewing the 12 hour clock. The grade 4 and 5 curriculum is very different for this unit so there will be much more separation during this work.
Science: I will be looking over our last performance task for science, our greeting cards, and sending these home on Monday for students to show you. We will begin our new unit on Wetlands next week.
Social Studies: Students reviewed the last few topics covered in our Canadian Identify unit and are preparing to record their final thoughts in a vlog tomorrow throughout the day. We are also crafting a class flag and Charter of Rights and Freedoms to examine how our "Room 18" identity differs from the Canadian Identity. We will be debating and voting on which flag best represents our identity next week.
Art: This week we are focusing on the work of Ted Harrison and will be completing a pastel work to display in class tomorrow.
I was away from school this afternoon, please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or concerns.
Reminders:
-Fun Lunch money due May 2nd
-Fun Lunch: May 8th
-Spring picture day: May 2nd
Monday, April 23, 2018
Monday, April 23, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18!
Here is a recap of what we were up to today:
We began the day by completing a writing assignment for Ms. Ryan as we were unable to write her goodbye letters while she was still with us. We illustrated our letters and will be combining them into a book tomorrow so that we can give them to her during the afternoon while she visits us tomorrow.
After recess we moved into math and worked through solving problems with our board games that were raised during our math night.
After lunch, students were given time to finish typing up their narrative writing stories and work on improving the quality of their work.
At the end of the day we read from Fish in a Tree and discussed some of the themes that are present in the book.
Have a great evening!
Here is a recap of what we were up to today:
We began the day by completing a writing assignment for Ms. Ryan as we were unable to write her goodbye letters while she was still with us. We illustrated our letters and will be combining them into a book tomorrow so that we can give them to her during the afternoon while she visits us tomorrow.
After recess we moved into math and worked through solving problems with our board games that were raised during our math night.
After lunch, students were given time to finish typing up their narrative writing stories and work on improving the quality of their work.
At the end of the day we read from Fish in a Tree and discussed some of the themes that are present in the book.
Have a great evening!
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Pillars of Care Award Winners
Good Morning parents of room 18:
Due to the departure of our student teachers this week, we have re-scheduled our Pillars of Care Awards Assembly for this Thursday at 1:15 pm. The award winners that were nominated by our class this month are below:
Care for Others - Brooklyn H.
Care for Self - Sara
Care for Place - Shalin
Care for Learning - Zackary
Students who will be awarded punctuality awards for perfect punctuality during the month of March are:
Adam
Sage
Zack
Kareen
Cody
Gregory
Darshini
Madison
Abby
Sabrina
Aleeza
Sara
Alexander
If you are able to join us for this special occasion, our assembly will begin at 1:15 and should last about an hour.
Thanks and we look forward to seeing you on Thursday evening at our Math night! (6 - 8pm)
Due to the departure of our student teachers this week, we have re-scheduled our Pillars of Care Awards Assembly for this Thursday at 1:15 pm. The award winners that were nominated by our class this month are below:
Care for Others - Brooklyn H.
Care for Self - Sara
Care for Place - Shalin
Care for Learning - Zackary
Students who will be awarded punctuality awards for perfect punctuality during the month of March are:
Adam
Sage
Zack
Kareen
Cody
Gregory
Darshini
Madison
Abby
Sabrina
Aleeza
Sara
Alexander
If you are able to join us for this special occasion, our assembly will begin at 1:15 and should last about an hour.
Thanks and we look forward to seeing you on Thursday evening at our Math night! (6 - 8pm)
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18!
We began this icy Tuesday morning down in the music room with Mr. Wiens. Once we came upstairs, we moved into designing our math board games for our math night this upcoming Thursday evening. Students began this job yesterday and will be using our math periods this week to build their games and create questions that include curricular outcomes from the year so far. We are very excited to have these finished for you so you can come and play these games with us.
After recess we moved into Language Arts and began typing up our revised draft into our blogs. We still have some students who have not completed their rough drafts and will need to finish these before being able to type up their stories. These will be due in their final draft to Ms. Ryan and I no later than Friday!
During the afternoon, we got out circuit greeting cards back out and many students started planning out their good copies. Planning out where the lightbulbs will go, measuring the distance between the circuit connections, and making sure our connections do not break is very hard work.
We had gym next and then came back to discuss our assessment piece for the final steps of our social studies unit. This will be recorded using a school computer so students can communicate their understandings verbally as opposed to through a written format. This will only be viewed by Ms. Ryan and I, and will be deleted once completed. Students who are not comfortable with recording themselves on a computer have been offered alternatives for presenting their knowledge.
Reminders:
-Math Night on Thursday, 6 - 8pm.
-PD Day this Friday, NO SCHOOL
We began this icy Tuesday morning down in the music room with Mr. Wiens. Once we came upstairs, we moved into designing our math board games for our math night this upcoming Thursday evening. Students began this job yesterday and will be using our math periods this week to build their games and create questions that include curricular outcomes from the year so far. We are very excited to have these finished for you so you can come and play these games with us.
After recess we moved into Language Arts and began typing up our revised draft into our blogs. We still have some students who have not completed their rough drafts and will need to finish these before being able to type up their stories. These will be due in their final draft to Ms. Ryan and I no later than Friday!
During the afternoon, we got out circuit greeting cards back out and many students started planning out their good copies. Planning out where the lightbulbs will go, measuring the distance between the circuit connections, and making sure our connections do not break is very hard work.
We had gym next and then came back to discuss our assessment piece for the final steps of our social studies unit. This will be recorded using a school computer so students can communicate their understandings verbally as opposed to through a written format. This will only be viewed by Ms. Ryan and I, and will be deleted once completed. Students who are not comfortable with recording themselves on a computer have been offered alternatives for presenting their knowledge.
Reminders:
-Math Night on Thursday, 6 - 8pm.
-PD Day this Friday, NO SCHOOL
Friday, April 13, 2018
Friday, April 13th, 2018
Happy Friday the 13th!
Today was true to the tradition of Friday the 13th - ENERGETIC!
Here is a recap of what we've been working on over the past few days:
Science - Students have now begun the final performance task for their electricity unit - a light up greeting card! Yesterday we finished our practice circuit and all students were able to get their simple circuit and single lightbulb to work. Today we began designing the image that will grace the cover of our card in order to plan where our lightbulbs will need to be in our circuit, and also, what kind of circuit we will need in order for our lightbulbs to work properly.
Math - We had a math assessment today for our work with patterns and relations. We are sending home a fractions quiz that students wrote last week. Please ask your child to show it to you when they get home.
Social Studies - We have been collecting information on documents, initiatives, and events toward the end of the 20th century that affected Canadian identity.
Language Arts - We are now at the point of having finished our first draft of our narrative writing story. Students will be working on editing their work this upcoming week.
Reminders:
-Math Night on Thursday evening 6pm-8pm
-Pillars of Care Assembly, Thursday afternoon 1:15pm
Today was true to the tradition of Friday the 13th - ENERGETIC!
Here is a recap of what we've been working on over the past few days:
Science - Students have now begun the final performance task for their electricity unit - a light up greeting card! Yesterday we finished our practice circuit and all students were able to get their simple circuit and single lightbulb to work. Today we began designing the image that will grace the cover of our card in order to plan where our lightbulbs will need to be in our circuit, and also, what kind of circuit we will need in order for our lightbulbs to work properly.
Math - We had a math assessment today for our work with patterns and relations. We are sending home a fractions quiz that students wrote last week. Please ask your child to show it to you when they get home.
Social Studies - We have been collecting information on documents, initiatives, and events toward the end of the 20th century that affected Canadian identity.
Language Arts - We are now at the point of having finished our first draft of our narrative writing story. Students will be working on editing their work this upcoming week.
Reminders:
-Math Night on Thursday evening 6pm-8pm
-Pillars of Care Assembly, Thursday afternoon 1:15pm
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18!
Just a quick note that we have our Aggie Days field trip tomorrow!
Reminders:
*We will be waiting for our return bus outside and the current forecast calls for a rain/snow mixture at some point throughout the day. Please ensure students dress appropriately just in case we are held up.
*Please send a litter free lunch that has items students can eat easily and quickly. We will not have access to spoons and forks, there will also be no microwaves.
*Please send a water bottle
*We will be leaving Aggie Days at 1:30 and should be back to school no later than 2:00.
Volunteers who will be joining us: We will be departing Beddington Heights at 9:00, you are welcome to join us at entry time or come closer to 9. We do have some documents for you to review prior to our departure.
Thank you for coming in to help us!!
Just a quick note that we have our Aggie Days field trip tomorrow!
Reminders:
*We will be waiting for our return bus outside and the current forecast calls for a rain/snow mixture at some point throughout the day. Please ensure students dress appropriately just in case we are held up.
*Please send a litter free lunch that has items students can eat easily and quickly. We will not have access to spoons and forks, there will also be no microwaves.
*Please send a water bottle
*We will be leaving Aggie Days at 1:30 and should be back to school no later than 2:00.
Volunteers who will be joining us: We will be departing Beddington Heights at 9:00, you are welcome to join us at entry time or come closer to 9. We do have some documents for you to review prior to our departure.
Thank you for coming in to help us!!
Monday, April 9, 2018
Monday, April 9, 2018
Good afternoon families of Room 18!
Here is a recap of what we were up to today:
We began the day by extending our understanding of electromagnets by exploring what happens if we use different materials to build our magnetic connection. Today we discovered that aluminum does not work as a conductor!
During math, students were split into grade groups to take a look at the specific outcomes expected of grade 4s and 5s. Currently, students are experiencing difficulty putting their pattern rules into words. We are trying to reinforce that our pattern rules often relate to whether it is an increasing or decreasing pattern, as well as what the difference between the numbers are. Ms. Ryan is encouraging students to use T-Charts to organize their thinking.
After recess students were given instructions to write their narrative writing until the end of the main event. The revision process is being pushed throughout the writing process so that improving our writing does not become a big chore once our stories are complete. We are asking students to use figurative language as well as to consider how to vary the vocabulary they use throughout the story. We briefly continued some free writing time after lunch, as our mini-lesson for writing ate into free writing time before lunch.
Next, we did some guided reading with about half of the class working on finishing up their guided reading novels, and the other half working on free choice books for guided reading. We then went down to gym, where we begun floor hockey.
At the end of the day, Ms. Ryan read aloud from Fish in a Tree and students responded to questions aimed at checking their listening comprehension and predictions of upcoming events.
Reminders:
-Students who have not returned field trip forms are asked to do so TOMORROW
-Field Trip to Aggie Days on Wednesday, we depart at 9:00am
-Fun Lunch tomorrow
Here is a recap of what we were up to today:
We began the day by extending our understanding of electromagnets by exploring what happens if we use different materials to build our magnetic connection. Today we discovered that aluminum does not work as a conductor!
During math, students were split into grade groups to take a look at the specific outcomes expected of grade 4s and 5s. Currently, students are experiencing difficulty putting their pattern rules into words. We are trying to reinforce that our pattern rules often relate to whether it is an increasing or decreasing pattern, as well as what the difference between the numbers are. Ms. Ryan is encouraging students to use T-Charts to organize their thinking.
After recess students were given instructions to write their narrative writing until the end of the main event. The revision process is being pushed throughout the writing process so that improving our writing does not become a big chore once our stories are complete. We are asking students to use figurative language as well as to consider how to vary the vocabulary they use throughout the story. We briefly continued some free writing time after lunch, as our mini-lesson for writing ate into free writing time before lunch.
Next, we did some guided reading with about half of the class working on finishing up their guided reading novels, and the other half working on free choice books for guided reading. We then went down to gym, where we begun floor hockey.
At the end of the day, Ms. Ryan read aloud from Fish in a Tree and students responded to questions aimed at checking their listening comprehension and predictions of upcoming events.
Reminders:
-Students who have not returned field trip forms are asked to do so TOMORROW
-Field Trip to Aggie Days on Wednesday, we depart at 9:00am
-Fun Lunch tomorrow
Friday, April 6, 2018
Friday, April 6, 2018
Good afternoon families!
Here is a recap of our past two days:
In math we continued to explore patterns and were challenged by increasing patterns that increase in ways that are not so straight forward, such as skip counting by the same number. We will continue to work with this topic next week. We wrote a mad minute today but due to our new gym time on Friday (we are in gym for the last 30 minutes) we did not get these as well as the math quizzes handed back to all students. These will come home on Monday.
Social Studies: We discussed the creation of the Canadian flag and how various symbols were considered prior to the final decision being made. We looked at the many symbols of Canadian Identity that come to mind to us as Calgarians, and then discussed how these may differ for Canadians who are originally from the East Coast or the West Coast. We continued our discussion of peacekeeping and how our role as peacekeepers has changed since it began.
Language Arts: Story writing continues! Students are currently being challenged to thoughtfully plan a TWO-PAGE story according to organizers that we have provided them. The limitation on story length has been designed intentionally to help students focus in on what actions and events in their story are absolutely critical toward the development of their plot. Students at this age often have a difficult time discerning between information that is useful toward the plot versus information that is extra and does not need to be included (even as detail to develop parts of the story).
Reminders:
-Aggie Days permission forms due next week
-Fun Lunch on the 10th
Have a great weekend!
Here is a recap of our past two days:
In math we continued to explore patterns and were challenged by increasing patterns that increase in ways that are not so straight forward, such as skip counting by the same number. We will continue to work with this topic next week. We wrote a mad minute today but due to our new gym time on Friday (we are in gym for the last 30 minutes) we did not get these as well as the math quizzes handed back to all students. These will come home on Monday.
Social Studies: We discussed the creation of the Canadian flag and how various symbols were considered prior to the final decision being made. We looked at the many symbols of Canadian Identity that come to mind to us as Calgarians, and then discussed how these may differ for Canadians who are originally from the East Coast or the West Coast. We continued our discussion of peacekeeping and how our role as peacekeepers has changed since it began.
Language Arts: Story writing continues! Students are currently being challenged to thoughtfully plan a TWO-PAGE story according to organizers that we have provided them. The limitation on story length has been designed intentionally to help students focus in on what actions and events in their story are absolutely critical toward the development of their plot. Students at this age often have a difficult time discerning between information that is useful toward the plot versus information that is extra and does not need to be included (even as detail to develop parts of the story).
Reminders:
-Aggie Days permission forms due next week
-Fun Lunch on the 10th
Have a great weekend!
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18!
Welcome back after spring break! Students were thrown back into learning yesterday and had a really great first day back. Here's a recap of what we've been up to over the past two days:
Math: Students wrote a math assessment yesterday on fractions. These will be sent home by the end of the week, we are just waiting for a few more students to complete the quiz prior to releasing it back to students. Today we began with a whole class lesson on patterns and will be breaking into grade group lessons tomorrow to address specific grade curricular expectations. This will be a fairly short unit, so we will break it up it with continued multiplication and division practice.
Language Arts: Huzzah! Students have begun narrative writing! However, to their dismay they are being asked to consider parts of their stories one at a time. Today, we began by brainstorming a story based off of sentence prompts and and designing elaborate beginnings from the narrative writing diamond. We are trying to support student use of story planning and this can be a frustrating process for those who like to take an idea and run with it. We will work through this frustration together.
Science: Students are working hard gathering their knowledge for their final assessment piece for the electricity unit. Today they had a healthy dose of science and completed an experiment as well as demonstrated their ability to identify series, parallel, and simple circuits. I don't want to say too much about our final product, but I hope that it will receive a welcome greeting from you when it comes home. Ask them about the experiment they completed today, they created electromagnets and should be able to explain the process to you.
Social Studies: Yesterday we covered the concept of peacekeeping and how Canada contributed to this force. We looked at the United Nations and the role it plays within the global community as well.
Reminders:
-Students need to return their Aggie Days permission forms, volunteer forms will be sent home tomorrow
Welcome back after spring break! Students were thrown back into learning yesterday and had a really great first day back. Here's a recap of what we've been up to over the past two days:
Math: Students wrote a math assessment yesterday on fractions. These will be sent home by the end of the week, we are just waiting for a few more students to complete the quiz prior to releasing it back to students. Today we began with a whole class lesson on patterns and will be breaking into grade group lessons tomorrow to address specific grade curricular expectations. This will be a fairly short unit, so we will break it up it with continued multiplication and division practice.
Language Arts: Huzzah! Students have begun narrative writing! However, to their dismay they are being asked to consider parts of their stories one at a time. Today, we began by brainstorming a story based off of sentence prompts and and designing elaborate beginnings from the narrative writing diamond. We are trying to support student use of story planning and this can be a frustrating process for those who like to take an idea and run with it. We will work through this frustration together.
Science: Students are working hard gathering their knowledge for their final assessment piece for the electricity unit. Today they had a healthy dose of science and completed an experiment as well as demonstrated their ability to identify series, parallel, and simple circuits. I don't want to say too much about our final product, but I hope that it will receive a welcome greeting from you when it comes home. Ask them about the experiment they completed today, they created electromagnets and should be able to explain the process to you.
Social Studies: Yesterday we covered the concept of peacekeeping and how Canada contributed to this force. We looked at the United Nations and the role it plays within the global community as well.
Reminders:
-Students need to return their Aggie Days permission forms, volunteer forms will be sent home tomorrow
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