Good afternoon families of room 18!
Here is a recap of today!
We started our day out with pillars of care nominations! The winners will be announced tomorrow and parents will be contacted throughout the school day. We tried to get these done today but had quite the discombobulated day.
I’m the morning, we had some time to present some of our stop motion videos and were quite impressed by what we saw! Due to technology bookings, we will finish watching the rest tomorrow morning. We also had some live action slots that were very well thought out and presented. I am a super proud teacher!
We had an opportunity after recess to watch some of Wonder, as it was a well-enjoyed book from earlier this year. We intend to compare and contrast the book to the movie, as well as support our position through a short writing excerpt tomorrow, after we finish the movie.
After lunch we had a seed survivor presentation for an hour, and once again, many proud teacher moments where the kids made numerous connections to their learning in science. From making connections to our atmosphere, regions, wetlands and many more, room 18 showed off just what they’re made of to our presenter.
Once our presentation was over, we had many distracted brains. We returned to class to try to finish our video presentations if were foiled when another classroom needed the iPads we were using, and so we had some free choice time to finish up our letter to ourselves, poetry, or a letter to Ms. Laird.
Finally, it is with mixed emotions that I announced to the kids today that I will be leaving Beddington Heights at the end of this year and moving to Hugh A Bennett to teach grade 3. I am very touched by the students’ reaction today when they heard the news and will miss having the opportunity to loop with my wonderful grade 4 students. I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to work with this group of kids who continually put up with my pushing them to think critically and make connections between what they’re learning and their own lives. I look forward to our last two days together!
Reminders:
- grade 6 moving on assembly: tomorrow at 1:15
- pillars of care assembly: Wednesday at 12:30
- report cards come home on Wednesday at 2:30
Monday, June 25, 2018
Friday, June 22, 2018
Friday, June 22, 2018
Dear families of room 18,
Here is a recap of what happened this week in class!
Math: students examined the concepts of symmetry and types of lines (parallel, perpendicular, etc.) looking at a variety of shapes. We also spent some time reviewing multiplication and division, and will continue to do so next week.
Language Arts: We are currently in the process of writing a letter to ourselves to use as a reminder for next year of different learning and self-regulation strategies we have used and found success with this year. Hopefully, students will be able to read this letter at the beginning of next year and help them start their next grade off right!
Science: Due to a few students not being done their videos, the class agreed to wait until Monday to have our viewing party. We will be watching them in the afternoon, and will not have any more delays!
Students were also working on a self-portrait of themselves wearing glasses (connected to the concept of symmetry), with the glasses showing a reflection (another math concept we are working with) of what they will be seeing this summer.
Reminders:
- Last day of school: Wednesday, June 27
- Pillars of Care Assembly: Wednesday, June 27 @ 12:30
- Grade 6 Moving on Assembly: Tuesday, June 26 @ 1:15
- All items in the lost and found that have not been claimed will be donated on June 28th
Here is a recap of what happened this week in class!
Math: students examined the concepts of symmetry and types of lines (parallel, perpendicular, etc.) looking at a variety of shapes. We also spent some time reviewing multiplication and division, and will continue to do so next week.
Language Arts: We are currently in the process of writing a letter to ourselves to use as a reminder for next year of different learning and self-regulation strategies we have used and found success with this year. Hopefully, students will be able to read this letter at the beginning of next year and help them start their next grade off right!
Science: Due to a few students not being done their videos, the class agreed to wait until Monday to have our viewing party. We will be watching them in the afternoon, and will not have any more delays!
Students were also working on a self-portrait of themselves wearing glasses (connected to the concept of symmetry), with the glasses showing a reflection (another math concept we are working with) of what they will be seeing this summer.
Reminders:
- Last day of school: Wednesday, June 27
- Pillars of Care Assembly: Wednesday, June 27 @ 12:30
- Grade 6 Moving on Assembly: Tuesday, June 26 @ 1:15
- All items in the lost and found that have not been claimed will be donated on June 28th
Monday, June 18, 2018
Monday, June 18, 2018
Dear families of room 18:
Today was a hectic day!
We began the day with MATH and a lot of it! Students were asked to take a look at math equations that presented letters as missing decimal numbers, for eg. 2.8 - Z = 4.7. This was what we did to warm up our brains during "Morning Math". After this, we had music for 30 minutes prior to returning to the class and getting back into math. Students were asked to identify the characteristics of 3D shapes in preparation for transformations and translations. We discussed edges, vertices, and faces, and also looked at clues to help identify the names of shapes that may be unfamiliar to us.
After recess, we came in and worked had our last day of major prop-preparation before we start filming our stop-motion movies tomorrow. I am REALLY excited to see how these movies turn out as we learned quite a bit from our last round of movies, and students are trying to be creative but efficient. Stay tuned! If possible, I will try to find some way of posting them to the blog so you can all enjoy them as well! This will all be dependent, however, on our friend Technology.
During the afternoon, we had an opportunity to get back to Language Arts and our poetry writing. Many students are now in the finishing stages of their blackout poetry and are ready to move into their paint chip poetry. We are also working on reviewing concepts covered throughout the year, such as contractions, and will also be doing some intensive word work this week.
Have a great night!
Reminders:
- Pillars of Care Assembly, June 27th - pm
- June 29th, all lunch boxes, supplies, and clothing left in the school will be donated
Today was a hectic day!
We began the day with MATH and a lot of it! Students were asked to take a look at math equations that presented letters as missing decimal numbers, for eg. 2.8 - Z = 4.7. This was what we did to warm up our brains during "Morning Math". After this, we had music for 30 minutes prior to returning to the class and getting back into math. Students were asked to identify the characteristics of 3D shapes in preparation for transformations and translations. We discussed edges, vertices, and faces, and also looked at clues to help identify the names of shapes that may be unfamiliar to us.
After recess, we came in and worked had our last day of major prop-preparation before we start filming our stop-motion movies tomorrow. I am REALLY excited to see how these movies turn out as we learned quite a bit from our last round of movies, and students are trying to be creative but efficient. Stay tuned! If possible, I will try to find some way of posting them to the blog so you can all enjoy them as well! This will all be dependent, however, on our friend Technology.
During the afternoon, we had an opportunity to get back to Language Arts and our poetry writing. Many students are now in the finishing stages of their blackout poetry and are ready to move into their paint chip poetry. We are also working on reviewing concepts covered throughout the year, such as contractions, and will also be doing some intensive word work this week.
Have a great night!
Reminders:
- Pillars of Care Assembly, June 27th - pm
- June 29th, all lunch boxes, supplies, and clothing left in the school will be donated
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18,
Grade 4's, please see this message from Ms. Locke:
Please bring in pictures/images/items that can be assembled into a collage that best represents you.
Here is a recap of what we worked on today!
Science, students have begun their last foray into stop motion animation with a discussion on how humans can negatively impact wetlands. Having learned from our previous attempt at stop motion, students have a checklist at school of tasks that must be completed in order prior to beginning to build props and film the video. Today, most students had the opportunity to finish a storyboard that outlined the impact they chose as their focus.
Social Studies: We have continued to present on our famous Canadians, we will have one more day of presentations tomorrow.
Language Arts: Blackout poetry! This is a unique way of building poetry from pages of text out of books. Students were instructed to find a page from a book they were reading that had interesting and exciting vocabulary to have photocopied. Today, students who had finished the two previous styles of poetry had the chance to begin planning this new style, which will require them to also decorate the page in some unique way.
Grade 4's, please see this message from Ms. Locke:
Please bring in pictures/images/items that can be assembled into a collage that best represents you.
Here is a recap of what we worked on today!
Science, students have begun their last foray into stop motion animation with a discussion on how humans can negatively impact wetlands. Having learned from our previous attempt at stop motion, students have a checklist at school of tasks that must be completed in order prior to beginning to build props and film the video. Today, most students had the opportunity to finish a storyboard that outlined the impact they chose as their focus.
Social Studies: We have continued to present on our famous Canadians, we will have one more day of presentations tomorrow.
Language Arts: Blackout poetry! This is a unique way of building poetry from pages of text out of books. Students were instructed to find a page from a book they were reading that had interesting and exciting vocabulary to have photocopied. Today, students who had finished the two previous styles of poetry had the chance to begin planning this new style, which will require them to also decorate the page in some unique way.
Monday, June 11, 2018
Monday, June 11, 2018
Dear families of room 18:
Today we had a PACKED day!
We started the day off with music and followed it up with a half hour of DEAR so students can identify a page of text that they would like to use for our next form of poetry. After that we moved into social studies presentations on our famous Canadians. After recess we had gym, which was rescheduled because of health, and science. We then moved into math and language arts after lunch, followed by an hour of health at the end of the day.
Because we started health today, we are working on a crunched timeline and are zooming through tasks at the speed of light. This has actually turned out to be a blessing as students no longer have time to waste! Students in both grades should have come home with some form of homework, a crossword or a fill in the blank.
Have a nice night!
Today we had a PACKED day!
We started the day off with music and followed it up with a half hour of DEAR so students can identify a page of text that they would like to use for our next form of poetry. After that we moved into social studies presentations on our famous Canadians. After recess we had gym, which was rescheduled because of health, and science. We then moved into math and language arts after lunch, followed by an hour of health at the end of the day.
Because we started health today, we are working on a crunched timeline and are zooming through tasks at the speed of light. This has actually turned out to be a blessing as students no longer have time to waste! Students in both grades should have come home with some form of homework, a crossword or a fill in the blank.
Have a nice night!
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Message about Volunteer Tea
Dear families,
Please read the below message about blog:
On Friday, June 8th, Beddington Heights School is hosting our annual Volunteer Tea to thank and acknowledge all the contributions that parents have made this year. The formal program will begin at 8:15 am and conclude at 10:00 am. We encourage all those who volunteered their time this year to join us.
Our students will be performing a song as part of the presentation. We hope that all of our volunteers can join us to celebrate their contributions to our school community.
Thanks!
Please read the below message about blog:
On Friday, June 8th, Beddington Heights School is hosting our annual Volunteer Tea to thank and acknowledge all the contributions that parents have made this year. The formal program will begin at 8:15 am and conclude at 10:00 am. We encourage all those who volunteered their time this year to join us.
Our students will be performing a song as part of the presentation. We hope that all of our volunteers can join us to celebrate their contributions to our school community.
Thanks!
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18!
Here is a recap of what we did in class today:
Math: Both grades sat down to consolidate their learning with area and perimeter. Grade 5 students walked through some problem solving with me and found some areas where their understandings were a little mixed up. We fixed the problem and then they were sent to construct some 3D shapes that will help us with our lesson on volume tomorrow. There will be a quick quiz on Friday to wrap that portion of measurement up. Grade 4s have been demonstrating their readiness with this topic and will also have a quick quiz on Friday, some of them even decided to try to challenge themselves with the grade 5 work today.
Science: We continue to finalize our work in our wetlands unit as we move toward the end of the year. Students are now consolidating their knowledge about the roles of organisms in a wetland, as well as the different parts of a wetland and the roles they play.
Language Arts: We started something called a "reversal poem" yesterday and the kids continued to work on it today. Students are creating some really interesting poems that consider both the positive and negative side of a feeling. Over the course of our poetry unit, students will be creating a variety of poems to the best of their ability and then submitting their favourite two poems to me for review. Through this unit, I am hoping to help students feel poetry is an accessible method of written expression and that poetry doesn't always have to rhyme!
Social Studies: Deadline coming! Students will be sharing their social studies presentations this coming Monday! While many students decided to not create a heritage minute as their final product, I am still very excited to see the connections they have made between their famous Canadian and the other knowledge we have accumulated over the year. Due to our schedule, today was the last day for computer research, so students who have not completed their presentations will need to do so at home.
Reminders:
-Fun lunch tomorrow!
-Sports Day afternoon: Tomorrow! Please remember to send your child with a water bottle, sunscreen, hat, bug spray, etc.
-HS permission forms came home today, please sign and return this form for MONDAY. Students who do not have permission on Monday will need to sit out until we have parental permission for participation.
Here is a recap of what we did in class today:
Math: Both grades sat down to consolidate their learning with area and perimeter. Grade 5 students walked through some problem solving with me and found some areas where their understandings were a little mixed up. We fixed the problem and then they were sent to construct some 3D shapes that will help us with our lesson on volume tomorrow. There will be a quick quiz on Friday to wrap that portion of measurement up. Grade 4s have been demonstrating their readiness with this topic and will also have a quick quiz on Friday, some of them even decided to try to challenge themselves with the grade 5 work today.
Science: We continue to finalize our work in our wetlands unit as we move toward the end of the year. Students are now consolidating their knowledge about the roles of organisms in a wetland, as well as the different parts of a wetland and the roles they play.
Language Arts: We started something called a "reversal poem" yesterday and the kids continued to work on it today. Students are creating some really interesting poems that consider both the positive and negative side of a feeling. Over the course of our poetry unit, students will be creating a variety of poems to the best of their ability and then submitting their favourite two poems to me for review. Through this unit, I am hoping to help students feel poetry is an accessible method of written expression and that poetry doesn't always have to rhyme!
Social Studies: Deadline coming! Students will be sharing their social studies presentations this coming Monday! While many students decided to not create a heritage minute as their final product, I am still very excited to see the connections they have made between their famous Canadian and the other knowledge we have accumulated over the year. Due to our schedule, today was the last day for computer research, so students who have not completed their presentations will need to do so at home.
Reminders:
-Fun lunch tomorrow!
-Sports Day afternoon: Tomorrow! Please remember to send your child with a water bottle, sunscreen, hat, bug spray, etc.
-HS permission forms came home today, please sign and return this form for MONDAY. Students who do not have permission on Monday will need to sit out until we have parental permission for participation.
Monday, June 4, 2018
Monday, June 4, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18!
Please see the following message from Mr. Sadowsky:
Thursday June 7th is sports day. It will be regular classes in the morning and then activities all afternoon. The forecast is looking good with a high of 26 predicted. If you wish for your child to wear sun screen please send them to school with it as we are not allowed to provide it to students. I recommend wearing a hat, sunglasses, good running shoes and to bring a water bottle. We will have 3 stations that involve water with a chance of getting slightly wet. All stations are optional so if you wish your child not to participate in these events, please let them know to skip those. The day will end with freezies provided by parent council in the gym about 10 minutes before dismissal. If the weather changes and it raining or unsafe to go ahead with sports day we will re-schedule to a later date.
Any questions or concerns can be directed to Mr. Sadowsky.
Thank you
Here is what has been going on in our classroom:
Art: Students are still working on their pointillism art but are continuing to demonstrate their sluggishness. In an attempt to have these finished before Volunteer Tea this Friday, I will be asking some students to remain in over lunch with me tomorrow to complete them. Due to the use of paint, it becomes quite easy to waste materials that are not cheap! I have a feeling that the students who have not finished will very quickly find their rhythm to finish their art.
Science: We will be continuing with covering Wetland curriculum this week in order to finish up the final outcomes we have not examined yet.
Math: We continue to work through area and perimeter, students will begin to examine volume.
Social Studies: Students are continuing to work on their research of a famous Canadian. The deadline for presentation has been set for Monday, June 11th, but students who finish earlier have the choice of presenting earlier.
Reminders:
-Sports Day this Thursday
-Fun Lunch this Thursday
-HS permission forms will be coming home tomorrow, please return this for Monday
Please see the following message from Mr. Sadowsky:
Thursday June 7th is sports day. It will be regular classes in the morning and then activities all afternoon. The forecast is looking good with a high of 26 predicted. If you wish for your child to wear sun screen please send them to school with it as we are not allowed to provide it to students. I recommend wearing a hat, sunglasses, good running shoes and to bring a water bottle. We will have 3 stations that involve water with a chance of getting slightly wet. All stations are optional so if you wish your child not to participate in these events, please let them know to skip those. The day will end with freezies provided by parent council in the gym about 10 minutes before dismissal. If the weather changes and it raining or unsafe to go ahead with sports day we will re-schedule to a later date.
Any questions or concerns can be directed to Mr. Sadowsky.
Thank you
Here is what has been going on in our classroom:
Art: Students are still working on their pointillism art but are continuing to demonstrate their sluggishness. In an attempt to have these finished before Volunteer Tea this Friday, I will be asking some students to remain in over lunch with me tomorrow to complete them. Due to the use of paint, it becomes quite easy to waste materials that are not cheap! I have a feeling that the students who have not finished will very quickly find their rhythm to finish their art.
Science: We will be continuing with covering Wetland curriculum this week in order to finish up the final outcomes we have not examined yet.
Math: We continue to work through area and perimeter, students will begin to examine volume.
Social Studies: Students are continuing to work on their research of a famous Canadian. The deadline for presentation has been set for Monday, June 11th, but students who finish earlier have the choice of presenting earlier.
Reminders:
-Sports Day this Thursday
-Fun Lunch this Thursday
-HS permission forms will be coming home tomorrow, please return this for Monday
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18!
Today was a creative day for room 18 as we prep for our upcoming volunteer tea.
We began the day with a continuation of our art activity from Friday, working with paint and the pointillism style. It was a very slow process and so most students are still halfway finished. We did have to stop at two points for library and some science presentations, as well as beginning the day with a recap of all the learning from our field trip to Weaselhead yesterday.
Weaselhead was quite a day packed with lots of learning about wetlands. We visited two types of wetlands while we were there, the Oxbow wetland and Beaver Lagoon, one which is still being fed by the Elbow river and one which was a former curve of the river that is no longer being fed by the river and is replenished only by melting snow and rain water. We saw a deer just as we were arriving to our first wetland and explored the wetlands to find as many little water critters and organisms as possible. Ask your child what the differences were between the two wetlands, as we saw quite a difference between the diversity of life between the two.
During the afternoon we had some opportunity to do guided reading and phys. ed in the classroom. Due to a problem that we were trying to resolve having to do with a student wrecking another student's art from the morning, we ended up having to do gym in the classroom using gonoodle. Students worked up quite the sweat and were rewarded with a fun physical activity at the end of it. We look forward to resuming our regular gym schedule tomorrow.
For the last large chunk of the day students worked on typing their stories into their blogs. Many are still working on finishing touches and adding detail and we will be working on the final revision process this week. We then read out loud from our story Fish in a Tree.
Reminders:
-Fun lunch forms came home today
-Sports Day: June 7th, afternoon
-Volunteer Tea: June 8th, 8:15am
Today was a creative day for room 18 as we prep for our upcoming volunteer tea.
We began the day with a continuation of our art activity from Friday, working with paint and the pointillism style. It was a very slow process and so most students are still halfway finished. We did have to stop at two points for library and some science presentations, as well as beginning the day with a recap of all the learning from our field trip to Weaselhead yesterday.
Weaselhead was quite a day packed with lots of learning about wetlands. We visited two types of wetlands while we were there, the Oxbow wetland and Beaver Lagoon, one which is still being fed by the Elbow river and one which was a former curve of the river that is no longer being fed by the river and is replenished only by melting snow and rain water. We saw a deer just as we were arriving to our first wetland and explored the wetlands to find as many little water critters and organisms as possible. Ask your child what the differences were between the two wetlands, as we saw quite a difference between the diversity of life between the two.
During the afternoon we had some opportunity to do guided reading and phys. ed in the classroom. Due to a problem that we were trying to resolve having to do with a student wrecking another student's art from the morning, we ended up having to do gym in the classroom using gonoodle. Students worked up quite the sweat and were rewarded with a fun physical activity at the end of it. We look forward to resuming our regular gym schedule tomorrow.
For the last large chunk of the day students worked on typing their stories into their blogs. Many are still working on finishing touches and adding detail and we will be working on the final revision process this week. We then read out loud from our story Fish in a Tree.
Reminders:
-Fun lunch forms came home today
-Sports Day: June 7th, afternoon
-Volunteer Tea: June 8th, 8:15am
Friday, May 25, 2018
Friday, May 25, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18!
Please make sure to see a yellow notice that was sent home with students today. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the office.
This week has been a whirlwind with concert preparation and changed schedules!
Congratulations to today's Pillars of Care winners!
Care for learning: Logan
Care for self: Gregory
Care for others: Vanessa
Care for place: Madison
We also had a huge increase in the number of students in our classroom who received punctuality awards, this was our best month yet at 16 students being on time for every day of school during the month of April!
Here's what we've been up to:
Science: Students are *almost* finished presenting their wetlands projects and will be moving on to the next set of curricular outcomes in wetlands next week.
Math: Grade 4s spent this week reviewing the different ways calendar dates can be written, and translated information they collected about birthdays in our classroom into a graph format.
Social Studies: As mentioned previously, students are busy becoming classroom experts on an important person in Canadian history and will be putting together a brief Historic Minute about their person and how they influenced Canadian Identity. Many of the people they will be learning about were able to influence our identity by bringing pieces of their homeland and culture to Canada and mixing it together with influences from other countries.
Language Arts: We will be finishing our narrative writing next week so that we can finally get to our poetry month during June!
Reminders:
-Weaselhead field trip: MONDAY, MAY 28TH!!! It is supposed to be 29 on Monday, so:
-please remember to send your child with at least one (if not more) bottle of water
-Send your child wearing a hat and comfortable walking footwear
-consider sending your child to school with bug spray and sunscreen lotion
-If your child has not submitted their field trip forms yet, they can bring them Monday morning with payment but they will not be able to go without these forms.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Please make sure to see a yellow notice that was sent home with students today. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the office.
This week has been a whirlwind with concert preparation and changed schedules!
Congratulations to today's Pillars of Care winners!
Care for learning: Logan
Care for self: Gregory
Care for others: Vanessa
Care for place: Madison
We also had a huge increase in the number of students in our classroom who received punctuality awards, this was our best month yet at 16 students being on time for every day of school during the month of April!
Here's what we've been up to:
Science: Students are *almost* finished presenting their wetlands projects and will be moving on to the next set of curricular outcomes in wetlands next week.
Math: Grade 4s spent this week reviewing the different ways calendar dates can be written, and translated information they collected about birthdays in our classroom into a graph format.
Social Studies: As mentioned previously, students are busy becoming classroom experts on an important person in Canadian history and will be putting together a brief Historic Minute about their person and how they influenced Canadian Identity. Many of the people they will be learning about were able to influence our identity by bringing pieces of their homeland and culture to Canada and mixing it together with influences from other countries.
Language Arts: We will be finishing our narrative writing next week so that we can finally get to our poetry month during June!
Reminders:
-Weaselhead field trip: MONDAY, MAY 28TH!!! It is supposed to be 29 on Monday, so:
-please remember to send your child with at least one (if not more) bottle of water
-Send your child wearing a hat and comfortable walking footwear
-consider sending your child to school with bug spray and sunscreen lotion
-If your child has not submitted their field trip forms yet, they can bring them Monday morning with payment but they will not be able to go without these forms.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18!
Today was a busy day to start back into routine after a long weekend! Just a reminder that our classroom is an oven right now and if your child does not have a water bottle, please consider sending one so that they can remain hydrated throughout the day, as well as if we go outside for gym.
Science: We are now in the midst of wetland presentations. If your child was not finished putting their presentation together, they are now responsible for finishing it at home or over lunch. Those students who are not making all the connections between concepts in their presentations that our rubric is looking for are being asked follow up questions during their presentations. We will likely have to focus on this for the majority of this week as presentations take time and our schedule is topsy turvy due to concert preparations.
Math: Today grade 4 students went back to examine some measurement of time based off of the feedback I received from an activity we completed last week. We will be practicing a variety of ways to record calendar dates interspersed with time practice and keeping estimating area fresh. Grade 5 students are now comparing the differences between area and perimeter and the different math calculations involved in solving for these two concepts.
Social Studies: We have now completed our social studies story telling and will be moving into an exploratory project to be introduced over the next two days as we find time and conclude our work in both science and language arts.
Language arts: Students are now typing up their final narrative story. I HIGHLY recommend that students find time while at home or over lunch to finish these up as we are truly dragging our feet with this assignment and need to move on.
Reminders:
-Spring concert for grade 4/5: This Thursday, doors open at 6pm, concert begins at 6:30 - please be here as early as possible to get the best seats!
-Please return field trip forms and money ASAP
-Field trip to Weaselhead: May 28th
Today was a busy day to start back into routine after a long weekend! Just a reminder that our classroom is an oven right now and if your child does not have a water bottle, please consider sending one so that they can remain hydrated throughout the day, as well as if we go outside for gym.
Science: We are now in the midst of wetland presentations. If your child was not finished putting their presentation together, they are now responsible for finishing it at home or over lunch. Those students who are not making all the connections between concepts in their presentations that our rubric is looking for are being asked follow up questions during their presentations. We will likely have to focus on this for the majority of this week as presentations take time and our schedule is topsy turvy due to concert preparations.
Math: Today grade 4 students went back to examine some measurement of time based off of the feedback I received from an activity we completed last week. We will be practicing a variety of ways to record calendar dates interspersed with time practice and keeping estimating area fresh. Grade 5 students are now comparing the differences between area and perimeter and the different math calculations involved in solving for these two concepts.
Social Studies: We have now completed our social studies story telling and will be moving into an exploratory project to be introduced over the next two days as we find time and conclude our work in both science and language arts.
Language arts: Students are now typing up their final narrative story. I HIGHLY recommend that students find time while at home or over lunch to finish these up as we are truly dragging our feet with this assignment and need to move on.
Reminders:
-Spring concert for grade 4/5: This Thursday, doors open at 6pm, concert begins at 6:30 - please be here as early as possible to get the best seats!
-Please return field trip forms and money ASAP
-Field trip to Weaselhead: May 28th
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Parent Teacher Interviews
Good morning,
Just a reminder that student involved conferences are tonight and tomorrow. Please sign up using your my cbe account. You can use the link below.
https://webapps.cbe.ab.ca/MyAccount/Account/LogOn
Thank you!
Just a reminder that student involved conferences are tonight and tomorrow. Please sign up using your my cbe account. You can use the link below.
https://webapps.cbe.ab.ca/MyAccount/Account/LogOn
Thank you!
Monday, May 14, 2018
Monday, May 14, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18!
Here is a recap of what we've been working on in class over the past few days:
Science: Students have been busily working away on their wetlands project. Those who would like to present them to the class will be doing so on Thursday afternoon, and the rest will be submitted via googleDrive to me. These presentations are part of the work we are doing with the literacy cohort and you will be receiving information about student progress with regards to the language arts outcomes 3.1 and 3.2.
Social Studies: Today we continued working on our Indigenous story telling activity. Students have moved on to writing their script and will be instructed to finish these for Wednesday so that they have time to rehearse on Thursday and hopefully present them that day as well.
Language Arts: Students began inputting their stories into their drive today. Many students are dawdling with this story so I am hoping to light a fire and get the kids motivated and focused.
Math: Today we worked on determining the area of shapes using graph paper using a variety of strategies. Students are still using non-efficient strategies and are attempting to count area square by square or using repeated addition. I am encouraging students to use multiplication to increase the efficiency with which they solve problems.
Behaviour and Focus: Students are going into "spring fever" and are having a difficult time with focus, completing work and making good decisions. As a result, lots of reminders for classroom expectations will be had over the next few weeks because learning does not stop when the weather gets nicer.
Reminders:
-Bookings for student involved conferences are now open
-Conferences will take place Thursday evening and Friday
-Spring Concert is next Thursday, May 24th, 2018, doors open at 6pm
Here is a recap of what we've been working on in class over the past few days:
Science: Students have been busily working away on their wetlands project. Those who would like to present them to the class will be doing so on Thursday afternoon, and the rest will be submitted via googleDrive to me. These presentations are part of the work we are doing with the literacy cohort and you will be receiving information about student progress with regards to the language arts outcomes 3.1 and 3.2.
Social Studies: Today we continued working on our Indigenous story telling activity. Students have moved on to writing their script and will be instructed to finish these for Wednesday so that they have time to rehearse on Thursday and hopefully present them that day as well.
Language Arts: Students began inputting their stories into their drive today. Many students are dawdling with this story so I am hoping to light a fire and get the kids motivated and focused.
Math: Today we worked on determining the area of shapes using graph paper using a variety of strategies. Students are still using non-efficient strategies and are attempting to count area square by square or using repeated addition. I am encouraging students to use multiplication to increase the efficiency with which they solve problems.
Behaviour and Focus: Students are going into "spring fever" and are having a difficult time with focus, completing work and making good decisions. As a result, lots of reminders for classroom expectations will be had over the next few weeks because learning does not stop when the weather gets nicer.
Reminders:
-Bookings for student involved conferences are now open
-Conferences will take place Thursday evening and Friday
-Spring Concert is next Thursday, May 24th, 2018, doors open at 6pm
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18,
REMINDER: Students in grade 5 have vaccinations tomorrow.
Science: Students have been researching for their wetland organism presentation. They have been provided with a checklist of "I can" statements to help guide their research and find the information they require for their presentation. Students will have two more research periods as this is not meant to be a lengthy project and we still have more learning to do before our Weaselhead field trip later this month.
Math: We will resume math tomorrow as we needed to use our time today to work on an art project. There will be a short assessment for students to complete on Friday to gauge their progress with our current unit.
Social Studies: We have also begun a short project in social studies looking at the stories of Indigenous people in Canada. We will be looking over as many cultures as possible prior to the end of the year and examining how the stories of these cultures were brought to Canada and influenced the development of our Canadian identity.
Language Arts: Students had a break from writing their stories today but will resume the writing process tomorrow. It is my hope that they will have finished their first draft on Friday and will have it typed into their blog early next week.
General reminders:
-Registration for student involved conferences begins on Monday
-Student involved conferences take place next Thursday evening and Friday
-Invitations to our Volunteer Tea in June have been given to students, if you volunteered in our classroom and didn't get one, please get in touch with me so I can send one to you!
REMINDER: Students in grade 5 have vaccinations tomorrow.
Science: Students have been researching for their wetland organism presentation. They have been provided with a checklist of "I can" statements to help guide their research and find the information they require for their presentation. Students will have two more research periods as this is not meant to be a lengthy project and we still have more learning to do before our Weaselhead field trip later this month.
Math: We will resume math tomorrow as we needed to use our time today to work on an art project. There will be a short assessment for students to complete on Friday to gauge their progress with our current unit.
Social Studies: We have also begun a short project in social studies looking at the stories of Indigenous people in Canada. We will be looking over as many cultures as possible prior to the end of the year and examining how the stories of these cultures were brought to Canada and influenced the development of our Canadian identity.
Language Arts: Students had a break from writing their stories today but will resume the writing process tomorrow. It is my hope that they will have finished their first draft on Friday and will have it typed into their blog early next week.
General reminders:
-Registration for student involved conferences begins on Monday
-Student involved conferences take place next Thursday evening and Friday
-Invitations to our Volunteer Tea in June have been given to students, if you volunteered in our classroom and didn't get one, please get in touch with me so I can send one to you!
Friday, May 4, 2018
Friday, May 4, 2018
Happy May the 4th! May the 4th be with you!
Here is a recap of what we have done over the past two days:
Language Arts: We continued to write our narrative story. Students who were not finished their story plan were informed that they needed to bring them home for homework, anything not completed will need to be completed on lunch Monday.
Math: Students are now looking at using skills from previously covered units in measurement. So far, we have talked about how to figure out how many seconds are in minutes, and minutes in hours using multiplication and division, as well as looked at 12 and 24 hour time (Gr. 4). We have done the same with measurement of mm, cm, and dm, making the connection that often, dividing or multiplying by 10 will help students translate measurements into different units (Gr. 5). Students went around the room to measure different objects which helped us recognize that we still need some practice in how to properly and accurately measure objects.
Science: All about wetlands! We have now discussed the four types of wetlands, their purposes, what adaptations are, some examples of flora and fauna found in wetlands and brief descriptions of how they have adapted in order to survive in these environments.
Reminders:
-May 7th: Run Club Form due, meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays in May
-May 8th: Fun lunch
-May 10th: Grade 5 vaccinations
-May 14th: Spring Student Involved Conference bookings begin (CBE account)
-May 15-18" Book Fair
-May 17th 3:30-7:00pm AND May 18th 8:00am - 12:00pm: Student Involved Conferences
-May 24th: Spring Concert for grades 4, 5, and 6 - Doors open at 6pm, concert begins at 6:30pm
Here is a recap of what we have done over the past two days:
Language Arts: We continued to write our narrative story. Students who were not finished their story plan were informed that they needed to bring them home for homework, anything not completed will need to be completed on lunch Monday.
Math: Students are now looking at using skills from previously covered units in measurement. So far, we have talked about how to figure out how many seconds are in minutes, and minutes in hours using multiplication and division, as well as looked at 12 and 24 hour time (Gr. 4). We have done the same with measurement of mm, cm, and dm, making the connection that often, dividing or multiplying by 10 will help students translate measurements into different units (Gr. 5). Students went around the room to measure different objects which helped us recognize that we still need some practice in how to properly and accurately measure objects.
Science: All about wetlands! We have now discussed the four types of wetlands, their purposes, what adaptations are, some examples of flora and fauna found in wetlands and brief descriptions of how they have adapted in order to survive in these environments.
Reminders:
-May 7th: Run Club Form due, meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays in May
-May 8th: Fun lunch
-May 10th: Grade 5 vaccinations
-May 14th: Spring Student Involved Conference bookings begin (CBE account)
-May 15-18" Book Fair
-May 17th 3:30-7:00pm AND May 18th 8:00am - 12:00pm: Student Involved Conferences
-May 24th: Spring Concert for grades 4, 5, and 6 - Doors open at 6pm, concert begins at 6:30pm
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Good afternoon families of room 18!
Just a quick note: Hats on for mental health day was slightly overlooked in our announcements and so as a class we have decided to wear our hats for mental health tomorrow.
Dresscode: We had a quick classroom discussion today about dresscode. There have been some issues at Beddington with students being dressed appropriately. We discussed making sure that we have lasagna straps, not spaghetti straps, on our clothing (this includes muscle shirts for boys) and that our shirts go down to our pants. We also talked about making sure that our shorts/skirts go below the longest finger on our hands. This was a conversation that started in grade 6 and it is only fair that we all make sure we adhere to the school dress code, not just the grade 6s.
As we enter better weather and near the end of the year, students typically begin to experience a spike in disagreements with their peers. In an effort to bring some awareness to this, I felt it would be a good time to remind students how our actions and words impact others as it is always good to use communication to avoid these issues getting bigger. We shared these as skits in front of the class and addressed the prompt: "If you could have a do-over, how would you change your actions to improve the situation?" We also discussed how our actions have can have big impacts on others, even when we don't think we've said or done anything too out of the ordinary. We continued to revisit this topic throughout the day as problems continued to creep up.
During math, students in grade 4 practiced working with the measurement of time independently or with partners while grade 5 students examined the relationship between millimeters, centimeters, decimeters, and meters. Students were posed the question: How many meters are in a kilometer? They made guesses and have been asked to bring that question home to you tonight!
Next we worked on language arts. Students have mostly finished their second story plan and are in the beginning stages of writing. We will continue to write this story for the next few classes and will be typing it up for sending home.
After lunch, we got out our guided reading before heading to pictures and then phys. ed. We spent the rest of the afternoon on a science scavenger hunt, looking for information related to wetlands. We then finished the day with a short reading of Fish in a Tree.
Enjoy your evening!
Reminders:
-Whole school PJ day: Friday, May 4th
-Fun Lunch forms were due today
-Fun Lunch May 8th
Just a quick note: Hats on for mental health day was slightly overlooked in our announcements and so as a class we have decided to wear our hats for mental health tomorrow.
Dresscode: We had a quick classroom discussion today about dresscode. There have been some issues at Beddington with students being dressed appropriately. We discussed making sure that we have lasagna straps, not spaghetti straps, on our clothing (this includes muscle shirts for boys) and that our shirts go down to our pants. We also talked about making sure that our shorts/skirts go below the longest finger on our hands. This was a conversation that started in grade 6 and it is only fair that we all make sure we adhere to the school dress code, not just the grade 6s.
As we enter better weather and near the end of the year, students typically begin to experience a spike in disagreements with their peers. In an effort to bring some awareness to this, I felt it would be a good time to remind students how our actions and words impact others as it is always good to use communication to avoid these issues getting bigger. We shared these as skits in front of the class and addressed the prompt: "If you could have a do-over, how would you change your actions to improve the situation?" We also discussed how our actions have can have big impacts on others, even when we don't think we've said or done anything too out of the ordinary. We continued to revisit this topic throughout the day as problems continued to creep up.
During math, students in grade 4 practiced working with the measurement of time independently or with partners while grade 5 students examined the relationship between millimeters, centimeters, decimeters, and meters. Students were posed the question: How many meters are in a kilometer? They made guesses and have been asked to bring that question home to you tonight!
Next we worked on language arts. Students have mostly finished their second story plan and are in the beginning stages of writing. We will continue to write this story for the next few classes and will be typing it up for sending home.
After lunch, we got out our guided reading before heading to pictures and then phys. ed. We spent the rest of the afternoon on a science scavenger hunt, looking for information related to wetlands. We then finished the day with a short reading of Fish in a Tree.
Enjoy your evening!
Reminders:
-Whole school PJ day: Friday, May 4th
-Fun Lunch forms were due today
-Fun Lunch May 8th
Monday, April 30, 2018
Monday, May 30, 2018
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!
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!
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!
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