Week 9: October 29-November 2: Happy Halloween!

Parents, Grandparents, Guardians

Please join us

for the Grade 4

Bible Blessing

and Presentation Ceremony

on Tuesday, October 30, 2018

at 9:30 a.m.

in the gym.

Here's what we were up to last week:

Math: we are still working on patterning in both groups, and have started using a new Math program called MathUP, created by Marian Small. We have been looking at geometric patterns, number patterns, growing, shrinking and repeating patterns, and using patterns to solve problems. We are also looking to find the pattern rule, and define the 10th, 23rd or 62nd term.

Here are some links to activities you can do with your child, from the MathUp program:

Grade 4: Sum It Up lesson summary; What's The Core game

Grade 5: Sum It Up lesson summary; Rolling For Tiles game

Language: The Gr. 4 students are finishing their All About Me presentations, and the Gr. 5 students are working on their Haunted House Sale persuasive writing activity.

Reminders:

-progress reports will be coming home Thursday, along with information on how to book a parent-teacher interview for Thursday, Nov. 15, should you wish to. If you feel you need more than a 10 minute interview, please contact me so we can arrange a before or after school appointment time to meet.

-the Bible Blessing and Presentation ceremony is Tuesday morning at 9:15

-Daylight savings time ends on Sunday morning

-Picture retake day is Monday, Nov. 5. Please let me know if you would like retakes by sending a note either through the blog or in your child's agenda.

Week 8: October 22-26

Congratulations, St. Clare Community! Together, we raised over $3300 for Cancer research during our Terry Fox walk! As a result, on Friday afternoon, 8 teachers (including Mme Mitton) were pied in the face by the top fundraising students. It was a blast! Check out the pictures on Twitter.

Next week, the Eco Team is encouraging Litterless Lunch days for the week as part of their Waste Reduction Initiative. They are also collecting gently used clothing and textiles on Wednesday, to donate to charity.

Grade 4 students should have brought home an invitation that they made for you to invite you to the Bible Blessing Ceremony on October 30 at 9:30 a.m. in the gym. Please join us if you are able.

On Wednesday, we welcomed a new teacher candidate from the University of Ottawa, Ms. Rhodes. Our previous teacher candidate, Miss Robert, has had to defer her placement for medical reasons and is therefore no longer with our class.

This week, we will begin patterning in math in both grades. Here is what they need to learn: 
Grade 4 are expected to: • describe, extend, and create a variety of numeric and geometric patterns, make predictions related to the patterns, and investigate repeating patterns involving reflections;

Grade 5 are expected to: • determine, through investigation using a table of values, relationships in growing and shrinking patterns, and investigate repeating patterns involving translations;

In Language Arts, Grade 4 students are presenting their "All About Me" presentations. Grade 5 students are presenting their second biography about someone they admire, and working on their "Sell This Haunted House" persuasive writing activity. Both groups have finished their first CASI reading test, and I now have a baseline idea of their knowledge, thinking, application and communication skills on a grade level text.  

Week 7: Oct. 15-19

Here's what we have been up to this past week:

Math:  In both grades, we have looked at rounding, and the importance of being able to estimate. Sometimes we need an exact measurement or answer (like in an Olympic race) and sometimes an estimate is more efficient (like the approximate number of people at an event). We have been working on our estimation skills using Estimation180, and they have improved already! Now we are learning to round numbers, so that it can help us to estimate. We have practiced rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000 (Gr. 4) and to the nearest tenth (Gr. 5) using the Rounding Mountain and a little song. You can hear it here. There is also a cute Number Rock video on rounding, you can see it here. Our next unit is patterning, and we will start it shortly.

Language: We have been enjoying learning all about our classmates as they present their biography slideshows. Each Gr. 5 student has presented one biography that they have written on a classmate, and is now working on another biography of a person they admire. It can be anyone, from someone they know well, to someone famous, or someone they have heard about. They need to explain why they chose that person, and why they admire them. The Gr. 4 students are working on their All About Me presentations. They are gathering photos of their items and telling the class why those items are important and meaningful to them. For presenters in both grades, I am watching particularly for how well they face the audience as they present (make eye contact), whether they speak in a clear, loud voice, and whether they have rehearsed their presentation or have trouble pronouncing some of the words. The rubrics with the expectations for each grade are in their Language Hapara folders in their Drive.
*Both grades will be writing a CASI reading test this week in order to have a baseline score for the beginning of the year.

Upcoming Events:
-The Bible Blessing Ceremony has been scheduled for Tuesday, October 30 at 9:30 a.m. An invitation will be coming home for parents of Grade 4 students to attend this ceremony. Each Grade 4 student receives their own copy of the New Testament, blessed and inscribed with their name, given to them by Father. Thank you to Parent Council for purchasing and inscribing the Bibles each year.
-The Terry Fox Wrap-Up Assembly is on Friday at 3:00 p.m. I wonder how many teachers will end up getting pied in the face?

Week 6: Oct 8-12

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend with your family and friends. We all have so much to be thankful for. 

We had a great time during our Terry Fox walk on Thursday - the weather in the afternoon was absolutely beautiful! Thank you for your donations for Terry Fox - the children are excited, because for each level of money raised, more teachers get "pied" in the face! You can watch the little promo video here.

We also had our first Faith Buddy Day, on the topic of Community. The Gr. 4 (morning) class were paired with Mrs. Marchant's kindergarten class, and the Gr. 5's, since they were with their morning classes, were paired with 2 different primary classes. Ask them about the activities they did with their buddies.

Each class also completed a STEM challenge this week. Gr. 4 were building a waterproof shelter for their little family who were caught in a rainstorm while hiking in the woods, and Gr. 5 were learning about "purifying" water using everyday materials.

Here's what we've been up to:

Math - we have moved into addition and subtraction, with and without regrouping, in both grades. We are looking at various methods of doing both of those things, including the algorithm. Students have experimented with adding and subtracting using base 10 blocks, by drawing pictures, using an open-number line, by breaking the number down and adding the components together (expanded form), etc.  Ask your son or daughter which method works best for them, and have them explain it to you. Next we will be working on rounding.

Language Arts - Gr. 4 were working on a Thanksgiving activity, which most completed. We will be writing descriptive paragraphs this week, and are working towards a CASI reading test soon. Gr. 5 are presenting their biographies of a classmate, and will be following that up with a biography of a person they admire, living or dead, famous or not. They will also be completing a CASI reading test before the end of October.

Don't forget:

*Wednesday is Picture Day! Bring your smiles! 😃😃😃😃

Our Terry Fox Walk/Run scheduled for 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning has been rescheduled for 1:15 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, due to the high risk of thunderstorms in the morning. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to help with supervision, we hope you are still able to come in the afternoon!