It is hard to believe that we are quickly approaching the end of June. The learning has not stopped, as students are busy working to complete their year-end project. Students have a calendar with a timeline for how much needs to be completed on each day to be successful. It is a running theme that students will need to be doing small amounts of the project at home if they feel they will not be done.
In math, students are learning about decimals and how we can both add and subtract them properly. We worked towards understanding what a tenth would look like and also how we would be hundredths. The students are going to be learning how to organize their work so they are successful to both add and subtract decimals with regrouping. Practice you decimal skills with these links: http://www.math-play.com/soccer-math-adding-decimals-game/adding-decimals-game.html http://www.abcya.com/adding_decimals.htm Want a new math card game to play? https://mathgeekmama.com/adding-decimals-game/ Students also explored 2D and 3D shapes in our Flex class. They can practice their skills on this website. It has many different games and activities to play. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=translating%20shapes
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Students had a wonderful time at Heritage Park this week. It was a beautiful day with lots of great learning and adventures. Students were able to experience rides, trains, horses and the historical sites. Students worked through a collection of questions. We provided numerous learning opportunities and students could choose what questions to answer. The questions are posted below.
In Science, students were presented with a challenge. An angry Grade 4 student name Fred saw no validity in Science. He thinks what we learned had no importance in everyday life. The students need to reflect on the topics we learned and create 5 clear examples to prove Fred wrong. This will be one of their final science assignments of the year. The challenge is posted below.
In math, students were exploring different ways to represent fractions. They worked with creating sets of fractions to explain what they see. Sets of fractions are anther form of where fractions occur in our world. Here is a game to play to help you
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/fractions/fractionSet.htm http://www.mathactivities.net/frogs.htm Students have also been working on 2D shapes and 3D solids in Flextime. Here are some links to support this learning. Links to support learning: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/geometry/shapeshoot/TranslateShapesShoot.htm http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities/math/transformation.html http://www.abcya.com/shape_match.htm It is hard to believe it is June 1st. Time definitely flies by when you are working this hard. The students did an excellent job on their Area Project and now they are beginning to see how fractions work into their understanding of number. We are using a number line to help them understand the sizing of different fractions. Key concepts we are working to understand are:
-4/4 or 2/2 or 3/3 all equal one whole unit -the numerator (top number) means how many pieces you have -the denominator (bottom number) means how many pieces the whole was put into -We are using images right now to help us visually see what fraction gives you more Here are some links to use to help with Fraction understanding: http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/me3us/flash/lessonLauncher.html?lesson=lessons/10/m3_10_00_x.swf https://www.mathplayground.com/index_fractions.html https://www.nctm.org/Classroom-Resources/Illuminations/Interactives/Fraction-Game/ Students also continued their development of learning a variety of coding skills by starting a LEGO Mindstorms project. Here they will need to work as a team to collaboratively build, program and test a responsive robot. This makes great connections across math and science as well as team building and problem solving. Stay tuned for more robotic updates. Remember next week we have Heritage Park. It is an action packed day so please be ready with proper footwear, clothing, bagged lunch and water bottle. The students are heading full speed into the final week of May. This week the students were extremely excited to begin building floor plans for a variety of homes in math. The students have been working on understanding surface area and how this concept has direct connections to mental math processes that we worked on throughout the year. If you want to review surface area this link is a great place to start:
https://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/area.html Hopefully the students are beginning to see that they cannot escape practicing how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. I have been explaining during class they need weekly practice on each computation process so they stay comfortable with each form of question. You can create your own questions or the links I have posted previously. In science the students have been studying how and why seeds need to travel. They were part of an adventure to follow a seed around the world. The link we explored was: https://mysteryscience.com/plants/mystery-1/seed-dispersal/14?modal=share-pitch&share=622134#slide-id-0 The students also brought home their bean seeds. They were getting to large for our classroom window. We hope at that their homes we can really start to see some maturity in our plants. Please let us know or send a photo if yours starts growing actual beans! Read about the life cycle of a bean from this link: https://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/20903278/The-Life-Cycle-of-a-Bean-Plant#page/10 Want to know how to care for your plant? https://biologywise.com/life-cycle-of-bean-plant This week was a very special week as the students got some great neighborhood walks and swimming lessons in. It was a great opportunity to enjoy the weather and brush up on swimming skills before summer. As we juggled schedules to balance swimming, we still got plenty of practice with creating and organizing schedules. Who would have know that making a monthly plan would have so much mental math in it. Take a look at one of the problems we had to work through! We continued to review telling time with a clock and how to use a clock to accurately. Students should continue to practice these skills at home as these are essential skills, as students get older. This link has many great games that will be great practice:
http://www.math-play.com/time-games.html In science students were learning about the importance that plants play in our world. Your child should be able to explain at least 5 reasons why plants are important. Do your reasons match theirs? More information on the matter can be found here: http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/earth.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zss9msg Our own plants are growing quite well. Most of us have our plants growing roots and a stem. We will hopefully see more rapid growth in the next week or so. Take a more in-depth look at the life cycle of bean plants with this link: https://garden.lovetoknow.com/garden-basics/life-cycle-bean-plant This week students started fresh with two new topics. In math, students worked on estimating time and how to read a clock. Students had discussions around when to use different lengths of time to measure time periods accurately and efficiently. Using seconds to measure how long it takes to get to Edmonton will get too confusing. Can your child provide you an example of when they would use each measure of time?
Seconds Minutes Hours Days Weeks Months Years Decades Centuries Millenniums Students do not need to be exact with their estimations. For example, how long does it take to finish math class? About an hour is an estimate compared to 55 minutes. Students learned what each hand on the clock means and why both hands move continually throughout the day. They had multiple days of practice on this process and will need continual practice. These websites are a great start: http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/me5l/html/math5.html?goLesson=15 http://mrnussbaum.com/clockworks/ Another great strategy is to starting working in telling time into their daily routines. The class talked about the importance of telling time, as you get older. Having them read you the time is great practice and only takes a second. In science students are working towards growing a plant through a full life cycle. They will take a seed and hopefully create more seeds by the end. Each day, students have been researching what plants need to grow properly and the parts of a seed and plant. Hopefully with a little time and bit of support we can turn our seeds into bean plants. The students have been researching this week and should be able to explain: What a plant needs to grow Parts of a plant Parts of a seed These links will help out: http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-germination/parts-of-a-seed/ http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-germination/ http://www.cropsreview.com/parts-of-a-seed.html We were very lucky to have a trip to visit Shepard Landfill and Compost facility this week. We learned lots about the creative ways to recycle items and the processes the landfill goes through to help keep our environment clean. If you want to review some of what we learned you can watch this City of Calgary Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP54rKPFFYI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhv-Dv9h3J4 Students also completed both a math assessment and a science assessment this week. This concludes our work with computations. We will be moving into telling time and different forms of measurement. Please continue to work on computing numbers at home. A few questions a night can really help students remember their strategies for when they get to Grade 5. The students know they also need to be practicing their mental math strategies at home. Being fast and accurate is important. If you want to get a jump-start on time, take a look at these links: http://www.abcya.com/telling_time.htm http://interactivesites.weebly.com/timeclocks.html In Science, students gave a final presentation on their crane designs and did a problem solving assessment. They brought home their duo tangs to show off their results to these assignments. We will now be moving into plant growth. Want to get started on the learning? Check out these great links: http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/parts.html http://www.ducksters.com/science/biology/plants.php https://www.dkfindout.com/us/animals-and-nature/plants/how-plants-grow/ http://www.biology4kids.com/files/plants_main.html Another busy week has come and gone. The students have been extremely busy in both their math and science classes. In math, students have continued to explore division. They have learned multiple strategies for dividing triple digit by single digit numbers. The latest strategy being the traditional long division process. The students will have a final division check in on Thursday of next week. They will be assessed on their mental math processes for division, computation strategies and problem solving abilities. They should be reviewing each of these sections as they prepare. Any of the division sites posted in the earlier blogs are resources that can help.
In science, students built an operational crane that needed a functional pulley system attached. To communicate their ideas effectively, students will be giving presentations demonstrating their crane’s abilities and also explaining their building process. To finalize our building units, the students will be doing a science problem solving assessment on Tuesday. Things they should study: -Types of levers -What happens when you move a fulcrum on a lever? -Gear systems (what is gearing up and gearing down?) -Remembering the Venn diagram for comparing ideas -Lifting and moving a variety of objects All these ideas can be found in their science books or through Googling the topic On Wednesday April 25th we will be going to visit Shepard Landfill and Composting facility. Please make sure you dress for the weather and bring a bagged lunch that does not need a microwave. Do a little research before our trip. http://www.calgary.ca/SitePages/cocis/Scripts/SubCategory-GarbageInfo-Grid.aspx http://www.calgary.ca/SitePages/cocis/Scripts/SubCategory-CompostingInfo-Grid.aspx |
AuthorClifton Baker Archives
June 2018
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