Use the websites below to add information and visuals to your visual journal page on the importance of plants to humans & animals and vice versa:
https://www.studyread.com/importance-plants-life-earth/ http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/earth.html http://www.bgci.org/plantconservationday/whyplantsimportant/
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It’s hard to believe that June is right around the corner—we have a busy next few weeks ahead! Field trip forms went home on Tuesday for our upcoming visit to Heritage Park on Wednesday, June 6th. If you haven’t done so already, please return the acknowledgement of risk form and payment as soon as possible. We attended a presentation today from the Calgary Public Library about their summer reading program running from June 15th to September 7th—a fun activity to keep up literacy skills in the summer months! Our May monthly letter also went home today so please read and discuss your child’s letter with them. In math this week, we worked on some open-ended problems on Tuesday with students coming up with some great solutions. On Wednesday we started learning about fractions. We watched an informative video about what fractions are and vocabulary associated with it. We started looking at fractions of a whole, and fractions as part of a set or group. Students are continuing to have daily practice in their basic facts by working on their mixed facts “Mad Minute” booklet. In science, students sketched and wrote a final observation of their bean plants before they were sent home today to be transplanted to a bigger pot or into the garden. Many of our bean plants have flower buds on them! We discussed how to correctly transplant their bean plant at home. Some bean plants will stay in the classroom as we continue to observe the complete life cycle in action—from seed to seed! We also looked again at our grass samples from a couple of weeks ago that focused on growing conditions. The sample from the fridge grew a tiny bit; the freezer one didn’t grow at all; the one on the counter with some light grew but was a pale lime green colour; and the last sample which sat beside the window was long, lush and dark green. We concluded that the best growing conditions are having light, water, air and the right temperature (not too cold!!).
Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend! —Ms. Jagger In math this week, we continued with our work around area and perimeter. We discussed when to use square centimetres and square metres when finding the area of an object. Students used geoboards in class to find the area and perimeter of both regular and irregular shapes. They worked on some area and perimeter problems in class and I’ve written them below if students want to continue to work on them over the weekend (I’ve also attached a link to a virtual geoboard to assist them in their work). We will go over some of their possible answers next week.
Our main focus in science this week was learning about the ways plants disperse their seeds—namely through animals/humans, wind and water. We worked our way through a “plant mystery adventure” about how the Koa tree can be found on both the Hawaiian Islands and Reunion Island in the India Ocean, which are separated by thousands of kilometres. Through the video clips and discussion, we finally reached the conclusion that birds were most likely the ones responsible for the spreading of the koa seed. We constructed three paper seed templates in class to test in small groups--the spinner seed pod, the rotocopter seed pod and the glider seed pod. After making them, students tested each design to see which seed could get further away from the “zone of darkness”--the shaded area next to the mother tree where seeds want to avoid landing. We soon discovered that the glider design worked best, although the spinner design was also quite effective as well. We also discussed how our results could have been affected if we did this activity outside, as the wind would spread the seeds much further. We watched an interesting video about how some plants, like the squirting cucumber, use high-pressure mechanics to disperse their seeds far and wide.
We also watched an in-depth video about each of the plant parts. It discussed the two types of transport tissue in a plant—the xylem (transports water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves), and the phloem (transports food from the leaves to the rest of the plant). We were able to observe the xylem in celery stalks that were sitting in water and food colouring for a few days. The leaves of the celery turned colour proving that the tubes in the stem (or xylem) were taking water up to the leaves. The food colouring had stained the xylem of the celery, and was clearly visible from a cross section taken from its stem. Our bean plants are continuing to grow—many students have observed they now have five leaves with more leaf buds ready to open soon! Have a great long weekend! —Ms. Jagger 4A & 4C students had a great time today decorating eggs using the pysanky method! Students need to bring in a small container to bring their finished egg home safely on Monday. NCS is also participating in “Mental Health and Awareness Week” starting next week with daily activities. There is no school for students next Friday. Monday, May 14th – Hats on for Mental Health Tuesday, May 15th – Dance and Activity Afternoon (dance tickets are on sale for $2) Wednesday, May 16th – Mindfulness and Wellness Wednesday Thursday, May 17th – PJ Day In math this week, students continued to practice time concepts by working on elapsed time problems and then playing a game with a partner to practice this important skill. They worked on the journal question: “What are some possibilities for the following date:
06/03/04?” and we had a good conversation about the many different possibilities it could be. Students wrote a quiz on Wednesday to demonstrate their understanding of time concepts. We also started learning about area and how square units is the most efficient shape to measure the surface of an object. Students started working on a multi-colour design, and then will calculate the area of each colour using square units. Students also started their new “Mad Minute” booklet containing mixed facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). In science, we discussed where seeds come from—the flower! Students learned about pollination and the parts of the flower through discussion, visuals, and videos. Before a seed can grow, some pollen from the stamens must land on a pistil of the same kind of flower. This is called pollination. Flowers are pollinated by the wind, bees, butterflies and birds. When a flower is pollinated, seeds begin to grow inside the pistil. As the seeds grow larger, the pistil ripens into a fruit or pod. It breaks open and seeds are ready to become new plants. Next week we'll be learning about the ingenious ways that plants spread their seeds. Students also sketched and wrote a detailed observation about the progress of their bean plants in their visual journals. They are certainly growing very quickly!
Enjoy your Mother’s Day weekend! —Ms. Jagger 4A & 4C students had a great time walking to Vivo and participating in swimming lessons everyday this week. It culminated today in buying tasty treats at the food trucks, and then going for an hour free swim! We are also looking forward to decorating pysanky eggs next Friday (more information about this on the team home page). In math, students continued our work around time concepts, and continued to review telling time to the hour and to the half & quarter-hour. This week they also learned to tell time to the five minute mark, and finally to the minute. Students practiced their skills by using the mini-clocks and working in a practice booklet to both read and record times on a clock. Ask your child to tell the time a few times this weekend using an analog clock! Students also learned about writing and reading calendar dates in numeric form, and telling time using a 24-hour clock. On Thursday, students used the laptops to practice their time skills either on provided websites, or on Prodigy where they were assigned time-related questions including elapsed time problems. In science, students have been continuing to learn all about plants and have participated in some experiments in class. We started an experiment to do with optimal growing conditions for plants (using grass seed) and will continue to monitor this next week. Students also were able to investigate what is inside a seed when they dissected a lima bean. After looking at a dry seed and forming a hypothesis on what they thought was inside, they were then given one that was soaked in water for 24 hours. Students peeled off the seed coat and looked at the inside of the seed with a magnifying lens. We were able to see the plant embryo (the beginnings of a plant), and the cotyledon (the food supply for the embryo). We are continuing to care for our bean plants we planted last week with many having sprouted.
Enjoy the first weekend of May! —Ms. Jagger Try out the online games below to practice telling time:
https://www.education.com/games/time/ http://www.abcya.com/telling_time.htm http://mrnussbaum.com/clockworks/ http://www.free-training-tutorial.com/telling-time-games.html http://education.abc.net.au/res/i/L9642/index.html |
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at:
[email protected] Here's to a great year! Archives
June 2018
CategoriesNeed extra practice? Below are math printable e-books for extra practice at home:
Patterns and Algebra Reading and Representing Whole Numbers Addition and Subtraction Multiplication and Division Time Length, Perimeter & Area Fractions “Math Makes Sense” Practice and Homework Book: Can be found at the Virtual Learning Commons under “Student Links”: http://nckodiaks.ca/lc/ Username: kodiakstudent Password: M@th15fun! Practice Problem Solving Questions Math Dictionary Math Websites: Demolition Division Multiplication Games Multiplication Interactive Games Subtraction Games Hour of Code Prodigy Abcya.com Math Facts Games Math Fact Fluency Activities & Games Plant Growth & Changes: Plant Growth and Changes Glossary of Important Terms Seed Survivor Plants for Kids Easy Science for Kids Plants Elementary Science Wheels & Levers Resources: Wheel and Levers Glossary of Important Terms Simple Machine Facts Simple Machines Interactive Sites Light & Shadows Resources: Light and Shadows Glossary of Important Terms BBC Light & Shadows How We See Things Light & Shadow Activities Interactive Tutorials Waste & our World Resources: Waste and our World Glossary of Important Terms Recycle City Game EekoWorld |