Math – Students wrote a quiz on Monday for the estimation and rounding portion of the curriculum. They will receive their grades for this quiz on Monday. Practice Sheet results for the estimation and rounding unit have been evaluated and handed back. 4E and 4F students should review the feedback I provided on these sheets and make corrections. We began our new patterns unit in Math on Tuesday, and students have busy using their five senses to identify and describe various patterns in the world around us. Students enjoyed watching Bill Nye's "Patterns" video in Math, and we've had many interesting discussions and aha moments as a result! We will continue our learning in this unit next week. Students completed their first "Math in a Flash" mental math booklet, and results were sent home to parents on Monday. 4E and 4F students will document and keep a record of their results and progress for each of the booklets on a personal bar graph throughout the year. Students have been encouraged to log onto Prodigy this weekend, as I have set up various patterns activities for them to complete. Your child's log in and password are on page 11 in their student agenda. Have fun! Estimation Station – There were 156 button holes in the jar this week! Congratulations to M.L. in 4F who estimated 154. Well done! That was a brilliant estimate! Science – This week in Science, students were exposed to the kinds of wastes that are harmful to people and to the environment. They were provided with information on proper and safe disposal options, and can now identify four hazardous waste symbols. It is important for students to learn about toxic materials so they understand the dangers associated with them and how to dispose of them properly. Did you know that over 4.5 million litre equivalents of household hazardous wastes have been safely treated and disposed of in Alberta since 1988? Lets keep that up! Students are currently creating an entry in their Visual Journal to display their learning for this portion of the curriculum. Waste in our World Home Project - Students were assigned a home project on Monday to demonstrate their learning of our current "Waste and our World" unit in Science. For this project, students been asked to reuse waste materials to produce a new and useful product. The project letter, question sheet, Logbook and assessment rubric are all attached below for your perusal. All sheets, except the rubric, were also sent home as hardcopies with students on Monday in their agendas. The project, question sheet and Logbook are all due in class on Monday, November 6th, when each student is expected to present their project to their peers/teacher. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished products, and enjoyed having 1:1 conferences with 4E/4F students in class today! (A few students in 4F did not have their conference today due to a fire drill practice. We will finish these up on Monday!) Waste & our World Home Project Letter Question Sheet Logbook Waste Project Assessment Rubric Flex – Students have been recording their daily agenda messages, reading their own literature and enjoying the audio version of the Silverwing novel during this time each day. We REALLY enjoyed meeting Kenneth Oppel on Tuesday, and were very excited for Vala as she was able to get her own copy of the book signed! (Photo posted with permission.) Miscellaneous – An orange notice was sent home with 4F students on Tuesday in regards to our homeroom plans for Halloween. Please let me know if you did not receive a copy or if you have any questions!
4F students also completed their second Monthly Letter in their journals. These journals were sent home for parents to read and respond to today. Please send the journal back to school with your child on Monday. It is hard to believe that October has nearly come and gone already. With the leaves changing colour and the cold winds starting to blow, we see winter is just around the corner. I hope you enjoy your last October weekend... make it a memorable one! - Mrs. Ross Math – Students learned to round and estimate numbers and sums to 10 000 this week. They completed a few independent and partner activities in their duotangs and also spent some time online exploring new skills and concepts. Students will have a quiz on Monday in class, and must complete the Practice Sheet that was sent home on Wednesday. This sheet will be collected, reviewed and discussed prior to the quiz on Monday. Below is a copy of the quiz notice that was also sent home with students on Wednesday. Estimation Station – There were 55 pieces of candy in the Estimation Station jar this week! Congratulations to A.Z. in 4E who managed to guess that number right on the nose. Outstanding job, A.Z!
Science – In Science this week, students were very busy! They completed their predictions and observations for our mini landfill experiments, and had thoughtful discussions about the rates of biodegradability. Students observed each of the items in our mini landfills, and noted the changes. Some items were wet, moldy and shrunken in size, while others were dry and appeared to look exactly the same as when they were put in the landfill. Students discussed and documented what they think each of the items will look like next month and we are looking forward to next month's observation! Students also worked in partner groupings to read an article entitled: "The Importance of Recycling" by Lydia Lukidis. Through this article, students learned about the recycling loop, and the processes of recycling and paper manufacturing. Students answered comprehension questions based on the reading, and also learned some new vocabulary for this unit. I will be collecting and evaluating this article study from 4E and 4F students early next week. We wrapped up our busy week of learning by jumping on the laptop computers to investigate Calgary's current recycling and sorting methods. Students learned that the Material Recovering Facility (MRF) receives the items from our blue carts and community recycling depots. These items are delivered by truck to the MRF, and the facility is owned and operated by Cascades Recovery Inc., which The City of Calgary contracts to sort and recover recycling items. Machines at the MRF organize the materials, but employees also remove some items by hand to make sure they are sorted properly. About 70% of the sorting is completed by the machines, with the remaining 30% handled manually by employees. Once items are sorted, they are sent to markets that turn them into new products. Students toured the MRF online to better understand all the machines and sorting components, and also watched a video to see first-hand where our everyday recyclables go! We will continue this learning next week, and students will also receive their final Waste and our World project task. Flex – Students in 4F continued reading "Silverwing", our current novel study, and also participated in a guided drawing activity and gallery walk (see Twitter post below). Kenneth Oppel, the author of "Silverwing" will be in our school for a literacy presentation on Tuesday, and we couldn't be more excited to ask him questions about the book! Miscellaneous – Many students are still not coming to school and/or class with their agendas and academic subject duotangs. It is very difficult for students to complete their work, and for Mr. Brewer and myself to keep the lines of communication open between families if these items are not here. Please ensure your child is organized and has these materials at school each and every day. Thank you for your on-going support! Clubs - There are currently two clubs running for grade four students: Choir and French. These clubs will run for different durations and students are encouraged to get involved! Grade 4 sports intramurals run in the gym with PE teachers at lunchtime (twice a week), and the Learning Commons is also open to grade four students during lunchtime on Mondays/Wednesdays. Students need to listen to our daily announcements for locations and times for these clubs and intramurals. - Mrs. Ross 4E and 4F students, please click on the buttons below!
Math – In Math this week, students in 4E and 4F spent time learning how to round, estimate and add numbers up to 1000. They enjoyed playing a Pac-Man themed game online, which had them solving various problems (i.e. rounding numbers to the nearest hundred, estimating numbers by locating them on a number line, estimating sums/differences by rounding). Please scroll down to the "round and estimate" Pac-Man game button from Wednesday's blog post. This is a great game for students to continue to explore at home to further strengthen their understanding of skills and concepts taught in class. We will work on rounding numbers in the thousands on Tuesday/Wednesday, and students will write a short quiz by the end of next week. I am totally impressed with my students' energy and enthusiasm for our online math game, "Prodigy". The students are completely blowing me away with both their technological skills and understanding of number concepts online. Keep it up, 4E and 4F math wizards. I am very proud of all your hard work and dedication to this game! Estimation Station – There were 198 leaves in the Estimation Station jar this week. Congratulations to K.S. in 4E who estimated that number right on the nose! That was an AWESOME estimate! K.S. is in charge of setting up our Estimation Station next week. I know all students in 4E and 4F are eager and excited to see what the new station will involve! Science – This was an exciting week for learning in Science for 4E and 4F students. Both classes chose 10 items from last week's "Exploring Human Waste" collection to bury and observe in our classroom's mini landfills. We set up the landfills in our classroom, and so far have observed very little decomposition (aside from the orange peel, whole banana and chocolate pudding, which of course are, showing signs of mold). Students will continue to predict, observe and document the changes to the waste inside the landfills over a long period of time. We are looking forward to seeing what happens to each of the items in our mini landfills (see photo below)! Students have been busy learning about the rate of biodegradability for various items we use on a daily basis. They have learned that most things break down naturally - but at different rates! Did you know that a glass bottle can take up to 1 million years to decompose? Students were very engaged in this subject matter and had many rich discussions about biodegradable and non-biodegradable matter. Next week, students will learn how the City of Calgary processes and deals with the high volume of human waste. There seemed to be quite a few students absent from school today (Friday) for various reasons. Please ensure your child watches Bill Nye's "Pollution Solutions" video posted below to ensure they are prepared for Tuesday's Science class discussion. *Please ensure your child has completed all the notes in their black Science duotang for Tuesday's class. We have worked really hard in class to stay up-to-date with all tasks and assignments, however, some students really need to spend more time at home completing and adding additional detail/information to their work. Science duotangs will be collected and assessed on Tuesday. 4E and 4F's Mini Landfills...Flex – Students in 4F have been much better at bringing in their own literature to class to read during our daily Flex time. I have been reading to students quite a bit during this time as well, and they are enjoying sharing in Shade's journey for our "Silverwing" novel study. 4F students learned some new and interesting facts about bats this week, and will complete two activities associated with the novel during Flex next week. We are really looking forward to meeting Kenneth Oppel, Silverwing's author, on October 24th!
Miscellaneous – A reminder that there is no school for students on Monday, as it is a non-instruction day. Classes will resume for students on Tuesday. All NCS students will have their photos taken on Thursday for our annual picture day. Students are encouraged to "dress their best!" Enjoy your extended weekend, 4E and 4F students. I am looking forward to working with you again in class on Tuesday! - Mrs. Ross |
Mrs. Ross[email protected] Archives
June 2018
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