This week in Room 18 we spent an abundance of time talking about the power of UV rays and their effect on different materials. Monday's partial Solar Eclipse gave us a wonderful opportunity to discuss light, shadow, movement in space and eye safety. We then created "sun art" where we went outside to collect leaves, bark, twigs etc. and decorated a piece of construction paper with what we had collected. After leaving the art in the sun for 2 days, we analyzed and observed the changes that had occurred. Ask your children what they discovered!
We have nearly finished our research about our classroom greenhouses and what we have decided is to build in 4 groups with 4 differing designs. We have been discussing materials and have decided as a class that we are going to try and make as much of our greenhouses out of recycled materials in order to do our part to save our planet! Please stay tuned for a letter to go home next week with a detailed list of things we would love to be donated ASAP in order to begin our building process! To generate some ideas, keep an eye out for (many) CD cases, wood, nails, transparent materials we could use for walls and adhesives. Thank-you in advance for your cooperation! Next Thursday, August 31st the Grade 4 Science Program will be going on their first walking field study to Valley View Park. The purpose of this trip will be to explore the community, discover different plants within our surroundings and to look closely at details within the plant life we see. We will be sending home a letter on Monday with an attached Volunteer form. There is no need to send the form back unless you are wanting to volunteer and come to the park with us. We will need 3-4 volunteers per class and these adults must have their CBE clearance. Please call the office or contact me personally by e-mail if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks for another great week, have a wonderful weekend! Miss Paddon
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I have taught Kindergarten - grade 6 throughout my career in several different provinces and countries! Originally from the East Coast of Canada, I graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland with a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education as well as a Major in Human Kinetics. I spent 2 years teaching in London, England where I travelled to many different countries and brought home wonderful experiences to share with my students to engage their learning. I love the outdoors and spend most of my time playing softball, soccer, basketball, white water rafting and hiking!
I am excited about this wonderful opportunity to open up our own Valley View Science Program and I so look forward to working with our curious Scientists as well as their Parents/Guardians to have a fantastic year in grade 4! What a wonderful first week we have had getting to know each other in Room 18!
This week we introduced STEAM challenges (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) in order to learn what is important about working together in groups to solve a problem. Be sure to ask your child about our awesome Marshmallow Challenge, Cup Challenge and Crossword Challenge and what they found difficult or interesting about each one! We also started researching about which plants would survive a classroom climate and which ones of those we are wanting to grow as a class this year. Each student completed some wonderful research and we compiled a list of possibilities that will be planted in the next week or so. For one of our first projects we will be looking at designing and building mini greenhouses for our classroom in order to attempt to grow plants that are in need of a warmer climate. Please keep an eye out for a letter from the school looking for any donations for this big inquiry project in the near future! I am so excited to get this year started as we have big plans for the year to come! Grade 4 teachers are already starting to work on and book some of our field studies and will keep you informed as we know more! Please don't hesitate to call me at the school or send me an e-mail if you have any questions or concerns at all (click here for contact information) Thank-you for the wonderful week and I will see all of my curious scientists bright and early on Monday for our exciting Solar Eclipse day! Miss Paddon |