This week in Room 18 we were jam-packed with observations, experiments and building!
In math, we started to discuss and work on various strategies for solving multiplication (2 digit x 2 digit). We had many talks about how we need to learn various methods so that we can choose a method that best suits each of our individual wants and needs when solving problems! Next week we will continue with multiplication and, if we have time, start diving into some division! In literacy, we spent a lot of time writing like scientists this week. We have observed our worms on various occasions and estimated length, width and overall size changes that have been occurring. We then wrote a detailed analysis about what we observed as well as a hypothesis about what changes we think are going to happen after another weekend away from them! Our research for our arcade game project is well underway! This week, the grade 4's completed research about 2 simple machines (wheel and axel + screws) and the grade 5's completed research on series/parallel circuits, electrical conductors and open/ closed circuits. We then indulged into some group work/peer teaching before each grade completed a building challenge involving their research topics. (Windmills, race cars and lighthouses) Next week we will continue our journey into electricity and learn more about 2 more simple machines! Thank-you to everyone who has brought in cardboard, boxes, egg cartons, milk cartons etc. We have a great start to our collection and we are so eager to continue receiving more building materials! This week we started working with our grade 1 buddy class on a bat study! We spent an hour on Friday teaching our buddies how to complete proper research as well as how to document their findings like a scientist! Everyone seemed to learn lots and have fun while doing it -- I think I see some future teachers in Room 18. :) Halloween is coming up on Tuesday, October 31st! The teachers at Valley View are very aware that some families celebrate this holiday and others do not. Because of this, we will be having a "Pumpkin and Bat Study" day on Tuesday. During this time, we will be completing research on, estimating, measuring and gutting some pumpkins that have been donated to us. (Thank-you again to the donators!!) We will also be completing our second session with our grade 1 buddies and helping them with their bat studies. Students who have a costume are welcome to wear it in the afternoon, however there cannot be any blood, gore, masks or weapons brought in or worn. We will also have a Halloween Safety Assembly on Tuesday afternoon where we will discuss safety when Trick-or-Treating as well as acknowledging each student's costume who chose to dress up. If you wish to bring in treats for our day, please feel free! However, please keep in mind the health of our students and try and keep the treats healthy (ish. :) ) Field study forms for our National Geographic live trip are due back next Friday, November 3rd. We already have 3 wonderful volunteers set to go, so thank-you to those parents/guardians! Please keep an eye out for field trip forms next week for another field study coming up. We will be going to Fort Calgary on Monday, November 13th and will need volunteers for that day as well! November's book order forms were sent out this week and are no due back until Friday, November 17th. We are now set up with the Parent Pay option, so feel free to find us on there or send in your money to Miss Paddon! Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm! Miss Paddon
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Happy Friday Everyone!
Our first week back after break was a great one full of adventure and observations! We started our adventure into addition and subtraction of 4-digit numbers with regrouping, carrying and borrowing. We discussed how it is not only important to be able to get the right answers, it is also equally (if not more) important to be able to explain our reasoning and methods during our calculations. We have now moved on to 2 digit x 2 digit multiplication and learning multiple different ways to calculate including box method, lattice method and expanded method. Today, we met our new, slimy class pets! We are now the proud new owners of 100 Red Wriggler worms that we will be using for in-class vermicomposting! We will be using this composting as fertilizer for our plants that will be growing in our home made greenhouses. Ask your child about what foods our worm-friends can and can't eat! The scientists in Room 18 are VERY excited to hear about their new project! We will be spending the next 6-8 weeks learning about simple machines, magnetism, circuits, electricity and business plans in order to turn our gymnasium into a giant, functioning arcade made entirely out of recycled materials! Stay tuned for more details, but for the time being, we are in desperate need of cardboard (egg cartons, shoe boxes, large boxes, paper towel rolls etc), hot glue gun sticks, hot glue guns (to be returned) and any other recycled materials you think may help in our building process! :) Today we started our FYPFs (Follow Your Passion Fridays) which allows your children to pick from a long list of topics that they may be passionate about and they get to spend 45 minutes every Friday working on this passion and learning more about it! Ask your child about what Passion they chose! Halloween is coming up and I have had a lot of questions about what our plan is for it! If you celebrate Halloween, your child is more than welcome to dress up in their costume for the afternoon of Tuesday as long as there is no blood, weapons or masks! We will be spending the day working with pumpkins and getting a bit messy! If you would like to bring in a healthy snack for the class, then please feel free and if you are able to donate a full-size pumpkin to our class we would be so thankful as well! Please chat with me if you have any questions, concerns or are able to donate! We had a wonderful discussion about Diwali on Thursday and my awesome students taught me so much about a very special day! Everyone was so excited so share what their families do to celebrate and students who don't celebrate Diwali had some wonderful discussion questions! We then went outside and lit a sparkler in celebration of The Festival of Lights! Happy celebrating to all families who celebrate this beautiful holiday! A quick reminder that Picture day for our students is this coming Monday, October 23rd! Thank you for another wonderful week in 4/5 Science Program and I'm excited to observe the changes that occurred with our worms on Monday! Have a lovely weekend, Miss Paddon :) What an eventful first week of our brand new, exciting class of 4/5's!
First and foremost, I want to say a very big and sincere THANK-YOU to each and every student and family member for their understanding, condolences and love during my 5 day absence this week. It was definitely not ideal, but each and every one of you have made it bearable, so thank-you from the bottom of my heart, you are all rockstars! During our first week together, our favourite scientists completed research and a visual journal entry on the water cycle. Each student is beginning to understand the tough vocabulary and process of the water cycle and they worked very hard to create a beautiful piece of art to finish it off! Later in the week we discussed our carbon and ecological footprints and how everything we do can either increase or decrease our footprint. We discussed the many ways that we can reduce our footprint and the students of Room 18 then created a "foot display" of how to reduce our eco footprint in their visual journals! We also went on our 3rd field study in room 18 which took us off to Telus Spark on a wonderful adventure of simple machines and circuits! I heard so many wonderful comments from the students as they made their way through the many different spaces at the center and we really did have a wonderful, science-filled day! Be sure to ask your children about the different simple machines they used, what their building challenge was (hint, hint: Vertical and horizontal energies) and what they may have heard our next big project may be! :) Thank you so much to all of our parent volunteers for another successful day made possible by you! Grade 5 parents -- be on the lookout for your child's home reading which was sent home on Thursday. There is a full explanation of how our home reading process works in room 18 in the front of their home reading log. Please feel free to e-mail me with any and all questions or concerns :) FYI: - Picture day for all Valley View students will be on Monday, October 23rd so be ready to bring your best smile on that day :) Some parents have requested a list of dates for field studies. As you can imagine, we still have LOTS of booking to do since the merging of classes, however here is a list of dates that we know as of right now for room 18: -November 6th: National Geographic Live -November 13th: Fort Calgary -April 16th: Ralph Klein Park -April 23rd: National Geographic Live -Outdoor School Dates (for grade 5's only) will be announced soon but are typically at the latter part of the year. We are trying for 1-2 field studies a month and will keep you updated as we get confirmations of our bookings. Thanks! We are off for the week as of Friday at 12:00pm, so I wish you all a fantastic Thanksgiving break filled with family and friends. See you all on Tuesday, October 17th, 2017 as we start the next part of our year! <3 Miss Paddon |