Tips of the Week May 25- 29

Thank you to those of you who have sent back the forms and $14 for our upcoming trip to Pioneer Village (June 9th). Please try to have the forms returned no later than Thursday June 4th so that we can complete our registration process in advance. Thank you!!

Thank you to those of you who are able to volunteer in our classroom for our Scientist's visit on May 28th in the morning. Please meet in our classroom (Room 3) that morning at 8:35am. We will go until 11:35am. Thank you!

Math- We have started our Probability unit and are learning about all the various words that we can use to discuss and understand Probability. We then placed the words on a continuum in order to understand when to use them.

E.g.      impossible -- unlikely -- possible -- likely -- certain.

Students will be recording in their notebooks what we created on chart paper as a whole group. This week we will create spinners, and will begin to experiment with probability, along with recording our findings.

At home: Look for ways to show probability in everyday life. Ask your child to do the same and to show you their findings!

Language-
Reminder!

• Several students have misplaced their blue spelling journals, or are missing the activities page. 
• Please check in with your child to ensure that they have their spelling journal, as well as the page with the weekly activities (which should be pasted in the front cover). If either is missing, it would be so helpful if you could made a note in your child's agenda and I will replace the missing item/s. Thank you kindly for your assistance.

Reading at home- In class we are working in our reading groups on punctuation. Specifically, we are working on reading punctuation, in other words, how the meaning changes (or is lost) if we miss or mix up a period, comma, exclamation mark or question mark.

* When reading at home with your child please listen as they read ALOUD. Please pay close attention to how your child reads punctuation, and ask them to stop and re-read the sentence to include the punctuation if it has been missed. Ask them if they notice how the meaning is changed or lost when the punctuation is missing!

Have fun working and being together!

Tips of the Week: May 19 - 22

I hope that everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather on this past long weekend!

Upcoming:

• Park Lawn Palooza is coming up this Friday!!! I hope to see many of you there!
• We are having a scientist in our classroom on May 28th. Volunteers are welcome (please write me a note in the agenda or return the note I sent home with YES circled. Police check mandatory).
• Our final class trip will be to Pioneer Village on June 9th to compliment our 'early settlers' and 'industrial development and environmental effects' units. A permission letter will be going home today.
• EQAO is postponed until further notice. A package of homework to prepare students, along with a 'parent package' with the answers to all the homework and 2 letters (one from the Principal and one from Mr.Quance and myself) went home on Friday. This work is in lieu of the weekly EQAO homework and is to be completed at home and at your own pace. It does not need to be submitted to school for marking.

Language- This week Spelling Quiz will be on Friday, as opposed to Thursday.

Several students have misplaced their blue spelling journals, or are missing the activities page. Please check in with your child to ensure that they have their spelling journal, as well as the page with the weekly activities (which should be pasted in the front cover). If either is missing, it would be so helpful if you could made a note in your child's agenda and I will replace the missing item/s. Thank you kindly for your assistance.

Reading at home- In class we are working in our reading groups on punctuation. Specifically, we are working on reading punctuation, in other words, how the meaning changes (or is lost) if we miss or mix up a period, comma, exclamation mark or question mark.

* When reading at home with your child please listen as they read ALOUD. Please pay close attention to how your child reads punctuation, and ask them to stop and re-read the sentence to include the punctuation if it has been missed. Ask them if they notice how the meaning is changed or lost when the punctuation is missing!

Math- We are wrapping up our Measurement unit on area and perimeter. Both our Pixel people and our dream homes are almost finished and they look great!! They will be coming home in the next little while for you to see and enjoy!

We will soon begin a multiplication review for BOTH grades (Grade 3s will be acquiring new techniques as well as reviewing prior knowledge). Grade 4s will also be working on division facts.
*Please review the multiplication tables at home with your child to help keep the facts 'fresh'!

We will soon begin our Data Management unit on Probability. Stay tuned for more info...

Science- We are transitioning from learning about life systems (after our great trip to Kortright), and are moving into a unit on growth and change in plants. We were introduced to our new unit while creating our mother's day gifts (we hope you enjoyed your beautifully planted tulip bulbs!), and will now continue to learn much more about plants. We will be planted some fruit and veggie seeds this week or next!

May 11- 15

Good Tuesday morning! My apologies for the late post, as I was absent yesterday.

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers for joining us on last week's visit to the Kortright Centre. We spent the morning outdoors exploring a pond and all of its' creature inhabitants. In the afternoon, we spent our time hiking out into the woods searching for various animal habitats, followed by getting to touch and hold real furs and skulls. So neat, and great to be out in the open air!

Our next event will be having a Scientist in our classroom! Volunteers are more than welcome to join us for our half day session with the scientist. (Program content and date to be confirmed... stay tuned!)

Math- This week we are getting back to our Dream houses for our Measurement Unit. Last week was so busy that we only got as far as sketching the house itself! This week we will measure and calculate our perimeter and area. Please do encourage your child to peruse the math sites (listed in the menu to the right). There are many great games and activities on these sites that will help reinforce the measurement concepts that we are learning in class!

Language- This week we are finally getting to our good copy of our persuasive letter writing. We have chosen the topic "Should there be Zoos?" to choose sides and write about. Students will be using a checklist to help them with both letter writing AND persuasive writing techniques. We will be sharing our letters with the class later this week, and then will send them home to be shared at home.

~Thank you for your continued support!~

-E. Sullivan

Tips of the Week May 4- 8

*This Thursday is our trip to the Kortright Centre. We will be taking a school bus there and the bus will leave promptly after attendance is taken. Please ensure that your child is on time that morning! If you are volunteering, please don't forget to being a litterless lunch and drink for yourself as well as for your child. Volunteers will be receiving a little reminder letter with further info that will be sent home TODAY.

*The Sound of Music has come and gone and was a HUGE success. Thank you all for attending and making it such a special night/s! It was so wonderful to see our students performing and even better to even their beautiful voices singing together! So much fun! :)

* EQAO is FAST approaching (approximately 1 month away) and we are working hard during our numerous weekly dedicated EQAO periods to prepare. PLEASE continue to assist and encourage your child with their EQAO homework. It is intended to support what we have been learning in class and is set up to reinforce learned concepts. Thank you for your continued support!

Language- Please note the NEW spelling routine and Homework:

Grade 3s :

• Have 15 list words each week and are to choose 5 activities from the list to complete as homework. 
• This week's words begin with ALSO and end with BECOME. 
• Homework is to be completed in the blue spelling journals.

 Grade 4s :

• Have 20 list words each week and are to TRY to complete all 6 activities on their list. 
• This weeks' words begin with ANNOY and end with AWESOME
• Homework is to be completed in the blue spelling journals.

This week we are beginning to wrap up our persuasive writing and will be choosing an issue (and target audience to deliver it to) to write a persuasive letter to. Please encourage your child to use the anchor chart in the previous posts to assist with their in-school persuasive writing.

Math- This week we have begun creating our dream homes, as well as beginning to calculate their Area and Perimeter! This task is proving to be loads of fun and has spurred a ton of creativity. (See steps and one example below):

Directions:

o   Outline your dream house by drawing the outside walls. Your dream house should be a compound figure with all right angles.

o   Partition your dream house into rooms. Each room must be a rectangle.

o   Label and colour each room.

o   Find and record the area of each room.

o   Add the area of all your rooms to find the total area of your Dream Home.

o   Measure and record the distance around the outside of your dream home (the perimeter) and record the total perimeter of your Dream Home.

   

(image courtesy of Pinterest!)

Have fun working and being together!