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Month: September 2010

Wow! That’s Important!

Wow! That’s Important!

ice_skatesJust a couple of things to end off the week for you to know about.

Tomorrow is our first skating day. Students are allowed to wear playclothes to school. Please remember to make sure that students have all their stuff ready to go. They should have a helmet and skates (if they are not renting), gloves and warmish clothing.

Monday is also a special day as Highroad would like to cheer for and encourage our fabulous soccer and volleyball teams. Students are allowed to wear jeans and/or casual pants and a mostly black or mostly red (or combination of the two) top. Help us cheer for our teams! Go Highroad!!!

The Water Cycle Makes It . . . Rain . . . Rain!

The Water Cycle Makes It . . . Rain . . . Rain!

water-drop-aWe have had some fun this week in Science. Students have been learning about the Water Cycle and how the water goes from liquids to gas back to liquids again in a cycle of evaporation and condensation. To show this, we did a great experiment yesterday where Mr. Hancock brought his OVEN MITTS OF SCIENCE to school. You can try this experiment at home as well. All you need is a kettle, a tin plate, water and ice cubes.

  1. Put 250 mls of water in the kettle and start it boiling. This will change the water to steam or water vapour. Water vapour is a gas. You can pretend that this is the water found on Earth being heated by the sun and evaporating into our air.
  2. Put the ice cubes into the tray and hold it over the steam. The ice cubes cool the gas or water vapour and collects it on the bottom of the ray. This is called condensation. This is just like the water vapour in our air being cooled as it travels up into the atmosphere. As it cools, it collects into clouds and turns back into water in the process called condensation.
  3. Watch the tin plate or cloud changing more and more water vapour back into water. As more and more collects, it starts to get too heavy and it starts to rain or precipitate.

It was a very cool experiment. Today, we reviewed our material by playing Science Jeopardy and starting our project on making Water Cycle posters describing the whole process. We also watched some fun videos about the water cycle which I am putting down below for your enjoyment.

If you would like to download the Water Cycle song, click here!

On Friday, students will be participating in the Terry Fox Run. We will be running or walking around the field starting at about 9:30. We are asking students to bring in a Loonie or Toonie to raise awareness of this terrible disease.

How’s the Weather In Glocca Morra?

How’s the Weather In Glocca Morra?

climate-changeIn science we have been learning about weather and climate. One would think that would be easy when you see it right outside your window. However, there are many things to learn about how the weather works. Today, students were learning about the difference between weather and climate. Weather is all about what is happening in the atmosphere or sky all the time. Climate doesn’t change from hour to hour. Put simply, climate is the average weather in an area of the world. Students also learned that there are climate controls or things that make climates different in different places in the world. One of those is how close you are to the equator. Another is how close you are to a large body of water. Here is a nice video that shows the differences:

Bill Nye has great videos and here is a great one talking about climate and weather:

Finally, students earned their party for hard work and good behaviour. Students will be having a party on Thursday. If you would like to contribute anything, that would be appreciated. However, students are not obligated to bring anything.

Also, our class is looking for any spare wireless computer mice. If you have extras kicking around the class or would like to donate one, we would like to use them for interacting with the smartboard during Math time.

Thanks!climate2

Class Photos Today!

Class Photos Today!

Class Photo 1976-77In case you didn’t see the poster in the hall or read it in the newsletter, today is Class Photo Day. Students are reminded that they need to be wearing full dress uniforms for class photos. We’ll see you tomorrow!

It’s Fish for Supper! Must Be Friday!

It’s Fish for Supper! Must Be Friday!

It’s been an extremely busy week in in 4H/G. Students have been working very hard and still there is just not enough time in the day for everything. We have started our first Novel Study with the book Safe as Houses. It is written by Eric Walters and tells the true story off the tragic events of 1954, when Hurricane Hazel swept through Ontario. As part of our initial discussions, students have been working on viewing the cover and reading the first few pages of the book to help them make predictions. We have also talked a great deal about what makes a good prediction. A good prediction must be deep, clear and plausible. As we finish up Chapter 1, we will begin discussing Literature Circles and the various roles students will have in order to investigate and understand the content and structure of the book. Each chapter, we will focus on a different role: Discussion Director, Illustrator, Responder/Summarizer, Dictionary Dude and Passage Picker.

As part of our look at Chapter 1, I wanted to give students a sense of what life was like back then and what a hurricane was like. To do that I created a Glogster; a “web poster” where I could put media and text related to the book. You can see the Glogster that I created below. If you right click on it, you should see the option to go full screen to see all of it. To go back to normal, just right click again.

Reminder

Reminder

Friendly Reminder 1Good Afternoon!

Just a reminder of the half day of school tomorrow due to the funeral. Remember, you can always check the calendar (which is found at the top of the page) if you are wondering about dates!

Also, Mrs. Goosen would like to remind students that they need 3 or 4 pictures about themselves for a project they are doing in Social Studies.

Please Send Photos!

Please Send Photos!

It’s Mrs. Goosen here.  I hope you have all had an enjoyable weekend!  Last Thursday was my first full day in the grade four classroom.  We had a great day together – I really enjoyed getting to know the class and having them ‘all to myself’ =).  On Thursday afternoons I will be teaching Social Studies.  We have begun our first unit and are getting ready to start our first project – an All About Me poster.  If you and your child could gather three or four 4×6 pictures and send them to school by Thursday that would be great. The two main headings on our posters will be ‘About Me’ and ‘About My Family’.  Photos of your family and your child doing things they enjoy (hobbies, sports, on vacation) would be great types of pictures to send.  I am not sure how far we will get on the posters this week but it will be easier to organize our poster layout  if we have our photos with us.  Thank you!

Notes for the Weekend and Homework!

Notes for the Weekend and Homework!

weekend_comment_graphic_07.gifIt’s amazing how quickly the first weekend has gone already. We have had a fabulous week with lots of things going on. Of course, there is much more to come.

Just some notes as we go into the weekend. I have changed the calendar as apparently I was the only who had access which, of course, doesn’t do any of us any good! So I have changed the settings to allow you to see dates on the calendar. You will also notice that I have added bible memory verses onto the calendar. I have placed them on there ahead of time so that you always know which memory verses we are working on.You will also note that the time for Gym has changed due to the scheduling conflict.

Homework: This weekend I have told the students that they have homework for next week. Though we are going to be focusing on division this year, having a solid base in the memorization of their basic multiplication facts is very important in helping them to achieve mastery, fluency and speed in their math. We will be focusing on a specific times table each week, with a math quiz at the end of the week on that multiplication times table. Once all times tables have been completed, each week students will have a quick involving a random set of 35 multiplication questions. For their homework, over the weekend I would like you to help students think about how they can learn their 0,1, 2 and 3 times tables in a way that fits their learning best. It can be with flash cards, writing it over and over, writing them on the table with their fingers, saying them out loud. drawing them out or any other method. Once you have decided with your child, over the next week, use that method to practice the 0, 1, 2, and 3 times tables with your child. I have focused on more than one this week as the 0 and 1 times tables are pretty easy.

Next Thursday will only be a half day as the school will be closing for a funeral service. For more information, please check the notice that came home with your child in their planner.

Whew! Lots of news. Have a great weekend!

Great Video Just Like I Promised!!!!

Great Video Just Like I Promised!!!!

The other day I was looking through some of my favorite websites when I found this video. My wife and I thought it was absolutely hilarious. How much time do you think it took to do this? Just amazing! I wonder if you children even remember the game Tetris! Enjoy and don’t forget to check out the information about Library and Gym in the post below or on the calender!

Library and Gym

Library and Gym

gymAs there have been some questions, I thought I would add a note to our blog about Library and Gym Dates. Students have Library every Tuesday afternoon. Gym will be on Thursdays and Mondays. I have added these dates to the blog calendar which you can find by clicking on the Calender heading at the very top of the blog page.

Thanks!

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