A Fun Video for Knight Time! Get it? Knight Time! Thank You!
Good evening!
Just for some fun, I found this video that I thought all of you would enjoy.
Division of Double Digit Numbers
In our math program, students have been learning about double digit divison. As you will probably expect, we are learning it a very different way from the way we were taught many years ago.
The Math-U-See program emphasizes place value as a way to illustrate to students why the numbers they are using written down in specific spots. Using place value, students begin to understand how numbers work together to give us the answers. It means there is less mystery about how numbers work together.
However, these concepts can be very foreign to the rest of us trying to help the students as it was not the way were taught. So, to help all of you at home, I have created a video demonstrating the concepts we are learning using an amazing new app that I just got for my ipad2.
Here it is:
If you need further help, please feel free to come and see me! The better we all understand, the better the students will understand.
Spelling List For The Week of May 9th
Dont’t Forget Your Swimming Suit!
Today is the swimming fieldtrip! Don’t forget to pack your swim items. We are leaving at 12:30 and returning at 3:00.
Go Team Sydneigh!
On Sunday June 12 2011, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is having their Annual JDRF Walk for a Cure at the Vancouver Zoo.
There is a reason I am telling you this.
One of the students in my class has juvenile diabetes. Juvenile diabetes can be a heavy burden for a child with all the testing and restrictions on the everday life of a child. However, it does not have to mean that your life is completely dominated by diabetes.
I have been extremely proud of the student in my class. Her courage and determination to not let diabetes stop her from having an active, fulfilling life has been a great blessing for all of us. Her energy, humour and faithfulness are a great testment to the possibilities for others.
This year, she has decided to become an ambassador to share her story and experiences to others which I think suits her perfectly.
She is raising money for research in juvenile diabetes. I would like to encourage you to help her out. You can check out her blog at:
Posts for Parents IV: Facebook
While this may not be relevent for the students in Grade 4, many of you have students in older grades who may or may not be using facebook. Facebook has become one of the main uses of time on the web. Just like any use of technology, there are many positives uses and aspects of Facebook. However, there are also ways that Facebook can be abused or misused. This is not the fault of Facebook. It is not the tool that is good or evil but rather the way it is used by the people who use it.
As your children get older, their use of sites like Facebook will most likely increase or they will start asking you to let them use Facebook as all their friends are using it.
So, how do we allow students to start exploring the use of these tools and yet understand and protect them from the potential pitfalls that may arise? I recently found a guide for parents on using Facebook that I thought you might find useful in dealing with some of these issues.
Riches Galore!
Last week, a treasure trove of doubloons was found in the class. It was wealth beyond measure. The class is not sure how to spend their new found wealth however, flowers for Bob and a heat pad are definitely on order! Check out these beautiful doubloons we made as part of our pirate unit!
If you are interested in making your own doubloons, here is what you can do:
- Rent a boat
- Go to the antique store and find yourself a treasure map
- pack up your family and set sail following the map to riches and fame!
Or you can just follow the recipe below to make fake doubloons out of salt dough. Not saying our doubloons were fake or anything.
To make your salt dough I have found the following recipe to be a good all round recipe for most projects.
2 Cups of Plain Flour (net self-raising)
1 cup Fine grained plain salt
1/2 cup water at room temperature
Mix the salt and flour in a large bowl and then add the water. Knead the mixture for about 5-10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic.Cover with cling wrap to stop the dough drying out and let the dough sit for 30 minutes before using.
If you didn’t know, some of the most famous treasure during the golden age of piracy was made by the Spanish royals. Doubloons referred to the fact that these coins were worth double the amount of value but could also refer to the fact that it had both the images of the queen and the king on it. There were also Spanish reales and pieces of eight. The doubloon was worth 32 reales.
Spelling For The Week-May 2
Here are the spelling words for the week of May 2:
Here are the links for Spelling City! Remember, even though it is the end of the year, you can still get extra points on your Spelling Tests! Bring in your completed certificate or get your parents to write in your planners. Make sure I see it though. Some of you are getting it written in your planners but are not showing it to me!
Pencils Are Bendable? That’s Just Silly Talk!
Light. I love light. It helps us see. It keeps us from walking into walls. It keeps us from tripping over cats at 2:30 in morning and waking a little one year old boy named Liam . . .
Anyway, we are learning all about light. Light is a type of energy that cannot be destroyed or created; only changed. So we have been learning about how we can change light to heat energy, how light gets reflected, how the eye works to see the reflected light and how refraction works.
Check out the link below to see how a Cow’s Eye works and how we can dissect a cow’s eye to better understand how we see things. This is a real actual cow’s eye we are looking at so if you are squeamish just check the other parts of the site out.
Students did an experiment the other day where they placed a pencil into the water. Lo and behold, to the student’s amazement, the pencil was bending where it touched the water. Shocked and stunned they were. We learned that it all had to do with Refraction.
Check this out:
When light rays or photons pass through a solid or liquid that is translucent or transparent, light moves more slowly thus causing the light to bend and causing an illusion to appear.
And that’s AWESOME!
Monday Night Pirate-y Fun!
Aarrgh! I hope ye had a great time this weekend! Captain Ham Hands Conroy is looking forward to having ye back on board tomorrow with all hands on deck and a full wind in the sails. The decks need a’swabbin’ and the rope need un-knottin’.
However, before we set sail, here are a couple of fun videos for ye! The first is from our very own sea chantey singers, Great Big Sea. They be from Newfoundland, a great place to hear tales of mighty ships, fishermen and maybe the odd pirate tale or two.
Finally, even pirates like cute things, especially babies. You can never get any work done when there is a pirate on board. The crew just goes ga-ga over babies. Anyway, here is a cute video.