Just a reminder that next week we will be doing crafts on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and possibly Thursday if we need it. Parent volunteers would be awesome! We’ll have some fun, play some Christmas music and enjoy the spirit of the season! Check the previous post for times!
Also, just a reminder about the Tuesday evening concert. Check the calendar for times!
It’s the last week before Christmas break so here is some fun for you!
Lot’s of fun things happening in the class these days. The Science Challenges were AWESOME!!! Thanks for all your hard work with that. It was so fun to see all the great thinking that went into such creative projects. There were no ideas that were the same; everyone had a different creative idea! At the end of the post, I have created an Animoto video showing all the great projects! Check it out!
Next week we will be doing Christmas Crafts as we lead up to the end of the year! I am looking for some parent volunteers to help out with leading some of the crafts and helping students. We will be starting on Monday and going to Thursday! Even if you can just make it on one of the days, that would be great. The times will be:
Monday: 10:45 – 12:05
Tuesday: 10:45 – 12:00
Wednesday: 10:45 – 12:00
Thursday: 9:15 – 10:15
If you can help out, that would be great!
Just a reminder that one Friday, there is skating from 12:30 – 3:00. Students are allowed play clothes for that day!
Like last year, our class is participating in a card exchange with classes from the United States. As we get cards, we will be posting them up on the wall by the main office as well as on our blog. You can see our map of cards by clicking on the tab at the top by the link to our calendar! Check it out!
Not for the school year! Just this year before you start jumping up and down for joy.
We also have a memory verse for this week, which you can find on the calendar as well as in the planners!
Here are the spelling lists:
Here are the links to spelling city. Remember that if you bring your certificate in with 100 percent, you can get a bonus mark on your spelling test.
Apparently students were in a fluster after school today as they realized that there was a memory verse tomorrow. I reminded them that all the information about memory verses, spelling tests, Library and such can be found on the blog. One of the students said to me that they never go on the blog. Soooo, I would like to remind students that the blog is not just for parents. It also has important information about things that are coming up. This is especially true for the calendar on the blog. All memory verses for the year are on the blog and can be looked at at any time.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Well . . . not really but I was in a singing mood. We have a busy week ahead of us.
Friday is a half day with elementary dismissed at 12:15.
Wednesday is Ski Registration in the Church Foyer. I am looking for someone to help out with that. If you are interested, we will be going from 3:10 – 3:45. Any help would be appreciated.
We will be having a short Science quiz on Wednesday. The quiz will cover the following items:
1. How clouds are made – evaporated air rises up and is cooled as it goes higher into the atmosphere. The cooled air turns back into clouds and water vapour which then comes down as precipitation. We saw this when we took boiling water and placed it in a jar and put ice cubes on the top.
2. Types of clouds:
3. Properties of Air
Here is the spelling for this week with the Spelling City links:
Here are the links to Spelling City:
Finally, here is a video that I introduced the students to today. It is a really neat video showing the brain of a mouse from the skull all the way down to the creation of new neurons. It is absolutely fascinating. We have talked alot this year about creating and strengthening our neurons by being creative and thinking outside the box. Speaking of which, Science challenges are due tomorrow!
The day has ended, the forms have gone home . . . It’s that time of year again! Ski Trip Registration is upon is. Students have taken home a form to fill out regarding the upcoming ski trip on Jan. 18th. Registration for the ski trip will be on Dec. 1 from 3:10 – 3:45.
We will have a table set up and the office will be open to accept payments. To help expedite the process, please make sure all areas on the form are filled out. This will save you time and it will save us time! If you are willing to help out with the registration, please contact me either through the blog, by email or stop by the class in the morning or after school.
Parents who are interested in coming on the field trip, please contact me to obtain a parent permission form.
I thought I would start the week off with a couple of fun things for you! A puzzle and a video. The video is a real thing that happened in one of the world’s largest subways. It must have been pretty cool and everyone, especially the passengers, were very surprised! Lots of fun! Don’t you wish you had been there? I also embedded a winterish game for you to enjoy!
One of the things I love is seeing children thinking outside the box. So often, students are taught that things can only be done one way and that is the only correct way to do things. This is not reflected in the world where the solutions to problems are not so obvious and can not be solved by any one method.
As one way I try to encourage students to think creatively, I like to pose Science Challenges. These Science Challenges are designed to be open ended- that is, there is not one right way to solve the challenge. We will do a few of these challenges throughout the year and they will be included as a mark on the report. They will be marked out of 5 with a 5 going for those challenges that follow and complete the guidelines laid out, are related in most ways to the challenge posed and show creativity. A 3 will be given to those that follow the above guidelines but are not done by the completion date and a 1 will be given to those students who follow the guidelines but are not done within a week of the due date.
Your challenge is to create a vehicle that can move on land or by air using the power of air. You may use scissors, pencil and rulers to design it but they can not be a part of the vehicle. You may only use any or all of the following in your vehicle:
1) Ordinary lined writing paper
2) Construction paper
3) Cardboard
4) Glue
5) Paper clips
6) String
7) 1 or 2 Balloons – must be used and must be a part of the vehicle. You can not use the balloon to push it. The vehicle must move using the balloon as a part of the vehicle itself.
Your vehicle must be able to move on its own using the force of air from a balloon.
Children may have help from older siblings or adults. In fact, I would encourage this as a fun family project! However, keep in mind the proportion of work done by various members. The majority should be done by the Grade 4 students with other members acting as guidance and support.
Your vehicle may be decorated once you are done in whatever way you wish.
Projects must be completed and brought in by November 30th! You may start bringing them in by November 24th.
Have Fun!!!
So… In my recent travels around the internet these last few days I came across a couple of fun things to share with you to get you back into the whole school thing gently.
First of all, I found these cool graphics from a site called, “Information is Beautiful”. The site basically takes information and statistics and puts them into neat graphics to make them more interesting and useful for readers. The ones today showed some interesting ways to see our world in a different context. Many times globes, maps and other mapping devices don’t give us a very accurate view of our world. We look at the map and think that our country is the same size as a place like, say, Greenland or that we are not much smaller than Africa. However, you can see with the pictures below that that is not quite the case. Take a look!
Here is a fun Star Wars video I found made entirely out of paper! Cool! It actually goes very well with the Christmas Art students are working on right now!
