Reflection, Geometry, Cartooning, Fables Choir and Elections

Notice: 

NO SCHOOL FRIDAY OR MONDAY

Friday is a Pro-D day and Monday is Victoria Day
Class photo's tomorrow...


We began the day reflecting in our Morning Exercise book about Mothers day.  The students wrote a journal-like one page report on Mothers day.  This was followed by math where they continued to learn about the characteristics and properties of 3-D shapes from Mr. Stokes.

After recess the students continued reading book called 'Adventures in Cartooning"  The book is an adventure story that also teaches the different components of cartooning.  As the students follow along with the story they create their own cartoon with their own characters adding the more complex aspects of cartooning, (framing, caracter development, emphasis, movement, action, speech bubbles etc.)

This was followed by Mr. Stokes reading them a story called 'Wolf Island," that shows how the removal of a single species can affect and change the entire ecosystem in negative ways.  This is a continuation of our Fable unit.  The students listen to the story then write it in their own words and tell the message or moral.  This story connects to our Science (habitat) and First Nations attitudes about protecting and managing the whole environment.

After lunch the students listened to and did a one page report on the band 'America'.  America  helped to define the California soft-rock sound that grew out of the area's folk and pop industry in the 70's.

After choir the students worked on finishing up their campaigns for the animal to replace the beaver.  Their goal is to creat posters, a slogan, some symbols, express a clear  purpose in a catchy, entertaining and interesting and convincing way.  Tomorrow the grade 1's and the other grade 4 class will vote on which of the 4 animals will become the school mascot.

The turtle party is hoping that slow and steady will win the race

At 2:00 o'clock 9 of our students went with Mrs. Awalt to practice the drumming song that we begin each assembly with. The grade 5's have been drumming for the assembly since the start of the year and these 9 students from our class will  be replacing them for the final assemblies and for next year.

the drumming group

As there is no school Friday the weekly spelling test will be tomorrow.  Study hard and get ready for a 4 day weekend.

Handwriting, Long Division, and Animal Research

Hard at work on Animal Research. Great focus and work today M.

Students started the day with Handwriting (writing, "Meow, Grrrr, Caw Caw" 3x and then letter combination practise in their booklet), followed by long division with remainders in Math. Today they completed 4 pages of practise (each page didn't have many questions) that broke the procedure into steps, focussing on one step at a time. Many students understood long division after the 45 min lesson and the simplified practise this morning. Unfinished work is for homework.

J. sharing about the snail he found on his way home from school! Thank you for bringing in the photo.

After recess, students continued with their Animal Research project. Our goal is to be finished on Monday, May 27. They have next Tuesday and Monday, May 27 to work on it (Monday, May 20 is a stat holiday). All students have finished their notes and most students are writing their paragraphs. Some have started on their labelled diagrams. Finished paragraphs and diagrams (on their animal's Description, Habitat, Young, Food, and Other Intersting Facts) will be glued onto poster board or a student-made shape of their animal, made from coloured paper.
The morning went by quickly. Ms. Koch took 2 groups of students to work on literacy and social skills, and Ms. Smith also worked with the Reading and Math groups after recess time.
See you next Tuesday!
Mrs. Schneider

Animal Research

Notice: A yellow Permission Form for an upcoming Field Trip went home today. Please sign and return.

Students wrote Spelling Pre-Test 27 this morning, followed by more long division practise. We did several questions together as a class and some felt comfortable trying questions on their own. We'll be working on long division for the next while until students are able to remember the process and understand what to do on their own. Practise, practise, practise! No homework was assigned.
After recess students started their animal research project. Each student has all the required books and information and today most students finished taking notes on their animal's description, habitat, food, young, and other interesting facts. I helped several students one on one, either recording the info as they found it in their information book or highlighting information from printed pages from kids websites so they could write their own notes.
After lunch was Library for a book exchange and practise finding books using the Dewey Decimal System, Silent Reading, and time for students to catch up on their animal notes. Students who were finished silent read until Gym. During Gym the class played 4 Corner Soccer (4 teams at once, 1 ball). They loved the game and everyone had a great workout.
See you tomorrow,
Mrs. Schneider

Mothers Day Books

It has been a great privilege to watch your children create their great Mothers Day books.   I hope they will become a treasured family memento.   Mrs Schneider and myself enjoyed giving your children the time and focus to look at the importance of

Creating and recording Mother-Child Memories and Moments to Last a Lifetime.

We hope this project  creates an atmosphere that… encourages you to talk, makes you laugh, fosters discoveries, allows you to see yourself  through the eyes of your child and reinforces the mutual security and safety and love you feel in each others presence.

We hope this book will help you remember why you are special to your child and they are special to you. To make the most of  this book take the time to look at it over during  the coming days and weeks.   Much of it was meant to show you to yourself through your child's eyes and some of it was meant to be funny, however, so much of the value will come from talking and sharing this book with your child.

Through this project I have come to believe in the power of School to tap into the students lives and find what is meaningful. Many of the project themes were suggested by the students and not imposed. Students were given choices and Mrs. Schneider and myself provided the students opportunities to become aware of how valuable all their relationships are, especially the relationship with their mom.

I enjoyed reading everything from how the perfect job for their mother would to be a Pet Psychic to the many funny stories your children have of you.  Enjoy these young moments in your child's life.

My own daughter is in grade 10 and by then the schools, for the most part, do not have the students create anything for Mothers Day.  So Saturday night my daughter tells me she has nothing for her mother and her and I scramble around at the 11th hour to buy the perfect gift.  By middle school you will miss the days of clay pots, hand drawn cards and  macaroni art.   Cheers and Happy Mothers Day....

Monday and Tuesday

Yesterday (Monday) and today students completed an Insect Art and Poetry project. Each student chose a topic from a list of choices, used an information book with real photographs of their topic to find information, and hand drew (without tracing) their topic. The finished art is stunning and the accompanying persona poetry (spoken in the first person, from the insect's point of view) is rhythmic and entertaining to read. Awesome job everyone!!

In between the multiple steps to this project, students also wrote their Spelling Pre-Test, had 2 45 min math lessons on division, completed Science readings and questions on animal migration, had a Library book exchange, track practice outside with the other grade 4 class, and handwriting practice. How well can you handwrite, "Ribbit, ssssss, tweet, tweet?"



One student was allowed to choose an animal instead of an insect. Looks great!



Math: An Acronym to remember the steps to long division

The last 2 days were busy!
See you next week,
Mrs. Schneider

May Book Recommendation

Surviving: How Animals Adapt to their Environment

by Allesandro Minelli and Maria Pia Mannucci

 

This month’s book recommendation is Surviving: How Animals Adapt to their Environment, an information book with full page, National Geographic quality photographs and 1 short paragraph on each page. Each page features an animal and one of its amazing features, like how Australian frill-necked lizards have a cape around their neck that stands out to make them look larger when they are threatened and how stag beetles fight each other for territory.

This book relates to our Animal Habitat and Animal Adaptations unit in Science and features many of the animals that students chose as their research topic, like the chameleon and green sea turtle. This book and others like it are in the Animal book bins in our classroom and in the school library.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

Mrs. Schneider

Symmetry, Election planning, Mosaics and drumming

Symmetry in Art, math and Nature

The day began with the students working on their M.E. morning exercise.  They filled out a survey on job skills and careers then wrote about the perfect job.    This was followed by a math unit on symmetry.  The students found lines of symmetry and then took the letters of the alphabet and decided how many lines of symmetry they had.

After recess the students  the students did an art activity where they created mosaic pictures with colored paper squares to demonstrate their knowledge of symmetry and to create works of art. 

After lunch the students learned about the responsibilities of the different levels of government and the responsibility of government based on our rights as citizens in the country of Canada, the province of BC, and the city of Victoria.  The students worked in groups to sort the different responsibilities

 After Lunch the students not in choir listened to  and did a one page report on Mozart.  Then they broke into their groups and worked on their choice of an animal to replace the beaver as a symbol.  The students are designing a political campaign for their choice.  Like our provincial elections, which are going on, we have four parties supporting four different animals. 

Last period a group of our students went with Mrs. Awalt to learn the drumming song we play at each assembly.  The grade fives have been playing the song at the assembly, but now the drumming has been passed to students in our class.  (two students are missing from the picture as they were absent today)