Rainbow Day, Mini-book, Tolerance, Acceptance, Choir and An Awards assembly

 Spring Fair 4:30 to 7:30  Friday

 Rainbow Day

Today was all about tolerance and acceptance of others and their differences.  The students did a morning workshop with me on Rainbow day.  The students made a mini-book in  response to various video's and  information, from a number of sources, on the subject of understanding and responding to the different ways in which others are not the same as us.  We hope that having special focus days like, rainbow day, will help students develop positive attitudes and understanding for respecting differences in others.   So many of our students are already well developed in social skills and understanding of this subject, but, it is nice to go over it from time to time.

The first Video "For the Birds" is a hilarious short film by Pixar about differences and acceptance of others.  The students had to watch the short video a couple of times then describe the sequence of events in the video and then tell what the message is.  Watch the clip for yourself, with your child, and talk about it.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOiyD26cJ2A

The second was just a movie trailer for the 1986 movie "Rainbow Wars" which was nominated for an academy award.  From the trailer the students had to write what they thought the movie might be about and how the differences were finally solved.  I introduced the movie as 'Color Wars' as the name Rainbow Wars gives away the final plot twist.  Again watch the short clip with your child and discuss their thoughts.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z8KwGMncog

The third video featured over one hundred familiar characters from cartoons cut to the song 'We are Family' to show the idea that there are many different types of groups of people living together that can be considered families. Watch and talk about your family.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnD8BYjZiW0

The forth video is entitled "I Think Your Wonderful.'  A series of cute  pictures of animals is set to a song of the same name.   The students sang along then talked and wrote about the message.  This video was also shown at the assembly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srGTs1vWSvY

 We finished up the morning with the students giving out two razzle dazzle rainbow awards for classmates who have demonstrated times when they have been tolerant and understanding of differences, they could give themselves one award if they wanted.

After lunch those students not in choir listened to and did a report on Sebastian Bach. Bach is   generally regarded as one of the main composers of the Baroque period, and as one of the greatest composers of all time.  As you can see from the blank row where our class sits in the gym, we have the majority of our class getting the advantages of music and choir.

Most of our class is up performing with the choir

Today the choir were amazing and showed what a years hard work and cooperation can accomplish

 After choir the students worked on finishing their mini book then we headed off to the assembly where 5 of our students received awards for academic, artistic, cultural, buddy and creativity.  Well done T, E, S, A and M.

This was also the first time that the welcome song was performed by the students from our class.  They replaced the grade 5's and will carry on with this honor next year.

 See you all tomorrow... Mr W

Science Research Projects Are Complete!

This large research project is complete! Students had the choice of making an animal for their background (if they had finished all of their paragraphs by yesterday) or gluing their information onto rectangular poster board.

 

 

They will be marked according to the criteria we set at the beginning of the project.

To those students in Track, good luck at the track meet on Thursday!

Mrs. Schneider

How is Your Energy Today?

This morning students wrote Spelling Pre-Test 29, then completed a reflection about their energy levels (in the red, orange, yellow, green, or blue zone) and reviewed strategies to return to feeling calm, alert, and able to learn.

We've been practising various strategies (exercises to rejuvenate ourselves in a movement break during work times or as a way to exert pent up energy and regain focus). Some student uses many of these strategies on their own, without prompting, such as S. who drums his fingers on his desk or on his knees to use up extra energy and regain focus, or Sh. who asks to play with Play-doh if she is finished work instead of talking to the people around her, or E. and H. who squish Play-doh while Silent Reading, or students who ask to get a drink of water for a movement break during work times.





Thoughtful response to how to return to calm, alert, and ready to learn.





Making a background to glue Hamster paragraphs onto

After recess, students continued working on their Science Research projects.

Everyone's paragraphs are due today, and 2 people finished their projects. Many students are close! After everyone is finished (they are due tomorrow), students will present their research to the class.

Snail research project



After lunch was Library for a book exchange, Silent Reading, a bit of time to work on Science, and then 4 Corner Soccer in Gym. Everyone had a lot of fun, everyone displayed sportsman/womanship, and everyone left sweaty :-)

See you tomorrow!

Mrs. Schneider



Division, Mini book planning and Science Venture

The school made the paper for the field trip yesterday

Two notices were put in mailboxes today

We began the day reviewing division.  I showed several videos from the internet on how to do division.  The goal was to help students understand division and learned the steps (algorithm) for long division.  The videos gave several different ways of remembering and doing long division.  The steps being basically estimate, multiply, subtract, bring down.  The students then had an opportunity to work on simple division problems.

After recess we began working on a mini book on creating a Super Hero.  This extends the unit on creating comics from when Mr. Stokes was here and really caught the attention.  The students are designing a superhero with a logo, catch-phrase, hide-out, vehicle, side-kick, costume, etc for themselves.  The students will make a superhero handbook and comic book.


After lunch we had special visitors from the university of Victoria.  The visitors presented a special program called Science Venture.  Science Venture is a non-profit organization that offers hands-on, minds-on science, engineering and technology learning opportunities for youth entering grades 1 through 12.  Their goal is to interest students in science and they also offer summer camps and workshops throughout the year.  Today our class our class had a presentation of activities on Weather and Light.  They showed us Magic (science) tricks.  It was lots of fun and it was interesting.  It was a field-trip right here in our class.  

Guess how many grade 4s fit into a Smart Car?

A few notices went home today, including Tillicum's monthly newsletter. Please look at it.

Mr. Wilson is away today and I (Mrs. Schneider) taught the class.
We started the day with an artist study on Andy Warhol, one of my favourite artists. Some students were familar with his Campbell's Soup Can art. We learned more about Warhol and the class started their own animal pictures in the style of Warhol's "Red Sam."

Warhol's "Red Sam"

Everyone drew their pictures in pencil and outlined their pencil lines with black sharpie. Next week they'll paint their pictures in bright colours, leaving the background white. Everyone's animals look amazing so far!
Next week we will also watch 2 short video clips about Warhol's life and work and learn about the Pop Art movement.
At 9:40 students ate their snack in the classroom and we got ready for our field trip to Public Works. At 10:00 the buses picked us up with Ms. Roberts' and Ms. English's classes and off we went.
From 10:00 until 2:00 we were outside in the sunshine, going to different stations the City of Victoria set up for grade 4s and 5s from various schools.

Every student honked the horns on this big truck

Around noon students enjoyed a complimentary lunch before seeing and doing a few more things at other stations.
The highlight of the day was when our class broke the record for the number of students that can fit into a Smart Car! 17 students managed to squish themselves in there without any adult help (except to close the hatch and door!).

 

How Many Fit Into a Smart Car? Step 1. Closing the Hatch



Step 2. Squishing everyone in.



Step 3. J. on the dash



Step 4. Fitting S, #17, in!



We said a huge thank you to the City of Victoria for hosting us and showing us so many neat things about how things are made and what they do (street signs, fire hydrants, garbage trucks, sewer robots with camera that detect problems, street sweepers, etc).

Mrs. S and K. in the bucket

Robot with a camera.

We arrived back around 2:15, had Silent Reading, cleaned up, handed out notices, and went outside a few minutes before the bell.
See you on Monday!
Mrs. Schneider



Tuesday

Notice: Please return signed Field Trip Forms tomorrow. Tomorrow we are going to Victoria Public Works (10 am- 2 pm) with 2 other classes. Please dress in outdoor gear with proper shoes and bring a snack.

Working on her animal research project.

We started the morning with our weekly Spelling Pre-Test. Students could handwrite or print their words, followed by long division practise in Math until recess.
After recess students worked on their Science Research Projects on an animal until lunch time. Everyone has finished their notes and are working on their paragraphs and diagrams. Great work today. Projects are due on Monday, with lots of class time and support on Monday for those students who need more time.
Mr. Wilson was working elsewhere in the school this afternoon and I taught the class.


Working on their animal research projects. Awesome work ethic during Science today everyone!

 After lunch was Silent Reading, Music, Library (because yesterday was a holiday), then Read Aloud from Love That Dog at the end of the day.

Note: Field Trip to Victoria Public Works from 10 am to 2 pm tomorrow.
Please dress in outdoor gear with proper shoes and bring a snack. Lunch (hotdog, drink and one other item) is provided free of charge. If a student has dietary concerns or would like something else, please send a lunch with your child tomorrow.

Congratulations B. for having your weather picture published in the Times Colonist last week! I will bring a copy for you tomorrow.

Mrs. Schneider