Wednesday Afternoon: Computers, Music and Finishing everything.

Notices:
Skating Jan 10 Feb 3 Permission form to go home tomorrow.
Please sign and send them back

After computers Mrs. Awalt took the students to music class and as we only had about 20 minutes of actual computer time prior to music, after music we went back to the computer lab to finish their work. (I taught them how to spell check in power point, to make and insert a text box and how to use page design and color to emphasize their ideas or concepts. After next week I will introduce other programs such as spread sheets and idea mapping tools in our computer time.

We started the afternoon reading for 15 minutes foll0wed by a computer period where the students worked to wrap up all their unfinished projects. We put the emphasis on them making sure to finish their Explorers Power Point project first.



Great day everyone see you Friday.

Welcome Back: Spelling, Resolutions, Library, PE and Migration

Welcome back everyone... It is so nice to see you all again.

We began our day, and the new year with our unit 11 spelling words.

cube, huge, mule, use, hue, rude, cute, fume, tube, glue, mute, cure, dew, few, new, drew, flew, stew, yew, crew. (ue and ew words)

owl, brown, flower, frown, gown, cow, growl, towel, town, tower, clown, vowel prowl, how, howl, ouch, round, mouth, trout, noun, loud, shout, grouch, cloud, down (ow and ou words)

We then talked about New Years Resolutions and the students had to come up with six resolutions for school. They then had to pick one of the resolutions to try and accomplish it. The students worked at coloring a New Years page and wrote out their resolutions.

After recess we had a library and reading period to get the students a new book to read during silent reading (dear: Drop Everything And Read)

After reading until lunch we did a math multiplication programs with the 6 and 7 times tables.

After lunch we had PE and were joined by Mrs. Favell's grade 2 class for 20 min of a roaring game of Slimers Island. We played boys against girls so that we could mix the grade 4's and 2's in a fair way. It was a lot of fun and the grade 2's were exhausted trying to keep up with our grade 4's. Our grade 4's learned to dodge around the grade 2's without running them down.

Caribou camucks from when I lived in the NWT and worked with the Inuit.

From Gym we talked about Tuktu (the Caribou) I showed them Inuit clothing made from the skin of the caribou and we talked about hunting methods and how the Migration of the Caribou affected the life style of the Inuit. I miss the smart board for finding pictures so we had to depend on the pictures from the text book. The students were assigned a one page report on the Tuktu focusing on migration. The one page report has to have a picture, information, a title and be colored. Many students managed to finish so they do not have to take it home for homework for the rest it is due on Friday.

Holiday

Have a safe and relaxing holiday. And Kids, learn your times tables..... at least
6 x 7 = 42
6 x 8 = 48
6 x 9 = 54

7 x 8 = 56
7 x 9 = 63

these will be on a test when you get back..... Happy Christmas and see you all next year.... Mr. W and Mrs. O

Tuesday December 13: Sub and Making Poinsettia's

Notice:

Dress rehearsal at 10:30 tomorrow

Winter Performance Thursday

I had a sub in today. To start the day the students worked on multiplication tables and charts then wrote about which holiday is better, Halloween or Christmas. The students had to write several paragraphs. The first being a statement of choice followed by one where you describe what is good about the one you do not choose. The next paragraph is why your choice is by far the best. The last paragraph is a summation of your choice. The students had their spelling list to use as vocabulary to come up with ideas and I left a list of Halloween vocabulary as well.

After recess until lunch the students had time in the computer lab where they had to finish up their abc books, their mini book and their winter, First Nations or Explorer Power Point.

After lunch the students read then went with their buddies to the gym to make large poinsettias. The poinsettia's are an annual project by Mrs. Dagg and many of you may remember having your child bring one home when they were in grade one. We will use them to decorate the gym for the performance before they are sent home with the grade one buddies.

Great job on the Poinsettias, see you all tomorrow afternoon.

Monday December 12th

Notice:
School Winter performance on Thursday:
Two shows one in the morning, one in the afternoon.

We began with spelling seasonal and X-mas words. After the pretest the students had to draw a picture which included all the spelling words and label it. One of the students said "but this is fun" nice to know spelling practice can be fun.

In music today the students continued learning about rhythm and working on their songs for the Winter concert on Thursday.

In math we looked at a x-table chart to show the students what they already know or could easily figure out ...basically out of the 100 times tables knowing that 3x5 = 5x3 so 100 becomes 50. The 1, 2, 5 and 10 are all easy and I showed them the 9 times table trick so 40 becomes 14 they have to memorize:
2x4, 2x6, 2x7, 2x8
3x4, 3x6, 3x7, 3x8

4x6, 4x7, 4x8
6 x 7, 6 x 8 and
7 x 8
Have your child drill and drill and drill those 14 times tables.

After lunch those students not in choir listened to and did a one page report on Burl Ives the silky voice of Christmas and winter songs.

In Socials we continued looking at ways First nations people of North America traveled. Last week we looked at the horse and its use on the prairies and today we looked at the Dog Sled and it's importance to the Inuit. Inuit peoples used dog sledding as a means of transportation to trade, hunt, fish, and monitor trap lines in the Canadian Arctic wilderness. As communities and outposts grew, dog sleds were used to deliver mail, supplies, and news.

We ended the day in the gym practicing for play on the stage which is now set up and ready for us to use during the Winter concert on Thursday. Be sure and book the time to come and see you child perform during one of the two performance times on Thursday. I would suggest coming to the early show if you want good seats and to be able to take pictures.

Sorry my camera is out of order so imagine until I rectify the situation.

Tuesday December 6: Mini Books, Socials, P.E.

Notice:

Please bring in Granola bars for our School service project.

Our class brought in the second most sales of the 'Entertainment' booklet so on Friday the parent group is giving our class a bag of chips each for our effort. The first place winners, div 14 won the pizza party.

We began the day finishing our mini books, and starting a new mini book; an ABC book of winter, first nations or explorers. This mini-book like last weeks is being done on the computer so I have to give the students time at school and not dempnd on it being homework.

After recess we read for half an hour, and as we had done a double period of math computation period yesterday we worked on mathimatical thinking with another sudoku lesson. The students were introduced bo 6x6 puzzles, the next step up from the 4x4 sudoku puzzles we have been doing.

After lunch we had a p.e. period with a rousing game of bench ball. After p.e. we returned to the class and watched the last part of the movie 'Spirit' that we started yesterday. We are studying different modes of transportation of the First Nations peoples. This how the horse changed the way plains First nations peoples moved, traveled, hunted and protected their nations. The movie 'Spirit' is a story told from the perspective of a wild Mustang about the West. The taming of the horse is a metaphor for the taming of the West, the First Nations, the buffalo etc.

I forgot my camera today so had to use a file picture. Take care and see you tomorrow afternoon.

Monday December 5th

Notice:
Bring in Granola Bars for our community service project.
Friday Spelling Tests went home
School newsletter went home for those who do not get an electronic version

We began the day with spelling and a math evaluation quiz. For spelling last Friday's test were handed back and the students were given the two word lists as a word search. It is another fun way to look at the words and find the pieces. There are lots of words containing the word 'oil' etc. so the students will see the patterns.


The math quiz will help us make math groups and plan our math lessons at the level of the students. Over Christmas I will send home 14 math pages witch I told the students are like a math Advent Calendar. They can do a page of math at their level a day. I would like the students to work on their times tables as we are big on multiplication and division after the Winter break.

After recess the students went to Mrs. Awalt for music where they practiced for the upcoming Winter concert. This was followed by Social Studies where we looked at another important transportation element for the First Nations plains peoples, the Horse. We looked at 3 questions on the horse and First Nations Plains Peoples. 1) How did the horse make hunting easier? 2) How did the horse make moving around easier? 3) How would the horse help in defending the Tribe. 4) How were the horses trained by the plains First Nations. We are watching the movie "Spirit" about a herd of wild horses and creating a t-chart for our video notes that show the similarities and difference between the European and First nations ways of working with and training the Horse.

After Lunch those students not in choir listened to and did a report on Bing Crosby one of the quintessential Christmas song Voices. After choir we continued with the Movie 'Spirit' about the difference between how First Nations and the Military broke and trained the Horse. First nations peoples did not have the metal bits so had to use more humane methods of guiding and training horses. We watched for about 40 minutes then in the last half hour the students were given time to work on their computer projects. Today we spent most of our time working at the desks instead of the computer as I felt they need to focus on written desk work after last week of having high access to the computers


See you all tomorrow... Happy birthday 'D' and thanks for the candy canes.