Caution! Students Hard at Work

You may notice that your child is coming home tired at the end of the day. This is because we have ramped up the learning activities in our classroom over the last few weeks. Here's a snapshot of what is happening currently in our classroom:

Your child has brought home a copy of our social contract. This will form the basis for our interactions with one another over the year. It was created after brainstorming what the ideal or perfect classroom looks like and sounds like. We are hoping to have Ms. Grant come and witness our signing ceremony sometime this week.

In Social Studies, we have begun our first unit called Culture Club. This unit blends several key ideas from both Grade 3 and Grade 4 curriculum outcomes and addresses the big ideas of community, culture, and getting along. Students are beginning this unit by working in groups of three to interview a staff member about his/her culture. They will also be bringing home a research/interview page for the first step of their culture project. More information will come home later this week.

We are also beginning our science unit on Stars and Planets. This week we are learning about the sun and its importance in our solar system. I have booked a field trip to the HR Macmillan Space Centre. A form will be coming home with your child this week. Please return this form to the office.

In Health and Career Education we began by looking at germs. Students enjoyed a short PBS video about the journey of a germ. We talked about prevention and the importance of handwashing.

We have pedometers for tracking our progress in OTARS (Off to a Running Start). Thanks to Sydney's mom for these! Students had great fun wearing them today and seeing how many steps they had taken. We will keep track of our steps in a walking log and use it to set personal goals.

Along with gathering more lists of ideas for topics in writing, we have begun to talk about what good writers do with their ideas. Today's lesson was about staying on topic. We have learned that good writers introduce the topic in the first sentence. All the details that follow should tell more about the topic.

Word work for October began with the introduction of 10 commonly used words for the word wall (again, because, could, favourite, friends, people, they, thirsty, who and want). Today we practiced our words with Disco Spelling. Ask your child to demonstrate. Next I will be introducing students to a spelling strategy called Using Words I Know. For example, we can use the word 'five' to help us spell 'alive'.

Last week we completed an assessment for reading which gives valuable information about the strategies your child uses to make sense of nonfiction text. This information is useful in targeting lessons specifically to students' needs. If I have any concerns about a student's progress, I will let you know.

Finally, in math we are continuing with patterns. Today we looked at increasing patterns. Students are learning to extend a sequence when they are given the first three terms by finding the pattern rule. For example: 1, 5, 9, 13 the rule is add 4 so the next three terms would be 17, 21, and 25. Our next step is decreasing patterns. You can support your child's learning in math by ensuring that he/she can count up and down accurately and fluently from any given number.