All Systems Go!

The month of October has flown by quickly. We are just finishing up the last of our desk reminders to help us keep track of the goals we set.

Our first chapter of The Human Body unit is completed. We have learned a lot of about the digestive and respiratory systems. Students should have brought home their science duotangs to study for the quiz on Wednesday. They have a photocopy of the chapter review for studying. We went over the questions in class today after students had time to look back through the textbook to refresh and review. There are some excellent videos that students can also watch again at Kids Health. Click on the 'stomach' or the 'lungs'.

We are beginning our Place Value unit in math. Students will be expected to learn to spell number words correctly so they have brought home a list of words to study. Today we looked at the patterns in the number words and noticed that many of the number words share letters (Example: two, twelve, and twenty). There are also patterns in the middle numbers using the -teen ending and -ty in the multiples of ten. Tomorrow students will also be setting up a homework duotang to bring home. Look for parent information inside!

Students in grade four are expected to participate in 30 minutes of daily physical activity. Here are couple of ways that we accomplish this goal:

• OTARS: every Tuesday and Thursday we go for a two lap run between our morning lessons. This gives us a chance to stretch our legs and clear our heads for the next learning activity.
• CIRCUIT: this is an afternoon break using the playground equipment in the front of the school to run, do chin-ups, swing from bars, climb, slide, and jump. It is a great way to wake up our brains before returning to the classroom for a new learning activity.

Our reading program has focused on a few areas. During shared reading, we have looked at reading punctuation and reading the words exactly as they are written on the page. Students have had 20-30 minutes of independent reading daily from self-selected books during D.E.A.R. Finally, this week we will be starting book clubs as well. 

We have been enjoying getting to know our kindergarten buddies. On Wednesday, we will be completing a fun Halloween craft with them. This is such a great opportunity for students in grade four to demonstrate leadership and to develop empathy skills.

In case you haven't heard, last week we enjoyed having Mr. Findlay visit and give a presentation to the intermediate students on a 1913 Henderson motorcycle that he has restored. He was able to finish this project this September. Students were amazed by the history of this motorcycle. Even more amazing was watching Mr. Findlay ride around the back field - this motorcycle is not simple to operate!