Fundraiser!

The students worked hard this week, completing many steps to create their Christmas card for the school wide fundraiser. Please watch for the sample and order form that will be sent home within the next couple of weeks!

LANGUAGE ARTS

We started off the week by reading "I Need My Monster" by Amanda Noll. The students continued adding to our class list of adjectives (juicy words) to use for their writing. They also watched a short video of the book to inspire them before drawing their own monsters. 

Here is the link to the video if you would like to watch it at home with your child.

https://vimeo.com/94518791

After illustrating their monster, they used a graphic organizer to write down any words to describe their drawing. They were asked to think about the senses and use words about the feel, smell, sound and what it looks like. They also had the opportunity to sit with a friend and talk about their monster so they could get suggestions of what they might have missed. Next week, they will begin writing their paragraph using their graphic organizer to help them.

MATH

We started our new unit on Place Value. The students worked on identifying the place value of two and three digit numbers. 

They also learned a new card game to help them understand place value. 

SOCIAL

We reviewed cardinal directions and completed a few activities related to the compass rose. We also learned about the continents and the students labeled and coloured a map of the world. 

STEM CHALLENGE

The students completed their second STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) challenge! After persevering through the apple raft activity in September and seeing all of the creative ideas, problem solving and teamwork that took place, we decided it would be a great idea to try to fit in a STEM challenge each month. For October, the students were asked to create a monster using a list of materials. The only criteria was that they had to make the monster stand on its own. Some of the groups found this STEM activity much more challenging but nobody gave up and there was a lot of problem solving through trial and error. 

AMAZING RACE

Monsters!!!

LANGUAGE ARTS

We will soon be starting a new writing project! To get the students thinking about monsters, we read "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Monster Chef". While reading the stories, we made a list of adjectives or "juicy" words that we heard. The students were also asked to look at all of the illustrations and come up with their own "juicy" words to describe the monsters in the stories.

We continued talking about nouns by introducing proper nouns. These are words that are specific nouns and need an upper case letter. We made a list of examples together and then the students completed a few activities demonstrating their understanding of nouns that have upper case letters. 

MATH

The students learned about ordinal numbers (first, second, third etc.) and answered questions about positions of symbols or objects in lists. They also learned about the difference between columns and rows in tables and explored number patterns within tables.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Now that we have finished our first unit in Science, we will focus on Social Studies. The students were introduced to mapping by sharing what they already know. They shared the difference between a map and globe, what kinds of things that can be found on a map and a variety of vocabulary words such as compass rose and legend. After brainstorming everything they already know, they worked on a title page for the new unit. This mini unit will help them understand where we live in relation to the four countries we study throughout the year; India, Tunisia, Ukraine and Peru.

ART

After reading the story, "Monster Mama" and discussing the illustrations, the students completed a directed drawing of themselves. They used wax crayon to colour their portrait and we had a discussion about crayon resist and how the paint will not absorb into the parts of the paper that are covered with the wax. Using paint and a straw, they created hair for their own version of themselves as the "Monster Mama".

AMAZING RACE

 SPECIAL GUEST

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

This week, we read a variety of stories related to Thanksgiving and turkey! The students also worked on a festive "thankful" craft that they took home with them.

READ IN WEEK

A big thanks to our special guest this week, Melody Bell, who volunteered her time to come read to a few classes at RBES.  

LIBRARY

The students enjoyed meeting our new librarian, Mrs. Sacuta. Library for our class will be every Thursday, so please make sure your child returns their books so they can sign out a new one.

LANGUAGE ARTS

After adding details and the finishing touches, the students worked on their pet rock descriptive paragraphs. They were guided in writing a topic sentence, details and a conclusion. They have been editing them with me, before printing off their published copy.

We continued working on nouns. The students brainstormed their own words for "person, place and thing" and then sketched the meaning. 

The students worked on a "Making Words" activity for the letters... a, i, i, g, g, v, n, n, t, h, s, k. After making words independently, they partnered up to find new words. Then we compiled a class list. They are getting very good at finding 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 letter words. The mystery word this week was "Thanksgiving".

After discussing what an acrostic poem is, the students brainstormed together to come up with different words that start with the letters; THANKFUL. They created their own poem explaining what they are thankful for this year. 

MATH

This week, we worked on writing pattern rules. For example... Start with ___ and add/subtract ___ each time. 

The students now have their usernames and passwords for the online program, "Mathletics". They have all been assigned the activities for the patterning unit. They will be using class time to complete their assignments but can also work from home. Their information has been taped into their agenda. 

SCIENCE

We finished the "Rocks and Minerals" unit by adding vocabulary flash cards with the definitions. To prepare for their test, the students quizzed each other and played an online Kahoot game.

AMAZING RACE

WOW!!! We had three more students fly to Canada this week by reading 600 minutes! Way to go!

 SPECIAL GUEST

The students were excited to spend some time with our special guest named Zoe!