Math – This week in math, students finished up their third "Math in a Flash" book, continued to explore algebra concepts, and completed a coordinate graphing activity entitled: "Hoo's There". Math in a Flash books will be graded over the weekend and sent home with students on Monday. 4A and 4B students will have two more lessons in algebra before moving onto our next unit: Data Analysis. In the Data Analysis unit, students will explore pictographs and bar graphs by collecting, displaying and analyzing data. Estimation Station – There were 232 grains of rice in the Estimation Station jar this week. Congratulations to D.A. in 4A for coming closest to that number with an estimate of 223! Awesome job, D.A! Science – Students had an engaging week in science as they began to take the learning we have been doing in class into their own hands - literally! Students were asked to bring in flashlights from home, and they went on a hunt in and around our school to locate various transparent, translucent and opaque materials. 4A's and 4B's recorded their findings in their duotangs, and also completed a creative journal entry to further demonstrate their understanding of materials that light can and cannot pass through. Here are some photos from the experiments we completed in class as well as some examples of the work students completed in their creative journals: Escape Room Showcase - Next week, our grade four students will work collaboratively to design our very own Escape Room at NCS which will incorporate the Light and Shadows curriculum! 4A, 4B and 4C parents are invited to attend our Escape Room Showcase on Thursday, December 6 from 3:30-4:30pm and 4D, 4E and 4F parents will have access from 4:30-5:30pm. Hope to see you there! Trimester Two – Option classes for the second trimester begin on Monday for all grade four students. Students in 4A will have Art with Ms. Cross on all "A" days until March 31. 4A students will continue their learning in French with Mr. Brewer on "B" days. I have printed 4A students a copy of their new timetable and will distribute them to students on Monday. I have also posted the new timetable both in and outside of my classroom for students to access. This is the new timetable as well as the "days" calendar for the school year: "Big Bad Wolf" - I felt very fortunate to have been able to attend 4B's performance of the Big Bad Wolf musical on Tuesday this past week. Ms. Burns did an outstanding job with the students and I was very impressed with 4B's abilities to sing, dance and act in the spotlight! Bravo, 4B! Here are some photos I took from the sidelines: All in all, this was a fantastic week of learning at NCS. Your children continue to inspire me each and everyday! Enjoy your weekend.
~ Mrs. Ross
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Are you up for the challenge, Kodiaks? Lets do this! Each week leading up to winter break, we will have school-wide challenges to help our students contribute to the larger community. Students will be able to give back to their community by donating items to the food bank, volunteering, and getting involved with other charities brought together by our school’s Grade 9 Leadership Team!
Next week, we will begin our first "Season of Giving" challenge at NCS. This first challenge is a food drive. For this, students have been asked to bring in a non-perishable food item(s) to support the Calgary Food Bank. Each non-perishable food item brought in by students will be worth 5 points. We will work together to accumulate points for our homeroom for the entire "Season of Giving" challenge. For more information, please stay tuned to the grade four homepage and my blog! Today, I asked students to bring in a flashlight from home to use in science class as we are exploring light and shadows. Please label the flashlight with your child's name, and I will store it in my classroom for the next couple of weeks. The flashlights will be returned to you when they are no longer needed at school.
The grade fours enjoyed a day out on the slopes at Winsport's Canada Olympic Park. It was amazing to see so many of them up on skis and snowboards for the first time ever! Well done, Kodiaks! I hope this skiing experience will be the first of many for you. Here is a short video from our Ski Day field trip... Math – In math, students wrote their final patterns quiz in class on Monday. I have graded the quizzes and sent them home with students for parental review/signatures. We have since moved on to our Algebra unit in math. To date, students have been learning vocabulary for this new unit including these terms: variable, constant, expression and equation. Students have been working through basic addition/subtraction algebraic equations in their Math in a Flash booklets since September, so this new unit wasn't a surprise for them! Next week, students will be challenged with 2, 3 and 4-digit numbers involving addition and subtraction equations. They will use manipulatives in class to explore and better understand algebraic concepts.
Prodigy – Students are always encouraged to log into Prodigy at home in their spare time to brush up on their math skills and understanding of concepts. I have set up a series of algebra questions for students to solve to further support the the learning we are doing in class. Estimation Station – Our jar was empty this week due to it being a very short week of school. We are looking forward to next week's challenge involving grains of rice. Many thanks to Y.C. in 4A for organizing next week's station for us! Science – In science, students continued their studies in the Light and Shadows unit. They learned about bioluminescence (an animal’s ability to emit its own light). We watched videos and had discussions about what causes bioluminescence (chemical reactions in an animal’s body) and also what animals use bioluminescence for (to confuse or blind attackers; to communicate). We focused our learning on five creatures who have bioluminescence abilities: the deep sea shrimp, railroad worm, jelly fish, firefly and angler fish. 4A and 4B's also learned how light travels (in straight lines until obstructed), and we watched Bill Nye's “Light and Color” video, which introduced some of the key vocabulary and concepts we will be studying in the coming weeks. Through Nye's video, students learned how we see and perceive colours, and also how white light contains the spectrum of colors. An example described in the video was, the reason we see a carrot is orange is because when light hits the carrot all colours are absorbed except orange which is reflected to our eyes. Students also learned that white reflects all colours, and black absorbs all colours and converts the energy to heat! Miscellaneous – 4A students said goodbye to our grade seven reading buddy who has been coming into our classroom each day to read us the novel "Run". We had a little celebration to honour our buddy and also to show our appreciation for her help and leadership in our classroom. Many thanks to the students and parents who made and sent in extra goodies to support our celebration! Mobile Escape - 4A students were thrilled to have Calgary's Mobile Escape team at the school on Tuesday! In small groups, students completed an escape room challenge outside in a trailer (see photos posted below), and have also started to develop and brainstorm ideas for the escape room we will be setting up at Nose Creek School... more details to follow! For more information about the Mobile Escape team, please visit this website: www.mobileescape.ca Parent/Teacher Conferences - A reminder that the school is closed for classes on Thursday and Friday this week for Parent/Teacher Conferences. If you haven't booked a conference yet, it isn't too late! Please visit this website for more information about how to book a school conference... http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/nosecreek/teaching-learning/assessment-reporting/teacher-conference/Pages/default.aspx Grade 4 Ski Day Field Trip - Just reminder that the grade four Ski Day field trip is on Monday, November 26! Please be sure to have your child at school by 7:45am. This is when we will take attendance in our homeroom classes and begin to depart the school by bus. If you foresee any difficulties with this, please send me an e-mail as soon as possible, as we will not be able to wait for late students! We are keeping our fingers crossed for warm weather, but please send your child to school with appropriate clothing/winter gear as our day will be mainly spent outside. Please ONLY send your child to school with a lunch/water bottle in their backpack and any necessary medication (i.e. puffers). It would be a good idea to label your child's backpack with their name and school as there will be several students and schools at the ski hill tomorrow. Agendas, duotangs, binders and books are not needed at school tomorrow, and all other personal items, including money, should be kept at home. We are looking forward to a great day out on the slopes! ~ Mrs. Ross Tomorrow we will have our "Red and White Day" at NCS to help spread the playoff excitement for the Calgary Stampeders! My apologies for mixing up the dates in the student agendas yesterday.
A reminder that the school is closed for classes on Thursday and Friday this week for Parent/Teacher Conferences. If you haven't booked a conference yet, it isn't too late! Please visit this website for more information about how to book a school conference... http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/nosecreek/teaching-learning/assessment-reporting/teacher-conference/Pages/default.aspx As always, please let me know if you have any questions. I am looking forward to seeing everyone's Stampeders team spirit tomorrow and also meeting with you at the Parent/Teacher Conferences later on this week. Please bring your student with you to your conference! ~ Mrs. Ross Math – This week, students focused on extending number patterns and representing patterns using counters, toothpicks, drawings and charts/tables (see photos posted above). They worked through several large and small group challenges involving various shape and number patterns, and also worked independently to identify pattern rules. Students received a quiz practice sheet yesterday to complete over the weekend. This sheet will help them study for Monday's patterns quiz. Please scroll down for more information about Monday's quiz.
Prodigy – Students are always encouraged to log into Prodigy at home in their spare time to brush up on their math skills and understanding of concepts. Today, 4A and 4B students worked though an online quiz involving patterns and algebra. Estimation Station – There were 143 Lego pieces in the Estimation Station jar this week. Congratulations to Y.C. in 4A who came closest with an estimate of 120. This is Y.C's second win for 4A this year! Brilliant work! Science – Students wrapped up the Waste and our World unit this week by completing a focused study on The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. We have since moved onto our Light and Shadows unit. Students have been working on their title page for this new unit, and have also learned and discussed various sources of light (both natural and man-made). 4A and 4B's wrote a short quiz on sources of light yesterday, and I have graded and posted results in PowerSchool. Enjoy your weekend... stay warm! ~ Mrs. Ross 4A and 4B students will write a patterns quiz in class on Monday. They have been encouraged to study the notes in their duotang and complete the "practice sheet", which was distributed today. Here is a copy of the practice sheet:
Today, we began our new unit in science: Light and Shadows. The students began to develop their title page for this unit in their duotangs, and will continue to add new information to their title pages throughout the unit. These title pages will be graded at the end of the unit.
4A and 4B students also enjoyed watching "The Magic School Bus Gets a Bright Idea". If your student was absent from class today, perhaps they can watch it at home! Math – 4A and 4B students continued their studies in the Patterns unit this week. They learned how to identify, extend and create patterns using various pattern and position rules, so that they can recognize and apply them when solving problems in tables and charts. Students also completed two Math in a Flash activities in their third book. Overall, I am very pleased to see students processing these mental math concepts much more accurately and efficiently. Students completed a short quiz this week for the "Patterns in Charts" portion of our unit, and will receive their results on Monday. As well, students completed two online assignments in Prodigy for the "Extend, describe, and create repeating, growing, and shrinking number patterns" portion of the unit. It has been a busy week in math and I am proud of each one of my Kodiaks for all the hard work and dedication to their learning. Keep it up! Estimation Station – There were 240 macaroni noodles in our Estimation Station jar this week. Congratulations to L.T. in 4B for coming closest to that number with an estimate of 225. Awesome job! Science – On Monday, 4A and 4B students submitted the "Packaging Explosion" homework assignment. I have since graded and handed the assignments back to students for review. Students completed an entry in their Creative Journals for Hazardous Waste. I have posted some examples below. Grades for these entries will be distributed next week. We have moved into the final portion of the Waste and our World unit. Students were both surprised and shocked to learn about "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" in class. We will continue to learn about the patch on Monday. A reminder to students that the "Straws Suck" challenge is due on Monday! Enjoy your weekend! ~ Mrs. Ross 4A's performance at the Remembrance Day ServiceI was in total awe of my grade fours today as they performed at our school's Remembrance Day service as a choir. They looked and sang like little angels, and their teamwork and performance brought me to tears. In case you missed their amazing choir piece, I snapped a video... |
Archives
June 2019
Categories School Links: Kodiak Cave: www.nckodiaks.ca Nose Creek School: school.cbe.ab.ca/school/NoseCreek/Pages/default.aspx Other Useful Links: Prodigy: www.prodigygame.com/Play/ Need extra practice? Below are math printable e-books for extra practice at home: Patterns and Algebra Reading and Representing Whole Numbers Addition and Subtraction Multiplication and Division Time Length, Perimeter & Area Fractions “Math Makes Sense” Practice and Homework Book: Can be found at the Virtual Learning Commons under “Student Links”: http://nckodiaks.ca/lc/ Username: kodiakstudent Password: M@th15fun! Practice Problem Solving Questions Math Dictionary Math Websites: Demolition Division Multiplication Games Multiplication Interactive Games Subtraction Games Abcya.com Math Facts Games Math Fact Fluency Activities & Games Plant Growth & Changes: Plant Growth and Changes Glossary of Important Terms Seed Survivor Plants for Kids Easy Science for Kids Plants Elementary Science https://www.homeadvisor.com/r/composting-and-landscaping-at-home/ Wheels & Levers Resources: Wheel and Levers Glossary of Important Terms Simple Machine Facts Simple Machines Interactive Sites Light & Shadows Resources: Light and Shadows Glossary of Important Terms BBC Light & Shadows How We See Things Light & Shadows Activities Interactive Tutorials Waste & our World Resources: Waste and our World Glossary of Important Terms Recycle City Game www.2learn.ca/kids/listSciG4.aspx?Type=46 |