Ms. Lavallee's Blog
Updates for Humanities, Math and Science for 4E
In Math we started a new mental math activity to begin class called "making pairs." Students are given a number and are to use a T-chart to show the addition pairs of that number. Here is an example: We will be building upon the numbers (starting easy and with rounded numbers and getting harder) and next week students will be given one of the pairs and will have to figure out the number that makes the whole number.
Students also worked on a variety of questions that involved explaining their thinking of how they estimated an answer. Clearly communicating their mathematical understanding continues to be a challenge for many students as they can estimate an answer but have difficulty expressing both verbally and in words how they got that answer. Next week we will be looking at lots of addition word problems and how to solve them using the left to right algorithm as well as the traditional method. Continue to practice and work towards mastery of basic facts is always encouraged!
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Students worked with a variety of materials this week to explore the concepts of opaque, translucent and transparent. They learned that opaque means that light cannot passes through something, translucent is when some light can pass through and transparent is when all light passes through and an image or object appears clear on the other side. Using flashlights, they discovered a variety of items that could be categorized in these 3 ways. They also used flashlights to explore the properties of reflection. They ranked materials based on how reflective they were. We also spent some time this week working on our two page spread about the eye, eye health and eye safety in our creative journals. Next week, our Science classes will be focusing on building our mobile escape room using some of the things we have learned so far about light and shadow. Parents and families are invited to our presentation night on Thursday, December 6.
Students worked on their "Banff's Future" assignment in class on Thursday and will be given more time on Friday. Any students who don't finish their rough copy will have it for homework. On Monday, students will have one period to use the laptops to type up their paragraphs in Google Drive. On Tuesday, students will present their piece to the class and hand in a good copy of their paragraphs. Their good copy doesn't have to be typed, but they do need a separate copy from the rough copy that is in their journals. Below is the assignment with the questions that need to be answered as well as the rubric showing how the students will be assessed.
"Banff's Future" due to present and with a good, written copy Tuesday, December 4. Monday we had a great day skiing at COP! The snow from Friday really made a difference and the weather was awesome. On Tuesday, we reviewed the 7 landforms of Alberta and discussed special features of each one. Students then worked on the questions:
How is the land of Alberta unique and special? What did you learn about the land of Alberta? Which do you think is the most important landform and why? They were shown some model paragraphs of how to write a detailed paragraph explaining their opinion with details and facts. On Wednesday and Thursday we looked at the 5 National Parks in Alberta: Wood Buffalo, Elk Island, Jasper, Banff and Waterton. Students viewed a powerpoint with information about each park and took jot notes. They also watched short promotional videos created by ParksCanada on some of Alberta's National Parks. Next, students were introduced to their assignment that is due Tuesday, December 4. I will explain the assignment in a more detailed, separate post. We discussed things that harm our eyes and ways to keep them safe in Science. Some of the things we discussed were how looking directly at the sun can be very harmful, going to the optometrist regularly, wearing sunglasses or hat while outside and sitting back from the television help keep our eyes healthy. Students also did two experiments showing how our eyes perceive different information and can trick us. They learned about depth perception and we talked a little about colour blindness. On Wednesday, they started a two page creative journal entry and will be using pictures, diagrams, words and labels to answer the following questions:
Explain how our eyes work. Give 3 examples of how you can damage your eyes. Give 5 ways you can PREVENT damaging your eyes. We also had our first mobile escape session. Students learned about 5 components to building a good escape room. They brainstormed and came up with a theme and all our clues will be centered around our science topic "light and shadow." Students drew images for our group and grade brainstorm as well as got to participate in one of two escape rooms. They were either in a da Vinci or space themed room where they had to solve puzzles and find clues to escape! Our next session is not until Monday, December 3 and will continue all that week. Parents are invited to experience our escape room on Thursday, December 6. More details to follow! This week we continued to explore Alberta's land. We discussed how Alberta is a land locked province but that we have many rivers and lakes that run throughout. Communities are typically established close to or on waterways to transport goods, easily travel between places and to use the water to service their needs for things like cooking, cleaning and bathing. Students also learned about 7 landforms or special land features that can be found in Alberta and help make Alberta such a unique place. These landforms are: the Rocky Mountains, the Foothills, hoodoos, rivers, forests, lakes and the oil sands. Students looked at pictures of these landforms and formed opinions about the importance of each one. They also did some mini research on 3 of the landforms to gather a bit more information on them. Students will be having a quiz on Friday, November 30. We will be covering national parks next week before their quiz. Below is the study guide that went home on Wednesday, November 21. Study Guide for the Land and Natural resource Quiz:
You will have a quiz on the natural resources in Alberta, unique landforms and national parks on Friday, November 30. These questions are to help guide your studying. Think about our discussions and activities from class.
We began our new Science Unit on "Light and Shadow." Students had LOTS of questions related to this topic as well as interesting facts and knowledge to share! Students explored the school looking for both natural and artificial light sources. They came up with many examples of artificial light sources including: fire exits, the gym scoreboard, computer and laptop lights, etc. In the school, natural sources were much more difficult to find however in class, students were able to identify things like: stars, planets, the sun, fires, some plants and animals like jellyfish and many more! We also discussed how we take in light - through the eyes and looked at how our eyes work. Next week, we will discuss eye health and safety.
Students wrote their patterns test on Monday and all tests have been handed back. We then began talking about rounding numbers and how and why you would round numbers in Math as well as in real world situations. Students worked on rounding 2 to 4 digit numbers. I wanted to do a review of rounding so when we start 4 digit addition, students can have a better idea of if their answers are correct or in the right ballpark. As we start doing more difficult addition questions, rounding and estimation will be helpful.
I no longer require parents to sign the tests and return them to school as we have started publishing marks in PowerSchool. PowerSchool marks will be updated every second week starting November 11, 2018. Parents can log in to see their child's progress. Tests, quizzes, assignments and rubrics will still go home for more detailed information. The next
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AuthorMs. Lavallee Archives
June 2019
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