A chilly Halloween

I will keep today's post brief, since I sent home a long email today with many details that I would have otherwise posted here. I will take this space (and time) to talk a bit more about some things we are doing in class over the next couple of weeks.

Health is one of the oft-forgotten subjects, overshadowed by its siblings Language Arts, Math and Science. However, I believe it is of increasing importance as students move into Grade Five and beyond. This unit in health talks about interpersonal relationships, and proper ways to give and receive compliments and criticism. I have been talking about this at length with the class, and it will be an integral part of a project they will be doing in about a week from now.

In math we are moving right along with decimals, specifically the rounding, addition and subtraction of units, tenths, hundredths and thousandths. For those who have time, it is always worth practicing math on the sites linked on the right sidebar (over there -------->). I know it's Halloween, but I also assigned homework tonight that will ask students to use numbers from their trick-or-treating to solve a problem.

I am participating in Movember, an international movement to increase awareness of men's health issues and raise money for cancer research. I will be talking about this in class, as we address ideas about voluntarism, community involvement and social action. If you want to track my progress, go to mobro.co/MrPaterson. Should be fun!

We have a science test next Monday. Hooray!! I will be sending home a study guide this week, so no need to panic on the home front. We will start moving along more quickly in science as we finish up our busy unit in social studies.

If you have any questions, please let me know. Until next time!

Friday, Friday!

Have a great weekend.

Now to make up our minds... Front seat or back seat? Here's a favourite from last year, a song that was voted "Worst Ever" by my Grade 4 class.

Hallowe'en Fair tomorrow!

I don't have much to post today, just to remind parents that tomorrow is our annual Hallowe'en Fair and mention tonight's homework. Students who did not finish a second draft of a project we're working on are tasked with finishing it tonight, and I have asked them to read aloud again.

Tomorrow we will be participating in the usual Hallowe'en madness, with some fun in-class activities as well. I'm sure that I will see many of you around. I would suggest that students bring their bookbags and lunchbags as they normally would, since I will have things to assign for next week and they will be exchanging books, etc. Students should also bring along a few dollars if they plan on buying any snacks or playing games (like the cakewalk). That being said, I will have some treats of my own to share with the class and students can bring their own treats as well.

Have a good rainy evening, and talk to you all soon. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Things are getting a bit spooky...

I hope everybody had a great day yesterday! The kids certainly had a few stories to tell about what they had gotten up to, and seemed quite....shall we say... energized after their day off. I had a great professional development day, guided by two French program directors from Eastern School District. They introduced us to and familiarized us with two programs that I know plan to use at some point this year. One of them takes our KidBlog projects to a next level (voice recording), and the other allows students to create their own storybooks online. Both are easy-to-use, secure sites that will offer plenty of opportunity for students to share their ideas and knowledge in a fun, interactive way.

I will not be introducing these sites just yet, but here are the addresses if you are interested in checking them out:

http://voicethread.com

http://www.storyjumper.com

A couple of notes went home today, so please check you children's bookbags just in case things got forgotten. There is a reminder about the Halloween Fair on Friday, specifically the Sock Hop in the afternoon.

We are moving along with decimals in Math, specifically using money to communicate and practice some core  concepts. I sent home a sheet at the beginning of the year with ideas for helping support math learning at home, and one of them was to involve your child in discussions about money and prompting them to help calculate, count, estimate and handle money. I would suggest this as a technique now more than ever, since it will help familiarize them with what we are doing in class. This can include shopping excursions, ordering things online, counting out lunch money, etc.

Mrs. Fillier gave a presentation to the students in my class today. She spoke about a a trip she took to Boyd's Cove, and shared a number of slides, artifacts and pieces of information about the Beothuk people and her experiences there. Students took notes, and will be expected to post a few sentences tonight on KidBlog about what they found to be interesting. As always, writing it down in their Question du Jour books is also an option.

Tonight I have asked students to read aloud to somebody else. We had a read-aloud exercise today in class that went very well, so I want students to reflect on what we learned today and practice their read-aloud skills at home. They can read in English or in French, and can read to a parent, their cat, the stove, whoever! The important thing is that they practice their reading strategies (pronunciation, voice, volume, etc.). We will be going over their experiences tomorrow.

If there are any parents who would like to volunteer for the Halloween Fair on Friday, please let me know. Have a great evening and try not to get too wet tomorrow!

Onward toward colonialism!

Tomorrow we head off to Cupids, to see the archaeological dig and interpretation center. It is a great experience for the kids to have, and will be invaluable when they are working on their final project in the upcoming week or two. I don't have many more notes for today, but here are a few details.

We have moved on to Addition/Subtraction in math. There were a few memories to be jogged, but the class seems to be pretty up-to-speed with the concepts and processes we will be using. In the coming weeks I will put up links on this blog that will offer practice opportunities and fun games on this theme. One major way we will be teaching the addition and subtraction of decimals will be with money. This lends itself well to a number of fun games and activities, with our current favourite being a whole-classroom store that students have to select from to spend a fixed amount of money.

I have to leave school early today, so please check bookbags for a note I sent home with additional information. Wish me luck for tomorrow!

What a commotion

Today was our school's Healthy Commotion day. It is a day when students are encouraged to reflect on practices that help them stay healthy, and participate in a variety of healthy living-themed activities. Today many students brought extra-healthy snacks (which we compared and sampled), and spent the afternoon engaging in trivia games and a lengthy period of dancing/walking/running around the school. Our class made a great effort, and they all kept moving for twenty full minutes of intense activity. Way to go!

We will be touching on topics about healthy living throughout the year. It comes up in our health and art curricula, and it is also something I will be personally focusing on in a variety of my in-class activities. The class already seems to be very conscious of things they can do to stay active, and most are participants in martial arts, hockey, dance or some other activity.

Our next unit in math is Addition/Subtraction, but I am taking a few classes to touch on some other interesting topics. The first was patterns, which we explored using several techniques. One way is by starting a pattern or writing numbers following some rule (adding 1, going in a circle, etc.), and then trying to pick out patterns that emerge without even trying. Another way was by starting some repeating geometric or mathematical sequences, then looking at what characteristics they share.

The second topic I touched on was graphing. Today we started a graph in each student's math book that will help them track their team's progress in our hockey pool. This is just the first such activity we will be doing with graphs; as I type, Mme Curtis is developing a graphing project to go with our weather observation data that was collected last month. If you (or your child) are ever looking for more fun games/activities to explore math at home via doodling, solving puzzles or creating questions for the class, please let me know and I can direct you to some relevant websites.

We received a very interesting package from The Rooms today, containing 40 prints from their permanent collection. It includes well-known works from artists like Mary Pratt, Gerry Squires and David Blackwood, as well as more contemporary pieces and some beautiful aboriginal art. We did an art-response activity, and I have assigned another small activity on KidBlog as well. I was impressed by the how in depth students got into their work, and how profound many of their observations were.

Students' work on their Social Studies projects (The Colonization of Newfoundland/The Beothuks) is continuing at a good pace. They have begun to work on their projects, and will have some homework relating to the project over the next week. We will send home more detail as it becomes necessary to do so.

Some housekeeping notes before I sign off:

• "Family Night" at the book fair is on Monday, October 17th. Please note that this is different from the previously announced date.
• We will be going to Cupids this Friday, but students will be able to take buses as they normally would to and from school. We have enough volunteers, so thanks to all who responded.
• Some students in Band and Strings will start bringing home extra work at night to make up for missed time in class. If this causes any issues, please let me know so I can make arrangements.
• Tutoring for Tuition is starting up again soon, so please let me know if you are interested in your child  participating. I am also considering starting a typing program if people are interested, so please let me know.

Have a great evening, talk to you all soon.

A short (but busy) week in Room 137

Sorry for another short post; things have been very busy in my family over the past few days, but I will be back to long-form, daily blogging tomorrow. For today, just a few pertinent notes.

• I gave back students' math tests today. I was very happy with their performance, and I think they were quite happy with the results as well. Mme Curtis sent home her tests with a rubric attached, and while I did not send one home I am happy to supply more specific detail if it is required.
• We are looking for a couple of volunteers to accompany us to Cupids on Friday, so please let me know on the form I sent home if you are available.
• Tomorrow we are having a healthy living day. This involves exercise and hopefully healthy (or healthier) eating as well. I have encouraged students to make a special effort to choose healthy options for their lunches tomorrow, and I will bring in a few things for them to try as well.

Thanks for all your help; I will post a longer entry tomorrow when time permits!

A mighty wind is blowing...

Today was blustery, inside AND outside the classroom! A fair bit of time was taken up with the Sweat-a-Thon assembly, and a fire drill interrupted our Hockey Pool draft in the afternoon. We finished up our work with decimals, and students had 1/2 hour to work on their practice test. I will update more later, but a few notes for now:

• Students must finish their practice tests tonight. This test follows the exact same format as tomorrow's test, so if students feel comfortable with this material they will do just fine. If your child has trouble with a question, please look through their DuoTang de Maths with them (or their exercise book), and find other examples that mirror those on their test.
• I will help students with any remaining questions they have in the morning. However, I am disappointed when students ask how to do something, but haven't done any workings in an effort to solve it themselves.
• 8 students successfully answered the question I posted on KidBlog yesterday. This meets my requirement for the activity, and therefore students will get a pizza party before the end of October. Good job, everybody!
• The school raised nearly $20,000 in the Sweat-a-Thon. This will be a great help in our fundraising efforts, and I wholeheartedly appreciate the huge effort you all made to help us out.
• Tomorrow I will be assigning new "Words of the Week", as well as giving out a new book and testing students on the book they read this week. We will also continue working on our Social Studies project and have our Math test in the afternoon.

Today's Hockey Pool draft was lots of fun! The kids picked their respective teams, and I created them online. Students can now go look at this pool, which will update daily.

The address is www.onlinepools.com
The username is 143530
The password is Paterson

Have fun! I will be upgrading to a Premium package tonight, which will allow even more features within the next week. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

October is here with a vengeance!

We're really moving along this week, easing into new routines and getting used to new responsibilities in class. I have reminded students once again to make sure they check their schedules at home to know what they are responsible for each day, since it makes things move so much more smoothly.

First off, a bit of fun as we head in to fall. My wife posted this on her blog this morning, and I had to repost. The original can be found at modelcitizensvintage.blogspot.com, and here is the video:



Ah, the Swedish Chef. Never gets old.

Back to real things! We are having our math test on Friday, not Thursday. This will allow time on Thursday for a practice quiz (in the same format as the "real" test on Friday). I am happy with students' progress, and I stressed to them today that their best means of studying is to PRACTICEPRACTICEPRACTICE. This can be done by re-doing questions on their review sheets, visiting sites that I have posted for them to visit in the past few weeks, or having a family member write out other example questions for them to solve.

Students were split into groups of 3-5 today to begin working on their project that will draw our unit on the Beothuk and early Newfoundland colonization to a close. Students were given a medium to use (Video, diorama, written text, etc.) and were asked to think it over at home tomorrow and come back with some ideas on Thursday. They will be given ample time to complete these projects in school over the next 2 weeks, but several students have already asked to work on them at home.

We had lots of fun in Art class today. I taught students a few doodling techniques that reflect some mathematical theories related to patterns, graphing and other concepts. Perhaps your child can show you the theory of what we did, and if not here is a video that has a humorous explanation of some of the techniques.



The class is full of energy these days, so I have had to ask them to remember our rules about taking turns and taking care of our own business first. I am excited to see the enthusiasm, but feel free to reiterate my desire to have students stay in control of themselves at all times and focus on the task at hand.

On another fun note, we will be having our 2011-2012 NHL fantasy draft tomorrow. This was a great way to get students interested in numbers, data management, and a variety of other topics last year. This year we are using an online pool that will reduce the amount of work involved, as well as smaller rosters. We will use this data for a variety of things in class throughout the year, and many students enjoy the competitive spirit of the activity. Even if students are not interested in hockey, I will help them pick a team and they will be able to follow along throughout the year. Mme Curtis' class will also be participating in a similar pool. Today I sent home a cheat sheet for students to look over if they are interested. These are pre-draft rankings to help students think about who they would like to pick.

Enough for today! Havve a great evening and let me know if you have any questions. Keep an eye on KidBlog tomorrow afternoon!

Another interesting video and a new link

Last year in Grade 4, we spoke at length about different ways of producing light. Students found out about how light can come from the sun, from a burning substance and from electrical devices to name a few. It was a very hands-on, interesting unit that students enjoyed very much. More than any of these ways of producing light, students were fascinated to learn about bioluminescence.

This is a phenomenon wherein light is generated chemically by living things. The most easily-relatable example would be the Angler Fish, aka "the one with the glowing thing on its head that almost ate Nemo". Plankton can also show bioluminescence, and can make water glow brightly when they are disturbed at night. I found this link on a teachers' resource site, and was amazed by what it showed.

During a time of high plankton levels (a Red Tide), surfers spent the night riding waves filled with bioluminescent creatures. The results are.... well, I'll let you see. Click on Full Screen to get the full effect! Remember that there is almost no artificial light, just plankton!

 
Red Tide Surfing San Diego 2011 Bioluminescence from Loghan Call on Vimeo.

I was amazed by the range of colours! As promised, here is another curriculum-related link. This link goes to a game that will help refresh some of the knowledge your child acquired last year about mapping. It is quite simple, but has some good reminders and is very interactive.

http://www.mywonderfulworld.org/toolsforadventure/games/adventure.html

It pays to become a noun!

Wanna Live Forever? Become A Noun from NPR on Vimeo.

Weekend Update

Happy weekend, everybody! Hope you're all enjoying this unexpectedly sunny fall day, and on a weekend no less! Hopefully this isn't just the calm before the storm (uh-oh, Ophelia), but let's enjoy it while we can.

As our first month has now come to an end, I'm reflecting on some of the things we have done so far. Lots of projects, some fun role-playing and plenty of writing projects so far with lots more in the pipeline! I'm very happy with how homework is going, and students are more and more prepared for work every day.

Things are getting very busy now with the onset of Intramural sports, Prefecting, Band, Strings, Environmental team and other activities, our days are now very full. This means added expectations on students to be organized, on-time and informed about what is going on in class to make sure they don't fall behind or miss out on things. I will be making an even greater effort now to let parents and students know about things ahead of time, so work can be started on early. Especially when students have busy home lives/practices/rehearsals etc., I don't want to heap any surprises on you.

The students' use of KidBlog has been very impressive so far. I like the initiative I am seeing, and I am happy with student's efforts in French. Students have been informed that they can post any homework they want on KidBlog (it's a great way to share and archive their work), and likewise they can create any "KidBlog assignments" with pen and paper if they would prefer.

Our Beothuk-themed Drama in Education project is ticking along very well. The classes (mine and Mme Curtis') split into groups this week to brainstorm, pose questions about, and think of presentation ideas for a number of topics. These included language, interactions with Europeans, transportation, housing and other topics. On Monday we will split into different groups (a technique called Jigsawing) to start working on projects that use all the information they have generated so far. The focus will now shift to online research, discussion and the creation of a final project.

I will post some links tomorrow, so check back. Have fun in the sun for as long as it lasts, and maybe suggest that your child check out this link to keep tabs on our next big weather concern:

http://www.stormpulse.com/