Important Dates for December.

Christmas is always a busy time of year. We have many exciting and important events that will be happening the final two weeks of school. The link below will take you to a calendar of events.

Click this link for December events.

Check out our Dance practice!!

Pictographs and Bar Graphs

We have been discussing interpreting and creating pictographs and bar graphs. The students have done fairly well interpreting the graphs but have shown some confusion is setting up a KEY for their pictographs. Another point of confusion for some is comparing two sets of data when looking at the graphs. They understand that one category is more than another but they have a hard time decoding some of the language. I am including a few short videos that they can use to review.

Fantastic Field Trip in January

Watch the video, then read the notes below!!

 Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s),

On January 11, 2017, Mr. Seguin’s Grade 4 class and Mr. Francia’s Grade 3/4 class will be traveling by bus to the Zehrs Market (Malden Road, LaSalle).  Students will receive a guided nutrition tour of the food aisles, prepare a healthy snack, and discuss the importance of nutrition and making healthy food choices.

The bus will be leaving St. James at 8:35AM and will return to the school by approximately 12:10PM.  We are very fortunate that the school is covering the cost of the bus and the snack so the students only have to pay the nutrition tour cost, which is $5.00 per student.

In order to ensure a successful experience for everyone, please review with your child the appropriate behaviours expected when they are on a school field trip and remind them that the expectations are the same as when they are at school.  Students are expected to be respectful of Zehrs rules and guidelines as well as any rules set out by their classroom teachers.  

Please sign and return the attached field trip form along with the payment by Monday December, 19th.  Payment can be made by cash, school cash online, or cheque (payable to St. James Elementary School).   

Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

Mr. Francia

Mr. Seguin

Dance! Dance ! Dance!

We are starting a new unit in Dance this week. We have 5 basic dance steps that the students will use to create an original 1 minute dance routine. It usually takes a few days for everyone to feel comfortable dancing in front of friends, but they quickly get over it. Look below for a few short video clips.

Using a Protractor

The grade 4's have been learning how to use a protractor to measure angles. I took them in small groups and we went through the proper steps to line up the angle with the protractor and determine the angle. It's always a good idea to first estimate whether the angle is acute (less than 90), obtuse (more than 90) or right angle (90 degrees). I am including a link to a few videos that the students can view to help them when they practice.

PARENT INFORMATION SHEET FOR INTERVIEWS

Parent’s always ask what they can do to support their child’s learning at  home. One of the first things is to make sure your child has a regular routine. Every family is different so your routine is going to be unique to your family. The kids that are the most ready to learn have had a good night's sleep, a nutritious breakfast and feel safe at school. I can take care the last part and our classroom agreements go a long way to ensure kids feel safe and welcome at school.  After that, I encourage you to reduce screen time (phones, computers, video games). Get outside, play with friends, read a book, a magazine -  read, read , read!!. I have compiled a list of useful websites that you can use to help support your child’s learning beyond what we discussed above.

COMMUNICATION WITH TEACHER

CLASS BLOG: PUT INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE CLASSROOM. INCLUDES WHAT WE ARE DOING AND ANY SUPPORTS WE USE IN THE CLASS.

https://ff5f.blogspot.ca/

REMIND APP: A USEFUL APP TO SEND ANNOUNCEMENTS TO FAMILIES ABOUT TEST, FIELD TRIPS OR OTHER SHORT PIECES OF INFORMATION.

TYPE IN THE FOLLOWING LINK TO JOIN OUR CLASS REMIND:

http://www.remind.com/join/stjames20

USEFUL  SITES TO PLAY GAMES AND DOWNLOAD WORKSHEETS

Math prodigy: YOUR CHILD IS ALREADY REGISTERED AND SHOULD KNOW THEIR USERNAME AND PASSWORD.

https://www.prodigygame.com/

Superteachers has some free math and language worksheets

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/   

Math drills is good for downloading math worksheets

http://www.math-drills.com/multiplication.shtml

Good for geometry

http://www.mathplayground.com/index_geometry.html

http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/index.html

Good site to promote reading, books that you can read and also books that can be read to a child.

http://www.starfall.com/

Your child has a username and password for epic books

https://www.getepic.com/sign-in

Progress Reports

Good morning ! Progress reports go home today and there will be an important letter inside the package. See below for a copy of the letter going home. If you click on the picture it will expand.

Science Video for Kids: Natural Resources of the Earth

Check out this video to review what Natural Resources are. We will be learning about Natural Resources in Canada.

Science Video for Kids: Natural Resources of the Earth

Check out this video to review what Natural Resources are. We will be learning about Natural Resources in Canada.

Starting Geometry

We introduced a new unit in math today. There is a picture of kids working on the problem with a partner and a picture of the question. This is the type of open-ended question that all learners can attempt to answer. This question will lead us to create success criteria that we will use throughout the unit. 

Interesting Parenting Article

Interesting article that makes some great suggestions to help students be prepared for the classroom. Click on the link below to get to the article. It's rather long but their are some good suggestions at the end of the article that parents can try.

ARTICLE

Colour Value Art

We are learning to use white to change the value of our primary and secondary colours. Artists use value and tone to convey different feelings and meaning in their art. We will also be examining some artist work that play with tones and colour values.

Math Test Rubrics

I want to just take a few minutes to explain the math rubric that will be coming home in the next few days. There is a picture of a sample one below. First of all you will notice that I have written in some words on the left side of the page. There are 4 parts to the test. Part A is normally 'mathematical operation' questions. Part B are questions that revolve around Understanding of key mathematical concepts taught this unit. Part C is usually one or two problems that require problem solving. The final section is looking at how the student communicates their  mathematical thinking. This could be using the appropriate math symbols, explaining their word problems etc. I place a check mark at the level the student achieved for each part of the test. The final Communication mark does not have a separate section in the body of the test.  Inside the body of the test you will see an individual mark for each section A,B and C. For example, a student may get 10/15 for part A, 5/5 for Part B and 3/5 for part C. If you have any questions or comments about the math rubric or your child's mark please feel free to call me to set-up a time that we could meet.

Word Problems

Ask any student and they will tell you that they HATE word problems. Students don't know where to begin or how to methodically go about solving most word problems. Today we introduced a 5 step method that will help them organize their ideas and methodically break down a word problem. Along with this system we will be introducing a variety of Mathematical Strategies for them to try and apply to these problems. The chart below will be up in the room all year and students can refer to it whenever they like. Please go over this with your child over the next few days when they begin to bring home word problems to solve. We did several sample problems together today to show the students how to go about organizing their ideas and mathematical information. Below is a sample problem that we did today. 

Norbert the gnome and his pal Malcolm measure 100 cm together. Norbert is 16 cm taller than Malcolm.How tall are the gnomes? 

(we highlighted key words and numbers)

Question: How tall are the 2 gnomes?

Facts: both gnomes = 100cm

          norbert is 16cm taller 

Solve: ( we introduced guess and check as our first strategy today)

1st guess:Norbert = 60 cm and malcolm is 40 cm

                     60cm + 40 cm = 100 cm that matches our first fact

                     60 cm - 40 cm= 20 cm, no they are not 20cm apart, they should be 16 cm apart.

                    ( this first guess should help them get closer to the final answer)

2nd guess: I'm close because they are 20cm apart not 16 , so I will change my guess by 4

                 Norbert = 58 cm and malcolm is 42 cm

                  58cm +42 cm = 100 cm matches my first fact

                  58cm - 42cm = 16 cm, matches my second fact

Norbert is 58 cm tall and Malcolm is 42 cm tall. (Finally they should look at the answer and see if it makes sense)

Math Quiz Oct 13th

I want to give parents and students plenty of notice about a short quiz we will be having on Thursday, October 13th. I will encourage students bring home their math workbooks this week to review some of the work we have done. I will also be sending home some short practice worksheets starting tonight for them to practice.

GRADE 3

• creating and representing numbers in multiple ways: as words, use base ten blocks, expanded form, using place value and in standard form.
• continue a number pattern and determining the pattern rule
• several short answer word problems involving 2 and 3 digit addition and subtraction
• comparing numbers using number lines and various manipulatives
• rounding numbers to the nearest whole number (2 digit numbers) 

GRADE 4

creating and representing numbers in multiple ways: as words, use base ten blocks, expanded form, using place value and in standard form.

continue a number pattern and determining the pattern rule

several short answer word problems involving 2 and 3 digit addition and subtraction

comparing numbers using number lines and various manipulatives

find numbers that make math equations true: 11+3=____ + ______

rounding numbers to the nearest whole number (3 digit numbers)

Terry Fox Walk/Run

We finally were able to get to go on our Terry Fox Walk!! Check out some of the pictures below.

Success in Retell!!

Successfully learning how to retell important details from any text is a critical skill that students need to master. We have to explicitly teach them the process to be able to be successful at this task. For most tasks this looks like this:
"I do, We do , You do". This is a gradual release model where we, as the instructor, Model the behaviours and skills we are trying to teach. The next step is doing it together in a shared lesson with either a whole class or small group. Finally, we give them an alternate task where they can demonstrate their learning. There is no 'magic bullet', this process is methodical and time consuming.
In these pictures you can see the anchor charts that we use to support the skills we are trying to teach. The Learning Goals chart lays out exactly the skills from the curriculum and then the Success Criteria explicitly state what the students need to do to be successful in this assignment.

Cooking with Math

Cook with Math 

Talk about special tools (cups, spoons, and scales) and methods for measuring ingredients. How do we know which measuring device to use when we read the units in a recipe? What are the steps in doubling or halving recipes? How do we set a timer? After the pizza comes out of the oven, how do we cut it into eight equal slices? If we make 24 cupcakes, how can we share them equally if there are 6 people at the birthday party? How many cupcakes does each person get if 12 more guests arrive? Think of your kitchen as a math laboratory where you are the math scientist and your child is your assistant. Think of your kitchen as a math laboratory...

Why is my Kid on the Floor?

Our focus for math instruction is for kids to experience it. We give students a guiding question and then have them attack it. Look below for a picture of the question they were asked to solve.. It's up to them to decide how to do that. Something very interesting happens with these Open type questions, there is really no right or wrong answer!! They are free to explore and decide for themselves what they want to focus on. Something very special happens--any child, regardless of math 'smarts' can contribute. We use their work later to showcase specific strategies that kids developed to address the question. The variety and scope of their answers and strategies is enlightening. Once this stage is done we move onto consolidation--stayed tuned. We will discuss this stage tomorrow.

Math is Everywhere You Are

Go Grocery Shopping

 Grocery stores are a great source of spontaneous math lessons and a great place to use the “think aloud” strategy: Many stores have scales available. As you shop for fruit, stop and estimate the weight of a bag of apples. Use the scale to get an accurate measure in kilograms. Congratulate yourself on the accuracy of your measurement, or ask yourself how you can improve your estimate. As wheel your shopping cart arouind, keep a running total of the cost of the items by recording them in a small notebook. Round the prices in order to estimate, then check the total with a calculator. How close were you to the actual sum at the cash register? Select a variety of bottles, cans and containers that hold one litre of contents. Emphasize to your child that, although the shape may change,                                                      the volume stays the same.

You Are Your Child's First Math Teacher

Think out loud ! One of the best ways for you to be a math role model is to talk out loud as you work your way through everyday tasks. Thinking out loud allows your child to hear how you think, and it helps them to develop important skills required for “thinking things out” by posing and solving problems. You are a mathematician! Children learn by imitating the people around them. They make meaning through experience and by interacting with important people in their lives. Parent imitation and modelling is essential for children to develop healthy academic skills. When your child sees you making predictions and observations, identifying problems, using problem-solving strategies, and solving real problems, they are more likely to adopt your behaviours and attitudes. Inspiring Your Child to Learn and Love Math

Taken From: Inspiring Your Child to Learn and Love Math