Yesterday we continued our study of celebrations in December. We learned about Christmas. Some interesting facts we learned were:
- Christmas is celebrated on December 25
- People in North America started giving each other gifts in the 1800s
- In Germany, Santa is known as St. Nicholas and in Britain he is known as Father Christmas
- Christmas trees were started in Germany
- Electric lights on trees replaced candles because of how risky it was to have lit candles
Today we did some math around the song "The 12 Days of Christmas". We had questions like:
- How many items in total did your true love give you?
- If the cows the maids are milking have cold feet and you need to give each cow slippers, how many slippers will you need?
- How many birds did you get?
- If you feed each of the birds 3 worms a day, how many worms will you need?
We will be bringing these math questions home tomorrow along with some other items.
Today Mrs. Ball read us a story from India about a turtle who would never stop talking. His home was in danger and his two closest friends, who were birds, wanted to fly away. They told him that they could carry him if he bit onto a stick, but if he talked he could fall. The turtle agreed and clamped onto the stick. The birds carried him over a town where the townspeople started to yell and make fun of the sight of a flying turtle. The turtle became very angered and opened his mouth to yell at the people. He then fell never to be heard from again...
We talked about how this story has a moral or a lesson. Some of our ideas about the moral of this story were:
- There is a time to talk and a time to listen
- You shouldn't always do want you want when you want to do it
- You shouldn't pay attention when people make fun of you
We then started to create our own comics that had a moral or lesson. We used animals, people and even Christmas themes to help us with our comics. Ask me about what my moral was.
Today was Mrs. Ball's last day with us. We will miss her very much and have really enjoyed her time in room 9. She has promised to keep in touch and maybe stop by for a visit when time allows!
Reminders:
- Pillars of Care assembly tomorrow at 8:15
- Early dismissal tomorrow at 11:00. Please remember to still pack a snack!
- Winter break starts tomorrow at 11:01! Classes resume January 3
Thursday, 15 December 2016
Tuesday, 13 December 2016
Dreidel dreidel dreidel
We learned about another holiday that is celebrated in December called Hanukkah. Hanukkah is celebrated by Jewish people to remember when the Maccabees reclaimed their temple. They only had enough oil for their menorah to last one day but it ended up lasting for 8 days. Hanukkah lasts for 8 days. Children get gifts including a toy called a dreidel. We created our own dreidels out of paper. Each side of the dreidel has a letter in Hebrew on it. We were able to play the traditional game with our dreidels when they were finished. Here is how you play...
Today we continued to build our observing, inferencing and questioning skills only this time as scientists. We recalled how water can damage rocks and soil through freezing, currents, floods, rain and erosion. We then looked at pictures from the Alberta floods and had to come up with observations, inferences and questions about what we saw. Lots of us had many questions about the flood. One way we decided we could answer some of these questions were to ask people who experienced the floods (hint hint parents) to talk about it with us!
Here is the link to the website we looked at today...
Alberta Floods: then and now
We had our rocks and minerals review today! We had to make sure we took our time and showed all of our thinking and understandings on the test. Mrs. Ball will be looking over them and Ms. Binks will return them soon!
We learned about 3 other regions in India today: plains, mountains and desert. Some facts we learned was that the plains are very green and fertile, most of the Indian people live in this region and there are rainforests along the coastline. The mountain region includes the Himalayas which are the tallest mountain range in the world and the tallest mountain in India is 8586 meters high. The desert region can only get 5 cm of rain in a year and the people who live in this region need to drink at least 4 L of water every day because of how hot it is!
We had caroling today! We sang songs lots of Christmas songs and listened to some great jokes! We will be having caroling again on Thursday morning.
Reminders:
- Pillars of Care assembly on Friday at 8:15. Students who won awards will have a sheet coming home with them
- Half day on Friday. Dismissal at 11:00
- Please ensure all library books are returned this week. Students who wish to renew a book for over the break need to speak with Ms. Binks
- Mrs. Ball's last day is Thursday :(
Today we continued to build our observing, inferencing and questioning skills only this time as scientists. We recalled how water can damage rocks and soil through freezing, currents, floods, rain and erosion. We then looked at pictures from the Alberta floods and had to come up with observations, inferences and questions about what we saw. Lots of us had many questions about the flood. One way we decided we could answer some of these questions were to ask people who experienced the floods (hint hint parents) to talk about it with us!
Here is the link to the website we looked at today...
Alberta Floods: then and now
We had our rocks and minerals review today! We had to make sure we took our time and showed all of our thinking and understandings on the test. Mrs. Ball will be looking over them and Ms. Binks will return them soon!
We learned about 3 other regions in India today: plains, mountains and desert. Some facts we learned was that the plains are very green and fertile, most of the Indian people live in this region and there are rainforests along the coastline. The mountain region includes the Himalayas which are the tallest mountain range in the world and the tallest mountain in India is 8586 meters high. The desert region can only get 5 cm of rain in a year and the people who live in this region need to drink at least 4 L of water every day because of how hot it is!
We had caroling today! We sang songs lots of Christmas songs and listened to some great jokes! We will be having caroling again on Thursday morning.
Reminders:
- Pillars of Care assembly on Friday at 8:15. Students who won awards will have a sheet coming home with them
- Half day on Friday. Dismissal at 11:00
- Please ensure all library books are returned this week. Students who wish to renew a book for over the break need to speak with Ms. Binks
- Mrs. Ball's last day is Thursday :(
Monday, 12 December 2016
Important Notice Sent Home
This morning we had our spelling tests. We will be getting all of our spelling tests returned to us by the end of the week. There will be no new spelling words until after the break.
Today we started a 3 step process to help build our questioning skills when looking at resources through different subject areas. Ms. Binks showed us the photos called "where children sleep" which shows different places children from all over the world sleep. We first talked about the main idea that this linked to...in this case it was quality of life in social studies. Our next step was observing. We created a scale from 1-4 that showed how well we were achieving this skill. If we were a 1 we were looking very quickly at the picture, not looking at all parts of the picture and coming up with a simple conclusion. To earn a 4 we had to take our time, look at all sections of the picture, focus on big and small things and make connections to the main idea. After observing we did inferencing which was best guesses or connections to something we saw and how it connects to the main idea. For example in the pictures below one of the inferences that we made was "I saw a car which makes me think they sleep near a road so I wonder if they get much sleep because of the noise from the cars"
After inferencing we do questioning where we create strong questions. We said that a question at a level one would be very simple and could be answered using yes or no where a question at a level 4 would need thinking, could have the words why and how at the beginning, could be answered using sentences and showed connections.
Here are the two photos we looked at today. Ask me about my observations, inferences and questions!
We started to look at a new region in India called the plains. We were interrupted by the fire alarm going off. This morning we had an evacuation due to a fire in the boys washroom. All students were evacuated safely to St. Bede School. A letter was sent home with each student today giving more details. If you have any questions please feel free to call the school and speak with Mr. Hebert.
Reminders:
- We have caroling tomorrow at 1:30. Parents are welcome to join
- Mrs. Ball's last day is Thursday
- Friday is a half day
- Pillars of Care assembly is on Friday at 8:15. Letters of the students winning awards will be sent home tommorow!
Today we started a 3 step process to help build our questioning skills when looking at resources through different subject areas. Ms. Binks showed us the photos called "where children sleep" which shows different places children from all over the world sleep. We first talked about the main idea that this linked to...in this case it was quality of life in social studies. Our next step was observing. We created a scale from 1-4 that showed how well we were achieving this skill. If we were a 1 we were looking very quickly at the picture, not looking at all parts of the picture and coming up with a simple conclusion. To earn a 4 we had to take our time, look at all sections of the picture, focus on big and small things and make connections to the main idea. After observing we did inferencing which was best guesses or connections to something we saw and how it connects to the main idea. For example in the pictures below one of the inferences that we made was "I saw a car which makes me think they sleep near a road so I wonder if they get much sleep because of the noise from the cars"
After inferencing we do questioning where we create strong questions. We said that a question at a level one would be very simple and could be answered using yes or no where a question at a level 4 would need thinking, could have the words why and how at the beginning, could be answered using sentences and showed connections.
Here are the two photos we looked at today. Ask me about my observations, inferences and questions!
We started to look at a new region in India called the plains. We were interrupted by the fire alarm going off. This morning we had an evacuation due to a fire in the boys washroom. All students were evacuated safely to St. Bede School. A letter was sent home with each student today giving more details. If you have any questions please feel free to call the school and speak with Mr. Hebert.
Reminders:
- We have caroling tomorrow at 1:30. Parents are welcome to join
- Mrs. Ball's last day is Thursday
- Friday is a half day
- Pillars of Care assembly is on Friday at 8:15. Letters of the students winning awards will be sent home tommorow!
Thursday, 8 December 2016
Winter Concert Tonight!
Today we continued our work in social studies around the regions in India. We finished up the plateau region. Today we learned about the Nilgiri Hills which are located in the southern part of the region where the Eastern and Western Ghats meet. The Nilgiri Hills is one of the best places in the world to grow tea.
In science this afternoon we looked at how water can erode rocks. We watched a video and saw how the force of water, freezing water and constant streaming water changes rocks. Mrs. Ball then showed us 2 different experiments where she had created a mountain and a beach. For the mountain we looked at the shape of the mountain and the positions of the rocks before Mrs. Ball sprayed and poured water down the mountain. After she did that we noticed that the shape of the mountain changed, some rocks were uncovered and some rocks moved down the mountain. For the beach we used a folder to create waves and saw how sand and rocks got dragged into the water and the main part of the beach was washed away.
Tonight is our winter concert. The doors to the school will open around 6 pm (it may be a bit earlier due to the cold!)
Please have students come up to the classroom once they arrive. They will stay in the classroom for the entire night until they are picked up by a parent at the end of the entire show. We ask out of respect for all performers that families stay until the very end. Mavericks will be selling popcorn tonight for 2 dollars. Students who buy popcorn will not eat it at school, but will take it home to enjoy it later!
See you tonight!
In science this afternoon we looked at how water can erode rocks. We watched a video and saw how the force of water, freezing water and constant streaming water changes rocks. Mrs. Ball then showed us 2 different experiments where she had created a mountain and a beach. For the mountain we looked at the shape of the mountain and the positions of the rocks before Mrs. Ball sprayed and poured water down the mountain. After she did that we noticed that the shape of the mountain changed, some rocks were uncovered and some rocks moved down the mountain. For the beach we used a folder to create waves and saw how sand and rocks got dragged into the water and the main part of the beach was washed away.
Tonight is our winter concert. The doors to the school will open around 6 pm (it may be a bit earlier due to the cold!)
Please have students come up to the classroom once they arrive. They will stay in the classroom for the entire night until they are picked up by a parent at the end of the entire show. We ask out of respect for all performers that families stay until the very end. Mavericks will be selling popcorn tonight for 2 dollars. Students who buy popcorn will not eat it at school, but will take it home to enjoy it later!
See you tonight!
Wednesday, 7 December 2016
New Spelling Words
Here are the spelling words for the week! Remember we will be having our spelling tests on Monday! Please make sure you practice the word families/spelling rules that could be chosen for bonus words. Ideas for these bonus words will appear in brackets next to the spelling word.
Green Ninja Cats
1) live (alive)
2) me
3) cool (school, pool, tool, stool, fool, spool)
4) give
5) most
6) saw
7) law
8) raw
9) jar (par, are, car, star, charge, cart)
10) straw
11) draw
12) India (remember the capital letter!)
13) ocean
14) title
15) skip (pip, skip, flip, hip, sip, chip)
16) change
Blue Berry Bananas
1) save (cave, gave, crave, grave)
2) school (pool, tool, spool, cool)
3) father
4) keep (peep, sheep, beep, jeep, steep)
5) safe
6) grade (made, arcade, wade)
7) reached (teach, breached, teacher, peach)
8) raise
9) theme
10) scream (cream, team)
11) easy
12) cycle
13) changes
14) rock
15) solve
16) science
Pink Fluffy Bunnies
1) usually
2) character
3) friends
4) heard (herd)
5) order
6) villain
7) become
8) poison
9) landform
10) desert (dessert)
11) plateau
12) mountains
13) plains (plain, plane)
14) population
15) happened
16) remember
17) measure
18) abundant
19) tropical
20) destroyed
Green Ninja Cats
1) live (alive)
2) me
3) cool (school, pool, tool, stool, fool, spool)
4) give
5) most
6) saw
7) law
8) raw
9) jar (par, are, car, star, charge, cart)
10) straw
11) draw
12) India (remember the capital letter!)
13) ocean
14) title
15) skip (pip, skip, flip, hip, sip, chip)
16) change
Blue Berry Bananas
1) save (cave, gave, crave, grave)
2) school (pool, tool, spool, cool)
3) father
4) keep (peep, sheep, beep, jeep, steep)
5) safe
6) grade (made, arcade, wade)
7) reached (teach, breached, teacher, peach)
8) raise
9) theme
10) scream (cream, team)
11) easy
12) cycle
13) changes
14) rock
15) solve
16) science
Pink Fluffy Bunnies
1) usually
2) character
3) friends
4) heard (herd)
5) order
6) villain
7) become
8) poison
9) landform
10) desert (dessert)
11) plateau
12) mountains
13) plains (plain, plane)
14) population
15) happened
16) remember
17) measure
18) abundant
19) tropical
20) destroyed
Winter Concert Tomorrow
This morning each spelling group was given their new spelling words. Please look at the separate blog post to see the words for this week. We will be having our spelling tests on Monday. Ms. Binks pointed out lots of word families and letter sounds that help us to build new words. We brainstormed different words today that will be shown next to the spelling words in brackets. These words may be used as bonus words.
In social studies today we started to look at the different regions of India. We learned about the plateau region that takes up the central and southern part of the country. We learned that:
- The Deccan Plateau is in central part of the region
- temperatures in the Deccan Plateau can get up to 45 degrees Celsius
- the eastern part of the plateau is formed by the hills in the Eastern Ghats. The hills are discontinuous which means there are lots of gaps between them
- the western edge of the plateau is marked by the Western Ghats where there are many national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests
We will continue to learn about the 3 other regions in India this week and next week.
To build on our discussion around environment and climate we discussed possible problems that can occur from humans changing the environment to meet their needs. Some of our ideas included:
- You could run out of food if you kill all the animals
- The land could flood if you build a dam for your water
- If you cut down all the trees you wouldn't have anything to use to make things like paper
- There could be lots of pollution
We watched a short video clip of changes that have occurred in communities throughout the world. We noticed how much the land, water and buildings changed throughout the years. Here is a link to the clip:
Changes through 3 decades
This afternoon we watched the dress rehearsal for the winter concert for tonight. The grade 1s, 2s and 3s did an amazing job!!
Tomorrow is our winter concert. Students will be at school for a full day and then have time to go home, eat dinner and change and head back to school. The doors to the school will open at 6:00pm. Students are to come up to their classroom for the evening. The show begins at 6:30pm. Students are to stay in their classroom the entire time until a parent picks them up. Please try and stay for the entire show.
Reminders:
- Fun lunch is tomorrow!
- Winter concert is tomorrow
- Winter break starts December 16 after our half day
In social studies today we started to look at the different regions of India. We learned about the plateau region that takes up the central and southern part of the country. We learned that:
- The Deccan Plateau is in central part of the region
- temperatures in the Deccan Plateau can get up to 45 degrees Celsius
- the eastern part of the plateau is formed by the hills in the Eastern Ghats. The hills are discontinuous which means there are lots of gaps between them
- the western edge of the plateau is marked by the Western Ghats where there are many national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests
We will continue to learn about the 3 other regions in India this week and next week.
To build on our discussion around environment and climate we discussed possible problems that can occur from humans changing the environment to meet their needs. Some of our ideas included:
- You could run out of food if you kill all the animals
- The land could flood if you build a dam for your water
- If you cut down all the trees you wouldn't have anything to use to make things like paper
- There could be lots of pollution
We watched a short video clip of changes that have occurred in communities throughout the world. We noticed how much the land, water and buildings changed throughout the years. Here is a link to the clip:
Changes through 3 decades
This afternoon we watched the dress rehearsal for the winter concert for tonight. The grade 1s, 2s and 3s did an amazing job!!
Tomorrow is our winter concert. Students will be at school for a full day and then have time to go home, eat dinner and change and head back to school. The doors to the school will open at 6:00pm. Students are to come up to their classroom for the evening. The show begins at 6:30pm. Students are to stay in their classroom the entire time until a parent picks them up. Please try and stay for the entire show.
Reminders:
- Fun lunch is tomorrow!
- Winter concert is tomorrow
- Winter break starts December 16 after our half day
Tuesday, 6 December 2016
Brrr... It's cold outside!
It has been very cold the past few days! Due to the cold weather and windchill we have been having indoor recesses but there is a chance we will be going outside. Please make sure that you are dressing appropriately for the weather by wearing: warm coats, boots, mitts, hats and scarves. Also please make sure that you have appropriate shoes to change into once you get to school!
This morning we worked in partners and were given pictures of things rocks were used for in the past. In our partners, we had to figure out the use and then create a play, postcard or story explaining our ideas. Here are some of the pictures we were given...
Can you figure out their uses? We will be going through the actual use for each of our pictures tomorrow!
This afternoon we learned about the rock cycle! We learned how the 3 different types of rocks are formed and how they can change into each other. Here is a great video we watched explaining each type of rock using jellybeans...
Rock Cycle
Today we had our review test on bar graphs and pictographs. We will now begin to move into multiplication and continue to build these skills after the winter break.
Reminders:
- Our winter concert is this Thursday. Doors open at 6. The performance starts at 6:30!
- Fun lunch is this Thursday
- Winter break begins December 16
This morning we worked in partners and were given pictures of things rocks were used for in the past. In our partners, we had to figure out the use and then create a play, postcard or story explaining our ideas. Here are some of the pictures we were given...
This afternoon we learned about the rock cycle! We learned how the 3 different types of rocks are formed and how they can change into each other. Here is a great video we watched explaining each type of rock using jellybeans...
Rock Cycle
Today we had our review test on bar graphs and pictographs. We will now begin to move into multiplication and continue to build these skills after the winter break.
Reminders:
- Our winter concert is this Thursday. Doors open at 6. The performance starts at 6:30!
- Fun lunch is this Thursday
- Winter break begins December 16
Monday, 5 December 2016
We found the rock!!!
This morning each group had their spelling test. Ms. Binks will mark and return them by the end of the week. We will be getting new spelling words on Wednesday and have our final test before the winter break next week. Mrs. Ball also reviewed the parts of a pictograph and bar graph and had us create a bar graph using data about paint colours Ms. Binks should use. We will be having a review test on pictographs and bar graphs tomorrow. Please make sure you review this tonight!
Here are a few websites you can use:
Make Your Own Pictograph
Interpret Bar Graphs
Create Your Own Bar Graph
Interpret Pictographs
Create Your Own Pictograph
This morning we started talking about environment and climate.
Environment is the kind of land and climate a place has. Some examples of environment are mountains, deserts and forests.
Climate is the weather a place has over many years. Some examples of climate are hot, cold, dry and rainy.
We talked about how the environment and climate shape the quality of life for people who live in or near it. We started discussing how humans adapt to their environment and climate. We had to imagine if Ms. Binks dropped us off in the middle of nowhere (how mean of her!) what we would need to do to survive. A lot of our ideas involved building/finding/creating shelter to either stay warm and dry or cool and shaded, finding food sources and changing our clothes to match the weather. Tomorrow we will discuss how humans have changed their environments and the problems that can lead to.
Today we went through the last few tests we had performed to try and find the missing rock/mineral from Ms. Binks's collection. We discovered that Ms. Binks could not scratch it with her fingernail or a coin so it must have been a hard rock/mineral. We asked if she ever dropped it into vinegar to see if it fizzed. Ms. Binks told us that one time when she was cooking she dropped the rock into a bowl of vinegar and nothing happened. Finally we asked her if she remembered if the rock/mineral was magnetic. She remembered that it stuck to the magnet in her purse clasp when she was bringing it to school. Once we heard that final clue we were able to narrow down what rock was missing and it was.......
Magnetite!!!
Mrs. Ball can now replace this rock for Ms. Binks!
This afternoon we reviewed the three different types of rocks: igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. We watched a video on the rock cycle that went through different traits of all the rocks. Afterwards we brainstormed how we may identify each type of rock. Some of our ideas were:
Sedimentary: look for smaller rocks inside, possibly layers
Igneous: bubbles or smooth, might be all the same colour
Metamorphic: different rocks but more smushed together
We also watched a video clip on what makes up a crystal. We learned that crystals are made up of molecules in a repeating pattern and can be formed in different shapes.
In groups, we worked through identifying whether 5 rocks were either sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic or crystals. We looked at the rocks and used the properties of colour, lustre and texture to help us classify them.
Reminders:
- Our Christmas concert is this Thursday December 8 at 6:30pm. The doors open at 6:00
- Fun lunch is on December 8
- Last day of classes for winter break is December 16
- If you were unable to come to conferences please email or call Ms. Binks to set up an appointment
Here are a few websites you can use:
Make Your Own Pictograph
Interpret Bar Graphs
Create Your Own Bar Graph
Interpret Pictographs
Create Your Own Pictograph
This morning we started talking about environment and climate.
Environment is the kind of land and climate a place has. Some examples of environment are mountains, deserts and forests.
Climate is the weather a place has over many years. Some examples of climate are hot, cold, dry and rainy.
We talked about how the environment and climate shape the quality of life for people who live in or near it. We started discussing how humans adapt to their environment and climate. We had to imagine if Ms. Binks dropped us off in the middle of nowhere (how mean of her!) what we would need to do to survive. A lot of our ideas involved building/finding/creating shelter to either stay warm and dry or cool and shaded, finding food sources and changing our clothes to match the weather. Tomorrow we will discuss how humans have changed their environments and the problems that can lead to.
Today we went through the last few tests we had performed to try and find the missing rock/mineral from Ms. Binks's collection. We discovered that Ms. Binks could not scratch it with her fingernail or a coin so it must have been a hard rock/mineral. We asked if she ever dropped it into vinegar to see if it fizzed. Ms. Binks told us that one time when she was cooking she dropped the rock into a bowl of vinegar and nothing happened. Finally we asked her if she remembered if the rock/mineral was magnetic. She remembered that it stuck to the magnet in her purse clasp when she was bringing it to school. Once we heard that final clue we were able to narrow down what rock was missing and it was.......
Magnetite!!!
Mrs. Ball can now replace this rock for Ms. Binks!
This afternoon we reviewed the three different types of rocks: igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. We watched a video on the rock cycle that went through different traits of all the rocks. Afterwards we brainstormed how we may identify each type of rock. Some of our ideas were:
Sedimentary: look for smaller rocks inside, possibly layers
Igneous: bubbles or smooth, might be all the same colour
Metamorphic: different rocks but more smushed together
We also watched a video clip on what makes up a crystal. We learned that crystals are made up of molecules in a repeating pattern and can be formed in different shapes.
In groups, we worked through identifying whether 5 rocks were either sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic or crystals. We looked at the rocks and used the properties of colour, lustre and texture to help us classify them.
Reminders:
- Our Christmas concert is this Thursday December 8 at 6:30pm. The doors open at 6:00
- Fun lunch is on December 8
- Last day of classes for winter break is December 16
- If you were unable to come to conferences please email or call Ms. Binks to set up an appointment
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