Month: October 2013

Last period today in class, I was able to read the persuasive letters that students wrote to me about what prizes to buy for our first AUCTION tomorrow! My students did such a great job that I wanted to share them with you!

This was the format that students had to follow:

– Date
– Greeting
– Introduce yourself (if required)
– A description of what you are asking for
– Detailed reasons to support what you are asking for
– Flattery – maybe compliment the person you are writing to 🙂
– Closing
– OPTIONAL – Post-Script (P.S.) – in case you want to add something else to your letter after you are done writing it!

I was really impressed with the great reasons that some of the students came up with for buying the prize that they wanted. Also, there was lots of flattery!! Double click on the letter to see it larger.

Here are the letters:

Okay, I’m off to shop!

Miss Argue   🙂

Grade 3 Math – pg. 29 #4-6

Grade 4 Math – pg. #5-6

In math class, students have been practicing representing numbers in lots of different ways! So far, students can represent numbers in the following ways:

1.  Standard Form

1 439

2. Using Base Tens Blocks

3. Expanded Form – Using Base Tens Blocks and Numbers

1 thousand + 4 hundreds + 3 tens + 9 ones

4. Expanded Form – Numbers only

1000 + 400 + 30 + 9

5. Words

one thousand four hundred thirty nine

At home, you can practice these concepts with your child by giving them a number in one of these forms and getting them to represent in any of the other forms 🙂

There will be a Homework Check tomorrow and you might get a chance to earn some $$$ so…make sure to finish up your math if you didn’t get a chance to finish it in class. There were a few students who did not complete last night’s homework (you know who you are) so make sure to get it done tonight so you can get your PUMPKIN PASS to the Halloween movie tomorrow!!

Tomorrow is also our first CLASS AUCTION!! Students have handed in their persuasive letters and Miss Argue will be reading them tonight before she heads out shopping for prizes! During the auction, students will have the amount of money that is in their bank account written down in front of them and have to subtract what they spend. They will also have to make sure that when they are bidding on a prize, that they have enough money to buy it!

Reminder that tomorrow is Halloween and students are allowed to dress up in school appropriate costumes or wear black and orange. It is suggested to bring a regular pair of clothes as well in case your child does not want to stay in their costume all day.

THANKS!

I hope I recognize my students tomorrow morning!

Miss Argue 🙂

 

On Thursday, October 31st, all Primary classes (and Miss Argue’s grade 3/4 class) will be taking part in Halloween activities throughout the afternoon (periods 4, 5 and 6). The students will be put into groups and will rotate through various stations. Five events have been planned for the afternoon: a Halloween musical activity, a ghoulish craft, a spooky read aloud, a review of Halloween safety tips, and a viewing of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (movie). It’s going to be a spook-tacular afternoon! This year, students are invited to wear their costumes to school (or orange and black if they prefer). However, students are reminded that masks should not be worn (face paint is the better option), and no violent props, (i.e. guns, swords, knives) are permitted at school.

 We are looking for a Parent Volunteer to help us with the school laminating. It would only be for one day every 2nd week for about 2 hours. You may choose the day of your preference. If you are interested please contact, Mme Poirier, our librarian at 613-592-4492 on Tuesdays and Thursdays or email at monique.poirier@ocdsb.ca.

THANKS!

Language Arts

Today in class, we talked about what a PERSUASIVE letter is. Students brainstormed and decided that a Persuasive letter should include the following:

– Date

– Greeting

– Introduce yourself (if required)

– A description of what you are asking for

– Detailed reasons to support what you are asking for

– Flattery – maybe compliment the person you are writing to 🙂

– Closing

– OPTIONAL – Post-Script (P.S.) – in case you want to add something else to your letter after you are done writing it!

Our first class auction is next Thursday, October 31st so….students are practicing their persuasive letter writing skills by writing a letter to Miss Argue. Students are thinking of something they would like Miss Argue to buy for the auction and giving her reasons why she should buy it.

Example and Reason

Glow Sticks – students who are going out for Halloween can use them to be seen at night!

Mechanical Pencils – students can use them in class and they never have to sharpen their pencil!

Water bottle – students can stay hydrated in class and not miss valuable class time leaving class to get a drink!

Mini Lego – students can learn to build things and use their creativity!

Students started working on the rough copy of their letters today on their own or with a partner and will be editing and revising their work and creating a good copy on Monday & Tuesday. Students will then put their letter in an envelope and deliver it to Miss Argue before she goes out shopping for the AUCTION on Tuesday night 🙂 This activity is building up to students writing a persuasive letter independently that will be assessed.

 

Other notes

Miss Argue will be away on Monday from 11:40am until the end of the day. She is coaching the JUNIOR BOYS SOCCER team and it is our tournament!! There will be a supply teacher in to cover but just wanted to give you a heads up in case you notice that agendas are not signed by me that day.

Have a great weekend!

Miss Argue   🙂

 

Today in math, we played a PLAY VALUE game! Students were randomly placed in groups and had to represent numbers in different ways. Miss Argue would write the number in a given form on the board and students worked in groups to create the number using base ten blocks and writing the number in either standard form, expanded form or in words! Groups accumulated points for their correct answers on the score board at the front of the room. Here are some pictures from our exciting lesson!

 

The set-up….

 

An example of how to represent numbers in different ways and the teams….some interesting team names  🙂

 

Mason, Charlotte, Cindy & Lindsay

 

Noah & Bella…Alex was a little camera shy 🙂

 

Nick, Lisa, Samy & Neel building their number with base ten blocks

 

Nik, Clarke & Duaa who were very excited about NUMBER SENSE!!

 

Minaal, Oliver & Ryan posing for the overhead shot!

 

Other news

Just a reminder to parents to send in your child’s class picture envelope and $$ if you are planning on purchasing pictures as soon as possible.

THANKS!

Miss Argue  🙂

 

 

Grade 3’s – Math pg. 29 #1-4

Grade 4’s – Math pg. 25 #1-5

We have started number sense and numeration! Most students completed this homework in class…it is a review 🙂

We will be starting to represent numbers in different ways tomorrow! We will be representing numbers using base tens blocks up to  1 000 (Grade 3’s) and 10 000 (Grade 4’s ).

Miss Argue 🙂

P.S. ECOART pictures and blurb about what we did on Monday to be posted later this week! (I still need to download the pictures) 🙂

Language Arts

So…due to the funny weather today, we postponed our ECOART activities until Monday.

On Monday, we will be heading outside to create art (in small groups) with the materials that nature has to offer us! Students can collect leafs, grass, pine needles, rocks, and any other materials that they can find on the school yard to create their ECOART!! Students will be reminded to respect nature and to only use materials that are available to them (e.g. Leaves from trees on the ground and not attached to branches).

I will be taking pictures of their art and will be creating our own poetry to go with it next week as well.

Math

Math quizzes are coming home to be signed tonight. I have attached a marking sheet that explains where the marks were awarded for the graphs (Grade 3 Bar Graph – Green, Grade Double Bar Graph 4 – Purple).

If your child had difficulty with the graph, I went over their mistake and have asked them to redo the graph with their corrections. It is really important that students use a ruler and have even spacing between their bars and all of their bars are the same width. Also, some students lost marks because they forgot to label either the horizontal or vertical axis.

Signed math test and corrections = $200 in their bank accounts!  🙂

That’s all for now…HAPPY FRIDAY!

Miss Argue  🙂

Just a reminder that it is PICTURE DAY tomorrow!

The last day to bring in scholastic orders and cheques is tomorrow. I would like to put the order in on Friday.

THANKS!

Miss Argue  🙂

 

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

PICTURE DAY is on Thursday, October 17th! There is a note that is in your child’s agenda about the process this year. Retake Day is Thursday, November 7th.

Here is an update on what we are working on in class:

Language Arts – Students in grades 3 & 4 will be bringing home their WRITING PORTFOLIOS today for you to take a look at. Inside is a letter to parents on a piece of blue paper that our class wrote together using the computer and projector.

It is posted here as well:  Letter to parents from students

The GOOD COPY of  the “Letter to Miss Argue”  is due this Thursday, October 17th. Students who were away because of Eid today will have until Friday to complete it. This letter allowed students to practice their letter writing skills and work through the writing process. Stay tuned for their upcoming letter assignment that will be assigned and marked. All of our writing work is completed in class. When students reach the final publishing stage, they may take their work home if they want and complete their good copy. The rest of the writing process takes place in the classroom. I need to see what each student is capable of.

Science

Grade 4’s – are researching a HABITAT of their choice from a list from the WWF on their own or with a partner. They will be using this information to create a CREATURE that will live and have to adapt to this environment next week.

Grade 3’s – are continuing to work through their PLANT Booklets. Tomorrow we will be looking at how stems function and completing an experiment with celery and food colouring!

Math – We are finishing up Data Management this week. Students are working on communicating their thoughts about different graphs using proper math vocabulary. Our next strand that we will be starting on in math next week is Number Sense and Numeration. We will be representing numbers in standard forms, expanded forms, words and pictures. We will also be looking at place value.

Next week will be starting with the following:

Grade 3’s will be representing, comparing and ordering whole numbers up to 1 000.

Grade 4’s will be representing, comparing and ordering whole numbers up to 10 000.

That’s all for now! Happy Tuesday!

Miss Argue  🙂