Month: January 2014

Our VALENTINE’s DAY exchange!

The Ottawa Carleton District School Board recognizes February 14th – 21st as KINDNESS WEEK so we will be kicking off this week by doing a Valentine Exchange on Friday, February 14th.

I am asking students to bring in a Valentine for each student in our class. It can be store bought, printed off the computer or homemade. I will send home a class list so you will have a copy of each students names 😉 . But…there is a TWIST – instead of students signing their name, they can put a ? and give 2-3 clues that describe themselves. This way, students will have to use their detective skills to figure out who gave them a Valentine. Students have already come up with 8-10 clues that they have written in their L.A. notebooks that they can use. We started to make some Valentine’s in class and we practiced the skill of making symmetrical hearts (by folding and drawing half of a heart and cutting it out). Here are some example of the Valentine’s that I showed my students in class in order to give them some ideas for the Valentine they have to make:

           

Have fun and get creative!!

Miss Argue 🙂

 

Swim to Survive is a program that the Grade 3′s here at WEJ will be once again taking part in. My 8 Grade 3’s will be split up between Mr. Jackson’s and Mr. Small’s

Mr. Jackson’s class will be going on: Feb. 18th, Feb. 25th and Mar. 4th (all Tuesdays) and will be taking: Ryan, Cindy, Dory and Charlotte.

Mr. Small’s class will be going on: Mar. 18th, Mar. 25 and April 1st (all Tuesdays) and will be taking: Mason, Oliver, Lisa and Lindsay.

I will be sending home the permission form today for the first group of students going with Mr. Jackson. Please look for these in your child’s agenda and return them to me filled in by the end of next week.

More about the Swim to Survive program:

Recently, the Ministry of Education awarded a grant of $1,000,000 to the Ontario Branch of the Lifesaving Society to deliver the Swim to Survive program to grade three children across Ontario. Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa is an affiliate of the Lifesaving Society and has been approved to teach the Swim to Survive Program.

The program is free as the grant covers busses, pool time and instructors. The program is offered to children in all levels of swimming including beginners.

The Lifesaving Society’s Canadian Swim To Survive program is designed to teach children the basic skills and knowledge necessary to avoid drowning and other water-related accidents and to learn to make wise choices in any aquatic environment. This is accomplished by focusing on three minimum skills required to survive an unexpected fall into deep water.

The program consists of 3 in-water lessons (1 hour each) focusing on a sequence of 3 skills.

1. Roll entry: To simulate an accidental fall into the water.

2. Treading water for 1 minute: A reasonable time to reorient and support themselves while seeking help.

3. Swim 50 metres: Most accidental drownings occur within 50 m of safety.

4. Three in-classroom water safety lessons:  To be presented by your child’s school teacher.

As you know, not all children can afford the opportunity to participate in swim lessons and yet they are highly represented in drowning statistics. A school-based program is an effective way to ensure that all children have the opportunity for water safety education.

NOTE: Children should wear a bathing suit but are also welcome to wear clean “light weight” (cotton) pants and shirt over top. Children must bring a towel. Goggles and flip flops are optional.

For more information about Swim to Survive, please visit:

http://www.lifesavingsociety.com/swim-to-survive.aspx

The Patterning Quiz is coming home tonight and if students get it signed, they will get $200 added to their bank accounts.

Today in class we worked on problem solving. We talked about how a lot of students did very well on the quiz and but to truly get a Level 4 in any math strand, students must be able to understand the concepts taught and apply it to other situations in order to solve problems. Students also must be able to communicate their thoughts in numbers, pictures and/or words in order to explain how they solved the problem. In class, students got a chance to practice answering a word problem and apply the concepts that they learned in our patterning unit. The Grade 3’s and Grade 4’s had different questions but the layout that they answered the question in was the same. I read the 2 different questions out loud to all of the students and they had to: re-write what the question was asking in their own words; write down the important information that they would need to solve the problem; solve the problem using numbers, pictures and/or word; clearly explain what strategy they used and how they arrived at their answer.

The math task that we practiced on today will be coming home and if students get it signed, they get an additional $200 added to their bank accounts. Tomorrow, we will be doing another math task, but students will have to complete it independently.

If you have any questions about this, please let me know.

THANKS!!

Miss Argue  🙂

The Kanata North community is preparing to celebrate Chinese New Year! Celebrations will happen Sunday, February 2 from 11am -4pm at the new Richcraft Recreation Complex at 4101 Innovation Drive – all are welcome!  Admission is $5/ person.

Review for Math Quiz tomorrow on Patterning!

Today in math class we reviewed the different types of patterns (growing, shrinking, repeating) and students practiced communicating their pattern rules in words. Students also had to continue the pattern. See picture below:

 

 

We also looked at using a T-chart to show a pattern and organize the data. In the picture below the Car category is referred at as the Term number and the Wheels on the car category is referred to as the term. Students had to extend the pattern and might be asked questions like: If there are 20 wheels, how many cars would there be? If there were 11 cars, how many wheels would there be?

Both Grade 3 and 4 students should be able to do the following tomorrow for the Patterning Quiz:

-Determine if a pattern is growing, shrinking or repeating and describe and write a pattern rule for the pattern

-Add the next 3 or 4 terms in a given pattern

-List the attributes that change in a repeated pattern (e.g. colour, shape, position etc.)

-Use a t-chart to show a pattern and fill in the chart.

-Answer questions related to the pattern in the t-chart.

-Create your own pattern and describe the pattern rule.

We reviewed all of this in class. I will make sure that students bring home their textbooks and the 2 worksheets that they did in class today (blue duotang) in case you would like to review any of these concepts tonight. One way to practice is write out a pattern using numbers (can be growing or shrinking) and get your child to write the pattern rule and the next 3 numbers in the pattern. You could also create a pattern with pictures (or letters like the name pattern we did) and get students to describe the attributes that are changing and add the next three terms.

Miss Argue 🙂

 

 

Here is why we should win the “HOT FOR THE SENS” contest in 89 words or less. Thanks to my students for all the great ideas!!! (and…ours is exactly 89 words!!)

Miss Argue’s Grade 3/4 class is HOT for the OTTAWA SENATORS because we LIVE, BREATHE and PLAY like the Ottawa Senators!! We try hard in class and out on the mini sticks rink on our school yard, we cheer and dance to HOT music when the SENS play and win and we always work together like the SENS do on the ice! WE even dream about being the OTTAWA SENATORS! GO SENS GO!! SENS are HOT and so are you…we can’t wait to see you at our school too!

In math, both the Grade 3’s and Grade 4’s have been working through our Patterning unit.

The Grade 3’s created a Name Pattern where they had to change different attributes in their name and draw and reapeat it as well as communicate their pattern in words. Some of  the attributes that students chose to change were: colour, font or style of letter, position/orientation of letter or using an upper case or lower case letter.

The Grade 4’s created an Inukshuk Pattern from 2 different pattern blocks and had to use a t-chart to show what type and how many blocks were used to create up to 7 Inukshuit (plural word for Inukshuk). Students also had to predict and problem solve how many Inukshuit they could build if they had 30 of one pattern block and 15 of another pattern block and communicate their thoughts in words.

There will be a Patterning Quiz for both the Grade 3’s and Grade 4’s on Tuesday, January 28th. I will post a list of concepts that students can review at home later on in the week.

I also added 4 Patterning Games that students can play online under the “Math – Patterning” links section on the left hand side of the blog.

Have fun!

Miss Argue 🙂

Grade 4’s

The Grade 4 Social Studies quiz on Mesopotamia is on Thursday, January 23rd. We will be reviewing our notes tomorrow in class so please make sure you bring back your green duotang. I will make sure that students bring home the social studies textbook on Wednesday so they can use it as a tool to study as well. The information that we have covered so far is on pages 2-15.

Here is a list of things to study at home:

–Vocabulary used throughout the Early Civilizations unit – Make sure you are familiar with words used and their meanings. Example – archaeologist, artifacts excavation etc. (HINT – review words that are in BOLD in your textbook 🙂 )

– What are the 8 features of a civilization?

– What were the different roles in the early Mesopotamian civilization and what did they do? (scribes, lugals, farmers etc.)

– Why do you think people settled in the Fertile Crescent and started the first civilization (Mesopotamia) here? (HINT – describe the land and climate by looking at the map of Mesopotamia, the textbook and adding your own ideas – what did these people need in order to survive? What did the Fertile Crescent provide?). Re-read pgs. 6 and 7 in your textbook.

–List and describe 3 Mesopotamian achievements. Why was this achievement important and explain how they have changed in today’s modern day world (see worksheet you completed in class on “Knowledge & Achievements” – more information on pg 12-15 in your textbook).

Grade 3’s

We have learned about the Wendat and Anishinabe First Nations groups and just finished talking about the European explorers who came over and settled in what we now call Canada. Tomorrow, we will be reviewing the daily life of a First Nations person and writing a letter from the perspective of a European Explorer and describing what type of people he or she has met (Wendat or Anishinabe) on this new land.

Miss Argue 🙂

Grade 4

Social Studies – The Grade 4 Social Studies quiz on Mesopotamia will be postponed until this Thursday, January 23rd. We will be reviewing in class this week what students need to study at home.

 

 

What a day!!! I can’t believe how much spirit our class has!! Lots of SENS gear and black and white in class today!! (and a few HABS colours and one Boston fan too 😉 ). I will post pictures once I get them downloaded off my camera.

Just a reminder that tomorrow is PA day so there is no school for students.

Grade 4’s – I made sure they took home their green social studies duotangs to review their notes on Mesopotamia. We didn’t get to social studies today so we will probably push the quiz back until Wednesday of next week…I will keep you posted next week.

Have a great weekend and….GO SENS GO!!!!

Miss Argue 🙂