Wow! What generous students!!

I am so, so, so, proud of all of the students in our class! In keeping with our discussions about empathy and in the spirit of giving, rather than having a class auction this month, students agreed to donate some of their class cash to help others! I told the students that for every $100 of class cash donated, I will donate $10 (real cash) to Toys for Tots in our Community. Their donations were anonymous and completely voluntary in any amount, and together they donated a whopping $535.00!!! In turn, I will be donating $53.50 worth of toys to the community toy drive this weekend on their behalf. Way to go, grade 4's!!!

Baby Avery Visit #3

The students noticed Baby Avery is much stronger now. She can hold her head up high on her own, and tighten her core muscles to reach for things and almost roll! This week, students discussed the pros and cons of cloth and disposable diapers, and observed a diaper change (over clothing) with particular focus on safety and the bond between mother and baby. We sang for Avery and she loved it! Our class made Avery a beautiful holiday card with a variety of textures and sounds for her to play with. 

Our Gingerbread Houses!

The students had a blast creating these amazing houses! And I think they learned some math along the way!

December News!

Hello December! It's hard to believe that there are only a few weeks left until the holidays! I hope everyone enjoys a well-deserved rest, and some wonderful holiday fun! The following is an overview of what we're working on this month:


Math

Number Sense & Numeration:

• multiply to 9 x 9 and divide to 81 ÷  9
• explore multiplication by 10, 100, 1000
• add & subtract two-digit numbers using mental strategies
• add & subtract 4-digit numbers using algorithms
• solve problems involving all of the above

Ask your child to sing their 6 or 7 times table to you!

We will also be designing and building gingerbread houses! This will include some measurement, and the addition and subtraction of money amounts as students will be given a budget (completely separate from our class cash) to work within as they choose their building / decoration supplies. More details will follow soon. 

Language

• Reading Workshop continues (guided reading and language centres)
• Writing "Holiday" narratives
• Media: finishing our anti-bullying posters

Social Studies

• Canada's 7 physical regions: location, description of land features & natural resources
• Province / Territory project: students will research and create a pamphlet about their assigned province or territory. Some criteria they will need to include are its region, physical features of the land, natural resources, climate, capital city, tourism, recreation, cultural groups, and any other information they wish to provide.

The Arts

• Music: Singing holiday favourites
• 2-part songs to create harmony
• Dance: A Hanukkah Dance / song
• Art: Stain-glass windows & other festive crafts

Congratulations to Lily, Chantal, Sean, and Lukas who have finished Reading Across Canada and have begun again! Keep up the great home reading everyone! 

Happy Holidays!

Mrs. Hale

Fun with Baby Avery!

Our last Roots of Empathy lesson was a visit from Baby Avery and her mom Lisa. The students enjoyed observing how Avery has grown and changed over the past three weeks. She can now hold her head up on her own quite well! She also loved watching the students' faces and their black and white name tags!

Welcome to Grade 4! 2015-2016 School Year

The students in our class have settled into routines nicely and are hard at work! The following outlines some of the curriculum and programs that we are currently working on.

Language

Over the past few weeks, students have been working through the process of writing a report on an endangered species. After examining the features of non-fiction reports (such as headings, photographs, captions, glossary etc.), students began researching, making jot notes, and creating prezi’s or flip-books of their findings. Presentations began on Friday of last week, and continue this week. So far they are very interesting and informative! Next week, we will begin our “Reading Workshop” whereby students will rotate through language centres, one of which is guided reading with the teacher.

Math

We are working on patterning. Students have been identifying and creating patterns with two or more changing attributes and describing how they change. Students also need to be able to extend increasing and decreasing number patterns, and state pattern rules. A big part of this unit is being able to use T-charts to solve problems, some of which involve growing and shrinking patterns.

Social Studies

We have begun our Canada unit. Students need to know the provinces and territories, as well as the capital cities. We will be learning about the different regions and what they have to offer in terms of industry.

Reading Across Canada

As you are likely aware by now, students are reading their way across Canada for our home reading program. For every 200 minutes students read, they receive $5 class cash, and can move on to the next province or territory. One student has already completed the entire country and has begun again!

Roots of Empathy

This is a wonderful program designed to teach empathy to children through observing the emotions and growth and changes of a baby. Our class met our baby “Avery” last week. She was 10 weeks old at that visit, was 58cm tall and weighed 12 pounds. Avery and her mom Lisa will visit our class every 3 weeks throughout the school year. Mrs. Young, the Roots of Empathy teacher, will visit every Thursday to discuss Avery and conduct activities around empathy. Our class was very fortunate to be selected to take part in this exciting and unique learning experience!

A few reminders…

• Gym is on Day 1 and Day 3
• Please sign and return all tests
• Book orders - cheques only please

Rather than sending out monthly newsletters, I will be updating our class blog. This way I can include photos and links to helpful websites etc. To get to the blog, visit the Admiral website and click on classes and then Mrs. Hale. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me at the school or by email (ahale@scdsb.on.ca) if you have any questions or concerns. Please continue to use the agenda to communicate time sensitive information such as a change in home time arrangements, as I usually check my email after school.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Hale

June News!

Hello families!

It's hard to believe it's June and the school year will soon be coming to an end! I've truly enjoyed working with your children this year and watching them learn and grow in so many ways!

The following outlines some of the work we are finishing up this month:

Language

Students have been reading and writing poetry over the last couple of weeks. We have some favourite class poems which students can recite by memory! Students have now been taught and written seven diffferent types of poems, and we are compiling them in good copy into a "Poetry Collection". Students are also being asked to pick two poems to present to the class, one of their own poems, and one of their favourites by another author. They may need to rehearse these at home.

Math

Our final two math units are Probability and Transformational Geometry. Students are conducting simple probability experiments in class using dice, spinners, drawing tiles etc. We are discussing how to represent probability as a fraction. In geometry, students will explore translations, reflections, and rotations. Of course, continued practice of times tables is encouraged!!!

Social Studies

Students are enjoying learning about life 200 or so years ago. For their final project, they are creating lapbooks in the form of a non-fiction report about the early settlers and aboriginals.


Please see the side panel for important dates and special events taking place at school this month! It is a busy one! Thank you for your continued support this year and I wish you all a wonderful, warm and relaxing summer!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Hale