Fractions

Our Easter-Spirit Day began with an egg-and-spoon race as a house game. Well done to Kappa for being the overall winners. Students recognised as being thinkers received their awards this morning during convocation.
For our inquiry into how our country organises itself, we spent time working on our 3-D maps of Canada, adding the Arctic and Canadian Shield regions. We also read from the book All About Canada to become more knowledgeable about our country.
The children attended gym, drama, and French class today. They wrote this week's spelling test and worked on arithmetic speed drills.
In math, grade 3s continued learning about fractions. They learned that sharing equally is an important part of understanding fractions. They practiced dividing whole figures into equal parts and naming the fraction parts. The grade 4s completed the lesson they started yesterday, where they found the fraction of a set using objects and pictures.
We ended the day listening to Zain present his Mood Machine project.

Homework and Reminders:

• Sign and return spelling test
• Report cards, portfolios, and student binders are coming home today - please take time to review all 3 documents, complete the comments page of the report card and return to school on Monday. I will make a copy of the comments page and then send the report cards back home.
• MMS 3 p. 146 & 147
• MMS 4 p. 120 & 121
• Look out for the SJA student newspaper coming home today 
• Some children will be receiving child-care statements today

Have a wonderful long weekend everyone!

Regions of Canada

We continued our inquiry into how Canada is organised. Today the children reviewed the 6 regions we learned about yesterday as well as the landforms associated with each regions. They then used their knowledge and play dough to construct a 3-D map of Canada. The moulded the play dough into high jagged mountains in the Cordilleras and lower rounded mountains in the Appalachians. They used yellow peas to represent the Interior Lowlands and green peas to represent the lowlands. The children had a lot of fun with this activity. We will continue working on our 3-D maps tomorrow and as we learn more about Canada through this unit.
The children attended gym, music and French class today.
In math, the grade 3s wrote their Mathematica Competition practice test. They then began a new unit on fractions. They reviewed what they learned about fractions in grade 2. Grade 4s continued working on fractions. Today they learned how to find the fraction of a set.
We ended the day working on language. The children continued writing friendly letters and reviewing plurals and friendly letters.


Homework & Reminders:

• Spelling
• Wear pastel colours for tomorrow's Easter-Spirit Day

The Physical Regions of Canada

In our inquiry we reviewed what we had learned about Canada yesterday and started tackling one of our big questions, "What are the regions of Canada?" The children saw beautiful photographs from all over Canada. They described landforms they observed in the photographs. They were then introduced to the 6 geographical regions of Canada. The class then made mountains, plains, snow, rock, and lowlands to add to our big classroom map of Canada's regions. Ask your child to name the 6 regions and to describe some of the landforms found in each region.
The children attended gym and French class today.
In math, the grade 4s continued learning about fractions. We focused on fraction benchmarks in today's lesson. The children compared fractions such as 2/3, 3/8, 7/8, 1/6, 5/6, and 1/8 to 0, 1/2, and 1. The grade 3s  continued writing their assessment piece.
We ended the day reviewing and writing friendly letters. We took time to review punctuation and spelling list 25.

Homework & Reminders:

• Spelling
• MMS 4 p. 118 & 119
• Tomorrow is Casual Day
• Polo shirts may be worn after the Easter weekend

Back to School

We began our third term with a realisation of of how little school there is left before summer holidays. The children understand that they need to stay focused in order to complete the remaining part of our program before the holidays.
We began a new inquiry unit today. This unit falls under the transdisiplinary theme How we organise ourselves. The central idea and lines of inquiry have tricky words that we do not understand yet. The children began the unit sharing what they know about our country Canada and how it is organised. They shared that Canada is the second largest country in the world and that our capital is Ottawa. The children shared questions they have about how Canada is organised. They want to know what regions are, how many provinces and territories there are, and what economics and cultural influences there are in Canada?
The children attended gym, music and French class today.
We began work on spelling list 25. This week's spelling test will take place on Thursday as Friday is a public holiday.
In math, the grade 3s worked on an assessment piece that shows what they have learned so far this year. The grade 4s began a new unit on Fractions and Decimals. They reviewed fractions and the vocabulary associated with fractions. Ask your child to explain what a numerator and denominator are. The used coloured squares to construct a quilt, recorded the quilt and then used fractions to describe the parts of the quilt. They answered practice questions to show their understanding of fractions.
We ended the day working on language. We reviewed parts of a friendly letter and punctuation. Children who completed their work got time to read in class.

Homework and Reminders:

• Spelling list 25
• Sign and correct spelling list 24
• MMS 4 p. 116, 117
• Map work - label Canada in the World and Canada in North America maps. Colour Canada in red pencil

Spirit Day

Our day began with convocation, where all the children participated in a race where they had to link hands and pass a rope along their line by stepping through the rope but not letting go of each other's hands. The race was very close with Kappa coming in first and Theta coming in second. We did it again with a team of only six people where the stakes were much higher. Well done again to Kappa for first place and Theta for second place.
Back in class, we set up the small gym room for our special reading buddy time. We put out a couch, bean bags, and carpets and then placed our mood machines between the furniture. We went to pick up our reading buddies from their class and took them to a very cosy looking room.  The mood machines definitely did the job of creating a mood in the room. This activity was also a good way of testing whether the mood machine's light was bright enough to read by. This time was enjoyed by everyone.
Back in class, we spent time reflecting on what we have learned about sound. The children worked with a partner to record what they have learned. Pairs of students took turns presenting their ideas to the class. These ideas were then added to our KWL chart on sound. Next the children discussed and recorded what their favourite part of the light and sound unit was and how they showed that they were inquirers.
We then worked on spelling and language tests.
The children attended gym and French class today. 
We ended the day working on art and light. They children brought in fruit to make a still life display. We used pastels, crayons, and colouring pencils to depict our study of the fruit display. We reflected on how light enabled us to see the fruit and how colour of each fruit was the colour that was reflected into our eyes.

Reminders:

• Child Care Statements coming home today (sorry - I forgot to send them home yesterday)
• Lunch Forms are coming home today
• School receipts are coming home with some students today

Have a wonderful March Break everyone!

Mood Machines

What an exciting day! The children spent most of the day showing their Mood Machines, while describing their building procedure and problem solving process, as well as how they applied about what they learned about light during our inquiry..
The children attended gym, drama and French class.
In math, the grade 3s wrote their motion geometry unit test. The grade 4s wrote an assessment piece piece to show their knowledge on concepts we will be learning about next term.
We ended the day with more Mood Machine Show and Share.

Homework and Reminders: 

• Spelling lists 19-23
• Study language p. 60 - 76
• Child Care Statements are coming home today
• Remember that tomorrow is St/ Patrick's Spirit Day - wear green and white

Telephones

In our sound inquiry, we reviewed what we did in yesterday's lesson. The children enjoyed hearing all the different sounds our instruments made. Today we wondered if we could make a telephone system using what we know about sound and the materials in the classroom. The children were confident they could accomplish this task. They had lots of fun testing out their telephones. Some pairs even had crossed lines and could hear each others' messages.
In language we reviewed contractions, synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms in preparation for Friday's language test.
The children attended gym, music and French class today.
In math, grade 3s reviewed motion geometry concepts for tomorrow's test, and grade 4s wrote their transformational geometry unit test.
We ended the day working on report card comments, filing away completed units, and independent reading.

Homework and Reminders:

• MMS 3 Study Motion Geometry unit
• Study language p. 60-76
• Mood Machine: Complete Lights in your community p. 16, Bring in your Mood machine tomorrow as well as the written package you have completed

Shapes and Sounds

In our inquiry into sound, we wondered if the shape of an instrument affects its sound? The children were challenged to share their knowledge of who Alexander Graham bell was and what made him famous? The children shared and recorded their ideas of how shape may affect sound.  They then used string, water, and various-shaped and sized to discover if and how shape affects sound. Ask your child to tell you what they discovered today?
In spelling, the children finished off their review work of spelling lists 19 to 23 and completed their agendas. The attended gym, drama, and french class today.
In math, the grade 4s continued working on their review work in preparation for tomorrow's unit test. The grade 4s explored symmetry of figures. They used Miras to see if the figure and it's reflection coincide to check for lines of symmetry.
In language we reviewed synonyms and antonyms. The children shared their ideas of what homonyms are. They checked the definition of homonyms to check if their ideas were correct. They practiced writing homonyms to show their understanding. We ended the day with the children reflecting on what they have learned this term.

Homework & Reminders

• Review spelling lists 19 -23
• MMS 3 p. 144-145
• MMS 4 Study for tomorrow's unit test
• Mood Machine - Reflection p. 15

Strings and Pitch

We began our day with language. We learned that synonyms are words that have the same or similar meanings. The children practised matching and writing synonyms. The also worked on reviewing spelling lists 19, 20 and 21. This week's spelling test will cover lists 19 to 23. The also wrote an arithmetic test and worked on their agendas.
They attended gym, music and French class today.
In math, grade 4s reviewed concepts we have learned in transformational geometry in preparation for Wednesday's unit test. Grade 3s worked on motion geometry. They learned that a reflection is when the image is flipped over a mirror line. The figure and its image are congruent, the same distance from the mirror line and face opposite directions.
We ended the day with our inquiry into sound. Today we wondered how we could improve the pitch of the strings on the guitar we built. We examined 3 stringed instruments, the guitar, violin and ukulele. The children noted the relationships between the thickness, length and tension of the strings and the pitch the strings produced. They used this information to record how they could improve the pitches of the strings on the guitars they built last week.

Homework and Reminders

• Spelling lists 19 - 23
• MMS 3 p. 142, 143, Test on Thursday
• MMS 4 - Study Transformational Geometry unit, test on Wednesday
• Mood Machines-Complete How it Works, p. 14, Machines due Thursday
• Spelling and language tests on Friday
• Friday is Spirit Day - wear green and white

Guitar Building

We began our day working on building guitars out of materials that we had collected. Some children even managed to make changes to their strings (rubber bands) so that they produced different pitches. The children took time to record their work as a drawing and to reflect on how they could improve their design.
The children attended gym  and French class today.
They wrote their list 23 spelling test. Tests are coming home today. Please take time to review the test with your child, sign it, and return it to school on Monday. They also worked on speed drills today.
In math, the grade 3s learned about rotations. They used a clock face to help them understand that when a figure rotates, it's image is congruent but may move to a new position in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction around a turn centre, similar to the hands of an analog clock. The grade 4s practised a strategy called "working backwards" to solve word problems. The children can apply this strategy to problems in many walks of life.
We ended the day with a slice of history. The children learned about the Dutch in the New World. Ask your child to tell you about this time in history.
Right at the end of the day, we had a convocation where we heard the results of the Oral Competition. Congratulations to Braeden for first place, Carter for second place, Rachel for third place, and Abel for fourth place in the grade 3 poetry competition. Congratulations to Lara for first place, Shannon for second place, and Kunsh for third place in the grade 4 expository speech competition.

Homework and Reminders:

• Sign and return spelling tests coming home today
• MMS 3 p. 140, 141
• MMS 4 Study for Wednesday's unit test on Transformational Geometry
• Mood machine - test, revise, and retest your mood machine. Complete p. 12 & 13 of your package