Wow, what a week! And now we're almost half way through the year. I can't believe it. We had a fun week.


In math we took a little break from adding/subtracting and we worked on writing songs that could help us remember how to skip count every number from 1-10.  Everyone felt comfortable with 1, 2, 5, and 10, so we broke into groups and focused on the remainder: 4, 6, 7, 8, 9. For the number 3, I shared an old song from my childhood: 3 is a Magic Number from Schoolhouse Rocks! The kids loved it, easily memorized it, and were excited to try and write their own songs. Here's the one I shared:

We came up with a grading rubric to decide how to assess this project, so everyone is on board and knows what they're doing and why.

In social, Mrs. Wilson gave the students a test on their knowledge of Peru. The tests were returned. Ask your student how they did.

In science we had a great time. We created a dichotomous key (a fancy word for a way of sorting objects) on our tables. We used these to sort a collection of rocks. The students had to decide what properties they wanted to use to break the rocks into different groups.

We also somehow managed to squeeze in a crystal-making session. We then examined them under microscopes and got some really cool views of their formations up close. 

We ended the week watching The Secret of NIMH, based on the book we read this term as a class. Next, we'll be doing a project on this, comparing and contrasting different scenes from the movie with the book and discussing why these differences might exist. 

Well, that's it for now. Have a fantastic holiday with your families and friends. Rest, enjoy, and have some fun. See you soon!

Hello everyone.

This week I revisited a topic we had discussed on several occasions. We looked at the = sign. We discussed how it is not simply a symbol that tells us where the answer goes, but rather is more like a balance. I used a teeter-totter analogy.

Revisiting concepts is important in math. Too often a topic is covered, and then we simply move on. I wrote on the board:

I took a poll for the answer, and it was overwhelmingly 12. I asked what happened to the 3? That was the lead-in to our conversation. We looked at several more simpler examples, talked. Did more challenges. Talked. Eventually we worked up to more challenging questions.

The children really enjoyed the challenges. We'll step back a bit, combine these ideas into word problems and make sure we're really understanding the questions. These algebraic/equation-balancing questions were a lot of fun, and some of the kids saw that we had already been doing them in our word problems. They were excited to see the links and relationships.

In science we continued with our examination of rocks and minerals by exploring the difference between the two. We did an activity where I gave them a variety of descriptions (contains fossils, has a crystalline form) and they had to make an educated guess about whether it was a feature of a rock or a mineral. They did this in small groups, sharing their background knowledge and making inferences and guesses. We then came back together and figured it out together. Once we had our information correctly assembled, we created a chart that we can use as we go forward in our work.

This coming week we will take a large group of rock samples and begin looking at how we could categorize them. We'll build a dichotomous tree, like the following image.

This taxonomic activity will let the kids handle and closely examine a large number of rocks and get them thinking about how scientists do this type of work, what characteristics they could be looking for, and how they can do it with their own background knowledge and observation skills.

I also asked for them to start bringing in glass jars. I hope to make crystals. It is unlikely to happen this coming week, but if you have any extra jam, pickle, etc. jars, please send them in.

In literacy we worked together with Mrs. Wilson's class on a writing prompt of a Norman Rockwell painting.

We discussed what we thought was going on in the picture. We then had to write a short story, using descriptive language, similes, metaphors. Our goal was to create an interesting story that hooked our reader.

In social studies, your children should have brought home a study guide this week for a test on Peru on Monday with Mrs. Wilson. Please help them to study for this test.

Hello again.
In math we held off on starting the pet budget project as our addition and subtraction skills needed a bit more of a focus. We should start it next week. We also continued to work on word problems, adding complexity in the wording if not the actual required operations. We really dug in and broke down the questions to find out what they were truly asking. This is an important skill, but it also speaks to number sense. As students develop their number sense, many word problems will resolve themselves as the students begin to see the relationship between numbers and so can more easily discover what is being asked.

We also practiced our estimating skills, examining the number of beans in a jar as well as the heights of various objects and people. This is also a great exercise to build comprehension not only of numbers and amounts, but to develop the students' abilities to visualize numbers in their heads, to do mental math, and to work with different units. They learned that once they reached a certain height, for example, that centimeters were no longer the best unit, and switching to meters was perhaps a better option.

They used a variety of strategies to estimate height. Our multiplication skills will be developed more in the new year, so it was not a big surprise that many students opted to count by grouping numbers together instead of multiplying them. After estimating one element to be 4 feet tall, students estimated how many 4-foot objects you could fit in the object to be measured. Some students simply wrote out the number 4 over and over and then added them up.

The site I like to use is estimate180. It has many pictures and examples you can use with your child to practice their estimating skills. And it's fun! The students really enjoyed trying to figure out how tall a lamp post was, or how many jellybeans were in a jar.

In science we began our unit on rocks and minerals. I brought in some rocks we have at the school, along with a few of my own, and the students took some time to examine them. They quite enjoyed this hands-on activity. We then moved on to the composition of the earth, examining the different layers from the inner core to the mantle and crust. We'll continue with this unit for at least the rest of this term before the winter break.

Our eco-columns are still up and running, and we're still taking a look at them each day. One is now growing mushrooms, and another pupa has formed. We hope this will make it to beetle! The children are still fascinated with these, and it has truly been a great project that has inspired their curiosity.

In literacy, we are now using laptops to write stories and work on our Field Guide to the Animals and Plants of Peru. We're learning how to type, a useful skill that also helps build muscle memory and strength, as well as endurance. We'll be designing a website and placing our research on it to share with the world. We'll add new animals and plants as we expand into Tunisia, India, and Ukraine. We'll choose colours, backgrounds, photos, and videos to share. Development of these multi-modal literacies is very important in the 21st century classroom.

We also continue to read our novels in our groups. Our class read-aloud, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is coming to a close, and in the new year we still plan to begin our project.

Winter break is fast approaching, and we are trying to wrap up some units. That means we'll be having a few tests next week. I've sent home with your children outlines of what we'll be looking at assessing. This outline was developed with the kids. We discussed our topics and what we had covered. We discussed what would be fair for me to assess and what that assessment should look like. So, we'll be having some assessments in literacy, science, and math. In Math, we are working on a number of things and we're trying to bring them all together. We're combining our knowledge of arithmetic with the development of our understanding of word problems. This coming week, we'll be using the computers to type out good copies of our math test challenge (each child is making their own math test, and we'll administer it to our partner class, room 17, as time allows).

For a better idea of what we're doing in math and our approach, please take a look at this site: Youcubed.

In literacy, we'll be wrapping up our classroom read-aloud in probably a couple of weeks. After that, we'll begin a project using Google slides to tackle some of the issues we've been reading about in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. We won't really dig into that, however, until January. We also continue to combine our writing and reading with as many other subjects as we can, from writing interesting math word problems to reading information about Peru and writing convincing arguments about questions posed.

In science, we'll be starting our rocks and minerals unit fairly soon. Right now, we're wrapping up our eco-column. Many of our mealworms have moved on to another plane of existence. We took the opportunity to dissect one. It was a fun and interesting activity. Our plants started off with a bang, but are now stagnating in their growth. Some are starting to fail. This has been a fun experiment and the children have truly enjoyed it.

In social studies, we have begun to examine information about quality of life in Peru. We are learning how access to services, as well as a well developed infrastructure (or lack thereof) can affect quality of life, even within a single city. We've been focusing on the discrepancies within the city of Lima, where some neighbourhoods have water, electricity, and paved roads, while others lack all of these.

Tune in next week for more pictures and videos! Sorry for this week's dearth. Technical difficulties :).

Hello all.

We had another great week full of learning. It was great meeting so many of you at the student-led conferences. Thank you for making the time to come and see what your child is doing all day!

In math, we continue with arithmetic. We add in subtraction this coming week. We're taking it slowly as many students are still trying to grasp the idea of place value and how it relates to regrouping when using different algorithms. We use various manipulatives/objects to help us visualize place value, including base-10 blocks, ten frames, drawings, etc.

We're evolving our understanding of math to go beyond the set ways of thinking (x + y = Z) to seeing math as integral to life, and in fact present in our everyday activities. We'll be starting a project this week that centers on creating a budget for a new pet. This will involve lots of addition and subtraction, as well as critical thinking. It should be fun!

If you want to play some math games with your kids and help them build their number sense, try something like this:

Have your child tell you as many ways as they can how each number DOES NOT belong. For example, in the above example how could they explain why the 17 doesn't belong but the other three do? Then cycle through how each other number does not belong and what the remaining numbers have in common. This will help them think about patterns, relationships, prime, odd, even numbers, etc. They'll probably see patterns you didn't even notice!

In social studies, we are still wandering through the mountains and forests of Peru. Mrs. Wilson had the students work in small groups to create semi-topgraphical maps of Peru using clay. The kids loved it and were quite creative.

We also created guidebooks for time travelers who might wish to visit the Inca in Peru. Our students warned of unsolicited brain surgeries, the dangers of theft in Inca times, and the annoyance of working 7-days a week and paying taxes!

We also practiced a bit of our burgeoning art skills by taking another crack at drawing toucans, this time using pastels. The results were pretty good, I think! I especially like the blending on the beak of the one toucan.

In science, we will be having a test in 2 weeks (first week of December). The test will cover some of the animals and insects we have been learning about, focusing on their adaptations, life-cycles, and the vocabulary we have been learning (ecosystem, taxonomy, pupa, thorax, etc.)

Hello all. In math, we worked on addition. This week, we focused on our understanding of the algorithms and our number sense. We did so with 2 projects. In the first, I asked each student to create a test for the class next door. We discussed what types of questions we should ask, as well as how we should ask them in order to really test the understanding of the test takers. We looked at what the Program of Studies says we should know, as well. Once we decided what types of questions we should ask, I had each student create their own test. Of course, in order to do so they also had to create an answer key. The students were very engaged in this activity, and it really tested their own understanding as they had to both create the questions and answer them, too. We also had a small test. For some of the questions, I left out certain numbers in the addends and the sum. This really tested well whether the students understood both how to perform the standard algorithm, as well as their number sense as they had to visualize patterns, number relations, and place value. Below are some examples of their thinking.

I also gave them questions that were not lined up as expected. This proved challenging for a number of students, so we will continue working on this. It is important for students to be comfortable with seeing math in unexpected ways. Such a comfort with numbers is a good sign of their developing number sense.

We had our big trip to TELUS Spark this week. We all had a fantastic time exploring the center. In our math/dance session the students had a great time moving their bodies while also thinking mathematically.

In science, we continue to track the growth of our plants and vegetables, as well as the life cycle of our mealworms. We have at least one pupa now, and we hope to see it emerge as a darkling beetle soon.

In social studies, we are still in Peru, studying the culture of the Incans. This week we focused on what we know about daily life in Incan society. We also took some video tours of Machu Picchu. We also continue to work on our Field Guide, to which we will soon be adding a variety of insects, plants, mammals, reptiles, and fish to round out our study of plant and animal life cycles. This, as mentioned, will be an ongoing process with the students taking more and more responsibility for researching the content of their guide and organizing their information appropriately. Remember, this coming week are our student-led conferences. You should have received an email telling you how to book a time. Please do so. I would love to meet those parents and guardians I've not yet met and discuss your child's work and successes!

Hello. We had our Remembrance Day assembly today. Over the week, we talked about what Remembrance Day is and why and how we honour it. Students designed poppies and we made a wreath with them to present at the assembly. The students were very respectful and the assembly was a great success.

 This week we had a math quiz. The point of the quiz was to give me an idea of their understanding of the algorithms for addition as well as their number sense. Please ask your child how they did, or send me an email if they don't remember :). Today we ended the week working on estimating, a real-life skill and a very important element in math. We worked on how to decide what units we should use in our estimating, how to use information we already know to help us, and how to actually go about estimating a variety of things. We will be doing these estimation tasks at least once a week, along with our daily number talks. These will compliment our daily math classes. In science we planted our seeds. Many students have already seen growth. We will be tracking these changes to our eco-columns, as well as hoping for some of our darkling beetles (mealworms) to enter the pupal stage of their development. I've yet to hear back from NASA, but the Canadian Space Agency did email me, and we hope to receive some materials from them soon. In language arts, students are reading their novels regularly. I've switched a few students around to better accommodate their reading levels and interests. We continue to use Reading Powers as our guide for building our comprehension.

In social studies/science/writing, the students began to use their toucan page as a template for creating new pages. This week we gave them information on the Andean condor. Students had to disseminate the information, deciding what was important for their field guide. They then had to decide which section their information belonged in, description, life-cycle, or adaptations. Finally, they had to take the general points they had gathered and turn them into clear, creative, and interesting sentences that would hook readers as well as inform them.

We also constructed a kind of topographical map of Peru using clay. We chose different colours for Peru's different regions, and tried to show geographical differences, such as for the Andes.

Finally, I am still missing a few permission slips for the TELUS Spark field trip. Please send them in ASAP. Thanks!

Hello. Probably the biggest event of the week was Friday's championship flag-football game. The entire school came out to watch the Calgary Dinos take on the Mount Royal University Cougars. The Cougars prevailed in an action-packed, back-and-forth match. It was awesome!

In science this week we built our eco-columns. We had four environmental disasters where eco-columns were knocked over, but we quickly cleaned up and got them back in place. Because of the disasters, I'm afraid I forgot to get some video! I'll have some for next week. Anyway, our mealworms are now happily in their new homes along with red-wiggler worms, and we'll begin to collect data and document our project starting Monday. After building, our groups brainstormed what kinds of data they wanted to collect, what questions they wanted to ask and answer, and how they could go about it. We'll be measuring temperature using a digital infrared temperature gun. We will measure plant growth. We will study the life-cycle of our mealworms. We will examine the water cycle, among other things. We'll investigate the best ways to present our data, including graphing. We'll collect everything and make a final report.

In math we continue to work on arithmetic. As we master the algorithms, we'll continue to build our number sense and mathematical vocabulary. Word problems are a notoriously challenging area for many students. We'll begin this week with numberless word problems and build slowly from their, increasing our ability to think mathematically and to develop our ability to 'see' mathematics. Many students are able to perform pure calculations using algorithms (342 + 234, for example), but struggle to determine what exactly is being asked of them in a word problem. Numberless word problems are a great way to start introducing them to thinking about math in 'real world' applications. Take a look at this link to learn more: numberless word problems

In language arts, we worked on some creative writing, using a visual prompt from the great book, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. We chose a creepy, Halloween themed picture, and the students had to use their imaginations to write a story based on it. It was a great success, and many of our students have taken their stories home to continue working on them. In this task, we were thinking about pacing, plot, grammar, spelling (how to use a dictionary), character, among other things.

We also continued our work on our Field Guide to the Birds of Peru. One of our goals is to practice writing, both for content but also legibility. Some of our students have come quite far in a short time. Below is one student who has progressed extremely well in his legibility and neatness. He was very proud of himself!

As you may know, every Friday the students participate in our Try Something New project. I am running a Lego Robot session where students build and then learn to program their robots. Today our first robots were completed, and programming began. Some Room 16 students are in this group, but most are in other groups. Ask your student what they are doing in their group!

This coming week, we'll be working with Room 17 to create a classroom wreath to present during our Remembrance Day assembly. We'll do some lessons on why we remember, what we're remembering, and examine some of the different roles Canadians have played in war.

The field trip forms for our TELUS Spark trip went home this week. Please ensure your child returns the signed copy to school as soon as possible. Relatedly, we are still looking for some volunteers to our upcoming field trip to Crowfoot Library. If you're interested, please contact me for more details.

Our eco-column designs are complete and we begin building Monday. Students took their individual designs, teamed up, critiqued and brainstormed and came up with a final group design. We'll use those group designs to build our eco-columns. Below is a brief video of one student describing their individual design (mid-process):

In math this week, we moved into an examination of addition algorithms. We focused on the standard algorithm that most of us know well. But we also looked at a few other algorithms, such as the lattice. My main goal is intentional: for the student to choose and master at least one algorithm with which they are comfortable, but to understand that there are a number of ways to solve a problem. Mastery of algorithms is an important part of math development, but our continued development of number sense goes hand-in-hand with it.

One way I've been assessing the students' understanding of what we are doing in math is by introducing intentional and authentic mistakes into example sums. I then have the students examine the problem, determine where the mistake was made, and explain it as if they were the teacher trying to explain to their student what is going on. The nice thing is, there is often more than one way to explain the problem, which allows the students to explore different ideas about math. So, though they still learn that A + B = C, they also learn the WHY so much better than simple rote memorization, develop their number sense, and become more comfortable with math in general.

This is challenging, and the students are really making their brains work and grow by problem-solving the error, correcting it, and explaining it to their peers in a clear way using mathematical vocabulary. It also gives me some excellent formative assessment on how they are doing. Another benefit is that it reinforces how to perform these algorithms accurately, quickly, and with confidence while also showing them some of the common mistakes we tend to make so hopefully they can anticipate and avoid them in the future.

In our Science/Social/Writing/Art project of creating a "Field Guide to the Birds of Peru", this week saw the students turn to drawing a toucan utilizing the principles they learned from watching the "Austin's Butterfly" video (see last week's blog). The students were excited to see how far they could progress by listening to constructive criticism, incorporating those ideas into a new draft, and persevering. I was very proud of them. Below is an example of one student's work.

We also have a curiosity corner, which I keep filled with a variety of interesting objects, such as fossils, geodes, broken small electronic devices (no power), old coins, etc. I let small groups of students work there when they are finished a task, for example. I find this is a great place for students to explore, ask questions, and grow their curiosity. I have them think about what they're doing and tell me how they used their time well, what they learned, and what they want to know more about. They love it! I've posted a couple of videos below of students exploring a fossil as well as an old wasp nest.

This coming week, please expect more information about our upcoming field trip to TELUS Spark. For homework, please work with your child on the addition algorithms we have been studying. Help them master them. Give them practice. Read with them, and have them read to you. Limit their exposure to iPads, iPhones, etc.

Also, we would love to see more parent volunteers in the class. If you're interested in volunteering in Room 16, please let me know. I would love to have you.

Greetings. This week was a VERY busy week. Our grade 3 students wrote the provincial SLA (Student Learning Assessment) for math and language arts. I'll be happy to share the individual results with you. The SLAs meant we had a pretty hectic schedule, as they consist of 2 parts, a written and a computer portion for both reading/writing and math. Our grade 4s participated as well in the written portions since it provides us with a good benchmark for them, too. In between all this, we managed to get some other things done!

In science, we are designing our eco-columns. We are taking our time, trying to think like engineers and designers, and putting in our best effort. This means many drafts before we'll be happy with our final project. We watched (and will watch again) the following video to help us understand how design, peer feedback, and putting in a hard effort can result in extraordinary results. Take a look for yourself: Austin's Butterfly. This video shows what a first-grade student was capable of, and it really provoked our grade 3-4s to push themselves to achieve!

In reading, we now have our book club groups up and running. We continue to work on our Reading Powers, and the children are showing a good understanding of connecting, as well as visualizing and inferring. Right now, we are focusing on three types of connections: connections to self, connections to other texts, and connections to the world.

In writing, we are combining a few disciplines. We are beginning to work on a field guide of animals and plants for the countries we are studying in Social Studies. This project will link language arts, science (plant and animal life cycles), and social studies (our study of Peru, Ukraine, Tunisia, and India). We'll incorporate the lessons from Austin's Butterfly to make our field guide as good as we can, writing and re-writing, drawing and re-drawing our work.

In physical education, we had a special guest this past week: Rob "Frisbee Rob" Mcleod. Rob is a Guiness World Record holder for frisbee, and he has been teaching the children a variety of fun techniques that are developing their hand-eye coordination, accuracy, balance, and movement skills. They are loving it. Rob is also putting out a challenge that we'll be developing: stay off of digital devices for a week. Parents can help by tracking their child and encouraging them to read a book, play outside, do something other than use their devices. They can also write a brief note as 'proof' their child did it. The winner will receive a special frisbee from Rob. More details to follow. P.S. We could still use some 2L pop bottles!

This week we began to focus on our eco-columns. We took temperature measurements from the class prototype and collected that data for a week. We then looked at how best to present that information. We studied different types of graphs and began to work on our own in preparation for our group eco-columns.

In Math, we continue to work on our number sense. This will be an ongoing process. We are now beginning to look at arithmetic, specifically addition and subtraction. We'll be mastering our algorithms and learning how and when to use them in real scenarios (for example, in our science project). We will also begin to look at word problems, starting with numberless problems. From their we will build our fluency and vocabulary. The goal is for the students to clearly understand a problem, what it is asking, what operation is best, and how to tackle it in an efficient manner.

In Social Studies, we continued our journey in Peru. We began by studying the life of a girl named Maria, and her life in the capital city of Lima. We took a brief Google Earth tour of Lima, delving into the Street View function to get a feel for what it is like in the city. We are tying in our art to this unit, with the students working on creating their own patterns along the lines of Peruvian textiles.

In Language Arts, we began our Book Club groups. Each group is working on a different book. Taking turns reading aloud, sharing connections (cf. Reading Powers by Adrienne Gear), writing, the students will progress in their reading.

Hello! We had another busy week. As an update, the school raised $1794.46 in our Terry Fox run! Great work! We didn't quite hit the minimum to let us shave off Mr. Hippe's beard, so we'll have to find another way to get rid of that.

In Math, we continued to work on our number sense by looking at our number system of Base 10. We did so by looking at the fact that other systems for counting exist. We watched a brief video on Base 12. We paused about half way through as not to make it too complicated. Take a look if you like: Base 12 video.

The point was to make the children more comfortable with math by showing them that they can play with it, manipulate it, and to get them to understand why we use the system we do (Base 10). Understanding that we have only 10 symbols, what those symbols are, and the pattern we have for using them to create new numbers will also build their general number sense.

You can work with your child at home on building number sense. Try this link: Number Talks. Scroll down to Grade 3/4. Choose a pattern, and show it briefly to your child. Have them try to figure out the number of dots, and then have them explain their strategy to you. This builds subitizing skills (the ability to look at a group of things and "see" the number instead of having to individually count it out).

In Literacy, we are continuing to read to develop our comprehension skills using Reading Powers. Making connections to stories and other texts helps students internalize what they are reading. We are also writing some fiction right now. Have your child tell you about their turkey story! Our grade 3s are continuing to work on their secret project while we develop our grammar skills. Ask your child about verbs, nouns, adjectives.

In Social Studies, we began our journey to Peru. Our passports were completed, checked at the passport office, and we "flew" to Lima. The kids enjoyed the flight with Mrs. Wilson (our team teacher from Room 17) and myself, and are excited to start exploring Peru's food, culture, clothes, and history.

In Science, we began our investigation of ecosystems (plants and animal life cycles) by receiving news that we had been selected by NASA to help design eco-columns for their astronauts as they prepare to make a 5-year journey to the newly discovered planet X-97a.

If you have any 2L pop bottles at home, please send them in, as we'll need them to build our columns. NASA will supply the rest of the materials.

In this investigation, we will learn about plant life cycles by planting a variety of seeds and watching them grow, collecting data about temperature, growth rates, and other things. We'll graph the data, write reports about our findings. We'll study the decomposition of different materials (bananas, kiwi, for example).

I've hired a class cinematographer (one of our students, chosen weekly :)) to document our journey. As soon as we have edited down some of the footage, we'll start posting it here for you to see. My apologies, as we didn't have time to get to it this week.

In Art, we used our artistic thinking and skills in our science project. We had to design cover pages for our eco-column challenge in our visual journals. The children had to select colours and make a wash as a background. They had to write about why they selected those colours, and how they represent the eco-column. We then tore letters from magazines to spell out the letters of our project.

Next, we'll begin designing our columns, thinking like scientists and engineers about use of space, materials, why we are doing what we are doing, and taking the time to create a design that is neatly drawn and replicable.

We have a lot ahead of us. For homework, please read with your child nightly, and have them read to you. Play some math games. Show them something you think is fascinating about the world. Build their curiosity.