Adventures With Mrs. Craig

What is better than combining subjects and creating something really cool at the same time! Room 13 loved making their skeleton hands after learning how light travels through different material, like glass. We also learned about how shadows grow and shrink depending on how close the light is. We used flashlights to gather ideas and work together.  They have been working together for the past 2 months to have a special movie day! They filled their rock jar and we will be having one tomorrow. They may also wear their costume and bring a special snack (just for themselves) while watching the movie.  We will still be having our spelling test tomorrow. Green group wanted a more challenging word this week so we had added 'multiculturalism'.  

 Yesterday we completed a definition word list for Social Studies. These included: multiculturalism, Francophone, confederation, tourism, economy and community. Ask your child what some of these words mean.  We used our inferring skills to listen to clues and information about everyone's costumes. They each made and completed a book of "Guess My Halloween Costume." They each had 3 clues with words and pictures. Some people, who do not celebrate Halloween, made a book of "Guess My Favourite Animal." Most of them are taking home these books tonight.  Yesterday we calculated how many laps and metres we walked/ran for Chanie Wenjack! Ask your child if they remember that number.  This morning we worked on our coding game! 

 Good Morning! We have not shared photos in a while! Here are a few to look over with your child.  This weeks spelling words: Red: his, is, an, and, can Blue: pitch, drink, swim, life, while Green: fifteen, referee, eager, ready, please

 We learned about a very brave person this week, Chanie Wenjack. Ask your child who this person was. Today for P.E we did laps while remembering how brave he was. Here is a short video  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U4vvn5Gz7E Yesterday we started water colour paintings of a moon and a tree. Most students completed these today. They turned out really beautiful! We listened to a special story called, "Jingle Dancer." We learned about what a powwow is and how special they are to Indigenous people. We applied this story to our Math and created dresses for the main character using arrays.  They are writing spooky stories right now in their journals! They are working with a checklist, cheat sheet for spelling and the elements of a story. Ask your child what their story is about so far! Please look over your child's spelling test. Many of them studied this week! They can write their words down or check the blog every Monday!   Grade 4 students: Read for 30 minutes ...

 We started off our day with learning about the new changes in Calgary. We learned about our new mayor and some of the views and goals she has for our city. We talked again about the voting process.  In Math we decided to collect data of our own! Each child came up with an interesting and created a graph with the possible answers. They took time to quietly walk around the classroom asking each student what they would like to vote for. Ask your child what their question was.  In Language Arts we worked on sentence structure by writing sentences with our spelling words. We went over the words that must be capitalized.  In the afternoon they worked on different word problems together as a class. They then created their own and traded with another student to solve.  In Science we learned about natural and unnatural forms of light. Ask your child 3 examples of each.  We would like to do a Science experiment with a shoe box! If you have any boxes at home that you...

 We had a great Friday together. Please take a look at your child's spelling test. I will continue to post the words at the beginning of the week.  Monday is a PD day.  Tuesday is picture day! Have a wonderful weekend! 

 This afternoon we labeled and created legends on a map of Alberta. We talked about the 6 different regions and the descriptions of each area.  We went on RazKids for the first time today. I will be sending home login information. My username is lcraig16. They know their passwords and login names.  Remember to study your spelling words tonight! We will be having our quiz tomorrow!  We completed our haunted house arrays. They used a checklist to make sure they did their best job and listened to directions.  We started a new class novel called "The Tiger Rising." This book has been great for visualization. We decided the story is quite sad so far. Ask your child what it is about. 

 This morning we started with our coding unit on the lap tops! We enjoyed it much more today, as the program was more fit for our age group (after some feedback!).  We started some array haunted houses today! I will include a picture for reference tomorrow. We wrote out the multiplication sentence as well as the division opposite.  We are starting spelling words this week! Please know that the flexibility of grouping changes throughout the year. Your child may start in a certain group and end up in a different one. We will get to know which group works best for their own learning goals. I have let your child know what group they are starting in, so please ask them and study the words when possible. We will be having spelling tests every Friday.  Red: as, has, fox, box, mix Blue: next, left, help, please, believe Green: attach, where, sandwich, change, watch Quote we loved today:  "When the sun rises, it rises for everyone."

Today we made a poster about different strategies for division. They all worked on a variety of different questions, dependent on their comfort level. Some students asked for really big numbers and were able to explain their strategy and get to the correct answer.  In reading, we read an article about Pixar films and answered 6 questions.  Since Thanksgiving (for some) is coming up, we did a fun writing assignment. I have sent these home with them today. Please have your child read these to you. Most students worked really hard, others I have assigned this home for homework. We worked on this for an hour, so please talk to your child about the work they completed in that time...maybe they should or could add some more detail tomorrow.  Have a great long weekend and I will see you on Tuesday! 

 Today we researched scientific key words. Some words we found the definitions for: light, shadow, transparent, translucent and refraction.  We have finished our classroom novel! They spent time drawing and writing about their most memorable part of the book. We will spend some time deciding on our new novel tomorrow.  Yesterday we started our coding program. It took patience and concentration! We will be continuing next week.  During math, we worked on different strategies to solve division equations. Many students could use some extra practice at home with basic facts for multiplication and division.  Yesterday we created Fall pictures to put up at home! We hope you like them! Friday is a P.D day. Monday no school. 

 I apologize the blog was not updated last week! My son (he was sick) is doing a lot better and I was finally back to school today!  Last week they spent time learning about 'Orange Shirt Day.' They worked on writing assignments and watched important stories around reconciliation. They also ran for Terry Fox day and learned more about his story.  This morning we started off with quiet reading and catch up time.  We finally were able to go on computers! It took a while to sign everyone in (because most forgot their passwords) but they were all able to spend some time on Mathletics. It was important to log everyone on because tomorrow we are starting a special coding program! I was able to sign them up for free! We will be doing this for an hour a day. Many students seemed quite excited!  They had quiet writing time today. I gave them a picture prompt for a story idea. The picture is below. Others decided on their own topic. Ask your child what their story is abou...