Ms Elder's Grade 4/5 Class

Citizenship in Learning: I can think of others and create something that builds community. Science: I can recognize evidence of animals, native plants, and changes in seasons; I can label diagrams accurately. Yesterday's Community Walk took us along the river pathway. Students enjoyed looking for signs that animals had been there, and spotting animals along the way (mallards, mergansers, crows, magpies, chickadees). They documented what they found on a Scavenger Hunt sheet that we will be gifting to Ms Rowland's Grade 1/2 class. The students demonstrated their knowledge of native plants through their detailed drawings and labels. This was a partner task; partners were chosen by Ms Elder. 

French: I can learn vocabulary relating to clothing; I can speak in French with increasingly accurate pronunciation.  We are practicing clothing vocabulary in French in preparation for the Fashion Show ( for more information, see our previous post - click here ).   Today, Ms Elder put us into partners. We sorted these vocabulary words into two piles: colours and clothing words. Then, we drew a person in our journals. We took turns pulling out two slips. Then, we drew the clothing that we picked on to our person and coloured it. We then had to label 5 items and their colours to practice for the fashion show. "I liked being able to pick a random clothing and item and colour and see what it looks like at the end."~ Callie "I liked how we could see other people's creations and let them see ours so we can figure out their French words." ~ Dillon "I liked this activity because it wasn't just a worksheet. It was an activity that was fun." ~ Sadie "I

French: I can learn vocabulary relating to clothing; I can speak in French with more accurate pronunciation 

  LA: I can organize my ideas using a chart or table; I can compare different kinds of media (book vs film) We recently finished our class read aloud book, Wonder .  As a follow-up activity, we chose a character in the book to write to and we gifted them a precept. For more info on that assignment, please click here .  Wonder Precept letters have been marked and were handed out today. You can look over them with your child and let me know if you have any questions. We are putting our Precept Faces up on the wall to remind us of those wise "words to live by." On Friday, we watched the movie, Wonder . We discussed different ways to organize our ideas to show what is the same and different about the book. The students mentioned T-Charts and Venn Diagrams, which we have conveniently been studying in Math :) Students could choose the format they used. We paused the movie multiple times throughout to discuss the similarities and differences and added on to our charts. At the end of

Please prepare to welcome our Student Teacher, Ms Morgan Dool. She will drop in tomorrow to meet the class, and will start full-time on Monday. She is from St Mary's University and will be with us for a few weeks now and back again in March.  Let's help her feel welcome and respected! :)

Math: I can explore Area (Gr 4)/Perimeter and Area (Gr 5) by constructing shapes. Math: I can build different rectangles with the same Area. Art: I can use the space on the page well. Students are taking home their Zoo Designs today. Please find some time this week to sit with your child and read through my marks and comments. If you have questions, let me know. Here are a couple of great examples from the class!

We did it! We finished the book. :) Students, this is a friendly reminder that you may want to think over the weekend about your Wonder Letter that you'll start writing on Monday. You need to choose :  Which character you want to write to Which precept (quote, words to live by) you want to gift them Remember, you can choose to make up your own precept, or use a quote you've heard. If you're using a quote you've heard, please include the name of the person who said it. If you're not sure, you can Google It or write "Unknown."  You can choose to connect a precept with a character because you think they lived by it, or because you think they need to live by it (*cough cough*...Julian). We'll start writing on Monday! :) ~ Ms Elder  

A big thank you to everyone who sent in food bank donations for the veterans! The class did a fantastic job sharing today during the virtual assembly. I posted the song they learned in Music to the Google Classroom so you can see it. They also learned and shared live a French poem called "Brave Soldats."  I hope you have a peaceful Remembrance Day tomorrow and a rejuvenating PD Day on Friday. I'll see the students back on Monday! ~ Ms Elder

Science: I can explain what a food chain is and create my own example; I can explain why wetlands are important and how we can protect them. Art: I can explore a variety of media. Reminder: Homework due Monday, November 15 Students need to decide the animals that they'd like to have in their food chain. All animals must be found in a wetland ecosystem, and students should double-check online to make sure their food chain is accurate (ex: that beavers do eat trees).  They need to write down their list of animals on a piece of paper and bring it to school Monday so that they are ready to create their artwork.  The artwork will be based off of this link (click here) . It is a fun and creative way to express food chain understanding.  I posted lots of links and resources in our Google Classroom to help with this assignment.  If you have questions, please email me. ~ Ms Elder

Art: I can explore different types of media. Citizenship: I can take action to help better my community. Today, we did painting for the fence art project. We were painting butterflies and flowers and bees and we were having help from Ms Monica. We got to paint any way we wanted: it was like free paint. There was one rule: we had to have eyes. Ms Monica said that if someone is passing by on the sidewalk, they can see how the paintings are looking at them cutely. This also makes them look like a collection.  In this project, we also did some co-operating to share the paints. "It was fun getting to make things. You had to be really careful not to spill paint on things." ~ Iggy "I learned that we should still have fun and still learn from it, like not to spill." ~ Dillon "It was fun being able to paint your own design and it didn't have to be too detailed. If you wanted to, you could paint the whole thing purple." ~ Callie "I think people's design

Math: I can sort and organize data.   Yesterday in Math, we got together all of our class' food bank donations. Ms Elder pulled out two hula hoops and laid them on the floor like this. We knew was it was called: a Venn Diagram! She put items in the Venn Diagram and had us guess her sorting rules . Can you guess the two rules in the picture? Then, we got to draw two circles on whiteboards and come up with our own sorting rules. We traded with classmates to see if they could guess ours. Items that are "both" of the sorting rules go in the middle. This helps us sort, or organize, objects. This is also called classifying . "I found it was hard to think of an idea at first for a sorting rule." ~ Lawrence "I learned that sorting is important to real life." ~ Callie "Today, I learned that Venn Diagrams are used everywhere. There are a lot of different sorting rules you can use." ~ Sebastian K "It was fun to guess other people's Venn Diagram

Hi Parents, Just a quick note about special clothing requests this week:  Tuesday (tomorrow) we will be painting our fence pieces. It is recommended that students wear "grubby" clothes that won't get ruined tomorrow when we paint.  Wednesday is our Remembrance Day assembly. If possible, please have your child wear a plain white, red, or black shirt, or something you feel is respectful for the assembly, as our class is presenting (virtually).

Hi Parents, We are discussing Remembrance Day and who a veteran is in preparation for Remembrance Day and the assembly next week. I encourage you to talk with your child about this topic and share any family connections that you know of who served for Canada. If your child would like to tell the class about a family member and which war they were involved in, they are welcome to do a short presentation (this is completely optional). Feel free to send me any photos they'd like to project on the Smartboard, such as a photo of a family member in uniform or of earned medals.  A reminder that Remembrance Day is next Thursday, November 11 and there is no school that day. A second reminder that students are encouraged to wear plain white, red, or black tomorrow for filming of their song in Music for the assembly. If you have any questions, please let me know. Erin

SS: I can make a connection with the land; I can explore how public spaces serve its citizens. Science: I can explain what a food web is and how its components are interconnected.  Yesterday, we went on a Community Walk to build our connection with the land. On our walk, we saw a coyote! We have been learning about food webs in class, and many of us had a coyote in our food web. (Click here to see our post about food webs and Community Walks) . It was a great confirmation that there are coyotes in this area in our ecosystem! The coyote hid in bushes that were the same colour as it to camouflage. It's tricky to see in the photo but it's there! It was good to see the coyote up on the hill because it showed everyone that there is evidence of a food chain. We see snowshoe hares and rabbits jumping up the hill at the school and now we saw the coyote! Next, we arrived at the Rainbow Trout playground. This playground is super special because it's inclusive . The swings have backs

French: I can develop my French vocabulary and pronunciation; I can develop an understanding of the French culture. For the past couple of weeks, we have been learning the vocabulary for trees in French to coincide with our learning of plants in Science. We read stories, reviewed vocabulary, and learned the lyrics to the classic Quebecois folk song, L'Arbre Est Dans Ses Feuilles . We have learned about wooden spoons and how to play them, as well as some cultural connections to Quebec. It had been our plan to videotape us singing the song and playing the spoons but due to technical challenges, this sadly could not happen.  Instead, we can sing the song for you at home! If you're interested, here are some of the videos we watched as a class:  How to Play the Spoons from the National Music Centre Spoon Playing and Quebecois Culture The Song: L'Arbre Est Dans Ses Feuilles