PD DAY ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 29th

Enjoy the day!

Cross Country Meet moved to Wednesday, October 4th.

LAST MINUTE INFORMATION:
Dress in layers. It’s cool outside today. Bring something to sit on like an old blanket, towel or garbage bag.

Math
Today we reviewed the different things a representation can show about a number. Remember, some representations may show more than one thing about a number, while at the same time not show other information about a number.

For example, a number line may show how large a number is, what numbers it is between or closer to. But it doesn't really show if a number is even or odd or if it can be shown in groups of 10s, 100s or 1000s.

Complete the last page in your MathUP duo-tang.

Literacy
It is important that you read your book several times BEFORE  reading groups. It will make you better prepared to share and summarize your book with your group and discuss the focus question (characteristics of a narrative).

Science
The plants and animals in a habitat are INTERDEPENDENT. See the definition below:

Make sure you show and describe three examples of how plants / animals are interdependent in your chosen habitat at St. Nicholas. Remember you can show plant-plant / animal - plant / animal - animal.

Here's an interesting film clip that shows examples from around the globe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bFSR_4PmCk

Library

Our Library period is scheduled for WEDNESDAYS. Please return your book tomorrow if you forgot it today.

Reminders:

• Dress down day tomorrow
• Cross Country Meet at St. Nicholas tomorrow. Come to school prepared to run. If you are not sure if we will run in the morning, I will post any cancellations on the blog in the morning. Bring plenty of water and food (no sugary drinks).
• Bring a toonie for Terry!
• Bring your rock
• Return your assessment duo-tang with next steps completed and signed

Literacy
More practice today at bumping up our stretchy sentences. Remember to use your creativity, imagination and BOOK OF LISTS! At the end of the week, you will be doing a self assessment of your writing so far.

Reading groups tomorrow. PLEASE PRACTICE READING YOUR BOOK OUT LOUD.  You will have a test after you read the book with your group. There will be 10 multiple choice questions and the focus question is still characteristics of a narrative. You may use the example in your notebook as a guide.

We also brainstormed our line for our school prayer. This is what you came up with. I combined a few ideas. I must submit our idea tomorrow so think about which one you like best. The line must be under 10 words. If an amazing idea pops into your head, you are more than welcome to share it with the class tomorrow.

Strengthen us to be like you.
Strengthen us to follow you and choose right over wrong.
Strengthen our love for everyone
Strengthen us to conquer hard tasks
Strengthen us to be ourselves
Strengthen us to choose the path of love
Strengthen us to have the courage to never give up

Math
We had some excellent number detectives who followed and wrote clever clues today.

Can you guess three possible numbers that fit these clues? 

What number can it NOT be?

• I have five digits.
• I can be expressed as ____ hundreds but not ____thousands.
• My thousands digit is twice my ten-thousands digit.

Please take some time today and play the match-up game. It will give you ideas on how to write different kinds of clues for your own mystery number on the cue card.

INSTRUCTIONS

 • Play with a partner or in a small group

 • Shuffle the cards and arrange them in a 4-by-4 array face down.

 • Take turns turning over two cards: – If the number and clues match, keep the matching cards. – If the cards don’t match, turn them over. – If you get two number cards or two clue cards, turn them over and take another turn. 

• Play until all the cards have been matched. • The player with more matched cards wins.

Religion

Tomorrow is orange shirt day. We talked today about what we remember on this day. You do not have to participate. It's up to you.....

Here is some background information about residential schools:

Share with a parent the beautiful story of "Shi-shi-etko"

Science

Throughout the week we will be writing informational paragraphs that compare and contrast the plants and animals in your group's habitat.

Reminders:

• Orange shirt day tomorrow
• Terry Fox run and Racing with the Nighthawks on Thursday.
• Bring a toonie for Terry.
• Cross country permission forms are still outstanding.
• Thank you to parents who have been paying for trips and purchases online.

Literacy
Today we talked about he parts of speech and the different types of sentences. The big idea of stretchy sentences is to increase your vocabulary, write descriptively and write more complex sentences. In the sentence below, which words are the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs?

The devious thief tiptoed silently through the jewelry store after he disengaged the alarm.




Math
We continued our discussion on representing numbers different ways. This time we talked about what the representation tells us about a number. Please make sure you review the YELLOW page in your MathUp duo-tang. The first few questions ask you to identify what each representation tells you about a number. The last questions ask you to apply your skills and tell what each of your representation tells you about a number.

You can use this link (you need your login information) to help you with your homework:
http://www.mathup.ca/uploads/teacherdoc/G4_T1_L4_print_ML.pdf

Religion

Today we talked about rocks. Rocks in Religion? What did we compare rock formation to?

Most of you understood how to navigate the Bible. Remember: book, chapter, verse(s). 

For example:

John 3: 5 - 8

You would say, "The gospel according the John, chapter 5 verses 5 to 8."

Science

We completed our explorations of the the school habitats. Tomorrow you will use the information to write an informational paragraph. Remember how a paragraph is organized?

Reminders:

• Terry Fox and "Racing with the Nighthawks" cross country are on Thursday, September 28th
• Bring a toonie for Terry
• Recorder money for Mr. Morson
• PD Day on Friday

Cross Country Meet Cancelled due to heat.

It has been re-scheduled for Thursday.

We will make it our Terry Fox run as well.

Don't forget to bring in your toonies for Terry!

• Run with the Nighthawks Cross Country meet at St. Nicholas tomorrow (Monday) morning. Bring plenty of water and snacks (running makes you hungry), gym clothes and running shoes.

• Don't forget to finish your Prodigy assignment.
• Cross Country permission forms and money
• Read, read, read.......

Try to find a good rock for painting. We will be painting on Thursday.
Check out some images below and using the link (just a Google search "rock painting for kids":
https://www.google.ca/search?q=rock+painting+for+kids&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiVr_Sbwb7WAhXHLmMKHSyuDDsQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=934

Math
Today we went through the different ways to represent a number and did a little review for the quiz tomorrow. In you YELLOW notebook is an example of each way. For your test you must know how to represent a number using:

• Standard form
• Expanded form numbers
• Expanded form words
• On a place value chart
• Base-ten blocks (least or other combinations or only one kind of block)
• Words (how it is read)
• Cheque

You will be able to use the anchor charts posted in class so spelling counts! You can use a place value chart or base-ten blocks.

How to study?

• Go through your notebook and correct all mistakes. If you don't, you will make the same errors on the quiz. 
• Do similar questions but change the numbers.
• Use your textbook and duotang (yellow pages) to review important skills or big ideas

Grade 4 links for review:
http://www.mathk8.nelson.com/math4/quizzes/math4quizzes/m4ch2l1.htm
http://www.mathk8.nelson.com/math4/quizzes/math4quizzes/m4ch2l2.htm

Grade 5 links for review:
http://math5.nelson.com/quizzes/math5quizzes/gr5_ch2_les2.htm
http://math5.nelson.com/quizzes/math5quizzes/gr5_ch2_les3.htm

Literacy

Much better job in reading groups. As I was walking around, the biggest issue seems to be following along in the book when another person is reading. It's important that you're practicing all the skills we have discussed in class such as check for understanding and characteristics of a narrative.

Library

Please return your library book if you forgot it. Our library period is on Wednesday @ 2:30 pm.

Reminders:

• Cross country practice tomorrow
• Permission form and money for upcoming meet

Picture Day Tomorrow (Thursday)

Please make sure you bring your book for reading groups.

Literacy
Today we reviewed the five (six) characteristics of a narrative and how identify them in a story.

We will be having reading groups on Thursday. Please practice reading your book for Thursday. Check for understanding as you read and identify the characteristics of a narrative after. Your quiz will have 10 multiple choice questions and a question asking you to identify the 5 characteristics of a narrative and give an example from the story for each. You may use the anchor charts posted in class and the book to complete your quiz.

Math
Today we reviewed expressing numbers in words and expressing a number different ways. On Thursday we will talk about what each representation tells us about the number. On Friday you will be having a Math test on representing numbers. It is important that you correct homework mistakes. If you don't, you will keep making the same errors. I'm usually free at lunch times to help. I'm also available after school.

Social Studies
Learn the location and SPELLING on the provinces and territories. Colour your map LIGHTLY and neatly. Provinces and territories are PROPER NOUNS so each word in their name needs a CAPITAL LETTER.

Religion
Once again Father John led us in a beautiful mass. The gospel reading fit very nicely with our Religion lesson today. The grade five Religion program is about the Church and how the Church is a community of God's followers. Who did Jesus call to follow him in the gospel reading? Be on the look out for a good rock. If you do a Google search "rock paining for kids" you will get some nifty ideas. We won't be painting until next week.

Heritage / Multicultural Day
Tomorrow is Heritage Day at St. Nicholas. Wear something that shows your family's culture. You are only allowed to be out of uniform if what you're wearing is related to your culture.

Reminders

• Cross country permission forms
• I will be away tomorrow. Please work hard to complete your Matisse art. You will be given some time on the computers, so bring your Prodigy login information.

Have a wonderful day Magnificent 4/5 Minions

Literacy
Please make sure you get caught up on all your stretchy sentences. You should have two weeks copied neatly into your writing notebook. On Mondays we will be writing our revised sentences in good, so you must have the week complete before you leave on Friday. It is your RESPONSIBILITY. Stretchy sentences cannot be taken home to complete. If you spell descriptive words incorrectly, you are not using your Book of Lists or a thesaurus. EXPAND YOUR VOCABULARY.

Math
Today's homework from Nelson Math should be easy. We have practiced how to represent numbers different ways quite a bit. We will be having a TEST on FRIDAY. It is important that you are playing the games sent home for practice. Sometimes the games are better at teaching concepts than pencil and paper homework.

Today everyone received a Prodigy account and the MathUp login information. Your Prodigy assignment is due on FRIDAY.

Social Studies
We reviewed some basic geographical knowledge today:

• Continents
• Oceans
• Provinces / Territories
• Capital Cities

Use the link below to review or learn the political regions of Canada:
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Canadian_Geography.htm

Cross Country
Most of the class is training hard for the upcoming cross country meets. It is so hard choosing just one person each day. Keep it up!

Reminders:

• Mass tomorrow at St. George @ 9:30 am
• Several students have not submitted Agenda money. Please remit as soon as possible.
• Multicultural day on Wednesday, September 20th. Wear a shirt / clothes that represent the country of your family / ancestors.

Happy Weekend!

Literacy
On Friday we read a beautiful story, "A Chance to Shine" that showed how we can be "Responsible Citizens," out first Catholic Graduate Expectation. A few questions to think about for Monday.....

• What does it mean to be homeless?
• How might someone find themselves in this situation? What might have happened to them?
• Why did the father decide to help Joe?
• Why did the boy begin to 'hang around' with kids he used to call strange?
• What lesson did he learn from his father?
• How might you give someone a chance to shine in your life?

Math
In Math, we learned a practical application of standard form and words, writing a cheque! You may choose 5 items from flyers either on-line or paper flyers. Remember to practice signing your name on the lined piece of paper. Make sure your cheque is clear and easy to read.


http://www.mathup.ca/ui/LessonDetail/Action/5/0/37/338 (let me know if the link works)

Art
The artist we studied on Friday was Henri Matisse. What do you remember about this artist? Where did he live? What happened to him later in life? Remember Matisse's use of organic shapes as you complete your art.

Here's a humorous story about Matisse and another famous artist...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EldIXkzI0dY



Another wonderful day. Today we had 6 students reach the top of the chart! Decide what you'd like to do during your free gym time super students.

Math
Today we practiced representing numbers different ways using money. For example, this week at Best Buy ......

A MacBook is $2799. What are five different ways to pay for this computer using:

Use a place value chart to organize your thinking. Remember:

• when you take $100 bill away, you regroup it as ten $10 bills 
• when you take $10 bill away, you group it as ten $1
• use addition to make sure your combination adds to $2799

$100	$10	$1
27	9	9
26	19	9
27	8	19
20	79	9

Use the cards from Monday to play "Many Possibilities".

Science

We reviewed the the different things a habitat must provide a plant and animal for it to survive. We also started our summary chart. Some of you were able to find the names of the different plants you took a picture of in our schoolyard. Remember, one of our "I can" statements is using critical thinking and research skills to learn about habitats. 

Learning Skills

Our first learning skill is RESPONSIBILITY. Please review the success criteria for responsibility using the pages at the beginning of your agenda. I will be on the lookout for responsible minions over the next week.

Reminders:

• Tomorrow is International Dot Day. Although we did not formally discuss this celebration, you are welcome to wear your dots tomorrow.

• Bring your favourite picture book to share with your reading buddy tomorrow!

Welcome Helena to our classroom. Helena has just arrived from Venezuela. Thank you to everyone who made her feel welcome in our classroom.

Math
Our mental math strategy for today was DOUBLES or NEAR DOUBLES and PLACE VALUE.

DOUBLES or NEAR DOUBLES:

29 + 29 The closest number that is easy to double is 30 so.....
30 + 30 = 60 - 2 (because you added two extra) = 58

Try these:
27 + 28
49 + 49
19 + 18
38 + 38

PLACE VALUE

When we use the place value strategy, we add the tens and add the ones, then add them together.

37 + 48
30 + 40 = 70
7 + 8 = 15
70 + 15 = 85

Try these:
67 + 19
38 + 38
47 + 29

Literacy
Today we practiced reading with our group. We need to practice reading productively with our group. Unfortunately we were unable to finish reading because of a wonderful assembly on Terry Fox. We will continue reading tomorrow and finish quizzes.

Terry Fox
What a wonderful story we heard from our friend from "Down Under" (Australia). It is truly remarkable that this Canadian hero is know internationally. Do you agree that Terry Fox should be one of the top 100 athletes of all time? I DO!

Our Terry Fox run is WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28th. Remember to bring in toonies and loonies for Terry anytime before or on the day of our run. Together we can help find a cure for cancer.

Library
Today we had our first visit to the library with Mrs. Allen. Make sure you read each evening and return your book next week.

Art
Finish your hand for tomorrow.They look wonderful on the bulletin board.

Thank you to all the families who dropped with evening. It was wonderful speaking with everyone. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concern.

Math

Our mental math strategy today was making magic tens. There are a few ways to make magic tens. Use the strategy that you find the easiest, but challenge yourself to use more than one strategy. For example:

38 + 45 = ?

If we use the "give and take" method, we add 2 to 38 and take 2 away from 45 so our new question is: 40 + 43 = ? It's easy to add on from ten, 40 + 40 + 3 = 83

If you had the question 67 + 23= ? you could solve it using the "give and take" method or you could see a magic ten in the ones place. 7+3 = 10 and 60 + 20 = 80 so the answer is 80 + 10 = 90.

Try these strategies for the questions below:
29 + 36
52 + 28
37 + 37

Today we also discussed different  ways to represents numbers. Using 26 812...

Standard Form: 26 812
Expanded form numbers (numerals) : 20 000 + 6000 + 800 + 10 + 2
Expanded from words (and numbers): 2 ten thousands + 6 thousands  + 8 hundreds + 1 ten + 2 ones
On a place value chart:

Ten Thousands	Thousands	Hundreds	Tens	Ones
2	6	8	1	2

Base-Ten Blocks:

How it is read:

twenty-six thousand eight hundred twelve

Please play the game after you finish your homework.

Literacy

Today we shared the story "Dictionary Dave" and practiced check for understanding. Remember when you check for understanding you do NOT retell the story, you summarize or pick out the most important idea or ideas.

Practice reading your book fluency out loud. Check for understanding as your read. Make sure yo know how to read all the words. Tomorrow you will be reading your book with your group. You will have a short quiz (multiple choice) after your group is finished reading. You may use the book to answer the questions.

PLEASE RETURN THE BOOK. YOU WILL NOT HAVE A BOOK TO READ IF YOU LEAVE IT AT HOME!

Science

On this beautiful day we went to explore the habitats around our school. You should have listed the living and non-living parts of area you chose to explore. If it is living, it is either a plant or animal. Thursday we will be looking at the photographs and notes you took on each area.

We saw lots of these in the tall grass. Can you identify them?

Kagan / Collaborative Work 

Share with a parent the name you chose for your group. Explain how the name was chosen. It might take me a few days to learning all the creative names!

Reminders:

• Outstanding forms / $10 for Agenda
• Back to School BBQ tomorrow (Wednesday 4:30 - 6:00 pm)
• Cross country practice tomorrow

Literacy
Today we discussed a VERY IMPORTANT during reading strategy, CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING. It is one that you should use often. Depending on the difficulty of the text, you stop and ask yourself two questions (fiction text):
Who was it about?
What happened?
When you are doing this, you are SUMMARIZING the text using YOUR OWN WORDS. A summary is a short account of the most important things that happened in a story. If you are able to check for understanding effectively, summarizing will be easy.

Tomorrow you will be given a book to take home to practice reading FLUENTLY and CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING. On Wednesday, you will be reading your books in groups to practice reading and checking for understanding. 

I modeled check for understanding using a pretty remarkable true story. Summarize "Miracle on Main Street" for a parent.  

Math

Today we continued with expressing a number either as tens OR hundreds OR thousands OR ten thousands (grade 5). If you had one type of base-ten block, could you show a specific number? 

The yellow pages in your duotang are to help you review the big idea of the lesson. The white pages are the questions. Today you had the same question repeated 3 or 4 times.

Make sure you create a table in your notebook. Fill it in for the numbers you choose from the list. Then answer the questions. Help is available using MathUP on-line. Go back to the weekend post to get our class access code. Tomorrow a game will come home to practice.

Tomorrow we will the decomposing numbers into places using a place value chart. This is probably more familiar to you. Once we know where to put a number on a place value chart, we can represent it many different ways including:

• base-ten blocks
• expanded form words
• expanded form numbers
• standard form

Sound familiar? I hope so!

Science

Today we began our unit on "Habitats". What are the five things that a plant or animal need to survive?

Think about what your interested in researching about habitats.......

Weather permitting, tomorrow we will go out and explore the different habitats near our school. 

If you have not finished the following assignments, you must stay in at lunch recess. Most of you are almost done.

• All About Me poster
• Dice
• Stretchy Sentences
• Hand art

Physical Education

It was hot today, but you persevered and ran beautifully. Go Team Hollis!

Reminders:

• Family BBQ on Wednesday after school
• Pink Emergency Information forms
• Blue Parent form
• $10.00 for agenda

Happy Weekend Magnificent Grade 4/5!
We're off to a great start. Most of you are following classroom routines beautifully. BRAVO!

Writing
Just a few observation regarding stretchy sentences.

• Make sure you are using your Book of Lists to expand your vocabulary. The more you flip through the book, the more you'll know where to locate jazzy words.
• Try to change the subject or topic of your sentence, the who. Don't just say boy, girl, man. Be creative. If your topic is a person be specific e.g. teacher, toddler, teenager, athlete, pilot etc. There are lots of ideas on the coloured pages of your orange duotang.
• PRINT NEATLY and CHECK YOUR SPELLING.
• Use the success criteria (I can sentences) at the front of your duotang to check your sentences BEFORE you hand in your duotang.

Math
Today both grades did a question with a partner to assess what you remembered from last year.
Grade 4:

Let's say you chose the number 670
How do you say the number? six hundred seventy (that's 3 words). Do not use the word "and". When we move to decimals, you'll see that "and" represents the position of the decimal.

The easy way to represent your number with base-ten blocks is just how it appears on a place value chart .

 

What if we REGROUPED 1hundred block for 10 ten blocks? The representation would look like this:

 

So 670 = 5 hundreds + 17 tens

 

What if you regrouped one more hundred? How many tens would you have now?

 

What do these representations say about your number? Hmmm..... what do they mean. Well, you could say pretty much anything. For example, your number is an even number, it is closer to 700 than 600.... ( I can understand the confusion with this question).

 

Extend your thinking.....

Let's say you picked the number 903. Could you represent this number using just 10 blocks?

Can you represent 670 using just 10 blocks?

 

Grade 5:

 



Let's say you chose:
4500, 2620, 2338

You can use your place value chart and represent your numbers using base ten blocks. For the last number:

You could represent your number in expanded form using numerals:
2000 + 300 + 30 + 8

Which of the above numbers could you write using ONLY tens blocks. Well, there is one zero in tens. As long as there is a zero in the ones place, you can represent the number using just 10 blocks.
So 4500 = 450 tens
     2620 = 262 tens
The last number has a 8 ones. Since 8 ones are less than 1 group of ten, you cannot express this number using ONLY ten blocks.

Which of the above number could you write using ONLY hundred blocks? Well, there are two zeros in 100, so only numbers with zeros in the ones and tens place can be represented with just 100 blocks.
So 4500 = 45 hundreds

I'm having difficulty accessing the MathUP student site, but you can try at home.

 

Go to the menu tab at the side, click grade 4 or 5, resources, digital games. The first game for both grades should be practicing representing numbers.

 

Thank you for you for completing all 4 diagnostic tests. Remember to work quietly with your group or independently when I am working with a group at the table.

 

 

 

 

Reminders:

• Back to School Evening Wednesday, September 13
• Cross Country practice Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays (practice on the weekends)
• Pink Emergency Information form
• $10 for Agenda

See you on Monday, Magnificent Grade 4/5 Minion!