Science
Test #2 tomorrow. Make sure you know the meaning of coniferous, deciduous and marsh land. Coniferous trees usually have needles and have their seeds in CONES. Deciduous trees lose their leaves in the winter. A marsh is a type of wetland.

Remember the story of Farmer Joe..... what happened when he shot on the birds eating his corn?

How do humans affect habitats in a negative way?
What are two natural ways that habitats change?

Why can the wildebeest, gazelle and zebra all live on the African Savanna?

What is an INVASIVE SPECIES? What are two examples of invasive species?

Reminders:

• Permission forms for upcoming class trips
• Practice part for mass next week. Remember to read SLOWLY, CLEARLY and LOUDLY.

Science
Focus on studying for your test tomorrow. Remember there will be this question that was not on your study guide:

List the five things a habitat provides for a living thing.
Answer: air, water, space, food and shelter

Think about this question (hint, hint....)

First Part: How are living things interdependent in a habitat?
Second Part: Describe how two living things in the St. Nicholas community are interdependent.

Remember when constructing food chains energy flows from one living thing to another. This is shown using ARROWS.


Reminders:

• Permission form and money for trip to "Alice in Wonderland"
• Permission form and money for trip to see "The Star"
• Practice reading for the mass
• Off uniform day tomorrow
• Are you working on your project?

Math
Today we solved problems using estimation. About how many glasses of milk does a school of 420 drink in one month? Was it more than you expected?

Try this one (you'll need a calculator):
How many schools are needed for 100 000 students?

Remember to use reasoning.

Literacy

Can't wait to read your "show don't tell emotion". If you haven't finished, think of all the different ways your body reacts when it is angry or sad or excited or nervous. Here's a few more...

Social Studies

Today we talked about features or characteristics of non-fiction and different landforms. 

Here are some characteristics of non-fiction. As we read our textbook, try to pick out the different features and think about why they are used.

We began our study of the Cordillera. Where is it located? What does the word cordillera mean? Make sure you complete your chart of the different landforms in the Cordillera. Remember for location just put where it is in the region e.g. southern, west coast, central or throughout the entire region. 

Here are a few landforms (not all of these are in the Cordillera):

Reminders:

• Permission form and money for trip to "Alice in Wonderland" 
• Practice your part for the school mass next week.
• Gifts for the St. Nicholas Giving Tree.... think about picking up a toy for a child for Christmas...
• Science tests Thursday and Friday

Literacy
Don't forget to do complete your word study practice tonight.

Today we read the first few chapters of "The One and Only Ivan". Most of the responses in the journal are RED questions. You must make an INFERENCE and support the inference using proof from the book and your own ideas. Think about...

Ivan says, "In my size humans see a test of themselves."
What do you think he means? When humans look at Ivan what do they think? What do they assume a  gorilla is thinking?

Ivan says, "Anger is precious. A silverback uses anger to maintain order and warn his troop of danger. When my father beat his chest, it was to say, Beware, listen, I am in charge. I am angry to protect you, because that was what I was born to do."

For tomorrow's writing lesson, think of a time you felt a strong emotion. When did you feel angry, sad, afraid, surprised or nervous?

Math
We finished comparing and ordering numbers. Try to play at least one game tonight. RETURN the games tomorrow. We will find some time to play therm. Get your MathUP homework signed. Correct homework from last week.

Religion
On Sunday we celebrated the feast of Christ the King. Remember the words of Jesus...

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.
Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me."

The feast of Christ the King is always celebrated the week before Advent. Why?

Science
Make sure you're studying each evening for your tests on Thursday and Friday. Think about your creature for your project. Some students have completed the handout already. BRAVO!

Social Studies
Today we began our study of the physical or landform regions of Canada. The physical features of a region refers to what the land is like. There are three main landform regions in Canada:

1. Shield (Canadian Shield)
2. Highlands (Western Cordillera, Appalachian, Arctic)
3. Lowlands (Interior Plains, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Great Lake-St. Lawrence Lowlands, Arctic)

Tomorrow we begin with the Western Cordillera.... absolutely breathtaking!

Day 4 no Smart Board.......

Math

On Friday we reviewed comparing and ordering numbers. I think everyone understands how to compare and order numbers, it's just the explaining. For example:

54 109 and 52 957

I know that both numbers are greater than 50 000 so I looked at the thousands place. 54 000 is greater than 52 000 so I know that 54 109 is the greater number.

You can also use a number line:

Being able to explain your reasoning for which number is larger or smaller will help with our next topic on rounding.

Make sure your math test is signed.

Science

You were given two very important handouts on Friday. The first handout was a study guide to your tests. 

For test #1 the definitions will be match up. The word on one side and the definition on the other.

For test #2 the definitions will be part of communication. For example, what are some different ways that habitats change naturally? How do humans change habitats? Give an example of a depleted or extinct species. Why did it become extinct or is depleted?

The second Science handout was about your project. Start thinking about your new animal.

Decide the following to make sure your animal is suitable for its habitat:

• Type of consumer
• Food
• Adaptations
• Habitat

Different habitats in the world:

Powerful video about "Great Pacific Garbage Patch":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qT-rOXB6NI

Reminders:

• Project handout signed by a parent
• Mass December 6th at St. George. We will be leading the mass. Come see me if you would like to read.
• Permission form / money for trip to see "Alice in Wonderland" at St. Theresa. Thank you to parents who have indicated that they have paid online.

Day 3 with no Smart Board.... two laptops at each group worked quite well once the program was loaded. We'll try that again.

Literacy
Great job reading with your group. I'm looking forward to reading all the different messages. Green questions are easy to ask and answer. Yellow questions are similar to green questions The answer is still somewhere in the text but you need to think about it. Red questions include those asking for your opinion... why do you think? The message of the story is a red question. I think it was a little soon to test yellow and red questions. We will brainstorm some yellow and red questions and post them in the classroom to help.


Read some fun facts about gorillas:
http://www.ducksters.com/animals/gorilla.php

Math
Everyone had a good grasp on how to compare and order numbers. The harder part was explaining why one number was larger than another. Remember our sentence starters....

I looked at the _____________ place and saw that __________ was greater than ___________ so _________ is the greater number.

If we had to compare 17 894 and 17900:

I looked at the ten thousand and thousand places and saw that they were the same, so looked at the hundreds place. 9 hundreds are greater than 8 hundreds so 17 900 is greater than 17 894.

Extra Practice:
Grade 4 - http://www.math4.nelson.com/quizzes/math4quizzes/m4ch2l3.htm
Grade 5 - http://math5.nelson.com/quizzes/math5quizzes/gr5_ch2_les4.htm

Grade 4 tests signed and next steps completed.

Physical Education
All groups had their groove on today. Nice dancing! How many movements do you see below?



Reminders:

• Music tomorrow
• Field trip permission form and money
• IT IS NOT OFF UNIFORM TOMORROW
• Toy Drive

Day 2 of no Smart Board..... we are surviving!

Math
Today we talked about BENCHMARK numbers. Benchmark numbers are familiar numbers that we use to understand the size of numbers, to estimate numbers or to compare numbers.

Literacy

We were able to think of some very powerful messages for the story "The Fence" including:

• Don't act or speak out of anger
• When you speak unkindly it can permanently hurt a person
• With effort, we can become a better person

Make sure you practice reading your book this evening. Prepare one green, one yellow and one red question for any part of the book. On your test you will be asked to identify the MESSAGE of the story. This includes giving proof to support your message or inference and an explanation. Follow the APE:

Social Studies

Make sure you complete labeling the capitals of Canada of your map. Everyone received a fact sheet for a province. Over the next few weeks, you will be given time to complete the information sheet. Your primary source of information are BOOKS. We have A LOT from the library. Our Many Gifts textbook also has lots of information. Here are the links that might be helpful just in case you cannot find the information you're looking for in a book. Check out the sites:

http://www.kidzone.ws/geography/provinces.htm

http://www.craigmarlatt.com/canada/provinces&territories/provinces&territories.html

http://www.linktolearning.com/grade4ss.htm

I found the second link to be the most useful.

Library

Thank you to our guest readers today...... great job! It is important that if it is your turn to share a book, you are prepared on Wednesday (library). 

Reminders:

• Permission form for class trip to "Alice in Wonderland"
• Toy drive.... let's help bring Christmas joy to children in our community

For those on "Share a Book" for tomorrow....

Science
We are finished our unit on Habitats. Make sure you complete your chart on all the different uses of plants and animals. Were you able to come up with 10 different uses?
Test  and project coming soon....stay tuned!

Math
Test tomorrow.
Grade 4: Quadrilaterals

• naming
• properties (side lengths, parallel sides, angles, lines of symmetry)
• sorting / comparing
• constructing
• marking

Grade 5: Triangles

• naming
• properties (side lengths, angles, lines of symmetry)
• sorting / comparing
• constructing
• marking

A great way to study for tests is to go through questions you did for homework and look carefully at questions you did incorrectly.

The green pages in your MathUP duotang have the information you need to know for the test.

Family Life

Today we began our discussion on the the different ways we grow:

• physically
• socially
• emotionally
• intellectually
• spiritually

Each is very important to your development as a whole person. We will continue next week.

Phys. Ed.

Today Lucy's mom shared her love of yoga with the class. Share with a parent the different poses you practiced today. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the class. Thank you!

Literacy

What is an inference? Review the anchor chart for inferring. Inferring questions are RED questions. We have to stop, think, use our schema and the text to make a conclusion. 

Reminders:

• Geometry test tomorrow
• Permission form for class trip to "Alice in Wonderland"

Science
Today we made sure our notebooks were complete and test ready. If you still  have sticky notes in your notebook, you just need to catch up on a few things. Make sure you finish tonight. Please make sure you finish:

1. Algonquin Park Habitats
Use the website to find as many producers and consumers. If you can only find a few of each that's fine. You might not find each type of consumer in each habitat. Remember, some consumers (e.g. birds, wolves, bears) will be a part of most of the habitats in Algonquin Park. Here are the links:

Beaver Ponds: http://www.sbaa.ca/assets/attachments/cms/beaver_pond_text.pdf

Deciduous Forest: http://www.sbaa.ca/assets/attachments/cms/hardwood_forest_text.pdf

Algonquin Lakes: http://www.sbaa.ca/assets/attachments/cms/lakes_text.pdf

Coniferous Forest: http://www.sbaa.ca/assets/attachments/cms/pine_forest_text.pdf

Spruce Bog: http://www.sbaa.ca/assets/attachments/cms/spruce_bog_text.pdf

Each of those information sheets has A LOT of interesting facts.

The last question you must answer:
What plants and animals of your habitat might be affected by the depletion of the Eastern wolf? How might they be affected? page 36

2. Answer questions on the savanna grass using page 35 of your textbook.

If you have some time,  you can read ahead. Tomorrow we will talk about how people depend on plants and animals pages 38 - 41. There are few below that are not mentioned in your book:

Math

Grade fours completed their Venn diagrams. Tomorrow grade fives will complete polygons. On Wednesday, both grades will have a test. Review quadrilaterals (grade fours) and triangles (grade fives).

Mental Math
Today we practiced subtraction mental math strategies. The first strategy was adding up. When we add up, we change the subtraction question to an addition question and add up to make magic tens.

Example:
72 - 29
29 + ___ = 72
We break that down.....
29 + 1 = 30
30 + 40 = 70
70 + 2 = 72
So 72 - 29 = 1 + 40 + 2 = 43

Try these:
65 - 28
25 - 18
93 - 35

Computers
Many students reviewed Habitats using the Carousel. Everyone worked very quietly and productively on the computers. Mrs. Allen was very impressed. Bravo Magnificent Minions!

If you did not complete your research from the weekend, please finish it this evening. Re-read Friday's post for details. Students that presented today did a fabulous job. Many different animals were chosen, some extinct and some depleted.

Media Literacy
This week is Bullying Awareness Week. Everyone took the pledge and hopefully you signed the class copy. We also talked about MEDIA. What are the different types of media / social media?

Share the commercial we watched with a parent. What is the purpose? Who is the audience? What is the message?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWJut7KQhI4

Bullying Definition:

Bullying is unfair and one-sided. It happens when someone keeps hurting, frightening, threatening, or leaving someone out on purpose.

Reminders:

• Math test Wednesday
• Giving Tree / Advent toy drive (purple letter)
• December 14th - Class trip to see "Alice in Wonderland" at St. Theresa (sorry forgot to hand out permission form)

Math
Grade 4: Keep reviewing the properties and sorting of your quadrilaterals. We will continue our Venn diagrams on Monday. Practice putting the correct MARKINGS on your quadrilaterals. The markings show right angles, equal sides, parallel sides and lines of symmetry.
Some examples below (equal side markings are missing, we use trapezoid in Canada)


Grade 5: Keep reviewing the properties of your triangles. Practice putting the correct markings on your triangles. We will continue with polygons on Monday.
Some markings missing:


Test for both grades on WEDNESDAY, November 22. (Sorry Genevieve)
Grade 4: Quadrilaterals
Grade 5: Triangles

Literacy
Excellent job determining the main idea of "The Blue Darter". All groups chose great messages or themes.

Science
Most students are done their assignment on a habitat in Algonquin Park.

The small research assignment for the weekend is SHORT. Please read the snip from your textbook if you didn't bring it home. You have no more than 1 minute the share your ideas about your extinct or depleted species. You may bring a picture and perhaps a map showing where your chosen species lives. The writing can be done on the cue card I gave you. This is just another informal opportunity for you to share orally with the class on the carpet. But you should practice speaking clearly. Remember a species is a specific type of plant or animal.

Science
Link to Algonquin Park website.
Look for the different specifies living in habitat that you chose.
http://www.sbaa.ca/resources.asp?cn=388

Math
Today's math test wasn't really very difficult, but you had to use a bit of REASONING skills. Like all skills, the more you practice using reasoning to solve problems, the easier it becomes. The key to reasoning is being able to communicate or explain your thinking out loud. I heard some excellent reasoning in Science today. Sometimes when I don't understand a problem in math, I talk out loud to myself. I know it sounds a bit odd, but it does work.

Please keep reviewing the properties of quadrilaterals (grade 4) and triangles (grade 5).

Science
What might happen to a habitat when you remove a species from it? What did you learn today? Tomorrow we will our discussion of changing habitats.

Remember the arrows in a food chain or web flow towards where the energy is transferred NOT towards what it eats.

I did a bit more reading about the Newfoundland wolf. Seems it wasn't just the hunters and trappers that caused the wolf to become extinct. Skim the article below. What was another factor? You only need to read the first few paragraphs.
https://www.therooms.ca/the-newfoundland-wolf-0

Below is a link to an invasive species:
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/pestsweeds/RabbitFactsheet.htm

Here's another invasive species in Ontario. Do you know what it is and where it came from?

Today we had a special visitor to our classroom. Jameson's mom came and spoke about being an RCMP officer. Do you remember the different parts of her uniform? Thanks for coming in and speaking with us. We all enjoyed and learned from your visit!

Here's a bit more reading:

http://www.canadianhistoryforkids.com/canadian-history-for-kids-rcmp/

Reminders:

• Book Fair this week
• Last few students are presenting their Power Points tomorrow. It is important that you are certain the information you get from the Internet is correct.
• No word work this week because of PD day.
• Make sure you complete your learning skills self-assessment tomorrow
• Have you shown a parent your assessment folder? Have you completed the next steps? Have you set your learning goals for this week?

Math
Angle test tomorrow. Re-post from yesterday:

Grade 5 you will be asked to:

• Measure angles to the nearest degree
• Construct angles to the nearest degree
• Classify angles as acute, right or obtuse in isolation and  INSIDE POLYGONS

Grade 4 you will be asked to:

• Classify angles using benchmark angles (half a right angle, right angle, straight angle in isolation and INSIDE SHAPES)

For example in the trapezoid pattern block:

Two angles are greater than half a right angle but less than a right angle

Two angles are greater than a right angle but less than a straight angle

• Measure angles to the nearest 10 degrees (e.g. 40 degrees, 120 degrees)
• Construct angles to the nearest 10 degrees (e.g. 90 degrees, 60 degrees)

Study the information on the GREEN PAGES of your MathUP duotang. 

Go through past posts and homework in your notebook.

Both grades must get their homework checked and signed by a parent.

Literacy

Today we read a humorous story about a silly thing that a little brother did....

Share with a parent what happened in the story.

Make sure you complete your summary for tomorrow. Focus on studying math.

UPower

Today we had a wonderful presentation by Sara Westbrook. Read a bit more about Sara if you're interested below:

http://www.sarawestbrook.com/my-story/

She had a excellent message about learning to think and act beyond your emotions and make character-based choices instead of emotion-based choices.

 

I hope you took a moment yesterday on Remembrance Day to thank all the men and women who sacrificed their lives for us and those that continue to serve to keep peace throughout the world. Here is a picture of the fly over in Ottawa at the National War Memorial. Prime Minister Trudeau was not present, he was at conference in Asia.

 

This is a picture of the ceremony in London.

 

 

Literacy

All the rock stories are published and on display in the classroom. They do look lovely when they are polished and typed, but writing is about the entire process. Prewriting (brainstorming), drafting, revising, editing and publishing are all important. Notice how the drafting is circular. Revising may happen MANY times. So far we have had teacher review.

 

 

We still have too many students who are not completing their word study activities throughout the week. Again, it is great to get perfect on a spelling test, but are you really learning the word patterns and rules? Word stars are students who are completing their practice. Editing your stories I noticed so many examples of not dropping the final e or not doubling the final consonant or not using a letter pattern that showed a long or short vowel sound. This is the real test that you are LEARNING about word patterns. It takes time and effort to improve spelling and that is something that you are ALL capable of doing.

 

Math

Grade 5 please learn your triangle and polygon properties. Classify the triangles using their angle size AND their side lengths. The first triangle is a right-angled isosceles triangle. Use a ruler and a protractor name each triangle. DON'T GUESS!

I thought this diagram was clever...

 



 

Grade 4 please practice sorting your quadrilaterals ONE PROPERPTY AT A TIME.

 

Both grades will be having a test on angles on TUESDAY.

 

Grade 5 you will be asked to:

 

Measure angles to the nearest degree

Construct angles to the nearest degree

Classify angles as acute, right or obtuse in isolation and  INSIDE POLYGONS

 

Grade 4 you will be asked to:

• Classify angles using benchmark angles (half a right angle, right angle, straight angle in isolation and INSIDE SHAPES)

For example in the trapezoid pattern block:

 

 

Two angles are greater than half a right angle but less than a right angle

Two angles are greater than a right angle but less than a straight angle

 

• Measure angles to the nearest 10 degrees (e.g. 40 degrees, 120 degrees)
• Construct angles to the nearest 10 degrees (e.g. 90 degrees, 60 degrees)

Science

Next week we will talk about how adding or losing a species in a habitat affects the entire habitat. We talked a little bit about this when one student mentioned about INVASIVE SPECIFIES. Do you remember what that means?

What invasive specifies is this? Many trees were cut down because of it.

 

This week we will also start a class chart on how habitats change naturally and from human activity. It is a very long list of ways and an even longer list of consequences. But remember nature is a wonderful thing. If a habitat changes, SOMETIMES over time what MIGHT the plants and animals do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Math
Today grade fours practiced naming different quadrilaterals. Please review the properties of each of the quadrilaterals. Some quadrilaterals have different names. Review using yesterday's post if you didn't get a chance.

Grade fives had lots of fun constructing triangles. Please the review the definitions of the different triangles. We will review their properties tomorrow. Review using yesterday's post.

Remember to get your homework signed by a parent.

Literacy
Spelling test tomorrow. Make sure you return your blue notebook in your purple duotang tomorrow!

Science
What were some of the different ways that HUMANS affect habitats?
We discussed eight different ways. Can you recall all eight?

Congratulations to students who presented their Power Points today. Your assessment rubric will be on your desk in the morning. Tomorrow six more students will be presenting. Remember to include in your presentation not just the name of the plant or animal, but its classification e.g. carnivore, decomposer, producer etc.

Reminders:

• Remembrance Day Mass at St. Nicholas tomorrow @ 2:00 pm in the gym. Parents are welcome.
• Test on angles next Tuesday.
• Spelling Test
• Return interview sheet
• Progress Reports go home tomorrow

Found the post..... saved but not published!

Literacy
Almost everyone is working on typing the good copy of their rock story. We have gone through the entire writing process. Remember what Michael Wade told us..... at least 7 revisions for each story. The questions in the margins of your story that I write are telling you ways to add detail and description to your story.

Thank you to students who brought their Word Study books to school. Please complete your practice for tonight.

Math
Today we discussed another property of polygons, symmetry. Quick practice / review below:
http://www.mathk8.nelson.com/math4/quizzes/math4quizzes/m4ch7l7.htm

Video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFzktJNmnPU
What objects in your house are symmetrical?

Grade 4: Study the names and properties of quadrilaterals in your notebook
Grade 5: Study the names and properties of triangles and polygons in your notebook.

Triangles can be classified by the LENGTHS of the sides and by the types of ANGLES.

Try these grade 5:
http://math5.nelson.com/quizzes/math5quizzes/gr5_ch7_les3.htm
http://math5.nelson.com/quizzes/math5quizzes/gr5_ch7_les4.htm

Science
Today we recreated a town hall meeting. Explain to a parent what we were debating today.

Sorry everyone. My post froze after the volleyball game at school and I see it wasn't published.
Make sure you review the properties of quadrilaterals (grade 4) and triangles and polygons (grade 5) using the chart in your notebook.
Thank you Chloe, Luca and Cole for sharing your Power Points. Still waiting for a few more....

Tomorrow is bring a stuffie day! Bring your favourite one to cuddle...