Oct. 31 - Nov. 4

Happy Halloween to everyone!

Tomorrow will be a very exciting day for many! We will be having an Orange and Black Day tomorrow as part of the celebrations at school. It is asked that all costumes (and parts of costumes) please remain at home.  We will also have a bit of a special afternoon in 4D with some Halloween stations.

As the treats fill your house tomorrow evening, please keep in mind that nutritious lunches are very important to a successful day at school. Please try to keep Halloween candy at home.

Literacy:

We will continue on with our recounts. Students are immersed in the writing process! Many are currently working on their first draft. We have had mini lessons on writing effective leads (hooking the reader), and about using transition words to keep our work organized. Below you will see how we looked at the different phases of the writing process. Students are moving their name through each phase as they complete it.

Below is a photo of the Success Criteria we developed as a class. We looked at a variety of excellent examples of recounts, and the students noticed and named all the things that matter most in writing a fantastic recount. We then created headings and examples and students are using this as a guide to writing their recount.

Math:

We will look at front end estimating and adjusted front end estimating as additional strategies for estimating sums. For example:

Front End Estimating - 237 + 546

                                           200 + 500 = 700

Adjusted Front End Estimating - 237 + 546

                                                            200 + 500 = 700 + 30 + 40 = 770

There will be a quick assessment on estimating strategies this week.

We will also begin working on solving addition problems using manipulatives, pictures, numbers and words.

Homework:

The math homework sheet for this week is a sheet we started in class. Students can finish it at home this week. It is a great review on using a variety of estimating strategies.

Important Dates/Events:

• Monday, Oct. 31 - Orange and Black Day
• Tuesday, Nov. 1 - Picture Retakes
• Thursday, Nov. 10 - PD Day - No School for Colonel Gray family of schools
• Friday, Nov. 11 - Remembrance Day - No School

Art Display:

For your viewing pleasure :)

Frankenstein art based on the works of Picasso's cubist technique.

"Fall Trees" - created with water colour and acrylic.

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Word Study This Week

I forgot to mention in my weekly post that we will NOT be having Word Study this week since it is such a short week.

Oct. 24 - 28

This will be a short week as the Annual Teachers' Convention will be held on Thursday and Friday. Therefore there is NO school for students on October 27th and 28th.

Literacy:

We are beginning to look at "Making Connections" as our next reading strategy. Readers have their own personal experiences (schema) which effects the way we understand texts. Making connections to texts helps us to put information into context, and therefore helps us to better understand the texts we are reading. Connections can be text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-world. What we read can remind us of ourselves, of other texts we have read or of things that are happening in our world. We will focus on looking at each type together, and students will have opportunities to make and share connections in the next couple of weeks.

In writing we are using the writing process to create recounts. Students have started their own "seed" idea - a very specific, memorable moment in their lives. We will look at how to "hook a reader" with an effective lead, how to organize our writing, and to edit for capitals and end punctuation.

Math:

We will continue to work on estimating sums. We have been working on rounding, and we will also look at front end estimating as a strategy.

Social Studies:

The focus in Social Studies for the coming weeks will be Canada. We will look at provinces, territories, and their capitals. We will also be discussing the different regions in Canada and what makes them each unique.

Art:

With Halloween around the corner, I thought it would be fitting to do a Frankenstein activity using the cubism technique of Pablo Picasso. We will work on these on Wednesday so make sure you keep your eye out for them at the Halloween Dance on Friday evening.

Our class also did a lovely job on their Fall Trees paintings. They are proudly displayed just outside our classroom in 4D's Art Gallery. Students used water paints to blend shades for the background, and then used acrylic paint to create the tree. They used smudging techniques with Q Tips to create the leaves. They are all very unique and creative!

Important Dates/Upcoming Events:

1.  Thursday, Oct. 27 - Halloween Dance. You can purchase tickets up until Wednesday, Oct. 26th. They are $2.00 per person. Parents also require tickets to get in. Tickets will NOT be sold at the door.
2. Tuesday, Nov. 1 - Picture re-takes.

Math Foundational Learning Report

Hi,

I sent home a Math Foundational Learning Report with each of your children last Friday. This is a summary of the outcomes your child achieved, and which they may need more practice with for N1 and N2. If they require additional practice, I included some resources that you could use at home to also support your child's learning.

Please read through this report, sign it, and return it to school with your child.

Thank you for your continued support.

Femke Hakkers

Oct. 17 - 21

I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather this weekend!

Here is our outlook for this week:

Literacy:

We will continue our work on recounts this week. The goal is to get a solid start on students' own recounts based on the examples and criteria we have looked at in class together. 

Math:

This week we will begin to look at estimating and adding numbers to 10 000. Continued practice at home with mental math and math facts is strongly encouraged!

Important Dates/Events:

• Monday, Oct. 17th - We will have our Electronics Day as our celebration for filling our classroom jar.
• Friday, Oct. 27th - The Halloween Dance. Tickets are on sale for $2 per person. Parents also require a ticket.

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

Celebration Time!!

Happy Friday, everyone!

It's an especially happy one in our classroom today! We have been working very hard to fill our Super Happy Fun Jar! Every time I notice students doing something positive, I add marbles to the jar. They filled it because they have been focused, on task, prepared for class, and for being inclusive group members and classmates. So, a celebration is certainly in order!

We will be having an Electronics Day on Monday, Oct. 17th. With your permission, students can bring in electronics from home which they can play for the last hour of the day. This may include phones, tablets, Ipads or Ipods. We will keep them locked in our classroom for safe keeping during the day. If you prefer not to send an electronic device with your child, not to worry! I will also provide Chromebooks to anyone who would like to use those.

The rules include:

• They are only to be used during the last hour of the day. 
• They must stay in the classroom at all times.
• Games must be school appropriate.
• Devices must be treated with care and respect.

We are all looking forward to the well deserved celebration. Please let me know if you have any questions at all!

Congratulations, 4D!

Ms. Hakkers

Oct. 11 - 14

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope enjoyed the long weekend and were able to spend some extra time doing the things you love best!

Literacy:

We will begin a genre study in Writer's Workshop this week. Our focus will be on personal narratives, in particular writing a recount or memoir. We will look at several examples, identify the success criteria in writing a recount, narrowing our focus, and write some of our own!

Math:

We are wrapping up N1 and N2 - representing numbers. Your child will be coming home with a FL Report this week. This is a way for me to communicate to you how your child has done with these particular outcomes. If there are any areas they require additional practice in, I will send home some resources. Please sign these reports and send them back to the school. If you have any particular questions, please let me know.

Our next area of focus will be N3 - Addition and Subtraction. Over the coming weeks we will work on using personal strategies for adding and subtracting, estimating, and problem solving. Continuing to review math facts and using mental math strategies are encouraged.

Homework:

Thank you very much for your continued support with homework! Reading logs and math review sheets have been coming back consistently. Last week was our first week with Word Study homework, and I was missing a number of the children's scribblers or activities. They should have a scribbler in their Homework folder which has a list of the activities and instructions for each one. Students will each come home with a copy of their words for the week which they can keep at home in order to complete the activities. It is important that the scribblers are returned at the end of the week with the reading logs and math homework.

One that note, since we did not have school on Monday they are not responsible for Monday's homework. They can carry on with the activities starting on Tuesday.

Important Dates/Information:

• Poster and Literary Contests - The Legion is having their annual contest for Remembrance Day again this year. Information has been given to each student.
• Friday, Oct. 14th - Inside Out Day for Autism - Wear clothing inside out in support of autism. Donations of a loonie or toonie are appreciated.
• Library Open Book Exchange - I have been noticing that we do not have enough time to get through everyone on just Day 2, so I have decided to divide our library time to Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Anyone who is interested in exchanging books will have an opportunity of those days. Hopefully this will ensure it goes a bit more smoothly.

Information for Tomorrow

Hi everyone,

Just a couple of important reminders:

1. Library Book Exchange - please return library books, so students can sign out new books tomorrow.
2. Cross Country - The cross country meet is tomorrow morning in Eliot River. Please ensure all permission forms are returned, and that students have appropriate running clothing, healthy snacks and a bottle of water.
3. Food Drive - West Royalty Elementary is doing a Thanksgiving food drive for Anderson House. If you are able, please send in any non perishable food items. Thank you for your support!

Have a great evening!

October 3-9

It is hard to believe October is already here! Please ensure children have appropriate clothing at school for those cooler days.

Literacy:

As we continue to focus on Self Monitoring, we will begin to apply our strategies to non fiction texts as well. We will be looking at a variety of text features of non fiction texts (i.e. table of contents, index, glossary, text boxes, sub headings, illustrations, etc), and how these features can help us to better understand these types of texts. I have included a list of our strategies, so students can use them during their home reading as well. 

Don’t Get Stuck on the Reading Escalator!

How to Self Monitor to Understand the Author’s Message Readers notice when something doesn’t make sense. They have different ways to solve the problem.

Readers stop and think about what they know (connections)

2. Readers go back and reread the sentence or paragraph to check for the author’s meaning.

3. Readers continue reading and look for more information.

4. Readers ask questions, and search for answers as they read on.

5. Readers ask for help with understanding.

Ways Readers Solve Words

Readers look at the letters and the chunks to sound out words.

2.  Readers look at parts of the word.

3.  Readers use what they know about other words to figure out new words.

4.  Readers think about what would make sense in the sentence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrSUe_m19FY - this video highlights the importance of being willing to problem solve, just like we are doing as readers when we are self monitoring :)

We will also be reading a number of "recount" or "memoir" read alouds. These will be great references and examples for when we begin creating our own recounts. In the meantime we are continuing to build our writer's notebooks. I am very impressed at the variety of ideas that the students are coming up with, and am very much looking forward to some of the writing projects that will emerge from these "seeds" in the future!

Math:

We will be wrapping up our first unit on representing numbers (N1 and N2). We will have a short quiz at the end of this week. We will be moving on to Estimating Sums and Differences. It is important to review math facts (addition and subtraction) at home. 

Homework:

Thank you for your diligence with homework last week! We are starting with Word Study homework this week. You will see word study scribblers coming home in your child's homework folder. Inside the front cover you will find a schedule of activities, as well as explanations of these activities. Please ensure this scribbler is returned by, or before, Friday along with the reading logs and math sheets. Thanks again for your support!

Important Dates:

• Monday, Oct. 3 - Magazine Campaign wraps up. Please ensure any subscriptions and money are sent into the school. 
• Tuesday, Oct. 4 - Cross Country Meet
• Wednesday, Oct. 5 - Annual Walk to School