Miss Rudge

We had an enjoyable time browsing at the Book Fair this morning.  Thanks to everyone who made purchases - you are helping to support Library funding!  The students worked through a practise 'media' EQAO question with Mrs. Brown after returning to the class.  After the break, we learned about how repetition is built in poetry and practised using a variety of synonyms to create an "I'm Talking..." poem.  The students have learned how to use a site such as thesaurus.com to find more interesting and descriptive words for future writing.  We had a review session for money today and will be moving onto fractions starting tomorrow.  The afternoon passed by quickly as we continued working on our painting skills.  In science, we planted the first of our 6 seeds yesterday, and will plant the remainder tomorrow.  The students enjoyed stepping back into 'scientist shoes' and are eagerly waiting for their seeds to sprout.

Miss Rudge

So far this week, we have continued to work on poetry, adding repetition to our 'poetry toolkit' as a way to create ear-pleasing poetry.  Starting this week, the students will be bringing home a sample EQAO question in their homework duo tangs so they can practise, and so you can see the type of questioning on the test.  We have worked hard learning how to prove our answers and explain our proof, as well as learning how to determine the 'level' of our work.  Feel free to help them on the questions by asking them to clarify or prove things they say.  We are wrapping up our unit on money this week.  Hopefully, you had the chance to play the 'money game' in the homework duo tang from last week.  Next up is fractions!  In library, Mr. Heidman showed us the very cool Animoto site, where you can use pictures to make short videos.  Students have been advised to talk to you about setting up an account if they wish to play around with the program at home.

Miss Rudge

Our morning started with badminton and skipping stations in the gym.  We are gearing up for "Jump Rope for Heart!"  Upon returning to class, we completed and shared our 'Word Association' poems and then played another word game.  By selecting a random set of letters (for beginning, middle, and ends of words) we made up our own words.  Each person had to use their 'new' word in a sentence and then the class had to infer the word meaning using the text clues in the sentence.  We learned, pretty quickly, the necessity of being specific in our definitions or guesses could be totally off-base!  We also looked at leveled samples of word from a practise EQAO questions we wrote earlier in the week.  We are becoming quite adept at recognizing the levels of achievement.  We played 'Around the Word' to practise multiplication and then practised two ways to divide - by sharing, and by grouping.  Division links will be up on the "Homework" page soon.

Miss Rudge

Good afternoon!  How sad was it to wake up to snow this morning?  We were only able to take advantage of one outdoor recess break due to the rainy, snowy weather.  Thus we got some "Groovin'" in to alleviate some of our afternoon energy rush.  We have been working diligently on multiplication and are about ready for our quiz which will happen on Friday.  If you completed the "Mental Math" sheet, and understood most of it, than you are "good to go!"  A few students showed some amazing initiative today and asked for more math homework... quite shocking, as you can imagine.  :)  Should you wish your child to complete more practise work at home, please let me know via their agenda.  I can start sending home our "Jump" math books for extra practise, as we don't often use them during class time.  There are links on the Homework page for more multiplication practise.

We dipped our toes into the waters of poetry today, and discussed.  Today, we discussed what poetry is and played a word association game to play around with words.  Try it at home... all you need is to start with two words, such as HOT CHOCOLATE.  You then use the second word from each line, as the first word in your next line.  For example:

HOT CHOCOLATE
CHOCOLATE EGG
EGG CHICKEN
CHICKEN WINGS
WINGS BIRD
BIRD FLY... and so on.  Try to wrap it up at the end by either coming back to the original line, or writing a sentence that incorporates the last two words used.

We should begin our new science unit on Plants and Soils soon, so bring any information or questions you may have to jump start our learning!

Miss Rudge

We welcomed a new friend into our class today!  We're glad you've joined us, Matthew!  Mrs. Miller visited us this morning and we used the Senteos to practise EQAO-style math questions.  With Mrs. Brown, we worked on character trait posters for media.  We learned about 'doubling' today in math.  Our new mental math strategy is to simply use double the products of the 2X table to find the 4X table; and use double the 3X table to find the products of the 6X table.  Practise your multiplication at home by singing the songs, writing them out, playing online games (such as 'Is That's a Fact?' linked yesterday), or by filling out a blank multiplication table on a regular basis!

Tomorrow is "PJ and Electronics Day."  Remember... you are welcome to bring your mp3 player or iPod or a hand-held gaming system.  Students are asked not to bring anything that requires internet access (mostly 'cause you won't have any!), and have been asked not to bring smartphones or cellphones.  We have talked about the importance of taking care of our own belongings during the day.  Once again, students may lock their items in Miss Rudge's cupboard for when we are not in the classroom.

Have a nice evening!
Miss Rudge

Another lovely, sunny day has come to a close.  Today we continued through the writing process for our expository pieces.  Many of them are starting to take shape!  We began an exploration of the various roles and jobs of men and women in early settlements.  Our unit on early settlers is rapidly coming to a close.  Students will be completing a comparative assessment of their choice for their final task.  This should happen in the next week or so.  No studying needed!  But students are, of course, encouraged to share what they are learning, and do some further research on their own.  We continued with multiplication, with a focus on arrays today.  Next week, we tackle division!  Want to practise your multiplication/division, addition, and subtraction at home?  Try 'That's a Fact'.  See the "Homework" page for more links to the Nelson curriculum.

The students have earned a 'special' day on Friday and have asked for it to be a pajama/electronics day.  They have been asked to consult with parents regarding their ability to bring mp3 players, iPods, DS systems, etc. to school.  We discussed that it is not a "big deal" if you can't bring something, and that it's not a reason to start an argument at home.  Should your child wish to bring an electronic device to school, they are welcome to on Friday.  Items can be locked in Miss Rudge's cupboard when we are not in the room.

Miss Rudge