Just in Case You Were Home Sick Today

There have been a few people out sick in the class, so here is a video showing the distributive property of multiplication with a suggested question at the end.  Feel free to make up some more questions to practice if you are not completely comfortable with the process the first time.  This process also shows the importance of knowing your multiplication facts.

Have fun!

Mental Math Strategies

Here are a few ways we used addition or counting up to solve some subtraction questions today.  These strategies are easier to do in you head than traditional take-away methods.  Watch the videos and give them a try.

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Why Did People Settle in Saint John?

As we begin to explore the features of civilizations (Grade 5 Social Studies), we can take a closer look at Saint John and the history of its people.  Why did people settle here?  What did this region have to offer that other regions did not?  Follow these link to read about the history of Saint John, and put your learning into words on your sheet:

Saint John Local History

City of Saint John - Our Saint John

The Canadian Encylcopedia - Saint John

Homework Message - No Pun Intended

Hello Everyone,

With this being the last week before Christmas, the regular homework sheet will not be coming home.  Instead, students have been encouraged to read every night, and then send a voicemail message through the blog (See the tab on the right of the page).  You will need a microphone to do this if your computer doesn't have one, or I can lend you one if you really want to try it out but you don't have a microphone at home.  There will be a sheet coming home tomorrow with the little bits of information I will be looking for in the recording, but here is what I am looking for:

• Your Name
• The book you read and the author
• Interesting Fact or what was the main idea of what you read
• A concluding statement

I think it will be fun...looking forward to hearing from you.

Mr. Carr

Pattern Discussion in Math Class

Although you are not able to be part of the discussion, this is the result of the conversation in Math class today about extending patterns.  See if you can follow the information, or ask your child to explain what was discussed.  Have a good day.

Word Work Focus

We have been working in the class with words. The suffix, prefix, and root of each word provide clues to the meaning and spelling. Here is a chart we filled in during one of our classes to help build an understanding of the concept. The crossword at the bottom of the blog page uses these words as well.

A quick update...

September was a busy month, and now it seems as though the middle of October is just around the corner. Students have been busy working on building strategies for addition and subtraction, finding various ways to represent numbers to 1000, and solving problems that require ordering and comparing numbers. Did you check out the new Math game called "Circle 99?" It is really challenging, but it forces you to use your Mental Math strategies. In Language Arts we have been using a descriptive paragraph to build an understanding of how word choice has an impact on a writer’s voice. As well, we have been practicing adding details that build and develop the main idea. If all goes well (technology can be a challenge sometimes) we will have these paragraphs printed and sent home tomorrow. If you look at the bottom of the blog page, you will also see a crossword puzzle. We will be working with these words for couple more weeks to gain a better understanding of prefixes, root words, and suffixes. I hope all is well; but as always, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me. Mr. Carr

Faux Pas Internet Lesson

This is a video for the end of the day lesson. After we watch it, we will discuss how the lessons apply to our classroom since we spend much of our time working on the computers. Think of our Code of Conduct; Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Safe.

Power Lines 2

Once you get the code from Power Lines 1 you can go explore Power Lines 2.  Check it out in the Math Challenges on the right pane of this page...Good luck!

Spelling and Homework message for April 30th

This week, the students selected 10 words they felt were important for their writing.  As you will likely notice, they don't really coordinate with the "No Excuse" and "Topic/Theme" headers, but I kept the same format anyway.  You will also notice the homework looks a little different this week - 2 word questions were sent home for extra practice pulling information from the problem to identify the appropriate calculations.  Please have your child see me if they need any help with this.  Thanks, and have a great "3-day-week."

Poetry Lesson Today

Here is a portion of today's lesson.  We spoke about rhyming pattern, word choice, and sentence fluency.

Guidelines for Province Report

Before deciding if you are done your assignment, please address these questions:

Examine the Physical landscape

            What physical region(s) of Canada run through your province?

            Have you included the map of the province?

Human Landscape

            Where do people live (major cities)?

            Why do they live there?

            What do they do to interact with each other (fun, festivals, etc.)?

Symbols of Canada

Is there a provincial animal?

            Is there a provincial flower?

            Do you have a picture of the flag and coat of arms?

            Are there any other symbols important to your province?

            

Working With Bar Graphs - Focus on Scale

Hi Everyone,

Here is the bar graph we created in class today.  In grade three, students would have created a bar graph similar to this, but in grade four we are discussing the idea of selecting an appropriate scale.  This is an incomplete graph in this picture, and we will be working with it again tomorrow.

Writing Work Coming Home Tonight

Hello Parents,

Last week in Language Arts, each student generated four different ideas for a story using four different graphic organizers.  Each graphic organizer had pros and cons, and depending on the prewriting habits, and the style of writing of each student, each student likely prefers one over the others.

                This week, students chose one of the ideas to begin developing their stories.  With a focus on effective introductions, we looked at strategies for engaging the audience while accomplishing specific narrative goals.  The goals we focused on were: introduce the main character, show the audience the setting, and establish the mood.  Once this is complete, the author is in a good position to set the stage for the problem/conflict, and it will also add relevance to the solution later in the story.  Students will be bringing home their sample graphic organizers, and the draft of their introduction.   It would be valuable if the students had an opportunity to discuss their ideas about the characters, setting, problem and solution with you.  As well, since we are using the graphic organizers every day as a tool to support the writing process, please help to ensure the folder is returned to school the next day.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.

Mr. Carr

Spelling Words December 19th

Student Writing Samples Coming Home Today

The student will be bringing home sample of a narrative today, as well as a sample of an appropriately written piece from another grade 4 student in New Brunswick.  The studenst were to write down the following instructions on their page, and we discussed the steps in class.

1.  Read your story to your parents (rough copy)

2.  Parents are to read "Butterfly Dancer" (photocopy)

3.  With your parents, compare both stories

4.  Directions will also be on the blog (and here they are)

First, I would like to draw you attention to the fact that the "Butterfly Dancer"  meets the expectations for the end of grade four.  We can use this example to help gauge the progress of each student, and make recommendations as we move forward with the lessons about writing.  With this piece of writing, there is a description of each of the 6 writing traits we are working on, and the rationale for "Butterfly Dancer being labeled "Appropriate".

In this assignment, student began with a comic strip to organize their ideas into a beginning, middle and end.  As well, they were instructed to create a problem and a solution.  From here, students used each block of the comic to generate paragraphs for a story with each paragraph focusing on only one block of the comic.  In some cases, students had to combine more than one block in a paragraph.

Students, with the exception of a couple, are bringing home a hand written rough copy.  This is a valuable piece of the writing process as it allows you to see the revisions and edits that may have been made.  If students were able to complete this process in due time, they were able to use Microsoft Word to publish it and/or an internet based program for publishing comics.

There have been numerous conferences with peers and the teacher during this writing process.  Students bringing this sample home is a continuation of this process since it is an opportunity to evaluate their own work.  Please return the signed writing samples, and on Monday the students will write in their journal about the home conference to record their thoughts.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Have a great weekend.

Mr. Carr

Quotation Corrections - After a Technical Adjustment

For those of you who use various technologies often, you might appreciate the way one technology can malfunction only to be replaced by another technology.  Today, our projector decided to play dead, so our lesson on quotation marks hit a snag.  Luckily, our classroom blog is an established part of our classroom routine.  After making a quick, on-the-spot post, the students were back in business.

As you will see from the sentences below, not all correction are quotation marks.  This generated quite a few questions from the students, and required them to look closely, and think critically about the use of quotation marks.

"Have a great night!" exclaimed Mr. Carr.

Please correct these sentences:


Ryan said that he and Matt would play basketball after school

Mom said while you play basketball, I'll bake cookies

Ryan asked when Matt could come over to play

Mom answered that Matt could come over after lunch

What is this?

Can you explain to me what this is?  Try to think of as many different ways to explain it in one comment.

Math Question

Look at the squares in this picture.  The pattern of squares is as follows: 1square, 2squares, 3squares, 4squares, 5squares.  Count the number of dots on the perimeter of each grouping, and put this information in a chart.  Do you see any patterns in the information you listed in your chart?  Please comment and explain your pattern rule if you do.

Patterns in Math

Hi Everyone,

Here is a sample of a little review lesson on using a table to record information from a pattern.  After drawing and labeling the triangles, we counted the dots around the perimeter, recorded the information, and found two pattern rules.  Then we used this information to predict how many dots would be on the perimeter of the 20th triangle.