This Week..

I am hoping that everyone managed to stay safe over the weekend in light of Friday's tornado. I am sure many of you were without hydro for an extended period of time and I hope that it has been restored to you and your families!  I feel very blessed that no lives were lost in this tragic event and have been inspired by the strength of our community during this time of crisis. 

A few things to share.....

-Thanks to all parents for donations of classroom supplies such as tissue, markers ,etc. It is most appreciated. If you wish to make a donation to the class, please jot a note in your child's agenda and I can provide you with some suggestions. 

-Thanks also for taking the time to complete all of the forms that were sent home the first week of school!

-Last week some of our girls represented St. Augustine at the girls soccer tournament. This week it will be the boys turn!

-We are still collecting headphones for classroom tech use. Please label your child's headphones!

-This week we will begin our 'Classroom Jobs' in grade 4/5.

-The schoolwide Terry Fox Run is just around the corner on October 3rd     

-If you have any donations of non-fiction books, fiction novels, graphic novels, etc., that would be appropriate for the grade 4/5 level, it would be most appreciated so that we can build up our classroom library!

Have a wonderful week! 

Working with Whole Numbers & Identifying Number Patterns

We have been practicing naming whole numbers represented in standard form, words, expanded form as well as identifying the value of individual digits within larger numbers. 

For example:

Standard Form: 14,908 
Words: fourteen thousand, nine hundred, eight
Expanded Form: 10,000 + 4000 + 900 + 8

We have also been practicing converting numbers from one form to another.

For example:
one hundred eight thousand, seven hundred fifty four (number words) = 108,754 (standard form)

There is a place value chart posted in the classroom for students to refer to. They must remember that digits in larger numbers are grouped into houses and each house has space for only 3 digits! When representing numbers in words or standard form, the houses must be separated by commas. I always tell them to leave a little space between houses as well. When representing numbers in expanded form, the different values are separated by a plus sign.

We have started to talk about patterns, in particular number patterns. We are a applying our knowledge of place value to identify number patterns, pattern rules and to create our own number patterns. These two areas will continue to be a focus in math class!

Our Class Promise

After spending a couple of weeks getting to know each other, I thought the time was right for us to create a class code of conduct or class promise. Instead of imposing a list of rules, I wanted the students to have a voice so I asked them what they thought would be important ideas to include in our class code/promise. They broke off into small groups with sticky notes to record their ideas. After their group conferencing time, we gathered as a class and sorted/compiled their ideas. It was amazing to see that almost half of the class suggested following the 'Golden Rule: treat others how you want to be treated' so that big idea tops our list! The only one I added as the classroom teacher was 'Be Safe.' We all signed the promise and it is now displayed near our class prayer table. 

Welcome to my class blog!

I am so happy to be teaching your child Math, Language and Family Life this year!  This class blog will be used to communicate reminders, showcase student learning, update classroom learning goals, etc. See the 'Helpful Tools' (left side) for a link to the OCSB Student Portal which contains many useful tools to support your child's learning at home. It is my goal to post on a weekly basis. Please subscribe to me by email (right side) in order to receive notifications of new posts!