Math Update - December

We have wrapped up our unit on patterning and have begun to explore algebraic equations and solve equations with missing numbers. In Math Up it explains that 'an equation is a statement of balance. What is on one side of an equation is equal to, or balances with, what is on the other side of an equation. These are all equations: 4+4=8, 4+4=6+2, 2x4=8, 8=4x2' 

This week, we will also begin our unit on Data Management. The learning goals of this Math Up unit are:

• Create and interpret stem-and-leaf plots.
• Create and interpret double bar graphs.
• Compare two data displays by making inferences.
• Understand how to figure out a median and what a median tells about a set of data. 

December Vocabulary Words

• A note went home in your child's agenda on Monday with this information but here it is again!.
• Throughout December we will be reviewing Advent and Christmas-themed vocabulary. We will be suspending our regular 'Word Study' words and will resume this in January! The words that are in BOLD will be in this week’s word study quiz and the remainder  will be in next week’s quiz. There will be NO QUIZ on Friday December 2oth. 

• Advent, angels, announcement, Bethlehem, candles, celebrate, chimney, Christmas, decorations, elves, festive, greetings, holiday, Jesus, Joseph, Mary, miracle, mistletoe, poinsettia, present, reindeer, sacred, sleigh, stocking, togetherness, tradition, vacation, worship, wrapping paper, wreath.

Advent: A Time For Waiting and Preparing!

This past Sunday, was the first Sunday of Advent. Our Advent wreath is on our classroom prayer table and the tablecloth has been changed to purple in order to reflect this new liturgical season! The first purple candle has been lit on our Advent wreath (we have a paper flame) just as it was done at church on Sunday. Yesterday we had our first school-wide Advent liturgy to celebrate the start of Advent and several of our students were readers at that celebration! Advent is an important time in our church. It is is a time to prepare our hearts and minds for the birth of Baby Jesus at Christmas. As a class, we discussed and shared the things we can do to get ready for Jesus' birth at home, school and in our wider community. We used our ideas to create a daily reflection and build our classroom Advent calendar. Throughout Advent, our morning sharing circle we take place at the prayer table. We will optn up our reflection for that day and discuss it as a class. This will promote the hope of the season and help to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas which is the birth of Jesus Christ our Saviour!

Each day, a special helper from our 'Jobs Chart' unwraps the Christmas read story for the day. This is another one of our classroom traditions that we are doing in anticipation of Christmas!

Friday Math Games!

On Friday we spent the block playing math games. All the games we played reinforce important math concepts. Students were asked to attempt 2-3 different games throughout the block and to attempt a game they haven't played before! We played Otrio, Chess, Spot It, Tantrix, Simon, Connect 4, Math Flash Cards, Dominos, memory matching games, etc. 

Kindness Week!

This week is 'Kindness Week' at school! We have been talking about what kindness looks like, feels like and sounds like and why kindness is so important for our character development. Today we watched a video about kindness and read the book 'George and Martha' by James Marshall, which is about the importance of honesty, understanding and forgiveness in friendship. We have a 'Memories of Kindness' bulletin board in the hallway. The learning goal of the bulletin board activity is to reflect upon times in our lives when we have been the recipients of the kindness of others.  By recalling times when we have experienced kindness, it can help to recognize what kindness truly is and the ways that we can show kindness in our daily lives. We will continue to add our memories of kindness onto the bulletin board throughout kindness week!

Math Update and Number Lines

Number lines are a great tool that can help students solve equations and build their numeracy skills.  They can be used to model addition, subtraction, measure elapsed time, etc. Jumps of any size can be taken on a number line in order to solve equations. There are two types of number lines: open and closed. Open number lines are blank and allow students to subdivide the space with a range of numbers, depending on the mathematical problems they are trying to solve. There is a lot of flexibility with open number lines as students get to decide how they would like to count (e.g. by 1's, 10's, 100's etc).  Closed number lines have a numerical starting point and  fixed range of numbers. 
I encourage student to use number lines in combination with the mental math strategy of using friendly numbers (numbers that combine to make groups of 10) and jumps of base 10 numbers (10, 100, 1000, etc.) in order to solve equations! We have an open number line at the front of our classroom underneath the smartboard. Today we had fun plotting numbers at the beginning of math class!

We continue to work on patterning concepts in math class. Our current focus within patterning is identifying and following patterning rules in order to extend patterns.  We are learning to use 'tables of values' to organize our thinking and display terms in a pattern. We have also been practicing adding 2, 3, and 4-digit numbers with regrouping and subtracting 2, 3, and 4 digit numbers with borrowing. 

Community Circles

On Monday, Mrs. OBrien visited our classroom to lead a 'Community Circle.' While we do 'Sharing Circle/Community Circle' on a regular basis in our grade 4 classroom, it was wonderful to have Mrs. O'Brien teach us about the First Nations tradition of the 'Community Circle' and lead one with our class. We learned that sitting together in a circle symbolizes unity and togetherness and that no one person in the circle is considered more important than the other. By using the 'talking stick' (our grade four talking stick is a turkey feather) each member of the circle has an equal opportunity to speak and be heard.  We also learned that 'Community Circles' have traditionally been used solve problems within First Nations communities, arrive at decisions that effect the community as a whole, solve conflicts that have arisen within community, etc. In our classroom, we use the 'Community Circle' to share about our daily lives, debate ideas and questions as well as solve problems that arise within our classroom community. Thank you to Mrs. OBrien for teaching us about the 'First Nations Community Circles' and building our understanding of this wonderful tradition.

  

Upcoming Dates & Reminders- Mark Your Calendars!

Progress Reports Sent Home - Oct. 30th
Book Fair Preview - Nov. 1st
Book Fair Visit & Purchasing - Nov. 4th
Parent-Teacher Interviews - Nov. 5th
Double Lunch Day - Nov. 6th
Photo Retake Day
& Class Picture Day - Nov.7th

Please continue to send in earphones for your child if you have not done so already. If anyone has an extra pair that they would be willing to donate to the classroom, that would be fantastic!

Fun in Math Class!

In math class our focus continues to be on repeating, growing and shrinking number patterns. Students are learning to identify different types of patterns as well as pattern rules. They are also learning to identify missing terms in patterns and recording pattern terms (position) and missing values on a 'table of values.' Patterning is a cross-strand concept as it involves the basic operations of addition/multiplication (growing patterns), subtraction/division (shrinking patterns). Recognizing repeating patterns requires students to detect a pattern core that repeats itself over and over in order to make the pattern. While most of the patterns we have been working on in class are number patterns, we are also creating and identifying patterns with the attributes of shape, colour, position, etc. Check out these growing patterns they created together in partners using loose parts:

 

Developing our 'Character'

Last year our school-wide 6 C's focus was 'Collaboration.' While we continue our discussions and activities in order to support developing our collaboration skills, our focus has shifted somewhat to 'Character.' We have been talking a lot as a school community and within our classrooms, about what 'Character' means and how we can develop it within ourselves.  Growth Mindset (versus Fixed Mindset) and developing 'Grit' are huge aspects of character development as we learn to see challenges and obstacles as opportunities for new growth and development rather than catastriphic events. We watched a video on mindset and read the book 'When Sophie Thinks She Can't' by Molly Bang. The 'Y' chart above is what students thought character 'Looks Like', 'Sounds Like' and 'Feels Like.' 

Supporting Your Child's Reading with the 'Raz-Kids Reading Program'

Your child has been set up on the 'Raz-Kids Reading Program.'  The 'Raz-Kids' icon is in their 'Student Portal' and the link to the Portal is on the left side of the blog homepage under 'Helpful Resources.' Yesterday your child came home with a parent letter and a yellow login card which they glued onto the back page of their agendas. I suggest that each child attempt to log into 'Raz Kids' from home.  Your child's participation in 'Raz Kids' is entirely up to you.  You may even choose to use the program for 'Daily Reading' homework! It is a progressive program which means that the books increase in complexity as they move through the program and build upon their reading skills.  Have fun exploring this electronic resource designed to support your child's reading development!

Picture Day News

Your child is bringing home their picture day card (agenda pocket) which has all the information you will need in order to access their photos and place orders online.

If your child missed picture day or you are not happy with their photos, PICTURE RETAKE DAY IS NOVEMBER 7th. Since  we DID NOT take class photos today, the class photo will be taken on November 7th.

Classroom Wish List!

Thank you to all parents who have sent in donations of tissue and ziplock bags in the past few weeks. If you wish to donate items to the classroom, below is a list of items that would be greatly appreciated:

-tissue (we can always use more)
-headphones
-hand sanitzer (unscented)
-Sticky Tack (to adhere items to the wall without nails or tacks)

Weekly Word Study - Weeks #1- #30

This is a list of our 'Word Study' words for the year. Should your family be taking a vacation or your child is ill, you can find the words here!  

Week #1: rough, grudge, stunt, thumb, once, another does, trouble, cousin, began, until, which
Short 'u' sound, other short vowels, two-syllable words

Week #2: afraid, explain, laid, raise, straight, freight, height, they, favourite, able, station, relation
Long 'a' sound, word with open syllables 

Week #3: fifteen, eager, easily, ready, please, ecology, maybe, been, only, universe, future, beautiful
Long 'e' sound, long 'u' sound 

Week #4: obey, ocean, wrote, goal, owner, tomorrow, program, broken, potato, throat, followed, spoken
Long 'o' sound, present and past tenses 

Week #5: I'll, they've, don't, we're, didn't, isn't, couldn't, haven't, you're, it's, doesn't, I've
Contractions

Week #6: myself, lying, apply, knight, quite, buy, inquire, higher, variety, smiling, rhyme, python
Long 'i' sound and 'ing' endings 

Week #7: gloomy, choose, loose, route, clue, truth, ruin, Tuesday, usually, threw, could, should
Words with 'oo' sound spelled as: oo, ou, ue, u, ew

Week #8: spoil, choice, avoid, oyster, employ, annoy, ground, allow, ourselves, somehow, amount, boundary
Dipthongs of 'oi' and 'oy'

Week #9: first aid, flashlight, high school, goalkeeper, airmail, one-way, something, birthday, everybody, everyone, anything, themselves
Three types of compound words: one word, two words and hyphenated, 

Week #10: stalk, because, brought, called, awful, lawyer, daughter, fault, author, already, although, office
Words with the 'aw' sound 

Week #11: swimming, loving, carried, bragged, worried, beginning, exciting, finished, laughed, quickest, tiniest, lonelier
Words with the endings: ed, ing, er, est

Week #12: countries, women, lessons, people, friends, calves, flies, lives, businesses, families, leaves, pictures
Plural forms of words

Week #13: urgent, Thursday, purpose, thirsty, camera, remember, surprise, dollar, colour, collar, mayor, doctor
Words with the 'er' sound and two-and three-syllable words

Week #14: square, dairy, January, daring, beware, partner, guarding, orchestra, ordinary, important, force, before
Words that have 'r' controlled vowel sounds 

Week #15: about, quiet, other, compare, thousand, happen, different, dozen, animal, second, quarter, again
Two-syllable words

Week #16: where, thought, athletes, thruthful, purchases, though, children, friendship, together, watches, arithmetic, length
Words with consonant digraphs of wh, ch, tch, sh and th

Week #17: regular, generous, bridge, genius, dangerous, figure, country, circle, peaceful, since, dancing, decided
Words with the variant sounds of 'g' and 'c'

Week #18: eagle, example, towel, special, legal, whole, several, terrible, question, telescope, celebrate, address
Words with the final 'l' sound spelled: le, el, al

Week #19: tried, weigh, piece, receive, their, neither, field, receiving, hurried, writing, tired, worries
Words with 'ie' and 'ei'

Week #20: happiness, loneliness, exactly, honestly, speedily, angrily, happily, teacher, actor, liar, biologist, assistant
Words with the suffixes: -ness, -ist, -ant

Week #21: scene, they're, through, aloud, cruise, crews, principal, principle, knew, two, write, reign
Review of long vowel sounds

Week #22: thoughtful, successful, wasteful, plentiful, government, amusement, excitement, punishment, fearless, careless, useless, reckless
Words with the suffixes: -ful, -ment, and -less

Week #23: sugar, musician, patience, mission, physician, tension, conclusion, caution, constellation, fiction, official, glacier
Words with the sound of 'sh' spelled; sh, s, ci, ti, ss, si

Week #24: wrong, dough, knapsack, listen, climb, half, island, talking, design, tonight, limb, knot
Words with silent letters 

Week #25: rewrite, reappear, rebuild, dishonest, disagree, disappoint, misbehave, misunderstand, misspell, misuse, illegal, illegible
Words with the prefixes: re-, dis-, mis-, il-

Week #26: paragraph, trophy, enough, cough, fourth, Friday, roughest, fragile, fluid, festival, stuffed, telephone
Words with the 'f' sound

Week #27: imperfect, impolite, impatient, inactive, incorrect, inconsiderate, preview, prejudice, prevent, uncomfortable, unaware, ungrateful
Words with the prefixes: im-, in-, pre-, un-

Week #28: geology, geometry, geography, geologist, transport, import, portable, bicycle, cyclone, automatic, autobiography, photograph
Words with Greek and Latin root affixes

Week #29: decorate, decoration, divide, division, populate, population, infect, infection, punctuate, punctuation, attend, attention
Multisyllabic verbs

Week #30: temperature, vertical, equation, currency, environment, agriculture, civilization, manufacture, characterisitic, atmosphere, representative, substitute
Multisyllabic words

Math Update

This past month we have been working our way through our first 'Math Up' Unit: Representing Whole Numbers (Number Sense and Numeration). 

Throughout this unit students have been learning to:

1) Represent numbers using units of thousands, hundreds, or tens.

2) Represent and rename numbers using combinations of units of 

    thousands, hundreds, tens and ones. (e.g. 310 is the same as 3 

    hundreds and 1 ten)

3) Represent numbers to 1000 using number words. 

4) Recognize that certain respresentations fo a number can reveal

     particular characteristics of that number (e.g. when we see the 

     representation of 1240 as the number sentence 620+620 we know 

     it is an even number 

     because there is a zero in the ones place).

5) Make inferences about numbers from given information/figure

    out numbers based on a set of clues.  

Our next 'Math Up' unit will be: Patterns (Patterning & Algebra).  

The learning goals of the unit are: 

1) To describe how a repeating pattern continues and create repeating patterns. 

2) Describe how growing patterns continue, and create growing patterns. 

3) Describe how shrinking patterns continue, and create shrinking patterns. 

4) Accurately follow a pattern rule and make predicions based on that rule. 

5) Propose a pattern rule that describes a given pattern and make predictions 

    based on that rule. 

Your child is assessed in math based on daily work and 'your turn' 

questions from the unit, participation in 'Minds-On' activites and 

'Number Talks', teacher observations, summative assessments of 

learning, etc. From time to time there are also math tests and pop quizzes.