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.