Room 54

Our morning math this morning was interpreting information from a bar graph. Then we worked on finishing our haiku poems and sharing them with the teacher. Happy to say that everyone now has their haikus turned. We are also getting closer to completing our rough drafts of the Eras story about going back in time and telling how the land was used by different eras of people. We read more of Refugee and responded to a question about Isabel diving into the water to help Senor Castillo. Why did she do it? Was it a good decision? What might happen next? There was gym this morning too. In the afternoon the challenge book question was about the Montreal decision to postpone Halloween until tomorrow because of the heavy rain the city got today. Students had to either agree or disagree with that decision and then give their reasons why. There was no wrong answer, but there were stronger and weaker reasons for each. After this we practiced subtracting again. It looks as if most students have a...

The word problem for today was a challenge for a lot of the students. It required organizing a list of items for breakfast so that every combination was different. There were 3 drinks, 4 yogurts and 2 kinds of toast to choose from. The questions were to make a list of all the different combinations that did not include one of the drinks. The second question was to figure out the total of different combinations possible from the choices. A couple students were able to figure this out independently, some figured out a few combinations, but not the total. It was a good thinking challenge. We worked on finishing the haikus and riddles on the computer and then worked on a free verse poem. The class also had music and gym in the morning.  In the afternoon, our challenge was to write about what you would do if you were stranded on a deserted island with your best friend. This question was more about what they know about surviving and making personal choices. The rest of the afternoon w...

For mental Monday we practiced adding numbers that contained friendly numbers. Some questions were very easy using smaller numbers, the bigger numbers caused some challenges. Friendly numbers are numbers that add to 10, or 20 or any number that has a zero at the end. These numbers can/should be added very quickly in your mind without needing to write anything down. After this practice, the class used white boards to show how they subtract two numbers. We are beginning subtraction and are focusing on the traditional method first. We are identifying when there is ' trouble' and the top digit needs help from its neighbour to complete the subtraction. We are focusing on this strategy as the first method because it causes a lot of confusion since it is so abstract. We will practice the exploding dots method as well later to add more conceptional understanding to this skill. The class had a short time on the computers to finish up their haiku poems and plant and animal riddles. Then ...

Thank You Friday was quick this morning due to the number of passes. There were a couple of really nice thank-yous that were genuine and had reason so that others could understand why these people were being thanked. We had a math check-in this morning to check the students understanding of addition so far. Just a quick couple of questions. There was more time given to complete the story plan of the Eras of First Nations, Settlers and Modern time. Next will be the beginning of the story writing for most. Today was also our classes extra gym class and we played a couple of different games. Reminders: - Friday November 1 is a PD day

The morning math this today was solving an algebraic puzzle with unknowns. It is from Math Mash Up, if you wanted to google it. We then worked on our poems and some had time to begin typing theirs. Today was sharing their haiku and then they could write a poem of their choice, using rhyme scheme, personification or alliteration, which we learned about today. This took us to gym and then the class worked on a math activity with a partner. They took turns finding and circling the numbers on a grid that created proper totals. Players had to put the operation symbol and the equal symbol between the numbers chosen. It was an activity that challenged the thinking and promoted flexible ways to create totals. After special lunch, the challenge question was making a decision whether to accept a new bike or take $1 000 cash. It was supposed to be a moral question, but I think it was too easy. Perhaps the amount of money was too high and that made it an easy decision. After this, the rest of th...

Word Problem Wednesday got our day started. It was tricky for some to understand how to solve a couple of the problems. All the questions could have been solved using addition, but some students figured out that multiplication was a faster way to find the answer. As always writing a sentence to answer the question from the problem is required and this caught some people. A simple sentence is all that is needed, but it has to answer the question. This took us to music and gym and when we returned the class worked on writing their plant or animal riddle for the matching activity. In the afternoon the challenge question was focused on making a personal decision whether to live like the first nations on the land or live like the settlers on the land. Of course there was no wrong answer, but the reasons given for each choice separated good from great. We read a few chapters from Refugee and then had a question to respond to. Today's question was making a choice between who you would r...

True and false Tuesday started our day. Students had to prove if the mathematical statements were true or not. The class went to music and then practiced addition some more. Today students used the traditional algorithm to add 5 and 6 digit numbers. Students picked up on this method pretty well and is a good strategy for a lot of them. Class worked on this until gym time and then continued writing haiku poems about Remembrance Day. In the afternoon, the challenge book question was related to our field trip as well as the next social studies project. Students were asked which type of people had a harder time in history using the land; Natives or Settlers? This was more difficult that anticipated, perhaps because this information was given a couple of weeks ago and has been forgotten already. Another reason we review often. After this question, the class worked on a reading comprehension activity using the Canadian Reader resource. The topic was about the election that just occurred ye...

Morning math started with some mental math questions. It reviewed expanded form, using base ten blocks, writing numbers in words and there was one subtraction question that was not really mental math....oops. The students then worked on their plant riddles and sharing them with the teacher. If they got finished this, they were able to blindly choose from the animal lottery and create a riddle for that animal. This activity took the class until math where they practiced addition using the exploding dots method. To double check students could use any strategy they wished. Most students have shown understanding of this strategy. In the afternoon the challenge question was to define what bullying is and explain what to do if someone was being bullied. This was a review of the Dare to Care presentation the class had a couple of weeks ago. A lot of students have a general idea of what a bully is, however most forgot that in order to be considered a bully, the interaction has to be ongoing ...

With 4 students absent, Thank You Friday felt smaller and faster than usual. After our thanks, the class continued working on their Haiku poems. Today the focus was on nature relating to Remembrance Day. You would think this topic would be too narrow, but there is a lot of nature that can be focused on. Poppy, dove, any kind of weather, the ground could be used. As a class we created a poem about the poppy. Students were able to see that meeting the rules of 5-7-5 syllables per line was not that difficult, but choosing powerful words that had meaning and connected to Remembrance Day was a bit of a challenge. Then the class worked on completing their field trip reflection. To end the morning, we began to watch a video from the CBC called MarketPlace. The episode was focused around recycling plastics from Canada. We haven't finished it yet, but the students are taking jot notes and are finding out that recycling plastics is big business around the world. Its good business.....but is ...

Morning math was solving for different unknowns using clues. It was wonderful to hear some of the students 'get it' after just a little guidance. This type of thinking will get easier the more we do it. Students need to have an understanding of number and be able to find clues that are easy to begin. We used the computers to continue finding information on their plant and then finding a image of it too. Students are using Google Docs, which is part of Google Drive to share their riddle and image with me. This information will be made into a matching game when all the students have completed and shared their information. Students had more time to work on their Ann and Sandy Cross reflection this morning and go to gym. The morning also had our first lock down of the year. It was a practice of course, and we did very well being quiet and still in the classroom.   In the afternoon, the challenge question was to explain how students could make their ecological footprint smaller. ...

What a great day to have a hike at Ann and Sandy Cross! The weather gods were definitely making up for the cancelled day. The kids will be tired from the 3KM+ hike that included some climbs and down hills. We learned a lot from Mike and Matthew our two guides, about how the natives lived on the land first. We learned about ecological footprints and how we as modern Calgarians have the biggest footprint of all. Ecological footprint is the impact people have on the land in order to live. Did you know that if everyone on earth lived the way Calgarians do, with the amount of space we have and how we use it, earth would not be big enough. It would take 5 planet earths! Ask your child how the natives lived with such a small footprint on the land.  We also learned how the settlers were the second people to live on this land. The settlers had a harder life than we do, and they had a smaller ecological footprint too. We saw some artifacts that are still around from the settler time and le...

Welcome back! I hope you all got your fill of great food and family this past long weekend. Our morning math was a true and false to help get our brains back into thinking. The class had music and gym this morning as well. For the main math lesson we focused on learning a new way to add using exploding dots. The grade 5s are familiar with this method and is a reinforcement of the base ten system. Check out the link  https://www.explodingdots.org/island/I3  to watch how James Tantem explains it. We practiced using this method for adding 4 digit numbers and even 5 digit numbers.  In the afternoon, our challenge book question was about explaining how you want to be remembered when you get older. This was a great question leading up to our review of the Dare to Care social diamond containing bullies, targets and caring majority. We read more of Refugee but didn't have a question to respond to today. It was an interesting experiment to not have a question, as some students s...

Today was the grade 4/5 Dare to Care day! The students were introduced to Dare to Care with an assembly in the morning. They learned that the program is about knowing what a bully is, and how to deal with situations that include bullying. Students also learned that in every school, including Bridlewood, that there are bullies, caring minorities and targets. These three groups of people make the tips of a diamond and are the smallest populations. The largest group is known as the Silent Majority. People in this group see things happen but do not do anything to stop it. By not doing anything to stop the bullying, they are just as involved. Students learned through Dare to Care that we want the school community to be more like a circle with the majority of people being the Caring Majority. The Caring Majority are people that stand up and help the targets go to a trusted adult for support. Students learned that there are skills to learn in order to defend against bullies. HA HA SO is an ac...

Our day began with Word Problem Wednesday. Each student answered 4 word problems. Today was mostly practicing division questions and a multiplication problem. We had music and gym and then began a science activity where students did some research on a chosen plant and then created a short riddle that others will use to help identify. All the plants are native to Alberta and most can be found around Calgary and Ann and Sandy Cross. Here is an example from the teacher: I am a light brown sphere shape. I grow in patches. I am a fungus that is good at stopping bleeding. I can be put up your nose to stop a nose bleed. I act like a bandage if I am cut into pieces. People like to step on me to see what happens. When I am burned my smoke keeps ghosts away. Students were to find an image of their plant and then share their riddle, image and name of plant using Google Docs with their teacher. After lunch the Challenge Book question was explaining what...

You probably know by now that our field trip was postponed this morning due to weather. We will re-schedule it for another day this month. It was for the best because the snow was blowing sideways at Cross Conservation, the roads were not very good and we only had one volunteer by this morning. Hopefully when we reschedule, we will get more parent volunteers because I don't think we could have gone anyways with only one volunteer and myself.  As you can imagine the day was a bit of a hodge podge of things. We did work on math in the morning with a True or False Tuesday set of questions followed by a Problem of the Week question. This is a word problem that will be given at the beginning of the week and then turned in later in the week. It is meant to be more independent and less teacher driven. There was also some finish up work with the place value chart to a million as well as music and gym in the morning. The afternoon was full of a Challenge question where students responde...

Welcome to Mental Monday! The students had 5 questions to try and answer without figuring it out on paper first. Some used pencil and paper to help with their strategy. Some students are forgetting to line up the place values before adding or subtracting if they are using the traditional algorithm. The questions are designed to allow for more flexible thinking strategies like making friendly numbers, or adding biggest place values first or even compensating and making the numbers easier. We read the book Love That Dog by Sharon Screech about a boy who does think he is good a writing poetry. The book is written in poetic prose so the story really shows line breaks and different poetic literacy methods of being descriptive. A fire drill interrupted the reading, but we finished it once back in the room then had a snack. After this the students worked on their ecosystem research using PowerKnowledge. In the afternoon, the challenge book was about responding to how can you show respect an...

We started with our Thank You Friday circle and had some really nice thank you's for each other. After this we finished watching the Nature of Things video about the grassland prairies. Then we discussed and shared some of our information that students recorded in their chart. We discussed how some of the components in the grassland contribute to the ecosystem of the prairies. We learned that fire is a good method for helping the native plants and the soil re grow and have a fresh start. The soil gets the nutrients from the ash and the native plants have a better chance of re growing. We then had some finish up time to complete any Who Am I riddles, and continue writing short poems about the pond or anything in nature when finished the pond poem. Today was our extra gym day so we went into the gym and played Blueberry. We shared our poems and then discussed the field trip before the end of the day. Reminders: - Field trip to Cross Conservation is Tuesday.....still needing 2 more...

Our morning math today was Thinking Thursday! Thursday are our puzzle day where students have to use their number sense to solve various kinds of math puzzles. Today's puzzle was figuring out which number didn't belong in a set of four different numbers. The numbers were 9, 16, 25, 43. Each number does not fit the set for different reasons, it was up to the students to figure out the reasons that justify their chosen number or numbers. In the morning we also worked more on the ecosystem of their choice. We are getting the idea of how different ecosystems work and how each system relies on everything in it to stay healthy. That is our goal at least. We had our first library book exchange today, so everyone now has at least one good book to read. In the morning we also had gym. We started watching a great video from the CBC called the Nature of Things hosted by David Suzuki about the prairie grasslands. We took notes in our visual journal using a SEE, THINK, WONDER, CONNECT activ...

Morning math today was word problem Wednesday! The students were given four word problems to solve and then we went over them after. It took a longer time than anticipated so we only solved one question together. This will become more streamlined in the weeks ahead as the students get used to the routine and begin to become more efficient at solving problems. The morning also included music and gym as well as working on the computers. Students used the computers to locate information about an ecosystem of their choice using a given website. The site is accessed through LearnAlberta.ca and is called PowerKnowledge. We used the Life Science website to find our information. Students documented what they learned about their chosen ecosystem in their visual journals. The focus was what the ecosystem was, and how the different organisms and components interacted together to make that ecosystem work. Feel free to have a look at the site.  learnalberta.ca In the afternoon, the challenge ...

Our morning math today was True or False Tuesday questions. Students were given 5 questions to determine whether or not they were true or false. They had to have some way to prove their answer. As a class we discussed some of the proofs students used to help everyone learn new methods. Also this morning the class created the October calendar in their visual journals. There is a lot of important dates this month. Music and gym were in the morning as well.  In the afternoon the class continued working on creating personifications for objects around the classroom. Some examples shared were: The books jumped out of the cart....The water bottle inhaled the water....The sharpener devoured the pencil. The challenge in the afternoon was giving as many facts as they could about wetlands. This challenged many students as they could not get their minds into remembering what a wetlands was. It took some class discussion to get at least 3 facts. There was time for personal reading this aftern...