Room 54

Morning math was a tough one today. A few students were able to solve it on their own, and then others got help. This puzzle required some thinking for sure as there was not as many easy equations to start with.  After this time was given to continue researching the region student's chose. Students were given a website that had information about the regions of Alberta. If you google learnalbertaregions the site is the first choice called Zooming in to the regions. Students gathered information that answered key questions on their outline. Next week students should be starting to put all their information into their presentation form.  We did a quick math review on area and perimeter before heading to gym for some relaxing stretching and finishing up with the gymnastic stations. Just before lunch we read a couple of chapters from Refugee and learned that Isabel's mom is having her baby right now and that the coast guard is after them. We are not sure they will reach Miami i...

For word problem Wednesday we had to figure out the area of a new section of school. Given information was partially shown on the diagram, and then clues were given to figure out the missing lengths and widths of the rectangles. This was a multi-step problem that required understanding of how to find the area of a rectangle and what length and width means related to the sides of a rectangle. After this work, the class worked on finding all the rectangles for the same perimeter. One perimeter was 10 cm and the other perimeter was 18cm. Students found that there were only two different rectangles that could be made with a perimeter of 10cm. There were four different rectangles that could be made for a perimeter of 18cm.  The class then had time to begin their research on their chosen region. Today students had access to computers or text books to help locate needed information. The outline was given to students, as well as the rubric and success criteria. In the afternoon, we had...

True and False Tuesday was proving whether or not the area of a rectangle was correct, proving if a side length was correct given the other needed information. Basically practicing and applying understanding of area and perimeter. Music followed and then the class had a chance to renew or exchange library books. Then we really had to review and explain what area and perimeter are, as well as explain how to find each of these measurements for a rectangle. There will be an assessment on these two concepts later this week, so we are really focusing on being able to explain and show what they are. The class had gym in the morning too.  In the afternoon, we read a couple of chapters from Refugee about Isabel and Mahmoud. We are not sure what will happen to Isabel since they are being stopped by the US Coast Guard before they reach land. We found that Mahmoud's family had to pay a lot of money (double the original cost) at gun point and then had to get out of the taxi and walk. They ar...

Mental Monday was solving KenKen puzzles. These are number puzzles that can only use certain numbers and each bolded in section has a different value to find using given operations. The number of boxes along one side of the puzzle tells what numbers you are allowed to use. For example, there are 4 boxes to one side, that means numbers 1-4 are only allowed. After this the class worked on solving the challenging problem of finding a shape that had the area twice the number of the perimeter. It was easy for the students to find a shape with the perimeter twice the number of the area, but more difficult this way. Students could work in groups or independently, and they could use blocks. It took a lot of time but there was one group that figured out one of the correct shapes by themselves. Another group needed support to guide them to the correct result, and the rest of the class didn't find a solution. Understanding that there is more than one way to make a certain rectangular sha...

The thanked each other for actions appreciated this week during Thank You Friday. Then students had more time to complete their concept map on the regions of Alberta or the regions of Canada. Some sharing after showed that the class has a little information that is on the right track about these different regions. They were using common sense and background knowledge as well as inferences using the name of the region to help them put together their ideas. After this there was some time given to complete their visual journal page about everything they could remember about the importance of being aware when using the internet or playing online games. Today was our extra gym day and we played running games to get the kids active. To end the day the class had time to finish and test their group's elastic design challenge object. After testing some groups found that their idea didn't work the way they thought or wanted it to and had to revise and make changes to their design. Some g...

Math mobile puzzles got our brains thinking this morning. These seemed pretty easy, so that means the class is beginning to understand them better and we can move into more challenging mobiles! Then we really challenged our brains with thinking and creating rectangles or even irregular shapes using cubes, given certain guidelines. For example; make a shape that has the same area and perimeter numerical number (the area and perimeter number need to be the same). Another question was, make a shape that has the perimeter twice the number as the area. Understanding what area is and what perimeter is was a necessity as well as how to find these measurements. We had snack then discussed and showed a couple of solutions for these questions before going to gym. We read Mahmoud's chapter when we came back and made a prediction about what might happen to them next after being held at gun point by a taxi driver in Serbia. In the afternoon, we had time to complete our first round of literatu...

Word Problem Wednesday was all about finding the area of a rectangle with missing information. The information needed could be found by using the given information and knowledge of how area is found. Start with what do you know, just like the puzzles. There was music and gym after this work and then the class had their first literature circle time in their new book groups. Being the first time they worked on this, the first role chosen was not completed. Tomorrow the groups will have another time to read together and work on their roles and have a chance to share what they discovered. The afternoon was beautiful as we walked to the pond for some observations. Today we practiced 'Looking at Nature', which consisted of choosing something found in nature (plant, animal other) around the pond to focus on and then jotting down responses and observations to four big concepts. Physical Features, Construction, Adaptations, and Value.  Physical features : colour, texture, is it comp...

True or False Tuesday got our brains working this morning. Multiplication and addition as well as a subtraction was part of figuring out whether the equations were the same value. Music followed then for math we looked at area and perimeter of shapes. We discussed and discovered that the area is the space inside a flat object, or another way of saying it is the amount of space a shape covers. We reviewed that perimeter was the distance around the outside of a shape. Perimeter is like walking around the fence line of a shape and you add all the lengths together. We saw that area is measured in square units and perimeter is measured in only units.We didn't get to do the activity because we ran out of time, but this will happen tomorrow. We read some more and discussed Refugee and then went to gym. Then we continued reading another chapter when we got back. Today was a heavy chapter as we felt the emotions of everyone in the small boat about Ivan dying. We also made a connection to th...

Another week and another Mental Monday math opener! Today it was reviewing patterns and writing pattern rules. Some were more challenging to figure out than others, especially writing the rule that made sense. The hardest one was 9, 13, 18, 24, 31....can you figure the out the rule? After this the learned a new math game called the Factor Game. This game practices the multiplication basic facts as well as all factors of products including single digit times double digit. All numbers up to 36 were on the game board. Player A circles a number, then the other player circles all the factors available that make that number. Player B then circles a number and the other player circles all the factors still available. Once all numbers are circled, each player adds up their circled numbers. If a player circles a number that has no factors on the board available, they lose their next turn. They keep the points for that number, but give up their turn to circle factors on their next turn. More tim...

We started with our Thank You Friday circle and had almost everyone give some thanks and recognize people from the class for being a good friend or doing something that was helpful towards others. Then since there were so many students away again we had some time to finish up some of the work from the week that needed completing. After this the class worked in groups to collaborate and design an invention that would help the Natives in their daily life. This could be anything and not only focused on ways to transport or move materials or people. Most groups are still thinking of inventions that move. The challenging part is how to use elastics in their design. They were shown a short video of one way to use elastics to propel a car made out of dowels and straws. Maybe this will give them some different ways to think about how to use elastics to transfer energy. Reminders: - please return report card envelopes if you still have them.....keep the report card obviously - Constable Gem...

Thinking math this morning was tricky. Students had to solve for an unknown that was on both sides of the equal symbol and had to be the same value. Example: 18 + N = 4 x N. It was helpful to have knowledge of the multiplication facts to have a place to start. If you understood that both unknowns had to be the same and each side of the equal symbol were balanced and knowing the basic facts there was much less guessing and checking. After this we practiced multiplication using the box method or area model solving for multiple digit equations such as 123 x 5 or 23 x 34. Also before lunch we identified what instruments are used when measuring different parts of weather. Temperature = thermometer, precipitation = rain gauge, wind speed = wind vane, wind speed = anemometer, air pressure = barometer and humidity = hygrometer. We will look into building a weather station using these tools once we are completed our design challenge activity. After an indoor lunch we read Refugee and learned ...

For Word Problem Wednesday the class solved a problem where they had to find unknown values of masses of sport equipment put in number puzzles before solving the main problem.  The class then went to music and gym. When back they continued to working on the comprehension activity from Monday.  In the afternoon we learned what the visualizer job is as part of literature circles. The class worked as a whole to create an event map for the section of Refugee read. This map was made together as a model and then we read the next section and students had to make their own event maps to show the main ideas of the text. This work was done in their visual journals. At the end of the day, we worked on what the problem should be for our design challenge using elastics. It was a difficult decision and a big idea that needed some focus and guidance. Most groups were stuck in wanting to create something modern and give it to an earlier era to help them. At the end of the day it was dec...

BWS Yearbooks Bridlewood School is very fortunate this year as one of our parents, who is a photographer and graphic artist/web designer, has generously volunteered her talent and time to create our yearbook. So many thanks to Melinda Gombert for this. Melinda has just finished designing the cover for the yearbook.  If you haven’t purchased a yearbook yet and would like to do so, you can do through accessing your fees online (MyCBE/PowerSchool account).  You will need to go to the Goods/Services tab to locate the optional fees, double click the yearbook line, the fee will then attach to your account, or return this invoice indicating that you wish to purchase the year book and the fee will be added to your account from the school office. Deadline for purchase is February 28, 2020. This morning the class solved and proved true or false math equations to warm up the brains. Here is an example: 78 + 439 + 11 = 7 x 36. Students had to solve each side o...

Morning math was a review of patterns and pattern rules. The pattern was given and students had to figure out the rule that fit the pattern to make it work. Then we focused on area and reviewed how to find the area of a rectangle. Knowing that A= L x W helped in finding all the rectangles with the area of 12 square centimeters. Students had to understand that 3x4 was a slightly different rectangle than 4x3 even though the sides were the same values. The position of the rectangle mattered (horizontal or vertical). Students then had to find all the rectangles for 16 square centimeters or 24 square centimeters using graph paper. Outlining and shading in the rectangles along with writing the equation for each rectangle was expected. In literacy we read an article about disappearing birds and used thinking notes to make small notes while reading. Students were given the chart of the different thinking note symbols to use. Today students were expected to read the article as many times as n...

To start the day we had a short presentation from some grade 5 students from other classes about digital citizenship. Ask your child what digital citizenship means. They should be able to explain some of the big ideas around this concept. The information shared was very important. The class will be visited by Constable Gemma in the coming weeks for a more detailed presentation and question period about the importance of being safe and aware while using the internet and any social media platform. After this presentation, we had our Thank You Friday circle time and then worked on practicing the two comprehension strategies (summarizing, asking questions) learned this week. Students listened and followed along to the reading of Isabel's chapter and then shared some of the big ideas they heard. Then they had time to write their own summary of the big ideas from the section of text. Once finished this summary, they were to think of and write 2 or 3 questions they would like answered t...

Today's mental math was a puzzle of unknowns. Students had to solve for the unknown numbers in different equations before they could solve the final question challenge. Looking for the easiest or at least the equation that has the most information given has been a good strategy to begin with when solving these kinds of puzzles. We then turned our attention to defining what area is and then finding the area of a couple of shapes. We defined area as how much space there is inside a flat shape, or the amount of space a shape covers. Today we began with rectangles and used A= SxS. The class had gym in the morning and we also listened to an episode of 6 minutes.  It was an indoor lunch, so the students came back to the room after they ate and played games or other activities.  After lunch we read another chapter of Refugee and then learned another job in the literature circles. Today's job was asking questions that we didn't really know the answer to. These types of question...

This morning for Morning math the class worked on solving a word problem about a dripping faucet. The problem contained 3 questions to solve, but they were very similar and used the same strategy for practice. One way to solve this problem was to set up a T-chart with the time and number of drips as headings. The class had music and gym in the morning and then worked on defining and describing what multiplication is using a Frayer Model. It was brought to my attention that we had started this activity awhile ago, so it was just adding more information or changing information that was in each category if it didn't make sense now. In the afternoon we continued reading Refugee, and today the class listened to the section about Mahmoud and then we discussed the big ideas of this passage. We had a few jot notes on the board for students to use if needed to write their own summary of the section. This was practicing the skill of summarizing a section of text that was modeled yesterday....

Welcome back to a new year and decade! The class settled nicely today and got right to work solving some true and false math equations. It was using the brain again in ways not used in a couple of weeks. Remembering basic facts and strategies to solve multiplication, addition and subtraction equations was challenging for some! After this brain warm-up, the morning was full of music and January calendar along with gym and a literacy word sort activity based from the Words Their Way program. The word sort was focused on the long O and short O sound. Given words containing these sounds had to be sorted into proper categories according to the vowel sound heard and the letter patterns in the words. The categories were CVC, CVCe, CVVC and oddball, because the English language has many words that do not fit the mold when it comes to spelling and sounds. After lunch, we read from the class novel Refugee. It has been awhile since we read and it was good to get back into it. The class worked o...