A very happy New Year to everyone!  It was great to see all the students refreshed and happy back at school today.  We each shared our favourite part of the holiday. We spent some time reviewing material covered before the break. We also had a visit from our new principal Mrs. Di Labio.
Some of you may have noticed that the grade threes are scheduled for Swim to Survive this week. Not to worry - this is not our grade 3 class.  Our class will be participating in Swim to Survive on Feb. 3rd, 10th, and 24th.  More information will be coming home regarding this shortly.
Homework will start again next week. For this week, you can discuss with your child appropriate goal setting and achieving. We will be looking at this in class this week as it relates to New Year's resolutions.
Please see the updates below:
Math:  Before the break, each student conducted a survey of class members regarding student's favourite Christmas tree ornaments. We conducted this survey again today. We are now using that information to create graphs. Students will also be reading a variety of data displayed to answer questions about the information given.
Language: We are writing about our New Year's resolutions. We are using graphic organizers to help outline what steps need to be completed in order to achieve an identified goal. We will also be using this graphic organizer to identify timelines to complete these steps. This information will be used to work on paragraph writing. Grade 3s should be writing at least 2 paragraphs and grade 4s at least 3 paragraphs. The students will be using a checklist to complete this task, as well as for editing purposes.
Science: The grade 3s will be reviewing their Soil information before starting their unit on Structures. The grade 4s will be reviewing their information on Rocks and Minerals before taking a closer look at Pulleys and Gears. The grade 4s will be starting the Engineering Challenge at the end of the month with other junior classes. Below is a list of materials we are asking each student to collect and donate if possible. More information will be coming home shortly.
Visual Arts: We watched a video that demonstrated some techniques used with paint and a variety of application tools. We will be exploring this in a hands-on fashion later in the week.

Engineering Challenge materials:
paper, cardboard, newspaper
 string, yarn, rope, fabric
 glue, play dough, tape
 popsicle sticks, tongue depressors, toothpicks, skewers, chopsticks, dowels
 wooden pencils
 plastics, styrofoam, rubber
 CDs
 spools (wooden, plastic)
 bottle caps (plastic)
 paint, decorations straws, rubber bands
 paper clips

 sand and Play-Doh