I hope everyone had a joyous and relaxing long Easter weekend.  One person in the class celebrated a birthday over the long weekend.
We have a busy week this week with an exciting guest speaker for last block on Thursday.  We will be having Tysen Lefebvre in to speak to us about Tysen's Mission to a Million. The students have been learning about Tysen and the goal he has set to raise one million dollars for the children's charity Make-a-Wish. We are exploring the characteristics of grit that Tysen possesses with such a grand goal and will have the chance to ask him about this on Thursday. You can follow the link for more information about this amazing teenager:    http://www.missiontoamillion.ca/
Please see the updates below as well as the homework link at the side.  If there are any questions about the homework, please let me know through a note in your child's agenda.
Math: We will continue to explore area and perimeter in everyday situations. We will also be continuing with our multiplication drills.
Language: We will continue to explore pourquoi stories and to write some of our own.

Happy first, but very chilly, day of spring! I hope everyone had a super break whether you skied, had fun in the sun, or enjoyed a staycation around home. It will be a short week back as we have no school on Good Friday or Easter Monday.
We are happy to recognize one birthday in our class this week.
Please let me know, through an email or note in your child's agenda,  if you ever have questions about the on-line homework.
Please see the updates below:
Math: We are putting our skills into play by measuring the perimeter of two guinea pig cages to see which perimeter is greater.  We will be moving into exploration of surface area to determine, of the two cages, which has a greater area: the one with a larger flat surface, or the one with two levels and a ramp. We will continue with multiplication drills and have our timed drill this Thursday. Please ask your child to share their goal with you.
Language: We are exploring the characteristics of pourquois and legends to see how they are similar and different. We listened to some student created pourquois stories last week and the students will move to writing their own.

Happy last week before March break! It seems as though the spring weather may soon be upon us.
We recognized two birthdays in the class and enjoyed a used book sale this past week as well as spirit week and the engineering challenge. The students had fun racing their zambonis in the gym while the rest of the school cheered.  Some of our teams got the opportunity to race their vehicles against teams from St. Monica as well.
Many of our junior students will be enjoying a ski day tomorrow. We are looking forward to a sunny, warm day on the slopes.
I would like to offer students in the class the opportunity to care for the guinea pigs at their home over March break.  If you are interested in having the guinea pigs at your home, please send me an email to let me know (sharon.cooper@ocsb.ca). It would be preferable to have them at a home with no cats or dogs. They will need to be fed daily and have their cage changed twice over the break. All required materials will be supplied.
Please see the updates below:
Math:  We have been practicing measuring linear measurements in millimeters and centimeters. We also began to look at perimeter measurements by measuring the width and length of two different guinea pig cages. We will calculate the perimeter of each to determine which is greater. We will continue with  multiplication drills.
Language:  The students listened to a pourquoi story this week and had some discussions.  We will explore the characteristics of pourquois or legends this week.

We have had a very busy and exciting week!  Students have been working very hard on the engineering challenge and have been making posters and short videos about their projects. They will test their vehicles tomorrow in the gym.

They have also been working in small groups to create and record videos showing a of variety of situations which demonstrate “grit” and perseverance. Some groups are recording skits showing high levels of grit and some are showing lower levels.

In order to practice and work with grit, the students will be setting their own goals towards learning multiplication facts to 12.  We will have timed drills each Friday (the students chose to have them timed!) and students will then pick their own individual goals towards improvement based on their results. The results and goals will be private as this is not a class contest but rather to help each student achieve their own personal goal.

We enjoyed watching a gymnastics presentation Friday afternoon in which many students in the class participated.  They had fun at their showcase for most of the day on Friday.

This week is spirit week so please check the weekly announcements for each day’s theme.

Please see the updates below:

Math update: We have begun to look at linear measurement this week.  Students have been practicing measuring a variety of items in centimeters and meters. This week we will exploring measurement accuracy and choosing appropriate units of measure for a given item.

Language update: We will explore a variety of legends this week as students work toward writing their own legend or pourquoi story.

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope to see more of the students this week than last, considering our long Family Day weekend followed by 2 snow days!

We are finishing up our Engineering Challenge next week. It seems as though everyone has been having fun and enjoying the challenge with their teams. We have also been enjoying having so much snow in the yard. There are a lot of busy fort builders and the view from the hills is super.

Considering our very short week last week, our math and language updates remain the same this week.

Please see the attached homework.

I hope everyone enjoyed a fabulous Family Day long weekend!  It sounds as though everyone should be prepared for a snowy week.
Please see updates below:
Math: We will be moving on from time and moving into linear measurement this week.
Language: We will be linking our comprehension strategy of questioning to qualities of grit and tenacity to help us explore these qualities more deeply in a variety of people.

Happy Monday everyone!  We are happy to recognize 3 birthdays in the class!
Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday.  The students will be enjoying pancakes at school.
I hope everyone has a great week!
Please see the updates below:
Math:  The students will be having an assessment on time at the end of the week.  This week's homework will reinforce what we have been working on. We are continuing a variety of measures of time as well as estimating time.
Language:  We have been looking at parts of a paragraph as well as working on our procedural writing.