Daily+Notes

** I guess total retirement just doesn't work for some people! ; > ) ** ** I am a Roots of Empathy Instructor, volunteering in the Grade 4-5 class at Briargreen. **  ** For more information on Roots of Empathy please follow this link. [|Roots of Empathy] ** This program for children is one of the best anti - bullying and violence prevention programs. It is evidence and research based and is now being offered in many countries around the world. Mary Gorden, the program's founder, has won numerous awards, in Canada (Govenor General's Award, among others) and internationally. 2011 ** After an absence to recover from knee surgery, I have decided to retire from the classroom. **  ** I want to thank all my students and parents for a wonderful experience at Briargreen for the past 20 years. It has been a real pleasure to work with so many clever students who taught me so much. I consider myself very lucky to have enjoyed the best job in the world! ** ** To me, retirement will mean on-going involvment in education as a volunteer. I look forward to raising Monarch butterflies for one. In addition, I attended the Roots of Empathy Instructor Course this summer and anticipate bringing this inspiring program to several schools in the near future. ** ** I will continue to add items of interest to this site, so I hope you will continue to check out this wiki from time to time. ** = __** March Break Fun, March 12, 2011 **__ = = ** Welcome to a well deserved March Break week of fun things to do. Just in case you want something extra to spark to your interest, try these sites. We will be using them in the lab later this term. ** = ==== **"Scratch" is FREE programming software, developed by the prestigious MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to teach problem solving and decision making to students from the ages of 8 to 16 and beyond! Here is the link to the free download.** ==== = ** [] ** = ==== **Create and share your own interactive stories, games, music and art!** **Try it out. All of the characters are called //sprites//. You can use the sprites created by the software or create and import your own.** ==== = ** If you want help with learning about how to use and play with Scratch, go here. **[|**http://scratched.media.mit.edu/**] = ==== **You can learn all about Scratch and how to make it work for you. This is software that we will be exploring in the computer lab. In the meantime you can get a head-start on how to use this fun, interactive program. You can make your very own animated cartoons and movies.** ==== = ** More fun ideas of what to do during March Break are available at ** = = [|http://www.raincoast.com/kids-teen-blog/details/5-fun-things-to-do-during-march-break/**] = = ** Another useful and interesting site for parents and students is [|www.safekids.com] This website explores issues and gives fun games to help learn how about internet safety. ** =
 * 2012 **

__** Hello Sunday, February 27, 2011. **__ ** First of all I wish to thank students and Ms Waddell for all the lovely cards and well wishes that I received this past week. I think they really worked! ; > ) I am feeling much better. Thank you. **

** It was really good to hear that you are all well and enjoying working with Ms. W. ** ** I know you are in good hands. **

** I hope you are keeping up with your reading research on your history topic at home and are making good notes using your "Davidson chicken ring research method. " ; > ) **

** Remember this means only 1 fact on each small slip of paper, all held together by your ring. When you go to compose your paper you will find that by sorting your slips, your history research paper will write itself. Part of this trick is that you have enough slips of paper, that is, enough facts. **

** I heard there was a chemistry "magic show"... (chemistry can really work like magic) yesterday at Carleton University. While this is too late to tell you about this today, Sunday, I can let you know about this part. Those who were unable to attend the Chemistry Magic live show at Carleton University, Saturday, can watch the show live on Rogers channel 243 or online at the Carleton University Online website **** [|www1.carleton.ca/cuol/access-your-courses]. Have fun and keep reading and learning. **

**__ Research Tuesday, February 22, 2011. __**
=== Please welcome Ms. K. Waddell to our class this morning. As you know she will be taking over until I am able to return. If you need to get in touch with her, a note in the planner, works wonders. If you need other, more direct ways to reach her, you can phone the school office and leave a message, or ask her how else she can be reached. I am not at liberty to give out her email, for example, as it is not mine to give. ; > ) === === I hope you enjoyed our 4 day weekend and were able to take in some of our fabulous Winterlude activities. I also hope you found the time to check out your student's research topics, attached on this page, on Thursday's date. === === You can help your student with this project in several ways. First of all, help them find resources on their chosen topic. Visit the public library, assist and supervise internet searches and go to my other website, “[|Davidson’s Dungeon].” This site gives examples of research talks done by previous students. Please note this is an entire class set of talks and do not contain grades, so there are a wide variety of levels of achievement. === === You can also help by asking them questions about what they read. What does the passage they read mean to them? Use the question page in their Reading duo-tang to help them read for deeper understanding and to make personal connections. For example, candle making was an important activity in both Pioneer and Medieval Times as it was the main source of light in the evenings. Have students ever been in a situation where candle light was the only light source? What did it mean? Were you able to read as well? What activities could you do and which could you not? What do you suppose it meant to people in the past? Did they have to go to bed earlier than we do? Did they get up earlier? === === Another way you can help is by helping them to find pictures and diagrams to help inform and illustrate their topic. They can use these as visual aids. If they choose to use a poster or other aid, it should help guide them through their research presentation, as this is what most public speakers do. If you would like to see a [|checklist]for a poster please go to this page of the dungeon. === === We are currently reading the sequel to Castle in the Attic, Battle for the Castle. You can go to my Language Arts Fun page ( see navigation bar on the left) for a link to these books and other books. === === On a personal note, I would like to thank the many people who have sent me their best wishes and prayers. I do appreciate it all. I look forward to returning to class as soon as I am able. In the meantime, enjoy Pioneer and Medieval Times research and what’s left of our lovely winter activities. ===

**__ Pulleys & Gears Thursday, February 17, 2011. __**
===We had a wonderful workshop today. With 7 different activities everyone was quite busy and had a really fun time learning. Enjoy your 4 day weekend. Please remember to return your Ketchup folder and your "Chicken Ring" research notes, so we can do more in school.===

[[file:Approved Research Topics.doc]]
**__ " __****__ Looking At Pictures" Wednesday, February 16, 2011. __** **Today we had a National Gallery docent and former BG teacher, now retired, come to our classroom. She helped us all look at pictures in new ways and with greater understanding. Tomorrow we have a "Scientists - in Schools" workshop on Pulleys & Gears in the afternoon. Thanks to the 4 parents who have volunteered their time to come and help us.**

**Due to this special event we will not be skating in gym. Please bring your Reading Homework duo-tangs to school tomorrow as Friday is a P.D. day and Monday is a provincial holiday.**

**I will be sending home the Ketchup folder with any unfinished work inside. Please bring it back on Tuesday morning.**

**Today I shared Mrs. Kirkwood's letter about my impending knee operation. I began with the good news /bad news choice and they chose the bad news first, which is that I will not at school on Tuesday. Instead, I will be at the hospital getting my October injury repaired. The good news was that it will be fixed and I will be able to walk, run and dance with our class again.**

**Mrs. Waddell will be looking after the students in my absence. We have been in close touch and she has been in with the class on several occasions. I know our students will be in good hands with her and that gives me good peace of mind. I hope it does for you too.**

**I look forward to returning to school as soon as I am able.**


 * __ Toonie Tuesday, February 15, 2011 __**

We had a small Valentine celebration, exchanging valentines and sharing a few treats.
===The usual Monday homework of Reading Research for your history research topic, Making Words, Lesson 14, and a new page in the Reading duo-tang about asking richer questions to build deeper understanding of text. Toonie Tuesday is tomorrow, if you would care to bring a toonie to contribute to aspecial fund to help less fortunate families through education. More on Toonie Tuesday in the school newsletter.===

__NEXT WEEK:__
=== Monday is Valentine’s Day as I am sure you know. We will have a small celebration in the afternoon with a Valentine exchange and a few treats. I request that if your child does give Valentines, could they please give one to each child in our class. A list was sent home with students this past week of our class, and another on pink, of all the grade 3 students in the other classes. Here is a first name list of the other grade 4 class if they want to share with those friends as well. Click here ===

__SCIENCE:__ Pulleys & Gears
=== On Thursday from 12 to 12 to 2:15 we are doing a “Scientists in Schools” workshop. Students will go out for recess and come in and have their snack in the classroom. We are still looking for parent volunteers to help this Thursday afternoon. ===

__SOCIAL STUDIES:__ History Research. [[file:Research Interest Talk Topics 2011.doc]]
=== Half of our class has already chosen their Research topic and they have received their "chicken - ring" and blue topic card. I am attaching a copy of the topics that are now available to help the remaining half to choose. === === I am hoping that students will have all chosen their topic by early next week. Each student will have complete their research, make their poster and give their presentation the week of March 7 to 11, which is the week before March Break. ===

__ Wednesday, February 9, 2011. __ ===Davidson's Dungeon is a 53 page, 3 tier medieval research website produced by 25 former Grade 4 students. You will find a list of suggested topics, at [] === ===Browse through the Teacher's Corner section to find a rubric which will be used for evaluation. There are samples of student research as well as many other resources in the Dungeon. More info is also available about Term Two plans on the Home Page of this Wiki.=== __Homework tonight if not done in class:__ __**Reading:**__ You may want to start reading Medieval books to help you choose a reasearc topic by February 25. Reminders: Skating tomorrow for gym class. PLease bring skates, guards, helmets & dress warmly. Bring all materials to school: recorders, notebooks, etc. Term 2 Milk Orders must be in by Feb 17. Tomorrow is the last dayt for Term 1 pizza orders. Term 2 Pizza begind Feb 17.
 * __Math:__** Quest Workbook pages that should be complete are 122, to 125, 128 & 129.

__ Monday, January 31 to Friday, February 4, 2011 __
===This past week has been a busy one with many activities; everything from Ground Hog Day, Chinese New Year Celebrations, Beeswax Candle making, Science Forces experimental stations, the end of our Canada Research presentations and Reports for Term 1. Honestly there were a lot of fun extra activities to fit in along with our regular daily activities which normally fill our days. I am sure you have already heard of these many events from your students.===

__ Thursday, January 27, 2011 __
We all enjoyed listening to the "new teachers" in our class as 7 students shared their research with us today. Today was a perfect day for skating in our gym class and a special thank you to our volunteer parents and Mrs. Riou. Don't forget to visit the "Language Arts Fun " page ( see side bar for link) to learn about what we are doing as part of our novel studies this month and next. This is to help prepare us for Medieval Times which we will start in February. Daily Reading Homework duotangs should be returned tomorrow please. You might want to know that tomorrow is the last day to order pizza for the second term, from February 17 to June 30.

We have been working hard on our Canada Research this week. Students requested extra time to stay in at lunch recess and work on their projects. Although the cold weather may have helped them make this choice, I think they also have had a lot of fun producing their projects.Thanks for your help with colour pictures and information about the regions of Canada.Tomorrow we start our presentations of their research to their classmates.
 * __ Wednesday, January26, 2011 __**
 * __Friday, January 21, 2011__ **

May you have a fun and relaxing weekend!
On Monday morning, please remind your student to pack their library books , Recorder and purple music duo-tang. Ketchup folder with their __Canada Research project.__ Here is the evaluation rubric which will be used for this project. If skating at lunch recess they will need to bring: skates, guard s and a helmet if they have one. Mrs. Noel and I start the Briargreen Chess Club tomorrow at 11:20, during lunch recess. This will take place every school Monday for the remaining winter months ; > ). The chess club is not run as a competitive activity. This extra- curricular opportunity is run as a club where all have a chance to relax, and learn from each other.
 * __Briargreen Chess Club Mondays__**

__ Tuesday, January 18, 2011 __ GREAT NEWS Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays we are now able to offer

__**Lunch Recess Recreational Skating,**__ thanks to the generosity of our parent volunteers. Students MUST have useable skate guards to walk from the school to the rink. And of course, a helmet. We have a few helmets to lend to those students who don’t yet have one. At 11:50 all skaters will leave the rink and make their way to the school, to undress and get ready for class at 12. All students must be able to tie their own skates. It is recommended that students practice this at home. There are NOT enough adults to tie students’ skates. Here is a page to help you get started thinking about your Canada Mini-Research Project. This is a copy of the handout given today in class. Click on At the end of next week, our students will be given a chance to be the teacher for about 3 to 5 minutes on either Thursday, January 27 or Friday January 28. We are learning to do simple research to produce a product and present it to the class. Each presentation will be between 2 and 5 minutes. Students can choose one of 3 related projects about a region of Canada. For information, please click on this.
 * Social Studies Research Project Due Wednesday January 26 **

__ Monday, January 17, 2011. __
Mondays: Library Books are returned to school Mondays & Wednesdays: Recorders and Purple Music duo-tags please Thursdays: Skating equipement needed at school.
 * ===Homework=== || **Reminders** ||
 * Reading || School-Newsletter ||
 * Making Words ||  ||
 * Typing with 2 hands ||  ||

I hope you enjoyed a nice long weekend. We had a lovely day, although bitterly cold. Please remind / check that your student leaves home dressed for the weather. Our 40 minute outdoor recess was shortened to 20 with 20 minutes of indoor recess. Even 20 minutes is very uncomfortable if you are not properly dressed for this weather. Today we finished up some work for Rocks and Minerals and will start our Canada project tomorrow. We also finished A Time For Andrew and began a new novel by Elizabeth Winthrop, called "the Castle in theAttic as we begin to warm up for Medieval Times, waiting in our academic wings! Lots more fun to come! Ask you student about who William is and what he did in the novel today.

__ Wednesday. January 12, 2011 __
Skating tomorrow! Please make sure your student brings their skates, stake guards and helmet, if you have one. All in a durable bag, please.. We have all forms and tomorrow is our skating day, so let's go for it! They need to dress warmly. Please return **__ Reading Homework Duotangs __** and last day for ** January Book Orders. **

Typing homework practice []
Ketchup folders came home tonight. Please help our students return them completed on Monday. **__ NEXT WEEK Friendly Reminders __** ** Monday please return: ** ** 1. __Recorders__, 2. __Music duo-tangs,__ 3. __Library books__ 4. __Ketchup__ **__ **Folders** __ Book Orders due Thursday, Jan 13. ** Skating Thursdays ** Only 4 students are missing their skating forms, so it looks as though we might get to start skating our Thursday gym class January 20. ** Lunch Time Skating ** Lunch skating will begin as soon as we have enough parent volunteers to assist with tying skates and general supervision. There are teachers on duty but there are always more students that need a bit of help for a few moments than teachers! ; > ) Thanks for considering sharing your time, even 1 day a week, for 40 minutes. ** Health **  To learn more about healthy eating and have fun go to **__ [] __** Our exploration of what makes healthy eating continues. Could you please send in any wrappers of favourite foods with the nutrition labels on the empty packages? Next week, "how do you read a label and what does it mean anyway?"  Have a great weekend.  I look forward to continuing our adventure on Monday. ; > )
 * Friday is a P.D. Day and students do not attend school. **

Tonight students are bringing home a "Food Diary" page. We begin out examination of good nutrition with record keeping for a day. They are to record everything they eat for a 24 hour period as we begin learning about making healthy food choices and good alternatives. They are to start with writing down which foods in 1 column and how much in the other. Start with snacks after school today, dinner tonight, any evening snacks, breakfast tomorrow and we will fill in morning snack, lunch and afternoon snacks to 3:30 tomorrow. Friday each student will compare their own 24 record with recommended daily food choices to learn where they might improve their nutrition. Moving forward, our topics of study this month will be to review mapping skills, and use them to learn about Canadian provinces and territories in Social Studies. Healthy living with nutrition information, label reading and making good choices will be a timely focus. Visit this website to play games and learn more about healthy eating. **__ [] __** In Math we are continuing to explore Measurement in many forms: linear, capacity, mass, time and money, along with perimeter and area in Geometry and Measurement. In Music we continue with the recorder and musical theory and notation, just to outline a few of the things we are busy learning.
 * __ Wednesday, January 5, 2011 __**
 * __ Tuesday, January 4, 2011 __**

Look for skating forms coming home soon. All students at Briargreen must wear a proper skating helmet, have and use skate guards and have a signed parental permission form in order to skate in gym class and for recreation during the lunch hour. Please continue with the Daily Reading Homework, recorded in the Orange Reading Duotang, Making Words, and typing practice. Our goal is to reach 25 words per minute, with about an eighty percent accuracy rate. This will mean ongoing practice all year. This is a lifelong skill. Typing Homework at [] Thanks to all for your many good wishes and kind thoughts for the holidays. It is certainly good to be back. Please remember to bring to class your library books every Monday. If you have borrowed a school recorder you need to __bring it to school every Monday and Wednesday__ along with your purple coloured duotang. According to all accounts, everyone had a wonderful time on the field trip trip the Museum of Nature! Many thanks to our parent volunteers and Mrs Riou who made this all possible today.
 * __ Monday, January 3, 2010 HAPPY NEW YEAR! __**
 * __ Field Trip Thursday, December 16, 2010. __**

Tomorrow is our Mini Concert. I forgot to remind students that they should wear something festive to school tomorrow for the concert, although there was an announcement about this at school. The idea is to wear red or bright colours, things like Santa hats, Reindeer antlers and other Sparkle- type stuff.

Please remember to return the Orange, Reading duotangs. That's it! I haven't told them yet but the Ketchup Folders will NOT be going home over the holidays. ; > ) I wish you and your family a lovely restful holiday.

Another great day! We worked on metric measurements and made a special "craft" to share with parents. You will just have to wait to see these, round 'bout Christmas time ; > ) Welcome to our first true winter storm, a true winter tempest, complete with blowing and drifting snow. I always like the cozy feel of winter and storms like this make us feel like it really must be Christmas! Today was the Bake Sale and students bought treats made by parents. We are reading an exciting book by Mary E Hahn, A Time For Andrew. Here is a link to the webquest __ A Time for Andrew Web Quest __ []  Have fun exploring, there are many different pages done by these students for you discover. You will especially want to click on the “Front Porch” to see the Chapter questions. our Please remember to keep up your typing over the holidays. []
 * __ Wednesday, December 15, 2010. __**
 * __ Tempest Tuesday, December 14, 2010. __**

Students visited the Library this morning then worked with their JK Computer Buddies in the Computer Lab and preformed their French play for their JK Buddies. Those who didn't get to perform will have an opportunity tomorrow morning. In Math, we are practicing 3 and 4 digit subtraction where re-grouping is necessary. 507 subtract 289 and 1000 subtract 239 are examples of the problems we worked on today. In Science we are examining the importance of soils and how they are formed from rocks and minerals and different types of soils affects plants and habitats. Without good and varied soils there would be no life on Earth because there would be no plants. No plants would mean no food for all creatures. It's an interesting relationship all living things have with our environment and reflects back on our first Science unit, Plants, Habitats and Communities.
 * __ Magical Monday, December 13, 2010 __**

Please bring in your certificates as students progress to 25 error-free words per minute || FAMSAC food donations ends Dec 16 || Field Trip on Thursday at 9 am ||
 *  **__HOMEWORK__** ||  **R__EMINDERS__**  ||
 * **Reading Duo-tang** comes home today for Daily Reading Homework || **BAKE SALE** TOMORROW Bring baking please (treats are $0.50 each if you want to buy) ||
 * **Making Words:** Word Study due Friday || Last Day for **Recipes for Class Cookbook** ||
 * Typing Homework at []
 * || Music permission note if you want to borrow recorder for practice over the holidays

__** Thermal Thursday, December 9, 2010. **__
Today was an exciting day. The boys Bordonball went to the Regional Tournament this afternoon and they came in first place, winning all their games! In the morning we had a special computer lab experience with a guest who taught us how to use Premier, this is a talking word processing software. You can ask your student to explain it to you. In Math we are proceeding with our exploration of linear measurement and read a book about how to measure a giraffe. Our students came up with some very interesting ideas. Notes from tonight's planner: Reading and typing Homework Reminders to bring back the reading homework duotang, FAmsac Donations, Field trip form and $6 please, School Council note and a note giving your student permission to bring home their school recorder.

__** Tuesday & Wednesday, December 7 & 8, 2010. **__ I wish I could tell you what has happened to the past few days' entries. The website seems to have had a breakdown of some sort, nervous or otherwise! Anyway, we will try again. The past two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, seem to have disappeared. I will try to reconstruct what was here... Briargreen will be participating in FAMSAC again this year. Boxes will be placed in the front hall with a sign above them which says FAMSAC. Students can bring in donations of foodstuffs until Thursday, Dec. 16th. The Knights of Columbus will be by to pick it up the morning of Dec. 16th

Here are a few facts about FAMSAC (Family Services Assoc. of Churches) - is a service provided by the Churches of West Nepean. - operated entirely by volunteers (duties are to monitor incoming calls, maintain the pantry & deliver the hampers). -receives no funding from any level of govt. - organized in 1969 to provide emergency help to families in Bell's Corners - provides over 100 hampers each month to needy families on a year round basis - at Xmas time, over 300 special hampers are distributed, each containing a turkey, fresh produce and all the trimmings. - received the volunteer organization of the year award by the Nepean Chamber of Commerce and the City of Nepean in 1999. - their motto is “Neighbours helping Neighbours"
 * HOMEWORK || REMINDERS ||
 * Reading || Field trip forms + $6 ||
 * Making Words || Bake Sale ||
 * Typing || Junior Mini concert tryouts Dec 9, tomorrow ||
 * French la piece || FAMSAC donations please ||

__** Melt Not Monday, December 5, 2010. **__
Today we were treated by our JK Buddies to gingerbread men. Mrs Wessels class invited us to their room to share the gingerbread cookies that each J.K. student made especially for their computer buddies. Everyone had a good time. Mrs Noel taught our class how to play Claire de la Lune on the recorder in Music class and we began our exploration of linear measurement in Math class. We compared the width of our pinky fingers to a centimeter and we used metre sticks and tape measures to find out about measuring. Using the Smart Board we took turns mearuring the length of a bath tub, a pair of shorts and many different fish. One of the issues we focused on was how to carefully use only the start of the ruler, beginning carefully at zero, not just the edge of the ruler. Ways to help at home would be to measure different objects at home and then compare them. Which is longer, shorter? What is the difference (subtract one from the other)? || **Homework**

** __ Wednesday, December 1, 2010. __ ** Today we thought about how to measure a puddle and explored how one could do that. This is a baseline assessment before we begin looking at measurement. Students also looked at how to use the program "Storytelling Alice" to begin making 3D animation. This is a step up from Bitstrips. If you would like to see this, or have your student work and play with this at home, please use the link below to download this program to youor home computer. It's free. ; > ) ** [] **  **__ Tuesday, November 30, 2010. __**  Math saw us practicing computation skills and then applying the data we extracted (literally) from our rock ore samples yesterday, (Chips Ahoy). We gathered our data and grouped it by location. Tomorrow we will analyze it to help us make decisions, like where to invest our millions and build our mine. Where would be the best site to develop our mine and for which minerals? You can ask your student about this. In Science we watched a Discovery video about Rocks and Minerals. All this is part of our exploration of Soils, Rocks and Minerals. The culminating activity will be our field trip to the Museum of Nature, Thursday, December 16. To those who read this WIKI regularly, this news item is a small reward for diligence. Our trip will be discussed later this week when we have the field trip forms to share. Parent volunteers will be needed please, plan on reserving this date, if you are interested in sharing this event with us.

__** Monday, November 29, 2010. **__

Wow, November is almost gone ! I wonder if you have been telling your parents about our music classes with Mrs. Noel. I thought it might be nice if you were able to use the website. It is a blog actually, so you can't Google this site. Anyway, here it is with the music recorded and the notes for you to play Simply click on [|**Portable Recorder**] to go to this edublog. Have fun practicing! We are planning a concert sometime in the future. Mrs. Noel and I are so impressed with how quickly our students are progressing.

Today was another great day. From Library, JK Computer Buddies and French in the morning to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a CSI Geologist mineral experiment using Chips Ahoy cookies to playing the recorder in the afternoon, we had another interesting and busy day. Book orders are a tad thicker this month. I have added the Click Book Club with software titles and the Gift Ideas catalogue for Christmas. The return date is this Friday, Dec 3, to insure we get all items ordered before the December holiday break. If you would like some help with gifts I don't mind bundling items up and sending home a wrapped package or keeping the books for you to collect at school. Just include a note in your order and I am pleased to help Santa out.


 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * ReadingDuotangs home || Book Orders due Friday Dec 3, 2010 ||
 * Making Words Lesson 5 || Music on Wiki ||
 * Typing practice ||  ||

__** Friday, November 26, 2010. **__**A P.D. day.** Now I know you are soo...sad because you can't be at school!

=
However we teachers all got together to discuss how we can be even better teachers and we all learned lots of new things! We had a great day and I hope you did too. __Please r____emember to **pack** your **Library Books** and your ** Orange KETCHUP Folders. **__======

=
What an exciting and noisey day! Our Grade threes participated in Scientists in Schools and had a ball! The rest of us scoured all duotangs and found, or tried to find and complete all Leftovers so there would be nothing, or very little in our Ketchup folders which went home tonight.======
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Ketchup Folders home today, return Monday! || Friday is a P.D. day ||
 * || Library Books Monday ||
 * Have a great weekend! || Movie Night 6:30 pm ||

=
We played games on the Smart board in Math today to consolidate students' understanding of place value.You can ask your students about what we learned. A game we played was who can make the greatest 4 digit number using interactive, spinning dice. You can do this at home with numbers from 0 to 9 in a cup. Take turns pulling the numbers randomly and see who can build the largest number. Another version is to build the smallest number. For example, say I pulled these four numbers: 6, 3, 9, and 1. The smallest number would be 1369 and the largest would be 9631. Two or three players can play this together, just make more sets of numbers from 0 to 9 and put them back into the cup as you play.====== In Science we continued with our bridge experiment by building and testing arch bridges.

[] || Please try to do some keyboarding practice each week, say 2 or 3 days a week. Just 10 minutes will add up over time. ||
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Reading Homework || Return ** Reading Homework **Duotang due to Friday being a P.D. day ||
 * Keyboarding Practice at
 * French Bitstrips classe 34 || P.D. Day Friday ||

__** Tuesday, November 23, 2010. **__
In math we used place value to add, subtract and problem solve. In Science we explored __//Strong and Stable Structures//__ by building and testing Bristol-board beam bridges. Students discovered that folding the paper in various ways made the beam bridge stronger and able to hold more of the testing materials. In gym we played hula hoop soccer to develop better ball control and finally, at day's end, we finished the review of mean, median and mode using that quiz.org in the computer lab and worked on our autobiographies using SmartIdeas.

[] || Please try to do some keyboarding practice each week, say 2 or 3 days a week. Just 10 minutes will add up over time. ||
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Reading Homework || Recipe for our class cookbook, if you would like to be a part of this. ||
 * Keyboarding Practice at
 * || French Bitstrips classe 34 ||

Computing with our JK Buddies in the morning, Math review using ThatQuiz.org; Library exchange, and Science and Music in the afternoom, made this quite a busy and activity filled Monday.
[] || Please try to do some keyboarding practice each week, say 2 or 3 days a week. Just 10 minutes will add up over time. || ( tomorrow in plain English!) || French Bitstrips classe 34 ||
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Making Words Lesson 4 pink page || Class photos went home today ||
 * Reading Homework || Recipe for our class cookbook, if you would like to be a part of this. ||
 * Keyboarding Practice at
 * French Dictee le 23

**__ Thursday, November 18, 2010. __**
Mode, Mode, Mode's the Most, Average is the Mean, Median, median, Median, median, Always in between. or //Average teachers are mean!// [] || Please try to do some keyboarding practice each week, say 2 or 3 days a week. Just 10 minutes will add up over time. || Today we did a //Bansho// activity by sharing results when we found the median of each group's Smarties. We began our new Science study of Soils, Rocks and Minerals with "//__Why Everybody Needs A Rock"__// by Byrd Baylor and in art we choose and painted our own pet rock.
 * Sing to the tune of //"Row, Row Your Boat"//**
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Reading Homework || Please return your Reading Homework duotang, and Making Words ||
 * Keyboarding Practice at

__** Wednesday, 17, 2010. **__
Today was another fun day. We began our day by playing with candy! We did Smartie Math while we explored mean, median, mode and range. You might want to ask your student to explain these topics to you. Tomorrow we will finish this activity with a culminating group project; and after they will each get to eat their own box of Smarties.

In the afternoon we read another Charlie and The Chocolate Factory chapter by Roald Dahl. ( Please see the Language Arts Fun page on the left, for his exciting website and activities) and a story set in the Arctic. You could ask what was the decision that the papa had to make? //(The answer is he had to decide whether to save his family or his fishing net).// We took turns on the Smart Board using a CD called Explore Canada, to help us learn more about the geographical regions of Canada.

After recess Mrs. Noel taught us about her clarinet, digeriedoo and the recorder. Students learned about musical notation, whole, half, quarter and eighth notes and how to play the notes "B A G" on the recorder and even played the first line of a song called __Hot Cross Buns__. You may want to send their own recorder to school if you have one at home. Otherwise they will continue to use the school's recorders which are always cleaned and sanitized before they are used by another student. [] || Please try to do some keyboarding practice each week, say 2 or 3 days a week. Just 10 minutes will add up over time. ||
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Reading Homework ||  ||
 * Making Words ||  ||
 * Keyboarding Practice at

Today we played some more with using sensory words to enrich our writing and read a poem about the sea. This is a part of our cross curricular study of mapping and Canada. We continued yesterday's poetry writing as well. In Math we learned about the word "average" as a math term and how to figure it out. We added all the numbers in a given sample and divided by the total amount of entries //( 2 tests with scores of 6 and 8, added together gives a total score of 14. To get the average you must divide by 2, which gives you an a__verage__ score of 7)// [] || Please try to do some keyboarding practice each week, say 2 or 3 days a week. Just 10 minutes will add up over time. || Several notes went home today. Two were from the School Council about Movie Night ( sent only to youngest child or only child in family, and the other was the Student by Grade phone numbers, which you only got if you said you wanted to be on the list. As you know we have been renewing our discussion and exploration of graphs and data management begun in the first week of school. Last week we looked at Bar and Circle graphs. Today we looked at another way of expressing data. Ask your student about "__Line Plots__." In class and in the computer lab we asked questions about 'how many" and learned a new word, in addition to line plots. "Mode" is a mathematical way of saying most. This week we will learn about mode, median and mean as they apply to line plots and other mathematical processes. FRENCH LINK Please see the new link added to __Mlle Stanley's Wiki__ here, and in the **__side menu navigation page.__** This will take you to dictees and French lessons in our class. We have links to each others wiki to help students and parents keep up to date with your student's school work. Enjoy! ; > ) playing the educational games we have both posted for students. They provide extra practice and extension activities. [] || Please try to do some keyboarding practice each week, say 2 or 3 days a week. Just 10 minutes will add up over time. ||
 * __ Tuesday, November 16, 2010. __**
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Reading Homework || Notes Home ||
 * Making Words ||  ||
 * Keyboarding Practice at
 * __ Monday, November 15, 2010. __**
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Reading Homework || If not already returned, please return Orange Ketchup Leftovers folder ||
 * Making Words ||  ||
 * Keyboarding Practice at

__** Thursday and Friday, November 11 and 12, 2010. **__ It was lovely to meet parents, discuss our students' progress and make plans for continuing their success.

__** Wednesday, November 10, 2010. **__ We prepared for the Remembrance Day assembly tomorrow. You are welcome to come if you like. At 10:30 students will come down to the gym, so you will probably want to arrive before then. The Briargreen Choir will be singing.
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Reading Homework || Return Orange Reading Homework duotang with Making Words ||
 * Keyboarding Practice at || Note about interview times in planner pouch. ||
 * [] || Thursday evening interviews begin. Students welcome to attend interview. ||
 * || Friday, November 12, is a P.D. Day. Parent/ Teacher/Student interviews. ||

__** Tuesday, November 9, 2010. **__ The progress reports have been sent home and I look forward to meeting with every student’s parents ands sharing student success and planning for more. ; > ) The Ministry of Education allows us one P.D. day for all interviews, 15 minutes per student. Therefore, I __must end each__ interview on time, not to interfere with interviews in other classes. __Please__ make sure to arrive on time, if not a few minutes early, if possible. I cannot extend interviews as each one is back to back. You can help me keep to our schedule by standing where you can be seen to be waiting your turn.
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Making Words Lesson 2 || Bring change for a poppy ||
 * || PHOTO RETAKE DAY Wednesday Bring a smile! ||
 * Reading Homework || Please confirm interview time by using bright orange tear off ||
 * || Friday, November 12, is a P.D. Day and students do not attend classes ||

As you will see we are moving toward greater student independence by gradually increasing student responsibility for their own learning. Please look for the new "//Ketchup Leftovers"// folder. The new Leftover Homework folder is a part of this shift toward greater independence and responsibility. If this folder creates a problem please let me know and we will discuss ways of making this work for you and your family.The "//Ketchup Leftovers"// folder is also orange, like the Language Homework Duo-tang. This new folder will come home __every__ Friday with unfinished work. Please return the completed work in the folder on Mondays with their Library Books. I'm no longer asking students to record reading homework on the weekend to assist with catching up with unfinished class work. Of course students are encouraged to read for pleasure every day, but weekends are no longer assigned reading homework.
 * __ Friday, November 5, 2010. __**

Students need to practice "keyboarding skills." Being able to type quickly on a keyboard is an essential computer skill. Below is a link to a website where students can practice typing and it's free and fun. As students progress through the levels, please print a certificate to document their work and send it to school so I may know how they are progressing. If printing is a problem, just copy the information on the screen on a paper. Parents, please initial the page for verification. When students achieve a certain level of proficiency in typing, we can use the computer more easily for other activities. [|__http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/__]
 * **Homework** || Reminders ||
 * **"Ketchup Lefters" Folder** || Return Library Books every Monday ||
 * **Keyboarding Practice** || Return Ketchup Leftovers folder every Monday ||
 * || Progress Report: please sign & return bottom of second page if not already done ||
 * || Orange Interview page : please sign & return bottom of page if not already done ||

Math today built on using various names for numbers and expressing number concepts in many different ways, in pictures,numbers, in standard form, expanded form and words. We explored and shared ideas using a technique called "Bansho" where the students explain their thinking to other students. They take turns to show how they worked out the problem they were asked to solve. This teaching technique engages students in a more interactive way and the open ended nature allows students of all abilities, to access new knowledge at a level they can understand and build on.
 * __ Thursday, November 4, 2010. __**

Thanks for helping students to share their culture and how to say "hello" in many different languages. It was very interesting for all of us and we were able to make several connections between languages and cultures.


 * **Homework** || Reminders ||
 * **Candy Math** || Reading Duotang ||
 * **Reading** || Progress Report: please sign & return bottom of second page ||
 * || Orange Interview page : please sign & return bottom of page ||
 * __ Wake Up Wednesday, November 3, 2010. __**

We are working on building concepts of Place Value. You might want to ask your student to tell you about what we did today in Math. Here are a few prompting questions: What does Twinkle mean? What number word did it replace? What happens when you subtract from a Twinkle? What happens when you add on a Twinkle board? You can also ask them about other games we played with different bases. We did base 6, 7, and 12 to list a few. Then we reverted to base 10. Students were quite comfortable with the idea of re-grouping numbers for various bases by the time we finished. Tomorrow we will build on this foundation and we will work on how we write and name numbers: using standard form, base ten blocks, expanded form, etc. In Health today we continued our unit on self esteem and community living. We talked about how we can be different and appreciate our differences. We discussed how we are all special and unique, just as snowflakes are all snowflakes but each one is an individual. We chatted about how we all came to Canada from different places Tonight one homework is to find out how we say Hello in either our language or the language of our parents or grandparents, or great- grandparents. We will share results tomorrow morning. Your help is appreciated. Daily Reading Homework || Candy Math, Friday || [|__www.wHYPERLINK "http://www.wordle.net/"oHYPERLINK "http://www.wordle.net/"rdle.net__] || Reports tomorrow || __** Tuesday, November 2, 2010. **__ Today we played the "Zurkle" game in Math class. You might want to ask your student to tell you about it. Here are a few prompting questions: What does Zurkle mean? What word does it replace? What happens when you subtract from a Zurkle? What happens when you add on a Zurkle board? Students have assigned Math Homework tonight and it is due for Friday plaese. They can bring it in tomorrow if they wish, but we would like to start using it on FRiday please. The task is to gather data on their Halloween candies, as best as they can. I realize that it might not be completely accurate as Halloween was a few days ago now. However, they can count and record the candies they have left OR that they think they had. If they didn't celebrate Halloween, they can count the treats they have at home in any way they like. How many chocolate chip cookies, or types of treats, cookies, ice cream, chocolate, vanilla, whatever.
 * HOMEWORK || REMINDERS ||
 * How do we say "Hello"
 * Francais
 * Finit les marionettes || Dictee le 9 novembre ||

The purpose of the Candy Math is to gather personal data, organize it into a class survey, by using graphic organizers, like Venn diagrams, and then display the data in a pictgraph or bar graph. Finally we will discuss what it means and what we learned from our data. It should be fun, meaningful and relevant. ; > ) __** Monday, November 1, 2010 **__ It's really good to be back, and I can't believe it's November already! Thanks to Mr Williamson who held down the fort for me last week. Progress Reports go home on Thursday, November 4 and interviews are next week, Thursday evening, Nov 11 and Friday morning, Nov 12. I hope the "great Pumpkin," as Charlie Brown used to say, was good to you all! We continued writing All About Me in the Computer Lab today and this is our major November computer lab assignment, using Smart Ideas to construct an autobiography and learn about sentence and paragraph writing. "Making Words" Word Study in the Orange Homewok duotang. This is our new weekly spelling which replaces the Word Family spelling test on Friday. This page is __due back by Friday each week,__ in the Orange duotang please.
 * HOMEWORK || REMINDERS ||
 * "Making Words" Word Study in the Orange Homewok duotang. || Book Orders are due tomorrow ||
 * Candy Math data page for Friday please. ||  ||
 * Daily Reading Homework ||  ||
 * HOMEWORK || REMINDERS ||
 * "Making Words" Word Study in the Orange Homewok duotang. || Book Orders are due on Wednesday ||
 * Daily Reading Homework ||  ||

__ Friday, October 29, 2010. __ First of all I want to wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween. I am happy to tell you I am back at school om Monday. I missed you all. Homework is Reading as usual, even though Mr Williamson forgot to give you back your duotangs. ; > ) Just write it on a paper and copy it in on Monday evening. Please don't forget your Library books or you be will stuck doing "Ketchup" in Library time. ; > ) Finally, click on this link below for a Halloween treat, from Wol and I. I wonder if you will recognize him. Here's a hint: He's says "whooo Whoooo" ; > ) []
 * __**Homework**__ || __**Reminders**__ ||
 * Reading as usual || Library Books are to be returned ||
 * || 67 Hockey game Field Trip Grade 4's ||
 * || Book Orders Last Day is Wednesday ||

__ Thursday, October 28, 2010 __ __** HALLOWEEN PLANS: **__ __** 1. Friday at 9 am is our school wide, traditionl Briargreen Halloween Costume Parade. **__ Students line up by class and parade through the park in a grand circle. It's a fun event enjoyed by all. If you would like to come and watch parents are most welcome. Most parents bring cameras and take lots of pictures! Please understand that students __**need to arrive fully dressed for the parade**__. There is NO TIME to put on make up or change into their costumes. The parade begins immediately at 9 am. They will want to bring regular clothes to change into after the parade however. **__2.__** Our class has finished reading Roald Dahl's famous children's novel " The Witches." Instead of a Halloween "party" Mr Williamson and I are planning a media comparison by watching the latest Walt Disney version of the movie, based on the book on Thursday and Friday afternoons. Students will be asked to complete an activity where they respond to questions comparing the book with the movie. **__3.__** On Friday afternoon, students will be able to have an extra snack or special treat as they watch the second half of the movie as a part of our Halloween treat. I am planning to send in a small nut free, and not messy treat, like Smarties. Please remember that we make every attempt to keep our school and especially our classroom __** NUT FREE **__ as we have students with peanut and tree nut allergies. If you are concerned with your students food intake for any reason, you may wish to send an extra treat for them to have instead of the Smarties. Please __do not send__ a class treat tomorrow, as we will not have time to share and clean up afterwards. **__Monday October 24, 2010.__** Mr. Williamson was in for me today and will be for this week. I twisted my knee last week. No, I did not break my leg, thank goodness, as some students have apparently reported! Thanks for your concern. My doctor has advised me to stay at home for the week to give my knee time to heal properly. I am in touch with Mr. Williamson every day and I will continue, with his help, to maintain the Wiki with news and updates and planner information. ** Interviews for the Progress Report ** Interviews are scheduled for the P.D. day of Friday, November 12, and as a courtesy to parents, also Nov 11 in the evening, after school. How are interviews scheduled? Sibling interview times are done by the office to make sure that parents aren't asked to come twice, but can go from class to class. Interviews are 15 minutes each and must end on time. If we need more time we will set another interview. I am sure you can appreciate that promptness is important to make this work for all.
 * ** Homework ** || **Reminders** ||
 * Daily Reading || Hockey Field Trip Forms ||
 * French Dictee#2 mardi || Coins for UNICEF ||
 * || Book Orders Nov 3 ||

=
I have no control over the scheduling of sibling interviews, but I do arrange all the others. If there is a time you cannot attend due to prior commitments please let me know and I will do my best to accommodate you. ======  I hope to meet with every parent in my class. Our students are welcome to attend the interview with you, if you choose. **__ Cross Country Friday, October 22, 2010. __** As soon as I hear about how our school and class did in the cross counrty meet today, I will post the information here. I will find out about our day from my supply teacher and post and "the news and views" here for you later today. Please don't forget your library books. A good idea might be to put them in your back pack right now, as soon as you finish reading this...
 * Homework || Reminders ||
 * Daily Reading Homework || Library Books Return Monday ||
 * Dictee # 2 mardi || Hockey Field Trip ||

I left school at noon today due to a knee injury. ; > ( I will be away tomorrrow but plan to be back on Monday. Best of luck and good running to our 5 students tomorrow // NB, //// AB, //// SW, M //// K // //  LR and H  S!  //I wish I were there with you! I can't wait to hear all about it on Monday. Think of the wind as gently urging you on. Just relax and have fun. Then you **//will//** be your best. Runners you can drop your Orange Homework Duotang off in the classroom before you go please
 * __ Windy Thursday, October 21, 2010. __**
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Daily Reading || Hockey Field Trip ||
 * Word Family Test || Math Quiz please sign & return ||
 * || Return your ** Orange Homework Duotang **please ||
 * || UNICEF Loonie Collection Letter to go home tonight ||
 * || Any trash / leftover CDs please ||

**__ Teckie Tuesday, October 19, 2010. AND Windy Wednesday, October 20, 2010. __** Last night I installed the new hardware back into my home office and then began installing software. Sorry no time for classroom updates. Thanks to the wonderful techie types at PC Cyber, most of my data may yet be saved! Progress Reports might even be on time! **; > )**  Today was a lovely day. Students are "getting" Math and we are having fun playing with number lines and patterns**.** In Science we are exploring Food Chains. Ask students about a story called "Wolf Island. " We made Centerpieces for the 40th Briargreen Reunion Dinner which will be held at school on Saturday evening. If you could spare some old CDs that you no longer need, it would finish our Centerpiece bases beautifully! We need 20.   Here is what you should see in the Planner tonight:    Want to come to help celebrate the **40 years of Briargreen**? I hope to see you there.   Check out this link if you haven't already. Its on the Briargreen School Web News Box at [] and also on the Parent Council page.  **__ Jump Rope For Heart Monday, October 18, 2010. __**  Students had a wondertime on Monday as they exercised their hearts out, raised money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation and had a wonderful time! I know this because they told me when I returned to school on Tuesday. Saturday morning I had a computer malfunction. If you have ever had a fried mother board and CPU you may understand how tragic this was. Especially since my back-up system also malfunctioned as well. Progress Reports are due in at the office early next week! By Sunday evening I //was// physically ill. Monday I spent the day replacing my computer and data.
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Daily Reading || Hockey Field Trip ||
 * Word Family Spelling || Math Quiz please sign & return ||
 * || Any trash/leftover CDs please ||

**__ Friend Friday, October 15, 2010 __** Spelling Families Word Study will resume next week as it is a regular 5 day week. JUMP ROPE for HEART IS Monday, Ovctober 18. If the weather is not cooperative, the rain date is Tuesday, Oct 19. Due to technical difficulties, the Owls in the Family Book Report on Bitstrips is not due until Friday, Oct 22. All students should now have the owl images uploaded to their own Bitstrips account and know how to import therm into their comic. Any leftovers were sent home today to finish. All students had 45 minutes of "ketchup" time with 4 teachers in the room offering their support. Most students cleared up unfinished work. If your student has repeated "ketchup" work you should be asking them questions, as to why this is occuring.

**__ H.B.J. Thursday, October 14, 2010 __** **__ Show What You Know Wednesday, October 13, 2010. __** |** HOMEWORK and ............ **** REMINDERS ** Please finish Review of Equations //(4 Blue pages sent home as leftovers yesterday)// if not already finished. **__ Thanksgiving Tuesday, October 12, 2010. __** Please return the photo envelope, by tomorrow, even if you do not plan to order photos.Computer tasks and Jump Rope for Heart forms are due by October 15.Leftover Math: Blue review pages on equations. There will be no Spelling Families Word Study this week as it is only a 4 day week. **__ Thanksgiving Friday,October 8, 2010. __** Monday is a holiday as it is Thanksgiving Monday. Memory box id due on Tuesday so we can share it in class and use it for our writing. Please remember to return the photo envelope, by Wednesday, even if you do not plan to order photos. Computer tasks and Jump Rope for Heart forms are due by October 15. I wish you all a happy and restful and long weekend with your family. **__ Field Trip __****__ Thursday, October 7, 2010 __****__. __** Our trip to Carleton U was definitely the most exciting part of our day today. Students were thrilled to see and hold butterflies and moths of all types, kinds, sizes and shapes. The volunteers who gave us our orientation and information session were amazed at how much our students already knew about butterflies, Monarchs in particular! For the most part, they represented us well with their careful attention and behaviour. I was proud of them, and I know you are too. I am pleased to tell you that our class is having __fun__ figuring out Math Logic problems using the model “UPSL” and the strategy of “Guess and Check”. Most are finding ways to explore possible solutions until they reach a solution that satisfies the problem. A few still need help to have the confidence to experiment with solutions. These likely will come home if not completed in Math tomorrow or 40 minutes of “Ketchup at day’s end.
 * **Homework** || **Reminders** ||
 * Daily Reading || Return Orange Daily Reading ||
 * *Computer Tasks Due tomorrow **__except Owls Book Report__** which is extended to Oct 22 due to technical issues with owl graphics || Jump Rope for Heart Permission Forms & Pledge envelopes due tomorrow are due tomorrow ||
 * **LEFTOVERS** || **3 new websites** 1 on Math Fun wiki page ||
 * __Science__ Monarch booklets: pls finish and add a bit of colour. || 1 on Science Fun wiki page, and 1 on L.A. ||
 * __Math:__ 4 Blue pages " Review of Equations " ||  ||
 * Dailly Reading Homework || Jump Rope for Heart Envelopes & Forms Oct 15 ||
 * Sept /Oct Computer Tasks due Oct 15 || No Spelling Test this week ( 4 day week) ||
 * ** HOMEWORK ** || ** REMINDERS ** ||
 * Reading || Return ** Orange ** Reading Homework Duotang ||
 * Spelling Test tomorrow || Book Orders Tomorrow last day ||
 * Memory Box Tuesday 12 || Photo Envelopes (even if not ordering photos) Oct 13 ||
 * Sept /Oct Computer Tasks Oct 15 || Jump Rope for Heart Envelopes & Forms Oct 15 ||
 * MONDAY IS THANKSGIVING || MONDAY **NO SCHOOL** ||

Wettish Wednesday,October 6, 2010. Highlights of this day were the introduction of problem solving model "UPSL" to solve math problems and a National Geographic video, exploring the Arctic habitat. The __4 problem solving steps__ are **U: 1. Understand the problem**, //(what are you asked to find out?)// **P: 2. Plan how to solve it** //(what will you do)// **S: 3. Solve it** //(////find the answer )// and **L: 4. Look back** //(check your solution answers the question, and could you have answered it an easier way?)// Field Trip to the Butterfly Exhibit is tomorrow afternoon, no special items are required other than students' best behaviour. **; > )** Thanks to all who volunteered to come on our trip. It should be both fun & educational!
 * **HOMEWORK** || **REMINDERS** ||
 * Daily Reading || Field Trip Tomorrow ||
 * Spelling page on Word Families || Book Order Friday due Oct 8 ||
 * Word Family Spelling test on Friday Oct 8 || Photo Orders due Oct 13 ||
 * Memory Box due Tuesday Oct 12 || Jump Rope fro Heart Forms Oct 15 ||

__Terrific Tuesday, Tuesday October 5, 2010. __ Here are a few of the events of our day together at school. __ MATH __ Today students had 80 minutes of math. We worked on subtracting and equations and used hands on manipulatives to build these concepts. We explored simple subtraction and the concept that an equation is an expression that shows both sides are equal. The trick is to make sure they balance, just like a teeter-totter can be equally balanced. We explored equations using this image and put equal blocks on both sides of a balance scale. 8 – 5 = 9 – 6, for an example. Students have __assigned__ **LEFTOVER HOMEWORK p 21** this evening if they didn’t get the 9 questions finished in class in the 40 minutes of work time.

__ GYM __ The weather was wonderful for an 800 metre run in the park as part of our Fall Fitness.

__ COMPUTERS __ Students went on line to work on their four Bitstrip assignments, which are due Oct 15. The blue page in their planners should help you keep track of these computer assignments.

__LANGUAGE ARTS__: //Writers’ Workshop//: we discuss what writers do. Writers know why they are writing (purpose) and who (audience) they are writing for. To help us build a main idea we used a wheel graphic and I modeled how I would write a story using a Memory Box. I shared my box to illustrate how I would write a story about my family, a topic that I know a lot about. Students are to make and bring to school a “memory box” to help them write a story on a topic they know a lot about. I presented my memory box to model how it was done and my main idea was my family, something I know a lot about. They can use ticket stubs, photos, awards, medals, anything that reminds them of a special event that they can write about. They will share their box in class on Tuesday, Oct 12.
 * __ Homework for Tuesday, Oct 12 Writers’ Workshop __**

Photo Day Monday, October 4, 2010. Weekly schedule is available for you to download on Home page of this Wiki. Also please see an update about the new Progress Report and 2 Report Cards.
 * ~ Homework and Reminders ||
 * Daily Reading || Book Orders Oct 8 ||
 * Word Family Words Week 4 || 5 Jump Rope For Heart Forms please, date of event is Oct 18 ||
 * Photo Proofs Envelope/ please return || 2 Field Trip Forms missing Trip on Thursday ||

__Monarch Release Friday, October 1, 2010.__ We released 3 beautiful monarchs in the park at noodn today. In the morning we fed them, tagged them, practiced our farewell song and wrote them encouraging messages which we shared in our positive energy circle as we released them with the students in our school as part of our ceremony. Please remember that __**MONDAY IS PHOTO DAY **__. Wear your best smile. __**LIBRARY DAY is every Monday **__. Please return your library books so you can check out another one. If you are renewing, you must bring the book back to school to renew it. **__ Three Monarchs __****__ Thursday, September 30, 2010 __** Three butterflies today, another one emerged successfully this morning. Tomorrow, if it really is a nice, warm sunny day we may have our butterfly release in the park.
 * 2 Field Trip forms missing, and our trip is Thursday ||

Computer Tasks for Sept 7-Oct 15 || Computer Tracking (blue page) to be initialed by parent please and kept in planner until completed, then handed in. ||
 * ** Homework ** || ** Reminders ** ||
 * Daily Reading || Return Reading Duotang Friday ||
 * Word Family // Spelling Test // || 5 Jump Rope For Heart Forms please, date of event is Oct 18 ||
 * ** PHOTO **** DAY **** IS MONDAY ** || 2 Field Trip forms missing, and our trip is Thursday ||
 * Wear Your BEST smile || 1 Media form missing and Photo Day is MONDAY! ||
 * ** Might become Leftovers: ? **
 * Information Search: Lucky Book Order Flyer || Book Orders due **Oct 8** not 7 as our Field Trip Day is Oct 7  ||

Ask your student about the story of The King’s Chessboard. Why couldn’t the king keep his promise? He promised as a reward to the wise man 1 grain of rice on the chessboard and a double amount each day until the 64 squares were used at 1 a day. What did that really mean? What number patterns did we find?

Today we have 2 beautiful butterflies and 2 black chrysalises. One butterfly brushed by an emerging chrysalis and the emerging butterfly fell. We were able to quickly rescue her, placing her back to the plant. We are still waiting to see if she is able to recover and inflate her wings.
 * __ Wet Wednesday? ____ September 29, 2010 __ **

In Math we played a subtraction game and will continue to explore subtraction patterns tomorrow. In //Free Writing// students wrote about anything they wanted. They wrote for a surprisingly long time and produced lovely stories.

__** Monarch–less Tuesday ; > (, September 28, 2010. **__ Unfortunately, our Monarch’s wings failed to fully unfold and “inflate” as he was emerging from his chrysalis last night and we arrived this morning to find him struggling on the floor of his tent. I will take him home tonight to watch, but we fear this is one Monarch that will not be making the journey to Mexico.     Today we did //hands on// activities in Math. We used a balance scale to learn about equations and what they really mean. We learned that an equation is a statement that 2 things are equal and number patterns can be used to find a missing term in an equation. Ask your child about this, I hope they have lots to say. ; > )
 * ** Homework ** || ** Reminders ** ||
 * Daily Reading || French Note ||
 * Word Family // Spelling Test // Friday || 6 Jump Rope For Heart Forms please ||
 * || 3 Field Trip forms missing ||

In the computer lab we learned more about using [|www.bitstripsforschools.com] Students use *34d to log in to our class site. Students can then type in their password and do some work on the 4 assignments at home. They are: Planners look much as they did last night with nothing new added, so I won’t repeat it here. **__ Monarch almost Monday, September 27, 2010. __** We almost had our first Monarch butterfly today. We all thought for sure it would happen as the chrysalis is completely black. There are 2 others that just started to turn black this afternoon, so it will all start to happen soon, likely the first one will be here tomorrow.
 * 1) 1. My Life as a Comic,
 * 2) 2. My Family Portrait,
 * 3) 3. Book Report on //Owls in the Family// and
 * 4) 4. “Between The Lines”

Tonight I am sending home a "non-homework" homework activity. Really! This Family //Activity// relates to our Health unit on Self Esteem and Getting Along with Others. ; > ) Do this with your child whenever you have the time. They don’t have to bring it back to school.  This is the first of a few that will come home through the year. In this activity, you and your child think about your child’s positive qualities. Today we discussed how our self image affects so much of what we see as possible and how important is it to be positive about ourselves.    There are two sheets for this activity – one for you and one for your child. Write your answers, and then talk about what you wrote and what your child wrote. How are your answers different? How are they alike? You and your child may be surprised by some answers.
 * **//__ Homework __//** || Reminders ||
 * Daily Reading ||  Family Activity  ||
 * Word Families Study page ||  Jump Rope for Heart Forms  ||
 * || Field Trip Forms by Oct 2 ||
 * **//__ Leftovers __//****// : Interest Inventory on beige paper //** ||  ||

**__ Fun Friday, September 24, 2010. __** **LIBRARY DAY IS NOW MONDAY** ** I will give out new Reading Homework forms on Monday. If your student reads over the weekend, please just keep a record on a slip of paper and we will enter it on Monday, or you can on Monday evening. **
 * I am away today at a workshop. I will be back on Monday. **
 * Our Library day has changed to Monday morning at 9:15. This year students may not take out a new book if they have not returned the previous week's book. This is because the school library lost more books last year than ever before. **** There is one particular thing I would ask your help with please. Could you kindly check that your child's library book is in their backpack on Sunday evening? **
 * Thanks very much for this. **
 * //**__ Homework __**// || //**__ Reminders __**// ||
 * ~ Daily Reading ||~ Jump Rope for Heart Forms ||
 * || Field Trip Forms by Oct 2 ||

**__ Thrilling Thursday, September 23, 2010. __** In math, we continue to review Math concepts including number patterns. Today we went out at day's end to clean up the yard before the rain tomorrow. Everyone had fun gathering the garbage in the park as part of our socially conscious contribution.
 * **__// Homework //__** || **__// Reminders //__** ||
 * Daily Reading || Return Orange Homework Duotangs ||
 * **Spelling Word Family Test** || Jump Rope for Heart Forms ||
 * **ab,** as in crab,**eed** as in seed,
 * ill** as in drill, **ore** as in snore, **unk** as in trunk || Field Trip Forms by Oct 2 ||

**__ BarB.Q. Wednesday, September 22 2010. __** It was lovely to meet parents of my students and I enjoyed chatting with you and sharing ideas on education. Thanks to all those who were able to make the effort to attend. To those who were not able, I look forward to meeting you a future date. **__ Monarch Monday, September 20, 2010. __** Our class is beginning a Language unit called What a Story! In this unit, students read both factual and fictional selections. They learn how to connect what they read to their own lives. They also learn how paying attention to the characters, setting, and plot will help them to understand and enjoy what they read. As we examine a storyboard, a poem, movie posters, and short stories, students learn: • how to use personal experiences to help them understand what they read • how to build a main idea in their writing • what characteristics stories have (such as characters and plot) • how to identify the purpose of a movie poster, and who will read it • how to use common courtesies in their conversations • what similes, idioms, and some parts of speech (verbs, adjectives, and noun plurals) are. Here are some ways that you can support your child’s learning during this unit: • Talk about your personal connections to a story that you and your child are reading. You could use statements such as “This character reminds me of….” or “I had a similar experience….” • Discuss the characters, setting, and plot of a story that you and your child are reading. • Make up stories with your child. Ask them to tell you who is in the story (characters), where and when the story takes place (setting), and what happens in the story (plot). • Watch TV programs or movies together. Ask your child questions about the characters, setting, and plot. You could ask questions such as “Who is your favourite character?” “Do you think this movie would be as exciting if it took place in a different part of the world?” “Which part did you like the best? Why?” Please finish any practice quizzes 1. Patterns and Shapes EPYC4896 2. Addition NMWZ7425 3. Subtraction XMBB6059 4. Multiplication DNEK4496 || ** Mummy's Yummies Orders ** by Sept 22 for Sept 28 start  ||
 * **//__ Homework __//** || **//__ Reminders __//** ||
 * Daily Reading || Ask your parent to Sign last Friday's spelling test and return it to school ||
 * Spelling Word Family list for this week
 * ab,** as in crab,**eed** as in seed, **ill** as in drill, **ore** as in snore, **unk** as in trunk. || ** Pizza Order Forms ** due Wed Sept 22  ||
 * LEFTOVERS: [|www.thatquiz..com]

__ **Fab Friday, September 17, 2010** __ Today we have 5 lovely green chrysalis and 1 caterpillar still in a J shape.We had fun exploring and predicting patterns on the Learning Carpet in Math. We learned about the core of a pattern and how to apply a pattern rule. We made 3D diagrams of the Monarch's life cycle. You can see them next week at the BarBQ. We ended the day with a burial of a caterpillar who died. We have no idea why this happened, it's just something that occurs in nature without warning, from time to time.
 * __//**Homework**//__ ||  || __//**Reminders**//__ ||


 * Daily Reading ||  || Bar BQ Orders by Monday Sept 20 ||


 * ||  || Pizza Order Forms due Wed Sept 22 ||


 * ||  || Mummy's Yummies Orders by Sept 22 for Sept 28 ||

__**Chrysalis Thursday, September 16, 2010**__ This morning we arrived to see our first chrysallis and 4 caterpillars hanging from the top of the tent.By day's end we lost one of the caterpillars that was in it's 3rd instar. I guess this is just 1 illustration of why Monarchs have a hard time surviving and need a bit of help. Today students successfully logged in using their. personal 10 digit computer name and our 6 digit password. You can ask to see their avatar on [|www.bitstripsforschools.com] Our class name is *34d, and students then enteer the password they chose today, which is their own.
 * __//**Homework**//__ ||  || __//**Reminders**//__ ||


 * Daily Reading ||  || Return Orange Homework Duotang please. ||


 * Friday Spelling Test ||  || Bar BQ Orders by Monday Sept 20 ||


 * ||  || Mummy's Yummies Orders by Sept 22 for Sept 28 ||


 * __**Leftovers:**__ None yet! ||  || Parent Council Forms please ||

**Wonder Wednesday, September 15, 2010** Our first caterpillar crawled up to the top of the tent and hung their body into a J shape. We know our first chrysalis is going to happen very soon. During the day 3 more caterpillars joined the first, but no more J shapes as yet! There is great excitement in our class as students watch this miracle unfold before our very eyes. We will look for more chrysalises and J shapes tomorrow. Meanwhile the other caterpillars keep eating and molting and growing and eating. **__ Terrific Tuesday, September 14, 2010 __** Today we watched a video called the Butterfly KIng. You can ask your student about what they remember or which was their favourite part. In the afternoon we were "C.S.I. Detectives" looking for //Evidence of Life// in the Habitat as we study plants, communities and habitats. We started building a C//hain of Life// in class with the data we gathered.Please put last night's spelling homework page in the orange homework duotang each week. And thanks to those who have already returned the yellow media permission forms. Tomorrow is the last day to send in Scholastic book orders and orders for milk. There are 3 notes home today. One about the council meeting tomorrow where you can come and meet our new principal, another about the Bar B.Q. and the third is for Mummy's Yummies Lunch orders.
 * __//**Homework**//__ ||  || __//**Reminders**//__ ||


 * Daily Reading ||  || Return Media Form please, for class picture availability Oct 4 ||


 * ||  || 3 Notes ||


 * ||  || Book Orders & Milk Due tomorrow ||


 * Leftovers: None assigned ||  ||   ||

**__ Marvel Monday, September 13, 2010 __** Welcome to our first full week of school. Please remind your student to read every school night and record it in their Orange Homework Duotang.Today we continue to explore our computer lab and in particular [|www.BitStripsforSchools.com] Watch the video by clicking on the video button below to learn more about the program your child will use to practice their literacy skills in a social media context. They will share their ideas, collaborate on assignments, exercise their creativity and have fun as they enjoy learning. Each student has an individual password to his or her work, which I alone can see, and all assignments I view all work before anything is posted for our class to view. Our class name is 34D and the entry password is 1 hello. media type="custom" key="6893565"

Spelling Work & Test News: <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Today we started our study of Word Families. Please ask to see your student's green coloured page with 5 word families for this week. On Friday, the green coloured page on Word Families is due and should be handed in the Orange Duotang. We will have a Friday spelling test based on these word families.Students will be asked to write any 2 words they know from each of the 5 word families they have studied this week. Then they will be asked to write 3 sentences using any of the words.Planner Entries for today should read:

**__ First Friday, September 10, 2009. __**
 * <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">__//**Homework**//__ || __//**Reminders**//__ ||
 * Daily Reading || Return Media Form please, for class picture availability Oct 4 ||
 * Spelling Word Families due Friday || Spelling: Word Family Note ||
 * || Book Orders & Milk Due Wed. ||
 * Leftovers: None assigned || Cross Country Practice M.W.F. @ 8:30 ||

Today was //Terrific Thursday// because we met our family of ten Monarch Caterpillars today that we will be raising to Monarch Butterflies for the first time! In the coming days we will watch them eat and eat and eat! They will shed their skins 5 times, as they outgrow them. We will then watch them turn into chrysalises and finally emerge after about 14 days as full-grown Monarch Butterflies. Each day will bring new developments. In about 4 weeks, we will learn how to feed them by hand and finally tag and release them on their long journey to Mexico. We continued to practice procedures as we explored how to travel and return to the gym and protocols to keep everyone safe while playing in the gym. In the afternoon we learned how to use the computer lab, and looked at our class WIKI [|http://davidsonbriargreenps.ocdsb.ca]. In addition, we went to [|www.wedolisten.com] site to learn more about the skill we are currently focused on, that of Active Listening. Planner Entry tonight should read:
 * __ Terrific First Thursday, September 9, 2010. [[image:gulliver.gif caption="Monarch Watch"]] __**
 * ** Homework ** ||  || ** Reminders ** ||


 * Daily Reading ||  || Return Orange Daily Reading Duotang ||


 * Parents //please initial//Planners nightly and ||  || Francais Letter home ||


 * Reading Homework ||  || Milk Orders, NOT pizza! ||

Today we had an //"in school field trip"// as we continued to practice again today basic school procedures. We reviewed how do we show respect for others; how we walk through the school, going to the washroom, and where the office, gym, emergency exits and recess washrooms are located. We talked about protocol for arriving at school by car (via Carlaw) and by bike (also Carlaw) on our field trip as well as visits to see our Reading Buddies in the JK room and the computer lab.
 * [|www.wedolisten.com] ||  || Book Clubs orders due by Sept 15 ||
 * __September 8, 2010__**


 * **HOMEWORK** ||  || REMINDERS ||


 * 1. Daily Reading Homework in Orange Duotang ||  || 1. One notes home ||


 * 2. Parents please sign each night. ||  || 2. Book Orders due Sept 15 ||


 * 3. Pizza Orders //**Sorry I wrote Pizza on the board but it should have said Milk Orders, cause that's what they are.**// ||

September 7, 2010. WELCOME to Grade 3-4! I am so excited to welcome you and your child to our school and in particular, our classroom. Almost each day you will find a small record of some sort of our time spent together. This is intended to be a window into our world at Grade 3-4, a kind of "heads up about future plans and sometimes just a few comments about how the day went, what was new, etc. I hope you will visit us often and will find these pages a help in assisting your child to achieve their best.Today student's learned that there are always TWO ways to do everything in this class and __they__ control which way they choose. The two ways they control are the //Right Way// and //Again//. ; > ) Of course, the right way is always less work! They will come to this understanding in time, on their own. You will see that some students had to redo their planner entry tonight, because this time they chose to do their task the "again" way. They usually happen because they did not either listen actively, or choose to copy the two models presented on the board, or both. Here is what their planner should look like today.


 * ~ **HOMEWORK** ||~ REMINDERS ||
 * 1. Daily Reading Homework in Orange Duotang || 1. Four notes home ||
 * 2. Parents please sign each night. || 2. Book Orders due Sept 15 ||