Homework, Tuesday, 30th September

Maths: Practice 3-4; Enrichment 3-4
Journal Writing: On the Titanic: Imagine you were a passenger on the Titanic. How would you feel?
Reading: Log on to Raz Kids, or read a book of your choice.

Thank you, Abigail, for the reminder!

Homework, Monday, 29th September

Maths: Practice 3-3 Multiplication Properties; Enrichment 3-3 How Does Your garden Grow?
Reading: Log on to RAZ Kids  http://raz-kids.com/login and start reading!
Spelling: Review List 5: Homophones      Spelling City Quizzes and Activites

List 5 – Homophones

Core Words

steel	steal	lead	led
wait	weight	wear	ware
creak	creek	beet	beat
meet	meat	peek	peak
deer	dear	ring	wring

pour

poor

vain

vein
vane

Dear parents and students,

The hot weather continues, and so does our busy schedule in Grade 4.

We had our second Math Topic Test this week, focusing on addition and subtraction. We have now turned our attention to multiplication in Topic 3.

We presented our personal narratives, then returned to our books to follow the writing process once more, to see how well we have followed each step. Students have the opportunity of one last chance for revising this week, then the final copies will be graded on Monday.

This week’s Social Studies test has been postponed until this coming Monday. This gives everyone one last chance to review your notes and practice the vocabulary. We also have our weekly Spelling test on Monday, as usual.

Next week, after the Social Studies test, we will begin our first Science unit of the year. We will begin by observing all living and non-living things in our environment. We will also begin growing things in our planter boxes. You are all welcome to bring along any seeds or seedlings that you wish to try to grow outside our classroom.

In Reading this week, we learned about the search for the sunken Titanic. Next week, this will serve as our journal topic, as we try to imagine how we would have felt if we had been a passenger on the famous ship.

To add a little colour to our busy week, we learned some more about positive and negative space in our Art lesson. The results are quite striking, as you will see if you check the slideshow posted below.

Dates to Remember:
·       Mon, September 29    – Social Studies test; Spelling test List 4

·       Mon-Thu, Oct 6-9      – Awareness Week

·       Wed, October 8          – Wear Blue

·       Friday, October 10     – !0/10 Day No School!

We finished the week with our monthly assembly. Congratulations to Abigail, who won a Figure Skating Championship, and congratulations also to our Students of the Week. 

Julia (also Performing Arts Student of the Month), Maria, Momoko, and Jacob (absent).

Positive/Negative Inverse Symmetry

Student of the Week, Week 5

Congratulations to Julia!

Julia is among a number of students who have been working beyond expectations and putting in a little more effort to learn just a little bit more.

Julia's awareness in the classroom and willingness to help others has earned her the title of this week's Student of the Week.

Well done, Julia!

Maths: Practice 3-2 Patterns for Facts; enrichment 3-2 Patterns, Patterns Everywhere
Social Studies: Review Chapter 1 pp.12-36 Test Monday)
Click here for Quizlet: Chapter 1 Complete Vocabulary
Spelling: Review List 4
Reading & Writing Workshop: Final Copy - Personal Narrative:
Is your Personal Narrative the best it can be? Check the rubric below. All final copies due Monday morning.

Writing Rubric

Grade 4, Personal Narrative

Directions: Reread your narrative. What do you need to do to make it better? Use this rubric to help you decide. Check the sentences that describe your narrative.

Rings the Bell!

• The story starts with a question, a surprising statement, or dialogue.
• Details and dialogue tell what I saw, heard, tasted, smelled, and felt.
• All the events are important and in order.
• I can hear my voice. My writing sounds like me.
• The ending tells how the story worked out or what I thought or felt.
• There are almost no mistakes in capitalization, punctuation, or spelling.

Getting Stronger

• The beginning could be more interesting.
• More details are needed to describe what happened more clearly.
• Some sentences aren't important to the story.
• In some places, my writing doesn't sound like me.
• The ending needs more elaboration.
• There are a few mistakes.

Try Harder

• The beginning is boring.
• Where are the details? It's hard to picture what happened.
• Most events are unimportant or out of order.
• My writing doesn't sound like me at all!
• The story just stops. How does it work out? What did I think or feel?
• There are a lot of mistakes.

Homework, Thursday, 15th September.

Maths: Practice 3-1 Meanings of Multiplication; Enrichment 3-1 Hurray Array!

Reading: Read Finding the Titanic chapters 4-Epilogue pp.92-100
THINK: Imagine you were a passenger on The Titanic.
How would you feel when you first boarded the ship?
How would you feel when it was sinking? How about when you were rescued?
This will be the topic of your next journal entry, due next Friday. We will have some time to write in class.

Homework, Wednesday, 24th September

Maths: Finish Topic 2 Performance Assessment

Reading: Read Return to the Titanic chapters 1-3 pp.82-91

Are you enjoying reading about the Titanic? Here are some pictures from National Geographic:
Nat Geo Titanic Photo Gallery

Check out this interactive timeline of the building of the Titanic. Very cool!
Building the Titanic - An Interactive Display

Homework, Tuesday, 23rd September

Maths: Review Topic 2 for test tomorrow  pp.28-45 Practice activities: pp.50-51

Due Monday: Social Studies sentences (see yesterday's homework post)

Remember to read for at least 20 minutes each evening!

Homework, Monday, 22nd September

Maths: Practice 2-7 Draw a Picture and Write an Equation; Enrichment 2-7 Flying High

Social Studies: Review vocabulary:

natural resource	groundwater
nonrenewable	industry
renewable	environment
mineral	conservation

Click here for the Quizlet Vocabulary Activities

Write a sentence for each of the following vocabulary terms. 

natural resource;     renewable;     nonrenewable;     mineral

Each sentence should show meaning of the term. Due next Monday.

You may work online(Click on the link below.) or you may write in your Social Studies notebook.
Social Studies Vocabulary Questions

Spelling: Review List 4– Long and short u sounds  Click here for Spelling City Quizzes and Activities

Core Words

brush juice fruit tube lunch

crumb few true truth done

suit pump due dull tune

blew trunk sum glue threw

Challenge Words:

newscast

commute

continue

attitude

slumber

Week 4

Dear parents and students,

It’s been another very hot week. I hope you have managed to keep cool.

This week in Grade 4, we worked towards publishing our first major writing assignment; our Personal Narrative. We followed the full writing process, from planning to publishing, but this time, most of us chose to try publishing on Google Docs. This method seems to be quite successful, so we may do some more assignments this way in the future. Next Tuesday, we will be reading our stories aloud to the class.

In Maths, we have been working on adding and subtracting whole numbers. We will have a test next Wednesday, before turning our attention towards multiplication.

In Social Studies, we have been learning all about landforms, climate, and how the two affect each other. We have one more week of Social Studies before we take a break and concentrate on our first Science unit for the year.

Finally, in Art, we learned how to write a Haiku. I have been very impressed by everybody’s poems, and I hope to post them all on this blog early next week.

Dates to Remember:

·       Mon. Sep 22   – Spelling test

·       Tue. Sep 23     - Read personal Narratives aloud to the class

·       Wed. Sep 24    - Math Test

·       Fri. Sep 26      - Pizza party – Alexander’s birthday

·       Monthly Assembly

Student of the Week, Week 4

Congratulations to Jacob!

Jacob has been making a great effort to focus on his studies this week. He has also done some excellent research into what we have been learning about in Social Studies, creating some very articulate and informative sentences with the vocabulary.

Keep up the good work, Jacob!

Homework, Friday, 19th September

Maths: Practice 2-6 Subtracting Across Zeros; Enrichment 2-6 Transportation Conclusions
 


Reading and Writing Workshop: Practise reading your Personal Narratives aloud. We will read them before the class on Tuesday.

Spelling: Review List 3  (Test Monday)  Click here for list and Spelling City Link

Social Studies: Quick Quiz - Do you know the continents?
Continents Quick Quiz
Record your name and fastest time in the comments box below.

Homework, Thursday, 18th September

Maths: Practice 2-5 Subtracting Whole Numbers; Enrichment 2-5 So Many Decisions!
Confused about regrouping? Maybe this video can help:


Reading & Writing Workshop: Complete Checkup Unit 1 and Test Practice pp.51-53

Homework, Wednesday, 17th September

Maths:Practice 2-4 Adding Whole Numbers: Enrichment 2-4 Use Your Head*
*read the directions. You are not solving the problem, but explaining whether or not it is reasonable

Reading /Writing Workshop: Read Grandfather's Journey pp. 62-74
Read the questions on p.76. Think about the answers. We will discuss these tomorrow.



Social Studies: Continue writing your vocabulary sentences (due Monday)

Homework, Tuesday, 16th September

Maths: Practice 2-3 Missing or Extra Information; Enrichment 2-3 Birdhouses
Reading and Writing Workshop: Finish publishing your Personal Narrative. See me if you are having any problems.

Social Studies: Review vocabulary:

temperature

precipitation

climate

humidity

Click here for the Quizlet Vocabulary Activities

Write a sentence for each vocabulary term. The sentence should show meaning of the term. Due next Monday.

If you prefer to work online, you can do your Social Studies vocabulary sentences on this Google Form. (Click on the link below.) You can also go back and change your sentences later, if you need to.

(Only you and your teacher can see you answers.)

Social Studies Vocabulary Questions