Happy Halloween!

Meet Mr. Frank! 

Today we had a few former Maple Creekers visit the school to help many classroom and teachers. Our fabulous helpers helped decorate our front door! 

With being on the subject of Halloween, I just want to let everyone know that we will be busy tomorrow afternoon providing a fun "haunted portable" with three other junior classrooms. We have already begun to discuss how the classroom will be set up and the children are already asking if they may bring in any extra lights or decorations to help set up the room. If you have some donations, please send them with your son/daughter in a marked bag so that it can be returned tomorrow. Also, please note that it is our hope that every student can bring in a canned food for our "Scare Away Hunger" food drive. Thanks in advance for your cooperation. They are really really excited about this! Oh! And in light of this event, please note that we will not be having a classroom party. Instead, we will celebrate as a class by creating and formulating a "haunted classroom". 

Please for the Dance-A-Thon tomorrow, we will be dancing after morning recess in the gym. Students are welcomed to wear their costumes during the dance-a-thon but fake weapons are not permitted. 

As a school, we are asking that your child refrain from bringing in treats in order for us to continue our 'healthy foods' programme, and to protect our children from peanut allergies. They may bring in extra money to buy juice and popcorn at the dance. Glow sticks will also be sold by our grade 8 students. We look forward to a fun, safe dance-a-thon. 

BORC

On Wednesday, October 24 we had a fabulous trip to Borc. The weather cooperated for most of the day! 

Travelling through the woods

Canadian Geese

BORC sign

Off to our game, "Web of Life"

After our hike through the woods, the children were greeted to hot chocolate in which they thoroughly enjoyed! Once we were warmed up, we learned the purpose and outcome of our Web of life game. We were very excited to play it, and we couldn't wait to eat our lunches and get started! As a Grade 4 teacher, this trip has always been the highlight of my year... Such good fun! 

Earth Rangers

On Thursday, October 25th we had the Earth Rangers visit the school. Here, we learned about how we can become Earth Rangers and learned of several animals that visited us. 

Unfortunately, during the time this blog was posted, there was many technical difficulties that occurred (freezing, missing pictures, reconfiguration of the blog etc.), and this blog was not posted when it was indeed was. Hence, I apologize for this being up late especially the Halloween information. 
This evening I will post pictures of our haunted portable and update you with our learning of the week. 

Mrs. Sauder 

Field Trip Tomorrow

BORC TRIP 

Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow we will be off on our trip to the Burrlington Outdoor Resource Centre. Despite the rain, we will still be participating in outdoor activities and therefore please ensure that your child is dressed appropriately according the weather. Below, you will find a list that will help you choose the appropriate clothing for the day...

- warm hat/gloves

- extra socks

- rain boots

- rain coat

- long pants

- extra pants (just in case...)

- dress in layers

Please make sure that your child has a good breakfast on the day of the trip as s/he will need extra energy for an active morning. To promote care for the environment, please prepare food and drinks in reusable or recyclable containers to reduce garbage. A healthy morning snack is recommended, two drinks (including a re-usable water container) and a litter-free lunch. Please keep in mind that ALL York Region schools are nut free. 

A Busy Week...

Habitat-Diorama

Habitat-Diorama

During the last couple of days, the children were quite busy working on their dioramas. I have included some of the children's work that is still in progress. They are really enjoying it!

Also, we worked on a summary assignment this week and each child received feedback. This will help them improve their next summary task for next week. Using a rubric, teacher's feedback and their previously written summary, the children will complete another written summary next week. This will allow them a chance to improve their marks and gather a better understanding visually, how to improve their written task.

Yesterday we had art. We were finishing up our sketching of our right shoe! We learned that we have to look at the shoe and draw rather than looking at the shoe then look at our sketching paper to draw from memory. It was HaRd! However, they persevered and it turned out amazingly!

Today we had a Bus Safety and Evacuation assembly. We learned about all the safety rules and even learned out to safely and properly jump out the back of the bus in case of an emergency evacuation. They really enjoyed it!


Next week will be quite a busy week for us! On Monday, we have a P.A.Day! On Tuesday, please note that we will be having our pictures taken! This is because we will be away on Wednesday for our trip to BORC. On Thursday Earth Rangers will be in. This has always been the Grade 4s favourites!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Lions, Tigers and Bears Oh My....

Welcome Back! With technological difficulties behind us, we are back with updates in Room 502!

Since the last post, the children has been actively working on their diorama. They are very excited to work on this during Science class and I have been blown away by such enthusiasm and creativity demonstrated in their boxes. During this time, we will continue to explore what a level 1-4 diorama is, and ensuring that they are following the guidelines provided in their project package. 

Gathering of information

This week, we will begin literacy centres. The centres consists of guided reading, library visit, reading response and critical thinking. I am most excited about our critical thinking centre as it is a centre where a video (the videos are previewed to ensure age appropriateness) will be posted and the group will discuss the video and write a response to a question that has been given. Using media in the classroom today is a great way to have students engaged in their learning. Also, I believe this is one of the many ways for children to critically think about news today and having an opportunity to express their thoughts. We are learning how to express our thoughts using guidelines posted in the classroom to help them be successful at this.

In Social Studies, we have been working on the 7 Physical Regions of Canada. Using computers, they have been researching the areas specifically looking at how the make up of the land connects to the natural resources.

Drawing of landform region 

In language, we continue to practice writing summaries and we will be wrapping up this unit in the next few days. The children has been practicing summarizing what they have read to show their understanding and as a organization strategy for writing.

In math, we are wrapping up the unit on patterning. Over the last couple of days, the children have been working on problem solving questions with their math partner. They are partnered up in order to be able to discuss, come up with strategies and utilize the strategy that best help them solve problems especially in everyday situations. These strategies have been taught throughout the unit.

Important Dates: 
October 19th - math unit test
October 24th - BORC field trip
October 29th - science diorama due

Happy Thanksgiving To You and Your Family! 

This year I am thankful for many things! Firstly, I am thankful for having a loving and healthy family, one whom is always there with smiles and hugs! Secondly, I am thankful for having a wonderful class this year. Every morning, I enjoy seeing the smiles on each child's face upon entering the classroom.  This is truly an awesome way to start each day! Also, I truly am thankful that each child has a smile at the end of the day, heading out the door for home. Have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday's Posting...

First off, I would like to THANK all the parents who came to visit the classroom last night. It was wonderful to meet new parents and get reacquainted with the others! It is going to be a wonderful school year!
Today was a busy day. We had worked straight through the day, starting with Social Studies and ending with gym! In Social Studies, we took a trip to the East Coast, looking at the Appalachian Highland Region which is one of the seven physical regions found in Canada. We had a look at a video, through Discovery Education, that gave us an idea of what the Appalachian Highlands looks like. Then, we came back to solve problems looking for a pattern in mathematics. With this, we will discuss our findings tomorrow in class. Hence, there are some children with homework tonight as it wasn't completed in class. After a busy first part of the morning, we had a nice recess break. Afterwards, it was time to have a group of children visit the library for book exchange. We continued to look at the Appalachian Highlands, but learning how to take the main ideas of the reading and creating a brief summary. This model will help children succeed in their future writing tasks. We like to get in as many practice and feedback from the teacher and our peers in order to be successful at it. To take a break from the summary writing, the children were given a writing topic today, "If you could be anyone in the world today, who would you be and why?". They were given suggestions such as friends, families, heros, or celebrities. Also, they were asked to write what their day would look like if they were that person.
After lunch, we did some review on our map, "Major, Non-Capital Cities in Canada" that we had used an atlas for. Using our doc camera, we were able to share our answers, ensuring we have the correct names of the cities in the correct Provinces & Territories. Next, we worked on major roadways through Canada and then closed it up with a mapping of Ontario's physical region. The children by then were grateful for a closure of the day by continuing our hockey tournament in gym. During this time, the children are learning how to hold a stick, and working co-operatively as a team. They are enjoying this tournament immensely as they are showing great team spirit by cheering on their opponents!

Just a few housekeeping notes: 

Borc field trip will be happening on Wednesday, October 24. Your child received a permission form this afternoon. Please note, this trip is FREE. Yes, it is free! The school has made arrangements for bus cost. During this trip, we will be continuing our study on Habitat & Communities.

Spiritwear - A handout was given to your child this afternoon regarding the sale of the school's clothing such as t-shirts, sweatshirt, hooded sweatshirt etc. All information and prices are found in the handout.

Popcorn & Chip Sale - A yellow notice was also handed out this afternoon notifying you that your child may purchase a popcorn or chip snack at morning recess for $1.

Crime Stopper - On Monday, we had a visit from York Regional Crime Stoppers. We learned how to report a crime through email, phone and text. Also, we learned that we shouldn't be providing personal information on the Internet and to be careful with webcams. It was an interesting assembly.

October 1st Already?

Where has the month of September gone? I am sure we are all wondering this as we had once again been quite busy here in the classroom.
We have continued to work on our summary writing that helps us determine what information is most important and not. We will continue with this in our non-fiction unit.
For math we have continued to work on patterning. We have been focusing on using t-charts as a strategy to help us organize our thinking and to use proper mathematical language to express our answers.
In our Canada studies, we have continued to work away with mapping and have learned how to use an atlas. We will continue to do this for the remainder of the week.
Your child has chosen an animal for the habitat and communities project. At present, we are still wrapping up our understanding of structural and behavioural adaptations, food chain, and will learn about producers and consumers. Your child will receive their project package next week. It is important that the children understand the foundations of habitats and communities before we begin this.

Please note that we have homework this evening. Your child will need to work on mid-chapter review from the math textbook. This was assigned on Wednesday and unfortunately some children are behind and was not completed this past weekend. We will need to get caught up, hence, homework this evening. Also, in science, your child will need to complete their science homework, which consists of Food Chains on Isle Royale. This is due on Wednesday.

Just a reminder, this Wednesday evening (October 3rd) is the Meet the Teacher night! I am looking forward to meeting you all!


Happy Monday!

Mrs. Sauder