Hello Families and Friends of Room 16,

We have been learning about the land today.  We went outside for a walk. We connected to nature. We got to feel, smell, listen, see, but not taste everything around us.

We are learning all about fractions with Ms. Neal.  There can be a whole, half and a set. Fractions are a part of a whole. They can be in cards, recipes, animals and there can also be fractions in a calendar. There can be fractions in a clock. Fractions are everywhere.

We shared our Jamboards with our classmates.  We created Dream Boards about what we want to see and do in Alberta. We were giving feedback to our classmates, compliments on how they did, asking questions and making connections.

In Phys Ed we have been learning to play floor hockey. We have been learning skills, like how to hold a stick, play safe and spatial awareness.

Ms. Neal has been working with us to learn about Heart Health. We learned that with a healthy heart we will live longer. We learned that it is possible to have a broken heart. 

In writing we have been writing about ourselves so that Ms. Neal can learn more about us.

In Science we discussed our carbon footprint and how everything we use is part of that. We learned how to decrease our carbon footprint.

We are looking forward to what is coming in the next few weeks.  We are starting some new units and we are getting excited to share our learning with you.

Mrs. Mahon's Magnificent Monsters

 Hello Friends,

Online we have been learning multiplication and division. We have reviewed addition and subtraction. We are learning about these by solving word problems. To solve a word problem there are 5 steps: 

1. Read the problem

2. Circle the important numbers

3. Underline the question that needs to be answered.  This will tell us what "function" to use to solve the problem. The function is whether we add, subtract, multiply or divide.

4. Write out the equation and solve it.

5. Answer the question.

We learned all about healthy food. We started to plan out a healthy menu for a day of eating. We found out that we need half of our meal to be colourful and the other half protein and grains.

We learned all about Alberta in social studies. We learned that the Canadian Shield is pretty old (4.5 billion years) and it is the smallest geographical region in Alberta. Alberta has 6 geographical regions. Calgary is in the Parkland Region of Alberta. Edmonton is the capital city of Alberta. The Boreal Forest takes up 58% of Alberta. We are looking forward to doing a webquest when we come back to school.

In art we have been asked to draw different animals that have a variety of adaptations. We have also been allowed at times to draw our own things. 

In science we have learned all about how plastics have affected marine life in our oceans. Some people have invented devices to help clean up the plastic and to make our earth cleaner.

In reading and writing we have been able to free write, we read books on Epic Books online and we have also reading with Mrs. Mahon.  On Google Classroom we were able to read a variety of stories and facts and answer comprehension questions so that we know and understand what we have read.

Online learning was good because we had a lot of meets so that we could talk to each other and our teacher.  We also got to read a lot. It was good because we got to stay home but still talk to each other. We didn't have to get up early to go to school. 

Some of us prefer to learn in school so we are happy we get to go back on Monday. We also prefer to see our friends and teachers face to face and not on a monitor or screen of any kind. 

It has been a very full and busy week. The students have done a great job in their learning and I am very proud of them.

Have a great weekend and stay tuned for an update again before the end of January.

 Good Afternoon,

The last 2 weeks have gone by in a blur.  We have been busy in the classroom as usual.  The learning the students continue to do is fantastic.

We have not done a lot that is different in the past 2 weeks.  We still read and try to write everyday.  We are beginning to use computers to do some of our writing which includes opinion writing and even beginning to do some story writing.

Math has seen us continue on problem solving.  We have tackled mixed problems and multi-step problems.  The students are learning to read through them and pick out what is important and then apply the appropriate function to find the answer.

We are finishing up our Waste unit in Science, and our next unit will focus on Weather.  We are beginning to find out more about Alberta in Social Studies, then moving back into the history of Canada as time goes on.

We completed yoga and dance in Physical Education and next we will be doing some floor hockey and ringette.

I do not get to see your wonderful children now until the 4th of January.  Mr. Bennett has also sent an update out to families that gives details about what to expect. 

From January 4th - 8th, 2021 your children will be learning online.  There are times when they will be online with me, Ms. Hanan or Ms. Murphy, being instructed, receiving support and asking or answering questions.  These online times will be for attendance as well.  A schedule came home with your student today, but it is not perfect, so there may be changes.  In that case, a new schedule will be sent out to you by Sunday, January 3, 2021.  I will also be posting it on our Google Classroom.

Stay tuned to your email for any updates that are coming.  Thank you for your ongoing support, your children could not do what they do without you.

Have an amazing break and I can't wait to see everyone in January.

Mrs. Mahon

 Hello Fabulous Families,

In the last 2 weeks we have tried to do a lot, so let us update you on what has happened and what will happen next week.

In reading we continue to read with our teacher, read with a buddy (safely and at a bit of a distance). We choose books that are at a level that we are great at reading.  We have access to a lot of books online over the break coming up.  Ask me how.

In writing we continue to write about Ivan the Shopping Mall Gorilla and we get to free write about anything we want but appropriate for school.  Some of us have written letters to Santa, written about our weekends, what we want for Christmas,  We have written about how we feel about things using our own opinions.

In mathematics we have started to learn all about word problems.  We are learning the steps to solve word problems and some of our problems are more than 2 steps to solve. We continue to practice basic facts to learn to multiply and divide bigger numbers.  

In science we have been learning about toxic waste, e-waste and other types of waste.  We found out that we have a lot of e-waste in our houses. We get to learn all about our carbon footprint next week.

In social studies we have learned about confederation and Canada becoming a country.  We have learned about the railway and how it was built to expand to the west.  We are learning all about Alberta now and we get to become "Travel Agents" to write brochures to tell how great our wonderful province is.

In Phys. Ed we are doing dance and yoga, and we also got to play some games of basketball.  We also get to continue playing a variety of tag games.  Dance and yoga will continue next week.

We have school 5 days next week.  Yes, we are in school on Friday, December 18, and it will be a half day.  After that we are on a 2 week winter break.  Online School is starting on Monday, January 4, 2021.

We will do one more blog entry next week! Stay tuned.

Mrs. Mahon's Marvellous Monsters from Room 16

 Good Morning Families,

The last 2 weeks have been busy with a lot of different learning happening.

Literacy

We have been writing about Asian and African elephants. We will be posting our posters on Iris early next week for you to see. We read everyday and get to read at a distance with our classmates and teacher.

Mathematics

We have been learning about division.  We have learned to break larger numbers into smaller groups.  We have also begun learning long division.  It is okay if we practice at home.

Science

We have been learning about waste, where it goes (the dump) and what happens to it. Glass bottles can take up to a million years to decompose so it is better to recycle them. We also learned that in the USA at UCLA they are using reusable take out containers. They are scanned like library books. It was pretty interesting. Clothes that come from China, that are polyester are more than likely made from recycled plastic bottles. Science has been pretty fun.

Social Studies

We have learned about the beaver and the buffalo and how the First Nations hunted and trapped them. We have also been learning about how the fur trade happened and how it worked. For example, the First Nations people traded beaver pelts for items like, pots, pans, and other items not normally used. Beaver fur is so popular in making hats in Europe at the time because the felt is waterproof. 

Music

We continue to learn about Canadian Musicians.  We are creating Google Slide Presentations that we will be showing to the class and putting on Iris next week.

We have been learning about squilts with Ms. Murphy. It is all about listening to music and drawing what or how you feel.

Phys. Ed

We have been doing basketball and next week we will start our units on dance and yoga. Please remember to wear comfortable clothes (no dresses or tight clothes).

Stay tuned for more interesting updates from Mrs. Mahon's Marvelous Monsters.

Have an amazing weekend.

Room 16 Monsters

 Hello Fabulous Families of Room 16,

Happy Friday the 13th!

This week we have spent a lot of time talking and writing about Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day happens on November 11th every year.  On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month we stay silent for 2 minutes to help us remember the soldiers who have fought in major conflicts around the world. We also learned the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, this was used when the allies communicated with each other during war. We got a chance to write our full names.  For example Cappy Smart School would be written as

Charlie Alpha Papa Papa Yankee   

Sierra Mike Alpha Romeo Tango

Sierra Charlie Hotel Oscar Oscar Lima

We have written about Ivan the Gorilla as well. He was the shopping mall gorilla that was eventually moved to the Atlanta Zoo.  We are currently reading the chapter book about him called, "The One and Only Ivan".

In mathematics we are learning to multiply numbers. First we multiply the ones. We have learned to multiply 2-digit by 1-digit and 2-digit by 2-digit.  Some of us are even trying to multiply larger numbers. If it is a single digit number, the we will only multiply the single digit.  If it is a 2-digit number, then we also have to multiply the tens.  We do some adding when we carry and to find the final product. 

We are learning about Waste in science. We have learned about biodegradable and non-biodegradable things.  We have talked about what goes in the black, blue and green bins that are collected every one to two weeks outside our houses. 

In Phys. Ed we continue to play a variety of tag games.  Ask me about them. We have also been learning how to throw and catch Frisbees.  We discovered that we do not throw Frisbees when it is really windy out.

We continue to draw different things, and this weeks focus was on poppies. 

Room 16 wants to welcome the wonderful Ms. Murphy to our school.  She joined us to teach us this week about using different symbols to create our own alphabet.

We have been studying Canadian Musicians in Music.  We can't wait to share our research projects with each other.

It has been a successful week of learning.  

Fabulous Friends of Room 16

 Hello Families of Fabulous 4/5s,

We have been learning about wetlands in science. We are creating an informational cube to help us teach each other about different types of wetlands. We have been learning about animal food chains in the wetlands. We also wrote riddles about different animals.  We will be sharing our learning on Iris (stayed tuned for more information in the coming week).

We have been learning about gorillas and are now using the internet to help us create posters to display all the information we have learned.

We are playing different games with our friends in math.  We are learning place value.  We finished learning about patters.  We drew a giraffe to help show animals that have patterns in them.  We learned the 3 different ways to write numbers.  We write them in written form (one hundred twenty-three), standard form (123) and expanded form (100 + 20 +3).  We have also used dice to play games, we try to beat the teacher in math (ask me how).

In Physical Education we are playing different tag games and playing badminton. We play RPS Tag, Line Tag, Octopus Tag, British Bulldog Tag.

We have been learning about the land with Ms. Watkins.  We walked over a kilometer last week to help us learn about the land. We learned about Charlie Windjack.  He tried to walk home but due to hunger, cold and no water he didn't make it. It taught us about Residential Schools and their impact on Indigenous People.

Mrs. Mahon wants you to know that Parent/Teacher Conferences are online next Thursday evening and Friday morning.  You will be able to go online to MyCBEAccount to book a time when you would like to chat with her about our learning.  

Mrs Mahon's Grade 4/5 Class