Author: Tiffany Poirier

Hello, division 4 families!

Today in math we got playful in reviewing multi-digit subtraction and mental math skills. Students shared and discussed their solutions to various challenges (see below). We will have a subtraction practice quiz tomorrow and do a subtraction unit quiz on Thursday.

In Language Arts, I told students about how my three-year-old son loves to make up and tell very simplistic stories—and then he giggles. For example, he recently said, “Once upon a time there was a knock at the door. It was a sausage! The end!”

The class discussed how my son’s sausage story could grow to become more interesting with more sophisticated story structure. Specifically, the story would benefit from more information about setting, characters, a sequence of events, a problem, a solution, and an ending.

Then I invited students to get into groups to make up and tell their own stories that built upon my son’s sausage story. There were wonderfully whimsical stories and lots of laughs! We will continue to build our oral storytelling skills throughout the year with free form exercises such as these.

Next, I read aloud “Little Beaver and The Echo” and we discussed the story’s message about the power of friendship. Then, we mapped the story with the story map framework shown on the worksheet below. I then invited students to use the same framework to map out their own original story to tell. *A fun homework challenge to practice storytelling would be for students to retell the story of “Little Beaver and The Echo” or to share their own made up stories.

In the afternoon, students further refined their “animal paragraph” rough copies, had a writing/editing meeting with me one-to-one, and then wrote good copies.

Hello, division 4 families!

This morning we had a delivery of pears and milk as a part of the healthy food program. So, we spontaneously extended our “Bubble Science” learning and enjoyed the process of making caffeine-free, cinnamon lattes (apple cinnamon tea bag plus 2% milk)! We observed the aerating/stretching of the milk to form silky bubbles and remembered the role of fat and protein globules in maintaining the surface tension that forms bubbles.

We spent 50 minutes in math today with more direct instruction and role modelling of how to subtract multi-digit numbers, both with and without regrouping…and across zeros. (For example, what is 5000 – 3471?)

In the afternoon, we continued working on our “animal paragraphs” in class. The draft copy is due tomorrow morning. Please see the last blog post for examples and criteria. We will work on good copies of these paragraphs tomorrow.

We also did an echolocation experiment to get a sense of how bats can use this ability to gain information about their environments, find prey, avoid predators, and communicate. We reviewed the unit content again and then students wrote a quiz that they brought home today.

Reminder: We have a spelling test on Friday. To practice, students can bring home their spelling workbooks (but must bring them back to class every day). Or, find the word list in the previous blog posts.

Happy Halloween!

In division 4 in Math class, we are now exploring multi-digit subtraction both with and without regrouping (or “borrowing”). You can see the video below for a review of the process.

HOMEWORK: I asked students to bring their Math duo-tangs home over the next few days to complete any unfinished work, and review subtraction with a family member as homework.

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In Language Arts today, we reviewed the list of Halloween spelling words that the students had brainstormed together last week. Students have been using these words when writing Halloween-themed paragraphs and poems. We will have a Spelling quiz on Friday.

In our writing lesson for the day, we continued learning about how to form well-organized paragraphs. To warm up our minds for the lesson, I began by sharing the video below about bald eagles, and we discussed our background knowledge and personal connections.

Then, we read an example of a paragraph I created about eagles. I pointed out the paragraph’s hook, topic sentence, use of transition words, development of three ideas, and conclusion. I showed how the conclusion summarizes the three ideas of the paragraph.

Next, I gave students the framework that the above paragraph was built upon. We discussed how this paragraph framework can be used to communicate about other types of animals.

We then read and discussed three more examples of well-structured animal paragraphs, and I shared another fill-in-the-blank paragraph framework. See below.

Over the next week, I will ask students to (1.) choose an inspiring animal, (2.) use library books to find facts about this animal, and (3.) write a well-structured paragraph about the animal that includes all of the features described above (hook, topic sentence, transition words, three big ideas described in detail, and a meaningful conclusion).

Students are welcome to use either of the two frameworks above to build their paragraphs.

The expectation is that students will use interesting vocabulary and correct spelling and conventions (proper capitalization, grammar, and punctuation).

Students will have had several hours of class time to complete this assignment in class by the end of day on Wednesday. They will have ongoing support from myself and two other educators. Students who do not complete a good copy of the paragraph will be asked to bring the paragraph home to complete; the good copy due date is the morning of Thursday, Nov. 3.

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In our Science unit about the senses, we have turned focus to bats and their echolocation ability. Students will have a quiz on this tomorrow, and we did a review in class today in preparation.

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And lastly, here are some photos from our ADST block today….

Hello, division 4 families!

I hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend! Here are some highlights from our fun time together on Thursday.

The students finished their Math-Art challenge of designing a “Function Machine”. The creative invitation was for each student to design a one-step, two-step, three-step or four-step “input-output” table and then illustrate a silly machine that would perform the function rule. For example, in “The Number Cruncher 5000” above, when a number 80 is inputted, it gets divided by 10 to make 8. Then that 8 is added with 6 to output 14.

Students had fun noticing the patterns created in some of their tables too. Here are some wonderful examples of student work:

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In Science, we are exploring states of matter (solid, liquid, gas). So it was a special treat for us to make predictions and ask question about dry ice, and then observe some live in class as an example of sublimation, which is when a solid turns directly into a gas (without becoming a liquid first).

Reviewing science lab safety rules, students understood that dry ice (a frozen, solid form of carbon dioxide) should only be used in a well-ventilated area because it sublimates into a gas our body expels when we breath out. Too much carbon dioxide in the air can cause humans to asphyxiate. How fortunate then for humans that carbon dioxide (or CO₂) is the main source of food for plants—plants turn carbon dioxide into sugars (carbohydrates) through the process of photosynthesis.

As well, students learned they should not directly touch the dry ice because at -78.5 degrees Celsius, it could cause frostbite (or a cold “burn”). However, as students experienced for themselves, the “smoky”, “steamy” puffs of gas that came off of the dry ice when it was covered in warm water were fine to touch. The gas felt slightly cooler than room temperature. In fact, this was a great example of what fog! (See the photo and graphic below to extend learning…)

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Division 4 students also enjoyed more time with their kindergarten buddies on Thursday. They read stories aloud, drew pictures with them, and helped them learn to follow correct printing procedures. This printing skills review was important for the older students to reinforce proper technique to form beautifully legible letters.

Happy Wednesday, division 4 families!

Today we enjoyed a powerful and engaging presentation by representatives from LEAD (Lived Experiences Around Disability).

Students learned about the importance of people-first language and heard about strategies and technologies used by people with disabilities, such as blindness, hearing loss, and mobility issues.

Through stories, modelling and hands-on participation, our presenters opened up a window into challenging aspects of life that some people with disabilities encounter.

For example, some student volunteers were tasked with a sequence of steps like tearing a piece of paper and writing a word with a pencil—but they had to do the tasks while wearing mittens.

Debriefing the activity, our students reflected on how frustrating it can be to not have the accessibility tools you need to get a job done. It was a powerful exercise that fostered empathy.

A key takeaway was that most disabilities are not visible. Instead of making assumptions or applying labels to people who may have disabilities, it is better to be caring and curious. For example, it can be rude or hurtful to ask, “What happened to you? Do you have (condition XYZ)?” These kinds of questions are especially harmful in cases when they force someone to explain or relive a trauma they encountered. By contrast, our presenters explained that it is preferable to ask questions like, “How has it been navigating accessibility issues?” and “What could I do to support you right now?”

We reflected on the fact that all of us face challenges of some type at some point. We all know people who benefit from our kind and patient support. The students discussed how our society is better and stronger as a whole when we make an effort to be sensitive to peoples’ feelings and be alert to ways we can be allies to people who have disabilities.

This experience also meaningfully extended the learning we have been doing in Science around the five senses—building appreciation for the nuanced work our other senses can do to compensate when one sense is impacted.

It was inspiring today to see and hear of examples of people with courage and creativity who are adapting to their challenges and complex surroundings.

Hello, division 4 families!

In Math today, we practiced determining and creating function rules for “input-output” tables (using adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing). Please note that we will have a quiz on this content and other patterning concepts on Thursday, October 20th. We are doing lots of review in class, and students are encouraged to take their Math duo-tangs home to practice questions and share their learning with their families.

Today in Art, we continued yesterday’s lesson on pencil drawing techniques—this time with the goal to create realistic animal fur, feathers, scales, and skin (specifically leopard fur).

In Language Arts, we went deeper into how to identify and create a topic sentence. We watched a few demonstration videos about this as well.

The students were challenged to transform examples of sentence fragments into creative topic sentences that had proper capitalization, grammar and punctuation.

We also learned about Venn Diagrams, which are helping in showing logical relationships. We worked with multiple examples of both two-ringed and three-ringed diagrams.

Hello, division 4 families!

Today in Language Arts, we picked up where we left off last week in assessing samples of expository writing on a Halloween theme. We also added to our “Halloween Word Wall”, and introduced the difference between a “hook” and a “topic sentence”. Then students began to compose their own Halloween-themed (or other holiday-themed) paragraphs.

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Last week, I gave small groups of students the following four writing samples to read, think about, and discuss. I said, “Imagine you are a teacher and your students wrote these pieces. What do you notice about these samples of writing? What is working well, and what could be improved? What feedback would you offer to the authors of these writing samples?”

After rich peer-to-peer discussion, I joined in to help the students highlight some key differences between the pieces of writing.

Then, I introduced an Expository Writing Rubric and modelled how to use it to assess the features of each piece. We discussed the features of writing on the continuum through EMERGING, DEVELOPING, PROFICIENT, and EXTENDING.

The purpose of this lesson was to set clear criteria and goals for our writing. It’s valuable when a student can be empowered to “think like an editor” and take specific steps to proofread and enhance their written expression.

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Next we drilled deeper down with a lesson on how to write a topic sentence. We discussed the purpose of a topic sentence as being to “highlight the main idea of a paragraph or essay, letting the reader know what the writing will be about.” The students wrote and shared their own examples.

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In Math, we continued with creating patterns and naming pattern rules. As well, we started reviewing multiplication facts. The students are going to be doing these little self-study packs for extra practice in class, and I will send some home next week.

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In Art class today, I taught students a technique for creating their own “smudgers” with torn paper. A smudger helps create soft edges and variation in tonal value when working in pencil. Connecting to our “five senses” learning, we spoke about the features and geometry of human eye. I modelled an example of how to draw a single eye, and invited students to try drawing their own.

Hello, families of division 4!

We started this week with a spelling diagnostic, which will help inform the focus our spelling program this year. The assessment had 106 standard words and a few extras I added from our recent units of study. We spread the assessment out over two blocks, and I involved students in marking and correcting their own work; so they could benefit from the learning experience and hear me talk through the nuances and rationales for various spelling rules. You can hear how the diagnostic sounds here: https://youtu.be/QYjGbehSmNA.

We have already been doing spelling lessons in the context of our cross-curricular studies (especially with our “Word Wall” vocabulary lists, which we used for our poetry writing). However, we will launch a regular weekly spelling program near the end of the month, and I will post our spelling lists on this blog.

In Math, we explored multiplication using arrays, which led to playing with fun manipulatives to help us understand fact families.

Here is a video we watched in class that students can review about arrays:

In Math, we are now also looking at identifying and creating one- and two-step number patterns with various operations. This kind of numerical sleuthing (“find the missing number”) is wonderful mental math practice and good for fostering a mathematician’s mindset. It can feel like fun detective work for students; and it becomes creative as students create and test the workability of their own pattern rules with increasing complexity. Please see the white board photos and example of worksheet questions below.

In Social Studies, students learned about the daring explorations of Earnest Shackleton through the story, “Ice Trap”—which inspired a rich “Career Ed.” discussion of the most important qualities of a leader with our guest teacher, Mr. Russell.

In Language Arts, students have continued with their independent reading, and explorations of “five senses” writing, poetic forms and conventions of writing. Now we turn to looking at expository writing, which is writing that exposes facts. Expository writing “explains and educates its readers, rather than entertaining or attempting to persuade them.”

Today students worked in groups to analyze and discuss the merits of various samples of Halloween-themes essays. The challenge was this: “Imagine you are a teacher and these are the Halloween essays your students hand in to you. How would you assess these pieces? What specific feedback and advice would you offer?”

Together we are creating a bulletin display board based around an assessment rubric that clarifies specific differences between expository writing at an emerging, developing, proficient, and extending level. I will post more on this next week.

We also enjoyed time with our Little Buddies again today! These connections are so special. I love seeing how students worked hard to help focus and teach the kindergarten students during their preferred play and learning tasks. Families, you would be so proud to see your caring kids in action! I’m happy to report that our grade 4/5 students growing in their confidence as leaders of the school.

Parent/Guardian-Teacher Conferences will happen on Wednesday, October 26th in person. I have now emailed you a link to the online appointment booking app. I strongly encourage families who are able to take advantage of the in person meeting on October 26th. This in person meeting is a chance to see and review a student’s portfolio, notebooks, and work bins—which is not possible over Zoom. Zoom or phone meetings will still be a possibility to accommodate families with extenuating circumstances.

Hello, division 4 families!

Tangy! Sour! Sweet! This week we enjoyed testing and reflecting upon our five senses with a Language Arts and Science inquiry starring lemons.

The students continue to practice creating mind maps as a way to collect and organize their sensorial observations. As well, we worked together to model practical strategies for making that creative leap from data to poetry.

Another science class component was practicing safe and hygienic handling of materials. Students took turns “dissecting” the lemon with a butter knife, using proper technique. New vocabulary we learned included pith, pulp, citrus, acidic, and membrane.

As you can read below, our young writers continue to apply their poetic skills and literary devices to make lovely poems.

It’s a joy to see the grade 4s and 5s teaching, inspiring, and taking good care of their kindergarten buddies. This leadership experience for our students stems from goals in the “Career Ed.” curriculum, and it helps to strengthen bonds across the school, inspire students to bring out the best of themselves, and role model skills and positive behaviours.

Here are some photos of the hands-on, collaborative arts and sciences activities they shared today including building a marble run, KEVA plank engineering, drawing, Megablocks constructions, toy vehicles, Lego, Story Studio (loose parts play), reading, and more.