Week in Review: November 28 - December 1

And with that the month of November is in the books, and the fun and excitement of a new month is upon us.  In looking back at November we had a very productive month, many units wrapped up and our accumulated knowledge continued to grow.  We refined skills and added new ones.  We worked hard and got the results we hoped we would...and managed to have a ton of fun throughout it all.  

Now the month of December has arrived.  I love December as it always brings back great childhood memories - and many upcoming fun times in class when new memories can be made.  In the upcoming weeks the fun and energy of the festive season will engulf the classroom.

And now onto the curricular stuff...

In Math we continue to build on our understanding of multiplication, specifically the multiplying of multi-digit equations.  During this last week's parent conferences many parents asked how they could support their child's Math learning at home.  As a means of reinforcing and improving multiplication skills, all the students have access to shared Google documents on their Google Drive accounts.  These documents offer a wide variety of websites where students can visit and practice their Math skills while having fun - always easier to get folks working on subject material when it is fun!

With Language Arts this last week, we continued to work on our student blogs.  With the expectation of posting grade four level work, the students this week worked to post on two different topics of their choice from our list of possible titles.  It's always interesting reading what the kids post and seeing the improvements in the mechanics of their writing, and in the sincerity of their follow up comments.

In Science this week it was all hands on deck as we tackled the final construction steps of our wheel and axle simple machines, aka cereal box race cars.  It was a fun project and it was great to watch the students apply their knowledge and persevere to find solutions to design challenges they encountered during the tasks.  As the task moved along you could see little "build teams" forming, as partners began collaborating as they tackled the construction of their cars - always great to see Health concepts as helping others in action!  We had hoped to race our cars this week but with the shorten week we simply ran out of time and will hold our races on Monday next week!


In Art this week we wrapped up our study of Mark Jacobsen and his native art.  We tackled the cosmetics of our race cars, and lastly we got our entry ready for the 1st ever WHPS Christmas Door Decorating Contest!  Our door theme this year was "Elf on a Shelf...Rocks Out!"

Christmas Concert

Save the Date - Wednesday, December 21st ! Students are in the midst of preparations for the concert of the season! Our class will perform 2 shows on their day; a dress rehearsal (open to the public) in the afternoon, and a final evening show.  Scheduled to perform on our day are Kindergarten PM, Grade 2, 4, and the grade 6s.

Congratulations
Congratulations goes out to Mohib, who was November's Laser City Home Reading winner.  He and a friend will be enjoying some laser tag at a future date.  Keep that home reading going as you not only get entries into the Laser City draw, but you also help our class continue to qualify for entries into the Oilers/Oil Kings ticket draws with the Reading Give it a Shot program!

Upcoming Events and Dates...

Wednesday, December 7th - Jersey Day: Wear your favourite jersey to school today
Wednesday, December 7th - Early Dismissal @ 2:30PM
Thursday, December 8th - Library: Book Exchange
Thursday, December 8th - 12 Days of Xmas Fitness kicks off