Week in Review: April 10 - 13

This week, although only four days, was another good one with plenty of learning going on. Throughout the week the class continued becoming poetry masters, worked with metric measurement conversions, continued their study of Piet Mondrian, and experimented with a variety of different materials and light rays. Throw in the fun of "Oilers Team Spirit" day, our Easter party, and of course the excitement of the Easter break and the Stanley Cup Playoffs beginning and it was a great week all around.

In terms of curriculum this week...

In Math we continued our study of linear measurement and began comparing units of measurement.  Working with the metric system we examined, for example, how many units you would get when converting say five meters into millimeters, or 30000cm into kilometers.  We also looked at being able to recognize appropriate units of measurement for tasks, such as using millimeters to measure short distances/objects versus larger/longer distances perhaps using decimeters or kilometers.  After the Easter break we will begin looking at weight and capacity.

This week we also kicked off our participation in the Canada 150 event using the Mathletics online Math program.  Using the program students are able to practice their Math skills both in class as well as home.  An information sheet was sent home containing information about the program as well as a small card containing everyone's usernames and passwords. Everyone is really excited about using the program so it's a great opportunity for everyone to take advantage of that excitement and get some extra practice in at home!

In Language Arts this week we continued working with reading comprehension and getting everyone using with their word attack strategies to decipher unknown words, so as to improve fluency and understanding.  This week's work looked at determining whether writing samples were fact or opinion, and better able to recognize features that would allow them to tell the difference.  In writing, we continued our poetry unit and this week focused on composing "cinquain poems".  With the poems they have a set structure with a relatively easy form to follow, which allowed the style to be quickly understood.  This lead to the publishing of some very creative, and funny poems with a wide variety of topics.

In Science the study of light and shadows continued with everyone experimenting with the creation of shadows in class using a variety of different materials.  The assorted materials we used were a mix with transparent, translucent and opaque characteristics.  This allowed everyone the opportunity to see first hand how these materials interacted with the light rays from their flashlights - some allowed the rays to pass through entirely, some blocked the rays completely, while others allowed the rays to pass through but altered them in some way - dimmer, colour change, direction of the beams etc.

In Art this week we began our artist study of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian.  Piet Mondrian was originally a well known landscape painter but eventually became more famous for his abstract geometric paintings.  This type of artwork was what we focused on this week in class and  used as our inspiration in class.  This week everyone took a shot at recreating one of Piet Mondrian's more famous pieces called "Composition II in red, blue, and yellow".  This artwork was the inspiration for several clothing lines, and even an entire museum!




Bake Sale - Wednesday, April 19

Just a quick reminder about next week's classroom bake sale on Wednesday, April 19th.  Please be sure to send your 3 dozen individually wrapped baked goods to school first thing in the morning.  If the baked good you are sending contains nuts please marked this on the wrapper as they will be set up and sold on a separate table.  All money collected from the sale goes directly to the classroom.

Go Oilers Go

Here's a great shot of the school showing their team spirit during Wednesday's  Oilers Team Spirit Day...

Upcoming Calendar of Events
Friday, April 14 - No School
Saturday, April 15 - Deadline to order hot lunch for May
Monday, April 17 - No School
Tuesday, April 18 - PD Day: No School
Wednesday, April 19 - Library Book Exchange - please return library books
Wednesday, April 19 - 4H Bake Sale (please send 3 dozen items first thing in the morning)
Thursday, April 20 - East Elementary Invitational Girls Floor Hockey Tournament