Mr. Henderson's Wolverine Den: May 2017

Friday, 26 May 2017

Week in Review: May 22 - 26

With this week's review it is straight to the highlights, fluff is nice but just the info this week. Here we go...the week was another busy one with lots of checks on the learner-to-do list.

Curriculum wise this week...

In Math this week we wrapped up our unit on Measurement and have now transitioned nicely into Data Analysis. With this unit we will be collecting, organizing, and presenting data using a variety of graphs. Come next week the class will be collecting data and creating their own tally charts; then transferring this data to pictographs and finally into vertical bar graphs. We'll continue to work on transferring data between graphs this coming week including plotting data within line graphs.

In Language Arts this week we continued to develop reading strategies that can aid with comprehension. Rereading text, chunking words into syllables, phonetically breaking down words, looking for familiar words that might offer context, or even using the book's illustrations are all strategies that can aid comprehension and ultimately fluency. We continued to work through our second Roald Dahl novel study and have very nearly wrapped up our reading of Fantastic Mr. Fox. Working with the novel we have been able to learn about character comparisons, types of characters, and how to summarize information.

In Science we began our investigation of Plant Life Cycles and discovered that the needs of plants are very similar to those of people. Much like people, plants need water, nutrients, shelter and they tend to grow better when given some TLC. This coming week we get to explore seeds and the bits and pieces inside them.

In Social Studies we continued to examine early settlers and their impact on Alberta past and present and are now beginning our transition into the study of traditions and celebrations. With the study of how Alberta had changed culturally and socially over time students will gain a better understanding and appreciation of how much Alberta has changed over time.

Health - With next week we have our human sexuality classes on Monday and Thursday. With the classes there has been a lot of nervousness among the class about what we are doing. We the class sessions they are are gender separate - with myself instructing the boys and Mrs. Lavoie working with the girls. With both classes we will be working through a series of activities all relating to puberty and the changes that can occur during this period of life. It is NOT a "birds and bees" type lesson!

Permission forms and Field Trip fees
Over the next week or so it will seem like a lot of field trip and activity paperwork coming home. As we near the end of the year we have several upcoming activities that require the submitting of permission forms and/or activities fees via PowerSchool.

In terms of current and upcoming fees/permission forms, please check to see if you have remembered to submit the needed fees/forms; here's what is currently on PowerSchool:

May 30 - Fathers day Projects - $10.00 fee (available on Powerschool now) Deadline: May29

June 5 - Peter Puffin field trip @ MacLab theatre - $2.00 fee/permission form (available on PowerSchool now) Deadline: June 4

June 6 - District Track meet @ Devon - $8.00 fee/permission form (available on PowerSchool now for participating students) Deadline: May 29

** Not yet posted online will be the year end field trip to Fort Edmonton Park on June 28th. Form and fee should be available online next week.

Please submit fees and permission forms online prior to the listed deadlines; unfortunately verbal consent is not enough. With the trips and activities if either fees and/or permission forms are not received by the stated deadlines your child will unfortunately not be able to participate.

Classroom Calendar
Monday, May 29 - Human Sexuality class 1
Monday, May 29 - Deadline for track and field fees ($8.00)
Monday, May 29 - Deadline to submit Fathers Day project fees ($10.00)
Thursday, June 1 - Human Sexuality class 2
Friday, June 2 - Library: Book Exchange
Sunday, June 4 - Deadline to submit permission form/fee ($2.00) for Peter Puffin field trip
Monday, June 5 - Peter Puffin field trip @ MacLab Theater, Leduc
Tuesday, June 6 - Elementary District Track and Field Meet @ Riverview Middle School, Devon
Wednesday, June 7 - Early dismissal @ 2:30pm
Friday, June 9 - Library: Book Exchange
Thursday, June 15 - Agriculture Alberta Presentation (in class)

Friday, 5 May 2017

Week in Review: May 1 - 5

Welcome to the month of May, wow April was a blur - most have been all the fantastic weather?! It is hard to believe that there are only eight weeks of school left in the year! Luckily for us, this May there is more than enough time to pack in a novel study, a few unit tests, a family dance, some bake sales, and of course some Mothers Day fun.

The last few weeks are busy and will certainly fly by so it's important that everyone is here and on time so that they do not miss out on any of the fun!

In terms of curriculum this week...

In Math we've kicked off our study of measuring liquids and using millilitres, litres, and kilolitres and shifted away from the measuring of distance. With the lessons the kids will be learning about accurately measuring and converting units of liquid measurement. Watch for a practice booklet on linear and capacity measurement to come home next week.

In Language Arts this week we continue to develop our reading comprehension skills and the ability to locate and identify features of good stories. Our current novel study, Fantastic Mr. Fox is moving along nicely and the students are consistently generating chapter summaries and completing chapter assignments which always them to synthesize their information and highlight the main features that they deem to be most important to understanding the individual chapters.

With our novel study we are hoping to wrap up this novel before the May long weekend and celebrate our reading with a text-movie comparison using the stop-motion movie version of Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Congratulations goes out to Kaleb on winning the free entry passes as the Laser City Home Reading winner for the month of April. Keep going with the home reading, for every page completed in your reading log you get an entry into the draw. Remember the goal is to try and read at least 15 minutes each night.

In Science this week we continued our study of light and shadows, and worked through a couple more experiments. We are hoping to have our final unit test just before the May long weekend, after which we will begin our study of Plant Life Cycles. As an initial unit activity we will work through several activities designed to help us identify what our current knowledge of plants is and also identify some of the things we are hoping to gain an understanding of.

Health & Human Sexuality
With our health classes next week everyone will be receiving individual consent forms for their child's participation in the grade four health classes focusing on personal health and human sexuality scheduled for later in May. These scheduled classes will be gender separate and focus specifically on the physical, emotional and social changes that occur during puberty; e.g., menstruation, secondary sexual characteristics, changing identity and moods (Alberta Education, Health and Life Skills curriculum, 2002). Participation in these classes is at the discretion of parents and consent forms need to be returned in a timely fashion prior to the class dates as noted on the form.

This last week was Mental Health Awareness Week and to say the school was a hub of activity would be an understatement. Between the theme days, bake sales, and student activities everyone was up and active and focused on raising awareness of mental health and wellness. This topic will continue to be a topic of discussion for the remainder of the year.

Social Studies
This last week in Social Studies we were able to take a closer look at some of the natural resources available in Alberta and see first hand their personal benefits and how they are produced in our province. Everyone had a fabulous time at the Amazing Agriculture event that was hosted at the Expo Centre in Edmonton. With the event our group was able to visit 12 different "booths' with each booth offering different insight in a specific part of Alberta's agriculture. Some highlights included our own hand-made hummus, milking a mechanical cow, planting our own sunflowers, reading to a horse, petting a variety of animals, discovering purple french fries, and experiencing the excitement and confusion of a "farm auction"!

Here are a few pictures from the day...