Weekly Update

Hello parents and students!

As January has come to a close I’m reflecting on what a busy month it was.  Between getting back into the swing of things after the Winter break, to skating weekly and many of the students being involved in the musical it was a very busy time!   

The students have been continuing to work on their poetry unit, first completing a poem about the senses and how it relates to the prairies.  Earlier this week the students started a brand new kind of poem, it was a struggle because it’s a new concept for them.  In small groups they have been collaborating to create a personification poem.  So far they are doing a fantastic job!  My hope is they will create their own after experiencing it in a group setting.  

We had a math challenge this week.  We had a group discussion about what it would be life to attend school if they were a pioneer child.  As a group we realized most had to walk a long distance, and we didn’t have the convenience of a car, bus etc as we do today! So on our record breaking temperature day on Thursday, as a class we walked around the school field until we reached a kilometer. I timed the class to see how long it took to walk and in groups or on their own the students had to figure out how long it would take to walk FIVE kilometers if they knew how long it took just to walk one. It was interesting watching what the students used to help them come up with the answer, we’re not finished with the problem, it is ‘to be continued’ next week.

We had our Fort Calgary and Cantos museum trip on Friday, what perfect timing for that trip as we are focusing on prairies and how the settlers made it out west.  I could tell the students appreciated the hands on activities they were able to participate in and hopefully they will come away with some new ideas and questions as we dive deeper into our inquiry research.

Subitizing: What is it and why is it important?

You may have heard your child mentioning subitizing activities we have been doing in class. Subitizing is "instantly seeing how many" meaning,  subitizing is not counting but recognizing common pattern arrangements such as those we may see on a dice or domino.   How good can you subitize? The results might surprise you....

Can you count faster than a chimp? 

not easy eh?

The students has been practicing this, doing games, quizzing one another and just explaining what they see. This is an example of what a student might explain if they were subitizing if they saw this picture for just a few seconds:

They would tell me they see 9, when I ask how they know here are some explanations I have heard from them before:

"I see 3groups of 3 and if you add 3+3+3 that is 9"

"I saw one group of 6 blue dots and one group of 3 red dots and that gives you 9"

"I recognize that pattern, when I see it I know it's 9 because I've seen it before"

This is something that can easily be practiced at home, the students have really enjoyed the games we play in class and as they progress the hope is that the more they can subitize quickly they better their number sense will be if they can instantly see things in groups and be able to clearly explain how they know the answer. Things that can be used at home to practice:

-coins

-dominos

-dice

-cards with dots

-anything you can see in groups!!!

Weekly Update

Hello parents and students!

The first few weeks of January have been very busy for us, we have dived into our prairie research and the students are comparing life as a prairie kid in the past compared to now.  Some examples of research questions the students have come up with are:

What was school like?

How did people get around?

What did they eat?

What were houses like?

How did people stay warm in the winter?

What kind of jobs did people work?

What did kids do for fun?

What tools did people use to make life easier?

Our trip to Fort Calgary and Cantos museum on Friday is perfect timing, as the students can take what they learned from the trip and apply it to their research questions!

We have started a poetry unit, using the prairies as our inspiration.  The first poem the students created was a piece about the senses, some wonderful pieces developed from that.  We’re moving onto different kinds of poetry and the students have been creating art that will later be used as an inspiration for their writing.

I taught the students how to use google maps last week, they thought the satellite view/streetview function was the neatest thing!  Using it I showed them areas of Winnipeg that were of interest, they I let them explore with it outside of the city looking at the prairie landscape from a bird’s eye view, the students then designed their own bird’s eye view art using the google maps for ideas.

In math we have been working on strengthening our number sense, they students have been doing activities with grouping and subitizing.  We will be starting a unit around measurement soon, linking it with our prairie inquiry work. 

Busy weeks coming up!  In February we will be having a pioneer day….more details to come soon!

Ms.Q   

Weekly Update

Hello parents and students! 

First post of the new year!  You will notice I posted some prairie links to the side here, this is to help the students do their research. So we have left the arctic behind and we are moving onto our inquiry work with prairies communities.  The students have been looking at a variety of books and websites last week getting a feel for what life is like. I’ve read them a handful of stories to help paint a picture of prairie life, then and now.   The city we will focus on is Winnipeg, we will compare Winnipeg and Calgary since they are both considered prairies communities. I’ll be posting a lot of links and helpful resources in the next few weeks if your child is ever interested in doing extra research at home!  I will keep everyone in the loop about the different activities going on in the classroom, I have a few ideas up my sleeve….

In math we will be continuing our morning math problem at the start of each day.  We are doing a calendar project for the month of January and many of the questions will be related to using the calendar.  As a class we are working to develop our mental math strategies, by doing this it increases the student’s computation ability and helps them strengthen their basic facts.

I will have more posts once we start working more deeply with our inquiry work, will also put up some more math websites as that seemed to be a popular request last term!

Ms. Q