Week of February 28 - March 4, 2011

Work for students who are leaving early for March Break (week of March 7-11):
Below is a list of things we will start and hopefully complete next week.  Specific days are not assigned to each activity -- this represents my best guess as to how much of my long range plan will be achieved next week.  Some handouts are available.  Other activities are unique to the classroom experience.
Math:
a)  Finish pages 234-35 # 1-7; b) Quiz on Tuesday; c) Lesson 9 'Relating Units of Mass' introduced and practice questions assigned on text pages 240-41 #1-11 and in the the HW book pp. 94-95 (we have balance scales in class); d) quiz on Lessons 8 and 9 on Tuesday March 22.
Science:
a) Space Planet powerpoint (notetaking and assembly); b) Booklet pages 12 and 13.
Language:
a) Poetry activities from our orange books; b) nature haiku poem; c) opposites diamante poem; d) 'Diary of an Astronaut' writing; e) main and supporting details study; f) inferencing activities using modelled responses based on "The Other Side" reading passage.
Art:
a) Norval Morrisseau First Nations art enlargement.
Friday HW
1. Math Quiz Measurement 3.0 on Lessons 6 and 7 (Volume and the Cubic Metre) on Tuesday March 8.
2. We have a Scientists in School presentation on March 21 after the break.
3.  Tafelmusik forms.
4.  Gather jot notes about the planet you were assigned for the Space Powerpoint assignment. 

• Students have access to my web page links at http://www.areynolds.org/ and can record notes on the Space booklet on pages 15 and 17 which is right after the topic sheet on page 14. 
• The topic sheet should provide the on requirements and detail needed to start work on information gathering.  The only major change is that we are using Powerpoint rather than Hyperstudio.  Students had access to computers today to do research and will have access to computers to complete the Powerpoint in class.  Students who work very slowly will likely have to do additional work on their own time or during homework club times.  A USB stick would be useful to have in class during this time.
• The due date has not yet been set, but I am looking at about one week after the March Break.

 Thursday HW
1.  Math HW Book pages 92-93.
2.  Tafelmusik forms.
3.  Pourquoi tale due tomorrow in good copy form (in pen or typed) by 10:35 AM.  We have 2 periods in the morning to finish it off.
4.  Math Measurement Quiz 3.0 on Lessons 6 and 7 ( Volume and the Cubic Metre) on Tuesday March 8.
5.  We have a Scientists in School presentation on electricity in class on Monday March 21.

 

Wednesday HW
1.  Math Journal:  half a page on today's capacity demo and a list of three conversions from page 233 at the bottom.
2.  Math Quiz Unit 6 lessons 3 and 5 on money and surface area.  Students should be prepared to add and subtract money using concepts such as balances, deposits and withdrawals.  They should also be able to construct a net for a solid and calculate its surface area with the step by step process that uses subtitles, formulas and correct unts.
3.  Space booklet page 12.
4.  We have a Scientists in School presentation on Electricity on March 21.

 

Tuesday HW
1.  Good copy of Space Free Verse poem due in class for tomorrow.  It can be in pen or typed.
2.  Unit 6 Lessons 3 and 5 Quiz on Thursday March 3.  (Money and Surface Area).
3.  Cubic Metre Homework:
Text page 230 #1 to 6.
HW Book pages 90-91.

 

Monday HW
1.  Math Quiz Unit 6 Lessons 1 and 2 (Time Zones and the 24 hour clock).  Tuesday March 1.
2.  Math Quiz 2 Unit 6 lessons 3 and 5 ( Money and Surface Area).  Thursday March 3.
3.  Finish your organizer for the free verse poem.  Write a 12-20 line rough draft of the poem in your Writing notebook.
4.  Danceathon is tomorrow at 2:15 to 3:00.

Week of February 22-25, 2011

Friday HW
1.  Find out the meaning of the Space word you selected today.  Be ready to write about it in a free verse poem on Monday.  Pay attention to the use of strong verbs and adjectives when you are drafting the poem Monday.
2.  Measurement Quiz on Tuesday March 1.  Unit 6, Lessons 1 and 2 (Time Zones and the 24 h clock).

Thursday HW
Today's Cross Country ski day was very successful!  Every student I spoke had a strongly favourable response and we received many compliments  from the Hardwood staff about our students and their great behaviour.  Well done boys and girls!

Wednesday HW
1.  Book report due on Friday.
2.  Ski Trip tomorrow.  Please arrive at school dressed for the trip at 7:30 AM.  Meet the class outside Ms. McGill's room at the benches.
Today we worked on inferencing skills and summarizing in an analysis of "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening".  We also continued our discussion of types of measurement (linear, square, cubic) and built a model of a cubic metre using newspapers.  In the afternoon we introduced a new Bitstrips assignment on Jazz Giants.

Tuesday HW
1.  Math text pages 226-27 # 1 - 7.
2.  Math HW book page 89.
3.  Language:  Complex sentences pages 3,4,5,and 6 from the booklet.  Please return this booklet to class for corrections.
4.  Book report is due on Friday this week.

Monday HW
No School today -- Family Day holiday.

Week of February 14-18, 2011

Wednesday HW
1.  Interview requests, parent/student response slips and envelopes returned ASAP.  Thanks!
2.  Dance presented in gym class tomorrow afternoon.
3.  Math HW Book page 87.  More than 80% of the group did not show work in their HW book problem last night.  I strongly encourage students to use a clear problem solving strategy and record it, either by using my model or by using chart models shown in the texts.
4.  Math Text pages 222-223 # 2 to 8.  We've worked on these in class for 2.5 periods.  They should be complete by Tuesday morning.
5.  Book report due on February 25.
6.  Space Booklet page 8.
7.  First Nations booklet page 5.
8.  Pledgelopes for danceathon are being collected by parent volunteers on an ongoing basis.

Tuesday HW
1.  Interview Request and parent/student response slips back ASAP.
2.  Envelopes for report cards should also be returned.
3.  Math HW Book page 86 only.  This is a challenging concept.  Students should follow a structured solution process of the sort we practiced in class today.  They may need an extra piece of paper to fully record their work.
4.  Science Space booklet page 7.  Started in class today.

Monday HW
1.  Report Cards go home today.  Please return interview requests ASAP.  Thanks!  PD day for interviews on Friday Feb. 18.  No school that day.
2.  Book Reports due February 25.  Work on reading/rough draft work.
3.  Teamwork or Fairness Bitstrip cartoon due next day 2 (Tuesday February 22).

Week of February 7 - 11, 2011

Thursday HW
1.  Dance to present on February 17.
2.  Book Report Reading.  Report is due on February 24.
3.  Good copy of Totem Pole story is due in class on Monday.  It can be typed or handwritten in pen.

Wednesday HW
1.  Dance to present on February 17
2.  Book Report reading.  Report # 4 is due on February 24.
3.  Bitstrips activities up to Teamwork/Kindness should be submitted electronically.

Tuesday HW
1.  Try out http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/ website that we introduced in class.  Use the multiplication game as the primary activity but feel free to try others.
2.  Language Power pages 20-21.
3.  Math Textbook pages 211-12 # 2 to 8.

Monday HW
1.  Math HW book pages 82-83.  We introduced the 24 hour and 12 hour clocks today in our lesson.  Most students have a fairly secure understanding of the working of the clock, but a number could use home review of the short hand and long hand, as well as the idea that the space between the numbers can mean five minutes as well as one hour.  We'll review this as well, but the pace will be quick in class.
2.  Language Power pages 18 and 19.  These two exercises open a wider field for the students to look at their own writing more analytically.  For example we have identified groups of sentences in a variety of ways:
- declarative/interrogative/imperative/exclamatory
- natural order/inverted order
- simple, compound/complex
Students should be looking more critically at the patterns they fall into in their own writing so that a variety of types emerge rather than a sequence of simple sentences in natural order in every outing.
3.  Calendar and newsletter for February handed out today.
4.  Next guided reading period is our last for this cycle.  Folders should be ready to hand in during that class.
5.  A significant number of students have not submitted their Bitstrips comics on A Person I Admire which was due today.  A new assignment on character education was started today.