Winter Break is Almost Here

Hey Students! I can't believe that winter break is just around the corner. After this week, you will be off for a few weeks. Although winter break is so very close, we still have to finish up a few things in the classroom!

Check out this awesome website on graphing. You can make all kinds of different graphs and experiment using dating. Here is the link http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx

I know that many of you are disappointed that you can't take your best friend's home with you, but here is a link that will help you when you are stuck on a difficult word!!! http://www.merriam-webster.com/game/fowl_play.htm

Here is another website that works on listening skills. Listen to the fables and see if you can answer the questions correctly. http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/a/fablel.cfm

That is all for now! Looking forward to an awesome week.

Graphing Fun

Phew! Patterning and Algebra are all finished up.....for a while anyways.

Today we began our new unit on Data Management. Remember that data is information and management is collecting/organizing it. Think about something that you want to learn or a question that you are interested in asking our class. Tomorrow for math, you will have the chance to survey students in our class about your question.

Here are some great websites for additional practice in Data Management.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/mathsfile/shockwave/games/datapick.html
http://kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/DataandScience/cleanup.html
http://www.mathsisfun.com/data/survey-conducting.html

Just a reminder that Friday is a Civies Day. You can bring in $2.00 or a canned good to participate. All donations go to charity.

That is all for now!

Animals

Hello students! In a few days, you are going to begin researching for your final assignment for our TLCP unit. Think about two animals that you are interested in. You will need to do a comparison with these animals. Here is a great website to get you to started on thinking about your choices. http://nature.ca/notebooks/english/mon2.htm

Continue to practice your multiplication at home. Use the multiplication chart that I printed off for you to memorize your facts. Remember the special relationship between multiplication and division. If 6 x 4 = 24 then 24 divided by 4 = 6. You could also say 24 divided by 6 = 4. Here are some great games that will help you build your multiplication knowledge. http://multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm

That is all for now! Keep practicing those multiplication facts.

Learning about Animals

An important part of our science unit has been learning about the animals that live in certain habitats. In a few weeks, you are going to have the chance to research your own animals and write a report about them. Here is a great website that will get you thinking about animals and their characteristics. http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/bottlenose-dolphin/

Many students use diaries and journals at home to practice writing. Imagine creating your own newspaper, flyer, or brochure on your computer? This website is a fabulous alternative to the traditional pen/paper writing at home and it allows you to create such things! Try making your own newspaper!!

http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=110&title=:

Multiplication is Coming!

Hello students! As you know we have been learning about patterning in math. Patterning can be found in everything from art work to clothing. Did you know that patterning is also an important feature in multiplication? If you have a good understanding of patterning you will most likely have a good understanding of multiplication. Take your time and work on memorizing the patterns of each number. Use the multiplication table posted above to help you in your goal!

2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20

3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30

4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40

5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50

6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54, 60

Here are a few great websites for you to work on for math.

http://www.funbrain.com/cgi-bin/cracker.cgi?A1=s&A2=1&INSTRUCTS=1

http://www.coolmath4kids.com/times-tables/index.html

The Food Chain

It has been interesting to learn about habitats for our science lesson. What is even more interesting to know about is food chains! Think about where your dinner comes from. If you are having a hamburger for dinner tonight...think about the chain that is involved. Hamburgers come from cows which in turn eat grass. That same grass gets its food from the sun! That is just the meat part...imagine the bun, tomatoes, and pickles! Here is a great website that will give you practice on working with food chains.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/foodchaingame.htm

What happens when you introduce a species of animal to a new habitat? Think about our reading today on St. Matthew's Island. What happened when reindeer were introduced to the island? What did that do to other animals such as voles and arctic foxes that also lived on the island? What about the lichen or plant life that lived on the island?

If you would like to refresh your knowledge of patterns....please check out this website! It goes over a lot of the material that we talked about in class.

http://www.linkslearning.org/Kids/1_Math/2_Illustrated_Lessons/5_Patterns/index.html

Tessellations

Hey students! It was great to see everyone today. Tessellations are everywhere an it was awesome to see all of the great designs that you came up with for math. Take a look around your home, do you see any tiles? Here is a website dedicated to younger students about tessellations. It is a good reference to see how tesselations work.
+

http://www.pbs.org/parents/earlymath/grades_games_tess.html

Also be sure to check out this math game that deals with growing patterns! See if you can figure out what the rule is!

http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/linda/algebra/activities/pattern_grow/pattern_farm.html

Pink Shirt Day

We are back up and running! Thank you for your patience.

Just a few quick reminders for this week...

Thursday is Pink Shirt Day! Wear a pink shirt to support the message of anti-bullying at our school. This is an important issue and we should all be aware!

Report Cards go home today and interviews will take place on Thursday and Friday of this week.

Our Book Fair will be open on Thursday and Friday for you to purchase books! There are fabulous titles to be discovered!

Here is a great website for you to learn more about habitats! This website allows you to create a habitat to save an endangered specie! http://www.arkive.org/education/games/design-a-habitat

That is all for now!

Math Tricks

Here are a few cool math tricks that you can try out at home! They will help you with mental math and skills such as addition and subtraction.

The Dice Trick

Take 5 dice and roll them onto a surface. Tell your friend that you have an amazing power to read through dice. While you are using your amazing powers to read through the dice, secretly add all of the dice numbers up. Then subtract that number from 35. Yell the number out loud!Flip the bottom of dice up and then have your friend add those numbers up...and if it works correctly...it will be the number that you yelled out loud!

Magic Addition

This is a really strange trick that uses addition and subtraction. Here is what you do.

Ask a friend to write down any four digit number, but it cannot end in a 1.

Let's say they picked 5385.

Write that number on top of a paper and tell them that you will have the answer for their math question before even knowing what to write down. Put a 2 in front of the number they picked and write down the first three numbers (2538). Now the last number you have to always subtract by 2. So the last number is a 5 and 5-2 is 3. The answer to the question will be 25383.

This is what your paper should look like

5385

________

25383

Now ask your friend to pick another four digit number. Let's say they pick 2564. Subtract each number by 9. (9-2=7, 9-5=4, 9-6=3, 9-4=5). You will write your answer for each question underneath their number. This is what your paper will look like now.

5385

2564

7435

________

25383

Now repeat the same step as before. Your friend will pick another number and you will subtract through that number. Lets say they pick 3432. Subtract each number by 9. (9-3=6, 9-4=5, 9-3=6, 9-2=7). This is what your paper will look like now.

5385

2564

7435

3432

6567

______

25383

If you have done your work correctly it should add up!!

Habitats and Geoboards

Now that is a pretty strange blog title! Here is a great website to read about some of your favourite animals and to watch cool videos http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/. Think about the unique ways that animals have adapted to survive in their habitat.

There are two websites that I want to share with you for math. The first website is based on the math lesson from today's class. We used geoboards to practice our skills using perimeter and area. Here is the website that I used http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_172_g_2_t_3.html . Here is another great website to practice your math skills while having fun at the same time!! This website was created by the University of Waterloo http://cemc2.math.uwaterloo.ca/mathFROG/english/kidz/Games4.shtml .

Important Items: Interview Forms, Math Quiz on Friday, Math Club Tomorrow

Awesome Websites

Hello students!! You have all worked really hard this week in school. Relax and have a wonderful weekend. Happy Eid to my students who are celebrating this special occasion this weekend!

I wanted to post the student link website that we use in school. This website has lots of great links for the subject areas that interest you most!

http://www.board.hwdsb.on.ca/infotech/stulink2/grade_4.htm

See you on Monday!!

Reading Goals

Congratulations Grade 4 students on your Reading Goals this month! You have read just over 12,500 pages. Our goal for next month is to read 13,000 pages! Some of you forgot your forms and duotangs back in the classroom. Be sure to take them home tomorrow.

Here is a pretty cool spy game that deals with reading and comprehension. Let's see if you can put the clues together...

http://www.discip.ac-caen.fr/anglais/documents/cottenceau/Spywatch/lar/index.htm

Perimeter and Area

Students...I am so happy that your homework books have finally arrived!! It has been a long wait, but I know that they will be useful tools for you. Feel free to write inside the books as they now belong to you!!! Just don't lose them!

Just a quick reminder about perimeter and area.

Perimeter is used when you want to find the distance around an object.

Let's take this triangle for example...

I would add up all of the sides of the triangle. (11+9+5=25 cm). The perimeter of this triangle is 25 cm.

Sometimes you run into strange rectangles that look like this...

You have two missing sides that you need to count. The missing sides have to equal what its corresponding side is if its a perfect rectangle. So the missing sides are 8 cm and 3 cm. Add up all of the numbers together (8 + 8 + 3 + 3 = 22 cm). The perimeter is 22 cm.

Area is the number of square units that fit inside a shape. Remember finding out how many cubes could fit on the surface of your desk? Sometimes you have small rectangles that you can easily fill up with cm cubes. Sometimes you have bigger rectangles that it will take a long time to fill up with cm cubes. With big rectangles we multiply (length x width) to figure out how many square units will fit inside.

In this rectangle, the length is 8 cm and the width is 3 cm. I know that 8 x 3 = 24. Therefore 24 cm squared is the area of this rectangle.

Here is a website that will provide additonal practice if you want to extend your skills.

http://www.mathgoodies.com/lessons/toc_vol1.html

Mapping

Creating your own city would be a lot of fun! Think about all of the wonderful things that your city might have....an amusement park, a forest, and maybe even some shopping malls. In real life, when people are planning buildings and cities they use measurement. Area is one tool that a good measurer uses.

Check out Google Maps to gain an appreciation of how cities and towns are built. What are some of the common features all cities and towns have?

http://maps.google.ca/

Reminders:

Math Quiz Tomorrow, Reading Goals are Due, and Photo Retake is on November 4th

Happy Halloween

Hello students! If you are celebrating Halloween, make sure that you are safe! Remember that Monday is a PA Day. I will see you all on Tuesday and remember don't eat too much candy!!

If you are at home tomorrow and you would like some extra math practice...check out these websites! They offer some really great games to build your skills and understanding of mathematics. I especially like the Math Frog website that the University of Waterloo made.

http://illuminations.nctm.org

www.nrich.maths.org

www.IXL.com

www.mathfrog.ca

www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca

http://www.mathplayground.com

Perimeter Practice

Hello students! Here is an extra website for you to visit! This website will help you practice your skills using perimeter and area. Check it out!

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/perimeter_and_area/index.html

Summary of Niagara Falls

This article is about a giant waterfall in Ontario called Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls is a very amazing place that lots of people like to visit. A long time ago many men and women dared the falls by walking across on a tight rope, off the top in a barrel, and even in boats. Did you know that there are two sides of Niagara? The Horse Shoe Falls and the American Falls. But you don't get a good view of it because of all the rocks that fell. Also, Niagara is one of the most impressive and popular water falls in Canada!

In 1912, daredevil students were outlawed. Today fines as high as $5000 are used to discourage people from daring the falls. Still, a few people continue to go over the falls, if they're lucky enough and survive they're arrested. To get to the falls, you would have to go by boat or horse drawn carriage. I'm sure that lots of people see the falls everyday!

By Jake

Niagara Falls is an amazing place. Did you know that Niagara means thunder? Niagara Falls is the biggest but not the tallest waterfall in the world. The Falls are always changing. What we mean by that is that over the years the rocks start to fall. Most of the rocks turn into rapids! That is awesome. Niagara River had made the rocks erode and break away.

Before stunts were outlawed in 1912, a woman jumped over the Falls in a barrel with her kitten. After the fall, her and the kitten survived but the black kitten was so scared it turned white! I hope you get a chance to visit Niagara Falls!

By Claire and Conner

Wacky Web Tales

The Pet Show

One day my dad came home and said there was going to be a big pet show in our town.
“That's greasy!” I said. “I'm sure Chewy will win.”
Chewy is our pet dog. She is really smart. She can do lots of tricks. She's very good at shaking her leg and jumping through feathers. Her favorite food is pizza. It's the only thing she'll eat.
On the day of the pet show, I got up early, washed Chewy, and tied her favorite tie around her neck. She looked slimy.
I couldn't believe all the pets at the show. On one side of us there was a big cat. On the other side was a(n) Japanese poodle. At that point the judges came by. We showed them how Chewy can balance a(n) apple on her ear. They were very impressed.
At the end of the day, the first prize went to a big gopher with brown stripes. But Chewy got a(n) yellow ribbon for being the most hairy dog at the show.

If you enjoy silly stories that encourage reading and writing...check out Wacky Webtales! You can learn about the parts of speech and how stories work!

http://www.eduplace.com/tales/

Rocket Ships

Students it was awesome to see all of your really cool rocket ship designs today! We learned how important it is to measure correctly and design all of the parts right! Here is a cool video that I found of an actual NASA rocket take off. Maybe one day some of you might be astronauts!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k2YWaQQDJc

October 17th-21st

It has been another busy week so far in the grade 4 classroom. Students have been working very hard in several different subject areas. Here is a run down of what we have been learning!

Mathematics: Units of Measurement, Converting Units of Measurement. Using a Ruler/Metre Stick

Language: Summarizing an Article (Sand Castles in British Columbia, Niagara Falls)

Social Studies: Canada (Physical Regions "Canadian Shield, Appalachians, etc"

Art: Contrast Chalk Drawing and Drama (Spooky Images, Miming)

Reminders

-Gym is on Day 1, 4, and 5

-Photo Forms are due by October 27th

-Chocolate Money needs to be collected as soon as possible

-Math Quiz on Friday....Please come and see me for extra help if you are struggling!

Just a reminder to students that we have gym on Day's 1, 4, and 5. Be sure to bring your gym clothes!!

Educational Links

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/measures/index.htm

http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/h/mainideap3.cfm

Welcome

Welcome to our Grade Four Blog! Here you will find student work, classroom news, and important information!