Friday 30 October 2015

Remembrance Day Relative
To help students to make a personal connection to Remembrance Day, I have asked them to find out about any relatives, neighbours, or family friends who have served in the war or are currently serving with the Canadian Forces. Please send in their name, the war they served in, and a photo if possible. 

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Have a safe and happy Halloween! The photos from this week's activities will be up next week! :)
Mme Buchanan

Thursday 29 October 2015

Students received time to finish up work this week, as we will be spending most of our time tomorrow presenting our T.U.S.C. presentations and participating in Halloween related activities.
All students have finished their work for the week. **A reminder for students to please practice their T.U.S.C. presentations tonight.

Possible discussion topics for this week: The 24 hour clock, how to make a screw magnetic, the North and South pole, estimating and measuring pumpkins, Minion art, detail dots, Winnie the Bear.

**A reminder that students will change into their costumes at school tomorrow afternoon. Please ensure that all costumes are appropriate and mask free!

Thank you and Happy Halloween!
Mme. Buchanan

Story Time with Linsay Mattick, great granddaughter of Harry Colburn and author of "Finding Winnie".





Design process - compass
To conclude our study on magnetic forces, students will be asked to make a compass for their design process. On Tuesday, students will be put into groups and asked to plan out their project. They will be required to bring their materials in on Wednesday to begin construction. They will have two full afternoons to complete their project by 3:30 on Thursday. Students have reviewed that the compass needle will need to be a magnetic metal (iron, nickel, cobalt) in order to be attracted to the North pole. I have included a few websites below to give ideas as to types of materials that students can use.

http://lifestyle.howstuffworks.com/crafts/other-arts-crafts/science-projects-for-kids-magnets-and-metal4.htm
http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/12007/how-to-make-a-compass
http://sciencewithkids.com/Experiments/Physics-experiments/how-to-make-compass.html


**All material need to be everyday items (nothing premade) and handed in to me on Wednesday. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Mme. Buchanan

Thursday 22 October 2015

My 100 happy day thing is gym because we got to do the beep test. I chose this because I got up to 45 laps. #100HappyDays - Adam
Today we watched a few sample videos and discussed what makes a good speech. We concluded that a good speech should have an introduction and conclusion, and the speaker should be looking at the class while speaking with a loud, clear, slow voice. I also gave students a chance to ask me any questions about their upcoming T.U.S.C. presentation during their Finish Up work period.

Our Finish Up work period today focused on finishing the plan for our Monster Stories and starting the rough draft. I have asked students to finish their rough draft of the Monster Stories for Monday, so that we can edit and revise them in time to read to our Kindergarten buddies for Halloween. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about the stories.

Possible discussion topics for this week include : Journaling, magnets, Bunnicula, and the 24 hour clock.

**A reminder that there is no school for students tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!
Mme. Buchanan

Monday 19 October 2015

L'activité de l'Halloween
On Wednesday, October 28th, we will be joined by the grade 4s from M. Proulx' class to do a Halloween activity. If students could please bring in $3 to cover the materials needed for their craft, it would be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions or are interested in volunteering to come in for the morning or afternoon, please let me know!

Thank you!
Mme. Buchanan


Thursday 15 October 2015

T.U.S.C.

On Friday, October 30th, students will be participating in their first T.U.S.C. (Totally Unbelievable Speakers Club) meeting. Students were sent home with a parent newsletter explaining how T.U.S.C. will be organized this year as well as their T.U.S.C. duotangs containing a list of different roles and responsibilities. Please take a moment tonight to go over the possible roles with your child so that they can come to school tomorrow with their top 5 choices in mind. Students will be chosen at random tomorrow morning to sign up for one of the roles for October 30th. They will be encouraged to write their role in their agenda. We will also be taking time in class to go over the qualities of a good speech. There is a T.U.S.C. evaluation rubric provided in the duotang for students to refer to when preparing their presentations.

I hope that the parent newsletter will be able to answer all of your questions regarding T.U.S.C., but if not, please feel free to contact me at any time!

Mme. Buchanan

Journal memories

Students began "journaling" today and were encouraged to bring in any photos, movie tickets, concert tickets, or any other small form of memorabilia that they can glue into their journals and write about. Please take time this weekend to brainstorm with your child about any tokens that they can bring in. Students have been provided with a small pocket in the back of their journals that they can keep their memories in until they are ready to glue them in.

They are also welcome to bring in more memorabilia throughout the year as they make new memories.

Please let me know if you have any questions!
Mme. Buchanan

Friday 9 October 2015

Students worked hard today to finish up their work for the week. We also managed to squeeze in two Art projects with our extra time! Most students are done all of their work, however, if they are not, they will be bringing the good copies of their "My Summer Vacation" written work to finish and a short science sheet that requires them to cut and paste different examples of "traction" or "pousée". Should students need help with French vocabulary on the science worksheet, www.wordreference.com is an awesome online dictionary!

Possible topics of discussion this week are: Les forces (traction et pousée), l'heure (time), making connections to reading, Thanksgiving wreaths (couronnes), and pumpkin pastel art.

#100Happy Days will now be moved to Fridays, as we have more time during finish up work to focus on our reflections.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and or long weekend!
Mme. Buchanan

Tuesday 6 October 2015

Xtra Math
Students will be bringing home their Xtra Math flyers after school today. Please follow the instructions to sign up or link a previous account to the new one by this Friday. Students will be encouraged to practice their Xtra Math basic facts every day either on their home i-pad or home computer, and will be provided with time to do so in class as well. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Mme. Buchanan

Friday 2 October 2015

I like daily 5 because I can read with a friend an its a lot of fun! #100HappyDays - Benjamin
Today, students will be bringing home their home reading or "lecture chez moi" for the first time. Each student has received a purple folder containing their French reading log, English BINGO sheet, French pronunciation tricks for parents, and a letter explaining the home reading process. The same letter can be found on the Lecture chez moi page of the blog.

Students also received time this afternoon to finish up the rough draft of their "My Summer Vacation" writing prompt. Those who were not finished were asked to complete the rough draft for Monday, so that we may begin to edit and revise our work.

October Scholastic order forms were handed out today as well, as the September orders should be due to arrive next week.

As an introduction to our first Science Unit: Les forces, students were given the challenge of finding examples at home this weekend, where they would "use the force" (i.e. pushing, pulling, magnetic force, gravitational force, forces of nature, etc.)


Possible topics for discussion this week are 100 Happy Days, 100 grid dice game, Terry Fox, word work, the "être" song, and reading buddies.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Have a great weekend!
Mme. Buchanan