Students in room 8 continue to be focused on reviewing and learning subtraction strategies. Most students use the traditional stacking method with regrouping. Some students are beginning to experiment other strategies such as stretching it out (expanded) and number lines. My goal is for each student to be comfortable with two strategies so they have the ability to double check their work.
Sitting and solving question after question becomes very boring as some of my students say. To keep student more engaged, I try to provide more open ended problems. For example the problem that students were given was "what is the smallest possible difference you can make using all of the following digits 5, 3, 8, 9, 2, and 1. Students need to use critical thinking skills, number sense and various strategies to solve this kind of problem. This is an example of something you can give to your child at home to continue to practice this work. Additional Information Choir will be performing on Thursday, December 21 at 9:20 am. We have decided to wear green and red on top. Any color on the bottom. We hope you can join us! Mayors Food Drive Please send in non perishable food items. We will be recording this information in class and using the information to create more math problems. Zoo field study is on Dec. 4th - please dress for the weather, wear sensible shoes and be prepared for lots of walking.
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It has been brought to my attention that there was some confusion with some dates for field studies. Please note the following dates.
Dec. 4th - Zoo (all day) Dec. 19th - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary (3/4 day) Jan. 30 - STEM - In school field study Last week students were asked the question 'Who is responsible for building bridge?' Many students answered with architect and engineer, but we found out that many more people help with the decisions and designing of the bridge. We have discovered that traffic safety helps with decisions, as well as map designers and land scape architects. Engineers of course help with the design process and steel workers help with the actual building of the bridge. Today students finished their research on understanding a specific role and began to create a slide on a class google slide. Tomorrow we will be looking at them and sharing our new learning with the class. During our time creating a slide, our class experiences a teachable moment where we could speak about digital citizenship. As we create these amazing google slides, all students have access to the document and can make modifications on other students work. Many students were learning the new program today and made some accidental changes on other students work. We discussed how this was an accident and that additional time will be given tomorrow to fix the accidents that happened today. We spoke today how we need to respect the work of others, and mistakes happen. We further discussed that if a mistake happens, we need to take ownership for it so we can help solve the mistake. I am very proud to say that many students came to me and said that they may have been the ones to delete another students work, felt very bad, and wanted to know how to fix it. This proves to me we have a ery compassionate classroom. Zoo Field Study Today field study forms were sent home for the Dec. 4th field trip to the Zoo. I have asked the students to please send them back to school by Friday so I can ensure I have all the documentation needed for the trip. If you are available and would like to volunteer, please contact Ms. Samson in the office to let her know. Once i have received an okay I will send the volunteer form home with your child. Mayors Food Drive Beginning the week of December 4th, students in our classroom are encouraged to bring food donations to support the annual Mayor’s Food Bank Drive. We will be using the donations to support and deepen learning within our classrooms. You can follow the link below to view the most needed items that are currently requested by our food bank. http://www.calgaryfoodbank.com/about/our-wishlist/ Our boxes will be picked up between December 18th and 21st. Please help us fill our boxes and support the hungry and needy in Calgary! Today students had the opportunity to go to St. Patricks Island. We spent the morning preparing ourselves by looking at videos and pictures of some of the sights at the park. We prepared our books and got ready to sketch 4 bridges while visiting the island. Students were surprised by the amount of bridges we saw on our walk. We strolled over at least 4 bridges, sketched 3 and had a discussion about whether the board walk was a bridge or some other structure. What do you think? Is a board walk a bridge? Near the end of the field study, students were getting tired and rushing their work. Tomorrow we will use the pictures we got to help add some details to the sketches we did not get to finish. Our next field study will be to the Calgary Zoo on Dec. 4th. Forms will be sent home either tomorrow or Monday.
Students in room 8 have been working hard at reviewing and learning new strategies to solve subtraction questions. We began by reviewing what is subtraction? Students were able to identify that subtraction is taking something away; another word for subtraction could be difference; and subtraction is the opposite of addition.
When reviewing strategies, students were able to identify the following strategies: Stacking Expanded Base ten blocks Number line Place value chart We were able to discover some strategies are more effective than others but other strategies are easier to understand. Try the following question and see which strategy is the one your child uses. 543 - 367 = ??? Just so parents know, grade 3 students are expected to know how to add and subtract numbers up to 1000 where as grade 4 students are expected to know up to 10 000. Additional practice is always welcomed! If you need clarification of a particular strategy that your child is showing you, please contact me and I will be glad to help. Reminders: St. Patricks Island Field Trip forms are need back to school ASAP. It should be a nicer day on Thursday, but students are still expected to bring warm clothes and appropriate footwear. The weather can turn at any point. As we dive into the exploration of bridges, I am amazed at the abilities the students in room have with working with each other. I can randomly put any student in this class with another and conversations unfold. Some students become the natural leaders they are and others ask the questions to guide deep conversations.
On Tuesday students were given the task of building a bridge that held 10 small blocks with only a piece of paper. It was intriguing to see the ways each group took part in unfolding this explorative task. Some groups of students folded their bridge in thirds to make it thicker, where as others created a crinkle look. But its not the results that astonish me, but the conversations. Students were asking "why" to each other and rather than ignoring, or just saying "because," students were explaining that a triangle is formed creating a strong shape to enforce stability of the deck of the bridge. These are the reasons we combine the threes and the fours together. The expertise of the grade fours help engage the grade threes (who wants to listen to their teacher?) understand a new concept, while creating leadership and expertise opportunities for the grade fours. I wonder if the questions would have been as rich if the fours were not there to guide the threes and answer questions? This task was extended today when students were asked to increase the SPAN of their bridge, along with a thinner piece of paper. Fortunately ALL groups "failed" this task and not a single successful bridge was formed. Again, what made this amazing was the group collaboration between students as they tried new ideas each time, built onto another's great idea and looked around to gather ideas. Students are beginning to understand that failing a task is actual learning as new questions arise and understanding is being built. Students began to question the SPAN of the new bridge wondering if the span could be shortened, or if an additional stabilizer could be added. New learning emerging! Reminders: A field trip form was sent home yesterday. Please send it back to school by Monday. If you are available to volunteer please contact Lynette Samson in the office. Today we started our bridges inquiry. All the grade 3's and 4's walked down to Sue Higgins bridge. Students were asked to complete 3 tasks while exploring the bridge. When we first arrived we sat in the middle of the bridge and looked towards the north. Students sketched everything they saw in that direction. Next we turned East, did the same thing, turned south and finally West. Next we crossed the bridge and found a big clearing for student to see the entire structure. Students were asked to sketch what they saw. Finally, we ended with a 'I see, I think, I wonder" reflection page. By this times students were pretty much done so we didn't stay too long. Sone students went right into the bushes to experience some quiet. When we arrived back to school we wrote down some of the wonderings students have.
- When was the bridge made? - Why did the bridge feel like it was wobbling? - Why is it called Sue Higgins Bridge? - WHat methods did they use to stabalize it? - How much did it cost? - Why were the pillars 'H' shaped? Overall it was a great day considering we had to reschedule. Every day this week we have had the opportunity to go to the gym and explore this giant map. Yesterday student studied the pathways different animal migrate and tried to determine an estimate for the distance travelled. To figure this out, students used chain links, measuring the distance from one point to the next and then compared it to the scale. Some students determined that their animals travelled very short distances and other travelled far.
Today we examined the reasons why some of the animals on our map may be endangered or threatened. For example, we discussed that as cities grow, the habitats of animals need to change, pushing them into new territories. This brought up our time at Reader Rock as this was also mentioned as we learned about the growth of Calgary. To continue with our conversation on action and reaction, one student brought our climate change and global warming which then lead to a deep conversation about polar bears and their migratory path. When we examined their path, it appears that they travel significantly on the waters of Hudsons Bay in the fall and winter, leading students to question how is that possible? Throughout the all discussions, new questions began to emerge, sparking new curiosities and wonder. (Pictures will follow soon!) Please remember that tomorrow is the Remembrance Day Assembly. I mentioned to students that they are welcome to wear special uniforms (Guides and Cubs) should they choose too. All students will be given a poppy to wear tomorrow, and can bring a small donation if they want to support the Veterans of Calgary. The assembly is at 10:30. Maple Ridge School is excited to have the Canadian Wildlife Federation Migration Map in our school. This map is gigantic and takes over 3/4 of our space in the gym. Today students took the time to explore the map and the characteristics of the map. Some of the concepts we covered were:
- What is a legend? How do we use it? - Each map tells a different story, what is the story this map is telling us? - Where is the Equator? What is the equator? - What is the land like in different parts of Northern Hemisphere? Does the temperature affect the land in those areas? - What can we notice about the migration paths of the various animals displayed on the map? Pictures will follow! Reminders - Please dress warm for the weather. We may possible go outside for exploration time this week. |