Chalk Talk: Pumpkins, Apples & SMART Boards!

Hello students & parents!

It was a short week, but we have lots to share!

A couple of reminders for this week:

- Social Studies quiz # 2 on Imports/Exports & History of Trade will take place on Tuesday. Students- review your notes carefully- specifically the highlighted important facts, which Ms. O.B took up with you in class.

- Ms. O.B's last day with us is Friday. We are sorry to see her leave, as she has been a wonderful asset to our class, but we wish her all the best possible!

Weekly Update:

- I attended a very interesting & informative workshop this week on SMART Boards. I am hoping that we will be able to begin using the SMART Board periodically in our classroom as there are so many interactive and engaging activities available! Please take a moment to watch this video about SMART Boards:

SMART Boards have a feature called the SMART Notebook, which can also be accessed on our school computers and your home computers- I will share how to access this excellent program as soon as I get the activation key (password). The SMART Notebook is very useful as it functions like PowerPoint, but is more interactive and links to the curriculum. Please watch this video about how to use the SMART Notebook- remember, the students will be able to access this at home!

- In Language, we have started the DAILY CAFE, which is is also a new Literacy program that involves students choosing specific literacy goals to work on at each of the Daily 5 stations. Students conference with me individually and in strategy groups in order to receive focused lessons on their selected literacy goal when they are at their Daily 5 station. The "Café menu" consists of literacy goals including:

Comprehension- I understand what I read
Accuracy- I can read the words
Fluency- I can read accurately with expression and understand what I read
Expand Vocabulary- I know, find and use interesting words

This week, we studied the Terry Fox story and focused on the comprehension strategy- DETERMINING IMPORTANT IDEAS, which we are also practicing in our Social Sciences as well when we read text and highlight important details. As a class, we read the Terry Fox story and filled out a Determining Important Ideas graphic organizer, which consisted of a main idea, 3 supporting details and a summarizing paragraph. When students visited the 'work on writing' Daily 5 station, they were asked to fill out a DII graphic organizer for a text they have read recently. While students visited their Daily 5 stations, Ms. O.B & myself met with our first strategy group to reinforce the DII strategy using a new story:

We will continue to meet with more groups next week and work on other CAFE Literacy goals, specifically Determining Important Ideas. I want to congratulate the students for working SO WELL during the Daily 5 while I am meeting with a group of students at the front. Keep it up students!!!

- In Math, the students were given a mid chapter quiz and the results will soon be shared! We are nearing the end of patterns, so students should be reviewing their work and Nelson Math as the unit test is next Monday. The students will also be given a post assessment on 4 step problem solving this week to see if they understand more from the pre assessment, so students, please review the 4 steps to problem solving:

- In Social Studies, Ms. O.B continues to study imports and exports with the students:

- In Science, Ms. O.B continues to explore different biomes with the class through video clips and classification charts. The students had their kingdoms, vertebrates and invertebrates quiz on Friday- results coming soon!

- As a celebration of FALL & all things Fall, the students engaged in various activities involving the estimating & weighing of the pumpkin, brainstorming descriptive words for the sight, feel, smell & taste of the pumpkin, apples and apple cider! It was a fun way to celebrate our Canadian Fall! Thank you to Ms. O.B for bringing in the apple cookies :)