Rewards of being a Teacher

On October 15th, I submitted my notice to retire.  Returning to work after being away, has made me realize how much time and effort we teachers actually put in to our profession.

I began teaching later then most, and have had experience in other jobs previously.  After twenty years of dedication to teaching, I can truly say that I have never worked so hard. However, I have never had a job so rewarding. There is nothing in this world more gratifying than to see the sparkle in a child's eye when she or he has finally "gets it." Or, I have had students who I taught in elementary come back in high school and say, "Hi, remember when. . ."


The excitement, joy, humour, and yes, even the behaviours we share with our students is very fulfilling.  Since, I decided to retire I have reminisced over my past twenty years ~ so many memories ~ oh the stories I could tell.  Some stories make me laugh and others make me cry. All of them have touched my life in a profound way and make me proud to have been able to leave my mark in this profession.

My own father died only six years older than my age right now.  This has always made me realize how precious each day is and my 'Bucket List' is huge. I look forward to shortening it.  Much peace to all!

Remembrance

Lest we forget.

Where most folks are enjoying  Hallowe'en at this time of year, it is Remembrance Day that I appreciate.  In class this week, we discussed what living in Canada affords us.  We need to be grateful for our many blessing in this country.  To take this further, the students were to explain how they could show respect for their blessings.  They came up with some pretty amazing answers.  The following is just a few. . .

I am grateful for water.  I respect it by keeping it clean and not wasting it.

I am grateful for peace.  I respect this by getting along on the playground.

I am grateful for freedom.  I respect that as a girl I get to go to school.

I am grateful for our earth.  I respect this by not littering.

Reading these thoughtful responses and listening to the angelic singing today in our Remembrance Ceremony, makes me feel grateful and  proud to live in Canada.  I am allowed so many rights and freedoms.

We shall be doing our Spelling Test for Lesson 8 and starting Lesson 9 on Wednesday.  I believe their is a direct correlate with the  results of the Spelling Tests  and the amount of time spent practicing the words.  Thus, I would suggest each error be written out ten times.  I have told the students they have a choice to practice before the test or after the test.  Please have the corrections returned to school.  Also, I have begun to adjust spelling words to make them appropriate to each student's ability.
We have begun to talk about genre, specifically non fiction and fiction writing.  Ask you child what the difference between the two.  Ask your child to tell you the difference?

We will be coming to the end of Unit 2 - Whole Numbers in Math and I have planned to have the Unit Test on November 21st, 2014.  Although basic facts are improving, especially addition and subtraction, daily practice would really be very beneficial.  If you would like more pages for the duo tangs, please send them back to school.  Or the student's can practice on the following link
http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/mathmagician/maths1.html.  Or, there are other sites listed on BGRS, Engaging Students, the regions website on line.

I hope everyone enjoys their break.

Thanksgiving Break

I always enjoy Thanksgiving, as it is a time to reflect upon our bounty. Give thanks for the many blessings in our lives.  We live in Canada, a country with so many rights and freedoms, for all.  We live in Alberta, the land of black gold.  We are safe and warm, educated and loved.  Yet, we are able to connect with others in the world. WOW! I hope that everyone enjoyed their pumkin pie and turkey or reasonable same. I can hardly wait until Christmas. . .

We have been busy the past two weeks. In Language Arts we have come to the first review lesson in Spelling.  We have a 50 word Spelling Test on October 27th.  Spelling will continue to be on Mondays. Writing has been focused on some poetry writing.  We are also learning about Expository / Informative Writing.  What is it?  You could ask your child to tell you.  Likewise, we have been talking about subjects and predicates and why they are required in a sentence.  We have been identifying simple sentences. We will be focusing on an 'All About Me' Unit.

In Math our Unit is 'Whole Numbers'.  We are currently working on Lesson 6 - Adding 3-Digit Numbers.  We have been learning about place value, estimating and sorting to name a few.  In the final Lessons of this Unit we are applying these strategies.   Mrs. Giles has sent home a Basic Facts Booklet for the students to work on nightly would be great.  The students are working toward improving adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing skills.  Knowing these by memory will help so much as we begin to learn more about Algebra.  I hope everyone had a restful break and heres to a great week.

New School Year

Well it is good to be back to school.  Although I had a shortened week with the students, it was still eventful.  Currently, I am teaching the Language Arts and Math Programs.  I hope to make this transition as easy as possible for the students.  Over  the past three days we have covered the following activities.

In Language Arts we learned about Subjects and Predicates and their importance in a sentence.  We began our Collections Reading Unit "In My Circle"  and specifically looked at a poem "I am Me." With a partner and a few guiding questions we discussed who we are.  Then, we took our fingerprints and attempted to figure out our own details. We discovered that no two people have exactly the same fingerprints. We did some Expository writing. about our favourite things and then used our writing to find our own sentence with a subject and predicate.

In Math, we worked on sorting numbers using Venn Diagrams and Carroll Charts.  We looked at three different types of Venn Diagrams and how we could use them.  We are moving on to Estimating and learning different strategies that we can use to help us estimate.  We even had a opportunity to practice our Basic Facts on Mathletics.

WOW! It has been a busy three days.

PJ and Pancake - Yum!

Our week in grade four!  These are the activities that we have done this week. There were a lot of great moments. Megan and Josh's birthday this week.  Also, today we kicked off by wearing pj to school and eating some delicious pancakes.

Earlier this week we dressed in pink to acknowledge Anti-Bullying Day.  This really was a great success.

A Math Test on Whole Numbers was written this week.  The students will be reviewing their tests for areas of strengths what needs to be reviewed.
We started a Math Mountain to encourage the learning of our Basic Facts for Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division.  To get to the summit a student must be able to do a timed test of mixed operation for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  This is a huge Challenge.

In Language Arts we have been using our journal entries to focus in on an idea. I have been demonstrating how we can take one small piece of writing and improve it a great deal by adding more details.  In Spelling we are on Lesson 15.  We are able to do practice typing with Typing Club which keeps track of your time and errors.  All of the Students did their Social Presentations this week - The Natural Regions of Alberta.  The groups did a fine job of presenting thier  research in a Google Presentation.  In Science we built simple machines with a partner.

We created an art project for the Olympics.  We created a  collage poster with five of the Olympic symbols on it. See the Olympics Post.  Ask your child what were the five symbols he/she did and what they represent.  In music we will be beginning our recorders.  This is very exciting!  Also, we learned a new song in music called "Let's Catch a Rooster" and "Grandpa's Whiskers".

We had an awesome Floor Hockey Game in gym.  We have been working on Floor Hockey skills to help our classmates that are on our school team.  Good Luck to our girls who are in the Floor Hockey Tournament this weekend.

We are adding greater expectations to our Agenda Challenge.  The students will not get their Agenda signed until all corrections are made.  Likewise, the students will learn about Editting Skills. We have had a few successful five in a row winners, who have had her/his Agenda completed for her/him for five days in a row.  Great work!

We are being rewarded with Behaviour pompoms.  These are handed out for both individual a group  behaviour.  We are using the pompom for rewards.  Also, we are collecting pompoms within our groups to be rewarded with Your Choice Time on Friday afternoon blocks nine and ten.

The new theme for Assembly for the month of March is Digital Citizenship.

Olympics

This week we have been learning about the Winter Olympics.  The students were to research some of the symbols that are used at the Olympics.  They were to find out what the symbol was and its meaning.  When the students were finished researching they created a collage of at least five of the symbols.  The following in some information that we learned.
We found out that the Olympics were held in Sochi, Russia.  The next winter Olympics will be in South Korea.  I hope there is snow in Korea.  Some of the Olympic Symbols included,
 - the five rings which represent five continents (North and South America are considered one)
- the Olympic torch began in Greece and travels from one game to the next.  The torch was passed from the people of Sochi, Russia to the committee of South Korea for the next Winter Olympics.
- the Olympics has a motto in Latin says "Citius, Alitius, Fortius" which stands for Faster, Higher, Stronger.
- the Olympic creed was first adopted in the 1908 Olympic games by Pierre de Coubertin.  He got the idea from a speech given by Bishop Ethelbert Talbot. The Olympic Creed reads:
"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.  The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."
- the Winter Olympic events include such things as Skeleton Racing, Figure Skating, Hockey, Curling, Skiing, Snowboarding and so on. In the Skeleton Race the athlete lies on a board with a skate under it.  The bobsled track  is used for this event.  Skeleton Racing can be quite a dangerous event. Figure skating is dancing on skates. There is a long program and a short program.
Throughout the weeks we watched some of the events that took place in Sochi.  One of the highlights was the Canadain Women's Hockey Final.  It was history being made. See the clip below of the students reaction with that amazing overtime goal.

 Our week wrapped up with our very own Olympic Games at school.  The students were in groups representing different Countries.  They spent some time outside in the afternoon trying their hands at our own events.

                                           

                                                   


 

Trebuchet or Catpult

The students are learning about Catpults (Trebuchet) in Scence and Alex showed us some videos of his family launching - different types of missiles.

Catpult Assembly

Trebuchet Launching
Trebuchet Launching 2
Trebuchet Launching 3
Trebuchet Launching 4

Missile travelling