Today was: Day 1
Tomorrow is: Day 2

Agenda
Language Arts:
- Read 20 minutes

Math:
- Gr. 4: pg. 260 #1 b, c
- Gr. 5: pg. 265 #5, 6

Social Studies:
- Provinces Quiz (Friday)

Other:
- Running Club: Mondays until 4:00 pm
- Choir: Tuesdays until 4:00 pm
- Guitar Club: Thursdays until 4:00 pm 
- CG Recyclers: Day 2, Lunch/Recess
- Chess Club: Day 3, Lunch Recess
- Hot Lunches, order at christinagordon.hotlunches.net 
- Spirit Week (Sept 25-29th): Thursday, Orange Shirts (Mini Wheats)
- Orange Shirt Day, September 28th
- Terry Fox Walk, September 29th
- Grand Opening, October 2nd
​- Picture Day, October 4th
- Fall Market, November 18th

Today was: Day 5
Tomorrow is: Day 1

Another wonderful day together! Today we completed one of the banners that we are going to be proudly displaying as part of our official grand opening next week. This poster is filled with some inspirational people and quotes that we have had a lot of fun learning more about together. I was impressed by how many of figures students already recognized like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln. 

In Social Studies today we had our final review of the provinces and territories of Canada. That means that we have a quiz coming up this Friday! I've asked students to please practice at home using either their Social Studies duotang or their agenda. Remember, there are also resources on the "Mapping" page you can use. Let's see who can name all 10 on Friday! 

We had two special guests from Holy Trinity come to visit us today. They were here with the "3 Things for WB" campaign. These students have been working to complete 3 acts of kindness and then raise awareness and promote kindness through their "My 3 Things for WB" campaign. It was nice to hear how these students baked for their neighbours or brought extra water for their team. It was even nicer to hear our students suggest ways that they could complete random acts of kindness. As Kalem told us, we should already be doing daily acts of kindness everyday. Let's share them and spread the message. 

​Finally, the students and I discussed Genius Hour today:
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Every Day 5, students will have time in the afternoon to work on their own Passion Project. Today the students watched the following for inspiration and then began brainstorming some of the topics they might be passionate about.
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Students had lots of ideas that they were excited about. Next Day 5 we will work together to narrow down these topics a bit before we begin research. 

Agenda
Language Arts:
- Read 20 minutes

Social Studies:
- Provinces Quiz (Friday)

Other:
- Running Club: Mondays until 4:00 pm
- Choir: Tuesdays until 4:00 pm
- Guitar Club: Thursdays until 4:00 pm 
- CG Recyclers: Day 2, Lunch/Recess
- Chess Club: Day 3, Lunch Recess
- Hot Lunches, order at christinagordon.hotlunches.net 
- Spirit Week (Sept 25-29th): Wednesday, Western (NutriGrain Donations)
- Orange Shirt Day, September 28th
- Terry Fox Walk, September 29th
- Grand Opening, October 2nd
​- Picture Day, October 4th
- Fall Market, November 18th

Today was: Day 4
Tomorrow is: Day 5

Today we continued to work on Data Analysis in both Grades 4 and 5. The Grade 5 students continued to practice reading bar graphs today. Students in Grade 5 have already reviewed the attributes of a bar graph: title, horizontal axis, vertical axis, scale, etc. Now we are working with double bar graphs, so Grade 5 students have to be conscious of reading the legend as well. Students will continue to work with double bar graphs in our upcoming lessons. The Grade 4 students practiced using some of the above (title, horizontal axis, vertical axis, and scale) to read bar graphs. Today we also worked together to conduct an experiment. We created a tally chart measuring the number of times we selected a blue counter after four rounds. Then, we took the data that we collected during this experiment and displayed it in a pictograph. Remember, a pictograph as similar attributes to bar graphs (title, horizontal axis, vertical axis) but it has a key to let the reader know what the pictures or symbols being used mean. Grade 4 students will continue to work with pictographs in upcoming lessons. Students who did not complete the practice assigned today in class were asked to complete it for homework. 

In Science today, the students and I discussed how we would like to proceed with Science this year. After a long discussion, students agreed that we would work on Waste in Our World (Grade 4) and Weather Watch (Grade 5) together as a whole class. There are many benefits to proceeding this way: the Grade 5 students get to take on leadership roles within the classroom, review of difficult material and building upon prior knowledge, building of classroom community as a whole (spending less time separated). We have decided to work together until the end of Weather Watch and then we will reevaluate based on our progress. Today we reviewed natural vs. man-made waste. Students helped to brainstorm examples of each. This lead to some interesting discussions among us, such as what to do with: bones, humans, poop. Or even harder questions like: Are pencils man-made waste if wood and lead are natural resources? It will be interesting to continue to explore this topic together as a class. 

In Art today, the students continued to work on the self-portraits that we started last week. It was really interesting to see students using the steps that we learned last week but making their own choices/changes today to make the portraits better resembles themselves. We will be completing these portraits later this week. 

We also started a collaborative Art piece together as a whole class today for our Grand Opening on October 2nd. We wanted to have something inspirational to display outside our classroom for the visitor's to see. Stay tuned to see our final work. 

Agenda
Language Arts:
- Read 20 minutes

Math:
- Gr. 4: pg. 257 #4, 5 (if unfinished)
- Gr. 5: pgs. 263-264 #1, 2, 3, 4 (if unfinished)

Social Studies:
- Review provinces

Other:
- Running Club: Mondays until 4:00 pm
- Choir: Tuesdays until 4:00 pm
- Guitar Club: Thursdays until 4:00 pm 
- CG Recyclers: Day 2, Lunch/Recess
- Chess Club: Day 3, Lunch Recess
- Hot Lunches, order at christinagordon.hotlunches.net 
- Spirit Week (Sept 25-29th): Tuesday, Team Spirit (Multigrain Cheerios Donations)
- Orange Shirt Day, September 28th
- Terry Fox Walk, September 29th
- Grand Opening, October 2nd
​- Picture Day, October 4th
- Fall Market, November 18th

Sorry to get so behind the last few days. It has been a busy week! 

Today the students and I continued to work on our Data Analysis unit in Math. As a whole class we reviewed how to read bar graphs as well as the parts of a bar graph including the title, scale, etc. Yesterday we had reviewed pictographs. Then we discussed the difference between first-hand and second-hand data, deciding which categories the bar graphs we were using fell into. Finally, the Grade 4 students worked on a worksheet that had students practice reading pictographs and bar graphs. The Grade 5 students worked on a worksheet that has students practice differentiating between first-hand and second-hand data. We will continue to work on Data Analysis in the upcoming weeks. 

In Language Arts today, we started our Writer's Notebooks. 
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The Grade 4 students had already begun something similar with Mrs. Drover last week. We will be writing in our Writer's Notebook (of Journal if you prefer) about once a week. Today's prompt was: "If you could create the ultimate sandwich, what ingredients would you put between the two slices of bread?" For now, I've been asking students to write a minimum of 5 sentences for each response. This expectation will change throughout the year as we become better and better writers. 

In Art today, the students and I had a lesson in drawing self-portraits. 
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Today we just followed the above lesson slowly, so that we could practice drawing a face that was in proportion. Next class (Monday) students will be working on a second draft that looks more like themselves. Though I have to say, I am really impressed with our first drafts! Some of these are coming along wonderfully. 

We also read the picture book "Shi-shi-etko" today by Nicola I. Campbell. This story recounts a young girls experiences in the days leading up to her leaving her community to attend a residential school. We discussed, briefly, some of the experiences of students who attended residential schooling, and the importance of our upcoming Orange Shirt Day. We will be learning more about this topic during our school's observance of Orange Shirt Day on September 28th. 

Agenda
Language Arts:
- Read 20 minutes
- Writer's Notebooks (if unfinished)

Math:
- Gr. 4 #1, 2 (if unfinished)
- Gr. 5 #1, 2, 3 (if unfinished)

Social Studies:
- Review provinces

Other:
- Running Club: Mondays until 4:00 pm
- Choir: Tuesdays until 4:00 pm
- Guitar Club: Thursdays until 4:00 pm 
- CG Recyclers: Day 2, Lunch/Recess
- Chess Club: Day 3, Lunch Recess
- Hot Lunches, order at christinagordon.hotlunches.net 
- Spirit Week (Sept 25-29th): Monday, Mismatched Monday (Apple Sauce Donations)
- Orange Shirt Day, September 28th
- Terry Fox Walk, September 29th
- Fall Market, November 18th

Short post tonight! Sorry! I generally try and write a little more. 

We had a great first day together. It is really fun getting to know all of our Grade 4 classmates. I can't wait to see everyone tomorrow! 

Agenda
Language Arts:
- Read 20 minutes

Social Studies:
- Review provinces

Other:
​- Bring plastic water bottle (ASAP)
- Hot Lunches, order at christinagordon.hotlunches.net 
- Orange Shirt Day, September 28th
- Terry Fox Walk, September 29th
- Fall Market, November 18th 

Today was: Day 4
Tomorrow is: Day 5

Thank you for the wonderful day Grade 5. I know that some of you have moved on to Ms. Henry's Grade 5 class next door, but you will always be welcome to come and visit me in Grade 4/5. Remember, I'm only a door away! 

Today we continued to review creating and reading line graphs. Then, we discussed bar graphs. In Grade 4, students should have gained an understanding of how to read basic bar graphs. In Grade 5, we will be adding double bar graphs to our repertoire.

A few notes from Mrs. Allingham, chair of the Christina Gordon Fundraising Association:  

Also, please see the note that was emailed home today from Mr. Thorne is regards to microwaves in the classrooms:

And finally, a note from Mr. Rutledge and myself in regards to Tech & Trades Academy: 

Please do use Mr. Rutledge's website for further information. My "Technology" page hasn't been updated for the new school year yet. If you are having difficulties with registration, please let myself (ashley.barrington@fmpsd.ab.ca) or Mr. Rutledge (gavin.rutledge@fmpsd.ab.ca) know as soon as possible. 

Agenda
Language Arts:
- Read 20 minutes

Social Studies:
- Review provinces

Other:
- Bring plastic water bottle (ASAP)
- Hot Lunches, order at christinagordon.hotlunches.net 
- Orange Shirt Day, September 28th
- Terry Fox Walk, September 29th
- Fall Market, November 18th 

No update tonight.

See you at the BBQ!

Agenda
Language Arts: 
- Read 20 minutes

Social:
- Review provinces

Other:
- Bring water bottle (ASAP)
- Welcome Back BBQ, Tonight @ 5:30 pm
- Pyjama Day/Flashlight Reading (Monday)  

Today was: Day 2
Tomorrow  is: Day 3

Today we celebrated Roald Dahl Day! Roald Dahl is an author of some of my favourite books such as Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and much more. Since Roald Dahl's birthday was on September 13th, our class and others celebrate Roald Dahl Day each year on this day. Today, the students and I celebrated by reading Roald Dahl's "The Enormous Crocodile." First, we discussed our first reading strategy of the year: predicting. The students and I discussed how to make a good prediction. In order to make a good prediction, you have to use information from the book as well as information from your "schema." This is a word that we use to mean the stored knowledge contained in the hippocampus of your brain. We have been using our schema a lot this week! Students used their schema to make predictions about what they thought would occur in the story. As we read, we were able to use clues from the book to make some inferences about what was going to occur. You can see our notes from today in the slideshow below, which will always be on the "Language Arts," and then "Reading" page. The differences between predicting and inferring are further explained there. However, the way that I like to think about it is this: when making a prediction, you are guessing. You don't have enough information yet to know what it going to happen. So, you use your schema to guess what is going to happen. When you are inferring, the book has given you enough clues that you know what is going to happen. You have solved it or figured it out. For example, when reading "The Enormous Crocodile" today, when we got to the third clever trick, the students all knew that he would pretend to be one of the animals on the Merry-go-Round. We had seen two of his previous tricks, knew that he always pretended to be something else, etc. We had enough information to know what the crocodile would do. 
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We also made some Wanted Posters today for "The Enormous Crocodile," and learned to draw some crocodiles during Art. Students who are in PEAK will miss the majority of our Art lessons this year. They will get some Art when it is taught in another subject like Social or Math. However, students who miss the Art lesson can always find it here or under "Art." Want to know how to draw a crocodile? Watch the video below!  
​

In Math today, the students and I worked together to create our own frequency diagram. Each student rolled a dice and we recorded which number each student rolled. Afterwards, we displayed our data in a frequency  diagram. Then, we used the data in the diagram to make a line graph representing the numbers that we rolled. Students then completed this activity again, this time working in small groups to make their own frequency diagrams and line graphs. We will continue to review graphing tomorrow and next week, before moving on to double bar graphs and other Grade 5 topics. 

Agenda
Language Arts:
- Read 20 minutes

Social Studies: 
- Review provinces 

Other:
- Bring plastic water bottle (ASAP)
- Welcome Back BBQ, tomorrow @ 5:30 pm
- Hot Lunches, order at christinagordon.hotlunches.net 

Today was: Day 1
Tomorrow will be: Day 2

We had a great day today. We started off with some Math. First, students completed a Math Interest Inventory for me. This inventory asks students if they prefer to work alone, in pairs, in groups, do they like using whiteboards, doing Math projects, working with the teacher, etc. It asks students what they are interested in learning in Math and if they practice Math at home. This inventory is one of the ways that I can more effectively plan lessons/activities that will meet the needs of our classroom. It will help me to put together Math groups that we will use during practice work and conferencing. We also started a Math 5 Live lesson today on "Displaying Data." You can find the link to this web resource under "Links" (Math5Live). Today we reviewed frequency diagrams and line charts. Tomorrow we are going to be working as a class, in small groups, and then individually to make our own. Stay tuned for more information!

In Language Arts today, students also completed a Reading Interest Inventory for me, similar to the one described above. Again, this is a way that I can better plan our Reading groups for the year and to better help me plan our centres, activities, etc. that we might be using to practice or during Guided Reading. We also started to review some parts of speech today. Today we began by looking at Nouns and Proper Nouns. You can view our notes that we are using in class under "Language Arts," and then "Grammar." I will keep this updated with what we are learning in class so that parents can use it to review at home when needed. We will continue to work with nouns in our upcoming grammar lessons, though we only specifically focus on grammar on Day 1. 

In Social Studies today we continued to review our provinces and territories. Students are all bringing a home a labelled map today that they can use to review at home. We will have a quiz on provinces and territories sometime next week, so start reviewing! Remember, all of the resources used in class can be found under "Social," and then "Mapping" to better help students to practice at home. 

We also tried two different guided meditations today. One I call the "Muscle Meditation" and the other I call the "Favourite Place" meditation. Then students discussed and voted on which they prefer. It was unanimous. Students are going to be using the "Favourite Place" meditation each afternoon for the next little while as part of our Mindfulness practice. Some students expressed interest in having a copy of our meditations available to them to use at home. I will work on typing out copies that students can take and maybe even recording some of our meditations to put up on the website. In the meantime, I did tell students that they could try out some of these great meditations at home: 
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Agenda
Language Arts: 
- Read 20 minutes

Social Studies:
- Review provinces and territories

Other:
- Bring plastic water bottles (ASAP)
- Welcome Back BBQ, September 14th @ 5:30 pm 

Good afternoon,

Today was our first official day using our daily schedule. Parents/families that want to view/print our schedule are welcome to do so. Keep in mind that this schedule is still subject to change depending on how classrooms change. I also still need to schedule in Buddy Reading, etc. I will email out a final copy of the schedule next week once everyone's timetables are set. 
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4-5 Timetable (Barrington).pdf
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Today in Math the students started our first unit, Statistics and Probability. I always like to begin each unit with a pre-assessment of students' knowledge from the previous year. So today the students completed a two-question quiz on concepts from the Grade 4 Data Analysis unit. Many students found this challenging. I explained that it wasn't for marks, but merely to let me know what review I need to do this week before we move on to new concepts in the upcoming weeks. This will also help me to gain a better understanding of how to group students based on ability and needs as we begin this unit.

We also started our Mapping unit in Social Studies today. Students will begin this unit by practicing their provinces, territories, and capitals of Canada. We will be studying Canadian Geography after this unit, so we need to make sure that this base knowledge and basic mapping skills are present before working on our larger units. We will focus first on memorizing the provinces and territories of Canada and then their capitals. Students can practice at home using the following website. Remember, my record for Level 1 is 18 seconds. Let's see if anyone can challenge me by the end of the week. We also have a song that we can use to help us to remember the capitals of the provinces of Canada. We will have a quiz on our provinces and capitals next week. 

Sheppard Software - All About Canada 

Agenda
Language Arts:
- Read 20 minutes

Social Studies:
- Practice provinces, territories, capitals of Canada

Other: 
- Water bottles (due ASAP)
- Welcome Back BBQ, September 14th @ 5:30 pm