October has been a busy and fun-filled month! Please read below to find a quick description on what we have been up to this month in each subject.
Literacy
In literacy, we have continued to read our class novel, The City of Ember. We have been visualizing, making predictions, inferencing, and making connections to other books. We have also been examining the perspectives of each character. We hope to finish this book by this Thursday, October 31, and watch the movie on Friday, November 1st. This will allow us to make a comparison between the book and the movie. We are looking forward to the first week of November, where we will actually build the City of Ember with a variety of recycled materials. We will link this to our science unit, electricity, by wiring our cities to light up!
In writing, we have continued to work on grammar, capitalization, punctuation and spelling through different writing activities. We have worked on small writing activities, through our class novel, as well as bigger writing projects, such as our Camp Kandalore recounts, and our Spooky (not Scary) Halloween Stories, which are due this Wednesday. Students have been encouraged to edit their own work, and peer edit, before teacher conferencing.
Math
This month, we worked on place value of whole numbers to one million. We compared numbers and ordered them from greatest to least and least to greatest. We focused on the four block problem solving method when solving problems involving greater numbers. We also examined factors and multiples, and differentiated between prime and composite numbers. Currently, we are working on a mini-unit on multiplication, and will have a short quiz on Wednesday. After this, we will move onto a short unit on division, followed by a unit on measurement. On the Google Classroom, students will find many of the lessons we cover in class in slideshow format. Included in the three-part lessons are minds on activities, direct instruction, and a variety of games and hands on activities to further solidify concepts. I will also try my best to post practice tests or quizzes that are very similar in format to the actual quizzes and tests we will write in class.
Social Studies
Currently, we are working with Mrs. Beacom in the library to examine the reasons (economic, political, social, environmental) for different groups immigrating to Canada. We also examine the experiences of different immigrant groups upon their arrival to Canada. Soon, we will begin an inquiry project, where students will have the opportunity to choose a specific group and further explore their experiences upon moving to Canada.
Science
We are currently studying electricity. So far, we have learned about the structure and function of atoms and differences between static and current electricity. In the next few weeks, we will look at the different sources of electricity (fossil fuels, solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, nuclear, etc.), as well as series and parallel circuits. We will also further examine conductors and insulators in electricity. After this, students will have the opportunity to work with copper wire, batteries, and light bulbs to build their own circuits, which they will use to wire and light up the City of Ember that they have created.
As you can see, we have been very, very busy in our class! I’m looking forward to a fantastic November! Please see the link below to our class calendar for November. Students will also bring a copy of the calendar home, and it will be posted on their Google Classroom.
Thank you for your continued support! It is greatly appreciated! I’m looking forward to seeing you for the November conferences!
Mrs Strampel
November2019Calendar