A Snowy Day

It's been a very cold snowy week but the kids have been amazing! They have done their best to keep calm and make the best of being in the same classroom, with the same people, all day every day!

We made use of the cold snowy weather to practice our show, don't tell skills by writing a descriptive paragraph from the perspective of a 'regular' kid waking up to snow, and a kid experiencing homelessness.

Before we began, we read Voices in the Park to help us understand perspective. This book is about the same walk to the park, taken from four different perspectives.


In math, we continue to practice adding three digits to three digits. We are beginning to understand how having two different strategies for adding both deepens our mathematical understanding and allows us to check our answer. We will continue to explore other ways to add, with regrouping, next week. For example, using a number line.

In science, we have been thinking of good questions to use Google to find the answers to. We have been practicing writing jot notes and diagrams from information we have found out. We are beginning to recognize that copying from the internet does not help our brains understand the work, and that it it not allowed. Ask your child how sedimentary rock is formed. Ask them to tell you the three features that this type of rock can have or always has (so they can identify the rock type). Ask your child to name three different sedimentary rocks.

In social studies we made relief maps of Peru. Ask your child how many broad regions Peru is split into and what each region is like in terms of its geography. We also looked closely at the traditional costume of Peru. Th students wrote up the information on the back of the card figures. Ask your child to tell you about what men and women wear at traditional celebrations.

The costumes look very authentic!

 Notes that we used to help us write our sentences. We learned a few new words!

 The students used a passage to read, understand, and write their own visual language notes. Visual language is like simple pictures. They help us comprehend what we have just read. The picture to the right of the page was used to help us understand what the word 'border' means and to make connections about where most people live in Canada. We found similar population distribution in Peru.

 It was a fun way to get a bit of physical movement when we made our maps out of plasticine. We used the plasticine to show the coastal desert, mountain range and jungle regions. We also used a legend. Ask your child what this is.

We ended the week with our first  Flex Friday of the year. Here students split up into multi age groups, from kindergarten to grade four and work together on different projects. It was fun to hear what each  person did. Ask your child what they did and who they worked with. Grade three students were encouraged to look after a kindergarten or grade one child and help them, if they needed help. A grade four student who visited my class pointed out that the Kindergarteners did as good a job as the older kids and were faster! (He had forgotten that many eager helpers made sure they had a successful time:) ) I for one, can't wait for the next Flex Friday!

 We were busy in our room, making agamographs to celebrate the Chinese New Year!

 Other students did other exciting activities.

Last week we also welcomed a new student into our class. He comes from a place in England that is about a half hour drive from where Mrs. Njie used to live! We hope he feels very welcome in our class; we certainly enjoy having him.

Don't forget that next week is a short week! There will be no school on Thursday or Friday, due to Teacher's Convention. The Monday after is Family Day, so no school then either!

Wrap up warm this weekend and come to school on Monday with warm clothes and we will hope we can get out and enjoy the snow!