Learning to Multiply by 10's

As students are gearing towards completing their math passports, we are starting to look into how to multiply by 10's.  We've done some lessons in class and are now trying to reinforce the concept.  I have found this website to help us practice our multiplication by 10's.  Enjoy! http://www.toonuniversity.com/flash.asp?err=517&engine=13

Habitat Home Projects

These projects were made as a one-month homework assignment to coincide with our habitat unit in science. The students worked very hard on putting these dioramas together and can you ever tell!  The creativity and time put into these displays shows how much has been learned!  When the projects were brought to school, each student gave an oral report about their creation.  Click on the button below the picture to listen!  

Why do animals go extinct?

In our science class we have been studying habitats and how the organisms work and live together in order to survive in their ecosystem.  The class made wonderful dioramas (which I hope to have up soon!) showing what they had learned through out the unit.  The last unit of this biology section discusses how humans make changes on habitats, both for the good and for the bad.
When we look at Genesis, we are told "Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.  They will be yours for food.  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground--everything that has breath of life in it -- I give you every green plant for food." And it was so.  God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1:28-31)

With such as responsibility how can we live with the pollution, waste, and damage to the environment?  We should be jumping up and down in eagerness to help and change the world to a better place! After all, it's the reason humanity began!  To take care of God's creation! Then when sin fell into the world, we were bound to mess up. Thank goodness for God's grace and His covenant with us to bring Jesus into the world to save us from our sins....and our filthiness on Earth and what it would become.

As we talk about pollution, waste and damage, we start to learn about animals that did not survive.  How does God feel about entire species dying out?  Are we as humans responsible? Why would God create animals knowing that they would die, like dinosaurs?  (As we discuss these questions, we learned that often questions just bring more and more questions!)

Sometimes we get answers and sometimes we don't.  It's best to trust in God in everything, even our questions.  And if we can't answer questions, we should at least continue to try and do the right thing.  And when it comes to our environment, it is our responsibility to take care of our world.

For some answers on extinction and why habitats can't keep organisms alive, we browsed this website: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/endangered_animals/overview.htm

Math Passports

So it's been awhile since my last post!  I hope to be more consistent...but time hasn't been my friend.  Man...teaching is a lot of work!  But I've been loving (almost) every minute of it!  School is going well!  We're busy into writing stories and publishing them.  We're starting up an awesome novel study on "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", two field trips coming up for Social Studies and Science, and then there is math.  What's so exciting about math? So here is what I've come up with: math passports.

We are working on multiplication and division facts and I wanted to do this in a fun way, rather than flashcards (as fun as they are!)

In this multiplication passport, there are 24 pages.  Two pages for every number between 1-12.  One side is a practice page.  On the practice page, students record what online multiplication games they have done from the website http://www.fun4thebrain.com/mult.html.  Once the number has been mastered, the student can choose to challenge the number.

The second page is the challenge page.  For the challenge, students meet with me and I flip through flashcards to see if the number has been mastered.  (Mastery is going through 20 flashcards in 60 seconds).
If the student wins the challenge, that passport page is stamped.

*for students who know multiplication facts well, I've challenged them to do division facts!

I hope the students enjoy this invention!  It brings a fun element into math homework!

Totem pole website

http://www.papertotempoles.com/

From chains to webs....with food that is!

So our class has moved on to discuss how food chains are also connected!  All of these patterns are organized together to create a giant food web!  We've made webs out of paper and have drawed them.  Now we are going to do our final copy through the use of the website: http://www.vtaide.com/png/foodweb.htm . 

Also...stay tuned for our habitat projects to be posted online!  Students are busy working at home on the projects!  I'm really looking forward to seeing them!

Math Multiplication

Oh there is nothing like those mad minute tests that all students dread.  The moans and groans are unreal!  But....when you put it onto a computer....Kabam! It's now the coolest thing and its neat to try and beat your time.  Boy do I love technology!

Here is the link we are using in class to practice our multiplication facts.  (you can practice addition, subtraction, and division too!)

http://multiplication.com/quizzes.htm#MultFlashQuiz

Enjoy :)

Science: Food chains

In Science class we are learning all about food chains.  How do organisms in habitats work together to sustain life?  It's actually quite incrediable how each animal has its place in its habitat in order to continue what is known as the circle of life.  God is a marvelous Creator.  His work truly shows His glory.

As the students prepare their habitat projects at home, we continue to learn the concepts of food chains and how their relationships with each other help maintain population sizes.  Here are some websites the students have used to develop those understandings.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/foodchaingame.htm

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/frogs/chain_reaction/play_chainreaction.cfm

Enjoy!

One more math website...

http://www.mathplayground.com/functionmachine.html

Math Websites

For the month of September, we have been going through review on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  In all of those things, we needed a reminder on how to do place value.  To learn standard form, expanded form, and written form, we began something known as "math aerobics", something I remember learning in grade seven from one of my old teachers.  The students really loved the rhythm actions that went with the catchy beat in order to remember the different terms.

The other way we reviewed place value was by using the computers in the computer the lab.  I found some perfect websites that go over the same principles that I talk about in class.  The students can't believe this is actually work!  And....there is a quiz on Tuesday.  Their homework is to practice Math computer games.....who would've thought?!

Thanks technology for helping math be fun!!!

Here are the websites:

http://www.toonuniversity.com/flash.asp?err=503&engine=15

www.funbrain.com/tens/index.html

Me In a Bag

One of the ways that we've been getting to know our peers is by our presentations called "Me In A Bag".  I actually learned about this one from one of my education classes in college.  We each had to bring a bag with three objects that help describe ourselves.  We were in an English literature class, so all of our items had to be a book, but it was up to us as to which books we could bring.  I took this project a little too seriously and had my mom mail me down some of my favourite childhood books, including one book that I had personally made.  There is something about sharing your belongings and claiming identity towards them.

For our class, we can bring in three different items.  I handed out a brief outline that the students could fill in as a brainstorming activity.  I've attached them with this post so you can take a look!

Here is a student's reflection on the "Me in a Bag" presentations (I've taken out names....)

We have doing projects on "Me in A Bag."  So far we've had girl 1 bring a rock from Rudy Creek.  We've had boy 1 bring a photo of his hockey team.  Girl 2 brought a picture of her dogs.  Boy 2 brought a hockey card of Alexander Ovechkin.

I'm looking forward to the other things the students will bring in.  I've given permission for some students to bring in pets, so we'll see how that goes!

Boggle their Minds

While trying to create some fun, interactive bulletin boards,  I came across this idea of putting a boggle board up.  All I needed to do was make a 5 by 5 grid, and add letters to each square.  One particular thing I love about it is that it will be so easy to change up.  Just change the letters in the squares!  In a basket below I keep boggle papers, where students can record words that they find in the chart.  Whenever they have finished an activity and are waiting for their classmates, they pull out their boggle sheet to see what they can find.  It's been a hit!  Some students are even working on it while they eat their lunch!  I hope the excitement will continue!

Student's Reflection

From the word's of student:

Today in class we did all sorts of things, We did Math, PE, Language Arts, and all sorts of things.  In math we did Revews. In P.E. We played gold rush.  At the end of the day we looked at our science experiment after we left it a night to sit.  it looked realy cool the oil was floatig on the water witch was blue from food couloring. 

The First Day Dive

Wow, what a wonderful day!  It all started with a beautiful half hour drive to school.  The fog laid over the fields with sun breaking it up into patches.  The mountains screamed God's glory and I couldn't help but think "this is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it."  And what a day to rejoice.
Our class is filled with 26 wonderful students!  There are a booming 19 students in grade five, and 7 in grade four, all of which are unique and willing to contribute to our atmosphere of learning!
We played a number of get to know you games, and completed a writing activity that gave me some idea about students' interests.  A lovely all-school chapel started out our afternoon in time of welcome and worship.  I got to play piano (!), something I'm happy to do in my spare time, let alone at my job!  The school gym echoes like nothing else, so when there are 100 students belting out "Great is Thy Faithfulness" its no wonder you have shivers down your spine.

The Dive of the Day today was by far our science experiment.  In the classroom, we have 2 lava lamps.  The students were enthralled by the blurbing (no, blurbing is not a word, but I thought it was realistic in describing what they looked like) bubbles throughout the day.  So when I told them the science experiment was going to be us making a lava lamp their attention was 100% focused.  I had numerous kids ask for the "procedure" so I thought I would post it here so parents could read it and choose whether or not they would be up for the "challenge."  It was a hit, with both girls and guys and grades!

Make Your Own Lava Lamp

Materials:
An empty bottle
Water
Vegetable Oil
Food Colouring
Alka Seltzer


1.  Fill 1/4 of the empty bottle with water.

2.  Fill the rest of the bottle with oil (before doing this, the students predicted what they thought would happen)

3.  Record what took place (stayed separate, talk about density)

4.  Add the food colouring (before doing this, predict what will happen)

5.  Break the Alka Seltzer into 4, and place the pieces in one after another.

The Alka Seltzer foams in the water and makes the water rise in bubbles to the top of the bottle.

Apparently, if the bottle is capped, you can let it sit for a couple of days and then add more alka seltzer later and it will still work.

Super cool experiment!  The kids loved it (can I say this enough?) and we tried numerous things afterwards.  (What would happen when we shook it, what happens if we put other liquids into it, what happens if we would freeze it...etc.)

We'll see if I can get some pictures and add them to this post soon!

Here's to a fabulous year of learning and exploring to come!

Sharing Books

After some thrift-store finds, I dug into my collection of literature.  I've been collecting books over the summer for the classroom and placing them in a big bin.  I've reached 100!  Yay!  The only thing is 20 of them are from the series "The Babysitter's Club".  Yes....back in the day I was an avid fan of the young pre-teen novels.  The drama of being a pre-teen girl. Even if they weren't that educational, it made me read! So I've thrown in my old books to my piles.  Today I spent my day taking inventory on my books, and labeling them with the title "Mrs. Gorter".  Wow, what authority that brings!  I crossed off old teacher's names and placed in my own thinking "yes, this is mine in MY own classroom!"

After going through about a box, I found a book entitled "Spirit in the Rainforest" by Eric Wilson, a famous Canadian author.  Maybe some of you have heard of it, the "Tom and Liz Austen Mystery books" that take place all over Canada!  Anyway, I opened the front flap and it was signed by Eric Wilson.  I just found this randomly at a thrift store and was already planning on doing an Author Study on him!  Now I have his signature!  

 Next I came to my old babysitter club books which I talked about earlier.    I opened to the first page to find each book labeled "Shena C" followed with my old phone number.  I cared so much about these books I labeled them with a phone number in case they ever got lost!  Some of them I even included my home address!  Other books I went through were given to me from my grandparents - "Dear Shena, Happy Reading with Love from Opa and Oma."  These were the ones I couldn't cross off.  I had to leave them.  I almost treated them like treasure, not wanting to share them.  How could I let others take these off the shelves for Home Reading when they might get destroyed and ripped?  But think about...what good will they do on my shelf?  Like I have the time to read through every book again!  Its time I share my treasure with others.  My students. 

 How often is our faith a treasure that we don't share with others?  We would rather keep it to ourselves because we don't feel comfortable with sharing our story with someone else.  Sometimes its not our story we are afraid to share, but it could be the best book in the World: The Bible.  Let's take our physical books and our spiritual stories off the shelves and share them with others.  And most importantly, in everything, let's share The Word.  

Thrift Store Jackpot

The other day I randomly decided to stop by a thrift store before picking up my husband from work.  Little did I know that I would hit the jackpot!!! It turned out a retired teacher had dropped off a bunch of her old books....perfect for grade 4 and 5!  And with multiple copies!!! I was thrilled!

I spent an hour in the store carefully picking out all of the books I wanted for my new collection.  I came home with five different books, each having multiple copies.  I want to use them for literature circles!

Literature circles are a fabulous tool when it comes to differentiating reading instruction (reading at multiple skill levels)  There are five different groups to choose from, each with its own book.  The students get to choose which book they would like to read so that they are interested in the material, and it is reading level they are comfortable with.  The group then organizes a time schedule for when each chapter should be read.  This way every group can finish their book at the same time.

For each literature circle class time, each student in the group plays a role.  These roles help the students talk about their book and make greater realizations.  Roles can be: Discussion Director, Worthy Writer, Word Wizard, Connector Captain, Summarizer, Illustrator, Investigator, and Presenter.   (these can be shortened and rearranged easily)  For each role there is a worksheet that needs to be filled out on the chapter they just read together.  Groups will meet with the teacher called "LC Conferences" at least once a week to check up on comprehension, assignments, and enjoyment :)

Well....I'm super excited to try it out!!!  I think I'll be stopping in at more thrift stores to see what else I can find!

Taking the Dive

A couple of weeks ago I signed a contract to teach grade 4/5 for the 2011-2012 school year!  I'm super excited about the full-time employment with this Christian School.  Now that my other jobs have come to a close, I can put my full efforts into preparing for the upcoming year.

I have decided to make a full-year theme for my class: Take the Dive.   It works well as a slogan not only for  rhyming with five, but also for the unlimited ways I can use this theme!  I keep writing down new ideas in my notebook about all of the things I can incorporate.  Stay tuned for pictures of all of the different ideas coming into play!  (I have to make them yet....)  I want the slogan to represent taking a challenge in learning.  The deeper you dive, the more you can explore and discover.

I am taking the dive by beginning this blog.  Blogging is in someways like an open journal for all to see.  It's a risk by sharing ideas, new thoughts, and creative outtakes on the life in education.  There is so many areas to explore and discuss, especially in the first year of teaching.  It can be scary, just like the thought of plunging into a deep ocean.  But once you are in, soaked with your surroundings, you swim deeper to find new thoughts and theories.  I don't want my first year to be the common "keep your head a float" saying.  I want to be diving deeper into new discoveries, just like I'm going to challenge my students.   

On this note, my diving technique will be as follows:
-try blogging about new experiences and challenges as a first year teacher
-discuss educational issues with fellow colleagues ( I hear there might be a teacher strike for the public schools in the fall...)
-have students present their work (with permission of course!)
-share new ideas and projects (great ways to use technology)
-share stories about the wonderful discoveries we have made

Well, I've taken up the challenge....now we will see what happens!  Hope you'll enjoy it too!