Hello Grade 4s

Hi Again!

Here is a website that relates to what we are learning in Social Studies! It has some great pictures from the Medieval Times from The Battle of Hastings that occurred in 1066 when William the Conqueror takes over England  http://www.channel4.com/programmes/1066/pictures

Take a look!

Teaching Grade 4!

I am embarking on a new experience in teaching, that of teaching grade four students! I have just begun teaching a few lessons in Social Studies, Physical Education and Language Arts. I have already developed a liking for the grade fours because they seem to be so independent and they tend to take the initiative. This is wonderful because it means they are exercising independent thought and when it is creative and constructive the results are terrific! I look forward to a rewarding teaching experience where I will be learning as much as possible because teaching evolves as does perpetual learning.

Reflection on Teaching Grade One

What an exhilarating learning experience! I thoroughly enjoyed teaching the Grade One class over the past 4 weeks. I taught a unit on the Human Body for Science and a mini unit on graphing in Math along with a series of lessons in Language Arts on Retell. Other lessons I taught included Painting with Primary Colours, Calendar and DPA. My class ranged in ability from low level learners and ELLs to quick learners with a few behavioural problems along the way. I obtained some sound experience in keeping routines on a daily basis. I struggled with teaching some of the students who just wouldn't focus and experienced many frustrations that Teachers go through from Technological difficulties with videos to photocopiers to running out of handouts and endless sharpening of pencils. I came to love the students out of a love of learning to teach. They will always hold a special place in my heart as they are and always will be the first class with which I had experience teaching.

Thank you!

Thank you so much for the beautiful booklet of all of your hand drawn pictures of so many meaningful times. I am grateful that you all put in such a wonderful effort to express your thanks to me for being your student teacher in such an original way. This booklet will help me remember each of you as I will be able to remember your work as well as you from the picture. Also, thanks again for the wonderful "Children Around The World" book and the calendar etc. It is all greatly apprciated. Mucho Gracias!!!

Mathematics

HI KIDS!!! Have some fun! Try this new game http://www.ixl.com/math/practice/grade-1-counting-review-0-to-10  Would you like to sharpen your skills in counting? Just count the number of things on the page and enter your answer where provided then click on "submit" to continue. When you are ready to quit just click on "submit and finish" to get your score! It's easy - give it a try!!!

When you are ready and want to challenge yourself try this one http://www.ixl.com/math/practice/grade-1-counting-by-twos-fives-and-tens . Just enter your answer in the box provided and click "submit" to see the correct answer. To quit just click on "submit and finish" to see your score! Good luck!!!

Parents: By the end of grade one, according to the Ontario Curriculum students are expected to be able to "count forward by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s up to 100 using a variety of tools and strategies."  These games are a good way for the students to help develop counting skills and they have immediate feedback because they get the answer right away.

Language Arts

HEY KIDS! Would you like to get excited? Would you like to have some fun?  How about playing a game? Here is a great game that you can play, http://www.askkids.com/games?gmid=11&pop=1 and click on the "Super Hyper Spider Typer". Click "how to play" to learn how to play the game.  Then click on "start," choose "medium" level, and see how high a score you can get. If you're really good you can try the hard level!

Parents: As part of the Ontario Curriculum, by the end of grade one students are expected to know "how to spell some high frequency words correctly." You may want to help them with their spelling!

Field Trip to Andrews Scenic Acres

Wowee! What a fun day we all had at Andrew's Farm. I was happy to see everybody having fun watching the animals and experiencing new things. My favourite things were picking raspberries because I had never done that before and walking through the haunted house because it was so creative. I liked the humour in the grave yard head stones that said "Here lies Bert in Dirt" and instead of Rest in Peace it said "Rest in Pieces." The witch's house and the eyeball yard were very scarey; I hadn't seen that before, it was so creative! I like to visit the scarey game website http://www.onlinescarygames.net/ this time of year to see scarey things.  A site that I like to visit to keep me informed of current issues is http://www.canoe.ca/ and just for laughs I sometimes visit http://www.youtube.com/ .