April Update

A belated thank you, for all of the wonderful food, help, and support everyone provided for teacher appreciation week back in March. The children were so excited as well, and their cards and praise are honestly priceless :)

A reminder about the Jump Rope for Heart pledge forms that went home just prior to Spring Break - the date of our event is June 7th, but the pledge forms are required back at school by April 27th. The program provides rewards to students who achieve different levels of fundraising goals, all of which is outlined in the package as well as their website. Also, it is important to remember that even if no money is raised by a student, the fundraising forms must still be returned to school.

Language Arts
The children have moved on to the fourth and final set of spelling patterns/sounds this month. We have also begun a closer look at synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and rhyming words this month, which will lead nicely into our look at poetry next month. After completing their fiction and nonfiction books last month, we have started April with a closer look at personal narrative writing (or small moment writing). We are still in the beginning stages of understanding this concept and its process. Many of the children are developing personal preferences in their reading material as the year flies by. Some of the favourites include the Notebook of Doom, Undead Pets, National Geographic Kids: Just Joking,  and Who Would Win series.

Mathematics
We are finishing up our exploration of money, and we will have a final assessment towards the end of next week /beginning of the week after. Many of the children have demonstrated good mental math skills when adding a collection of coins. We will continue studying word problems and strategies until the end of the year. Our Morning Routine page has changed again, this time to include daily writing, and word work. The children are excited by the change and usually tackle the LA portion first. As the month winds down and we move into May, we will begin a look at "time" as concept within Measurement (understanding concepts of days, weeks, months and years and how they relate), and also as another connection to counting patterns, addition and subtraction concepts.

Science
We have just finished up our study of Growth and Changes in Animals last week. This month we begin a look into Air and Water in the Environment, which builds an understanding of the water cycle including what factors/processes are involved and the effect of changing variables.

Social Studies
This month we are finishing up our look into Nunavut and Iqaluit, as part of understanding the diversity of environment and culture between Canadian communities. Included at the bottom of the blog are pictures of a tundra landscape, coloured in oil pastel with their own personal inuksuk created from Plasticine. Everyone did a fantastic job! As we move into May we will begin looking at the Canadian community as a whole, which will include more conversations and concepts around "Canada 150." This week we discussed what we like about our country, what is good about it, and ways we can keep it great and make it even better. Today we completed a design plan from our class to Mrs. Eden for consideration as the school float in the Divisional Canada 150  project later this year.