My wishes for u in year 2011...
Great start for January,
Laughter and love for February,
Peacefulness for March,
No worries for April
Fun times for May,
Joy for June to November,
Happiness for December,
Have a lucky and awesome 2011!

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What a last few days...crazy schedule...but it's all done...papers are graded and assignments handed back...bring on the holidays!

Leave you with a Wonderful Winter Wonderland by my awesome kids...

See you in the New Year!

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Canadian Mosaic Assignment is due on Tuesday, December 14th.
Please see rubric for expectations.

Thank you to those who have handed theirs in early:


Reminder: Government Test is on Wednesday, December 15th.
Please bring Black duotangs home to review
- forms of government
- levels of Canadian government and their responsibilities
- the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms
- Becoming a Canadian (the immigration process)

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Winter bliss...what fun everyone had skating today...here are some memories

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This week we will be looking at our first North American artist, Andy Warhol. He was a highly influential icon of the Pop Art movement during the 1960's. He is widely known for his artwork of popular or advertising products (soup cans) and his portraits of famous Hollywood movie stars.

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Today we discussed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

We talked about how special this document was and what it truly means to be Canadian.

I shared with the class a little "I am a Proud Canadian" rant that ties in to the key points of the charter. Their homework this weekend was to write about what it means to them to be Canadian.

Homework:
1. Why you are proud to be Canadian "Leaf"
2. Rights & Freedoms worksheet

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This week we continued with "Stem and Leaf Plots" and we'll be learning about Mean, Median and Mode.



Homework:

Please take Green Math Duotangs home to review -

Data Management Unit Test is on Thursday, December 9th!

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The character trait for the month of December is EMPATHY. We look forward to recognizing our students at our Character Assembly on Monday, December 13th at 8:30 am.

The Tree of Hope/Tree of Giving, will take place from Monday, November 29 - Wednesday, December 8th. This is the initiative of our Student Leadership team whose members have been divided into teams who are responsible for sorting and collecting the donated items. All items collected will be loaded onto a school bus on Monday, December 13th and from there, they will be distributed by the York Regional Police and the Fire Department, as part of their annual 'Quiet Food Drive'.

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Reminder:

Our Government/Immigration Unit test will be on Wednesday, December 15th!

Please be regularly taking home your Black or Green Social Studies duotang to study!

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We have been working on our Government Unit

Aspects of Government & Citizenship

Today we were very excited to have a guest speaker.

Councilor Colin Campbell of Markham




He talked about local concerns (traffic), his action plan and the students got to ask about all sorts of questions from how he became involved in politics to his favorite part of his day.

Thank you Councilor Campbell for visiting and sharing all your experiences with us!

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The King of Color!

This week we move to the Expressionist movement...color color color!


Started with a Read Aloud of "Matisse the King of Color" by Laurence Anholt
- artists books for children series.


Changing the medium this week, we focused on Matisse's style of art called The cutouts(which is Gouache on paper, cut and pasted, on white paper).

We simply used colorful construction paper and white paper as our base.
This week, the students were encouraged to create! They had tons of fun...and were even quite serious about properly naming their artwork.

These are some of the wonderful pieces...please enjoy!

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Please take duotangs home to study!

Assessment # 2: Broken Line Graphs - reading & interpreting - Monday, November 29!

Assessment # 3: Broken Line Graphs - graphing & interpreting - Thursday, Dec 2!

Math Club - will be available for students during morning recess (sign name on whiteboard).

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Homework

Broken Line Graphs worksheet booklet

Please study for Single Bar Graph Assessment for November 25

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Single and Double Bar Graph Assessment #1

- Interpreting the data
- Will be on , Thursday, November 25

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This week we are featuring the artists: Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh

We will learn about the techniques used during the Impressionist movement

The students will be encouraged to recreate a version of Claude Monet's "Water Lilies", "Haystacks" or Vincent van Gogh's, "Sunflowers" or "Starry Night".
Using oil pastels and smudging the class had a messy blast...
Below are some of our artwork (the students work is shown with the black background, the artists version is on white).

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It is my pleasure to launch the art unit for the next little while.

I have the full support of both my host teacher and her grade partner. Together with another teacher in training, we will construct the art program for our combined classes. Each week we will focus on a different art period - art movement- or famous artists of that period.

To begin our unit we will start with the Renaissance period...focusing on the four greats: Leonardo de Vinci, Michaelangelo, Rafael and Donatello.

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Thank you to Mrs. I for welcoming me to her Grade 4/5 class.

This will be my final placement and I have offered to manage a blog for our class.

This is a spot that will be available for my Grade 4 and Grade 5 students (and their parents) at This Awesome Public School to:

1. Check homework
2. Check Quiz/Assessment dates.
3. Keep track of what has been covered (if they were absent).
4. Parents to check for school events that involve their child.
5. See their work displayed.
6. Get extra practice math questions.
7. Have fun!

I am very excited to be here and I hope the next several weeks will be fun and educational for all of us.

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The Secret is Out. Spread the Word.

Almost 1 million people have signed our letters to President Obama, Vice President Biden, the Japanese Ambassador to the U.S., the Prime Minister and Minister of Health in Japan. The more people who sign, the more impact we’ll have when we take the letters to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, and to the Minister of Health in Japan.

Please join and sign the petition HERE, and if you have friends or family in Japan please send them the Japanese language version.

In The Cove, a team of activists and filmmakers infiltrate a heavily-guarded cove in Taiji, Japan. In this remote village they witness and document activities deliberately being hidden from the public: More than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises are being slaughtered each year and their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan, often times labeled as whale meat.

To really make an impact on this issue, we must get the word out in Japan and urge action from our own leaders. We believe that once the world and the Japanese people know, they will demand change. Help us save Japan's dolphins.

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There are a ton of lessons available for Mother's Day.

I had a bunch of left-over foam from my book project. I thought I'd use the foam to create Mother's Day cards with foam background and let the students create whatever they can with the foam and glue it on.

Integrated in was Language Arts, where I had them come up with an acrostic featuring the word MOTHER. Either with one word that signifies the letter relating to their mother or a short sentence. This lesson is very short and most of the students had enough time to create another card. Luckily I had a lot of foam!

What I did not account for...and this was something I overlooked but luckily my host-teacher saved me (sort of). When preparing these activities...a teacher has to be sensitive to the varying home situations of students. So note to self and to future novice teachers: Know your students backgrounds!

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Paper mache is a hugely messy ordeal.

I planned the lesson for 3 sessions of back to back to back (totaling 1 hour and 20 minutes) of art. This was not enough.

Upon reflection:
Paper mache should be done in consecutive days.
After day 1...the balloons usually show patchy areas.
So on day 2...the class should patch this up.
Also on day 2 - the balloon should be popped and air released.
We didn't do that so during the week the balloon pulled the paper mache and some of the balloons "imploded" (sunk in).

So we added 2 more classes and we finally got our globes done. Thank you grade 3's!

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Winners for the Every Day Heroes Film Competition have been announced, but they were up against some stiff competition. Check out the top 20 finalists.

Voting is open until April 25^th for the People’s Choice Award.
Watch the Every Day Heroes Film Competition entries online and vote for your favorite!


Making a Difference

Miranda Andersen, Writer, Producer, Director

This film is about Ruth Foster, a retired teacher, hatchery co-founder and local activist for all things environmental. She give a great deal of her time to preserving and protecting the wilderness. She should be the poster woman for earth day – she makes every day earth day!

Belcarra, British Columbia

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Engaging, educational and entertaining, the Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children is an initiative of TIFF that offers children and youth the opportunity to learn about cultural perspectives from around the world through the power of the moving image.

An enriching experience that is much more than just a day at the movies, Sprockets includes a Public Programme for ages three and up and a week-long School Programme for students in grades 1 to 12. Featuring the best of Canadian and international cinema for children and youth, Sprockets offers a compelling selection of features and shorts on diverse subjects in a variety of genres and styles. It provides a rare opportunity to watch films that kids around the world are lining up to see and that in many cases may not be available again in Toronto.

In its first year the festival had an attendance of 2,300. It has since grown at a phenomenal pace, increasing its audience to over 13,000 in 2009. The tremendous success of the event led to the creation of the Sprockets Family Zone section at the Toronto International Film Festival, the year-round outreach programme Special Delivery and the Pocket Fund, a fund-raising initiative.

Contact 416-968-FILM 1-877-968-FILM for more information

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In preparation for the upcoming Earth Day celebration (April 22, 2010)...last week I started my class with a story called, "Sharon Finds the Environment" by Tom Hawkins

After reading the story I had a discussion with the class about the importance about being environmentally friendly. How we can do our part to keep Planet Earth/our Environment clean.

Our art activity for the afternoon was paper mache globes.
We had the entire afternoon to work on covering our balloons with 2-3 layers of paper.
It was fun and extremely messy!

We managed to finish our globes and they are nicely drying at the back of the classroom. This coming Thursday, we will create the stands for our globes, talk about the proportion of land to water and the placement of several continents.

Our aim is to have our paper mache globes finished to display for Earth Day!

Here is some photos I took while I was creating my sample globe for my class.

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Songkran is a Thai traditional New Year which starts on April 13 every year and lasts for 3 days. Songkran is a Thai word which means "move" or "change place" as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac. It is also known as the "Water Festival" as people believe that water will wash away bad luck. It begins on the 13th April and ends on the 15th April, but occasionally in certain years on the 16th April. The Songkran is in fact the celebration of the vernal equinox similar to those of the Indian Holi Festival, the Chinese Ching Ming, and the Christian Festival of Easter.

I want to wish my Thai friends and friends in Thailand: "Happy New Year!"

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Child prodigy Adora Svitak says the world needs "childish" thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism. Kids' big dreams deserve high expectations, she says, starting with grownups' willingness to learn from children as much as to teach.
About Adora Svitak

A prolific short story writer and blogger since age seven, Adora Svitak (now 12) speaks around the United States to adults and children as an advocate for literacy.

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Enter a world of magic this coming weekend at The Ontario Science Center and get up close and personal with the artistry and craftsmanship behind the Harry Potter™ films.

Immerse yourself in the world of Harry Potter by trying on the Sorting Hat™, pulling a Mandrake from its pot in the Herbology vignette, and playing a game of Quidditch™ as you experience elaborate settings such as the Gryffindor™ common room, Hagrid's hut and the Great Hall.

You'll also come upon authentic artifacts from the movies-including Harry's wand and glasses, the Marauders' Map, Professor Dumbledore's robe and more!

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Have a look around to see what’s going on across Canada and who’s doing what in your province.

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World Autism Awareness Day shines a bright light on autism as a growing global health crisis. WAAD activities help to increase and develop world knowledge of the autism epidemic and impart information regarding the importance of early diagnosis and early intervention. Additionally, WAAD celebrates the unique talents and skills of persons with autism and is a day when individuals with autism are warmly welcomed and embraced in community events around the globe.

By bringing together autism organizations all around the world, we will give a voice to the millions of individuals worldwide who are undiagnosed, misunderstood and looking for help. Please join us in our effort to inspire compassion, inclusion and hope.

For more information please visit World Autism Awareness

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The view looking west from Yonge and Dundas during Earth Hour March 27, 2010.

Photo courtesy of LUCAS OLENIUK/TORONTO STAR

Tips for energy saving:

- Install a programmable thermostat
- Caulk and seal leaks
- When not used turn appliances off/unplug
- Changing furnace filters regularly

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Get ready...get set...to turn off the lights and do your part for Earth Hour!

Our planet needs us to help keep it happy and healthy.
We can help by:

• recycling
• conservation of energy (turning off lights)
• conservation of water (not wasting water)
  

So when our planet is happy and healthy...then we can live happy and healthy too!

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S o many flowers are blooming.
P etite little squirrels come out to play.
R eally big bears awake from their slumbers.
I maginative children enjoy a walk with their friends.
N o tree is left standing without any leaves. So
G o ahead, jump for joy because spring is here.

by Kaitlyn Guenther

Here is something I created using a fun website that generates word clouds. These are all words that come to my mind when I think of Spring!

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Plan with your children for a fun-filled March Break!
Here are some websites on things to do with your kids in and around the GTA

March Break Toronto 2010

March Break - Your Stay Sane, Have Fun Guide

YMCA March Break Camp

March Break at the Library!

March Break Family Fun at the ROM

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Hey kids! Want a fun challenge on fractions?
Play: Turkey Terminator Fractions Game and Match the Fraction to see how you do!
In this weeks lesson, we are to explore the world of fractions represent fractions concrete materials, words, and standard notation. I'd like for us to understand the meaning of the denominator (which is the number of the fractional parts of a whole or a set), and the numerator as the number of fractional parts being considered.

Demonstrate and explain the relationship between equivalent fractions, using concrete materials and drawings.


Grade 4 Fractions

View more presentations from Miss Liu.

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Hey Kids!
Ever wonder where the light came from? Check out Sources of Light and The Real Deal on Light for some en-lightening answers!Students will be experimenting how light shines and how light gets around. In order to do this, we will be conducting experiments to see how light reflects, using mirrors. We will also answer the question, "Can light shine through things?"

Overall expectation: to investigate the characteristics and properties of light and sound.

Describe the properties of light, including the following; light travels in a straight path; light can be absorbed, reflected, and refracted


Grade 4 Science Light Travels in a Straight Line

View more presentations from Miss Liu.

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Grade 4's are you ready to tackle probability?
What are the chances of you winning a million dollars? (Hmm...???)
How about, what are the odds of it being a fun day at school? (Highly likely!)
Take a chance and try out Math Goodies Probability and Johnny's Math Page of Probability Activities

I have a fun dice and spinner game that I'd like for us to try out this week in class. Hopefully, together we can learn to predict how often we get the same number! I'd like to conduct experiments that will allow us to compare results with our predictions. Once we're done our investigations, I'd like for us all to be able to answer the question "How the number of repetitions affect the conclusions drawn."

Grade 4 Math

View more presentations from Miss Liu.

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Parents/Guardians...learn all about eco-friendly tips with your family here at The David Suzuki Foundation.

Interested in what is going on around the city of Toronto?
Check out Toronto Fun Guide Spring/Summer 2010.

For book lovers: Spend time reading with your children, visit The Toronto Public Library!

Love animals? Need a holiday? Plan a day-trip and visit the Toronto Zoo with your family!

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Do you like Science? Come and explore with Bill Nye the Science Guy!

Feel like Math isn't fun? Check out Math for Kids and challenge yourself at this awesome website!

Do you like arcades? Comics? Movies? Visit Funbrain to get all the latest info!

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DO-RE-MI-FA-SO-LA-TI-DO!

Grade 4 students! If you enjoyed our experiments in class this week and would like to explore more fun things to do with sounds. I'd like you to check out these cool websites Changing Sounds and Play Music to test out different musical instruments.

This week in Grade 4 Science: we learned about the properties of Sound.

We discussed how sound travels, showed that vibrations make sound, we recognized that vibrations can be changed to alter the pitch of a sound.

We conducted experiments that allowed us to observe that sound travels through different states of matter: solids/liquids/gases(air).

We learned the following vocabulary words: vibration, vocal cords, larynx, sound wave, pitch and frequency.

Grade 4 Science

View more presentations from Miss Liu.

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Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

New Pedagogies For The Digital Age

View more presentations from Steve Wheeler.

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Since watching the short video clip, these messages have rung through my mind and have shaped the way that I think. I know as a future teacher, I need to captivate my audience (students).

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Hello Students and Parents!

Welcome to my Edublog...hope you enjoy your visit!

This interactive education resource is dedicated to my students and their families.

Here, you will find posts about homework, lessons, project due dates, and other important information. I will also include links to fun educational material that I come across.

Please feel free to visit!

I am excited to embark on this journey with my class, and yourselves, as partners in the learning process.

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