Ms Burton Snow's Blog

Grace meets a real Easter bunny!

I was pretty happy to cast my vote, but Grace preferred to run around the gym!

Thanks to all the parents who helped their children learn a little bit more about the voting process last night.  Your answers were very well developed and well supported and it helped your children understand why it is important to vote. I'll let you know the results of our school election after the Easter break.

We had a great discussion about the three major political parties, the voting process and the candidates running in our area.  Tonight I have asked the students to ask their mom or dad if they plan to vote and why.  Talking to your child about the election would be a good idea right now as it is part of the Grade 4 Social Studies curriculum.  Mr. Rideout, a Grade 6 teacher at MQP, has organized an event called Student Vote which will take place before the Easter break.  The students will vote for the candidate of their choice.  If you could talk to your child about the values of the three parties that would be much appreciated.

Today we used money and base 10 materials to model decimal numbers.  We are also working hard on adding and subtracting numbers with decimals. Having your child pay for small items with cash would be a good idea now.  Have your child look closely at the change he/she receives and ask for different ways that the cashier could have given the correct change.

Today I showed the students a short video on L'Anse Aux Meadows from the Canadian Geographic for Kids series.  Following the video, I gave a L'Anse aux Meadows viewing and listening quiz.  I am estatic to report that everyone performed well.  Ask your child to tell you one fact that they learned from watching the video.

Today we learned about the L'Anse Aux Meadows National Historic Site.  The students really enjoyed hearing about my trip there a couple of years ago. http://www.virtual-tours-newfoundland.ca/LanseauxMeadows/Meadows.html   Read more.

In the morning, Mr. Walter set up a fun Math activity that reinforced the concepts we are currently studying in the classroom.  The students had to design a picture on a grid and then express the colored part of the grid as fractions and decimals. In the afternoon we had our second session with Ms. Ryan, our Visiting Artist.  We began painting backgrounds today.

We read a selection in our Social Studies text today that asked the students to engage in critical thinking.  We read an article about how some people had found a cure for malaria.  The cure posed an environmental risk for the Chinchona tree in Peru.  The students had to read the text and decide on whether they thought a cure was more important than the risk to the environment.  Pretty deep thinking for Grade 4's.  Ask your child about it tonight, you may be surprised by how much they understand.

Today we began working with Ms. Pat Ryan, a local artist, to create original watercolour paintings.  Our class will be painting tulips, I am sure you will be impressed with the finished products.

Today we were lucky enough to visit the Grade 6 Wax Museum.  The Grade 6 students were dressed as famous people and we were able to learn a little about each person.  It was nice for my students to see their siblings dressed up.