Ms Burton Snow's Blog

I don't even know who said this, but it is really funny.  While Ms. Pyke was teaching how to multiply 2 digit by 2 digit today one student said something like the following, "When am I going to use this? I already have my strategies." To us teachers and I'm sure to many parents (if not all) strategies did not even exist back in the dark ages when we were in school.  The fact that at least one student thinks that the traditional way of completing multiplication is crazy is pretty funny to me. Anyways, tonight your child has gone home with some 2 digit by 2 digit Math work to do.  We have assigned the first two rows tonight and the next two will be for tomorrow night.  Feel free to do them all tonight if things are going well.  The students used mini whiteboards today to complete their calculations and many were doing quite well before they had to leave for full band.  Tomorrow we will be showing the students the distributive property of multiplying.  Have a loo

Between the two storms days last week and the band students coming and going it was a real catch up day.  Most students finished their logo contest, their snow day writing and their Sikhism work. Tomorrow we're going to really get at those transitional phrases.

This week we are going to try to use transitional phrases in our writing.  We are going to write about what we did during our extended weekend and then we will polish the writing with some transitional words.  You wouldn't believe the difference words like next, then and finally can make to your writing. Here are two summaries that I wrote about how I spent the past two days.  Which one is better?  Why? Summary 1 We headed out to Glovertown for a Newfoundland pony sleigh ride.  We had to wait until Saturday because as you all know the weather was pretty desperate on Friday.  It takes three hours to get to Glovertown, but it is well worth the drive.  We roasted marshmallows, ate tasty icicles and took a peaceful spin through the country with a Newfoundland pony hauling us along.  To top it all off we stopped in Clarenville for something to eat.  I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that I could eat for free because it was my birthday.  What a great two days! Summary 2

Hi everyone, I hope you all enjoyed your snow day.  Don't forget it's ice-cream day tomorrow.

On Valentine's Day each student was given a ceramic egg to paint.  Maddie's parents generously offered to come to each of the Grade 5 English classes to give us all a lesson in ceramics.  The results were beautiful. Many thanks to Maddie's parents for including our class in the Art activity.

This Friday I have organized a presenter to come to speak to our class.  We are going to hear a presentation about handicaps and the devices that people with handicaps use to help them in their daily life.  This presentation will support our Health outcomes.

Last Friday my class was rewarded with a movie as they won the Recorder contest for the first half of the year.  Each class Ms. Cumbie places a sticker on the reward chart to indicate if everyone remembered their recorder and Music bag.  I have never had a class win this reward so I was pretty proud of all my students. As a special treat Ms. Cumbie gave each student an ice-cream.  Oh, and we watched the movie Akeelah and the Bee , it's a movie about a spelling bee so it tied in nicely with the bee we just had at school.

When Ms. Pyke tried to teach the students how to multiply with Base Ten blocks last week John summed it up quite well when he said, "This is messing with my head!"  Despite the comment and the look of confusion on many faces we made good progress with the concept of multiplying with Base 10 blocks.  To the parents who are not teachers this multiplying with base ten blocks is going to seem CRAZY!  I'm going to send home a worksheet on it this week so that you know exactly what I'm talking about. Just keep drilling those facts with your child, we'll handle the Base 10 pictures at school.

I'm currently organizing a little field trip to the Gurdwara - the Sikh place of worship.  The Gurdwara is located in Logy Bay.  The field trip will likely take place during the second week of March.  Stay tuned. http://www.flickr.com/photos/doorsopennl/1139358362/in/photostream/   Click here to see a photo of the Gurdwara

Ok, so last week I  fell down on the actual posts, I'm blaming it on the fact that my internet was gone for two days at home.  Thanks to a new router I'm nearly back in the game.

Last week our class participated in the City of St. John's SnowDaze competition.  We managed to take in a few great walks around the pond and one day we even had a ball and spoon race. We are hoping to win the grand prize, a visit from Mayor O'Keefe during recess break.  The mayor would break healthy treats and smoothies for everyone in the class.

Today we spent some time working on Math centres.  It was our first time getting to use the new iPads that the school has purchased for student use.  Out of the 5 centres, the iPad centre was definitely the favourite. Keep working on those Math facts at home.  As well, don't forget to do some work on multiplying 2 digit by 1 digit.

Emily was our class winner today for the Math facts quiz.  Emily D wants me to add that she was the runner up!  Happy now, Emily D!!

Here are some games that we have played in class which support our current unit on Multiplication.  Many thanks to Ms. Sheppard for sharing these links with us. Remember to play often!  I have placed these links under the LINKS section of this blog.  Search for these links under the multiplication chapter links. http://www.multiplication.com/games/play/grand-prix http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/meteor/meteor.html http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/penguin-jump/penguin-jump.html

Congratulations to Ben on being selected as one of the 16 top spellers at MQP.  Our bee will be held on Tuesday.