Ms Burton Snow's Blog

Today I introduced the students to the concept of Literature Circles.  Each student chose a book to read (they had 2 choices).  Every night your child will have one or two chapters to read and a worksheet to complete.  The time they spend reading can be counted as Reading Log time.  Here are some photos of the two books you can expect to see coming home over the next two weeks.  Also, please see the note that was sent home to parents to further describe Literature Circles. This website looks like it has some nice activities that focus on vocabulary... not a bad idea. http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0211900/fox/stone_fox_vocabulary.htm This picture is slightly different from the one that appears on the cover of the novels that the students have.  This book would be classified as Adventure. Our second book.  This book  is Historical Fiction. http://museum.gov.ns.ca/blackloyalists/   An interesting site for students who want to learn m...

Today you will see that your child has a list of 20 Spelling words.  This week we are focusing on contractions as they seem to be rather challenging.  We had a pre-test today to assess what the students already know. After the pre-test they highlighted the words on the list that they got incorrect.  Many students knew how to spell words like I'd and I'm, but did not write with a capital letter.  I have some students who are putting capital letters in the middle of words so I am trying to stomp that out as well. There were also two activities sent home.  The first activity gives a list of sentences and the students need to write the contraction on the line.  The next sheet is meant to be a fun game to play with your child.  You will need two different colored leads or crayons.  You choose a contraction, color it and then find the match over on the side.  You color the matches.  Whoever gets a line of 7 first is the winnner!  I...

Today the class was lucky enough to have Dr. Azher, Muneeb's mother, come to our class to discuss the Islamic belief system.  We learned about the 5 Pillars of Islam, Eid, Ramadan and so many other things.  Her presentation was very interesting and it really helped us to learn more about the Islamic faith. Many thanks to Dr. Azher for taking the time to come to our class today.  Your powerpoint presentation was just spectacular! How well did you listen to the presentation today?  Tell Mom or Dad what is happening in this photo. Examples of the jewelry that Muslim women wear during Eid.  The bracelets are made of glass. She even gave out little treats to everyone!  Yum!

Today is Sainte Catherine's today in Quebec, also known as "Taffy Day."  My husband prepared taffy for the class since my own culinary skills are rated at about a 1 (I do burn toast). The sticky confection was enjoyed by all.

There were some interesting answers to the question related to "What is Eid?"  Many answers were quite entertaining (Mr. J) and appreciated on a cool November morning.  Eid is a Muslim celebration that happens after Ramadan.  Ramadan is a period of fasting.  After the fasting ends there is a feast and gifts are exchanged.  One of our parents has graciously volunteered (i.e. I begged her) to come in to speak to the class on Friday to discuss the Islamic faith.  We are all looking forward to her visit.  Here are a couple of pages from the foldable books that the students made about Ramadan today.  Don't you think they are great? Courtesy of Elly Courtesy of Nick Riley drew the 5 Pillars on his cover.

Another Math test was completed today, that makes two under our belts now!  We also talked about Eid today.  Part of the homework for tonight involves the students asking their parents what they know about Eid.  I told them that I did not think that many parents would know what they were talking about.  Please write your response to their question in your child's agenda.  Hint, it has something to do with Religion.

Today we spent a long time reviewing how to approach Mental Math questions.  We worked on the questions on p. 98 which served as good review for the test.  One way the students figured out how to answer 1000-299 was 1000-300= 700 so 1000-299=701.  There was some difficulty with understanding that they would actually have more for their answer in the second example.  I decided to show them how to think about the problem using smaller numbers.  For example 10-6=4 and 10-5=5.  I told them to think about it as if you take away less you keep more.  It is not an easy concept.