Keaton Stephenson

Mar 152024
 

Hello!

We did it! We made it to Spring break! We had a lot of fun this last week, learning new skills, and playing lots of games.

In math we used Flipp to search up grocery items, and created meal plans for different days. Students learned a lot about the price of a days food. We then played The Price Is Right, where students had to make a running balance sheet while estimating the process of objects.

In science we learned how to use Google Slides to make presentations. We made one on pizza as a class, then students made their own. They were very excited to experiment with the program. We also created human  body organ system cut outs.  They are on display in our window.

In social studies we finally got to share our timeline posts, with additional ‘Canadian heritage minute’ videos. They are on display across our classroom.

In language arts we got all of our novel studies finalized and posted. It took a couple of lunch work periods though.

For our last day on Friday, we had a board game day. We started with a quick Boggle match, then played Point Salad. For the middle of the day I gave students some options, the most popular being: 5 minute dungeon, Stupefy!, and a Mario life/monopoly. After lunch we played more games! Taught students Surive and El Dorado. It was a fun last day before the break.

A reminder for students to get their family survey complete for when we return.  I will be email our a reminder just before returning.

Have a good break, and see you in a couple of weeks.

Mar 092024
 

Hello!

We had a great visit at Spencer today, so listen to and watch some performances from their exploratory and club students. Hopefully our students are more excited about the transition.

In math this week we started our look at money. We used a menu sheet to add up prices and subtract totals.

In language arts this week we have been working and completing our novel study book report, gluing all the pieces together.

We have also continued our similes and metaphors work, using our senses to describe colours. So red feels like a hot sunburn, or blue smells like the ocean. We then created rainbow poems for our future poetry booklet.

In social studies we learned about Canadian history, the good, bad, and ugly of our history. We focused on the fur trade, Canada as a nation, the railway system, and resistential schools. Students were to read their section on each, and describe the cause and effect of each event.

In french we worked a little more on our All About Me french work, thinking of more preferences, and translating them.

We have 1 more week on school, we will look at how tonuse a balance sheet with money for math, as well as make grocery lists. We will go over our Canadian timeline,  and discuss our next project: the Heritage fair. In science we will create human organ cutouts. I will alaonbe teaching students how to create a PowerPoint presentation using Google Slides. Always a fun event.

Have a good weekend, and see you Monday.

 

Mar 022024
 

Hello!

We had an interesting week, with our Curling field trip on Thursday. It seemed like most students had a great time trying something new out.

In language arts we finished our novel study story, and worked on our book report. We finished up the synopsis, and half of the mini projects.

In social studies more students have been able to finish off their timeline posts. We are still missing a couple, so those students will have to catch up on Tuesday.

In math we practiced more perimeter and area work, taking it a step further, by trying to figure out the dimensions of our rectangles with missing information. Of you are given an area, say 20, you have to find the length and width options,  so 1×20, 2×10, 4×5. Once you have the sides, you add them and double it, to get the perimeter, so 4×5 is 4+5=9×2=18, perimeter 18.

We finished off our human body unit in science with a review and a test. Because I wasn’t there for the review, I gave hints to help students with the test,  as it was a little challenging. Those students who were prepared did well.

In french we have started learning about preferences. We learned adore, aime, n’aime pas, and deteste. We then created a survey to ask others what their preference was.

Next week we will finish off our Social Studies unit, as well as our novel study. We will get back into poetry, and start out money unit in math. We have a visit to Spencer next Friday for a performance. Should be a good week.

Have a good weekend, and see you next week.

Feb 242024
 

Hello!

Hope everyone had a good long weekend. A lot of absences this week. I have uploaded our novel study to our Google classroom, for those wanting to keep up with our book.

In math this week we started off learning about different units of measurement, and converting them: so 10cm is 100mm, and 4m is 400cm. We also reviewed perimeter and area of rectangles. The perimeter is adding all the sides up. The area is the length side times the width side. Once we got the basics down, we created our own playground blueprint, using perimeter and area to map out what we would add.

In language arts we worked on acrostic name poems, but this time we used similes and metaphors to add more details to them. Some are very entertaining and descriptive.

We also whipped through 20 chapters of our novel study! Looks like it’s a race between Kyle’s group and Charles. The students are getting pretty excited about the ending. We will finish it Monday.

In social studies we went hard on our timeline posts. By Friday most of the students were working on their good copies. We will finish off Monday, and go over them Tuesday.

In science we looked at the nervous system as well as the urinary system. With the nervous system, we learned that the brain interprets data, sends signals down the spinal cord, through the nerves, and cause them to react. With the urinary system, we learned that the liver cleans blood to create urea, then the kidneys clean the urea to make urine. It then travels through the ureter to the bladder, then out the urethra. The students really enjoyed this lesson.

We got to participate in a Metis workshop, thanks to Ms. Trish. We learned about different dances, and created some dot art.

Next week we will look at finding perimeter pairs for specific areas in math, finish our timeline work in social studies, study for and take our final science test on the human body, work on finishing off our novel study work, and practice more poems using similes and metaphors through colours.

We also have our Curling field trip on Thursday. Don’t forget to bring a helmet!

Going to be another full week of learning. Have a good weekend, and see you Monday.

Feb 162024
 

Hello!

We made it to our first long weekend, in what feels like forever. It was a pretty hectic week, especially with Valentines in the middle, so hope everyone uses this weekend to unwind.

In math this week we went hard on reviewing how to tell time and read a clock. This is a grade 4 subject, but too many students were asking me when things were, so I though a week of review would help.  They did very will with our quiz,  most only getting 1 or 2 incorrect. Here is hoping I get less questions about when recess will be.

In language arts we started our poetry unit by looking at different poetic devices that can strengthen a poem. We talked about alliteration, hyperbole, similes, and metaphors. We also got through 15 more chapters from our novel study, getting up to chapter 32. Things are getting more eventful now, especially since both sets of groups have most of their clues, they just need to figure them out.

In science we learned about bones and muscles. There are two types of bones: axial and apendicular. Bones also help protect our organs, keep us upright, and make red blood cells. There are three types of muscles: skeletal, cardiac, and smooth. Muscles work in pairs called flexor (bend) amd extensor (straighten). We used this knowledge to make model robot hands! Pull the string and the fingers move.

In social studies we started our Canadian timeline project. First we broke up into groups to research specific areas in Canadian history. Then students chose 3 specific dates, and started researching. Some topics include: Canadian symbols, Explorers, Provinces, Residential schools, and the railway.

Next week we will look at perimeter and area of rectangles in math,  use some similes to make acrostic poems about ourselves in language arts, work on our second timeline post in social studies, and learn about the nervous system and the urinary system in science. Going to be a fun week.

Hope everyone has a good long weekend, and see you Tuesday.

Feb 102024
 

Hello!

Another full week, anyone ready for a 3 day weekend yet?

We were pretty busy with our novel study this week, finishing 15 chapters. So far it looks like the kids are trying to find clues on how to escape the library. We are making predictions on who will escape first, so we will see.

We finished off our Secret Rules stories with a picture. They are located in our hallway for others to read.

In math we reviewed our multiplication and division strategies for our final test. Most did pretty well, with some issues here and there. Gave me a good picture of where we are at.

We also finished off our Social Studies government unit, first by making a cheat sheet, then taking a final test, covering levels of government, types of government, and elections in Canada. So far looks pretty good.

In science we learned about the circulatory system, and how our hearts main purpose to is to pump O2 blood throughout our body using arteries,  transferring O2 for CO2 in capillaries, returning the CO2 blood back to the heart through veins, and pumping it back to the lungs to leave the body.

In french we finished off our brochures, showcasing Le Carnival de Quebec. Looks like a fun place to visit.

On Friday we learned about Lunar New Year, and how it is now the year of the dragon. We have a couple of lanturns on display in our window.

Next week we will start our time unit,  learning how to read a clock face. In language arts we will start poetry, working on more descriptive writing. In social studies we will start our Canadian timeline project, looking into specific areas of Canadian history. In science we will look at the skeletan and muscular system. Going to be a full week, especially with Friday being off.

Have a good weekend, and see you Monday.

 

Feb 062024
 

Hello!

A little late with this, though as I was away for most of last week, we didn’t really cover anything new.

In math we learned how to do long division, and our quiz in Friday went pretty well.

In language arts,  students worked on typing up 1 of their stories, and adding more detail to our writing.

In social studies we reviewed Canadian elections, and took a quiz. This one was a bit of a challenge, as there was a lot of info to focus on.

In science we learned about the respiratory system, and how we breath oxygen in, it travels down our trachea, through our brochials, to the alveoli, where it swaps for carbon dioxide.

It was Literacy week, so we got to partake in some fun activities. We also got to create some clay sculptures. And swimming on Thursday went very well.

Next week we will review multiplication and division for a final test, finish off our government unit with a final test,  finish our Secret Rules story, finish our French brochure, and earn about the circulatory system.

Hope everyone had a good weekend, let’s continue to work hard this week.

Jan 272024
 

Hello!

Glad we got to have a full week back, and managed to catch up on our work from all those ‘snow days’.

In math this week we learned about the bar method of division, where we use multiplication, subtraction, and addition to solve 3 digit division equations. We focused on ‘magic numbers’ of 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, and 1, multiplies we are familiar with, which helped us lower the divided number.  By the end of the week, seems like almost everyone got it.

In language arts we wrote 3 rough copy mini stories, focusing on the secret reasons we have specific rules. It can be a little tricky, as we are writing fiction that kind of makes sense. So students have to really think about why something is the way it is in their story.

In social studies we learned about the provincial parties and their beliefs. We created posters as well. We also had a discussion on the left vs center vs right political ideologies.

In science we managed to finally finish our Rube Goldberg machines. We were down to the wire for some of them. Here is our video

We also started learning about the human body in science. We discussed how cells make cell tissue, which make organs, which then make organ systems. We then started our look at the digestive system,  and what happens when we eat food. We experimented with this, and modeled each step. The students were not happy with the small intestine step.

In french we started learning about Le Carnival de Quebec. We watched a bunch of videos on it,  learning about the main attractions, food, and activities that occur. We will be making a brochure to showcase the events.

In preparation for next week (Literacy week) we made tiny book reviews for our hallway.

Next week we will be learning long division in math, writing 1 good copy story in language arts, having a quiz on political parties in social studies, learning about the respiratory system in science, finishing our brochure in french, and participating in Literacy week activities. All this and swimming on Thursday! It’s going to get busy.

Have a good weekend,  and see you Monday.

Jan 192024
 

Hello!

Well, we sure had an interesting week, with all the random snowfall. We got some work done, but many of our assignments had to be pushed to next week.

In math this week we learned some dividing strategies. We learned how to use an array to solve 53 divided by 7. We also lear ed to use repeated subtraction (which was not a fan favourite among students).

In language arts we started our creativite writing projects. Students will be coming up with creative reasons why we have adult rules. Those attended on Wendesday managed to write their first rough copy.

In social studies we started looking at different political parties of the federal system. Students needed to research 1 party, and find out what they are campaigning for. We then presented our posters, and took notes on each.

In science we have been working on our Rube Goldberg machines. We were supposed to finish today, but with the snow, looks like we will need an extra day or two to complete.

On Friday all of the grade 5 students got to participate in the Hackathon, where they used python of code and draw shapes. It looked like everyone had a great time, and learned a lot.

Next week we will be finishing our Rube Goldbergs, and starting our look st the human body in science. In social studies we will be looking at our provincial political parties, and creating a poster on one. In math we will look at bar division using magic numbers, to help with 3 digit division. In language arts we will continue our creative writing project, and write 1 to 2 more stories. Lots to learn and catch up on.

Have a good weekend, and see you Monday.

Jan 132024
 

Hello!

It was good to see everyone after the break,  it sounds like most had a great time. Pretty short week, with us mostly doing catch up and review.

In language arts we wrote about our holiday break, practicing more paragraph writing and proofreading.

In math we reviewed our multiplication strategies for larger numbers.

In science we started building Rube Goldberg machines, with the purpose of popping a balloon. We are in the initial stages of building, and next week will be finished.

In social studies we learned about the history of how Canada got the right to vote, and how long it took for every Canadian be able to vote. We created a timeline of the most important events to us.

In art we started painting some winter landscapes. Some are not finished yet,  so a picture will be posted next week. Here is what we have so far.

Next week we will finish our Rube Goldberg machines, learn about the Federal election parties, start division by learning the array and repeated subtraction strategies, and start our creative writing project about secret reasons to grown up rules. It will be a busy week.

Have a good weekend,  and stay warm.