Book Orders

I have handed out the December book order forms today.  If your child would like to place an order, please have them returned to me by Tuesday December 1st, in order for them to arrive before Christmas break.  Thank you.

Mr. Aasen

Nov 23 - 26

Good evening.  This week there is no school for the students on Friday (Nov 27) as the teachers have a P.D day.  Other than that it is business as usual.  If you ordered Christmas cards they should be here by next week (December... Crazy!).  

Writing

This week in writing we will be looking at adding descriptive detail to our writing.  Writing in journals today, we talked about the 5 W's and how you can incorporate these questions into your writing to make it more detailed.  (Who did you go with?  What did you do/play/get/eat/watch? Where did you go?  Why did you do that/go there/like it?  When did you go?)

Math

This week in math we will be looking at estimation, and estimating numbers up to 100.  This is a difficult task for many students.  It is difficult to distinguish a pile of objects from being 30 or 100 for some and we will spend ample time on strategies and estimating skills.

Science

We continue our hot and cold temperatures unit.  Any opportunity you get to read a thermometer with your child at home will be beneficial in mastering the skills of reading thermometers and telling temperature.  Students will continue to struggle with the concept of having zero in the middle and getting bigger whether you go up or down from zero.  Emphasize with them the idea that any number with a minus in front of it is below zero and any number without a minus is above zero. (-4°C is 4 "ticks" below zero. 4°C is 4 "ticks" above zero).  We also are looking at the concepts of "warmer than" and "colder than" as well as freezing/melting/cooking/burning and how objects are affected by changes in temperature.

Social Studies

In social, we will be looking at the history of Iqaluit and why people have settled there.  We will discuss the cold climate and how it affects living there.  We will then do the same thing for Saskatoon and Meteghan.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Mr. Aasen

Nov 16 - Nov 20

Good day parents.  I hope everyone had an amazing Remembrance Day and "long" weekend. Just a few reminders.  If you want to order Christmas cards, the green form that was sent home last week must be returned by Wednesday with payment.  Also, another form is being sent home tomorrow regarding yearbooks.  If you are interested in ordering a yearbook, please return it by the stated date letting us know if you plan on ordering a yearbook so we can get an idea of numbers. As usual, Wednesday is popcorn day, Thursday is library, and Friday is hot lunch for those who ordered.

Language Arts

Writing:

We are continuing to look at the different types of writing, narrative and expository/informative.  We are going into detail about how to write a narrative piece versus an expository/informative piece of writing.  During writing exercises, we still focus on proper conventions and sentence structure, making sure to include beginning capital letters, as well as punctuation, regardless of the type of writing we are doing.

Reading:

I just wanted to quickly touch on the home reading.  When your child has completed any number of hours of reading, send in their red duotang so I can record their reading hours.  We are now recording how many hours we can read as a class throughout the school year.  I am challenging the students to see if we can reach a specific goal of combined reading hours.  

Math

We are continuing our unit in Math, Numbers to 100.  We will continue a lesson we started last week on odd and even numbers and finish up the week talking about ordinal numbers (ex. 1st (first), 2nd (second), and so on). 

Science

We have begun our second science unit, Hot and Cold temperatures.  Some of the things we will be discovering in this unit will be; reading thermometers (measuring temperature in degrees Celsius, using terms such as hotter than, colder than), how to change temperatures in homes and buildings, insulation and insulating properties, how buildings are heated, safe practices for handling hot and cold materials, how heating and cooling materials can change them (freezing, melting, cooking, burning), and the human body and how temperature changes can affect us.

Social

In social, we will be looking at the geography of the 3 communities we are studying, Iqaluit, Meteghan, and Saskatoon.  We are looking at things like climate, land formations, and natural resources we might find.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Mr. Aasen