Friday, January 25, 2019

We just finished week 19 in portable 2. Here is a bit of what we were up to:

Let’s Talk Science – We had some 4th year McMaster University students visit us this past week for a program called, Let’s Talk Science. Their names were Elizabeth and Megan. The focus of the program was The Science of Music. This was a perfect tie in to the bucket drumming we’ve been doing during music class. We learned about how sound works to make music and we made some of our own instruments to test out our knowledge. Below you will see some pictures from this event:

January ROAR Assembly – We had our January ROAR assembly on Friday. At the assembly, the grade 4 students were recognized for their incredible bucket drumming performance at the WDHS Talent Show. The grade 4 students were also recognized for their hard work collecting compost everyday for the whole school. WPS is very proud of the students and the ROAR assemblies provide an opportunity to celebrate them.

Speech Writing – We continue to work on writing speeches for homework and we just finished week three of our speech writing homework. Students will be expected to say their speech in front of their classmates on one of four dates: Thursday, Feb. 8th, Friday, Feb. 9th, Monday, Feb. 11th, or Tuesday, Feb. 12th. I will announce the two students who will be moving on to the gym competition by the end of the day on Tuesday, Feb. 12th. The WPS Speech competition will be held in the gym on Tuesday, Feb. 19th and the Legion Speech Competition will be held at the Waterford Legion on Sunday,  Feb. 24th.

Video for Skate-a-thon Assemblies – As part of our studies in Media Literacy, we created a video that will be shared at the Waterford Lion’s Skate-a-Thon assemblies. So far, the video has been shown at Boston Public School and Bloomsburg Public School with raving reviews. This upcoming week, it will be shown at St. Bernard’s School, Teeterville Public School, and our school. The video adds a fresh feel to the Skate-a-thon and makes it more exciting for students to participate. The video that we created will be shown at our school this Wednesday. If you would like to come and watch it with us in the gym, please feel free to join us. The assembly starts at 11:30am. The assembly will be about 30 minutes long. Please let me know if you’re coming by sending me an email at julie.pragnell@granderie.ca.

Media Reflection – The Skate-a-thon assembly video is officially finished so, we took some time this past week to watch the video. This allowed us to reflect on how the visual and audio effects contributed to the purpose and needs of the audience. The students were so excited to see themselves on the big screen for a real purpose and audience. We can’t wait for the school to see it on Wednesday.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email me at julie.pragnell@granderie.ca OR call me at school: 519-443-8942.

-Mrs. Julie Pragnell

Friday, January 18, 2019

We just finished week 18 in portable 2. Here is a bit of what we were up to:

Math – We continued to organize and display different types of data on a stem and leaf plot. One set of data that we organized and displayed was the length of some insects. We pretended that we were scientists who study insects (entomologists) and we had found 20 insects (of the same species) in the woods. In order to determine how old the insects were, we had to measure the length of them in centimetres. Some insects were the same length and some insects were different lengths. For example, some were 1.4 cm while others were 2.5 cm or 0.8 cm. This activity sparked up some learning about the decimal place, the tenths place, ordering decimals, and counting by tenths. It also sparked up some learning about how many millimetres are in a centimetre and representing the same length in different ways (e.g.,   1.4 cm can also be represented as:     1 and 4/10 cm        or       14 mm).

Talent Show Performance – We performed our bucket drumming routine for a large audience (about 400 people) on Tuesday and the students did a fabulous job. We opened up the show with a bang and we got to watch many other talented acts (i.e., tap dancing, singing, guitar, trumpet, jazz dancing, piano, violin, Elvis, and interactive storytelling). A special mention goes out to Lily, Gracie, and Sophie from our class who did a jazz dance. They performed to the song, Great Balls of Fire. Their costumes were amazing and their moves were awesome. The trio worked really hard (in their spare time) to practice leading up to the event. Over six hundred dollars was raised for the Norfolk Association for Community Living. It felt good to raise money for a good cause and perform for a supportive audience. Everyone in the audience really loved the Talent Show. Some of the students even got their picture in the paper:

Speech Writing – We continue to work on writing speeches for homework and we just finished week two of our speech writing homework. I hand out the weekly homework each Monday and it’s due the following Friday or Monday. Students will be expected to say their speech in front of the classroom in February.

Stitching Club – A lot of the students (over half) in our class joined the stitching club at school. The stitching club runs every Wednesday at First Break in the library (until March Break). Club members can learn how to knit, crochet, or cross stitch. They learn from an expert, Mrs. Crowhurst (an Educational Assistant that works at WPS). If your child still wants to join, there is room in the club and still time to join. Let me know by emailing me: julie.pragnell@granderie.ca.

Basketball Intramurals – A lot of the students in our class have signed up to participate in basketball intramurals. There are four teams that play against each other and games are held during recess (a few times a week).  A big thanks to Mrs. Smart for organizing this. If your child wants to join, there is still room and still time to join. Let me know by emailing me: julie.pragnell@granderie.ca.

Creating Media – As part of our studies in Media Literacy, we are creating a video that will be shared at the Waterford Lion’s Skate-a-Thon Assemblies. Each January, the Waterford Lions (Lion Al, Lion Bob, and Lion Bordan) travel around to five local schools (Waterford Public School, Teeterville, Bloomsburg, Boston, and St. Bernard’s) to inform students about the Skate-a-thon and motivate them to raise money for this great cause. This year, our class is helping the Waterford Lions by creating a video that will be shown to students at all five schools. We hope the video will add a fresh feel to the assemblies and better motivate students to participate. Half of the money raised from the Skate-a-thon comes back to our school and half of the money raised goes to build the skate park in Waterford. It is definitely a worthwhile cause. Projects like this give students a real-life reason for working/learning which can be more motivating/engaging. On Friday, we walked to the future location of the Waterford skate park to do some on-site filming and take some photographs. In the picture below, we are standing at the site of the future Waterford skate park (which will be built beside the Waterford Heritage and Agricultural Museum):

Waterford Food Cupboard – On our way to the future skate park in Waterford, we stopped by the Waterford Food Cupboard so that students could see where it is. Our school donated a lot of food to the Waterford Food Cupboard at Christmas time and I think it’s good for students to see it. It’s an important part of our community and many volunteers work together to make it happen. It wasn’t open, we just stopped on the outside of the building and took a picture. Here are some pictures of our stop:

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email me at julie.pragnell@granderie.ca OR call me at school: 519-443-8942.

-Mrs. Julie Pragnell

 

Friday, January 11, 2019

Happy New Year!!! We just finished week 17 in portable 2. It was our first week together for 2019. Here is a bit of what we were up to:

Estimation – We started a weekly estimation challenge this past week. Students were shown a large jar with cottonballs inside and they were asked to estimate how many cottonballs were in the jar. We collected the guesses anonymously and discussed the strategies that were used to make their estimation. We laid the guesses out in order from smallest to greatest and revealed the exact amount after we looked at the estimations. The students enjoyed this challenge and it definitely sparked some interesting math thinking/talk in the classroom. Each week, students will get another jar full of a random objects and they will have to estimate how many are in the jar. This activity will improve their ability to make a reasonable guess and use estimation strategies which is an important part of developing their number sense.

Data Management – Before Christmas, we learned how to display data on a double bar graph. This week, we learned how to display data on a stem and leaf plot. We also explored how to find the mode in a set of data (the value in a set that occurs most often), the median in a set of data (the middlemost number in the set), and what it means to look at the shape of data (e.g., When looking at the different heights of the students in our class, what height range is the most common? Most of the students in our class have a height between 130cm to 139cm.)

Bucket Drumming – We were in the gym each morning this past week to practice and put the finishing touches on our bucket drumming routine. The class is sounding really good. We performed on Friday at primary sharing to get a feel for performing in front of an audience. The students and staff at primary sharing really enjoyed our performance. Next, it’s on to the Waterford High School to participate in the Talent Show. The performance is on Tuesday at 10:30am in the High School gym. We hope you can make it. If not, I will be videotaping the performance and I can share it with you some other time.

Video Analysis – As we practiced our bucket drumming routine each morning, I videotaped it so that the students could see themselves from the audience’s point of view. It allowed them to see if they were meeting the success criteria when it comes to using the tools and techniques of musicianship in our bucket drumming performance (i.e., proper posture, holding the drum sticks properly, keeping with the beat/rhythm, using their right hand and their left hand at the proper times, keeping an eye on the conductor,  hitting the drum in the proper spot at the proper time with the right amount of strength, facial expression matches the feeling of the music).

Speech Writing – We started writing our speeches for the Royal Canadian Legion speech contest this past week. Each student will write their speech for homework. I will hand out the weekly homework each Monday and it’s due the following Friday or Monday. Students will be expected to say their speech in front of the classroom in February.

Mrs. Pellazzarri Visits – Mrs. Pellazzarri, our classroom Child and Youth Worker, came to visit us this past Wednesday. During her visit, she continued to talk with us about feelings with a focus on anger (what is it, how do we feel inside when we’re angry, how does it show on the outside when we’re angry). One thing she reviewed with us when it comes to handling our anger is that there are three basic rules to always live by, 1. Never hurt anyone (physically or emotionally). 2. Never damage property. 3. Never hurt yourself (physically or emotionally).

Old Town Hall Art Gallery – On Tuesday, we walked to the Old Town Hall Art Gallery to observe and discuss art by two local artists. One artist was Jennifer Budd who has a studio in Paris, Ontario and the other artist was Kit Julian who has a studio in Simcoe, Ontario. Here are some pictures of our time at the art gallery:

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email me at julie.pragnell@granderie.ca OR call me at school: 519-443-8942.

-Mrs. Julie Pragnell

Friday, December 21, 2018

We just finished week 16 in portable 2. It’s our last week together in 2018. Here is a bit of what we were up to:

Turkey Dinner – Thanks to some amazing volunteers and sponsors, we enjoyed a free turkey dinner on Monday. It was delicious. Our bellies were happy and we felt grateful. Here are some pictures of the event which was held at The Waterford United Church:

Spirit Days – Our holiday spirits shined as we participated in a different theme each day of the week. Red and green day, favourite movie character day, hat/headgear day, tacky sweater day, and pajama day. Here are some pictures:

Carol Sing – On Tuesday and Friday, we joined the whole school in the gym for carol sing. We sang many different Christmas songs and watched minute-to-win-it games (teachers vs students). Here are some pictures of the festivities:

Gym – We played Elves’ Court in gym (it is basically my version of King’s Court but we pretend we are elves and we are throwing ornaments at each other …. you sit down if you get hit … you can free your whole team by hitting the backboard). Here is a picture of team red elves vs team blue elves playing Elves’ Court in the gym:

Making Christmas Gifts and Pop-Up Cards for our Parents – The students worked really hard on the Christmas gift for their parents. It’s a symbol of how thankful we are for our parents and everything they do to “light up our lives”.

Data Management and Probability –  We had some fun this week with some Christmas gifts and math. There were five Christmas gifts up for grabs in a raffle draw. Each student got some raffle tickets and they could decide where they put their raffle tickets. Did they want to put them all in for one of the Christmas gifts to increase their chance of winning or did they want to divide up their chances of winning between the Christmas gifts? Students recorded the data on a chart to show where each student put their raffle tickets and we used the data to determine who had the highest probability (chance) of winning each gift. Here are the names that were drawn for each prize:

Azaliah – Name drawn for the Rafiki bracelet.

Austin – Name drawn for the Basketball.

Rhya – Name drawn for the Gem Dig kit.

Edith – Name drawn for the Magic Show kit.

Paityn – Name drawn for the Minga bracelet.

The people who had the highest chance of winning were the names that actually got drawn except Edith who had the lowest chance of winning the Magic Show kit and her name got drawn (lucky Edith …. that’s probability for you ….. it can be frustrating sometimes). After the draw, everyone else got to pick a prize from the prize bin for Christmas.

Dancing and Musical Numbers – This is quite the fun crew of students. They love to dance and they love to party. We really enjoyed our Christmas party on Friday. The students played musical numbers and ate/drank some tasty stuff throughout the day. Musical numbers is a game where there are numbers from 1 to 24 on the dance floor. The music plays and the students dance around. When the music stops, they stand on a number. Whoever is standing on the number that I draw out of the cup, wins a prize.

Save the Date – Our class will be performing our Bucket Drumming Routine in the WDHS Talent Show which is on Tuesday, January 15th at 10:30am at the Waterford high school gym. Parents/Guests are welcome to come and watch our performance.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – I want to take the time to wish you (the person who actually takes the time to read my blog …… thank you) a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! The last sixteen weeks with this class have been amazing and I look forward to spending more time with them in 2019.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email me at julie.pragnell@granderie.ca OR call me at school: 519-443-8942.

-Mrs. Julie Pragnell

p.s. Here is the January Calendar: 

PDF Copy of jan calendar

 

Friday, December 14, 2018

We just finished week 15 in portable 2. Here is a glimpse of what we’ve been up to:

Harmonica Presentation – Mr. Hogg is an amazing musician and volunteer who works with some of the classes at our school. We are very fortunate to have him volunteer at our school. Some of his volunteer time is spent teaching grade 7/8 students how to play the harmonica. Our class got to listen to Mr. Hogg (playing his guitar) and the grade eights (playing their harmonicas) this past week. It was an excellent performance and we really enjoyed it.

Measurement – We explored the relationship between centimetres and metres.  One way that we did this was by measuring the height of each student in our classroom. Then, we discussed how our height can be represented in different ways. For example, if John was 1m and 40 cm tall, we could represent that same height using only centimetres (140 cm)  OR using only metres (1.4 m). The decimal ignited a lot of curious math talk. We compared the different representations on a chart.

Data Management – We learned about a double bar graph this week and how it can help us display/compare two sets of data. We made our own double bar graph to further understand this. Our double bar graph will display/compare two sets of data once it is finished. The first set of data is each student’s height that we measured on Dec. 11, 2018. The second set of data will be each student’s height that will be measured on June 11, 2019 (six months later). The students have six months to grow. Then, we will measure again on June 11th and finish our double bar graph. The students are excited to see how many centimetres they will grow in six months.

Reading and Social Studies – Our Read Aloud of the Week was a poem called, I am Canada. The poem was written by Heather Patterson and each page was illustrated by thirteen different Canadian illustrators. It is a poem that invites Canadians to celebrate our country’s cultural diversity as well as the diversity of our landscapes and seasons. The poem also reminds us to be grateful for our freedom to explore time and space, knowledge and beauty. We were inspired to create our own artwork (thanks to this book). That art work will be shown at another time. Here is a picture of the front cover:

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email me at julie.pragnell@granderie.ca OR call me at school: 519-443-8942.

-Mrs. Julie Pragnell

 

 

Friday, December 7, 2018

We just finished week 14 in portable 2. Here is a glimpse of what we’ve been up to:

Fire Safety Presentation – Firefighter Rick and Captain Gary from the Norfolk County Fire Department came to talk about Fire Safety. They sent each of us home with a home escape plan to complete with our parents and post on the fridge. The firefighters recommend that we practice our home escape plan twice a year. Rick and Gary also reminded us to check our smoke alarms and our carbon monoxide detector at home to be sure they work.

Second Skate – We had our second skate this past week. The students really enjoy it and it’s a great way to get some exercise in the winter! We will skate two more times in the new year. Below are a few pics of us on the ice:

Online Math Games – At times, during computer class, we play some different online math games. Here is a description of three online math games we’ve learned so far. You can click on the title at the top of each picture and it will take you to the website.

POLYUP

REFRACTION

SOLVE ME MOBILES

Spelling Focus of the Week – Our Spelling Focus of the week was words with the “sh” sound. Last week it was words with the “ch” sound.

Christmas Open House – It was great to see so many of you at our Christmas Open House on Wednesday evening. I was helping to run Santa Bingo in Ms. Van Kessel’s room. We had a lot of fun and handed out a lot of prizes.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email me at julie.pragnell@granderie.ca OR call me at school: 519-443-8942.

-Mrs. Julie Pragnell

Friday, November 30, 2018

We just finished week 13 in portable 2. Here is a bit of what we were up to:

Mathematics – We’ve been sharpening up our problem solving skills. Here is a picture of our problem solving model:

Our knowledge of addition facts, multiplication facts, and arrays came in handy for a math problem that we worked on this week. Reggie got four pet rabbits from his neighbour who was moving. Reggie’s mom said that he could build a fenced in area in their backyard but it couldn’t be any larger than 30 square metres and it had to be a rectangle. Reggie wanted it to be as big as it could be so, we sat down to figure out what he could build to have a fenced in area for his rabbits that is 30 square metres:

We decided that Reggie’s rabbits would like the first idea best. Then, we gathered up all of the metre sticks that we could find in the school and we built it to see how big it would actually be in real life. Here is a picture of what we built (we didn’t have enough metre sticks so, each student’s feet represents where the metre sticks would have met around the outside edge of the rectangle):

Oh and you will see that one student had to lay down to be a metre stick because we were short one metre stick for that section (I promise that she had snowpants and a coat on …. LoL). This activity helps students understand what it means to find the perimeter and area of a rectangle. Perimeter is the outside dimensions (length + width + length + width) which in this case is measured by metres. Area is the inside space (length x width) which in this case is measured by square metres.

Reading and Social Studies – Our Read Aloud of the Week was a story called, Carson Crosses Canada. It’s about Annie and her dog (Carson) who live by the Pacific Ocean in British Columbia. They pack up and drive across Canada to visit Annie’s sister who lives in Newfoundland by the Atlantic Ocean (and her dog, Digby). They make stops along the way and discover different parts of the land in Canada. Here is a picture of the front cover:

This book helped us to better understand the physical regions of Canada which is what we are focusing on in Social Studies. Below, you will find a map of the physical regions of Canada:

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email me at julie.pragnell@granderie.ca OR call me at school: 519-443-8942.

-Mrs. Julie Pragnell

 

 

 

 

Friday, November 23, 2018

Here is a bit of what we were doing during week twelve in portable two:

Physical Education – We were learning how to serve a volleyball . We tried our very best to serve the ball over the net and get some points for our team while playing Newcombe.

Writing and Oral Communication– We are still writing non-fiction, expository paragraphs on a variety of topics (writing that sticks to the facts). This past week, we started our sharing schedule. Each student has one turn per week on the sharing schedule and they pick one of their paragraphs to read out loud to the class. This will help students warm-up to saying speeches in February.

Art Gallery Visit – We had our second visit to the art gallery at the Old Town Hall to observe and discuss the new items on display. We saw photographs from some local photographers. All of the photos were taken in Norfolk County. We saw amazing photos of turtles, insects, and a variety of plants. The photographs were very impressive. Here are some photos of our time at the art gallery:

Spelling Lessons – The focus for our spelling lessons this past week were: Words with Short Vowel Sounds.

Remembrance Day Posters Update – Our posters have been judged and returned to our school. Everyone did a fabulous job and the Waterford Legion was very impressed with the effort everyone put in to their posters. We have a winner from our class and it is Ivy Kapp. Ivy got first place in the black and white poster contest (out of the grade 4,5,6 entries). Congratulations Ivy!

First Skate – We had our first skate this past week. We will skate three more times this year. Below are a few pics of us at the arena:

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email me at julie.pragnell@granderie.ca OR call me at school: 519-443-8942.

-Mrs. Julie Pragnell

Please make sure your child brings their skates, helmet, and mitts/gloves to school on Wednesday because we are skating at 9am. If you are able to volunteer to tie skates and/or skate with us, please meet us at the rink at 9am (just make sure you have a valid police record check on file at the school). Thank you.

• Mrs. Pragnell

Friday, November 16, 2018

We just finished week eleven in portable two and here is a little bit of what’s been going on:

New Student – A new student (Carson) started on Monday so, we have spent a lot of time this past week reviewing what we’ve learned since September to get Carson up to speed.

Parent/Teacher Interviews – Parent/Teacher Interviews were held on Thursday evening and Friday morning. If any parents didn’t get a chance to book an interview, please contact me and we can set another time to meet.

Progress Reports – Progress Reports went home on Wednesday. Parents need to sign and return the bottom portion of the second page if they haven’t already done so.

Solar Powered Cars and Science – We had some university students from McMaster visit us on Wednesday to teach us about solar power (a renewable energy source) and build some solar powered cars with us. Here are some pictures below:

Maths Game – We often play a game in class to work on our basic multiplication facts (up to 10 x 10) and basic division facts (up to 100 divided by 10). Students play this game in partners. The game is called, How Many Squares Can You Fill In? In order to play, they get two grids (each 30 x 20), different coloured markers, and a pair of ten-sided dice. They take turns rolling the dice. After each roll, they colour in an array on the grid with the matching multiplication equation and division equation. Arrays are an excellent tool for students to see the “How Muchness” of Multiplication and Division. Arrays also help students understand how multiplication and division are related. When the time’s up, the partner that has filled in the most squares on the grid is the WINNER!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email me at julie.pragnell@granderie.ca OR call me at school: 519-443-8942.

-Mrs. Julie Pragnell