Monday 25 September 2017

Week 4: Sept 25-29

Thank you to all of the parents and volunteers who came out to support us in our 18th annual Terry Fox walk! It was a beautiful day for a walk around the neighbourhood! Final numbers have not yet been counted, but you can still make online donations at http://www.terryfox.ca/StClareCatholic. Thank you for your support in keeping Terry's dream alive!

Math - We continue with our daily math warm ups. Lots of math conversation among students! We are continuing Place Value. (Recognizing numbers up to the 10 000 in standard, expanded, words, and place value form). There will be a math quiz on Place Value this week, and we will move into addition and subtraction also this week.

Language Arts - we are finishing our unit on Self-Monitoring by writing a narrative. Students will have a choice of topic. After reading Catching the Moon, we wrote briefly about a dream we have and how we will reach it. Terry Fox also had a dream of running across Canada to raise money for cancer research. Students will have a choice of writing about either their dream in more detail, or writing about Terry Fox and his dream.  We also wrote a CASI reading test, to get a baseline level for each student.  We will write 2 more over the course of the year, to see how students are progressing.

Science - students had a great morning, building structures that use pulleys to perform work in the makerspace. They had a choice of materials to build with, and could build anything that uses a pulley. Most students are finished. We have a lot of cranes, an elevator, and a few others that are incomplete - can't wait to see what they will be!

Religion - we have been competing the Samaritans on the Digital Road. This resource is produced by our board for teachers to engage students in learning about participating in the digital world in a proactive, responsible and compassionate manner. It is built upon the shoulders of Jesus' parable about the Good Samaritan and teaches students how to be responsible digital citizens. We have completed 2 of the 5 lessons, and the students are really enjoying them. Here is a link to the Be Internet Awesome game produced by Google: Be Internet Awesome. Here is a link to the One Day video from Lesson 1: One Day.

Phys Ed - we are finishing up Cross-Country running and continuing with cooperative, team building games.

Don't Forget:

-Library day is now Thursdays for book exchange
-Picture day is Wednesday, (the 27th)

Sunday 17 September 2017

Week 3: Sept 18-22

It was great to meet so many of you at Curriculum Night on Wednesday!  If you were not able to make it, here is a link to my presentation, and here is a link to Mr. Karpinski's presentation. Please let us know if there is anything you would like more information about, or if you have any questions.

We had a very busy first full week back!  Our schedule has been adjusted slightly, here is the most recent update:

 As you can see, our phys ed days have changed to Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; our library day will be Thursday. Please keep these days in mind so that your child can remember to dress for active movement on physical education days, and remember their library book to return on Thursdays.  Thank you!

This week in phys ed we have been running (or briskly walking) the cross-country route in the school yard. Students complete a warm-up first, and a cool down afterwards to avoid  muscle cramping or strain. They are encouraged to drink plenty of water to counteract dehydration, especially in our warm September weather. We will continue with cross-country practice in the coming week, as it is the first sport of the year. We will also begin with our health unit on healthy eating choices.

We had a brief introduction to our first art strand - Drama! We began by doing the Tortoise and the Hare as a Reader's Theatre play so that students can learn to read with expression. We will continue with Reader's Theatre and the importance of using voice and expression before adding movement and costuming/props to our drama.

In Math, we completed more of the Week of Inspirational Math videos and activities from Youcubed, the Stanford University site produced by Jo Boaler. Pictures of most of our activities were posted on the class Twitter account, if you are interested. They really enjoyed making shapes from string!  We have moved on to our Numeration unit;  making and ordering numbers to the ten thousands place. We played a fun game called JunkIt that you can play at home, to emphasize the importance of place value. All you need is a dice, a piece of scrap paper, and a pencil or pen. Set up your game board like this:
Take turns rolling the dice and placing the number you rolled on a line. You have 2 opportunities to "Junk It" if a roll is not what you wanted. The player with the highest number wins! You can switch it up and have the player with the smallest number win. There is some luck, and some strategy involved.

In Language Arts, we finished our Read-Aloud about Marcenia Lyle/Toni Stone, and have moved on to a shared reading activity, Zero's Math Adventures. 

We completed our second STEM challenge on Friday. We asked students to consider what people rebuilding in a flood zone or after a hurricane might have to think of when redesigning their houses. We then supplied each group with cardboard, MakeDo tools and screws, and let them build. We were amazed at the ideas the students came up with, from doors that sealed out water, to houses on stilts so water could flow underneath, and roofs that shed water. Great ideas! Pictures are posted on Twitter.

Please remember to return:
-chocolate money or unsold chocolates; more are also available if you would like to sell more
-the forms that were sent home on the first day if you haven't already
-Terry Fox permission form





Sunday 10 September 2017

Week 2: September 11-15

We had a great first week back at school! What a wonderful group of Gr. 4 students I have this year! We are settling into our room and adjusting to new routines. Here's what we did last week:

In Phys Ed, we played some cooperative games to help us build community and learn teamwork! We played 2 games this week, Rescue and Sinkerball, both designed to encourage students to help their teammates to overcome obstacles.

In Science, we had a brief introduction to our first unit, Pulleys and Gears. We looked through pictures to find examples of things that use pulleys in our everyday lives, and posted them on a Padlet. We then experimented with pulleys, string, spring scales and weights to see what we could discover!  Next week, we will build and use fixed, moveable and combined (block & tackle) pulleys and discover how they give us mechanical advantage when doing work.

In Language Arts, we made Summer Selfies - little "snapshots" of our summer with short descriptions. These are posted on the bulletin board outside the classroom, take a look on Wednesday night if you are able to attend Meet the Teacher / Curriculum Night!  Next week, we will begin our first Strategy Unit, Self-Monitoring, with the read-aloud Catching the Moon.  It is one of my favourites, based on the life of Marcenia Lyle, also known as Toni Stone, who was the first woman ever to play professional baseball in a men's league.

In Math, we have been working on the Week of Inspirational Math activities put out by Jo Boaler from Stanford University. Her research into brain science and how everyone can be good at math is inspirational! The videos and activities that she and her team develop help students learn that speed is not as important as thinking deeply and making connections when it comes to math. We will be completing the activities this week, and moving on to the Numeration strand.

In Religion, we completed the first Samaritans on the Digital Road lesson produced by the school board. This short series of lessons is grade specific and intended to teach the children good digital citizenship, and good citizenship in general. We have a few more lessons to complete. There is a new Religion programme this year, which was just received in the school, so I will be reading it over and implementing it very soon.

As part of the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning, we will partner up with the other Gr. 4 class (Mrs. Marchant's class) to do STEM challenges on a biweekly basis. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Students are given a challenge, or problem to solve, and some simple materials to solve it with. They must work as a team and use their Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Character and Citizenship skills to find a solution to the problem. We started this week with a cute problem, Saving Fred. The introductory video is here: here, and the problem is laid out here. Ask your child what solution they came up with, and how successful they were! Also, check out the pictures posted on Twitter in the sidebar.

A few more notes to remember:
*library day will be Monday; your child will have the opportunity to borrow a library book each week and return it the following week

*thank you to everyone who sent in kleenex and other assorted supplies! Please remember to send indoor shoes if you have not already - we have phys ed 3 times per week - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so clean non-skid running shoes are needed those days.

*your child came home with a number of papers and forms on Wednesday last week, please sign and return them as soon as possible if you have not already. The package contained :
  • a school year calendar -for your reference at home
  • a checklist of forms - to keep you organized!
  • a Student Verification Form (white) - please verify the information, make any necessary changes, sign and return with your child
  • the Acceptable Use of Technology Agreement - read it over with your child.  Both your child and yourself need to initial and sign both sides, then return it to school.
  • Informed Consent for Student Participation and Acknowledgment of Risks - please read this form carefully, complete, sign and return
  • Permission letter  - to go on Learning Walks and to the park at Arc-en-Ciel, please sign and return
  • Volunteer Form (purple) - please sign if you are able to lend a hand in any area!
* Unless you indicated otherwise, your child also came home with a box of chocolates to sell as part of the School Council Fundraiser. There are many awesome prizes to be won by students who sell the most boxes, and everyone benefits from the purchases made from the funds raised! Please support this initiative by selling chocolates at your place of work, or to family and friends. Children are not to go door-to-door. If you would like more boxes of chocolate to sell, drop a note to the school or send me a note through the blog and we will send more home.

*Most teachers will not be using agendas in the junior grades, we will be making use of classroom websites and blogs to pass along information. You can follow my blog by subscribing at the bottom of this page. If you want your child to have an agenda for their personal use, there are some available at the office.  
Mme Corriveau has her blog at http://madamecorriveau.blogspot.ca/ 
Mme Gauthier has her blog at http://madamejoseegauthier.blogspot.ca/
Mr. Karpinski's blog is forthcoming

Please feel free to drop me a line or leave me a message using my parent contact form on the side of the blog.  If your child is going to be absent, or late, or you would like to set up an appointment, or you just want me to be aware of something that may be affecting your child, it's easy to reach me.  

I look forward to seeing you all at Program Night on Wednesday at 6:30, starting in the gym. Afterwards, I will be in Room 110.

Sunday 3 September 2017

Welcome Back!

Dear Parents and Students,
Welcome to a new school year at St. Clare! And a special welcome to our new students! We hope that your family had a wonderful, fun-filled summer, and are returning to us with enthusiasm for new challenges. We look forward to working together in the upcoming year.
My name is Alane Martinuzzi, and this is my 29th year teaching, the last 16 or so have been at St. Clare.  I will be joined by Miss Anderson, a second year teacher candidate from the University of Ottawa, who will be with us until the end of January.  I will be teaching Grade 4 Science, Physical Education and Health, and 2 of the Arts strands (Drama, Dance) in the mornings, and Grade 4 Math, Language Arts, and Religion / Family Life in the afternoons. Parents, please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns that may arise over the school year. You can contact me directly through the form on the class blog - http://martinuzzi1718.blogspot.ca/ - or by calling the school at 613-834-6334. Check the blog regularly - you will find lots of information about what is going on in our classroom, upcoming events, and what might be due in the next little while.  You can also follow the Clare Calendar of upcoming events and our Twitter feed there!

Our homeroom will be Room 110 this year. Each student will be bringing home a schedule of their day and a list of their teachers for your reference. The Grade 4 extended students will have M Karpinski as their French teacher this year. My Grade 4 teaching partner is Mrs. Marchant, and she will be teaching both Math and Language Arts to the other class of Gr. 4 students. We hope to do a lot of #STEM challenges together as we integrate technology and the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning.
While most of the necessary supplies are provided by the school, students may prefer to have some supplies of their own. A list of suggested items is posted on the school website: here . Each child will need a pair of indoor running shoes with non-marking soles for use in the gym and the classroom. We also welcome boxes of Kleenex, Ziploc bags, and bottles of hand soap or sanitizer for general classroom use. (Please note that in my virtually paperless classroom I have bins of communal supplies for students to share, and do not require additional items to be sent in, other than indoor shoes - but I do appreciate Kleenex!) )
Please remember that the safety and well-being of our students is of the utmost importance. St. Clare is a nut-free, peanut-free and scent-free school. Please check the ingredients of lunch and snack foods carefully, and enjoy any containing nuts or peanuts at home only. As well, parents volunteering at the school are asked to avoid the use of perfumes and other scented products for the comfort and safety of students with environmental sensitivities. Your cooperation is very important and greatly appreciated.
Students are encouraged to bring a water bottle to keep on their desk throughout the day. Staying well hydrated, together with eating healthy snacks, helps to improve energy, concentration and alertness, and builds better eating habits for a healthy lifestyle.
I look forward to meeting most of you during Curriculum Night on Wednesday, September 13 at 6:30 pm.  If there are any concerns you would like us to be aware of now, or at any time in the school year, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Thank you!
Your partner in education,
Alane Martinuzzi