Ms. Swinton's Class

Today in Math we corrected Extra Practices 6 & 7 (Estimating Differences, and Using Estimation to Check Answers) and continued working on our Metric Monsters to practice our measurement skills. In French, we had a great time reviewing our Halloween vocabulary by playing Quizlet Live! This game allowed students to compete in random groups, first translating French to English, and then English to French, with the first team to correctly answer 12 questions in a row winning. With the enthusiasm students showed for this game, along with the clear improvement in vocabulary knowledge that occurred as a result, we will definitely use this game again with future French vocabulary! We spent some time in Circle sharing the fantastic costumes that students wore to school today, and we also had our usual QR/UFW time to catch up on unfinished or overdue work or to read independently. Students had a lot of fun completing Halloween Mad Libs in Language Arts, and this provided a great revi...

Today in Math we corrected our Estimating Sums and Using Benchmarks to Estimate work on Extra Practices 4&5. We had a bit of time to work on our Metric Monsters, but will have a more significant period of time tomorrow. In Phys. Ed with Ms. Raude's class, we absolutely shattered our Indy 500 record! We spent some time sharing and discussing our feelings in Circle, finished up our mystery suitcase stories in Language Arts, and started a Halloween vocabulary word search in French. We also practiced our choral speech of In Flanders Fields, which is sounding amazing! Our next step is to ensure that students have memorized their parts in this poem, which will necessitate lots of practice at home! The poem is once again available at the end of this post to facilitate practicing at home. In Science we continued our research about how and why we should protect wetlands and the species in them. Some pairs finished their research and began creating a project or presentation that will con...

Today in Science we started doing some research on an endangered species found in wetlands, focusing on why this species is important, why it's endangered, and how we can protect it and its wetland habitat. We will continue this work tomorrow. In Phys. Ed., working with Mrs. Harms' class, we shattered the Indy 500 record with almost 400 collective laps! In Language Arts, we began preparations for the Remembrance Day assembly that we are putting on for the school on Friday, November 8. We watched a Heritage Minute about John McCrae and began rehearsing our choral speech of the poem In Flanders Fields . We have asked students to practice this poem at home as well, focusing on saying it with phrasing and expression, and working to have the words memorized. (Our class's portion is bolded and in purple.) In Flanders Fields By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The ...

Today we started working on Metric Monsters in Math. Students had to create a monster face consisting of at least six parts (head, hair, eye(s), ear(s), nose(s) and mouth(s)), at least one of which had to be a rectangle or square. Students had to measure and record the length of each body part in both centimeters and millimeters, as well as finding the perimeter and area of the square or rectangle. We will continue this measurement work in upcoming Math classes. Metric Monsters in Math In French, we continued practicing Halloween vocabulary using Quizlet and listening to "C'est l'Halloween." Students really enjoyed the matching and gravity games in Quizlet, and are encouraged to play these games more at home in order to practice this vocabulary. In Science we finished up identifying different types of wetlands and did an interactive demonstration of how interconnected a wetland food web is and the devastating effect of losing one species on the rest of the ...

Today started peacefully with some DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read) in which students were very engaged in the books they were reading. This was followed by an exciting assembly that included Mr. Janzic and Mr. Wilson dying their hair as part of the celebration of Hawkwood School achieving our Terry Fox Run goals! Mr. Janzic looked particularly dashing with his bright pink hair! After the assembly, we had our usual Friday sharing and compliment time in Circle, and then either continued to work on our Because of Mr. Terupt  character collages or spent some time catching up on unfinished or overdue work. There are a significant number of due dates coming up next week, so please support your child in ensuring that this work is completed on time by reminding them to work on it at home. In Phys. Ed. we had a choice day, and in Social Studies we continued to brainstorm the factors that contribute to quality of life. We finished up our day with a full school literacy acti...

Today in Math we reviewed our place value work as well as writing number sentences equalling 24. In Phys. Ed. we beat our Indy 500 record from last day! In French we continued to work with Halloween words by singing along with the song "C'est l'Halloween" and working through a vocabulary list on Quizlet . Students are encouraged to use these resources at home to further practice this vocabulary. In Science we continued practicing identifying different types of wetlands based on their characteristics. Our Grade 2 Buddies shared and explained their inventions using magnets and we spent some time reading with them. Then we spent most of the afternoon putting together our collaborative character collages about the seven main characters from Because of Mr. Terupt . We will continue working on these collages tomorrow, and students are invited to bring items from home as long as they are okay with not getting them back. We enjoyed exploring our Grade 2 Buddies' magn...

Today in Science we continued our exploration of different types of wetlands, examining photographs of wetlands and explaining what type of wetland we thought each photograph showed and why . Students were encouraged to focus on the specific characteristics of each type of wetland. In Phys. Ed. we practiced our running skills and teamwork doing Indy 500. In Language Arts we started planning for the large collaborative character collages we will be creating to represent the seven main characters who took turns narrating in Because of Mr. Terupt . We will begin putting these collages together starting tomorrow, and students are welcome to bring items/pictures from home to add to these collages, with the understanding that these items will be glued onto the paper and likely not returned to them. In Math we reviewed perimeter and area, including defining these terms and discussing the units to use and how to calculate these attributes for rectangles. We will be applying these...

Today in Math we wrapped up our work focused on estimation, though this is a concept that will continue to be important throughout the year. In French, we finished up our monsters, practicing our Halloween vocabulary, body part words, numbers, and colours. In Language Arts, we continued to practice replacing jail words with strong verbs, and students came up with some fantastic vocabulary, including "consumed," "snatched," "blurted," "detected," and "frolicked." We also finished reading Because of Mr. Terupt , and were thrilled to find that the ending was happier than many of us were expecting! Tomorrow we will begin some collaborative work to help represent characters from this powerful novel. In Social Studies we demonstrated our understanding of the concept of "identity" and wrapped up some of our unfinished assignments. Next we will begin exploring quality of life. Important Dates: Maze of Bones  Journal ...

Today we continued to work on estimation in Math, using the strategies of compatible numbers, front end rounding, and benchmarks in order to estimate sums, estimate differences, and check answers. We spent our Phys. Ed. time outside due to the gym being used as a voting station for the federal election. In French, students continued to create and write about the monsters they began using their number and body part dice last week. In Language Arts we continued our work with strong verbs by rewriting sentences that contained jail words using strong verbs instead. The highlight of the day, of course, was our second Positive Choices reward. Students enjoyed having another opportunity to wear pajamas, bring in blankets and stuffed animals, and to watch a movie and have a snack. Because Ms. Williamson's class also decided on the same reward, students ended up having a choice of two different movies to watch. Important Dates: Maze of Bones  Journal Page:  OVERDUE Wetland Plant...

Today we spent time in Health discussing what causes us worry/anxiety and the physical symptoms that can go along with it. In Science, we continued our work with wetland food webs and began exploring the five main types of wetlands (bogs, fens, marshes/sloughs, shallow water, and swamps). In Social Studies we prepared info cards that will accompany our cultural artifacts in the museum the grade 5 classes are setting up in the learning commons tomorrow, and also had some time to share about our artifacts. It was so interesting to see the diverse and unique artifacts that students brought to represent their families and cultures! We are looking forward to our artifact museum tomorrow morning. We also continued working on our oil pastel aurora borealis art, some of which will already be up on display during the literacy night tonight. A sampling of the variety of cultural artifacts brought in by students in our class Aurora Borealis oil pastel art We are looking forward ...

Today in Math, we continued to extend our understanding of estimation by reviewing our strategies and then applying them to differences as well as sums. The strategies we continue to use are front-end rounding, compatible numbers, and benchmarks. We also began to consider using estimation in order to check our answers in addition to using it to solve problems that do not require an exact answer. In French we began a fun activity to start exploring Halloween words while also reviewing numbers, body parts, and colours. Students constructed and rolled dice to determine how many of each body part their monster would have, began drawing and colouring their monsters, and will soon write French sentences to describe these monsters. In Language Arts, we spent time sharing our reflections on the September quote, and then began writing about our October quote about expressing gratitude. We also had some time to catch up on unfinished work, and continued reading and discussing Because...