November 1st, 2010
L’équipe P4
HOT TOPICS
November News is here 1
Homework Reminders 1
Contact with the teacher 1
What’s going on in P4 2 Rules and routines
The Agenda 2
Contact with the teacher…
If at any time throughout the
year you need to speak with me
or would like to book a teacher/
parent conference regarding a
concern or a question, I encour-
age parents/guardians to let me
know ahead of time in order to
get your child’s file ready. We can
schedule conferences before or
right after school. You can use
your child’s agenda for communi-
cation purposes as I will be sign-
ing them daily. You can also call
at convenient hours such as be-
fore or after school (905) 665-
2001.
M m e . T o m s
N OV E MB E R NE W S I S H E R E . . .
The students have
been working very
hard and now we are
already two months
into the school year.
There have been a lot
of things happening
in the classroom.
are well in place and
students responsibili-
ties in the classroom
have been made
aware of and put in
place. Students share
a role in maintaining
H O M E WO R K R E M IN D E R S !
Every Tuesday, students
receive a new ―words of the
week‖ worksheet that is to
be worked on at home and
returned the following
Tuesday.
Words of the week :
Green Duo tang
News from Portable 4
a clean classroom en-
vironment . Academi-
cally, students are
working very hard to
achieve their goals.
We have finished our
autobiographies
which had the stu-
dents put forth a great
deal of effort and
time. Our science unit
on Habitats has come
to an end and our so-
cial studies unit on
the Middle Ages has
begun. We are being
Every Thursday, students
are receiving a math journal
question that is to be worked
on at home and then re-
turned the following Thurs-
day.
Math journals:
Yellow or pink writing book
introduced to numer-
ous reading strategies
and techniques to fur-
ther improve our
reading skills and us-
ing our French/
English dictionaries
to improve our vo-
cabulary skills. Great
work by everyone!
All other homework…
Any other homework that
students bring home is due
the next day unless stated
otherwise in their agenda.
Please note dates in the
agenda, this will help to
keep students organized.
Page 2
WHAT’ S GOING ON THIS
Math: We are now well into our
unit on Place value. Students have
been learning many different ways
of representing numbers: written
in words, digits, expanded form
with words and expended form
with numbers. They have also
been comparing and putting num-
bers in order and using greater
than and less than symbols to cre-
ate a correct statement. Students
have learned a few games
throughout this unit and will con-
tinue to play a few more as the
unit continues. I encourage you
and your child to work together to
create picture representations of
numbers, drawing cubes for thou-
sands, larger squares for hun-
dreds, long rectangles for tens and
small blocks for ones. Students
have been learning how to re-
group and represent 1 number sev-
eral different ways. At the end of
this unit, we will be looking at
patterning.
Language: Students spent a great
deal of time in October working
through the writing process to
complete their autobiographies.
Students wrote 1 paragraph at a
time in rough form, then they had
a conference with a peer and then
myself. Once they received a
teacher-student conference they
edited their writing and then once
again had it looked over by my-
self. Once they had completed
that stage, students were able to
begin their good copy. The work
that came from the students was
well thought out and a lot of effort
was put into each stage. I would
like to thank you for your support
in helping the students find pic-
MONTH
tures for this assignment.
Science: Our habitat unit is coming
to an end. Students are now work-
ing on a research assignment where
they have been given an animal as
well as the resources to find answers
to specific questions. Students have
been learning how to find and use
KEY WORDS to identify impor-
tant information rather than writing
out full sentences. We have been
using a software program called
SMART IDEAS where students are
learning how to make comprehen-
sive learning webs to help them map
out the KEY WORDS and research
they are finding. They will then use
this information to create an infor-
mative poster about their animal.
Social Studies: Our Middle Ages
unit is taking a bit of time to get
into. This month students will be
reading and learning a great deal
about key events, people, seniority,
and community in the Middle Ages
as well as the differences between
our world now and then. We will
also be doing some artwork and
drama to demonstrate our learning.
Physical Education: This month,
students have done very well at be-
ing prepared for gym by wearing the ing our rhythm and bodies to make
appropriate clothing as well as foot- dance moves. Students will be using
wear. Thank you for your support in their body parts to create sounds and
this matter. We are continuing to
focus on volleyball, as both junior
boys/girls volleyball tryouts have
begun. Best of luck to those trying
out. Later this month we will doing
a unit on dodgeball.
Health: This month we will con-
tinue to look at safety and rules in
the classroom, the community and
home. Students will be asked to cre-
L’équipe P4
IN P ORTABLE 4
ate a fire escape plan with you which
they will then use to create a final
copy at school. Your support with
this assignment will be greatly appre-
ciated.
Art: Our art portfolio’s turned out
great and some students have had the
opportunity to bring them home to
show you. They should be very
proud of their work as a great deal of
time and effort were put forth by eve-
ryone. We will continue to look at
colour and move into lines. Students
will learn how to draw and use differ-
ent lines to create art.
Music: The students continue to
really enjoy music class. We have
been looking at verse and chorus of a
couple of songs, one being the theme
song from the Olympics. Last month
we took at look at verse and chorus.
We are now taking a step back
through time using major events as
our themed focus… WORLD CUP
and THE OLYMPICS. Using the
theme songs from these major events
throughout time has sparked an in-
terest amongst the students.
Drama/Dance: This month we are
continuing to focus on concentration
and focus while in role as well as us-
motions for other to follow. They
will also use these skills to create
short performances with their peers.
News from Portable 4
S O ME H E L P FU L R E S O U RC ES
When studying new words:
When learning new words or review-
ing words that students already know,
here are some key points or useful
tools that will help students to learn
the words rather then memorize
them.
1. Say the word
2. Stretch the word– work through
its syllables
3. Split up the word
4. Look at the word
5. Pronounce the word out loud
6. Write the word
7. Use the word in a sentence
8. Correct the word
How to find errors in your writing:
1. Did I forget any letters?
2. Did I add any letters?
3. Did I write two letters instead of
just one?
4. Did I put a letter in the place of
another?
5. Did I pronounce the word
wrong?
6. Did I write a word that has the
same pronunciation as my word?
A new form of report card is being sent
home November 17th. These reports are
intended to show parents the progress that
their child has made thus far in the school
year. This report will have check marks
(no marks) for each of your child’s subject
areas. There are three areas of focus: pro-
gressing very well, progressing well or
progressing with difficulty. Please note
that students who are progressing very
well or progressing well may not see a
great deal of written information on this
How to ask questions…
Students have been learning how
to ask questions that are relevant
to information they are reading.
We have been using non- fictional
informational texts as our focus,
but we will also be looking at fic-
tional texts and how questions
arise as we read. Students will be
using a new graphic organizer/
chart form called the RAN chart
that has them working through
five steps as they read non-
fictional texts.
1. I think I know…
2. Yes I was right (Connections)
3. No, I wasn’t quite right
(Misconceptions)
4. What I know now
5. New questions
When reading fictional texts, we
will be looking at asking rich ques-
tions before, during and after a
reading. Students are encouraged
to discuss their questions with you
after, before or while they are
reading home.
P RO G R ES S R EP O RT S
report. We can discuss any questions or
concerns you may have at interviews. We
are also assessing your child’s learning
skills and in this section you will be in-
formed how your child is performing in 6
major areas: Collaboration, Initiative, Or-
ganization, Self-Regulation, Independent
Work and Responsibility. I look forward to
meeting with you and your child on No-
vember 18th/19th.
Page 3
How to keep math ideas fresh…
The Nelson Math website link for our
unit on Number Sense, try it out. There
are questions, activities as well as other
links to help reinforce the concepts
learned in class.
http://www.nelson.com/nelson/
school/elementary/mathK8/math4/
studentcentre/studsurf.html#ch2
This link provides you with the topics
we will be covering throughout our
unit on Number Sense.
The MathFROG website is another
great site that allows students to play
games based on the concepts learned in
all of our math units.
http://cemc2.math.uwaterloo.ca/
mathfrog/english/kidz/index.shtml
This month focus on the following
games:
Choose Grade 4
Bugs in the system
Cash Out
Data Picking - Level 1&2
Place Value
Powerama 4
Have Fun!
Three Way conferences
This year we will doing a three-way confer-
ence during interview time. This allows
students to take the lead as they provide the
teacher and their parents with examples of
their academic progress. The students will
be preparing pieces of work to show you
and discuss what they are proud of and
what they need to work on. They will also
highlight their goals for Term 1. This kind of
conference allows everyone to have a voice
in the student's learning at home and at
school.
 O THER IN F O RM AT I O N

KEY DATES TO REMEMBER:

Picture Retake day—November 3rd & November 4th

Reports Go home—November 17th
Popcorn Day—November 17th
Parent Interviews—November 18th (pm) & November 19th (am)
Book Fair—November 18th & 19th
P.D. Day—November 19th
Pizza Day—November 23rd
Medieval Man—November 26th (more information to follow)

Be sure to take a look at the school website calendar for other relevant information and important
dates.

SCHOLASTIC
Scholastic orders will continue to be handed out monthly to students. Due dates for forms
and money will be written in the agenda as well as on the school website. Please make
cheques payable to Scholastic Canada.