What will the Grade 5s do while the Gr 4s are away?

Grade 4s off to the Bighouse!

Grade 4s should be at school by 7:45 a.m. Monday morning to catch the bus up to the Bighouse.

Don't forget to pack rain gear, a snack, water bottle and a hat in a separate backpack. The larger suitcase or duffle bag will go underneath the bus, but students will want to have their backpack with them on the bus. A warm sleeping bag, and warm footwear will go a long way to making their adventure a comfortable one!

See you in the morning!

The Plight of the Bumblebee

Today we had another visit from Ric, from beefriendly.ca.

Back in the fall under his guidance we made "seed bombs" – a combination of clay, lupin seeds, and seeds of  Joe Pye Weed. The lupin will provide food for the local bee populations in Spring, while the pollen from the Joe Pye Weed will ensure there is food available in the fall.

Today we learned about the bumblebee - one of the hardest and hardiest working bees around. Ric brought in a small colony of bumblebees in a secure box with a clear plexiglass lid so we could observe them up close. They have a fascinating life history... but the sad news is their populations are in steep decline in BC, Alberta, Washington, and indeed their populations are reduce by about 40% across North America. Loss of habitat and widespread use of herbicides are some of the main culprits.

Ric showed us the lupins that were planted last year and how the bees get their food from the blossoms, and in turn pollinate the flowers. This means the local populations of bees will continue to help with Loutet Community Garden.

We then went to the area right beside the Loutet Community Garden where Ric had prepared planting sites for our "seed bombs". Students planted their seed bombs in a fenced off area, with the hope that a new food source for bees will soon be growing right where it is needed: adjacent to the gardens.

Planting "seed bombs" in sites prepared by Ric

Ric then showed us some of the bee-friendly flowering plants that have been planted in Gerry's Garden, and sure enough bees were working hard in the sunshine and the Garden looked so beautiful!

The Great Canadian Mail Race

Here's an activity our class took part in: a postal mail activity that teaches how to write a letter and address an envelope. It's called the Great Canadian Mail Race, and it has been around for several years. Each student in our class wrote a letter about themselves and found a school – any elementary school outside of BC but in Canada – and addressed their letter to "Any Grade 4 class" or "Any Grade 2 class", etc., and today we will send off all the letters to see who gets a response first!

Here is my letter that goes along with all our student letters:

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Thursday  May 23, 2013

Dear colleagues,

My name is Mr. Paul Clarke. I'm a grade 4/5 teacher at Brooksbank Elementary School in North Vancouver, BC. I am writing this letter to introduce you to the Great Canadian Mail Race. This activity has been around for many years. This is the third time that I have participated. Here's how it works:

1. Read my student’s letter to your class.
2. Have one of your students respond to my student by sending a return letter.
3. Have each of your students write a similar letter to any grade 4 to 8 student in Canada. If you choose not to enter your class, simply return the letter to my student.
4. All of the students in your class can search on Google for a school to acquire the address and postal code.
5. Address the envelope as follows:

The Great Canadian Mail Race

Grade _ (fill in the grade you wish to write to)

School Name

Address

City, Province

Postal Code

6. When sending a letter, each envelope should contain the student’s letter plus a copy of your teacher letter (similar to this one) explaining how the race works.

Now the race is passed on to you! This is the race part… Whoever gets the fastest reply is the winner of the race in your class. This is a great way to introduce letter writing and get students excited to receive mail the old-fashioned way!

I hope you and your students participate in this wonderful and exciting experience. My students really enjoyed this activity and are looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Mr. Paul Clarke

Brooksbank Elementary School

980 E. 13th St.

North Vancouver, BC

V8L 2N2

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Salmon release on Hastings Creek

We released a total of 99  salmon fry back into the wild this morning! Thanks to the parents whose schedule allowed them to help drive... we had a great morning.

By complete coincidence, we encountered Zo-Ann Morten, the founder of the North Shore Streamkeeper's Society, just as we were leaving. She was very complimentary on our salmon knowledge, and thanked the students for helping to keep this species healthy.

This Friday: Litterless Lunch please!

The latest installment!

Chapter 7.pdf

Homework

Math:
Gr 4s are progressing with their unit on fractions and fractions of sets.
Gr. 5s are finishing their chapter on area, volume, and capacity. We are using the pages on p. 158-159 to practice prior to an end-of-unit quiz next week.

Bighouse for the Grade 4s:
We go up May 27th and return May 28th by 3:00 pm. Medical forms are required and 12 out of 16 families have completed them and returned them to me. We need the remaining ones as soon as possible, please. You can make cheques out to Brooksbank School for $95.00. More information will be coming home soon.

Hamlet:
Students are progressing quite well with learning their lines so they are completely memorized. They will need to work on their lines continuously right up until we perform the play (June 11 & 12). We have about 4.5 weeks remaining, so NOW is the time to be memorizing lines until they are overlearned.

Reading:
Here is the latest Chapter summary in point form notes. Students have been asked to re-write these as full sentences that flow together in paragraph form.

Chapter 6.pdf

Novel study... The Higher Power of Lucky

Students have been asked to convert these point form notes we have generated together into full sentences and paragraphs.

The first document is a summary of only Chapter 1. The second document summarizes Chapters 2-5.

Chapter 1.pdf

Chapters 2-4.pdf