Friday December 18, 2015

Merry Christmas everyone, and a big thank you to all parents for their support and many kindnesses this term. The hand-made, student Christmas cards especially capture the spirit of Christmas for me, but my household is also enlivened now with yummy hot chocolate, vino, and a lovely gift card from MEC.

From our families to yours, we wish you peace, happiness, and the joy of family.

Have a safe and fun-filled holiday!

See you in the new year!

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Homework:

1)     Blog post: "What I would wish for others for this Christmas."

2)     11 x tables



Reminders:

Thursday Mrs. Startup is having a hot chocolate party. Students are to bring a mug, and for those parents who signed up to help out with supplies, tomorrow is the day! Students are also invited to wear PJs if they choose to during the party.

Also, tomorrow afternoon there is a Brooksbank Recognition assembly from 1:45 pm, and parents are invited if your schedule allows!

Tuesday December 15, 2015

Homework:

1)     Kidblog post: What would you wish for others this Christmas?

2)     11 x tables

3)     Reminder: PJs and hot chocolate Thursday afternoon

4)     Reminder: PJs and a twoonie for Cancer Research Friday.

The "Jingle Walk"!

On Friday, and again today, the class showed great spirit, energy, and a willingness to help others less fortunate than themselves.

This afternoon the class retraced the route covered Friday, but this time to collect non-perishable food donations... and collect we did!

Thanks to the generosity of our neighbourhood, our class collected 75 bags of groceries for the Harvest Food Bank. That's a lot of walking for the kids!











 


 

A bit of rain didn't dampen spirits!

Not pictured in any of the above photos are our two intrepid parent volunteers... Stacey (Capri's Mum), and Eric (Ry's Dad). A very big THANK YOU for stepping in to help on very short notice!

All in all, Brooksbank has collected a lot of food for needy families, thanks to our neighbours who have helped us this year as they have every year by donating food over the decade that we've been doing this!

Hot Chocolate Party Next Thursday

We're having a hot chocolate party next Thursday morning!

There is a sign-up sheet on the whiteboard if anyone would like to contribute (whipped cream, marshmallows, etc.). Please bring your own mug. Students have asked if they can wear their pyjamas, and I think that is a lovely idea! Friday is also PJs with a Purpose (organized by the Do Good Committee), so you will have the opportunity to wear your pyjamas twice in a row!

Thursday, December 3

We are doing a Christmas craft next Thursday, so please come to school prepared with the following supplies:

1.  A strong, clean stick about the length of your hand

2.  Pieces of scrap ribbon (the cloth kind),  if you have any. I will also have some spare pieces. 

Students are welcome to make two crafts if they bring in two sticks, but they must bring in extra ribbon as I will only have enough spare ribbon for one craft per student.

Looking forward to getting crafty with all of you!

Mrs. Startup

Homework:

Math:
Math quiz on Patterning (F)

Math questions # 4 & 6 (F) These questions are here:

Jingle Mingle is coming up December 16. Red notices went home today for the youngest or the only. Parent volunteers are needed! Contact the PAC if you can help with this annual fundraiser. It takes many hands to put on this fabulous night. Please consider offering the gift of time if you can help out!

Tuesday December 1, 2015

Math:

We've started a new concept in math: Patterns (Chptr 1 in the textbook). Yesterday and today we worked on p. 8 # 1, 3, 4.

We'll have a quick check for understanding at the end of this week:

Patterns quiz (F)

Also, a few students have handed in their (late) Circulatory System webs. Better late than never! If your child still has not completed this assignment, they should speak to me to get help or directions.

Lastly, students were given a topic to write about on their kidblog:

"If you had a couple of months off school, and lots of money, what countries or cities would you like to visit?" (F)

Students are expected to complete this writing assignment at home. If the home computer is not functional, they can complete it at school with a school iPad. Students are encouraged to do a little research on the country or city they wish to visit so they have some current knowledge of that place. They are also required to embed a picture of their countries or cities that they have chosen.

The blog is here:

kidblog.org/class/clarke201516

"Celebrate the Season"

Our school's Holiday performance will be Wednesday December 9th at 7 pm at Sutherland Secondary's Large gym. Look for a green notice to come home so you can order tickets to this event. I hope to get them home to the "youngest or the only" on Wednesday (tomorrow), and parents have until Monday 30 November to have the form returned.

Musical Friday afternoon

Friday was quite the musical day, with the Band members going up to Sutherland Secondary School in the morning, and our own celebrations in our classroom in the afternoon. In the morning, the Band members played with the Sutherland Jr. Band which included several Brooksbank grads.

The afternoon started with Naomi's mother and father bringing in, and assembling their 5-octave marimba! Peggy, Naomi's mum, told us about the instrument, and dazzled us with her playing.

Everyone got a chance to come up, one at a time, and noodle around on this beautiful percussion instrument. Even holding the mallets the proper way was a challenge. They're so long! You couldn't reach from one end of the marimba to the other without stretching your arms out and taking a step or two!

Then we were treated to several performances. Alaina played the marimba while Naomi accompanied her on the piano, then they switched places and played a second song, this time with Naomi on the marimba and Alaina playing piano.

Lucas M. played his trumpet, and later performed a duet with Raya (on tuba) when they played Good King Wenceslas. Brook-Lynn played a beautiful piece on the piano, and we eventually convinced a trio of band members (Alaina, Laleh, and Sian) to play a couple of pieces on their clarinets (Alaina and Laleh) and flute (Sian).

Mr. Kelly's class was invited in so some of the performers had a chance to reprise their playing, so they also had a chance to share.

Laleh, who has had 6 years of piano lessons, wowed the crowd with a beautiful rendition of Bergmuller's Arabesque.

Mia closed the afternoon's performances by playing two pieces, including Jazz Blast, the only piece from that genre.

We were grateful to Peggy and Jeffery Tseng for bringing in their beautiful marimba. This is not exactly a portable instrument! We don't often get a chance to see and hear this lovely instrument, so that was a great opportunity for us all.

Lastly, a word of appreciation and respect to those who had the courage to prepare and then perform for us all. We were impressed, encouraged, and delighted with the performances. I hope we get a chance to repeat our Musical Celebrations again in the future, for there are many talented students in our class, and we don't often get a chance to see their skill and dedication.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Late-breaking news:
Tomorrow students who wish to can audition for one of three parts for an upcoming Holiday play. There were audition sides made available, and the actual auditions will be held Thursday 19 November at recess.

Reminder:
Socials project for Ms. Beleski/Mr. Clarke is due Monday 23 November.
Socials project for Mr. Chan is due Tuesday 24 November.

Friday: Students who are in band will be heading up to Sutherland for the morning on Friday. Coincidentally we are having a Friday afternoon musical celebration in our classroom. To avoid any concerns, we won't start our musical celebration until band members have returned to class.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Homework:

There are two Social Studies projects currently underway:

1) Mr. Chan's Land Use project (due Nov 24)

2) Ms. Beleski/Mr. Clarke's Immigration/Emigration project. That is now due Nov. 23 (this is a change)

Also, in Science, students learned about what blood is made of today and those notes need to be added to their Mind Map of the Circulatory System. (scroll down to see details)

Here is Mr. Chan's outline for his project:

Land Use Inquiry Project

Blood

This is what my Mind Map looks like in its current, beginning stages: The Big Idea/Topic starts in the centre of the page ("Circulatory System") with radiating hierarchical branches that contribute to the sum of the system. No colour, not yet visually pleasing, but that is just fine for now.

Friday November 13, 2015

Oh, I just realized...

It was Friday the 13th, and so far we've all survived!!

Homework:

1)  Character story typed* (M)

*If your child cannot print it for whatever reason, have them type it and bring it in to me on a memory stick and I'll print it, or they could type it and email it to me and I'll print it at school.






2)  Musical Friday (F)
This coming Friday, November 20, in the afternoon we're planning a Musical party. Students who have been studying an instrument (or voice), are invited to have a song or two prepared that they can perform for us in our classroom. Should be fun and exciting!

Thursday, November 12

Homework for next Thursday:

French: Be prepared to ask 3 questions and to answer three questions next week. Use the Poser Des Questions hand-out to practice. You guys did amazing in French today! Bravo!
Art: Have your robot/spaceship/alien ready for painting for next week. So far they already look really cool and we haven't even painted them yet!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Mrs. Startup

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Today our class showed extreme respect in taking on their part in Brooksbank's Remembrance Ceremony. I am honoured to be associated with such a fine group of boys and girls.

Homework:
1) If it hasn't been done yet, students were to complete a Remembrance Day blog post at kidblog.org/class/clarke201516

2) Continue to practice 5 x tables.

3)  Continue to review French numbers 1-100.

4) Continue to work on the social studies project for Mr. Chan, as well as the other social studies project for Ms. Beleski/Mr. Clarke.

No school tomorrow, of course, as it will be Remembrance Day. When students return on Thursday, don't forget that Mrs. Startup is asking for any empty candy boxes, odd and ends for a project she has in mind.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Homework:

1) Kidblog post around the theme of Remembrance Day (T)

To access the site, head over to https://kidblog.org/class/clarke201516/


2) Review the basics of The Circulatory System (T)

The Circulatory System K

Reminder: Parents are invited to attend our Remembrance Day ceremony Tuesday November 10 at 10:45 a.m.

Friday, November 6, 2015

Homework:

1) Review math strategies for estimating sums. (M)

Estimating Sums

2) Create a title page for the Circulatory System (M)

Reminders:

The Card Project is a fundraiser for our school. Please send in your Holiday card orders as soon as possible... deadline is Friday November 13!

Story Writing:
Students have been asked to write a story highlighting the characteristics of two people. We're not too concerned with plot, or the beginning/middle/end, just that the reader can tell what the two people are like on the inside by being shown, not told, their characteristics. This is not homework. We're working on this in class, but I thought I'd share an example I wrote today :

Character Study

Tuesday November 3, 2015

Reading Homework:
The "Trudeau" package (due W). A copy is here:

Trudeau

Math Homework:
5 times table needs practicing. We'll review the recent math quiz in class.

Social Studies for Mr. Clarke & Ms. Beleski:
Students received an outline for an inquiry project due November 20. Details are on the document below:

Immigration Inquiry

Writing:
Students were to choose two characters, and decide what personality characteristics each would have. The next step will be to write in such a way that the reader is shown those characteristics, not just told. The work the students did can be viewed here: https://padlet.com/clarke/doyle

Friday October 30, 2015

Math:
We are looking at Monday or Tuesday of next week for a short quiz to check understanding of the content covered so far in the last couple of weeks. Specifically we're looking at expanded form, standard form, written numbers, multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100; whole numbers up to
100 000. (M or T)

Socials:
We had a rich conversation under Ms. Beleski's leadership around emigration today, and that will lead the class into an inquiry project around the idea of global emigration/immigration to Canada. We looked at 4 questions, and the depth of understanding from the class is already impressive. These are the questions we looked at today:

Details on the inquiry project will be discussed next week, and also posted here.

Halloween! Our class was decked out in all sorts of scary finery! Have a safe and happy Halloween!

October 29

I forgot to mention it in class today, but next Thursday could you please bring in some small, empty candy boxes (5-10) for an Art project? If you have any buttons, pipe cleaner, tiny assorted hardware doodads or small mis-matched toy pieces, you may bring those in as well. A Ziploc or paper bag would be a good place to assemble all these supplies.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Mrs. Startup

October 28, 2015

Homework:

Review French Numbers (10, 20, 30...100) Quiz coming soon. The PDF may be used as a resource if your child has lost their copy (you can download and print this double-sided document):

French Numbers 1-100

Math:
Review standard form, expanded form, place value for whole numbers to 1 000 000. Quiz coming soon.

Social Studies:
By Friday, students should have completed their point form notes on select pages from Chapter 3 in the Social Studies text; they are to develop questions for the most important notes, (where the answer to their question is directly from the text). The pages we've covered over the past week are pp. 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45.

October 16, 2015

Homework:

• continue to practice 3 x tables
• have the good copy of Paper Blog coloured and ready to hand in Monday morning
• parents look for a Student info sheet coming home: please verify all the info is correct, if it is not right, correct it for us, and in all cases, sign it at the bottom of the back of the form and return Monday.
• Math: Handout p. 15 (M)

Reminder: Next Wednesday October 21 our class, along with Divisions 3 and 5 will be attending a play at Presentation House from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Permission forms were sent home along with a request for $10 cheque (made out to Brooksbank School) or cash. Please return your forms and money as soon as possible if you haven't done so already.

-------------------------------------------------------

Our class won a prize!

I received this email today from the University of Guelph:

"We are pleased to announce the winners of our Fall 2015 #SMTPselfie contest!

Thank you to all who entered, we had some great entries this program! The winners for the #SMTPselfie contest will receive a Life Scanner Kit  which will essentially allow them to DNA barcode 4 organisms of their choice and find out what species they are!

Currently these kits are being offered for free for first time users + shipping online at the above mentioned link, so be sure to sign your class up for one!
And without further ado...the winners of the Fall 2015 #SMTPselfie contest are:


1) Brooksbank Elementary School - BC"

Last year I applied to do the Malaise Trap Biodiversity program and didn't get my class accepted, so when the chance came around this year, I applied again. We had a lot of fun collecting bugs back in September and early October. We'll hear the results in December, but in the meantime, we were one of 5 schools singled out, out of a total of 80 schools across Canada! Lucky us!

October 15th

Math Review sheets (pages 92, 93, 94)
Math Quiz next Thursday

Thursday, October 9

Homework:

Math: Pages 228-229 questions 2, 5, 6 (on the separate sheet) due next Thursday

Art: Geometric Leaf Art due next Thursday
       Christmas Card Art due tomorrow

Have fun at the party tomorrow!

Mrs. Startup

Wednesday October 7, 2015

Homework:

"Space Elevator" reading assignment (F)

Math: 3 times tables (continue practicing)

French: Quiz on Numbers 1-22 early next week. Focus on listening to and speaking the numbers in French; spelling is not a factor for this quiz.

We will have a short party this Friday afternoon, just because. Students are invited to contribute in whatever way they'd like, but if they intend to bring cookies or snacks, to only bring enough for 10-12 people, otherwise we'll have way too much food!

Monday October 5, 2015

Homework:

Study French Numbers 1-22 (memorize the french words eg: 1 = un; 2 = deux; etc.), and be able to pronounce them from English to French and from French to English).

Study 3 x tables (0 x 3 = 0 up to 12 x 3 = 36)

Ensure "My Life Map" is finished, coloured, and at school for Tuesday morning.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Homework:

Students are to have the good copy of their "My Life Map" coloured and completed for Monday morning.

We finished the 2 times tables today, and next week we'll be focusing on the 3 times tables.

School photos arrived today: your child should have a photo package with ordering information in their backpack.

Thanks to those parents who were able to get the blizzard of school forms and cheques into us in a timely fashion. Much appreciated!

Today brought the end of our two-week Malaise Trap Program. We ship the trap, our data sheet, and our two collection bottles off to the University of Guelph, and they begin the process of determining what species we've collected and how many, as well as doing gene analysis to develop a DNA barcode for each species. We're thankful we got a chance to take part in this nationwide survey!

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Orange Shirt Day was a success with lots of students showing their support!

In French we looked at some of the topics we'll cover, and agreed to start with Les Numéros 1-22

Below is a chart which gives spelling and attempts to record pronunciation.

Numéros 0-22

Also you should receive a Blog agreement form I'd like you to talk over with your child and sign, please. 

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Both Friday, and Monday there was no school for students at Brooksbank, but teachers were focused on learning about the new curriculum, and exploring different ways of teaching.

Today in our classroom we completed our 4th day of practicing our 2 x tables. Students get 30 questions in random order (eg: 2 x 5 = ____;     2 x 2 = _____;     2 x 9 = ______; etc) and have a minute and a half to complete as many as possible.

Looking ahead, we complete the times tables in this order:

2, 3, 5, 10, 11, 9, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12. This will take several months, after which we'll work on our basic division facts in the late winter/Spring.