Health and Hockey

During the last three Health periods, we have learned about how to stay safe when home alone. We worked in partners to read scenarios on green posters about kids staying home alone. Then, we wrote what we think the kids should do to stay safe in each scenario. We shared our thoughts in a class discussion. Miss Cichosz gave us posters and we talked about home alone safety tips. During the third lesson we acted out skits of how to stay safe in different scenarios when home alone. We learned a lot about safety! Check out the photos below.

Hockey is also underway and there are photos at the end of this post. We're having a lot of fun playing!

Cinnamon Ornaments

Now that the winter holidays have passed we can post about the cinnamon ornaments we made without spoiling any surprises. Miss Cichosz made the ornaments at home. This took a few days, so if you're interested in making them at home read the recipe at the bottom and make them early.

We painted the ornaments and threaded ribbon through the holes the next day, after the ornaments dried. We wrapped the ornaments and gave them as holiday gifts! They smelled delicious!

If you'd like to make cinnamon ornaments at home, copy and paste the following link:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/18493/scented-applesauce-cinnamon-ornaments/

Here are some helpful tips from Miss Cichosz:

- Wear a rubber glove if you are mixing the ornament dough by hand. The mixture is very rough on the skin and can cause redness and burning. My poor skin found out the hard way!

- Mix the amount you need. You can make more or less, just start with half cinnamon and half applesauce. You will probably need to add more cinnamon to make the mixture thicken like cookie dough.

- Use cinnamon (instead of flour) to help stop your dough and rolling pin from sticking.

- Make sure you have plenty of space to place the ornaments to dry for a few days. If you don't have the space, you can dry the ornaments in the oven at 200ºC for about two hours. Make sure to check on them.

- Be prepared for your home to smell like cinnamon for a few days. The kitchen where you made the ornaments might have an overpowering cinnamon smell for a bit.

Happy ornament making!

Math and Light

Happy new year! Here are our highlights from our first week back at school:

We worked on writing both balanced and unbalanced equations in Math. We reviewed the difference between an equal sign and a not equal sign, then we worked in small groups to write a variety of equations and shared our work with the class. We practiced more on our own in our Guided Math duo tangs, which included finding missing numbers (called unknowns or variables) in equations.

Check out the link (or paste it in your browser) to see how we used puppets to make a puppet show for our Light Unit in Science with Mrs. Rogala! We read fairy tales and some of our own stories with a twist, and showed them using our puppets.

https://goo.gl/E2FT3Y

Here's some background information, by Nathan and Sara:

Hi, Nathan and Sara here to tell you about shadow puppets and how to make them. First, get a black piece of paper, a pencil, a straw, and some scissors. Now, take your pencil and paper and draw your design. Then, cut out your design with your scissors. Then, get masking tape and the straw and tape it to your shadow puppet. There you have it. There's your shadow puppet! It works because the paper is opaque.

Middle of December

We have been working hard on mental math strategies, problem solving, and a new writing project. As a class, we are writing a shared persuasive piece to convince people to come to Linwood School. Once we publish this piece, it will be displayed in the school office for visitors to read! Students are also working on individual writing pieces. Each student chose a place in Canada and is writing a persuasive piece to convince readers to visit or live in the author's chosen place.

We have also worked on our dream paintings, backpack projects in French, as well as holiday themed activities. Our student team bloggers, Liam and Ruby, have a highlight to share with you from mid-December:

This week we learned about light in science. There are three different types of light: transparent, translucent, and opaque. We also had jungle gym and, "I was shaking Liam, Sophia, and Nathan off a net." said Ruby, "It was the funniest thing ever." Liam said, "I was scared, but it was fun. I thought I was going to fall." Liam had the funniest face ever!!!!!!!

Science and Social Studies Links

Habitat Diorama Videos
https://goo.gl/Mcs5My

Photos from Assiniboine Park
https://goo.gl/Cyjfxa

Light Video
http://goo.gl/7D3MYs

*The last link for the light video has been fixed!

Winter Concert Lyrics

These lyrics for the Winter Concert have been posted so that students can practice at home. Any questions, please ask our Music teacher, Mrs. Versteeg, who sent the lyrics to me for posting. The lyrics below include the songs for Grade 4/5 and the choir.

GRADE 4/5 SONG LYRICS           Here Comes the Snow

                              Here comes the snow.

                                          It's fallin' down.
It's fallin' gently upon the ground.

Here comes the snow.  It's fallin' down.

It leaves a blanket
Upon the ground, ground, ground.

                      Snow, snow, snow, snow!

                               Snow, snow, snow, snow!

                                    Snow, snow, snow, snow!

Snow, snow, snow, snow!

Peacefully the flakes of white are falling down on us tonight.

Stay in by the fireside or bundle up and go outside.

Down the road upon a sleigh,
just having fun this winter day.

Down a hill upon a sled then snuggle in a winter bed.

Falling... 
down, down, down, down.

Falling... 
down, down, down.

CHOIR SONG LYRICS

O, Ilaw (O, Light)

O, i-law, burning bright in the night,

Like a star, there is hope in your light.

O, i-law, I can see in your beam

Every wish I’ve wished for,

Every dream I have dreamed.

Oh!  You’re my inspiration, lighthouse in a dark sea,

  Flame of hope in the night, shining brightly for me.

       Candle in my window, you are always guiding.

  You are always with me, for you are my shining light.

  You are always with me, for you are my shining light!

End of November

Our Class Crayon Quilt

Thank you, families! We had a great show of support at our Open House last week and the students were excited to share their learning. Recently, we spent time preparing for the Open House and finished our classroom community crayon quilt. We have enjoyed working with Mrs. Quinn-LaFleche, a math resource teacher in our school division, on problem solving activities, such as Math Playground, to promote logical and mathematical thinking. Check out our photos for examples and to see the group habitat dioramas our students made in Science. Our student team blogger also has an entry to share below.

Problem Solving

Problem Solving

Team 15's Science Dioramas

Our student team blogger, Kryztofer, has a highlight and photo he would like to share with you:

People are ripping the downstairs wall! 

The Wall by the Music Room

You should see it, oh wait, you just did! Ha ha! Sorry, let's get back to the point: it's cool. Just so you know, they're ripping up the wall because the paste under it is melting.