Lots of Learning Happening in Grade 3/4!!
The Buzz About Science
We are doing 2 Science themes in our class right now using an "Inquiry" model of learning. The topic for Grade 4 is pulleys and gears and the Grade 3' s are learning about stable structures. I put these together because they both involve building things. What is "inquiry" ? Well we started off by having books in the classroom on the themes. Students wrote down what they already knew about the topic and then they wrote what they would like to learn. Ms. Colasante and I met together and took a close look at the students' questions. We lined them up with the curriculum, grouped similar questions together and came up with several big questions on each Science topic. The children chose a question to investigate. Why use an "inquiry" approach? The immediate enthusiasm of the students was noticeable. They were engaged right from the start. Students generated the questions and are coming up with ideas on how to share what they learn with the class. Today there was a beehive of activity as towers, bridges, pulleys, and buildings were constructed. Thank you Mrs. St. Pierre for being a second pair of adult hands to help with string, cardboard, popsicle sticks, glue and organized chaos! Pictures of today's activities to come but here are some from Tuesday, Oct. 29.
This structure has a pretty solid base.
Each group has made a plan about what they can do to show the class the answer to their inquiry question.
This group took what they saw on a video from youtube and applied it to a simple structure they made. Do you see the arches? Your child will be able to explain why an arch is strong. And what exactly is a buttress? (besides being a funny word!)
We do enjoy art in our class. Hope you have wall space to display these masterpieces.
Having trouble getting your Grade 3 or 4 student to bed on time?? Remind them of the project on healthy sleep habits that they just finished or review http://www.sleepforkids.org/
Here are some youtube videos that we watched and I promised the children that I could post them so they could show you.
Enjoying the Go Fish- Fruit of the Spirit. Is it Religion? Social Skills? Music? Dance? Phys Ed.?
We do enjoy art in our class. Hope you have wall space to display these masterpieces. 
Having trouble getting your Grade 3 or 4 student to bed on time?? Remind them of the project on healthy sleep habits that they just finished or review http://www.sleepforkids.org/
Math: What are we up to? and how can you help your child?
We have been working on addition and I can't stress enough, the benefits of knowing number facts. We worked on doubles ( 6+6) and near doubles (6+5 or 6+7). We will add facts that add up to 10. A small number of children have difficulty remembering number facts but most can learn them with a few minutes of daily practice. I am finding that many students still need to make the effort. Grade 4's will be adding X table practice to their efforts.
While we will informally continue adding and number facts, our new focus will be linear measurement. We cover cm (centimetre) mm (millimetre) m (metre) and Km (kilometre). Students need to measure, estimate what they think the length will be, choose the appropriate unit of measurement, ( a cm is the right unit to measure the length of shoe) and compare units ( 1 m = 100 cm). Students can be given tape measures at home and set loose to measure all kinds of things! Common mistakes can be not lining the 0 up with the beginning of the the object, or just not realizing that there is a need to be accurate.
From there we will begin to measure the perimeter of shapes. Sometimes students will measure with a ruler and other times with a grid. 
Finally, we will be measuring the area of shapes and comparing it to perimeter. Often students understand perimeter and then become somewhat confused when area is added to the mix. Learning the difference and where each measurement is used in real life is important. 
You can make these concepts more real by looking around your home and talking about what might need measuring and where you might need to find the area or perimeter.
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