Good afternoon everyone!
I hope everyone had a fantastic and relaxing weekend.
A few quick reminders:
· Tomorrow is a Day 4 (we have gym tomorrow).
· For anyone who ordered Hot Lunch, payments were due on the 13thof September.
· Science Fair money ($15) due next Monday (letter must be signed, and shoeboxes brought in).
· The hot lunch site is open for the month of October and will close on Wednesday, September 25that 3:00 p.m. The special for October will be pancakes with vanilla cream and syrup (optional).
Inquiry into Math – We started the day by reviewing our homework from Friday on finding the Lowest Common Multiples (LCM) and Greatest Common Factors (GCF) of numbers.
Music – Then, we had music with Mr. Oliver, which you can read about on his blog (https://mrolivermusicclass.blogspot.com).
French – Right after music, we had French with Mme. Stella, which you can read about on her blog (https://stjudesfrench-stella.blogspot.com).
Inquiry into Math – After lunch, we reviewed how to find GCF and LCM using a Venn Diagram (for GCF) and the ladder method for both.
To find the GCF using a Venn Diagram, you write all the factors for one number inside one circle and you write all the factors for the other number in the other circle. Once you do this, you write all of the factors the two numbers have in common in the centre. Then, you just choose the largest one and that is your GCF.
For the ladder method, there are a few steps.
1. Write your two numbers side by side with a small space between them. Write an ‘L’ under them.
2. Find the lowest prime number that goes into both of your numbers.
3. Determine how many times that prime number goes into your original numbers and record those numbers below. Draw another ‘L’.
4. Repeat until you are not able to find a common factor (other than 1).
For GCF, you multiply all the numbers in the vertical column beside your ladder.
For LCM, you multiply all the numbers on the outside of your ladder.
We spent the remainder of the period working on practice problems.
Inquiry into Language – Today, we took the first step to beginning our novel study. We will be reading The City of Ember. We discussed the novel today and what our expectations are going to be. We are going to be examining the novel through the study of literature circles. Every day, students will read a chapter of the book and complete one of the literature circle roles (discussion director, literary luminary, connector, illustrator/mapper, or word wizard). We are going to discuss these roles more in depth tomorrow.
Today, we worked on making predictions about what the book will be about based just on the cover. We will continue tomorrow.
Inquiry into Energy – Today, we started discussing the key features of an electrical circuit. We have conducting materials (wires), electrical devices (light bulb or LED), energy sources (battery or cell), and switches (control). We learned the correct way to draw each of these symbols and then practiced doing this. Students took notes from a resource.
Once we were done, we all took up the problems together. This is an important concept.
Students were reminded about their upcoming UOI test on October 2nd.
Homework:
We do our best to complete UOI and Language work in class. In the event this is not possible, it will go home for homework.
As always, please feel free to email me with any questions.
Mr. Conte
