C'est l'hiver!

Well, that was a more wintery morning than I had been expecting! The chill in the air did nothing to dampen spirits though, as we had a whirlwind of a day in class. We have finished up most of the first unit in science, and our third chapter of math is well underway. We are also 1/3 of the way through our English novel study, and should finish up our Drama in Education program tomorrow.

There will be time for several more students to present their Book Reports tomorrow, and the rest of the presentations will be on Friday. I have asked those who finished their Reports early to hold off on starting December's Book Report until Friday, because there are some points I would like to review. Go ahead and start reading the book you would like to talk about, but wait until Friday to start the report.

We took a few minutes today to discuss the setting of our current Novel Study book, Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing. It is set in New York, so we talked about where that was, and eventually went on Google Maps to get a street view level of some of the places the narrator/protagonist discusses in the text. This was a point of great interest, and something I would encourage students to explore more at home.

If they are interested, have your child show you where 25 W 68th Street is, in New York. This is the supposed address of the book's narrator. They might also remember some other landmarks we looked at, as well as some rules about how New York is laid out.

We will also be making the juice that is described in the book, and making a diorama of the neighbourhood. I really like tangible activities like this, and I'm always open to suggestions.

In an upcoming social studies lesson, I will be sending students home with a sort of treasure hunt that they will have to complete using a map, their own knowledge and the Internet. They will find and describe locations, buildings etc. in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's and beyond, so I would suggest that you encourage any interest your child has in using maps or programs like those found at local.google.ca.

I have to run, but will post in more detail tomorrow. Have a great day!