Ancient Civilizations

Take a look at these pictures depicting the lives in ancient civilizations. We are going to be talking about ancient history... what does history even mean?

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon

Our #bookaday readaloud for today - We will be reading a book a day (especially for our Spring into Reading Month!)

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon

New Math Masters!

A belated congrats to Evan for passing addition and congratulations to Emily, she's flew through subtraction and multiplication!! Wow!!

Math Homework

All questions due on Monday!

Be Kind

My Mouth is a Volcano!

We have a couple "Volcano Mouths" in our classroom, what can we do so our mouths don't erupt?

Sound can be absorbed and reflected

Two more properties of sound:
1. Sound can be absorbed
2. Sound can be reflected (also known as an ECHO!)

Stick and Stone

We read and discussed this book today.. here is is so you can share it with family and friends!

Math Homework

Reminder: you should ALSO be reading EVERY night on Raz Kids!! Plus practicing your flashcards and/or XtraMath! The more you practice the better you get.. at everything!

FANBOYS

For - And - Nor - But - Or - Yet - So

Congrats to Emily and Christian!!

Christian is our first master of subtraction and Emily is our newest master of addition!! Good job guys!! And some of you are sooooo close to joining them!! Keep up the good work :)

Math Homework

Incase the worksheets never made it home:

Math Homework for Tonight

I've made a few notes for some of the students in their books that they need to fix. Here is the homework page. They need to do 3-6 and use our estimation strategies, not just add it.

Due Friday.

Addition & Estimation

Alright, I've had a change to look over our Addition Math pretests! Most of you did amazing! Some of you already know a lot of the concepts we will be covering this year! Yay!! However, there were a couple places we struggled.

Did you know that the words sum, add, addition, plus are all SYNONYMS!! This means they all mean the same thing! We want to find the SUM of two or more numbers, we find it by doing ADDITION!
Here is a few more that you can look for in your word problems/story problems:

Estimation was somewhere many of us struggled with, so that is what we will be learning about today.

When we estimate a number, we are making a guess at what the number will be close to by using clues that are provided.

For example: If I want to estimate about how many beads I have to make a necklace. I have 34 BLUE beads, 79 PURPLE beads, 29 GREEN beads, and 56 ORANGE beads, I can round these numbers to make it easier for me to add in my head:

Around:
30 Blue beads
80 Purple beads
30 Green beads
60 Orange beads
I can now add in my head: 30+80+30+60 is around 200 beads! 

What about for the larger numbers we have been using?

Mr. Dan had 1445 books and Mrs. Taylor had 791 books. Estimate how many books the grade 3 teachers had altogether.

We can estimate to the nearest 1000, nearest 500, and nearest 100.

Nearest 1000:
Mr. Dan has about 1000 books and Mrs. Taylor has about 1000 books, so they have around 2000 books altogether. 
Nearest 500:
Mr. Dan has about 1500 books and Mrs. Taylor has about 1000 books, so they have around 2500 books altogether
Nearest 100:
Mr. Dan has about 1400 books and Mrs. Taylor has about 800 books, so they have around 2400 books altogether.

Which estimation is the closest or most accurate?

For some extra help head over to BrainPop for videos and games:
https://www.brainpop.com/math/geometryandmeasurement/estimating/
or Scholastic Study Jams
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/math/addition-subtraction/estimate-sums-diffs.htm

Sentence Fragments - Synonyms & Antonyms

We are on Day 2 of our Weekly Language Review!

On Day 2 we learn about:

1. Root Words: This is the word without a suffix or prefix - like the word "Elect" is the root word of "Election" or "Dance" is the root word of dancing, danced, dances.
2. Idioms: A combination of words that have a different FIGURATIVE meaning than the implied LITERAL meaning. For example, when we say "Cool as a cucumber" we don't mean you are cold like a cucumber that has been in the fridge.. we mean your are stay cool or chill, not freaking out!
3. Synonyms: We can use a thesaurus to find the synonyms of words. Synonyms are other words we can use that mean the same thing. For example for funny we can use: hillarious, or goofy, or comedy.
4. Antonyms are the opposite of synonyms - they mean the opposite of the word - For example the opposite of cool is warm, happy and sad, mean and nice.

Sentence Fragments

Remember: A subject is what we are talking about in our sentence, and a predicate is what the subject is doing (usually a verb or action word). To have a complete sentence we need both the subject and predicate or we call it a sentence fragment!

Homework Alert

Students have a worksheet to do for homework tonight on Subjects and Predicates.
Please see below for visual on subject and predicate, there is also a little blurb at the top of the sheet. We completed some in class today. This is extra practice so we can move onto something else tomorrow!

This is work that will help us build sentences, complete sentences!! Seeing you all heard my blurb on why we need to have complete sentences! Please check out the video below if you are unclear on sentence fragments and subject & predicate (verb),

Punctuation

Language Review:

Subject: who or what the sentence is about

Predicate:  tells about that subject

Adjective: a word naming an attribute of a noun, such as sweet, red, or loud.

Noun: a word used to identify a person, place, or thing

Verb: an action word: jumping, running, writing.

Complete Sentences

We are learning how to make our writing stronger. One of the things we need to work on is having COMPLETE sentences!

We need a subject (what the sentence is about) and a verb (action word). A sentence also needs to have a complete thought, meaning that you are able to understand from the sentence, without asking what is missing. We know who the sentence is about, and what is happening!
Examples:
The students are playing tag on the playground.
Mrs. Jessie is going to the library after school.
The grey kitten eats a furry mouse.
The fireworks explode loudly in the night sky.

Now, you are going to use your new found knowledge to identify sentence fragments and add the foldable into your Daily 5 Books. Make sure to colour it up nicely!

The return of.... Mrs. Jessie

Hi kiddos and parents!!

Good news, my leg is sewn up with many stitches and I should be able to return to work next week! I have to go see him Sunday, and probably a few more times, but I should be okay to rejoin you Monday if all goes well! The doctor gave me an additional 3 weeks off, but I will just be taking it easy, using crutches and rolling around on my office chair to help ensure my stitches don't rip out. What an eventful start to the year. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this rough start, and also a huge thank you to Ms. Aisyah for doing an amazing job taking over for me!! 💖

I am looking forward to being back. The bad news is we have progress reports going home shortly, and after being away for a month, it has been a bit hard for me to assess students regularly. That means that the next couple weeks are going to be jammed packed with me doing some reading assessments, a science quiz (see below), and some more Ninja Math Minutes to help me get a more accurate read of you! We might have a couple gaps in the assessments, so I do appologize in advance for that. Bad timing!

So.. what can you do to make sure you are ready?

1. Practice those math facts! Especially your flashcards for your Ninja Minutes so you get new belts next week. Practice on Xtra Math so that I can add you to my Addition Masters! Some of you are so close to joining Christian, Yiang Yang, JaeNa, and Lukas! Keep going and persevere!
1. PARENTS: Please remember to sign up for the parent account that goes with your student's Prodigy account. It will allow you to track their progress and support them at home on concepts they may be struggling on. The regular use of Prodigy at home also allows me to track growth and progress and identify individual students who may need more support. 
2. Science Quiz - Review the videos. I am going to focus on light only to start off with, because I am not sure how much sound you covered. What are the properties of light? Can you explain them? How does light travel? How are we able to see different colours? What does transparent, opaque, translucent, refraction, and reflection mean? You will be writing this next Thursday! So you will have time to bring your science home to study as well. Review, review, review!
3. We are also going to be doing what I call a "Quick Write." Ms. Bonnie and Ms. Aisyah were nice enough to send me home your Daily 5 books so that I could see how your writing has been going. We are going to keep practicing these upcoming weeks. A couple things I will be looking for:
1. Does your sentence start with a capital letter and end with the appropriate punctuation?
2. Are your sentences complete and do they make sense?
3. Does your writing flow and fully explain your thinking?

We are going to be moving into some more paragraph writing as well as writing conventions this week. Some of us are still struggling with writing in complete sentences. Have a chat with your parents or your older siblings about using full sentences and the importance of punctuation.. because...

See you Monday!

Congratulations Lukas - Our Newest Master of Addition

Keep up the good work! I'm glad to see so many of you working so hard on your math facts and prodigy! Way to go Lukas! You'll get a treat next week 😊

We are famous, as aresome of our grade 7s!

Check out this National Geographic clip on Sunway Iskandar!

We have another master of addition!

Congrats Agnes (JaeNa).. I can see you practiced everyday this week and it paid off!! Keep up the great work! I'm going to have a lot of prizes to buy if you all keep working this hard on your math facts! Well done :)

Math Test

First test of the year alert! You are almost done your first unit it math, which means you will have a test on Monday! You can keep practicing on Prodigy, or look at some of the videos and other math stuff I have posted.

What will be on the test:

1. Expanded form, Word (written) form, and standard form (number form)
2. Rounding numbers
3. Place value to thousands
4. Adding tens, hundreds, thousands
5. Multiply by 10, 100, and 1000
6. Using manipulatives to work with numbers and place value
7. Distances and comparing distances
8. Other things covered in class by Ms. Aisyah - see chapter review

Sound

Light Absorption, Reflection, and Refraction

Review: Check out this link for the video below and some questions to test what you know!
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/energy-light-sound/light-absorb-reflect-refract.htm
More review:

New video:

Transparant, Transluscent, and Opaque Light:

Congrats to Yiang Yang!

Congratulations Yiang Yang for being our second classmate through addition on Xtra Math! He's flying through subtraction too! I'll have a treat for you when I return 😉

Keep practicing! There are a bunch of you that are soooooooo close to mastering your addition facts!

Math - Rounding!

Check out these videos on rounding and play this game to practice!

https://www.turtlediary.com/game/rounding-numbers-using-calculator.html

or practice with:

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/math/numbers/nestimate-whole-numbers.htm

Anti Bullying Day - Ian

Anti-Bullying Day

Monster Multiplication

Here is another game that will help you practice your multiplication facts! Enjoy! Click HERE!

Expanded, Standard, and Written Form

Click here to review the different ways we can express numbers!

And place this game after to practice what you know about place value 👉 Click here!

Homework & Curriculum Update

I've been checking, and I can see that not too many people have been practicing on XtraMath/Prodigy or reading on Raz Kids. You should be practicing on a daily basis so you keep getting stronger!

Please spend at least half an hour tonight on homework: whether it be finishing up your autobiography paper with your parents (YOU write NOT your parents), doing a round of XtraMath or two, battling on Prodigy, or cracking open a book at home or on RazKids. The more you practice the better you are going to get! ***It's also interesting how those students who never practice on these programs at home (I can see how much you practice) are the ones who also struggle in class!***

A big congratulations to Christian!! He is our first classmate to make it through addition on Xtra Math!! I will have a treat for you when I get back 👍😀

Parents: Here is the curriculum document that shows an outline of what we will be covering this year. It is fluid for some of the concepts like social studies, as we have the ability to sway off course based on student interests. Click here to see the powerpoint presentation!

Autobiographies

Today you are going to start writing an Autobiography... what is an autobiography you might ask? It is an account or history of your life, written by you! They are very similar to a biography - where somebody else writes about a persons life.

Watch these to see more of what an Autobiography is and how to write it, as well as listen to an biography of Albert Einstein! Remember, we also learned and read a book about Nikola Tesla. These are stories about a persons life, you are going to write a story about your life!

Place Value

Place Value, Digits, Decimal Points - Important math stuff!

Try this at home for homework: Ordering Whole Numbers! Click here!

Light and Shadows

What we have learned so far:

- The difference between natural and artificial light
- Emitting and reflecting light
- Light travels in a straight line

Here is another video on light, and some questions you can answer afterwards!

Click here for the Questions and Test Yourself

What about reflection, refraction, and absorption?

Stars and the Sun

Seeing we are learning about light right now.. what about stars and the sun? Are they natural or artificial light sources? Do they reflect or emit light?

Here are a couple videos to get you thinking!

Natural light: Is light that is found naturally in our world and space. It is not man made. Example: the sun! Which is just a big star!

Artificial Light: Is light that we see all around us, more so at night.. think of all of the things in your house that light up at night! Example: a computer!

Fill out the worksheet and sort the list for natural and artificial light. See how many more you can add!
Think about: cellphones, fireflies, lightning, glow sticks, glow worms, etc.

https://study.com/academy/lesson/light-energy-sources-lesson-for-kids.html

Language and Paragraph Writing

You will be starting paragraph writing: Here are a few things to help you get going!

Topic Sentences - So Important!

And finally.. a Paragraph writing song for you!

The Math Textbook

Before Chinese New Year, some of you lovely 4A's grabbed me some of the textbooks.

Today you will be doing a textbook walk. Flip through your textbook, what are some of the features you notice?

We've talked about a table of contents, and a glossary.. Your textbook has two really awesome features at the back. Take a look! One allows you to find definitions of the words that are bolded in the text, the other tells you what page a certain concept is located on.

Find "Place Value" - What is the definition? What pages can you find it on? Look on those pages, see what you can find.

Now turn to the table of contents at the front. I want you to find out what page lesson 1 of chapter 2 is on. We are starting with Place Value and Numeration. Is it one of the pages you were on before?

Turn to that page.. what are some of the features you notice?

Usually it starts with a learning goal: this is what you can expect to learn by the time you are done this lesson.

Is there a lesson at the beginning? Something that teaches you (or helps you remember what you already know?) Read it over!

What about bolded words? Any new terms? Again, go look in the glossary for what they mean.

There is likely a hint or some interesting information on the sides too. Don't skip that information!

When we start lessons we are going to go over most of that together, and then you will be responsible for completing questions on your own. TIME TO PRACTICE! Ms. Aisyah has some questions for you to do from the textbook. Remember to show all of your work, and double check your answer to ensure you didn't make any silly mistakes!

Science

I hope that it has less repetitive advertisements! Sorry kids!

When you are done watching I would like you to start your science books (remember they have lines on one side of the page and a blank on the other). You need to tell me at least 3 things you learned about Sound from Bill Nye today. I would also like you to write 3 things that are similar or different to what we already learned about Light! This should be in full sentences not in point form. You need to explain your thinking to me because I am not there to hear what you are thinking!
When you are done you can draw a picture of something that relates to light and sound

Autobiography Poem

Who are you? What makes you special?

We are going to be writing a poem about ourselves today, check it out!

If you didn't finish today, it is for homework!

Math

Good morning 4A and welcome back. I am sorry I will not be joining you today but you are in good hands!

For Math from 8-9:40 please complete the following at your desk:

1. Mental Math Lesson 3. Remember to read over the top section! It teaches you what to do or if you need help ask Ms. Aisyah!

2. Your problem of the week. This week it is on area! Remember from grade 3 that area is base multiplied by height? You multiply the two numbers together to get the area.
Remember! You need to show me all of your thinking not just the answers to the question. This is a multistep question meaning you will have to multiply a few numbers and the add them together. Show me all the math you do. You can draw pictures, label, add however you want. Also, remember that we answer the problem in a complete sentence!

3. When done you can work on the booklet I have before the CNY break. Ask your fellow students if you need help!

4. If you finish all of that: grab the cards and a partner and play multiplication snap/war. Quietly!

Homework for tonight

Mental Math Lesson 2 is due tomorrow.
Students also need to be done their Words Their Way sentences: They will write a sentence for each word. For example if their word is "school," they could write: "I go to Sunway International School in Johor Bahru."
If they forgot their Daily 5 at school, the words can be found on the Spelling City link to the right, the group they are in was sent to your Class Dojo app :)

We didn't have time to talk about the flashcards, so I will talk about them tomorow. Sorry in advance for any confusion.

The Legend of Nian

The legend of Nian: http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/feature_2/Traditional_Fesitival/Spring_Festival/Legend_SP/t1020695.htm
What is a legend? Is it true? Where do legends come from?

Nikola Tesla Part II

Alright.. here is a nice video summing up what we read in our book last night, you are welcome to watch it on your own.. it is from Brain Pop! Below.. read the answer to find out why he didn't electrocute himself when he had all that power flowing through him!

How did Nikola Tesla Survive 250 000 volts of electricity?

The alternating current flowing through the wire to Tesla was changing directions at a very high frequency (millions of times a second!). Very high frequency currents have a quirk that kept Nikola safe: High frequency currents travel along the outside of objects instead of penentrating through them. So instead of spreading through Nikola's body, the high-frequency current traveled along the surface of his skin. That protected his heart, which can seize up from even small amounts of current! But don't try any of this yourself...

Math Flashcards

Alright ladies and gentlemen... You've been doing amazing at your multiplication Ninja Minutes! You are blowing me away with how fast you are catching on! You are all going to have stacks of belts by the end of the year. However, things are going to get tougher as we go, just like getting a real black belt! So, your homework before we get back from Chinese New Year, is to construct yourself a set of flashcards you can use to practice your multiplication tables! (We will get to division later). You can make them however you like, but I've included some examples. I think a great idea is to include the numbers in Mandarin too so you can practice that! Remember what I showed you on the board for an example? Here are a couple others as well. Decorate, color, do whatever you wish.. these are your set to practice with! Because practice makes (almost) perfect!

Homework - Something to think about

After we read about Nikola Tesla the question came up.. How did he not get electrocuted when he was demonstrating with the wires and holding them in both hands? See if you can find the answer!

PS. Mrs. Jessie made a mistake when she said Nikola Tesla was still alive, he died in 1943, you can research him more if you like. She was thinking of Elon Musk, who is still alive and well 😉😊. See, teacher's can make mistakes too! We just need to remember, mistakes are how we learn!

Our Chinese New Year's Art

If you haven't finished yet, here is a link (click here) to the website that shows us how to do this:

How did yours turn out? It is okay if it looks a bit different, that is the whole idea! We each have a different interpretation of the way the dragon looks and what colours it should be. Just like we are all different, our pictures are all different too!

Electrical Wizard

Nikola Tesla got his start at an early age, being interested in science and electricity. What are you interested in? What do you like to do in your spare time? What can we learn about Nikola that shows us good character and perseverence?

Base Ten Blocks

Base Ten Blocks online, for when you don't have your own set ;) (Click on the link beside the picture)

Base 10 Blocks

Ninja Fact Masters

Woohoo! Some of us got our first belt in multiplication today! Master of 0! Maybe tomorrow we will also have a few "Master's of 1!" Keep practicing those multiplication facts to progress through your levels :)

Mental Math Lesson 1

Most students are already complete.. however, if they are not, here is the link to the PDF copy of Lesson 1, which is due tomorrow Tuesday January 29th.

Math Word Problem of the Week

Problem of the Week January 28th

The family studies class baked two dozen muffins. The class plans to share one third of the muffins with the school office staff, and one quarter of the muffins with Mr. Ahmed’s chess club.
A) Which group will receive more muffins? Justify your answer.
B) How many muffins will be left over after they give the office staff and chess club their shares?

Due Friday! Remember to show all of your work and answer in complete sentences!