Ms. Vanderwel's Room

We had a busy week with St. Patrick's Day and Parent-Teacher Conferences. Here's a look at what we've been up to  : )  ------------------------------------------------------ In reading, students have been learning about the -es and -ed suffixes. Students learned why we use these endings and when to use them. For example, -ed is used to show past tense while -es is used to show plurals when a word ends with a /sh/, /s/, /x/ and /ch/. In writing, students continued to learn about organizing sentences. They listened to a video about the spring equinox (which was today) and then worked in groups to try to organize the sentences into a logical sequence. This brought in a bit of our science unit on the seasons and also helped students to work on organizing ideas in a piece of writing. For example, sentences with a similar idea should be grouped together.  https://youtu.be/UHQAZvxAcmY     In math, students began learning about word problems. They discussed looking...

 Here's a peek at our week : )  ------------------------------------------------ This week students learned about the soft /c/ and soft /g/ sounds. Below is a song they learned to help them remember the sounds each make and when to use those sounds in their reading.  In writing, students have continued working through the writing process learning about the importance of organizing their ideas prior to writing. They brainstormed important information about their week swimming and then used that information to complete an organizer.  In math, students learned about using the counting on strategy to solve for a missing variable in an equation. For example, when presented with the problem 15 - __ = 7 this can be solved by making it into an addition problem e.g. 7 + ___ = 15. Working forward, count on to find the missing value. Students used number lines and ten frames to help them visualize this process.  In science, students continued to examine the concept of ener...

Hello and Happy Friday : )  I hope you had a lovely week. Here is what we have been up to! -------------------------------------- In reading we have been focusing on long vowels and silent /e/. Students have continued to build words that contain the long e sound looking or the vcv (vowel consonant vowel) pattern in words (e.g. ike, ane, ube etc.) to determine if the vowel makes a long or short sound. Students completed a number of word ladders for words that contain this pattern, In math students explored using a number line to count back to subtract and played a fun math game that helped them practice this skill.  In science students began learning about energy. They discussed what energy is and how energy is expressed through movement. Students discovered that movement includes speed, direction, pathways and levels (i.e. high, medium, low).  In social they have been learning about some of the first people to settle in what is today Calgary. They examined the lives and c...