Bike Safety Article

Here is a link to another news article on our bike safety day last week.

Simcoe bike article

Have a good night!

Check This Out!!

This past Thursday, we had an excellent bike safety day.  Here is an article from the Barrie Examiner in case you missed it:

Bike Safety Barrie Examiner

Enjoy the last week, remember tomorrow night (Tues.) is graduation night.  Congratulations to all of our graduates!

 

Transformations

Don't forget that tomorrow is our Bike Safety day, running for grades K-5 from 9-12.  Don't forget your bike and your helmet!

Here are some websites on math transformations that we explored today.

Study Jams Transformations

Icy Slides, Flips, and Turns

Reflection, Rotation, Translation

Space Transformation

Robo Packer

BBC BItesize Transformations

As well don;t forget to practice on Prodigy.


Have a good night!

Nine Days Left!!

We actually only have nine days left of school for this year!  Even as the students dream of beaches and sleeping in, we are keeping busy.  

Thursday the 18th is our Bike Safety Fair, and we hope all students can bring their bike and helmet.  The rain date is Friday the 19th.

We wrapped up our unit on probability today.  Here is a website to have fun with:

Probability Fair

Have a good night!

Frogs and Ladders

Here is a link to the game we played today as we continue studying probability.  It is a little bit addictive, and even more so when you try the higher levels.  

Frogs and Ladders

Also, here are the instructions to game we played with one die and a piece of paper to keep track of our scores.  

Taking Your Chances

Materials
– regular die
– sheets of paper (1 per student)
– pencils

Here's how it goes:
• The teacher rolls the die 20 times. After each roll, students add the number indicated on the die to the total obtained in previous rolls. Students may use paper and pencil to help them keep track of their running total.
• If the teacher rolls a 1, students lose their accumulated total, and their score becomes 1. Students continue to add on from 1 in subsequent rolls of the die.
• At any point in the game, students may “freeze” their score by standing up. For example, if a student has achieved a score of 16, he or she may stop at 16 and stand up.
• After the teacher has rolled the die 20 times, the class determines which student has the highest score. Two or more students may have the same high score.

After playing the game a few times, ask questions, such as the following:
• “What strategy did you use to play the game? How did you decide when to freeze your score?”
• “Were you able to predict when a 1 would be rolled? Why or why not?”
• “How likely is it for a 1 to be rolled? Why?”
• “What are the chances that a 1 would be rolled? How do you know that the chances of rolling a 1 are 1 out of 6?”

The more players, the more fun this is!  It would make a great game for family game night.

A Lot of Sunshine

In English today, we worked on a media project using sound lyrics.  We listened to a couple of songs, and saw how videos and CD covers match the mood of the songs.  Here are the songs we listened to:

Awful Lot of Sunshine - Hugh Oliver

Happy - Pharell Williams

We Are Going to Be Friends - Jack Johnson

Students will be picking out a favourite song of their own, finding the lyrics, and creating a cd cover that matches the mood or message of the song they chose.

In math, we are continuing on with probability.  Here is a video lesson:

Outcomes

Have a good night!

Probability of a PA Day on Friday - Certain!

Please remember that tomorrow is a PA day, no school for the students!

We continued our study of probability today.  Here is a lesson, demonstration, and quiz to help your child to better understand the concepts.

Find Probability

If you looking for a good site for keeping skills up over the summer, here is one we have been using lately.  It has Language, Math, and other subjects.  There are games for learners from pre-school to grade five.  Check it out!

Turtle Diary

Have a good weekend!

Stanley Cup Starts Tonight!

It doesn't seem right to be talking about hockey when the weather is so nice, but the Final starts tonight!  Hopefully it is a good series.  

We continued our work on probability today, discussing combinations of items.  Here is a lesson, demonstration, and some follow-up questions.  Please note, the first question under "Try It!" involves paints and a canvas.  The answer they are looking for does not match the visual, so skip to Try It 2.  It has visuals of pastas, sauces, and toppings which allow the student to solve the question.  Here is the link:

Combinations

We are just finishing a story we have been writing about a character who is "coming out of their comfort zone", someone who tries new things and challenges themselves throughout life.  Here is a book that we heard in class, called Miss Rumphius, that goes perfectly with this subject.  

Miss Rumphius

Have a good night!

Probability

We're in the last month of the year, but we're not slowing down at all!  The final stretch will be a busy one. Here is a website that has a lesson, demonstration, and activity to help students further learn the concepts of probability:

Study Jams - Probability as a Fraction

As well, here are a few quizzes:

Quiz One

Quiz Two

Quiz Three

Have a good night!

Probability of the Weekend Being Here - Certain!!

Happy Friday!  Here are a couple of reminders:

• On Monday, the local Crabby Joe's is donating 20% of the total of your non-alcohol order to our school.  This is a great excuse for going out on a Monday night.  Thanks to Crabby Joes for their support for our school.  Make sure you bring your certificate with you, or mention to your server you are a Pine River family
• Next Friday, June 5th is a PA day - no school for the students.

In English, we work on parts of speech from time to time.  We focus on nouns, verbs, and adjectives.  Here are a couple of websites to have fun with:

Parts of Speech Asteroids (pick nouns, verbs, adjectives)

Parts of Speech Quest - a fun adventure style game.  Write down your code each time you exit so you can continue the next time you play.

In math, we are continuing probability.  This weekend, play a board, dice, or card game to work on predicting probabilities.  Yahtzee is one of my favourites!

Online Yahtzee

Have a great weekend!

Probability Lesson

In math class, we are working on using the following words to describe probabilities: CERTAIN, LIKELY, UNLIKELY, IMPOSSIBLE.  This is a difficult concept for some of the students to grasp.  During board or card games, it would help your child better understand the ideas by stopping every once in a while to ask what the chances of an event happening next would be.  For example, when rolling a die, ask "What are the chances you will roll a six?" or "What are the chances you will roll less than a 3?"

Here is a site with a quick lesson and some practice to help.

Probabililty

Have a good night.  

One month left!!

Hard to believe, but there is only one month left of the school year.  The weather feels like June already, and it feels strange on those days when you can't wear your shorts and sandals.

We have moved on to one of the funnest math units of the year - probability.  We are working on using appropriate terms to express probabilities, as well as fractions.  Here are a few sites to help you practice at home:

Toads and Vines - this site is based on the game Snakes and Ladders.  The language is a little dense, so you will probably need to sit with your child to help them read the questions.

Bamzooki - a fun game, it asks students to express probabilities in fractions, decimals, and percents.  This is one for the probability experts!!

Ball Picking Machine - this one focuses on probability basics, so it is a good starter.

In literacy, we have finished our poetry portfolios.  Now, we are working on our movie poster media projects, as well as writing a story about characters who demonstrate resiliency.  

Have a good night!

Comparing Fractions

We are continuing our unit on fractions, and today we worked on comparing to see which one is bigger.

Here is the site we played today:

Fraction Soccer Game

We also used this site to help compare:

Fraction Tiles


A very fun site we have been visiting lately is called Fuel the Brain.  It contains a lot of fun games, mostly for math but some literacy, aimed at grades 3-4 and below.  Check it out!

Fuel the Brain

Have a good night!

Jelly Golf!!!!

A very fun site to help practice identifying fractions

Jelly Golf

Fraction Fun

In math, we have started a new unit on fractions.  Here is a very fun 'Angry Birds' kind of site

Fraction Fling

 

Todays math site

Here is a website to help students with their 'counting on' skills. Remember to click the "hide jumps" box to make it a challenge.

Catapult Count

Here is another site we used the other day to practice making change using Canadian coins.  

Cash Out Canada


Have a good night!

Book Swap on Thursday

On Thursday, Pine River is having a book swap.  Students have been bringing books they no longer want in the hopes that other students may want them.  On Thursday, students can see what was brought in, and maybe grab some new favourites.

Today in math we started division, using it as a method to share equally.  Here is a website to review at home:
Division Mine

In English, we continued to work on our Jacques Cartier projects.  Please see yesterday's post for more details.

Have a good night!

 

Welcome back!

Tanned, rested, and ready to go!!  Well, rested and ready to go anyway.  I hope everyone had a good March Break.  The first day of Spring came on Friday, and by Saturday we had a few new centimetres of snow! Today was at least the last day for snow pants, right?

In math, we worked on our multiplication skills.  This is definitely something to work on at home, and practice makes perfect.  Flash cards are useful tools for this, allowing students to become more confident in their mental math abilities, and making problem solving easier.  Here is a fun Harry Potter based site we worked with today.
Lord Voldemath

In English, and Social Studies, we are working on a research project on Jacques Cartier.  Here are a few of the sites we looked at when doing our research:
http://mrnussbaum.com/explorers/jacques_cartier/

http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article-9273538/Jacques-Cartier 

http://www.landofthebrave.info/jacques-cartier-facts.htm 

For parents, here is a good resource for helping to identify mental health disorders in children and youth.  One in five children under 19 experience a mental, behavioural, or emotional disorder.  Early identification can be an important factor ini treatment.
Kids Mental Health

Have a good night!

One Day to Go!

Only one more day until a well-deserved March Break.  If you're heading to someplace sunny, enjoy!  If not, well, at least the snow has started to melt.

In math we have been working on multiplication.  Here is a site to follow up with:
World Cup Math

A new site I just learned about is called Prodigy Math.  It is a role-playing game involving wizards and magic that asks the players math questions as they progress through the game.  I have created a login for each of my students that comes to me for math (only first names were used).  An information letter will go home tomorrow with your child's login info. 
Here is the site if you want to check it out:
Prodigy Math

St. Patty's Day comes over the March Break.  Here are some sites:
Crossword Puzzle
Word Search

Finally, tomorrow (Friday) is pajama day.  Everyone is dressed for school right away!  Have a good night!
 

 


 

Where is spring????

Where is spring?  It has to be around here somewhere.  Yesterday, we began planning for when the weather turns warmer, and wrote about what we would do on the first day of spring.  Unfortunately, the long bike ride along the beach that I have planned is going to have wait for awhile.  Spring has to come eventually, doesn't it?

Today, we worked on parts of speech, focusing on nouns and verbs.  We used this skill to help create some Mad Libs.  Here is the site we worked on:\
Nouns and Verbs
If you're unfamiliar with Mad Libs, they are a blast.  Please visit this site to try your own:
Mad Libs
 
Please remember that tomorrow is the last Zumba day for this year.  

Have a good night!

Tomorrow (Thurs.) is our character ed. assembly, we hope to see you there.  Also,  its Crazy Socks day.  Wear your best and your brightest.

Have a good night!

Report cards today, Zumba Tonight

Please remember that tonight (Fri. Feb 20th) at 6pm is Zumba night where our school community is invited to come in and dance the evening away.  We hope to see you!

In math, our unit on operations (+, -, /, x) is well underway.  Here is our warm up game today:
Ghost Blasters III
For a change of pace on Friday, we also used the pentominoes.  If you are unfamiliar, check out this game.  Warning, it is addictive!
Pentominoes

 In literacy, here is a fun game to practice finding antonyms (opposites).  Who wouldn't want to play a game called FURIOUS FROGS?

Report cards go home today.  Please contact me here at the school if you have any questions or you wish to set up a conference.  Have a good weekend!
 

A big thank you!

A big thank you to M. Cannon and parent council for the Carnaval they organized yesterday.  Students from grades 3-8 had a great day, and the weather was just right.  

Remember that tomorrow night (Fri.) at 6pm, PIne River is having parent Zumba night.  Come see what your child has been up to on Fridays in February!  Report cards go home as well.

In math, we continue to explore addition of two and three digit numbers, using base ten blocks to help.  Here are a couple of fun sites to follow up on:
Tackle Math

Math Dodgeball

Have a good night!

Carnaval tomorrow!

Hopefully everyone had a good long weekend.  After the cold that we had, It may take a few days to thaw out.  Tomorrow, M. Cannon and parent council have organized a Carnaval for grades 3-8.  Students will be doing indoor and outdoor activities, so remember to wear warm clothes.  It is supposed to be warmer than the weekend, but still well into the minus double-digits. 


Today in math, we started our unit on Number Sense, revolving around the operations (+, -, /, x). We started using base ten blocks to add 2 and 3-digit numbers today, and will be back to it either tomorrow or the next day.  This is a website we used today, one that we've visited before:

Molly and the Pyramid

Don't forget that report cards go home on Friday the 20th.  Friday @ 6pm is also our Zumba Family Night. 

Have a good night!

Wigglebottom!!

With our dance-a-thon today, I couldn't think of a better title for today's post.  Howard B. Wigglebottom is a picture book character that my own children are very fond of.  His books talk about how to deal with some of the problems that kids have while they are growing up.  They are a great character education resource.  The link below will take you to the site, and while the online story books are fantastic, there is a lot more to see.  The songs are very catchy and free to download.  As well, there are games, colouring sheets, and more.  The polar vortex is back, so take some time to have a look!  
Howard B. Wigglebottom

Today in math, we built nets of 3-D shapes.  Tomorrow (Friday) we are having an assessment and getting ready to move on to our next topic.  Students can use the websites I have posted over the past couple of weeks to review.  Under the Sea is a great site for math practice.  Click the link below, input a good fishy name, and on the right hand side of the screen you will see "3-D Objects and 2D shapes".  Send your fish to that, then go to the 3-D section.  .   
Under the Sea


Tomorrow is Zumba, Red and White Day, and don't forget that Monday is Family Day. 

Have a good  night!

3-D Wednesday

Today we continued to work on 3-D shapes.  This unit is coming to an end in the next couple of days, and we will be moving on to a unit on Number Sense involving adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.  Here is another review on 3-D shapes.  
3-D Shapes

Remember that tomorrow is Dance-A-Thon, so wear something that you can dance in.  On Friday we have Zumba, and it is also Red and White Day.  Valentine's Day is coming!
Valentine's Word Search

Have a good night!

Nice to See the Sun Shine

The sun is shining, and we get a short break from the cold weather before we dive back into the frigid temperatures.  Enjoy it while you can.

Today in language we worked on using the jot notes we took on an animal the other day to create a paragraph.  We worked on an example today, which I have sent to the Edmodo group.  If your child is in my Edmodo group, look for the example, and the jot notes/paragraph that they wrote today. 

In math, we were using the properties of symmetry to sort 2-D shapes into categories.  We also started talking about 3-D shapes, and the difference between prisms and pyramids.  Please see the quiz on symmetry and 2-D shapes, and the short lesson and quiz on pyramids and prisms.

Prisms and Pyramids

Sorting 2-D Shapes Quiz

Remember, tomorrow is Custodian Appreciation Day, so wear navy and grey, and get your dancing shoes ready for the Dance-a-Thon on Thursday.  Have a good night!

Monday already???

Yes, it came.  Monday is here, so on with the show.  Usually on Mondays we do, "Tell Me Something I Don't Know".  This is a chance for students to share a big event from their life that happened, or is coming up.  On weekends, try asking your child what they will be talking about on Monday. 

Today, we worked on symmetry in math class.  These sites will give students a quick review:
Symmetry and 2-D shapes
Symmetry
 
Try this QUIZ.

Here is a neat site from PBS kids to follow-up 
The Symmetrizer

Upcoming special days and events:

•  Wednesday is Custodian Appreciation Day, students are asked to wear navy and grey.
• Thursday is the school Dance-A-Thon.
• Friday is our Zumba class, as well as Red and White day.

And, some other dates to keep in mind are:

Feb 16 – Family Day

Feb 18 – Carnaval – Grade 3 – 8

Feb 20 – Report cards go home

Feb 20 – ZUMBA Day

Feb 20 – ZUMBA Family night @ 6:00 pm

Feb 26 – Character Education assembly

Feb 26 - CRAZY Socks Day

Feb 27 – ZUMBA

Have a good night!

Super Fun Friday!

Even though the temperature is going up, the snow keeps coming down.  Looks like another fresh blanket of the white stuff is coming our way.  Hopefully, you can get outside to make the real thing, but if not, you can build a snowman here.  Drive safe this weekend.

Here is a head start on Valentine's Day, with a crossword you can print out or do online. Valentines Day Crossword
  
Monday is the 100th day of school, but we got into the spirit today.  Here is a site to help you celebrate:
One Hundred Snowballs

The students started Zumba today, and do so every Friday for the month of February.

Have a good weekend!

Middle of the week!

Nice to see the sun shine today, a little vitamin D goes a long way.  

Today in math we used geoboards to make shapes from 3-8 sides.  Here is a site to practice at home:
Virtual Geoboard

Some students were using pattern blocks to make animals or objects, such as a lamp.  You can try this here:
Pattern Blocks

Some students are working on taking research notes on animals.  Here are some sites we visited to do our research:
 National Geographic

Science Kids 

Here are a few more fun shape games

Shape Construction

Shape Bingo

Shape Match


Remember, tomorrow is the first day of Zumba!  Students from K-8 will take part on each Friday in February.

Have a good night!

Speech competition today!

Today, the school held our annual speech competition for grades 4-8.  Congratulations to all the students who participated.  
 
We followed up Groundhog Day yesterday with an article from National Geographic.  You can check it out here:
National Geographic - Groundhogs
You can actually hear what a groundhog sounds like!

One of the students asked me to put this link on the blog.  It is a site we go to fairly often and has activities that correspond to many of the math strands we study:
Under the Sea!

We are hoping to participate in the Valentine's for Vets program.  For more info, please go to 
Valentine's For Vets

Here is a fun typing program that can help improve keyboarding skills.  Who wouldn't want to type with a goat?  
Dance Mat Typing
 
Have a good night!

Groundhog Day!

On this snowy, blowy day, it is hard to think about spring coming.  Turns out, our groundhog friends agree.  Check this out: CBC News - Groundhog Day  This activity is for the younger set, but it is fun: Groundhog Day

Curriculum Corner
In math, we have been working on shapes lately.  Here is a site some of the students have been using: BBC Shape Lab.

In Language, we are working on reports, and focusing on non-fiction texts.  This is a game to help with proofreading: Proofread! 

In the News!
Tomorrow (Tues. Feb. 3rd) at 9am the Speech competition takes place.
On Friday, Zumba starts for grades K-8, and takes place every Friday for the month of February..

Hope you found this first post useful, and that you'll check back later.