Grade 4

Today we harvested our beets/beet leaves, radishes, kale, mint and basil.  Everything was so fresh and delicious!  A few leftovers are being offered for the school conferences.  Many students were surprised and disappointed to hear that by harvesting everything off these plants, we would have to uproot and kill them, or take all the leaves off and therefore kill them.  We are making way for another growing project: tomatoes! We are keeping our Morning Glory plants going, because the way they are climbing is just amazing!  It will be really interesting to watch where they keep growing, and what they manage to wrap around.

Students had a wonderful introduction to simple machines when the teachers managed to borrow a kit from the University of Calgary.  "Ancient Machines" was full of materials so that the students could work in small groups and get really hands-on with their exploration of pulleys, levers, gears, rollers, axles and ramps. 

We borrowed a kit of catapults, blocks and "Angry Birds" and balls, and practiced using catapults.  Later, maybe we'll make our own.  For now, room 306 had fun firing, adjusting and re-firing to see how accurate they could get.  That analysis and adjustment is important to practice.  Mostly though, it was just fun!

Art Show and Auction in Support of Mental Health There is an art contest for grades 4-6 students, and you can take part in it (doing the art at home).  You're allowed to use any kind of medium you like (paint, pastels, sculpture, etc.)  The theme is " having resilience when facing mental health challenges”.  The art pieces will be sold at a fund-raising auction, so you have to be willing to give it up. Prizes are $50 art supply gift cards to each winner, plus a $50 art supply gift card to the teacher + a certificate of achievement.  The rest of the details follow.   Calgary Public Teachers, Local 38 of the Alberta Teachers Association, is partnering with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) to host an Art Show and Auction in Support of Mental Health.    The event will take place on May 2, 2019 at the Canadian Mental Health Association Headquarters (CMHA) in Calgary, and the Local is seeking art submissions from both teachers and stud

The students walked to Telus Spark for two sessions, plus some exploration in the centre and the playground.  The sessions were on machines (with a focus on cam systems) and on making a play with shadow puppets.  We also explored some ground floor exhibits and the "Brainasium" outdoor play area.

Happy Pi Day!  Grade four classrooms did a "Pi-Em", a poem based on the digits of Pi.  Our lovely poems are displayed in circles in the hall.  We also enjoyed eating pie, thanks so much to the families who donated them.  Lewis was the grade four winner, able to recite 80 digits of Pi!  Congratulations to him.  He took part in the schoolwide competition.  He was given a simple, makeshift "trophy" made from pie plates.  Congratulations to Layal, who came second, and all other students having a try at reciting the digits.

On Friday, March 8th, students performed a quick play that they had helped their Quest Theatre guide create.  They were funny!  The plays had an over-reaching theme of culture. 

Written by Max and Clayton, Room 306  We were learning about ROLLERS.  We grabbed text books and pencilcrayons and made miniature rollers by laying out pencil crayons and putting the text book over the top.  Then we rolled it over the desks.  It was less FORCE. After we did that, we used plastic pipes and made a bigger roller, using a human in a basket.  It was harder than the pushers expected. Once we did that, we created a human roller!  We put kids on the ground with a pusher and a basket kid as the LOAD.  As the basket kid got pushed over the floor, people had to roll themselves.  Sadly, not everyone got rolled on.

The two classes walked to the Glenbow Museum on a chilly morning to take part in two very interesting sessions.  One was all about Alberta's geological history and fossil fuels, and involved sketching of some great fossil artifacts.  The other was about immigration to Alberta.  Ask your child to tell you some of the ways that the posters advertising "Come to Alberta!" were very misleading.  Families typically brought one suitcase only - - so their belongings were really limited.  We looked at the contents of some suitcases to see real artifacts from Alberta settler families.