Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Patterns Galore!

We have moved into patterning in my Grade 4 math class and at first I was pretty skeptical... I am not good at patterning so I was worried that I would have trouble explaining things. But I must say it's been really great!


Here are some anchor charts we created together. The first is types of number patterns.


This shows ways of solving or extending patterns.


Here is our word wall:

We are working on an AWESOME foldable that I will be back to share very soon.

Please leave me a comment about the quality of the photos...I took them with my iPhone and I am not all that impressed. Do they look okay to you?


On a side note....to everyone that has been commenting on my learner's profile, I am working on a series of posts about assessment to be posted very soon. I will talk more about learner's profiles then and post mine as a freebie!!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Learning Profile

This year I have started using a learning profile for each of my students. This way I can see all of the marks and progress my students are making in every subject at one glance. I have really enjoyed marking and assessing this way but I am not happy with the profile I created and I want to redo it for second term.

Any suggestions? Does anyone out there use a learning profile?

Monday, January 2, 2012

Year in Pictures Linky Party

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Wow!! Considering that I only returned from my maternity leave in September, that's a lot of pictures!!!

Jen, over at Runde's Room is having a Year in Pictures Linky Party and I am joining in the fun. I started this blog last year while I was off on maternity leave with my first baby, a daughter, and I needed something to keep me sane all those months in the house. I admire women (and men) who can do it but I am not cut out to stay home for long periods of time. I even went back to work after 8 months (instead of the usual 12 months of maternity here in Canada) because I wanted to start in September with my class.

So many things have changed for me in the past 1-2 years both personally and professionally. Obviosuly I had my first child but while I was pregnant I transitioned from being a Grade 7-8 teacher of 7 years to a Grade 4 teacher! Talk about adjusting! Starting this blog, being a TBA author and all of your amazing blogs out there kept me sane and helped me to make the transition. Thank you!!

I am proud of the progress I have made as a teacher is the past year has I have moved from Grade 7-8 to Grade 4 but I must admit I am scared! Why? While at this time last year I was only days away from giving birth to my daughter which means that we have reached the end of what I have previously taught in Grade 4. Everything from here on out is brand new...I'll be making it up as I go. Oh dear.

So here's to a new year...I hope 2012 and can live up to the fabulousness of 2011!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Time to Eat Healthy!! (A freebie!)

Before the break and all through the fall my students were studying healthy eating and making good food choices using Canada's Food guide. As a culminating activity we create Healthy Eating Superheroes! Soooo fun. We brainstormed together all the features of a super hero before we started and I told them that their super heroes arch enemy was.....da, da, daaaa...UNHEALTHY EATING MAN! (Super creative right? LOL..they liked it) Anyway, I have just finished marking their posters and written descriptions and I thought that with it being the first day of the new year and time for some health related resolutions this would make for a great first post in 2012!

Click on this link to download the pdf of the assignment handout, rubric and written description handout. (Warning- this was created for the Ontario curriculum and Canada's Food Guide! If you live in the States and would like a .doc version please leave a comment below with your email)

Healthy Eating Superhero Culminating Task


And here are some of my favourites from my class...they were all so good it was very hard to choose just a few to share! The written descriptions underneath are the ones submitted by my students. Love it!!

Healthy Girl- My superhero's special power is flying. It can help fight Unhealthy Eating Man because if Unhealthy Eating Man goes up in the sky and eats junk food Healthy Girl can still save him. It's gadgets are fruits and vegetables shooter, grain products shooter, milk products shooter and meat and alternatives shooter.

Amazing Healthy Eater- My superhero's special power is that it can breathe out foods from the fruits and vegetables group. The gadgets are a grain products releaser, a meat and alternatives shoe that blows out meat and alternatives and show that blows out milk and alternatives. He fights Unhealthy Eating Man because all the super powers and gadgets blow out healthy foods the Unhealthy Eating Man accidentally eats them and kids also eat it.

Green Gal- My superhero has a gun that shoots broccoli so if the villain makes people eat junk food Green Gal could push it away by her broccoli gun. She can shoot meat and alternatives with her belt so she can knock the villain down. Her purse with her gadgets not only a purse but a sidekick that gives her advice to defeat villains.


Healthy Voltage- My superhero's special powers are that he can fly, run very fast, far jumping, unhealthy vision and x-ray vision because if Unhealthy Eating Man is trying to run away my superhero can use these powers to catch him. My superhero's gadgets are milk grenades, healthy pineapple gum, apple boomerang, sliced bananas, voltage carrots, plum blaster, orange peels and fruit explosion which all shoot our fruits and vegetables and healthy foods.


I really liked how this student included all the appropriate serving amounts on their poster. So well done!

How do you teach about healthy eating and make it fun?

 
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