• milk order form went home today
• please return page 3 of the report card and the envelope for us to use it again
• props or costumes must be at school for the performances tomorrow

It is Ms McKelvie’s last day as a student teacher in our class tomorrow. It will be sad to not have her with us everyday. She has put a lot of work into the mythology project.

December already. My how times when you’re having fun.

Many cultures celebrate different holidays and special days by helping out those who are less fortunate than ourselves. Our class is now working on making good behaviour pay. We have started a penny jar. Whenever I see good behaviour or people doing things that are kind or thoughtful to others I will put pennies into the jar. The money will go to World Vision to help out children in other lands. So far today the jar has 93 pennies. That means that there were 93 acts of kindness or examples of great behaviour in our class today. Wonderful! I can hardly wait to see how many pennies we have in the jar by the 18th of December. Keep up the great work.

• Report cards went home today, please sign page 3 and return it in the white envelope. You can keep the report.
• I still need some interview forms returned. I can’t reschedule interviews for those who can’t make their times until I have those back.
• Keep playing recorder.
• Gather up any props or costumes you need for the play.

I have been busy getting all of our Kool-Aid Jammer pouches ready. They have all been washed and are drying. I think that next week we should be able to make a couple of bags. If you are interested in working on this project you can let me know.

I see that some people are changing their minds about the million dollar question. Just to refresh your memory. Would you like to get one million dollars at the end of 30 days for keeping your room clean or would you prefer to get 1 cent on the first day, 2 cents on the second day, 4 cents on the third day, 8 cents on the fourth day and so on…for 30 days. Do the math. See what you think. I noticed that Cameron was using a chart to see which was the best deal for him. I think that Mitchell was pretty set on taking the million dollars. Maybe we can change his mind.

• Please return the interview forms as quickly as possible. I have had several requests to change interview times but can’t do that until I have all the information back.
• Keep thinking about simple costumes or props (SIMPLE!!!!) that you might want to use in your ancient myth play
• Think about something that you can do for someone next week at recess that would brighten their day

I am still looking for more students to come forward about whether or not getting one million dollars after 30 days of keeping my room clean is a better deal than getting one cent the first day, two cents the second day, four cents the third day and so on for 30 days. We have taken some votes in class and Brayden has left a comment saying which he would prefer but it would be nice to hear from more of you.

• parent teacher interview letters went home today (report cards come home on December 1st)
• a book fair letter went home with the youngest or only members of a family in our class
• tomorrow we will be doing some more ancient civilization research in the computer lab

Reminder to students who post: Please be sure that you are posting your own original work and writing. I can’t publish things that you have borrowed from other people’s internet pages.

In the meantime here is a question for you…Let’s say your parents were unbelievably wealthy and they offered to pay you to keep your room clean. Here are the two deals that you have to choose from:

 

  Deal 1 – Your parents would pay you 1 million  dollars($1 000 000) at the end of 30 days if your room is neat and tidy every day.

  Deal 2 – Your parents agree to pay you 1 cent the first day, then 2 cents the second day, 4 cents the third day, 16 cents the fourth day  and so on, doubling the number of pennies every day for 30 days.

  Which deal do you want to take? Why? Think about it.

• phys ed is tomorrow
• rough copies of mystery stories must be finished
• practice your recorder
• your teacher will be on the radio tomorrow morning at around 8 am (91.5 FM)

I was trying to think of all the places that I see number patterns everyday. This picture is an example of one of those places. There are several patterns happening in this photo. Think about other places where we see number patterns.

I am looking at another number pattern right now. It goes like this: 1, 4, 7  then the next part of it is 2, 5, 8 and the third part is 3, 6, 9. These patterns are on a thing that you all have in your homes. I wonder if you can guess what it is. Leave a comment if you can find it. If you think you know what it is, then look for more patterns on it.

Just for fun here is another pattern rule to figure out:  3, 5, 9, 17, 33, 65… (Hint: this is not an alternating pattern)

• practice your patterning with these links: Stop that Creature and The Function Machine
• Phys ed is tomorrow…bring you gym clothes
• practice recorder
• read up about your ancient civilization

Well girls, I bet that you are happy that you aren’t living in Ancient Egypt. If you were you would have only about 2 more years before you would be married off to someone chosen for you. Boys, you would probably already be going to work everyday unless you were fortunate enough to be the son of a wealthy noble person.

Tomorrow we will be using our computer lab time to do research for our Ancient Civilization brochures. Thank you to the students who have shared some excellent sites with me. I want us to have a list to choose from in order to avoid searching time tomorrow.

• Scholastic book orders are due
• practice recorder (Congratulations Abeer on getting your green belt!)
• email or blog me any sites that you find that have good information for our Ancient Civilization research

Try out Jordan’s math pattern. Can you guess the rule? Leave a comment.

6, 14, 30, 38, 54, 62,…

Good luck.

What wonderful surprises awaited me today. First, I can’t get over how my students have changed in the two weeks that I have been away. They look older, taller and acted more grown up. It was so wonderful to step into a classroom with such happy faces and so many cards, poems, and good wishes. There were even TWO cakes for us to enjoy. The pictures tell the tale.

• if you have any research materials for your ancient civilization brochure, bring them to school
• Scholastic book orders are due tomorrow
• photos went home today
• practice your recorders…now that I am back we will be making music again

Thank you for a wonderful camp day. I had fun with the games that were organized by the sports committee and the entertainment committtee. Everyone enjoyed the great food and making the masks thanks to the arts and crafts committee and the refreshment committee. The classroom looked great because of the work of the site management committee. Excellent team work.

Be good while I am away. I will try to post entries from Brazil to let you know what I am up to. Make me proud of you all.

We had a great day today with our Scientist in the Schools presentation. We had a lot of hands on learning opportunities. My favourite was the one with the solar cells. It was neat to see how little energy the radio required to run.

Only one more sleep before camp day. If you choose to bring a sleeping bag that is okay but you must take care of it.

Hallowe’en costumes are welcome for the last hour of the day only. Please no make-up, masks or props.

Keep your fingers crossed for tomorrow to be nice enough for our outdoor games.