Fitset Ninja!

Here are some pictures from our Fitset Ninja activity!

Have an awesome summer, everyone, and I'll see you back at Ramsay School on August 31!

Indigenous Peoples Day & Summer Solistice

Medicine Wheel art

We had a Community Walk today to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day and Summer Solstice that was on Wednesday. The weather was fantastic and we had a great two hours exploring nature with Ms Harris' class.

Our task was to choose something from the Nature Activity list and work on it with a partner from Ms Harris' Grade Three class. We could choose to spend the whole half hour working on one thing or try lots of different nature activities. We used the space along the river at Enmax Park as our classroom. 

Here are some photos of our work: 

Building homes

Making Nature
Art

After working, we stopped at the Rainbow Trout playground for our recess break then we walked back to the school. 

Some of us saw the merganser ducklings, the osprey carrying sticks to its nest, minnows in the shallow water, a pair of mallard ducks, and mushrooms. 

Time Capsule sharing

Today we shared the time capsule from 1996-1997 by hosting a community event where people could come and look at it. Ramsay classes also toured the exhibit. Some of us were wearing black to act like museum staff members with name tags. 

Two kids from Mrs Kruk's Ramsay's 1997 class came to the school this morning and saw the artifacts and heard our presentations! 

The Time Capsule box had paintings from what the kids thought the past, present, and future looked like. It was held in Ms Kruk's basement for 25 years and she brought it to Ramsay School last spring.

It was exciting that we were able to find some of the original students and the principal from the time. 

"I really liked that we get a gallery walk and that everyone got to be a part of it." ~ Aarav

"I liked the way the artist painted the paintings." ~ Avni

"I really liked seeing what was in the time capsule from the past." ~ Alice

"I really liked that we made it like a museum with nametags." ~ Sage

"I liked how it was open to the public because we did something helping the whole community." ~ Arsh

"I really liked how we got our communication out to four other people from Ramsay School at the time. We did not expect that." ~ Kashvi

Time Capsule Exhibit

Parents, we hope that you can visit the school to see our Time Capsule exhibit/gallery walk tomorrow between the hours of 10-11:30 and/or 1-2. Our class will be "hosting" between 10-10:30 so if you'd like to see your own child, that would be the time to come. 

I'll post pictures later this week in case you can't make it.

Erin

Reminder: Math & Science Quizzes

Students, this is a reminder that you will have your final two quizzes of the year this week. 

For information on the Fractions and Decimals quiz, click here. 

For Science, you know that your quiz will be on Plants. Here are some things you should know to be prepared for the quiz. 

• Identify ways that plants are important to humans
• Provide examples of seed dispersal
• Explain what a seed plant needs to survive
• Explain the job of different plant parts (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, seeds)
• Provide examples of pollinators and explain why pollinators are important
• Use Science vocabulary correctly, such as photosynthesis, chlorophyll, dormant, seed coat, embryo (baby plant in the seed), deciduous, coniferous

If you feel that you need to practice/learn any of this information, check on the Google Classroom under "Science" for many videos and websites we used this month. 

Fractions & Decimals Work and Upcoming Quiz

For the past couple of weeks in Math, we have been exploring fractions and decimals. We know that fractions:

• are a part of a whole
• the pieces of a fraction are equal
• the top number is called the numerator and the bottom number is called the denominator
• the line in between the numerator and denominator is a division line
• when we cut the fractions into smaller pieces, the denominator gets bigger
• are connected to division because we can use fractions sometimes to represent a remainder
• the language we use to express a fraction has a "th" at the end of it (for example, "seven hundredths," "two tenths," "two hundredths," "four hundredths," "two thousandths," "two millionths," "one fifth," "three sixths.

We know that we can convert fractions to decimals when: 

• the denominator has a base of ten (10, 100, 1000, etc)

To practice, we have been making Pixel Art creations. For this Math & Art assignment, we have to colour the pixels one-by-one to create a piece of art. Then, you count the number of squares for each colour and write the fraction and decimal. So, for example, if there were 17 red squares, that equals 17/100 and 0.17. If there were 5 yellow, the fraction would be 5/100 and the decimal would be 0.05.

 

On Monday, June 5, we will have a Quiz on Fractions and Decimals. Here are the things students will need to know: 

• Write a fraction to represent a given picture.
• Write a decimal to represent a given picture.
• Draw a picture to represent a given fraction.
• Draw a picture to represent a given decimal. 
• Order fractions (with the same denominator) and decimals from least to greatest.
• Circle objects in sets to show a given fraction or decimal.

If students are looking for ways to practice, they are encouraged to try the assignments on Mathletics: Fractions and Decimals. There are also resources under "Math" on the Google Classroom that can help.

Plants!

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been learning about plants. In Grade 4, we focus on learning the plant parts and their jobs, as well as plant adaptations, seed dispersal, and pollination. 

Yesterday, we explored 5 different plant centres for some hands-on activities. Here are some things that we have learned so far. 

"Here, we were dissecting (taking apart) flowers to see their parts." ~ Sy

"We got to hold the pistil where the eggs would be." ~ Olivia

"They didn't have seeds because before the seeds could grow, the plant was cut." ~ Sage

"We saw every single part of the flower. That was really interesting. We touched the pollen; it was really powdery. The filament was really sticky. It was good to experience that." ~ Kashvi

"Here we took celery and put it in coloured water. We saw if the leaves changed colour and we saw the dots where the tubes pull the water up. We filled out a worksheet to show our observations." ~ Charlie

"The leaves were kind of dead because it came from a store and they cut off the roots." ~ Artur

"Underneath the celery where it was cut, you could see vein-like things where the water goes up. They were purple because of the food colouring." ~ Sage

"Here we cut out this diagram of a bean plant and there were vocabulary words like: root, seed. There were sentences to match so we'd have to put the word with its meaning." ~ Olivia

We also planted our own bean seeds and are hoping they will grow! Over the next month, we will track their progress in class.

We also know that: 

"The anther is where the pollen is on the flower." ~ Arsh

"The pistil is where the flower holds its eggs/seeds." ~ Charlie

"I learned about some scientific names like chlorophyll. It is the food the plant makes." ~ Kashvi

"The plant has to go through a process called photosynthesis, which means the plant absorbs sunlight and water and carbon dioxide to make food." ~ Alice and HS

"There are two parts to a flower: the female and male. The male part is called the stamen and the female part is called the pistil." ~ Olivia

"In the fall, for some trees, there is no chlorophyll so then the leaves turn different colours." ~ Sage

"The flower has a petal that covers up the stamen and pistil." ~ Aarav

"I learned that stamen have two crucial parts: the filament and the anther." ~ Keagan

"The petals are like a landing place for the bees. Bees see ultraviolet light to see the petals. It's like an airplane landing but a bee landing." ~ AM

"The petals protect the seeds so they can make more flowers." ~ Bono

"I learned that on the inside of the petals, there were spots to attract pollinators to pollinate them." ~ Nico

"When I was dissecting the flowers, I noticed the petals were really hard so the pollinators could land on them." ~ Nolan

"At my house, me and my mother planted mother's day seeds and we planted and it is growing and turning to the window. We turned it and now it is turning to the window again!" ~ VG