Mr. Wideman (Room 104) - Nov. 25 - Nov. 29

Happy December! As we move into the last few weeks before the Winter Break, we have some important and engaging activities planned for Room 104. Our school wide initiative around Empathy takes center stage over the next two weeks, as all of our family groups will be collecting donations for the Calgary Food Bank. From December 2 to December 12, our students will be delivering their donations to their family group classrooms as we will be counting and building with these items during our family group meetings on Friday December 13. Thank you for your support of this important opportunity to help families in need during the holiday season.

Have you heard about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus? This rare (very rare) species of octopus inhabits the west coast of B.C. and Washington, and has been nearly hunted to extinction by local house cats, bald eagles, and the Sasquatch. Or has it? Students in Room 104 have been researching the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus while evaluating the validity and usefulness of information shared online. By evaluating websites and determining whether or not the shared information is accurate and updated, we are learning to become more critical and thoughtful when we conduct research using online resources. If information is published online, can we assume that it's true? What are the indicators of a legitimate, authoritative website?

Our work in Math this week will take us deeper into the world of division. We will be exploring three main division strategies during the upcoming weeks; the traditional long division algorithm, the Box Method, and the Big 7 Method. To help familiarize ourselves with these methods, we will be using video demonstrations as part of the learning process. Here are three videos that introduce each of these different division methods:

Long Division Algorithm

Box Method

Big 7 Method

Our project work in Science and Social Studies will conclude this week, and we're looking forward to sharing this work during the Weekly Review (Feedback Friday) activities at the end of the week. Please note that the yellow Weekly Review folders should be signed and returned to school at the beginning of each week (on Mondays, if possible). In addition, thank you for taking the time to discuss, review, and edit the creative story writing in our Google Drive folders. These will wrap up this week.

Thank you for your continued support. Enjoy your week!

-Mr. Wideman