With the first term well and truly finished, reports home and children free for the holidays, it seems like a good moment for a new post.  I am hoping to post more regularly in the new year.

We finished our door decorating in time for the judging on Wednesday with final details put up as we awaited the concert on Tuesday evening.  In case you missed it, here is our door within a door within a door:

Almost all students have taken geometry home to do over the Christmas vacation.  I hope they will have time to do as much as they are able.  If you find that the work becomes too challenging for your child, please stop where they are and I will continue on after the break.  I am hoping that all of the grade fours will be able to finish the Early Geometry sheets.  If your child has Geometry 1, please simply have them complete what they can as this is a very challenging unit.  Students do not have to complete any questions that use imperial (American) measurements such as inches, feet, yards, and miles.

Our drama workshops were amazing.  We had three fun filled afternoons during which the students learned to work with scripts, act with masks, and do improv.  I was very impressed with the results!

When we return after the break, we will have a week of curling in the gym for the whole school.  Our class will curl on Monday and Wednesday.  Students should wear runners, but don't need any special clothing or equipment for this.  If you would like to learn more about the program, check out  http://rocksandrings.com/.  

We will be doing a review of addition and subtraction in the new year.  Our methods of teaching this have changed.  We now do front end addition and subtraction as we have learned that this method makes more sense for the brain.  it also helps children when they estimate and do mental math.

346+158= 300+100 + 40+50 + 6+8

              =  400+90+14

              =  504

Or

  346

+158

  400

   90

 +14

 504

Subtraction is even more strange, but I can attest to the fact that it speeds up mental math considerably. 

  532

-287

 300

 -50

   -5

245

I love talking about math anywhere, anytime, so please do not hesitate to ask about these new methods.  Children who know their addition and subtraction facts to 20 will have a much easier time with this next unit.

Many thanks to you all for sharing your delightful children with me.  Have a wonderful holiday!

I am very excited to be introducing my brand new blog.  Please feel free to leave comments on the blog if they are intended for public viewing. These comments will be checked before they are posted to the blog. If you have any private comments or concerns, please email me at: bmarchiori@vsb.bc.ca.

We have been doing some very exciting learning so far this term.

The Zones of Regulation help us to understand how our bodies feel when our energy is at different levels and what strategies we can use to help us self-regulate. We practice taking big calming belly breaths to help us calm down and focus. We breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Mrs. Roguski, our wonderful school counselor has been coming in every week to teach us about kindness. So far, we have talked about inclusion, moral courage, and compassion.




In reading, we have been working in small groups with Mrs. Marchiori, Mrs. Friesen, and Mr. Merhi, analyzing poetry. Students have learned about alliteration, onomatopoeia adjectives and more. They have discussed finding the deeper meaning when reading poetry. In the next few weeks, we will be working on writing our own poems as well as presenting poems in our groups.


Fishes’ Evening Song
Flip flap,
Slip slap,
Lip lap,
Water sounds,
Soothing sounds.

We fan our fins
As we lie
Resting here
Eye to eye.

Water falls
Drop by drop,
Plip plop,
Drip drop.

Plink plunk,
Splash splish
Fish fins fan,
Fish tails swish,
Swish, swash, swish.

This we wish…
Water cold,
Water clear,
Water smooth,
Just to sooth
Sleeping fish. 

Dahlov Ipcar 

We have begun our Writers’ Workshop program and the students are very excited about the stories they are working on. Many have been working collaboratively. In the next week or so, students will begin meeting in writing groups to discuss their writing, looking for ways to help their audience when editing their work.

We have completed two units in math. The first was about probability. We have had many meaningful discussions of likelihood… what is certain, what is impossible, and what falls in between. This has been very helpful when discussing our fears. For instance, while a student may fear spiders, how likely is it that a spider that lives here in Vancouver, could cause serious harm?

Our other math unit was on graphing. The students conducted surveys and created bar graphs to compare their data. We will be applying this skill throughout the year.

In my classroom, it is differentiated. I want every student to be working on “good fit” math problems that are neither too boring because they are easy or too frustrating because they are too hard. For this reason children are almost always working on their own problems at their own pace. Many students choose to learn collaboratively, but all must demonstrate success before moving on. Students who wish to do math homework and who have demonstrated that they can be independent with their math sheets may ask about taking them home for homework. This is not an expectation. Please contact me if you have any concerns about your child’s progress in math.

I will be writing about our exciting work in science and math in another post.