Last one!

Hi all,

So it's done; the year is over. This may well be my last blog entry. Thanks to those of you who followed it faithfully. I wish I had made more time to update regularly, but that's a goal for next year, I suppose.

The kids did a great job on the line dance yesterday. I know some (of the boys, in particular) were embarrassed but I think it came off very well.

It's been a pleasure working with your kids this year. We did some hard work but also had some laughs. For the grade fours, I'll look forward to seeing them in the fall. For the fives, good luck at middle school, and I hope they'll come by occasionally and say "hi".

For those of you who haven't heard, I'll be wearing two hats next year at Westwood: I'll be sharing a grade 4/5 class with Mrs. Berkefelt who's returning. I'll also be taking over the library, as Mrs. Graham has decided to teach in the classroom full-time. So I'll probably see many of you during our first Scholastic book fair in September.

Best wishes for a fun and restful summer holiday.

David

Wednesday, June 22

Welcome to summer! Let's just hope the weather holds.

This week has been flying by so far. The grade fives had a great Cultus Lake experience on Monday. Thanks to Mr. Sclater, Mrs. Hagen, and all the parents who went to help out. At the same time, the grade fours had a fun half day at Town Centre Park. Thanks to Ms Barnes for organizing that outing.

You'll see some school books and supplies coming home with your child, starting yesterday. This helps them avoid a huge bag of stuff to carry home on the last day.

This Friday marks Brian and Andy Shin's last day with us, as they are heading back to Korea for a vacation with their family. We wish them all the best. It's been fun having you in the class, boys.

Monday next week will see us going with Mrs. Hagen's class to Lions Park for the morning. Please be sure to send back the permission form ASAP.

Tuesday afternoon is our Talent Show. All parents are invited to come and watch.

Wednesday will see two assemblies. The first is at 9:15 for the Grade Five Leaving ceremony. The second is after recess at 10:45. That one will be the farewell assembly for the whole school.

I hope to see most of you before the end of the year.

Thursday, June 16th

Hi everyone (any faithful who are still checking this blog despite the lack of recent posts!),

Tomorrow's assembly at 1:30 will see the students of Div. 1 performing one of our line dances for the school. Please feel free to come and watch if you're available at that time.

Monday is the grade five trip to Cultus Lake. The grade fours will be going with all the other grades four in the school up to Town Centre Park. We've booked the water park and volleyball courts, so let's hope for good weather. A permission form went home with the grade fours today. It would be great if they could bring that back tomorrow, but Monday for sure. Any parents who would like to come with us are welcome to. Please indicate that on the permission form.

Happy last two weeks!

David

Tuesday, May 31

Last day of May! Hard to believe.

Homework today: grade four math, p. 198-199

Upcoming work due:

French calendar: due Thursday this week (June 2nd)
Comic strip (for Ms Corazza) due Friday, June 10th

Reminders:  Pro D Day on Friday, June 3rd
                   Sports Day on Friday, June 10th

Monday, May 30th

Hi everyone,

Congratulations to all the kids who participated in the district track meet on Friday. The weather was awful but the kids were awesome!

Homework today: Grade 5 only, math p. 178-179 #1-11

Wednesday, May 18

Hi everyone,

Reminder of our math test tomorrow (Thursday) on fractions. Students have a review package that I gave them on Monday to help them review and study the material for the test. Hopefully, all students have taken their math books home and have been studying all week.

Other reminders:

Monday, May 23 - Victoria Day, no school
Friday, May 27 - District 43 Track Meet - qualifying students will go to Town Centre Stadium
Friday, June 3 - Pro D Day, no school for students
Friday, June 10 - Westwood Sports Day

Monday, May 16th

Hi everyone,

Happy rain day, again. This week, Div. 1 has a math test to finish up our unit on fractions. The test will be on Thursday. The topics covered are as follows:

gr. 4 - fractions of a whole, fractions of a set, estimating fractions, comparing and ordering fractions with like denominators, adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators
gr. 5 - as above and comparing/ordering fractions with unlike denominators, equivalent fractions, simplifying fractions

Homework today: finish fractions worksheet, both sides plus extra work at the bottom of each page.

Thursday, May 5th

Hi everyone,

Thus ends another week (for me anyway). Lots of computer time this week. We're working on coding our own web site, using basic HTML tags and starting from scratch. Most of the kids have caught on quite well. A few have asked  me if they can work on their sites at home. That's fine with me but they'll need to have a flash drive to ferry their files back and forth. Unfortunately, we still don't have the ability to access school files from home.

Another thing we've started in the last two weeks is line dancing in PE class. The kids seem quite enthusiastic and are doing a very good job learning the songs and dances. The two songs we've used so far are Cha Cha Slide and Cotton-eyed Joe, if anyone is interested in looking them up on Youtube and practising at home!

Another song that the kids are practising is Wavin' Flag. All the fours and fives at Westwood will be performing this song at the Parent Tea on Tuesday morning next week (8:30-9:30).

Thursday, April 28th

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the lack of updates. This is just such a busy time of year. Track and field is in full swing and students should know when the various practices are by now. I'm coaching the grade 4/5 shot put on Mondays after school, and the grade five discus on Wednesdays after school. Students much come to all practices and make a standard achievement in order to be selected for the district track meet on Friday, May 27th.

That's it for this week. We haven't had much homework recently, but students should still be writing in their planners every day. And don't let them forget about the home reading. They should be doing 15-20 minutes of home reading (at least!) each day.

Monday, April 18th

Hi all,

Busy, busy week this week. Thursday is a Prod D Day for most schools in Coquitlam. So school will not be in session. And of course Good Friday and Easter Monday are coming up as well.

Class pictures are on Wednesday this week.

Track and Field also starts this week. Students all got a schedule on Friday but here are the highlights:

Monday - lunch time = grade four long jump
              - after school = grade four and five shot put
Tuesday - before school = grade three and four high jump
              - lunch time = grade three, four, and five 100 meters
              - after school = running at Maple Creek track, events and ages TBA
Wednesday - before school = grade five high jump
              - after school = grade five discus
Thursday - before school = grade five long jump
              - lunch time = grade three long jump, grade three, four, and five 400 and 800 meters
              - after school = running at Maple Creek track, events and ages TBA

The Coquitlam District track meet will be help on Friday, May 27th for Westwood students. Remember, though, only students who meet or exceed the district standards will be eligible to attend the track meet.

Wednesday, April 13th

Student-led conference day! Hopefully everyone will be able to come. One student has asked if she could do her conference tomorrow (Thursday) after school. That's fine, except I'll be outside running with some students. But a conference or two could go on in the classroom.

Notes:

 Friday this week - last day for hot lunch orders for April 29th.
Wednesday, April 20th - class picture day, remember to dress nicely!
Thursday, April 21st - Pro D Day at Westwood. Teachers will be working but school in not in session for students.
Friday, April 22nd - Good Friday
Monday, April 25th - Easter Monday

Monday, April 11th

Hi everyone,

Nice to see the sun two days in a row! Things to remember this week include:

Student-led conferences: Wednesday - 2:15 until 6:00, no apppointment necessary, but if you come and the room is full, you might want to see you other child's conference first and come back. Also, please don't arrive after 5:45 because conferences are supposed to be finished by 6:00. If you absolutely can't come in during that time period, please contact me by phone at the school or by email to arrange another time.

Scholastic orders due in by Wednesday, please.

Hot lunch orders in by Friday at the latest.

Thursday, April 7th

Hi all,

April's flying by already. Next week, we have student-led conferences at Westwood. On Wednesday, April 13th, students will be dismissed at 2:00. Classrooms will be available from 2:15 until 6:00 for parents to come in and participate in their child's conference. Please remember that this is an opportunity for your child to share their work and learning with you. It's not a time for a parent/teacher conference. On the same subject, it would be best is siblings not attend, as the focus tends to be distracted from the student giving the conference.

I discussed SLCs with the class today and they seem excited.

PJ day tomorrow (Friday), for all kids who want to participate.

Monday, April 4th

Welcome to the last three months of the year! Or the beginning of the third  term. Or the season of track and field. Actually, there's so much planned for the next three months, it's hard to narrow it down. I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable spring break. I did and I'm looking forward to the next three months.

This week is Melanie Watt Literacy Week at Westwood. Our own Ms Fraser has organized this week which includes many class and school-wide activities to do with literacy in general and Melanie Watt in particular. For those of you not familiar with her work, Melanie Watt the children's author responsible for the "Chester" and "Scaredy Squirrel" books.

Our first activity was "read with your child" this morning. Thanks very much to the parents who came in to read with us in division one today.

On Wednesday, there will be a special teacher presentation during our afternoon assembly. Look for some costumes . . . .

Thursday is "Dress as a Melanie Watt character" Day. Choices might include Chester, Scaredy Squirrel, Rabbit, Augustine, Buddy the Dog, or any other character from one of Melanie Watt's stories.

Friday is Camp Read. Miss Corazza will be organizing that but it's not anything the kids have to prepare for.

As I told the kids, we won't be doing spelling tests anymore this year. Many of the kids have worked hard on them for the past seven months and now we're going to give them a rest. So there won't be any more spelling lists coming home on Mondays. Please feel free, however, to make up spelling lists of your own for your child to work on at home.

The other major change in our classroom this term will be happening on Thursdays. Up until this point, Ms Corazza has been teaching on Thursdays and Fridays. Starting this week, however, I'm going to be taking over Thursdays and Ms Corazza will just be here on Fridays.

I'm going to try to update this blog more regularly and I do appreciate emails from parents will suggestions, reminders, and even corrections! <dweir@sd43.bc.ca>

Monday, March 14th

Hi everyone,

Here are a couple of web links that we talked about in class today. Remember, it's probably best to copy then and then paste them into a different browser window, rather than clicking on them directly. Apparently, a SD43 logon screen sometimes pops up when you click directly. I don't know why, but it does.

www.makebeliefscomix.com

www.pencils.com

This second link is a commercial link and it looks like all they're trying to do is sell pencils. If you dig a little deeper, though, there many links to interesting details about the production of pencils, and quite a lot of history as well.

Homework today: finish off the spelling worksheet. Also, report cards went home today. Please remember to sign and return the card which has the description of the letter grades on it, as well as the envelope. The report itself, along with any other ESL or LA reports, is yours to keep.

Wedesday, March 9th

Hi everyone,

Grade five students got a notice today that's important for parents to fill out and return to school. It's an information form for Maple Creek Middle School. It asks for information about your child, any concerns you might have about them, and their likes and dislikes. If you could find a minute of two to fill it out and return it ASAP, that would be great.

Monday, March 7th

Hi all,

Please see below for a number of reminders in the upcoming weeks.

Homework today: Spelling worksheets x 2

Hot lunch orders due in Friday this week. Hot lunch will be served on Friday, March 18th.

Report cards go home on Monday, March 14th. Please remember to sign the cardboard insert and return it and the envelope to school. The paper reports are yours to keep.

Field trip to Fort Langley: Thursday, March 17th.  Departure time - 11:00 Remember to bring a bag lunch and appropriate clothing and footwear for the weather.

Grade 5 Carnival: Friday, March 18th

Wednesday, March 2nd

Hi everyone,

Wow, March already. Two weeks until Spring Break!


Here is a link to a fun typing-practice web site that I showed the kids today in computers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

Remember, field trip tomorrow to Evergreen Cultural Centre. We'll be leaving at the beginning of lunch hour.

Wednesday, February 23rd

Hi everyone,

This week and next week will be heavier in terms of work and tests. Report cards are approaching again and Ms Corazza and I are assembling marks and finishing off units. This week, students have a regular spelling test on Friday. In addition, they have a math test on geometry and a social studies test on Aboriginal people, both on Friday.

Due Thursday, students have an assignment to hand in for social studies as well.

I had several chats with the class this week about the importance of being responsible, both in terms of filling in their planners regularly and accurately, and when completing school work assigned in class or for homework. Please check your child's planner each day. There should always be something written there. If there is nothing, then you child has not done their job filling it in. Thank you.

Tomorrow is our cultural assembly for Noumoufossa. On Friday, our public speaking assembly will take place at 10:45. The students chosen from Div. 1 to present their speeches at the assembly are Alicia and Alexys. Some of the boys complained but I told them that I chose the two best speeches in the class, and if they were concerned they should have done a better job on their speeches!

Wednesday, Feb. 16th

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the lack of posts this past week. It's been very busy.

Most of the students presented their speeches yesterday and  today. For those few who were away or who haven't given their speech yet, a few more will be done tomorrow (Thursday). This will be the last chance for speeches, except for the kids who have been sick more than one or two days.

Reminder that this Friday, Feb. 18th is a Pro D Day in all Coquitlam School. School will therefore not be in session.

Wednesday, Feb. 9

Hi all,

Another Wednesday roles around. Not much to say today. Just a note about illness. There are many, many kids sick these day. We've had four or five away each day for the last week, just from our class. Please remind your kids to wash their hands frequently before eating. I see very few kids actually do this at lunch time.

I hope everyone has a good weekend. Valentine's Day on Monday!

Tuesday, February 8th

Hi everyone,

We've been writing and practising our speeches for a couple of weeks now. Next week, on Feb. 15th and 16th, we'll be preforming them in class. All students are expected to write and deliver a speech. We've talked at length in class about kinds of speeches, how to write them, how to research, and how to deliver them to an audience. If any student doesn't yet have a topic picked or has any other questions, he or she should be sure to come and talk to me soon.

Monday, Feb. 14th is Valentine's Day. While we won't be having a party or anything like that, students who wish to bring treats or Valentine cards are welcome to do so. I just ask that, if a child is going to bring something to eat, he or she bring enough for the whole class, and not just a small group of friends.

Please remember to send in your signed field trip permission form along with the $3.50 admission fee.


Math retest on unit 2 tomorrow (place value and estimation) for students who need to take it.

Remember, if you have any questions about the blog or our class, please feel free to email me anytime <dweir@sd43.bc.ca>.

Monday, February 7th

Hi everyone,

Just a few things,

Math retest this week on Wednesday, for those students who got a "C", "C-" or "F" on the unit 2 test last week. Those students know who they are, but if anyone is not sure, they should come and ask me.

Recorder test - students who missed the test last week or would like to redo it should come and see me to arrange a time after school this week. I need to have all the school recorders returned to school, so please send it if you have one at home. Another class will be using them (after they've been disinfected!) starting this week.

Speeches - all students in grades four and five at Westwood are currently working on writing a speech. We've been doing this in class for two weeks now, so if you haven't heard about it at home, feel free to ask your child how their speech is going. They should be doing research at home, as class time for that sort of thing is limited. The criteria are as follows:

Length: 1 min. 30 sec.to 3 minutes, with the goal being around 2-2 and a half minutes.
Topic: students' choice
Type: one of the three main types of speech, narrative (tells a story), expository (a factual report of some kind), or persuasive (tries to convince the listener of something).

Speeches should be finished being written this week. Students will be presenting them in class next week.

Monday, January 31

Welcome to the last day of January!

Grade 4s will be doing more of the FSA test, tomorrow and Wednesday. They're almost finished!

All students have a test on playing the recorder on Wednesday. They have a choice between two songs: #1 or #4 on page 12 of the recorder music I've given them.

I marked the unit 2 math tests over the weekend and returned them to students today. Most did very well! For those few who got a "C" or "C-", there will be a retest opportunity next week on Wednesday.

Spelling homework today: complete the worksheet on the back of the spelling pretest, including the "Let's Write!" section at the bottom.

Wednesday, Jan. 26

Hi everyone,

No homework today, besides the "village drawing" that the kids have to do for Miss Corazza by Thursday.

Jump Rope for Heart day is tomorrow. The intermediate kids will be jumping from 1:00 - 3:00. Here are the colour teams. It would be great to have the kids dressed in something from their colour team.

Purple: Noah Am., Nathaniel, Matt D., Alexys
Red: Jacob A., Jaena, Alin, Andy
Blue: Mitchell, Daniel, Rita, Brian
Black: Alicia, Noah Ar., Josephine, Noah S.
White: Young Ha, Brett, Christian, Teresa
Yellow: Jeffrey, Loise, Tom, Matthew
Green: Jacob M., Mallory, Jasmine, Kaitlin

The FSA continues next week on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Monday, Jan. 24

Hi everyone,


Homework today:

Spelling - worksheet and corrections from pretest, regular test on Friday

Math test on Wednesday - place value, estimation

Village drawing for Ms Corazza on Thursday

Reminders:

Jump Rope for Heart - Thursday the 27th, 1:00-3:00 for intermediate students. Each student has been assigned to a colour team (they should have it written on a form in their planners), so it would be great to have students represent their colour team in some way on Thursday. Hair, clothes, face paint are all possibilities. Students should dress for activites, including proper shoes.

Wednesday, Jan. 19

Hi everyone,

I hope your week is going well. I can't believe how fast they go by!

We did the first section of the FSA test (for grade 4) today. I was impressed with how the kids kept their focus for the whole hour. I was also very happy with how the grade fives worked independently for that hour. Kudos to the kids for hard work! We will be continuing with more of the FSA test in the coming weeks as there are six parts in all.

Next week, we have a math test on our Whole Numbers/Estimation unit. This test will be on Wednesday, Jan. 26th and will cover place value, addition and subtraction with regrouping, and estimation. We will be reviewing on Monday and Tuesday, but I strongly advise students to study at home between then and now.

No other homework from me this week. The kids have a poem (good copy) due for Ms Corazza tomorrow (Thursday). And of course, the spelling test is going as usual on Friday. Also, all grade fives need to bring back the purple form which asked which middle school they're going to next year.

FSA Tests

Hi everyone,

The FSA test for grade fours is looming again. This is a very controversial test, required by the government of all grade four and seven students. You've had a letter home from the school district outlining the scope of the test and your options as a parents. I encourage you to also read the information the BCTF has prepared and posted on its web site <http://www.bctf.ca/>.

As I mentioned to my class this morning, you do have the option to have your child exempted from this test. Such exemption will not effect his or his marks, education, or progress in school in ANY WAY WHATSOEVER. If you do wish to have your child exempted from the test, please call the office and speak to Mr. Leonard.

I will try to give you a day or two's notice of when we are writing the sections of this test, by posting such information here on our blog. The FSA test is written in six parts: three written, one math, and two on the computer. And just for your information, the students have not and will not be prepared for this test in any way.

We will be writing the first section of the FSA on Wednesday this week, just FYI.

Wednesday, Jan. 12

Another week, half over. Time's fun when you're having flies, as the frog said.

Next week, we're going to start public speaking in division one. Students will be asked to come up with a speech topic in one of three areas: a narrative (story), an argument convincing us of something (ie. smoking is bad for you), or a factual report (research and present on a topic of interest). More information about that as the week progresses.

Homework today:

Goal setting, LA assignment - due Thursday (we worked on this today, and while most students completed their rough copies, many still have to edit them and write a good copy)

Math worksheet - worked on in class but those who didn't finish need to complete it for homework

grade four, p. 40-41

grade five, p. 42-43

Tuesday, Jan. 11th

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a nice vacation and Christmas.

We're going to be encouraging the kids to read more and more regularly at home in the coming weeks. To support this, your child will have a "reading log" stapled into his or her planner. The idea will be for students to record their daily reading in this log and then have a parent initial that the reading did in fact talk place. Hopefully this will not be any extra work and you can sign the log when you check your child's planner.

Thank you for your support at home with this project.

Homework and reminders for today:

Math - grade four - p. 57-58, #1-2, 4-9

         - grade five - p. 62, #1-8

Friends For Life program - p. 34, due Wednesday

Study for spelling test on Friday

Three notices sent home today in your child's planner.

Scholastic book orders due Wednesday

Hot lunch food orders are also due in this week.