Mrs. Holden's Blog

Now You See It…

kholden — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 00:54:13 +0000

Professor Weichmann was new at writing on the SMARTBoard!

Today we had a Professor come to our class to teach us about light and shadows. He had a lot of cool things that he brought – they all had to do with light. One machine had a prism that bends the light and shows all the colors of the spectrum. He brought a spark maker. Bzzzz. It sounded like a huge swarm of bees. It made the tubes of the Spectrotubes glow, and showed us that you can identify different gases and chemicals because of the color of light they will give off.

We looked at mercury, helium, argon and neon in the gas tubes

We learned that light gives off heat. I didn’t know that stars can be hotter than the sun. There is also invisible light. Ultraviolet light is hotter than infra red. Did you know there are two types of heat, because there is ultraviolet which is really hot (you can get a sunburn) and infra red is just hot. When you look at certain kinds of light you can burn your eyes. Did you know that the border of a postage stamp glows under ultraviolet light? That’s how the post office checks it is real.

We looked through these to see different colors from the gas tubes

We also learned light is so fast it can travel 1000 miles in a fraction of a second, and can go around the world. Wow – that’s fast! A red laser pointer would shine farther than a green one would because of the length of the color waves. Professor Weichmann is hilarious too. He made a stove for the poor people who didn’t have it. He told us about some of the things we could learn and do if we take Physics in University.

Literary Café

kholden — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:44:44 +0000

It’s almost time for another special Millgrove tradition – the Literary Café! Every year, our wonderful Mrs. Smith organizes this event to celebrate the great authors at Millgrove. Mrs. Davies graciously gives up the music room so that Mrs. Smith can create the appropriate atmosphere, complete with food, music, beverages and candlelight (battery powered). Students select a piece of their best work to share at the mike with the class, and we all enjoy.

This year, 4H is scheduled for Wednesday, June 13. Any donations of snack foods or drinks for the audience to munch on are much appreciated. Please, no dips or messy foods like chips as that creates too much of a problem. Squares, donuts and cookies work best. Thank you for your support of this highlight of Grade Four!

Running, Jumping, Throwing

kholden — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 01:59:19 +0000

I’m sure your child slept well on Monday night! We had a great day at Woodhaven running, jumping and throwing in the various Track and Field events. The sunny weather was perfect, and the wind meant we stayed cool and there were no bugs! Seeing so many students completing all those events was amazing, and we are very appreciative of the hours of effort put into organizing the day by the Woodhaven staff, and that they continue to extend an invitation to Millgrove to join them.
I know that many of the Grade 5 students I talked to remembered this event from last year as a real highlight. I’m sure that our Grade 4′s agree.

Stepping Back in Time

kholden — Wed, 30 May 2012 23:01:04 +0000

You’ve probably heard great things about our trip to the Bennett Centre last week. Our students spent the day learning by doing, and we did a lot! After spending time examining artifacts, we played the Subsistence Game which reinforced the importance of meeting basic needs. Later, we skipped ahead in time and assumed the role of Metis Bison hunters. Definitely a highlight for most was the chance to try to take down a life sized buffalo! Although I have been to the Bennett Centre many times, this was the first time I have attended this session. As a Social Studies teacher, I loved that our students were constantly handling artifacts. Although we’ve discussed the importance of the beaver hat in our history and looked at pictures, it was a very different experience to actually wear one. Grade Four, what was your favorite part of the day?

Bison Hunt at the Bennett Centre

Hands up for our Volunteers!

kholden — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:04:09 +0000

Here in 4H, we’ve been very fortunate to have a large number of volunteers support our activities all year long. Just last Friday, we had a very successful First Nations/Metis morning with almost 20 different activities, all manned by volunteers. We also enjoyed the company of volunteers on our trip to the Waste Management Facility, who helped make the morning run more smoothly. Add to that the daily Milk volunteers, our regular classroom volunteers, and the list just goes on and on. April 15-21 is National Volunteer Week, and we would like to say a big THANK YOU to all our special volunteers! We are excited about our Volunteer Tea on April 30, and look forward to formally acknowledging your support then. Until then, anyone who has volunteered in the last week is eligible to register their time on the Volunteers Count website, and have the chance to win several prizes. Good luck!

Making Mathemagicians

kholden — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:52:25 +0000

In Grade 4, we know that Math is everywhere, and we are always on the lookout for ways to connect our Math learning to real life. That’s why I was excited about sharing this video with the class. At first, everyone was impressed with the ‘tricks’. But when we looked a little deeper, we realized that this Mathemagician is using some of the same strategies we’ve been practicing in class, like doubles and the distributive property. We hope you enjoy this movie as much as we did. The ending is definitely the best part!

I recently discovered another great website that I want to share with everyone. Reading a bedtime story is a tradition in many of our homes, and we all know that it helps build a love of books and important reading skills. But why don’t we do the same thing with Math? Bedtime Math gives families a daily, fun problem that can become a new family tradition. Feel free to play with the problems to create new ones individualized for your family. We’d love to see your versions!

Gotta Keep Reading

kholden — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:49:50 +0000

I know that one of my favorite things about any holiday is the chance to get in some reading. I already have two books lined up for this weekend! This week, the Grade 4′s enjoyed watching this video and it was a good reminder of the importance of reading. With Spring Break just around the corner, Mrs. Smith gave us the opportunity to take out extra books from the library so each of us have our books ready to go. Another great thing to do over Spring Break is to keep using our Dreambox Math (see the link on the right side). I hope that everyone has a great holiday and comes back rested and refreshed!

What book are you looking forward to reading over the break?

Celebrating Everything Green!

kholden — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 02:34:48 +0000

Since Saint Patrick’s Day is this weekend, it seemed right to focus on the color green today. Everyone wore green to school, and we started off our day with a look at how the spider plant runners we planted in September have grown. It was amazing to see how much of a root system they had developed, and we found it interesting to see the thick tubers among the roots. We also welcomed our new shamrock plant (oxalis) to the class. Then it was off to the gym to enjoy a performance of the Irish Dancers from St. Albert – we got to watch the North Saskatchewan Riverdance! Next, we calculated the nutritional value of a Shamrock Shake, and realized that it would almost count for a whole meal. After lunch, we mixed up some green milkshakes, then drank them during our Foosball tournament. Not only do levers save us work, they can be a whole lot of fun. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!

Hammer vs. TV – Hammer Wins!

kholden — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:26:45 +0000

Crank! Rrrrr! Bang, poof! We watched a video of a giant contraption (called a Rube Goldberg machine) which took 6 months to build. It also took them lots of tries to get it all to work. WHAM! There goes the TV! The sledgehammer hit the TV, and caused the globe to move. We watched the movie because we are learning about simple machines. The sledgehammer is an example of a lever. There are lots of examples of the simple machines in this movie. See if you can find an inclined plane, a lever, a screw, a pulley, a wedge and a wheel and an axle!

By Carter, Keegan, Michael and Justin

Mrs. Holden also found a movie of a seven year old boy who made his own Monster Trapping Rube Goldberg machine. You can watch this video by clicking here.

Middle School Mythbusters

kholden — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:52:55 +0000

Mrs. Cameron and Mr. Foster

Grade 4 was happy to welcome the Mythbuster team of Mr. Foster, Mrs. Cameron and their Grade 5 assistants to Millgrove this week. They came to chat with students and provide the facts about Middle School, and dispel some of the myths.

Myth – locks are hard to deal with - locks and lockers are not a big deal because Grade 5′s get to practise opening them, and teachers will help out if students have a real problem (Did you know that Woodhaven is getting new classrooms for the Grade 5′s and there will be new lockers too?)
Myth – Grade 9′s are scary - Grade 5′s don’t have problems with Grade 9′s. Actually, the Grade 9′s are respectful and offer a lot of help. Remember when they helped us with our Wheels and Levers morning?
Myth - Grade 5′s have lots of different teachers – Grade 5′s just switch for Music and Gym. They have the same teacher for most of the day.

There’s lots to be excited about in Middle School, too. For example, there is an After School Club which has different activities once a week, intramurals and sports teams.

We also learned that Spring League Basketball starts soon. In addition to having fun playing basketball, this is a great opportunity for the Grade 4 students to get to know the school, the teachers and the students they will be with next year. They will be coached by Grade 8′s (the future Grade 9′s) and get to know them as well. We think everyone in Grade 4 should sign up!

Grade 4 students were each given a Middle School package. Please return the signed Statements to Millgrove by Friday, March 22.