January 13 - 20

Dear Friends,

Did you have a good week back at school? We definitely accomplished a lot. Read below for information on this past week's learning, upcoming learning and some tasks for this week.

Field Trips
*I'm looking for parent volunteers for our trips to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (9:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Jan. 24) and Skating at Ramsden Park (1 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. Jan 26, Feb. 2 or Feb. 9)


*Please hand in your forms by January 17th!

Language

*Did you remember to hand in your Holiday Recount?

*What are you reading during Independent Reading time? At home?  Remember to include a variety of genres in your 'reading diet' such as novels, magazines and fact books.  You may also want to read through some cookbooks/recipes for this week's Healthy Eating Week!  I have a few different cookbooks on display in the classroom that I borrowed from the kids' section at the Toronto Public Library. 

Math
*The math test on Wednesday will cover strategies in solving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems.

*The Math Challenge of the Week was:
Create a sentence that uses each of these numbers and words - 21, 84, share, almost.
What did you come up with?  Here's an example (you can fill in the blanks) - "If 4 people share almost __ cookies, they each get almost __ cookies."

*Data Management - We collected data, interpreted line graphs and recorded data on our own graphs.  Pick a topic that interests you (i.e. sports) and locate a related table, chart or graph in the newspaper, magazine or online.  Please bring it in to share with the class.

Science
*This week we watched a video on the Circulatory and Respiratory Systems.  We also collected data by taking our heart rates throughout the day and recorded the information in graphs.

*We will complete our unit on Life Systems by finishing our Science Comics using Bitstrips on the computer.

*Our next unit is on Structures and Mechanisms; Grade 4 Pulleys and Gears, Grade 5 Forces acting on Structures and Mechanisms.  Start brainstorming questions! We'll update our class library in the next few weeks to include books on these topics.
                                              
Health and Science
*What choices do you make to be healthy?  How do you make healthy food choices?  Why is it important to eat healthy?

*Next week, you'll be describing ONE meal that you ate over the weekend.

*We'll do a variety of activities related to healthy food and healthy eating.  Let's start by looking at Canada's Food Guide and analyzing Nutritional Facts.

*One way I make healthy food choices is by cooking and baking my own foods.  Here's a healthy recipe for Granola Cookies that are great as a snack or dessert.  We will be making our own classroom cookbook of healthy recipes, so start thinking about what recipe you might want to contribute!

The Granola Cookie
Ingredients
2 cups rolled oats (large flake or old fashioned)
1 cup of brown rice flour (or any flour of your choice)
3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 Tbs. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. sea salt
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional
1/2 cup small raisins (currants) and/or chocolate chips
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees or Fahrenheit.  Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, coconut, cinnamon and salt.
3. In a smaller bowl or measuring cup, stir together the maple syrup, oil and vanilla.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until evenly combined.
5. Fold in walnuts, raisins or chocolate chips.
6. Using a soup spoon (or small ice-cream scooper), scoop batter into mounds onto the prepared cookie sheet.  You may need to form them into mounds with your fingers.  They may appear as if they are not coming together, but they bake up great!  Don't worry about crowding the pan a little, they do not spread.
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
8. Eat and enjoy!

Makes 3-4 dozen.