Merry Christmas!

We had a special visitor while we were carolling this morning and I thought you might enjoy seeing the pictures.  I would like to take the opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas!  I am looking forward to spending time with my family and friends over Christmas holidays and hope you get the opportunity to spend time with those you love too!



A Visit from Santa

December 22 Agenda Message

We wish Miss Frick good luck as she returns to university.
New home reading sheets are coming home to use over the break.
Have a very Merry Christmas and see you in 2012!

Our Christmas Concert dress rehersal!  The gym was sooooo crowded on the real concert night that it was hard to get a nice video.  Our dress rehersal video turned out OK so that is what I am posting!  Listen for all of the kids in the audience during our performance!  I think they liked it!!!!

This is a song the Grade 4 class sang with the Grade 3's.  They are being led by Miss Riley, the French teacher!

Mini-Volleyball

The grade 4 class spent some time in the gym watching the teachers defeat the Grade 4 students in two games of mini volleyball!!!  The teachers, grade 6 students and all Davison students playing had a lot of fun!!!

December 20 Agenda Message

-Top 4 journal entries are due on Thursday
-Our concert is tomorrow night at 7:00.  All students need to be here by 6:45 at the latest and be dressed nicely.
-If you haven't yet brought your gift for our class exchange, please bring it!

December 19 Agenda Message

Remember to bring a gift for the gift exchange before Thursday.
A new home reading sheet is going to be coming home.
I will need skates and a helmet for school skating in January.

December 16 Agenda Message

Remind your families that our Christmas concert is next Wednesday evening!
We recieved letters back from the postcards we sent about Melville's industries from a school in Swift Current.

December 15 Agenda Message

Please bring your two flashlights for our Christmas concert by tomorrow (if possible).

December 14 Agenda Message

Please bring a flashlight (or two if you have extras)  for our Christmas Concert.

December 13 Agenda Message

Don't forget about our Star Night Tonight!

December 12 Agenda Message

New home reading sheet is coming home.
See the note about free skiing and snowboarding rentals, lifts, and lessons.

Wednesday December 7

On Wednesday  James Edgar came into our classroom to introduce us to the two telescopes he will be using for our Star Night! James taught the students about some of the characteristics of light as well as how light is used and reflects inside a telescope! The students were excited when they saw the telescopes and had amazing question for James. Through their discussion with James the students became even more excited about our Star Gazing Night! Check out the telescopes James brought and we hope to see you on the Tuesday night! :)

December 8 Agenda Message

Remember the $2.00 for our food hampers are due tomorrow! Please remember to bring back your letter from the "Star Night" even if you are not attending.:)

December 7 Agenda Message

Rylan won second place in the Legion poetry contest!
Hot lunch forms are coming home.
Early dismissal is tomorrow.

Congratulations Rylan!

Rylan should be very proud of himself.  He won second place in our local Remembrance Day poetry contest.  Mr. Matthews came to our classroom today to present Rylan with his prize and congratulate him on his winning.  Congratulation Rylan!  Your hard work was recognized!!1  :o)

December 6 Agenda

Please see our blog for information about Daily 3 and remember to check the Just for Students section.

Dec.5 Agenda Message

New home reading sheets are coming home today. Please read and fill out the letter that is being sent home!:) Spelling words are in our Agenda's on the top!

Daily CAFE

This post is a continuation of our explanation of Daily 3 and Daily CAFE.  Please refer to the Daily 3 post first in order for this to make sense!  :o)

The Daily CAFE is the second part of our individualized reading program.  CAFE is an acronym standing for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanded Vocabulary.  The Daily CAFE program was also developed by the sisters.  Where Daily 3 is the way our class is organized, Daily CAFE is the way students set goals and are assessed.

Using students reading assessments from Fountis and Pinnell, the student and teacher together look at their reading and determine which aspect of reading (comprehension, accuracy, fluency, or expanded vocabulary) need to be focused on.  Students use magnets with their names on it and add their name under the goal they have chosen.

While the rest of the class is working on Daily 3, students are called to the back of the room to work independtly with the teacher.  I will not see every student every day, but instead will focus on working with 6-10 students during the hour of Daily 3.  The sisters advocate that not all students need equal individualized instruction from the teacher, but rather some need time to work through the strategies.  Other students may need more time with the teacher and therefore will meet with the teacher more frequently.

During their individual time, the student will bring their book basket with them.  We start the session by looking at what materials the student has in their basket.  We remove anything that needs to be taken out and refresh it with new materials if needed.  We check to see if library books chosen by the students are a good fit. 

Next, the student will read aloud from any book of their choice in their book basket.  I (or Miss Frick) jot down notes about what we are noticing about the students reading.  We then share this information with the students.  We discuss how our observations should guide our goal setting.  We set and record these goals in their independent reading log.  This log gives students a place to record what they are doing during our daily Read to Self times.

During their independent Read to Self time, students take a few moments to fill out information in their reading log.  This information is used during the next Daily CAFE time.




This student is working on Fluency.



This student is working on making prediction when reading to guide comprehension.



This student is working on accuracy.

When I notice that multiple students are all struggling with one skill, we explicitly teach that skill to either the whole class or to a group of students.  When we teach that skill we add to our Cafe menu items of things that we know how to do and should practice doing when we are reading.


When I or the student sees the need arise to work on a different goal, students will move their magnet to a different part of the CAFE menu.  The goals are continually changing as their reading abilities change.  After each Fountis and Pinnell assessment, I will meet with the students to make sure that our current goal is on target for what needs the assessment points out.

I am currently working on putting together information for parents that can be emailed home about how home can support reading using the goals and menu items discussed in class.  Stay tuned for that information!

Daily 3

We would like to share with you some pictures and explain to you how our reading instruction programs work.  Our Daily 3 program is based off the book The Daily 5 by Gail  Boushey and Joan Moser.  I had the chance to meet "the Sisters" as they are known in the education world a couple of years ago at a Saskatchewan Reading Conference.  They are dynamic speakers and quickly had me convinced that their program was a way that I would be able to effectively organize my language arts instructional time.  The five strands they focus on in the book are Listen to Reading, Read to Self, Read to Someone, Word Work and Work on Writing.  Their model dedicates equal time to each of these components.  In our classroom we do Read to Self at a separate time when the classroom can be silent.  Instead of doing the Listen to Reading during Daily 3, students have the opportunity to listen to the teacher model read a novel during Read Aloud sessions throughout the week.  That leaves us to focus on Read to Someone, Word Work and Writing Time.

Before beginning Daily 3 students are given very clear expectations about what they are to accomplish during each of the daily 3 times.  At this point in the year, students are very independent when working on Daily 3.  It was not always like this though.  For all of September and October students were very guided in their Daily 3 time.  As the sisters do, we talk in class a lot about stamina.  The students have practiced up until this point to have 15 minutes of stamina at each of the daily 3 stations.  Once all directions have been presented, student have time to ask questions and clarify.  It is important for them to have this time since during Daily 3 they must work as independently as possible.

After everyone is clear on what to do, students are called forward to choose their first Daily 3 task.  The sisters talk a lot about providing students choice, and trusting that they will make wise decisions about what needs to be done.  Although there is choice, each student will need to complete each of the three daily 3 tasks by the end of daily 3.  The magnets on the whiteboard help the students organize their choices and also allow the teacher to have a quick visual of who is doing what.

  As soon as a student has chosen their first task, they know from practice that they should quickly find the materials they need to begin their chosen task.  This requires the classroom to be very organized so that students are able to find what they need unassisted.

Students have book baskets ready to go.  Their baskets contain reading material that is at their level.  This material included books chosen by the teacher and books chosen by the student.  There is always one guided reading book in the basket that they have previously read.  Research by the sisters shows that rereading a familiar text can help students gain fluency when reading new text.



Here students are finding materials from our classroom library to add to their book baskets.



I have leveled all of the books in the classroom library to aid students in finding a book independently that would be at their appropriate guided reading level.  This helps them to choose an appropriate book quickly.  Using those texts we discuss what to look for when choosing our own books in the real world.  One "trick" is using the 5 finger rule.  If there are five words on a page that are unknown or tricky then the book may be too hard for independent reading.



Our SmartBoard plays an integral part of our Daily 3.  The timer on the board allows students a visual to keep them focused and time orientated.  Other needed information such as writing prompts or spelling can also be found on the SmartBoard.

Students must be able to work independently.  This works well into our spelling program which is worked on during Word Work Time.  All students practice and learn spelling from individualized lists.  After students have written a pre-test using teacher chosen lists from the Nelson Spelling program, students create a spelling list from incorrect words from their pretest along with words from their writing and from classroom words.  Pictured below are two students working on Word Work during Daily 3.  One student is finding classroom words for her spelling list.  Classroom words come from vocabulary in units the class is studying.  Another student is using his "Have-a-go" book.  This is a personal dictionary where students have recorded words they are having problems spelling in their every day writing.





Currently during Read to Someone students are working on Check for Comprehension.  In pairs, the students take turns reading aloud to one another.  The student who is listening must summarize what has been read to see if they were able to listen and comprehend at the same time.



During Writing Time students work on a variety of things including journal prompts, good copies of assignments, cursive writing or writing projects while working through the writing process.

Because there are so many things going on at once, it is very important that students are on task.  Our classroom looks very busy during Daily 3.  Students may be working at the SmartBoard, on the floor, at their desk, in pairs, individually or with the teacher.  Although it looks very busy, all students are focused, on task and accomplishing what they need to.

Because everyone has practiced the routines and procedures of Daily 3, students are able to work with minimal interruptions to the teacher.  This allows the teacher and a student to work on Daily CAFE!

Check back tomorrow for a continuation of this post and information about the Daily CAFE.

Dec.2 Agenda Message

Make sure you are ready to present your Music on Monday  :)

Dec. 1 Agenda Message

If you have not already brought your $2.00 for our food hampers please do so!:) Check your e mail for the November news letter that was sent out! Here is the picture of Tadyn and Spencer who won our Monthly Awards!:) 

Awards Ceremony!

Today was our monthly awards ceremony. The Grade Four winner of the "In Motion" award was Spencer Schick and the winner of the "People Respecting Others" award was Tadyn Martinook! Congratulations to the both of you!!:)  (check our blog for a picture of our winners Tomorrow!) The Grade Four's were very close to winning the attendance award for the third month in a row, but the Grade Six class beat us this month! Lets keep working on our attendance to see if we can win this award back! Have a Wonderful Wednesday!:)

Nov.30 Agenda Message

Please bring your Health homework Tomorrow!

Nov. 29 Agenda Message

 Our Music presentations will be on Monday December 5, 2011 and everything needs to be done for this day! Please feel free to join us tomorrow from 1:35-2:25 for our monthly awards ceremony.

Nov. 28 Agenda Message

Mom's Pantry orders are coming in Tomorrow!  Tomorrow is the last day we have to work on our music presentation so please bring anything that you need! Home reading sheets are coming home.

Nov. 25 Agenda Message

Social homework is due Monday! Please bring your $2.00 donation for our Christmas hampers if you have not already done so. Have a WONDERFUL weekend!:)

November 24 Agenda Message

Please bring everything that you need to work on your music presentation for Tomorrow.

Nov. 23 Agenda Message

Please bring $2.00 for our Christmas hamper donation. Book order forms are due Tomorrow!

Nov. 22 Agenda Message

Remember Parent Teacher Interviews are Tomorrow and Thursday! Please bring items for our "Pack A Shoe Box" program. These items can be toys, school supplies or hygiene products.

Nov.21 Agenda Message

Please wear a hockey jersey or a Davison shirt tomorrow! Tomorrow there will be free pizza for all students at lunch! Don't forget your "Show and Tell" item for Tomorrow!! Lastly, if you need anything for your music presentation please bring it tomorrow too because we will be working on our presentations.

Friday Fun Day!

Today was our crazy hair and Pajama day! Most of the students came looking like they had just rolled out of bed and walked straight to school! We also had our "Taco in a Bag" Hot Lunch which was enjoyed by some of the students! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and see you all Monday! Take a look at our videos to see some of the pictures from our day on Friday! :) 



Friday Fun Day!:) on PhotoPeach

Nov. 18 Agenda Message

Check your e-mail for the news letter that was sent out! Take a look at our Blog to see some of the pictures from our Crazy Hair day, Pj day and our Hot Lunch!

Nov 17 Agenda Message

Crazy hair and Pj day is Tomorrow. Also, Hot Lunch is Tomorrow. Book orders are coming out. Ask your child about the "Bullying" Presentation we had today!

Nov. 16 Agenda Message

Parent- Teacher interview sheets are coming home today. Please make sure the time works for you!

Nov.15 Agenda Message

New home reading sheets are coming home today! Hot Lunch is this Friday. Please bring small objects that you think will cast different types of shadows.

Nov. 10 Agenda Message

Please bring the Nutritional Facts information by Tuesday. There is no school Monday.

Nov. 9 Agenda Message

Please feel free to join us tomorrow for our Remembrance Day service at 11:00 a.m. Please bring a donation for a poppy.  Tomorrow is Early D.

Nov 8 Agenda Message

Please bring a copy of  the "Nutritional Value Information" from a food that you like!

Ducks Unlimited Surprises!

Mrs. Ball was pleasantly surprised when she received a phone call saying Ducks Unlimited had a box of free resources to send to our class.   Mr. Ronald Daunheimer made a donation at a Ducks Unlimited event and had chosen our class to send free resources to because of his donation.  The resources will come in very handy when we learn about wetlands in our habitat unit in the spring!  We are thankful for Mr. Daunheimer's donation and the fabulous resources our class will get to use!

Mrs. Ball wrote a letter and we all signed this certificate to send to Mr. Daunheimer as appreciation for the resources we received.

Nov. 7 Agenda Message

New home reading sheets are coming home today! Hot Lunch forms are due tomorrow. Take a look at Canada's Food Guide to explore what we have been learning!

Hiphop Hoop Dancing!

We were very privelaged to see a performance by three artists on Wednesday called HipHop Hoop Dancing.  We learned about the two dance forms and were taught about how those two dances represent two cultures.  We learned a little bit about the differences between those cultures, but more importantly we learned about the similiarities!  We wanted to share a bit of that with you!

November 3 Agenda Message

Tomorrow is our last day of P.L.A.C.E! Families are invited to come and watch what the students have been working on tomorrow at 1:00 pm. If you have not brought your t-shirt for Science please bring it by tomorrow!

Novemeber 2 Agenda Message

Today was our first day of P.L.A.C.E! Hot lunch forms are due Nov. 8th

November 1 Agenda Message

Remember to bring a tshirt and flashlight before Nov. 4th.
Book orders are due Nov. 8th.
Return the interview sheet ASAP.

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween we had a busy afternoon celebrating!  I am sooooo proud of the Grade 4 class for winning the highest attendance of the entire school for the second month in a row.  We had 83.3% perfect attendance this month and hope to keep the trend going.  We are looking to win again next month! 

Bailey's jedi costume won our classroom costume contest.  Everyone was impressed that his costume was a homemade costume and that it suited his interests so well!  We had so many awesome costumes that choosing just one was a very tricky thing to do.

Dale won a personal success award for continuing to increase his levels of focus.  Aaron won an award for being in Motion this month.  I am very proud of you both!!!

After our awards assembly, we had a ton of fun with the math scavenger hunt that Miss Frick created for us!  We finished reading the book Frindle and watched a video about the origins of Halloween.  We also shared in some treats and just generally enjoyed our afternoon. 

Have a safe and fun Halloween all you little trick or treaters!  Remind your parents to check their email for the October newsletter.


Halloween Party

October 31 Agenda Message

There is a new home reading sheet and hot lunch order form coming home.
Check our blog for new picture posts.

October 28 Agenda Message

All home reading sheets are due Monday! Monday students may dress up in the afternoon only! Davison shirt orders are in!

A Successful Hot Lunch

I would like to express a HUGE thank you to the moms and dads that donated items, baked cupcakes, cut veggies, and served or helped out in any other way for our hot lunch.  It was a huge success because of the joint effort of the families in Grade 4.  So....THANK YOU!

Hot Lunch on PhotoPeach

Metis Jig

Last week while Miss Engele and Miss Clay were in our classroom we had been talking about a number of Metis dance steps.  Students practiced the basic step, a quadrille, and swing your partner to name a few.  This week we watched a video as inspiration for choreographing our own Metis jig.  In groups of 6 the students practiced some of the skills they had learned and put them together to create their dance.  Although our dances are not completely perfect, the students had a lot of fun trying their new dances out and performing them for their peers, Mrs. Ball, Miss Frick, and Bob (the Mils player working in our room Thursday mornings).  We hope you can check them out.  Leave us a comment at the bottom.  We LOVE getting comments!!!

October 26 Agenda Message

Social homework is due tomorrow! There is a note coming home about our science unit and some of the materials we will be needing!

Our Field Trip to Niagara Falls!! :o)

OK...OK...we didn't really go to Niagara Falls (although many of us would have liked to).  We did visit Niagara Falls virtually via a webcam this afternoon in Science.  We were discussing the Niagara Falls and how the water is eroding the landscape.  We learned that every 10 years, the falls move 32 cm!  We discussed how wind, sand, water and ice can lead to erosion (replay the game we played about erosion).  Visit Niagara Parks website or this travel site for extra information.  Niagara Falls Live also contains some interesting information about Niagara Falls including a story and picture about how the falls froze one winter.  Feel free to read these interesting facts, and remember all articles (even articles on the Internet) can count towards your home reading so make sure you record them!

October 25 Agenda Message

Remember the Grade 4 parents are running the hot lunch on Friday.  Talk to Lindsey Pringle if you haven't heard how you can help out.

October 24 Agenda Message

Home reading sheets are coming home today! Mom's Pantry order forms are due Friday. Social homework is coming home today and is due Thursday.

Shadow Screen Fun

Today the Grade 4's had a chance to perform shadow screen performances.  Before their performance they looked for verbs and describing words in a piece of text given to them.  We used the book If You're Not From the Prairies for our text.  Although a little hard to hear, this clip is an example of one group's performance.

October 21 Agenda Message

We did school wide activities for the afternoon to celebrate education week!

October 20 Agenda Message

Tomorrow is the preintern's last day.

October 19 Agenda Message

Hot lunch forms are due tomorrow! For those of you who ordered school pictures they are coming home today.

October 18 Agenda Message

Book orders are due tomorrow! Remember to bring a Canada's Food Guide serving size snack for tomorrow's snack.

Happy Education Week!!!

We will have a jam packed education week!  We kicked off education week with coffee and muffins.  Thank you to the families that were able to attend.  A Grade 6 student Dayva was presented with an award for being a positive student who always tries her best.  We talked in Grade 4 how each of the students in our room could potentially win the same award with a little effort and a positive attitude.  Four staff members from our school were also presented an award for working as a team to help better a student's school year.  Today is also Bus Driver Appreciation Day!  The arts education preinterns from the University of Regina are once again working with the staff and students at Davison.  This year they happen to be here during education week.  Pictured below are the preinterns working in Grade 4, Miss Engele and Miss Clay.

October 17 Agenda Message

New Home Reading sheets are coming home.
There is a hot lunch note.
It is education week.  See our blog: mrsmball.blogspot.com

October 14 Agenda Message

Parents check e mail for hot lunch info. Social and Health homework are due Monday.

October 13 Agenda Message

Have you seen our blog lately?  mrsmball.blogspot.com  We are trying to put pictures or video on it multiple times a week.
Book orders are due Oct. 19.

Partner Poems

In Language Arts we are working on our comprehension, accuracy, fluency and expanded vocabulary.  One way we do this is by practicing partner poems.  Partner poems are silly poems that are written for two voices.  We always practice the poems multiple times to gain accuracy and fluency in a large group setting.  When we have mastered the poem, it goes into our partner poem duotang and we use those poems to practice fluency and accuracy during Daily 3.  The poem we learned today is titled "The Grump".  Here is our class practicing it today!

October 12th Agenda Message

Hot lunch forms need to be returned by tomorrow. Early Dismissal is tomorrow!

October 11 Agenda Message

We need families to help with the hot lunch.  See how your family can help!

October 6 Agenda Message

Mom's Pantry fundraiser is coming home today.  They are due on October 28th!  The class who sells the most get a pizza party.  Order online when you can!

All school pictures are due tomorrow whether you order or not.

October 5 Agenda Message

Tomorrow is your last chance at the book fair!

Your "Farmer Challenge" is due tomorrow!

October 4 Agenda Message

We forgot our home reading sheets yesterday.  They are coming home today.

We will be going to the book fair on Thursday again.

September 30 Agenda Message

I am bringing home Social Homework and a Book Fair sheet.  Book fair is Oct. 4-6.

Remember to check your email for the school newsletter.  If you didn't not get one via email, please phone the office to inform Mrs. Ferlyko.

Our classroom was very successful at the Awards Assembly this afternoon.  Kylie recieved a People Respecting People Award, Kade recieved an In Motion Award, Ryan won a tshirt from the Terry Fox Walk, many students won awards for Reading Club and our classroom won an award for having the highest perfect attendance in the school!  Let's see if we can get an even higher percentage of perfect attendance for October!  I am soooooo proud of each of you!  Keep up the hard work!

September 2011 Awards Assembly

September 29 Agenda Message

We need a small ziplock bag of saw dust.  Please bring if you have.

Here are a few pictures of our visit with the fire fighters.  They came to preset about fire prevention week!

Fire Prevention Week on PhotoPeach

September 28 Agenda Message

Our school pictures are coming home.  All envelopes need to be returned before October 6th.

September 27 Agenda Message

We are learning to do addition in three different ways!

September 26 Agenda Message

Our last home reading sheet for September is coming home!

September 23 Agenda Message

The grade 4 class will be in charge of the October hot lunch on Friday, October 28th.

September 21 Agenda Message

Remember to bring people with you for the Terry Fox walk Friday afternoon!
Arts Ed. pre-interns were visiting our school today.

September 19 Agenda Message

Please check your email for information about Terry Fox.

Open house is tomorrow night!

A new home reading sheet is coming home.

**REMEMBER School Pictures are tomorrow!**

September 12 Agenda Message

Mrs. Ball and Miss Frick are away at an internship meeting for the rest of the week.  Mrs. Klus will be the guest teacher.

September 12 Agenda Message

New home reading sheets are coming home.
Social homework is due Friday.
All students need to own a Davison tshirts.

September 9 Agenda Message

Do you know of anyone who has kids magazines that they can donate to our classroom?

Chickadee and Highlights magazine subscriptions are coming home.  Please return if YES or if NO!

September 8 Agenda Message

Book orders are due tomorrow.
We have been talking a lot about independent reading this week.

September 7 Agenda Message

Early dismissal is tomorrow!
Reading club sheets are coming home with those who joined.
Extra insurance information is coming home if parents are interested.

September 6 Agenda Message

Book orders are due Sept. 9.
Please see Read Across Canada note and tracking sheet.
Return student verification sheet ASAP.

September 2 Agenda Message

There are magnets and two notes coming home.

Spetember 1 Agenda Message

There is a first day note coming home.
Please initial my agenda.
I need to remember___________(whatever school supplies or fees that were not brought today)
Check out our blog: mrsmball.blogspot.com

Welcome to the 2011-2012 School Year!

We are so very excited for the upcoming school year and hope you are too!  We wanted you to be able to have a sneak peak at our classroom so you know what to expect on the first day of school.  We have been busy for the last two weeks getting the classroom organized and prepared for your arrival and the upcoming school year.  We will be using this blog throughout the school year to help keep your family up to date with our agenda messages and with stories from the Grade 4 room.  Hopefully you are enjoying your last few days of summer vacation.

Here is what our classroom looks like from the doorway.

This year in Social Studies, we are going to learn all about our fine province, Saskatchewan!

These goldfish will be our classroom pets.  Unfortunately goldfish have a very short memory and have forgotten their names.  Do you have any good ideas of names for goldfish?

Daily 3 and Daily Cafe are two ways we are going to learn more about reading.

Our Book Nook books are organized and ready to be read.

Everyone's names are on the bulletin board outside our room.  Can you find your name?

Mrs. Ball- Grade 4 Teacher

Miss Frick- intern

See you on September 1st!