The homework for this week is to write a story in the homework writing journal about hockey, since the whole school went to the University of Toronto vs. Ryerson hockey game on Thursday. The story could be non-fiction (e.g., a report on our field trip) or fiction (e.g., the magic hockey stick). Also, a worksheet on two-digit addition and subtraction is to be completed. This homework is due on Friday, November 2nd.
The progress reports will go home on November 13th. Parent Interviews are on Thursday, November 15 in the afternoon and evening and Friday, November 16th in the morning.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
News for October 26
News for October 26
It was a very busy week at school with a special event on each day. On Monday, the students went to an assembly to hear Paul Rosen talk about perseverance. Mr. Rosen was a hockey player who, due to an accident, lost part of his right leg. He went on to be the goalie for Canada's paraolympic sledge hockey team that won a gold medal. On Tuesday, the students and staff duct-taped Ms. Farrelly to the wall of the gym as a fundraiser for cancer research. On Wednesday, it was picture day at school and our class and each student had his/her photo taken. On Thursday, the whole school went for the entire school day, to Varsity arena to see the University of Toronto hockey team play against the team from Ryerson University. On Friday, we had a recognition assembly celebrating our monthly focus on responsibility.
In class the students finished their "How To Make A Pillow" posters with their written instructions and photos. These are now on display on the bulletin board in the hall outside of our classroom. The children also practiced their editing skills on pre-written passages to help them with the editing of their own work. Later in the week, the students created sock puppets and wrote a "character sketch" about the creature they made.
In math the students continued to practice their mental math strategies and place value blocks strategies for solving two-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping. Later in the week, they learned the standard pencil and paper algorithm and how it relates to place value.
Our integrated research project (science/structures and social studies/maps) got underway with the students learning how to create an effective poster and how to use stencil letters to create a clear title.Later in the week the students began their research by learning how to use encyclopedias.
In the computer lab, the students visited the site,
http://www.math-play.com/soccer-math-adding-two-digit-whole-numbers/adding-two-digit-numbers.html to practice math skills.
Books read aloud this week:
Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe (chapter book - now finished)
What? Cried Granny by Kate Lum
Learning ASL with Room 5 - Episode 7
Friday, October 19, 2012
Update from Ms. R
The homework for this week is for each student to interview his/her mother and/or father to learn more about them. Each child received an interview sheet on which to record the answers. A math sheet with word problems was also sent home on Friday. This homework is due on Friday, October 26th.
Important dates:
October 22 - Paul Rosen - Canadian Para-Olympic Hockey Player visits our school for an assembly
October 23 - Stick It To The Principal - a event to raise money for cancer research
October 24 - Photo Day
October 25 - Hockey Day - permission forms were sent home on Thursday
November 13 - Progress Reports are sent home
November 15 (evening) and November 16 (morning) - Parent-Teacher interviews
Important dates:
October 22 - Paul Rosen - Canadian Para-Olympic Hockey Player visits our school for an assembly
October 23 - Stick It To The Principal - a event to raise money for cancer research
October 24 - Photo Day
October 25 - Hockey Day - permission forms were sent home on Thursday
November 13 - Progress Reports are sent home
November 15 (evening) and November 16 (morning) - Parent-Teacher interviews
News for October 19
News for October 19
News for October 19
The class started the week by learning about Fearless Felix Baumgartner, the man from Austria who broke several world records when he jumped from 38 km above the earth, last Sunday. The students wrote reports on this news event and then wrote his or her opinion about trying to do something like that! Here are the links to the videos that we watched:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh1gChG3C2o&feature=BFa&list=FLrf7MEeyaVUPvn3w3vxTC7w
and http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49409914/#49409914
The children each finished their pillows this week by hand sewing the opening shut using a needle and thread. After learning about the key words for writing instructions, (first, next, then and finally), the students began writing instructions on how to make a pillow. The children each had his/her photo taken holding the photo for the cover of their instruction books.
We reviewed the parts of speech and used this knowledge to play "Mad Libs". This is a story writing game where you use what you know about parts of speech to choose words to complete the story. Since you do not read the story before you play, this exercise ends up creating some very silly stories!
In math, the students reviewed subtraction strategies. The easiest strategy is to use what you know about addition to help you with subtraction. By reframing the question, it's easier to solve. For example, 12 - 8 =? becomes "what do I have to add to 8, to get 12? The class also learned a clever substraction game where 3 people play to guess the value of the card on your forehead. The students also learned how to generate "fact families" or related math facts. For example, if you know 7+8=15,
you also know 8+7=15, 15-8=7 and 15-7=8.
In computers, the students practiced their subtraction strategies online. Here is the site they used:
http://www.fun4thebrain.com/subtraction.html
The topic of safety and rules for the playscape was discussed this week. Did you know there was a small old sign on the fence that has the playscape rules on it? Most of us did not! The sign is so small, so high up and covered in vines! We decided to write a letter to Ms. Farrelly about getting a new sign made. We wrote about what the problem was, what we could do to fix it and how a new sign will help the students, teachers and parents. Ms. Farrelly even came up to our class to get the envelope with the letter in it! She promised to write us back to let us know if we can get a new sign.
Our class visited with our Reading Buddies in Room 101 on Friday. This week, the kindergarten children drew a picture and their grade 3 buddy wrote down the story that went with the picture. These pictures and stories will be put in a binder and given to Room 101 as a "Reading Buddies Story Book".
The QSP fundraiser is over for another year. The school had an assembly in the gym to celebrate the hard work of the students and to recognize the efforts of all the students to raise money for our school. Emma in our class won the prize for the most sales! Luckily our class also won frozen treats for the whole class.
In science the students did several experiments to learn the best way to make a strong and stable bridge. Using plastic cups and paper, they constructed bridges that would hold a heavy load. We talked about human-made and animal -made structures. The students chose which structure they would like to know more about, and that became the topic for our first independent research project of the year. (This is a school-based project, to be completed at school.)
Books read aloud this week:
Safari - A Photicular Book by Dan Kainen
Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe (chapter book)
Learning American Sign Language with Room 5 - Episode 6
The class started the week by learning about Fearless Felix Baumgartner, the man from Austria who broke several world records when he jumped from 38 km above the earth, last Sunday. The students wrote reports on this news event and then wrote his or her opinion about trying to do something like that! Here are the links to the videos that we watched:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh1gChG3C2o&feature=BFa&list=FLrf7MEeyaVUPvn3w3vxTC7w
and http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49409914/#49409914
The children each finished their pillows this week by hand sewing the opening shut using a needle and thread. After learning about the key words for writing instructions, (first, next, then and finally), the students began writing instructions on how to make a pillow. The children each had his/her photo taken holding the photo for the cover of their instruction books.
We reviewed the parts of speech and used this knowledge to play "Mad Libs". This is a story writing game where you use what you know about parts of speech to choose words to complete the story. Since you do not read the story before you play, this exercise ends up creating some very silly stories!
In math, the students reviewed subtraction strategies. The easiest strategy is to use what you know about addition to help you with subtraction. By reframing the question, it's easier to solve. For example, 12 - 8 =? becomes "what do I have to add to 8, to get 12? The class also learned a clever substraction game where 3 people play to guess the value of the card on your forehead. The students also learned how to generate "fact families" or related math facts. For example, if you know 7+8=15,
you also know 8+7=15, 15-8=7 and 15-7=8.
In computers, the students practiced their subtraction strategies online. Here is the site they used:
http://www.fun4thebrain.com/subtraction.html
The topic of safety and rules for the playscape was discussed this week. Did you know there was a small old sign on the fence that has the playscape rules on it? Most of us did not! The sign is so small, so high up and covered in vines! We decided to write a letter to Ms. Farrelly about getting a new sign made. We wrote about what the problem was, what we could do to fix it and how a new sign will help the students, teachers and parents. Ms. Farrelly even came up to our class to get the envelope with the letter in it! She promised to write us back to let us know if we can get a new sign.
Our class visited with our Reading Buddies in Room 101 on Friday. This week, the kindergarten children drew a picture and their grade 3 buddy wrote down the story that went with the picture. These pictures and stories will be put in a binder and given to Room 101 as a "Reading Buddies Story Book".
The QSP fundraiser is over for another year. The school had an assembly in the gym to celebrate the hard work of the students and to recognize the efforts of all the students to raise money for our school. Emma in our class won the prize for the most sales! Luckily our class also won frozen treats for the whole class.
In science the students did several experiments to learn the best way to make a strong and stable bridge. Using plastic cups and paper, they constructed bridges that would hold a heavy load. We talked about human-made and animal -made structures. The students chose which structure they would like to know more about, and that became the topic for our first independent research project of the year. (This is a school-based project, to be completed at school.)
Books read aloud this week:
Safari - A Photicular Book by Dan Kainen
Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe (chapter book)
Learning American Sign Language with Room 5 - Episode 6
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Update from Ms. R
The homework for this week is to write a story in the homework writing journal about objects in the classroom coming alive after the students and teacher leave for the day. (This idea was inspired by our read aloud book, "The Little Red Pen" where the teacher's marking pen and other items come alive and have an adventure.) The second piece of homework is a two-sided worksheet that reviews the addition strategies we discussed this week. This homework is due on Friday, October 19th.
News for October 12
The students finished writing and illustrating the biography of the Canadian author/illustrator, Dayal Kaur Khalsa. Each student presented a researched fact on her life, an opinion essay on his/her favourite book written by Dayal Kaur Khalsa and an oil pastel artwork of a scene from one of her books. All this information is now in a binder and is officially the second class community book of Room 5!
A friend of mine from the Canadian Children's Book Centre, Gillian O'Reilly, asked our class to read and review the new math picture book, Counting on Fall by Lizann Flatt. We read the book together and talked about it. We then talked about opinion and how everyone may feel differently about something but the important part is to communicate why. Then the students wrote letters to Gillian expressing their opinions about the book's story and illustrations. These letters will be sent to Gillian and hopefully, the class will get a letter back from her.
In our guided reading groups this week, all students read about the structures made by humans and animals and the types of materials humans use to make strong and stable structures.
The children worked in pairs to participate in the Room 5 Structure Challenge! Using only 15 sheets of paper and masking tape they created structures that had to be around 30 cm high and hold as many books as possible. Students had to apply what they know to create a successful structure. (Remember the power of the triangle!) Everyone did a great job but the winners were Marina and Sauyma. Their structure held 31 books, beating the previous class record of 25 books!
In math, the students finished up our unit on word problems by completing a very tricky word problem with more than one answer. Working with a partner, they had "two brains and four hands" to find all the solutions. The children presented their answers on large paper and these final solutions are now on display on the bulletin board outside our classroom. Later in the week, the class reviewed different addition strategies. Using double facts (e.g., 4+4=8) and 10-facts can help speed up answering addition questions.
In computers, the students explored the Lego website at http://www.lego.com/ .
The students worked very hard to learn how to spell and use the tricky homophones there/their/they're. One strategy is to remember the sentence, "They're with their friends over there."
The class showed an interest in the tallest building in the world so they watched a video of the top ten tallest buildings in the world:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tx_jYEV34k
Books read aloud this week:
Counting on Fall by Lizann Flatt
Amazing Buildings by Kate Hayden
From Mud Huts to Skyscrapers - An architecture book for children by Christine Paxmann
The Little Red Pen by Janet Stevens
Learning American Sign Language With Room 5 - Episode 5
Monday, October 8, 2012
Update from Ms. R
We had a wonderful ending to our week together as we made butter, bread and vegetable soup to celebrate Thanksgiving.
I would like to wish all the families of Room 5 a safe and happy holiday!
The homework for this week is to read the non-fiction story about ant farms (insects build tunnels too...) and answer the comprehension questions. There is also math work reviewing 4 digit place value (thousands, hundreds, tens and ones) and how to solve codes (1:1 object mapping). This homework is due on Friday, October 12th.
I would like to wish all the families of Room 5 a safe and happy holiday!
The homework for this week is to read the non-fiction story about ant farms (insects build tunnels too...) and answer the comprehension questions. There is also math work reviewing 4 digit place value (thousands, hundreds, tens and ones) and how to solve codes (1:1 object mapping). This homework is due on Friday, October 12th.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
News for October 5
News for October 5
This week the children made a lot of progress on their pillows. They each ironed both pieces of fabric that they designed. Then, using a sewing machine, they each sewed the two pieces of fabric together, remembering to leave an opening for the stuffing. The students are now using their pillows at their desks.
In science, the students experimented with cardboard strips and paper fasteners to try and figure out which geometric shape is the strongest. (They discovered it's the mighty triangle!) We looked at the structure of domes and how they are strong structures. We looked at geodesic domes that use triangle shapes in their construction (like the sphere at Ontario Place) and tried to create a large one, but we hit some trouble and will have to rethink our approach next week.
In language, the class reviewed verbs and adverbs and how to recognize them in sentences. The students played a few "word ladder" games, where the children have to use their letter-sound knowledge to change one word into another. The students reviewed how to write a letter, and then practiced by writing a letter of "thanks" to a family member to give to them this Thanksgiving holiday.
Further to our author study of the Canadian author, Dayal Kaur Khalsa, the students wrote facts about her life, and these will become part of a class book. The children also began creating artwork using oil pastels of their favourite part of one of her books. During our Thanksgiving feast, the class watched the National Film Board's adaptation of her book, The Snow Cat. Here is the link:
http://www.nfb.ca/film/snow_cat/
In math, the class focused on the proper way to answer a math word problem. The steps to remember are: draw a picture, write a number sentence, write a word sentence and consider if the answer makes sense. The children worked in groups and partners to experience how different students approach solving a problem. Then each student tried using the learned strategies to solve problems alone. The students were also introduced to the concept of codes and how one-to-one object mapping help them crack a code. The class also looked at the concept of 1000, in terms of place value and how relatively big the number is (ten groups of 100).
We visited with our Reading Buddies in Room 101. This time each student chose a book from our class library to share with their buddy.
Finally, on Friday, the students worked together to make butter, bread and soup for our Thanksgiving feast. For the butter, the children each shook a mixture of 35% cream and a touch of salt in a jar until the butterfat separated from the liquid (whey) to make butter. The class learned about the organism yeast and how it makes bread dough rise. Each student stirred the batter to make the bread dough. The children brought in vegetables, which they each washed and cut and put into the soup. All through this time, the class practiced thinking like scientists and looking at the changes that occurred and what remained the same and what was different. Finally, the students ate together, being thankful for all the good food. We even had a visit from the principal, Mrs. Farrelly!
Books Read Aloud This Week:
How Pizza Came to Our Town by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
Family Vacation by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore
Thanksgiving - A Canadian Holiday by Julies Markes
Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth
Snow Cat by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
Learning American Sign Language With Room 5 - episode 4
In science, the students experimented with cardboard strips and paper fasteners to try and figure out which geometric shape is the strongest. (They discovered it's the mighty triangle!) We looked at the structure of domes and how they are strong structures. We looked at geodesic domes that use triangle shapes in their construction (like the sphere at Ontario Place) and tried to create a large one, but we hit some trouble and will have to rethink our approach next week.
In language, the class reviewed verbs and adverbs and how to recognize them in sentences. The students played a few "word ladder" games, where the children have to use their letter-sound knowledge to change one word into another. The students reviewed how to write a letter, and then practiced by writing a letter of "thanks" to a family member to give to them this Thanksgiving holiday.
Further to our author study of the Canadian author, Dayal Kaur Khalsa, the students wrote facts about her life, and these will become part of a class book. The children also began creating artwork using oil pastels of their favourite part of one of her books. During our Thanksgiving feast, the class watched the National Film Board's adaptation of her book, The Snow Cat. Here is the link:
http://www.nfb.ca/film/snow_cat/
In math, the class focused on the proper way to answer a math word problem. The steps to remember are: draw a picture, write a number sentence, write a word sentence and consider if the answer makes sense. The children worked in groups and partners to experience how different students approach solving a problem. Then each student tried using the learned strategies to solve problems alone. The students were also introduced to the concept of codes and how one-to-one object mapping help them crack a code. The class also looked at the concept of 1000, in terms of place value and how relatively big the number is (ten groups of 100).
We visited with our Reading Buddies in Room 101. This time each student chose a book from our class library to share with their buddy.
Finally, on Friday, the students worked together to make butter, bread and soup for our Thanksgiving feast. For the butter, the children each shook a mixture of 35% cream and a touch of salt in a jar until the butterfat separated from the liquid (whey) to make butter. The class learned about the organism yeast and how it makes bread dough rise. Each student stirred the batter to make the bread dough. The children brought in vegetables, which they each washed and cut and put into the soup. All through this time, the class practiced thinking like scientists and looking at the changes that occurred and what remained the same and what was different. Finally, the students ate together, being thankful for all the good food. We even had a visit from the principal, Mrs. Farrelly!
Books Read Aloud This Week:
How Pizza Came to Our Town by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
Family Vacation by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore
Thanksgiving - A Canadian Holiday by Julies Markes
Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth
Snow Cat by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
Learning American Sign Language With Room 5 - episode 4
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