Student Movies

The movies that the students made, starring the "Magnet Man" characters they created, are now posted on our sister blog at:

http://planet5movies.blogspot.com/

Just click on the above link to see all 7 movies!

Update from Ms. R

The homework over the holiday is...there is no homework! HOWEVER, it is expected that the children read every day.

Our piano-playing snowman was a popular toy in our classroom. He has a holiday message for you:

News for December 18

News for December 18

Another busy week, as we counted down the days (with our advent calendar!) to the winter holidays.

The big news was our school's Holiday Concert on Thursday night. The children's performance was amazing and they charmed the audience with their introductions to the songs.

The students worked in pairs to complete their geometry discovery project, investigating the different shapes that can be made using 4 right angle triangles. We also had some time to talk about Roman Numerals (from 1=I to 12= XII).

Everyday this week the children went to the gym to have a holiday sing-a-long. This is always a lot of fun with the whole school stomping to the thumpity thump thump in "Frosty the Snowman" and doing the actions to "The 12 Days of Christmas".

We counted the number of words on our word wall - 81 words this term! The children solved and created word search puzzles using these words.

We made fudge to serve at our class party. Simply using low heat, we melted chocolate chips (340g package) and sweetened condensed milk (300 ml can) together. Then the liquid fudge was poured into a 20 cm by 20 cm pan and left it in the fridge overnight. The fudge was cut into squares and enjoyed by all.

We were lucky to have the author Joan Yolleck come to our class this week. We read her book, "Paris in the Spring with Picasso" and the next day she came to Room 5 to "test" her new book with the students. She read the story of the jazz singer Nina Simone (who was a child prodigy on the piano). The children gave Ms. Yolleck good comments and asked interesting questions that

will help her make the book even better.

The students worked with partners to film their magnet man movies this week. These movies will be posted on our sister blog at:

http://planet5movies.blogspot.com/.

We listened to the winter movement of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" in honour of the first day of winter on December 21. We also reviewed where the earth is in the orbit around the sun and why Canada experiences the cold (due to the tilt of the earth).

In computers, the students watched movies of snowflake crystals being formed. The website is:

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/movies/movies.htm.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to practise singing the two songs the students will be performing at the Holiday Concert. The lyrics (words) for the two songs were sent home with the children on Friday.

Important Dates:

Dec. 17 - Holiday Concert and bake sale -6:00 to 6:45 the JK/SK students will perform, followed by an intermission from 6:45 to 7:00. From 7:00 to 8:00 grades 1 to 8 students will perform.

Dec. 18 - Last day of school for 2009

Dec. 19 to Jan. 3 - Winter Holidays

Jan. 4 - First day of school for 2010

Note:

I am currenty working with Dr. Dale Willows (from O.I.S.E/University of Toronto) to create a "virtual classroom" for a teacher resource website she is developing.

On Thursday evening, the classroom was transformed into a movie studio to allow for filming not only our classroom but also short videos of me explaining the student projects and giving teaching tips. After almost 6 hours of filming, we created a virtual tour of the classroom and over 20 short films!

(Here the videographer is setting up the lights.)

News for December 11

News for December 11

The big news this week was the first snow! A tradition in my class is to watch the short movie, "Frosty the Snowman", where the first snowfall is a magical one.

The students finished writing their magnet man stories this week by printing a good copy on very long paper. Each child then rolled up the paper into a cylinder and held it closed with a paper clip. Then magnet man could hold on to his story by grabbing the metal paper clip. Next the students worked in pairs to create movies starring their characters. They are responsible for the set and props, titles, credits, music, the problem and the solution and of course the acting!

The students did some word games using their knowledge of letter sounds. They managed to turn a hen into a fox and a cat into a pig, just by changing one letter at a time.

In math, the class continued the geometry unit. This week we looked at angles, parallel lines, shapes that are congruent and sorting figures by one attribute (for example, shapes that have a right angle). The students also worked in pairs to create as many different shapes from 4 right angle triangles as they could figure out.

The whole school is participating in our annual "Holiday Post Office". The students reviewed the standard way to write a letter and started writing letters to other teachers and students in the school. The children also learned how to fold their letters into an origami evergreen tree.

We looked at a couple of "mix and match" books this week and combined that art technique with what we know about nouns, adjectives and verbs. The students did the artwork to create two different "mix and match" class books.

On Friday, we learned about the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. The students learned how to play the game of dreidel and enjoyed eating chocolate "gelt" (money) and homemade mini jelly donuts.

In computers, the children cut virtual snowflakes using the following website:

http://www.addictinggames.com/createasnowflake.html

Update from Ms. R

Thank you to all the families for coming by our classroom to visit this week! I really enjoyed talking to you about all the great things your children have done so far this year!

The homework for this week is to complete the grade appropriate math (geometry) worksheet. This was sent home with the children on Thursday.

Important Dates:

December 17 (evening) - Holiday Concert
December 18 - last day of school for December
January 4, 2010 - first day of school for January

News for December 3

News for December 3

This four-day week was busy in Room 5.
At the beginning of the week, the students learned about the Christian tradition of making "advent " calendars to mark the days until Christmas. The word "advent" means arrival in Latin, so we decided to create our own version of this type of calendar, counting down the days until the winter holidays begin. Each student folded a modular origami container (actually a hexahedron) and filled it with some small toys and treats and a handwritten wish for a happy holiday. Every day after the morning message,

the star student picks out a name and that student gets the special treat for that day (on Friday, there were 10 days left before the holidays).

The grade two students went to see a presentation by the Toronto Police Department about personal safety. During this time, the grade 3 students did their first EQAO practice by completing a reading activity.

As an extension activity to our study of the Willy Wonka movie, the children each "invented" a new candy. The task was to create a candy name, a candy company name, a label and a poster advertising the candy. These are now on display in our hallway.

The students shared their jokes and riddles. They enjoyed reading joke books from our school library and each student selected a joke, practised reading it aloud and then were filmed telling the joke. These were turned into a little movie:



The class learned about "Snowflake Bentley" the first man to photograph snowflakes over 140 years ago. The students then had time to create paper snowflakes to decorate our class and some were so inspired they made extras to take home!

In math, we started a unit on 2D geometry (2D = two dimensional or flat). We reviewed the names of shapes and the students hunted for examples of those shapes around the classroom. They discovered that the easiest shape to find is a rectangle. Squares and circles could be found but were a bit harder to find and pentagons/hexagons/heptagons/octogons are really hard to find. Starting this week, each child began the day doing two math problems on blackboards, to keep practising addition and subtraction questions.

As a connection to our science unit on magnets, the students created a "magnet man" figure with magnets on the ends of his hands and feet. The children are now planning stories starring this new character.

In computers, we looked at Google maps to see satellite photos of our school. The children also played some math addition and subtraction games. The sites are:
http://maps.google.com/ and http://www.funbrain.com/.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a fiction story in the homework journal using one of the two starter sentences taped into the writing journal.

* Please note: Report cards will be going home with students on Monday. Your interview time confirmation will be included in the envelope. I look forward to meeting with families on December 3rd and 4th.

News for November 27

News for November 27

This week the students did a unit on how movies tell a story. We watched, discussed and wrote about the movie, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (1971) based on the story by Roald Dahl. This is a story with a lot of imagination, from the names of the characters (ex. Mike Teevee) to the settings in the movie (ex. in Willy Wonka's office, everything is cut in half, even the sink!). The students examined the different characters and they compared Charlie with the other children in the story.

The students started a project to invent and design their own candy as an extension project to the movie. They thought about a company name, candy name and why someone should buy his/her candy instead of another candy (ex. "Eating this candy will make you smarter").

In computers, the class visited the Wonka website and played some creative games:
http://www.wonka.com/ .

In math, the grade 2 students finished the review of patterns (repeated, growing, shrinking) and they each made a long paper repeating pattern. The grade 3 students learned about 3 digit addition and subtraction, with and without regrouping (sometimes "we must regroup!")

The students learned about the useful tool called a Venn diagram and how to use it. Did you know the Venn diagram was designed by John Venn, an English mathematician around 1880? The class used this technique to compare the meaning of rural (country) and urban (city) and to compare characters in the movie they watched.

The whole school went to the gym to watch the "White Pine Dance Company". These dancers performed a number of different traditional First Nations dances and had very beautiful costumes complete with eagle feathers and porcupine fur!

The students, after many project hours, finally finished their letters that spelled "IMAGINATION ROOM 5". These are now on display in our classroom.

Update from Ms. R

The first part of the homework for this week is to write down and illustrate your favourite joke or riddle. These will become part of a class project. The second part is to complete grade appropriate math questions on two-digit addition and subtraction. This work was sent home with the children on Friday.

Important Dates:

November 26 (evening 6:00 to 7:00 PM) - Family Math Night
November 30 - report cards go home
December 3 (evening) and 4 (morning) - parent/teacher interviews
December 17 (evening) - Holiday Concert!
December 19 to January 3 - winter holiday break

News for November 20

News for November 20

This week the class learned more about forces with a focus on magnets. The circle table was filled with different kinds of magnets and was a very popular activity with all the students (especially the very powerful sphere magnet). The students also created, through paper engineering, a paper windmill toy to illustrate how the force of air creates movement.

In math, the children worked hard to move from using place value blocks to using the standard algorithm (or method) for two-digit addition and subtraction. The grade two's focused on questions without regrouping and the grade three's practised with questions that require regrouping (also referred to trading or borrowing).

The class learned about synonyms, words that have the same meaning. We all tried very hard to say "synonym" and not "cinnamon"!. We played a game to help us learn 37 different sets of synonyms.

The research posters are now displayed in the hallway by the stairs. Each student marked the location of his/her country on a world map and wrote a reflection on what they think they did well on the poster and what they could do next time to make the poster even better. The students listened to the song "Everywhere Man" by Johnny Cash and learned our class version that lists all 19 countries that we learned about from our research.

The children finished the "Flat Stanley" class project this week. First each student chose a place to take Stanley to and had their photo taken. Next they each wrote a letter to Mrs. Callaghan's class telling why they chose that place (and thanking them for sending Flat Stanley to us). Then they each created a new Flat Stanley to send back with the letters. Finally, everything was put together to send back to England.
At the beginning of the week we visitied the Flat Stanley website to learn more about his books and play games:
http://www.flatstanleybooks.com/

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a fiction story in the homework writing journal. Using the information given to each student from another student in the class, the children need to write a story that includes an animal, a place and something that can be held by a hand (for example, a cat, a forest, a donut).

Please note: The forms for Parent/Teacher Interviews (Dec. 3 & 4) and for Math Night (Nov. 26) were sent home with the students on Thursday. Please return the completed forms as soon as possible.

News for November 12

News for November 12

This was a short week, but the students worked hard to finish their research posters. After completing a research planner on his/her chosen country, each child wrote the information into sentences in the writing journal. After editing, the students wrote the "good copy" of the sentences on the poster. The children also researched the flag and map of each country and put these on the poster. The students learned how to find Canada and Toronto on a globe and then saw where their research countries were starting from Toronto.
The children welcomed a guest to our class this week. "Flat Stanley" has come to our class from a school in England (via the Walsh family). Together, we are now choral reading the chapter book, "Flat Stanley" (thanks to a gift of books from the Madni family) and learning about his adventures as a 1 cm thick young boy. You can do a lot of cool things when you are as thin as a piece of cardboard! We are also thinking about the adventures we can take him on.
In science, we began a unit on magnets by watching a video about this natural force.
In math, the focus was on addition and subtraction. The students now write a FMMF (five minute math facts) quiz every morning. We learned and shared different strategies to help remember the math facts (doubles, near-doubles, using what we know about 10). The main focus was to help doing subtraction, use what you know about addition.
A lot of time went into our presentation at the Remembrance Day assembly this week. The class went to the office area of the school and saw the "1000 Paper Peace Crane Project" that was done a few years ago. We also looked at the display of names of people who attended Davisville Public School that went to war and those that passed away in the line of duty. The children used red and black paint to create a large poppy to hold during our performance. The students each read their "33 Words of Peace" writing aloud to the whole class (this was filmed and made into a movie posted below). We were also proud to have our paper peace crane tree on the stage during the assembly.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is:

1. Practise singing and signing (ASL signs) the Remembrance Day song for our performance.
2. Complete the math worksheet creating an addition facts chart and practising grade appropriate numeracy questions. We will be practising these facts in class over the next few weeks.

* Please note that the homework is due on Thursday this week, due to the P. A. Day.

Important Dates:

November 11 - 10:30 AM - Our class will be performing at the Remembrance Day assembly in
the gym. Parents are welcome to attend.

November 13 - P. A. Day - no classes for students on this day

November 30 - Report cards go home

December 3 (evening) and December 4 (day) - Parent/teacher interviews

News for November 6

News for November 6

This week, the students began their first research projects based on countries of the world. First each student chose a country that they are interested in learning more about. Next they started to gather information using a project planner. Then they learned how to use stencils to draw a title on poster paper.

The class learned about and discussed Remembrance Day and how it is observed in Canada. The students each wrote about peace and put the information into 33 words (11th hour/11th day/11th month = 33). The class learned a peace song and the American Sign Language (ASL) signs to go with the song. We will perform this song at the Remembrance Day assembly on November 11.

In math, the students did the assessment for the measurement unit. Now the class is working on number sense and numeration, focusing on addition and subtraction facts and moving into two and three digit addition and subtraction. They also played the game "Race to 100" using two dice to practise their addition facts.

In computers, the students created comics using the website:

http://www.bitstripsforschool.com/

Students are able (and encouraged) to create comics at home using our class login and password.

The children learned how to fold paper cranes. They listened to the story of "Sadako", about a Japanese girl who was the inspiration for the paper crane becoming a universal symbol of peace. These cranes will part of our class "peace tree" decoration at the Remembrance Day assembly.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a fiction story in the homework writing journal. The suggested topic is to use your imagination to write about "10 things you can do with a pillow" using our newly made pillows as an inspiration.

News for October 30

News for October 30

This week the students focused on non-fiction procedural writing. They learned how to use the key words first, next, then and finally to help them write instructions on how to make a pillow. To help them break it down into steps, they first drew four pictures to illustrate how to make a pillow and then used their words to write about their "comic". These comics are now on display in our classroom.

In math the children finished the unit on perimeter and started to learn how to measure "area" or the amount of surface that a figure covers, using blocks and graph (squared) paper. On Halloween, the children each estimated the number of rocket candy packages in a 500 g container, and they were pretty close. The range of estimates was 27 to 100 with the actual amount being 65 packages. As a class we then figured out the quickest way to count all the packages (use the 10 strategy). We also calculated that there were enough for each student to get 3 packages. We even figured out the number of actual candies...975 candies!

The students all finished their pillows by stuffing them and hand sewing the opening closed.

We talked about the holiday of Halloween. The class listened to several books read aloud, both fiction and non-fiction. They practised their oral storytelling skills by retelling a simple story about a witch, a cat and a ghost by cutting parts out of a piece of paper that, at the end, revealed a holiday surprise.

On Friday, the children learned how to make caramel apples. This year we even dipped the caramel apples in chocolate chips! The students also made a holiday lantern complete with a light inside. We all lit our lanterns when we had our Halloween celebration.

The children also wrote a "scary" story this week. They then practised reading their stories aloud to a partner and talked about what they like about their partners stories. Some children chose to read their stories aloud to the class.

During computers, we watched a funny video where animals appeared as if they were talking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hwLbhpatJo

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a reflection on our class read aloud chapter book, Christian the Lion. There are also some grade appropriate math questions from our measurement unit. The worksheet for this was sent home with the students on Friday.

News for October 23

News for October 23

For our read aloud this week, the class enjoyed hearing the non-fiction chapter book, "Christian the Lion". This is a story of a lion cub that was raised for a year in London, England then re-introduced to the wild in Africa. The focus for the class was, since this is a book with very few pictures, to use the strategy of making a picture (or movie) in your mind in order to follow the details of the story. The students did an art response using photos from the book and finally, we saw a video of the real people from the book when the lion was reunited with Ace and John (after the lion lived in Kenya for a year).

The students worked hard to finish their rock story books. We focused on adjectives this week and they were to include lots of adjectives in their stories to make the stories more interesting to read. After doing the good copy, they measured and cut a front and back cover, then bound the pages and cover together with wire and the rock that inspired the story.

In math, we continued the measurement unit by practising the understanding of a centimeter, meter and kilometer and the concept of perimeter (the distance around a figure) was introduced.

The children all learned how to use and iron and then they each ironed their pieces of purple and orange fabric. Finally, each student learned how to use the sewing machine and sewed the two pieces of fabric together. Now the pillows are ready to be stuffed and sewn shut next week.

In computers, the children started to use a new comic creating program to create a virtual classroom. The task this week was to for each student to create a character based on him/herself (also known as an avatar). We will be using this format over the next few weeks to create comics and to communicate with each other.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a non-fiction (true) story in the homework writing journal. Possible topics are to write about when our student teacher, Ms. Mok, taught a movement/drama lesson in the gym or to write about the school assembly when we saw a play about how to stop bullying.

News for October 16

News for October 16

Well, it was a short week but we were still very busy in Room 5!

The students focused on the tricky homophones "they're/their/there", how to spell the words and when to use them.

We talked about "imagination" and used our 5W's strategy (who/what/when/where/why) to help us think more deeply about this idea. The students wrote their answers to the questions...Who has an imagination? What it is? When do you use it (and when do you not use it?) Where is it? Why do we have one? They drew a picture of their imagination and the stories and art are now on display in our hallway.

After reading the book, "Everybody Needs A Rock" by Byrd Baylor, the students each chose a special rock to keep and to write a fiction story about. They learned about using a graphic organizer (story planner) to help them think about their story before they write it. One of the key things to think about is what the problem in the story will be, because without a problem, the story isn't very interesting.

In math we started the new topic on linear measurement. The students are learning about centimeters (cm), metres (m) and kilometers (km) and how and when to use these units.

The class learned the "Kookaburra Song" and we read about this interesting Australian bird and saw some videos and learned why this animal is also called the laughing kookaburra. Here are the links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc_-icFHwQo and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRREv_xn5gA

Ms. Mok taught a movement/drama class in the gym. The children worked alone and in groups to make different kinds of shapes with their bodies: smooth, big, small, tall and twisted.

The class used permanent markers to draw on orange fabric to make the other side of their pillows.

In science we talked more about solids and liquids and after watching some demonstrations, we discussed the rules on what is a solid (hard/doesn't change shape/can break into pieces/dry) and what is a liquid ("runny"/takes the shape of the container/wet). The children also used an internet game to help them learn about solids melting into liquids and took a short "quiz" to show what they have learned. Here is the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/solid_liquids.shtml

We took some time on Friday to talk about the Hindu celebration of Diwali (Oct.17) or the Festival of Lights. And finally, after studying the Cadbury "eyebrows" commercial last week, we made our own version!

Update from Ms. R

I would like to wish all the families a happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday!

The homework for this week is to write a review of a favourite book and to solve a Thanksgiving math word problem (remember to use pictures, numbers and words in the answer). The worksheet for this homework was sent home with the children on Friday and is due next Friday (October 16). The children were also asked to practise their "eyebrow exercises" in preparation for a project we will be doing next week.

PLEASE NOTE

Our class is struggling with returning our library books on time! Students are not allowed to take out a new library book until they return the current book. Our librarian, Ms. Mantello, requests that the books be returned in the library bag (a white bag with the child's name and room number and a drawing of a dog) to keep the books in good condition.

Our library day is "Day 3". This can be confusing as the "day schedule" does not alway align regularly with the days of the week. The days are listed on the calendar attached to the monthly newsletter from the office. This coming week, Day 3 is on Friday.

News for October 9

October 9 News

This week the students finished up their "Not A Box" projects. Each child chose a small white box and used their imagination to image the box as something else (a treasure box, a football, a sponge...) and wrote a fiction story about it. Then they transformed their boxes into the story character. These stories and the "before and after" photos will be posted on the bulletin board outside the classroom next week.

In math, the students finished up the unit on patterning and place value. We practised using logic/reasoning to answer a variety of "Who am I?" activities. Also, the grade 3 students wrote their first practice math test.

Using the letters in the word "Thanksgiving", the students worked in pairs to create as many words as possible. The class came up with 45 different words!

In preparation for a display in the hallway, the children each chose a large cardboard letter to create part of the message "imagination". They used torn newspaper and glue to papier mache the letters to make the cardboard stronger.
On Friday, our class celebrated Thanksgiving together by learning about the holiday, writing about it and preparing food for our feast.

We read the books, "Thanks For Thanksgiving" and "Stone Soup". The children learned about how when people work together, they can make something wonderful. And we did! We made homemade soup, fresh bread and our own butter.
The students wrote in their journals about being thankful for all the good things in their lives and about making the food. At the end of the day, we celebrated together by sharing the food we made.
(If you are interested in the recipe for the bread, please look at the October 9, 2008 posting on my recipe blog at http://thatsakeeper.blogspot.com/ ).

Finally the class watched the commercial for Cadbury chocolate, and practised the "eyebrow exercises" from the video. We will be making our own version of this commercial next week. The original video is below:

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a story in the homework writing journal about a favourite TV show or favourite website. This homework is due next Friday (October 9).

Thank you to the families that donated Kleenex and hand sanitizer. We still need a lot more Kleenex. Last year the students calculated that we used 25 boxes! Remember the school gives me only $1.60 each school day to run my program. If you would like to contribute money toward special projects please let me know. All donations are greatly appreciated!

Important Dates:

October 12 - Thanksgiving Day - no classes on this day
October 30 - Halloween celebrations

News for October 2

News for October 2

It's difficult to believe that Ms. Mok's time with us is half over. Next week she will be taking on more responsibility in the classroom as she teaches some lessons to the children.

This week we focused on opinions. Talking about opinions and writing opinions. The students wrote about their opinions as to which is the best food ever, the best book (from a set of 3 read aloud books) and their opinions on whether children do/do not need to go to school.

In math, we continued our work on how to correctly answer word problems (pictures, numbers, words). We also practised representing place value in different ways (grade 2 - 2 digits and grade 3 - 3 digits).
In drama, the students did their first play. Reader's Theatre scripts allow the students to practise their sight reading, fluency and expression. They worked in two separate groups to perform the play, "How Bear Got A Stumpy Tail". The performances were videotaped and after the students watched the playback, they analyzed what the children did well and what they could do next time to improve their performances.


The class attended a recognitions assembly in the gym. The school's new guidance counsellor, Ms. M (Ms. Militano) came to our class to teach us some cooperative activities. All children were tested in class this week to determine their reading levels.

The students learned how to fold an origami goldfish. They actually managed to make two models which was very impressive for a group of 7 and 8 year olds as this model is considered to be an intermediate level project.

In computers, the students explored games based on books on the Scholastic site. Here is the link:

www.scholastic.com/kids/stacks/games

The students are developing a lot of new techniques for building card towers. Here is a photo of their latests creations.

Update from Ms. R

The first part of the homework for this week is to answer a word problem using pictures, numbers and words. The second part is to write a math word problem for Ms. R. I promise to answer all the questions and return them to the students. The worksheet was given to students to take home on Friday. Remember homework is due the following week (i.e. October 2).

(We will be working on word problems next week. Unfortunately, we did not have time to do a review on Friday. If your child is having difficulty, please know that they will have lots of practice on Monday and Tuesday.)

News for September 25

News for September 25

This week marked the second week of our visiting student teacher, Bonnie Mok from the master's degree program at the Institute of Child Study, OISE/University of Toronto. This is the same teacher preparation course that I completed.

In math, the students worked on understanding place value (for example, 17 is different from 71 because the place of the digits gives different values in the tens place and the ones place). We also talked about ordinal numbers (for example, 1st, 2nd, 3rd).

The students created a class "time capsule". They each recorded information about themselves in a small book (height, weight, wishes and predictions) and included a photo and a lucky penny. We produced a class video, showcasing the work we have done so far in Room 5. It will be fun to open up the time capsule at the end of the school year and look at what changed and what didn't over the 10 months that we are together.

theclassreadastorywrittenbymsrthathadnospacesbetweenthewordsandsentencesnocaptialsand
noperiods (The class read a story written by Ms. R that had no spaces between words and sentences, no captials and no periods). They realized how difficult it is to read such a story and learned why punctuation is important and that they each have the responsibility to remember to reread their work and make sure that it can be read easily.

All the students in the school participated in the annual Terry Fox Run to raise money for cancer research. Our class ran around the neighbouhood and raised $63.02 for this charity.

We learned about Rosh Hashannah (Jewish New Year) and ate traditional apples and honey. We also made time to talk about the first day of fall (September 22) and the reason for the seasons. As well, the students listened to Antonio Vivaldi's "Autumn" from his Four Seasons composition. It was fun to listen to music written almost 300 years ago.


On Friday, we had our first shared cooking experience making spaghetti sauce. The students each took responsibility for a tomato, choosing, washing, and chopping it to make tomato sauce. During this time they wrote in their journals about how to make the sauce and spaghetti. At the end of the day we ate our little meal together, pasta, sauce and freshly grated parmesean cheese. It was so good most children asked for seconds (and thirds...). If you would like to know how we made our sauce, please visit:

http://thatsakeeper.blogspot.com/

Update from Ms. R

This week the homework is to write a story in the homework writing journal. Each student is to write a story about the sticker in his/her journal. The story may be fiction or non-fiction. The students know to check their writing for the proper use of capitals and periods.

News for September 18

News for September 18

This week the students were very excited about our Friday afternoon trip to see the movie, "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". The movie was in 3D so we all had to wear special glasses to watch the movie. The students were asked to pay attention to the ways in which the movie was the same and how it was different from the book.

The other big news was the arrival of our class pets! Alpha, Beta and George are happy to be back in class with the children (in the photo, George is hiding in the green tube). The students started to write stories about the fish and to create colourful drawings to go with their stories. The class reviewed the structure of a proper sentence and how to edit writing (always reread your work!)

In math, the students reviewed how to use number lines to help them skip count and add and subtract. We also talked about the strategy of ten. That is, how to use what we know about groups of ten can help us count large numbers of things and how that number becomes the tens digit in a two digit number. The students were given a challenge of how many circles they could draw in one minute and then use the ten strategy to help them count the circles quickly and accurately. The students also calculated how many living things are now in the class.

In science, the class talked about liquids and solids and worked in partners to talk about what makes liquids different from solids.

In art, the students wrote about the paintings they created last week. The children also began the class pillow making project by tie-dying fabric in purple dye after using elastics, marbles and clothespins to twist and tie up the fabric.

After reading the book "Not a Stick" by Antoinette Portis, the students did a drama activity and brainstormed different ways that a stick could be used to pretend to do something else (ex. shovel, umbrella or fan).

In computers, the students visited the site http://www.pbskids.org/ to investigate the games and activities. We also visited the movie site http://www.cloudywithachanceofmeatballs.com/.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to complete both sides of the "A Little Bit About Me" sheet. This was given out to students on Friday. All weekly homework is due the next Friday (this time - September 18).

Important Dates:

Sept. 18 - Primary division field trip to the 3D movie "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs"
at Silvercity Yonge/Eglinton - we need two parent volunteers for this trip -
permission forms were given out on Friday.

Sept. 24 - Welcome Back BBQ/Curriculum Night - 5:30 to 7:00 PM

Sept. 25 - Annual Terry Fox Run - bring a toonie for this wonderful charity

Oct. 1 - Parent Council meeting

News for September 11

News for September 11

This week was a very busy! The children all got settled into their new home in Room 5.
The students talked about all the rules of behaviour for the classroom, halls, playground, lunchroom, gym and music room. They came up with over 33 rules! Then we looked at and sorted the rules and realized that we could really just say "Work hard and be nice" and everyone will get along just fine.

Each child created a handmade journal by "squish" painting a book cover and then folding sheets of paper and sewing them to the cover. This art journal is stored in each child's desk and used sometimes for art lessons (this week we looked at Ed Emberley's method for creating cartoon drawings) and sometimes for drawing in free time.

We reviewed the proper way to print letters, with special care taken to make tall or sky letters (b-d-f-h-k-l-t), below the line or water letters (g-j-p-q-y) as well as middle size letters (a-c-e-i-m-n-o-r-s-u-v-w-x-z).

In math we looked at patterns in the hundred chart, repeating, growing (increasing) and shrinking (decreasing) patterns. The children learned how to do a card trick and made towers out of cards (did you know the Guinness record for a tower of cards is over 7 metres high?)

The class made a chart of all the different things the students wanted to learn this year.
The children checked out books from the library this week. (They are due next day 3 - Thursday Sept. 17.)

In preparation for our field trip next week, the class heard the story "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and then wrote in their journals about how they would like (or not like) to live in the town of Chewandswallow.

Waiting for the students to arrive...

This past week was spent cleaning and organizing the classroom, as well as two full days spent going to TDSB meetings and lectures. The classroom is now ready and waiting for the students to arrive!

Final School Year Update From Ms. R

Good bye to another school year! The time I spent with this group of students has been amazing. We have learned so much together and have had a lot of fun working in Room 5. It has been a privilege and a pleasure teaching these children and I would like to wish all the families a happy and healthy summer break.

News for June 25

Well, this was a busy last week of school. The students opened up their time capsules that they made last September and noticed the things that changed since then, for example, how tall they are now, and to see if their predictions came true.

The big news was the arrival of the box from San Francisco from the author of the Woolly Hoodwinks book. Jeff was very generous to send an actual character to each student in the class. Of course we wrote thank you letters and made a short thank you movie.

The class participated in the school's first Speed Stacking contest and we were asked to do a demonstration at the final school assembly on Thursday.

The students cleaned up their desks, took home their notebooks and artwork and said good bye to the fish and the worms.

Our "picnic party" had to be held indoors because of the rain, but we had fun anyway.

News for June 19

News for June 19

This week we finished up the Sock Creature Project by making little books, badge name pins and a "summer" movie.

The class learned the song "Summer Holiday" made famous by the English singer Cliff Richard. At the end of the week, we performed the song along with our dancing sock creatures for the principal!

To see our creatures and listen to the students singing this song click below:



In math, we finished up our review of patterning, multiplication and algebra.

The worms in the composter are working hard to break down the vegetable and fruit scraps that were put in the bin.

The students are listening to the classic story, "The Hundred Dresses" (1944) by Eleanor Estes. This is a timeless story about bullying and how everyone can stop bullying by speaking up when something is said or done to tease someone else.

Pepper's class joined us to make "summer journals" that the students can use over the summer to write, draw and glue stuff inside. These will be sent home next week.

On Friday, our class finally had a chance to have some time with the school's visiting artist, Susie. She taught the class some drawing techniques. Each student drew one of his/her shoes and filled in the spaces with coloured plasticine. Back in the classroom we put the artwork on thick cardboard, complete with a Father's Day message for this weekend's holiday.

Update from Ms. R

I've been having a wonderful time reading the end-of-year letters that the children have written to me. It's interesting to know the activities that the students enjoyed this year. It's hard to believe we only have 9 more days together in Room 5.

Important Dates:

June 23 - Report Cards go home
June 23 - Speed Stacking Contest - during lunch in the school gym
June 25 - Last day of school

News for June 12

News for June 12

This week the class finished up the "4 toothpick math challenge". The students worked in groups to figure out how to order the 16 patterns so that one changes into the next by only moving one toothpick at a time. The workbook group reviewed patterning and the clipboard group started to learn about muliplication (presented as adding of equal groups).

The sock creatures are now almost finished. The children are becoming very independent with their sewing! They all finished writing and editing their stories starring their sock creatures. These will be made into books next week.

The children learned how to make pins using a badge making machine. They designed a nametag for their sock creature and created a button-style pin.

The class is working toward the Speed Stacking Contest on Tuesday June 23 by practising all the stack formations.

We have new "pets" in our class this week. We now have a "vermicomposter" or a worm composter. As part of our soil/plant science unit, this shows the children the important role that worms play in breaking down organic material into the humus of the soil. Each student studied a red wiggler worm with a magnifying glass and we talked about what they looked like and how they move. The worms live in a mix of soil, water, shredded newspaper and fruit/vegetable scraps. Because the worms are "photosensitive" or light sensitive they will only be fed twice a week.

Update from Ms. R

The homework this week is to write a letter in the homework journal...to me! I would like the children to reflect on what we did in Room 5 this year and to tell me what they liked and didn't like and, of course, why they liked it. This will be the last homework writing journal assignment for the year.

News for June 5

News for June 5

Well the big news this week was the EQAO testing. The students worked very hard for three days. The students who did not write the test spent the time with Mr. Lee in his classroom.

In math the class did the activity, "The Four Toothpicks Challenge" to help develop their spatial reasoning (part of geometry). They worked in groups to find all the different ways to make patterns where the toothpicks are all touching but they could only touch end-to-end or at right angles (like the corner of a square). They glued their patterns on construction paper and made a deck of cards to play a game next week.
The class read a few books about "sock monkeys". Each child has now begun to create their own sock creature which will be used for inspiration for stories and movies during the last weeks of school.

Darryl came by to deliver the finished pottery mugs this week and they look wonderful! These were sent home on Thursday. Thanks to Darryl for taking time to teach the class how to make their own mugs.
The students finished their science research posters and they are now on display in the west stairwell by our classroom. Each child chose the most "fascinating" fact from his/her poster and talked about it in our class movie "Did You Know?". You may view the movie below:

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is, there is no homework for this week! After a week of intensive EQAO preparation, the students deserve a break.

PLEASE NOTE: The last day of school this year is Thursday, June 25th.

News for May 29

News for May 29

This week the class worked hard in the science unit for soil and plants. They finished researching the plant or animal for their science projects and wrote the information on posters. Each child went outside and collected different kinds of soil samples. They added water and after on week we will check for small creatures in the soil. The class also learned about the important job that earthworms do in the soil.

In math, we finished the unit on 2D motion geometry by learning about how to move objects on a grid (up, down, left, right). EQAO students did an intensive review of key math concepts in preparation for next week.

In art, the students reviewed how to make a pencil sketch. They used this technique to sketch the plant or animal from their science projects. Then, they learned how to use special watercolour pencils to colour in the pictures and thin paintbrushes and water to "paint" the picture. These pictures were put on the science posters.

In music, the class studied the song, "Flower Duet" from the opera "Lakme" (1883) by the French composer Leo Delibes. The class watched a video of two soprano singers performing this song. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpT7pK9A61A

We also listened to several different versions of this song. One was pop/rock, another with guitars and no singing, one with a flute and cello and another with a cat and chicken singing the parts. This was to show how a good song can be played successfully in many different ways.
The children listened to a read aloud of the classic story, The Velveteen Rabbit (How Toys Become Real) (1922) by Margery Williams. Another version of the story can be viewed below:

Update from Ms. R

The writing challenge this week is to write a fiction story using the character and setting given by another student (for example, write a story about "a blue monkey in Hawaii"). Students writing the EQAO were given a math practice sheet.

News for May 22

News for May 22

This short week was a busy one. We had students attending the "Sound of Music", an all-day track and field meet and of course, our Spring Concert (see the photo where, on concert night, students created a huge cup stacking pyramid - 190 cups)!

In math, the children continued to learn about symmetry, and the movement of shapes in two dimensions (slide/translation, spin/rotation, flip/reflection). We also answered the question, "How many tissues did our class use this year?". First we estimated about 2, 100 (by assuming each box held 100 tissues). Then we counted the actual number which was 2, 298 tissues!

In writing, we learned a new way to help write complete answers to questions. APE means to A - answer the question, P - prove it (using information from text) and E - extend your understanding by connecting the ideas to information you already have in your brain.

In science, the bean plants really grew! Beautiful green leaves are starting to grow at the end of strong sturdy stems. The students started their research projects using encyclopedias to discover "fascinating facts".

The students painted the "glaze" on their mugs. Darryl told us that glaze is actually finely ground glass that melts at 800 degrees Celsius to make a shiny waterproof surface on the mug. The mugs now will be fired one more time before they are finally ready.

The class used their knowledge of "reflections/flips" to help them make symmetrical art. Can you recognize the names in the photo?