News for May 1

News for May 1

At the end of the week we received three tadpoles! We talked about the life cycle of a frog and we are looking forward to watching them grow in their own tank, beside our fish Alpha and Beta.

This week the students finished the math unit on probability and started the unit on fractions. This week we looked at fractions as "part of a whole" and noted that "half" is a relative amount depending on the size of the whole. They also made a folded book and glued different fraction pictures on the pages.

In writing, the students did a writing assignment on the first few chapters of our read aloud book Pioneer Cat. It is the story of a pioneer family moving west across the United States and a young girls' attempts to keep her pet cat a secret. The students also wrote about our pioneer day in class.

On Tuesday, the class went to the gym to see a performance of the play Junk In The Attic by the Little Red Theatre. It was a story of how to solve conflicts and how to live a peaceful life.

On Thursday, the class pretended it was April 30, 1809. We spent the whole day without electric lights! In preparation for the day, the children learned how to handwash their kerchiefs and then they each ironed his/her kerchief. The students did their math using chalk and small blackboards, helped to prepare lunch and snacks and chose appropriate pastimes (wooden blocks, marbles, corking, sewing). We had apples and cheese for the morning snack, carrots, pickles, baked beans, cornbread pancakes (with homemade butter) and honey/maple syrup spelt "cookies". For an afternoon snack we popped popcorn and topped it with our homemade butter. (Many students asked for the recipe for the cornbread and it will be posted in a separate post in this blog.) The pioneer village projects are finished and are now on display in the hall.

The children also sewed beanbags. The same kind of beans we ate in the baked beans were used in dried form to stuff the beanbags (along with some wool fleece).

On Friday, we went outside and each student had a chance to try sawing wood. It's not as easy as it looks! They got a good sense of how hard pioneers had to work to make homes, furniture and firewood. Each child also used a piece of sandpaper to sand their own piece of wood for a future art project.

In music, we talked about and sang the Bobby McFerrin song, "Don't Worry Be Happy" and how he used different vocal sounds to create the music.

Watch and listen to the students show the different buildings of the village while singing our pioneer song.

Update from Ms. R

This week the homework was to write a fiction story and to complete the math worksheet. The homework writing journal and worksheet were given out on Friday.

News for April 24

News for April 24

This week the students worked on the probability unit in math. They learned about the "chance" of getting heads/tails when tossing a coin (equally likely) or the numbers one to six on a die (equally likely). They made predictions about the number and colour of cubes in a bag and practised their understanding of certain, likely, unlikely and impossible.

In writing, the students practised writing a reading response that identified the parts of a story (characters, setting, problem, solution) and used parts of the story to support their opinion of what the story was about (e.g., point of view, kindness). The students learned about the word puzzles called "pangrams". These are sentences that have at least one of each letter of the alphabet. One of the most famous pangrams is "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." The students then took on the challenge of writing these sentences in cursive using a quill or feather pen, like people would write in pioneer times.

The students worked in their research groups to create posters for their pioneer projects. They also finished the models of their village buildings.

On April 22, the class learned about Earth Day and recycling. In computers they went to a site to learn more about how to help the earth (EeckoWorld - PBS KIDS GO, http://pbskids.org/eekoworld/ ).

On Friday, we had a school dance in the gym. The D.J. helped the children learn different dances and at the end we all went to get treats at the bake sale.

The Speed Stacking Club for grades 3-8 started this Wednesday at lunchtime. All the students in Room 5 are learning about how to speed stack. To learn more about this activity, go to http://www.speedstacks.com/

Watch Gabriel demonstrate a 2X3 (two groups of three) cup stacking:

Update from Ms. R

The homework this week is to complete the worksheets handed out on Friday. The students writing the EQAO received a language and math sheet and the balance of the class received a math sheet on probability.

Important Dates:

1. April 22 - Earth Day
2. April 24 - EQAO Parent Information Night
3. May 18 - Victoria Day Holiday - no classes
4. May 21 - Spring Concert (evening)
5. June 1-5 - EQAO testing week

News for April 17

News for April 17

This week the students worked on their pioneer research projects. They worked in groups to learn more about five different buildings in a pioneer village: school, mill, general store, blacksmith and family home. They created log cabin structure for their buildings and started to plan their research posters.
The children learned how to make a character out of foil. They used this new character to write a story about how to make a "foil guy" from the perspective of the piece of foil.

In math, the students finished off the measurement unit on capacity and mass and were introduced to the new unit on probability.

In music, the class listened to a CD of "Peter and the Wolf" by the Ukrainian composer Sergei Prokofiev. The story is a fairy tale that uses the instruments of the orchestra to represent the characters in the story.

The students learned how to use charcoal (actual burnt willow sticks) to sketch during our studio time. They used their "foil guy" statues to pose for their sketches. Here is a gallery tour:

The students also began their training for "speed stacking". This is a sport popular with school children where they stack and unstack plastic cups as fast as they can. Each student recorded their times to do a "3-stack". To learn more about the sport of cup stacking, visit:

www.speedstacks.com

Movies Link

Reminder...if you wish to view our movies, go to our sister blog at:

http://planet5movies.blogspot.com/

There are 7 movies to see, so remember to scroll down to see them all!

Update from Ms. R

This week's homework is to write a non-fiction story in the homework writing journal. Suggested topics are:

1. Our school-wide assembly on Thursday afternoon
2. Speed Stacking

For those students writing the EQAO test, literacy and numeracy practice sheets were sent home. These sheets are to be treated a homework and returned the following Friday for marking.

News for April 10

News for April 10

After another busy 4 day week, the students deserve a long weekend!

This week, the students worked hard to lead the school-wide recognition assembly on Thursday. They performed the song, "When I First Came To This Land", complete with costumes and acting out the words. We also worked hard to research information on the maple leaf (did you know that maple trees grow in every province of Canada? In our schoolyard, there is a silver maple tree that is over 100 years old) and Canada's flag and we worked with Darryl to take down the old, faded flag and put up the new one. What a difference! We made a movie with all this information and showed it to the audience at the assembly. The students also each had a chance to "speak into the microphone" as they announced the different parts of the assembly. The students did such a great job that our principal, Ms. Boyce and Mr. Lee each came to our class afterward to congratulate the students on doing such a fantastic job. Well done Room 5!
In math, the students finished up the unit on money and started learning about measuring capacity (volume), litres (L) and millilitres (mL).
The students learned about the holidays of Passover and Easter. The students heard the fairy tale The Gingerbread Man and the Passover version, The Matzoh Man and even had a chance to try a bit of matzoh (like a cracker). The children made fancy eggs by collaging Japanese chirogami paper over a styrofoam egg. They got to sample some Easter treats as well.
The students finished up their fairy tale writing project with Ms. Lindsay. Ms. Lindsay has now displayed them on a bulletin board in our hallway.
In computers, the students are working with a partner to create a new product and to design a way to advertise the product.
We had to say goodbye to Ms. Lindsay this week, as she has finished her placement with our class. We wish her the best of luck in her future as a teacher and she has left us with some great memories.

Update from Ms. R

This week's homework is to complete the worksheets handed out on Thursday. The children who are writing the Primary EQAO test received language and math practice sheets. The rest of the class received a "money" worksheet.

During the parent interviews this week, a few parents asked for advice on picking out books for their children. A wonderful resource is the book, How to Get Your Child to Love Reading - A Parent's Guide (2003) by Esme Raji Codell. This book is available through the Toronto Public Library. Ms. Codell also has a website, http://www.planetesme.com/, where she reviews more current publications. All kinds of books from fairy tales to biographies are represented. She also includes some activities related to the books, that you can do with your child.

News for April 3

This week, our class had the ice cream party "prize" for raising the second most amount of money for the recent penny drive.

In math, we concentrated on our money unit. Counting coins and bills and making change is an important skill that requires a lot of practise!

Most students are working on their "good copy" of their retell of the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk. Ms. Lindsay helped the children edit their stories and taught them how to make paper look "old" by staining it with teabags and water. Some children made their paper look more "future-like" by covering paper with crushed foil.

The class watched a video to learn more about the maple leaf and why it is the symbol of Canada. Did you know that species of maple trees grow in all the provinces across Canada? The students started to make a movie about replacing the old Canadian Flag in front of our school. This movie will be shown at the school-wide assembly next Thursday.

The class worked with the students in Pepper's class to complete their letters to their pen pals by creating a "flexagon" - a paper puzzle that can be folded to reveal four different surfaces. Watch Kevin demonstrate how it works:

The children learned how the pioneers cleared the land of large trees before they could build houses and barns. They learned the song When I First Came to This Land to understand better the hardships that the pioneers had to experience when making a new life in Canada.

The class worked hard to finish their weavings. The students now understand how long it took to make woven cloth by hand! These are now on display in the hall outside of our classroom.