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: