Friday, October 30, 2009

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

Saturday, October 24, 2009

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.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

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.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

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
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:
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!



Saturday, October 10, 2009

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:

Friday, October 2, 2009

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