Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a story in the homework writing journal (fiction or non-fiction) about the three scratch-n-sniff stickers on the next blank page. This homework is due on Friday, November 30th.

News for November 23

News for November 23

The students worked intensely on finishing their folded circle paper sculptures. There were lots of different ways to put tetrahedrons together: face-to-face, vertex-to-vertex and edge-to-edge. Then the children wrote a reflection on their projects by thinking about what they did well and what they could do better next time. The students had photos taken of them holding their structures. Finally, they created posters showcasing their projects and these are now on display in the classroom.

After reading the book, The Paper Dolls, the students learned how to accordion-fold strips of paper and cut their own paper dolls. Then the class went to visit their reading buddies in Room 101 and showed them how to create paper dolls.

The class began to plan and create a "Lego City". After brainstorming all the different kinds of buildings found in a city, the children each chose a building to make. Then the students began to plan and write a fiction story with the buildings they made as the settings for their stories.

In guided reading, the children learned more about the features of cartoons and comics to help them with a project they will start next week.

In math, the class finished up the geometry unit by reviewing what they learned. After reading the book, "The Honeybee Man", the students got to look at a piece of real honeycomb, that is made of  thousands of  hexagonal prisms.Then they had a chance to taste the honeycomb! On Friday, the children wrote the unit test.

As a visual art connection to the book, "You Are Stardust",( that we read two weeks ago), the children made wooden cube frames to make dioramas like those in the book.

On Friday, the class attended an anti-bullying assembly.

Books read aloud this week:

The Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson
The Honeybee Man by Lela Nargi
Hey Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose
A Million Dots by Andrew Clements

Learning American Sign Language With Room 5 - Episode 11

Update from Ms. R

Thanks so much to all the parents for visiting the classroom this week to talk about the children's work. It was wonderful to see everyone!

The homework for this week is to complete a language sheet (homophones and reading comprehension) and a math sheet (three-dimensional geometry). This homework is due on Friday, November 23.

Note: As the weather gets colder, please ensure that your child has the proper outdoor clothing. Students are outside for over one hour each day. To prevent clothing getting lost, PLEASE LABEL EACH ARTICLE OF CLOTHING WITH YOUR CHILD'S NAME. That helps to make sure items are returned to their owners with a minimum of effort. As well, keeping a pair of "indoor shoes" at school prevents children from having to wear their boots inside all day.

News for November 15

News for November 15

This week was short but as usual, the students packed in a lot of learning!

In math, the students learned how to use Venn diagrams to sort different geometric figures. They practiced their skills of estimating to help them understand amounts without actually having to count things. The children reviewed the attributes (faces, edges and vertices) and names of three dimensional (3D) figures. They created 3D prisms and pyramids using "nets" preprinted on paper by cutting them out and taping them together. The students also learned how to make a variety of 3D figures by folding paper circles.

The class reviewed basic editing skills and then edited a story I wrote about the class. They had to find all the mistakes. There were capital letters missing as well as, periods, exclamation marks and questions marks. Before the students started editing, they tried to read the story and realized it was very difficult to read. We don't want to live in a world with out capitals and periods! The children also learning the spelling game "Making Words".

Every student had the opportunity to talk to the class about his/her research project. Now the students know about their research plus information about 21 other human and animal made structures found all over the world.

The students learned about the holiday of Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights holiday. The class watched a video explaining the holiday:

In social studies, the students continued learning about communities. They read a story about how the environment changes as one drives from the city out into the country. The class had a opportunity to view two DVD's about rural and urban communities. Each student also drew a map of their desk group complete with labels and NSEW directions.

Our 1000 paper cranes project is very close to being finished! The students have all worked very hard to fold origami cranes and to work together to organize and count the cranes made so far.

And finally, on Monday, the class also had time to visit the great artwork by the grade 7 and 8 students in Spectrum.

Books read aloud this week:

Great Estimations by Bruce Goldstone
Divali by Saviour Pirotta
You Are Stardust by Elin Kelsey

Learning American Sign Language With Room 5 - Episode 10

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a story, of the student's choice, in the homework writing journal. Some story ideas from the class were to write a story about Remembrance Day or our class trip on the TTC bus (fiction or non-fiction). A math worksheet reviewing two-dimensional geometry (attributes of polygons) was also sent home with the children on Friday. Because of the P.A. Day next Friday, this homework is due on Thursday, November 15th.

Important Dates:

November 13 - Progress Reports go home
November 15 (evening) and November 16 (am) - Parent-Teacher Interviews (no classes on Nov. 16th)
December 7 - P. A. Day - no classes on this day
December 21 - Last day of classes for 2012
December 22 - January 6 - Winter holidays
January 7 - First day of classes for 2013

News for November 9

News for November 9

This week was very busy in Room 5! We even had time to plant an amarylis bulb, to watch how it grows.

In math, we continued the geometry unit by looking at attributes of two-dimensional shapes. The students learned about the three types of angles. A right angles is "where horizontal line meets a vertical line" (as found in squares and rectangles). An acute angle is smaller than a right angle and an obtuse angle is larger than a right angle. Regular shapes have all the sides of the same length. Congruent figures are the same size and the same shape. The students learned about ancient Chinese puzzles called tangrams. In each tangram set there are 7 shapes and each shape is called a tan. The children practiced solving tangram puzzles, designed their own tangrams and even had a tangram-solving competition! (The top four students were: Angela, Nandana, Etienne and Marina.)

In guided reading, the groups continued to learn about urban and rural communities. This week they read and talked about housing and getting around these two different kind of communities. The class also learned the direction words north, south, east and west.

In computers, the students explored geometry games at: http://www.kidsmathgamesonline.com/ .

Our sock puppet joke videos, a literacy/oral communication project, was finished this week. Here is the video:



The children worked hard to finish their research projects on animal and man-made structures. They wrote all the facts as sentences and wrote them on the posters. The posters they created are now on display in the west stairwell outside of our classroom. Next week, the students will present what they learned to the class.

The students had a chance to have a private ride on a TTC bus! Fritz the bus driver answered all the students' questions and told the class what it's like to be a bus driver. He also brought a lot of TTC magnets, pins and paper models for all the students. It was a lot of fun! Thanks to school parent Wendy Chong-Engell for organizing this trip for us.

The grades 3 to 8 classes also attended an assembly on internet safety this week.

As part of our Remembrance Day discussions, the students reviewed how to make paper cranes and how to make perfect squares from standard rectangle paper. The class performed the song they learned, by singing and by signing in ASL, at the Remembrance Day assembly on Friday. Our principal, Mrs. Farrelly, came by our class to tell the children what a wonderful job they did.

Books read aloud this week:

Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown (finished)
Three Pigs, One Wolf and Seven Magic Shapes by Grace Maccarone
Sadako (and the thousand paper cranes) by Eleanor Coerr

Learning American Sign Language with Room 5 - Episode 9

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a book review on a book of the student's choice and to complete a math (geometry) activity. This homework was sent home on Friday and is due on Friday, November 9th.

Important Dates:

November 8 - TTC bus trip around the neighbourhood
November 11 - Remembrance Day Assembly - our class will perform a song
November 13 - Progress reports go home
November 15 (evening) and November 16 (am) - Parent/Teacher interviews

There was a lice check this week for all the students in the school. Please be aware that there are several active cases of lice in the school. Please check your child's head regularly. For more information please go to: http://www.headlice.org/

HOW TO FOLD A PAPER CRANE

News for November 2

News for November 2

The end of October saw the class celebrating Halloween and welcoming the month of November. We are now officially at 43 days of school with 144 days of school left to go. (We like to count things in Room 5!)
For Halloween, we read fiction and non-fiction books aloud. The children learned how to make caramel apples. Then they used what they have learned about procedural writing to write instructions (basically, write a recipe) on how to make this Halloween treat. The annual Halloween parade happened in the afternoon and the students' costumes were wonderful! If you look closely at the photo above, there is a rare picture of Ms. R (dressed as Domo)!

In writing, the students learned about how to write comics. For example, how to write a clear "speech bubble". They used this writing style to create comics to tell jokes. These comics are now part of a class book. Also this week, we received a letter back from Gillian O'Reilly, the editor of Canadian Children's Book News, thanking our class for the letters they wrote about the book "Counting On Fall". She wrote that the information the students gave her, was extremely helpful.

The students made little films using their sock puppets. Working with a partner, they created opening and closing credits for their joke shows. This video will be posted on Monday as one student was away on Friday.

In math, the children finished the numeracy unit by reviewing 2- and 3-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping and then writing a final unit test. The students began the unit on geometry by reviewing the basic two-dimensional shapes. They discovered that the most difficult shape to find in the classroom is the pentagon and the easiest shape to find is the rectangle.

In computers, the students had a chance to play some Halloween games:
http://www.thekidzpage.com/halloween_games/index.html

The class began to discuss Remembrance Day and why it is observed in Canada. The students learned how to sing (and sign in ASL) a song that the class will be performing at the assembly next week. The children learned how to fold paper peace cranes using what they know about geometric shapes to help them remember the folding steps.

The class visited their kindergarten reading buddies this week in Room 101. They helped their friends do some writing and make some bookmarks.

Books read aloud this week:

Halloween by Molly Aloian
Happy Haunting, Amelia Bedelia! by Herman Parish
The Tailypo by  Joann Gladstone
The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns
Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown


Learning ASL with Room 5 - Episode 8