News for May 3

News for May 6

With only 14 more school days before the EQAO testing starts, the students are working each day to complete practice test questions in reading, writing and math in order to prepare for the exam.

In math, the students finished the measurement unit on perimeter and area and wrote the unit test. The children also figured out that to calculate area of things shaped as squares or rectangles, they can use what they know about multiplication arrays to quickly calculate the area. Two practical examples are the ceiling tiles and the floor tiles in our classroom. For example, to calculate the number of floor tiles in our classroom, all one needs to know is the number of tiles on the length of the room (39) and the width (36). So the number of floor tiles in the classroom is 39 x 36 = 1404! The class then began the last formal math unit of the school year on patterning and beginning algebra.

In writing, the children finished their opinion essays on The Iron Man (book) versus The Iron Giant (movie). These are now on display on the bulletin board in our hallway. The class also learned about proper comma use when writing lists.

After having read ten of the non-fiction books nominated for the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian non-fiction, each student wrote a letter to the prize jury trying to persuade them to pick the book that was his/her favourite. The winner of the prize receives $10,000. The class favourite was Tim Hortons by Simon Rose with What's For Lunch? by Andrea Curtis a close second. We'll know in June which book the jury chose.

In science, the students planted two of their germinated (sprouted) bean seeds into pots with soil. They also examined and planted in soil the seeds of the chive plant. These seeds look very different from bean seeds. We opened up the box where we put bean seeds to germinate without light and saw that they did sprout but were white (that is no green or yellow colouring).

The class visited their kindergarten reading buddies this week. They played the game tic tac toe with their buddies, taught them strategies for winning and then helped them write about the activity.

On Wednesday morning, the students in grades 1-3 had their Track and Field Day. It was a great success, with good weather and the students participating in events like the 200 m run and standing long jump.

The children learned how to fold paper into an origami flower, stem and leaf. We had a great discussion on how folding a plant from paper was like growing a plant from a seed.

During our computer time this week, the students viewed the Music Monday song video. This is the song our school will sing on May 6th to celebrate the return of Canadian astronaut Chris Hatfield from the International Space Station. Here is the link:

www.musicmonday.ca

Finally, on Friday, the students had their chance to participate in a cooperation workshop activity with presenters from GROW. The children worked with other classes to complete a variety of tasks that required them to work together cooperatively.

Books read aloud this week:

Black Beauty (chapter book - finished) by Anna Sewell
If You Hold a Seed by Elly Mackay