Amaryllis Update!

The amaryllis has bloomed! It is so beautiful! Thank you so much to George and his family for taking such good care of our class plant over the holidays.

Holiday message and update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a story in the homework writing journal about the magnifying glass each child received on Friday. There is also a math worksheet reviewing the link between addition and multiplication that the class learned about this week. This homework is due on Friday, January 9th, 2015.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the students and their families a safe and happy holiday and all the best in 2015!

I would also like to thank everyone for the very generous gifts and the beautiful book with the children's photos, writing and art! Please know that each day I feel it is an honour and a privilege to teach the wonderful children in this class.

News for December 19

                                      

News for December 19

The students did a wide variety of activities during the days leading up to the winter holidays.

In math, the children finished the unit on 2D and 3D geometry and began the next math unit on multiplication. Multiplication is really two concepts. One is repeated addition of equal groups and the other is the notion of multiplicative thinking. The students learned about how to represent addition of equal groups with an addition sentence (for example, 3+3+3+3=12)and as a multiplication sentence (for example, 3X4=12). They also learned about how to arrange the equal groups into rectangles or squares to show that 3X4=12 or 4X3=12. Reading 3X4 as "three groups of four" reminds students of what is actually happening in multiplication.

Later in the week, the children did an investigative writing activity using magnifying glasses. The magnifying glasses magnify objects 5X (five times) larger than their actual size. By selecting things in the class to see and writing about how the magnifying glass gives more information to their eyes, the students are able to understand the "mulitplicative thinking" part of multiplication.

This week the class had a homophone challenge that reviewed the 11 sets of homophones that we have studied so far this year. The children did worksheets, solved word search puzzles and even participated in a game show style question and answer activity to help them remember not only how to spell the homophone words but also when to use them.

If you would like to create your own word search puzzle, visit this site:

www.AtoZTeacherStuff.com/word-search-maker/wordsearch/php

The students learned about the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. They helped to make potato pancakes fried in oil called latkes, and eaten with applesauce. The children worked in pairs to figure out how many candles are needed to light the menorah over the eight days of Hanukkah and wrote down their thinking about how they solved this problem. The class also learned how to play a popular Hanukkah game called Dreidel.

The class went to the gym on Thursday to sing holiday songs with the other children in the primary division of our school. The highlight of this annual event is always when the teachers lead the students in the singing of "The Twelve Days of Christmas". (Which the class can tell you is a very old English song from 1780. So when singing this song, we are singing words from 234 years ago!)

The class began to prepare a play about King Midas, called "The Golden Touch". Working in two separate groups, the children read their parts and by the end of the week, they were organizing props and costumes.

Additional activities included a final tie-dye project and re-potting our amaryllis plant. In keeping with the winter holidays theme, each of the students also had the chance to make a small beaded penguin figure and a small graham cracker house decorated with candy!

And finally some words from Dr. Suess:

"Please tell all men,
That peace is good,
That's all that needs,
To be understood."

Books read aloud this week:

The Flying Latke by Arthur Yorinks
I Have a Little Dreidel by Maxie Baum
The Twelve Days of Christmas by Jan Brett
365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to read the paragraphs about city and rural (country) life and complete the Venn diagram about things that are the same and things that are different. There is also a math sheet reviewing how to mentally fold up a 2D drawing of connected shapes (called a "net") into a 3D figure. This homework is due on Friday, December 19th.

Toy Drive Update!

Our school collected over $2,500 worth of toys to help families in need. Thank you so much for your support.

News for December 12

News for December 12

This week the students finally finished the project on the Davisville School bell. Each child created a small poster with facts about the bell and put them on the wall beside the bell in the office. Did you know that the bell was made in Troy, New York in 1860, seven years before Canada became a country? The class also made a short video about the bell.


In math, the children continued to explore 3D or three-dimensional shapes in many different ways. The class learned that each figure has edges, faces and vertices. The students examined 3D solids, cut and taped paper figures, used toothpicks and plasticine to create "skeletons".  They learned how to visualize the 3D figure from a 2D "net" pattern. They even created a huge icosahedron (20 equilateral triangle faces).

The class reviewed how to write letters and address envelopes to write letters for our school's "Holiday Mailbox". Our school has a long-standing tradition of writing letters to students and staff at this time of year.

The class continued to learn the words, vocabulary and history of many traditional holiday songs from this time of year. Did you know that the song "Let it Snow" was actually written during a heat wave in July 1945  by US songwriters trying to feel cooler during a heat wave.

The students finished the good copies of their fictional stories about our school's bell. These are now a part of a class book, for everyone can read the stories of their classmates.

The class watched the DVD of the children's holiday classic movie, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. They learned how to take notes while watching the movie, then used their notes to answer questions about the story elements (characters, setting, problem/solution).

Books read aloud this week:

Snow Cat by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
You Are Stardust by Elin Kelsey
Underwater Dogs by Eric Castell

Create a Snowflake!

Create hexagonal paper snowflakes on the computer using this program:

snowflake.barkleyus.com

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a fiction story in the homework writing journal that has something to do with Chinese Checkers. The math worksheet reviews the characteristics 3D figures. This homework is due on Friday, December 12th.

*** Winter is here! Please ensure that your child comes to school with all the outdoor gear needed to play outside. Students go outside daily for AM recess (15 minutes), lunch recess (30 minutes) and PM recess (15 minutes). Your child needs a winter jacket, winter boots, a hat (if the jacket has no hood), mittens and snow pants (for warmth, not just for when there is snow). Thank you!

News for December 4

                                     

News for December 4

At the beginning of this four-day week, the children learned about advent calendars ("adventus" means arrival in Latin) and how they are traditionally used to countdown the days until Christmas. Our class made our own advent calendar to countdown the days until the winter holidays. Each child wrote a letter, gathered up treats and small gifts and put them in a decorated envelope. Everyday a child's name is chosen randomly to receive this daily gift from their friends in our classroom.

In social studies, the students learned about communities (places where people live and work) and the two major types of communities (urban and rural). This week the children watched a DVD on mining communities and did some research on farming communities. The students also created folded paper toys that revealed cool facts about farming in Ontario. (Did you know that the wool spun from the fleece of one sheep measures over 200 km long? That is the distance from Ottawa to Montreal!)

In math, the class learned about Venn diagrams and how they are used to compare and sort information. They used these overlapping circles to compare characters in stories and to compare different 2D shapes. At the end of the week, the students began to learn about 3D geometry. They learned the features of prisms and pyramids (faces, edges, vertices) and how the shape of the base of the figure determines the name of the figure (for example, square-based pyramid).

The students visited their kindergarten learning buddies in Room 103 this week. They taught their buddies The Snowflake Song and then helped them make little books with the words from the song and decorated the books with snowflakes. When the students got back to our classroom, they reflected on their teaching experience. They noted that their buddies were very interested in making the little books and would "read" their books by singing the song.

The children created their own Holiday Songbooks, containing the lyrics to many traditional seasonal songs. Along with choral reading the words to the songs, the students learned the history of the songs and the meanings of unfamiliar words. (Did you know that the song Jingle Bells was written in 1857 and was written as an American Thanksgiving song?)

The children used what they know about the hexagon shape of snowflakes to help them fold and cut six-sided paper snowflakes. These snowflakes are now decorating the walls by the coat hooks in our hallway.

Books read aloud this week:

Winter's Coming - A Story of Seasonal Change by Jan Thornhill
All About Ontario by Barb McDermott
Frosty the Snowman by Jack Rollins
Circles of Round by Signe Sturup

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to review the Canada facts learned this week. In order to start the social studies unit on "Living and Working in Ontario", the students reviewed the provinces and territories in Canada and some basic historical facts. Each student was also asked to teach "The Provinces of Canada" song to an adult and reflect on the experience. There is also geometry math review sheet. This homework is due on Thursday, December 4th.

Important Dates:

December 5 - P. A. Day - no classes
December 19 - Last day of classes for 2014
January 5 - First day of classes for 2015

News for November 28

News for November 28

The highlight of this week was our class ice cream party at the end of the day on Tuesday. Hudson won this special event at the Pumpkinfest celebration back in October. The students tried different kinds of ice cream and toppings. Delicious! Thanks Hudson!

Since the class showed an interest in learning cursive capital letters, we reviewed how to write all 26 capital cursive letters. Finally, the students created new name tags for their desks by writing his/her signature and taping it to his/her desk.

In math, the children really honed their skills at recognizing and matching 2D shapes by solving a series of tangram puzzles. At first the students took about a minute to solve a new puzzle by matching all 7 tangrams on the puzzle. By the end of our "contest", the students halved that time to less than 30 seconds per puzzle. The children then designed their own tangram puzzles for their fellow students to solve. Finally, the students had a round robin style competition and the results were very close! Grisha was the fastest when he solved a tangram puzzle in just 10 seconds!

The students wrote a reflection on the shape art they created last week. The students even created letters for the title on the bulletin board using the power polygon shapes. These pieces of art and writing are now on display in the hallway outside of our classroom.

The class learned more about our school's bell this week. Did you know that the original Davisville school was only two rooms? It was named after John Davis who owned a pottery factory at Yonge and Davisville. The clay they used in the factory was dug up along the area where Millwood Road is now. John Davis was such an important man in the community that they named the area "Davisville" after him.

The students continued to work on their fiction stories about our school bell. Most of the rough copies are finished and the students are now editing their writing.

The class learned the origin of the names of places important in Canada. The words for Canada (from Kanata meaning "village"), Toronto (from a word meaning "a place where trees stand in the water"), Ontario (from a word meaning "beautiful water") and Ottawa (from a word meaning "traders") all come from First Nations languages. We also learned that Toronto was originally called the City of York until 1834 when the city's name was officially changed to Toronto.

The students learned how to play the strategy game Chinese Checkers. Did you know that the game isn't Chinese and really isn't checkers at all? The game was invented in 1892 in Germany and was later given this name in the United States in 1928 to try and sell more games. After learning the basic rules, the students played each other and shared their different strategies to win. (We have also set up a tournament chart to make sure that everyone gets a chance to play all their fellow students).

The class took some time to discover the math around the Chinese Checkers game board. Did you know that the shape is called a hexagram and is actually a 12 sided polygon called a dodecagon? The students were also challenged to work with a partner to figure out how many
holes are drilled in the board by using what they know about the game pieces (each colour has 10 men).

The class learned about how snowflakes are made in clouds. Each snowflake starts with a tiny speck of dirt for the ice crystals to form on. The pattern of the snowflake depends on the amount of water in the cloud and how cold it is.

The children heard the story of A Street Cat Named Bob this week. It's the true story of how a stray cat changed the life of a man named James, a street musician in London, England. Of course we talked about the connections between this story and the story of Christian the Lion that we read last week. Here is a video of James and Bob:


Books read aloud this week:

My Name is Bob by James Bowen
Where is the World is Bob? by James Bowen
The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen
The Story of Snow by Mark Cassino
Ontario - Yours to Discover by Megan Cuthbert
Infinity and Me by Kate Hosford

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a story (fiction or non-fiction) in the homework writing journal. There is also a review sheet for cursive writing and a math sheet reviewing the 2D geometry concepts covered this week. This homework is due on Friday, November 28th.

***2014 TOY DRIVE***

Room 5 and Sophie and Tatiana from Ms. Hamilton's class are in charge of the school's TOY DRIVE this year. The goal is for each student to bring in a new, unwrapped children's toy to help families in need.

Bring in toys from November 24th to December 12th.

THANK YOU!

News for November 21

News for November 21

This week the students focused on geometry and the names and properties of flat, two-dimensional (2D) shapes. From learning the Greek origins of many of the shape names to creating art designs, the students are getting a deep understanding of these shapes in our world.

The children went on a "shape hunt" and realized that the easiest geometric shape to find in the classroom is the rectangle. They used elastics on geoboards to create polygon shapes and geodot paper to draw polygons.

The students learned about an ancient Chinese puzzle called Tangrams and how these are used to make various pictures. Using the seven tans, shaped like various polygons the student chorally read Grandfather Tang's Story and worked to recreate the animal characters using their tangram puzzles.

We began the Social Studies unit by learning how Canada is divided into 13 smaller parts (10 provinces and 3 territories). We also talked about important facts about Canada, for example, Prime Minister Stephen Harper lives and works in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. Also Canada became a country 147 years ago, on July 1, 1867. The children also learned a song to help them remember not only the names of the province and territories but also the order of them across the country moving from the east coast of Canada to the west coast.

The students began a class research project about the school bell in the special cabinet in our school's office. We went down to the office and read on the bell that it was made by Meneely West foundry in Troy, New York in 1860. Seven years before Canada became a country! We wrote a letter to Mrs. Farrelly to ask for her help with this project and she lent us a book on the history of Davisville School.

The students made a video about their research posters about structures around the world.



The class finished all 26 letters of the alphabet by learning the letters m, n, x and z.

In the computer lab, the children began to learn keyboarding skills by trying the typing games on the site:
learninggamesforkids/keyboarding_games.html

The class visited their kindergarten learning buddies in Room 103 this week. They had a lot of fun helping the children learn about and understand numbers from 1-20.

The students used the "power polygon" shapes to help them create designs to show the art elements of line, colour and 2D shapes.

Finally, the children created posters to advertise our school's TOY DRIVE asking for donations of new, unwrapped toys to give to families in need.

Books read aloud this week:

A Lion in Paris by Beatrice Alemagna
Christian the Lion by John Rendall and Anthony Bourke
The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns
Tadao's Search for Circles by Marion Brooker
The Boy With Square Eyes by Julliet and Charles Snape
Grandfather Tang's Story - A fable told with tangrams by Ann Tompert

Christian the Lion - video

The class heard the story of Christian the Lion this week. It's the story of a lion cub that was adopted by two men, John and Ace, in London, England in the 1960's. Eventually, they realized as he started to grow up that they could not keep him in their apartment any longer. So they arranged to have him go to live in Kenya. After one year, the two men went to Kenya to see how Christian was doing and if he remembered them. As you'll see near the end of the video, Christian did remember the two men who had loved him and taken care of him.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is for each student to teach an adult learner about nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs and to use this knowledge to teach how to play the game "Mad Libs". After the lesson, the student teacher is to fill out a reflection sheet and write about how the lesson went. There is also a math worksheet with questions about our new geometry math unit. This homework is due on Friday, November 21st.

***Students have been asked to bring in a used piece of clothing or fabric for our next tie dye project. T-shirts, socks, pillowcases and more are all suitable. Because this is an experiment, please do not buy something new.

As always, if you have a question or comment, please email me or write me a note in your child's agenda.

News for November 13

News for November 13

The highlight of this 4-day week was when our class observed Remembrance Day by attending a school assembly and creating a video of the students' peace messages:

In math, the students continued to practice three-digit addition and subtraction with and without regrouping. They also practiced solving word problems. At the end of the week, the class started the geometry unit by reviewing two-dimensional (2D) shape features (sides, corners, angles) and names. They also discovered that for any 2D shape, the number of sides equals the numbers of vertices and equals the number of angles.

In science, we talked about the different structures that animals make (for example, bird nests, beaver dams). The students even had a chance to see and taste honey from a real honeycomb.

The class learned about the life and work of the Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudi. Despite many challenges, Gaudi designed and created unique buildings reflecting his love of nature (and distaste for straight lines). It's difficult to believe that these unusual, modern-looking buildings were made over 100 years ago.

The students worked in pairs to complete the newspaper challenge. The class was challenged to create strong and stable structures that are at least 20 cm tall and will hold a stack of books using only newspapers and masking tape.

The class continued to practice identifying and using nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. The children learned how to use these words to play the game "Mad Libs" to create some very silly stories.

The students worked really hard to finish their research posters this week. They took the facts from their research sheets and wrote the facts into sentences to write on the posters. They added photos and maps and reviewed their work to make sure everything was complete. That is, all information was included on the poster and sentences were written correctly.

Finally, the students graphed the heights of their research structures to compare them. The structures that we researched ranged from 8 m tall (The Great Wall of China) to 830 m (Burj Khalifa)! Did you know that the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world and is about the same height as two Empire State Buildings and three Eiffel Towers?

Books read aloud this week:

The Honeybee Man by Lela Nargi
Building on Nature - The Life of Antoni Gaudi by Rachel Victoria Rodriguez
The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns

How to fold a paper crane

Here is a video showing how to fold a paper crane:

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a story of your choice (fiction or non-fiction) in the homework writing journal. Also, there is a math review sheet reviewing numeracy concepts learned so far this year. This homework is due on Thursday, November 13th (since Friday is a P. A. Day).

This is the statue of Sadako in the Peace Park in Hiroshima, Japan. In January, our school sent 1,000 paper cranes for peace to Japan to be displayed in this park. On the statue it says:

This is our cry.
This is our prayer.
Peace in the world.

Here is the link to Japan's Peace Park website:

http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/kids/KPSH_E/top_e.html

Important Dates:

November 11 - Remembrance Day
November 12 - Progress Reports go home
November 13 (evening) and Nov. 14 (AM) - Parent/Teacher interviews
November 14 - P. A. Day - no classes
December 5 - P. A. Day - no classes
December 19 - Last day of classes for 2014
January 5 - First day of classes for 2015

News for November 7

News for November 7

This week the class did a lot of work around Remembrance Day. We watched a DVD, read books and discussed the history of this important day to the people of Canada. We talked about what peace means and the history of the symbols of peace.

The students designed activity sheets for their learning buddies in kindergarten and got the materials together to teach their buddies how to make a paper poppy and talk to them about Remembrance Day using the worksheets to help them understand why this particular day is important. When we were reflecting afterward on how the lessons went, the students appreciated how much work goes into preparing to teach a lesson and they were very proud of having taught their buddies something about Remembrance Day and peace.

The students wrote 33 words about what peace means to them. Since World War One ended on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month (November), we added 11+11+11=33.

In math, the students practised more word problems. The class also learned the tricks about how to add and subtract 3-digit numbers.

The children learned about the four main parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs and how to identify these words in sentences. Did you know that adjectives and adverbs are not necessary? Without them sentences still make sense, but, are not as interesting as they are with adjectives and adverbs!

The class practiced their understanding of non-fiction text by reading a story about the history of hamburgers and correctly and completely answering comprehension questions.

In science, the class is ending the unit by doing research projects on famous structures around the world. The children began by learning how to design a poster to effectively display information. Also, after reading the book about how Elisha Otis invented the elevator, they learned that until then, the tallest buildings were only 6 floors. By designing and making elevators, Elisha Otis created something to move people vertically up and down and paved the way for taller buildings.

In cursive writing, the children learned the letters "e" and "l" and reviewed the 20 letters learned so far. Only six more to go...

The students learned how to fold a paper crane. They also worked in groups to design large squares of paper with symbols of peace, which they will fold into huge paper cranes.

Books read aloud this week:

Androcles and the Lion by Aesop (via Phaedrus)
The Peace Book by Todd Parr
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coer
Going Up! Elisha Otis's Trip to the Top by Monica Kulling
Thing-Thing by Cary Fagan

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is for each student to visit the class blog with an adult and complete the survey questions. There is also a math worksheet of addition and subtraction questions (with regrouping) and some word problems. This homework is due on Friday, November 7th.

***Note:

On November 12th, Progress Reports will be sent home. On Friday, each child was given a pink interview form for parents to choose a time to meet with me on November 13th or 14th for Teacher/Parent interviews. Please indicate your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices. I will send home a confirmation note with your child next week. If you wish to choose a different date/time or wish to arrange a telephone interview, please email me or write a note on the pink form.

Here are the children with the "building" lamps they created this week.

News for October 31

News for October 31

We had great Halloween celebration on Friday! The children looked amazing in their costumes! The students did some Halloween activities, learned the history of Halloween and made caramel apples. We had a great parade through the school and party at the end of the day. Check our Instagram account for a photo. Follow us @planet5news.

In writing, the students wrote book reviews for one of the Martha the dog books we read. They reflected on what was his/her favourite part of the book, how the illustrations helped to understand the story and what the author might do next time to make the book even better.

In cursive, the class learned the letters k and b. We also read about the history of handwriting in the encyclopedia. Did you know that the word cursive means "flowing" in Latin?

The children learned how folding makes paper stronger. They used this knowledge to create 3D buildings with window to create the framework for a holiday lamp by putting a small battery operated tea light inside.

The students worked hard to figure out who were the winners of the perimeter contest. First we had to actually measure the perimeter of the school. Using pieces of pre-measured 2 meter rope, the students worked in pairs to measure around the school. The answer is 336 meters! The children delivered the prizes to each of the four winners and Mila was the winner in our class with the closest estimate to the actual answer.

The children did an experiment to test how strong glass is. They learned the basic steps of a science experiment (purpose, materials, observations before, observations after, next steps). Glass marbles were heated up then put into ice water. The marbles cracked and showed that glass is not stable under extreme changes in temperature.

In math, the class reviewed subtraction strategies and looked at fact families to help with addition and subtraction. For example, if you know that 7+8=15, you then also know that 15-7=8 and 15-8=7. The children used place value blocks to help them understand two-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping.

The children learned how to orally tell a Halloween story using a piece of orange paper and a pair of scissors. Did your child tell this story to you?

During our computer time, the students explored thekidzpage.com .

The students also spent some time measuring the food our class collected for the school's Halloween Food Drive. After putting all the cans and packages end-to-end they measured the line with meter sticks and it was 4 meters and 49 centimeters long. They also weighed the food on a scale and together it all weighed 14 kilograms!

Books read aloud this week:

Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe (chapter book - now finished)
The Lion and the Mouse by Aesop
Halloween Is...by Gail Gibbons

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is for each student to complete a reading survey. There is also a math sheet reviewing two-digit addition and subtraction without regrouping and some practice word problems. This homework is due on Friday, October 31st.

Notes:

1. I apologize but I will not be able to attend our Multicultural Night on Wednesday. I've been invited by the Director of Education's office to attend a TDSB dinner that night. But I will bake brownies...

2. I will be sending out a sign up sheet for Parent/Teacher interviews by the end of this week.

3. The school's policy for Halloween states that costume masks and weapons are not allowed, for the safety of the children. We ask that students wait to dress up after lunch for our school's Halloween Parade.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please email me or write a note in your child's agenda.

Important Dates:

October 29 - Multicultural Night (6:00-7:30)
October 31 - Halloween - The parade is in the afternoon.
November 11 - Remembrance Day
November 12 - Progress Reports go home
November 13 (evening) and Nov. 14 (AM) - Parent/Teacher interviews
November 14 - P. A. Day - no classes
December 5 - P. A. Day - no classes
December 19 - Last day of classes for 2014
January 5 - First day of classes for 2015

News for October 24

News for October 24

Every morning this week, students from our class were on the school's morning announcements, talking about our contest, "How Big is the School's Perimeter?". Each child had a chance to do this and it was quite exciting to hear the voices of the students from our class on the announcements!

In math, the students continued to learn about area, or measuring the flat space inside the perimeter of a shape. They learned how to count squares and parts of a square to get an accurate answer. The children even had a chance to measure the perimeter of one hand and the area. We figured out that if you put all the perimeters end-to-end, it would measure 482 cm. That's almost 5 metres!

At the end of the week, the class began the new math unit on multi-digit addition and subtraction. The students reviewed two-digit adding and subtracting without regrouping and reviewed the steps to give a complete answer to a word problem.

The children worked very hard to complete their pillows this week. They now use the pillows on their chairs at their desks and when they sit on the carpet to listen to our daily read aloud book.

In writing, the children finished editing their instructions on how to make a pillow (also called "procedural writing"). Their each wrote out a good copy and created a formal book with a front and back cover including a photo of each author! These are now on display on the bulletin board outside of our classroom.

In cursive writing, the class learned the letters, r, s, o and h.

On Tuesday, our class saw a presentation called "Be a Tree" in the library. It was presented by students at the veterinary program at Seneca College. This program reviews the strategies for children to safely interact with dogs.

The students visited their special friends in Kindergarten on Tuesday. The children helped their friends make paper bag puppets.

In science, the students took the challenge to take unconventional building materials and figure out how to make the tallest, stable structure that they could. The children remembered that one useful strategy is to make the base bigger than the top. The class also chorally read a story about how skyscrapers are made.

In computers, the class visited a site and played educational games based on the theme of Halloween.
Here is the link:

primarygames.com/halloween

Book read aloud this week:

Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery by Deborah and James Howe (chapter book)