Sunday, June 29, 2014

Update from Ms. R

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the families of Room 5 a safe and happy summer holiday! Thanks for a great school year!

As a class we calculated that there are 66 days of summer vacation (3 days in June + 31 days in July + 31 days in August + 1 day in September). See you on Tuesday, September 2, 2014!

The class made a final video starring the Woolly Hoodwinks characters they made and singing the old Cliff Richard song, "Summer Holiday". Enjoy!

News for June 27









News for June 27

Our last week together in Room 5 was busy as usual. However, this week we focused on taking work home, cleaning up and saying good bye to our friends.

Each student created an original word search puzzle using the words from our class word wall. It wasn't easy! The children had to spell the words correctly, write the words down for the "clues" and make sure that the words fit into the squares. The next day, the completed puzzles were shuffled around and the students solved each other's puzzles.

The children had a chance to use lego, fabric, ribbons, paper and old tissue boxes to make accessories for their Woolly Hoodwinks.

The class had a chance to watch the DVD of one of my favourite movies from when I was a child. Mary Poppins was a Disney adaptation of the P. L. Travers book. What a magical nanny! We also popped our own popcorn to enjoy during the movie.

In preparation for the end of the school year, the children did one last guided reading group by choral reading the lyrics to the Cliff Richard song, Summer Holiday. A video of the students singing this song can be found in the "Update from Ms. R" posting.

Our class was invited by Ms. Francesca to demonstrate Speed Stacking to the whole school at the beginning of the sports assembly in the gym this week. The students did a great job! Even Mr. Karacostas tried to do it, but he found that it was a lot harder than it looks! Then the students went out to the field to watch the teachers play the Ultimate Frisbee Team.

The students cleaned out the inside of their desks so the desks are ready for the incoming students in September. I surprised the children by letting them use shaving cream foam to clean the tops of their desks.

I gave each of the children a yellow frisbee as an end-of-year present and we passed them around so that everyone could sign them so each student can remember all the students in their grade two class.

The students were happy that each day this week we had free play first thing in the morning, as in, Last Week Lego Monday, Last Week Lego Tuesday and so on.

The class reviewed the history of the Canada Day holiday. Did you know July 1st is Canada's birthday? Canada became a country on July 1st, 1867. We calculated that Canada will be 147 years old this year. Each student got a long balloon with maple leaves on it to help them celebrate Canada Day.

Books read aloud this week:

The Boy With Square Eyes by Juliet and Charles Snape
Up and Down by Oliver Jeffers
Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

Sunday, June 22, 2014

The Room 5 Interview Show!

For the final interview of this school year, Gabriel and Padmira interviewed Jerome Skeete. He is a TV producer at TVOntario.


Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is that there is NO homework! The students finally got to take home their pillows that they made last September. (Please note that the pillows are machine washable and dryable.)

THANK YOU to all the families for coming to our Primary Concert. The students of Room 5 did a fantastic job performing all three of the songs! Way to go Room 5!

Important Dates:

June 26 - Final Report Cards are sent home.
June 27 - Last day of school for the year.
September 2 - First day of school for the 2014-2015 school year.

News for June 20








News for June 20

The big news from this week was the visit of Jerome, Jan and Maurice from TVOntario. They were in our class on Monday and Friday to film the students doing the amazing work that they do in Room 5! This video will become part of a TVO show called Teaching Matters, that will air sometime at the end of September. I will post the dates and times on this blog in September so that the children can watch the show.

The children opened up their time capsules this week. Recall that last September, each student made a little book and recorded their height and weight, their wishes and predictions for the school year. The time capsules were packed away for 10 months! It was great fun seeing how much the children grew (an average of 4 cm) and if any of their wishes or predictions came true.

In the final episode of The Room 5 Interview Show for this school year, the children interviewed Jerome Skeete. He is a TV producer at TVOntario. This video can be found in a separate posting.

After reading the storybook, The Honeybee Man, the children had a chance to try eating natural honeycomb just like in the book. The "little wax rooms" are actually in the shape of hexagonal prisms. Honeybees can do geometry too!

The students finished creating their "Woolly Hoodwinks" characters this week, by adding ears and legs and sewing on eyes. The biggest challenge was embroidering the mouth on the front. They are now all finished, with names and character profiles and ready for their adventures next week...

The students walked over to Hodgson Senior School on Tuesday and spent the morning not only rehearsing their three songs but they also got a chance to see the performances of the other eight classes in the concert. The primary classes put on a great show!

The class went to the gym on Wednesday to see the grade six students perform The Wizard of Oz in French. There were lots of songs and the children even got to dance along with the performers.

The class continued our "June Review" of our WWW or Word Wall Words. We focused on the tricky homophones there/their/they're and your/you're and played the "I'm thinking of a Word Wall Word" game.

On Thursday, the children joined all the other students from grades one to six in our school's playground for the annual Play Day. From three-legged races to trying to fill a bucket with water using a container with holes in it, everyone had a great time!

At the end of the day on Friday, we went to the freezer and got out our snowballs that the students made in February. Wow! They were so cold! The class correctly predicted that the snowballs would melt from solid to liquid and the water would evaporate into the air. It's hard to believe now, when it's so warm outside, that it was that cold back in February and the whole playground was covered in snow!

Books read aloud this week:

The Honeybee Man by Vela Nargi
The Magic Schoolbus at the Waterworks by Joanna Cole
Peggy - A Brave Chicken on a Big Adventure by Anna Walker
Let's Do Nothing by Tony Facile

Sunday, June 15, 2014

The Room 5 Interview Show!

This week Bhavya and Queenika interviewed Bingo. Bingo is the Pet Valu mascot.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to teach a card trick or card game to an adult and then write a reflection on the activity. A worksheet with reflection questions was sent home with each student on Friday. The students were also asked to practise the songs for the concert. This homework is due on Friday, June 20.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish the families of Room 5 a very happy Father's Day!

CONCERT NEWS

Our Primary Concert is on the evening of Tuesday, June 17th. It is at Hodgson Senior Public school at 282 Davisville Road. Please bring your child directly to Hodgson at 6:00 pm. The concert begins at 6:30 pm. Students and their parents should go directly to the gym at Hodgson. The gym is located directly across the hall from the centre doors.

News for June 13








News for June 13

This week, the children worked very hard on rehearsing the songs for their performance at the Primary Concert next week. They concentrated on learning the dance and remembering the lyrics to the song "Gang of Rhythm".

The big news was the visit of "Bingo" the Pet Valu mascot and her friend Lua. Bingo was interviewed for The Room 5 Interview Show. This video can be seen in a separate posting.

In math, the students continued to explore playing cards by talking about the probability of picking a card from a standard deck. For example, picking a red or black card is equally likely. They reviewed the rules to the game "Go Fish" and played the game. They learned another card game called "The Greatest Number" and another card trick and practised these with a partner.

In science, the children reviewed the water cycle. They did an evaporation experiment by putting a drop of water on black tape on their desks and noticed that by the morning it "disappeared" because the water evaporated into the air. The children also did an experiment where they put a dry shallow plastic cup on top of a cup with hot water. When they removed the cup, the bottom was wet because when the water vapour hit the cold plastic cup the water drops formed on the bottom of the shallow cup (condensation).

The students each received a personalized letter from the author Joyce Grant this week. Each letter thanked the student for writing a story about her character Gabby.

In honour of Father's Day, the children made cards and a photo holder for the occasion. They each made a colourful heart and had his/her photo taken holding the heart. These hearts were used to decorate the Father's Day cards and the photo was put on the little wooden chair photo holders that the students made.

The children practised Speed Stacking and everyone realized how much he/she has improved because the times just keep getting shorter and shorter. Proof that practice works!

In computers, the students had a chance to go to the official Speed Stacking website to look at videos of stacking champions. Here is the link:

www.speedstacks.com

At the end of the week, the whole school went to the gym to an assembly to say good bye to the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students and staff because that division is moving to another school next year.

Books read aloud this week:

Crictor by Tomi Ungerer
That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell
Julian by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
Chicken Dance by Tammi Saur
The Woolly Hoodwinks Vs. The Dark Patch by Asa Sanchez


Friday, June 6, 2014

Update from Ms. R

This week the homework is to complete a small booklet with math stories and problems. The children are to read the booklet and answer the questions. This homework is due on Friday, June 13th.

The students are busy getting prepared for their performance at the Primary Concert at Hodgson Senior School on Tuesday, June 17 at 6:30 pm. Here is a list of the country names for one of our songs to help the students to remember the order of the names:

"I've been to China, Italy, Thailand, Mongolia, Mexico, The Philippines, Greenland, Japan,
Chile, Romania, Egypt, Cuba, Russia, Malaysia, India, Spain,
Australia, Sweden, Canada, Brazil,
And of course you have to go far to get to Madagascar!"

Important Dates

June 11 - The Pet Valu mascot visits our class in the afternoon.
June 14 - Fun Fair (11:00 to 3:00)
June 17 - Primary Concert at Hodgson Senior Public School at 6:30.
June 16 and 20 - TVO film crew visits Room 5.
June 20 - Room 5 Speed Stacking Contest!
June 26 - Report cards are sent home.
June 27 - Last day of school!
September 2 - First day of school for the 2014-2015 school year.

News for June 5







News for June 5

We had another visitor to our school this week! Joyce Grant is the author of the "Gabby" books. Ms. Mantello read her books to the class during our library time and the students wrote stories featuring Gabby and did art work to go with the stories. The students put all the stories and art into a binder and gave the binder to her after her presentation to the school. We were lucky to have her drop into our class for a few minutes to talk with the children.

During the last month of school the students are reviewing words used and studied this year. This week we reviewed the adjectives used everyday in our morning message. For example, "I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday." Of course we also noticed the alliteration (where two or more words have the same beginning letter sound)!

In science, the students learned about the sixth and last simple machine, the wedge. The children reviewed the six simple machines (inclined plane, wheel and axle, screw, wedge, lever and pulley) and how they make work easier.

In guided reading, the class is learning about air and water in our environment. We talked about how air and water are necessary for all living things to survive. But also, how humans use air and water for fun things too (for example, kite flying and water slides).

The class began to get ready for the Primary concert this week. First we reviewed two songs they already know (The Caterpillar Song and Everywhere Man). Then we started to learn the lyrics to the song "Gang of Rhythm" by the Canadian group "Walk Off the Earth". The students also began to learn the dance and drumming parts to this performance.

In math, the students started their review of math concepts learned in grade two this year. First we began reviewing addition and subtraction facts but with a twist. Now the students were asked to answer questions like 4 + __ = 10 and fill in the blank. (This type of problem-solving demonstrates pre-algebraic thinking.) The students also reviewed money concepts. At the end of the week, the children began to analyze the properties of a deck of cards to facilitate our discussion of probability next week.

The students worked hard to finish their Picasso stories. The children will be creating oral storybooks next week using the iPad app Adobe Voice.

Books read aloud this week:

Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly (part two) by Alan Madison
All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon and Katherine Tillotson
My Family Vacation by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
The Sandwich Swap by Queen Rania of Jordan