Monday, December 21, 2015

Dance videos

Here are the dance performances from the five groups in Ms. Francesca's dance class!


Update From Ms. R

The homework for this week is that there is no homework for this week! The students have worked hard over the last 72 school days and deserve a break. Of course, they still should be reading each day for a minimum of 20 minutes.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the families for their generous gifts. These were not necessary, but they are appreciated. I will be in my cozy reading spot in my home with my blanket, slippers, mugs of tea and lots and lots of books. Thank you all so very much!

When I was reading to the class about how Dr. Suess got the idea to write the story, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas", we found a quote that I thought was appropriate for everyone this time of year:

Please tell all men,
That peace is good.
That's all that need
Be understood.

I would like to wish all the students and families of Room 204 a peaceful, safe and happy holiday!


Holiday Fudge

Here is the recipe for my family's traditional chocolate fudge:

1 package (300g) of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can (usually about 300 mL) of sweetened condensed milk

Put ingredients together in a pan and stir together over low heat, until the chocolate chips are melted. Pour the mixture in a square 8"x8" pan that is lined with waxed paper. Place the pan in the fridge until the fudge has hardened. When ready to serve, take out the pan, remove the wax paper and cut the fudge into small pieces. Enjoy!




News for December 18

The week before the winter holidays is always very busy...and this week was no exception!

The children reviewed their geometry skills by folding triangle faced hexahedrons. We used these to decorate a holiday tree. It was a "geome-tree"! The students also learned how to fold a hexagon out of thin tracing paper and then fold it and cut it to make a paper snowflake.

Our Lego City was finished this week and almost covered the whole carpet! The children made and named roads for the city and placed their Lego structure buildings on the "map". They finished their stories and these are now a part of a new class book in our classroom library.

The children reviewed the 100 word wall (spelling) words that they have learned so far this year. By playing the "I'm thinking of a word wall word..." game, solving and making word search puzzles, the children reviewed the words that they famously now know for the rest of their lives....

One of the traditions in my family is to make choclate fudge for a holiday treat. The students worked together to make the fudge on Wednesday so it could harden in the fridge and be ready for our class party on Friday afternoon. 

As a twist on our unit on structures, the students created strong and stable holiday cookie houses using graham crackers, royal icing and decorated them with candies.

The students were treated to a wonderful performance of a variety of French plays put on by the junior division core French classes.

The class studied some holiday songs to learn more about the tradition of "carols" or Christmas/Winter Holiday songs. The children made little books containg the lyrics and they helped to create a table of contents for each book. We read the lyrics and and learned some new vocabulary words. Then the students wrote down the year the song was written and we calculated how long ago the songs were written. Did you know that "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" and "Jingle Bells" are not Christmas songs? "Jingle Bells" was actually written for American Thanksgiving (in late November). The oldest song we learned about was "The 12 Days of Christmas" which was written in 1780 (235 years ago). 

The class watched a couple of traditional DVD's this week. "Frosty the Snowman" and "The Grinch Who  Stole Christmas" were two shows that I remember watching on TV when I was a young child.

The class also learned how to play the strategy game called "dots". In this game, players draw straight lines to create and claim squares. The person who makes the most squares, wins.

On Friday, the students joined the other primary division students in the gym to sing holiday songs. We were very lucky to be asked to lead the singalong for "The 12 Days of Christmas", since we studied the song in class and we knew the actions to the song. The children did a great job!

Finally, we had a little holiday celebration on Friday afternoon. We popped popcorn and ate the delicious chocolate fudge that we made on Wednesday. Then the students watched some episodes of "The Pink Panther" before leaving Room 204 for the last school day of 2015.

Books read aloud this week:

12 Days of Christmas by Jan Brett
365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental and Joelle Jolivet
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess



Sunday, December 13, 2015

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write about a tradition/celebration that is observed in the student's family. This could be Valentine's Day, birthdays or any other time that is special in the family. We are hoping to learn about a lot of new traditions! There is also a math sheet reviewing the combinations of numbers that add up to 10. (For example, 5+5 or 1+2+1+6.) This homework is due on Friday, December 18th.

TOY DRIVE

Our class is helping with the school's Toy Drive. Please bring in a new, or gently used, toy for a child in need. There are donation boxes in the school office or children can just bring the toys to class and we can put them in the boxes.

Important Dates:

December 17 - Last day to donate toys to the school's TOY Drive.
December 18 - Last day of school for 2015
January 4 - First day of school for 2016

News for December 11

I apologize for being away for three days this week, due to sickness. But Room 204 was back to doing amazing things by the end of the week!

In math, the students finished the geometry unit. They used what they learned to create 3D figures using straws, magnetic shapes and snap-together pieces. As a group, the class worked together to make a HUGE icosahedron, a figure with 20 equilateral triangle faces. We figured out that it also has 12 vertices and 30 edges.

The class started a new project...creating a Lego City! First the class brainstormed the type of buildings typically found in a city. Next each child chose a building to create out of Lego pieces. Then each child began to write a story, using their Lego City building as the setting for their writing.

 The students finished up editing their glovetopus chapter books this week. I will be typing these stories and the children will make proper books out of them. We also spent a lot of time writing letters for our school-wide Holiday Mailbox activity. The student are practicing what they know about proper letter writing and addressing envelopes.

The children learned about the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. They learned about the history of this celebration and the food and activity traditions associated with it. We cooked potato pancakes (latkes) and every student helped to grate the potatoes. The tradition is to eat these pancakes with applesauce and they were delicious! The children also learned how to play the traditional game of dreidel (a spinning top).

We learned some holiday songs this week in preparation for the school's traditional Holiday Sing-a-long next Friday. So far, we reviewed Frosty the Snowman and The Dreidel Song.

Books read aloud this week:

The Latke That Couldn't Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket
I Have a Little Dreidel by Maxie Baum
Frosty the Snowman by Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson





Sunday, December 6, 2015

Readers Theatre Plays

Here are the videos of the Readers Theatre plays that the children presented last week:

Shapes in the City



The Three Billy Goats Gruff

 

 The Golden Touch

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a fiction story in the homework writing journal. The story can be about anything the student wishes. There is also a math worksheet reviewing geometry concepts covered this week. This homework is due on Friday, December 11th.

Notes

1. Our class is in charge of helping with our school's "Toy Drive" this year. We are collecting toys for children in need and giving them to the local fire station for distribution. We are collecting toys December 7 - 16.

2. Starting Monday, December 7th, the class will now eat lunch in Rooms 305/306. They will eat from 11:35 - 12:05 and then they will play outside from 12:05 - 12:35.

3. Please note that our library day (Day 3) is currently on Mondays. Please help your child remember to return his/her library book. The students are not allowed to borrow a new library book until the previous one has been returned.


News for December 4




In math this week, the class continued studying the properties of three dimensional (3D) figures. The students sorted figures by different attributes. Using toothpicks (for the edges) and plasticine spheres (for the vertices) the children made "skeletons" of prisms and pyramids. The children wrote about how to make 3D skeletons in their writing journals. They also made figures out of "nets" or flat paper patterns that are cut out and taped together. The students made cubes, rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, pentagonal prisms, square based pyramids, triangular based pyramids, pentagon based pyramids and...a few brave children even made dodecahedrons (12 faces with all pentagon shaped faces)!

In writing, the students learned how to use quotation marks. By using quotation marks at the beginning and end of the words that are spoken in a story, the writer makes it clear who is speaking.

The children made a lot of progress on their chapter book projects this week. They are writing a series of short adventures about their glovetopuses to create different chapters in a book. After self editing and editing with the teacher, these stories will be typed. The class discussed the different parts of a book and we listed what always needed to finish their books ( front and back covers, table of contents, chapters, author biography).

The class visited the Spectrum (grades 7 and 8) art show. The children wrote down the art they liked and later wrote letters to the Spectrum students thanking them for inviting our class and telling them what they liked about their art show.

In art, the students used what they know about two elements of design, line and colour, to create the front and back covers and end papers for their chapter books. Using straight lines and warm colours (red/orange/yellow) on one side and curved lines and cool colours (green/blue/purple) on the other, they designs colourful book covers.

In science, all the students finished their research on famous structures. The students also did an experiment with straws and pipe cleaners to prove that triangles are the strongest shapes in a structure.

The class learned about the tradition of an advent calendar. In Latin, the word advent means arrival. These calendars are usually used to count the days until Christmas. However, in Room 204, we created our own advent calendar to count the days until the winter holidays. The students decorated bags and filled them with little gifts. One student each day gets one of the advent gifts. We also planted a pine tree seed. We are observing how it and our amaryllis are growing.

Books read aloud this week:

The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder by Mark Cassino
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (chapter book)