Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a story in the homework writing journal, using as many words ending in "-ite" and "-ight" as possible. A list of words the class compiled of these kinds of words was taped by the students into each of their journals for reference. There is also a math sheet reviewing money concepts learned in class this week. This homework is due on THURSDAY, December 1st (since Friday is a P.A. Day).

Note to parents:

Please tuck a clean pair of socks and a second set of mittens or gloves into your child's backpack. The students often get their socks/gloves wet when playing outside during recess times and so it's nice to have a clean, dry pair to wear, if necessary.

Important Dates:

December 2 - P. A. Day (Teacher Union Federation Day) 

December 8 - Multicultural Night (6:00 pm - 7:30 pm)

December 23 - Last days of classes for 2016

January 9 - First day of classes for 2017

News for November 25

News for November 25

This week, the children finished off the geometry unit by sorting figures with similar attributes and building a giant icosahedron! The class learned about the English mathematician, John Venn who, over 100 years ago, developed the Venn Diagram, or logic diagram, of two over-lapping circles. This diagram is used to compare things and sort them into one or the other attribute with the ones with both attributes placed in the overlapping section and those that have none of the criteria are placed on the outside of the diagram.

The students are now learning about Canadian money and how to identify coins, count coins and write down money amounts.

The class read about how compasses work and each child learned how to use a real compass. A compass shows where "north" is and once you know where north is, the other directions are also known. A compass aligns to the north magnetic pole. Did you know that the north magnetic pole moves about 60 kilometres a year? It used to be in Canada for many years, but now it is slowly moving northwest towards Russia. We also compared using a compass to the GPS (Global Positioning System) many phones use now for directions. A GPS system uses information from satellites orbiting the earth to help give directions.

The children worked in their production groups to create movies using their sock puppets. We watched a short cartoon to see the other kinds of information in a movie called the "credits". The groups had to create pages with the title, "starring" information, who made the movie and a "the end" page. The students also picked opening and closing music. Most of the movies were filmed this week, but because of absences, we haven't quite finished. Look for a separate "sock puppet movies" posting next week. After each performance the children in the audience shared what they thought the performing group did well and what they could do next time to improve their performance.

After reading the book, "The Sandwich Swap" where two girls who question the contents of each other's lunches, we decided to recreate the girls sandwiches to learn about different foods. I read this book aloud as part of our school's Anit-bullying Week, to help illustrate how to react to things that might be different or strange from what we know, so that we don't hurt each other's feelings. So, we made homemade hummus with pita bread and noted that the ingredients are from all over the world! We cannot have peanut butter at school so we used "Wow Butter" (a soy-based spread) and strawberry jelly. The students were very gracious and most children tried everything. There are many recipes for hummus available on the internet, but if you would like to know the recipe that we used, please see a photograph in this posting.

The class finished their polygon art (using straight lines and polygons to make and colour designs) and mounted their art on black paper. Then the children experimented with curved lines to make spaces to colour. Next week the students will compare the process and results of creating these two pieces of art.

Our guided reading groups this week did something special. As a connection to our working with 3D geometric shapes, we talked about 3D photos and movies and how they are made. The students also had a chance to use 3D glasses to read non-fiction books about animals. It's really amazing how the way the photos are made (slightly over-lapping) and using glasses with one red and one blue lens, can fool the human brain and make the photo look three-dimensional (but when you touch the photo it feels flat).

Books read aloud this week

Martha Walks the Dog by Susan Meddaugh

Martha and Skits by Susan Meddaugh

The Sandwich Swap by Her Majesty Queen Raina of Jordan

G is For Googol - A Math Alphabet Book by David M. Schwartz

Update from Ms. R

It was wonderful seeing so many parents this week to talk about the children's work in Room 204! Thank you so much for coming by for a visit.

The snow and cold weather has finally arrived! Please make sure your child comes to school with a winter coat, snow pants, boots, hat, mittens/gloves and a scarf. The students are outside for morning and afternoon recesses (15 minutes each) and for lunch recess (30 minutes). Please put your child's name on EVERYTHING. This helps them (and me) find lost items. If you need a permanent marker to help do this please let me know and I will send one home with your child.

The homework for this week is for each student to interview a parent. Each student is to ask the adult the questions on the "Parent interview Sheet" and then write down the answers in sentences. These interviews will become part of a class book. There is also a math worksheet reviewing 3D geometry concepts covered this week. This homework is due on Friday, November 25th.

Letters were sent home on Thursday regarding a case of pediculosis (lice) that has been found in our class. Please read this letter for prevention and treatment information. You can also visit the Toronto Public Health website at www1.toronto.ca and search the keyword "lice".

Important Dates:

December 2 - P. A. Day (Teacher Union Federation Day) 

December 8 - Multicultural Night (6:00 pm - 7:30 pm)

December 23 - Last days of classes for 2016

January 9 - First day of classes for 2017

News for November 17

News for November 17

This short week the children solved tangram puzzles, learned about the human brain and made sock puppet characters for their movies and of course, much more!

In math, the children reviewed their 2D or two-dimensional geometry by learning about the Chinese puzzles called "tangrams". There are 7 pieces or "tans" to each puzzle set. The challenge is to solve how the tans are put together to make various pictures. At this level, the shape of each tan is given, but in a true tangram puzzle, only the outline is given. The students practiced solving the puzzles and at the beginning it took about a minute to solve the puzzles but as they practiced and shared strategies, most students were taking less than 30 seconds to solve a puzzle and some took less than 15 seconds! The children then designed their own tangram puzzles for their friends to solve. (These student-made puzzles will become part of a class book.) The students continued on to 3D or three-dimensional geometry by creating 3D figure "skeletons" with toothpicks (edges) and small pieces of plasticine (vertices). The students also created paper 3D figures by cutting and folding paper patterns called "nets" to create different kinds of prisms and pyramids.

The students worked to solve 2 math challenges this week, one identifying and counting right angles and one identifying and counting attributes of 3D figures.

The class was divided into groups of three to work together to make a movie. There are a lot of decisions to make and tasks to do when making a movie. This week, they planned the movie stories (characters, setting, problem, solution) and created sock puppets that will be the "stars" of their movies.

The students worked very hard to get their work ready for display for all the parents to see during parent/teacher interviews. The "How-to" pillows books were finished, as well as, the artwork using living things (stamps using potatoes and thumbs). The class learned how to create a border from their potato stamp images to surround the art they made using their thumbprints and fine, black art markers. The children then wrote art reflections to show their analyses of their artistic process. For example, "What was the hardest part about making your art? Why?"

The children started an author study this week by reading books by the author/illustrator Susan Meddaugh. She creates stories about "Martha" who is a talking dog. (Ask your child how Martha is able to speak English...the answer is quite interesting!) Several of her books were read aloud this week and we will continue this project next week.

In social studies, the class reviewed the basic directions of north, south, east and west. Then the directions in-between (northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest) and the convention of placing these direction names on a "compass rose". They practiced identifying directions on a map.

The students have been interested in what exactly a "brain" is. This topic came up in discussion because we were talking about how plants know where the sun is (phototropism) but plants don't have brains. Animals do have brains and human brains are the most complicated ones! We started by identifying three main areas of the brain that are easy to understand for primary-grade children: the pre-frontal cortex (decisions), the amygdala (fight/flight) and the hippocampus (memories).

Books read aloud this week

You Are Stardust by Elin Kelsey

Martha Speaks by Susan Meddaugh

Martha Calling by Susan Meddaugh

Martha Blah Blah by Susan Meddaugh

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a story in the homework writing journal that has shapes in the story in some way. A rectangle, triangle and hexagon are stamped in the journal and could be characters in the story, shapes that make a building in the story or the setting could be in "Shapeland". There is also a math worksheet reviewing the geometry concepts covered this week. This homework is due on THURSDAY, November 17th (since Friday is a P. A. Day).

Thank you to all the families for the Remembrance Day donations. We raised $53.15!

Important Dates:

November 16 - Progress Reports go home

November 17 (evening) and November 18 (morning) - Parent/Teacher interviews

November 18 - P. A. Day

December 2 - P. A. Day

December 23 - Last days of classes for 2016

January 9 - First day of classes for 2017

News for November 11

News for November 11

This week the class folded origami cranes, wrote peace messages and even sent a package to the Prime Minister of Canada!

In math, the children reviewed two-dimensional shapes by folding paper cranes and by solving tangram puzzles. The students then learned about three-dimensional figures and the three attributes found on each: vertices, faces and edges. They learned how to identify prisms and pyramids and how to match figures with their proper names.

The students finished their "how-to" books about how to make a pillow. Each child bound the books with a "stick" binding, using elastic bands and popsicle sticks. These books are now on display in the hallway, outside of our classroom.

We took a potato that started to grow roots and planted it in soil to see if it will grow into a proper potato plant. Each child designed a simple pattern to be carved in a potato and used as a stamp to create all over patterns on paper.

For Remembrance Day, the children learned that on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, on the 11th month of November, Canadians remember those men and women who gave their time and their lives to help keep Canada and other places in the world peaceful and safe. The class learned a song in American Sign Language (ASL), drew and cut out red poppies and learned how to fold paper peace cranes. After learning about the different symbols of peace, the students each wrote 33 words of peace (11 + 11 + 11 = 33). On Friday, the children read their peace messages and made a video. We also attended a Remembrance Day assembly in the gym.

***The video will be posted soon!***

In social studies, the class learned the basic directions of north, south, east and west. We talked about the Province of Ontario and what is north, south, east and west of it. The children located the 5 great lakes and learned their names and order west to east.

In science, the students learned about the legend of Johnny Appleseed, who 200 years ago devoted his life to planting apple trees around the United States. He did this because he felt that apples were a healthy food that should be easily available to everyone. The students finally took home their navy bean plants after reflecting on the amazing transformation of how, a hard, dry navy bean can turn into a beautiful, green plant.

Finally, the class wrote a letter to our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. Recall, we wrote a biography of him (since we couldn't find a children's book about him) and the students wrote adventure stories about their family dog, Kenzie. We put the letter, book and 19 stories into a box and mailed it to Ottawa. Hopefully he, or someone from his office will write us back!

Books read aloud this week

The 100 Dresses by Eleanor Estes (chapter book - finished)

Sadako's Cranes by Judith Loske

The Peace Tree From Hiroshima - The Little Bonsai With a Big Story by Sandra Moore

Three Pigs, One Wolf and Seven Magic Shapes by Grace Maccarone

The Potato King by Niemann

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to complete the Canada worksheet reviewing the names of the provinces and territories and important facts about Canada. The children are not required to memorize this information, but they are encouraged to use the "Provinces of Canada" song we learned to help them. (The children each correctly completed this same sheet in class and and have it in a "top secret" envelope to use if he/she needs it.) Fair warning...the students have been asked to teach the song to an adult! There is also a math worksheet reviewing geometry concepts learned this week. This homework is due on Friday, November 11th.

Notes:

1.  A bright yellow interview request form was sent home with each child on Friday. Please use this form to indicate your 1st, 2nd and 3rd time choices for a parent/teacher interview. Hopefully, I will be able to give you one of the times you choose, but if that is not possible, I will select a time close to your chosen times. I will send home a note with your child indicating your interview time. If for any reason you need to cancel or change the interview time between now and November 17th, please let me know.

2.  Our class is collecting money for Canadian veterans for Remembrance Day (November 11th), to help them pay for the cost of the poppies and for the various charities they support. 

3.  If you have a special tradition, talent or hobby that you would like to share with the students, please let me know. We love having visitors in our classroom!

News for November 4

News for November 4

There was a lot going on this week from celebrating Halloween to learning about the Mexican holiday "Dia De Los Muertos" or The Day of the Dead to learning about parallel lines and right angles to sewing art journals! Whew!

We began the week by learning about and celebrating All Hallow's Eve or Halloween. The students learned how to make caramel apples, did various holiday crafts and listened to a "ghost story". They even solved a math challenge to figure out how many caramels we needed to use to make the caramel apples. In the afternoon, we put on costumes and walked, with the rest of the school, in a Halloween Parade around the neighbourhood. At the end of the day, the class enjoyed their homemade caramel apples while watching a dvd of Domo's adventures.

In writing, the children reviewed the steps to make their pillows. First, as a group, we talked about all the things the class had to learn how to do to create a finished pillow. Next, the students wrote directions, with enough details, to show another person how to make a pillow. Writing these type of directions is called "procedural writing" and is a type of non-fiction writing that helps children write more information into their sentences, as well as, practising writing information in a sequence. These directions will be made into "How to" books next week.

In math, the students learned how to identify pairs of parallel lines and how to spot them in polygons. We also talked about angles (the distance between two adjacent lines attached at one end). The three types we discussed are right angles (where a horizontal line meets a vertical line), angles smaller than a right angle (acute angles) and angles bigger than a right angle (obtuse angles). The class also discovered that as more sides and angles are added to a polygon, the more the shape looks like a circle. Mathematicians consider that circles have have 0 sides, 0 vertices and 0 angles (since they have an infinite number of sides/angles/vertices). The class also started to learn how to sort two-dimensional shapes by their attributes (for example, if a shape has a right angle or not).

In science, the navy bean seeds have sprouted both roots and leaves. The children recorded their observations each day in their science folders. At the end of the week, the students planted half of their sprouted seeds in soil and left half on the damp paper to see the importance of soil to the health of plants. The children learned about the life cycle of plants and trees and drew the life cycle of the navy bean in their science folders.

In social studies, the class began to learn more about Canada. They learned a song to help them remember the names and the order of the provinces and territories, from east to west. They labelled and coloured maps of Canada and learned some important facts about our country. Did you know that Canada is 149 years old and became a country on July 1, 1867? 

Every child now has a homemade art journal! They created designs on the covers and learned how to sew the pages inside. These journals will now be used by the children during their choice times.

Finally, on Friday, Lucia's mother came in to talk about the Mexican holiday, "Dia De Los Muertos" or "The Day of the Dead". This is a holiday that their family observes to celebrate the lives of family members that have passed away. Lucia read aloud a book that talked about traditions of this day. She showed photographs of what people do to celebrate this holiday. We even had some Mexican hot chocolate and "pan de los muertos", which is a special bread baked only at this time of year. Thanks so much Lucia for taking the time to come and share this information with our class!

Books read aloud this week:

The Tailypo - A Ghost Story by Joan Galdsone

The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns

The 100 Dresses by Eleanor Estes (chapter book)

Dia De Los Muertos by Roseanne Greenfield Thong