The Room 204 Interview Show

This week our guest was Ms. Janetos. She is a teacher at our school.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to complete the Social Studies worksheet and the math sheet reviewing concepts covered in class during the week. This homework is due on Friday, May 5th.

Parent Notes:

Please check the weather and the outside temperature before leaving for school in the morning. Many children are coming to school without appropriate coats/sweaters. Children must go outside for recess in the morning, at lunch and in the afternoon. It's better to have a jacket and wear it unzipped than to not have a jacket at all. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

Important Dates:

May 18 - Author Elizabeth Macleod visits our classroom! She will talk about the books she has written about Canadian history and First Nations people.

May 22 - Victoria Day holiday

May 23 to 26 - EQAO testing - grade 3 students only.

June 1 (afternoon) - Scientists in the School visit 

June ? - Trip to the Gardiner Museum with Ms. Ceneda's class - date to be announced.

June 9 - P.A. Day (no school)

June 15 - SPRING CONCERT (evening) - Our class will perform during this event! Please mark this day on your calendars.

June 21 - Pioneer Day - We will pretend it's June 21, 1817 in Room 204 all day. We will be preparing lunch in class that day, so children do not need to bring their lunches.

June 29 - Last day of school for the 2016-2017 school year.

News for April 28

News for April 28

Room 204 learned about probability, the artist Andy Warhol, how to cork (knit) and much more!

In math, the children talked about probability, or the chance of an event happening. Using the key words certain, likely, equally likely, unlikely and impossible, the students worked very hard to use these words correctly in their math work and their everyday conversations. (We even have a chart on our door to record the proper use of these words with tally marks. So far, the word "impossible" is the most popular probability word...) The class used what they know about fractions to help determine the probability of an event happening, they flipped two-sided counters, rolled dice, picked coloured cubes out of a bag and used spinners to play games and decide if games are fair or unfair.

In social studies, the children discussed how the Aboriginal Peoples (also known as First Nations Peoples) helped the pioneers to find food, shelter and medicine when they arrived in what we now call Canada around 200 years ago. They taught them how to grow vegetables that grow easily here. Corn, beans and squash were called the "3 sisters" because these plants, when planted together, helped each other while they were growing. The corn was tall and served as something that the vines of the bean plant to climb on. The squash plants have large leaves to discourage weed growth and keep moisture in the soil. We also talked about how the Aboriginal Peoples taught the pioneers to hunt, trap and fish to get food for their families. The children looked at parts of corn on the cob with magnifying glasses and we even cooked the corn on the cob to eat and we even ate popcorn as a snack when watching an episode of "Little House on the Prairie" about farming corn!

In preparation for our "Pioneer Day" in June, the students planted lettuce seeds and a class pot of mint seeds. We will harvest our lettuce to eat for lunch that day and use the mint leaves to make mint tea to drink with our lunch.

The TDSB character trait for May is "integrity". Our vice-principal, Mme Robertson challenged 

all the students to write definitions of integrity and give them to her to read on the morning announcements. Our class discussed the idea of integrity as "doing the right thing even when no one is watching" and then wrote letters to her. She even mentioned on the morning announcements about how impressed she was with the integrity letters she received from Room 204!

The children started to look at the things they have collected in their treasure boxes since the beginning of the year. They used their treasures to help give them ideas to plan and write a story. All the students have finished planning their stories and are now working on their rough copies of their writing.

In art, the students learned about the modern artist Andy Warhol and his famous paintings of Campbell's Soup cans. When he first exhibited this art, people thought he was crazy!  But now, did you know that his single painting of soup cans is now worth over $11 million dollars? The children used his soup can paintings as an inspiration to draw and paint their treasure boxes (made out of empty jars of Dole peaches). Using thick watercolour paper and watercolour paints the students created excellent paintings of their jars. These are now on display in the hall outside of our classroom. Also the children started to write art reflections on creating this art and these essays will go on display by the paintings when they are finished next week.

Every child in the class finished making a corker and began to use it to "cork" a knitted tube. (This is also called "French knitting.) In the pioneer days, people often had to made their own tools and toys and corking was a traditional pastime for children. We even used wool yarn that we dyed ourselves!

 This week on The Room 204 Interview Show our guest was Ms. Janetos. She is an ESL teacher at our school. The video can be seen in a separate posting.

Finally, I should mention, that it was unlikely, but not impossible, that their classroom teacher, me, would teach the class gym this week. Ms. Francesca was away on Monday morning, so, much to the surprise of the students, I taught the class gym. They were unsure at first, but we had fun playing cooperative games!

Books read aloud this week:

My Museum of Me by Emma Lewis

Andy Warhol - Pop Art Painter by Susan Goldman Rubin                             

Derek the Knitting Dinosaur by Mary Blackwood

Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep - A Yarn About Wool by Teri Sloat

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett

Little House on the Prairie - Money Crop: Corn (DVD)

100 Books Party 2017!

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a reflection on our 100 Books Party, using the worksheet sent home with your child on Friday. There isn't a math sheet because all week the students reviewed math concepts related to our 100 books. This homework is due on Friday, April 28th.

Parent Notes:

THANK YOU...THANK YOU...THANK YOU...for your support on Friday! Our 100 Books Party was a great success. We had 237 guests come through our classroom to see the reading and writing activities that the students had on display. Well done, Room 204!

Important Dates:

May 18 - Author Elizabeth Macleod visits our classroom! She will talk about the books she has written about Canadian history and First Nations people.

May 22 - Victoria Day holiday

June 5 - 9 - EQAO testing - grade 3 students only.

June ? - Trip to the Gardiner Museum with Ms. Ceneda's class - date to be announced.

June 9 - P.A. Day (no school)

June 15 - SPRING CONCERT (evening) - Our class will perform during this event! Please mark this day on your calendars.

June 21 - Pioneer Day - We will pretend it's June 21, 1817 in Room 204 all day. We will be preparing lunch in class that day, so children do not need to bring their lunches.

June 29 - Last day of school for the 2016-2017 school year

News for April 21

News for April 21

During this four-day week, it was all about preparing for our 100 Books Party! See more photos and a video in a separate posting.

In math, the students applied their math knowledge to solve several math challenges involving the 100 books. They weighed the books (33 kilograms), measured how tall they were all piled up (81 centimetres) and how long they were when arranged in a line down our hallway (27 metres and 42 centimetres). Did you know that's longer that the height of our school? The students also collected data and graphed the results on the number of fiction/non-fiction/near-fiction books, the number of male/female authors, the number of hardcover/softcover books and finally the total number of pages in all 100 books (4,266 pages). Did you know that if you read one page a day, it would take you almost 12 years to read that many pages?

The children worked as a class to collect a lot of this information, then they worked in smaller groups to create short presentations to communicate the various results. Videos of these presentations are in the party video and can be seen in a separate posting. 

The students worked hard to prepare for the party. They had to finish many writing projects. Then the children created displays on their desks including book reports, Lego City stories, colour story books, world famous structure research books and handwoven bookmarks! They made bookmarks to give to our guests as thank you gifts. They rolled up the carpet, moved it out of the classroom and then brought it back in after the party. They cleaned up, put things away and even had a turn at sweeping the floor! It's a lot of work to prepare for a party, but it was worth it. Well done, everyone!

The class went outside to create two mosaics with recycled items with Madame Cenac and her grade 5 class. We also went to an Earth Week assembly on Tuesday morning and to the Used Book fair on Thursday. These activities were all a part of our school's Earth Week celebrations.

The Room 204 Interview Show returns next week! 

Books read aloud this week:

A Lion in Paris by Beatrice Alemagna 

The Soda Bottle School - A True Story of Recycling, Teamwork and One Crazy Idea by Laura Kutner and Suzanne Slade

Tiger, Tiger is it True? - Four Questions to Make You Smile Again by Byron Katie

13 Buildings Children Should Know by Annette Roeder

Little House on the Prairie - Town Party, Country Party (DVD)

Room 204 Interview Show

Our guest this week was Ms. Mantello. She is the librarian at our school.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a story in the homework writing journal that has something to do with an egg or eggs. There is also a math worksheet reviewing patterning concepts discussed this week. This homework is due on Friday, April 21st.

Parent Notes:

PLEASE send in snacks to be served at our 100 Books Party on Friday. Snacks or "finger foods" such as chips, pretzels, cookies...are all suitable. No food with nuts or nut products please. We are expecting over 200 guests at our party! We sincerely hope that you can join us, even if you are only able to come for a short time.

Important Dates:

April 21 - Room 204's 100 Books Party! (morning) - Please join us!

May 22 - Victoria Day holiday

June 9 - P.A. Day (no school)

June 29 - Last day of school for the 2016-2017 school year.

News for April 13

News for April 13

This week the children tested paper structures, ate matzoh crackers and folded books to hold their famous structure research and much more!

In math, the students finished the unit on motion geometry by learning about how two dimensional shapes move on a flat surface through slides (translations), flips (reflections) and turns (rotations). Each child created a unique asymmetrical design on cardstock, cut it out and used his/her design to trace and illustrate slides, flips and turns. At the end of the week, the children started reviewing repeated patterns using shapes that have one, two and three attributes changing.

Each child picked one of the 100 read aloud books that we have shared this year, on which to write a book review. These book reviews will be on display during our 100 Books Party next week.

In science, the class finished and tested their paper and tape structures. The goal was for the structure to hole at least 3 dictionaries. The result? One structure held 12 dictionaries piled on top. Well done everyone!

The students are now almost finished their books about famous structures around the world. The children learned how to fold the pages of their books to create a paper structure inside the covers of the book! These books will be on display during our 100 Books Party next week.

The class learned about two holidays at this time of year. At the beginning of the week, we discussed the Jewish holiday of Passover and the children had a chance to try Matzoh, the unleavened bread, eaten over the 8 days of this holiday. The second holiday we discussed was the Christian holiday of Easter. The children also had a chance to decorate eggs. These are an Easter tradition, but we learned that eggs are also a symbol of many traditions at this time of year.

In social studies, the students began to take notes on the differences between the everyday life of people in modern days and pioneer days. To help them, they watched an episode of the TV show, The Little House on the Prairie.

Finally, the students began to prepare for our 100 Books Party! We started by planning and listing the things we need to do to get ready. The children started writing book reviews (see above), created party invitations for families, school staff and students. At the end of the week, the students began to create some of the over 200 handmade bookmarks that will be given out to guests as "thank you" gifts.

We said "good bye" to our Lego City this week, in order to make room for our big party next Friday. The students had their photos taken with their structures and these will be a part of the stories they wrote about their Lego structures. These Lego stories will be on display at our party next week.

This week, on the Room 204 Interview Shows the children interviewed Ms. Mantello. She is the librarian at our school. This show can be seen in a separate posting.

Books read aloud this week:

The Matzoh Man: A Passover Story by Naomi Howland

A Child of Books (Book #100) by Oliver Jeffers

The Easter Egg by Jan Brett

The Wonderful Egg: A Book About Dinosaurs by Dahlov Incarnations

Little House on the Prairie - The Raccoon (DVD

The Room 204 Interview Show X 2

This week the class created two new episodes of our show.

The first guest was Ms. Sharfstein. She is a drama and dance teacher at our school.

Our second guest was Ms. Konjhodzic. She is a music teacher at our school.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a story, based on the story starter, "If I Had a Robot...". There is also a math worksheet reviewing symmetry concepts covered this week. This homework is due on THURSDAY, April 13th (due to the PA Day on Friday). Each child also created 21 multiplication flash cards of the hard-to-remember multiplication facts, to practise their facts at home.

Parent Notes:

***The 12th Annual 100 Books Party is NOW on the morning of Friday, April 21st. This is a big celebration of the reading and writing in Room 204 and if you are able to attend, even for a short time, it means a lot to the children.

Important Dates:

April 14 - Good Friday holiday

April 16 - Easter Sunday

April 17 - Easter Monday holiday

* DATE CHANGE April 21 - Room 204's 100 Books Party! (morning) - more information to follow

May 22 - Victoria Day holiday

June 9 - P.A. Day (no school)

June 29 - Last day of school for the 2016-2017 school year.

News for April 7

News for April 7

This week the children all finished their woven wool bookmarks, they compared The Iron Man (book) with The Iron Giant (movie) and we welcomed a new grade three student to our classroom. We now have 22 wonderful brains in Room 204!

In math, the class learned about how two-dimensional shapes move on a flat surface. Using directional words like up/down and left/right, they practiced moving on a grid, (e.g., go up two squares and right 3 squares). Then we talked about symmetry and how to use a "mira" tool. The students are now able to determine and count the number of lines of symmetry in a shape and complete a drawing of a symmetrical figure. By the end of the week, the class was discussing "slides" or "translations", which is the movement of a shape vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

The children continued the daily "Mad Minute Math" quizzes. Also they each created a set of 21 multiplication flash cards to take home to help them memorize these facts. The class also worked on a review of the 3x, 4x, 5x, and 6x tables.

The students continue to work on our Lego City. The children now have all finished writing their Lego stories using the buildings as the settings for their stories. These stories will be typed and become part of a class book.

The class learned about anagrams. Anagrams are words that use the same letters in one word, in a different order to make a new word. For example, there was a set of anagrams in our word wall words this week, quiet/quite. 

The children watched the movie The Iron Giant, which is an adaptation of our read aloud book, The Iron Man. Using Venn diagrams, they sorted out things/ideas into three groups: things that happened in the book only, the movie only and both the book and the movie. Later, they used this research to help them write a comparison of the book and the movie and their opinions as to which was better and why.

In art, the students learned how to make their own "iron men" sculptures using aluminum foil. These "foil guys" are tricky to make because only one piece of foil can be used (otherwise it would fall apart). The children put their best one on reused yogurt cup to make a statue. Finally, the students used their statues as models to practise sketching.

As part of the science unit on structures, the children worked in partners to create tall, stable structures using pattern blocks. During our discussion, the class realized that the structure needs a wide base and that the structures could be taller if the blocks could be somehow stuck together. They are now using what they learned to help them solve a paper structure challenge. The challenge is to use 12 pieces of paper and masking tape to create a bridge that is strong and stable enough to hold at least 3 dictionaries.

In social studies, the students compared pioneer life and modern life and how the pioneers did similar daily chores to what we do now, just in a different way. For example, to boil water we use an electric kettle, but the pioneers used a kettle on a wood-burning stove or on a fire. The class also watched another episode of the TV show Little House on the Prairie, to see another story of everyday life played out in pioneer times.

This week, there were two Room 204 Interview Shows! The children interviewed Ms. Sharfstein (our drama/dance teacher) and Ms. Konjhodzic (our music teacher). These shows can be seen in a separate posting.

Books read aloud this week:

The Iron Giant (DVD movie) based on the book, The Iron Man by Ted Hughes

ANN and NAN are Anagrams: A Mixed Up Word Dilemma by Mark Shulman

Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beatty

If I Had a Robot by Dan Yaccarino

Little House on the Prairie - Ma's Holiday (DVD

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to complete the story comprehension worksheet based on our class read aloud book, "The Iron Man". There is also a math sheet reviewing concepts learned about fractions. This homework is due on Friday, April 7th.

DATE CHANGE!

***The 12th Annual 100 Books Party is NOW on the morning of Friday, April 21st. This is a big celebration of the reading and writing in Room 204 and if you are able to attend, even for a short time, it means a lot to the children.

Important Dates:

April 14 - Good Friday holiday

April 16 - Easter Sunday

April 17 - Easter Monday holiday

* DATE CHANGE April 21 - Room 204's 100 Books Party! (morning) - more information to follow

May 22 - Victoria Day holiday

June 9 - P.A. Day (no school)

June 29 - Last day of school for the 2016-2017 school year.

News for March 31

News for March 31

In math, the class continued to practice multiplication facts and their application to solving word problems. We had quick daily quizzes to help the students retain their multiplication facts. The class continued the unit on fractions by focusing on using fraction language and concepts and applying these to sets, or groups, of objects. Finally, on Friday, the children finished the unit by reviewing fractions of a whole and fractions of a set.

The students continue to work on our Lego City. The buildings are now on four separate "islands" with roads. The children are still writing their Lego stories using the buildings as the settings for their stories.

As part of the science unit on structures, each student is researching a famous structure from around the world. We will learn about 21 structures from Stonehenge to the Sphinx!

In social studies, the class continued to learn about the early settlers in Upper Canada. (Recall Canada did not officially become a country until 1867.) The focus was on the United Empire Loyalists, who came from the USA to remain loyal to England. People came from Ireland because of the potato famine, which meant there was not enough food to eat. American slaves came to Upper Canada because Upper Canada had laws against slavery. These people all came to live in Upper Canada in search of a better life.

The children were individually weaving small pieces of fabric to create bookmarks. About half of the class finished this week and many decided to weave another bookmark on their looms!

The students reviewed the "power of the twist", where many materials, like thread, wool and rope, become stronger when twisted. They listened to how humans, at first, twisted wool fleece by hand, then by drop spindle, then by spinning wheels, to create wool yarn. This yarn, in turn, can be woven or knitted into socks, sweaters, blankets and other things. Each child had a turn to try using a spinning wheel.

The children learned a pioneer song, "When I First Came to This Land". This song tells a story, in cumulative rhyme, of a pioneer man arriving to a new land and how he made a house, farmed the land and raised a family.

The students watched an episode of the long-running TV series, "Little House on the Prairie". It was very informative to see how people lived in North America over 150 years ago, as the story of the pioneer family, the Ingalls, unfolded. 

The class began a novel study using the read aloud book, "The Iron Man" by Ted Hughes. To reinforce the comprehension strategy of "making a picture in your mind", in order to understand what is happening in the story, the children were asked to continuously draw pictures on paper as they heard the action in the story. They could refer to these drawings to help them remember story details each when reviewing what had happened previously in the story. 

There was no Room 204 Interview Show this week. The show will return next week with two new episodes.

Finally, on Friday, the class went to the gym to watch a performance of the play, "Into the Woods" as presented by the students from Spectrum Alternative School.

Books read aloud this week:

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes

Little House on the Prairie - A Harvest of Friends (DVD)