On Wednesday, it was June 21, 1817 in our classroom! For the day, we tried our best to live like it was 200 years ago. For more information about the activities, please see the News for June 23 posting. Here are some photos from that special day:
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Update from Ms. R
With only 4 school days left, the homework for this week is...there is no homework! The children were given their homework writing journals to take home on Friday. After each student wrote me letters in their journals about their experiences in Room 204 this year and I wrote a letter back to each child thanking them for being such a great part of our classroom community this year!
Parents
PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE send a water bottle, sunscreen and hat for your child to use at school. Many students are currently going outside into the hot sunshine without protecting their heads and skin. Recall that students are outside for two recesses (15 minutes each) and 30 minutes at lunchtime. Please remember to write your child's name on all his/her belongings (clothing and sports equipment).
Important Dates:
June 27 - Final Report Cards go home.
June 29 - Last day of school for the 2016-2017 school year.
July 1 - Canada Day - Canada's 150th birthday!
September 4 - Labour Day holiday
September 5 - First day of school for the 2017-2018 academic year
News for June 23
The last full week of school had the class very busy with a wide range of activities!
The class started the week by watching a play based on the story "The Wizard of Oz" put on by the core French classes. Then on Thursday, they saw a production of the play "DIg It" by students from the junior classes.
The children worked hard to complete all their sock monkeys. The stuffed creatures now have faces and tails. The students are now working in groups to create stories to be videotaped next week. Look for their movies on this blog! I will post them next weekend.
The class read a near-fiction story (a fiction story with non-fiction information) about hiccups and completed a reading comprehension activity.
In math, the students did "reverse word problems". These are questions where the answer, in the form of an equation is given and the children have to work out a word problem that makes sense.
The class learned how to make flip books. After having a chance to look at the books in my flip book collection, to get ideas, the children planned their books. Then they took blank flip books and drew the pictures to make their own flip books.
The students learned about the sport of Speed Stacking or cup stacking. After watching videos of how to do the different competition stacks, the children had a chance to practise themselves. They will continue to practise next week for an in-class competition on the last day of school.
Pioneer Day! On Wednesday, the students lived like it was June 21, 1817. They helped to make lunch by peeling carrots, making butter and cornmeal pancakes. They ate lunch in the classroom, including pickles, cheese, baked beans with fresh strawberries and blueberries for dessert. They used chalkboards to practise the word wall words (spelling) and two- an three-digit addition and subtraction questions. They made art using small, flat panels of wood. The children had a chance to go outside and play tug-of-war. They used feathers as "quill pens" with black paint as "ink" and wrote in cursive letters, the alphabet and the pangram, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Did you know a pangram is a sentence that has all 26 letters of the alphabet at least once?
After hearing the read aloud book about honeybees, the students had a chance to see real honeycomb and tasted fresh honey. Did you know that honeybees create hexagonal prisms out of wax to hold the nectar they collect from flowers and they use their wings to "fan" the nectar to evaporate the water in the nectar to concentrate the sugars to make honey?
Finally at the end of the day on Friday, the gym teacher was away and so I taught the class again. The children played badminton and of course, their favourite game, "Octopus".
Books read aloud this week:
POP UP! A Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The House That Jill Built by Phyllis Root
In Grandpa's Day - Memories of a Pioneer Life by Roxanne McLaren
The Fabulous Bouncing Chowder by Peter Brown
The Honeybee Man by Lela Nargi
Little House on the Prairie - "The Award" (DVD)
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Concert Rehearsal June 2017
Here is a video of the rehearsal for our concert this week.The children did an INCREDIBLE job!
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Update from Ms. R
I would like to wish all the families of Room 204 a very happy Father's Day!
With only 9 school days left, the homework for this week is...there is no homework! Thanks to all the families for supporting your child's homework completion this year.
Parents
PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE send a water bottle, sunscreen and hat for your child to use at school. Many students are currently going outside into the hot sunshine without protecting their heads and skin. Recall that students are outside for two recesses (15 minutes each) and 30 minutes at lunchtime. Please remember to write your child's name on all his/her belongings (clothing and sports equipment).
Important Dates:
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 that day.
June 27 - Final Report Cards go home.
June 29 - Last day of school for the 2016-2017 school year.
News for June 16
It was a busy week with our concert, primary play day and finishing our pioneer village project.
In math, the children reviewed math concepts covered this year. In geometry, they looked at 2D and 3D geometry vocabulary. They reviewed interpreting surveys, bar graphs and pictographs.
In social studies, the students finished the unit by working in groups to finish and present their pioneer village research. The video of the presentations can be seen in a separate posting.
The children are working hard to create their sock monkeys! This week, the students finished the bodies and sewed on the two arms of their stuffed animals.
The children created cards for Father's Day and made and wrapped gifts as well.
The class spent a lot of time this week rehearsing for the school concert. All their hard work paid off, because their performance was INCREDIBLE. Well done! A video of the rehearsal performance for the primary classes, can be seen in a separate posting.
On Friday morning, the primary students had their Canada themed PLAY DAY. The children did lots of fun activities and they even sang "Happy Birthday" to Canada for it's 150th birthday!
Finally, since the gym teacher was not available for our gym period at the end of the day...I took the children and taught the gym class. There were skipping challenges and a lively game of "Octopus" which was changed to "Glovetopus" as a connection to the stuffies the class made a few months ago.
Books read aloud this week:
High Times - A History of Aviation by Doris Freigofas and Daniel Dolz
Panorama: A Foldout Book by Fani Marceau
Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier
The Onion's Great Escape by Sara Fanelli
The Book With a Hole by Herve Tullet
Friday, June 9, 2017
Update from Ms. R
The homework for this week is for each student to teach an adult how to play the "Dots" game. After the lesson each child needs to complete the reflection worksheet and write about the lesson. (The children are also asked to practice the poem and dance for our concert next week.) This homework is due on Friday, June 16th.
CONCERT
Our concert is on Thursday, June 15th. Please drop off the children at Room 204 at 6:00 and the concert starts in the gym at 6:30. We perform FIRST! Hope to see you there!
Parents
PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE send a water bottle, sunscreen and hat for your child to use at school. Many students are currently going outside into the hot sunshine without protecting their heads and skin. Recall that students are outside for two recesses (15 minutes each) and 30 minutes at lunchtime. Please remember to write your child's name on all his/her belongings (clothing and sports equipment).
Important Dates:
June 15 - SPRING CONCERT (evening) - Our class will perform during this event! Our class performs FIRST! Drop the children off in Room 204 at 6:00 and the concert begins at 6:30. Please mark this day on your calendars. The concert will be in the gym at our school this year.
June 16 - PLAY DAY - Children are outside all day doing outdoor activities.
June 12 to 16 - COIN COLLECTION - The school is collections coins for the Right to Play charity.
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 27 - Final Report Cards go home.
June 29 - Last day of school for the 2016-2017 school year.
(Click on image to see the full picture.)
News for June 8
During this four day week, the students went on a field trip, built a pioneer village out of wood and stuffed sock monkeys!
In math, the children reviewed the measurement concepts of perimeter (the distance around a 2D shape) and area (the amount of space inside a closed 2D shape). They estimated then measured the perimeter and area of one of his/her hands. This is not easy to do since the hand is not a "regular" geometric shape. However, using string, measuring tapes and graph paper the students rose to the challenge. These information posters are now on display in the hall outside of our classroom.
The children applied their math skills to the playing of the game "Dots". This game uses area to determine the winner of the game. There are many different strategies to playing this game and the students really have to think and look carefully at the dots to make sure they get the most "squares" possible.
In writing, the class wrote a reflection on their field trip to the Gardiner Museum.
In social studies, the students read about the main buildings in a pioneer village and wrote about how a pioneer village is the same/different from our modern neighbourhood. The children worked in groups to create buildings out of wood blocks to make our own pioneer village. Our village has a school, a general store, a blacksmith, a grist mill and a pioneer home. The students have now begun to research and write down facts about their group's buildings to prepare for presenting this information to the whole class next week.
The children participated in our school's fundraising event, "Jump Rope for Heart". Thank you to everyone to donated money to this charity.
The class had a great time on our field trip to the Gardiner Museum on Tuesday! See photos from this activity in a separate posting.
The children learned about the history of the American sock monkey toy. The students began to create their own sock monkeys, by stuffing the bodies and the legs of their toys. Making toys is a great connection to our pioneer unit, as each toy will be handmade and unique and not like any toy that could be bought in a store!
Finally, the children are working hard to rehearse their dance moves to the song "Upside Down & Inside Out" by OK GO, for the concert next week. It's not easy to get 22 young children to dance together, but so far it's looking pretty good!
Books read aloud this week:
Sock Monkey Goes to Hollywood - A Star is Bathed by Cece Bell
Everything's Coming Up Sock Monkeys! The History and Business of the American Sock Monkey by B. K. Connelly
Little House on the Prairie - "Founder's Day" (DVD) - This is the story of a country fair from 200 years ago. We got some good ideas for activities to do outside for our own pioneer day on June 21st
Saturday, June 3, 2017
Update from Ms. R
The homework for this week is for each student to write me a letter in the homework writing journal. They are to write about which activities they like doing this year (and why), the activities they didn't find interesting (and why) and some suggestions for activities I could do with students in the future (and why). There is also a math worksheet with beginner Sudoku puzzles to practice logical reasoning skills. This homework is due on THURSDAY, June 8 (since June 9 is a PA Day).
Parents
PLEASE send a water bottle, sunscreen and hat for your child to use at school. Remember to write your child's name on all his/her belongings.
Important Dates:
June 5 - Jump Rope for Heart fundraising event
June 6 - Trip to the Gardiner Museum with Ms. Ceneda's class.
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. The concert will be in the gym at our school this year.
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 27 - Final Report Cards go home.
June 29 - Last day of school for the 2016-2017 school year.
News for June 2
Here is the video for "Upside Down and Inside Out" by OK GO.
This is the song the class will perform a dance to at the concert on June 15th.
News for June
This week the students finished the author study of the Canadian author Dayal Kaur Khalsa. She wrote eight books and we read them all. After learning more about her life, the students were asked to pick their favourite book. In their writing journals, they wrote a bit about Dayal Kaur Khalsa, why the book they chose was their favourite and their favourite book character. Did you know that her real name was Marcia Schonfeld and she was born in the United States?She converted to the Sikh religion as an adult and changed her name. She came to Canada in 1973 and liked it so much here that she stayed.
In math, the children started the week solving a junior grade level math challenge. With a partner they had to use what they know about fractions and geometry to solve the problem. Later in the week, the students reviewed algebra concepts by solving equations like 6 + ___ = 9. The children also created different calendar patterns for the month of June. The children learned how to solve "magic squares" and used this knowledge to help them solve Sudoku-style logic puzzles.
The class practiced their story writing skills by working with a partner to write cooperative stories. These stories are fun to write because they can be very funny and very silly!
In science, the class learned about forces causing movement. A force is a push or a pull that causes movement of objects by touching them (contact) or from a distance (non-contact). they also learned about the forces of gravity, friction and magnets. We also welcomed Scientist Emily from Scientists in the schools on Thursday afternoon. She lead the students through over 10 different experiments to help them understand different kinds of forces. A big THANK YOU to all the parent volunteers for their help!
The students finished up their artwork inspired by collective nouns for animals, like a "venom of spiders". This art is now on display in the hall outside of our classroom.
We said "good bye" to our last butterfly on Monday. The children wrote a final reflection on what they learned during this caterpillar-to-butterfly science project.
The class began preparing for our concert performance in two weeks. They heard the song "Upside Down and Inside Out" by the American band, OK GO. The students also watched the music video for this song that has the band members moving about in zero gravity.
Finally, on Friday afternoon, our principal, Mrs. Farrelly hosted a celebration outside for the grade 3 and grade 6 students thanking the children for all their hard work when writing the EQAO test.
This Books read aloud this week:
Julian by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
I Want a Dog by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
I Want a Dog (video) retold by Sheldon Cohen at
https://youtu.be/K6Cf6d2qro0
Tales of a Gambling Grandma by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
Sleepers by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
The Glass Doorknob - A Sock Monkey Story by Tony Millionaire
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