How to have fun this summer without a computer...

Did you know that children between the ages of 8-12 years old, spend an average of 6 hours a day looking at some form of computer/tablet/phone screen?

We all love our devices. However, you don't want to get "square eyes" from looking at screens too much! (Ask your child about the book we read aloud entitled, "The Boy With Square Eyes".)

Here are some ideas to help keep your child occupied, without the use of a computer.

Visit the Toronto Public Library - Every year they have a summer reading club for children. Reading is a skill that needs to be practiced EVERY DAY. Here is the link: www.tpl.ca

Play with playing cards - I gave each child in the class a deck of playing cards on the last day of school. They can do magic tricks, play games (for example, Go Fish, War, Crazy Eights), make card towers/mazes or use them to practise their math facts.

Play board games - This year the children learned how to play Chinese Checkers and Dots. Of course, standard games like Checkers, Chess, Snakes & Ladders are also great games to play.

Write stories in a journal - A simple lined notebook from the dollar store is all that is needed for your child to write down his/her stories (fiction and non-fiction). Have your child pick out one story and have him/her create a published book!

Make an "Art Box" with materials for your child to independently create things of his/her choosing. Here is a list of suggested materials:

TAPE - masking tape, clear tape, coloured tape

GLUE - glue stick, white glue

SCISSORS

PAPER - scrap paper, coloured paper, lined paper, construction paper, aluminum foil

MARKERS

PENCILS and PENCIL CRAYONS - plus a sharpener (that holds the shavings)

WAX CRAYONS

COLOURED PENS

RULER/TAPE MEASURE

STAPLER

RECYCLED ITEMS - cracker boxes, tissue boxes, cardboard tubes, yogurt containers, magazines

EXTRAS - elastic bands, paper clips, paper fasteners, hole punch, post-it notes

Sock Monkey Movies!

Terror in Pokemon Volcano Island

The Attack!

Super Hero Day

The Sock Monkey Heroes

The Evil Witch and the Warriors

Update from Ms. R

After 188 school days, our year together is finally over. I would like to thank all the parents for their support this year with the learning of the 22 grade 2 and grade 3 children in Room 204.

It has been my privilege and my pleasure to teach this amazing class. I feel I learned as much from them as they did from me...

Finally, a heartfelt "thank you" to all the families for the generous gifts. They are not necessary, but they are appreciated.

I wish everyone a safe and happy summer holiday!

Important Dates:

September 4 - Labour Day holiday

September 5 - First day of school for the 2017-2018 academic year

News for June 29

The children learned a card trick and the secrets of using playing cards to create large structures. Here is a video of the Guinness Book of World Records card stacker, Bryan Berg:

https://youtu.be/ivgKaQanz5k

The students worked in groups to create movies starring the sock monkeys that they made. These videos can be seen in a separate posting.

The children learned about palindromes. These are words, groups of words and sentences that have the same letters forwards and backwards. For example, racecar and tacocat.

The class organized their portfolios to take home. It was fun to look back on samples of the work that each student did over the past school year. We even opened up our class "time capsule" and reflected on what has changed and what hasn't changed in the last 10 months.

The children took time to thank the people that helped them this year and each child wrote individual notes to put on "thank you posters", which were delivered by the students.

The students also created "birthday" cards and sang "Happy Birthday" to the children who have birthdays in the summer. 

We had a Speed Stacking Contest on the last day! The children have been practising to get the fastest time possible for the various competition stacks and had a chance to show their skills.

Ms. Judy from Monkey Minds Mindfulness came to our class on Wednesday to teach the children a bit about how to breathe to help to quiet our minds. She also taught us some games to help calm down when our minds get too busy.

Finally, the students cleaned out the insides of their desks. They also cleaned the tops of their desks by using...shaving foam! It's a messy but fun way to clean up!

Books read aloud this week:

The Boy With Square Eyes by Juliet and Charles Snape

Palindromania! by Jon Agee

MOM and DAD are Palindromes by Mark Schulman

Millions, Billions, Trillions - Understanding Big Numbers by David A. Adler