News for May 11, 2018

News for May 11, 2018

This week the children watched the caterpillars turn into chrysalids, learned how to use quotation marks in their writing and designed jewellery!

Writing

The children learned how to use quotation marks when writing. Quotation marks are used to show which words are spoken by a character in a story.

The children finished writing the good copies of their fairy tales and created story posters with illustrations. These are now in the hallway outside of our classroom.

Math 

The children reviewed two-digit subtraction with regrouping. They played a game using “fancy” dice (actually a small die inside a larger clear die) to determine the numbers to add and subtract. This is probably the hardest math concept the children have learned this year. I'm happy to say that at this point in the year the children are now very good at solving these questions using the standard algorithm.

Reading

The class continued our author study focussing on the work of Canadian author/illustrator Dayal Kaur Khalsa. We now have read all 9 of her books. Next week the children will pick their favourite one and write a book review.

The class is now studying a new writing genre: fables. The students learned a bit about the story of Aesop, the most famous fable storyteller. Did you know that he lived in Greece 2,500 years ago?

Science

The class continued to study the caterpillars. This week they watched the caterpillars grow to an amazing 5 to 6 cm long! The children continue to write down their observations and questions each day. They learned that all insects have 6 true legs, but caterpillars have extra legs called “prolegs” to help them move. Did you know that caterpillars breathe through holes in the sides of their bodies called “spiracles”? Did you know that caterpillars eat but do not drink?

By the end of the week, each caterpillar had changed into a chrysalis. These are now hanging in our butterfly house. Did you know that a butterfly comes out of a chrysalis but a moth comes out of a cocoon?

Social Studies

The children talked about the history of Mother’s Day. We also discussed traditions they have in their families in preparation for their homework writing this week.

Art

Some children had a chance to experiment doing art like the book illustrator Su Blackwell using pages from an old German book.

The students learned how to design a necklace and choose beads to create necklaces for Mother’s Day. They also reused the packaging from old potato chip bags to make cards as well.

Extra

Tanya spoke with our class about the old silver maple in our schoolyard. She is making a video about the history of our school (before we move to Vaughn Road for two years while our new school is being built). The children estimated that the tree is about 12-14 metres tall!

Books read aloud this week:

Tales of a Gambling Grandma by Dayal Kaur Khalsa

Cowboy Dreams by Dayal Kaur Khalsa

Green Cat by Dayal Kaur Khalsa

Magic School Bus - Butterflies (DVD)

Butterfly House by Eve Bunting

Aesop’s Fables by Louis Untermeyer