Update from Ms. R

HOMEWORK:

The homework for this week is for the students to write a fiction story about a squirrel, inspired by the squirrel picture stamped in each homework writing journal. There is also a math sheet reviewing skip counting and place value concepts. This homework is due on or before THURSDAY, October 4th (since Friday is a P.A. Day).

PARENT NOTES:

1. BORROW-A-BOOK (B.A.B.) - To help your child read for 20 minutes (or more) at home each day, students can borrow a book from our classroom library. Your child was given a B.A.B. bag on Friday to help protect the book and identify it as a book from Room 222. The children have time at the beginning of the school day to return books and select new ones. Picture books can be exchanged each day, but chapter books can be kept for a longer time. Children at this age select books that they are interested in. Your child may be able to read the chosen book on her/his own, but your child may need your help to read some of the books. Students do not have to take books from our classroom library. Children can read their own personal books or ones from the public library. The point is to get your child to READ at home EVERY DAY.

2. SCHOOL LIBRARY VISITS - Since our school is so large, our class only visits the school library every other week. Our library time is on Day 5 (period 4) every two weeks. I will post on the blog when the visits are and when school library books are due.

3. AGENDAS - Hopefully, our class agenda books will arrive this week. The students use agendas to record and practise the weekly word wall (spelling) words, as well as special days and events. I may also write notes in the agenda occasionally.

4. WHEN YOUR CHILD IS ILL OR ABSENT - Please let me AND the office know. Currently, there is NOT a procedure in place where the office lets me know when/why your child is away. If your child misses any written work, the worksheets will be sent home upon the child's return and the work should be completed at home and handed in as homework.

Important Dates:

October 2 - Cross Country Track Meet (for those on the school team only)

October 3 - Our Thanksgiving Feast in Room 222!

October 4 - Author Philip Roy visits our school.

October 5 - P. A. Day - no classes on this day

October 8 - Thanksgiving Day Holiday - no classes on this day

October 10 - Our first library visit to borrow a school library book

News for September 28, 2018

News for September 28, 2018

This week, the class explored place value, learned and wrote about Canadian hero Terry Fox and made sock puppets to create sock puppet plays. 

On Thursday, our class participated in the annual Terry Fox Run to raise money for cancer research. Our class counted the money donated by the families of Room 222 and it added up to exactly $50.00! Thank you to all the families for your donations to help the scientists and doctors find new ways to help patients with cancer.

Our word wall words this week were the classic question words: who, what, when, where, why, how. There's also a sneaky pair of homophones in there (where/wear). The class discussed why these words are so important to understanding what we read and for planning what we write. We also talked about the words “why” and “how” and by asking and answering questions using these two words in particular, our brains have to work a bit harder…

The children learned about the concept of a “time capsule” or putting items and information in a box to be opened later, to see what has changed (e.g. height) and what has not changed (e.g. your first name). Our class is almost finished making individual time capsule books, in which every child has recorded his/her name, height, weight, hand size, food size, and wishes for the year. Each student also got a “lucky” nickel and created front and back cover. Our time capsule will be opened at the end of the school year in June 2019.

The children practised skip counting forwards and backwards by 10’s starting at 10 but also at any number in the 100 chart (e.g., 26, 36, 46,…) They practised how to use various strategies to count a large group of items. They know how to skip count by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. Using groups of tens one can arrive at the correct answers by filling in the tens place and the ones place in a two-digit number. The children drew as many stars as they could in one minute and counted them up using one of these strategies. (We also added up the totals for each child for a grand total of 633 stars drawn in one minute!) The children also worked in partners to count a “mystery number” of items. They counted the items two different ways and wrote about the strategies they used.

The class reviewed how to identify and write telling and asking sentences and when to use capital letters on words. After hearing a read- aloud book about Terry Fox, the children brainstormed facts about this Canadian hero who challenged himself to run across Canada (over 9,000 kms). Then they wrote about 5 facts they found the most interesting in their journals. Did you know that Terry Fox ran 42 km every day? He ran over 5, 000 kms before he had to stop in Thunder Bay because he got sick again. We also watched a video about Terry. Here is the link:

https://youtu.be/f1QOtPDAAeY

Creating group plays is a great way for children to create and communicate oral stories by working with others in a group and telling a story in the form of a play. This week, each student created his/her own sock puppet to use in the plays and the groups began to plan their stories.

Books read aloud this week:

My Best Friend Bob by Georgie Ripper

Thing Thing by Cary Fagan

Terry Fox: A Story of Hope by Maxine Trottier

The World That Loved Books by Stephen Parlato

Swimmy by Leo Lionni

Our Bee Research Video

Update from Ms. R

*Please click on the image to see the full photo.

The homework for this week is for the students to practice writing complete sentences using a  capital letter at the beginning and a period (for a “telling sentence”) or a question mark (for an “asking sentence”) at the end of a sentence. There are also some addition and subtraction word problems for the children to practice reading the problem and choosing to add or subtract and to write the full number sentence (and not just the answer). This homework is due on or before Friday, September 28th.

HOMEWORK:

1. Daily Homework: There are two types of homework your child should complete each day. The first is to practise the weekly “word wall words”. Your child will write these words in his/her agenda every Monday. (We have not yet received our agendas, so until then the children will write them on an index card to take home.) The class has a small “quiz” at the end of the week to send the words off to our classroom “Word Wall”. The second type of homework to be done daily is to READ for at least 20 minutes each day. This includes reading to self, reading out loud to another person, or listening to a book read aloud. Next week, we will start our BORROW-A-BOOK program, so your child will always have a book to read, but of course your child can read his/her own books or ones from the Toronto Public Library.

2. Weekly Homework: Each week some written homework is assigned. There is usually some language practice and some math review work. If you are unsure what the assignment is, please check the “Update from Ms. R” posting for the week. 

3. If you have a question about homework, please do not hesitate to email me.

PARENT NOTES:

1. Water Bottles: Please send your child to school with a FULL water bottle. The students do have access to a water fountain, but it is outside of the classroom and halfway down the hallway. (I can help your child refill his/her water bottle during the school day, if necessary.)

2. We are a NUT-FREE school: Please do not send your child with any peanut or tree nuts or peanut or nut products. We have several children at our school with severe peanut/tree nut allergies. Some children can be hospitalized after just smelling peanuts or nuts. 

3. Birthdays: Please do NOT send in food for your child’s birthday. This is our school-wide policy for birthdays. Families may want to give a small gift (e.g., pencil) for each of the students in his/her child’s class, but this is optional. In our classroom, the students create a cooperatively made card for the birthday child. (July or August birthdays will be celebrated in June.)

1. Swimming: Our swim classes have been POSTPONED until February. I will provide more information at the end of January.

Important Dates:

September 24 - Photo Day

September 25  - Parent Council Meeting at Glebe Road Church (7:00 pm)

September 27 - Terry Fox Run Day

October 4 - Author Philip Roy visits our school.

October 5 - P. A. Day - no classes on this day

October 8 - Thanksgiving Day Holiday - no classes on this day

News for September 21, 2018

News for September 21, 2018

This week, the children began learning about digits and place value, they asked research questions about bees and wrote (and shared aloud) cooperative stories.

In math, the class reviewed basic subtraction strategies and practised solving word problems using subtraction. The children began looking at groups of ten, by skip counting by tens (forwards and backwards), using “ten frames” and the “tens place” in a multi-digit number (e.g., the 4 in 43 means four groups of ten). The class also practiced skip counting by 2’s and 5’s as well as by 10’s. Skip counting is a great strategy for counting large groups of things quickly.

In language, the students reviewed how to recognize, read and write statements (“telling sentences”) and questions (“asking sentences”). Sentences are complete thoughts/ideas and must begin with a capital letter and end with a period (.), question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!). The students work with partners to write cooperative fiction stories using a die to decide how many words each person can write on one turn. We then had a sharing circle on the carpet and children read aloud their crazy stories. The children also wrote formal letters to their parents to welcome them to our class on curriculum night.

In science, the class focused on insects this week. They learned the key characteristics of insects. They have 3 body parts (head, thorax, abdomen) and they have 6 legs. They learned the difference between a drawing and a diagram. (A diagram is a true picture, usually with arrows and words. The children drew diagrams of bees and used sticky notes to write down their questions about bees. The students asked some excellent questions! For example, “How big is the biggest bee in the world?” (It’s the Megachile pluto bee at almost 4 cm.) and “How many different kinds of bees are there in the world?” (There are over 20,000 different kinds of bees.) I shared with the students that many years ago, I knew the famous bee expert, Dr. Laurence Packer, when I was studying at the University of Toronto. The class helped to write a letter to Professor Packer (now at York University) to ask him to come to our school to talk about bees. Let’s hope he says “yes”! The class also had a chance to see how humans use honey and the honeycomb wax. People make candles and lip balm, for example, out of beeswax and of course, people eat honey! Children had a chance to eat delicious honey right from the wax honeycomb. This students also made a short video to present the results of their bee research. (This video can be seen in a separate posting.)

In art, the children took on a creative challenge to make art using the acorns they gathered last week. Using glue and an assortment of craft materials, they managed to make some beautiful pictures!

Finally, we had a chance to visit Ms. Mantello in the school library. The books are not on the shelves yet but Ms. Mantello read the class a story. Also, Ms. Francesca, our gym teacher, visited Room 222 to present “The Golden Shoe Award” to the class. The children in our class ran the most laps of the track the previous week, for the primary division. (The students are running laps in preparation for the Terry Fox Run on September 27th.) Well done!

Books read aloud this week:

The Honeybee Man by Lela Nagy

The Buzz About Bees by Kari-Lynn Winters

Do Not Open This Book! by Michaela Muntean

The Little Red Pen by Janet Stevens

The Bookshop Dog by Cynthia Ryland

Please Open This Book! by Adam Lehrhaupt

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is for the students to read the non-fiction story about bees and answer the comprehension questions. On the back are some practice addition questions. This homework is due on or before Friday, September 21st.

Parent Notes:

1. REORGANIZATION - Our school now has significantly fewer students than it had last June, when the classes were originally planned and students were placed in classes. As a result, the school classrooms must be reorganized because now many classes have too few students in them. This means that some teachers will be reassigned and some students will move to different classrooms. The new school plan will be presented to Mrs. Farrelly on Monday, and the changes will happen on Tuesday/Wednesday of this week. All changes will be finalized by our Curriculum Night, Thursday, September 20th. 

2. TIMETABLE - Due to the reorganization of classes, every class will have a new timetable. Hopefully, these will be ready by the end of the week, so that parents will know on which day of the school schedule students have specialty classes like swimming and gym.

Important Dates:

September 18 & 19 - Reorganization of classes

September 20 - Curriculum Night- 6:30

September 25  - Parent Council Meeting at Glebe Road Church (7:00 pm)

October 5 - P. A. Day - no classes on this day

October 8 - Thanksgiving Day Holiday - no classes on this day

News for September 14, 2018

News for September 14, 2018

It was another busy week in Room 222. The children began to study their weekly word wall words, they reviewed and practiced addition strategies and they even went outside to collect acorns to study!

In math, the children made their own 100 charts by writing the numbers 1-100 in a 10x10 grid. The students can use this chart help them to do addition (and later subtraction) and they used their homemade charts as game boards to play “Race to 100” using two dice. The children reviewed and practiced skip counting forward and backward by tens. The children also reviewed and practiced the “make ten” facts or which pairs of digits make 10 (e.g., 4+6=10 or 6+4=10), “double facts” (e.g., 7+7=14) and “double plus one facts” (e.g., 7+8=15).

In writing, all the students have now finished writing their fiction stories about the paintings they created last week. Each child edited his/her story with me and then I typed up the stories. These stories will be put on display with the artwork in our classroom. The students also wrote in their journals about our trip outside to gather acorns and wrote a bit about what they observed about acorns.

The class studied the first “word wall words” (spelling words) for this year. The children practise these words in a variety of ways, such as clapping, stomping and writing on chalkboards. At the end of each week, there is a small spelling “quiz” and the word cards are moved to the class WORD WALL. This word wall is like a big class dictionary and can be referenced when needed.

The class practised their “reading for learning” strategies this week by learning how to use a highlighter to look for important words in sentences. The class chorally read a short non-fiction passage about ants, highlighted important information and then answered some comprehension questions. Did you know that ants are a kind of insect because they have 6 legs? 

In art, each student now has his/her own art journal to keep in his/her desk. This is a spiral-bound book of blank paper that they can use to draw or write in at their discretion. I introduced the class to our bin of “how to draw” books. These books help children learn how to draw everything from cats to trucks to dinosaurs.

In science, the children complied their facts about squirrels and we now have a display of their squirrel research on a bulletin board in our classroom. Each student drew a picture, wrote out a squirrel fact and had his/her photo taken with “Frisko” the squirrel puppet. The class also went outside to collect acorns from two trees near the school. Squirrels love to eat acorns! The students learned how to use magnifying glasses and used these to look closely at the acorns and discuss what they noticed about them. We determined from the shape of the leaves and the shape of the acorn that the trees are White Oak trees. Did you know that a squirrel nest is called a “drey”? Did you know that the science word for the cap of an acorn is “cupule”?

When I was walking outside this week new the school I found a Monarch Butterfly on the ground. The children were intrigued! I brought it into the class to help us learn more about insects for our animal science unit next week.

On Wednesday, there was a whole school assembly in the auditorium, when the two Vice-Principals, Ms. Macina and Mr. Culakovski talked to the students about school rules. The children also went to the pool area and learned about pool safety and rules with Ms. Feng and Ms. A.

Books read aloud this week:

Squirrelly Gray by John Kochalka

What Pet Should I Get? By Dr. Suess

A Fly Went By by Mike McClintock

I Wish I Had Duck Feet by Dr. Suess

The Big Honey Hunt by Stanley and Janice Berenstain

Update from Ms. R

We had a great week together in Room 222! The students and I are getting used to the new classroom, the new school building and the new school routine.

The homework for this week is to complete both sides of the “All About Me” worksheet sent home with your child on Friday. This homework is due on, or before, Friday, September 14th. (These pages will become a part of a class book that students can read during independent reading time.)

I will post the classroom news and provide an update for parents on our class blog, once a week, usually around noon each Sunday. Once I receive the email addresses from all the parents (taken from the completed the pink student information forms), I will send out a group email letting you know when the news has been posted. 

Since I will not have a chance to meet parents until curriculum night (September 20th), here is a link to a TVO video made of me and my students several years ago:

https://youtu.be/IBkn-86mMRs

If you have any questions or concerns, please email me at nrawlinson@rogers.com. You may also ask questions or make comments through the comment feature on the class blog.

Important Dates:

September 20 - Curriculum Night

September 25  - Parent Council Meeting at Glebe Road Church (7:00 pm)

October 5 - P. A. Day - no classes on this day

October 8 - Thanksgiving Day Holiday - no classes on this day

News for September 7, 2018

News for September 7, 2018

This four-day week, the children had a chance to get to know me and each other. We talked, played and laughed while reviewing classroom rules, math and language skills and learning new games.

In math, the students reviewed the ten digits that are used to make numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), We discussed how these ten digits can be used to make ANY number in the world! The children reviewed the numbers in a 100 chart and talked about how we know a number is bigger (greater than) or smaller (less than) another number. The students practised saying these numbers and understanding the relative value of the numbers by playing the game “Snakes and Ladders”, using a standard board game and the game “Race to 100” using a 100 chart.

In writing, the class reviewed how to print the letters of the alphabet, both uppercase (or capital) letters and lowercase. We discussed how the 26 letters can be used to make ANY word in the English language. We talked about creating a sign together to put in the hallway for other students to read and we agreed on the sentence, “WELCOME BACK EVERYONE FROM ROOM 222!” The children worked cooperatively to create this sign by each drawing, colouring and cutting out the individual letters of this greeting. This is now on display in the hall outside of our classroom.

In art, the students planned and painted large paintings to use as story planners for their first stories of the year. After writing a class story together, the children began to write their own stories about their paintings in their writing journals. 

In science, the children began the unit on animals by asking questions and beginning to research squirrels. The students asked some great questions and, after watching a video about the photographer/author Nancy Rose and hearing read aloud a non-fiction page from the encyclopedia, they confirmed some interesting facts. Did you know that there are 3 kinds of squirrels? There are tree squirrels (like the ones we see around the school), flying squirrels, and ground squirrels (like chipmunks). Did you know that squirrels are found all over the world except for Antarctica and Australia?

Here is the video we watched about the photographer/author, Nancy Rose who photographs squirrels and creates stories around the pictures she takes. Here is a link to the video:

http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1124882-bedford-woman-puts-squirrels-in-the-picture

The school’s two aquatic instructors (Ms. Ahumada and Ms. Feng) came to our class to talk about swim classes at our school this year. The pool is not ready yet so our class will not actually go in the water until September 19th. The instructors ask that students each bring a swimsuit, a towel, goggles (optional) and a plastic bag in which to put these items. The instructors have also asked that parents have their children practise putting on and taking off their swimsuits/clothes independently.

Books read aloud this week:

The Secret Life of Squirrels by Nancy Rose

The Secret Life of Squirrels  - Back to School! By Nancy Rose

The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers

The Book That Eats People by John Perry

Waiting for the students to arrive…

Welcome to our class! I'm Ms. Rawlinson, also known as “Ms. R”. I've been in Room 222 for the last two weeks of August, unpacking, sorting and organizing the classroom. I'm looking forward to meeting all the students on Tuesday and starting our year of learning together!

Please check here every Sunday for a weekly update on the activities your child did at school and start a conversation…