Update from Ms. R

Welcome to Room 204! 

In our program, there is DAILY and WEEKLY homework. DAILY homework is to study our weekly Word Wall Words (spelling), each day, in preparation for the test each Friday. Each Monday, your child writes the assigned words into his/her agenda. Your child must also read for 20 minutes (or more) every day. WEEKLY homework is made up of a language activity and a math activity and is assigned each Friday. The weekly homework is due to be handed in on the following Friday.

No formal weekly homework was assigned this week, as it was the first week of school.

NOTE TO PARENTS - PLEASE READ

Due to the unanticipated high number of students in grades 1, 2 and 3, there will be a reorganization of the primary grade classes. This reorganization will take place on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th. Because of this reorganization, some students will be leaving Room 204 and going to another classroom. Parents of the children who will be leaving our class, will be phoned by either Mrs. Farrelly (principal) or Ms. Robertson (vice-principal) on September 15th. If you have any questions about this, please contact me or the school office.

Important Dates:

September 15 - Reorganization of the primary classes (some children will leave our class).

September 26 - Picture Day

September 28 - Terry Fox Run

October 3 - Curriculum Night (time to be announced)

October 6 - P. A. Day - no classes

October 9 - Thanksgiving - no classes

(*For all holiday and P. A. Day dates, please go to the "calendar" section of the Toronto District School Board website at tdsb.on.ca.)

News for September 5

News for September 8

We spent a wonderful first four days together this week! The children wrote stories, played math games, painted pictures and even began to rehearse a play...

In language, the children reviewed the 26 basic printed letter forms of the English alphabet. They practiced writing the CAPITAL, or uppercase, letters and the lowercase letters. We paid particular attention to the lowercase letters as these are written in three different places on the paper. The 7 tall letters, b, d, f, h, k, l, t are the same height as all the capital letters. The 5 below-the-line letters, g, j, p, q, y, begin in the middle of the line space and travel below the line. The 14 middle letters a, c, e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x, z, begin in the middle of the line space and stop at the bottom line.

In art, the class painted pictures of characters and things that they wanted to write about in a story. Then the students each wrote stories about the paintings that they created. After writing the rough copy, each child edited his/her story with me. I will be typing all the stories and they will be displayed with the artwork in the hallway outside of our classroom.

In math, the children reviewed the proper way to write the single digits from 0-9. We began to discuss the concept of place value and how these ten digits can make any number up to infinity! We talked about the 100 chart as a tool to help add and subtract and used this chart to play a game. We discussed the strategy of skip counting and focussed on skip counting by 5's and 10's to 100. At the end of the week, groups of students played the classic board game, "Snakes and Ladders" which is a math game based on an upside down 100 chart.

The children are learning the names and order of the months of the year and they learned a song to help them remember.

The students created large "Room 204 alphabet" letters out of paper. We will use these large letters to create titles for our displays in the hallway.

Finally, the children began a theatre project. We are going to put on plays based on the fairy tale, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff". The class chorally read the script (story) together and then wrote down which character he/she would like to play. The class will be divided into smaller groups next week to act out the play.

Books read aloud this week:

The Incredible Book-Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers

The Book That Eats People by John Perry

This is My Book by Mark Pete

Do Not Open This Book! By Michaela Muntean

Welcome Back!

Welcome! This is the blog for Room 204. Please check here every week to see photos/videos and to read about what your child learned each week during the school year. I'm looking forward to meeting the children on Tuesday!

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