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…

Hello Davisville@Vaughn Road Academy!

Good Bye Davisville Public School!

Sock Monkey Movies 2018

Update from Ms. R

Ah! The last week of school before the summer holidays and my last week in Room 204! The children were very understanding as the room piled up with more and more boxes to be moved to Vaughn Road. 

We had a wonderful year of learning in Room 204. It’s been a privilege and a pleasure to teach this amazing group of learners (and I learned so much too). Thank you so much for the lovely cards and very generous gifts. They are not necessary, but they are appreciated!

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy summer holiday!

PARENTS! Please keep encouraging your child to read, write, type and practise math skills over the summer. For many students, these skills fade over the summer. Teachers call this phenomenon “The Summer Slide”, when students in September are at lower skill levels than when they left school in June. Here is a short article about this, with some suggestions for parents:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/ask-dr-lynch/preventing-summer-slide.shtml

Important Dates:

July 21 - Davisville Open House - Say “good bye” to the old school building (9:00-12:00)

September 4 - First day of school for the 2018-2019 school year (@ Vaughn Road Academy).

News for June 28, 2018

News for June 28, 2018

This four-day week the students finished their sock monkeys, wrote thank you notes to the adults at our school who help us and learned the sport of Speed Stacking.

The children all finished their sock monkeys this week by sewing on their button eyes. The students continued to work in their groups to create and rehearse sock monkey movies. They also made the title cards for the credits and used recycled cardboard to create props and scenery for their characters. On Wednesday, the movies were filmed and all the movies can be seen in a separate posting.

The class watched one last movie together. “A Grand Day Out” is a stop-motion animated short film that was nominated for an Academy Award. The class is now so good at analyzing stories they easily pointed out the story elements (characters, settings, problems, solutions). 

On Tuesday, the class went outside to the playground to say “good bye” to the old silver maple tree as it will have to be removed to make space for the new school building. Our class has measured the tree, calculated it’s age (almost 125 years old), drawn pictures of it and given it hugs. We thanked the tree for the oxygen it makes, the shade it gives and the beauty it shows us. We toasted the tree with homemade brownies and gave the tree some more “thank you” 

hugs.

The children helped to create posters using sticky notes to say “thank you” to the adults in our building who have helped us all year. We made posters for Mrs. Farrelly, our principal, the office staff, the lunchroom supervisors, the caretakers, Ms. Francesca, Ms. Konjhodzic and Ms. Endert. Everyone was surprised and grateful to receive our kind words.

The students FINALLY opened our time capsule box! Inside was our “Flash Domo” stuffie, the individual time capsule books and a BIG letter that the children wrote last September to the “future Room 204”. It was fun to read and talk about what changed, what didn’t change and if their wishes and predictions came true…

The class took on a creativity challenge…aluminum foil! What can be made using foil? After a quick lesson on the properties of foil and some tips on how to make successful models using foil, the children used over 30 metres of foil to create little people, letters, insects, buildings, food and much more!

Finally, the children learned about the sport of cup stacking, also known as Speed Stacking. The challenge is to stack and un-stack cups as fast as possible. After watching some videos of children doing this sport, everyone had a chance to try it. After two days of practising, the class had a friendly competition to see who was the fastest. Congratulations to Nihar and Romaisa, the fastest speed stackers in our class. Well done everyone!

The children cleaned out their desks and helped me to label their desks and chairs to be moved to the Vaughn Road school building. Finally, the students talked about celebrating Canada’s birthday on July 1st, (Canada is now 151 years old), and received sunglasses with Canadian flags on them. I also shared that my favourite candy when I was a child was a “Toostie Pop” sucker and everyone had a chance to try this candy too.

Books read aloud this week:

Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer

The Blue Whale by Jenni Desmond

Keith Haring - The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing by Kay Haring

A Grand Day Out - A Wallace and Gromit Adventure (DVD)