December 23, 2016

Good afternoon parents!

Today we had our POW test. Please look for results in your child's bag. We then went on to Read to Self. After recess, we worked on our Catapult challenge (Grade 4) and conquering the Oregon Trail (Grade 3 -- https://archive.org/details/msdos_Oregon_Trail_The_1990). Please ask your child about these two centers today and how they did. 

In the afternoon we had our party and watched "Charlotte's Web" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAaPt61vM8Q) the original animated version. Please ask your child about this.

Thank you for providing students with snacks for the party. We had a great time!

Homework:
Reading

Have a lovely and restful holiday! See you in 2017!!!

December 22, 2016

Hello parents,

Today we began our day with the POW and then went right into Read to Self. We then made a salad from the spoils of our Garden Tower. We have powered down the Garden Tower and it will be moving to another class. We learned about Solutions and Mixtures as we talked about the fact that oil and vinegar do not mix. We watched the following video to solidify this concept:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnpmPDa3tbM

Please ask your child about what they thought of the salad. We then went to French. 

After lunch we had Yoga with Rochelle. After recess we continued with our Social Studies centers. The Grade 4s wrote a diary entry from a Peasants perspective while the Grade 3s learned about a day in the life of a pioneer child. Video here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkZyejHU5Aw

They then had to write a diary entry as if they were a pioneer child. We then decided what center we would move on to tomorrow. Stay tuned! 

Homework:
Reading
POW
Class party tomorrow (pm)

December 21, 2016

Hello parents,

Today we began our day with our Greenwood volunteers and Read to Self. We then had Gym and French.

In the afternoon, we had Problem Solving and then math games. After recess we worked on our Social Studies centers. The Grade 4s learned about the peasant, while the Grade 3s worked further on building their log cabins from the Pioneer times. 

Homework:
POW
Reading for 20 minutes
Class party on Friday

December 20, 2016

Hello parents,

Today we began our day with the POW and then went into Read to Self. We then did a "The Snowman" response and write up for our art from Friday. We then had French.

In the afternoon we learned about Perimeter and Area. We watched the following video to help us remember these concepts: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk-PyhjFWw4
We then worked in our workbooks on the concept of Perimeter. 
After recess we continued our diorama of our Ecosystems with Jean.

Homework:
Read for 20 minutes
POW
Class party Friday

December 16, 2016

Hello parents!

Today we started with our POW test. Please see results tonight. We then moved on to Read to Self. After recess we watched "The Snowman" -- a beautiful video about a young boy building a snowman and where his imagination takes him. Please see the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHCZhUZXhZU. We then went to French. 

After lunch we had our Math test on measurement. We then played math games. After recess we did an Art activity tied to the video The Snowman. Here is an example of what the kids produced: 

We then had an extra gym per our Class Dojo reward where we played the Human Hungry Hippo game and then badminton. 

Homework:
Reading for 20 minutes

December 15, 2016

Hello parents,

Today we worked on Read to Self while I conferenced with students. We then worked on our success criteria for our writing. We then did our Journals. Then we went to French.

After lunch, we went to Yoga and then we worked on a math review for tomorrow's test. After recess we continued the math review and then tidied up for the end of the day.

Homework:
Reading for 20 minutes
POW (test tomorrow)
Math test on measurement tomorrow 
HAT DAY tomorrow!

December 14, 2016

Dear Parents,

Today we began our day with Read to Self. Our Greenwood volunteers were here today and some of the students read with them. We then had snack. After recess we had Gym which culminated in a small tournament of Badminton today. In the new year we will be moving on to another sport (hockey). We then went to French.

After lunch we had our Math problem solving. We used google maps to locate prominent landmarks (CN Tower, Yorkdale mall, Evergreen Brickworks, Niagara Falls, Science North, Terry Fox monument) and then figured out the distance from Nelson Mandela Park PS to that landmark. We worked in partners to do this problem solving. We then used the computers to continue our hour of coding by trying a different coding activity. You can access the link from home here: https://code.org/learn.

Homework:
Reading
POW
Math test Friday on mm, cm, m, km and the conversion between those units of measure

December 13, 2016

Dear parents,

Today we focused on our Poem of the Week. We looked at the metaphors within the poem, for instance, the icicles are compared to fingers and so on. We then went on to Read to Self while I conferenced with students about their personal reading and their reading habits. There has been tremendous development in the reading habits of the students over the past four months and many of them truly enjoy reading for pleasure! We continued with Charlotte's Web today and ended up finishing the book. Sadly, Charlotte dies, but her legacy of friendship and kindness live on through her children and the generations that come after her. Please talk to your child about this book and the ending. We then went to French. 

After lunch, I showed several math videos as a different way to teach math. They are as follows:
Measurement song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djTNUp4XIRo

Measurement video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrA4D-8vHhk

Measurement problem solving: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei5mgFtUGns

We then set to work around each of the last two videos, trying to solve the problems and then seeing the solutions. We then worked on the Success Criteria of our Problem Solving. On Friday there will be a test on Measurement. After recess, we went to Library with Jean where we are continuing to construct our Ecosystem dioramas. 

Homework:
Reading
POW
Math test Friday (on mm, cm, m and km, conversions between the units of measure and measuring using those units)

December 12, 2016

Dear parents,

Today we began our day with the Poem of the Week. We then did Read to Self and then did our Journal writing. We then went to French.

In the afternoon, we had a lesson on using meters and comparing centimeters with meters while the Grade 3s worked on using and adding kilometers. We then worked in our JUMP math books on these concepts. We then had Library and Gym. We continued with our focus on Badminton. 

Homework:
POW
Reading for 20 minutes
Math test Friday on measurement (mm, cm, m, and km)

December 9, 2016

Dear parents,

Today we had our Poem of the Week test and then worked on Read to Self. We then took up our answers to the Syrian Refugee reading we did yesterday and began another story about blindness and new technology available to help people with vision impairments. We will take up the answers on Monday. We then went to French.

After lunch we went to Ms. Xavier's room and had a quick lesson on Coding for the Hour of Code. At 1:00, we then began our Hour of Code! We had a fantastic time coding. Please ask your child about this. You can try this at home using the website https://hourofcode.com/ca/learn. We then debriefed our learning. Students said:
"I worked well with my partner."
"I followed the success criteria."
"I helped others."
"I persevered."
"I had lots of fun!"
"Sometimes coding is hard and sometimes it's easy."
"You don't learn from giving up."
"I had to read the instructions."
There was lots of great learning about math, literacy, computer science and creativity, as well as the social learning of cooperation, teamwork and perseverance. Way to go Room 201!!!

Homework:
Reading for 20 minutes
Have a nice weekend!!!

December 8, 2016

Dear parents,

Today we worked on our Poem of the Week. We practiced reading it in a deep voice, a mouse like voice and an angry elf`voice. What fun! We then did Read to Self while I conferenced with students. After we worked on Reading Responses by reading a news story about Syrian refugee camps. We will take up the answers tomorrow. We then went to French.

After lunch, we worked on a math sheet about Kilometers. We then went to Yoga. After recess, we continued with our Social Studies centres. Students in grade 4 finished their name in Calligraphy while the grade 3s worked on their log cabins. When done, we worked on the Dash and Dot robots which can be coded using an iPhone or iPad. Please ask your child about this. 



Homework:
POW
Reading for 20 minutes

December 7th, 2016

Dear parents,

Today we began our day with Read to Self while I conferenced with several students. We then went to Gym where we played Badminton and then to French.

After lunch, we worked on the Problem of the Week. The problem was: "A cyclist rides 225 m in a minute.  How long does it take to travel 15 km?" This was a tricky problem. Eventually we had a Math Congress where we solved this problem together. We then played Prodigy Math. After we worked on our Social Studies centers. During our Guided Reading sessions (in the morning) we have learned about Early Societies (Grade 4) and how they wrote. For Grade 3 we looked at literature about life in Canada in the early days and how log cabins were built by the Pioneers. Therefore, for Social Studies centers we focused on calligraphy for Grade 4 and building a log cabin for Grade 3s. Please ask your child about this.

Homework:
Reading for 20 minutes
POW

December 6th, 2016

Hello parents,

Today we began our day with Read to Self while I conferenced with students. We then read "Charlotte's Web." We then worked on our Journals, focussing on proper paragraph writing. Then we went to French.

After lunch we continued our writing if we were not done and then went to an assembly for the December 6th National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. It was a beautiful ceremony filled with thoughtful poetry and videos commemorating and celebrating women. Please ask your child about this and its importance. We then went out for DPA. After recess we met up with Ms. Jean in the Library to work on our Ecosystem dioramas. 

Homework:
Reading for 20 minutes
POW

December 5, 2016

Hello parents,

Today we began our week with the Poem of the Week. We went over the objectives of the Poem which is to learn the spelling words, to read and infer what the poem means, to look at rhyming words and the rhyming pattern (if there is one). We then did Read to Self while I conferenced individually with students. We then finished our biographies of famous women for the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. We have finished the biographies and they are up in the front foyer as well as in the classroom. We then went to French.

After lunch we had a lesson on measuring and converting millimeters to centimeters and so on. We then worked in our Math workbooks on this concept. We then had Library and Gym. In Gym we continue to learn Badminton and ended our day with dodge ball! 

Homework:
Read for 20 minutes
Poem of the Week

December 1, 2016

Hello parents,

Today we started our day with the Poem of the Week test. Results have been given back to students. Please check their bags. We then did Read to Self while I conferenced with students. We then did our Biographies of famous women for the display downstairs for the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. We talked extensively about Helen Keller and her remarkable story. We then went to French.

After lunch we had our weekly Yoga with New Leaf. We then played Math games and finished up our biographies and any other work we were not done from this week. 

Homework:
Read for 20 minutes
PA Day Friday (no school for students!)