Dear families,
This week we had two exciting and fun activities in the gym - Patchi, the Mascot for the Pan Am Games, paid LKS a visit, and the Kinders participated in a fun and active team building presentation called "Grow." Thank you so much to Stella's mom who was a "judge" in the fun competitions!
We continued our Inquiry on the Ocean this week with more art and writing (our hall bulletin board is nearing completion!). This week we learned about crabs - how they move, what they eat, their features, etc. We also completed a chart dividing the animals into classes eg mammals, crustaceans, mollusks, and so on. I think the children were impressed with all the different kinds of ocean animals that they eat! The children have done a wonderful job creating various ocean animals while learning about their features. Next week we'll learn facts about Orcas, sea shells, sand, and water. I'll tie a little science in there with "things that float/don't float." The homework for this weekend is to finish the sentence "My favourite ocean animal ____." and to complete the WHERE and SAID mini-books.
We said "Farewell" to Freya on Friday with a little class party. We will miss you Freya! Best wishes! Bonne Chance a Montreal!
A reminder that the February Scholastic Orders are due by Monday at the latest. Thank you. March's orders are due March 31st. Thank you again to Megan's family for collating the order forms!
Brentwood Library is running a Lego Club March 10 and April 7 in the Community Room from 4-5 p.m. Fun! They will also be screening the Lego Movie on March 20 at 2 p.m., and Despicable Me on March 21 at 2 p.m. Something fun to do over the March Break!
Here are some tips to accelerate your child's reading progress if your child is reading beyond highly patterned books:
- Take away the reading finger
- Encourage your child to use the meaning of the story or picture to decipher an unknown word. What makes sense? What sounds right? Tell your child the word if it takes more than 3 or 4 seconds to sound out the word.
- Encourage your child to make their reading sound like talking (reading fluency) so that his/her strong oral language is used to solve unknown words. Word by word reading slows down reading progress and interferes with reading comprehension.
- After the first read of the book with you, have your child read it again so it sounds like talking with phrasing (words naturally grouped together like when you talk, with pauses at punctuation (period, exclamation mark, comma, question mark), and with intonation (some words louder or sounding like a question).
- Feel free to model read the text with fluency if needed.
- Re-reading books many times increases reading fluency and builds your child's reading vocabulary and confidence.
- Have fun!
I hope you have a terrific week.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Week of February 23-27
Dear families,
I hope you are having a nice weekend.
Last week we learned a lot about ocean animals and that most of the earth is covered in salt water. Next week we'll classify the animals we are learning about into categories - shellfish, mollusks, sea birds, invertebrates, mammals, and fish. We will also learn more details about sea horses, sharks, Orcas, and crabs, and the children have started making art projects about these animals (starting with the Orca).
The children enjoyed played with a box of beautiful sea shells ("I can hear the sea!"), turning old pennies into shiny "pirate pennies" at our Science Centre, playing pirate at our Drama Centre, counting and adding pirate "gold," making a ship with the big blocks, and building a pirate ship from Lego. They also coloured in pirate treasure maps and are reading and colouring two books: "In the Deep Blue Sea," and "If I Were a Pirate." The children also completed the sentence, "Way down in the deep blue sea, I see a _________________________." Finally, we read and practiced a fun poem called "Hungry Shark."
We also did another graphing inquiry about "Would you want to be a pirate" and learned how easy it is to draw a whale. I'm so impressed with how the children's draawing skills have come along. With a little instruction and lots of positive reinforcement, the children's drawings are becoming very clear and detailed. Wonderful! We also watched a short video about how small ocean creatures camouflage themselves. Amazingplanet.com has some terrific videos for children about ocean wildlife.
We also celebrated Chinese New Year by doing a little art with gold glitter, and welcomed one of Brentwood's Librarians who read stories and gave the children "coupons" for their very own library card as well as information about Toronto Libraries.
Next week we'll continue our Ocean Inquiry - learning about sand, playing with shells and making "fossils" in the "living sand" boxes. We'll also do a glyph about the children's favourite place to swim; the ocean or a pool. They'll complete a cut-and-paste picture of themselves which match their answers to the glyph (i.e. if you are 5, draw 5 lines on your bathing suit). We'll also do a Venn diagram comparing Orcas and sharks - should be interesting! We are also learning three fun poems, copies of which will of course be sent home when this unit is completed: "Smiley Shark," "Lobster," and "Crab." We'll finish our pirate puppets and make a treasure map look old with tea. We will also read the wonderful story "Swimmy," about a school of fish who cooperate to scare off a bigger fish, and "Rainbow Fish," a wonderful story about being a friend. I have just one copy of "Rainbow Fish." If you have a copy would you kindly let us borrow it for this week?
Thank you so much to Matthew H.'s mom and Stella's mom who helped out in the Computer Lab this week. We appreciate your time and energy!
Next week the Seeds of Hope/Free the Children Club will be selling hot chocolate after school in front of the office (as well as at morning recess for the bigger kids). It is 1.00 per cup, 1.25 with mini marshmallows. It's supposed to get colder again this week so warm up with a cup of hot chocolate and support a good international cause!
A big "Well Done!" to Aaden, Stella and Theo who received certificates for Honesty at this month's Sharing Assembly. All the children did a terrific job singing "Tony Chestnut."
The homework for this weekend is to complete the two mini sight word booklets for "AM" and "BE." Next week's sight words are "WHERE" and "SAID."
Please send in a small rectangle (about 12" long) of aluminum for your child's ocean project. Thank you. If your child has anything special they have collected from a trip to a beach it would be wonderful if they brought it in and shared their story with us! Cole brought in a beautiful box made of shells that belonged to his grandmother. Thank you!
A friendly reminder that your children need to be supervised in the school yard after dismissal. Thank your attention to this important matter which helps ensure your child's safety.
That's the news from Room 166 - I hope you have a terrific week!
I hope you are having a nice weekend.
Last week we learned a lot about ocean animals and that most of the earth is covered in salt water. Next week we'll classify the animals we are learning about into categories - shellfish, mollusks, sea birds, invertebrates, mammals, and fish. We will also learn more details about sea horses, sharks, Orcas, and crabs, and the children have started making art projects about these animals (starting with the Orca).
The children enjoyed played with a box of beautiful sea shells ("I can hear the sea!"), turning old pennies into shiny "pirate pennies" at our Science Centre, playing pirate at our Drama Centre, counting and adding pirate "gold," making a ship with the big blocks, and building a pirate ship from Lego. They also coloured in pirate treasure maps and are reading and colouring two books: "In the Deep Blue Sea," and "If I Were a Pirate." The children also completed the sentence, "Way down in the deep blue sea, I see a _________________________." Finally, we read and practiced a fun poem called "Hungry Shark."
We also did another graphing inquiry about "Would you want to be a pirate" and learned how easy it is to draw a whale. I'm so impressed with how the children's draawing skills have come along. With a little instruction and lots of positive reinforcement, the children's drawings are becoming very clear and detailed. Wonderful! We also watched a short video about how small ocean creatures camouflage themselves. Amazingplanet.com has some terrific videos for children about ocean wildlife.
We also celebrated Chinese New Year by doing a little art with gold glitter, and welcomed one of Brentwood's Librarians who read stories and gave the children "coupons" for their very own library card as well as information about Toronto Libraries.
Next week we'll continue our Ocean Inquiry - learning about sand, playing with shells and making "fossils" in the "living sand" boxes. We'll also do a glyph about the children's favourite place to swim; the ocean or a pool. They'll complete a cut-and-paste picture of themselves which match their answers to the glyph (i.e. if you are 5, draw 5 lines on your bathing suit). We'll also do a Venn diagram comparing Orcas and sharks - should be interesting! We are also learning three fun poems, copies of which will of course be sent home when this unit is completed: "Smiley Shark," "Lobster," and "Crab." We'll finish our pirate puppets and make a treasure map look old with tea. We will also read the wonderful story "Swimmy," about a school of fish who cooperate to scare off a bigger fish, and "Rainbow Fish," a wonderful story about being a friend. I have just one copy of "Rainbow Fish." If you have a copy would you kindly let us borrow it for this week?
Thank you so much to Matthew H.'s mom and Stella's mom who helped out in the Computer Lab this week. We appreciate your time and energy!
Next week the Seeds of Hope/Free the Children Club will be selling hot chocolate after school in front of the office (as well as at morning recess for the bigger kids). It is 1.00 per cup, 1.25 with mini marshmallows. It's supposed to get colder again this week so warm up with a cup of hot chocolate and support a good international cause!
A big "Well Done!" to Aaden, Stella and Theo who received certificates for Honesty at this month's Sharing Assembly. All the children did a terrific job singing "Tony Chestnut."
The homework for this weekend is to complete the two mini sight word booklets for "AM" and "BE." Next week's sight words are "WHERE" and "SAID."
Please send in a small rectangle (about 12" long) of aluminum for your child's ocean project. Thank you. If your child has anything special they have collected from a trip to a beach it would be wonderful if they brought it in and shared their story with us! Cole brought in a beautiful box made of shells that belonged to his grandmother. Thank you!
A friendly reminder that your children need to be supervised in the school yard after dismissal. Thank your attention to this important matter which helps ensure your child's safety.
That's the news from Room 166 - I hope you have a terrific week!
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