Dear families,
This has been a busy week in Room 166!
I Friday's mailbag there is a permission form for a class trip on March 8 to sing with Jack Grunsky and to celebrate Canada's 150th Birthday! Please note that all payments at LKS are online. The online payment for this trip will be open from January 30 - February 10. Two parent volunteers are required. Forms are due back to me by February 8.
We learned about Chinese New Year this week! The children made dragon puppets with Miss. Santiago, saw a video about children doing the Dragon Dance, we read books about Chinese New Year, and the children learned what year they were born in (Dragon for JKs, Rabbit for SKs).
We had a visit from the Brentwood Library children's librarian. She read books to the children and invited them to come to the library any time. A package from Brentwood is in Friday's mail bag.
We celebrated three birthdays this week! Happy Birthday Maya, Maddie and Sarah!
The children did a great job at Friday's Sharing Assembly reciting the poem "Chubby Little Snowman." Congratulations to Ella who received a certificate for Kindness and Caring, and to Andrew and Hannah who received well-deserved certificates for Teamwork. I'm proud of you!
Thank you so much to James' mom who was our Mystery Reader this week! The moms of Ethan and Sarah were our volunteers for Pizza Lunch. Thank you so much for your time!
Friday was Pyjama Day at LKS and the children loved it! I think they especially loved bringing their stuffies to school!
The words of the week were HAS and WANT. The letter sound was Mm.
The next Scholastic Order is due on February 3rd. Thank you so much to Ruby for collating the order forms! Please remember to pay either by cheque or on line.
In Measurement, the children measured a paper penguin with goldfish crackers (certainly a non-standard unit of measurement!) and then wrote the number. One-to-one correspondence can still be a challenge for juniors, so encourage them to count a lot at home. :)
The children also compared objects and estimated which one weighed more, we discussed WHAT people can measure. Most children's answers were about the SIZE of objects. We will continue to encourage them to think about CAPACITY, TEMPERATURE, and WEIGHT as well. Baking/cooking with your child is a wonderful way to reinforce these concepts at home. With our Reading Buddies, we measured various things in the school hallway with your foot tracings. The children learned why we call a "foot" a "foot." Ask them to explain it to you! Next week we will finish our inquiry on Measurement by making a balance. Thank you Sebastian for sharing your tape measure with us! Thank you for bringing in hangers for this tool (and extras!).
The children also completed their "If I lived in a Snow Globe" art and writing, and it is proudly on display on the classroom bulletin board. They look fantastic! Miss. Santiago also explained that when you rub the plastic plate, energy is created and the confetti and glitter move. Just like we shiver or rub our hands together or jump up and down to create more energy when we are cold.
The children completed the writing about why they liked "Thomas' Snowsuit."
In the Computer Lab, Miss. Santiago is doing Peter's Nature Walk and Tynker with the kids, which is a coding website. Try it at home!
It finally snowed again! The children caught snowflakes on black paper, and we watched slow-motion videos about how snowflakes (snow crystals) form. They also helped me write a list of ingredients and the instructions on how to make a yummy snowflake with marshmallows and pretzels.
Finally, the children completed their "This is Me in January" drawing, writing and calendar. They are posted on the hall bulletin board and I have sent a copy home.
The Juniors will be receiving their first Progress Reports in February.
That's our news for this week! I hope you have a terrific weekend!
Friday, January 27, 2017
Monday, January 23, 2017
Week of January 16-20
Dear families,
I hope you had a lovely weekend. Last week we continued our inquiry about Measurement. Thank you Catherine, Phoebe, Rielle and Ruby for bringing in your own measuring tape! We talked about the difference between measuring tape and tape measures, and learned and practiced how to use them. IKEA has free paper measuring tape if you find yourself shopping there! Your child can measure while you shop! 😊 We watched a "How it's Made" episode about how measuring tape is made, and watched a video called "Inch by Inch."
We are also learning about thermometers and will be making a paper one in class. The children coloured in two thermometers, one for winter and one for summer. We will finish our unit on Measuring next week.
Please bring in a small plastic coat hanger with two little hooks on it so your child can make a balance. Thank you.
In Art and Writing, the children wrote what they would do if they lived in a snow globe and are making a snow globe with paper and plastic plates. Thank you Miss. Santiago!
The children had an amazing experience in the library last week inside the ROM's portable Planetarium!
The words of the week were COME and LOOK. The letter sound was Rr.
Thank you to Hannah's mom for being the Mystery Reader!
I sent home a list of high frequency sight words and a letter about "kid" writing.
Assuming the snow will return, this week we'll make snowflakes from marshmallows and pretzels and will measure a penguin with goldfish crackers (then eat them!). We read Deep Snow by Robert Munsch, will make paper snowflakes, and learned two winter poems.
In music, the children are doing Forest of Reading, Bingo, and a Lion Hunt theme. In computers the children are doing Book Flix stories about snow and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
I hope you have a terrific week!
I hope you had a lovely weekend. Last week we continued our inquiry about Measurement. Thank you Catherine, Phoebe, Rielle and Ruby for bringing in your own measuring tape! We talked about the difference between measuring tape and tape measures, and learned and practiced how to use them. IKEA has free paper measuring tape if you find yourself shopping there! Your child can measure while you shop! 😊 We watched a "How it's Made" episode about how measuring tape is made, and watched a video called "Inch by Inch."
We are also learning about thermometers and will be making a paper one in class. The children coloured in two thermometers, one for winter and one for summer. We will finish our unit on Measuring next week.
Please bring in a small plastic coat hanger with two little hooks on it so your child can make a balance. Thank you.
In Art and Writing, the children wrote what they would do if they lived in a snow globe and are making a snow globe with paper and plastic plates. Thank you Miss. Santiago!
The children had an amazing experience in the library last week inside the ROM's portable Planetarium!
The words of the week were COME and LOOK. The letter sound was Rr.
Thank you to Hannah's mom for being the Mystery Reader!
I sent home a list of high frequency sight words and a letter about "kid" writing.
Assuming the snow will return, this week we'll make snowflakes from marshmallows and pretzels and will measure a penguin with goldfish crackers (then eat them!). We read Deep Snow by Robert Munsch, will make paper snowflakes, and learned two winter poems.
In music, the children are doing Forest of Reading, Bingo, and a Lion Hunt theme. In computers the children are doing Book Flix stories about snow and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
I hope you have a terrific week!
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Week of January 9-13
Dear families,
I hope you've had a terrific holiday and a great weekend! Where did all that fun snow go?
In Numeracy, last week we focused on Measurement - what, how, why and where. The children are learning about Standard Measurement (with tools such a rulers, measuring tape, cups, scales) and Non-Standard Measurement (measuring with cube-a-links, popsicle sticks, string, a tracing of their foot, etc.). They measured inside and outside the classroom with standard and non-standard measuring tools. We will continue this unit next week. Thank you Catherine for bringing in measuring tape! The children were quite interested in how engines are measured with "horse power" and horses are measured with 'hands!' They watched Peep and the Big Wide World learn how to measure, too. Please encourage your children to measure things at home with standard and non-standard tools.
On Friday the children enjoyed hot chocolate after learning The Hot Chocolate Song. They are also learning two songs/poems about Measurement.
Thank you Alexandra for collating this month's Scholastic Orders! January's order is due om the 27th. Thank you Alexandra;s dad for being our Mystery Reader this week!
It was our turn with the iPads this week. Fun!
The SK homework for this week is to unscramble the words to make and write sentences, and to fill in the blanks to make words.
On January 17 the children will be going to a special Planetarium Presentation in the Library. That will be exciting! January 27 is our next Sharing Assembly.
In Science, the children are learning about the properties and science of Snow. They are also learning two poems about snow. We read and discussed the plot, setting and characters of Robert Munsch's classic book, "Thomas' Snowsuit" and the children are writing what their favourite part was.
In the Computer Lab, the kids are doing Bookflix from the LKS Virtual Library. Thank you Ms. Santiago!
With our Book Buddies we started a booklet called, "Are You Cold?" This week we will measure things in the LKS hallways with our Grade 4 Book Buddies. I know they will do a great job helping the kids understand how to measure big and small things!
In Friday's mail bags there were the new January word wall words and some of the work your children finished this week.
That's the news from Room 166 - I hope you have a great week!
I hope you've had a terrific holiday and a great weekend! Where did all that fun snow go?
In Numeracy, last week we focused on Measurement - what, how, why and where. The children are learning about Standard Measurement (with tools such a rulers, measuring tape, cups, scales) and Non-Standard Measurement (measuring with cube-a-links, popsicle sticks, string, a tracing of their foot, etc.). They measured inside and outside the classroom with standard and non-standard measuring tools. We will continue this unit next week. Thank you Catherine for bringing in measuring tape! The children were quite interested in how engines are measured with "horse power" and horses are measured with 'hands!' They watched Peep and the Big Wide World learn how to measure, too. Please encourage your children to measure things at home with standard and non-standard tools.
On Friday the children enjoyed hot chocolate after learning The Hot Chocolate Song. They are also learning two songs/poems about Measurement.
Thank you Alexandra for collating this month's Scholastic Orders! January's order is due om the 27th. Thank you Alexandra;s dad for being our Mystery Reader this week!
It was our turn with the iPads this week. Fun!
The SK homework for this week is to unscramble the words to make and write sentences, and to fill in the blanks to make words.
On January 17 the children will be going to a special Planetarium Presentation in the Library. That will be exciting! January 27 is our next Sharing Assembly.
In Science, the children are learning about the properties and science of Snow. They are also learning two poems about snow. We read and discussed the plot, setting and characters of Robert Munsch's classic book, "Thomas' Snowsuit" and the children are writing what their favourite part was.
In the Computer Lab, the kids are doing Bookflix from the LKS Virtual Library. Thank you Ms. Santiago!
With our Book Buddies we started a booklet called, "Are You Cold?" This week we will measure things in the LKS hallways with our Grade 4 Book Buddies. I know they will do a great job helping the kids understand how to measure big and small things!
In Friday's mail bags there were the new January word wall words and some of the work your children finished this week.
That's the news from Room 166 - I hope you have a great week!
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Week of December 12-16
Dear families,
I hope you are having a nice weekend!
Last week we did a lot of counting! We counted holiday and winter items, and classroom objects. We talked about how to count: to say the number; arrange the items in a line or in groups of 10; point to the items; take the items away from the group as they are counted. The children also did a worksheet in which they counted the holiday objects and drew a line to the correct number and wrote the number. JKs did 1-1, SKs 1-20.
With their Reading Buddies, the children read, drew and wrote holiday words to make a holiday word wall.
At our Sharing Assembly on Thursday, we will be wearing holiday hats. They are available at the dollar store if you don't have one. We will perform a poem about elves! I hope to see you there! We will also have our Holiday Craft Party on Thursday afternoon!
I have sent home Journals for the JKs. In the journal is a list of sight words. The children are encouraged to draw pictures and write a few words about their picture.
The homework for this week is to complete the LIKE and CAN sight word sheets.
We also made an "Elf's To Do List" and the children wrote their own too. They have finished their elf art and this will go home on Friday, along with their other holiday work. We also did a Candy Cane Investigation! The children ate different flavours of candy cane and wrote about that.
On the Smartboard we learned about Holidays around the world and how to say, "Merry Christmas" in different languages. Next week we will learn about Hannukah, Eid and Kwanzaa.
The children loved watching the rehearsal of The Pirates of Pinantaville, made candy cane reindeer, made a special present for you, and got a letter back from Santa! They also compared and contrasted How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Pete the Cat Saves Christmas. Thank you to Michai's family for donating the Pete the Cat book to our Classroom! Thank you also to Elea's mom who helped out with Pizza Lunch, to Catherine for sharing a Christmas book, and Alex's dad for being Mystery Reader!
That's our news for the week. If your child will be absent on Friday please send in a note so that we can prepare his/her mail bag in advance.
I hope you have a wonderful week, the last one before the holidays!
I hope you are having a nice weekend!
Last week we did a lot of counting! We counted holiday and winter items, and classroom objects. We talked about how to count: to say the number; arrange the items in a line or in groups of 10; point to the items; take the items away from the group as they are counted. The children also did a worksheet in which they counted the holiday objects and drew a line to the correct number and wrote the number. JKs did 1-1, SKs 1-20.
With their Reading Buddies, the children read, drew and wrote holiday words to make a holiday word wall.
At our Sharing Assembly on Thursday, we will be wearing holiday hats. They are available at the dollar store if you don't have one. We will perform a poem about elves! I hope to see you there! We will also have our Holiday Craft Party on Thursday afternoon!
I have sent home Journals for the JKs. In the journal is a list of sight words. The children are encouraged to draw pictures and write a few words about their picture.
The homework for this week is to complete the LIKE and CAN sight word sheets.
We also made an "Elf's To Do List" and the children wrote their own too. They have finished their elf art and this will go home on Friday, along with their other holiday work. We also did a Candy Cane Investigation! The children ate different flavours of candy cane and wrote about that.
On the Smartboard we learned about Holidays around the world and how to say, "Merry Christmas" in different languages. Next week we will learn about Hannukah, Eid and Kwanzaa.
The children loved watching the rehearsal of The Pirates of Pinantaville, made candy cane reindeer, made a special present for you, and got a letter back from Santa! They also compared and contrasted How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Pete the Cat Saves Christmas. Thank you to Michai's family for donating the Pete the Cat book to our Classroom! Thank you also to Elea's mom who helped out with Pizza Lunch, to Catherine for sharing a Christmas book, and Alex's dad for being Mystery Reader!
That's our news for the week. If your child will be absent on Friday please send in a note so that we can prepare his/her mail bag in advance.
I hope you have a wonderful week, the last one before the holidays!
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Week of December 5-9
Dear families,
I hope you are having a lovely weekend - snow today! The kids will love it! We've been teaching the children the Snow Clothes Song (tune is My Darling Clementine):
First the snowpants
Then the boots,
Then the scarf, and the hat
Then the coat and the zipper
And the mittens go on last!
To support the school-wide Hour of Code last week, we talked a lot about the order of things, and the "steps" to accomplish a task, for example:
How to get from the classroom to the Library
How to make a plaster glitter star
How to dress for a cold day
We finished our Dr. Seuss author study! The children's folders went home in Friday's mailbag. I know they will enjoy showing you all their work! They finished the sentence, "If Thing 1 and Thing 2 came to school..." (The Cat in the Hat); "To make the Grinch smile..." (How the Grinch Stole Christmas); and "I want to go to..." (Horton Hears a Who). The children also made their own Horton with paint, and know that, in Dr. Seuss' famous words, "A person's a person, no matter how small." Thank you Ella and Ruby for bring in their Fox in Sox books, to Catherine for sharing her Lorax book and to Megan T. who was our surprise Mystery Reader and read from her own Dr. Seuss collection. With our Reading Buddies, the children completed the sentence "If I Ran the Zoo" from the eponymous Dr. Seuss book, and drew an accompanying picture. They also wrote Truffalo word family words from Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go."
The words of this week were HAVE and SAW. The homework for this week is to do the Holiday Word Search and practice the December words. The Guided Reading Techniques we have learned about are: Eagle Eye, Stretchy Snake, Lips the Fish and Chunky Monkey. I sent a copy of these home in Friday's mailbag.
Thank you to William's dad who was our Mystery Reader this week!
We started talking about the holidays too this week! The excitement is in the air I think! The children made bead pattern candy canes. The SKs had to use three colours, the JKs two. The children were also surprised when Alfie the Elf of the Shelf landed on the North Pole of our classroom globe, and gave each child a backpack bell! The children have finished making their Elves. Next week we will make "Elf To Do Lists" and will continue our Holiday Centres: word presents, clapping the syllables in holiday words, and listening for holiday word ending sounds. In the computer lab the children have been learning to read SNOW words. More to come over the next few weeks!
That's my news for this week - I hope you have a lovely week!
I hope you are having a lovely weekend - snow today! The kids will love it! We've been teaching the children the Snow Clothes Song (tune is My Darling Clementine):
First the snowpants
Then the boots,
Then the scarf, and the hat
Then the coat and the zipper
And the mittens go on last!
To support the school-wide Hour of Code last week, we talked a lot about the order of things, and the "steps" to accomplish a task, for example:
How to get from the classroom to the Library
How to make a plaster glitter star
How to dress for a cold day
We finished our Dr. Seuss author study! The children's folders went home in Friday's mailbag. I know they will enjoy showing you all their work! They finished the sentence, "If Thing 1 and Thing 2 came to school..." (The Cat in the Hat); "To make the Grinch smile..." (How the Grinch Stole Christmas); and "I want to go to..." (Horton Hears a Who). The children also made their own Horton with paint, and know that, in Dr. Seuss' famous words, "A person's a person, no matter how small." Thank you Ella and Ruby for bring in their Fox in Sox books, to Catherine for sharing her Lorax book and to Megan T. who was our surprise Mystery Reader and read from her own Dr. Seuss collection. With our Reading Buddies, the children completed the sentence "If I Ran the Zoo" from the eponymous Dr. Seuss book, and drew an accompanying picture. They also wrote Truffalo word family words from Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go."
The words of this week were HAVE and SAW. The homework for this week is to do the Holiday Word Search and practice the December words. The Guided Reading Techniques we have learned about are: Eagle Eye, Stretchy Snake, Lips the Fish and Chunky Monkey. I sent a copy of these home in Friday's mailbag.
Thank you to William's dad who was our Mystery Reader this week!
We started talking about the holidays too this week! The excitement is in the air I think! The children made bead pattern candy canes. The SKs had to use three colours, the JKs two. The children were also surprised when Alfie the Elf of the Shelf landed on the North Pole of our classroom globe, and gave each child a backpack bell! The children have finished making their Elves. Next week we will make "Elf To Do Lists" and will continue our Holiday Centres: word presents, clapping the syllables in holiday words, and listening for holiday word ending sounds. In the computer lab the children have been learning to read SNOW words. More to come over the next few weeks!
That's my news for this week - I hope you have a lovely week!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)