What a great way to start the week. We went to see 'Sharon and Bram' perform their famous music for us. Yes, the finale involved the 'Skinnamarink' song! ( I actually looked up how to spell this). You may remember them from the 'Sharon, Lois and Bram Elephant show'. Perhaps you grew up watching them on television.
Letter Writing
We are getting ready to learn about 'letter writing' as a text form. Today, we tried to solve a mystery involving a letter written to us with 11 common errors. Most students found 5 to 8 mistakes which tells me I have some work to do. I will post some pictures of our progress as we go along. We will be writing letters to Santa this year using our Halton chatt website. The focus will be on persuading Santa to visit our house. I'm looking forward to hearing the rationales. Should be interesting.
Fads
Here is the latest fad, which made me reflect on how many fads I've seen in my teaching career.
Ninja turtles (with artist names like Michaelangelo etc)
Power rangers
Pogs
Bey blades and stadium (have made at least two appearances)
Pokemon (I once had students chase me into the washroom, peer under the stall door in order to help me solve a Pokemon crisis involving a bad trade...will never forget this. They didn't even notice what I was doing as they were so focused on the cards)
Digimon
Nano pets (which needed to be fed and if taken away would make dying noises in my desk drawer!)
I'm sure there are more but these are the ones I remember off the top of my head.
And now...Rainbow looms
Winter
Sounds like we are in for a bit of winter. I recently made this soup and it was wonderful. You really do have to add the crunchy bits - they make it!!! This will absolutely warm you up!
http://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/pumpkin-soup/
Have a great week and stay warm!
On Monday, Progress Report cards will be coming home. This is an indicator of how your child is progressing both academically and socially. During the interview, your child will be sharing their 'Learning Skills' booklet which is a very important aspect. A student may not always be able to control their marks (e.g., if your child is a struggling reader then getting an 'A' may not be attainable in the first term), however understanding their role as a learner is imperative to success. The interviews will be 20 minutes in length and will be run for the first 10 minutes by your child so it is important that they accompany you. The last 10 minutes will be with all of us, and we will need to discuss goals as per the bottom portion of the report. Please consider in advance what is a realistic goal for your child. Here is a link to the post I created last year if you would like to read more information.
CLICK HERE
Visualization
We have been using the reading strategy 'Visualization' for creating mental images. Why is this important?...well according to Debbie Miller (Reading with Meaning) "evoking vivid mental images helps readers create vivid images in their writing". As children develop schema and understanding through both personal experiences and shared experience (reading, conversation, doing) they will be able to increase both their reading comprehension and writing abilities. Here are 3 great books to use for visualization. We read 'Tough Boris' with Mrs Homewood this week. Students had to listen to the story without benefit of pictures (we put the book inside another book when reading). Then students were challenged to draw what they think 'Tough Boris' looked like based on the descriptors the writer provided. When the pictures were revealed, students were amazed how accurately they visualized how the main character would look. This naturally led to a discussion on adjectives and how important it is to provide them in our own writing.
Here is a sneak peak at some art we are working on. Each student has created a different piece based on the letter of their first name. It is also really helpful for us to understand the math concepts of 'flips, slides and turns'. Hopefully we can get them ready for when you visit us this week for interviews.
Aren't the finished art pieces amazing! Can you see the first letters of their names used as the template?
Math Jam
This week was so busy with all the wonderful drama experiences organized for us. We started with 'Math Jam' a fantastic interactive show that combines music, acting and math concepts for all grade levels in attendance. I have to say, I have seen a variety of these shows over the years and this one was one of the best. Kudos to the young actor and actress who really held the primary students spellbound.
Boris Brott Orchestra Trip
Then we travelled to Mohawk college to see the Boris Brott youth orchestra. They taught us about each instrument in the orchestra and about music from around the world. For me, watching the artist paint on a large silk canvas as each song was played was fascinating. I think the breakdancers were a highlight for the students. Their finale included spinning on the top of their heads (no hands) for a few minutes. When we got back to class and went out to recess, I had to intervene when a few inspired students decided to try this move in the grass...yikes!
At the end of the day we had a presentation about Ecology. We learned about the 3R's, Reduce, Re-use and Recycle. The presenter from Halton's waste management had really interesting slides that explained where our recycled waste goes and how it is re-used. Did you know that polar fleece is made from recycled plastic pop bottles?
Whew, busy week.
