Thank you to those of you who have gotten back to me about interview dates. I'm starting to fill in the slots today and will get back to you about your scheduled time.
We've been doing some very interesting things in room 310. Here are some links.
As an introduction to our Mini Metric Olympics, Scott talked to the class about the 2010 Winter Olympics and the introduction of their mascots. Here is a link to the mascot's site:
http://www.vancouver2010.com/mascot/en/index.php
The other day, we had an interesting discussion about cyberbullying which came after this great video. Check it out:
http://www.digizen.org/cyberbullying/film.aspx
We are going to be doing an interesting assignment on cyber-safety later this week. The final product will be a presentation at the next school sharing which will take place next Thursday.
We have started to talk about our play. Maggie, Ray, and I have decided to base our play on the Music Book which was a play that Churchill performed a few years ago. We will be writing it as a team. It's going to be a very exciting project.
We have almost reached 1000 paper cranes for Anna. The next step to this project will be to thread the cranes in preperation for displaying them.
Scott and Gavin will only be around for one more week. If you haven't already met them, you may get a chance at the interviews next week. They have been amazing and I know the kids and I will miss them lots. We're going to do our best to enjoy our last week together.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Interviews
I will be booking parent/teacher interviews next week. I like to do interviews for first term rather than student lead conferences because I like to have the opportunity to meet with everyone. I do not mind if they are three-way conferences (the student is present). Scott and Gavin will try to be present for most of the interviews as well.
I will be available next Thursday from 2:30 to 7:00 and again on Friday morning from 7:30 to 11:30. I would like to keep each meeting to 20 minutes. Please email me and tell me when you are available. I will make the schedule and tell everyone when their time will be. If you cannot make it on either day, please tell me and we'll try to find another time to meet.
I'm looking forward to getting together will you!
ps Please remember that marks will NOT be made available this term.
I will be available next Thursday from 2:30 to 7:00 and again on Friday morning from 7:30 to 11:30. I would like to keep each meeting to 20 minutes. Please email me and tell me when you are available. I will make the schedule and tell everyone when their time will be. If you cannot make it on either day, please tell me and we'll try to find another time to meet.
I'm looking forward to getting together will you!
ps Please remember that marks will NOT be made available this term.
Monday, November 26, 2007
What's New in 310
I hope everyone had a great weekend. It was nice to see so many of you at the craft fair this weekend.
Things are moving along nicely here in 310. Our two student teachers are doing a fine job and are taking over many parts of our day. Both of them are tackling the science units. Gavin is working on Flight and Properties of Air with the grade sixes while Scott and the fives are looking at Properties of and Changes in Matter. Both classes have been doing a lot of hands on work and seem to be having a lot of fun while learning.
This Friday, we will be skating at Dulude. I will send home a permission form tonight. This permission form has all of our Dulude skating dates written on it. Please take note of all of the dates. I would love to have as many parent volunteers as possible. You are welcome to come over on the bus with us or meet us there. Let me know!
I have been busy working on report card writing. As a little treat for myself (and for the kids) there will only be a reading response for homework this week. This week's question will be about making connections with the texts they are reading. Many of the students have been using a graphic organizer to help them plan their responses. This is a great idea and the kids should continue to do so.
Things are moving along nicely here in 310. Our two student teachers are doing a fine job and are taking over many parts of our day. Both of them are tackling the science units. Gavin is working on Flight and Properties of Air with the grade sixes while Scott and the fives are looking at Properties of and Changes in Matter. Both classes have been doing a lot of hands on work and seem to be having a lot of fun while learning.
This Friday, we will be skating at Dulude. I will send home a permission form tonight. This permission form has all of our Dulude skating dates written on it. Please take note of all of the dates. I would love to have as many parent volunteers as possible. You are welcome to come over on the bus with us or meet us there. Let me know!
I have been busy working on report card writing. As a little treat for myself (and for the kids) there will only be a reading response for homework this week. This week's question will be about making connections with the texts they are reading. Many of the students have been using a graphic organizer to help them plan their responses. This is a great idea and the kids should continue to do so.
Monday, November 19, 2007
This week in 310
Our homework routine will be different this week. The reading response will follow the same routine. This week's question focuses on predicting. There will be no homework duotang. The students have been given a 2-sided graphic organizer to complete for homework instead. It is the first stage of the play that we will be writing and presenting with Ray and Maggie's classes. The grade 5s are to focus on the 1960s while the grade 6s should focus on the 1990s. They may use magazines, books, Internet, or interview people (like their parents) to get their information.
We will use this research to create our play.
We will use this research to create our play.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Welcome Back
This week we welcome back Gavin and Scott, our student teachers from the University of Ottawa. Gavin and Scott will be with us for the next four weeks. During that time, they'll be taking over some of the teaching and trying their hands at some of the other aspects of teaching such as assessment and field trip planning. We're very lucky to have a pair of such keen and fresh students to come and join us.
Last week's reading responses were very well done. This week's response is about summarizing. Some students found it difficult to get these responses in on time last week. Please try and get them in on Friday.
Last week we learned how to write friendly letters. We read a sample letter and talked about how it was organized into paragraphs. We also learned how to use a graphic organizer to help us plan our letter out. Then, we all wrote letters to Luke Richardson. Luke is an Ottawa Sentor who used to live in Westboro and even went to Churchill. Many of us tried to persuade him to come and visit us at Churchill. We're going to send our letters off this week and then we'll have to wait and see.
This week in Language, we are focusing on a writing assignment that requires the students to write with powerful words. The assignment is based on a beautiful book called "Imagine a Night".
In math, we are going to wrap up our mini unit on data management. So far, we have already learned how to develop a question, tally and collect our data, and create a graph using Microsoft Excel. This week we are going to look at interpreting data from different types of graphs and about mean, median, and mode.
In gym we are focusing on basketball skills and we are also continuing our look at Macromedia Flash.
Last week the students learned how to make paper cranes. Some of them were talking about the story of Sadako and came up with the idea to make one thousand paper cranes for Anna. They are highly motivated. They have spread the word around the rest of the school and are continuing to spend their free time on this endeavour.
Things in room 310 are really coming along. The students are learning how to focus on their work. I'm really proud of them.
Last week's reading responses were very well done. This week's response is about summarizing. Some students found it difficult to get these responses in on time last week. Please try and get them in on Friday.
Last week we learned how to write friendly letters. We read a sample letter and talked about how it was organized into paragraphs. We also learned how to use a graphic organizer to help us plan our letter out. Then, we all wrote letters to Luke Richardson. Luke is an Ottawa Sentor who used to live in Westboro and even went to Churchill. Many of us tried to persuade him to come and visit us at Churchill. We're going to send our letters off this week and then we'll have to wait and see.
This week in Language, we are focusing on a writing assignment that requires the students to write with powerful words. The assignment is based on a beautiful book called "Imagine a Night".
In math, we are going to wrap up our mini unit on data management. So far, we have already learned how to develop a question, tally and collect our data, and create a graph using Microsoft Excel. This week we are going to look at interpreting data from different types of graphs and about mean, median, and mode.
In gym we are focusing on basketball skills and we are also continuing our look at Macromedia Flash.
Last week the students learned how to make paper cranes. Some of them were talking about the story of Sadako and came up with the idea to make one thousand paper cranes for Anna. They are highly motivated. They have spread the word around the rest of the school and are continuing to spend their free time on this endeavour.
Things in room 310 are really coming along. The students are learning how to focus on their work. I'm really proud of them.
Monday, November 5, 2007
It's been a while...
I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to post anything lately. What with the Haunted House and loose ends around here, I haven't been able to find the time.
I am still working on getting the class pictures uploaded so that I can share them with you. I think I am going to go with Walmart. They have a site where I can upload the pictures and then share the pictures (via email) with you. Once you login, you can view the pictures and choose to print some. I have emailed a few of you who did not give permission with the media consent form. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns with this.
The Haunted House was a huge success. The kids worked really hard to stay focused all day. So many students and parents have come up to me to say how great it was. The students should feel really proud of their hard work.
I spent the weekend marking the Social Studies brochures. I have sent home the brochure along with the rubric. Please sign the rubric and have your student return it. You may keep the brochures.
The brochures were very well done but I have decided that the students may need some more guidance with research projects. We will be doing another research project but this one will be done entirely in class so that I can guide them through each step.
This week we are working on a special presentation with Ray's class for the school's Remembrance Day ceremony on Friday at 10:00. We are finishing a mini data management unit in math reflecting upon Halloween where we are going to learn how to use Excel. We are also going to learn about letter writing in Language.
The other piece of news has to do with the reading response. I handed out a regular homework booklet today. We are going to be starting the reading response homework this week as well. Each week, the student's will be required to write one reading response. There are 6 different types of questions that the students can pick from. I will be modelling an appropriate answer to each of these questions in class by covering one type of question each week. Therefore, for the first 6 weeks, I would like the students to answer the type of question that I have modelled that week. This week's question has to do with characters. After I have covered all six, the students may choose which type they do. Please see the instructions and the different types of questions which will be glued in their reading response books. They should bring these home tomorrow. If you have any questions regarding this routine, please let me know.
I am still working on getting the class pictures uploaded so that I can share them with you. I think I am going to go with Walmart. They have a site where I can upload the pictures and then share the pictures (via email) with you. Once you login, you can view the pictures and choose to print some. I have emailed a few of you who did not give permission with the media consent form. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns with this.
The Haunted House was a huge success. The kids worked really hard to stay focused all day. So many students and parents have come up to me to say how great it was. The students should feel really proud of their hard work.
I spent the weekend marking the Social Studies brochures. I have sent home the brochure along with the rubric. Please sign the rubric and have your student return it. You may keep the brochures.
The brochures were very well done but I have decided that the students may need some more guidance with research projects. We will be doing another research project but this one will be done entirely in class so that I can guide them through each step.
This week we are working on a special presentation with Ray's class for the school's Remembrance Day ceremony on Friday at 10:00. We are finishing a mini data management unit in math reflecting upon Halloween where we are going to learn how to use Excel. We are also going to learn about letter writing in Language.
The other piece of news has to do with the reading response. I handed out a regular homework booklet today. We are going to be starting the reading response homework this week as well. Each week, the student's will be required to write one reading response. There are 6 different types of questions that the students can pick from. I will be modelling an appropriate answer to each of these questions in class by covering one type of question each week. Therefore, for the first 6 weeks, I would like the students to answer the type of question that I have modelled that week. This week's question has to do with characters. After I have covered all six, the students may choose which type they do. Please see the instructions and the different types of questions which will be glued in their reading response books. They should bring these home tomorrow. If you have any questions regarding this routine, please let me know.
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