This week

Hello

I thought I'd update you on a few things:

In art, we are going to be starting a new project that will require some searching at home. The kids should be looking for labels/packaging (cereal boxes, pop drinks, juice, milk). They need to choose a design where the name of the product contains the same amount of letters as their own name. They are to bring this packaging in to class ASAP (tomorrow if possible). They will be recreating this design, emulating the style (fonts, colouring, design elements) while advertising themselves rather than a product.

In language arts, we are wrapping up our look at procedural writing. To do this, the students are creating their own recipes (fake or real). The focus of this activity is the use of sequencing words, imperative sentences, and word choice (for interest and to help make directions clear).

Next week, we will be starting something new and exciting in math. With the support of Terra (a new teacher to Churchill), we will be dividing the classes of Maggie, Ray, and Tiiu into 4 groups. These will be our new math classes. This is something that the grade 3/4s have been doing with success. We are very excited to give this new idea a go. I will pass on new information to you as it comes.

This will mean a change to our homework routine. The likely scenario will be that the students' math teachers will hand out a homework duotang much like our old one. I will add cursive sheets to the duotangs of those who need it. This duotang will likely be handed out and due on the same day as it is now. Starting next week, the reading response will also become part of the homework routine. We have been doing them in class with my support for the past couple of weeks. Next week, I will let them fly solo.

We have also started to discuss our Haunted House. It has become a tradition that the students in my class have organized a haunted house for the entire school. This year, we have taken a new approach. We are looking at this project as a business. Our first task was to establish our goals for our haunted house. Next, we created a survery to assess what our customers are scared of and some of their thoughts on haunted houses in general. We will be analyzing this data and making decisions based on what we can infer. Then we will create a plan and move forward from there. I know that I will need help as the day approaches. We will definitely need some support to build our set and we will probably need a hand or two on the day of.

There is an upcoming field trip to the War Museum. I believe the field trip form will be going out this week. We will be going on October 30th. Please mark the date in case you'd like to volunteer.

I think that is it for now. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns

overnight

Hello
Here are some notes about the overnight this week:
As I was only able to bring along 4 parents, I had to choose on a first come, first serve basis while also taking care of some other obligatory needs. Coming with us will be Emma's dad, Molly's dad, Ian's dad, and Michael's dad. There may be an opportunity for 1 or 2 other parents to come if some of the other classes cannot find volunteers. If you are interested, please email me back as soon as possible and I will confirm with you if you are needed by tomorrow evening. Thanks for all of the offers to help!
I have also secured some volunteers to help cook our hotdog lunch on Friday and Ailis's mom will be making us some muffins for Friday's snack. What great help you all are!
We will be meeting at the museum at 6:30. Please make sure that the students only bring what is necessary and that they have everything packed away into two packages (a bag of clothing and a bag of sleeping gear). As discussed in class, please leave your cameras at home. I will have a class camera there and take lots of pictures.
There are a few missing permission forms. Please return those to me as soon as possible.
Thanks again!
Tiiu Tsao
Churchill Alternative School
Grade 5/6

Overnight

Hello

I have not yet gone through the overnight permission forms so I do not know how has kindly offered to volunteer yet. As I can only take a limited amount of adults, please wait for my confirmation before packing your bags.
In science, we have been looking at energy and electricity. Here is a site that the kids might find interesting to look at: http://kids.everykilowattcounts.com/en/.
In language, we are continuing to look at procedural writing and we are also looking at word choice, one of the six traits of writing. Here is something you can ask the kids at the dinner table: What are the four different kinds of sentences and what actions did you learn for each of them?
In math, we are continuing to look at the four operations. Today, we took our first look at division. I will try and send home a primer on our lattice method and my new method for division so that you can help those students who choose to use these methods.
I have had some feedback on the homework. I will be taking another look at the spelling homework and see if I can change the layout or find something more appropriate. If your student comes home with certain questions circled with pen, please know that I am asking them to only complete those questions.
I want to remind everyone that this Friday is a PD Day and that tomorrow is photo day. Individual pictures will be taken tomorrow with our class photo being taken on re-take day.

Hello!

Just a few notes before we take off for the Terry Fox Run:

Yesterday, two students came in to speak with us about CISV and their experiences this past summer. I sent home a flyer about an information meeting taking place this evening. If you cannot make it to the meeting tonight, there will be another one scheduled later on in November. Please check the website for more information: http://www.cisv.ca/

In class, we have been looking at procedural writing as a text form. We have identified several common characteristics such as the use of sequencing words and imperative sentences.

I will be sending home a permisson form and letter about our upcoming overnight which will take place on the evening of October 9th. Please return the form as soon as possible.

I hope the first week of the homework routine went well. Please pass on any comments or feedback to me via email.

A reminder that next Friday is a PD Day.

Our group snack schedule begins next week. The schedule for next week is as follows:
Jordan-Monday, Nathan-Tuesday, James-Wednesday, and Rowan-Thursday.

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Riddle

Here is the riddle that I put on the board this morning:

It is a regular Wednesday and Tiiu is taking attendance in 310. She notes that everyone is present. Ms. D stands at the doorway and asks Tiiu how many "humans" are in the room. Tiiu thinks for a moment and answers 24. If there are 22 students in 310, how is that possible?

Some guessed that Ms. D counted as one. One student guessed that I was so special that I counted as 2. No one guessed correctly and it took them a moment before they understood the solution.

Thank you for a great class meeting last night!

September 15, 2008

Hello

I hope you all had a restful weekend and got to enjoy the weather on Saturday. I have a couple of reminders for you.
Please remember that the class meeting is at 6:00 tomorrow. I told the students that they are welcome to join us as it is about our year. I also mentioned that we would have a lot to discuss and would be sitting and talking for about an hour and that we don't have a lot of room in our class so...they may not want to join us. I will not have any child care arranged for that evening. I am hoping to be finished at around 7:00.
We are going on a field trip on Wednesday. Unfortunately, our photocopier is on the fritz. I will be able to send home a form tonight. Please return in it promptly along with the $3.00. I am looking for a couple of volunteers as well.
The Family Breakfast is this Friday. Forms for this event were sent out last week and are due back tomorrow. I hope to see you there!
See you all tomorrow!

Welcome!

Welcome to the first post for this school year! I hope many of you will check our blog on a weekly basis.
It has been a great start to the year so far. It has been amazing to have such a small class (22!). Hopefully, things will stay the same and we won't be reorganized.
The students and I created a wonderful mission statement. I will try and post it here soon. We started our novel read-a-loud. It is called the Wright 3 and has a lot to do with the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and mysterious codes. We are working on finding the averages of some interesting facts about our class, and we're taking some time to get to know one another.
I am happy to see that almost all of the students have gotten into the routine of reading every night and writing it into their agendas. This is an important routine that will continue throughout the year.
I collected many forms today. Please keep the rest coming.
I am hoping that students can each have a pair of indoor shoes that stay here at school. They should be appropriate for gym (good treads, closed toe, non marking soles). The students will be asked to keep outdoor shoes out in the hallway.
If anyone has any extra boxes of tissue around, we would love a box or two for the classroom.
Thank you for many of the warm welcomes. I hope to meet all of you soon. Please stay tuned for information regarding our class meeting.