Hello!

Welcome back! I had a lovely “stay-cation” this summer and spent the majority of my time playing with Hayden and Daisy May. I have come to appreciate the boundless energy that toddlers have to share and have really learned to appreciate grandparents and their generosity of time and babysitting help.

There will be a lot of information and details coming at you over the next week. I hope this letter helps to sum it all up for you.

Attached you will find a package of papers from the school. There will be about one million forms to sign and return. Please do your best as a family to return all of the forms and money as soon as possible as it helps us as a school to organize important information for keeping everything running smoothly and safely. I suggest that you keep the package of forms stapled and returned as one bundle. Thank you for your efficiency with all of the forms.

I am looking forward to another fabulous year. I know it will be a year full of entertaining education.

Room 310 Blog

A few years ago I began a very worthwhile project which was our classroom blog. What is a blog you may ask? A blog is similar to an online journal. Our blog will be used as a means of communication and I will update it often with notes about projects, homework, field trips, and other reminders. I may post links to interesting websites that pertain to what we are studying or images of things that we have been working on in class. I hope you will all check it often! I found that many families found it a wonderful tool to keep in touch with our classroom events. The address is: http://room310churchill.blogspot.com/.

This year I will be taking our blogging to the next level. Please stay tuned for more details.

Class Meeting

Our class meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 15^th at 6:30 in room 310. This will be a very important event and I hope that at least one member of every family is in attendance. We will be discussing group snack, volunteers, areas of parent expertise, and classroom and school routines.

Agendas

I rely heavily on the agendas as a means of communication. Please set aside some time as a family to go over the Churchill Guidelines together and sign them after you have read and discussed them. From then on, each student will be expected to record their nightly reading into their agendas (ex: Tuck Everlasting pages 15-27). Each student should be reading a minimum of 20 minutes a night. I will also ask an adult in the family to sign off the agenda each evening.

Our Schedule

As you all know, the beginning of the year is a precarious time. As new students register and our population settles, it is always possible that our classes can be reorganized. Regardless, I like to take the beginning of the year to establish routines and get working. With that in mind, here is our tentative schedule which can hopefully be written in stone soon.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:00	Math	Math	Math	Math	Math
9:20	French	French	French	French	French
10:00	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess
10:15	Nutrition 1	Nutrition 1	Nutrition 1	Nutrition 1	Nutrition 1
10:30	Literacy	Literacy	Literacy	Literacy	Literacy
11:30	Literacy Including Sci/SS	Literacy Including Sci/SS	Literacy Including Sci/SS	Literacy Including Sci/SS	Literacy Including Sci/SS
12:30	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess
1:10	Nutrition 2	Nutrition 2	Nutrition 2	Nutrition 2	Nutrition 2
1:30	Gym	Gym	Gym	Gym	Arts
2:10					Arts

Terry Fox Day

Terry Fox Day has been a growing success, and a popular event with our community over the past two years. This year we will hold our own Terry Fox run on the afternoon of Thursday, September 30^th at Dovercourt Park.

Shoes and Gym

Footwear that students use outside on the yard is not to be worn in the classroom, library, or gymnasium. This is particularly an issue during the wet and winter months, but it is a practice that we will try to get used to from the beginning of the year. At no time are students to be walking without footwear in the school. Gym shoes must be shoes that can be laced up, are not worn for everyday use outside, and have non- marking soles. This is standard practice for school gyms in order to provide a safe environment for participants.

Group Snack

The group snack program has been a lovely custom here at Churchill and it would be nice to continue it this year. This healthy snack would be shared during first nutrition break and would follow a monthly schedule organized by our volunteer coordinator.

Following the “Healthy Snack” policies that the school promotes, the students in past years made up some guidelines to keep in mind when choosing snack for the class.

· low sugar items

· healthy foods high in vitamins

· variety

· focus on fruits and vegetables

If a relatively “sweet” snack is being provided it should be combined with another item such as carrot sticks, fruit pieces, cheese and crackers, etc.

In the past, we have had nearly one hundred percent participation in this program, but this does not mean that all must take part. If you would prefer to send your child with their own snack each day, and not have them take part in the sharing of snack, simply let me know and I will make sure that your child’s name is not on the schedule. We will probably set a schedule from the second week of school, and try to arrange following months through the volunteer co-coordinators.

Nut Restricted

Please remember that Churchill continues to be a “Nut Restricted” school in an effort to create a safe environment for a number of seriously allergic members of our school community. More information is available through the office concerning the details of this policy, but basically the main item to be aware of are that students are asked to not bring food to school that contains nuts as a major ingredient (especially peanut butter).

Volunteers and Volunteer Co-ordinator

Yes, we still welcome (and need) volunteers in grade 5/6. It may not always be glamorous work, but it is always a valuable contribution that you make to our learning environment when you can find the time to join us in class. You are all encouraged to help out in class whenever possible. If you have a particular strength or area of expertise, please let Tiiu know so that we can make use of it. We are in need of one or two people who are willing to take charge of our volunteer and snack schedule on a month-by-month basis. If you are able to help us out with this please let me know right away so we can start to organize the school year.

I would like to start a read-a-loud program this year which involves students reading a loud to an adult. If you are able to share some time with us, please let Tiiu know at the class meeting.

Wish list

Not everyone can make it in to volunteer for various reasons, but often I am asked if there is anything else that they can do for the class. Here are a few roles that need filling and items that we could benefit from. Let me know if you are able to take care of any of the following “wishes”.

Tissue : If each student could bring in two boxes of facial tissues runny noses would be taken care of for the whole year.

Electric Pencil Sharpener: They actually do a better job of sharpening and save time for the students.

Class visitors : The next best thing to a field trip is a guest to the classroom. If you are (or know) a musician, author, journalist, known athlete, etc. who would be willing to share with the class, please let me know and we can arrange a visit.

Public Library Contact : Go online or in person to the Ottawa Public Library every few weeks and sign out/return books for class use based on the subjects being covered.

Read Aloud Volunteers: Give students in the class a chance to read out loud.

Hand Sanitizer: Our class pump of hand sanitizer sits by the door and gets well used around recess and at other times during the day. Refills are needed two or three times a year.

Books : Both fiction and non fiction to add to the class library.

If you ever have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. You can reach me by phone, here at the school, and leave me a message but the best way to reach me is through email. My email address is tiiu.tsao@ocdsb.ca.

I’m looking forward to an exciting year and working together with all of you.

Sincerely,

Tiiu Tsao

Sorry!

Wow! It's been a bit hectic around here to say the least. The dust is beginning to settle and I have finally found a moment to fill you in on some details.

Interviews: Thank you for your responses to my Parent Teacher Interview requests. It will be difficult to fit everyone in at a convenient time. Please know that I am at school most days until 4:00. If it works better to meet on another day or to arrange a phone conference, I am more than willing to make those accomodations. I am keen to meet with everyone and will do what I can.

Project: We have been discussing persuasive writing in LA. To consolidate some of this information, I will be assigning them an "At Home Project" on Monday. In this project, they will be creating a print advertisement persuading the public to make donations to a charitable organization that they believe in. Please look for the project outline on Monday. I will also send you an electronic copy via email. The final product will be due on Wednesday, December 17th. Please let me know if you have any questions once you've read the outline.


Upcoming Dates:
Thursday, December 4: Interviews/Report Cards go home
Friday, December 5: PD Day/Interviews
Friday, December 12: Next Dulude Skating day, 9:20 to 10:00
Wednesday, December 17: School of Rock Holiday concert, Project due
Friday, December 19: Last day of school

Questions to Ask:
What is fanboys?
Do you think students should wear uniforms? Why or why not?
What is Bernoulli's Principle? (grade 6)
How did your E-Fly work? (grade 6)
What do you need to add in order to turn a solid into a liquid? What do you have to take away to turn a gas into a liquid? (grade 5)
Which friend of Tiiu's did you write a letter to and why?
Who is Channel X and what have they asked you to do?
What do contrasting colours have to do with shadow?

Whew

Wow! That was quite the busy week. Our Haunted House was a great success. It was a long day and the kids did a great job at making each show as scary as the last. I will try and upload the pictures soon. Thank you so much to Matt, Sophia, Lise, Stephanie, Wendy, and Janine for helping us put everything together. Thank you also to all of the donations of boxes and extra props. The kids had a fabulous time.

I'd like to think that things will slow down and get back to a normal pace now but November seems busier than ever. Here are some upcoming dates:

November 10-Play at Summit
November 11-Rememberance Day and Ceremony and the Cenotaph
November 14-PD Day
November 21-Skating at Dulude (10:00 to 10:40)

Our student teacher Carissa will also be back next week for her 5 week placement.

We are wrapping up our unit on Conservation of Energy and Electricity. To do this, we will be having an open book test. Students will be given a worksheet to complete with the aid of the text we've been using in class as well as their notebooks. We will be preparing in class for this exercise.

I haven't received very much feedback on the new math routine of the homework. Please pass on any comments you have for me to my email address.
I am seeing a definite improvement in the reading responses that I have been getting back. Right now I am focusing on the structure of the responses so that the students get used to writing an introduction, a body with a minimum of 2-3 sentences, and a conclusion. I would also like the students to focus on editing their work.

Coming up, we are looking at Properties of and Changes in Matter (grade 5) and Flight (grade6). We will be studying volleyball skills, and persuasive writing.

Keep in touch!

Haunted House

Boo! Did I scare you? Well, if I didn't, our Haunted House is sure to. After analyzing the data from our Scary Survey, we have decided that we need to create a Haunted School and we also know a variety of methods for successfully scaring our customers. Tomorrow, we will be hammering out all of the finer details and we will begin to build our sets on Wednesday and Thursday. If you are available to help paint on either of those days, please let me know. We will likely be doing a lot of the work on Thursday from 10:30 until 12:10. I also know that we are in need of large cardboard boxes or other large pieces of cardboard. I am going to hit up the furniture store on Churchill but if you have any other sources, please pass them on to me. I will forward you more details of other items we're looking for before the weekend.
We started our new math routine and it seemed to go well on all fronts. The students have math homework in their duotangs from their math teachers and a few of them also have a cursive practice sheet from me. This homework duotang is due on Thursday morning. All students in my class also have a reading response which is due on Friday. We have done the first two in class so that I could model what I was looking for. All students are responding to the third question this week which asks them to make a prediction and to prove that prediction with evidence from the text. I asked them to use a t-table to help them plan. At minimum, I'm looking for an introductory sentence, 2-3 sentences in the body that uses proof from the text, and a conclusion sentence. I have also been stressing to the kids the importance of proofreading.
Carissa Papp, our student teacher from the University of Ottawa, began her practicum today. She will be with us all week and then will go back to the university for a week. After that, she will be with us for five weeks of placement. Welcome Carissa!
If you have any questions regarding the Haunted House, the new math routine, or the homework, please do not hesitate!

ps I am working on solving the email issues. I hope to have it fixed soon.

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.