Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Hello
This is our student teachers' last week. John and Nancy have done a fine job at molding these young minds. They have chosen engaging activities and have really been motivated to get to know the kids well.
As they wrap up their activities, I look forward to starting fresh and getting back to the front of the room. I've missed the kids and have a lot of good ideas planned. Please note that there will be some added duties in the homework routines starting soon.
We are wrapping up our unit on geometry this week. The students are continuing to practice their skills with the compass. They are using them to create shapes and angles with specific measurements.
In science, we are finishing our units on the human body systems and on diversity of living things. The grade 5s are finishing their nets of information and the grade 6s continue to work on their New Life Convention presentations.
Andrew Robertson and I are going to do some team teaching this week. I will be going into his classroom on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday while he comes into ours. I am really excited for our class to get to meet this dynamic and fun member of our community.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
We had a fun day today! In math, John had the students designing nets for prisms and pyramids. We were using triangular dot paper and manipulatives. We reviewed that prisms are 3D shapes that have two congruent and opposite faces which are joined by rectangular faces while pyramids have one base with triangular faces that meet at one vertice. The kids were very successful with this activity. Some finished early and built other 3D shapes which they discovered were called dodecahedrons! How many faces does a dodecahedron have?
In literacy, we had a lot of fun with our "13 Words" stories. The mind maps are really helping us to develop some interesting stories.
The 5s worked with Nancy on their culminating science activity which is a paper cube that they are building which has information on each face that represents the different systems of the human body.
The 6s stayed with John and I and were introduced to their culminating science activity. To demonstrate their understanding of the unit, they have been invited to the New Life Convention. As scientists in the field of Zoology, they have all made discoveries of new animal life on earth! They are organizing their presentation to show us this new animal and where it fits within the classification system. We will be working on this project at school. I will try and remember to send you a copy of the project outline tomorrow via email. Remember kids, no cryptids allowed!
In gym, we learned about our heart rates.
Hope you have a dry and cozy evening!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Hello!
It was so nice to meet so many of you over the past few days. It really helps me to plan for the future and get focused. I appreciate your time.
John and Nancy are getting more comfortable with the class and planning. John has continued his focus on geometry and I am watching him teach a lesson about 3D shapes right now. The students are talking about nets and are using manipulatives to explore possible nets for a cube. Nancy is continuing her science unit. Yesterday, they played an interesting game about monocultures. Ask the kids about it!
Yesterday, she also started a writing lesson based on the book "13 Words" by Lemony Snicket. For this assignment, the class worked in groups to choose thirteen scintillating words. They are now focusing on the planning process of writing. The focus is to plan many possible stories rather than picking only one idea. They are using our "Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then" strategy to backwards plan five possible stories based on the thirteen words. Our thirteen words are: Captain Watermelon, flying (adjective), cheerful, violet, species, kitty, hippodrome, Starbucks, fuchia, platypus, diabolical, erratic, and ectotherm. Today, they will continue the planning and writing while John pulls small groups to do a guided reading lesson about Van Gogh which focuses on inferencing.
It was so nice to meet so many of you over the past few days. It really helps me to plan for the future and get focused. I appreciate your time.
John and Nancy are getting more comfortable with the class and planning. John has continued his focus on geometry and I am watching him teach a lesson about 3D shapes right now. The students are talking about nets and are using manipulatives to explore possible nets for a cube. Nancy is continuing her science unit. Yesterday, they played an interesting game about monocultures. Ask the kids about it!
Yesterday, she also started a writing lesson based on the book "13 Words" by Lemony Snicket. For this assignment, the class worked in groups to choose thirteen scintillating words. They are now focusing on the planning process of writing. The focus is to plan many possible stories rather than picking only one idea. They are using our "Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then" strategy to backwards plan five possible stories based on the thirteen words. Our thirteen words are: Captain Watermelon, flying (adjective), cheerful, violet, species, kitty, hippodrome, Starbucks, fuchia, platypus, diabolical, erratic, and ectotherm. Today, they will continue the planning and writing while John pulls small groups to do a guided reading lesson about Van Gogh which focuses on inferencing.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Happy Tuesday!
I bet you were wondering what was going on in room 310 lately. Well folks, I'm here to fill you in.
Nancy and John have been doing a great job. I've given each of them an area of focus. Nancy is planning and implementing a mini science unit on The Human Body for the 5s and Diversity of Living Things for the 6s. I will have her post a copy of the expectations she has outlined for them for her culminating activity (to be completed in class) here.
John is focusin on math, more specifically, geometry. He is using the Smart Board a lot which has really helped to hook them into the lesson. They have been identifying angles (acute, right, obtuse, straight, reflex) and polygons.
I think I have heard back from almost all of you concerning interviews. I'm trying to accomodate everyone. Hopefully, by the end of next week, I will have met with all of you. This is an interview. If you would like to include the students on the conversation, I am comfortable with that. I see this as a time for us to assess issues and set some goals.
Thursday's trip to the Cenotaph is a go. Some of you forgot to check off how you would like your child to be dismissed. This was on the back of the field trip form. The options were to come back a little early and be on time for regular dismissal (2:30), be dismissed directly from the Cenotaph (2:40), or walk back after the ceremony and be dismissed from school (2:40). I have sent home the permission forms who needed to have this completed.
Have a wonderful evening.
I bet you were wondering what was going on in room 310 lately. Well folks, I'm here to fill you in.
Nancy and John have been doing a great job. I've given each of them an area of focus. Nancy is planning and implementing a mini science unit on The Human Body for the 5s and Diversity of Living Things for the 6s. I will have her post a copy of the expectations she has outlined for them for her culminating activity (to be completed in class) here.
John is focusin on math, more specifically, geometry. He is using the Smart Board a lot which has really helped to hook them into the lesson. They have been identifying angles (acute, right, obtuse, straight, reflex) and polygons.
I think I have heard back from almost all of you concerning interviews. I'm trying to accomodate everyone. Hopefully, by the end of next week, I will have met with all of you. This is an interview. If you would like to include the students on the conversation, I am comfortable with that. I see this as a time for us to assess issues and set some goals.
Thursday's trip to the Cenotaph is a go. Some of you forgot to check off how you would like your child to be dismissed. This was on the back of the field trip form. The options were to come back a little early and be on time for regular dismissal (2:30), be dismissed directly from the Cenotaph (2:40), or walk back after the ceremony and be dismissed from school (2:40). I have sent home the permission forms who needed to have this completed.
Have a wonderful evening.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Today in math I gave them a very difficult Daily Problem. It was more difficult then I intended. I decided not to take it up all the way as I didn't want to lose anyone. If you feel like a challenge, here it is:
For $5.00 you can buy 7 pens and 5 notebooks OR 9 pens and 3 notebooks. At the same unit price, how much would 2 pens and 1 notebook be?
Tomorrow, I will cover how to solve this problem and I will apologize for choosing a daily problem that was too challenging.
Next up, we started our unit on geometry. We reviewed the different types of angles. I then challenged them. In pairs, I handed them a sheet with 4 different angles on them including a right angle which we established as measuring 90 degrees. I then gave them a protractor and asked them to figure out how to use one on their own and then to write out instructions. As they worked, I circulated and followed their instructions while demonstrating how unclear they were being. They soon picked up on what I was saying, and began to get more explicit. None of them were able to finish and we will take this up tomorrow.
In Literacy, we reviewed our illogical spelling words. Students were then asked to write a mini story encompassing all of these words. They found this exercise very entertaining. Later they were able to reflect that it was fun because there weren't any rules like our other writing assignments.
We listened to the story "A Bad Case of Stripes" again but this time, Sean Astin read it to us. You can find the link here. Next, we brainstormed "feeling" words to describe how Camilla might have felt when her classmates were teasing her. We then brainstormed feeling words for other characters in the book.
Students were then asked to choose one of the feeling words from Camilla's list and to write about a situation where they shared the same feeling.
We will wrap up this book tomorrow.
I am sorry about the mistakes on the permission form. The date is in fact March 11th and not the 12th and I am collecting $12.50, not $2.50.
Tie Dye Day is Friday as well as our first Dulude trip.
For $5.00 you can buy 7 pens and 5 notebooks OR 9 pens and 3 notebooks. At the same unit price, how much would 2 pens and 1 notebook be?
Tomorrow, I will cover how to solve this problem and I will apologize for choosing a daily problem that was too challenging.
Next up, we started our unit on geometry. We reviewed the different types of angles. I then challenged them. In pairs, I handed them a sheet with 4 different angles on them including a right angle which we established as measuring 90 degrees. I then gave them a protractor and asked them to figure out how to use one on their own and then to write out instructions. As they worked, I circulated and followed their instructions while demonstrating how unclear they were being. They soon picked up on what I was saying, and began to get more explicit. None of them were able to finish and we will take this up tomorrow.
In Literacy, we reviewed our illogical spelling words. Students were then asked to write a mini story encompassing all of these words. They found this exercise very entertaining. Later they were able to reflect that it was fun because there weren't any rules like our other writing assignments.
We listened to the story "A Bad Case of Stripes" again but this time, Sean Astin read it to us. You can find the link here. Next, we brainstormed "feeling" words to describe how Camilla might have felt when her classmates were teasing her. We then brainstormed feeling words for other characters in the book.
Students were then asked to choose one of the feeling words from Camilla's list and to write about a situation where they shared the same feeling.
We will wrap up this book tomorrow.
I am sorry about the mistakes on the permission form. The date is in fact March 11th and not the 12th and I am collecting $12.50, not $2.50.
Tie Dye Day is Friday as well as our first Dulude trip.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Hello November!
With this new month comes many new beginnings.
Today we welcomed Nancy and John, our student teachers from the University of Ottawa. They will be with us for the next 4 weeks.
We will soon be starting new units in Math (Geometry), Literacy (Persuasive Texts), and Science (Human Body/Diversity of Living Things).
Today in Literacy we read "A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon". We practiced our summarizing strategy of Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then. The students then answered this prompt: What is the lesoon of this story? They were instructed on how to answer with an introduction, a body of evidence, and a conclusion. We spoke about how a summary and a moral differ. They discussed their answers in small groups and then we came up with a concensus as a whole group that the moral was to be yourself. We will continue with this story tomorrow.
Students were in the computer lab graphing their Halloween haul. I'd like to get all of the data tomorrow so that we can start interpreting and making connections between our estimates and our actual data.
Two permission forms were sent home today. One was for our Dulude skating dates. Please note that there is a mistake on the form. Although it states that the trip costs $2.00, we are really asking for $10 since it is $2.00 per trip. The other form was for our trip to the cenotaph. Please note that we may be back a little late from this trip but can accomodate anyone who cannot be a little late.
I will be asking for Interview dates and times soon. I'd like to try and meet with everyone for this round.
With this new month comes many new beginnings.
Today we welcomed Nancy and John, our student teachers from the University of Ottawa. They will be with us for the next 4 weeks.
We will soon be starting new units in Math (Geometry), Literacy (Persuasive Texts), and Science (Human Body/Diversity of Living Things).
Today in Literacy we read "A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon". We practiced our summarizing strategy of Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then. The students then answered this prompt: What is the lesoon of this story? They were instructed on how to answer with an introduction, a body of evidence, and a conclusion. We spoke about how a summary and a moral differ. They discussed their answers in small groups and then we came up with a concensus as a whole group that the moral was to be yourself. We will continue with this story tomorrow.
Students were in the computer lab graphing their Halloween haul. I'd like to get all of the data tomorrow so that we can start interpreting and making connections between our estimates and our actual data.
Two permission forms were sent home today. One was for our Dulude skating dates. Please note that there is a mistake on the form. Although it states that the trip costs $2.00, we are really asking for $10 since it is $2.00 per trip. The other form was for our trip to the cenotaph. Please note that we may be back a little late from this trip but can accomodate anyone who cannot be a little late.
I will be asking for Interview dates and times soon. I'd like to try and meet with everyone for this round.
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