December News

I can't believe December is upon us and the holidays are fast approaching! Here is what we are working on:

The Arts

December is a great month for music, drama, dance, and visual arts as the primary classes work hard to put together their holiday musical called "Melton the Warm-Hearted Snowman". The performance for parents will be the evening of Wednesday, December 21st. Our class will be the "reindeers" and are asked to wear brown and black clothing with reindeer antlers (Dollar store?).

Literacy

We are reading "Fantastic Mr. Fox" as a class with a focus on summarizing the main ideas. At the end of each chapter, students are asked to summarize or retell the main idea of the chapter in one or two sentences, and then to illustrate what they visualized during the reading. We are continuing our "Reading Workshop" (our guided reading rotation) with literacy centers / jobs such as creating an Ontario PicCollage on the ipads, designing an anti-bullying poster for media, or working on dictionary skills or word work.

Math

Our next math unit is Number Sense and Numeration (Chapter 4 in Nelson). The curriculum expectations are as follows:

• Count forward by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, 10’s and 100’s to 1000 from various starting points
• Count by 25’s to 1000, starting from multiples of 25
• Count backwards by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s from 100 using multiples of 2, 5, and 10 as starting points
• Count backwards by 100’s from 1000 and any number less than 1000
• Compose and decompose 3-digit numbers into hundreds, tens, and ones using concrete materials
• Solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of 2-digit numbers, using a variety of mental strategies (ie: to add 37 +26, add the tens, add the ones, then combine the tens and ones, like this: 30 + 20 = 50,     7 + 6 = 13,    50 + 13 = 63), and standard algorithms

Problem Solving - We have begun to use a colour coded 4-step problem solving model to help students ensure they are showing their work and explaining their thinking sufficiently. After reading the problem carefully, students are asked to think about the following:

• What I Know about the problem (orange)
• Show the math to solve the problem (blue)
• Tell about the math (green)
• Answer the question in a complete sentence (yellow)

Social Studies

We are continuing our study of Ontario with a focus on municipalities, and how land is used to meet the needs of people (residential, commercial, industry, agriculture, recreation, and conservation).

We will have a holiday party on Friday, December 23rd if you would like to send in a treat. I wish everyone a very safe and happy holiday, and a wonderful 2017!!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Hale

Wacky Tacky Day!

Marble Jar Party!

Hooray! We filled our class marble jar by being attentive, cooperative, and all around AWESOME students!! Here are some photos from our movie, popcorn, and P.J. party that we earned as a reward!

November News!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween! Thank you for all of the yummy treat donations for our class party! The students had a lot of fun playing games and making slime!

Well done to the students who have completed some provinces as they Read Across Canada for home reading. Keep up the great work!

In Literacy, we have begun our reading workshop rotation whereby I meet with guided reading groups while the other students work at centres or jobs which include a variety of language activities. In writing, students will continue working through the writing process to complete their "Spooky Narratives" this week. We have been editing for "spicy" writing which includes lots of adjectives, and of course for proper sentence structure. Next week, we will begin letter writing and write letters to Canadian soldiers for Remembrance Day.

In Math, we are finishing up our Data Management unit this week. Students have been collecting, organizing, and analyzing data in bar graphs, pictographs, circle graphs and venn diagrams. Our unit test will be coming home this week. Please sign and return it as soon as possible. Our next unit is patterning which includes the following expectations:

• identify, extend and create repeating patterns involving 2 or more attributes
• identify and describe number patterns involving addition, subtraction & multiplication
• identify and extend growing and shrinking patterns
• create patterns from a given pattern rule
• use T-charts to extend patterns / determine pattern rules
• All of the above in problem solving contexts

For extra at-home help, click on the Nelson math link, and then "Try it Out" for Chapter 1.

In Social Studies, we are learning about Ontario! Students will be posing and answering questions about living and working in the different land regions of Ontario (Canadian Shield, Hudson Bay Lowlands, and Great Lakes / St. Lawrence Lowlands).

I look forward to seeing parents again at Parent / Teacher conferences on November 17th and 18th. A confirmation of your conference time will be sent home shortly.

As always, please contact me at the school or by email at ahale@scdsb.on.ca if you have any questions or concerns. Please continue to use the agenda for any time sensitive notes (ie: appointments or a change in home-time routine) as I usually check my email after school.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Hale

Sip Day!

On October 25th, students were encouraged to bring their water bottles to school as a reminder of the importance of hydration. The whole school took a giant sip at 2:00 pm!

A lovely fall walk on the trail!