Egg-citement in the Grade 2/3 Class - Week of Jan. 25th, 2014

Dear Parents and Students,

I hope everyone enjoyed this last week of January in the classroom. I certainly did! J

Photos 1 to 5 feature measuring our body parts using cube –a-links with our Grade 4 Learning Buddies.

 Imogen helped us to demonstrate a science experiment involving vinegar and baking soda.  Have your child explain the “explosion” they saw.  This is something you can try at home to show them how gas was created using a liquid with a solid.

We wrapped up our Measurement Unit this week and used units such as pennies, marbles, cubes, paperclips and more to measure mass of objects in the classroom.  The children discovered:  the heavier the unit of mass, the fewer units you need to measure something heavy.   Review vocabulary this week included:  Categorizing from heaviest to lightest and vice versa.  Grade 2 math binders went home on Wednesday for you to explore and to discuss with your child.  Please return by Monday, February 2^nd.

Our next Gr. 2 math unit:  Addition and subtraction to 100!!!! Yes, ONE HUNDRED!  Continue to drill flashcards of +/- to 18 at home, play card games, Crib and use my on-line math websites, as many students still need to learn their facts automatically. Practice, practice, practice.

Check out the following French videos on-line about VALENTINES:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHefacW-L5U   Charlotte Diamond’s song;  Embrasse 4 Fois

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39H0grYG9KA Matt Maxwell’s song; La St. Valentin

The children enjoyed singing these 2 songs and more.

Parents of Grade 3:  Return the Math video-taping permission slip by Mon. Feb. 2^nd, along with the Gr. 3 swimming permission forms.  If you plan to pay for the bus transportation fee of $10 on-line, please let me know in the agenda. 

The children are REALLY enjoying the RAMONA QUIMBY, AGE 8, novel study projects.  Lots of class time is provided, but the children are to take their Ramona novel and writing assignment home each night.  PLEASE SEND THE ENVELOPE, NOVEL AND ASSIGNMENTS to school each day, with your child’s agenda. 

We had an EGG-CITING time on Thursday morning celebrating Chapter 3 of Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary in class.  Our principal (Mrs. Campbell), vice-principal (Mr. Chernoff), teacher librarian (Mrs. Lindstrom), administration secretary (Mrs. Ewing) and Educational Assistant (Mrs. Abbas) participated in the lesson. We began the lesson with the adults modeling reading of parts of the chapter using voice, fluency and expression. Next, some of the students were invited to read aloud.  After, we took turns sharing about our own personal embarrassing moments.  Everyone “cracked” up.  Then, we had the “egg” cracking experience.  Should we “rap, rap, rap” the egg on our heads like Ramona’s class or should we “whack” the egg on our heads?  Mr. Chernoff and Grade 2 student, Roan  ended up with RAW EGGS all over them. My goodness!  What a mess!  How could this happen?  Our lovely, helpful, Mrs. Ewing, came to the RESCUE and helped to wash and shampoo Roan’s hair and to clean him up at the sink, just like Mrs. Larson did for Ramona in the novel. Following the feast of hard- boiled eggs, seasoned with salt and pepper, each child created a card (Circle of Generosity goal) for our wonderful Mrs. Ewing, thanking her for all she does each and every day at the office of awesome Grant Road School.  Over the lunch hour, we created a “LOVE SONG” to the tune of “Jingle Bells” about Mrs. Ewing, which we sang and presented her with at the office. We went live over the intercom at 2:10 p.m., singing it like “rock stars” to the entire school! 

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REMINDERS: 

1.  Grant Road Cookie Dough Fundraiser $$$$ due on Feb. 6^th.

Cheques made to:  GRSPA (Grant Road School Parent Association).

Fundraiser profits will go towards I-Pads for the school.

^2.     Ramona:  Read first half of chapter 4 by Mon. Feb. 2^nd, latter half by Wed. Feb. 4^th and first half of chapter 5 by Fri. Feb. 6^th

^3.     «RONIN IS STAR OF WEEK FEB. 9^TH«

4.  SCIENCE EXPERIMENT HOMEWORK is due on Tues., Feb. 2^nd (Liquid experiment at home to discover which 5 items dissolve).

5.    VALENTINE’S DAY:  If you choose to have your child participate, please include the entire class. VALENTINE cards and goodies are to be sent and exchanged on FRIDAY, FEB. 13^th. There are 24 children in the class.  An easy way to label cards or treats is to put YOUR child’s name on each card/treat:  From ____.  This is an option, if you don’t wish to write each child’s name on the treat.

6.    Goat Getters Fundraiser – We are trying to raise money to purchase goats for families overseas.  The children are asked to bring 25 cents for each ticket they wish to purchase.  There will be a draw for prizes over the next 2 weeks.

Jan 19 2015 week with Selimos: RAMONA FUN, MATTER EXPERIMENTS AND MORE

Hello Parents and Students,

This week’s PWIM (Picture Word Inductive Model) lesson (photos 1 & 2) reinforced ALPHABETIZATION.  Try playing some dictionary games, alphabet games at home.  You could use the weekly spelling list to reinforce this language concept.  Try alphabetizing 3 words, then 5 and work up to 10 with your child.  Remember to use spellingcity.com for spelling game activities.  Our phonics letter of the week was Jj.

We will be wrapping up our Measurement Unit next week and have used units such as pennies, cubes, paperclips, straws and more this week, to measure mass of objects in the classroom.  The children have discovered:  the heavier the unit of mass, the fewer units you need to measure something heavy.   Vocabulary this week included:  Categorizing from heaviest to lightest and vice versa.  

The children also used string to measure length of curved items (length around a water bottle, their heads, etc.)  and then to straighten the string and measure with non-standard units (cubes, popscicle sticks, etc.) to find the length.  Math binders will go home next Wednesday for you to explore and to discuss with your child. 

If you have not signed the MATTER POP QUIZ from Tuesday, please do so and return with your child to school by tomorrow.  We have had a lot of fun doing a few experiments this week.  The children should be able to explain to you “why oil and water don’t mix.”  Oil and water are said to be “immiscible”, because they do not mix.  The oil layer is on the top of the water because of the difference in density of the two liquids. Oil is less dense than water and so it is on top.

Go to http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/homeexpts/layeredliquids.htm for the RAINBOW IN A GLASS experiment and try it at home.  This was another experiment we tried on Wednesday.  THE KIDS LOVE EXPERIMENTS!

Rainbow in a glass 

You will need the following materials: 

• four different colors of food coloring (e.g. red, yellow, green, blue) 
• five tall glasses or clear plastic cups 
• ¾ cup (180 g) of granulated sugar 
• a tablespoon for measuring 
• 1 cup (240 ml) water

In the first glass, add one tablespoon (15 g) of sugar. In the second glass, add two tablespoons of sugar, three in the third glass, and four in the last glass. Then add three tablespoons (45 ml) of water to each glass, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. If the sugar in any of the glasses will not dissolve, add one more tablespoon (15 ml) of water to all of the glasses, and stir again. When the sugar is completely dissolved, add two or three drops of red food coloring to the first glass, yellow to the second, green to the third, and blue to the last glass. 

In the remaining glass we will create our rainbow. Fill the glass about a fourth of the way with the blue sugar solution. Next, carefully add the green solution to the glass. Do this by putting a spoon in the glass, just above the level of the blue solution. Slowly pour the green solution into the spoon, raising the spoon to keep it just above the level of the liquid, until the glass is half full. Add the yellow solution, and then the red one in the same manner. What do you notice about the colored solutions? 

The amount of sugar dissolved in a liquid affects its density. The blue solution has the most sugar dissolved in it and is therefore the densest. The other solutions are less dense than the blue solution, so they float on top of it. The densities of the solutions should be very close however, and the solutions are miscible, so you will see that the layers do not form well defined boundaries as in the first experiment. If done carefully enough, the colors should stay relatively separate from each other. What do you think will happen if you stir up the liquids in the glass?

 The children are REALLY enjoying the RAMONA QUIMBY, AGE 8, novel study projects.  “If you could choose anyone in the WHOLE WORLD to babysit you, who would that be?  What would you do?  Where would you go?”  There were some very interested paragraphs about:  celebrities, scientists, athletes, as such and more: Michael Jordan, Abraham Lincoln, Edmonton Oilers, Riders, parents, family members (uncles), and teachers, of course. 

This afternoon, we will be creating BIKE SAFETY posters, to remind Ramona to follow the safety rules when bike riding.  The posters are due on Tues. Jan. 27^th.  Lots of class time is provided, but the children are to take their Ramona novel and writing assignment home each night.  PLEASE SEND THE ENVELOPE, NOVEL AND ASSIGNMENTS to school each day, with your child’s agenda. 

REMINDERS:

1.      FYI for CHAPTER 3:  Send a photocopy or hand-written favourite egg recipe to school for RAMONA EGG DAY on Thurs. 29^th.

2.    «IMOGEN is our STAR OF THE WEEK on Monday, 26^th«.

3.   READING LOGS DUE Thurs.

4.    FRIDAY 30^TH = PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY = NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

5.  «RONIN IS STAR OF WEEK FEB. 9^TH«

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Grant Road Cookie Dough Fundraiser $$$$ due on Feb. 6^th.

Cheques made to:  GRSPA (Grant Road School Parent Association).

Fundraiser profits will go towards I-Pads for the school.

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VALENTINE’S DAY:  If you choose to have your child participate, please include the entire class. VALENTINE cards and goodies are to be sent and exchanged on FRIDAY, FEB. 13^th. There are 24 children in the class.  An easy way to label cards or treats is to put YOUR child’s name on each card/treat:  From ____.  This is an option, if you don’t wish to write each child’s name on the treat.

CLASS LIST: See parent email for names. 

REMEMBER YOUR PYJAMAS FOR TOMORROW!

Have a great weekend!  Enjoy the weather!

Ms. Selimos

January 12th, 2014 week with Selimos RAMONA QUIMBY novel study, MATTER unit, FRENCH songs and more

Hello Parents and Students,

Hooray for outdoor recesses!  The kids have been enjoying the outdoors again!

This week, we used our printing books and learned how to cursive write the letters “e and l”.  We also wrote a winter poem in French (photo 1).  Have your child sing it to you.  Feel free to review the 2 letters for handwriting at home.

Emaan did a great job as Star of the Week.  She enjoys picnics with her mom, dad and 2 sisters.  Emaan was born in Toronto.  She celebrates Eid and speaks Urdu.  Her favourite colour is purple and she loves to eat lobster.  In her spare time, she enjoys reading and swimming.

We focused on the calendar for math for a good part of the week.  See photos 4 to 7.  Your child should be able to READ the days of the week and the months of the year.  Here are some questions to ask your child:  How many months are there in one year?  How many days in this month (show them a month on a calendar at home)?  Name the month BEFORE April.  Name the month 2 months AFTER May.  How many days are there in one week?  How many days in two weeks?  If today is Tuesday, January 22nd, what is the day of the week 3 days later?  Which is the second month of the year?  In which month is your birthday?  Which month comes before your birthday?  We played a “Months/calendar” game. 

We also began NON-STANDARD measurement (no rulers) using string, cubes and craft sticks.  See photos 8 to 15. We measured the GINGERBREAD MAN using craft sticks after predicting his length and then we compared our own body lengths to his.

Photos 16 to 20 are from a morning math lesson where we used 2 different units:  cubes and colourful links to measure lengths of different objects.  The children concluded that the larger the object of measurement, the better it is to use a larger unit to measure with.  Example:  Use popsicle sticks to measure the classroom door, rather than cubes.  Cubes will take forever!  The number will be smaller.

I am SUPER EXCITED to begin a novel study of Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby, Age 8 with the students.  Librarian, Mrs. Lindstrom, is helping us with this 2 month novel study project, as well!  EXPECTATIONS:  Please encourage and monitor your child’s chapter of reading.  They may read it independently or SHARE THE READING ALOUD with you.  Ask your child questions about the ½ chapter read. The RAMONA envelope and your child’s agenda reminders will help you to keep up with the expectations of the reading assignment and writing projects.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. 

The children enjoyed creating their own dollar bills as part of a Writing Traits assignment today, focusing on organization skills and details.  Imagine if you could design your own paper money.  What would it look like?  Write details about your bill.  What words and numbers are on your bill?  Include pictures, colours when you draw it.

The children drew themselves wearing their winter clothing and labeled their pictures in French.  Here are the links to the music and actions for the new action song “LA NEIGE TOMBE” we danced to and sang, about “la neige” (snow). 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXdnrWeTICk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k9fPOLoaBc

La neige tombe
The Snow is Falling
Chanson enfantine
(French)
Children's Song
(English)

La neige tombe sur mon nez
Oh, oh, oh! J'ai le nez gelé
Frotte, frotte, frotte mon nez
Pour le réchauffer !
Frotte, frotte, frotte, mon nez
Frotte, frotte, frotte ton nez
Pour le réchauffer !

La neige tombe sur mes mains
Oh, oh, oh! J'ai les mains gelées!
Frappe, frappe, frappe, mes mains
Pour les réchauffer !
Frappe, frappe, frappe mes mains
Frappe, frappe, frappe tes mains
Pour les réchauffer !

The snow is falling on my nose
Oh, oh, oh! My nose is frozen
Rub, rub, rub my nose
To warm it!
Rub, rub, rub my nose
Rub, rub, rub your nose
To warm it!

The snow is falling on my hands
Oh, oh, oh! My hands are frozen!
Clap, clap, clap, my hands
To warm them!
Clap, clap, clap my hands
Clap, clap, clap your hands
To warm them!

As well, we had a blast trying a water experiment with the concept of sink vs float for science.  We filled a basin of water and “tested” many items.  The children predicted what would happen to different objects.  See science photos.  At first, the cloth puppet floated and then sank.  The students were surprised.  The rock, scissors and eraser sank.  We discussed why they sank… metals, rubber items sink.  The kids discovered that plastic items like cube a links, Ms. Selimos’s empty water bottle and Ronin’s water bottle filled with some water, floated.  Wooden items like a pencil and popsicle stick floated.  The children “screamed with delight” when I took Brodie’s glasses to test…  His glasses SANK! The glass component was “heavier” than the plastic particles.  Parents, please fill your sink with water and “test” your children at home with a simple game of sink and float using items in your home.  Have fun!

   Matter Websites and Games

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities/gases.html
Brainpop junior has many videos
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/solid_liquids.shtml
http://science.k12flash.com/statesofmatter.html
http://science.k12flash.com/statesofmatter.html
http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/states_of_matter/molecules.swf
http://www.catie.org.uk/testing_time_index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuE1LePDZ4Yhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuE1LePDZ4Y  EXCELLENT video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuE1LePDZ4Yhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuE1LePDZ4Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfP4lwdehuA   Matter song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C33WdI64FiY  Matter song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd0RXHfIKJQ  video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYFAj50c7xM  scientific explanations   


Ms Selimos                                    

Happy New Year 2015

         

Happy New Year 2015!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the Christmas cards, holiday cards and wishes, baking, beverages, gift cards, pampering items and more!  Thank you very much parents and boys and girls.  You were very thoughtful.

The first few photos feature our sledding fun with our Learning Buddies in December.

What a COLD week!  The children and I have been keeping warm and active in the classroom this week during indoor recess times.  We “warmed up” the school week with our first Social Studies lesson on Monday with the “hot “topic of GENEROSITY; one of our 4 Circle of Courage goals.  See photo 13, 18 to 20.  The bulletin board in the hallway features personal paragraphs about generosity and how generosity has applied to each of them this school year.

I hope you have all had a chance to view the January calendar which was sent home on Monday and which is available on line on my class website. Check the FUTURE DATE for Boggy Creek Valley day trip, where we will be “camping” and preparing lunch over an open fire.  I will need parents to join us on this trip.

Our new PWIM (Picture Word Inductive Model) poster will focus on this winter trip experience. 

 We have moved on to UNIT 4 in Gr. 2 of Math Makes Sense.  This unit involves children reading dates on a calendar and solving problems involving the number of days in a week and the number of months in a year.  The children will also use non-standard units to estimate, measure, compare and order objects by length, height, distance around and mass.  Non – standard units (no cm rulers) = using cubes, popscicle sticks, paperclips for measuring.

Our new French unit in January involves winter vocabulary:  toque, ski pants, neck warmer, snowsuit, scarf, boots, and more.  This week we have had 3 French lessons about winter clothing and have played Battleship and 7-Up, dramatized the clothing and worked on reading sentences and speaking in a complete sentence (winter strip activity).  We sang Frosty the Snowman and learned another song (photo 12) about winter to the tune of Frere Jacques.

On Friday afternoon, we will be welcoming URDU TEACHER, SUMAIRA SHAIKH, to our classroom for the first of 6 Urdu lessons over the next month or so. 

Over the next few weeks, I will be testing your child’s READING LEVEL (ORR; Gr. 2 = Oral Reading Record & FP Reading scores; Gr. 3). 

Our latest SCIENCE UNIT is MATTER (solids, liquids, gases).  Please ask your child to sing you the Matter Song.   Ask them some questions:  What is a solid?  How do the molecules move?  Is snow a solid, liquid or gas?  Is a bubble a solid, liquid or gas? This week we watched the Brain Pop video about matter and created a chart on the whiteboard of our background knowledge about matter.  We discussed vocabulary including:  properties, characteristics. 

Our phonics letter of the week was Hh.  Read the sentences with your child.   There is even one about Hunter!  One of my focuses was to remove all punctuation from this week’s words and to see if the children could help me place quotation marks, question marks, periods in the correct spots.  This is something you can try to do with your child at home.  Punctuation was an academic goal for many students in the Term I report card/goal setting meeting.

Emaan will be our STUDENT OF THE WEEK on January 12th.

 

Have a wonderful, warmer weekend!   Drive safely and hopefully we will enjoy some warmer weather!

Ms Selimos