January 2020

January 10th, 2019

Happy New Year! The first week back has been great so far! Here's to a 2020 filled with laughter, fun and excitement while learning.

In Language, we continued with our And Then It Happened...stories. Students are continuing to learn about how to develop their characters and setting as they lay the foundation for an interesting story. We also took some time to talk about punctuation and grammar involved in writing clear stories. We're getting closer to the final versions of our stories.

In Math, we started a new unit on Measurement. We spent a good chunk of time talking about perimeter, area and volume. We started the week with a challenge of finding the perimeter of a shape with an area of 24 square units. Students realized that there were a number of different rectangles that can be created, each with a different perimeter. Next, students were tasked with further understanding the concepts by working on a Chocolongo Challenge whereby they are redesigning a chocolate bar so that there is less waste in packaging. Please take some time to speak with your child about this challenge as it allows them to consider the relationships between volume and total surface area. They have also been tasked to take a look at some of the packaging on purchases and consider whether or not products can be more environmentally friendly. 

In Art, we have been continuing with our Kandinsky inspired works of Art. Students are at the stage where they are adding labels for the geometric concepts to their art pieces and are able to communicate the concepts contained within. 

In Physical Education, we started a new unit of Basketball. 2 students helped us to learn about bounce, chest and overhead passes. We also had the chance to practice dribbling and some shooting. As we continue, students will be working on further developing these skills and understanding the rules of the game.

In Health, we continued with our Public Service Announcements on vaping. Students have been researching some of the effects, while working to create messages that would have an impact on their peers. We are hoping to record them next week.

In Social Studies, the Grade 4s were working on a self-evaluation for their board games. Based on our co-created success criteria, students were tasked to reflect on their building and learning process in order to justify their grade. We will be conferencing next week and students will be receiving their final grade on their board games once we've had the chance to meet. 

It's been a busy start to the year. Next week is a shorter week because of the PA Day on Friday. Please remember to visit the What's On At Sloane page to keep up-to-date on what's happening in our classroom and school. 

January 17th, 2020

What a week! Short weeks always seem to have so much packed into them! We were hard at work wrapping things up as the term comes to an end. 

In Language, students continued to complete their And Then It Happened... stories. We're almost there! Stay tuned! We're sure that you will be blown away should you pass by our class and see these amazing stories on our walls. We also took some time to work on goal setting for the next couple of months. Students will continue to create a plan for their SMART goals and this could be a point of great conversation at home as students work towards achieving a goal. 

In Math, we are almost finished our Chocolongo Challenge! This week, students put their finishing touches on their new and improved chocolate bars. They've spent some time thinking about their target audience and the features that would encourage their audience to give this new bar a try. Students have also been hard at work creating commercials that are sure to make mouths water. Presentations will take place next week. Students have also been completing their Kandinsky Art and they will also be up on the walls in the next couple of weeks. 

In Physical Education, we continued with basketball and our skills are improving. It's been really great to having students facilitating these sessions and seeing their leadership skills in action. 

In Health, our Public Service Announcements on vaping are almost complete. Very soon we will be recording them and taking some time to reflect on how well we communicated our message to our audience. 

In Social Studies, the Grade 4s have been working on their self-evaluations of their board games. As mentioned before, this will be a great starting point as we sit down next week to conference and discuss their final marks. While I am conferencing with individual students, others will be researching early societies. This past week we learned that there are a variety of elements that make up  a society. During their time researching, students will be looking to understand the following:

• Written language - How did members of early societies communicate within and with other societies?

• Agriculture - How did members live off the land? What types of crops were essential based on the climate and terrain?

• Settlements - Where and how did members live? How might housing have impacted the relationships amongst members in early societies? What might early housing look like? What changes were made over time?

• Religion - What role did religion play in the belief systems of an entire early society? How did this impact the relationships amongst individuals?

• Science - What inventions or innovations were made by members of your chosen early society?  How might these inventions or innovations made life better or easier?

• Government - How did governments assist people in their daily lives? What was the structure of government? How was it selected?

In Science, the grade 4s investigated sound by doing experiments. You may have heard some loud buzzing sounds coming from their sound sandwiches. We used these instruments to learn more about pitch and the sound that is generated when the straws are closer together or further apart. Check in with your child an have them play something for you, changing the pitch. We also did an experiment where students were able to see sound vibrations with both cereal and glitter. Please have conversations about their observations. Many students are wanting to find the "right" answers and sometimes in Science, it's about making observations and talking through what you notice. Experiments don't always go as planned and it's good to think about how else we might be able to test our hypotheses.

The Grade 5s continued to consider forces acting on structures and after some research, started to plan and design bridges. Next week we will be building and testing them to ensure that students understand the forces involved and the features of their designs that impacted the sturdiness of their bridges. Testing is happening next Friday so stay tuned to find out which bridge can withstand the force of the greatest number of textbooks!

Next week is a short week due to the strike on Monday. Hoping that families have a great long weekend.

January 24th, 2020

It was a week of catch-up and wrap-up for us in room 205.

And Then It Happened...stories are almost finished and most are up on the wall outside of our classroom for the reading enjoyment of many. Many revisions were made this week as students were encouraged to use the feedback from peers and the teacher in order to make their stories even better. At home, students are encouraged to write their own short writing pieces. They can start by brainstorming a topic or using this graphic organizer to consider how they might build their stories. Once finished, students can start writing their stories. Revision are an important part of writing. This is a challenging part for some students as they have to persevere through making changes rather than just handing in their stories after a first draft. Once they have written their stories, students are encouraged to look for conventions such as spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and sentence structure. In class, students were encouraged to do peer reviews - reading aloud their work for a peer and making necessary changes as they read. Once their stories were submitted in Google Classroom, students were given feedback and asked again to make some revisions. Next term, we will continue with the writing process as we work to continue to produce published pieces and this practice might help students in their understanding of the necessity of the process.

In Math, we finished up our Chocolongo Challenge with presentations on our new and improved bars. We also did short commercials hoping to persuade a specific audience to give our bars a try. Students also completed their Kandinsky Art which incorporates the learning from our Geometry unit.

In Science, the Grade 4s investigated light and were tasked with proving some of the properties of light - travels in straight lines and reflection. Through hands-on experiments, they were able to see some of these properties as they discussed their observations with peers. The Grade 5s continued the building of their bridges and took some time to consider the forces action on their bridges and the features that would allow them to stand up to the pressure of many textbooks. Testing is happening on Monday!

In Social Studies, almost all of the Grade 4s have had the chance to conference about their board games while others continued to research early societies. It's always great to hear those "aha" moments when they learn something new about a group of people or as they learn about the origins of traditions or inventions. 

In Physical Education, we continued with basketball and students are having a great time learning to shoot and the rules of the game. 

In Health, our Public Service Announcements are almost complete and we will be presenting them on next week. 

This week we had the opportunity to work with our Kinder Buddies on Math. Tasked with having to roll 2 number cubes and determining the sum; students had the chance to move Dash along a grid to the correct answer. It's always great seeing the relationships that are being built between the Kinders and the Grade 4s and 5s, as they collaborate. The 4s and 5s are really growing in empathy, kindness and leadership through our activities together. 

January 31st, 2020

A busy week filled with lots of important information for families. As we try to prevent a further spread, students will continue to be reminded of the importance of proper handwashing practices and snack will be served by me. The cleaning of all surfaces and devices in the classroom has already begun and will continue next week. Should you have any additional questions about this matter, please refer to the information contained in the emails sent to you by Ms. Thomas. 

In Language this week, we started looking at features of non-fiction texts. Students had the opportunity to identify a number of features as they explored Faces and National Geographic Kids magazines. Through discussions, we identified which features help support readers as they explore texts and the reasons why they are beneficial. We also discussed a variety of magazines and their target audience, based on their covers and some of the headlines. This week, students were tasked with starting to think up of their own magazines. Over the next several weeks, students will be responsible for writing their own non-fiction magazines using a Google Docs template. 

In Math, we continued with our measurement unit and the big task of determining if it is cheaper to fence a portion of the yard for kindergarten students or to fence the back of the field. We've noticed that kindergarten students are fast - sometimes faster than the teachers - and with all the room on the field, they sometimes like to wander off and explore. Keeping all students safe is an important to us here at Sloane. Using My Maps, students learned about the measurement tool and have been hard at work trying to find the answer. We also worked to create a KWC Chart to get us started on this task. Over the next week or so, we will be trying to find the answer and present our findings to Ms. Thomas. 

In Social Studies, the grade 4s continued to explore early societies by asking rich questions that they may like to investigate. While some were geared specifically to a civilization, others were more open and could be asked about any civilization. The goal is for students to get interested in at least one and start to see what similarities and differences exist between that early civilization and society today. 

In Physical Education, we wrapped up our basketball unit with a couple of games. Next week we will be starting on a gymnastics unit. The gym will be converted for the next month as we explore a variety of movements that will be sure to enhance our flexibility. For this unit, students are asked to wear comfortable clothing that will allow for them to move with ease. We have Physical Education on Days 1 & 4. Please check our Calendar should you need to know the specific days of the week. 

In Health, students have almost finished their Public Service Announcements and they are almost ready to perform. It's been great to see students consolidate their learning, creating insightful messages for peers to heed the dangers of vaping.  

In Science, we started our introductions to new units: Grade 4s - Pulleys and Gears; Grade 5s - Conservation of Energy. Grade 4 students explored texts to start thinking about the ways in which both pulleys and gears make life easier; while Grade 5 students started to explore a variety of sources of energy - renewable and non-renewable. Next week, we will be continuing with a couple of hands-on activities to further our knowledge and understanding. 

As you are aware, there is currently ongoing job action. For up-to-date information, please visit the TDSB site.  Please note that if the school is closed, we skip that day of the cycle and resume as per our calendar. Wishing everyone a great weekend.