Vive le Vent

Vive le Vent d'hiver!

Recorder Performance

Our recent performance of Jingle Bells on the recorder.

This week December 12th, 2016

It will be a busy week this week and we start it all off with a snow day!
This week in Literacy we will continue to read a variety of Christmas stories on our own and there are three assignments expected form each student.
1.  A text connection assignment (started and completed last week).
2.  A summary of one of the books read.  (to be completed Wednesday in our Google Classroom)
3.  To complete an Adobe Voice production video that acts as a commercial for one of your favourite books.  We will be working on this production this week and next week.  This coincides with our media discussions about commercials.

Math we have been working on addition and subtraction of two, three and now four digit numbers.  Students have been encouraged to find a strategy that works consistently for them to complete the questions.  Some students prefer line it up and borrow, place value blocks/line it up, or make friendlier numbers.  Continued practice is always required so check out our Google classroom for some addition and subtraction games to help consolidate these skills.

SCIENCE Habitat Diorama and Presentations

We have completed our Science presentations and dioramas about an animal habitat.  We had to include all the needs of living things (shelter, warmth, air, space, food and water).  Check out our presentations.

Tuesday, November 29th

We are working on making connections to our reading.  Today we have to make text-to text, world media and self connections with a short reading about winning and losing as a team.
Check out this link to see how team work made an ice rink possible.  Just One Goal

ROOTS of Empathy

We continue to enjoy our visits with baby Emma, Kate and our CYW Laurie Nicholson to discuss empathy in the real world.  Check out a typical day when we have a baby visit.  Roots of Empathy Baby Visit

COURAGE

Yesterday and today our class has been creating a video about courage.   We will share this video with the entire school next week for our assembly about COURAGE!

Check out the amazing ideas and acting!  Courage Video

This week in Literacy and Science

This week we are continuing to work on or MEANWHIlE stories.  Students are into the publishing stages of drawing pictures and adding their proof read and edited text to the pages.

In SCIENCE we are completing our research about an animal and the habitat it survives in.  Please see the success criteria below.

SCIENCE PROJECT

We are working on habitats in science class.  Our big project is to build a habitat for any living thing (preferably an animal).  Students are encouraged to bring in materials to help them to build a habitat that has food, water, shelter, warmth and space.  This could be made out of Lego, plastercine, cardboard, or toys.  I encourage the class to be creative when making their own habitats.  Marks will be given for labels on the items - we will have class time to do this.

October 26th

This week we are finishing up our oral presentations about the book "Frindle."  Some students completed Adobe Voice projects and they were amazing!  Some student decided to do a tradition report style presentation and some students acted out their favourite character from the book.

In math we are working on Data Management and collecting, organizing and presenting the data that we collect.  The students have surveyed the class and are working on completing a bar graph, or pictograph to represent their finding.  We will be surveying the entire school to determine favourite flavours of popcorn - to prepare for our popcorn sales in November.

Remembrance Day is just around the corner and we are working on posters in class.  The students can choose ot enter the Legion contest if they want to.  Please check out this link if oyu are interested. Legon contest rules and past winners.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28th we will be celebrating Halloween in our class and school.  Please feel free to wear a costume, and/or orange and black.  We will have games and activities in the afternoon.  If your child would like to share a snack please feel free to share it during the last block of the day.  I ask that students please bring their own water bottle, or cup for the day.  We will not be wearing costumes or having a party on Monday, OCtober 31st.

Health Video

In Health class we have been studying internet etiquette (netiquette) and safety.  Check out our video.

Reading

Just a reminder to continue to read with your child nightly.  Better readers make for better writers and this is a big shift in the junior grades.  Read anything!  Online, magazines, childrens picture books, anything that interests your child.  read apart and together and talk about what you are reading.  Discuss the problem and solution in books and articles together and ask the WHY question a lot.  Why do you like this book?  Why is the character doing that?  Why did that person say/do that in the book?  Please don't just accept the answer "because."  Aks for more details about the answer.
Also here is a website that lists some books by grade that may be of interest to you.  It is not the only list out there but merely one of many.  Book/Grade correlation

Class Scarecrow Creation

All of Tay Shores Public School has been challenged to make a scarecrow out of recycled  materials.  Our class must have items that measure 10 cm, 55 mm and 1 m.  We would like to make a few mini scarecrows out of tin cans to go along with our big class scarecrow.  Please see the idea below.  Mini scarecrows should be no larger than 70 cm and no smaller than 10 cm.  Be creative and have fun!  This is not a required assignment but for fun.  Students can start bringing in items to build our scarecrow this week.  We will be making our creation on Thursday, October 20th.

Class Scarecrow Creation

All of Tay Shores Public School has been challenged to make a scarecrow out of recycled  materials.  Our class must have items that measure 10 cm, 55 mm and 1 m.  We would like to make a few mini scarecrows out of tin cans to go along with our big class scarecrow.  Please see the idea below.  Mini scarecrows should be no larger than 70 cm and no smaller than 20 cm.  Be creative and have fun!  This is not a required assignment but for fun.

Literacy

Literacy this week involves starting our novel study of "Frindle."
 
We are looking at the characteristics of narrative writing, to prepare for writing our own narratives.  In particular we are talking about how language changes over time.  Share with your child what words have different meanings today.  For example, sick, epic, the net, cell, etcc.
We also discussed today how words that we used when we were young might be a problem for other people that do not understand what we are talking about.  For example, some students in our class refer to a popsicle as a "pagawan," Old Fort Road is referred to as "Old Fart Road," Grandma is Yamma.

Math

In math we are working on rounding to ten, hundreds and thousands.  Check out an interesting video that helps us to remember when we round up or "let it rest."  Rounding
Help your child to realize rounding happens everyday when we make a cash purchase, or estimate in the real world.

Health

In health we are discussing Personal Safety with regards to internet and technology.  We watched a video that several students would like to share with you at home The Lost Princess.  We are talking about benefits and risks of technology and how we can be safer when using technology.  Please have honest conversations with your child about the safety concerns and ideas you have regarding technology.

Check out an interesting website

Take a look at this interesting website called Guys Read. 

Week of September 27th

It is a very busy week here at Tay Shores!  We have made all of the necessary shuffles to our classes and we are settling in to the routines,
Our school Grand Opening and Meet the Teacher night is Thursday from 4-7:30.  Please join us and I look forward to meeting you all.
Terry Fox Run and money collection continues and will occur on Thursday, September 29th.
LITERACY this week involved a spelling list (went home Monday), word work throughout the week, reading and listening to reading, writing about our name and why we have our given name.
MATH we continue to work towards comparing and ordering numbers to 10 000!  Keep showing your child numbers and math in their daily life.  Draw attention to the cost of every day items to give them a frame of reference (no you cannot by a house for $100 kinds of conversations are very helpful).
As always contact me through the agenda, email, Twitter, or call the school.

ROOTS of EMPATHY

Today we start our Roots of Empathy Program with our Child and Youth Counsellor Laurie Nicholson.  Roots of Empathy is a program that teaches empathy to children in school using a very special visitor - an infant and a parent.
Check out this informational video Roots Overview
The program occurs weekly and involves a monthly visit form our baby.  More information will be coming home today!  Please go to the ROE website for more information, or contact me at the school.

Spetember 20th

Today in Writing we worked on taking feedback from marked written work and applying it to our next writing assignment.  We are creating lists of things I love, favourite toys, places I want to visit, things I don't like and things that make me laugh.  The student created lists today to answer these questions and will write a paragraph about one list tomorrow.
In MATH we are working on place value and writing numbers in standard form, word form and expanded form.  Check out this video to help you understand.  You can HELP at HOME by talking about numbers in the real world and how much things cost in the real world.

September 7th, 2016

Today in class we worked on some team building exercise and math review.
We also read the book  
as an inspiration to create a brief piece of writing to entertain a reader.  I would like the students to think about structure of writing by writing a title and brainstorming and then using capital and complete sentences that make sense.
We will be continuing to work on this tomorrow in class.

School Supplies

With the excitement and marketing machine running on full steam - back to school supply shopping is in full swing.  When thinking about school supplies please keep it simple and less is usually more when it comes to shopping.

If you are looking for supplies for students in my classroom here is a list to consider:
- clean indoor running shoes         - pencil case with pencils, sharpener, markers and/or pencil crayons
- ruler                                                                - scissors (not a must)
- duotang/folders (2-3) or small binder            - reusable water bottle
- notebook (coil or other)                                 - backpack/bag
- erasers
That's it!  Please don't fall in to the trap of over buying for back to school because I find that by early October it has mysteriously disappeared somewhere in the classroom and Christmas is always a good time to re-stock these items.

Check Out Our School!

We have made the news!  I am looking forward to seeing our new building and all of the usual excitement around back to school.  CTV News Barrie at Tay Shores Public School

Happy SUMMER!

Wishing all of my students and their families a safe and happy summer!
Keep reading and writing this summer using your Google Docs.

June 28th

Today we watched the movie "The Giver."  We have been reading the story The Giver for the last few weeks and our class has been enjoying a lot of great discussion about a dystopian society.  I encourage the class to continue reading all of the books in the series.  The books to look for include:  The Giver (1993), Gathering Blue (2000), Messenger (2004) and Son (2012). 

June 22nd

We are practicing  multiplying fractions today.  Here is a video to help with the concept RAP

Tomorrow is our last Roots of Empathy session with Baby Thomas.

On June 28th we will be celebrating everyone's birthday in the class.  Please bring your own cup and snacks, or drinks.  I will supply the birthday cake.

This Week June 20th - June June 24th

WOW!  The time is rushing past us this week!
We will continue our novel study with The Giver.  Please check out our Google Classroom for the audio version of the book.
In math we are working on rate, ratio and percent.
This week we will have our final Roots of Empathy celebration with Baby Thomas.  It has been a wonderful program and we have learned so much from Laurie, Kayleigh and Thomas.
Please continue to BYOD (bring your own device) to school to help with your learning.

WYE Marsh Trip

Several students have not returned their Wye Marsh trip forms.  I have provided them with multiple forms - if you have not seen the form yet please call me at the school.  Our trip is June 7th and it is all day.  This trip is FREE to our grade 7 students and we will be working with the science curriculum.

Tree Top Trekking

On Friday, May 27th we took our class trip to Tree Top Trekking at Horseshoe Valley.  it was an amazing experience and I am so proud of all of the students that attended.  Several students overcame their fear of heights for the day and attempted the climbing courses and zip lines.  It was an excellent example of GRIT and RESILIENCE in the real world.

Don't Forget to Follow us on TWITTER

A reminder that we are on Twitter!  Please consider following us @teamelson.

Week of May 2nd - May 6th

LITERACY - This week we continue our work on poetry.  We are looking at poetry in the real world, in songs that we enjoy listening to.  Our assignment is to find 3 songs that represent a "Sound Track of Our Life."  Students have to go indepth with one of the songs and include figurative language and meaning in their written work.
Today (MUSIC MONDAY) we discussed the song Imagine by John Lennon and the meaning behind his words.
MATH - We will continue to explore ALGEBRA and how to solve problems involving algebraic expressions in the real world.

Interesting

I was listening to a CBC program today and wanted to share.  The program was discussing personal branding in a technological age.  Under The Influence broadcast

Also of interest please take a moment to watch this news story about a potentially dangerous social media app.  CBC News Story

Week of April 25th

MATH - Patterning quiz Tuesday (today) was very well done and will go home on Friday to be signed.  Here is a video to help with the nth term Nth Term Video
- We will be working with the nth term (finding unknown terms in a sequence) and solving for the unknown
LITERACY - We have moved on to poetry.  We are writing an All About Me Poem where we choose a par of us that we like the most and write a poem that follows a pattern.  We then have to take a photo that expresses our creativity and use of interesting angles.  This dues Monday and will be homework if not completed during class time.
ROTARY - We are starting rotary SCIENCE with Ms. Lehr today and will continue science for 3 weeks.  This your last rotation for the entire year!

Week of April 18th

This week our MATH focus is changing to Patterning and Algebra.  We will be reviewing variables and graphing a linear equation, as well as determining the nth term and solving for an unknown in the next few days.
Here is a good video to help students understand finding the Nth Term
LITERACY this week is focused on our reading strategy of synthesis and our writing process of PLAN, DRAFT, REVISE and EDIt using Google Docs and a graphic organizer.

Twitter

Check out our Twitter Feed @teamelson

Reading Assignments

We have been finishing up our conferences about our children's narrative story and the reading strategies assignments.  Last Friday we read our books to Grade 1 & 2 students in Mrs. Marley's class.  We had to act like the teacher and ask questions about the text, sing our reading strategies of predicting, inferring, analysis, synthesizing and making connections.

Logan took a book nook break in Mrs. Marley's class.

TEST Tomorrow

Just a reminder that we have a MATH test Thursday, April 14th.  We are being tested on area of trapezoids, parallelograms, triangles, rectangles and composite (irregular) shapes.  All formulas will be provided.

This WEEK - April 4th - 8th

This week we are working on:
1.  LITERACY - completing our connections to the children's story we will be reading (orally) to another primary class on Friday.  The Text to world, media, self, or another text bigger assignment should be completed this week and handed in on Friday.  This might involve making a movie, slide show, plasticine scene, etc.  Some of this work should be done at home this week.
2.  MATH - we are working on area of triangles and trapezoids this week.  Check out these videos to help with any homework.  Test next WEEK on APRIL 14th!  The test will cover AREA of triangles, rectangles, parallelograms, trapezoids and composite (irregular) figures.
HOMEWORK this week includes page 21, 22, 37 and 38 (area of Triangles and Parallelograms) and 34 (Area of Trapezoids) and page 141.
We will have Friday and Monday as in class study sessions and practice.
Area of Triangles
Area of a Trapezoid
3. ROTARY - We have moved on to Ms. Woodley's classroom for geography for the next few weeks.
4.  ART - some students still need to complete their Dream Sequence with Chagall and Koru Spirals.
5.  PHED - We are working on volleyball skills and game play.  I am assessing the student's ability to use the skills taught (volley, bump and underhand serve) to play a recreational level game of volleyball.

As always students should be reading nightly for a minimum of 20 minutes.

Upcoming Assignments and Activities in Our Room

It is fast and furious here in Team Elson land!
Please take note of what we are working on for the next few weeks.
1.  LITERACY - this week we are completing a mini narrative about our March Break, or Our 3 Wishes.  We will be looking at children's stories and practicing our read aloud.  The assignment to go along with our story includes identifying all of our reading strategies.  Check out our Google Classroom for further information.
2.  MATH - Measurement continues for a few more weeks.  We are receiving perimeter and area and will move on to surface area, volume and area of a trapezoid and composite (irregular) shapes.

Please remember to come to class prepared with writing tools and indoor shoes that are appropriate for gym class.

What's Up This Week

This week we are completing several items.  Please note all of the following items must be finished by Thursday, or they become your homework.

1.  Literacy - Storybird (children's narrative story)
2.  Health - online or paper poster promoting online safety/responsibility
3.  Math - Metric conversions (frog worksheet)
4.  Art - Dream with Chagall

Class time will be given to complete the assignments but they will be due by Friday, March 11th.

Metric Conversions

MEASUREMENT STRAND 
In math we are working on the measurement strand for the next few weeks.  We are reviewing metric conversions, perimeter and area and surface area.
Please take a look at the video for some ideas about metric conversion.  Metric Song
We will have a bit more homework in this unit, as most of the unit is review from Grade 6.

NEWS

Here are some announcements for our class in the upcoming days.
Students should continue to read 20 minutes (minimum) at home nightly.
We are having a Dance-a-thon on Friday, March 11th and students are encouraged to bring in pledges to support our school initiatives (purchasing more computers, Chrome books, iPads, etc. sports equipment and class trips).
Health posters (digital, or paper) are due March 7th.  These posters should show at least 1 safety precaution when working online.
Please bring in a children's story from home.  We are continuing our work with narratives and we will be creating our own children's narrative stories (using a really cool website) and then reading a children's story out loud for a portion of our oral mark in literacy.

Guest Speaker

Today a guest speaker for the Youth Wellness Network gave an inspirational speech to our students at Tay.   
Some of the messages discussed involved positive mind set and thinking to change your reality.  OPTIMISM is NOT a GIFT.  OPTIMISM is a CHOICE.  

Math Test Monday

Please note that the math test (scheduled for Thursday, February 25th) is postponed until Monday, February 29th.  This test involves FRACTIONS and finding a common denominator, ordering fractions, and addition and subtraction.
You received a study sheet of questions on Tuesday to help you and we will take them up in class on Thursday.

LITERACY

We are working on writing personal narratives in our Literacy classes.  Our focus is on the writing process of PLAN, DRAFT, REVISE and EDIT.  Check out this video to help you to focus your efforts Personal Narrative

Math - we are working on fractions and using them in the real world in a bakery setting.

Health - we are discussing personal safety and our focus will be internet safety

Skiing in the Schoolyard!

Today our class enjoyed an afternoon of cross country skiing.  It was a perfect afternoon of physical activity and snow!

Math

We are working on fractions and the addition and subtraction of fractions.  Before we can add or subtract them we have to find the LCM (lowest common denominator) using multiple methods.  We have tried multiplying the denominators together to get a common denominator but it isn't always the lowest, and we have tried using multiples of the denominators.  It works!

Pancakes All Around!

It's Pancake day.  Also know as Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday and Fat Tuesday.  Check out our Tay Shore news Thursday for more information.

Google Classroom

In our ongoing attempts to make things easier for our students I am trying to use Google Classroom for some assignments.  Our CLASS CODE is je5x2a
The benefit to students is they have access to assigned tasks on any computer, talk to text options, read to me options and collaboration between students and teacher is increased.  I can view and help edit written work from anywhere!
Students should be logging in to Google Chrome as themselves, as this will carry all downloads and apps with them on to any computer.

Upcoming Events in Portable 12

A reminder that we are involve din Skiing in the School yard on Wednesday, February 10th.  We have the opportunity to try out cross country skiing right here in our yard!

Roots of Empathy continues weekly in our room.  Baby Thomas is coming to see us next week.

Scientist in the Classroom

Today Scientist Bronwen came to portable 12!  We did multiple experiments and learned so much about HEAT and energy transfer.

This is Particle Pinball and it helped us to discover what happens when particles move.

Other experiments helped our class discover if some objects absorb infrared radiation better than others, can heat travel through a solid and will hot and cold water mix when they come into contact with each other.

Daruma Dolls

Our class is creating our own Daruma Dolls.  These goal setting dolls are a Japanese tradition that involves painting one eye to set a goal and painting the remaining eye once you have met your goal.

Our class will be sending home our Daruma Dolls next week and setting classroom goals to strive towards in the next few weeks.

Newsletter and Communication

Our classroom newsletter went home on Tuesday, January 12th.  It mentions where we are going in the next few weeks.
SPEECHES - We are working on writing and presenting speeches to Ms. Elson and our classmates.  Students who are interested in the school-wide competition should prepare a traditional speech, 3-5 minutes in length with a standard delivery to the entire class.  Students who are not interested in the school competition are invited to complete a traditional speech, an imagined toast to a friend, Mom and Dad, or eulogy, a presentation or slide soe.   The format can be varied.  I am marking the oral communication skills of our students.  In particular I am looking for body language, facial expressions, tone of voice and maintaining audience interest with the topic chosen.
MATH - We are working with fractions and addition and subtraction of fractions.
LOOKING FOR - In an order to help our students create and explore our world we would like to gather old battery operated toys, phones, tablet, small tools, domino's, race tracks, Lego, marble runs and other interesting bits and pieces that can be reinvented to create interesting feats of engineering!  Please send these items to our classroom as soon as possible.
COMMUNICATION - Please feel free to email, call or reach me through notes at school.  Communication is always welcome, even if you just want to touch base and get an oral report on your son/daughter's progress.

Fractions, Decimals, Percents

After the break we are continuing to work with conversions of fractions, decimals and percents.  We will also be working towards determining the "BEST DEAL" when stores offer a % off or a fraction off of the items we want to purchase.
Here is a video to help remember the process.  Fraction Decimal, Percent RAP