A bit of a change of schedule for tomorrow. A presentation on bike safety and a chance for students to have their bikes checked if they are brought to school has been scheduled, so we will need to postpone our public library visit until Wednesday.

* We will try to fit in another visit to the public library before the month comes to an end. Depending on the weather forecast for next week, we will attempt to make this trip on either Tuesday, May 29 or Wednesday, May 30.

- Tuesday, May 1 is our math test on 3D geometry and measurement

- Students will complete their second recorder performance task on Wednesday, May 2. Students should have brought home their music folder with the songs to be practiced. Song #13 will be assessed, and Song #14 is a bonus song for anyone who would like an extra challenge!

Wear pink on Wednesday, April 11 for bullying awareness!

- Pizza orders for Term 3 are due on Wednesday, March 7 for anyone who has not previously ordered for the entire year

- Friday, March 9 is Crazy Hair Day! Wear your wackiest hairstyle that day!

 * Book orders went home on Friday for all students who were at school and anyone who was absent due to the no bus day can pick up theirs on Monday. These are due to Miss Hendy by Friday, March 9.

 * We will have the opportunity to go skating prior to the March Break, on Friday, March 9. Permission forms for this will come home next week.

In your child’s home folder last week, you should have found 2 index cards (or one front and back) with the two and three times tables written on them by your child. Another will follow this week. We will be beginning a math unit on multiplication and division in mid-February so in preparation we are reviewing all our math facts up to 12x12 throughout the next several weeks. In class for each set of facts (though we omitted the zero and one times tables as students seemed very comfortable with the way with the way these times tables work), we write each fact down, say it aloud while looking at it and repeat the list of facts over and over several times, again while looking at each. We also review the facts through a series of games and mad minute exercises. I have stressed to the students how important it is to review these facts at home to make them automatic, especially as we get to the larger facts that present more of a challenge to students. Having your child review their cards in a manner similar to the way we have practiced in class will help, as would things like flashcards, computer programs, etc. Being able to compute the answer to each and every fact within one or two seconds of seeing it would be the ultimate goal and would help tremendously with our multiplication and division unit and with future concepts in math like least common multiple, fractions, etc. Thank you for any time you can spend helping your child work toward this important goal!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone is managing to enjoy a relaxing and restful vacation now that the busyness of the holidays is over, and that all the students will return on Monday ready to get back at it!

December was a busy and productive month. All students who had completed their human body model project at home have had the chance to present it to the class. Speaking in front of a large group is not easy for most people and all students did a great job overcoming their nervousness to teach us a lot about different systems and organs in the body! Our Christmas musical, "Melton the Warm Hearted Snowman" was also a success. Thank you to all parents, grandparents, siblings, other family and friends who came and supported our class and the students who put extra time and effort into the play by assuming speaking roles! It really came together into a wonderful production!

Thanks to everyone for their generosity!

Later this upcoming week, our class will be completing again this year "The Touching Program". Over the course of several days, we will watch a movie and complete some discussions and activities that are meant to focus our attention on good and bad touches and how to handle unwanted touches, including bullying. Ask your child to share with you the content and learning from this program. If you have any questions about this program, I would be happy to try to answer them or I can put you in contact with our Child and Youth Worker, Mrs. Hope, for further information.

-Book orders are due to Ms. Hendy by Friday, December 2, 2011

-Details of the science project, due December 12, have been sent home. If you did not receive a copy or have any questions, please let me know. A reminder that if students want to bring in their sketch to school, I would be happy to look at it prior to students building the model of their human body system.

Other reminders:

Don’t forget to send in orders for the Parent Council gift card fundraiser, due Tuesday, November 15!

Graphing math test on Wednesday, November 16

November brings with it the completion of progress reports and parent-teacher interviews. Interviews will take place on the evenings of Thursday, November 10 and Thursday, November 17 and during the morning of Friday, November 18. Further information and a chance to request your preferred interview time was sent home in a note in your child’s agenda on October 31. If this note was misplaced in transit, please let me know by writing a note in your child's agenda and I can send another copy. Confirmation of your time slot will be sent home in home folders on Friday for anyone who has returned the preference sheet at that point.

Our patterning math test will take place on Wednesday, October 26. It is postponed one day in order to allow us a little extra time to review key concepts from the unit. Several students struggled with the mid-chapter review completed earlier this week so we worked through it in class, rather than it being collected and marked. I have suggested to anyone who found it challenging that they may wish to spend some time on their long weekend completing the review sheets for the unit sent home in Home Folders a week ago.

A few pieces of information/reminders:

-new book orders went home today and are due to Ms. Hendy by November 4.

-we are waiting for a few students to finish up their social studies test on government/the election process. Tests should be able to be handed back after the weekend!

-a reminder of our school trip to the Wizard of Oz on Tuesday, December 13. The cost is $25 per student but it will be our class fall trip for this year so hopefully we will all be able to attend!

-Friday, October 21 is a P.A. Day. There is no school for students on this day.

Some steps we took include:

- reviewing our classroom agreements: attentive listening, mutual respect, active participation and no put-downs

- sharing our thoughts and feelings about the day and how we thought the people involved felt

- rearranging the classroom setup so that student desks are placed in partners or triads.

- returning to an emphasis on exemplary listening behaviour when it is someone’s turn to talk (teacher or classmate) and on accountability for our whereabouts (being in seats unless permission is given to leave the room or to be working in another area of the classroom)

- placing renewed emphasis on our Tribes program which helps us build inclusiveness and a sense of community within the classroom

- revisiting a book "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" that we read with Mrs. Hope earlier this year and reminding ourselves how we can fill the buckets of those people around us today and everyday (your child can explain the concepts in the book if you are not familiar with it)

- we are working towards earning the trust of all teachers back so that freedoms and privileges that were previously a natural part of our day can be restored: choosing the partners and groups we work with throughout the day, special events in our week like P.A.T. time or public library visits, etc.

Happily by the end of the day, we were successfully working in groups that students had input in choosing in order to begin the science reports and models we will create about the different systems of the body (i.e. digestive, circulatory, respiratory, etc.). I am expecting that we will continue this positive behaviour as the days progress and just wanted everyone to be aware of our current social emphasis at school!

As the weather is looking pretty rainy for our scheduled public library visit on Wednesday, we will plan in advance to postpone it for a day and will try to visit on Thursday instead. This will also allow a little extra time for the books we are waiting for that will help us research our new science topics (different systems in the body- i.e. circulatory, digestive, respiratory) to arrive at the Palmerston library. If we are rained out on Thursday as well, we will reschedule our visit for one day next week and I will let you know details once planned.

Our school, like Ontario students as a whole, voted for an NDP minority government with the Liberals forming the opposition. At our school, the Green Party came in a close third!

We learned a lot about the government and electoral process through preparing for and taking part in Student Vote. All members of our class played a role on "election day", either as deputy returning officers, poll clerks, scrutineers or as volunteers who greeted voters and directed them to their polling station. I'm sure your child (if they haven't already) would love to share with you what their role was, as well as their understanding of what the job of each election official is.

As one of our class novel studies for first term, we have been reading "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum. Our Wizard of Oz unit will be a cross-curricular one as we will also incorporate it into media literacy and the arts with activities like watching the movie and comparing it to the novel, analyzing dramatic techniques used within the motion picture and putting on our own mini-play, complete with simple sets and props. We have been given a further opportunity to extend our learning surrounding this story by seeing it produced as a musical by a professional theatre company. Our school has the opportunity to travel to St. Jacobs on Tuesday, December 13 to see the play at 10:30am. This wonderful cultural and artistic experience is open to all students in the school. It would be wonderful if every member of our class was able to attend to enhance their learning and understanding of a story that has been and will be such a focus for us this term. In an effort to minimize the amount of money you are being asked to pay for class trips this year, I have not scheduled any other fall class bus trips (though we will still attend Earth Keepers as our year-end trip in the spring) so that all students will hopefully be able to participate in this experience. If the price of the trip is the only aspect that is holding you back from having your child attend, please speak to me or send me a note and we can work something out that will allow your child to attend. (You will see on the order form that you have the option of paying in installments which could help as well.) Order forms will go home tomorrow with oldest and only children. If you do not receive one in the next few days, please let me know and I can send home an extra.

Students are beginning to return home reading sheets from September. Please send these yellow sheets back to school so we can count your child’s reading minutes toward our class goal of 20 000 minutes of reading. So far our "minutes read" total is 615 minutes! 

- unfortunately, we were unable to complete our trip to the public library today. We will try again on Tuesday, October 4.

- the October newsletter and calendar will be posted to the PPS website after the weekend. It will also be sent via email to all parents on my mailing list. It is not too late to send me your email address in your child's agenda! For this month, a paper copy will also be sent home in all other agendas on Monday.

- writing the names of numbers to 10 000

- writing numbers to 10 000 in expanded form

- comparing (i.e. which is bigger?) and ordering (i.e. put in order from greatest to least) numbers to 10 000 and decimals

- rounding numbers (i.e. round to ten thousands, thousands and hundreds and decimals to whole and tenths)

- writing the names of decimals or the decimal if given its name

- counting bills and coins to determine a total money amount

-Our school Terry Fox Run takes place on Wednesday, September 28 in the afternoon. We are still accepting donations of a toonie as part of our "Toonies for Terry" campaign!

-Pizza orders are due by Wednesday, September 28 for anyone who wishes to order pizza for the whole year or for term 1.

-We have begun our weekly visits to the school library. Any books signed out should be returned each Day 3 (which falls on Thursdays for the next several weeks). Library days will be listed on the October calendar as well.

-Finally, I am looking forward to meeting (or seeing again!) anyone who is able to attend our Meet the Teacher evening tomorrow, Thursday, September 22, from 6:30 to 7:30

As a fundraiser for this worthy cause, the school is again running the "Toonies for Terry" campaign where all who are willing and able are encouraged to donate a toonie. As an extra incentive, the class that raises the most money (per capita) will receive an ice cream party!

Donations can be sent in your child's agenda. (Placing money in a bag or envelope labelled with your child's name is always helpful in keeping us organized!)

Thank you for your support!

Attentive listening

Mutual respect

Appreciation/no put-downs

Active participation

We are well on our way to becoming a true learning community! Keep up the great work!

With this blog up and running, I am trying to become more environmentally friendly and dramatically decrease the number of paper newsletters and updates sent home. Our classroom October calendar will be the last one printed and sent home in agendas. Watch for details of this to come in next month's newsletter.

Bookmark this blog or the P.P.S. website and check back often for important classroom information, reminders, changes and updates.

I'm looking forward to a fantastic year!

Mrs. Harwood