Sunday 27 October 2013

Halloween is in the air!

Hi students & parents!

I apologize for the delay, we have had a very busy couple of weeks at school. Thank you for your patience!

REMINDERS:

- Halloween Dance-a-thon & dress down day will be this Wednesday! Many thanks to CSAC for organizing, Mr. Paul for DJing & our Student Council for helping set up! Thanks as well for the dance- a-thon donations brought in by students.

- Halloween costume day will be on Halloween- Thursday October 31st. Just a reminder that students are not to wear or bring in graphic & inappropriate costumes/props- thank you! There will also be a staff costume contest, which the Student Council is organizing. The winning teacher will win a Walmart gift card for their class! A gentle reminder that students should not be bringing in edible treats but rather non edible treats for their classmates if they wish.

- Achievement Day is this Thursday on Halloween in the PM. Students are allowed to bring personal electronics, movies, games but must take care of their own belongings.

- On Tuesday, the students will have their Math chapter 2 final test. Students should be very proud of their accomplishments in Math so far!

- Book Fair will take place November 11-15th. Thank you to our Librarian, Mrs Nicolucci!

- Progress report cards will go home November 12th!

- There will be a school mass on November 14th.

- Parent teacher interviews will take place the evening of Thursday November 14th & the morning of Friday November 15th. I will be sending home a sign-up form soon!

- Thank you again for sending exact change for pizza & subway orders! It makes organizing the $ for the office much easier!


MONTHLY UPDATE:

- In Math, we are finishing up chapter 2 on Numeration. Students did very well on their quiz and should be ready for their test this Tuesday! This week, we will be taking information from the Edmodo polls on Digital Citizenship and graphing the results. We are trying to connect Math to all subject areas whenever possible as we know Math is part of everyday life. These graphs will be displayed outside the classroom and you will be able to take a look at them during interviews.

The students are now completely engaged with Sum Dog! Please encourage your child to use this site often as the skills they learn in class are reinforced through game. So not only are they learning, they are enjoying Math at the same time! I am able to adjust their skill & grade level so that they are challenged to learn more. www.sumdog.com

- In Language, we have been very busy learning all of the Daily 5 stations. The students now are involved in these stations each week:  Read to Self, Read to Others, Listen to Reading and Work on Writing.
 
During the Read to Self and Others stations, the students have been learning about the comprehension strategy Determining Important Ideas and have been working on this strategy based on their current readings.

During the Listen to Reading station, the students have an opportunity to visit Tumble Books through the Public Library and listen to stories that they choose. This helps them develop their fluency in reading.

During the Work on Writing station, students have begun learning about and working on the writing process for mystery narratives. Students have brainstormed and created outlines for their own personal narrative.


We have also been focusing on Digital Citizenship in Media by discussing the digital footprint we want to leave behind. We must teach students how to be a part of this growing digital world, by teaching them cyberbullying, internet safety, internet privacy, safe searching and giving proper credit to online sources.

Please watch these videos on Digital Citizenship with your child to start a conversation about the digital footprint they want to leave behind:

 








Our Daily 5 stations

Student working on brainstorming & outline for mystery narrative

Student working on outline using brainstorming notes for mystery narrative

Listen to Reading station

Listen to Reading station

Please check out this site with your child as we will be looking into signing up & sharing our creative writing:  http://lendmeyourliteracy.com/  Please watch the video & explore the site!


- In the Social Sciences, we continue to explore Canada's trading items with different trading countries in Social Studies and we are investigating the 5 kingdoms of life in Science. Please check the Edmodo Social Studies & Science groups for videos, discussions and assignments.

- In Health, we are looking carefully at what it means to be healthy by exploring healthy food options. Please check the Health Edmodo group for discussions and assignments.

- Our virtue for October is Gratitude and the students have been working on various activities about gratitude in their notebooks and on Edmodo in the Religion group.


Thank you for checking the blog! Have a wonderfully spooky week!

E. Massaro :)

Tuesday 1 October 2013

Curriculum Night & Delicious Apples!

Hello students & parents!

We have a very busy week ahead!  Please read below for our week events:

- On Thursday, I will be at a Technology Workshop, but the students will be prepared for their day with the supply teacher.

- Curriculum Night will take place this Thursday from 6-7pm! I hope that most of you will be able to attend as I would like to meet you & briefly go over Edmodo & our plans for the year. Please email me at evita.massaro@tcdsb.org confirming that you are able to attend- thank you!

- On Friday, the students will be celebrating our first Achievement Day of the year! Please note that the students are allowed to bring in personal electronics, boardgames etc, for use IN our classroom, not outside of our classroom. Also please note that the students are responsible for their personal electronics and belongings. Students will receive free time according to the amount of badges they have received on Edmodo. Each badge is equal to 10 minutes of free time. We will be celebrating Achievement Day once a month!

- On Friday, as a treat, the students will be welcoming Fall by enjoying a delicious apple from a local farm (YUM!) and participating in other Fall activities.

REMINDERS:

-  Our 'Joseph' trip is Thursday October 10th in the AM! Please ensure the students have breakfast as we will not have an opportunity for morning recess snacks.

- P.A. Day Friday October 11th & Thanksgiving Day is Monday October 14th.

- Math Ch. 1 test is tomorrow! Please look out for the results next week.

- There will be construction taking place in our schoolyard soon, so for this reason, our dismissal and arrival procedures will be changed starting this week to prepare the students. During the morning recess from 8-8:30am, students will remain in the hallway area outside of our classroom as the field is not used during this time and the yard will be under construction. In terms of entry into the school after recess and dismissals, students will be asked to line-up near the field and we will enter or leave the school by the stairwell near the Community Centre.

- It would be greatly appreciated if you could provide exact change for pizza orders and any other times we need to collect money. Thank you!!

- Food Bank @ Richview Baptist Church (1548 Kipling Avenue) every Sunday 2:30-4:30pm for any families in need. Food Bank items include fresh vegetables & fruit, milk, canned goods, pasta, rice and other items at NO COST. Please share the news!

WEEKLY UPDATE:

- In Math, we have completed Chapter 1 and will have the test tomorrow. We reviewed for the test today and most students feel that they are ready for the test. Good luck students!!

Class 'Success Criteria' for how to create graphs




- In Language, we continue to work on Daily Cafe, specifically the Read to Self station. The students also worked on reading prompts and responses about the story of Terry Fox. They will continue to work on these responses often about books they are reading. The students also practiced how to 'check for understanding' after reading a page. Today, we introduced the Read to Others station. I was very impressed with how well the students did with this station! They also seemed to really enjoy this station as they get to read with a partner.

 
 
 




*** Parents, please check each subject group in your child's Edmodo account as there are many items posted for students to work on, particularly in Media, Religion and Math. Thank you for your support!!


Thank you for reading and have a great week!

Mrs Massaro



Happy Fall!

Delicious, local apples! The students will be enjoying these on Friday!