An exciting week!

"Mistakes are merely steps up the ladder."

-Paul J. Meyer

"This is the funnest BFYB ever, Mrs. Mendelson!"

-spoken by several students in class while completing a math challenge called CALCULATOR FUN

Hello families of room 205s! I hope everyone had a wonderful week and enjoyed the classroom stories your child is beginning to share. We drew and painted our self portraits using water colours and outlined the facial features in black pastel. They are masterpieces! Students are continuing to work hard on their biographies and many have asked me to edit their rough drafts this past week. The good copy should be typed or neatly handwritten on ONE page. The due date for the biography assignment is Monday September 23, 2013. 

Quote Reflection - The quote reflection this week, stated above, created a great class discussion on the benefits of making mistakes and how we learn from each mistake we make. Some students shared personal examples of mistakes they have made and the learning involved in making each mistakes. We also discussed why mistakes are compared to 'steps up a ladder' and the significance of this statement. Please ask your child about this quote and together, you can think of examples of how it relates to your family or your life.

Media Literary - Thank you to Max Friedman-Cole for introducing the above video to the class entitled, The Scarecrow. This is an advertisement for the restaurant Chipotle and can be downloaded as an app for your smartphone. We watched this short video during Media Literacy and the students really enjoyed it. We had a brief discussion about the meaning of GMO (genetically modified organism) and why large companies would genetically modify their meat and poultry products. This will definitely be an ongoing topic throughout the year and we will continue to learn about genetically modified products as I believe this is a very important and relevant topic in our lives today.

Terry Fox Run - Forest Hill will have their annual Terry Fox Run on Friday September 27th, 2013. Student's will run or walk around the school in the afternoon for about 30 minutes. We are asking each student to bring in a "Toonie for Terry" before this date. They money will go toward cancer research in support of the Terry Fox Foundation.

Recorder - We are very lucky to have recorder as part of our music program this year. Mr. Ungvary, our wonderful music teacher from last year, will be back again working with our class once a week. The recorder program will start in approximately two weeks time. More information will be sent home regarding the cost of the recorder as well as the accompanying recorder notebook that will need to be purchased. Please do not go out and buy a recorder as the purchasing will be done through the school. .

IEP's - By now, each family should have received a notice regarding the IEP (Individual Education Plan). I am in the process of writing each child's IEP and would appreciate you filling out the information sheet sent home. All the feedback submitted will assist me in outlining the program for your child this year. Since this is quite a time consuming process and the IEP is a working document that can be revised at any point in time, I'd appreciate only meeting with those families whose child has a dual diagnosis. Otherwise, please fill in the form sent home and return it to school as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding.

 Friday Reports- Thank you for encouraging your child to write their first Friday Report last week. They were a pleasure to read! Please try and sign this report weekly and feel free to write a comment regarding your child's written reflection. I explained to the class that my expectation is to have them fill in the entire section of lines for the reflection piece. They are more than welcome to do this on the computer and hand in a printed copy to me. Your support with this is appreciated.

Language - As part of our language program, students will be working on "paragraph" writing and "recounts" over the next few weeks. We will look specifically at the structure and ideas that go into writing an excellent paragraph using examples in class. Students are also busy writing reflections to our read aloud novel, The Tale of Desperaux, in their response journals. They are really enjoying this book so far!

Math Congress - Below are two examples of the Math Congress problems we have worked on in class over the past few weeks. See if you can solve them! Please ask your child to explain the strategies discussed in class.

Problem # 1 - In the Akimoto family there is one grandmother, one grandfather and three fathers. Each father has one daughter. Each daughter has three brothers. Each grandchild has one aunt and two uncles. What is the fewest number of people that could be in the Akimoto family? Use pictures, numbers and words to solve this problem.

Problem # 2 - In the National Hockey League, a team gets two points for a win, one point for a tie, and no points for a loss. One team lost 14 of their 80  games. They ended the season with 113 points. How many games did they win? Use pictures, numbers and words to explain your thinking.

Curriculum Night - A reminder that Curriculum Night will be held on Thursday September 26, 2013. There will be a BBQ that evening followed by a presentation in our classroom. Please see the notice sent home this week regarding the specific details of the evening. Looking forward to seeing you there!

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT...

Mrs. Mendelson