What a busy busy week we had!

Hello families of Room 205s. Thank you to all the grade 5 parents for supporting your child with their most recent project - creating an Explorer's picture book for grade 2 students. The students presented their work to Ms. Whittington's grade 2 class this week who absolutely loved hearing all about the explorers and their journeys to Canada many years ago. Ms.Whittington commented on the maturity level of their reading and the hard work that was evident in their books. The grade 2's loved listening to their stories and seeing all the creative and colourful illustrations in the books. Well done grade 5's!

 

Student teacher - Miss Gamliel was planning on finishing her teaching block on Friday November 22nd. However, she was in a small car accident on Wednesday morning and her doctor advised her to rest for a few days. She is feeling fine, just a little stiff and is resting at home. The students were planning on making her a goodbye party on Friday afternoon and have been busy working on the most beautiful 'goodbye' card. We hope she will be back one day next week to finish off her teaching block and celebrate with the students. She's been a real asset to our gifted classroom and we will all miss her. If you would like to send in a personal message to Miss Gamliel or have your child write a card at home, please do so over the weekend and return it to school by next Monday or Tuesday. Thank you.

Math Congress - See if you can solve this one! Ask your child to help you out if you get stuck...

 MATH CONGRESS

 How much does each person weigh?

November 22, 2013

Fred weighs half as much as Frank and Finnigan weighs three times as much as Fred. Together, they weigh 720 pounds. How much does each person weigh? Solve this problem using pictures, numbers and words.

Math - The grade 4's had their unit test on Geometry this week and received their tests back. Most of the students did very well on these. Please ask your child to see their test, sign it at the top and have them return it to school and show me. The students that were asked to make corrections should have them completed over the weekend and shown to me on Monday. Thank you for your help with this. Our next unit will be Data Management. Students will be drawing bar graphs, pictographs, circle graphs and examining the range of different data.

The grade 5's have been working on the Data Management unit this week. In this unit, they will learn the terms range, mean, average and mode as well as examine and draw different types of graphs looking at intervals and samples used. They will also learn the term bias and how it affects certain data.

Next project - Many students are eager to begin their next project and are asking me daily, "Mrs. Mendelson, when are we getting our next project?" Well the answer to this is in about a week or so. The class has worked very hard over the past month on their Medieval Scrapbooks and Explorer's books and I feel that they need a rest period! As much as they love projects, learning, creating and exploring, I feel strongly that children also need some down time. When the next project is released, you will hear about it!

Hana's Suitcase - Miss Gamliel began reading the book, Hana's Suitcase, to the students this week. She introduced the book with a personal story about her grandfather, who was only 5 years old and was in the Holocaust. His father was killed but his mother survived and eventually they moved to Israel. 

Hana's Suitcase is an incredible story for children as it tells the story of Hana and George Brady who were living in Nove Mesto, Czechoslovakia in the early 1930's. This was a small town of 4,000 people. There were very few Jewish families living in this town at the time. In fact, Hana and George were the only Jewish children in Nove Mesto. The story flips back and forth between Hana, George and their families who were involved in the tragic and horrific events of the Holocaust and Fumiko Ishioka, a young Japanese woman from Tokyo, who runs a small Holocaust Museum. It is told specifically for young children and the author does an outstanding job retelling the horrible events leading up to the Holocaust. It is a true story that covers the themes of survival, courage, hardships, family and suffering.  Please ask your child about the book and I'm sure they will be happy to relate what we have read so far.

Reminders:

• Friday Reports are due on Monday November 25th
• Forest Hill's Wish List Campaign is running - Parent Council is asking for donations of any amount to help improve our school (please see school website for more specific details)
• Project Give Back "grabbers' sheet is due this Wednesday and should be completed by then
• Recorder class is on Wednesday November 27th *please ensure your child brings their recorder to school that day
• Please label ALL ITEMS brought to school. We have a collection of unnamed jackets and hats at the back of our classroom that will be taken to the lost and found if they are not claimed.

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE.

HAVE A WONDERFUL AND RESTFUL WEEKEND!

Mrs. Stacey Mendelson