HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Welcome back to all the students and families in Room 205s. I hope you had a wonderful, peaceful and relaxing holiday. Wishing all of you the very best of health and happiness for 2014. I'm looking forward to a great second half of the year in the grade 4/5 gifted program.

It was so nice to come back to all the smiling faces and warm welcomes from your children this morning! They were very enthusiastic to share their holiday stories and adventures with the class, especially the ones that pertained to power outages and family adventures during the ice storm! We will continue to discuss these tomorrow during Media Literacy, focussing on how the city pulled together during this time of crisis. I will incorporate our classroom theme of "Acts of Kindness" in this discussion and we will read about kind acts people performed during this time of need.

Our new student - We welcome Oscar Holland, a grade 5 student, who started the gifted program today. Oscar comes from Brown Public School and we are very happy to have him join our class. Welcome Oscar and wishing you much success in the gifted program. 

Grade 4 multiplication facts - Before the holidays, the grade 4's started their new math unit, Multiplication and Division. We have spent some time reviewing the facts 1 through 12 and looking for tricks and raps to help the students memorize these! They will also be completing a daily Minute Math in class which contains 30-40 multiplication facts. I will be handing out multiplication review booklets to those students who have asked for one. These booklets contain pages of drills which I feel are very important at this stage.

I am asking for your assistance in helping your child MEMORIZE these facts. I'm happy to send home math sheets if needed. They may visit the internet to find cool math games that involve multiplication. If you could drill them while eating meals, while driving in the car or during any free time, that would be greatly appreciated. Ideally, I'd like all the grade 4's to have the 1 to 12 times tables memorized by the end of this unit. We will continue to have daily Minute Math questions and mini quizzes in class as well. Thank you for your assistance. 

Grade 4 Habitat Project - This project is due on Thursday January 9, 2014. I have told students that if they need an extension, they should come and speak to me and I'd be happy to give them an extension until Monday January 13, 2014. I'm looking forward to seeing their Animal Habitat Zookeepers diorama and accompanying explanation! Our next science unit is Rocks and Minerals. 

Grade 5 Human Body Project - The grade 5's received the much anticipated Human Body Project today! They are very enthusiastic about this project in which they are asked to study an organ of their choice and create a 3-D model to present to the class. Please ask your child to see this pink package and take a look at the expectations for this assignment. Once you have read through this booklet, please sign the bottom of page 1. Students will be given time in class to complete the detailed drawing, label their drawing and describe diseases that affect the organ. However,  I'd appreciate your assistance in having them work on the 3-D model at home. Please remember this is their project so they should work on this independently with little parent input. Thank you!
Due date for this project and presentation is: Wednesday January 29, 2014

Running shoes and outdoor wear - Please remember to have your child bring in a pair of comfortable running shoes that they can leave at school over the next few months. Please clearly label these with your child's name. All winter clothing should also be clearly labelled with their name as many items seem to go missing throughout the day and are much easier to locate when they are labelled. The forecast looks very frigid over the next few days. Please make sure your child comes to school dressed appropriately with a warm jacket, snow pants, warm gloves and a hat. Thank you.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ONGOING SUPPORT. HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK. STAY WARM AND SAFE!

Mrs. Mendelson