A butterfly release ceremony and a great concert!

Hello families or room 205s. I hope everyone has had a good week and is enjoying the beautiful sunshine and warm weather. We've been very busy in our classroom preparing for the recorder concert and caring for our class pets. The recorder performance on Thursday evening was amazing! Thank you to all the families who came to this performance. The students in our class did an outstanding job playing four songs on the recorder, with the guidance of our dedicated music teacher, Mr. Ungvary. Congratulations to all our students for their hard work and thank you to all the parents for supporting our music program.

Butterflies - On Wednesday afternoon, we took our butterfly net outside and found a beautiful tree to sit under. I had asked the students earlier in the day to write down their wishes, thoughts, blessings and prayers to say to the butterflies just prior to their release. We sat in a circle, with the butterflies in the middle, and took turns saying our wishes to the butterflies. Some students recited a poem, some said a little prayer, some did a skit and one student sang the butterflies a beautiful song that she wrote. It was quite an emotional moment for all of us. We then opened the door of the net, and slowly watched each and every Monarch butterfly elegantly fly away. Overall, I think this was an incredible learning experience for the students in our class. Many of them were able to witness the butterflies emerging from their cocoons as they sat and watched their development over the past three weeks. Thank you for supporting this cause and helping to fund the butterfly program.

Enjoy the pictures below..

Great video - Today in class we watched an informative video called, If The World Were A Village of 100 people. The information in this video connects to the book we are reading in class, Iqbal, as well as to some of the charities we looked at through Project Give Back. I have included the link to this video below. When you have a moment, I highly recommend you watch this with your family.

We had an interesting class discussion after focussing on how lucky the students in our class are to have all of their needs met on a daily basis.  Millions of children around the world do not have food, shelter or access to school. We discussed how important it is to be grateful for a roof over our heads, food on the table, access to schooling and living in a safe and free country. I think this video is an excellent tool for further discussion of how many people around the world are suffering and how fortunate we are to live freely in Canada.

Grade 5 Rights of a Child Project - The grade 5's are currently working on their Rights of a Child Project. They have been asked to choose a right (from the United Nations Charter of Rights and Freedoms) that is meaningful to them and create a 3D artistic piece that represent this right. In addition to the artistic piece, the students have been asked to write a one page description of how it would feel if they did not have this right and what their life may be like if this right was taken away from them..The students have been given time in class all week to work on this project. Many have told me that they are working on the written piece at school and would prefer to do the artwork at home. The due date for this project has been extended to Monday June 9, 2014.

Scientists in the School - On Tuesday June 3rd, we will have another scientist come in to our classroom to do a workshop on Force and Energy. The title of the workshop is, May the Force be With You. The presenter does not require parent volunteers for this workshop.

Reminders:

• Please send your child to school with a water bottle. It gets extremely hot in our classroom during the day and I think it's important for the students to have water on their desks at all time. They should also dress appropriately for the weather and wear cool and light clothing. A hat is recommended for recess and lunchtime outdoor play.
• There will be no more Friday Reports for the rest of the year--great news for our students!
• Friday June 6, 2014 is a PA Day - no school for the students
• Friday June 27, 2014 is the last day of school 

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND and ENJOY THE SUNSHINE!

Thank you for your ongoing support. It's hard to believe that June is around the corner.

Mrs. Mendelson 

Project Give Back has come to an end

Hello families of Room 205s. I hope you are having a great week. Please remember to send in items for our CANADA BASKET that will be auctioned off at Forest Hill's Fun Fair on June 4th. For a list of suggested items, see last weeks  blog. The items must be brought into school by May 29th. Thank you for your assistance and support of this amazing event.

Scientists in the School - Thank you to the parents and students for volunteering in our classroom for our Scientist unit on Pulleys and Gears. Scientist Dianne was great and the students enjoyed learning about all different types of pulleys and gears. Thank you to Nina (Graham's mom), Quentin (Graham's brother), Mary (Jake's mom), Randall (Max's dad) and Gabby, a grade 8 student for volunteering your time and running one of the stations.

Project Give Back - This week, Michelle wrapped up the Project Give Back program by walking the students to the mailbox. While there, she called over each student individually to mail his/her letter to their charity. We came back to class and then watched a video of  the student's at Forest Hill during their presentations.. The students in our class made her a beautiful card with meaningful messages and we presented her with flowers. Michelle was an inspiring and positive teacher who taught the students' the importance of charity work and giving back. I hope you all received a coloured photocopy of their final letter and a picture of your child that was given to them on the last day.

I have included the link to the YouTube video which I encourage you to watch with your child. You will have to copy and paste the link below in order to watch it. Thank you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XmHDWenOsg&feature=youtu.be

Grade 4 Presentations - We had our final grade 4 presentations this past week. We travelled to Ontario and to the Northwest Territories. Thank you for all your support and guidance with this project and congratulations to all the grade 4's for their hard work and positive attitude.

Grade 4 Math test - The grade 4's will have their unit math test on Thursday May 29, 2014. This test will cover all of the chapters from unit 6 including units of time, intervals, estimating and counting money, estimating and measuring capacity and mass. We will have a review in class for two periods next week. 

Our next unit will be Fractions and Decimals.

Recorder Concert - Just a reminder that our recorder end of the year concert is now on Thursday May 29, 2014 in the school auditorium. The students will most likely be playing first. They will play a total of 4 songs. Please try your best to come to this event as it's a very important way for the students to showcase the recorder music they've been working on all year long. Also, please have your child dress in a white top and black bottoms. If it is hot that evening, I recommend they were shorts or a skirt as the auditorium can get very warm. Thank you very much.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND AND ENJOY THE BEAUTIFUL SPRING WEATHER. 

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR ONGOING SUPPORT.

Mrs. Mendelson

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING THE END OF YEAR CONCERT...

Hello families of Room 205s. I hope everyone is having a great week. The sun is shining and the light is beaming in through our classroom windows. It's a pleasure! I have some important information regarding Forest Hill's end of the year concert. 

Our classes performance date has changed. We will now be performing next Thursday May 29, 2014 in the school auditorium at 7:00 pm. Mr. Ungvary, is not able to attend the June performance due to scheduling conflicts so we will now be performing after the junior band next Thursday evening. All of the students in our class are expected to be at this performance playing their recorder. We will play 4 songs on the recorder. The students will be required to dress in white tops and black bottoms for the performance. They have worked very hard on their songs this year and they are looking forward to performing them for you. All family members are welcome to attend!

I will provide more information next week regarding the time and location of drop off that evening. For now, please reserve THURSDAY MAY 29TH in your calendars!

Thank you and have a wonderful day.

Mrs. Mendelson

BUTTERFLY/CATERPILLAR UPDATE & GRADE 4 PRESENTATIONS...

Hello families of Room 205s. I hope everyone has had a great week and is looking forward to the upcoming long weekend. Just a reminder that there is no school on Monday May 19th. School will resume on Tuesday May 20th and it will be a Day 1 in our schedule.

Grade 4 Presentations continued - Here are some photographs of the grade 4 travel agents who presented today. They did an outstanding job presenting the Yukon Territories and New Brunswick!

Scientists in the School - On Thursday May 22nd, we will have a Scientist visit our class to do a workshop on Pulleys and Gears. Our class parent, Nina, sent out an email requesting 5 parent volunteers for the morning only. If you are able to volunteer, please email Nina. Your assistance is greatly appreciated as there will be 5 stations set up that require adult supervision. Thank you.

Project Give Back - Our last PGB class will be held on Wednesday May 21st. We are very sad that this outstanding and educational program has come to an end. The students will be mailing the good copy of their letters to the charity they chose. On Wednesday, we will walk as a class to the mailbox to mail the letters. Michelle is planning on bringing in a small treat and showing a video presentation to the class. This has been an excellent program that each and every student in our class has benefitted from throughout the year. I'd like to thank Michelle, our teacher, for inspiring our students each and every week and teaching them the importance of charities and giving back. I'd also like to thank Ellen Schwartz for creating Project Give Back and sharing her personal story with our class.

Butterfly update - Yesterday we opened the small plastic cups to find sweet little caterpillars inside! It was a great experience. Some of the caterpillars appeared to be quite feisty and squirmy as others were very mellow and complacent. Each student was called over, given a specific caterpillar to care for and then asked to remove the shell the caterpillar had formed inside the cup and place them on the paper inside in order for them to develop into their next stage.

We will leave them in their plastic cups for the next 5 days or so. At this time, we'll remove the lids and hopefully find them in a cocoon which will be taped to the top of their home (the net). Stay tuned for the development of the Monarch Butterflies! Here are some photos of yesterday's event..

Sorry to one of our grade 5 students whose Canadian Prime Minister poster on Lester B. Pearson did not make it on the blog last week. Here it is....

HAVE A WONDERFUL VICTORIA DAY LONG WEEKEND.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

MRS. MENDELSON

CLASS BASKETS FOR OUR FUN FAIR

FUN FAIR - The Forest Hill Fun Fair will take place on Wednesday June 4, 2014. It is an AMAZING fair filled with rides, music, prizes, baked goods and a silent auction. All of the money raised at the fair helps fund new items for our school.

Each class is asked to choose a theme for a basket that will be auctioned off at the fair. This morning, our class brainstormed many basket related ideas and we decided on the theme of CANADA. Below is a list of items we thought could fill the basket. A notice was sent home today with your child explaining how this CLASS BASKET FUNDRAISER works. Please read this for important information and details.

You are asked to spend $10.00 or less on an item for the basket. Please send in your item with your child to school by Thursday May 29th. Your support and help with this fundraiser is greatly appreciated!

Here are some ideas we came up with for our CANADA basket:

• books on Canada
• Maple Syrup
• hockey related items such as a t-shirt, toque or hockey cards
• mini Canadian flags
• Canadian wine
• Maple Syrup lollipops
• Roots gift card or any Roots item (hat, sockss, t-shirt)
• chocolate moose or beaver (or a stuffed animal)
• Tim Horton's gift card
• Canadian Tire gift card
• OR any other item of your choice as long as it's related to CANADA

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

We have been travelling all over Canada!

GRADE 4 PERSUASIVE PRESENTATIONS, BROCHURES AND POSTCARDS - The grade 4's have been busy acting as excellent travel agents this week trying their best to persuade us to visit their province or territory! We have been travelling all across Canada learning pertinent information about each of Canada's provinces and territories. Here's where we've visited so far: Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Alberta, Manitoba, Nunavut, Newfoundland and Labrador, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. We look forward to finishing our presentations at the end of the week.

If your child comes home and tries to persuade you to take a vacation somewhere in Canada, then our travel agents have done their job! Excellent work grade 4's on your latest project. 

Enjoy the pictures...