A great first week of 2014!

Hello families of room 205s. I hope everyone had a great week! Here in room 205s, we were busy bees! Here are a few highlights of what we accomplished:

We finished the book Hana's Suitcase, we listened to the grade 4's present their science projects, the grade 5's chose organs and began researching for their science project on the Human Body, we reviewed who Gandhi was and his significance to our world and we studied multiplication tables using Minute Math (grade 4). 

Math Congress - Below is today's Math Congress. Students were challenged to solve this problem and as usual, they worked very hard in their groups, collaborating and sharing their math knowledge to solve the problem. Ask your child who had more money in their bank account at the end of 13 weeks - Ellen or Tanya?

MATH CONGRESS - Friday January 10, 2014

 Extravagant Ellen and Thrifty Tanya each have bank accounts. Ellen has $500 and Tanya has $200.  Ellen withdraws $15 each weekend while Tanya deposits $12. At the end of 13 weeks, what is the difference in their bank accounts? Can you find a week when there is only a $3 difference?  Solve this problem using pictures, numbers and words.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever”. –Gandhi    

Quote Reflection -  This quote was given to the students this week as part of the BFYB program. The students were asked to 'reflect' on this quote by explaining, in their own words, what they believed Gandhi meant. They were asked to give specific examples of how they live life to the fullest each and every day and the importance of always doing this. When sharing their reflections, many of the students began their paragraph with the sentence, If I were to die tomorrow, I would.... Although this is often a difficult topic to discuss, I believe we had an excellent and informative discussion on how to live life to the fullest each and every day and try our best to always 'be in the moment.'

Habitat Projects continued...enjoy the pictures of the grade 4 students who presented their Toronto Zoo habitats this morning in class.

AFRICAN ELEPHANT - DENIZ

 KING COBRA SNAKE - JAKE

 DOLPHIN - INDIA

Reminders:

• Friday Reports - due on Monday January 13, 2014
• Friday January 10, 2014 - We will have a guest speaker coming to our class to discuss the Holocaust as a follow up to Hana's Suitcase (Max Friedman-Cole's grandfather)
• Grade 5 Human Body Project - due January 29, 2014
• Upcoming field trip to see the play Noob at Lorraine Kimsa Theatre (February 19th) - more information to follow in the next few weeks
• PA Day - January 24, 2014
• Please label all clothing that comes to school

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE OVER THE FIRST TERM. 

LOOKING FORWARD TO AN AMAZING 2014 IN OUR CLASSROOM!!

Mrs. Mendelson

                                                                                                                               

                                                                                           

GRADE 4 HABITATS' PROJECTS!

The grade 4 students in our class presented their science projects today. They were asked to create a new habitat at the Toronto Zoo for any animal of their choice and describe how this animals' needs will be met in their new habitat. 

They did an OUTSTANDING job and their hard work and creative effort was evident in their presentations. We had 7 students present their habitats today and we will continue presentations tomorrow.

Great work grade 4's!!! 

Enjoy the pictures...

JAGUAR - JOSH

BENGAL TIGER - CHRISTINE

KOALA BEAR - BRIDGET

POLAR BEAR - HANNAH

MANATEE - ASHEY

 SNOW LEOPARD - KAI

SIBERIAN TIGER - GRAHAM

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

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Hello families of Room 205s. I received the most beautiful bouquet of colourful flowers this morning along with a VISA gift card and a beautiful note expressing thanks. I was very touched by this. 

Thank you very much to all those families who participated in this very thoughtful and generous gift. I really appreciate your kindness and warm wishes. It has truly been a pleasure working with your children each and every day over the past four months and I look forward to continued success in 2014. 

The students are very excited for our Secret Santa gift exchange and party this afternoon. The holiday buzz and excitement is in the air! 

Thanks again for your thoughtfulness. Wishing you all the best for the holiday season and a happy and healthy new year.

Mrs. Mendelson

SECRET SANTA - Holiday Gift Exchange

1. 

Happy Monday to all!  I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing weekend. This morning, the students chose random names out of an envelope for our Secret Santa class gift exchange. They were very excited! I have stressed to the students that they need to keep this information 'secret' in order for the gift exchange to be as exciting as possible. The students are asked to bring in their gifts by Wednesday December 18th 2013, the day of our holiday party.

I am suggesting a maximum of $10.00 be spent on this gift. Please do whatever is comfortable for your family. We all understand that it's a busy and expensive time of year. 

The students can either buy a gift, make a gift or bake a gift! Please wrap the gift and include the recipients name on the front. Thank you for participating in this special event and helping make this a festive and happy occasion for our students!

Mrs. Mendelson

Happy December!

Hello Parents and students of Room 205s. I hope everyone has had a wonderful week. It is hard to believe that it's already December and the holiday buzz is in the air! The students in the grade 4/5 gifted program are continuing to work very hard each and every day. They receive ongoing compliments from Mme. Pryde, myself and supply teachers. These compliments add links to our chain. Once our class chain hits the floor, we will have a party or some type of celebration. The students in this class show a great deal of respect and kindness for one another and I'm proud of them for this. There are new friendships developing all the time and I feel that they have worked hard to become a cohesive and positive group. Great work!

Grade 4 Habitats "Zoo Planner" project - The grade 4's were given their newest science project this week. They expressed a great deal of enthusiasm when told they have been hired by the Toronto Zoo as their newest Zoo planner! The project is explained in detail, including the success criteria, in a 3 page yellow booklet. Student's are expected to create a 3D diorama model of their animal's habitat as well as describe this habitat in a detailed one page written report. If you haven't seen the project outline yet, please have a look at this booklet and sign the contract on the second page. Students will be expected to present their diorama and describe the specific details they included in their animal's setting to the class on the due date. The due date for this project is Thursday January 9, 2014.

I have made it clear to the class that I DO NOT want them doing work or projects over the two week holiday break. They can work on this before the break and then after the break. I feel it's important for them to relax and enjoy their time off with family and friends.

The grade 5's are continuing to study and learn about the systems in the Human Body. The grade 5 students are learning this through an information booklet they were given as well as through videos and facts on line. We have studied the following systems to date: Skeletal system, Digestive System, Respiratory System and we are currently learning about the Circulatory system. The grade 5's will be given their Human Body project next week. More information to follow!

Math Congress - The students' had fun solving today's Math Congress. They were busy drawing dog bones while attempting to solve this problem! They were placed in random groups of 3 and they were able to work very well using math language and discussing strategies in their groups. Here are some pictures of the students presenting their work to the class...

MATH CONGRESS –

Friday December 6, 2013

 The city of East Cove has a dog-at-large problem. Last week, the town council passed a tough new law. The first time a dog is picked up running at large, the owner must pay a $25.00 fine and spend 2 hours cleaning the town’s parks. Each repeat offence carries a $5.00 increase in the fine and an additional ½ hour cleaning the parks. If Jim has to spend 8 hours cleaning the park, how many times has his dog been caught without a leash and how much is the current fine? Use pictures, numbers, and words to solve this problem. 

Math update - We will be finishing our math unit on Data Management next week. The grade 5's were given a small in class graphing assignment this week. They were asked to create a question, choose a sample of students to survey, conduct a survey, analyze the results and create a large detailed bar graph to display the data. They really enjoyed surveying students in other classes and graphing their data.

• Grade 4 unit test will be on Monday December 16, 2013. Our next unit is Multiplication and Division.
• Grade 5 unit test will be on Wednesday December 11, 2013. Our next unit is Decimals.

Procedural Writing - This week our writing focus was on Procedural Writing. The students were given several examples of procedural writing and they were asked to choose their own topic to write a procedural piece on. The success criteria and learning goals for this form of writing were clearly outlined and reviewed in class. Their final copies were due today (Friday December 6th) and are displayed on the bulletin board in our class. The students worked on their rough drafts this week, had them edited and then were asked to put together a creative booklet to display their information. For those students who did not hand in their procedural writing piece today, they are asked to hand them in by Monday December 9th. 

Project Give Back - This week, Ellen Schwartz, the founder and creator of Project Give Back, came into our class to speak with the students. They loved it! She shared her personal story of Jacob, her 16 year old son who has Canavan's disease, and she answered many of the students' questions. Ellen showed us a video of a song her daughter wrote for Jacob as well as many pictures of him at his different stages of development. She culminated her visit with a very sweet and endearing activity in which the students were asked to write a letter to someone special in their lives. Here is a picture of Ellen visiting our class...

Important Dates:

• Friday Reports are due on Monday December 9, 2013
• Last day of school before the winter break is Thursday December 19, 2013  (PA Day- Friday December 20th). School resumes on Monday January 6, 2014
• Our class holiday party will be held on Wednesday December 18, 2013 in the afternoon (more information from Nina to follow)