Class Recap March 23-27, 2015

Hello Parents!  Here is this week's recap as written by the students...


Dear mom and dad,

We had an exciting week in our class this week as we started many new units and had many fun events.

In Language
In Language we worked on learning how to read with a purpose.  After we read our books we did a walk and stop and talked about characters that were like us in the stories we read.  We also talked about our favourite parts of the books we read. 

We were able to use listening centers.  They were fun because we could follow the stories we read while we listened to CD players.  We got our very own headphones for this that we keep in our shopping bags.

We did lots of writing this week.  For example, we wrote to Mrs. D'Souza about what type of pet would be the best for our class.  Mrs. D'Souza said she is going to read our persuasive writing pieces this weekend and then buy us a pet because of what we wrote.  We think it might be a fish or a gerbil.

In Math
In Math we started something called 3 part math lessons.  They are problems that are stories we need to figure out the answer to.  We work with partners to do this.  We tried to do subtraction problems today and they were hard.

In Social Studies
In Social studies we learned about directions.  We also used google map to look at the ocean and Toronto.  We made the Google man go to the CN tower and to our school.  He could go North, East, South or West.

In Gym
We had Yoga with Mrs. Nasir's class and we also had a period of gym where we worked with our groups on learning how to move around the gym without talking.  We used our eyes to look at each other and our hands to tell which way to move.

Other
We are doing fish art and using instruments in Music.  We also had a jump rope for heart assembly.

This week was tiring but fun.

Hope you can write to us soon!

Love,
Mrs. D'Souza's class



My reflections of the week as a teacher.

Coming back from mat leave has been great!  A year off has made me realize how quickly time passes as I saw many of my students from previous years gain about 5 inches in height.  I couldn't believe how quickly they went from being only as high as my waist to being taller than I am!  It made me realize that as time passes so quickly the importance of having children learn proper interaction skills is also vital.  I've been really strict with my class this week trying to get them to realize that their actions can be very impactful either in a positive or negative way and I strived to make them realize the importance of working as a team.  One activity we did this week was to say nice things to each other in order to see how this could make another person smile.  It was good to see them realize that with a single sentence they could brighten someone's day. 

Another lesson I've been trying to teach the kids this week is being aware of their surroundings.  I heard a lot of, "_____ pushed me" this week only to find out from the child who did the pushing that they didn't even realize that they had pushed another person.  The students hadn't intentionally meant to hurt another but they didn't realize at all that they had pushed someone accidently.  As a teaching point from these incidents I have asked all students to keep their hands to their side when walking and to keep their eyes focused on the objects in front of them.  Hopefully this will stop any unnecessary accidents within our classroom and make our learning environment a safer place.

3 Part Math Lessons

In Math students at working on addition and subtraction. We are moving towards 3 part lessons. You can read more about 3 part lessons here: http://professionallyspeaking.oct.ca/march_2010/features/lesson_study/three-part.aspx

Lunches, Snack Time With The Teacher, Distractors, and Lost and Found

If you notice your child is not finishing their lunch and you are concerned about it please write me a quick note in their agendas. I am a firm believer that without proper nourishment kids do not perform to the best of their abilities. Thus, although I not with them formally at lunch I will ask them during the afternoons if they ate.

I have also started an activity I call snack time with the teacher. I do this mainly for two purposes. First, I love getting to know the kids personally and unfortunately it is hard to do during instructional time, as I like keeping lessons focused and spend time with kids in guided groups. However, during snack time and lunch time I spend time eating with one student at a time (I'm going in alphabetical order) to get to know them. During this short time your child has the opportunity to talk about anything they want. It's great hearing about what interest them! Second, I strongly believe in the importance of children being able to communicate well with adults because it develops interpersonal intelligence over time.

One last housekeeping item, I noticed a number of items that are potential distractors in the students desk (eg toys) I will be asking the students to bring these home sometime this week.  If your child is missing an item rather than writing it in their agenda it would be great to use this as a context rich activity on poster writing (a media literacy grade 1 expectation that Ms. Spring taught during term 1) by having them create a poster with the lost item. I will post these posters in our classroom. 

Home reading books

Books

Students select their own books for daily home reading. I do not check what they are taking out until their reading logs are turned in at the end of the month. That being said, if you find that when your child is reading they are getting every single word right or on the opposite end are getting more than 6 words wrong per page and don't understand what they are reading let me know and I will get a buddy to check their reading book. If it still continues then I will eventually move to giving them my choice of books for the week.  This of course is a last resort because then the kids stop fostering independence on this area. 

Library

Hi!

Just a reminder that our library day is on day 3. Therefore, please send your child to school with their library books tomorrow so they can exchange them.

Home reading folders should also be returned tomorrow.

Thanks,

Caroline

Meeting Your Children For the First Time

Hello Parents,

On Wednesday, March 11, 2015 I was lucky enough to meet your child for the first time.  What a great experience.  Each of your children are unique and I can't wait to work with them soon.  I hope you have a safe and happy March break.  Read, Relax, and Rejuvenate.

Take care,
Caroline D'Souza