The Last Post

Dear Area 24,

Thanks again for a wonderful year, and thanks for the beautiful cards, messages and gifts. It's been my pleasure working with you and with your adorable children. They have an open invitation to visit Area 24 next year and I've challenged them to get really good at reading a story so that they can come read it to the new grade ones during our regular story time. I look forward to chatting with them next year!

If you haven't had a chance, please scroll down and read my thank you message to YOU. Have a safe and very happy summer! See you very soon!

Mlle Mitchell

Ernest et Célestine

Today we're watching Ernest et Célestine. It's absolutely the cutest movie ever about an unlikely friendship between a little mouse, Célestine, and a bear, Ernest. Ask your child about the movie and I highly recommend watching it again at home!
Other French movies that I have heard good things about, that you might like to look for over the summer are Le Petit Nicolas, Une Vie de Chat and Zarafa.

Thank YOU

Dear Area 24 parents & families,

As we near the end of the year, I'd like to take a moment to thank you for your support.
I'm very proud of my students. It has been incredibly rewarding to watch them go from not knowing the sound that the letter A makes in French, to being able to read real books. It's crazy to think that at the beginning of the year, it seemed like such a stretch to ask them to sound out a word like "ami", but now, they write stories, make up poems and write reports with confidence. This is why I love grade 1!
These are your kids' achievements, and they deserve every bit of credit. I look forward to watching them grow up year by year and continuing to succeed in everything they do - I know they will!

I must also pass on my deep appreciation to YOU, their parents and caregivers, for being so involved in our activities this year. Many of you made yourselves available to help at school, and we deeply appreciate that, but ALL of you were a constant source of support to your child at home. Every time that you talk with your student about the activities we do at school, review their words of the week, read the borrow-a-books or practice a math skill, you are making a real difference in their success, and I notice this at school. In supporting them, you are also supporting me, and I want you to know that I do not take this for granted. Thank you for being kind, patient and easygoing. Having a great group of supportive parents makes my job feel much more manageable!

I'm sad to see these kids go, but I know that they are well-prepared for grade 2, and I'm so excited for them to meet their new teachers. You will find this special person's name on their report card, but as per the Principal's message, please keep in mind that there may need to be some reorganizing in September. Don't start writing your new area number on everything just yet!

As per usual, students have been asked to leave their report envelope shut until they are with you. Please help your child to remember not to share their report card marks with anyone. It never makes either person feel good to compare. We know that everyone has tried really hard this year, and I hope you take the time to celebrate!

Once again, thank you for the support you have shown me this year. The grade 2 teachers are a lucky bunch!

Have a lovely rest of the week,
Tamara

Good News!

Hey! Guess what?
I just found out that our class is one of the 2 classes that raised the most money for the Dance-a-Thon! Apparently we have Popsicles headed our way! Cool, right?

We had a great day at the park today. We stayed pretty much as long as we could, and I'm sure the kids wish we'd stayed longer. They played together, and with the other classes that were there, really well and really enjoyed themselves. Thanks to all the parents that stopped by and helped keep an eye on us.

Please have a last look around the house just in case there are more school books hiding somewhere. We have our book repairer coming tomorrow, so it would be ideal to have every last book here. Thanks!

Little Gamblers

Hi parents,

Please continue to read the posts from earlier this week to get more details on Monday's outing, returning books, and what we've been up to lately.

I still need at least 1 parent to come with us Monday, so please email me if you know you can come. (We can't do it without at least 1 parent with us!) You would need to meet us in Area 24 at 9:50 am and stay with us until we come back between 1-2 pm. All parents are welcome to join us at the park at any time during the day. I went over the expectations for what the kids need to wear and bring/not bring so they should be able to tell you what they need to remember Monday.

This afternoon, six grade 6 students joined us to run a bunch of probability centres. They were great leaders, and it was fun for me because we played the same games that I created for their class when they were in grade 3! Our students have been learning about predicting probability so quickly, that I thought they could manage these very same grade 3 games (omitting the parts about fractions). They did a great job and have brought home the activity book to show you. Due to a surprise fire alarm, we were unable to complete the last 2 rotations, so there are 2 activities left in the booklet that I hope you can enjoy doing at home. I've explained each activity in detail in the booklet, but here are a few extra notes on the 7 centres. Definitely talk about this over the weekend!
1. Dice: We had played this game before, so I was happy that most students remembered that their predictions should total 30, since we're going to roll the die 30 times. Some students even remembered a strategy we shared last week where we learned that you can make an informed prediction based on what would be fair. If the dice are fair, we should get each number 5 times (because there are 6 numbers, and 5+5+5+5+5+5=30). If your child predicted 5 for each number, that's really level 4 work! If your child made predictions that total 30, that's really good thinking... 3+! The results of the game don't matter as much as their predictions, but it's interesting to talk about whether their predictions were close to the result.

2. Cards: The plan is to draw 10 cards from a deck to see if we happen to draw the cards in the list. It's easier, of course, if you know a few things about a deck of cards, so their leader gave them some hints about how many of each thing exist in a deck. This was a good practice of the probability terms we've been using. For example, what are the chances of drawing five 2s? Pretty impossible, since there are only 4 in the whole deck! There are some interesting challenge questions at the bottom of the page that you can dive into at home.

3. Spinner: Again, good practice of the terms we've been using. Hopefully students can explain orally, if they didn't in writing, why they chose each term.

4. Cups: I collected about 20 Tim Horton's cups during Roll-Up-The-Rim. Students had to predict how many of these were winners before counting them up. The rest of this centre was a little advanced, but I know my students had a good discussion with their leader about whether it's worth it to buy a bunch of drinks in the hopes of winning something. If you win one time out of 6 (like I think I did), how much have you spent before you save anything?

5. Coin Toss: Super simple experiment - if you toss the coin 40 times, how many times do you think it will land on heads and tails? Is it more likely that the coin will land on one side or the other, or are both equally possible?

6. Lottery: All members of the group wrote their name on 3 pieces of paper and put them in a bag. They determined the chance of their name being drawn (equal chance) and their leader helped them make a fraction. Then, one person added their name 3 more times. Now, what is that person's chance of having their name drawn and what are everyone else's chances?

7. The Price is Right: There are 3 doors. Behind one doors is a car, the other two doors are hiding sheep. The contestant chooses the door they want to open, but before they do, the host opens a different door revealing a sheep. Then, the contestant can decide if they want to stay, or switch and explain why they are making this choice. Once they've played the game, the group considered whether it is usually better to stick with the original choice, or switch doors when given the opportunity. This is an interesting one. Apparently it's usually better to switch, but it's a complicated explanation.

Hope you enjoy playing these games again at home.
Have a good LAST weekend!

Last time we need help, I promise

Dear parents, the following note is coming home today. We will need at least 2 parents to come with us, so please email me if you can come. Everyone is welcome to join us at the park.

Chers Parents,

            Congratulations! Your children have worked hard this year and we would like to celebrate by going to Dufferin Grove Park on Monday June 23^rd. Area 24, along with two other grade 1 classes, will leave Dewson at 10:00 am and return by 2:00 pm at the latest. The children will get a chance to play on the playground, participate in games and Area 24 will enjoy a picnic lunch. Children are welcome to bring skipping ropes, a Frisbee, or a game to play with friends (please no balls, I will bring some from the school). Students are responsible for carrying and keeping track of their belongings. Parents are welcome to come join the celebrations.

            Please ensure that children are dressed for the weather, including sunscreen and hats. Children should bring a water bottle and litterless lunch and snacks if possible.

            No permission forms are required since all walking excursion forms have been submitted. If it is rainy, we will simply cancel and have some fun at school.

Thank you for all your support this year,

Mlle Mitchell

I'm also wondering if anyone would be willing to come in for an hour or two either Tuesday or Wednesday next week to repair one last batch of books and fix up the labelling on our borrow-a-books. I'd love to have this done before I pack up for the summer. Please let me know, thanks in advance!

Thank you, everyone, for supporting our reading program this year. Obviously I am beginning to get things packed up and will need all the classroom books to be returned. Please have a good search of the house and return all white books and classroom books by next TUESDAY. Our librarian has kindly offered to loan out books for the summer, an opportunity I hope everyone takes advantage of!

Though we will keep up our reading, writing, math and science work until almost the last day of school, we will have a few special things to celebrate the end of the year. Our park day Monday, a movie day mid-week and a celebration next Friday afternoon. Happily, our math unit has been full of games as well. Ask about the new spinner game we played yesterday!

Also, ask about the story we heard today. This afternoon I told the story - or rather the music told the story - of Pierre et le Loup. This is a famous piece of music by Prokofiev that truly tells the story of Peter and the Wolf. Each character is portrayed by a different instrument and you can tell what's going on by listening to what the music sounds like. For example, when the cat climbs the tree, you hear the clarinet play an ascending line, when the wolf is jumping to catch the bird, you hear the horns play quick shots, and the flute doodle above. I encourage you to ask your children how the music told the story, and to listen to it again, I'm sure you can find it easily on YouTube!

Finally, you may have heard about a special presentation we had Tuesday afternoon. We learned about Native Culture through an exciting dance performance by Tribal Vision. Ask your child what the costumes looked like and what their favourite dance was. Ask them also what a stereotype is and to give an example of a common stereotype we hold due to some movies and TV shows that depict native peoples.

Did I show you these?

This is our final community map that we made using the pictures we took on our walk. We used my little map of the route to find the right place for everything.

I have not yet introduced the poets to acrostic poems, but a few ladies came up with this one during free time.

Here are a few thoughts about impossible and certain...

 

Here we are working on our animal research projects!

And here we are enjoying the Dewson Festival!

Our Bitstrips

Happy belated Father's Day to all our Dads and Grandpas! 

Hope you liked your poem-tie!

(Poets were encouraged to use at least one comparison in their poem - see if you can find it!)

We have been working with our computer buddies for several weeks now. We don't have a lot of time with them, but some students have finished their first comic or two. You can see them by clicking here.

We've also been coming along very quickly in our probability unit. We've been playing games where we have to predict the probability of various outcomes. For example, there are 3 blue cubes and 7 red cubes in the bag. What is the probability that I will draw a blue cube? What is the probability that I will draw a yellow cube? Check out the new math link on probability. It's in English, but it's a good review of exactly we've done at school. This week we will be playing some spinner games!

In science, we are learning about the characteristics and needs of living things by completing a partner research project on an animal. Each group is using a book to find information on where their animal lives and what it eats. We are also drawing a picture of our animal and labelling its body parts, and trying to find out other interesting details that we can include. We're trying to present out work very neatly in the hope that we can turn our projects into a class book! The scientists seem very enthusiastic about this project (some would rather work on it than go out to recess!) and have been doing a good job working together on it. Ask your student what animal he/she is researching!

You've probably noticed already that I'm beginning to send home work that I've been hanging on to. Most of our art has already been sent, and I'll also start sending other duotangs or packages of work as we finish using them. Tomorrow, look for our yellow writing folders. We haven't had much to store in there, but you'll want to check out your writer's fairy tale (especially if you weren't at our open-house) and the accompanying rubric. It's a fairly complex rubric, but I think you'll understand why there are so many components. I tried to make a simpler one to send home, but in the end, I thought you would appreciate the more specific feedback on where your writer is particularly successful and where there is still room for improvement.

Have a great week,
Tamara

Yay Pictures!

Thank you all for making this different pick-up day work. It all went very smoothly! I hope you enjoyed the festival!

Here are a few pictures of what our open-house looked like! Thanks for sharing!