December 18th

On December18th, at1:00pm, the class will be going to sing at the Long Term Care. 

Later in the day, the Grade 7 class will be hosting seasonal activities for the other classes.  These include crafts, a bake sale, and a photo booth.  Students are asked to bring donations to the food bank or a small amount of money to participate.  All donations will go to the Me to We campaign.     

Craft afternoon

The grade 1-8 classes will be having a craft afternoon in the primary wing on Thursday, December 19th at 2:10. The students will be visiting their choice of a couple of classrooms to make a holiday craft. Parents are welcome to join in the fun and accompany their children from class to class. The kindergarten students will be having their own festivities that afternoon, but they are also welcome to participate if accompanied by a parent or older sibling.  Hope to see you there!

Holiday Concert

Our class, along with the choir and other classes, will be performing at a holiday concert on Monday, December 16th at 10:00am. Parents are invited to attend. 

Book Orders

Book orders are now due Tuesday, December 10th. Books will arrive before the students leave for the holidays. 

Happy St. Nikolaus Day

Today the students learned about St. Nikolaus Day and the traditions and celebrations associated with this holiday in countries like Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. They sewed felt shoes which they left out for St. Nikolaus to fill. This also helped the grade 3 students appreciate the work pioneer children put into making handmade gifts this time of year. Today we made, and baked, traditional German "Nikolaus men" (sweet bread). A special thanks to Mrs. MacDougall (the EA in our classroom) for sharing her holiday traditions and to Mrs. Klukas for helping out today. 

Deep River Knights

Congratulations to all the Deep River Novice Knights for making it to the A Division finals of their tournament this weekend. After a very close game, Novice team 1, including classmates Baraa and Carsen, came out victorious. Congratulations boys and all the Deep River Novice players. 

Where the Wild Things Are

Yesterday the students performed a skit based on the book "Where the Wild Things Are" to all the kindergarten classes. Over the last few weeks in art class, the students made masks and practised their skits. 

Recycling Competition.

Congratulations to Paige and Sydney for winning the recycling poster competition.  They were awarded prizes from the North Renfrew Landfill Operations Board for their efforts. 

Math

We are just completing a unit on data management. Over the last few weeks, students have constructed and interpreted a variety of graphs including bar graphs, pictographs and tally charts. Next week we will begin a unit on measurement. With your child, please practise measuring objects in centimetres with a ruler, as well as, estimating heights and lengths in cm and metres. 

Character Education Assembly

Yesterday we attended a character education assembly to celebrate the character trait of "respect".  Congratulations to Ezra and Derek who consistently demonstrate respect!

Character Education Assembly

This month we have been focusing on the character trait of respect.  To recognize a couple of students from each class for their respectful behaviour, we will be having an assembly on Thursday, November 28th at 2:30.  A few classes will be preforming songs that contain messages about being respectful.  All are welcome to attend!

Donate your spare change!

On Wednesday, November 27th, students have been asked to bring in spare change to donate to Mackenzie's "Me to We" initiative.  The funds raised will go to help build a school "brick by brick".  Every $20 raised will purchase one brick.

Wacky Hair Day

It is Wacky Hair Day on Friday, November 29, 2013!  Happy styling!

Interviews

Thank you to all of the parents who came to the interviews on Thursday and Friday. The students were excited to share what they have been working on. I am proud of all of their hard work and the progress they have made. 

Please return their assessment books once you have had a chance to review them. 

Book Fair

On Thursday morning, we will be visiting the book fair as a class.  Should your child wish to purchase books at that time, they can.  Otherwise, they may attend the book fair Thursday evening or Friday morning with their family. 

Math work

I have sent home some math work that we have completed in class over the last couple of months.  These sheets can stay at home.  We will be reviewing assessment activities at the interviews. 

Interviews

Parent - teacher interview schedules are now available outside the school office for parents to sign up for interview times on either November 14 (after 4 PM) or November 15. This year I would like my students to accompany their parents to the interview so they can guide parents through the work they've been completing in class. 

Please contact me by phone, through the agenda, or by email if you are unavailable on the 14th or 15th and we can set up another time that is convenient for you.

Book Orders

Scholastic book orders are due tomorrow. Friday, November 8th 

Halloween Ticket

On Halloween, I sent home a small ticket titled Change for Kids. For every child that enters the code online, the organization will donate $5 to the Holland Bloorview Rehab Hospital. Students also can win a variety of prizes including a trip to Great Wolf Lodge. The ticket is small and should be in each student's agenda. 

Perseverance Award

Congratulations to Aydan and Paige for all of their hard work in the month of October. Even when the work was challenging, they always persevered!

October 31st

October 31st is Black and Orange day at MCS. 

We will also be having an assembly to celebrate the character trait of Perseverance.  Every month, MCS students will focus on a different character trait to further develop.  At the assembly, classes will be presenting songs about perserverance and students who have demonstrated perserverance throughout the month of October, will be recognized.  Students are asked to bring a non-perishable food item to the assembly to raise awareness and support members of our community in need.     

Pizza Orders

Pizza Orders need to be returned by Friday, November 1st.  Payment can be made with cash or cheque.

Class Photos

Just a reminder that Friday, November 1st is class photo day.  It is also photo retake day.  Unfortunately I am at a meeting all day in Pembroke so I will not be in our class photo this year.

Deep River Knights

Congratulations to Baraa and Carsen and the rest of the Deep River Knights novice team. With the help of two goals from Baraa and exceptional goal tending by Carsen, they pulled off a 7-1 victory in their first exhibition game. Great job boys!

School Photos

Please remember that class photo orders must be returned by October 22nd. Orders can also be placed online. 

Which shapes are the strongest?

Students experimented with creating bridge-like structures to determine which shapes could support the greatest load. The load was a cup of rocks. 

Fire Department

Today we had a visit from the Deep River Fire Department. This week is fire prevention week so the firefighters taught the students about fire safety. 

Global Read Aloud

Monday was a big day for Room 131.  We began the Global Read Aloud.  This is an activity where classes from around the world read the same book, at the same time, for a month.  This year's book is Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper.  Over 1000 classes have signed up to read this book this year.  The story is about 11 year old Melody, who has Cerebral Palsy. She cannot talk or walk, but she is the smartest kid in her school.  We have already had a few thoughtful discussions and the children are eager to read on.  Below is the link to a book trailer, as well as a video we watched about a young boy with CP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkQisi1ua9Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzb1XYGO0IQ

Terry Fox Run

Today the class participated in the Terry Fox Run.  We did laps of the track, with some students completing over 15 laps. 

Picture Day

Don't forget, Friday, September 27th is Picture Day!

Open House

What a great day we had yesterday! The children worked hard all day and we were able to go out and enjoy part of the Mustang's football game at the end of the day. The class were great cheerleaders!  

Our class had an amazing turnout for the Open House. It was wonderful to see so many families in our classroom and at the BBQ!  Thank you for your interest in your child's learning and school environment.  

Open House and BBQ

On Thursday, September 19th from 4-6pm, MCS will be hosting and Open House and BBQ.  I hope you will all be able to come out and visit our class and perhaps enjoy a hot dog or two!

Co-operative structures

Today our class worked cooperatively to assemble a cup pyramid using only an elastic with strings. They then built more elaborate structures. 

Room 131

We are two days in and the class is working wonderfully together!  We are a 2/3 class with exactly half of each grade.  This year the school is operating on a Day 1-5 schedule.  This means that our gym, arts, computers, etc., will rotate the days they occur on.  Although it can be difficult to keep track of, it means that we never miss a computer, art or other class due to a holiday or PA day.

I hope that all of you will sign up for email notifications so you can be made aware when I post something new.

September is just around the corner

After an amazing road trip to the east coast of Canada, and many relaxing days spent with family at the cottage, it is time to head back to the classroom.  I am anxious to meet a new group of smiling young faces!

Light experiments

Last week students investigated the properties of light including using fibre optic cable and lasers. 

SOLE Project

After watching a TED talk video by Sugata Mitra, I was inspired to try something new in our class. This week the class participated in a SOLE (Student Organized Learning Environment). Each group was given an iPad and a challenging question to respond to independently. The grade fours were asked "Were the Middle Ages really the Dark Ages?" and the grade threes were asked "How did physical geography and natural resources affect where the pioneers choose to settle in Canada?" The groups took different approaches and worked cooperatively. They were incredibly engaged. To follow are the posters they made to communicate their findings. I am hoping to be able show the videos we made of their presentations.

DSRO

Last week we had a performance from members of the Deep River Symphony Orchestra. The students were captivated.

Forces in Action

This week, Mr. Wills, our volunteer science consultant, arranged for Andrew Wilson to come to our school to demonstrate rockets and rocket launches.  On Tuesday, April 9th, Mrs. Thomas' class and ours attended this exciting display.

 

We set up the launch area in the playground and the students stayed well clear of the area.  There was also a table set up for a closer look before and after.  Andrew had a few rockets that the children could touch and a rail launcher for larger rockets, so that the children were able to get a sense of how larger ones could be launched and how a pad might look. 

Andrew started his presentation with a brief overview of how rockets work and what we could expect to see.  He discussed safety precautions, and afterwards, he had a short question and answer period.

The students greatly enjoyed watching forces in action!  There were amazed at the heights the rockets reached.

 

What we are up to

In math, we have just completed a unit on patterning and have started investigating 3-D solids.
In language, the students have been learning to write procedures, including documenting how they made balloon rockets.  Also, they have been writing narratives and discussing the features of this text type.
After the March Break we will be reading about Chris Hadfield, the International Space Station and space.  The students are very excited with the topics of rockets and space travel, so we will be following their interests. Through a variety of media (news articles, videos, etc.), students will learn more about what goes on out of the earth's atmosphere.  In Science, students will further investigate forces (grade 3) and how they act on humans in space.  We will also tie in Light and Sound explorations (grade 4) during our space investigation.

Friday, March 8th

On Friday during our language centres block, students will have the opportunity to select an activity of their choosing. They may bring electronic devices to class on this day should they wish to use them during this time.

Balloon rockets

Today the students investigated forces while constructing and "launching" balloon rockets.  Local scientist, John Wills, lent his expertise to help the students better understand forces and the laws of motion. They greatly enjoyed the activity and were very successful.

Grade 4 speeches

Congratulations to Caelan who represented the grade 4 students for speeches in the auditorium yesterday.  We all know a little more about potatoes now!

Grade 3 Speeches

Congratulations to Sam who will be representing the grade 3's from MCS at the annual speech competition held at the Legion.  Great job Sam and good luck!

Let's Talk Day

In honor of Bell Let's Talk Day to support mental health issues, the students in our class had a long discussion about factors that cause children to be stressed.  We discussed the causes of stress in children across Canada and ways that they can help improve their stress levels.  This included talking to family, friends, and teachers about things that are making them feel anxious, sad or stressed.  The students were very candid during the discussion, and I think a number of children were relieved to hear that there are other children feeling the same stresses as them.  Below are a couple of links that we referred to.  They are excellent resources for parents, students, and teachers.

http://letstalk.bell.ca/pdf/fact-sheets/cmha/kids-have-stress-too.pdf

http://www.kidshelpphone.ca/Kids/Home.aspx

Wacky Hair Day