January 31, 2017

Tuesday's Math Lesson

Once again, for Math, the boys and girls are going to work with their elbow partners to find their way to the blog and use this graph below to answer some data-related questions. We've been talking about the parts of a graph and how organization and presentation is key. 

When the boys and girls first viewed the graph below it was missing quite a bit of information and as a result, it was kind of useless. After we "put it back together" we were able to draw many conclusions.  




Boys and girls, here are the questions we need to answer today: 
  1. How many more girls want to be a cheese tester than boys?
  2. Why do you think more teachers want to be a professional sleeper for a day?
  3. How many people altogether voted for puppy player?
  4. The data for how many girls voted to be a ninja for a day is missing.  If 22 people voted altogether for ninja, how many are girls?  











January 24, 2017

Week 19's Text of the Week

This week, as their text of the week, the boys and girls are reading a story about a class election. The story complements a number of cross-curricular items we're learning about in Room 208.  On Monday, I read the story to the kids and we talked about some of the new words and their meaning. We also briefly explored who we'd vote for and why.  On Tuesday, we read the story aloud and then we talked about how important it is to think very critically about who or what we vote for.    


As part of our faith development, we have talked a lot lately about how the way we judge someone is not by their appearance, race, ability or gender, but by their words and deeds, so this is why I've made a point to comment in the story on the overall character of the the two candidates. We'll talk about this again throughout the week as we explore the text on a closer level.  

We've also started our Data Management Unit in Math and part of this includes "graphing in" most days. Students participate in a number of polls and in doing so, learn about voting and how to analyze data. The story complements this Math unit very nicely as we can also talk about the rules and policies that make the election process safe and authentic.  

Getting back to literacy, we're also going to look at this story with some of the items in mind I shared in a blog post from last week:  

  • From whose perspective is this story being told?  
  • How do I feel about what I'm reading?
  • Where do I stand on this topic? 
  • Did my thinking change throughout the text?
As always, we'll have our TOTW test on Friday, that will combine a bit of word study along with reading comprehension. 

January 20, 2017

Friday's Math Lesson

We've started our new Math unit! We're on Unit 5: Data Management and as part of Friday morning's Math lesson on interpreting data, students are going to use the iPads to find their way to this blog post and analyze the data they see on the graph.  

Students will be required to provide information they interpret from the graph and then answer the following discussion questions:  

  1. How many teachers chose bacon-flavored gum?
  2. What is the scale of this graph? 
  3. How can you determine how many people were interviewed?  
  4. How many more boys votes did Nacho-Cheese need to be tied with Strawberry? 


January 18, 2017

Valentine Fun!

Down below, you'll find a video I made a few years ago to explain a special Valentine activity I like to do with my class this time of year. I found the idea on Pinterest. In the past, it has been very successful so I like to start it nice and early.  




We'll get this rolling this week and I hope it'll be another hit! So while the video is a few years old, the message is still the same: it's all about spreading kindness and positivity! 


January 17, 2017

Tuesday Night's Practice Page

With transportation cancelled today, I've decided to move the math test to Wednesday.  It's hard to know how many students will be in class on days like today, and it's always best to write a test in one session (as opposed to a few kids today and then a bunch more tomorrow). 

With this change in mind, tonight's Practice Page was designed to give students an extra opportunity to prepare for the test.  If your child was absent today, please have them complete the page by either writing their answer on a regular sheet of paper, or by printing it from this link.  




January 13, 2017

Moments from week 17

It certainly took no time to get back into the swing of things! And I must warn you: time flies from now until June.  Don't blink, because it's over before you know it. Even though we're not quite at the halfway point in the year, we are over a hump, so to speak. Now that routines and expectations are well-established, the classroom quite literally runs itself. It's still a tight ship, but there's SO much more time for fun and adventure. It goes without saying that students are continuing to learn and of course, I'm teaching, but there's a lot more room for creativity because we're not quite so focused on "getting used to grade three".  So buckle up!  

This week, we were all about conferencing.  I met with students to discuss their "What does Mrs. Claus do on Christmas Eve" assignment. They were marked over the holidays and students received their feedback. We talk a lot in class about the importance of implementing that feedback right away, so my expectation is that students were listening during our chat and then will keep their new goals in mind when working on future assignments, including homework.  

In Math, we're learning about attributes as part of our geometry unit. You'll recall students have their test on Tuesday.  There's a study guide (it's pink) that went home last week, but if you scroll back a few posts, you'll find it there too.  

I was thrilled when a student, let's call him "Mr. P" shared an observation with us this week. He noticed as part of one of his video games (Donkey Kong or Pac-man I'm sure 😉) that the word to describe the features of the character he creates for the game was "attributes".  Thank you to his mother for emailing that pic to me. We were able to discuss it as part of Morning Message.  Students are learning that attributes are just another way to say "trait" or "feature".  

I've encouraged the kids to ask you to send along any photos that you think might relate to what we're learning in class. Especially the ones the kids find themselves. Send them to mrs.mihalides@gmail.com. 

So that's where we are in Math. In Language, students are writing all about their goals for the new year.  Most students have finished up this little craftivity that I created called, "2017 is gonna rock!". It's an opportunity for them to reflect on the year ahead, use their feedback from their Mrs. Claus activity and create a nifty little rock-character.  

Next week, it's back to procedural writing, where we'll be writing about how you get ready for winter play.  I'll be expecting ALL KINDS of feedback implementation there! The goal will be to make this their best writing piece yet by engaging the reader with humor AND effective instructions!  

In Social Studies, we're talking about some of the reasons people moved to Canada back in the day. This week, we talked about the Irish potato famine and there were many, many questions. I think we'll carry on our discussion next week.  

At evening meeting on Friday, we finished our novel "Swindle" (Woo-hoo!) and we're on to a new one on Monday. I won't reveal the title here, but it's a true story and it's about a gorilla.  It's a real good one.  

We had Talent Time today.  We'll do this every other Friday. We were getting a little slowed down with requests to share various dances and presentations before the holidays, so we decided that we needed to come up with a system.  So this is what we agreed to: every other Friday, if you have a special talent (that you've rehearsed) and you want to share it, there will be time set aside to do so. As a class, the boys and girls understand that this means we will not have our brag tag ceremony on those Fridays. Ya can't have it all and everyone agreed this was a fair solution.  

So there you have it! Week 17!  No photos this week. Editing and posting pics can really add to the time it takes to prepare a blog post, and it's fun to write to you while it's all fresh in my mind.  Sure, I'll have more time on Saturday or Sunday, but who knows what I'll remember about our week by then! LOL!  

January 03, 2017

Moments from Week 16


We had such a great final week of 2016 together! With so many fun and memorable events that week, I thought I'd share our photos. Most of these great pics were taken by students!  So let's all go back to a week or so ago. I don't know about you, but when I look at these photos, I am reminded of the energy and excitement that filled our classroom and school during that special week. 


Making our snowman ornaments was so much fun!






We loved our Polar Bear Express afternoon! Thank you
to Miss Penwarden for organizing this! 


This little tree was packed away in our crawl-space for
years! I was so happy to find a home for it in Room 208!


This little Solo-Cup engineering activity gave everyone an opportunity to release some energy and get their creative juices flowing! The object of the activity was to build a Christmas tree without touching the cups! Their tools? An elastic band,  four pieces of string and a whole lotta teamwork!














What would happen if we built one GIGANTIC tree?


I loved reading all the responses from my students' interviews with their loved ones about their favorite Christmas gifts!





Each morning, I write the "Morning Work" on the Smartboard. After students copy their agendas, they are to complete whatever task is indicated on the board. During week 16, students buddied up with their elbow partners and read Christmas stories together.  It was such a warm, happy way to begin the day!







And finally, students practiced their multiplication skills by making this adorable Christmas tree! They are hanging on our board, ready to welcome everyone back next week! 







And that's that! What a great week we had together!  I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Christmas break and that 2017 brings you health, happiness and prosperity. See you soon! 

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