Tomorrow's the day!

We had a really productive day today! We are indeed ready for the next three days, that's for sure. 

We reviewed a poem from an older EQAO assessment, we talked about how to relax and rest our minds so that our worries don't take over, and we problem solved...oh did we problem solve!  

While reviewing the poem, we realized the answers are not always right there,  so to speak. We had to really use those higher level thinking skills. I'm so glad we had this opportunity today.   

We also reviewed the following: 

• comparative writing  
• the parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives and pronouns) 
• types of angles
• anything divided into four equal groups can be called a "quarter" 
• the importance of answering the question posed. For example, when asked to create your own form of transportation and explain how it will help people, make sure you don't spend the entire paragraph describing it. Be sure to answer the question fully and explain how it will indeed help people

We also talked about how we're feeling. Most children said they are: nervous, excited, confident or happy. We all agreed that it's hard to believe that EQAO time has arrived! Our school year has gone by so quickly. 

I have an extremely talented group of students in my class this year and I know they're going to do a terrific job on their booklets.  

Good luck boys and girls, we're all so proud of you!

Bring something you love!

I'm asking the boys and girls to bring a small memento to school while we write EQAO. 

They'll keep it on their desk to make them feel warm and fuzzy while they write their booklets.  

Photo, teeny-tiny toy, good luck charm, anything, as long as it reminds them of how much they are loved and it's not too big and won't break if it falls off their desk (and it will fall off!)  I've told the kids it shouldn't be bigger than our statue of St. Francis that we keep on our Prayer Table.    

Please have your child bring their memento as soon as possible so everything is set up and ready to go for that first day: Tuesday May 29th. 

Five more school days!

With just five school days left until students begin their EQAO booklets (May 29,30,31), it seems appropriate to read this storybook to my class today!

As promised to my students, here are the links again to the EQAO practice resources and the "success checklist" that I created a few years ago.  

What is empathy?

This week, as part of our Morning Meetings, we've talked about two important, but not related topics.  The first topic we've focused on is being more concise in our responses. Students were challenged this week to give gist answers when possible.  We talked about how answers, stories, responses that go on and on and on tend to result in bored listeners and readers.  I reminded the kids to think about the point they want to make and find a concise way to arrive at it.  As students get older, they'll want to develop this skill so they can keep their audience engaged and think more critically about what to include and not include in conversations with others.  

Our second topic was about empathy. Students learned that being empathetic means putting yourself in someone else's shoes. We talked about what it means to relate to others by asking "How do you think the individual is feeling in the following situations?" 

• a friend is waiting at the airport for her mom to arrive
• it's the end of a very, very long car ride 
• today is her birthday party 
• his dog passed away last night 

I'm waiting for this book to be delivered so I can read it to the boys and girls. It comes highly recommended! 

In the meantime, the boys and girls can enjoy reading and learning from the many books we have in our classroom library. Each book presents the reader with an opportunity to respond with empathy.  

The Measurement Family!

It's a few years old, but here's a super-quick (and verrrry close-up!) video of the four members of the measurement family!  

The boys and girls can watch this video and revisit who's who and how they are related!  

The Measurement Famliy

Fun Friday was a real "hoot"!

We've been reviewing what we learned back in the Fall about non-fiction text features this week, while we read a fiction story about Owls as our TOTW (Text of the Week).   

We've shared interesting facts, made all kinds of owl puns and talked about we can research more about these fascinating animals.  

On Friday, the boys and girls learned how to draw an owl (see video demo below) and had lots of fun painting or coloring their works of art! We'll finish them up on Monday. 

It was a great way to cap off a rare two-week TOTW! 

Said/Replied/Said:It's time for story writing!

In the midst of all the EQAO talk we've had here on the blog recently, I forgot to tell you about where we are in our writing program!  

It's time for story writing and it's one of my favourite writing units of the year. I've now met with each student and we've reviewed their story-planning page (pictured below). Everyone is off to a creative and engaging start! 

I'm also encouraging students to include dialogue in their stories.  I came up with this idea/formula a few years ago to teach kids how to write dialogue in their stories correctly. I call it the "Said/Replied/Said" method and I think it works quite well.

Over the course of the year, we've talked about how good writing evokes a response from the reader. My hope is that my students will use dialogue to do just this! 

Please have a look at this youtube video I made of my Powerpoint so you can see how it's taught and support your child or students in your own classroom.  

Said/Replied/Said