My Christmas was awesome so far. My grandparents came over to open gifts with me, I got alot of gifts I wanted, and in about 20 minutes I'm going to my Aunt's Christmas dinner/party. I AM SO EXCITED! What did you do on Christmas? This Christmas is one of the first ones I have ever had without being sick, me and the rest of my family are happy about that too. Hopefully nobody in our class was really sick for this Christmas. One of the things I am excited about is staying up until midnight on New Year's Eve so I can count down from ten, and then the New Year begins. I have always wondered if alot of people do that count down to midnight thing? Do you? Well, my mom said that we have to leave early, so I have to go. Have a great Christmas and New Year. BYE!

Christina 

Delicious!

     Today was absolutely fantastic! I would go so far as saying epic, except I still don't like that word. The food was delicious - thank you very much to everyone for contributing. I was overwhelmed by the support (and by the number of buns!). We have food left over so we will eat again tomorrow. I told the kids to bring a lunch but that there are leftovers for those who would like to have some. Don't worry Josh, Erika, and Owen...our wonderful parent volunteers made each of you a plate so you wouldn't miss out. They also helped clear out the dishes and serve the yummy dessert. We are a lucky class!

     I would like to extend a special thank you to Mrs. Singer and Mrs. Snyder who came in an hour early to help set up, make the gravy, and heat up/serve the food. Our dinner would not have been possible without you. And to the parents that came and delivered hot food at 1, even when your child was absent...thank you!

     Christina and Dan were extraordinary on the piano (I personally can't even play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) and Kylee who doesn't like to speak in front of crowds sang in front of the whole class plus 10 parents. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I was quite proud of all 3 of you.

     Mrs. Hamill said that her grandfather had a wonderful time and he was impressed with our questions. Everyone enjoyed the festive decor created by the class and several parents commented on how polite and well behaved our class was, which makes me extra proud. Well done Grade 4/5. Well done.

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     On the announcements today we learned that there are going to be 3 spirit days this week:

              Wednesday - red and green day (remember the Concert is at 2pm)
              Thursday - holiday hat day (remember it's our Secret Santa gift exchange day)
              Friday - my favourite day of the whole entire year...pj day!!

. . . . . . . . . . .
     
     This week we will continue reading Number the Stars, work on multiplication through arrays, practice our song for the concert, and we will have fun fun fun celebrating the upcoming holidays together. A special present will be coming home for parents on Thursday. No peeking!!
   
. . . . . . . . . . . (I'm doing a ton of my . . . . . . s for Colby)

     I would like to point out the best part of my day: Makenna saying thank you on her way out the door. I am happy that you enjoyed yourself and I appreciate that you took the time to say thank you to me. Expressing gratitude is often forgotten, especially at your age, and you saying thank you made cooking 3 turkeys worth it ;-)

The Big Dinner

Alot of friends I know are excited for Christmas break. I am because I am looking forward to visiting my family on Christmas day. What are some things you are looking forward to doing on Christmas? In class we just finished our fosnot kit on the Big Dinner, and on Monday December 17th we are celebrating it with Mr.Jhon Hamil that was in World war 2. I am exited for having turkey and mashed potatos and all that yummy stuff, but I am most excited that I am probably performing piano and singing with Kylee in front of the class. The thing is, that me and Kylee need a bit more time to practice the song. Well, that's really all I have to say for now. BYE!

By: Christina

Music to My Ears

     We started reading Number the Stars by Lois Lowry today. It is one of my absolute favourite novels to read with kids - I haven't met a student who hasn't liked it. I could ramble on and on about it, but that would spoil what is to come so I will let your child tell you about it as we go.

     So Sebastian and I had a little chat today and he let me know that Math was boring to him. Others chanted homework. Can you believe it?! I felt special. He made it up to me though by asking if we were going to read Number the Stars tomorrow. I responded, "Yes. Did you like the first chapter?" And when his face lit up, "Yeah!", I instantly forgave him for insulting my math program :-)  The homework haters aren't off the hook yet...

     I have been reading and providing feedback on student book reviews and Great Canadian Mail Race letters. I really am enjoying reading them and am proud of the growth in student writing that I have seen in just 3 short months. When I am finished, students will be bringing them home for you to look over and sign. We will be doing one more thing with our letters and I will publish the book reviews in the next edition of the 4/5 Star. I do have to post the Halloween edition...and the SmartPen conversation. One day...at least I haven't forgotten! In the News presentations have been interesting and the class has created such an accepting environment that everyone feels comfortable presenting, which makes me proud. I should draw a number for that.

   Our courage award winners were given their certificates today. Congratulations to Maxx, Cannon, Hailey, Dawson, Amy, and Josh. I was proud of the class for clapping after each recipient was announced. I should draw a number for that too.

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     Robin and Cannon will be writing a letter in the next couple of days to inform you of upcoming Christmas events we are planning for December. Owen has been updating the blog frequently to avoid the cold and Christina has an idea brewing for the blog.

     Tomorrow we will be having a bullying/cyber-bullying presentation by Amy's uncle, who is an RCMP officer. I am looking forward to hearing what the kids think about what he has to say.

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     I would like to say how impressed I was with Ethan (who just got back from Florida) when he took it upon himself to get caught up on his work the first day back to school AND presented his In the News presentation on the accidental really early date I gave him. What a great example of initiative and responsibility.

     Thank you to Dalton who had an outstanding day today - you should be proud.

    5 Caught 'Ya tickets to whoever can tell me what I did differently in this post.

Dream Box

The kids are excited to play our new Math game called Dream Box. It is a licensed program that Mrs. Baggs purchased for each student from grades 1-6. A note went home last week with your child's username and password as well as the link. We had some problems with the provided, but it should work now. You can connect through the blog and also through our class website on the Curriculum Corner page. Students are encouraged to play the game at home as well as at school (we have 1 period a week dedicated to playing). It is quite unique, as the program automatically sets up questions at your child's level and it allows parents and teachers to view their time online and their progress. Happy playing!

• https://play.dreambox.com/login/42cv/cherrywooda

A Message From Our Hero

I hope you heard about our letter back from Grandpa Hamill. Mrs. Hamill wrote his answers out for us and brought us special keepsakes with his picture. The kids were happy to have heard back from him. We are going to try to get him to be our guest of honour at our "Big Dinner" later this month. Here is his letter:

Dear Miss Hall and her grade 4/5 class,

I would like to thank you for your wonderful postcards and all of your kind words. When I joined the army at 18, I never knew what I would face the years that I was overseas.

I joined the Perth Regiment, Baker Company looking for excitement and to travel the world. My father fought in WW1 and my brother was in the Air Force. We all helped our Country in different ways. While I was overseas, I met so many nice people and I was very fortunate to see so many beautiful places. I was sent to Italy, Holland, Belgium, France, England and Germany.

I missed my family and friends terribly, but I needed to be there to help my country. I was scared a lot of the time never knowing what was going to happen from minute to minute.

When I first joined the army, I didn’t know anyone. My platoon had 30 men in it and we all became fast friends. We were divided up into 3 groups and took turns going out on patrol. When I wasn’t on patrol, I was a motorcycle dispatch rider taking messages to the other soldiers at night.

We ate meat and potatoes, nothing to fancy. We definitely didn’t have any pizza or ice cream. (the first thing I had when I came home after the war was an ice cream cone!)

I never got to see Flanders Fields or any real poppies, I wasn’t stationed there. When I was in Italy, I got to see the Leaning Tower of Piza and the Vatican though.

Unfortunately 2 weeks before the war ended, I was wounded in the arm when a farmhouse my platoon was in was ambushed. One of my friends helped save me. He called for a medic and I was transported to a field hospital in Brussels. From there I was flown back to England where I stayed for 2 ½ months before I was well enough to come home to Canada.

The medals I wear are called “Tour Ribbons” of all the countries I fought in. I also have a medal from helping liberate Holland that I wear proudly! I don’t think of myself as a “Hero”, the real “Heroes” were not lucky enough to come home.

If I had any advice to give to today’s youth it would be, to stay in school and get a good education. I wish I could tell you that there is a way to ensure peace, but I’m not sure that there is. Be kind to one another, help your fellow man and be prepared to defend your country should the time come.

Yours truly,

Private Gavin John Hamill

Perth Regiment

B57650

What were doing in school so far

Josh: Today we saw a few pictures about the damage of hurricane Sandy It was really weird to look at because 2 boat were on top of a car!. We are starting a new unit in math, it’s really fun, we are doing patterning, number sense and numeration . We also have to read non-fiction books for a book report, I’m doing it on the WWII. And a biography about one of the people we want, I’m doing mine on Ludwig van Beethoven. It is pretty fun at school.

Christina: In Math we are doing addition and subtraction pages and sometimes in mad minutes multiplication. Right now we are learning about rounding. In Language we looked at some pictures of damaged land spots hurricane Sandy hit. In Science we are learning about systems throughout our bodies. In Art were learning about different types of emotions in colour, like warm, cool, primary, and secondary. In language were learning about biographies, and newspaper articles.

Erika: At school we are learning about all sorts of things but I want to talk about language. In language we are learning about the wonders of newspapers. Just recently we read a newspaper article about hurricane sandy. It was very interesting because there were tons of nice pictures about the hurricane. We also looked at other articles that included bullying which is another thing we are learning about in language.

Cassandra: In Language we looked at pictures of damages from hurricane sandy. In Math were learning about rounding. In Science were learning about systems in our body. In Art were learning about different emotions in colours. In Language were learning how to do reports.

kaden:What we are doing for in the news presentation

In class we are doing In the News Presentation where people go up and pick a topic. Ethan chose deadmau5, Colby chose Amanda Todd and many more people presented. I like the In the News Presentation because people pick interesting articles. I liked Ethan’s because I love deadmau5. Deadmau5 is coming home to Niagara Falls.

 Kylee: At school we have been in math learning about adding higher numbers and then subtracting them. In language arts we have been looking at pictures about “Sandy” the storm that killed lots of people like in New Jersey and in New York. In art we have been learning about all sorts of colours such as hot and cold colours. In science we had our test on the human body one of the questions is how many bones are in the ear. In French we are starting to do our play “The Three Pigs” and it’s really easy to read for Gr.5. In gym we are working on Basketball it’s really fun to shot at the nets and get the ball in.

 Rylee: At Cherry Wood public school in miss halls grade 5 class we have been learning and doing lots of different things. In math we are learning about place value number sense and numeration adding and subtraction. Sometimes it can be hard or easy depending on your learning type, for me it’s easy. My second favorite subject is science and my favorite page in our science book is the muscles and bone, because in a sentence it says one direction I love one direction. We are also writing biography’s well the grade fives and  the grade fours are writing auto biographies. Every morning we have an in the news report I really like hearing about the articles people chose. Also in language we are doing book reports, mine is a book on cheer leading because I am one. Those are the things we are doing in class.

 Tyler:Today we saw some pictures after the damage of hurricane sandy.

There was one that had 2 boats on top of a car!

There was another one with a man standing in front of his house, or what was left of it anyway.

And cars in a flooded underground parking lot, too!

It was super bad!!!!!!!!!!!

 Ethan:In class we are doing this thing called In the News Presentation. We have to present an important news article or an article that is interesting to us or the class. I chose an article called The Mouse Comes Home. It is about deadmau5 coming to the Scotia Bank Convention Centre for a New Year’s dance. It is pretty big! Tickets are $75. There are also a lot of good article’s too, but only a few people have gone so far but they are very interesting.

 Dan:Today in Language we looked at some pictures. The pictures were about the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. One of the pictures had 2 boats on a car! Another one was a man standing in front of his house or what is left of it. It was sad to look at the pictures of the devastation.


By: Christina

What Would They Say?

If I asked a student from the class how you did today while I was at home sick, what would they say? Are you proud of your choices? I hope you are!

For Tyler...

What is the Skin's Role?

The skin is another part of the system, containing sweat that help regulate the concentration in one's body while also keeping him or her cool. The salt helps evaporate the water, cooling off the skin. Sweat is excreted through sweat glands. There are two types of sweat glands: Eccrine sweat glands and Apocrine sweat glands. The basic purpose of skin is to provide a waterproof, protective, covering for the body's complex internal environment. The skin also plays a key rules in helping to maintain the circulatory and nervous system. 

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I hope this helps you consolidate your thoughts with mine. 

Dear Hero

On Remembrance Day we read A Poppy is to Remember and discussed what it might have been like to be in the War. We brainstormed words associated with this memorable day and also said what we would ask a soldier if we had the opportunity.

For many years Cherrywood was fortunate to have Mrs Hamill on our staff, who would bring in her Grandfather every year on Remembrance Day to speak with the kids in her class. I tried to impress upon our kids just how lucky they are to have met him, as there are so few veterans of WWII living in our area. Here is an article about Grandpa Hamill from the Review:

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2012/11/09/memories-of-war


Since Mrs Hamill's schedule does not allow us to visit with this very special man, we decided to write him postcards to express our gratitude and to ask our questions (which were incredibly insightful I must say). Here are a few for you to enjoy.

From Dan

From Kylee

From Owen

From Robin

We are hoping that Mrs Hamill will write us with some of her Grandfather's answers. Thank you Grandpa Hamill for selflessly fighting for our freedom. You are a TRUE hero.

Love Miss Hall's Grade 4/5 Class

A Whole Lot of Work Goin' On

Wow, have we been busy lately! We had a fantastic math period today where we looked at mental math and what strategies we use to add numbers without a calculator. It was fantastic. Did I say that yet? I have a neat conversation that one of our groups recorded on our Smart Pen and they have given me permission to post it on the blog. Once I figure out how to do that, it will be up! I also have journal entries from a few weeks ago that didn't copy properly (I am still working on it) and those will be up soon too.

We set our goals this week on our iPhones. After reading the story So Few of Me we looked at the 6 Learning Skills and created success criteria for each of them. Students presented their ideas and then chose an area that they felt they needed to make improvements in. From there, they decided on 3 criteria that they would work at in order to meet their goal. Before filing in agendas, students reflect on their day, deciding whether or not they met their goal, and then place a sticker on the back of their phones. Students who can truly self-regulate are able to make good choices because it is the right thing to do...not because an adult is watching. I am looking forward to seeing the growth and maturity that goal setting will foster in our students.

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I have been missing some parent signatures for various permission slips/upcoming assignments as well as work from a few kids. Here is a recap on what's happening in our room:

- students were given a Halloween Data Management assignment that was due on Monday
- our In The News presentations started this week. Check your child's calendar to see when his/her date  is
- homework books are due for the first time on Friday. The calendar tells your child what to do each night. The purpose of the book is to teach time management, organization, and also to make a home school connection so that parents can see how their child does with spelling, basic math facts, writing, and problem solving. Please sign each box on the calendar when your child completes the task
- students have a science test next Tuesday. They need to study for it (excretory, musculoskeletal, and nervous systems and the scientific write-up process)
- weekly reports are due every Monday. I won't be writing on this week since interviews are tomorrow night. I think I will work on adding them to the class website so that if students lose them, parents will still have access to the information and the ability to print them off from home for a signature
- we are reading for our biographies and non-fiction book reports (info coming on Friday or Monday), please have your child bring their book back to school so they don't miss out on important reading/research time

Thanks as always for your support. It makes my job a lot easier.

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I felt that Hailey made our class a better place today. She is working very hard to set goals and make improvements with her learning skills and I saw a mature leader today during Math. I appreciate that you work hard to help others and yourself.

I would also like to compliment Owen on his kindness and acceptance yesterday in Math. Thank you for being mature when others weren't willing to step up.

Mind Trap

We often do a Mind Trap question before the bell. Here was today's, we didn't have time to finish it. Can you figure out the answer?

If nine thousand nine hundred nine dollars is written as $9, 909, how should twelve thousand, twelve hundred twelve dollars be written?

Christina's Halloween Post

Halloween is sadly over and we have to wait until next year for more candy, even considering I get a little crazy after eating candy I still like Halloween. But the good thing is that Christmas is coming up soon and we all get presents. Halloween was pretty good this year except it was raining like the last 3 years were on Halloween. I got lots of candy that will last me quite a long time and you probably did too. On my Halloween I went trick or treating with a couple of my friends. And at this one house we went to there was these two teenaged boys in front of us and there was a guy hiding behind the bush by the door, and he popped out and scared the two teenaged boys and they screamed like little girls and ran away. But once me and my friends came to the door the guy popped out again and tried to scare us but we didn't even budge, collected out candy and moved on to the next house. It was one of the funniest experiences I have ever had on Halloween. How was your Halloween? What happened when you were out trick or treating? I had quite fun. That is all I can think of to write down, so BYE!

Here are some pictures from our Halloween party at school:

My favourite costume by far...

Mrs. McDonald's 29 week 'bun in the oven'

Miss Leonard always makes her own costumes (the night before!)

Someone couldn't wait to put on his mask

I wonder if this giggle has to do with Harry Styles?

Impromptu dance party....gangnam style

Scary!

Parade line-up

My monkeys

Our Umpa Lumpa

Future stars...remember your Grade 5 teacher and send her some money

My son Brennan

Away

Hi kids. I'm not feeling well and will be away tomorrow (Friday). I hope you have a wonderful day, enjoy the sunshine! Your weekly report will go home on Monday.

Sorry you didn't get a chance to do your updates Christina and Owen. Maybe you can do extra next week?

Links

Here are the links I had promised last week surrounding media/bullying/cyber bullying:

http://play.longlivekids.ca

www.nobully.ca   

We've had some really great conversations around these topics in our Community Rectangle-turned-Community Oval. Students have been insightful (I think I spelled that wrong the last time I used that word!) and mature. I have been quite impressed to say the least.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

We're working on taking risks in class, particularly in Math. I explained to the class that you learn when you make mistakes (just like my spelling one above) and that figuring things out yourself can be more meaningful than learning it from the teacher. As we progress through our unit on Place Value students will be provided with more opportunities to problem solve with their peers. The more successful we are with group work, the faster we can get into our Tribes! We played a new Tribes game today called Milling to Music. Ask your child what they thought of it? Tomorrow we are trying the spider web again. One of my favourite parts of doing Tribes is the reflection piece because these students of mine are so phenomenal at being honest about their experiences.

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Within the next 2 weeks you will be receiving information regarding upcoming projects/assignments:
               - an In The News oral presentation
               - a monthly homework calendar
               - a non-fiction book report

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I appreciated Ethan today for working toward his goal of not speaking out and trying to regulate his own behaviour.

Last week I wanted to recognize Dawson on Thursday for his incredible work toward being a successful learner. He is working incredibly hard at his goals.

Thanks to Tyler for spoiling 2 of my lessons today by knowing what I was going to teach before I even taught it.

Great job Colby on always raising your hand to participate in lessons in every subject. Your perseverance is remarkable.

Woodend Trip

Yesterday we went to Woodend, we played lots of games. Here are the games we played. We played this game with wooden ski's that had skipping ropes attached to them, it was really easy for our group because one of us would be at the front yelling "right, then left" and we would lift the foot that was called. We also played a game where we had two pool noodles and we were divided into two teams, then we were blind folded and had to find our way to the noodle and tag our opponent below the waste. It was really fun, but hard to go in the right direction. There was also this game with long black trays and we had to run a golf ball down them while they were next to each other, and had to get the golf ball into the pink cup without your skin or clothes touching the golf ball. There was also a really fun game that we played when we were on a log and we were in two teams again and everyone was trying to get to the opposite side of the log without touching any of the ground. My teams strategy was to ask one of the people from the other team to curl up in a ball on the log, then one of the people on my team would step over them to try to get past all of the people on the other team.  We also played a game where there was a big A frame about ten feet tall, and someone had to stand on the part that was going across it, the instructor told us to split up so half of us were on one side holding long ropes attaching to the top of the A frame and the other half was on the other side of the A frame. Then one half started to pull and the other side would start walking in one direction, and one of the legs on the A frame would move and the person standing on the A frame would move while the other people were pulling on it. Another fun activity was that we went to this station where there was a spray painted maze on the ground and, Well, it was kind of like battle ship but with humans instead of the game pieces. It was fun because you had other friends directing you around the spray painted board on the ground. It was really fun. I don't have much room to write any more so this is it for now!


Here are everyone's thoughts on the cooperative learning games:

Makenna - I was a little shy when I was with other grades because I'm not usually with other grades.

Katie-Lynn - it was fun but I was a little shy but then I got a little better because we worked together to get good.

Abby - I was a little bit shy too because I was the youngest one in my group.

Sebastian - I was a little bit nervous because when she (the instructor) would yell at the other people talking, I wasn't used to people yelling but then I got used to it.

Owen - it was a little awkward at first because I didn't know people at first but as we worked together I got to know them better.

Amy - it was weird because we had to go really close to people that we don't usually go partners with and we don't usually talk to a lot and we have to get really close to them on the log roll thing.

Robin - I was shy in my group too because I was with people that aren't in my class and it was frustrating when people were yelling and not listening to each other's ideas.

Kylee - I didn't really feel like I was in the group because the older kids were taking charge and not really including us.

Erika - I felt I wasn't really in the games because all the older kids were going first and I didn't get to play some of the games that I wanted to play and some of the people in my group were just not paying attention to me and not listening to Tyler's ideas and he had very brilliant ideas.

Dalton - I had a phenomenal day and it was really quite easy for me because I'm quick, small, and intelligent and I quickly found a way to get through the log roll.
      Ethan - Dalton was the only person to get across the log on both rounds.

Hailey - I think I had a good day because we were working as a team and trying to get things done.

Nathan - it was really hard on the lava thing because no one was hardly listening to anyone's ideas. People decided to go one way and another person decided to go the other way and got wrong. It was really hard for explaining our ideas. Everyone was shouting and everyone didn't get to explain their answers.

Dan - I had a good day but I felt I was left out of most of the activities. For the lava activity, no one would listen to my ideas and that made me really frustrated.

Tyler - It was kind of getting frustrating because even though I had a bunch of ideas that would probably work but the older kids wouldn't listen to me and they wouldn't even look at me and that's when I got really frustrated.

WELCOME BACK JOSH!

Ethan - It was pretty good but when we were doing that A-frame game where we had to pull the ropes, me and Dalton were pulling it to balance it in the back but people kept pulling it to almost make it fall. It was pretty good in the log one but not when I fell on my head.

Cassandra - it was fun just always 2 or 3 people would take charge and not listen to other people's ideas. I had some ideas and I tried to tell them but they just kept doing it their way and it didn't really work.

Christina - it was fun but on some activities when I was trying to help tell somebody some ideas, nobody wanted to listen to me because they were kind of fooling around and being silly.

Isaac - I think it was kind of easy and hard. Like in the log cross thing I had some really good ideas and I think Colby and I were pretty good on the lava one working together and sharing ideas. Everyone had really good ideas on the A-frame.

Dawson - I think it was kind of easy on the lava one when me and Bryce had good ideas and we all worked on it. We helped a lot of people across. On the log one, I had a good idea and no one really listened to me. Also on the tray game I had a really good idea but people didn't really do it.

Justin - I felt very left out because nobody even bothered to listen to me. I just felt like I was nothing to them.

Maxx - I thought it was really good. Our group strategized a lot and we did really good. We worked together and stuff.

Miss Hall -

Ode to Isaac

Hail Ye Hail Ye! Today is Isaac Day! We dedicate this day of learning and fun to Isaac Windsor, a great friend and student who we will miss when he moves to Trenton tomorrow. Here is what his classmates had to say about him today in Community Rectangle:

Hailey - I'm going to miss Isaac because no one can find a better manhunt person to play with

Justin - I'm going to miss Isaac's funniest personality

Katie-Lynn - I'm going to miss him

Makenna - have fun in Trenton

Robin - he's funny and good luck in Trenton

Amy - good luck in Trenton and happy holidays for all the ones you're going to miss

Dawson - I hope you have a fun time in Trenton and I'll miss you

Owen - I'm going to miss Isaac, he's one of the funniest people I know

Kaden - I'm going to miss Isaac b/c he's been my best friend since I was in Grade 3

Christina - I'm going to miss Isaac b/c he was a really great friend and I hope he has a great time in
                 Trenton

Cassandra - I'm going to miss Isaac b/c of when he would invite me over to play at his house

Colby - I'm going to miss Isaac b/c I'm never going to find a better jokester

Ethan - I'm going to miss Isaac b/c he taught me how to do a fakie ollie and whenever he went over to
            Kaden's house he was always funny

Josh - I'm going to miss Isaac b/c I've known him since Grade 1 and he's been my best friend since    
          Grade 1 and he's like a brother to me

Dan - I'm going to miss Isaac b/c I've known him since Grade 1

Maxx - If today is Isaac day we shouldn't have Math. I'm going to miss Isaac b/c he is a great friend to
            me and everyone in this class

Nathan - Isaac was a good friend to everyone b/c he's always been kind to everybody

Dalton - I don't want you to go

Tyler - I don't want Isaac to go b/c he's really funny and he's probably one of the funniest people in
            the entire school and he's awesome and I want him to stay one more week

Rylee - I'll miss Isaac b/c he used to teach me how to draw

Riley - have fun in Trenton

Abby - I'll miss you

Kylee - have fun in Trenton, I hope you make new friends there

Miss Hall - I will miss Isaac's funny personality, insightful brain, and kind heart. He was a wonderful student and I wish him all the best at his new school in Trenton. Isaac Day is clearly a true holiday as everyone has turned rather silly this morning! They are all smiling and enjoying themselves, which is what Isaac is all about.

Issac - I'm going to miss Cherrywood, it was a fun school. We did lots of fun activities and fun field trips. I'm going to miss Kaden and all of my friends and since Kaden is coming over today, we can probably just hang out and I'm going to miss all of my friends. I'm also going to miss plastic bags!

It's Been A Few Days...

I apologize for not having written a post lately but I've been marking assessments and writing progress reports and just haven't had time. Christina is working on a very detailed post about our Woodend trip - it should be up sometime tomorrow. Thank you to Mrs. Desilets, Mr and Mrs Snyder, and 'Bob' for coming to support us on our trip. It made my job much easier and I very much enjoyed the company!

Owen will be updating our website as well with new things to celebrate (like those students who joined the Choir) and he will give an update on how the Rugby team did at their tournament.


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On the weekend I will be writing about the Social Media/Bullying discussions we've been having in class (you should have received a social media article yesterday). I will also share a few links I've come across in the past few days.

Thank you for sending back the weekly reports signed. I am looking forward to posting pictures of us learning, and of our work. I have a bunch of pictures from Woodend but there are students from the Gr. 5/6 class in them so I cannot post them on the blog. They will be in our hallway soon!

Students should have come home with their Math duo-tangs today for you to look over their practice work, problem solving, and quizzes from our Patterning unit. Please initial one of the quizzes so that I know you have seen your child's work.

      Level 1 = D (needing a great deal of assistance to meet the curriculum expectations)
      Level 2 = C (needing some assistance to meet the curriculum expectations)
      Level 3 = B (meets the curriculum expectations with minimal assistance)
      Level 4 = A (meets the curriculum expectations with no assistance)

**I explained to the class that their grade for the unit is not determined solely on a test mark, but that it encompasses their answers in class, group work, problem solving, work on the SMART Board, as well as their daily work and quizzes. Overall, I was incredibly pleased with their progress.

We started Place Value review today and will continue that throughout the week. Keep working on those times tables at home, they will come in handy soon.
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Some upcoming dates:

October 18th - Isaac's last day :(         (insert crying Miss Hall)  
                        I am declaring this day Isaac Day and it will be grand! I hope I don't forget my camera.
October 19th - Science quiz (open book)
October 24th - Dawson's birthday
October 25th - Peter Pan money/form due and it's Brennan's 3rd birthday
October 29th - Full moon (yuck!)
October 30th - Progress Reports Go Home
October 31st - Halloween (more info to come)

In November, parent volunteers will be starting (schedule to come next week) our Reading Program with our new pen!! Our In The News unit will continue. We will be learning about lines in Art and we will learn about the last 3 systems of the body in Science before we start our mini-research projects. We will continue to work on persuasive writing, adding in letter writing, and a non-fiction book report. I have an idea for homework/support at home floating around in my head and am hoping to have it ready to start in November.

I feel like I am forgetting something...the kids can tell you that this is pretty common for me lately with so much on my mind. Love those sticky notes! I need a vacation...want to go back to Florida Josh?!

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Today I appreciated Dan who stayed after school to sweep up the mess from our newspaper scavenger hunt. Thank you sir.

If Erika could be more insightful I don't know what I would do with myself. Wait until you read her comment from today's Community Rectangle.

Cross country

When I went to Cross Country I arrived there at about 11:45a.m. I went with the rest of the Cherrywood group across the field and put our bags down under a big tree. The first race was the Atom girls and they were at 12:20p.m. or somewhere close to that time. My race was at 1:20p.m. and I was waiting so long for that time to come. When my race finally came I had to go to the washroom but I survived until after the race and came in 26th and 30th. I was pretty good considering that there was like 80 to 100 people in the race. I had a great time at the two races and watching the other people racing before and after me. It is always fun running for my school, and it was really fun running into the forest and out by the road. I really am looking forward to the next year's race, and can't wait for it to come. When one of the Bantam girls were running they fell down and hurt their ankles but got up and kept on running and came in 15th even though she fell. Oh, and before the race I walked around the track where we were supposed to be running so I knew where to go and wouldn't get lost. Ok, that is all for now. BYE!

We're Pretty Popular

I logged in to Blogger tonight and discovered we've had over 1000 page views on our Class Blog!! Many are from us reading them each morning, however, 1000 is pretty significant for a blog that has only been up for a month.

In more exciting news...there are already two lines on our Celebration Chart where we are only 2 squares away from our next reward (Games Day as voted by the class).

I have been busy marking assessments and putting in comments for the Progress Report Cards that go home on October 30th. Now that everyone is settled and my expectations are known to all...the Learning Skills will be evaluated a little harder than in the first few weeks of school. I explained to students today that after our Tribes, character ed lessons, and group work opportunities that I am expecting more self-regulation. Our class is doing well working in pairs but only about half of us can handle working in a triad. This takes time and practice and is a goal we will work toward throughout the year.

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A few things to ask your child:

How are you doing on your Mad (2) Minutes?
What does the circulatory system have to do with transport trucks?
What Tribes activity did we do involving our first name?
What is the patterning rule for the numbers 2, 5, 4, 7, 6, 9, 8?
Why aren't you commenting on the blog? (That question is for Dan)
Who did you vote (or not vote) for in the Student Council election? And why?
What have you learned to do in computers?

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I have a few students who are in need of scissors and a handful who need indoor shoes or slippers. I would greatly appreciate it if those were sent in when possible. We also need newspapers for our upcoming Literacy unit.

Our trip to Woodend is next Tuesday October 16th, please let me know if you'd like to meet us there. I do need at least one parent to help supervise.

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Christina will be posting tomorrow about the Cross Country Meet. We wish our Rugby Team luck on Friday's tournament.

Check out our website as Owen updated it today.



Thank to today's Star, Nathan who really focused today. He always had his eyes on me when I was speaking, and just about every day when he leaves he wishes me a good night. I appreciate you trying out different ways to stay on-task and how you are trying to better your self-regulation and problem solving skills. You make our class a better place by showing others what growing looks like.

I Need a String...

Remember the old string on the finger trick? I need a whole lot of string because my brain cannot hold as much information as I need it to. We talk about different strategies for remembering things and I sure go through a lot of sticky notes! Last post I forgot my Star again.

Yesterday I wanted to recognize Robin for her all around amazing personality. Like Erika, she leads quietly by example and she makes our class a better place every day with her patience, kindness, and respect. Thank you Robin.

I had also wanted to comment on how impressed I was yesterday when Maxx told me he was trying to work with different people every time we did group work so that he could figure out who he worked well with. Those words were music to my ears Maxx. You clearly understand all that I am trying to teach you about self-regulation, learning styles, and co-operation. In my teacher-world, that is epic!

Thank you to Colby for our egg bags. Want to talk about inspiration...just look at this incredible young man.

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Today was picture day which always makes for a hectic day. We were called down during Reading Buddies, which was not exactly the greatest timing but our class transitioned well. They did not do so well with my Tribes activity this morning. Ask your child what it was like to be them during this time. I learned today that we are not as ready as I thought we were for certain activities and there is still a lot of work to do to improve co-operative learning skills.

Today Kylee made our class a better place by offering to help a student when most others wouldn't have. She also graciously accepted switching Reading Buddies to accommodate a student new to working in this program. A lot can be learned from your maturity and kindness toward others Kylee.

I would like to thank Dan for reminding me to back up my system before meeting with the tech guy tomorrow. Great advice! I hope he can solve my problem.

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There will not be a weekly report this week since it is a 4-day week. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Gobble Gobble

Our Website is Up and Running

I finally had an opportunity to speak with the tech guy from the Board and our website is now fixed! Our Minister of Education, Mr. Abma worked on his page today. Check it out below:

http://web.dsbn.edu.on.ca/~LeeAnn.Hall%40dsbn.edu.on.ca/     


I have will our other Minister of Education, Miss Sidoff write about her Cross Country meet by the end of this week.

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My epic surprise was a big flop because the app I wanted to use is blocked by the Board but the tech guy is coming on Thursday afternoon and is hoping to get us a way to bypass it. If he does, the kids will be able to do three really cool things:

        1. They will be able to control the Smart Board from my iPad              anywhere in the room AND
        2. I will be able to show the kids what is on my iPad on the Smart   Board and they can use it from anywhere in the room AND
        3. I can use my iPad as a document camera to show the kids work on the Smart Board from their seats

I really hope it works out!


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A few notes have gone home:
     - parent volunteer form
     - Woodend Trip permission form
     - Peter Pan permission form
     - Scholastic Book orders
     - Picture Day reminder...it's tomorrow!!!!

WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE...

what I figured out how to do this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's going to be EPIC!

Camera

I have to get better at remembering to bring my camera to work. The kids had such a blast at our outdoor celebration and they walked/ran their little hearts out for Terry Fox today. I missed great photo ops :(

We've been working on assessments such as OWA (Ontario Writing Assessment) and spelling inventories. Next week the Grade 4s write the CCAT (Canadian Cognitive Ability Test) and both grades will be writing their CASI reading comprehension assessments.

Our class was a better place today because of Hailey who offered to help another student find his math work and subsequently clean out his desk after school today. I also have quite the group of helpers at recess who complete various tasks around the room to make my life easier (and it's not even cold out yet!!)

Love our class!!

Tribes Appreciations

Miss Hall appreciates Ethan for helping other students.
Josh appreciates Ethan for helping him with his work.
Nathan appreciates Ethan for helping him sweep the classroom.
Makenna appreciates Miss Hall because at open house last night she said that she would keep her forever.
Amy said that she appreciates Robin and Christina for helping to clean up the classroom after Art.
Robin appreciates the same thing as Amy.
Dawson appreciates Hailey for sharing her pencil crayons and markers with him.
Dan appreciated Dawson for being more mature.
Isaac appreciates Hailey's encouragement.
Sebastian appreciated Kaden lending and sharing his things with him.
Kaden appreciated Ethan for cooperating with him when he was showing him things outside.
Ethan appreciates Tyler for having a nice conversation with him.
Maxx appreciated Cannon, Colby, and Owen for entertaining him at open house.
Hailey appreciated Madison for letting her use her plasma car.
Rylee appreciated Riley, Makenna, and Hailey for helping her learn to use her mom's retro roller-skates.
Erika appreciates madison for sharing with her.
Owen appreciated Maxx for his nice comments.
Justin appreciates Madison for letting him use her plasma car.

And that was Miss Hall's Grade 4/5 class appreciation statements in tribes.

Christina  
Minister of Education

Thanks for Coming

Thank you to everyone who was able to make it to tonight's Open House. I hope you enjoyed looking around our classroom and at your child's work. I was grateful for all of the positive feedback from parents, it is nice to feel appreciated.

Our class is working on giving and receiving appreciation through Tribes. It is tricky for some students to point out good things about other people (some find it embarrassing) but I know this will come with time.

I received a couple of questions about homework tonight. I will address this in my weekly report on Friday...when the students will be assessing THEMSELVES for the first time. I have the kids complete the Learning Skills section of the weekly report on the last Friday of every month. I am interested to see how reflective they will be.

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I forgot my Star yesterday. My memory capacity seems to be full lately so I may need an extra brain to hold it all in!

I would like to thank Erika for her endless patience and kindness toward others. She makes our class a better place when she leads quietly by example. You amaze me every day.

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Today our class became a better place when ...

We will be answering this question tomorrow during Community Circle. Our Minister of Education Miss Sidoff will be posting the responses shortly. Our other Minister of Education Mr. Abma will be working on our website whenever it decides to work properly.

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I have some creative juices flowing around my busy brain about an in-class Pinterest board. Look around for pictures, photos and logos that you may want to add.
To be continued....

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

Guess who earned their first Celebration of the year?!

Tomorrow will be a special day for three reasons:
1. It's Open House at Cherrywood from 4-6pm
2. It's Hat Day. Bring in $1 and get to wear your hat all day in class. Proceeds go to the Terry Fox Foundation.
3. We're celebrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Number 83 gave us our first full row and so tomorrow we're celebrating with outdoor play (as voted for by the class the first week of school). Madame Rocca kindly agreed to turn their Phys Ed class into part of our celebration and then I will meet them outside for the last period of the day. A note went home today about what they are allowed to bring in. Remember, anything with wheels or pogo sticks require a helmet and a permission slip. No exceptions. No phone calls home.

I came back to work with a glowing note from Mr. Crowe. Thank you class for showing your true colours. I am very proud of you for your efforts while I was away.

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Some things that we did today:

A police officer from the CN Railway came in to speak to the junior division about railroad safety. Our class was fantastic fantastic fantastic during the presentation! One proud teacher here let me tell you.

Minister positions were awarded this morning, ask your child what job they have for Term 1.

We started our Math Journals which will hopefully be done by tomorrow for you to see at the Open House.

In Art we are cutting out our secondary and tertiary colour squares to make the first letter of our names for our first Art project.

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Thank you for signing and returning the weekly report each Monday, I appreciate it very much.

Our Ministers of Education will be starting to write our blog and website (when it's fixed) as soon as we can work out a schedule.

Our First Bump

     Today we ran into our first bump in the road as a class. You may have had some interesting dinner conversation this evening. On my prep the kids had a different teacher and they were left to finish up a math activity and then present it. Upon my return the report was less than positive on the class' choices and work ethic. 

I was shocked. I was devastated. MY class?! Not a chance. Our class is based on mutual respect and we have built a trust over the past 3 weeks. My only issue thus far has been some chatting at inappropriate times or the class taking longer than I'd like to quiet down after a transition, such as coming in from recess. I brag about my class all the time. They rock. This news made me quite disappointed.

Today we hit a bump. A rock so to speak.

I am a firm believer that speaking when angry is not a good decision so I stayed quiet and wrote them a letter so that when they came in from recess they knew what to do. I took the time to watch interactions and listen to their discussions. After their apology letters to the other teacher were turned in, I read them and noticed that many were written by individuals or pairs, not in the same math groups as I had requested. So I asked why. We had a healthy 20 minute discussion where various individuals expressed their opinion.

After some reflection, I would like to write the amazing class a follow-up letter since I will be at a workshop tomorrow.

Dear Class,

After reading your letters and having our discussion about what happened, I have a few things I would like to say to you. First, I heard what all of you were saying and I now understand where your frustrations came from. I feel I should apologize for jumping the gun so to speak, and not hearing your side before lunch. There are always 2 sides to a story (or 29 in this case). That being said, as you know, I will not listen to tattling. There comes a time when being able to solve your own minor problems is important. If someone is not contributing to your group work, then remind them of our 4 agreements. Tell them to change their behaviour and carry on with what YOU should be doing. If all else fails, remove yourself from the situation or get a teacher. To receive a report like the one I did, it could not have been just one or two students, it had to be more than that. Most of you would agree that it was louder and less respectful than usual. Thank you for your honesty. 

When I left today you were all working well together. There were a few of you who were stuck on where to start, but that is why you were in a group - to discuss and problem solve together. With pointers, you were on your way! For those students who were accused of sitting around doing nothing, not contributing, or fooling around, did you agree with what your peers said? Not everyone works well in a group, but it is a necessary skill to attain at school. I am looking forward to you learning this, as it will be a long year if no one wants to work with you because of poor work ethic and disrespect. There is a lot to learn from working with people in your class: younger or older, male or female, visual or kinesthetic learners, people with logic or music smarts, those who are left- or right-brained. We're all able to contribute in some way. And if you really just don't get it, then use Attentive Listening and show Mutual Respect by not fooling around or arguing. At the very least, be engaged. 

Although I did not agree with your approach, I respected the way some of you stood up for yourselves to explain why you thought apology letters were "stupid" because you were trying your hardest and I teach you to treat others the way you want to be treated, and you didn't feel respected. I was very impressed with the argument and evidence you provided. Some harder lessons some of you need to learn though:

                   

1. Every teacher is different. Not everyone teaches like I do. And I don't teach like them. Neither one is good or bad. Just different. You will have other teachers. Teachers you don't know yet. Let me tell you, they have it the hardest! They are coming into a class of 28 and don't know your names or your learning styles or when it's a good time for a mint or when you really need a movement break. Even if I write down every routine we have step by step, word by word, they still won't get it the way I do. Just like when I go in next door to teach Science, I don't know the 5/6s that well yet and I don't teach like Miss Rutherford does. Her students likely struggle with that as much as you did today in Math. In these cases, you have to roll with the punches and find a way to get along and get through the day. Just like you will tomorrow when I am away. You have to respectfully explain what we do and why we do it, without getting all excited and speaking rudely as if that teacher SHOULD know...because they likely don't. And that my friends, is okay. It's a learning process. Remember though that when you put your guard up, so do others.

2. Adults should be given respect. Kids should be given respect. It's a two-way street. Taking the approach of treating others the way you feel they are treating you, is different than treating others the way you want to be treated. An eye for an eye is not the solution. Then no one has any eyes! Think about it. (It's okay to laugh, I know I'm funny)

3. Life can be frustrating and seem unfair. There are times when we are right and times when we are wrong. Today you were wrong, but you were also right. Today I was right and I was also wrong. Today you apologized and tonight I will apologize to you for only listening to one side and not exploring the 'facts' as Ethan would say. We all make mistakes (like the 8 I missed on the chessboard - sorry again Rylee!). If we didn't make mistakes, we wouldn't be learning. I will put 5 numbers back on the Celebration Board. 

Sincerely, 

Your Favourite Teacher in the Whole Wide World

Miss Hall

P.S. I hope you have a fabulous day with Mr. Crowe tomorrow. I know he will be excited to see you all. Please think about today and apply what you learned tomorrow. Just like we talked about in Community Circle, everything should stay the same even when I'm not there. We are a class together, I am not a babysitter, I am your teacher. You are in control of how our class operates just as much as I am. Take that control and do something good with it!

Character is how you live when no one is looking. Do you agree?

Our Little Buddies

We had our first session of Reading Buddies today. We are paired up with Mrs. Sinclair's Grade 1/2 class. Some of us have a student all to ourselves and others are sharing a student because we have 28 in our class and Mrs. Sinclair has 17. You do the math...

I explained the importance of being good role models and staying on task to ensure the younger kids were learning good habits. I discussed my Reading Buddy Book of Doom page for those that chose not to fulfil their responsibilities. Let me tell you, I probably didn't even have to bring up that type of a consequence because this class of mine is FANTABULOUS!! (I wonder if I can make us some extra money by creating words like that?) They were so incredible that fantastic and fabulous and amazing and outstanding are just not good enough words to describe them. I was so proud of my students that I had a little tear in my eye. Honestly. They were that wonderful. It sure made up for the noisy line-up following our fire drill this morning ;-)

Ask your child how many lines we have left where we only need one more number before we get to have our first celebration? It's so close we can taste it! I hope they get it tomorrow because I am away at a workshop on Friday and I really want to be there when that final number is drawn. That will be a big challenge for them...first day without me. Self-regulation at it's finest. I just realized that if they get the number tomorrow then the celebration would be scheduled for Friday and then I would miss it :(

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Thank you for sending in your old magazines. We will be using them for an art project involving tertiary colours as well as for finding letters to decorate the covers of our interactive math journals which we will be starting next week.

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Some days there many students who catch my attention with their effort to make our class a welcoming, caring place to learn. For example, Makenna offered to stay in for recess to sweep the floor, Rylee donated a monkey to decorate our class, everyone put an incredible amount of effort into being good role models for their Reading Buddies, Robyn volunteered another answer! Dalton organized all of the book bins for Mrs. Sinclair without being asked, the whole class worked well together during our Did You Hear About? activity and then spoke in front of each other without any fear or hesitation, the fire drill was well done, and Mr. McNaughton complemented our class on their behaviour inside and outside at second nutrition/fitness break. Hailey made a point to share a fidget with a student who didn't have one and Justin wanted to share all of his gum with the class. It can't get any better than that can it? What do you think? Is their a way our class could improve (or 'get better'?)

Bill Nye the Science Guy

Oh do I ever love his science videos. So many of his parodies are often over the kids' heads or maybe I'm just getting old, but they make me laugh. What a great way to consolidate learning. We watched part of Bill Nye's video on Pseudoscience. Ask your child what that means. We will be finishing it next Science class and then looking at our notes. I explained to the class that when we watch videos in class they are not time fillers, but are learning opportunities. Today we focused on finding the main idea of the movie and taking notes. This is an art we will develop over the year.

An important discussion happened today. I explained how split grades work and how I could approach Science and Social Studies: I could teach 2 units at the same time and hope for solid independent learning or I could teach shorter units to the class as a whole with a focus on topics not covered in previous years (while in a split grade). They chose the later (phew) and it was unanimous that the human body was of interest so that is what we will start with. It's one of my favourite units to teach! Following this unit, we will cover a Grade 4 unit and then switch over to Social Studies. I will swap back and forth throughout the year. These subjects are also incorporated into our Literacy curriculum so that all aspects of the curriculum are covered. Your child will only be evaluated on the content for his/her grade.

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I would like to thank Christina for making our class a better place today. She is always willing to help out, no matter what the job is. Today she took it upon herself to make sure my game shelf was stocked properly after our indoor recesses (which were very well received by the teachers on duty - great job 4/5s, you make me proud!)  and she helped two Grade 4s at the same time with their Minister Applications. Thank you for being such a wonderful student all around.

My favourite thought of the day was when Maxx said that Pseudoscience was, "...the BEST Bill Nye  video he'd EVER seen!"  I'm glad you enjoyed it. It gets better the 2nd half!

I forgot...

I pressed the publish button before I wrote about who made our class a better place today. I think everyone did their part to welcome our new students, but I would like to say a special thank you to Isaac who took it upon himself to sweep the classroom after second break. The floor was a disaster and our class is learning about cleaning up after ourselves and making sure that Ms. Christie doesn't have extra work to do when we are gone. Thank you Isaac for so selfishly cleaning up even when it wasn't your mess. What a great example! It drives me bonkers when I ask students to pick something up off the floor and they say, "It's not mine." I hope that our class follows your lead in good stewardship.

Great job persevering today Josh. Your self-advocacy is admirable.

Incredible!

We have 9 new students in our class and you would never have known it was their first day in our room. They were INCREDIBLE! Thank you for your respect and attention during all of our routine conversations and surveys.

A huge, ginormous, gigantic THANK YOU to our Grade 5s who were excellent role models and very helpful today.

Tomorrow we get into our curriculum while we continue to get to know each other. In Math we will be looking at Patterning. We also begin Science where we will be looking at a Bill Nye (my favourite part of teaching Science!) to find out what science really is. And what it isn't. Have you ever heard of Pseudoscience?

Should be a great day!

A Busy Weekend

I don't have long to write and to be honest, I am really looking forward to when my Ministers take over this job! Now that we are a split we have to get the 4s to apply for jobs so I will not be able to post them tomorrow. Hopefully by next Monday. I spent the majority of my weekend at work setting up for our 'new' class and things look a bit different. I didn't bring my camera in but picture it:

• the side board with our celebrations hundreds chart, expectations, and schedule are all on the left side of the Smart Board
• the side blackboard (under the alphabets) is empty and ready for work to fill it
• the desks are in groups of 4 with a space in the middle for us to walk. If everyone can demonstrate the ability to self regulate then we get into our Tribes even faster! 
• the circle table is at the front now and I managed to find a way to keep our space for Community Circle!!!!!!! 
• I have no idea where to store the t.v. though...

It's been a weekend full of work and a cold (boo). Brennan has a cold too. How was your weekend?

Smart Board

Ask your child about Math today.

What got crumpled?
What will be new?
Did they like it?
Was it hard?
Does that matter?
What does perseverance have to do with it?
Can they do it?

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Isaac and Kaden made my day today with their attention and excitement in Math. They made our class better by taking a risk and kicking it's butt!

Have You Persevered Today?

Yesterday we had an assembly about Terry Fox.
Yesterday we talked about Miss Hall's "I Have Character Award".
Can you guess which character trait we strive toward in September?

Yesterday we began group work. I chose groups of 3 for the students to work in. Some were successful, others needed to improve. So we talked about it and we made plans for what needed to change.

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Today we revisited the same groups of 3 with a different activity. MUCH improvement. Well done Grade 5s! I was incredibly proud and very very very impressed.

Today I gave the class a new challenge: pick a partner that you will work well with to complete a math assignment. Similar to yesterday, some excelled, and others needed to rethink their approach to working in a group. We will be discussing this tomorrow in Math. We will also be connecting this activity to Cherrywood's September Character Trait. What is it again?

Ah yes, perseverance.

Perseverance is not giving up.
Perseverance is trying when you don't think you can do it.
Perseverance is being brave enough to learn from your mistakes instead of sitting around being silly and wasting time.
Perseverance is what Terry Fox had.
Perseverance is what I hope all of my students have because in our class, "Misstakes are allowed to happen" - it says so on our board. If we don't make mistakes we cannot learn. And if we don't try, we cannot make mistakes.

Think about it.

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We all learn differently and we can learn from each other:
There are times to learn by yourself and there are times to learn from a teacher.
There are times to learn from your family and there are times to learn from your peers.
Learning happens every day but you have to put yourself out there. You can do it. I believe in you. And somewhere deep down inside...you believe in yourself too.

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Robin and Kylee, you made our class a better place by raising your hands and volunteering answers. Great job at working toward your goal!

Tyler, you are an incredible addition to Cherrywood Acres. Thank you for your patience and kindness. You rock!