Happy Halloween!

Thanks to everyone for their contributions to today's Halloween party. We had a great day!

Halloween!

This Thursday the entire school will have a Halloween Parade at 1PM. If the weather is nice, we will parade around the block starting at 1PM. For those of you who are new to the school, it's quite the spectacle! In the case of rain, the parade will take place inside the school, and students will parade from floor to floor.

In room 21 we will have a Halloween Party, and I'm asking students to bring in board games and snacks. This time around, I'd like to ask grade 5's to bring in board games for the day, and grade 6's to bring snacks. For the next party we'll switch. Grade 6 parents, if this week is simply too busy to organise a snack, please don't worry; it's just an extra. 

I'd like to stick with mostly healthy snacks. Here are some examples of things to send if you're able:

- cut up fruit

- veggies

- cheese

- crackers

- baked goods

Thank you very much for your support!

Best,

Bronwyn Davidson

Oct. 24-31

It's hard to believe that we're nearing the end of October! Cooper and Ethan did a great job of summing up the week in today's earlier blog. 

This week's homework is as follows:

Daily:
- read for at least 20 minutes
- typing practice for 5-10 minutes daily
- practise the 8 times tables; review the 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 times tables. For those who want a times table challenge, try http://www.multiplication.com/games/play/grand-prix. 

Divide this up during the week:
- math patterning practice
- cursive practice
- spelling worksheet
- mad libs (to practise the parts of speech in a fun way)

Best,
Bronwyn Davidson

This week

This week in room 21,we did many interesting things. We had a long division and BEDMAS test, we did our casi. We also did persuasive writing and science. The grade 5's learned about the digestive system and the grade 6's learned how to classify animals. We learned how to do blind contour drawing. We had a French dictee as well. James Edgar and the grade 6 boys cross country runners placed 3rd in the city finals! And Ethan did his great book chat on the House of Hades!!!!!

Cooper and Ethan

Oct 18-24th

We've had a short but productive week! The grade 5's have begun to study the human body and the grade 6's biodiversity. We are wrapping up our poetry unit by publishing our best 4 poems and presenting our poems at our class' poetry cafe tomorrow. We have continued to work on division in math, and the students are getting more confident with their times tables and with word problems. There will be a quiz on long division, multiplication and order of operations next week.

Students, this week's homework is as follows:

Daily:
- read for at least 20 minutes
- practice the 7 times tables; review the 3, 4, 5 and 6 times tables

Divide this up during the week:
- math word problems- These are multi-step problems. Take your time and think them through!
- cursive practice
- editing worksheet

Go to the following websites to play fun science games that will help you understand the concepts taught in class:

Grade 6's:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/science/living_things/variation/play/

Grade 5's:
http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/interactives/science/bodyandmedicine/theskeleton/

Best,
Bronwyn Davidson

Happy Thanksgiving!

This picture is a message for all my students this weekend; I saw it and thought of you all. :-)

Parents, I also wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving, and thank you for your ongoing support. We did community circle on Wednesday and talked about what we were thankful for; hopefully your child will share his/her thoughts with you this weekend. I was inspired to hear the students talk about being thankful for family, our country, food, their health, and friends.

Best,
Bronwyn Davidson

Homework Oct 10th- Oct17th

On Friday, Oct. 18th we will celebrate our poetry writing by having a poetry cafe in class. Parents, you are invited to attend if you are able. Students will be reading their poems aloud and are also invited to bring portable instruments, like a guitar, or they can also sing. 

Here are some important dates for this upcoming week:

Thursday, Oct. 10th: cross country meet at Ashbridges Bay
Friday, Oct. 11th:  PA day
Monday, Oct. 14th: Thanksgiving
Thursday, Oct. 17th: homework due
Friday, Oct. 18th: rm 11 poetry cafe 9:20-11:25
Friday, Oct. 18th: picture day 



This week's homework will go out today, Wednesday, and will be due back on the usual day, next Thursday.

The homework for this week is as follows:
Daily: 

• Do 10 minutes of typing practice per day. Use the link on the blog, or a different program if preferred.
• Read independently for at least 20 minutes a day. This is like brushing your teeth: you must fit it into your daily schedule! 
• Practice the 6 times tables and review 3, 4 and 5 if they are not yet automatic. 

Divide up the following work during the week:

• Complete the cursive sheets

• Complete the division math work. 

• Choose 4 poems from your language folder that you feel are your best work. Revise and edit them, using the method that we learned in class. In particular, pay attention to spelling. Final published poems are to be typed out or hand written on plain white paper. You language folder and published poems will be collected on Thursday. Make sure to leave your rough drafts in your folder because I want to see your complete body of work.
• Finish your compare and contrast paragraph on Terry Fox and Craig Keilburger if you haven't handed it in yet. 
• Practice reading your poem(s) with expression for our poetry cafe next Friday!

Best,

Bronwyn Davidson

Homework Oct 4th-9th

This week I was very impressed with the students' interest in, and ability to use the poetic device personification. The students were also introduced to the concept of literature circles this week, which is similar to an adult book club. Students were assigned roles within a group and spent time talking about a poem called, "The City is So Big." This kind of accountable talk helps students deepen their understanding of texts and allows them to share their understanding and questions. Tomorrow students will have a chance to share poems that they have written this week, in which they have used personification. 

We also watched a grade 6 poetry slam today and have begun to write poems that speak out about an issue of importance. Here is a link to that video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FtpmU61RQE. 


Students, this week's homework will be due a day early (Wednesday, Oct. 9th), as I will be out of the school on the 10th with our cross country team at Ashbridges Bay. Go Willy! Friday is a PA day.

 The homework for this week is as follows:

Daily: 

• Do 10 minutes of typing practice per day. Use the link on the blog, or a different program if preferred.
• Read independently for at least 20 minutes a day. This is like brushing your teeth: you must fit it into your daily schedule! 
• Practice the 5 timestables and review 3 and 4 if they are not yet automatic. 

Divide up the following work during the week:

• Complete the cursive sheets

• Complete the spelling work; some of these word puzzles may be tricky, but try your best!

• Complete the division math work. 

• Poetry: instructions are included in the folder. Find a poem from a book or online that appeals to you, print or write it out, and explain in paragraph form why you like it. Be prepared to talk about it in class.

Best,

Bronwyn Davidson