Happy Monday, Parents and Players!

In writing, we are learning about letter writing.  The features of a letter include; date, greeting or salutation, indent, body, closing, signature and PS (optional).  See the anchor chart to the right.  But here is the hands-on exciting part....We are participating in a pen pal writing program with our dear friends at Oak Park Retirement Residence!  I am very excited to have our 2/3s write an anxiously awaiting resident of Oak Park a letter so that they will write back!  Who knows, maybe we will correspond for a while and end off with an actual Meet our PenPal visit!  This is sure to be a big success for both sides!  More to come....

Science:  Students will be coming home with a review sheet for their Quiz on Friction tomorrow.  Please go over and learn key points.

Reading Response (RR):  After correcting the multiple choice portion of their reading responses last week from a while ago, we took up what a level 1, 2, 3 and 4 should look like and why it earns that particular level. We discussed that a level 4 should have specific examples from the text as well as details.  I then had each student level their OWN answers and write that level down beside their answer.  The goal is that this week, they take the necessary steps to bump up their levels by improving what was lacking last time.

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Reading Response (RR):  The grade 2s did a great job of reading and understanding each of the 4 short reading passages!  All marks were between 14/16 and 16/16!  Excellent!  This week, I will be adding a slightly longer reading this week.  Keep up the great work!  Remember to colour in the LETTER for the correct answer.  Do not circle the sentence.

Both Grades 2 and 3 will have a Language Quiz on Friday on identifying nouns both proper and common.  See yellow language duo tang this week for review.

Coach Wilson

SECRET QUESTION:  Love, Sincerely, Your Friend, are examples of what feature of a letter?

Dear Parents and Players!  Phew!  We made it through a very busy week after all!  Students did an EXCELLENT job on their Geometry 2D Shapes Test as well as Measurement Part 2 quiz!   These marks definitely helped bump their marks!

Here's what's coming for next week...

Math:  Beginning part two of Geometry: 3D Solids

Language Focus:
Writing Form:  Letters / Journals
Reading:  Daily guided reading groups
Grammar:  Nouns / Pronouns

Science:
Gr. 3 - Forces Continued - Friction / Erosion
Gr. 2 - Liquids and Solids

Arts:  Visual Arts - Textures in fine art
Music - Recorders Continued
Drama - Plays

More soon!

Coach Wilson

SECRET QUESTION:  What is the shape of the face of a cube?

Good morning Parents and Players!
I hope you all had an enjoyable, relaxing THREE DAY weekend!  I certainly did!

A couple of changes this week...
Homework this week will be reviewing for the math and science (grade 3) and any unfinished class work. No reading response. Check the agenda daily.
Geometry Test - Tuesday
Gr. 3 Science Quiz on Gravity - Wednesday
Mass and Capacity Quiz on Friday

Most students (with the exception of 5) completed the Great Poetry Race.  Thank you parents, for ensuring that your child read The Snake 3 times.
     A popular answer from the 5 who didn't do it was...
"I didn't have any time.  I was very busy."
So, we timed how long it took to read the poem once...
20 seconds each x 3 times = 1 minute total.  
We also calculated how many available waking minutes students had to do this 1 minute task over the 3 days off....
12 hours of awake time a day x 60 minutes = 720 minutes of awake time a day x 3 days = 2, 160  minutes of time available to do a 1 minute task....

Of course, life happens and if you write me note in your child's agenda why your child hasn't completed The Great Poetry Race, your child will be excused.

The Great Poetry Race will be assigned every weekend.   Parents, please find out if your child was one of the 5 who didn't do it and have a little talk about managing their time.  Our poem this week is very exciting, I look forward to listening to your child read it!

That's about all for today!

Coach Wilson


SECRET QUESTION:  I have ONE PAIR of parallel sides, 4 angles (2 obtuse, 2 acute), and two of my sides are equal. I am a polygon.  What 2D shape am I?

Happy Fake Friday!  (Actually, it's Thursday, but there's no school for your kiddies tomorrow)

Coming Home Tonight...

The Great Poetry Race - I only put a couple of copies of the recording log in each poetry book. Once this is full, please use any regular lined sheet of paper.  Record the title and sign for each time the poem is read.  Thanks for your support!

Gr. 3 Science Quiz:  Coming home tonight...some students needs to spend a little more time reviewing at home.  I gave two days of review in class as well as two days of review at home. This should have been plenty of time to prepare for a quiz.  Thank you parents for your support.  The next quiz on Gravity will be on Tuesday. I will show the video today and again on Monday and we have the quiz on Tuesday.



Gr. 3 Math Test on Geometry 2D Shapes - Tuesday.  I will send math duo tangs home tonight for the weekend and on Monday night for review. Here is an example of how a student should be able to describe a 2D shape...

             This is a trapezoid.  It is also a polygon.  It is a quadrilateral because it has four sides.  Two    of the sides are equal.  It has four vertices. It has four angles; two obtuse angles and two  acute angles.

• parallel lines/sides - lines or sides that do not intersect and if they went on forever, would not intersect
• quadrilateral - any 4 sided figure (such as a trapezoid, rhombus, square, and rectangle)
• polygon - any 2-D shape with at least 3 straight sides and angles
• parallelogram - a 4 sided figure with opposite sides parallel (such as a rhombus, square, and rectangle)
• congruent - shapes that are exactly the same size and shape 

Grade 2 Math Test: on Geometry 2D Shapes - Tuesday.
Students should be able to identify the shapes and describe them by these attributes:

• name
• number of sides
• number of vertices
• number of parallel sides

Also, students should be able to compare two shapes and discuss what is similar and what is different.

Monday next week, I will also begin teaching about Mass and Capacity.  This is part two of the Measurement unit that might help bump up some marks.

GRADE THREE KEY CONCEPTS:  

• Capacity = the amount of liquid a container can hold. 
• Capacity is measured in litres and millilitres.  
• 1L = 1000 mL
• a glass is approximately 250 mL
• 4 glasses is equivalent to 1L (250 mL + 250 mL + 250 mL + 250 mL = 1L)

GRADE TWO KEY CONCEPTS:

• Capacity = the amount of liquid a container can hold
• Estimate, measure, and order the capacities of various containers using non-standard units of measure

As you can see, the Grade 2 expectations are very simple and quite few.  I WILL BE TEACHING the class as a whole group, so the grade twos will learn how to identify containers that can hold more than a Litre and containers that hold less than a Litre.  

Math Quiz on Mass and Capacity - Thursday

Ok, that's enough for now...going to have a family movie night now!  Enjoy your long weekend!

Coach Wilson

SECRET QUESTION:  What is the total of 5 x 2 and 3 x 4?

Dear Parents and Players,
Reminders:  

• Tomorrow is our Music test!  Students must play a piece of their choice from their black Music duo tangs. If you would like to see the specific criteria by which the students will be assessed, please see the rubric in their music books.

• Also, I mentioned in an earlier post, this Friday is a PD day, so there is no school for students.  Therefore, our 2-D shapes test will be next week.  I will also be covering part of a unit on Mass and Capacity to help in bumping up some of the poor marks students may have received in  Time/Temperature/ and Calendar.  Both of these units are in Measurement, so this mark will factor in to your child's overall Math mark.   I am replacing part of our language block next week with Math so that we are able to cover the content needed to be covered by the end of term one.

• Many students are leaving important materials at home (agendas, math duo tangs, science duo tangs, music duo tangs, recorders, etc) and therefore unable to complete classwork at school.  Please make it part of your child's morning routine to pack their own backpacks for school before leaving home.  A checklist is always helpful for those who often forget.  Students LOVE to blame you, the parents, for not packing their work into their backpacks, however, I NEVER allow that excuse.  I tell them they need to be pack their own backpack themselves.  Thanks for your support.

More soon,

Coach Wilson

SECRET QUESTION:  Gr. 3 - Name one of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit.             Gr. 2 - Does air take up space?

Very disappointed...
A total of 9 STUDENTS did not complete their weekend homework:  The Great Poetry Race.  They were expected to read our Poem of the Week at minimum of 3 times and those who read it more competed in a Poetry read-off.  I am hoping that since it is new, many students simply forgot about this homework.  Next weekend, hopefully everyone will complete it!

Congratulation to Lea who competed and won in the poetry read off according to very specific criteria (eye contact, expression, keeping time, body staying still, decoding fluency).

Coach Wilson

SECRET QUESTION:  How many times does a student HAVE TO read the Poem of the Week for the Great Poetry Race next weekend?