Happy Holidays!

Dear Friends,

I want to wish you and your family the happiest of holidays. May you find warmth in the snowy cold!  The students worked all day preparing 'professional-looking' greeting cards.  Some of our messages were:

"I wish you a good New Year!" Laghima

"Have a happy holiday!" Min

"I wish you a great Christmas!" Betty

"I wish you all the best for the holidays and have a great day." Ann-Marie

"Happy Holiday!" Daravone

"Have a great holiday!" Moeka

I look forward to seeing you in 2012,
Ms. Perlmutter

A Trip to the Science Center

Here are some student recounts of their experiences at the Ontario Science Center written on Dec. 7, 2011:

The Amazing Trip to the Science Center

Yesterday my class went to the Ontario Science Centre to go to the Leonardo da Vinci workshop and to see the IMAX movie Under the Sea.  We went there with Ms.Van-Herk's class.  We got very crowded on the bus so we didn't all sit down in the seats.

Finally we arrived at the Science Centre after a long drive. After we put our things in the lockers,  we headed down to the Leonardo exhibit.  I learned that Leonardo was not just an artist but an extraordinary inventor too!  I made my own air machine on a computer, then I printed it out.

When we finished the exhibit and ate lunch, we went to see Under the Sea.  It was projected on top of the IMAX dome.  I learned tons about fish.  It was amazing. 

I had a wonderful time at the Centre.  I hope I go to the Science Centre again!

The Great Field Trip of Room 16

Yesterday the class and I went to the Science Centre by T.T.C. The T.T.C. was so crowded I could hardly breath! We watched the IMAX moive Under the Sea and went to the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit.

When we got there, we got stickers that said our location on it (Jesse Ketchum).  After that, we headed toward the exhibit.  In the exhibit, there were a lot of paintings and info (e.g. Leonardo had 17 sisters and brothers, his favourite painting was painted in the 1500s).

After we were out of the exhibit, we ate lunch.  When we were done, we went to watch Under the Sea.  It felt like I was in the sea! Also, when I was going to my seat, the seats were so slanted that I felt like I was going to fall!

When the movie was done, we came out of the theatre and lined up to go back to school.  I was so tired, but I was sad that the trip was over.  I had a great time.

Weekend of Dec. 16th

Hi Friends,

I know that some of you wanted to get some help with your Dance Research.  I chose the search engine Google to begin my research.  I used different keywords along with the word "kids": dance, history, tap, rhythmic movement, creative movement.

Here are some links that I found:
1. http://cybersleuth-kids.com/sleuth/Art_Music_Cultures/Dance/History_of_Dance/index.htm
2. https://www.tapdance.org/
*video link* 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQlPZVjDS0s

Have a great weekend,
Ms. Perlmutter

Monday Dec. 12, 2011

Dear Friends,

One day down, 9 more to go until Winter Holidays!  First off, thank you to those students who helped make sure the class was well-organized for today.  The room looked spectactular when I walked in, with all chairs stacked, class library in-check, and tables with appropriate materials in bins. 

Congratulations to INAYA, our elected class "Prime Minister."  It was a tough race for our many class candidates, but Inaya's detailed speech, clear message and hard work won over the majority of the voters in the class.

There are a few homework notes and reminders for this week.  First, our usual Spelling (Unit 9) and Daily Math is due on Friday.  Second, the final Reading Letter of 2011 is due next Monday.  Third, we will continue thinking about Dance.  Please decide on a dance style (i.e. jazz, Bollywood) and begin to research (i.e. ask questions, read, talk to someone, think about) its history for Tuesday.

Finally, I hope that you and your parents have read the MATH LETTERS that were sent home today.  Practice is the name of the game when learning to add, subtract, multiply or divide.  We'll continue sharing mental math strategies like estimating, rounding, using "friendly" numbers and thinking about place value. 

SAMPLE MATH QUESTIONS:

Grade 4: Students from 2 schools went on a field trip.  There were 227 students in one school, and 134 students in the other school.  How many students went on the field?
(THINK MENTAL MATH STRATEGY: "friendly" numbers are rounded to the nearest ten or hundred because it is easier to work with numbers that end in 0)

Grade 5: Workers at the Portage Bicycle Factory make mountain bikes and racing bikes.  Last week, they made 2343 mountain bikes and 1998 racing bikes.  About how many bikes were made altogether?  Find the total number of bikes that were made.  Record your estimate and your sume.  How close was your estimate to the sum?
(THINK MENTAL MATH STRATEGY: "front-end estimation" is when you add the first digits of the numbers only)

Have a great week!
Ms. Perlmutter

Science and Bitstrips

In class, we began to brainstorm questions about science.  The Grade 4s are learning about Habitats and Communities while the Grade 5s learn about the Human Body and Human Organ System.  There are many resources and books in the class library related to your unit of study.

Think of a question and use the class resources and/or online tools at home to find an answer to your question.  Include the information in your own online comic strip at www.Bitstripsforschools.com!

To view some examples, please visit http://www.bitstripsforschools.com/g/H3RV

Tips for success:
-ask a meaningful science question related to your unit of study
-apply research skills (for example, use a variety of resources including books, use table of contents/index to locate information that you're interested in, look at pictures, ask rich questions, use the Q-chart)
-answer your question with a logical and accurate response
-check for grammar (i.e. punctuation, capitalization, spelling, meaning)