Wednesday, December 17, 2014

DreamBox

Great News. Our DreamBox math accounts are ready to go! DreamBox is an online math program that children can access at home. A letter with password information was in your child`s agenda today. You can sign in and start using DreamBox for math right away. It will be a great tool to use over the Christmas break to play some fun math games and review some key math concepts. Students may also add DreamBox to their nightly homework if they wish.We had the chance to practice logging into their DreamBox accounts during our Snow Day today. 

You can find our class login page here: 



Click on our class, find your child`s name and put in their password. Happy playing (and learning)!!


Tuesday, December 16, 2014

What Child is This?

This Friday our PSN and JSN classes are putting on their annual Christmas Nativity Play. Our class will be singing a song in the play. Just like last year, we will be singing What Child is This? Below are the song lyrics. Please have students practice singing this song for the play on Friday:



 What Child is This?

What child is this, who, laid to rest,

On Mary's lap is sleeping?

Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,

While shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is Christ the King,

Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:

Haste, haste to bring Him love,

The Babe, the son of Mary.


Here is a YouTube link to the song by Veggie Tales. We've been using this version on the song to practice!

Monday, December 15, 2014

Party Planners

The party planning committee has been working hard over the past few weeks to plan a Christmas party for our class!

It started with a persuasive letter to convince me to have the party. During our Literacy Centers time, a committee was formed. The girls worked together to plan the party. They came up with a list, they created invitations and decided what we could do at our party!


We said thank you to Mme. Paradis for letting us have a PJ Day!
The girls made sure to invite everyone in our class and handed out their invitations today. They worked so hard the past few weeks! Thank you girls for organizing this party for us. The class will really love it!

Last year some students tried to persuade our principal to have a Pyjama Day. They received great news today when they learned that we are allowed to wear PJ's to our party this Friday!

Some students used apps like Pic Collage and Tellagami to thank Mme. Paradis for letting us wear PJ's!

Friday will be a great day. Our party will be in the afternoon. Students can wear their PJ's to school. Students are also invited to bring snacks to our party. We can't wait. Thanks again to the girls who worked hard to plan this party for us! 



Friday, December 12, 2014

New Literacy Centers

This week we worked on 3 of our Literacy Centers. We are now working on Read to Self, Working on Writing and Working with Words. Our Literacy Centers time gives us an opportunity to practice the our literacy skills. We also use our centers to investigate our wonders and our great ideas. Students are very comfortable with these centers.

Some of our students are using their Literacy Centers time to plan a class party. They are making lists, creating a guest list, writing invitations and conferencing about what we will do at our party. The party committee is also blogging about our upcoming party. Please refer to our class Blogs for more information. Feel free to leave them a comment too!


kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/



Students are adding their own ideas to what we can do at our centers. We are playing word games featuring Christmas and Word Wall Words. We are writing our own stories on our Blogs. We are reading on our Raz Kids accounts. We added reading our writing on the AudioBoom iPad app. We are also making our own stories about Tallulah! We are learning so much already. Students will continue to work in  their Literacy Centers weekly to practice writing and vocabulary skills. Ask your child what they learned at their centers this week!


Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Data Collection

Our current Math focus is on Data Management. Over the past few weeks, students have been working towards analyzing and collecting data information. We recalled how to collect and organize data on a tally chart. Students recalled what tally charts must have and created a criteria list to refer to when organizing their data. 

Next, students learned what bar graphs must have. We created a must have list, and refer to it when creating our own bar graphs. Students learned new vocabulary such as AXIS. Students noticed that a bar graph is shaped in an L. The vertical part is the Y AXIS and the horizontal part is the X AXIS. We learned about the difference between labels and subtitles. We use graph paper and a ruler to create our graphs.

This week students came up with their own survey questions and created a tally chart. We went into Mme. Erskine's grade 4/5 class to ask our survey questions. We are currently working to analyze our data using math vocabulary. We are also working to transfer our tally data into a bar graph. Ask your child about what bar graphs and tally charts must have! 

Below is our Data Collection Criteria thus far. We will continue to work on bar graphs this week. Next week we will focus on Pictographs!


Sunday, December 07, 2014

Adventures with Tallulah

This week a tiny elf appeared in our classroom. Students learned that she was sent from the North Pole. Her name is Tallulah and she reports to Santa at night time. 

Tallulah has made us laugh a lot this week. In the morning the students are eager to find out where she is hiding next. We used many adjectives to describe her this week. Students wrote a descriptive paragraph about her. During our literacy centers some students have started to write adventure books about her too. 

We can't wait to see what silly things Tallulah might do next. Stay tuned to more adventure updates with our mini elf Tallulah. Ask your child all about her. What kind of adjectives describe what she looks like?

Friday, December 05, 2014

Advent Liturgy Video

Today the students lead our Advent Liturgy in our school's gym. A HUGE thank you to all parents who were able to join us. The students were so excited that you could make it. 

Below is our Kindness Video that we worked on this week. We used the iPad app iMovie to create it. We hope this video will inspire the students at our school to show kindness at school and at home! 

Enjoy!

 

Thursday, December 04, 2014

Literacy Centers

This week we started working on some Literacy Centers. Students recalled all of the awesome work we got to do at our centers last year. So far we have recalled what we could do at the Read to Self center and the Work on Writing center. We created I Can lists so we remember all of the wonderful things we can do while at our center. Students created the lists together. We practiced this week at these 2 centers. Ask your child about the awesome things we are doing at the centers so far. Students have already begun writing their own books, writing letters, posting on our KidBlogs http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/ and so much more! We even have some party planners who are writing letters to persuade me to have a Christmas Party!!