Dear Parents,
Welcome back to school! It's a quick transition, as this Friday is TDSB's P.A. Day for reporting, so there are a number of things to alert you about regarding that, and we also have a primary concert on Thursday night.
First things first, students are asked to arrive around 5:30 on Thursday to be here for our 6 pm concert. Our class will be housed in Room 109, as Room 105 is busy with daycare. Students should dress like mimes and a list of different costume ideas went home before the break. Don't worry too much if you don't have the exact costume, but do send your child in a white shirt and black pants, if you can. After the concert, you'll need to pick up students from Room 109.
Next, I've sent home an animal research project due at the end of February (February 25th). Some marks from this Science strand will be included on the first term report, but the project will be due afterwards. Students got the project outline today and chose a habitat that they'll pick their animal from. I'll help them pick a book from our school library to support their research later this week.
Here's a link to the pdf we've used to help choose our habitats. It's got some helpful suggestions for which animals suit each habitat. Animal Habitat pdf
We'll also be doing a field trip to High Park Nature Centre on February 21st to support our Science curriculum. Please pay with Cash Online and return forms as soon as possible.
Please let me know if you need another project outline or trip form, sooner rather than later.
We've completed math units on Number Sense and Numeration, Patterning, and Data Management. Marks and worksheets have been sent home, for those so hopefully there are no surprises on report cards. We're working on Measurement now, looking at telling time on analog clocks, linear measurement, and money. Next we'll move on to 2D Geometry, as I need to have marks for all 5 strands before reporting. It's always a fine balance to report on all strands, but still give the time and rehearsal needed to learn these new skills. Using Prodigy to support at home is helpful, particularly if Math was a concern on the progress report.
Finally, I'm always astonished at the leaps and bounds that happen with reading over the Winter Break. We've reformed our reading groups to reflect this and now have 4 groups: Scorpions (A), Tigers (D), Gorillas (H) and Tarantulas (I). Scorpions and Tigers continue to focus on building decoding skills, while Gorillas and Tarantulas are working on building their writing chops. Staying focused and practicing reading and writing daily are important for all students. We continue to have RAZkids available to support reading practice online and at home.
If you are available to read with students, we are always happy to have extra adults in the room. Thank you to Tiffany for starting us off this term already!
Have a great long weekend. I look forward to seeing all of you on Thursday evening.
Sincerely,
Ms. Goegan
