Time for Learning!

Mme. Forman has started teaching the students about telling time in Math.  You can practice at home  - ask your child to help you tell the time using an analog clock.  You can also help build time-telling skills by practicing counting by fives with your child.

Today the students were given individual user names and passwords for the computers at school.  We discussed the responsibility and importance of keeping our passwords private as we practiced logging into the computer and accessing the Tumble Books website.  We will continue to discuss and practice responsible digital citizenship skills and practices throughout the school year.

This week we continued our discussion about Respect.  Each student has a booklet that they are personalizing as we examine different ways to demonstrate respect as we honor our class rules:

1.  We will be respectful of ourselves.

2.  We will be respectful of others.

3.  We will be respectful of our school and community.

I have been reading "George's Marvelous Medicine" by Roald Dahl to the children over the past few weeks.  This action-packed story with it's zany storyline has become a class favorite.  Ask your child to tell you a bit about what has happened in the book so far.  We have shared many laughs thanks to George and his crabby Grandma.

As we continue to lay the foundation of the Daily 5 framework (read to self, read to others, listen to reading, word work, and work on writing) in English Language Arts, students also continue to practice choosing "Good Fit" books for their personal book boxes, and today we chatted about three ways to read a book.  They are:

1. Read the pictures.

2. Read the words.

3. Retell the story to someone else.

Please continue to check the sidebar for important dates and wonderful websites, as they are changed on an ongoing basis.

Reminders

Don't forget that the last day to bring in Milk orders & Scholastic Book orders is this Tuesday, Sept. 27th.  FOIPP forms are also due ASAP. Thanks!

I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful fall weekend!

Give It A Try!

We watched this video in class the other day, and had a quick discussion about trying things that we thought that we would never like, and being surprised at the results.  We didn't have a long time to chat about it, so I thought you might like to watch the video at home, and continue the discussion.  I challenge you all to try one thing you've been hesitant to try, and let us know in the comments how things turn out...because, as the saying goes, "You'll never know until you try!"



Enjoy your weekend!

Wonderful Websites

Hello friends!


I wanted to pop in to comment on the Tumble Books link that I had previously recommended.  Due to the  school district licensing agreement, we are unable to distribute the login/password information so you can log on from the link I had in the sidebar....however, you can still access this wonderful website by going directly to our school website and clicking on the Tumble Books link on the left sidebar.

École J.S. McCormick School

You can also find a handy link to pay your school fees, hot lunches, etc on the school website main page.


Mme. Forman has also shared some new Science websites for you to explore.  Check them out in the sidebar, on click through the links below.

 Study Jams - The Rock Cycle Sing Along

Interactive Rock Cycle (Parents may need to help navigate)

Happy surfing!

Nice To Meet You!

 Thank you to all of the parents for attending the Parent Information Evenings.  It was great to have a chance to meet the families, and let you know how everyone is settling into the school year.  

This week in your student's communication book you should find milk order forms, FOIPP forms and Scholastic book order forms. 

In regards to Scholastic book orders, if you are interested in purchasing books for children in your life that may be young readers, or above grade 3, please send me a note or email, and I will be sure to include the order booklets for those age groups in your next set of order forms.  Books make fabulous gifts!

In English Language Arts we discussed the "I PICK" method of selecting "good fit" books.  Making sure that we choose "good fit" books for ourselves helps us to become better readers, and makes reading so much more fun!

We also practiced the "Five Finger Rule" when looking at a book to see if we know most of the words.  Ask your child to explain how and why they use this method as they make book selections.

In Science with Mme. Forman, the students are learning about Rocks and Minerals, as well as the layers of the Earth.  Ask your child if they can remember the four types of rocks.

In Social Studies last week we read about Rosa from Peru, and this week we are reading about Tahar from Tunisia.  In the next week, we will also read about Oksana from Ukraine, and Anil from India.  Learning about these children helps us to learn and talk about the similarities and differences between our lives and children in other parts of the world.

A Great Start!

Greetings Students & Families! 

We are pleased to welcome you to our class blog.  Here you will find updates on what's new in the class, reminders about upcoming events, and a celebration of learning as the school year progresses.  Keep an eye out for interesting links and fun photos as well.

We would like to thank parents for taking the time to share with us about your child "In a Million Words or Less".  They were a definite delight to read and will be very helpful to us as we continue to become aquainted with the students in the class. We know that September is a very busy month for families, and want to let you know that if you haven't yet sent your "Million Words..." in and would like to do so, we would welcome you to email us or send it with your child when the time is convenient for you. 

We have had a great start to the school year!  It has been wonderful getting to know the students and settling into a routine.  We look forward to meeting you on the Parent Information evenings!