A Day Without Gravity
Narrative Writing

Today students began by watching two quick videos about experiences in zero gravity situations.

Students paired up and exchanged ideas of fun situations and problems that could occur on a day without gravity.

We reflected together afterward about four of the characteristics of a narrative we had touched upon previously:

Setting, Characters, Problems, and Solutions.


Finally students began sharing some of their ideas and we grouped them into each category as best we could.  We talked about the importance of pre-writing before doing any sort of narrative writing.  We want our story to be focused, fun, and to avoid being disorganized.  Pre-writing is the fun and imaginative first step of the narrative writing process!

Today we began our unit on narratives.  We didn't get as far as expected, but we began a shared reading that will continue on to Tuesday of Anything For The Bike.  Students should have this hand out in their language folders.

Today the students had their first music/drama class with Ms. Amenta.  Despite a hot muggy classroom the students seemed to do very well with the introduction to body percussion.

Our routines slowly are being applied, one at a time.  This week we can expect the homework routine to be clearly defined at some point.  Students should be reading nightly, and reviewing their planners whether or not they have any other work listed.

Homework will NOT be assigned on weekends unless students are behind in their class work this year.

Homework is not meant to be new material, and is to give support to what we learn in class.  It should never take more than 40-50 minutes.  If it does, please write a note in the homework journal or feel free to call the school and discuss it with me.  Our homework policy is tied to the large TDSB policy on the subject.

Update on beginning of the year form completion:

It is still important that all students submit ALL beginning of the year forms including the Student Data Verification Form and the "rainbow" packet that was sent home this first day.

We had our first fire drill of the year this year, and I'm pleased to report the class behaviour and efficiency during this time was exemplary.

The class was introduced to Apples to Apples:  Junior edition today.  The game is incredibly fun and encourages all the right types of thinking in students.  It is directly tied to vocabulary building, synonyms, and the art of thinking about how we express ourselves and write.

Daily Vocabulary:

exemplary:  Adjective, comes from the word "example".  Worthy of being imitated or patterned after.

Amanda has a birthday coming this weekend.  Enjoy your day Amanda!

We continued our discussion of synonyms and how they can inform our thinking about how we express ourselves in writing.  The class watched a movie clip from the movie We Are Marshall and received a hand out containing a paragraph written about the scene.  The paragraph expressed the general idea but had some underlined words and phrases for the students to consider editing with an eye toward more effectively communicating.

We Cannot Lose
We Are Marshall — MOVIECLIPS.com

Students met at first in teams to discuss and brainstorm ideas, and then returned to their desks to re-write the paragraph individually.

The class reviewed basic presentation procedure for written work to be handed in.  Identifying the front of a piece of paper, using both margin lines, skipping the first line, and selecting a descriptive title were all discussed.

The second introduction team challenge went swimmingly.  Students reflected on some key oral presentation elements (examples:  pacing, facing the audience, deciding for yourself whether or not your audience can probably hear you.) and most students showed marked improvement from the first introductions team challenge.  A couple even brought their classmates to applause.

We also practiced our evacuation procedures thoroughly, and by the third or fourth time the class did marvelously.

Some Vocabulary:
margin
indent
ellipse
elliptical
isosceles
scalene
drill

Today we began our class team challenges.  Students focused on learning more about each other and working together to accomplish a shared goal.

Towards the end of the day we set up our language folders.  Our first page was a reference sheet on synonyms.   Our lesson focused on not just what synonyms are but how exploring them and thinking about the subtle differences between them can make our writing more effective.

In discussing the difference between "good" and a synonym we found in the thesaurus, "appropriate" we reflected upon the following video:



We discussed how the gum Violet chewed was clearly very "good".  However we probably wouldn't use the synonym "appropriate" to describe it.  After all, it didn't turn out to be a very good idea!

Vocabulary we discussed today:

Words with Flavour!
titanic = "like a titan (really really big giants from Greek mythology)"
fantastic = "like something from a fantasy (a nice dream)"
wonderful = "so good it makes you wonder..."
marvelous = "so good it makes you marvel (show astonishment, surprise, wonder or awe!)"

Our fourth grade students also experienced their first French class today with Madame Hunt.  Our fifth graders had their first French class of the year.

Welcome Back

It's an exciting time of year.

We have an exciting school year ahead of us, and it is a great time to be a junior student at Stilecroft Public School.  On the first day of school we'll be covering a lot of ground and learning a lot about what to expect from the coming year and each other.

Some things we covered:

1. Materials we need.
2. Morning checklist.
3. Our Personal Planners
4. Making the 20 minutes a night of independent reading the best homework ever.

EDIT:  Well we didn't get to these next two things after all, but we expect to tomorrow.

1. Personal Inventory
2. Teamwork in the classroom, featuring the video:  Dolphin Dinner.

Today's Vocabulary

• measurement 
• legend 
• goal 
• data
• data management
• line graph 
• pie graph (or chart) 

Another source to try for math related vocabulary.

Homework Today (Tuesday September 6, 2011)

The first day of school means a lot of materials will be sent home that need to be reviewed and filled in.  The package of papers being sent home this year needs to be reviewed and filled in properly as soon as possible.  Some materials are required for students to participate in a wide range of activities at school, and getting this paperwork completed is very important.