Montaganews---Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012

Wow! 3 weeks since I wrote my blog.  I feel I should say a few words about the last time I was teaching Div. 10. That week (Nov. 13) it was my son Anthony's turn to come in to class.  He loved being here and was a great help. I think some of the boys enjoyed having him around too as he interacted a bit more than Olivia.  I have to admit, it was nice being in here today with only my teacher hat on instead of both teacher & mommy hats.

Last week was fun...thank you for releasing me to make another class' transition between two teachers smoother.  I appreciated all the love I received seeing everyone every day and the best thing was sitting next to my sweet partner at recess and lunch, like the good ol' days.  She shared great recipes with me too as we shared lunches.  I love my Tuesdays here and being here everyday last week reminded me that...and I'll quote Mr. Hodgson from Friday's assembly here.... BAYVIEW RULES!

Today in our wonderful Room 209, we:
-talked about PERSEVERANCE.  A book called Doggie in the Window demonstrated the meaning of this big word.  Some of the kids already knew what it meant. It was a really feel good discussion.They said things like:
       - it's when you keep trying
       - it's when even when it is hard, you just don't give up

-MATH-now that we've been using manipulatives to sort & pattern and done some worksheets on it, we officially defined the words"pattern" and "sorting" today.  We are nearing the end of this unit.  Encourage your child to do some simple patterns ( ie. ab ab) and some harder ones (abba abba abba or aba aba aba).  Teaching grade 6 math last week made me realize how important recognizing patterns is.....they are everywhere in math and we often don't realize it.  I thought it was cute when I made that connection for those grade 6 s....I liked reminding them about how they use the stuff ms Taylor and I taught them in grade 1 & 2 now!-READER'S THEATRE-our 2nd group performed the story: The Ant & The Caterpillar.  It's a great story about preparing today what you will need for tomorrow and work first, play after.  Thomas, Serena, Julia, Bilal, Nils, Macy, Gavin and Ella (sub for Annie) did a fabulous job reading and using their voice to act.  Ms. Jung's class, Ms. Y were our first audience and our second performance was for our big buddies in Mr. A's class in the afternoon.  Both audiences loved us & applauded lots and lots. :)  

-JOURNALS--they wrote about perseverance OR their weekend OR both OR something else.  This is their personal writing time...as opposed to creative writing. I noticed how well the Grade 1s are sounding out.-COMPUTERS with Mr. A--they got to have their favourite time of the day.*Camp Read-A-Lot was tonight. I took my kids and we enjoyed the experience. It was sweet seeing many of our students. What a wonderful event Ms. Yamashita puts on!  I'm all for any excuse to promote reading....and this one got our home reading done for the night in an extraordinary way! YEY! Next year, I must remember to bring a flashlight. Until next Tuesday...stay warm...Ebru Montagano