Morning Message for Thursday. April 30

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need to look outside and decide what the weather is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Snowy? Windy? or a mix of 2 (or 3)?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say the weather. 

Renee!  You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Renee, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has an h somewhere in their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has an o somewhere in their name.
Clue #3.  Their name has less than 5 letters in it. 
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend at the Lego table! 

Where we Live - East Danforth Community

A community is a smaller part of the city that you live in. It is where your home is, where your friends are and where your school is. You can usually walk around it. Sometimes we call it our neighbourhood.
Our community is a smaller part of Toronto. Some people call our community  Danforth East. Danforth is the main street in our community.

Please watch and read along with Ms. Brown to Franklin's Neighbourhood. (Yes, I am reading this one!!!) It is my favourite book to introduce community.

 Think about it!

What are some features of our Danforth East community?

Do we have some of the places that Franklin's friends thought of?
A hospital?
A school?
Ice cream Store?
Bicycle Trail? (how about a walking trail?)
Soccer Field?
A Library?
Movie Theatre?
Fire Station?
A pond (how about a pool?)
A park?
A Farmers market?

What other places do we have in our neighbourhood?

What place do YOU like best in our neighbourhood?

What other features do you think our neighbourhood needs?

(next week we will talk about the people and services in our neighbourhood)

Word Family "an"

Oops! We have forgotten our word families!

This week you can try the word family "an"

Morning Message for Wednesday, April 29

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need to look outside and decide what the weather is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Snowy? Windy? or a mix of 2 (or 3)?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say the weather. 

Lachlan!  You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Lachlan, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your brother! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend  ? 

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has 8 letters in their name.

Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has h somewhere in their name. 
Clue #3. Our mystery friend has 2 letter a's in their name!

Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend at the writing and drawing table!

Making Connections - Text to Self Connections

Message to Parents:
An important part of reading is making connections to the story. Good readers draw on their prior knowledge and experiences to understand what they are reading (or listening to). 

The first kind of connection that we usually make is called text to self. This is a personal connection that we make between something that we are reading and something that has happened in our own life. For example, when we read Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, we think of a time that we might have whined, begged or pleaded when we wanted something and someone said no. 

Some questions we can ask are:
Has something like this ever happened to you?
What were your feelings when (that part) happened?
Have you been to a place like where this book was set?
Do you know a person like a character in the story?
If that happened to you, what would you do?


Today I want to read Knuffle Bunny! It is by Mo Willems. The same Mo Willems who wrote the Pigeon books! 

I know that the parents can make lots of connections to this story!

Questions for the children:
Have you ever lost a toy? (or have you ever lost anything?) 
How did it make you feel?
Did you find it again? or did someone find it for you? 

How do you think Trixie felt when her daddy found Knuffle Bunny?

Morning Message for Tuesday April 28

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need to look outside and decide what the weather is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Snowy? Windy? or a mix of 2 (or 3)?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say the weather. 

Tate!  You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Tate, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your brother and sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Who is today's Mystery Friend  ?

Clue #1. Our mystery friend has 4 letters in their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has k somewhere in their name.
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend at the Lego table! 

Ms. Tirkos wanted me to remind you that her new activities for the week are up on her website! See the link on the sidebar on the right. 

Learning About Plants

Lets learn about plants! 

Plants are living things, just like animals are living things. 

To get us started, watch this very informational video about plants! It is almost 10 minutes long, but worth the watch!

At the beginning, the narrator told us what all plants need to stay alive. Can you remember what she said?
Air
Water
Nutrients (Food)(mostly from soil) 
Sunlight

Plants grow from seeds!

One of my favourite stories about seeds and plants is Eric Carle's The Tiny Seed.
Watch and listen to The Tiny Seed below:

Watch this bean seed grow! This video speeds 25 days of growing into a  beautiful 3 minute video

Try it! 
I know that many of you have already planted some seeds at home.

 Sadie planted some beans and a pea plant!

Winston planted some seeds too!

 Today I would like to plant some seeds so we can observe them grow. 

If you have bean seeds, you will need:

•  a bean seed (or a few, just in case one doesn't want to sprout)
• a paper towel
• a ziplock bag (sandwich size)
• water 

First, fold your paper towel up so it will fit flatly in your ziplock bag add a spoonful of water to your bag and drop your seeds in.

Then tape your bag to a window. Your seed will have the water that it needs to sprout. The bag gives you a great view for watching your seed sprouting and growing roots. It will take a few days! Please look at your plant every day! (Once your seed grows a bit, you will need to re-plant it into some soil, inside or outside).  

You can draw and label your "greenhouse"
Words to use:
seed
bag
water

_____________________________________________

If you have a different seed (or a bean seed that you want to put in soil), you will need:

• your seed (or a few, just in case one doesn't want to sprout)
• soil
• a cup or pot
• water

 First, fill your pot or cup almost to the top with soil.
Next, put your seeds onto the soil and gently push them down a bit. Not too far, they just need a bit of soil on top of them.
Next, sprinkle some water on the soil.
Put your pot in a sunny spot (or just a bright spot)
Then look at your pot every day, and sprinkle on some water every day while you wait for your seed to sprout and also grow roots.

You can draw and label your seeds. 
Words to use:
pot
seed
soil
water

Morning Message for April 27

Watch Ms. Brown's message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need to look outside and decide what the weather is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Snowy? Windy? or a mix of 2 (or 3)?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say the weather. 

Rachael! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Rachael, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your  sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

?  Today's Mystery Friend  ?

 Clue #1. Our mystery friend has a c somewhere in their name.
Clue #2.  Our mystery friend has an e at the end of their name. 
Who is our mystery friend? You will often find our friend at the drawing table!
(parents, I have emailed a class list of first names and have re-sent our word wall)

Math Monday! Exploring Capacity.

Today we will explore capacity. 
 Capacity is the amount that a container can hold.

We learn about capacity by doing hands-on activities all year! At school, we spend a lot of time in our outdoor sandbox and at our water table or water bead table or sand table. At home, perhaps you have a sandbox, but capacity can also be explored freely in the bathtub or sink with cups and bowls. 

Part 1
(all you need is a paper and pencil/crayons/markers for this part)

If you were going to fill up this wading pool with water, 

 

 what  container would you use?

The cup or the bucket?

Why did you choose that container? (explain why to your parent) 

Words to Review
more than
less than
equal (the same as)

Find your water bottle! 
Draw and label something that you think would hold more water than your water bottle. You can use your imagination. It does not have to be something that you have at home. 


Part 2 (maybe another day)
(parents - for this part we need a variety of cups or containers - a small cup, a tall cut and a medium wider cup, and more if you have them. We also need water (or dried beans - see below), and maybe a tray, a pan or a bin to work over - you could do this in the bathtub at bathtime!). Plastic containers and cups will work well -- I don't have plastic cups at home so I am showing glass ones :)

Ms. Brown is really thirsty! Which cup should she use? Why? 

(your child might have said that the taller cup holds more because it is bigger) I checked by filling the taller glass up with water and pouring it into the shorter glass. It filled the shorter glass and there was still water left in the tall one. I coloured the water so you could see it better! 

Now which cup should she use? 

 This can be tricky! Both of these cups hold the same amount of water. I checked by pouring one glass of water into the other one, and the water filled each glass up almost to the top. Both of these cups hold the same amount of water! Sometimes, shorter and wider holds the same as or more than taller and thinner.

It is hard for me to show you this in pictures, so you should experiment at home!


Take a tall narrow cup and a shorter wider cup and pour the water from one to the other. Do they fit the same amount of water? Try different cups. You could put them in order from the one that holds the least water to the one that holds the most water.



Parents! If you can, use dried beans for this! It is easier to scoop them. The beans can be rinsed off later, before you cook them.

Morning Message for Friday, April 24

Watch Ms. Brown's message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need to look outside and decide what the weather is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Snowy? Windy? or a mix of 2 (or 3)?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say the weather.

Thomas! Happy Birthday! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Thomas, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your brother! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

It is also someone else's birthday in our class.... can you guess who? Here is a hint! She is one of your Room 9 teachers! Here is another hint. You have never seen her wear a hat! 

Starting on Monday, each day I will be giving clues to a mystery person in our class! Just like I used to do with our helpers, but this person isn't going to be a helper, just our mystery person!  You will need to look at our word wall to look at our names. 
Parents: I emailed out the word wall in March, but I will email out another one, in case you deleted it :)

Fabulous Friday! Drawing with Mo Willems (and a Dance Party!)

I think that you all know that Mo Willems is one of my favourite author/ illustrators! He writes The Pigeon books, the Elephant and Piggie Books, The Knuffle Bunny Books, and so many more! 

Read along with a Pigeon book! 
Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus - a classic! 

Now , lets draw a Pigeon together! Sometimes it is nice to draw along with someone else, so you can get new ideas to add into your own art.

(you can click on the image and make it much larger!)

 You need paper and a pencil, a crayon, or a marker.

I added a speech bubble because I wanted my Pigeon to say something very important!

In the video below, Mo Willems talks about Doodling, shows you his studio, and shows some early Pigeon drawings!
(it is 22 minutes long, so settle in) (he shows how to draw the pigeon at about minute 17, so if it isn't maintaining interest, forward to there).

Mo has many more of these Doodle videos if you would like to watch more. 

Dance Party Time!!!! 
Dance to a few songs at home! 
Sing and dance along to Boom Chicka Boom!

 
 Or dance to I Like to Move it!

Morning Message for Thursday, April 23

Watch Ms. Brown's message for you HERE!

Before you read the message you need to look outside and decide what the weather is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Snowy? Windy? or a mix of 2 (or 3)?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say the weather. 

Hi Mackenzie! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Mackenzie, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Where We Live Part 1 - Toronto

We all know that we live on the planet Earth. We also live in Canada - which is a COUNTRY on the planet Earth. We live in Toronto, which is a CITY in Canada. Our community is the part of Toronto that we live in. It is the part that we might work in  or play in. 
(Parents: I am trying to make this simple and not overwhelm the children! They will learn so much about communities, cities,  provinces, countries and continents in Grade 1,2 and beyond. But feel free to explain the continents to your child, and Ontario - if they are interested!) 

This map (globe) is showing our part of planet Earth. The red part is Canada! The white parts are other countries. The blue part is water. 

 The red circle on this map (below) shows the area around Toronto. Toronto is the solid red rectangle part. Millions of people live in the spot where the rectangle is! That is where WE live! Can you figure out where Toronto is on the globe map above? It might be tricky. Look for the shapes of the blue lakes at the bottom of Canada.

Toronto is a big city. It is the largest city in Canada! In Toronto we see many large buildings and many many people, especially if we go downtown. 

 There are lots of people downtown on this day! (Yonge and Dundas Square)

Think About It!
What do you like about Toronto?

Do you like to go to the Zoo?  The Science Centre? The Art Gallery of Ontario? The Royal Ontario Museum? The Ripley's Aquarium? Riverdale Farm? We can't go to these places right now, but you might be able to visit on your computer or ipad. The Aquarium is my favourite place to visit in Toronto. And Allan Gardens Conservatory! And the Beaches! Some cities do not have a lake near them, so they don't have a beach or boardwalk. 

(parents: click on the highlighted words to go to virtual tours of these places. I've also added them to our blog sidebar!)

• You can go go on a virtual tour of the Toronto Zoo HERE!
• You can explore many fun things at the Ontario Science Centre HERE!
• You can visit the Shark Tank or the Rainbow Reef and more at the Aquarium HERE! 
•  You can go on a virtual tour of the Royal Ontario Museum and find SO MANY fun activities HERE!
• You can learn a bit about Riverdale Farm HERE!
• The Aga Khan Museum has activities and stories HERE! 

Try it! (I know it is not Tuesday, but Try it on Thursday!)
 One of Toronto's most famous landmarks is the CN Tower. It used to be the tallest structure in the whole world! (but then some other countries built taller ones). When people who live in other places think of Toronto, they often imagine the CN Tower. Have you been up the CN Tower? It is very high. We can see the CN Tower from all over Toronto because it is so tall! If you went to the 2nd or 3rd Floor of Earl Beatty School, you can see it from the window, if you look toward it. 

 Here is your challenge. Build the CN Tower! Kids all over Toronto have been building the CN tower. You can make it out of blocks, lego, books, boxes... whatever you want! If you can, send a picture of it, and I will post them all on our blog. Try to send the photo by Sunday afternoon.

 We will learn more about where we live next week! 

Morning Message for April 22, 2020

Listen to Ms. Brown's message for you HERE!

Before you read the message you need to look outside and decide what the weather is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Snowy? Windy? or a mix of 2 (or 3)?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say the weather. 

 Hi Declan! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Declan, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your brother and sister! You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day! I think that every day should be Earth Day. 
I loved seeing so many of your trees yesterday! 

First, we are going to read along with The Earth Book by Todd Parr.

Reduce, Re-use Recycle - What does all this mean?
Reduce means using less. (you can use less water by turning off the tap while you are brushing your teeth)
Re-use means using something again. (Like using a bag over again)
Recycle means making something new from something old. Factories can make new paper from old paper; new plastic from old plastic, and new cans from old cans. 

• Tell someone a way that you could reduce.
• Tell someone a way that you could re-use something.
• Tell someone a way that you could recycle. What colour is your recycling bin outside? Do you have one inside? What does it look like? I use a brown paper bag or cereal box to recycle paper each week.

What can you do to help the earth?
Why will you do this? What will it help?

Please draw a picture and write a sentence at the bottom about what you can do to help the earth, and why you will do that. Then take a picture of your page and send it to Ms. Brown.  I would like to put together an Earth Day Book by Room 9! Because you are all AWESOME WRITERS. It would be really great if all the pages are in landscape mode (horizontal), but if you forget, that's okay! 

Write it this way:
I will __________ because __________.  
(If parents need to do most of the writing, that is fine - just write what your child says!)