The Merkley Monitor
October 2008
Greetings
Since you have a delightful group of children, September has been a great month. The children appear happy and settled, and routines are falling into place.
We welcome to our classroom several new faces to Central Public School this fall - Emily from Lord Strathcona Public School, Isaac from Trudelle Public School, Dexter from Rideau Public School , Josh V. from J.E. Simcoe Public School, Lilly from Loughborough Public School, Alexis M. from Cornwall, and Mariana from Mexico!
In addition, we are delighted to have Miss Jasmine Irwin in our classroom until December 5th. She is completing a Bachelor in Behavioural Psychology at St. Lawrence College and is in her fourth year.
In and out of our classroom throughout each school day are several wonderful teachers, including Mrs. Donna Halleran and Mrs. Tammy Onyskiw.
From October 6th to October 31st we welcome Brenley Devlin to Central Public School. She is a teacher candidate from the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University and we are lucky to have her completing her first teaching practicum with us.
Thank You
We would like to thank Mrs. Lea Westlake, Eli’s Mom, for coming into our class on Thursday, September 25th and teaching the students about the herbs growing in our school garden. They had a chance to cut the herbs and eat delicious chicken kabobs, flavoured with
these herbs.
Communication
The students are using their agendas to write down their homework and bringing them back and forth to school on a regular basis.
Reporting for each of the three school terms is done through the use of a report card. Although interviews will not be scheduled unless we feel one is required, you should feel comfortable requesting one at anytime. Also, I encourage you to be in touch with me to set up an interview as you feel that one is necessary, rather than waiting for the report card to come home.
If you have any concerns about your child’s progress or information to supplement curriculum, please feel free to write a note in your child’s agenda, to contact me at school by phone (613-546-9454) or e-mail (merkleym@limestone.on.ca).
I plan on sending home The Merkley Monitor at the beginning of each month. To cut down on paper I would be happy to forward this newsletter via the school’s web site or to you directly at your own e-mail address. If interested, please contact me at the above e-mail address.
Although I have met many of you already, I look forward to seeing everyone at our Open House this Thursday, October 2nd.
Homework
Students are reminded to complete their weekly spelling assignments by Thursday morning. Dictation will be every Friday. This applies to five day weeks only.
Participation
Congratulations to Isaac, Eli, Mariana, and Josh H. for joining the school’s cross-country team. We wish them luck at the Joe Goodfellow Memorial Race to be held on Tuesday October 7th and at the Fort Henry Meet, on Tuesday, October 14th.
I am pleased that several students including Emily, Austin, Josh J. and Isra have joined the school Hand Chime Choir.
Please encourage your child to participate in the activities that happen at Central!!
Current Events
To promote awareness of the world around them, students will be asked to bring in Current Events on a regular basis. Starting in October we will have “top News Reporters of the Month”. The reporting categories for October will be “Angles”, “Descriptive Words”, “Local”, “National”, and “International”.
Language Arts
Students are allowed to take one library book out from our Library Resource Centre at a time. On Tuesdays we have a library book exchange period.
Students are reminded to keep a record of the pages that they read at home and to write a short reflection for each book that they read.
During October we will be learning how to make sentences more descriptive by including adjectives and adverbs. You can help your child identify these parts of speech when you are reading with them. “Descriptive Words” will be one of the reporting categories for Current Events during October.
Our poem for October, Someone Told the Wild Geese, is attached to this newsletter. Have your child sing it to you!
Mathematics
The Grade Four students are joining Miss Bulgin’s Grade Fours for math and being taught by Miss Bulgin. The Grade Fives from Mrs. Walker’s class are joining the Grade Fives in my class at that time.
During October we will finish up a unit on Number Sense and Numeration. Numeration
Expectations for Grade Five Students that will be covered include:
· Represent, compare, and order whole numbers to 10 000
· Demonstrate an understanding of place value in whole numbers and decimal numbers from 0.1 to 10 000
· Read and print in words whole numbers to one thousand, using meaningful contexts
· Recall basic multiplication and division facts
· Estimate sums, differences, products, and quotients
· Add, subtract, and multiply numbers mentally
· Add and subtract 4-digit numbers
· Multiply a 2-digit number by a 2-digit number
· Divide a 4-digit number by a 1-digit number
· Identify place value from
· Pose and solve problems using whole numbers
· Solve problems with more than one step
We will start a unit on Geometry where the students will investigate the characteristics of different figures, and explore relationships between vertices (corners), side length, and angle measurement of these figures. In this unit, your child will:
· Sort and name polygons by sides and angles
· Measure, name, and construct angles
· Construct triangles, given side and angle measures
· Identify and construct nets of solids
Geometry is an important part of a student’s mathematical experience. Geometry provides students with a strong link between the mathematics they learn in the classroom and the real world. Here are some suggestions for activities to do at home.
· Before recycling cardboard boxes or containers, carefully take them apart to see how they are constructed.
· Cut cardboard strips of different lengths, and explore different figures that can be made from them. Compare the angles that result.
Science Social Studies
In Social Studies, we will start a unit on Canada and World Connections. In Grade Four this unit is on Canada’s Provinces, Territories, and Regions. In Grade Five this unit is on Aspects of Citizenship and Government in Canada. Grade Five’s will be asked to complete an in class project on the National Election. Please see the attached project sheet as they are to collect pictures of the candidates for all of the major political parties, at both the local and national levels.
Physical Education and Human Growth
In Health, the students will finish working through a unit in the Healthy Living strand, on Personal Safety and Injury Prevention.
On Thursday, October 16th we will have a representative from the Alzheimer’s Society come into our class to speak about Alzheimer’s. This program will help students understand what this disease is and how to approach people who are suffering from it.
In gym the students will be learning soccer skills and low organizational games.
Steps to Respect
According to recent research, bullying is an aggressive type of repeated behaviour that should be actively discouraged by parents and teachers alike. Without question, bullying inflicts a great deal of pain on its victims. Steps to Respect is a bullying prevention program that the students will be covering throughout the course of the year. The primary goal of this program is to help create a safe, caring, respectful learning environment in which bullying is not tolerated. In each newsletter I will include updates and ideas to help you empower your children when they come face to face with a bully.
“Many victims of bullying are unsure of themselves and somewhat anxious by nature, with relatively low self-confidence and few or no friends. Encourage activities that foster
confidence and build friendships.”
Class Play
Please put Thursday, October 30th on your calendar and plan to come and watch our classroom play, “The Lost Little Lonely Witch”. It will start at 3:00. You can plan on taking
your child home, after they perform.
Thanksgiving and Hallowe’en
Since the Grade Four Science unit in September was on Rocks and Minerals we will celebrate Thanksgiving by making a variety of cookies that represent the three main rock groups. We will eat our “rocks” for afternoon “snack”, on Friday, October 10th.
On Friday, October 31st we will celebrate Hallowe’en with costumes, activities, and a classroom party in the afternoon.
Snacks
I am very pleased at how conscientious the students have been about bringing healthy snacks and using recyclable containers. We appreciate your assistance in helping your child understand what “sometimes” snacks are, and to save them, if they have them, for afternoon snack. The students are reminded to bring peanut free items and to use our school’s recycling program to help us become a “garbageless school”.
Parties
To avoid too much food for class parties, each of our house league groups will be responsible for one of our four class parties this year. The “Five Alive” group (Emily, Aydan, Josh H., Alexis V., Lilly, Isabella, and Josephina) will be responsible for our Hallowe’en party. The students in each group will be responsible for sharing the responsibility for the food. I will supply the drinks. As the date for each party gets close, students will write this information in their student agendas.
Margaret Merkley
Something Told the Wild Geese
by
Rachel Field
Something told the wild goose
It was time to go,
Though the fields lay golden
Something whispered, “Snow”
Grade Five Election Project
In order to complete the in-class project on the Provincial Election on October 14th you can start collecting pictures that you can keep in the brown envelope. You will be given time in class before and after the election to complete this project. Make sure that the pictures are neatly cut out as part of your mark will be presentation and neatness counts! You should try to get at least two pictures of each leader – as two of them will win and you will have to include them on your project twice!
A: Federal Level
The leaders of these three major political parties in Canada (You may get more than these)
v The Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party – Steven Harper
v The Leader of the Liberal Party –Stéphane Dion
v The Leader of the New Democratic Party – Jack Layton
B: Kingston and the Islands
The leaders of these three major political parties in our local riding, Kingston and the Islands (You may get more than these)
v The Leader of the Liberal Party - Peter Milliken
v The Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party – Brian Abrams
v The Leader of the New Democratic Party – Rick Downes
Dear Parents,
Please remember to put Thursday, October 30th on your calendar and to plan on joining us in our classroom at 3:00 so that we can share our classroom play with you.
You will be able to bring your child home after the performance.
We look forward to seeing your then.
Sincerely,
Margaret Merkley
Dear Parents,
Please remember to put Thursday, October 30th on your calendar and to plan on joining us in our classroom at 3:00 so that we can share our classroom play with you.
You will be able to bring your child home after the performance.
We look forward to seeing your then.
Sincerely,
Margaret Merkley
