Holidays are almost here...

Dear parents and guardians,

I apologize for not adding anything on the blog last Friday as I was quite sick. I can't believe it's the end of December already! I would like to thank you all for your care and support during these past four months. I have really enjoyed working with the kids and the community. I also want to thank you all for your generous gifts. I will be shopping and enjoying the treats over the holidays.

Thank you to all the parents for sending the treats. We had a great party yesterday. A special thank you to Christine for coordinating with all the parents.

In January, we'll be working on Addition and Subtraction. Please practise addition and subtraction questions over the holidays if you have some free time. There are many apps and websites that have numeracy related games. In language, we've been working on procedural writing. We'll continue that in January. We'll also reflect back on 2013 and write our resolutions for 2014.

Thanks again for everything and enjoy the holidays. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all and your families.

Mrs. Aziz

Weekly update and Math Questions

Dear parents,

This week we've been working on creating and reading Bar Graphs. Here are some practice questions for both grades.

Bar Graphs

Reading Bar Graphs

Which Bar Graph is Correct?


Field Trip to The Century Schoolhouse - Grade 3 
Grade 3 students of Room 3 and 8 will be going on another field trip on Wed, January 8, 2014. We'll be going to The Century Schoolhouse. I will be preparing the students during the upcoming weeks, but here is a link that has the information on clothing and lunch.

The Century School House

On Monday, students will receive the permission form. Please return it by December 16th. I need parent volunteers as we'll be taking the TTC again.

Scholastic Order
Please return the scholastic book orders by Monday, Dec. 9. Thanks (I'm sorry for sending them so late.)

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Mrs. Aziz

Bulletin Board Display

Our 3D Christmas Tree and Hanukkah Menorah are displayed on the bulletin board. The students made beautiful snowmen ornaments with their family pictures. They also wrote how lucky they were to be part of their families. On our other bulletin board we have displayed our snow globes with students trapped in them. I'm attaching some pictures. I hope you all can have closer look next Thursday when you attend our Holiday Concert.

Turkey Lunch - Gobble Gobble!

This was my first Turkey Lunch and it was A-MA-ZING!!! I really enjoyed seeing so many parents and grandparents working so hard to organize this festive event. The food was delicious. All the students said that they were stuffed and couldn't eat anymore. Thank you for all you do for the students and the teachers. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

S. Walter Stewart Library Visit

Our visit to the library was a huge success. The students listened to the author while she was sharing her writing experiences as a child and as an adult. They also asked questions about her life as an author and her books. She read us some poems and parts of her books. Thank you to all the parents for helping me on the TTC and at the library. I couldn't have handled 18 kids without your support! Here are some pictures from our visit today.

Weekly Update

Hi everyone,

Please read the next blog on our trip to S. Walter Stewart Library on December 5th. This week we learned about Hanukkah. Our class has created a beautiful Menorah from construction paper. I will attach the picture soon. We'll be making our Christmas tree and ornaments soon. The students will be gluing their family photos on the ornaments. Please send a photo by Monday if you haven't sent one already. We are also preparing for the Holiday Concert. The students on Room 3 and 8 will be singing together. Hope to see you all there.

Math Questions on Pictographs

Grade 2:

Creating Pictographs

Grade 3:

Reading Pictographs

Nelson Math - Pictographs


Snuggle Up and Read

I hope you all have seen Snuggle up and Read Folders. Book Exchange will take place on Tuesdays. You may wish to read the same book more than once with your child and ask different comprehension questions. The books and folders can be returned any day. Happy Reading!

Almas

Author Visit @ S. Walter Stewart Library - December 5, 2013

Name of the Author: Helaine Becker

This year we have an opportunity to visit and see an author read one of her books at a close by library: S. Walter Stewart.  Some of you might be familiar with this library.  It is close to Coxwell Ave. and Cosburn Ave. We'll be going with Ms. Karamitsos and Mrs. Alexiou's class on Thursday, December 5th 2013.  It is the day after our Turkey Lunch.  The permission forms went home yesterday.  We are asking the students to bring in $1.50 to cover the cost of the bus tickets.  Parents are welcomed to come and volunteer.

Click on the link to find out about the author:

http://www.helainebecker.com/abouttheauthor.html

Have you read any of her books? Try and find some of her books before our trip. I believe there is a Question and Answer period. Maybe we could ask her questions about some of her books.

Thanks,

Mrs. Aziz

Dear Parents,

This week we've been working on Retelling. Students are encouraged to retell the beginning, middle and end of a story. They also have to tell me the characters and setting of the story. We really enjoyed reading Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny Too. The students retold and acted out the story. We also talked about realistic fiction books.

The Character Trait for December is Empathy. We discussed what empathy is and made thinking bubbles that shows how to be empathetic. Our thinking bubbles are displayed on the bulletin board next to the office. Please take a look. In December, the school will have it's first Character Education Assembly where students who demonstrated Empathy will be given awards. Parents are also welcomed to join us for the assembly. The date has not been finalized but I will let you all know soon.

In Math, we have started our unit on Data Management. This week was quite simple as we worked on Venn Diagrams to sort items and used Tally Charts after doing a survey.

Here are some Math links for both grades:

Venn Diagram

Tally Charts


Some Grade 3 students will bring their Math workbooks home to complete page 18. Please send the books back on Monday. Thank you

Have a great weekend!

Math Questions

Online Math Questions

Grade 2

Trading Money

Comparing Money

Grade 3

Counting and Trading Money - Nelson Math

Comparing Money

Making Change

Some students are having difficulty remembering the names of the coins. Please help your child name the coins and their values (e.g., This is a nickel. It's worth 5 cents.).

Thank you for meeting with me for the Progress Report interviews. I've met with some of you already and I look forward to meeting with the rest of you.

Have a great weekend!

We had a jam-packed week. We started off with learning about Diwali. The students made beautiful Rangolis. Then we worked on Remembrance Day wreaths. We made two wreaths, one with our Kindergarten Reading Buddies and the other one ourselves. The later wreath was based on the book, What does Peace feel like? Students wrote what peace feels, taste, sounds, looks and smells like on poppies. Both wreaths will be displayed in the Gym on Monday, November 11th for our Remembrance Day Service. Our class is also singing a song during the Service. Please join us at 10:30 A.M. in the Gym.

In Math, the students are working on Money related problems. Please let them play with different coins and let them show money amounts in various ways (e.g., show $1 four different ways).

Grade 2 Math Questions

Value of the Coins

Counting Money

Grade 3 Math Questions

Comparing money amounts

Counting Coins and Bills

Progress Report Interview Schedule will be sent home today. Please let me know if you are unable to come at the assigned time. I've used first two choices that you had mentioned on the letter.

Here are some pictures of our bulletin boards. Have a great weekend!

Poppy Wreath for Remembrance Day

Haunted House Dioramas and Stories

Dear amazing parents,

Halloween celebrations were stupendous in Room 3. I've sent a letter home to tell you all about it. I've also added a permission form at the end regarding photos on the blog. Please complete the bottom section and send it on Monday.

We didn't do a lot of Math this week as we've been working really hard to write stories on The Haunted House. Student made very detailed Haunted House dioramas. Most students have completed their stories but some are still editing and writing their final copies. The dioramas and the final copy are displayed outside our classroom.

We worked on ordinal numbers this week. Here are some links.

Grade 2 - Ordinal Numbers

Grade 3 - Ordinal Numbers (Nelson Math)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Mrs. Aziz

Math Questions

Grade 2 Math

Comparison Word Problems

Grade 3 Math

Nelson Math Rounding

Nelson Math Comparing and Ordering

Nelson Math Organized Lists

Some Grade 3 students will be bringing their Math Nelson Workbooks home to work on page 14 (Solving Problems using Organized Lists). Please send the workbooks back on Monday.

Halloween Party

Halloween is around the corner and the students can't wait to dress up and show off. Ms. Alexiou, Ms. Karamitsos and I have planned a morning of Drama. Students are working in groups to come up with a skit based on their costumes to present to other classes. I'll upload some pictures after Halloween.

In the afternoon, we'll have a parade and aparty. Thank you to our class parent, Ayako Sugino for organizing the treats. Please make sure all the food items are nut free and are prepared in a nut-free environment. Thank you

Our Latest Work

Math Questions

Grade 2

Comparing Numbers

Word Problems

Grade 3

Rounding to Nearest Ten

Word Problems

Monster themed Pizza Lunch was amazing today. It seemed like Halloween was already here.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Math Questions and Other News

Dear all,

Thanksgiving weekend is almost here! I can smell the delicious food already. I hope you all have a great weekend with your loved ones.

Grade 3 students have Scientist in School on Tuesday afternoon. Please send $6 by Tuesday.

Math Practice Questions for the Weekend

Math Grade 2

More Place Value Questions

Math Grade 3

Nelson Math - Place Value

Regrouping Tens and Ones

I've come across a great book called Smart but Scattered by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare. This book has great ideas and templates for parents to use with their children who lack certain Executive Skills such as getting organized, staying focused, solving problems independently, using time wisely and much more.

Just a friendly reminder to send indoor and outdoor shoes on rainy days. Thanks you

Regards,

Mrs. Aziz

Math Practice Questions

Grade 2 Math:

Place Value - tens and ones

Value of the underlined digit

Grade 3 Math:

Place value - hundreds, tens and ones

Value of the underlined digit

Nelson Math - Chapter 2 Representing Numbers

Thank you for working on the math questions with your child. 

In Language Arts, we are currently learning about the Elements of a Story i.e. Title, Author, Illustrator, Characters, Setting, Problem, Solution and Big Idea or Message. You can reinforce these concepts by asking about the elements after reading a short story or watching a movie.

The students have worked hard on their Thanksgiving Turkeys. They will be displayed on the bulletin board on Monday. I'll upload the picture.

Please send indoor shoes on raining days. Our carpet gets really muddy if the students do not have separate indoor shoes. Thank you

Updates

There are some changes in our timetable. We have a new Music teacher. Starting next week, Ms. Karamitsos and I will teach our own Art and Drama/Dance. I'll update the Daily Timetable.

Our Terry Fox run on Friday was a huge success. Thanks for joining us and cheering us and also for the generous donations.

Fall Fair is on Thursday. How exciting! Our class was asked to bring Action Figures/Dolls and accessories for the Silent Auctions. Please send them by Wednesday.

Thank you for working on the Online Math questions with your children.

Tumblebook is a great website for reading books with your children online. Simply Google Tumblebooks and you'll find links to the website.


 

Math Practice Questions

Grade 2:

Even and Odd

Describing Patterns

Number Lines


Grade 3:

Even and Odd

Nelson Math - Chapter 1: Patterning

Lesson 2: Exploring Patterns

Lesson 3: Patterns in 100 chart

Lesson 4: Patterns in T-Charts

Terry Fox Bulletin Board

Students of Room 3 were shown a video on Terry Fox and The Marathon of Hope. As a follow up activity, the students made posters that had facts on Terry Fox and why Terry is a hero.

We have our Terry Fox run tomorrow at 1 p.m.

Math Practice Questions for the week

Grade 3: Nelson Math 3 - Chapter 1, Lesson 1 and Daily Math - A.7 Number Sequence  
Here are the direct links:
Nelson Math - Chapter 1, Lesson 1
Number Sequence Grade 3

Grade 2: Daily Math - A.1 Skip Counting and D.1 Repeating Patterns
Here are the links:
Skip Counting
Repeating Patterns

Thank you

Dear Parents,

Thank you so much for making Curriculum Night a big success. I felt very comfortable speaking to you all and answering your questions/concerns. I look forward to working with all of you and your kids and to an amazing year of learning.

Mrs. Aziz

Scholastic Orders

Dear Parents,

Scholastic orders are due on Friday, September 20. Please do not send cash.

Thanks

Mrs. Aziz

Communication

It is my goal to keep both students and parents fully informed of the expected learnings in each area of the curriculum and to communicate openly about each student’s progress. Below are a few ways we can keep in touch.

Agenda

Agenda is the best way to communicate on a daily basis. Parents can write notes to me and I will try my best to write back on the same day.

 

In Person

If you would like to meet me in person, please send a note with your child and we can arrange a meeting.

Phone

If you want to get in touch with me regarding an emergency or to share any concerns, please call the school office and leave a message for me. I'll call you back as soon as possible.

Greetings from Mrs. Aziz

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I’m extremely delighted to have been given the opportunity to work as the Grade 2/3 teacher at Presteign Height PS. I have taught at various TDSB schools before, including Maurice Cody PS and Timberbank Jr. PS. I am looking forward to getting to know the grade 2 and 3 students in Room 3 and to working with them and their families.

One of my teaching philosophies is to prepare the students to face an increasingly complex world. The ability to think critically, relate effectively with others and adapt to the changes are crucial to our students’ success.  I believe that by modelling care, compassion, cooperation and humour, we all can contribute to the success of all children.

Please visit this website on a weekly basis as I will post important information regarding  upcoming events in our classroom and the school.

I look forward to a great year with you all!

Regards,

Almas Aziz