Thank you

Dear Parents,

Thank you so much for all the help, support and care during the year. I couldn’t have done with you! Thank you for volunteering, sending treats or just offering a smile.

I really enjoyed working with each and every child in the classroom. All children are unique and amazing in their own ways. This LTO has been extremely rewarding and I hope to come back in the upcoming years and watch the children grow as they move through the grades at Presteign Heights ES.

Summer Activites

I’m sure most of you are looking forward to summer holidays and have already planned trips and other activities. Please don’t forget to do some math and language related activities during the summer as well.

Here are some ideas:

¶ Read with/to your child everyday.

¶ Visit the library as often as you can to choose new and exciting books.

¶ Do various kinds of writing activities, e.g., writing about the favourite part of the trip, making grocery lists, making comic strip, keeping a summer journal etc.

¶ Play games that include making words, counting, telling time and addtion and subraction.

I hope these ideas are helpful. Have a great Summer.

Regards,

Almas Aziz

Weekly Update

Hi everyone,

I can't believe that we're almost in June! As mentioned in my previous post, Grade 3 students will be writing the EQAO test from June 2 - June 5 (next week) in the morning. Please make sure that your child arrives to school on time so that we can all start the test at the same time. June 6 is our last PA Day.

Spring Concert was a huge success! Everyone sang beautifully! Kudos to Maria, Sotiria, Mattea, Reilly and Anna from Room 3 for their hard work.

We completed our restaurant project with detailed menus and layouts. The students had a chance to present their restaurant ideas with their peers. It was an exciting project that involved creativity and imagination.

I will not be posting any more math questions as we'll be working on questions from various strands. Here are some websites with math and language games for the upcoming weeks and summer:

Primarygames.com - Math

math-play.com

Primarygames.com - Reading


Have a wonderful weekend!

Weekly Update

We have an extremely busy week coming up. Bike Rally on Tuesday, Spring Concert on Thursday and Pizza Lunch on Friday. I hope to see you all around for one or more events.

Our next Character Ed Assembly will be in June for Integrity and Perseverance.

We continued to work on past EQAO questions this week. Many students feel much more confident with the format of the test. We also worked on the Fractions this week. Here are some questions:

Fractions as part of the group

Fractions as part of a whole

Halves Thirds and Fourths


Kindness Week Display:

Have  a great weekend!

EQAO related information

Dear Parents,

This week we focused on answering Math and Language EQAO questions. We talked about adding details, checking our answers and explainations and underlining the important parts of the question. The grade 2 students have been working on problem-solving questions from various strands in mathematics as well reading comprehension questions. Grade 3 students will be writing the EQAO tests from June 2nd to June 5th in the morning.

We're also working on a Restaurant Projects. We're making our own menus as well as blueprints of the restaurant.

During the next two weeks, we'll be working on many EQAO questions and trying to show higher level thinking. We'll also look into Fractions.

Grade 3 students can practise EQAO questions at home as well. EQAO Booklets
Grade 2 students can practise math questions from various strands on the IXL website. Grade 2 ixl.ca

Marble Jar Party: Students have been receiving marbles for showing respect and cooperation as well as listening attentively. We filled up our entire jar and as promised we'll have a party next week. I'll bring the treats. A few students wanted to contribute as well so we'll talk about it in the classroom next week.

I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend!

Kindness Week and Georgia O'Keeffe inspired Art

This week we worked with Mr. Wall on exploring the meaning of kindness and self-regulation. We watched videos and read stories on Kindness. We also explored what random acts of kindness (RAKS) looks like gave each other kindness cards. Many children shared that true kindness means that you're nice and helpful withour expecting any reward in return. I'll be displaying our learnings on the bulletin board and will post a picture soon.

During the week, we were also invited to a Puppet Show on Epilepsy and Dealing with Bullies. It was a great experience and children asked many insightful questions to gain more knowlege. We also learned the term WITS (Walk away, Ignore, Talk it out/Tell an adult, Stop and Stand up). It's reminds us what to do when we are dealing with bullies.

This week we also looked at some paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe. We looked closely at the beautiful flowers that she painted. We practised drawing different kinds flowers on canvases for Home and School Project. The students were enjoyed painting so much that I brought in new canvases to paint a special present for our wonderful moms.

In math, we learned about mass, capacity, and transformations. Next week, we'll work on probability.

Grade 2
Compare Size, Mass and Capacity
Choosing a Measuring Tool

Grade 3

Capacity
Mass
Transformations (Reflection, Rotation and Translation)

Happy Mother's Day to all the lovely mothers, grandmothers and aunts who have a positive impact on our lives and make a difference in our communities. Hope you like the paintings that we worked so hard on.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Georgia O'Keeffe inspired Art

Classroom Learnings

We've almost completed our second Model School Unit using the text, Mama Miti. We talked about how one lady's effort changed an entire country. We used our inferring skills to answer many questions and made connection to our actions to protect the Earth. Here are some pictures of our work.

 

 

In Math, we've been learning about and constructing 3D figures. We've also written riddles for each other. 

 

 

Math Questions on 3D Figures:

 

Identify 3D Figures

 

Count and Compare Sides, Edges, Faces and Vertices 

In S.Studies, the grade 3 students are learning about various jobs in the Rural areas, such as farming, forestry, fishing and mining. The grades are working on various holidays and celebrations that we celebrate in our families and communities.

 

In the upcoming week, we'll be working on a Kindness Project with Philip Wall (TDSB Psychologist) and in math we'll be learning about capacity and mass.



Weekly Update

Hi everyone,

I hope you enjoy the pictures I've added from our trip to the Aquarium and Earth Day Clean Up. Both events were a huge success. A big thank you to the parents for their support and assistance.

Congratulations to Toni, Lauren and Anna for receiving Co-operation Awards. We'll be working on Integrity during the month of May.

Here are some math questions on Division.We'll be working on 3D figures next week.

Division

As promised, here is our window display on Pointillism - Dot Art. The students worked really hard to create these beautiful work of Art.

Pictures: Trip to the Aquarium and Earth Day Clean Up

Our Trip to the Aquarium

(Some pictures are a bit dark because of the dim lighting inside the Aquarium)

Earth Day Clean Up

Our class teamed up with Ms. Ritsakis's class to clean the east side of the school. Thumbs up to all the students for working so hard on a cold windy day. As a school, we collected 120 bags of leaves. Bravo!!

Weekly Update

Hi everyone,

Happy Easter! I hope you all have an exciting yet restful weekend with your loved ones. The Easter Bunny came to our class today and hid eggs all around the room. The students had a fun time finding the eggs and then making cards for their loved ones.

Next week is quite busy as we have our field trip on Tuesday, Earth Day clean up on Wednesday and Character Ed. Assembly on Friday at 2:20 p.m.

We're have started working on division and relating it to multiplication.

Division Game for Grades 2 and 3:
Snowy Friend

Grade 3:
Division Facts

Field Trip to Ripley's Aquarium - Please send lunch and water bottle with your child. If you are volunteering, please come to my room by 9:00 AM. Thank you for all your assistance.

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update

Hi everyone,

This week we worked on multiplication and discussed how it relates to addition. We also discussed and created posters on  International Pink Day and the negative effects of bullying. Furthermore, we used the technique of Pointillism to create beautiful artwork.I will post pictures next week as some students are still completing their artwork.

Multiplication Questions:

Grade 2:
Multiplication Sentences

Grade 3:
Using Adding to Multiply
Arrays and Multiplication
Doubling

We have a field trip on April 22nd to the Ripley's Aquarium. All students have received the forms. I already have two parent volunteers. I need one more. Preference will be given to parents who have not volunteered before. However, you are welcome to join us at the Aquarium.

Thank you for sending Kleenex Boxes with your child.

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update

Hi everyone,

We've started our next MSIC unit on Stewardship. We are using the text, Mama Miti. It's about a woman named Wangari Maathai in Kenya, Africa who was known as the mother of trees because she created a green belt of peace with the belief that everyone can help the village, community and Earth. We're also learning how to infer the author's message by using our schema (or background knowledge) and clues from the text.

In math, we are finishing up with 2- and 3-digit addition and subtraction. Starting next week, we'll be working on multiplication and division. Here are some practice questions.

Grade 2
Subtracting 2 -digit numbers with regrouping
Subtraction Word Problems
Addition and Subtraction Word Problems


Grade 3
Subtracting 3-digit numbers
Adding and Subtracting Money
Calculating Change

This week, we went to the Royal Thompson Hall to watch the Toronto Symphony Orchestra play beautiful  music using a variety of instruments. It was an amazing experience. Please ask your children about their experience.

We've ran out of tissue boxes and I was wondering if a few parents could send a box with their child. The weather is changing and we have lots of runny noses. I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you for all your help and support!

Weekly Update

Hi everyone,

We had a few important events this week.

Lauren Gill was Principal of the Day on Thursday. She was very professional and was involved in meetings and important discussions. She also had lunch with him at Jawny Bakers. Way to go Lauren!

In March, the students had written persuasive letters to Mr. P., requesting him for changes/improvements around the school. I've sent home the letter that your child wrote and Mr. P.'s response to the class. He is very impressed by the letters and is considering a few suggestions that the students made. (I've also added a picture of his letter at the bottom.)

Congratulations to Madison, Hana and Narissa for receiving Honesty Award. We'll be focusing on Cooperation during the month of April.

Our trip is on Tuesday, April 1st. We will be departing at 11:30 A.M. If you are volunteering, please be at the school by 11:15 A.M. We should be back before 3:00 P.M.

In Math, we are currently working on 2- and 3-digit Addition and Subtraction as mentioned in my previous post. The grade 3 students have also been working on estimation. Here are some links:

Grade 2

Addition Word Problems

Writing Addition Sentences

Grade 3

Estimating Sums

Adding with Base Ten Blocks

Estimating and Adding 2-digit and 3-digit numbers

Enjoy the weekend!