Remembering

As usual this time of year, everything takes a back seat to teaching my kids about the importance of Remembrance Day. I share pictures and experiences with them, videos, stories and history. They learn about the sacrifices made by Canadian men and women that allow them to live in a glorious country like Canada.

We had a wonderful visit this week from a friend of Tieran's, Mr. Brian Hutchison. He brought in his huge collection of Canadian war memorabilia. He had cap badges from all the units in the two World Wars, uniforms from all branches of service, pictures of his family members who served, medals, shrapnel, stones from the beach at Dieppe, sand from Juno and chalk from the tunnels at Vimy Ridge. He was full of information but the best part was when everyone was allowed to try on uniforms!



Some people look good in uniform! 

Even without full pockets,
some things weighed a lot.  

Army... 

Air Force...



Women in uniform!

Remembering.

We will be running the school Remembrance Day Service on Tuesday at 11:00. You are most welcome to join us in the gym.

 

Don't forget we're off to the Royal Winter Fair on Thursday! We leave the school at 9am and are hoping to be back at 8pm.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Joyeux Hallowe'en!

Have a safe and warm night - remember to check your candy over with your parents before you start to scarf it down!

Don't forget - only 3 pieces of candy at school per day - one per nutrition break and one for after school.

One final reminder: clocks go back tomorrow - a great time to check the batteries in your smoke and C02 detectors!

Important dates for November:

3 - last day of the Book Fair in the library
5 - money and permission forms due for the Royal Winter Fair
  - School Council Meeting
11 - Remembrance Day Service - we are in charge
13 - Royal Winter Fair!!
14 - 2nd round of Healthy Lunch orders due
21 - PD Day

A View From the Other Side

Normally,  I share with you all of the wonderful things we are doing in our class. Today, though,  I thought I would show you what I do with Ms. Terry's class while she is teaching your sons and daughters English.
Since the beginning of the year, we have been watching the movie Ratatouille (in French!) as a way to learn about French culture, particularly the importance of food in the lives of French citizens.
We decided to make 2 versions of ratatouille, a traditional peasant stew, and an upclassed, nouvelle-cuisine confit version like the one that the rat chef Remy makes in the film.
WE. HAD. A. BLAST.

I started the night before, preparing the base sauce for the confit. I roasted yellow and red peppers in the oven, then put them in a Ziploc bag to make the skins loosen so they could be peeled off. The chopped peppers were then added to the carrots, onions and garlic sautéing in the pan. Add a can of tomatoes and then mix it all up in the blender. Word to the wise: make sure the blender is properly screwed together before turning it on.

The next day, we got our chef on. These kids were amazing chefs! They worked so well together. We had 1 station for the confit (merci Hailie for bringing in a mandoline!), where the kids spread the peperinade on the bottom of the pan, then sliced up zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes and fanned them in a spiral around the pan.

The kids at the herb station made a chiffonade of basil and oregano, then mixed it with olive oil to drizzle over the confit.

Doesn't it look delicious? We could have eaten it raw!

The last group had the most time consuming job. They had to chop up zucchini, eggplant and onion, sauté each one individually and then add it to my crock pot. Ratatouille is not traditionally made in a crock pot, but I thought this would be the easiest way to do it at school.

Crock pot turned on, confit in the oven at 280 for the afternoon and staff and students with watering mouths walking around the school.

Today, it was time to eat! Like most homemade soups and stews, ratatouille is better the next day, after the flavours have had time to blend and compliment each other. I bought some freshly baked baguettes and butter, and said bon appetite!

Normalcy?

It is hard to get back on track at Monck. We have so many activities happening that many students miss parts of the day. Friday was the Mud Run, and more than half our class was taking part. What makes me feel good is that the students who were at Morrison Meadows were students who love to run and are athletic, not students who just wanted to miss a day of school. They came back covered in mud, and even Yasmine, who brought 3 pairs of shoes and 4 pairs of socks, had cold toes! (Sidebar: several of them learned from Yearley that dry socks are essential. As a former Girl Guide, I know how important this lesson is!). I really would love to see any pics they may have taken of the 'mud slide' though. I have images of my monsters acting like seals.

And in case your child does not understand the importance of division:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/17/sir-ian-mckellen-students-shall-not-pass-video_n_6005240.html?utm_hp_ref=education&ir=Education

Oh frabjous day!!

Calloo callay!

Boy, did we have a great time at Yearley! I always seem to get weather that isn't exactly nasty, but not nice, either. We had drizzle, wind, pouring rain and humidity, all in the two days we were there. Fortunately, it never matters what the weather at Yearley - Judy, Lea and Stephanie are well prepared, the facility is supplied with rubber boots and rainsuits, and the programs go on. BIG thanks to all the parents who came to help out, either with shopping last week or at Yearley yesterday and today.
After arriving and having a quick snack, we took a hike around the property to learn the layout, familiarize ourselves with the trails and see the boundaries for certain activities. And, of course, photo ops.


We learned the history of the property from Lea.

She taught us about how Mr. Yearley himself dug out the three ponds.





We saw where the canoes are kept.

We learned the names of the 3 ponds - test your child!



We were goofy.

And we had the best group photo EVER.

After our lunch, we went into the house and travelled back in time to meet Jean, Coureur des bois, and Crazy Two Loons, Ojibwe Chief, to learn about the history of the fur trade between Canadian Natives and French traders, following the routes along to French River and Fort William (Thunder Bay). Students were then divided into small groups and sent out to trade their goods with the local Natives (the adults) for our many quality furs such as beaver (needed for men's hats), coyote (women's muffs and fur trimmings), rabbit (fur trims), and, of course, black bear, which is still used on the hats of the Grenadier Guards who guard several of Queen Elizabeth's Palaces. I must admit I was having so much fun as 'Chief Soft-in-the-Head, along with my 'cousin', 'Chief Rotten Fish', that I didn't' take any pictures at all! But Judy has sent along the memory cards from the Yearley cameras for me to download more pictures that I may not have taken.





Following an amazing taco dinner, we then played the Ecology Game. Each child was pre-assigned a role, from mouse up the food chain to disease. They had to find the food and water stations, stamping their cards to prove they'd found them, all the while keeping themselves safe from the predators hunting them, including Tieran, starting out as a deer hunter then having a horrible scientific accident that turned him into a tanker spill of toxic waste, and Morgan, who was some sort of disease that we eventually identified as Ebola. And in the meantime, we adults were patrolling the boundaries as Mack Trucks, ready to create road kill whenever we could. Fortunately for all our darling animals, Alex was patrolling the forest in the form of the Conservationist, ready to give life to any poor critter who needed one.

 

A night hike with the fewest flashlights we could handle was our second last event of the night. We howled our best, but we didn't hear any returning sounds from either the local wolf or coyote populations. Is it possible that they knew we were human? NO, NEVER!!!

 

A lovely campfire with s'mores provided by the group in charge of snack and we were off to bed. A little later than the adults would have preferred, I'm sure, but it wasn't as late as I have experienced in the past.

 

Up early at 7am (your child can no longer give you a hard time; I'm the witness. They can handle it!) for a scrummy breakfast of bacon (Annette, we love you!), eggs, pancakes and cereal, we did our big cleanup and then headed out for our programs of the day.

 

We had voted to do the Wetlands Study and Canoeing. I headed off with the Wetlands group. Judy used a dipping apparatus to show us how much tannin was in the water, which meant that in the areas of the wetland with too many tannins; the water was dark coloured and could not allow enough light in to let plants grow. Those plant-free areas were where we could wade in wearing our gaiters. We used sieves to scoop up as many different life forms as we could. The more life forms one can find means that the wetland has more oxygen present and is therefore a healthier wetland.

We found mayfly (shad to we North Bayers) larvae and nymphs, damselfly nymphs, dragonfly nymphs and caddis fly nymphs (my personal favourite), not to mention frogs, water skimmers, boatmen and more! We used a microscope hooked up to the Smartboard was amazing. I'm going to have to see if I can borrow one from the Board, or, better yet, get the school to buy one!

 

 

While one group was having fun digging around for critters in the pond, the other group was learning basic canoeing skills: the role of the bowsman and sternsman, the different paddle strokes, and how to raft up (join canoes). Can't you just see they're having fun??

 

 



 

 Another quick snack and it was time to load the bus! It just doesn't seem right. We LOVE Yearley and all the staff and everything we learn there! Thank you!!

Fun, Fun, FUN!!!

Sometimes I need to remind not only the kids, but myself, that we are supposed to be at school to learn. We are having so much fun that learning almost seems to get in the way! But, of course, as a teacher, I make sure that it happens no matter what.

We've had a very busy couple of weeks. I was one of the lucky teachers selected to go to We Day on October 2nd. Many of the We Day causes are near and dear to my heart, so we had some great class discussions about it. Then, today, one of my personal heroes, Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, alongside the amazing Kailash Satyarthi. Both of them, along with Canadian Craig Kielburger, were inspired by 12-year-old Iqbal Masih, who, before his assassination, worked to free child slaves and educate them. On October 22, Malala Yousafzai will become only the 6th person to receive honourary Canadian citizenship, alongside such dignitaries as Nelson Mandela, Raoul Wallenberg and the Dalai Lama (both on my Hero List).

This week, students made oral presentations about La Francophonie, an organization supporting former French colonies. I wanted my students to understand that there were many more, and many diverse, countries that spoke French. We concentrated on former African colonies. Students did a brief oral presentation, and then shared the national dish of the country. We had Ndole from Cameroon, bread from the Comoros, benne cakes from Senegal and much, much more. It was such a great time!

 

A sample of our great chefs!

 

Enjoying the 'strange' food.

 

 

Despite Paighton's protestations, many of us felt that her Ndole ROCKED. It just wasn't to her taste.

 

Thursday saw us grocery shopping for Yearley. Un grand merci à Dr. & Mrs. Bawa and Ms. Slater for helping us at the grocery store, doing that horrible math and estimating our total spent. Food wise, we are set for Tuesday and Wednesday at Yearley!!

 

Visiting Yearley is a wonderful opportunity for the students. We are SO lucky to have had this property left to our school board and incredibly grateful for the staff that runs the program.

 

At this point in time, the weather forecast for our 2 days at Yearley is warm and wet. Yearley supplies us with rubber boots and rainsuits, so I'm sure we will be well equipped, but students should bring their own raincoats and boots. No matter what season, or what unexpected weather, when I have been at Yearley, students have a wonderful time.

 

Students do not need to be early on Tuesday morning. We will be present for morning announcements and the playing of the National Anthem as usual. We will then leave the classroom and load up the bus to head out to Yearley.

 

Students are required to bring a regular packed lunch to Yearley on the first day. After that, all meals are supplied. All students are expected to help out at Yearley, whether it be meal preparation, cleaning or kitchen cleanup. It is never too early to learn cooperative skills!

 

Thank you SO much in advance to the parents who will be joining us at Yearley. Without you, this trip would not be possible.

 

I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving and, just like the students, I can't wait for Tuesday!!

 

 

And virus season begins...

As usual, it hits me first. I was home ill last Friday and Monday, so we celebrated my return on Tuesday with a giant game of dodgeball against Mme Gougeon's class. I don't think I need to say who won.

It was a very busy, and therefore very short week! We ended it on a great note - our school Terry Fox Run! I'm very proud to say that our class raised more money than we have students. I asked each one to bring in just a loonie, which was of course Terry's dream. But many brought more than that and I am so proud of their generosity!

 

Paighton and Marisa finished 1-2 respectively out of ALL the girls in the school!!

 

Yasmine and Kaylin decided to be butterflies along the way.

 

 

Tieran was inspired by a picture I showed the class of a woman doing the Terry Fox Run in Dubai - she was endurance training and was dragging two tires behind her! So he wore his backpack to challenge himself. Way to go!



Students are coming home tonight with information for our Yearley trip on October 14th and 15th. The stapled sheets are all the medical and permission forms that need to come back. Please leave them stapled together when they are returned. The cost for the Yearley trip is only $25 to cover the cost of groceries. We are in need of parent helpers for all facets of the trip.

We will be grocery shopping on Thursday, October 9. We just go across to YIGs, do our shopping and bring it back. We put everything that needs to be refrigerated one of our many school fridges so everything stays fresh.

Parent helpers are an essential part of being at Yearley. We need parents who can help throughout the day as well as parents who can spend the night. You are welcome to join us on the bus there and back!

Dates to remember:

octobre:
le 1er: Kerr Park Run after school
le 7: Evan Luker Run
le 8: presentations orales
le 9: shopping for Yearley
le 14-15 - Yearley
le 17 - Mud Run
le 29 - Picture Retake Day

Let The Wild Rumpus Begin!!

We are just getting busier and busier in our class! Which is not a bad thing. I like to keep my monsters occupied.

The kids finished their French Gazettes today and they will be proudly posted in our hallway for you to see tomorrow night when you come to our Open House. We also did surveys today and graphed the results to see how we are smart. How are you smart? Some of them had surprises, some of them knew already how they learn best. Try the quiz yourself! It's very interesting to see what ways our minds learn.

This week, we have started research projects on French cultures around the world. On Thursday, October 9, students will make an oral presentation about their francophone country of choice, and also bring in something eaten in that country to share with the class. Bonus points for creating a national costume as well!

Healthy Lunch order forms went home today and are due back on Monday, Sept. 22. You can also find the order forms on the school website at http://mon.tldsb.on.ca/parent-resources/ .

Some dates to remember:

septembre:

le 18: Meet the Teacher Night - I hope to see you there!
le 22: Healthy Lunch orders due
le 23: Racing Against Drugs (gr. 5s) AND Hoya Hills Cross Country Run (A tough decision for some of my Gr. 5 runners - please feel free to email me if you need help making up your mind which activity your child should attend.)
le 25: Picture Day
le 26: School Terry Fox Run

octobre:
le 9: presentations orales
le 14-15 - Yearley (Please note the date change - I accidentally posted the 13th and 14th earlier)
le 17 - Mud Run
le 29 - Picture Retake Day

I hope to see you all tomorrow night!

Mme B.

We survived!

The whirlwind of the first week of school has finished and we survived - quite well, I think! Students have settled in and are becoming familiar with the new routines of a new teacher. Some still need to work on saving the visiting for more appropriate times, but that's to be expected during the first week.

I loved all the presentations for our class museum! We had everything from pictures taken from the family airplane to seashells to Caribbean handicrafts! It's so wonderful to see the range of experiences that your children have been given.

As you may know, we have a class guinea pig. Her name is Willow. Every week, in our rotating classroom duties, 2 students will be in charge of taking care of her. They will make sure her cage is clean, that she has water and food, and will be able to take her into the courtyard for grass (weather permitting) for short periods. I guarantee that you'll hear about it!

 

Willow's favourite snacks are carrots, peppers, apples and fresh green grass. She loves to snuggle with the kids and will sit quietly on their desks while they are working. Normally, I do not like having antibacterial hand cleaners in my room, as studies show that bacteria are evolving to become immune to them, but since we don't have a sink in our room, sending a small bottle in with your child if they like to hold Willow often is a good idea. Guinea pigs are not known for their cleanliness, and I don't always see who was holding her to remind them to go to the bathroom to wash their hands.

The kids are already asking about Yearley! It is a grade 6 tradition to go on an overnight trip to the Yearley Outdoor Education Centre near Huntsville. When the class is a 5/6 split, the grade 5s have the luxury of going twice! Once in grade 5, then again in grade 6. We have been booked for October 14 and 15. We need parent volunteers for pretty much everything - grocery shopping the day before, spending the night and coming during the day to help cook and supervise activities. Please book it on your calendar and if you are able to join us, you can either send a note in your child's agenda or send me an email at heather.bailie@tldsb.on.ca .

As for the academic side of things, this is what we are working on:

MATH: place value and representing numbers
FRENCH: autobiographies
ENGLISH: media studies with Ms. Terry and spelling with me
SCIENCE: 5s - the human body
                   6s - flight
SOCIAL STUDIES: 5s - First Nations and Europeans in New France and Early Canada
                                  6s - Communities in Canada, Past and Present.

There have been a great number of changes to the Ontario Social Studies Curriculum. I would suggest that you go on the Ministry website to familiarize yourself with them.  http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/sshg18curr2013.pdf

Have a wonderful week!

Just Over 12 Hours To Go!

Hello my monsters!! I am so excited for school to start! Our classroom is all set and ready to welcome you to your Monck home.

I hope you all received your welcome letter from me. If you didn't, don't worry! I'll fill you in with all the important details tomorrow.

For the parents, just a few important things to note:

Our nutrition break times have changed, and students will now be going outside first, and eating when they come in. As always in my classroom, students are permitted to eat whenever they are hungry, as long as it is a healthy item. First break is now at 10:15 to head out, and in at 10:50 to eat, with classes resuming at 11:05. Second break times are 1:05 - 1:30 - 1:45.

Pizza and milk sales will begin next week. Students will be bringing home order forms this week should you wish to order in a block or for the entire year, and of course they may pay the day of for milk and on Tuesdays for pizza on Wednesdays.

Our Meet the Teacher night has been tentatively scheduled for Thursday, September 18th. More details will follow when they have been finalized.

Please bookmark our blog and check it often - I will be keeping it updated on a regular basis. I will also be posting pictures of activities in which our class is involved. If you do NOT wish your child's picture to appear on our blog, please let me know with a note in your child's agenda ASAP so that I may respect your wishes.

I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve! I'll try to get some sleep tonight - hopefully my monsters can too!

Mme B.