Mrs. Garlow's Classroom Blog

Living and Working in Ontario

Earlier this week, Mr. Shah came to our class to share with the students about his personal experiences of living and working in Ontario.  Mr. Shah spoke about the various places his family lived and why they finally settled in Aurora, Ontario.  He also shared with the students about why he chose to open up an ice cream business in the city along the Toronto Beaches.  We are so grateful to our parent and community members for coming in to share their lived experiences with the students and enhance their understanding of the curriculum by allowing them to make personal connections to the content.

Pay It Forward

A tradition among the graduating class at Rick Hansen P.S., students devote their energy and time to help a local community organization.  This year, our graduating class has decided they want to help the Salvation Army and Soles for Souls.  Our graduating class will be collecting used clothing and shoes from April 1st until May long weekend.  If your family has any gently used clothing and shoes that you no longer need and can donate, please have your child bring it to the school.  Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs. Garlow's Classroom Blog

Literacy

In literacy students have been busy working on their information books.  They have been looking over their Table of Contents as a structure to organize their research.  Students have been working and thinking about which organizational structure they would like to use when presenting their information.  This has been modelled through the topic of cockroaches.  As students observed how this was done, they have been reading over their written work to see if any of the following structures could work.  Below are some of the charts which were modelled.

Math

In math we have been learning about temperature, capacity and mass.  We will be moving onto time later this week.  Some of the expectations students will be learning are:

• Read time using analogue clocks, to the nearest five minutes, and using digital clocks, and represent time in 12 hour notation
• Solve problems involving the relationships between minutes and hours, hours and days, days and weeks, and weeks and years, using a variety of tools

Later this week a study guide will be coming home to help prepare your child for their test next week.  Please keep an eye out for it!

Social Studies

We are about to begin our unit on Living and Working in Ontario for Social Studies.  Students will develop an understanding about:

• why people in Ontario live where they live?
• why some jobs are located where they are?
• how the relationship between the natural environment and land use affects employment opportunities
• different uses of land
• how resources affect the environment and how the environment also affects human activities

To help students make a personal connection to our Social Studies unit and to learn from the lived experiences of community members, we would like to extend an invitation to all families into our classroom to share why you chose to live and raise your family in Aurora, Ontario.  We would also like for you to share information about a current and/or previous job you have/had.  Examples may include: manufacturing, tourism, recreation, service and hospitality sector, education, government, agriculture, etc.  You may find that using the information above to be helpful.

Sharing can look like: brining in artefacts or objects that you use or make at work, maps, photos, diagrams, reading a picture book, etc.

If you are able to come and give a brief presentation, please let me know.

Golf in the Schools

Students had a great time last week practising their golf swings.  Here are a few photos that captured their impressive skills!

                    

Mrs. Garlow's Classroom Blog

Happy Naw Ruz,  Holi,  and Purim!

Naw Ruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the New Year in the Iranian calendar.  It is the holiday of spring and renewal, celebrated by millions of people worldwide and dates back thousands of years.  We are very grateful to have had parent volunteers create two displays of Naw Ruz for us in the front foyer.  One is in the display case on the main floor and the other is outside of the learning commons on the"Haft-seen" (seven 'S's) table setting.  Please come and have a look at the beautiful display.  There is a QR Code on the table outside of the learning commons that can be scanned to connect to a short video explaining the items and their significance.

A student sharing about the items on the Haft-seen table.

Purim is a festive Jewish holiday that celebrates the story of Queen Esther outwitted Haman.  Jewish kids around the world celebrate this holiday by dressing in costume, eating hamantaschen (triangular prune cookies), and giving to the less fortunate by doing a "mitzvah".  This year the celebration falls on March 20th.  Students are invited to wear a costume, bring a non-perishable food item and join in a read-aloud in the learning commons during snack recess tomorrow.


Holi is undoubtedly one of the most colourful festivals in the world and is celebrated by Hindus across Northern India.  It involves throwing coloured powder at one another which pays tribute to the many hues of the spring season as well as events from Hindu mythology.  Usually lasting a full day and night.  The festival is a gloriously colourful and happy celebration of the end of winter and the spring growing season.  We will be offering coloured sand art in the learning commons on Thursday during snack recess to celebrate this colourful tradition.

Mrs. Garlow's Classroom Blog

Creating a Free Range Community for Our Children

In partnership with Activate Aurora, we are pleased to provide an evening for parents that will focus on:

• Preparing children to be safe outside without direct parent supervision
• Strategies to develop your child’s independence in our community
• How to keep your child active and safe

There will be a variety of guest speakers as well as a panel session where parents can ask questions of the experts.  Book your spot today!

For more information about this presentation please click on this link.

Mrs. Garlow's Classroom Blog

Research Books for Writing

Students have been working on analyzing text structures to understand what they are reading and to grasp main ideas.  Learning this skill helps to support students when they are reading their research books and taking notes based on their understanding. 

It is strongly encouraged that your child has books based on their topic of interest to support their research.  A good place to start is at the Aurora Public Library.  If you have not already done so, please visit the public library with your child so they may sign out books to help them.

Math

This past week we wrapped up our learning about two-dimensional geometry and angles.  The photos below captures some of the students engaged in the learning.

Students constructing their understanding of shape and angle 

through the context of a math problem presented.

A student's hypothesis made visible on the shape of the 

"danger zone" or blind spot around a boat.

Students playing online math games.

Students working together to solve a math problem.

Math games and puzzles.

We will be moving onto Transformational Geometry this week.  Students will learn how to identify and describe the locations and movements of shapes and objects such as flips, slides and turns as reflections, translations, and rotations (e.g., a slide to the right is a translation; a turn is a rotation.  A math guide will go home later this week to help prepare students for the test after March Break on Fractions, 2D Geometry, Angles, and Transformational Geometry.  Please keep an eye out for it.