Ms. Clancy's Grade 4/5 Website

PARENTS - Please remember to hand back the blue letter sent home with the report card requesting email addresses for a GREENER Hillcrest Community!! Let's go paperless!!

 Wow, the school  year is over! Hard to believe ten months can go by so quickly.

Though my time here has been brief, it's been a pleasure to get to know the students and meet some of their parents these past two months. A thank you to both students and parents who welcomed me into the classroom and quickly made me comfortable joining the class on the last leg of the year.  I will miss Room 212, but I will remember them as the bright, curious, and kind students that they are.

Enjoy your summer!

Mr. Primeau

Our last Friday of the school year! This week the class prepared letters to future grade 4/5 students and offered survival tips for getting through grade 4/5. In Math, we continued working on Patterning and finishing up our Probability unit.  Lastly, we held our dance performances this week, and they were amazing! Well-done grade 4s and 5s!

A couple notes for the upcoming week. In the morning we will have Play Day and in the afternoon we will still have swimming. Please make sure your child comes prepared for being outside on Monday morning (e.g., sunscreen, hat, water bottle, etc.).

Have a good weekend,

Mr. Primeau

What a week! Our room was certainly a bit toasty, but we worked quite a few things this week.

We continued with our newspaper presentations and wrapped up the last of them today. Everyone shared interesting articles that stimulated lots of conversation among the class. Well done!

Students are starting to finish their fractured fairytales and the ones I've read so far are great! Some budding storytellers in this class, that's for sure.

Grade 4s started their unit on patterning this week. When working with our attribute blocks, I saw some amazing, complex area patterns -- well done, grade 4s.

Grade 5s also worked through their probability unit, which we will continue working on until Monday, a quiz will follow on Tuesday.

Also, an important reminder: On Monday we will be having Super Swim first thing in the morning. Remember your bathing suit so you can join in on the fun.

Looks like summer has finally arrived! 

This week we kicked off our newspaper presentations. The students are sharing some thought provoking articles ranging from solar panels to political grafitti. A great start, which has led to some interesting discussions.

We continued our work on fractured fairytales, many students have begun their good copies. When the fairytales are complete the class will exchange their story with their friends.

Grade 4s wrapped up their probability unit this week and will be moving on to patterning next week; the grade 5s will start their probability unit next week. 

In other news, the class started their one point perspective drawing in art. Students are drawing a street using perspective and putting their own personal stamp on the street. In other words, they get to step into the role of an urban planner.

Enjoy the weekend! 

A short, but jam packed week. On Wednesday we visited Downsview Park to take part in an eco-workshop. The students planted aquatic plants to ensure that we preserve and encourage wetlands at Downsview Park. It was a fun day; the students were curious and engaged.  A big thank you to Noah, Kielan, and Max's mom who accompanied us on the trip!

Next week we begin newspaper presentations in our Language class. Students will be choosing an article that interests them and presenting it to the class. The presentation will consist of a summary of the article, their opinion, and posing a discussion question to the class. I look forward to hearing them!

In Math, the grade 4s continued in their probability unit and conducted a number of experiments to learn the vocabulary of probability and see the concept in action. Grade fives continued in their measurement unit, exploring the perimetres of irregular polygons and the area of regular polygons.

We couldn't get too much done on our Fractured Fairytales, but the ideas I've looked at so far look fantastic!

Have a great weekend.

It sure was a busy week at Hillcrest!

Today we had the Solar Inventors press conference (check out the link: http://tdsbweb/MediaRoom/tdsbwebRoom.asp?show=allNews&view=detailed&enableNav=true&self=29875 )AND our rescheduled track and field events.  

This week we started our Fractured Fairytale planning. Students were responsible for plotting out their tale, from characters to climax. Next week most students will start their rough copy, which will then be edited. The assignment will focus on developing a narrative but also the stages of the writing process. In Math, the grade 4s started their probability unit and the grade 5s continued working on measurement.

Lastly, we did some drama this week, working on how to mirror with a partner. I quickly learned that we have quite a few actors and actresses in this classroom!

Enjoy the weekend!

Just a quick note! We will be visiting the Brickworks on Wednesday, May 25  as part of our science curriculum. We will be participating in interactive workshops and hands-on activities that explore the importance of energy. We will be taking TTC. Please have your  child prepared for the weather.  Some packing suggestions for the trip:

1. Check the weather forecast. We plant rain or shine (not in thunder/lightning). If students have a rain jacket, they should wear it. If you are planting in the morning, it may be a good idea to bring a change of socks/shoes to school, just in case.
2. Wear long pants, closed toed shoes, and layers on top (i.e. t-shirt, long sleeve, jacket), sun screen and a hat. Some of our sites are very open and can be windy and cold.
3. If they have boots, wear/bring them. We have some extra boots students can borrow during the planting station.
4. Bring a full water bottle (most of our sites do not have access to a fountain/drinking water tap)
5. Bring a snack or lunch.

A form for the trip went home today.

 I apologize for the late post, it's been quite a busy week. 

This week in literacy we started studying fractured fairytales. A fractured fairytale takes the conventions of a "normal" fairytale, but spoofs them by changing the character perspectives, injecting some absurd humour, or, to put it simply, twists a classic fairytale into something that's their own! For the next few weeks we will be going through the various stages of the writing process and each student will be writing their own. I can't wait to read the finished product. 

In math, the grade 4s finished up their measurement unit and will start a new unit this week on probability. The grade 5s are continuing their measurement unit -- ask your child if they can give you examples of perimetre or area. 

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. 

Wow, already one week gone by! We had a very exciting week! In math, we continued studying area and perimetre, particularly how the two influence each other.

I also had the pleasure of reading some passionate spelling stories related to our recent federal election. I think their may be some budding politicians in this class.

In our reading responses, we looked at how characters evolve through out a novel and how important events will shape its characters.

Have a great weekend!

Hello Hillcrest Parents!

As you are now well aware, I have officially taken over Ms. Clancy's class for the remainder of the year.  As Ms. Clancy has noted, we have worked closely to ensure a smooth transition. The same routines you are used to (e.g., POTW, spelling stories, agendas, etc.) will continue.  While I'm sure there may be some slight differences in our teaching style, the material we will be covering is fundamentally the same.

I'm excited to be here and look forward to meeting all of you. If you'd like to make an appointment with me, you can reach me at mitchell.primeau@tdsb.on.ca.

I look forward to an exciting, engaging, and fun two months!

Sincerely,

Mr. Primeau

 What a great day I had!! Thank you to all of the students in Room 212 (and parents who came by to help). You are all amazing! I was so surprised by your generosity and kindness. We had a fantastic party, with great entertainment (thanks Jake :), great food (loved the picture on the cake!!) and best of all, excellent company. I couldn't have asked for a better send off. I was totally and utterly surprised! You guys are truly amazing and I will miss you all dearly!!

Mr. Primeau will be in on Monday and he's super excited to get started. We have met several times to go over plans and he is ready to be your new teacher!

Bye for now!! I will be around the school dropping off Katie at kindergarten and I promise to visit with the new baby when he or she makes his/her appearance in to the world!!

Best of luck to all of you!! Lots of love.... Ms. Clancy

May's Character Trait:

INTEGRITY

Quote of the week:

"Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know."

                                           Daniel J. Boorstin