Thank you

Hello Parents and Students,

Thank you for all of your hard work this year!  Over the past week we continued to stay focused on learning and we had some fun.  I appreciate your commitment.  Today I sent out a monthly newsletter, so there will not be a weekly post.  Please check your email and if you did not receive the newsletter please email me and I will make sure you receive it.  blake.tobacca@sd71.bc.ca

 Have a safe and wonderful Christmas break.  I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

Mr. Tobacca

Where was this photo taken?

Christmas Concert Week

Hello parents and students,

What a wonderful performance on Thursday.  Way to go division 2, everyone did a wonderful job!  --Only one more week until the break, let's keep it going.   Report cards went home on Friday.  Thank you for all of your hard work in term 1.
-Just a reminder to bring back your report card envelopes for a prize!

This week at Queneesh we covered the following:

Math- reviewed comparing and ordering fractions, reviewed comparing strategies: same denominators, same numerators, cross multiplication, using a bench mark.  Used number lines to compare and order fractions. We also spent a few lessons on equivalent fractions.  Please check out the blog for some great Fraction games.

LA- we compared revising to editing during our Writer's Workshop.  We said think ARMS when revising: Add words/sentences, Remove unwanted words and sentences, Move sentences that are out of order and Substitute dead words (boring, overused words) with colourful words.
We said think of CUPS when editing: Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation, Spelling.  We revised and edited one of our rough copies.

Reminder to bring your lit circle novels to school because I need to send them back on Wednesday. Other things covered: spelling test, Secret Santa letters, Daily 5 and book chats

Gym- Yoga, open gym and minor games in the Music room.

Art- decorated our classroom, made Secret Santa cards, decorated our Christmas tree/door and finished our stained glass projects.

French- discussed different types of weather and what to wear.  Students will write French weather skits and film themselves using I-pads.  We will watch our skits next week using our apple tv.

Science Tech- finished our Prezi's and Power Points about things we are interested in.  We will present our presentations next Tuesday.

Have a wonderful week and see you on Friday!

Thank you to all of those students who brought in food for our food hamper.  We filled our hamper!! Awesome job.

Mr. Tobacca

A Rainy Friday :(

Hello parents and students of division 2,

Today we had a really busy day and a very productive week.  It is getting very close to Christmas break and I told the class that I want everyone to finish the race sprinting.  Things will get busy in the next couple of weeks, but I would like us to stay focused and finish the year strong!  We can do it.  Sorry the monthly newsletter has not gone home yet.  I've been busy working on reports, so I'm hoping to have it ready to go for next week.  Thank you for your patience.

Important Reminder: please bring in your food donations and money donations for our food hamper.  We have been assigned a young couple with two young children that are in need over the holidays.  Thank you for your contributions.

This week in Div 02 we covered the following:

Math- we continued to look at adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators, comparing mixed and improper fractions and ordering fractions.  Please use the blog to practice the concepts we are learning in class.

Gym- we have been learning some basketball skills (ball handling skills, layups) and we learned a new fit camp workout this week.

LA- we have made a strong push to finish our lit circle novels (please read them this weekend) before the break.  We continued to practice our Daily 5 and complete book chats.  We also continued to work on our personal narrative rough drafts.

Art- we started to decorate our class and work on a variety of art activities to make our room feel festive.

French- weather expressions.  I'm hoping we can use the I-Pads to film short weather skits.

Podding is done for the term.

Have a great weekend!

Mr. T

Thankyou

Hello parents and students,

Thank you to all the parents and students that came and met with me yesterday.  It was so nice to experience so many positive things that our learners are doing in and outside of the class.  I'm super proud of everyone!

Today we had another busy week and the weeks to come will get even crazier with Christmas concert preparation.  Please stay focused and carry on because we are only a few weeks away from a well deserved break.

Concepts covered this week:
Math- Fractions- used cuisnaire rods to represent fractions, discussed fraction vocabulary numerator vs denominator, looked at proper, improper and mixed fraction, finished today looking at how to add and subtract fractions. (please use the blog to check out fraction games)
Art- our class put on a celebration of our Arcade Games for the primary and intermediate classes.  Awesome job Div 02.
LA- we started planning for a new personal narrative- A place that we love.  We looked at using sensory details. We had a spelling test, practiced our Daily 5 and completed a number of book chats.  We also practiced how to lead a student/parent/teacher conference.
Science- we looked at the difference between heterogeneous and homogeneous mixtures and did a lab to explore these ideas. Please look around your house for examples of these.
Gym-volleyball, basketball, fit camp, four corner soccer
Science Tech- we started looking at how to make a Prezi.

No planners today.  Thank you for a wonderful week.  I hope to see all of your bright and smiling faces on Monday!

Mr. T

Where was this picture taken?

Happy Friday

Thick vs Thin Questions

Hello parents and Div 02 students.  Just a reminder that book chats will be starting tomorrow.  Each student needs to come to book cat with 2 thick and 2 thin questions from the book that they are reading.  They also need to have a page ready to read from their novel.

Parent Teacher Interview

Parent teacher interview letters went home today!  This year I will be trying a different approach in that your son or daughter will lead some of the conference.  Parent teacher interviews will take place on Thursday Nov 27 from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm.  Please go to the following website to set up a time http://www.parentinterviews.com/queneesh

Where is this picture?

We Will Always Remember

Hello parents and students of Div 02.  I hope that you all had an opportunity to stop on Tuesday and take some time to remember those who fought for our freedoms and  think about those who continue to fight for us today.  It is our responsibility to remember and show respect to the Candian soldiers that we lost.  Thanks to all the students that wrote thank you letters and postcards to the men and women who fight for our country..

It was another busy and chopped up week in Div 02.  We continued to review concepts already taught and we were introduced to new concepts that we explored.  Below is a list of topics discussed this week.

Math- reviewed factors/multiple quiz, reviewed multiplication strategies, compared multiplication to division and explored division strategies.  Division strategies discussed were: represented subtraction, equal groups, an array, fact families, number lines.  We also had a quiz to assess our understanding of division strategies.

LA- we discussed letter writing and wrote letters to Canadian Soldiers, we started to discuss the 5 stages of the writing process and personal narratives.  We started planning for our first personal narrative an "Ouch Story."  We also discussed that good readers ask questions when they read and we looked at the differences between thin and thick questions.  Finally we continued to practise our daily 5 and had a spelling test.

Gym- we wrapped up our Volleyball unit.  We focused on passing, setting, serving and rotations.  Next week we will be starting fit camp.  Please be prepared to get your heart rate up.

French- we started some basic classroom expressions and we are now using French in our morning meetings.  We will work towards preparing a skit in French.

Socials- the students participated in the student vote and listened to a few local candidates running in the upcoming election.

Science- we discussed changes in matter.  Physical vs Chemical changes and the 3 states of matter: liquid, solid, gas- there will be a quiz next Friday and we will start our review on Monday.

Art- we had our last work day on our Arcade games.  We will now be planning for our celebration.


Have a wonderful weekend!  Thank you for all of your hard work!

Happy November

Hello parents and students of division 02.

Wow another week has flown by, so quickly.  There are just so many things going on at the elementary level.  We are a very busy crew, that is learning so many things.  This week we reached our weekly goal of every student achieving superstar behaviour!  Awesome job division 02 you earned another 5 PAT points!  I'm very pleased with the progress that we are making in our class and I'm excited to introduce the new ideas we have been discussing during our PLC time.  Just a reminder that students need to bring in a small donation for the Poppy fund.  It is important that we show our support for those who faught for the freedoms we all enjoy and for those who continue to fight for our freedom.

Please take some time out of your day this weekend to discuss what we worked on this week in our classroom with your child.  Discussion is an important part of learning.

Math- we learned times table tricks 2-12, 4 multiplication strategies: standard method, lattice, box,
We also focused on regrouping in multiplication and multiplying 2 digit by 2 digit numbers.
We had a Math quiz on Tuesday that focused on Factors, GCF, Multiples, LCM, Prime and Composite numbers.

LA- we started our literacy circles, practised our Daily 5, had two spelling tests, and completed a rocket write.  Next week we will be discussing thick and thin questions and how to be prepared for our upcoming book chats.
We also had two really good morning meetings where students shared their ideas and had their voice heard.

Gym- we focused on volleyball skills- passing, setting, serving

Art- we continued to put our final touches on our arcade games (next Wednesday is the last day to work on your game before our celebration).

Science- we looked at how to measure matter and built a density tower.

French- we set up our french notebooks and started exploring with classroom expressions

Ketchup and Pickle Time- students who had incomplete work worked on completing their work,  If the work was not completed during this time it went home for homework (parents please check the planner for this).  Students who were caught up had a choice to work on Sum Dog or read their lit circle book.

Thank you for an awesome week.  I'm really enjoying my time at Queneesh and I'm so glad to have such a wonderful group of learners!

Mr. T

New Learning LInks!

Check out our new Math and Science learning support links!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween parents and students,
Please make sure that you are safe tonight if you are going out trick or treating.  We had another extremely busy week in our classroom.  We unfortunately took a few steps backwards with our classroom behaviour this week.  Maybe because it's Halloween?  But there have been a few students disrupting our learning environment and I don't feel that is fair to the students who are wanting to learn in a quiet environment.  I'm hoping to see us take three steps forward next week!

This week in Div 02 we covered the following concepts:

Math
-reviewed factors, common factors, greatest common factor, multiples, common multiples, lowest common multiples, prime/composite numbers, multiplication times tables, four multiplication strategies 1. equal groups 2. using an array 3. repeated addition 4. cumputative property

LA
-continued to practice our Daily 5 and we went book shopping on Monday
-had two spelling tests (one from last Friday we missed because of the Pro-D)
-continued to work on using different sentence starters in our writer's workshop and set up our writer workshop books

Science
-learned about safety in the Science classroom and used the scientific method to see if CO2 can make raisins move.

Drama- we played a few new games: blinded folded improv, black box

PE- knock the pin, army/doctor dodge ball "we will start Volleyball next week"

SS- Ms.Anderson is teaching about the upcoming election

Thank you to Brandon, Meghan, Caden and Kaitlyn for joining myself and a number of  other students from across the district at our BC Hydro Community Champions conference on Thursday.  You all did a wonderful job!

Have a great weekend and please check your email for our monthly newsletter.

Mr. T

Week 4 Div 02 Is Rocking Out!

Hello parents and students.

When is this rain ever going to stop?  It has been terrible outside, but inside the walls of Queneesh some amazing things have been going on!  We have had a lot of positive comments about our behaviour and work habits, which makes me feel so proud of my group of learners.  Thank you for all of your hard work this week Div 02, you guys are truly awesome!

This week was another busy one.  We started some new ideas and continued to review some important ones.  Please take some time to discuss with your child about what they are learning about from the list below.  Discussion plays an important role in learning.

Math: In Math we continued to look at place value and build numbers with base ten materials.  We were introduced to: factors, common factors, greatest common factor GCF, multiples, least common multiple LCM, prime and composite numbers.  We also played games that focused on these concepts.

POD's: We started our podding this week and the students will be focusing on the following big ideas- government and the upcoming election (Socials focus), Chemistry (Science focus) and Reading Strategies (Language Arts focus).  I will spearhead the Chemistry, Mr. Mann will take on the LA focus and Ms. Anderson is going to prepare our one day up and coming voters!

Art-  Arcade Games seem to be a hit.  Thank you parents for your support in helping us get supplies.  I'm looking forward to our big celebration where we invite the primary students to play our games.

LA-  Daily 5 is really cruising along.  The students are working really hard to build stamina and many teachers are very impressed with the positive learning that is taking place.  We also started a writer's workshop where we have been focusing on learning how to start our sentences differently.  Spelling is also well under way and we have had a few students achieve 100%, great job!

Gym- European Handball, Knock the Pin have been the games of focus this week.  Great participation by everyone!

Drama-  The students did a wonderful job performing their backwards interviews and keeping up with Big Fish, Little Fish!

Soon to come: French, Literacy Circles, Heath Career and Education lessons.

Thank you for all of your support parents.  Let's keep the learning ball rolling.  I look forward to learning some new writing strategies during our Pro D that I can integrate into our classroom.

Have a great weekend.
Mr. T

Week #3

Hello parents and students.

What an awesome week!  I told the class today that I'm really impressed with everyone and the positive direction we are going as a community of learners.  Thank you for your hard work this week students and thank you parents for your support.  We had a busy week this week.  Below is a list of the things we worked on.  Please take some time to become familar with the learning support links on the left hand side of the blog.

Math- continued to develop an appreciation for place value and number sense.  We learned a variety of math games using dice and cards.  We also had our first Math quiz that covered number sense ideas.
Language Arts- we continued to build our stamina in Daily 5 and we are currently working towards 3 choices: read to self, work on writing and word work.  Today we completed our spelling test and we will start looking at reading strategies during our Pod time.
Science- We continued to work through the Scientific method by completing a Soap/Milk/Food colouring experiment
Gym- we played the following games, eraser football, stones, shipwreck and bench ball
Art- we made monster bookmarks and we just started our blue prints for our arcade games.  We will start building our games in the Art room on Monday.  Please come to school with the materials you need to start your Arcade game.  Do not spend and money on materials!!!!
Drama- we learned some new games: horseshoe, senso sketch.
HCE- weekly goal, good decision making, WITS

Please tell your parents about our  Thursday Assembly.  Talk to them about the formula to success.

Success = P + T + a2

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mr.T

Week #2

Hello parents and students,

Thank you for another wonderful week.  This week we continued to develop routines and practised them.  We've been discussing how to solve a problem when it occurs and what it means to be efficient.  I'm challenging all the learners in our classroom to start to think about others and how we can support each other to ultimately become better at what we do.  I'm very happy with the progress we have made with our morning meetings and I appreciate the participation of the students.   Below is a list of the things we covered this week in Division 02!

LA- we started our Daily 5 and learned about the 5 choices the program provides 1. read to self 2. work on writing 3. word work 4. listen to reading  5. read to someone.  We also did some writing this week about the things that we are thankful for.  We also had our first spelling test:)

Gym- we focused on a variety of minor games skittles, belly ball, 4 quadrant dodge ball, zombie tag, octopus, bench ball.  Look forward to a new set of games next week before we head outside for a soccer unit!


Art- we worked on a Thanks Giving activity and we were introduced to a major project.  We will be making our own class arcade, so please start to search for cardboard.  Parents please check out the video that inspired our class to build our games, it's awesome.  Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faIFNkdq96U

HCE- we continued to focus in our our successful learner traits.  We discussed and reflected on Risk Taking, Thinking, Creativity,  and Compassion.  It is our goal to identify these learner traits in ourselves and how we can make improvements to become more successful learners.
Science- scientific method and how to make a tea bag fly

Math- we completed  (Dstrict Math Assessments)to see where everyone is.  We do have a lot a work but I'm confident with a bit of practise we will be back on track!  Parents we will need your support at home to get caught up to our grade levels in Math.

A shout out to Brandon and Aiden for Superstar behaviour yesterday morning while I was at the dentist.

Enjoy your weekend and have a great Thanksgiving!

Mr. T

Week #1

Hello Parents and Students,

Sorry for the late post, I was debating if I should make a post since we only spent a few days together last week.  I felt that it was important to brief you on what we did accomplish.  Please tune in every Friday for our week at a glance.

Last week was a time for developing class community and expectations.  This week we will continue to work towards understanding what we want our class community to look, feel and sound like.  It is our goal to develop a class contract that reflects student input and needs.  We are still working through the getting to know each other phase.

Things we focused on last week by academic area:
Math- grade 5/6 review assessment to help gauge where we are at and place value games
LA- Successful Learner Traits- Industrious, Enthusiastic, Risk Taking and we worked on identifying Multiple Intelligences (poster + presentations)
PE- Ultimate Kickball, Belly Ball, 3 Ball Baseball, Corridor Kickball
Drama- Improv, Airplane, Beach Game, Birthday Lineup
Computers- explored our classroom blog

Important Reminders For The Upcoming Week- study your spelling words, do your Thanksgiving homework each night.

 I really look forward to working with each and everyone of you this year.  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  Please check in with us this Friday.

Thank you for reading my belated post.

Mr. Tobacca

Welcome Back!

Hello parents and students!  Thank you for taking the time to check out our classroom blog today and also for bookmarking the URL on your computer, so you can check in with us weekly. 


My name is Mr. Tobacca and I look forward to working with your child this year at Queneesh!  I have some big shoes to fill, since I will be taking over for such a great teacher Mrs. Braidwood.  We will miss you and we wish you the best of luck at Brooklyn!

What can I tell you about myself?  I have taught in Taiwan, China and BC for the past 7+ years.  I'm super excited to be a part of your community and I'm keen on making this year a fun and enjoyable learning experience.  It is my goal to develop a strong sense of community in our classroom that focuses on a collaborative inquiry approach to learning.  I strongly believe in parent support in and outside of the classroom, so I look forward to meeting all of you.  Please tune into our blog weekly to see what is happening in our classroom.  You can bookmark us www.queneesht@blogspot.com or go to the Queneesh school website to find our link (I'm currently working on getting a link created).


Thank you for reading today's blog and I look forward to meeting you!


Mr. Tobacca