Happy Summer!

Hello Grade 4s,

I hope you are all enjoying this very hot summer!
I know I posted a link for our end of year slideshow but it seems that it won't play because the file is too big =( sorry about this!
Hope you are all doing fantastic!
I miss our portable and the fun times of 4H!
You can leave a comment and I will try to write back =)

Love,
Ms.Virji

3 more days of Grade 4!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy weekend grade fours!

Can you believe it 3 more days of grade 4 and then it's time for summer holidays!!!
These last 3 days are going to be fun-filled!!!!

See below for some important reminders:

Monday June 27 - End of Year Slideshow (a.m.)  - Trip to Bowlerama (p.m.) ***remember to wear socks!
Tuesday June 28 - Movie Day! Clean up day (take everything home today!)
Wednesday June 29 - Last Day of School, Report Cards go Home!!!

See you all on Monday =)

Love,
Ms.Virji

Less than 2 weeks left of Grade 4!!!

To my awesome grade fours,

We've come a long way....and now we're left with only 9 more days of our journey together in Grade 4.
I will miss you all dearly and I am really touched with all your kind words and thoughts that you have all shared with me throughout the year but especially now. Whether or not I return back to Thorncliffe next year, I want you to know that I've had an amazing year teaching all of you grade fours! I've learned a lot from you and I am very sure you've learned a lot from me! Together we have all created wonderful memories.  I'm posting some pictures from our trip to the ROM we had this past Monday - enjoy! Stay tuned for a surprise presentation next week!!!

Love, Ms.Virji

June 6 - 10

As we begin to wind down to the end of the school year, I will only post any important reminders.
Here's what you need to know for this week:

* Trip Forms for the ROM need to be brought in by Wednesday with $12.00
* Spelling Test on Friday
* Math Patterning Test on Friday

This week, please remember to start taking your indoor shoes home.
Thanks, enjoy your sunny Sunday!

Ms.Virji :)

May 30 - Jun 3

Hello Grade 4's!
It's hard to believe the school year is coming close to an end.
It's been a wonderful year and the next 4 weeks ahead will be spent reviewing a lot of what we have learned already as well as finishing up various units.

This is a busy week, here's whats happening:

Monday: Gym, Library Books need to be brought back 
Tuesday: Mr.Battaglia visits at 9:45am Last Day visiting School Library, Walk to Public Library in the morning, Rocks and Minerals Test
Wednesday: CASI Test (AM), Gym, Robin Hood Presentation 1:00pm
Thursday: Character Ed.
Friday: Spelling Test, Medieval Castle Due!

Thanks,
Ms.Virji

May 24 27

Hi Grade 4's...here's a look at what's happening this week:

Monday: Victoria Day - NO SCHOOL
Tuesday: Health, Character Ed, Computers -- Lice Check today
Wednesday: Health, Gym, Science, Art
Thursday: Health (10:30 - 11:40am), Music
Friday: Science (review for rocks and minerals test on tuesday)

Volcanoes!

Today we went out and erupted our volcanoes!
It was FUN!!!! Here are some things we learned: the smaller the volcano, the bigger the explosion!
Taller volcanoes took a longer time to erupt.  Today we erupted 6 volcanoes.  Check out the pictures below! Tomorrow we will erupt the remaining 6!

Ms.Virji helping Ayaan put food colouring in the volcano to create the look of lava!

Fajjar, Ramsha and Alina's volcano erupted quickly because it was small!!!! Well Done!

Fajjar, Ramsha and Alina putting food colouring in their volcano!

A huge eruption!

WOWWW!!!!

Our volcanoes!

Eruption!

Awesome!

May 16 - 19

Hello Grade 4's!!!!

It's been a rainy weekend, but I'm glad I got to see some of you come out to our TPPS Fun Fair.  Despite the rain, many families showed up and it was a great success.  Here's what's happening this week.  Remember this is a short week.  We have a PA Day on Friday and next Monday is Victoria Day! 

Monday May 16: Nonfiction Rough Book Reports Due, Gym (remember to wear running shoes - we will be inside Gym A today doing Track and Field)
Tuesday May 17: Music, Stained Glass Art
Wednesday May 18: Science: We will erupt our volcanoes today outside!!!
Thursday May 19: Spelling Test, Math Test, Gym

*Your rough draft of the non-fiction book report is due on Monday.
*We have a Measurement (length, area, perimeter) Test on Thursday
*By now you should have started working on your Castle Project - it is due Monday May 30

See you tomorrow! =)
Ms.Virji

May 9 - 13

Here's whats happening this week

Monday: Track and Field Meet 12:45 - 1:55pm
Tuesday: Non-Fiction Book Report Writing Begins, Health Quiz
Wednesday: Volcano Building Begins
Thursday: Music
Friday: Spelling Test, Art

May 2 - 6

Hello Grade 4s,

It's already May!!!! I can't believe how fast the year has gone by!  This week is Education Week which means we've got a busy week ahead. Here's a look at what is in store for this week.

*please bring back library books by Wednesday
Monday: Gym is cancelled due to the Elections Voting taking place in Gym A.  Music Monday at 12:40pm
Tuesday: PIRLS Test Day! (morning only)  4:30 - 6:30pm Family Open House Literacy Activities
Wednesday: Shadow Tracing Outside      4:30 - 6:30pm Family Open House Math Activities
Thursday: Reading Buddies, Arts Assembly, Gym (outside depending on when the assembly finishes)
Friday: Spelling Test, Music Concert, Library 2:45-3:25pm

Measuring Puddles!!!

On this rainy Tuesday, I took the students outside today to take advantage of the weather!
Today we began a new unit in math - Length, Area and Perimeter.
As a fun activity, we decided to go out when the rain cleared up to measure the depth of puddles around our portable!

Here are some pics of the students in action! And...in case you're wondering the deepest puddle was a little more than 2 cm deep!

Ayaan measuring how deep the puddle on the turf was.

Students deciding where to measure.

Pointillism Art Work

Pointillism is an original form of art created by George Seurat and also used by Claude Monet. Pointillism is a bunch of tiny dots formed together to make a picture.  In our art lesson we used pointillism instead of using a paintbrush and just painting because pointillism is brighter and it stands out! When two colors are next to each other, your eye mixes them and that is called optical mixing. Using optical mixing instead of physically mixing can make a brighter picture.

Pointillism takes a long time.  As you can tell, the artists of Portable 3 took their time to create these masterpieces!!!
*some of the pictures are sideways and I couldn't turn them around - sorry!!!

Week of April 18 - 21

Here's some important reminders for what's happening this week:

Monday: Letter Writing to our Pen-Pals, Art
Tuesday: Gym, Music
Wednesday: Medieval Story Writing in the Staffroom, Computers 2:05-2:45pm
Thursday: Spelling Test, Gym

 * remember NO SCHOOL FRIDAY APRIL 22 and MONDAY APRIL 25 - see you on Tuesday April 26 =)

What's Happening - April 11 - 15

Monday: Product Project DUE; Author's Chair, Last Day to finish making shields, Library Books due!!
Tuesday: Gym will be outside today due to a performance happening in GYM A
Wednesday: Day of Pink (please wear pink today), Library 2:45 - 3:25
Thursday: Gym, Crystal Growing Science Experiment
Friday: Spelling Test, Author's Chair, Earth Day Clean Up (we will be going outside to clean our community this afternoon)

See you all tomorrow!
Ms.Virji :)

These Kids are Awesome!!!!

I have such a wonderful group of students and they are all brilliant in their own ways.  I'd like to congratulate a few of the students right now for some great accomplishments that have taken place at TPPS this past month...

Principal's Enrichment Challenge Winners for the Month of March:

Naheeda and Ramsha!!!

Regional Spelling Bee: This past Saturday, I had the priviledge to go out and see our fantastic 5 students compete in the Regional Spelling Bee at East York Town Center.  All students did a fabulous job! I'm glad that they had fun - and enjoyed themselves!!!

Congratulations to:
Nafilah - who placed in the Top 15 .
Abdullah
Marjon
Faiza
Hiba

Ms.Virji :)

This Week in P.3 April 4 - 8

Here's what's happening this week:

Monday: Author's Chair by Yusuf and Nafilah, Bring Your Bristol Board today if you haven't already - we will be making shields this afternoon
Tuesday: Bullying Puppet Performance in the morning; Reading Buddies; Gym
Wednesday: Trip to Claude Watson 10:30am - 1:30pm; Computers 2:05 - 2:45pm
Thursday: Gym
Friday: Spelling Test, Product Advertisment and Design Due TODAY!!!

Ms.Virji :)

Congratulations!

A job well done to Abdullah, Nafilah, Hiba, Marjon, Muzammil and Faiza for participating in this year's Thorncliffe Park Spelling Bee!!!  These students worked hard with their coaches, families and most of all studying independently - it was no easy task but they persevered!!!!

Congratulations, I am very proud of all your accomplishments! :)

March Update of What's Happening in Portable 3!

A Peek at Our Weeks

Here’s an update about the learning that’s been happening in portable three this past month!

Language: we’ve been looking at media literacy – creating newspaper articles, examining magazine advertisements and creating our own products.  Next we’re going to write our own stories and publish them!

Math: We’ve started Fractions and Decimals

Social Studies:  We have stepped back in time to the Middle Ages where we are learning all about Medieval Times.  Students are learning about kings, barons, feudal systems, housing, armour and overall lifestyle.  They are creating their own coat of arms on a shield – have them explain about their shield once they bring it home!

Science: We continue our unit on Rocks and Minerals and will begin growing our own crystals soon.  In order to do so each student will need to bring a glass jar/cup to grow their own crystals.  Please have your child bring one in by Friday April 8^th.

Gym and Health:  We wrapped up our Badminton Unit in gym and have now started Soccer.  In health, students are learning about substance use and abuse.

Music:  We continue to play the recorder and are learning the names of musical notes and symbols.

Lots of fun learning is happening everyday in our classroom. Talk to your child each night and have them tell you about what they learned or did at school today and everyday!

What Nafila has to say about our class...

Hello people of the world!April is starting on Friday!Here is what's coming up in April:We will hopefully start painting our identical pictures on Friday!We are making shields on Monday so remember to bring your bristle boards!

We already looked at magazine advertisements and made our own!!!We are very excited learning with Ms.Virji!
written by:Nafilah

March 28 - April 1

Hi everyone!

Here's what's happening this week in portable 3.  Remember to bring your trip form and $2 for our upcoming trip on April 6th to the Claude Watson School for the Arts to watch a drama and dance performance.  Remember to also bring in your $3 for snack money for the month of April if you haven't done so already.

Monday: Drama and Health
Tuesday: Math Fractions Quiz and Gym and Art
Wednesday: Music and Drama
Thursday: Spelling Bee (our class will be an audience from 10:30 - 11:30), Gym
Friday: Spelling Test, Art, Movie on Rocks and Minerals

Enjoy the beautiful sunshine!!! See you tomorrow!

Ms.Virji :)

Pictures!!!

Mr.Battaglia and Sir Romulus battle during a Medieval Times Presentation.

Armour

Sedimentary Rock Experiment: we took sand and filled it in a cup.  we then poured an epsom salt solution onto the sand.  we let the mixture sit for 3 days.  we then peeled apart the cup and uncovered some lose sand and some "rock" particles that had formed.  students separated rock particles from loose sediments!  this experiment showed students how loose sediments (sand) with the exposure of 'weathering and erosion' (salt water solution) can create a rock - sedimentary rock!

March 21 - 25

Welcome back!!!

I hope everyone had a happy and restful March Break!

School starts again tomorrow March 21, 2011.

Here's some reminders for what's happening this week:

Monday March 21: back to school - please bring back all library books
Tuesday March 22: Reading Buddies and Gym
Wednesday March 23: Computers and Library
Thursday March 24: Gym
Friday March 25: Earth Day Assembly (am and pm), Spelling Test

Thanks,
Ms.Virji :)

Week of March 7 - 11

It's the last week of school before March Break...here's what happening this week:

Monday: Medieval Times Presentation in the morning 9:15 - 11:00 am, Music
Tuesday: Gym, Drama
Wednesday: Music
Thursday: Gym
Friday: Spelling Test

March Break: March 14 - 18, School starts again on March 21.

Geo-Sculptures

Students created geo-sculptures out of marshmallows and toothpicks as we wrapped up our unit on Geometry in Math.  We learned that creating structures from these resources was not as simple as it seemed.  However, the students did enjoy the building and exploring phase and here's what some of the structures ended up looking like. 

Medival presentation!

On Monday we will have an amazing medival presentation at our school for our grade 4 students.It is called 'blades of glory' and is an interactive presentation about midddle ages, one of the social studies we cover this year.The cost per student is $2.00.We appriciate your support and look forward to sharing the enjoyment of this experiance with your children!

Sincerly,

Ms. Virji's Class!

-Naheeda

What's Happening: Feb 28 - Mar 4

It's almost March! I can't believe how fast the school year is going!!!

Monday Feb 28: Music
Tuesday Mar 1: Gym
Wednesday Mar 2: Geometry Math Test
Thursday Mar 3: Gym - Drama (bring all your props from home for your big performance tomorrow)
Friday Mar 4: Spelling Test, Drama Performances

Next Monday March 7th, we will be watching a Presentation in the Gym as an Introduction to our Medieval Times Unit.  The cost of the performance will be $2.  Please bring in your money as soon as you can!  I will tell you more about it tomorrow!

Thanks,
Ms.Virji

The Peace Tree

Today was an interesting morning...
Yesterday Mr.Battaglia announced his 3rd principals enrichment challenge which focused on diversity and multiculturalism.  At the end of the day we had a good discussion rolling about ways that students promote diversity and how we can make people more aware of our diverse celebrations.  Inspired by all our talk, today I decided to show the students a short film titled, "The Peace Tree".  The story is about two little girls, one Muslim and one Christian who dream of celebrating each other’s festivals, Eid and Christmas. But when they share their dreams, they are met with resistance from their parents who express their concerns. Through their struggles, they create a unique symbol-- The Peace Tree, a tree that highlights the symbols from all our cultures to reflect the beauty of "diversity in unity". The Peace Tree shares the voices of the children who try to enlighten their parents to the importance of sharing and celebrating diversity together.

What was great to watch was the way the students appreciated the movie - they were able to make connections to their personal lives which made them thoroughly enjoy it.  Watching a movie which showcases parts of the students' culture such as reciting Namaz (Muslim prayer), eating cultural food, celebrating Eid really made the students feel like they could relate to what they were watching! One student even commented "we're so lucky we get to watch this at school, I've never seen a movie about our culture at school".  =)

Remember, everyone is unique and special regardless of their culture, religion or skin colour.  Lets work hard in making sure we create peace everyday in our lives and someone elses!

See you tomorrow,
Ms.Virji =)

Updates for this week: Feb 22 - 25

Hello everyone! I hope you're enjoying the long weekend!  See you back at school tomorrow, Tuesday Feb 22!

Here's a quick look at some reminders for this week:

Tuesday: Rocks and Minerals homework sheet due today!  Gym this afternoon.
Wednesday: Library - please make sure all your library books are brought back to school by Tuesday
Thursday: Literacy Centers, Drama (please have your scripts with you), Gym
Friday: Spelling Test

Thanks,
Ms.Virji :)

3, 2, 1 ACTION!

Children in 4H have been working on drama writing their own scripts. They are working really hard and they can't wait to preasent their wonderful work! Scripts writers need to include: a setting, characters, beginning, middle, and an end! So keep up the good WORK!

Exciting News!!! Author Barbara Reid writes back to our class!!!

Barbara Reid a well known author whose books we used as an inspiration to get started on our habitat projects has wrote back to our entire class!
We sent her an email telling her about our Science habitat plasticine art projects.  She was amazed!  Check out her response:

Hello Ms. Virji and all my fellow plasticine artists!

Thank you very much for your great letter and FANTASTIC artwork!  Each of the pictures show excellent backgrounds, colour and textures that clearly illustrate the different environments.  Each one is different, and you have been able to show a lot of information, at the same time as creating a beautiful piece of art.  You are illustrators!

I will keep the files, and hope to be able to add them to my web site.  I love to share work like yours to help inspire other artists.  I am very busy working on a book, so I won't be able to update my site until the summer.  The book is to be called "Picture a Tree" and it looks at trees in all the seasons.  So I am also making pictures that show an environment and habitat.  The book will come out next fall, if I can finish in time.

Again, thank you very much for sharing your art.  You made my day!  Keep up the outstanding work, and happy reading,

Best wishes,

Barbara

p.s.  Do you know about the TDSB Just Read It web site?  It is a place that students can record books they have read.  Every time a reader enters, their school gets a chance to win books or an author visit.  I am a 2010/2011 Writer -in-residence  with the TDSB, so your reading could win a visit from me or the author Eric Walters.  The more you read and report, the more chances you have.  Good luck!

-Barbara

February 14 - 22

Hi everyone!!!

Here's a quick look at what's happening this week in portable #3:

Monday Feb 14: Valentine's Day!!! It's a busy day - we've got Music and Computers this afternoon and our party (remember if you're bringing treats to make sure there are no peanuts!)

Tuesday Feb 15: Report Cards go Home!!! - we have gym today too!

Wednesday Feb 16: Science Experiment #2 for Rocks and Minerals

Thursday Feb 17: Spelling Test!! (remember to study your list words!)

Friday Feb 18: NO SCHOOL - PA DAY!

Monday Feb 21: NO SCHOOL - FAMILY DAY!

Tuesday Feb 22: Back to School!

Rock Cookies

This week we started our new unit of Rocks and Minerals in Science.

The past couple days we spent time talking about what we already know and what we'd like to learn.  We watched a movie that also introduced us to some new rocks and minerals vocabulary.  Today we do a cool activity/experiment that made us learn more about how rocks and minerals are different from one another.

During the activity, Ms.Virji gave each student 2 cookies (one with chocolate chips and another with raisins)  We compared the cookies to rocks.  The chocolate chip cookie was bumpy, rough and round - kind of like rocks.  The raisin cookie was smooth and soft - kind of like rocks too!  We learned that the chocolate chips and raisins are like the minerals - they help to form the entire cookie - which is the rock.  Take a look at some of the pictures to understand how we did this activity. 

We started with 2 cookies and some picks to help break our cookies.

We started breaking apart the cookie and separated the minerals (raisins and chocolate chips) from the cookie.

The final product looked like this: all the minerals were seperated from the rock!

We even used magnifying glasses to help us look more clearly at the formation of our rock (cookie) and minerals (chocolate chips and raisins!)

Celebrating Chinese New Year

Students got the opportunity to look at the chinese alphabet and write their names in a foreign language. They created bookmarks and are already using them!!!
Can you guess whose names are written on each???

Reminders for this week:

Hi everyone, hope you're enjoying the weekend!

A few reminders for this coming week:

Monday: Math Quiz on Angles....and...Music (please bring your recorder)
Tuesday: Gym
Wednesday: good copy of Procedural Assignment will be due today
Thursday: Music - Prologue Performance at 1:00pm
Friday: Gym - Reading Buddies at 11:00am in the Library

See you tomorrow!
Ms.Virji =)

SNOW DAY WEDNESDAY = NO SCHOOL!

From http://www.tdsb.on.ca/

Weather AlertDue to the snow storm, the TDSB has closed schools to staff and students for Wednesday February 2. All after-school and evening activities are also cancelled. The safety and welfare of students and staff is a priority during these severe weather conditions. Please visit this site again for the latest information.

Snowstorm Warning...

Dear Families of Portable 3:

Today a letter was sent home regarding procedures in the event of the major snow storm which is anticipated for tonight leading into tomorrow evening.

Please tune in to CP24 or a local newstation early morning to be updated and informed about weather conditions.  You may also wish to check out http://www.tdsb.on.ca/ where updated information will be posted.

Please use your best judgement - in the event that there is a major snow storm and heavy winds, students are advised to stay home.

Thanks,
Ms.Virji

Dear Families,Friends, and Classmates,
It's a fantastic new year!We have already learned about habitats in science and now are starting to learn about rocks and minerals.We are going to learn how to make volcanoes!Isn't that awesome!In math we already learned about measurement and angles.We also have learned about geometry in math.We are now learning about quatrilaterals in math.We are now having literacy centers on Thursdays also.We are now learning procedual writing in english.It's alot of fun learning with Ms.Virji!And do you know some of us joined Canada's spelling bee!Okay,Bye!
Written by:Nafilah

Hey friends and families our class is full of joy everyone is having lots of fun with Ms.Virji, she is a delight! I have learned various things such as doing procedural writing! I have also enjoyed learning about music because we are learning how to play the recorder. Everyone in grade 4H is very kind and caring we work
together and succeed our goals such as in gym where we are put it to groups and play diffrent games and we work together to win!We can't wait to learn about rocks and minerals it looks like a fun lesson to learn!Thank you for taking your time and reading our blog! :)  :)

   By:Naheeda!

What the Students Have to Say!!!!

Hello Parents and Students. We have started rocks and minerals in Science. The whole class is looking forward to learn about rocks and minerals! Students are really looking forward to make rock candy and volcano's! We also have started geomtrey in math. Some students have found it easy some have found is hard. To make us understand geometry better, in art we made geo-nets.  Students got to design and color the geo-nets. Students have understood geometry! Now in art we have started Kandinsky art! Kandinsky art is five circles and made out of pastels. Thank you!

Written By: Noor S.

Procedural Writing

Be sure to think about what topic you will be writing about for your procedural writing assignment.
We will discuss these tomorrow in class. 
It should be a procedure for something with at least 5 steps.

*Think back to our example we did in class today as we watched 'The Little Red Hen' and all the steps we had to include in order to make bread! 

ANGLES!!!!

We've started our unit on Geometry and are learning about measuring angles.
Here is some extra practice: http://www.ixl.com/math/practice/grade-4-measure-angles-with-a-protractor

Remember:

RIGHT angles: are always 90 degrees
ACUTE angles: are less than 90 degrees (tip: acute angles are 'cute' and 'small' so they are less than 90 degrees)
OBTUSE angles: more than 90 degrees

Still Need Extra Help???

Ms.Virji is available before school on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8:30am in our portable if you need extra help.  Please be on time.

Thanks =)

Habitat Projects are Complete!!!!

After much dedication the students have now completed their paper plate habitat projects.  What's even more exciting is later this week we will write a class letter to Barbara Reid to explain to her how we were inspired by her plasticine art work.  We are hoping that Barbara Reid will write back to us!  Check out these awesome habitats! Students created city habitats, gardens, forests, beaches, rivers and ponds! The work is PHENOMENAL!!!!