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