January

I am so sorry.  I just realized I have been posted our blog on my old blogger account.  Yikes.  Will put this weeks blogs on this post.  So sorry≥

January 8 Dear Families,

Next week we will be working on our past projects in full force.  This is not a project that needs to be done at home.  We will do the entire project while at school.  Please continue to send in your shoe boxes and recycled materials.

We had 2 rounds of Daily 5 this morning.  During Writer's Workshop we continued on our descriptive writing pieces.  Please remember students, the difference between an opinion and a fact.  Also, remember when you are writing about a non-fiction topic, you must provide details that are important.  Pretend as though your reader knows nothing about your topic.

In Math today, the grade ones worked on addition with 2 sided counters and the grade 2's practiced double digit addition.  They were adding 20 to numbers.  

Book orders went home today.  They are due back next Friday January 15.

Have a great weekend.  Stay warm!

THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2016

January 7

We need your help parents!  We are starting our social studies inquiry project. The students in Room 73 are being asked to represent what they have learned about the past.  Our statement for guiding our project is "If I lived long ago....".  Some kids have decided to represent their learning of the past using a diarama. We are looking for any small shoe boxes that we could use of this project.  We will also accept any other recycled materials that may be helpful.

Thank you for your help and have a wonderful evening.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2016

Happy Wednesday Families!  Today was a very very busy day.  We started our day with 2 rounds of Daily 5.  After this we talked about different text structures in books.  We looked at a variety of fiction and non-fiction books.  We learned that fiction books are kind of like humans: different on the outside but the same on the inside.  All fiction stories have a beginning, middle and an end.  Then we looked at non-fiction text.  We learned that there are many different types of non-fiction books.  Today we specifically talked about Descriptive Writing.  During Writer's Workshop we divided our page into 4, chose a non-fiction topic and wrote 4 facts about that topic.  We had to discuss the difference between a fact and an opinion.

We had music today and then after lunch we did making words.  We focused on the families at and ate.  We made a word with 7 letters.  Ask your child if they remember what this word is and how to spell it.

Today in math we learned how to make double digit numbers and add a group of 10 to that number.  Some grade ones were able to do this while others continued to work on adding single digit numbers together.

At the end of the day we continued to talk about our upcoming Social Studies inquiry project.

Have a wonderful evening.

MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2016

Welcome back and Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a restful happy holiday.  Thank you so much for all the wonderful gifts that were given to me before the break.

Today I spoke with the kids about expectations for the next term.  I reminded them that in about 6 weeks we will be half way through the year and we still have a lot of work to do.

Today we talked about all the amazing things we did over the holidays.  Grayson's mom had a baby girl.  So exciting.

We had one round of Daily 5 and then some free writing time before we headed off to music.

After lunch we did Making Words and then we moved on to Math.  We are currently working on using double 10 frames to help us with our basic addition facts.

After gym, we did our blog and then talked about what kind of project we will do to finish up our social studies unit on the past.

Have a wonderful evening!

December 16

Tomorrow Thursday December 17 is Pajama Day!  You may come to school in your jammies.  You may bring a stuffie with you but please no blankets or slippers.  Please keep your stuffies small and compact.

Tomorrow is our last day before the Christmas Break. School resumes on January 4 2016. We are working on creating a wonderful masterpiece which we will give to our parents for Christmas.  Please except this gift to be in your child's backpack tomorrow.

Everyday this week we have been practicing our Christmas Carols in the gym.  We sound amazing.  

Tomorrow afternoon we will finish our gifts and do some Christmas activities.  Also, tomorrow will be Mr. S's last day however.... don't panic kids.....he will be back with us in Feburary for an 8 week practicum.  We are very thankful for this :)

Have a wonderful evening.

CHRISTMAS CONCERT INFORMATION

Tonight is our Christmas Concert.  Here is some important information:
- concert starts at 6:00pm
- please be in our classroom (room 73) at 5:45pm
- please pick your child up at our classroom when the concert is done.  No children will be allowed to go and look for their parents else where in the school.
- wear your best western wear tonight.  No cowboy hats please.
- if you do not want to dress in western wear, please wear your best clothes.
- our concert will last about 25-30 minutes.
- If your child has speaking/solo singing part they may wear a cowboy hat

We are looking forward to performing for you tonight.  Make sure you pay close attention to Finnah's speaking parts and Sophia's solo.  They are amazing!

December 7

Tomorrow morning and Wednesday morning our class will be doing a full run through of our Christmas concerts at 8:45am.  Our dress rehearsal is Wednesday at 2:00pm.  

Today was the last day for book orders I will be placing the order tonight.  

This morning we talked about our amazing weekends.  We then moved on to one round of Daily 5.  After this we worked on stretching out our sentences to  make our writing more interesting.  We will be moving on tomorrow.

This morning we also practiced our singing with Mr. Soulliere's class.  AND......this afternoon we headed over to the Auburn Heights Retirement Residence.  We sang for a group of seniors in the local dining room and then we headed upstairs to the Memory Care Ward.  Everyone thought we sounded beautiful.  We also had some down time while at the Residence.  The kids enjoyed some colouring and juice with snack.  What a wonderful way to spend our afternoon.

Have a wonderful evening!

December 3

Tonight is Parent Teacher interviews.  Looking forward to telling all of you about  the amazing things your child is doing.  Tomorrow there is no school as Parent Teacher conferences will be continuing.

We continue to work on reading strategies during guided reading.  Please ask your child which strategy is their favourite and post it on the blog.

Today during writer's workshop we continued to work on adding more details/stretching our sentences.  

After lunch we did calendar activities. We then moved on to math.  Thank you to Reid and Yahia for showing us a more challenging way to play Face Off.  Please ask your child how to play this more challenging game.  It can be played at home with a regular deck of cards.

We had gym today and worked very hard on our circuit training.  Please have your child demonstrate at least one of the activities they did in gym today.  Reid and Mathew both said "my legs were burning after the wall sit."  This is great news :)

At the end of the day, we got our December book orders.  Please return on Monday so I can place the order and have it back before Christmas holidays.

We also worked on our personal time lines.

Monday afternoon is our field trip.  We will be leaving at 12:30 and returning around 2:45.

Book Fair will be open tonight and tomorrow during the day.

Have a wonderful evening.

December 2

What a fabulous day!  We have been practicing our songs for the Christmas concert.  We sound amazing.  Thank you to Sophia for her beautiful solo.  I am so excited for everyone to hear her.  She has the voice of an angel.

Today in writing we worked on making our sentences/writing more interesting by adding details that answer the questions, who, what where, when and why.

This morning we went to the book fair and saw many awesome books.  Each child made a wish list which includes 2 or 3 books they are interested in.

This afternoon flew by.  We worked on an awesome math word problem that Mr. S presented to us.  The problem says:  You have 10 blocks that are 2 different colors.  What patterns can you make.  The kids used blocks to create their patterns and represented their mathematical thinking in their journals.

We had dance this afternoon and then we moved right into Social Studies.  We are beginning to talk about our own personal time lines and in the near future, your child will be conducting an interview with you.  How fun!!!

I will send the December book orders home tomorrow.  Thank you Mrs. Herbert for putting these together for us.

Have a wonderful evening.

December 1

When I started to write this blog, I accidentally wrote November.....I cannot believe that today is the first day of December.

We have been working on a number of different reading strategies.  Here is a list of the ones we are "experts" on: Chunky Monkey (look for the parts of the word that you know), Back track and read again (if you get mixed up or don't know a word go back to the beginning of the sentence and try again), skippy frog(If you are stuck on a word, skip it, read to the end of the sentence and then go back to the word), Does it make sense? (Think of a word that would be make sense and match the sounds), Eagle Eyes ( Look at the pictures) and Look for little words in big words.

We have also reviewed that "Good Writing" looks like.  Here are our suggestions: Onomatopoeia, Leave spaces between words, add texture words, use voice, add sound words, add juicy words, add feeling words, add action words, use sentence starters, add punctuation, use your dictionary and most important sound out your words and TRY YOUR BEST!

Permission forms are due by Friday for our field trip to the retirement residence on Monday December 7.  We will be leaving the school at 12:30 and returning before 3:00.

In math we have been talking about patterning.  Please have your child show you an abc pattern if they are in grade one and a growing pattern if they are in grade 2.

Question of the day:  If you lived long ago, what is one way that your life would be different from today?  Please post your answers on the blog.