Monday, September 30

This morning in FLA, students reviewed our first "Words of the Week."  "Words of the Week" for the month of October are a combination of high frequency words and a review of Grade One words.  These can be found at the back of your child's red duotang.  The 2 home reading books are coming home as well.  Also today in addition to the red duotang and books, are some dice, a deck of cards and instructions to play the Math Monday game.  The dice and cards are yours to keep so your child can play the Math Monday games thoughout the year. We read a book which described the origin of Orange Shirt Day.
In math today we worked on reading questions about a graph.  This is a difficult task for us and we're learning the key words to help us decide what the question is asking.  Also in math, students played the Math Monday game.
After lunch, we read another book about residential schools and students were given the dice, cards, and instructions on how to play the first Math Monday game.  I spent some time with each student, helping to choose books at their level to take home.  The books, I'm hoping should be a little on the easy side because I would like their first time reading with you to be positive.  It will get more difficult.  Students also participated in PE with M. Trevor where they worked on co-operative games.

Friday, September 27

Students completed Varsity's Terry Fox Run today and did a great job.  Ask your child if they made their running goal.  We began with a pep rally and then went outside for our run.  After the run students drew a picture of themselves running.  We had reading buddies with our Grade 5 friends and had a great math lesson counting out the money that was send in for a donation to the Terry Fox Foundation.  Thank you, Room 8 raised $83.76!  Great job!

Monday, September 30 is Orange Shirt Day and your child is encouraged to wear orange if you they have it.  If they don't have an orange shirt, don't worry just choose the closest thing to orange.  Friday, Oct. 4 will be crazy hair day.

 

Thursday, September 26

In FLA students rotated through the last of the 5 centres.  Students enjoyed their music class with Mme. Zdrill and when they came back we continued our work on graphing.  Students worked hard to answer questions in French about a graph.  Key words we focused on were "en plus, en moins, le même, en tout."  

We have begun discussing residential schools in preparation for Orange Shirt Day on Monday, September 30. Orange Shirt Day is  "a day on which we commemorate the thousands of First Nations, Métis and Inuit children who were removed from their homes at this time of the year and forced to attend residential schools."  We read a book called "I am not a number" and talked about how it's important to acknowledge what was done in the past so it's not repeated.  This is a sensitive topic so you may want to revisit it at home.  

In the afternoon we discussed Terry Fox's dream and reviewed some vocabulary including "courir, héros, l'espoir, cancer, juillet, jambe, rêve, recherches."  We finished off the day by exercising  in our room with Just Dance and Go Noodle.

Varsity's Terry Fox Run will take place tomorrow morning, beginning with a pep rally at 8:45 and the run afterwards.  The weather does not look great so please remember to dress your child nice and warm and send in an extra pair of socks just in case their feet get wet. 

Wednesday, September 25

Students continued rotating through their literacy centres and in math students created their own graph based on the information we collected yesterday.  The question was "What is your favourite season?" I did not help students very much with this task. It was a quiet, individual learning task.  It was a check-in for me, as a teacher to see where each student was in their learning.  I'm sending the graph home for your viewing pleasure, so you can see what your child is able to do. Your child's graph should include the following: question, list of seasons at the bottom (x-axis), numbers along the side (y-axis).  I've explained to students that the purpose of a graph is to be able to read and get information quickly, so the colouring of the graph also counts in this case.  Spelling does not count, nor does letter formation.  If you have a moment, please ask your child some questions about their graph to see if they can answer (how many people like summer? how many people were asked? what did you choose as your favourite season?).  Please return this paper tomorrow. I would love to share your child's work, but I need to have it returned so we can continue our learning. Thank you!

In the afternoon, we had a health class about friendship and what a good friend is and does.  Some examples were given in class and we tried to make connections about good choices and friendships.  Students also participated in PE outside and for the last 20 minutes of the day, students practiced their numbers in French by playing "Go Fish."

Don't forget a Toonie for Terry and thanks to those of you who've already made a donation.  A donation is completely voluntary.

Tuesday, September 24

Yea, I've been able to add pictures again to the blog! Please enjoy pictures of our literacy centres, which we will be working on all week.  Center 1-learning how to use their personal, picture dictionary. Students are given a picture and need to find it in their dictionary.  They do their best to remember the word or look on our Word Wall for help. They write the word down.  Center 2-students use the magnetic letter tiles to make words from our word list of school vocabulary. Center 3-Stamping-students' stamp out school vocabulary.  Center 4-A game of chance called "Désolé" where students roll 2 dice, add them together and put a counter on the number.  The student must practice saying the word under the number. Once the number has 2 counters on it, the student "wins" that number.  Center 5-Indigenous art puzzles. 

In math, I asked the question "What is your favourite season?"  Tomorrow they will need to graph this information.  We had a little trouble yesterday understanding the terms "moins" and "plus" so we re-visted these words and complete the questions together.  Students participated in PE and in social studies we continued to work on directions (North, South, East, West).  A note about our Terry Fox Run on Friday "On Friday, I need to dress warmly for the weather for the Terry Fox Run (in layers and in safe outdoor shoes to run in rather than winter boots or rain boots).  If it is snowing or raining lightly, we are still running outside.  (If weather is unsafe, we will be inside.)  I also need to bring a pair of dry socks to change into afterwards."

Monday, September 23

Today during FLA students worked on expressing themselves in their journal.  They wrote about their weekend and if they finished in the 20 minutes they were challenged to add another sentence.  Students visited the library again this morning and we'll go again next Wednesday so please return books on or before then.  Thanks so much to parents who printed graphs or sent in graphs via e-mail.  We had a great time looking at them and talking about how "adult" graphs look very similar to the graphs we have been looking at and making ourselves.  This afternoon, students finished up their self-portraits and worked on a cover page for our science unit-hot and cold.  Students also did a great job practicing for the Terry Fox Run, which will take place on Friday.  Many students even beat the number of laps they did last week.  Room 8 has set the goal of a "Toonie for Terry" and we're hoping students can bring in $2 to donate to the Terry Fox Foundation.  We'll be collecting money all week.  Just a reminder Healthy Hunger Special Lunch is this Thursday. 

Thursday, September 19

In FLA, students wrote in their journals about what was in their backbacks.  Part of our vocabulary development in September is using words we find in our classrooms.  In math today, instead of creating our own bar graph students were asked to read and interpret information already on a graph.  Students participated in music and practiced once again for the Terry Fox Run.  They also worked on a final self-portrait, which we'll finish up next week.  Have a lovely long weekend.

Wednesday, September 18

Don't forget to sign up for parent-teacher interviews tomorrow and Friday.  There is no school on Friday, due to parent-teacher interviews.  Please feel free to send in a water bottle with your child.  We're practicing for our Terry Fox run next Friday and are very thirsty afterwards.  Running Club also runs on Monday and Wednesday's at lunch and if your child is interested they can meet M. Trevor outside by the baseball diamond.
In FLA this morning students discussed Terry Fox and what makes him a Canadian Hero.  In math, students worked very hard to improve or create another graph using another question they came up with.  Their improvements are impressive. We worked on drawing a self portrait in art before lunch and then created a second one with specific instructions on how to draw features, such as your nose, lips, eyes and ears.  Next we looked at the difference between having little or few instructions and having lots of specific instructions with feedback and chances to re-do things.  We sat in a circle and students shared their thoughts on the difference between their first self portrait and their second.  I explained how many things will be like this year.  Things they don't know now will be practiced and explained. Students should not to be disappointed if they can't do things right away, because that's my job-teach them how to improve, learn and be better.  We don't always start out being awesome, we need time to learn, understand and practice.

Tuesday, September 17

This morning a new student presented the calendar.  Students worked on sharing information about themselves such as if they had any brothers or sisters, how old they were, when their birthday is. They are writing a story all abut themselves.  We'll continue this work for the rest of the week.  Our virtue this month is politeness and today we read about how to be polite in the classroom and on the playground.  Ask your child about some ways they can show politeness.  In math we continued to work on graphing.  Students took some information they collected yesterday and created their own graph in their notebooks. 
Students enjoyed music and we went outside and talked about goal setting and Terry Fox.  Students set goals for the number of times they could run the circuit.  Ask them about it!

Monday, September 16

We began our day by having a student complete and present the calendar in French.  I have been presenting the calendar each day and students have been watching and listening.  The calendar consists of saying the date (le lundi 16 septembre, 2019), what day it was yesterday and what day it will be tomorrow.  Next, they present the weather and graph it.  They go to the Weather Network and check out the current temperature in Calgary, what the high will be and look at the long range forecast.  This ties into our first science unit on hot and cold.  The helper of the day also creates 3 different patterns for students to solves, practices counting the candy in the candy jar as well as the number of days in school.  The helper of the day can ask a friend to help them complete these tasks.  The calendar is done with a program called Notebook and is interactive, meaning they move things around and write their responses on the Smartboard for everyone to see and learn from.  We continue the calendar for the rest of the year.  Each day a different students prepares and presents it to us.

Today in FLA, students wrote in their journals about something they did on the weekend.  We also read a book on the Smartboard, making predictions in French about what was happening on each page.  Our focus today was on the question mark and how when we ask a question we need this type of end punctuation.  In math, students conducted their own survey, asking a question they had come up with.  Please see the pictures below.  In science, we started our unit on hot and cold by looking at various images and deciding whether it was "chaud ou froid."  Students wrote their answers on their whiteboards (see below).  In PE, students completed their first run in preparation for the Terry Fox run.  Please send your child in with running shoes, rather then boots as boots are a little tricky to run in. Scholastic book order was handed out today.  If you would like to place an order, please do so by Monday, Sept. 23. 

Calendar

Question Mark

Calendar 

Math-graphing

Science: hot or cold?

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Friday, September 13

Thank you to parents who were able to join me for the Fall Welcome.  It was a pleasure talking with you.  To those parents who were not able to make it this morning I look forward to seeing you next week at parent/teacher conferences.  I believe you may book appointments beginning at 4:00 today. 

Room 8 wrote in their journals today and were able to make an entry of their choice.  They could also finish up any entries that were not quite finished from the week.  Students had reading buddies again today with grade 5.  Students brought 2 books, which they felt they could read and 2 books they wanted to have their buddy read to them.  M. Marshall's room is right next to a newly created space in our school, called the "Quiet Room."  It's a space that we are able to use when reading or working quietly.  It also has "stations" where students can look at things under microscopes, build using various materials and lots of couches, chairs and seating.  It works very well for buddy reading.  In math, students voted for their favorite outdoor activity.

Thursday, September 12

This morning students worked on developing their French oral language skills by playing a Bingo game (see below).  We also reviewed addition facts to 10 in math and students continued to work on endurance skill with M. Trevor.  Students completed their mini-book on our province and we'll work on reading it independently.  Don't forget about the Fall Welcome tomorrow from 7:30-8:15.  Grade 2 has been asked to wear green if you have it. We've also lost another tooth in Room 8!

Wednesday, September 11

Each morning students arrive to a message from Mme.  Typically, the message has something to do with our day.  At this point in the year and because we're learning about graphing in Math, the message is a question, this way we can graph our responses.  Please see the question from today, pictured below.  After reading the message orally to students, I'll write down how to orally respond to the question in a complete sentence in French.  Each student takes a turn replying.  Stronger students are able to respond without using the sentence starter, while others find comfort in being able to follow along with the sentence to help them.  Students wrote in their journals today.  They choose a favorite animal (which we discussed this morning) and drew an illustration to go along with their words.  Students try to work independently for 20 minutes on this task.  

We visited the library today and each student selected 2 books which you should be able to find in your child's backback. We'll be visiting the library about once a week.  In math, students were given a magic number and tried to come up with as many ways as possible to make that number.  Today's number was 8. Ask them about it.  We started social studies today and talked about our world and directions.  Students also participated in gym class.

Room 8 has has lost their first tooth-always an exciting event. :)Don't forget our Fall Welcome happening this Friday from 7:30-8:15.  It's also our first "Jour de L'esprit" day and Grade 2 is asked to wear green if you have it.

Tuesday, September 10

Students enjoyed music with Mme. Zdrill this morning.  Next, students were given a math task, where they needed to read the number word (#'s 10-20), match it with the number and then find the image that shows the correct number.  So for example, 10-dix-**********. The objective was to see if students could 1. read the number, 2. count correctly, 3. organize their work-as there was many different things to cut and match, 4. use their spacial awareness to organized their work onto the large purple paper and 5. read left to right, as shown in the way they glued their work onto the purple paper.  I've included some student work so you can see some different ways students completed the task.  As a reference, students also had access to their personal dictionary, which each student has in their desk and a visual that I have on the wall, to help them figure out the order in which the numbers go and to help with spelling.  Students worked hard before lunch and then continued after lunch.  Also after lunch Room 5, our PE partners joined us to talk about Terry Fox.  Finally, I have started reviewing reading strategies.  Each day I will project a book on my Smartboard, read the book out loud and point out different strategies to help decode and understand the text.

Monday, September 9

Today students completed their last rotation through some literacy centers.  In math, we made two graphs.  One was about our favorite day of the week and the second was a graph about how to we get to school.  See our results below.  In Art, we worked on our fine motor skills to create a bus.  Students also participated in gym class with M. Trevor, where they played running games aimed at improving their endurance.

Friday, September 6

A short but busy day today.  This morning we met our Grade 5 reading buddies.  We will be reading and doing other fun learning tasks with them throughout the year.  M. Marshall and I hope to meet about once a week so our students can work and learn together.
We had our first assembly today, where we met Varsity's new teachers and students.  We also have several new students and we're excited to have them.  Room 8 was a little anxious about our fire drill, but they did a fantastic job walking silently outside to our designated spot.  We discussed the importance of fire drills even though we find them very loud.  We had time to finish up some writing and play a math game, but didn't have time for art.  We'll do that on Monday.  Please see the below invitation for our Fall Welcome.  I hope to see you there.  Have a great weekend.

Thursday, September 5

We are starting to get into the swing of things in Room 8 and our routines are becoming a little more familiar.  This morning students participated in literacy centers and rotated through 3 of the 4 centers.  We'll finish this work off tomorrow. We continued to read Mo Willems books, en Français. In math, we created a tally and talked about how there are 20 students in our class so we should have 20 tally marks in our graph.  Students played two different math addition games, with dice.  Students also had their first music class with Mme. Zrill and we reviewed fire drill procedures.  We will have our first fire drill tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, September 4

Day 2 of Grade 2!  This morning students participated in some oral French centered around our daily calendar.  They also responded to the question of what their favorite fruit was.  All students answered in French, in a complete sentence.  Following recess, we graphed the results of the most popular and least popular fruits.  This is leading into our first unit in Math-graphing.  We talked about the purpose of graphs and how to read information on our graph.  Can you guess what was the most popular fruit?  Ask your child :)

Also in math, students practiced writing numbers in French.  Working in small groups, one person was the "teacher" and said the name of a number and the "students" had to write the correct number on their whiteboards. Each student in Room 8 has their own whiteboard, marker and eraser, which they keep in their desk.  Next students played a Bingo game to practice their French oral language skills and to get to know one another.  

After lunch, students were given the task of building the tallest structure using toothpicks and marshmallows.  We discussed their results and looked at why some structures were more stable than others.  Students also participated in gym class with M. Trevor and finished the day with centers.

Tuesday, September 3

It's the first day of Grade 2.  Students participated in a writing activity, toured part of the school, and got to know their new friends in centers.  We also talked about school and classroom rules.  We are beginning our read-a-loud's with Mo Willems, author of "Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" or en français "Ne laissez pas le pigeon conduire le bus!" We will be reading books by him for the rest of the week.

Going home with your child is their green folders, which will serve as communication between VAS and home.  Feel free to place any notes for me or the office in this folder.