Thursday, October 3

Good afternoon, today we worked on our oral language skills a little longer during FLA and achieved our reading goal of 12 minutes.  In math, I gave each student a partner and today they asked all friends in Room 8 a question and drew a graph in their notebooks. Tomorrow students will work on creating the graph on large chart paper to share and present to others.  In social studies we looked at a map and tried to follow directions to see where we would end up (you're at the barn what's to the North?).  We will need more time with this concept.  In science we drew hot/cold thermometers and things we can do when it's hot/cold.  Check it out below :) . Tomorrow is crazy hair day.

Wednesday, October 2

An exciting morning as students painted their own fish.  Please see our fish below!  In math we tallied up our apple preferences and students were asked to create the graph and answer 8 questions.  Students are getting much better at recognizing key words that help them figure out what the question is asking.  We visited the library and exchanged our books and in the afternoon we had a science lesson and created a table demonstrating hot and cold things.  In social studies we looked again at directions (North, South, East and West).  Students also played M. Trevor's cooperation game again in gym.

Tuesday, October 1

This morning students wrote about their weekend in their journals.  While reading the morning  message, students first created a tally on their favourite thing to build in the snow.  Next students used this information to create 2 different kinds of bar graphs (one vertical and one horizontal).  Next students worked with a partner to create their own question, ask 10 friends and then create a graph of their choice.  We'll look at and discuss the graphs tomorrow, looking for ways to improve the graph and complementing on aspects that are well done.

An exciting afternoon with "Stream of Dreams" where they talked to us about the importance of water and protecting our fish.  Students learned about different kinds of fish in the Bow and Elbow Rivers, where the water treatment plants are in the city and what happens to water when it rains and snow melts

.  Please see our pictures below. 

We went outside to enjoy the snow before it melts and finished up some FLA writing about Terry Fox.

Just a reminder tomorrow is Library so please return the library books (but keep the Home Reading books). 

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.