Busy week! Lots of things are 'due' this week: 
1. Lego entries are due by Friday to the Library. 
2. Scholastic Book Orders due on Friday
3. Jump Rope for Heart forms (with sponsorship money) are due by Friday!
4. Talent Show forms are due by Friday

Permission forms for our Community Clean-Up on April 21 went home yesterday. Please sign and return them by April 20. 

Language Arts

Writing-we are reviewing the 'Magic of Three' and using three different sentences to build suspense in our story. 
Phonics-words containing 'wr' as a beginning blend and how these words don't pronounce the 'w' sound

Daily 5 Read to Someone-continuing "The BFG" by Roald Dahl (almost done!)

Spelling-the words this week are in the 'Spelling Words' tab at the top. Test on Friday!

Math

Over the next few weeks, we are going to exploring Measurement. They will be using comparison words (bigger, smaller, lighter, heavier, more, less, etc) to compare items, using standard and non-standard units to measure, measuring items by weight/size/length, and using a calendar to compare days of the week and months.

Science

We will beginning our 'Boats and Buoyancy' unit this week. The students will explore a variety of materials and predict (and test) if they are buoyant. We will be looking at the various parts of boats and why they float. 

April 4-8, 2016

Welcome back from Spring Break! Hopefully you all had a wonderful and restful break with your family! I know the students all came back and were bursting with stories about their time off!

As of today, we have 57 full days of school left in this school year! I can't believe it has gone by so quickly...but we still have so much to cover!

During the month of April and May, we have a HUGE math push happening in our class. We are doing math practice (basic facts) every day. The students are practicing on a few new math sites: XtraMath and 10monkeys.com. Each of the students has their own logins and passwords so I can track their progress. These sites will be used in addition to Mathletics. 
If you would like to know your child's login/password so they can access these sites at home, please let me know! (Note: 10monkeys.com is only accessible from 7am-2pm as it is a challenge among multiple Canadian schools.)

As there are so many different activities happening over the next few weeks, please check the 'Coming Up' tab at the top to see the calendar. I will be updating this fairly often to keep you in the loop, but don't hesitate to contact me about upcoming events. 

This week:
-Friday is PJ and Pancake day-kids can come to school around 8:05am to have a pancake breakfast. Students are also able to dress in their PJ's for the day. 
-Lice Check is happening on Thursday and Friday this week
-Jump Rope for Heart fundraising is happening now! Packages were sent home a few weeks ago and we are encouraging students to raise money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. 
-East Elementary's Lego Contest is accepting displays until April 15. Final winner will be announced on April 29. Winner will receive an awesome prize from Lego Canada.

Language Arts
Writing*-The students will be writing about their Spring Break (or a favorite trip they have taken). We will be planning, writing, and editing these pieces this week. 
Phonics-words that contain consonant digraphs (of sh, th, wh, ch, ck)
Spelling-Words this week have a vowel with an 'r'; er, ir, or, and ur 

Daily 5 Read to Someone-continuing "The BFG" by Roald Dahl (almost done!)

Spelling-the words this week are a review of the past 5 lessons. Test is on friday. 

*We are going to have a heavier focus on writing for the remainder of the year. The students are going to write, edit, and submit one story each week. Sometimes this story will be one of their own creation, and sometimes it will be in response to a picture (picture is shown and they write about the events surrounding it). We are encouraging students across the grades to write all of their ideas down, edit their writing, add to their writing, print legibly, and build their stamina. 

Math

Over the next few weeks, we are going to exploring Measurement. They will be using comparison words (bigger, smaller, lighter, heavier, more, less, etc) to compare items, using standard and non-standard units to measure, measuring items by weight/size/length, and using a calendar to compare days of the week and months.

Science

We will beginning our 'Boats and Buoyancy' unit this week. The students will explore a variety of materials and predict (and test) if they are buoyant. We will be looking at the various parts of boats and why they float. 

March 14-18, 2016

There is quite a bit going on this week! Library is on Thursday (please make sure their library books are returned this week so they can take out new books for Spring Break!). 

Friday is going to be a busy day: scholastic book orders are due, hot lunch, spelling test, assembly at 8:45am in recognition of World Down Syndrome day (wear CRAZY socks), and its 'wear your favorite jersey' day. 

Language Arts
Writing*-This week the students will write a story about a St Patricks Day picture prompt. The students will plan their story, write their story, and be exposed to editing this week. 
Phonics-words containing 'y' as a vowel

Reading-finishing up the book 'The Mouse and the Motorcycle'

Daily 5 Read to Someone-continuing "The BFG" by Roald Dahl (almost done!)

Spelling-the words this week are a review of the past 5 lessons. Test is on friday. 

*We are going to have a heavier focus on writing for the remainder of the year. The students are going to write, edit, and submit one story each week. Sometimes this story will be one of their own creation, and sometimes it will be in response to a picture (picture is shown and they write about the events surrounding it). We are encouraging students across the grades to write all of their ideas down, edit their writing, add to their writing, print legibly, and build their stamina. 

Math

We are continuing to work on our Addition and Subtraction to 18, except now we are mixing up the information and trying to comprehend what the question is asking to determine which sign (+/-) to use. 

Our focus this week will be on adding/subtraction using the '1 or 2 more' method and counting on or counting back. We will also be using the strategy of 'making 10' which allows the rearrangement of numbers to make 10 and add on. For example: 8+5 could be rearranged to make 10+3. This will be an alternate strategy for the students to use (and will lead into double digit addition/subtraction). 

Science

We are wrapping up our science unit "Exploring Liquids". This week we will learn about more properties of water through an experiment using paperclips and a cup of water. The cup will be filled with water (right to the top) and we will predict (and test) the number of paperclips that the cup will be able to hold without spilling over. 

We are also going to test the various ways of drying a towel. Our last experiment will be exploring a variety of items (cloth, glass, cardboard, styrofoam) and their ability to absorb water. 

March 7-11, 2016

Two five day weeks are upon us. With all the snow falling (then melting) we are encouraging parents to send an extra pair of pants and socks for your child. Our class has been pretty good with staying out of the puddles/mud, but it doesn't hurt to remind them. 

Language Arts
Writing-We are going to have a heavier focus on writing for the remainder of the year. The students are going to write, edit, and submit one story each week. Sometimes this story will be one of their own creation, and sometimes it will be in response to a picture (picture is shown and they write about the events surrounding it). We are encouraging students across the grades to write all of their ideas down, edit their writing, add to their writing, print legibly, and build their stamina. 
Phonics-final blends (blends that appear at the end of words, ex. tent, plant, skunk); words containing 'y' as a vowel

Reading-Chapter 5 of 'The Mouse and the Motorcycle'

Daily 5 Read to Someone-continuing "The BFG" by Roald Dahl

Spelling-this weeks' words are all contractions. We discussed how we use these words in informal writing and what the apostrophe means. I explained it that we use the apostrophe as a letter that we do not write. For example, in the words "let us" we replace the 'u' with an apostrophe and don't write it. It's like a shortcut. 

Math

We are continuing to work on our Addition and Subtraction to 18, except now we are mixing up the information and trying to comprehend what the question is asking to determine which sign (+/-) to use. 

I have introduced daily math journals as well. They get a question every day that they get a mark for (usually out of 3 marks) where they have to read the question, use a picture to solve the question, provide the correct answer, and write a sentence. This is building multiple skills including comprehension, explaining thought processes, and responding to questions. 

Science

Our 'Exploring Liquids' unit is going awesome! The students are loving all the different properties that we are learning about. This week we are testing dissolving. We are going to explore a variety of elements (water, sand, snow, salt) to see if they will dissolve in water. 

Feb 22-26, 2016

Important information was sent home on Monday Feb 22. Please check your child's agenda for these documents (permission form for Meditation Program, verification sheet and other documents to confirm your intent to attend East Elementary in 2016-2017) and return them by Friday Feb 26, 2016. 

Wednesday Feb 24 2016 is Pink Shirt Day. We wear a pink shirt to show that we are taking a stand against bullying. I encourage each and every student to wear a pink shirt (or an item of pink) to support our schools' initiative. 

Language Arts
Writing-separating sentences into the who/what (noun) and doing/describing (verb) and making edits to sentences that are missing capital letters and punctuation; we will be discussing word referents (alternate words to make a sentence stronger and more appealing)
Phonics-compound words, r blend words

Reading-Chapter 3 of 'The Mouse and the Motorcycle'

Daily 5 Read to Someone-continuing "The BFG" by Roald Dahl

Spelling-words this week are 'c' and 'ck' blend words; we discovered that words that contain the letter 'c' make a ssss sound (race) or a kkkk sound (became) and sometimes they blend as a ck to make the kkkk sound (stick). 

Math

Over the next few weeks we will be looking at Addition and Subtraction to 18. We are focusing on fact families (7, 2, 9 is a fact family). Here is an example of a fact family: 

2, 7, 9

2 + 7 = 9

7 + 2 = 9

9 - 2 = 7

9 - 7 = 2

Fact families demonstrate how number equations are connected and help us go back and forth from subtraction to addition. There is a relationship between addition and subtraction, and being able to identify this relationship will help the students find different techniques to solving tough math questions. 

Science

Our crystals are growing! It is pretty awesome to see the changes on a daily basis and have discussion about evaporation. 

This week, we will be exploring a variety of liquids (students will not know what the liquids are). We will be looking at smell, viscosity, color, and other physical properties. 

Then we will take the liquids and freeze them. Then we will look at the liquids and observe if the liquids changed smell, viscosity, and color. 

After that, we will set the liquids out on the counter for a few days to see if they evaporate. Once a few days has passed, we will look at the smell, viscosity, and color to see if they have changed. 

Social

We will be looking at occupations and natural resources of our 3 communities.

Feb 16-19, 2016

Hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Family Day! We encouraged each student to go 'unplugged' from technology on Family Day. Each child was asked to record the number of hours that they went technology-free. I have received quite a few forms however all "Unplugged" forms need to be returned by Wednesday Feb 17. 

This Friday we have WINTER FUN DAY. Kids from Kindergarten to Grade 6 will be put on teams and go to 6 different winter outdoor activities. Please ensure that your child is dressed for the weather on Friday. 

Language Arts
Writing-1. annotating expository/informative piece of writing (finding the title/topic, introduction, body, main idea sentences, detail sentences, and conclusion); 2. sorting details and grouping ideas together in writing
Phonics-hard and soft g words (ex. game has a hard g sound, giraffe has a soft g sound), high frequency words (only, laugh, own, even, their, might)

Reading-Chapter 2 of 'The Mouse and the Motorcycle'

Daily 5 Read to Someone-continuing "The BFG" by Roald Dahl

Spelling-words this week are 'wh' and 'ch' blend words

Math

Over the next few weeks we will be looking at Addition and Subtraction to 18. Since we have been working on this a lot lately, it will be a quick unit. 

Science

I sent out an email and dojo message asking for students to bring in a glass jar for our salt crystals that we will be making. This will be a good experiment to witness evaporation and the formation of crystals. 

Our unit that we will be focusing on (until Spring Break) is Exploring Liquids. We will be doing 1-2 experiments every week to explore different liquids, viscosity, absorption, drying techniques, characteristics of different liquids, and differences between solids and liquids.

Social

We will be looking at occupations and natural resources of our 3 communities. 

Feb 8-12, 2016

I hope everyone had a fantastic long weekend! The teachers were at a Teachers Convention (various sessions focusing on different parts of education, curriculum, students, etc) and I got some really awesome ideas! I am so excited to implement them in our class!

This Thursday we have our Field Trip to Telus World of Science. The bus will be leaving right after morning announcements, so please ensure that your child is in the classroom before the bell goes. Students will also need a bag lunch and all items will need to be disposable (no plastic containers, thermos, reusable water bottles, etc). Some great ideas are: sandwiches, granola bars, fruit, yogurt tube, crackers and cheese, cookies, fruit snacks, etc. 

Our test on Hot and Cold Temperatures is this week and we will beginning our 'Exploring Liquids' unit next week. One of our first experiments is making crystals. Each child will need a glass jar to make their crystals in. The best kind of glass jars are Mason jars and pasta sauce jars, or any glass jar that hold more than 500mL.

With our warm weather lately, students are coming in wet from recess. If you would like to send an extra set of pants and socks for your child to leave in their locker, that might be a good idea.

Language Arts
Writing-building comprehension through questions and retelling. Students are going to read a story together then answer a series of questions and retell the story to develop different comprehension skills. 
Phonics-hard and soft g words (ex. game has a hard g sound, giraffe has a soft g sound), high frequency words (only, laugh, own, even, their, might)

Reading-Grade 1D, 2K, and 3S are going to start a ‘Reading Group’. Students from each class are going to be put together in small reading groups and read “The Mouse and the Motorcycle”. This will give them an opportunity to demonstrate their Daily 5 skills, group work skills, comprehension, leadership skills, and listening skills.

Math

We are wrapping up our Numbers to 100 unit and will begin our Addition and Subtraction to 100 unit next week. Although this unit has finished, it will continue throughout the rest of the year as we explore other numbers and equations.

Science

Our Hot and Cold Temperatures unit has finished and we will begin our Exploring Liquids unit next week. Please see the note above about bringing in glass jars to grow crystals. 

Jan 25-28, 2016

After a few 5-day weeks, we are headed into a few shorter weeks. There is no school this Friday Jan 29. Report cards will be handed out on Thursday Jan 28. Also, there will be a substitute in on Thursday as I am away at a conference. 

Important Notes: 
-Lice Busters are coming in on Tuesday. If you would like to opt out, please email me by the end of Monday Jan 25. 
-Telus World of Science Field Trip Permission Forms are due on Wednesday with full payment. 
-Spelling Test on Thursday this week
-Mission Impossible is in the gym all week (this week and next week). It is an obstacle course set up by our Grade 4-6 SWAT members for the entire school to attempt. The kids are going to love it!

Language Arts
Writing-distinguishing between expository and narrative writing; distinguishing between fact and opinion. They will also be spending time writing varying sentences about creatures that live in the forest. One of the skills that we focus on in Grade 2 is changing sentences to be more interesting for the reader. For example, a series of sentences that start with 'He went...,' 'He did...,' 'He had...' are not very exciting. Students are beginning to use different words to start sentences to make it more attractive to the reader. 
Phonics-words ending in -le, high frequency words ending in -le; hard and soft c (being able to recognize the difference)
Spelling-all of our words this week end in -le
Daily 5-continue reading The BFG by Roald Dahl

Math
We continue to practice using numbers to 100. The students are doing exercises such as: counting letters in a series of words, grouping numbers into tens and ones (groups of objects and numbers in numerical form), identifying words in written form (ex. 13 and thirteen), 'counting on' starting at a variety of numbers between 1-100, and using pictures/diagrams to help with addition and subtraction questions. 

Science
We have been using thermometers quite a bit lately. The students are gaining comfort with reading thermometers and understanding the scale on the stem of the thermometer. It can be a difficult concept to understand when numbers above zero are positive and numbers below zero are negative. This is their first encounter with negative numbers. 

Jan 18-22, 2016

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and were able to stay warm! It sure was a cold weekend! BRRRRR!

*Please remember to send back all Library books!! Lost books will be charged to your account.*
*Please check your account to ensure all outstanding balances are paid.*

Reminder: 
-Scholastic Book Orders are due Friday
-We have a dress up day this Friday...beach wear! Come to school wearing your summer gear. It may be cold outside but it will be warm inside!

I encourage you to talk to your child about proper hygiene as well. Washing hands (especially after blowing their nose, before eating, and after the bathroom) is a good habit to get into. This will prevent a lot of the unwanted 'bugs' from coming into our classroom. If your child does come down with something, please keep them at home for a day or two to get better. We appreciate sharing but not when it comes to illness!

Language Arts
Writing-we continue to work on 'extending our endings' and recalling a memory, feeling, decision, wish/hope, or defining action in the conclusion of our story. We will also be looking at using a variety of words to explain feelings or emotions without actually saying the emotion. For example: I wore a big grin on my face INSTEAD OF I was happy.
Reading-During our Daily 5 station "Read to Someone" we are reading "The BFG" by Roald Dahl. The students get to read to each other then ask comprehension questions after each chapter (one chapter/day). The students are REALLY enjoying reading about the BFG (Big Friendly Giant). I chose this book because it is being made into a movie and coming to theaters in Fall 2016.
Spelling-see the tab above for our list of spelling words this week. All of the words end in Y, focusing on the 'long i' or 'long e' sound.
Phonics-compound words (continuation from last week)
Home Reading- I have noticed a slight decline in home reading since the end of November and I encourage you to remind your child to read every night for 10 minutes. The goal this month is 4 hours and if they all read 4 hours they are rewarded with a popcorn and movie party!

Math
Today we worked on representing numbers and the various ways to show the same number. We use words, addition/subtraction sentences, base ten blocks, counting by 1/2/5/10, groups of 10, etc. Try this with your child! Give them a number between 1-100 and ask them to show it using different strategies.
We also worked on organizing numbers from greatest to least, and visa versa.

Science
The students have been learning lots about different temperatures: watching temperatures fluctuate, what affects temperature, what higher/lower temperatures feel like, etc. They are starting to read the thermometer and all of the different markings. They have lots of questions! It is wonderful seeing them relate information about temperature to different solids/liquids/gases and understanding what they look like at different temperatures (properties of materials). They are definitely going above and beyond the curriculum by asking all these questions! It makes my 'inner science nerd' so happy!

Social
Students will be looking at the land and bodies of water in the 3 communities.

Jan 11-15, 2016

Well our class enrollment has grown 3 students since December! We got a new student in December, a new student last week, and another new student yesterday! YAY! Our class is up to 14 students. 
I am so proud of the students for taking these new students 'under their wing' and helping them with class routines, and answering little questions these new students have.

Please keep an eye out for a permission form coming home with the students this week...we are planning a field trip to the Telus World of Science on Feb 11. The payment can be made online or send money to the school with the permission form. Permission forms and payment are due by January 27, 2016. 

Language Arts
Spelling-words this week focus on vowel blends with the letter 'y'; ex. ay, ey, oy
Phonics-compound words; blending two smaller words together to make a larger word; ex. pea-nut, ham-burger
Daily 5-we have introduced our last part of the Daily 5: Read to Someone. When we Read to Someone, we are sitting EEKK (elbow to elbow or knee to knee) and the listener is giving their full attention to the reader. 
Writing-this week we are focusing on 'extending our endings' and writing JUICY endings while using a memory/feeling/wish or hope about the story. The other idea we will be focusing on is showing a character's feelings/emotions through words. Students usually resort to words they know: happy, sad, mad, angry, shy. We are going to try and focus on what these emotions LOOK like and start adding them into our writing. 

Math
Numbers to 100: equal and unequal sets, comparing numbers, and filling in numbers on a 100s chart (finding patterns on a 100s chart, using the 10's number to find the ROW on the 100s chart and using the 1's number to find the COLUMN on the 100s chart). 

*I continue to urge parents to involve their child in money counting. Although we do a money question every week, it is a life skill (and a skill in Grade 3) that is very important. 

Science
One of the experiments we will be doing this week is measuring the temperature throughout the school throughout the day. The thermometer will be in 3 different places and we will monitor it 5 times a day to see if there is any changes. As our school has very different temperatures, this will be quite interesting for the students. 

Social
We are looking at the three communities (Saskatoon, Iqaluit, and Meteghan) to discover the physical differences and how they differ from our community of Leduc. 

Jan 4-8, 2016

Happy New Year! Seems like those two weeks flew by! I hope you all had a restful and exciting holidays with your family. It was so wonderful to hear of all the stories from the break, what the students got for Christmas, and the family members they got to visit.

We have a few full weeks (5 days) ahead with a little bit happening every week. (Reminder to check the calendar for events!)

Rock & Rings are at East Elementary School this week. The students had a gym class with them and got to explore the different parts of curling (within the comfort of our own gymnasium!). They really enjoyed it!

Language Arts
Phonics-review of long vowel sounds
Spelling-'s' blend words (test on Friday)
Writing-discussed about strong character descriptions and captivating story endings (using a memory, a hope/wish, a feeling, a decision, or a defining action)
Journals-we wrote about our holidays (3 memorable events/items)

Math
We reviewed working with money (ex. use 6 coins to make up $0.55), equal and not equal (using a weigh scale), and numbers to 100. We learned that even though things may look the same and their amount may be equal, they may not actually be equal.
We continue to practice our basic facts and responding quickly (instantaneous) to addition/subtraction to 12.

Science
We are having a HUGE push on science lately and our Hot & Cold Temperatures (seems to fit perfectly with our weather lately). We have discussed seasons, changes of weather in the seasons, animal adaptations from season, appropriate clothing in each season, which season we prefer (and why), and what activities each season is best suited for. Our next step is moving towards using thermometers to measure temperature of different places around the classroom and measuring the temperature of snow as it melts.