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.
Monday 25 January 2016
Tuesday 19 January 2016
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.
*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.
Tuesday 12 January 2016
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.
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.
Thursday 7 January 2016
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.
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.
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