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.

December

Well December is one crazy month...concert practices, learning new songs, excitement of the holidays, putting up decorations, visiting family...the list could go on and on. The kids are all excited for the upcoming weeks and there is only one problem...we don't have enough snow! We have been watching the weather (because of our Science unit: Hot and Cold Temperatures) and it is starting to make sense to them. They are realizing that this warm temperature is not going to bring the 'white Christmas' we all hope for and look forward to.
I am going to put all the information for the next two weeks below, as next week will be extremely busy with concert practices. (Also, please check the "What's coming up" tab above for the calendar)

Tutti Fruity Tuesdays have begun again and we encourage the students to bring a fresh fruit or vegetable for a snack. Points are given to each class based on the percentage of students who bring a fresh fruit/vegetable. The class with the highest percentage will win a healthy snack for their class! The students are very excited about it!

I will be gone on Wednesday Dec 9 (all day) and there will be a substitute in.

Thursday (Dec 10)-There will be a presentation (music or drama performance...I'm not too sure) from 10:30-11:15. In the afternoon we will have 3 volunteers from Leduc High School come and help out with our Science experiment.

Friday (Dec 11)-Theme Day-Crazy Christmas Dress Up day!!

NEXT WEEK: Christmas Concert practices will take place every afternoon from 1-3pm.
Tuesday (Dec 15) we will be doing Christmas Activities all morning.
Wednesday (Dec 16) will be our class Christmas party in the morning.
Thursday (Dec 17) will be our afternoon Christmas Concert  at 1pm.

***Students are asked to wear 'Country Cowboy/Cowgirl' attire to match their part in the concert.***

Friday (Dec 18) there will be some activities led by Mr Chomlak, Mrs Hicks, and Mrs Dukeshire. It is also PAJAMA DAY!!! 

Language Arts

Our focus in writing this month is Forest Animals. Students have been working on deciphering between fact and opinion, and whether a piece of writing is narrative or expository/informative. Over the next two weeks we will be looking at using JUICY and EXCITING words in our writing (instead of jump, switch it out for leaped or hopped), starting off our story with an exciting event (good introductions), changing sentences to be more exciting, and determining verbs (action words) and nouns (person, place, or thing). 

Math

We are still working on our Numbers to 100. Our focus is going to counting and recognizing numbers by groups of 10. We have been working a lot with 10s frames and 10s cubes (cubes, rods, and flats). The students are realizing the relationship between: 6 tens = 60, and 6 tens and 5 ones = 65. We have been working on making strong predictions by grouping numbers together in our head. 

Science

Weather seems to be our topic of conversation lately. Exploring with thermometers, recording the daily temperature, determining whether the weather is cloudy/sunny/raining/foggy/snowing, what that means for us going outside and the proper attire. One of our experiments this week will be recording the temperature around the school to see if the temperature is all the same, or different. 

November 23-27, 2015

The last full week of November is upon us and it is FINALLY starting to look like a typical November! This large snow fall that came on Monday has turned our dusty playground into a white winter wonderland. 
With this recent change in weather, please ensure your child comes to school with the appropriate attire: winter coat, snow pants, mitts (good insulated mitts that will keep hands warm), hat, scarf, and snow boots. 

What's New: 
-Tutti Fruity Tuesdays is starting up this week. Students are encouraged to bring a FRESH fruit or vegetable for snack on Tuesdays. This is a competition between classes and the class with the highest number of fruit/vegetables at the end of the competition wins a healthy snack for their class! 
-No School this Friday as it is a PD day. 
-Student of the Week will be handed out on Thursday afternoon. 

Language Arts
Phonics has taken us onto the next vowel...O. They are using common words that have the long vowel O in them. It works out nicely as these match up with our spelling words this week. 
Our Writing unit wraps up this week with a writing about Autumn. Students are using detail, capital letters, proper spacing, appropriate punctuation, and a elaborate picture to help portray their thoughts and ideas. It was hard for them to believe that we are still in the season of Autumn...especially with this fresh white snow we just got!

Math
We will be continuing with Numbers to 100. We have been working quite a bit with money (coins) and the students are gaining confidence with them. I encourage you to practice at home or in the grocery store counting the change in your wallet. 
Our next part of math will be looking at ordinal numbers (first, second, third, fourth, etc) and the words that are associated with each number. 

Science
This weather has really been fun to talk about in science class, as it goes nicely with our Hot and Cold Temperatures unit. We have been talking about the weather and what temperature actually means, as well as using a thermometer to measure it. It is quite fun to watch the students explore and get excited about gathering information (even if it is from The Weather Network). 

Social
Learning all 13 provinces and territories is tough work! But we are getting there! Learning the provinces and territories around us, and a special piece of information about them is helping each student remember them all. 

November 16-20, 2015

Welcome back! After 5 days away from school, it feels like December is right around the corner! Scary, I know!

Lots of little things going on:

-Christmas card orders (through EEPA on a green sheet of paper) are due back on Wednesday November 18 (with payment)
-Operation Christmas Child boxes are due back on Thursday November 19
-Coat Swap-a memo went home last week about the Coat Swap (bring in coats that do not fit anymore and 'swap' it for a coat that does fit)
-Yearbook Interest forms are going home (today) and are due back by November 30. This is just to see who is interested in purchasing a Yearbook. Order forms will be sent home in Spring 2016. 
-Patterns Test and Magnets test will be sent home by Friday. Keep an eye out in your child's agenda!

Language Arts
Phonics-review of long and short vowels and determining if they are long/short vowel words
Spelling words-all words this week are focused on the long vowel 'u'
Writing-Students will be differentiating between facts and opinions about Autumn. Students will also be writing a story about Autumn with a focus on a main character, main event, setting, and a story ending.
Reading-we will be working in small groups and practicing reading to each other

Math
Numbers to 100-finding odd and even numbers from 1-100, counting with money (coins) using a 100s chart
Addition and Subtraction (mental math)-continue to practice using manipulatives and through games

Science
We will be reviewing our Magnets test and then moving on to Hot and Cold Temperatures. Our first thing to look at will be thermometers: why we use them, parts of a thermometer, and where we find thermometers.

Social
We have been looking at the map of Canada and the provinces. Students have been learning where to find Alberta on the map. Our next step is finding the other communities on the map (Iqaluit, Saskatoon, and Meteghan).

November 2-6, 2015

Well there is officially 7 weeks left until Christmas...where has the time gone!
First things first, thank you to the parents who brought treats for the Halloween party on Friday October 30. The kids really loved having the snacks at the party. Plus they looked pretty awesome too!
Currently in art we are making poppies for our wreath to present at the Remembrance Day ceremony on November 10 at 10:30am. Please feel free to attend if your schedule allows.
With the temperature cooling down, please ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather. We don't want them getting sick!

Language Arts
We are now using 4 out of 5 'Daily 5' stations: Read to Self, Word Work, Work on Writing, and Listen to Reading. The students are building stamina (remaining focused on their task for longer lengths of time each day) and are very excited to have this time.
In our Writing unit, we are exploring juicy sentences that contain a noun (person/place/thing), verb (action word), and adjectives (details). We discussed why each of these are important and why each of these needs to be in each sentence. Students have now been encouraged to use these in their writing more regularly (ie. Daily 5 writing).
Students are developing confidence with using common long vowel words in a variety of sentences (in phonics). This is associating quite well with our spelling words as this weeks words (as well as last weeks) are long vowel words.

Math
Earlier this week we began our 'Numbers to 100' unit. Students have been busy using their 100s charts to help find missing numbers, count by 2/3/4/5/6, starting at a number and counting forwards and backwards, and patterns that occur on the 100s chart.
We continue to do 'money math' which also ties nicely in with our Numbers to 100.

Science
We wrapped up our Magnets unit on Wednesday with a Unit Test. Our next unit (Hot and Cold Temperatures) will begin next week.

Social
Earlier this week we discussed where we lived. What is the name of the city/town you live in? What is the province? What is the country? Can you find it on a map? On a map of Canada, where is there land? Where is there water? What are the two major bodies of water called (Atlantic and Pacific ocean)? They are quite interested in finding places on a map!

October 26-30, 2015

BRRRRRRR!! It sure has cooled off today! That wind is making recess quite chilly. Please make sure your child has the appropriate clothes for recess. Always assume that recess will be outdoors, so if it is snowing/windy/raining, please ensure that your child has all of the appropriate attire to keep warm outside (ex. warm coat, hat, scarf, mitts, lined pants, warm boots, etc). It is always easier to leave items in their locker than wish they had brought them.

Friday is going to be quite busy with the Halloween celebrations. Here is the breakdown of the day:

Block 1-3 (8:30-10:10) will be 'normal'. At 10:10, they will get ready for our class party. (Thank you to those parents bringing snacks for them!) We will watch a movie (Wall-E) and enjoy our snacks until lunch recess (11:55) at which time they will go out for recess. Lunch will begin at 12:20 but there is NO hot lunch this week. At 12:45 we will head to the gym for assembly and then walk over to Salem Manor at 1:00. Upon their return, the students will do a parade in the gym to show off their costumes so the other students/classes can see.

Stay safe this weekend! DON'T FORGET TO TURN YOUR CLOCKS BACK ON SATURDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY MORNING!!!

Language Arts
This week we introduced 'Word Work' in our Daily 5. The students will get to use different manipulatives to explore their spelling words each week. The students are going to have a blast using 4 out of the 5 Daily 5 stations! (Note: The 5th station of Read to Someone will be introduced after Christmas holidays).
Our Phonics is just wrapping up with common words using short vowel sounds. We are jumping into long vowel sounds this week and letter blends that make the long vowel sounds.
In our Writing, the students have been working a lot with FACT vs OPINION, and what the difference between them is. We even got to take facts and use our feelings to turn them into opinions. For example: The weather gets cooler in Autumn (fact), but I do not like that the weather gets cooler (opinion).
We continue to listen to 'The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail' and the students are really getting into it! It is a novel that we are listening to as a class, and they are enjoying learning with the character.

Math
We have wrapped up our Patterns unit with a test. Thank you for taking the time with your child to work on the practice sheets that were sent home! We continue to work on math facts and this will be an ongoing practice throughout the year. Next week we will begin our 'Numbers to 100' unit.

Science
Our class is at the tail end of the Magnets unit. We are testing magnets' strength through fabrics/objects to see if they are more weak or strong. Our Magnets test will be next week Wednesday.

Social
We have wrapped up our Mapping unit and are heading on to learn about the different communities throughout Canada, specifically Meteghan (Nova Scotia), Saskatoon (Saskatchewan), and Iqaluit (Nunavut) and how those communities relate to Leduc. Throughout the year we will be discovering different qualities of these communities (people, geography, jobs, resources, etc) and comparing them to Leduc.

Oct 21, 2015

Busy weeks are ahead!
Today and tomorrow after school we have Parent/Teacher Interviews. Thank you to those parents who signed up! I am excited to meet with you.
Important things to remember: 
-picture forms are due back to school on THURSDAY OCTOBER 22, 2015. Even if you would like retakes, please send the form back.
-we will be having a dress-up day next Friday and walking through Salem Manor (Senior Center across the street). In the morning will be our class party. For those who signed up to bring items, I will send out a sign-up sheet for you to sign up (this will be sent via email).

Language Arts
We are doing Reading Comprehension every morning. The students are getting much more confident with understanding what they are reading.
Daily 5 is going really well. The students love the 3 parts we have started (read to self, listen to read, and work on writing) and we will be introducing 'Word Work' next week.
In phonics, we are developing our understanding and confidence of short vowel sounds. Next we will be working with long vowel sounds.
Our writing is developing too! We have learned about two types of writing: expository/informative and narrative. We are exploring the differences of the two types: why the author writes this way, what the story looks like, what each sentence contains, the importance of a title, etc.

Math
We have wrapped up our Patterns unit and are starting to review. There will be a test next week on Wednesday October 28.
On Monday we looked at money (specifically, coins) and what each coin is worth. We then moved on to adding money together and figuring out 'how much money is in Miss Kruse's wallet'. This is a great chance to work with your child when you go to the store or are finding money around the house. Ask your child: how much is that worth? if I had all these coins together, how much would I have?

Science
Magnets are the topic of conversation lately. The students got to test various items to see if they were magnetic or not. Items such as a pop can, juice box, eraser, pencil, paper clip, money, chalk, nails, and a twist tie were among the items. Our next experiment will be to see how many paperclips a magnet can hold. We will be talking about predictions and observations as well.

Social
We are at the tail end of our Mapping unit. Our discussion lately has been around directions (compass rose, left, right) and the continents. The students are very interested in the continents and what is on each continent (ex. variety of animals, weather, geography, etc). The conversation has even led into tectonic plates!!

September 28-October 2, 2015

Well the temperature is decreasing, the leaves are changing color, and we have officially entered the season of FALL! There is still a lot going on in the classroom and there is no slowing down!

-Club Moo (milk program) will begin next week. Information went home on Monday Sept. 28 about it. This year you can purchase milk online through Powerschool.
-Home Reading: the goal for September is 2 hours. Please fill in the Reading Log in the red duotang that was sent home. A new Reading Log for October will be sent home on Thursday October 1.
-Hot Lunch program starts on Friday.

The Terry Fox Walk went really well on Friday. We had fantastic weather and the kids had a ton of fun on their walk. They really enjoyed coming back to school for a hot dog, bag of chips, and a water. Thank you to all those who came out and helped!

This week:
Language Arts
Phonics: recognizing common words, using common words to complete sentences, short vowel words
Spelling: our spelling words this week are words that contain the short vowel o and u
Writing: Action words, splitting a sentence into two parts (subject and predicate; Who/What and a Doing/Describing)
Daily 5: We have been working on mastering "Read to Self" and "Work on Writing". We will introduce "Listen to Read" this week too. This allows kids to listen to books using iPads as a different form of reading.

Math
Patterns: practicing how to extend a pattern and predict parts of a pattern that are missing; making a pattern with a pre-determined number of parts (ex. 6 red beads, 3 red beads, and 3 green beads)
Addition/Subtraction: we are wrapping up our review unit and starting numbers that go up to 20

Science
-Identifying magnets around our school/classroom and where magnets might be used

Social
Students will be using a map to understand how to get from 'Point A' to 'Point B'.

September 22, 2015

Well, we are settling into our daily routines and understanding the expectations of a Grade 2 classroom. Students are coming to school less tired and more mentally ready to learn. It is wonderful to see them prepared every morning, and excited for the day ahead.

I noticed that some of the students are still suffering from a stuffy nose or sore throat. In health class, they have been discussing washing their hands, eating healthy food, staying active, and drinking lots of water. Although I have been reminding them at school, practice these things at home too! And never underestimate the power of sleep. It is super easy to be busy in the evenings or go to sleep a little later, but kids this age need 9-11 hours of sleep every night. The benefits are seen in the classroom as well.

Every Thursday we have Library. Please ensure library books are returned to school by Thursday so your child can take out new books.

This Friday we have our Terry Fox Walk/Run. If you are able to volunteer, please let me know. Also, please ensure that your child is dressed for the weather. It looks like it is supposed to be the nicest day of the week but there is a chance of rain. Make sure they are wearing the proper clothes for this walk.

LA
We have introduced the first two parts of our Daily 5 program: Read to Self and Work on Writing. When students are doing 'Read to Self' they are: choosing one spot to read and remaining there, picking a book quickly and quietly, and reading the whole time. For 'Work on Writing' the students have the ability to work on different writing types (letters, postcards, stories, lists, cards, or poems) and there are no restrictions as to a topic. The benefit to this program is that it gives the students choice, and it allows me to work individually with each child.

We continue to work on our Phonics, and this week we are working on 'short vowel a' words.
In our spelling, our words are focused on 'short vowel a' and 'short vowel i' words.

Something new for the students this year is Reading Comprehension. 2-3 times per week we read a passage and answer questions about the passage. This is a great practice for the students to get in the habit of because they are learning to focus and concentrate more on what they are reading.

Math
We will be continuing our Review of Addition/Subtraction to 10 and the beginning of our Patterns unit.  They will be using manipulatives to build their own patterns as well. We have discussed what the core of a pattern is (the part that is repeated over and over) and we are now discussing attributes (qualities of the pattern; ex. blue triangle has 2 attributes: blue and triangle).

Science
We have been having a ton of fun with magnets and testing what is magnetic around our classroom and school. It was awesome watching the students test different materials to see if they were magnetic. We will continue to explore the parts of a magnet (poles), and the different styles of magnets.

Social
Our class is looking at different types of maps. One part of maps that we looked at are road signs. It really surprised me how many different types of road signs each of the students knew! This is a great activity for you to do with your kids: talk about signs as you are driving and what they mean.

September 11, 2015

WOW! First of all, I would like to extend a huge WELCOME BACK to everyone. It was so exciting to see all the kids come in on that first day of school ready to learn.
Please find the spelling words and calendar in the tabs above. I have been posting pictures to Class Dojo, so feel free to check there to see what we are doing (in addition to this blog).
Other Items:
1. Please return all forms that were sent home in the past week. Some are for the office and some are for me to look at...but both are important to return ASAP.
2. Hot lunch online orders are now open. If you would like to order hot lunch for your child, please go to: http://ees.blackgold.ca/parents/hot-lunches/

We have been busy working on a multitude of items so far. Each week I will update the blog to let you know what we are working on so you can have more specific conversations with your child. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions.

LA
We started our first week of spelling words. The students will write them in their agenda and dictionaries, practice with other manipulatives, but it is always helpful to practice them at home too. Spelling tests will be on the last day of every week.
Each week we will also do Reading Comprehension. This is a great practice for students to get in the habit of doing to ensure they are processing information that they are reading.
On Tuesday, I sent home the Home Reading log in a red duotang. The goal this month is 2 hours. Each month we will have a goal to reach. Students are asked to read every night (if possible). Please record the time (and other info) on the page provided. If a child is reading quietly or aloud...it counts! Even if you and your child takes turns reading, that counts as time that can be recorded.
On the first day of every week, our class will write in their Journals about what they did on the weekend, or another topic given. Sometimes students have a difficult time remembering what they did on the weekend, so for the first few months it is beneficial to talk about this (with them) on the way to school on Monday mornings.

Math
For the month of September we will be reviewing numbers/addition/subtraction/representing numbers to 10. We will also be exploring different patterns. They are discovering that patterns are found all around us. This is a great conversation piece to discuss with them when you are in the car, at the grocery store, etc as to what patterns they see.

Science
We have started to explore the power of MAGNETS! We will be looking more in depth next week as to 'what makes up a magnet' and 'why do some things stick to magnets while others don't' and other questions.

Social
Earlier this week we started looking at maps, and why maps are important. On Thursday we took a peek at a world map and all of the continents, as well as a town map, street map, and a house floor plan. Students discussed why each of these might be important, why we need maps, and why maps only have things that don't move on them (do not contain people).

Enjoy your weekend!