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.