Happy New Year!
It has been a great start back in 2019, with many exciting things planned for the year. The first, and most exciting, is welcoming student teachers Rebecca Deobald and Jessie McCauley to our classrooms until April 12th as they build their teaching practice under our supervision. They have already shown so much potential, and the students are quickly warming up to them, and it is only the first week!
First of all, Winter Sports Day on Friday was cancelled due to ice on the compound and in the field. It will be rescheduled for March. We will let you know more information closer to the day.
We hope that you all enjoyed the winter stories that the students brought home before the break. They worked so hard on them, and were so proud of what they created! Definitely a keepsake that you will have for years.
This week we talked about New Years Resolutions, and came up with at least 3 of our own. Each student had to come up with a resolution for themselves, something to help others, and one to help the world. As the week went on the children referred back to their resolutions when they were building new skills or thinking of their evening plans.
In math we continued our talk around balancing equations. The students practiced using the greater than, less than, equal to, and not equal to. We reminded ourselves that a number sentence can be reversed, or that both sides of the equation can have an addition or subtraction question.
We began looking at hot and cold for our science inquiry, and even did an experiment led by Ms. Deobald. We were looking at the effectiveness of 3 different insulators on a boiling cup of water. We used tinfoil, newspaper, and a wool sock. Ask your child which insulator held in the heat the best.
We learned a bit about pointillism this week, and how we can use dots to create art. We used our prior knowledge about how to draw a snowflake, and then used white paint and a q-tip to make dots on our drawings. The finished snowflakes look amazing!
This week we will be beginning to look at poetry in writing, creating our own problems for math, and continuing to look at hot and cold, with more focus on cold!
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Week 14
December is here, and we are all feeling it! With the snow on the ground, and the children talking of elves and Christmas decorations, singing songs and getting ready for the Christmas concert, this last week seemed to fly by!
We are working hard on our winter stories! This week students were expected to finish drawing their story board, and are now onto writing their stories. They are practicing taking the one idea, and expanding it by using detail of what the character is doing, seeing, and even thinking or feeling. The students are starting to get it, and the stories are coming alive!!!
In math we have continued to talk about coins, and how we can use them to create different amounts. Students realized that when you use a few of the same coin, you end up skip counting! Students will continue to practice this skill at the beginning of the week, and we will be moving on to balancing equations. It is always interesting when students find out that the number sentence can be on the right side of the equal sign, or both sides of an equation can be a number sentence.
We finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this week, and are looking forward to watching the new movie version on Tuesday afternoon! If you are able to send in a small snack for the class, then we can make a small party out of it! Any parents that would like to volunteer in the morning to make microwave popcorn and put it in individual paper bags for both classes, please contact Ms. Secord at lmsecord@cbe.ab.ca.
We have continued our talk around communities, and have expanded our inquiry to Alberta. We looked at the different symbols of Alberta, and even practiced drawing a few of them. We will expand our inquiry even further to different communities of Canada after winter break.
We have been practicing hard for the Christmas concert, and will have a few run throughs this week before our big productions on Thursday afternoon at 1:00pm and evening at 6:30pm. We are so excited to perform, and are looking forward to showing you what we have created! Remember, if you need more tickets for the evening performance please contact the office.
We are working hard on our winter stories! This week students were expected to finish drawing their story board, and are now onto writing their stories. They are practicing taking the one idea, and expanding it by using detail of what the character is doing, seeing, and even thinking or feeling. The students are starting to get it, and the stories are coming alive!!!
In math we have continued to talk about coins, and how we can use them to create different amounts. Students realized that when you use a few of the same coin, you end up skip counting! Students will continue to practice this skill at the beginning of the week, and we will be moving on to balancing equations. It is always interesting when students find out that the number sentence can be on the right side of the equal sign, or both sides of an equation can be a number sentence.
We finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this week, and are looking forward to watching the new movie version on Tuesday afternoon! If you are able to send in a small snack for the class, then we can make a small party out of it! Any parents that would like to volunteer in the morning to make microwave popcorn and put it in individual paper bags for both classes, please contact Ms. Secord at lmsecord@cbe.ab.ca.
We have continued our talk around communities, and have expanded our inquiry to Alberta. We looked at the different symbols of Alberta, and even practiced drawing a few of them. We will expand our inquiry even further to different communities of Canada after winter break.
We have been practicing hard for the Christmas concert, and will have a few run throughs this week before our big productions on Thursday afternoon at 1:00pm and evening at 6:30pm. We are so excited to perform, and are looking forward to showing you what we have created! Remember, if you need more tickets for the evening performance please contact the office.
Friday, November 30, 2018
week 13
Wow, how is it already December? As of today, we have been in school for 60 days already! Where has the time gone?
It has been another busy week! The students worked very hard on their dance routine, and it was great to see all the parents who were able to make it out today for the performance! Our students definitely have some skills!!!
We are almost done reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and are thinking that it would be a great idea to watch it on movie day on December 20th! We can't wait!
In math we have been looking at even and odd numbers and are moving into looking at money and the value of Canadian coins. Did you know that you can tell if a number is even or odd just by looking at the ones place? Then all you have to do is find out if that number in the ones place is even (every one has a buddy) or odd (one of the ones is lonely). Ask your child to show you what they know.
In writing we have begun working on a holiday story! We have used a visual organizer to plan our story, and we are now using a story board to draw out the events in order. Over the next few weeks we will be using our pictures and expanding writing skills to create awesome stories that we will share with you!
We have been developing our sense of our community from small to large. We started with self, then family, then Cranston, and now Calgary. Next week we will be looking at Alberta and Canada, and how those communities effect how we live.
Next week:
We will be looking at how coins are counted, and how many cents makes a dollar. Students will be experimenting with different ways to put coins together to create the same amount.
Students will be working on expanding their ideas for their story writing, and looking at how they can use their words to help the reader "see" the story in their heads.
It has been another busy week! The students worked very hard on their dance routine, and it was great to see all the parents who were able to make it out today for the performance! Our students definitely have some skills!!!
We are almost done reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and are thinking that it would be a great idea to watch it on movie day on December 20th! We can't wait!
In math we have been looking at even and odd numbers and are moving into looking at money and the value of Canadian coins. Did you know that you can tell if a number is even or odd just by looking at the ones place? Then all you have to do is find out if that number in the ones place is even (every one has a buddy) or odd (one of the ones is lonely). Ask your child to show you what they know.
In writing we have begun working on a holiday story! We have used a visual organizer to plan our story, and we are now using a story board to draw out the events in order. Over the next few weeks we will be using our pictures and expanding writing skills to create awesome stories that we will share with you!
We have been developing our sense of our community from small to large. We started with self, then family, then Cranston, and now Calgary. Next week we will be looking at Alberta and Canada, and how those communities effect how we live.
Next week:
We will be looking at how coins are counted, and how many cents makes a dollar. Students will be experimenting with different ways to put coins together to create the same amount.
Students will be working on expanding their ideas for their story writing, and looking at how they can use their words to help the reader "see" the story in their heads.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
week 12
Hello families! Sorry we have not sent out a blog in a few weeks. Here is an update of what we have been working on.
In writing, the students did an amazing week of Remembrance Day writing about the importance of remembering and what peace means to them. The students were very insightful and have such big hearts. Then we read a few different books from the Black Lagoon series, and the students used a writing organizer to plan their own Black Lagoon books. They took their ideas and put them into book form, and did their own illustrations! They look so good, and the students are so proud of them!
Both classes have been practicing editing for capitals and punctuation. This is a very important skill to have. Students need to be able to go back and review their writing and edit their own work.
In math the students have been focusing on getting a deeper understanding of place value. They learned about what a digit is, and that a one digit number is in the ones, a two digit number is in the tens, and a three digit number is in the hundreds. Students learned how to use base ten blocks and a place value chart to record numbers. They learned a game called Target Number, where they used a place value chart, base ten blocks, and dice to try and reach a number before their partner did. This was a great practice grouping ones into tens and being able to move that ten into the tens column, which will help their understanding of larger addition that is coming up.
We have been focusing on different types of communities, and how communities can be different sizes. From small to large, our communities are self, family, community, city, province, country, and world! We have now completed our self and family, and are moving into our community of Cranston and the different things it contains to help us work together and live happy and healthy lives.
We have done some amazing art! Both classes did a Remembrance Day display, and Ms. Secord's class did a Ted Harrison art project with Mrs. Brace, our substitute. Your children are so talented!
This week:
- we will continue to work on our editing skills, and do another story writing activity. The students will now look at using triple scoop words in their writing to help the reader be able to visualize their stories better.
- we will be working on our problem solving skills on open ended problems (a problem that has more than one answer). The website https://mathbeforebed.com has some great ideas for you to try at home.
- we will be looking at Cranston and thinking about how our community contributes to our way of life.
In writing, the students did an amazing week of Remembrance Day writing about the importance of remembering and what peace means to them. The students were very insightful and have such big hearts. Then we read a few different books from the Black Lagoon series, and the students used a writing organizer to plan their own Black Lagoon books. They took their ideas and put them into book form, and did their own illustrations! They look so good, and the students are so proud of them!
Both classes have been practicing editing for capitals and punctuation. This is a very important skill to have. Students need to be able to go back and review their writing and edit their own work.
In math the students have been focusing on getting a deeper understanding of place value. They learned about what a digit is, and that a one digit number is in the ones, a two digit number is in the tens, and a three digit number is in the hundreds. Students learned how to use base ten blocks and a place value chart to record numbers. They learned a game called Target Number, where they used a place value chart, base ten blocks, and dice to try and reach a number before their partner did. This was a great practice grouping ones into tens and being able to move that ten into the tens column, which will help their understanding of larger addition that is coming up.
We have been focusing on different types of communities, and how communities can be different sizes. From small to large, our communities are self, family, community, city, province, country, and world! We have now completed our self and family, and are moving into our community of Cranston and the different things it contains to help us work together and live happy and healthy lives.
We have done some amazing art! Both classes did a Remembrance Day display, and Ms. Secord's class did a Ted Harrison art project with Mrs. Brace, our substitute. Your children are so talented!
This week:
- we will continue to work on our editing skills, and do another story writing activity. The students will now look at using triple scoop words in their writing to help the reader be able to visualize their stories better.
- we will be working on our problem solving skills on open ended problems (a problem that has more than one answer). The website https://mathbeforebed.com has some great ideas for you to try at home.
- we will be looking at Cranston and thinking about how our community contributes to our way of life.
Friday, October 19, 2018
Week 7
We had such a great time today with the whole grade 2 group! It was a lot of fun going to the playground together, creating some chalk art, and getting to spend some time with our friends! Then we got to go to clubs and discover, create, and explore fun new ideas! What a day!!!
This week we have been working on descriptive writing. We are hoping to share this writing with the grade 3's to see if we are using the words needed to be clear in our writing. We read The Gruffalo, and The Gruffalo's Child, to see an example of some kinds of descriptions. Then we looked at the picture of a friendly alien to see if we could describe it. We will have some Halloween examples ready for you next week at Parent/Teacher conferences.
We looked at number lines this week, and how we can use them for skip counting. Students had to draw their own number lines to practice, but know that there are other places that we can find a number line to help us with counting. We will be looking at hundreds charts to find out different ways to skip count next week.
We have been working on creating a display from all of the things we have learned about small crawling and flying creatures. We will be working hard this week to finish the display to share with our families at conferences. We could definitely use some volunteer help in the afternoons from Monday to Thursday, 1:30-2:30pm, to do some paper cache and painting with the students! Please contact Mrs. Jackson or Ms. Secord if you can join us on any of those days.
We have been reading the Sideways Stories of Wayside School this week for our read aloud. See how many stories your child can remember about the children from Wayside. Use these chapter headings as a clue:
This week we have been working on descriptive writing. We are hoping to share this writing with the grade 3's to see if we are using the words needed to be clear in our writing. We read The Gruffalo, and The Gruffalo's Child, to see an example of some kinds of descriptions. Then we looked at the picture of a friendly alien to see if we could describe it. We will have some Halloween examples ready for you next week at Parent/Teacher conferences.
We looked at number lines this week, and how we can use them for skip counting. Students had to draw their own number lines to practice, but know that there are other places that we can find a number line to help us with counting. We will be looking at hundreds charts to find out different ways to skip count next week.
We have been working on creating a display from all of the things we have learned about small crawling and flying creatures. We will be working hard this week to finish the display to share with our families at conferences. We could definitely use some volunteer help in the afternoons from Monday to Thursday, 1:30-2:30pm, to do some paper cache and painting with the students! Please contact Mrs. Jackson or Ms. Secord if you can join us on any of those days.
We have been reading the Sideways Stories of Wayside School this week for our read aloud. See how many stories your child can remember about the children from Wayside. Use these chapter headings as a clue:
Chapter 1: Mrs. Gorf (hint: apples)
Chapter 2: Mrs. Jewls (hint: monkeys)
Chapter 3: Joe (hint: counting)
Chapter 4: Sharie (hint: sleeping)
Chapter 5: Todd (hint: robbers)
Chapter 6: Bebe (hint: drawing)
Chapter 7: Calvin (hint: teacher note)
Chapter 8: Myron (hint: president)
Chapter 9: Maurecia (hint: ice cream)
Chapter 10: Paul (hint: pigtails)
Chapter 11: Dana (hint: mosquitos)
We are looking forward to seeing you at Parent/Teacher Conferences! If you have not yet signed up or need help, please contact Mrs. Jackson or Ms. Secord, or the wonderful staff in the front office.
Have a great weekend!
Monday, October 15, 2018
Week 6
It was a short week, but still packed full of fun and learning! We home you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend!
This week we talked about diary and journal writing, and what to focus on when you are doing this kind of writing. We read 3 books about different creatures that were sharing their diaries, and the adventures they had. We talked about not writing about the boring, every day tasks that we do, but to instead focus on the important things that you might tell a friend. We created our own journal entires while pretending to be worms, and then on stuffy day we wrote a journal entry while we pretended to be our stuffy!
We continued to practice our increasing and decreasing patterns by creating art with our patterns. Instead of using block, some students decided to be creative with different pictures. We may have these displayed for parent teacher interviews.
In gym this week we got to play with the parachute!!! We are learning about cooperating with our classmates to do fun things, like make a dome with the pyramid, or playing different games.
We began practicing write to self this week, and we really enjoyed it! Did you know that during write to self we get to write about almost anything? Ask your child what the 3 rules are for what you are not allowed to write about.
We finished working on our food chain diagram this week, and then began talking about decomposers. Did you know that worms are decomposers?
We also finished reading Charlotte's Web, so we got to watch the movie! it surprised us that there were some parts of the movie that weren't the same as the book. We really enjoyed our movie afternoon, and look forward to reading another book that we can connect to a movie.
We are very excited about this coming week!
This week we talked about diary and journal writing, and what to focus on when you are doing this kind of writing. We read 3 books about different creatures that were sharing their diaries, and the adventures they had. We talked about not writing about the boring, every day tasks that we do, but to instead focus on the important things that you might tell a friend. We created our own journal entires while pretending to be worms, and then on stuffy day we wrote a journal entry while we pretended to be our stuffy!
We continued to practice our increasing and decreasing patterns by creating art with our patterns. Instead of using block, some students decided to be creative with different pictures. We may have these displayed for parent teacher interviews.
In gym this week we got to play with the parachute!!! We are learning about cooperating with our classmates to do fun things, like make a dome with the pyramid, or playing different games.
We began practicing write to self this week, and we really enjoyed it! Did you know that during write to self we get to write about almost anything? Ask your child what the 3 rules are for what you are not allowed to write about.
We finished working on our food chain diagram this week, and then began talking about decomposers. Did you know that worms are decomposers?
We also finished reading Charlotte's Web, so we got to watch the movie! it surprised us that there were some parts of the movie that weren't the same as the book. We really enjoyed our movie afternoon, and look forward to reading another book that we can connect to a movie.
We are very excited about this coming week!
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Week 5 - a little late
It was a very busy week last week! We started off the week with Orange shirt day, and it was amazing to see the support of all the staff and students in the school! We talked more about belonging, and how we feel we belong at school.
On Monday we had our first library day! It was awesome! Unfortunately we will be missing library this week as yesterday was Thanksgiving, but we look forward to Monday next week. Students can return their books this week if they wish to, but can also keep them until Monday.
In word work we learned how to do word searches, and got to practice finding Thanksgiving words in easy, medium, and hard word searches. We really enjoyed working independently and in small groups to discover those hidden words! Students will be using word searches throughout the year to practice their sight words.
We discussed the difference between spiders and bees, and why a spider is not an insect. Ask your child why a spider doesn't fit the description of an insect! Then we talked about the food chain, and the importance of balance. If one creature on the food chain grows or decreases in population, that affects the whole chain!
In gym last week we got to start trying out the climbing wall. Students had 3 rules they had to follow to be allowed to use the climbing wall. See if your child remembers those rules.
In preparation for Thanksgiving we did some writing around the things we are thankful for. The students were so thoughtful when sharing their ideas, and continue to try and record more of their ideas during writing time.
We continued to discover more about patterns last week. We looked into increasing and decreasing patterns, and will be creating some art around these ideas this week!
***REMINDER***
The weather is getting colder and the snow is falling! Please ensure that your child is well dressed for the weather, as we go outside every day for a body break.
On Monday we had our first library day! It was awesome! Unfortunately we will be missing library this week as yesterday was Thanksgiving, but we look forward to Monday next week. Students can return their books this week if they wish to, but can also keep them until Monday.
In word work we learned how to do word searches, and got to practice finding Thanksgiving words in easy, medium, and hard word searches. We really enjoyed working independently and in small groups to discover those hidden words! Students will be using word searches throughout the year to practice their sight words.
We discussed the difference between spiders and bees, and why a spider is not an insect. Ask your child why a spider doesn't fit the description of an insect! Then we talked about the food chain, and the importance of balance. If one creature on the food chain grows or decreases in population, that affects the whole chain!
In gym last week we got to start trying out the climbing wall. Students had 3 rules they had to follow to be allowed to use the climbing wall. See if your child remembers those rules.
In preparation for Thanksgiving we did some writing around the things we are thankful for. The students were so thoughtful when sharing their ideas, and continue to try and record more of their ideas during writing time.
We continued to discover more about patterns last week. We looked into increasing and decreasing patterns, and will be creating some art around these ideas this week!
***REMINDER***
The weather is getting colder and the snow is falling! Please ensure that your child is well dressed for the weather, as we go outside every day for a body break.
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