January 8

Dear Families,

Next week we will be working on our past projects in full force.  This is not a project that needs to be done at home.  We will do the entire project while at school.  Please continue to send in your shoe boxes and recycled materials.

We had 2 rounds of Daily 5 this morning.  During Writer's Workshop we continued on our descriptive writing pieces.  Please remember students, the difference between an opinion and a fact.  Also, remember when you are writing about a non-fiction topic, you must provide details that are important.  Pretend as though your reader knows nothing about your topic.

In Math today, the grade ones worked on addition with 2 sided counters and the grade 2's practiced double digit addition.  They were adding 20 to numbers.  

Book orders went home today.  They are due back next Friday January 15.

Have a great weekend.  Stay warm!

January 7

We need your help parents!  We are starting our social studies inquiry project. The students in Room 73 are being asked to represent what they have learned about the past.  Our statement for guiding our project is "If I lived long ago....".  Some kids have decided to represent their learning of the past using a diarama. We are looking for any small shoe boxes that we could use of this project.  We will also accept any other recycled materials that may be helpful.

Thank you for your help and have a wonderful evening.

Happy Wednesday Families!  Today was a very very busy day.  We started our day with 2 rounds of Daily 5.  After this we talked about different text structures in books.  We looked at a variety of fiction and non-fiction books.  We learned that fiction books are kind of like humans: different on the outside but the same on the inside.  All fiction stories have a beginning, middle and an end.  Then we looked at non-fiction text.  We learned that there are many different types of non-fiction books.  Today we specifically talked about Descriptive Writing.  During Writer's Workshop we divided our page into 4, chose a non-fiction topic and wrote 4 facts about that topic.  We had to discuss the difference between a fact and an opinion.

We had music today and then after lunch we did making words.  We focused on the families at and ate.  We made a word with 7 letters.  Ask your child if they remember what this word is and how to spell it.

Today in math we learned how to make double digit numbers and add a group of 10 to that number.  Some grade ones were able to do this while others continued to work on adding single digit numbers together.

At the end of the day we continued to talk about our upcoming Social Studies inquiry project.

Have a wonderful evening.

Welcome back and Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a restful happy holiday.  Thank you so much for all the wonderful gifts that were given to me before the break.

Today I spoke with the kids about expectations for the next term.  I reminded them that in about 6 weeks we will be half way through the year and we still have a lot of work to do.

Today we talked about all the amazing things we did over the holidays.  Grayson's mom had a baby girl.  So exciting.

We had one round of Daily 5 and then some free writing time before we headed off to music.

After lunch we did Making Words and then we moved on to Math.  We are currently working on using double 10 frames to help us with our basic addition facts.

After gym, we did our blog and then talked about what kind of project we will do to finish up our social studies unit on the past.

Have a wonderful evening!

This morning Mrs. Sloane's class started the day off with dance and Mrs. ten Broek's class had music.  After this we had 2 rounds of Daily 5 and then Mrs. ten Broek's class headed off to their last day of swimming.  Mrs. Sloane's class then sang some songs to help us remember the ight and ay families.  

During writing time we worked on our 3 community flip book.  Please ask your child about this activity.

After lunch Mrs. ten Broek's class went to dance and Mrs. Sloane's class did making words and focused on the it and ir families.

During Math, the grade ones worked on making connections between addition and subtraction stories.  The grade 2's worked on a double digit math game.

At the end of the day we had our buddies.

Please remember to send in your $2.00 for sandwich making.  Thank you to those who have already sent in.

Have a wonderful evening!l

September 4

Tomorrow morning we are having a welcome back breakfast at 10:00.  Sure glad the weather is going to be nice.

Today we learned about the lively letters program that we will be doing at Cranston School.  We talked about the sounds p and b make.  We learned how to turn our voices on and off.

In math today we worked with the power of ten cards and learned about subitizing.  Subitizing is being able to quickly recognize an arrangements of dots, numbers, objects etc.  The kids got to practice using the power of ten cards with partners.  They even had time to make up a game of their own.  We also worked on creating patterns using our bodies.  

During Writer's Workshop we continued to work on drawing, labelling and writing.

Today we had dance for the first time.  This was so much fun.

At the end of the day we picked up our brand new visual journals.  We started working on the first page.  I taught the kids how to do a wash with paint and then they traced their hands and added the title "With these two hands I can...."  Tomorrow we will add all the wonderful things they can do.

Entertainment books went home today.  This will be our fundraising project for the next two weeks.  Thank you for your support.  Which ever class sells the most wins a pizza party.  Fingers are crossed!!!

Have a wonderful evening!

September 3

Another great day!!  Monday - Thursday we have gym at 8:35.  This is a rushed time for us but I am happy with how smoothly things are running.  Thursday's gym class will be dance.  We have music on Mondays and Wednesdays.  Just a reminder that we have early dismissal on Fridays (12:03).

Today we worked on a number of calendar activities.  We are learning about the days of the week, months of the year and how to read a calendar.  We are also talking about the weather and making a graph.  We made a prediction as to which type of weather will have the most days this month.  Fingers crossed that sunny wins.

We are also practicing counting to 100 by 1's 5's and 10's.  We are working on counting by 2's to 20 and sometimes beyond.  

Each day we have Writer's Workshop.  We are working on drawing a picture and labelling it with words and sounds.  I have shown the kids how to say words slowly and stretch them out like a rubber band when they are trying to spell.  Any extra practice at home would be greatly appreciated.

In Math we are working on creating and extending patterns.  Please as your child about the game we played on the smart where we tried to trick each other.

Overall an amazing day!  Have a wonderful evening.