Fri, June 22
What a great last full week we have had! It has been publishing our Writer's workshop stories, playing capture the flag, participating in our Aboriginal day and so much more!
- We are having a bake sale next week with Mrs. Sissons class on Wednesday. Our class will be baking with her all Monday afternoon. If there are any parents who would like to help please let me know! Today we created posters for the event and learned a little about how plastic is in the ocean and why it is bad... ask your child about it.
- The soccer tournament went very well, all students received a ribbon or a horn.
- We created our crest for our button blanket. Since a big part of our learning in third term was about the water cycle and how water is essential for all life on earth we created a water droplet out of buttons. It is beautiful & simple.
- The garbaj bands were fun to watch! I think the students are looking forward to participating in that when they are intermediates!
- We got to spend some time in the garden on Thursday with Michi & Mrs. Reimer. They taught us how to make a salad roll using a lettuce or kale leaf and an edible flower then we added a drop of ranch dressing, yum! The students also got to harvest garlic and pick calendula and chamomile for next year.
- Next Tuesday we will be going to Porteau Cove, pray for good weather! Please let me know if you are interested in volunteering!
- Wednesday is our last full day of classes, and on Thursday we have our last day of school and an early dismissal. On Thursday, students will go to their classroom for attendance, then they will be called down to the gym for our Year End Assembly. Students will return to their classes at about 9:45am to receive their report cards and say "See you in September" before being dismissed at 10am.
- If your child won't be attending on the last day of school please let me know as I will put their report card at the office for you to pick up prior to July 6th or at the end of August as we are unable to mail them.
Thurs June 28 - Last Day of School, Early Dismissal 10am
Thurs June 28 - Year End Assembly: Celebrate our year, Gratitudes, Honour our Grade 6's and our leaving staff
Thurs June 28 - Report Cards go home
Fri June 29 - Administrative Day, school not in session
June 14th
- The students are very excited for sports day tomorrow!
- This week we have been working on finishing our writer’s workshop stories including finishing and having our stories printed, making a cover for the book and doing our illustrations.
- We continue to work on graphing, money and of course work on our adding and subtracting skills.
- We worked hard on some Father’s Day gifts, we hope you enjoy them!
- Ms. Wyatt was in for me today. Students got to go to the garden, the library, and play math games with their big buddies.
June 8th
- We had so much fun at the pool today with our big buddies and the other gr. 1-2 class!
- We continued to make music in the forest with Mrs. Clegg's class, the students love this, as do I!
- In math we are learning about different graphs, pie, line, pictograph & bar graphs
- Students are working hard on their writer's workshop stories in preparation of publishing!
- We have been learning about the diversity of Canada more specifically the landforms and bodies of water.
June 1st, 2018
- This past week has been full on! We have have been biking up a storm with Dan from Dialed in Cycling and biking to school for Bike to School Week! Thank you to the PAC for putting on such a great camp for the students! Also thanks to the teachers who organized a great bike to school week filled with prizes for nearly all of the students!
- We had Roxy from the First Nations Cultural Program visit our class and tach the students the game Slahal. They students enjoyed playing this. She also read us the Legend Raven and the Blackberries.
- We have been writing daily trying to finish our stories that we are publishing. Many of the students have had their story typed and are now working on their illustrations. I can’t wait to see these books finished! You won’t believe the work the students have put into them!
- We lucked out and got to do some gardening on Thursday when another class didn’t show up. We tasted some fried radishes and radish greens from our garden and fried potatoes, yummy! We also got to try the tea that the students made over the past few weeks. Calendula, camomile, mint and some other flavours made this tea a favourite amongst many of the students!
- We continue to create outdoor music in the forest adding words about money and changing the rhythm, tempo and now adding different pitches. It has been bringing music into nature!
- In math the students continue to work on money, measurement and graphing. We have also been impressed with how the students are able to rationalize their thinking when we do our number talks and ‘which one doesn’t belong’. We have had some great discussions lately!
Thursday, May 17th
*If you are able to come in on Tuesday between 11 and 12, we could really use some extra help to support our Writer's Workshop publishing.
- Think Outside the Box Thursday has progressed to adding more details to our creations using line, shapes and colour. We are also trying to use our creation as part of a large picture. This is creative and critical thinking together!
- We met with Mrs. Clegg's class to commit to a rhythm using natural found objects in the forest. Tomorrow we will be adding our sound with another group of students. (ex. ta ta tee tee ta or ta ta ta te te te te ta)
- We went on a garden tour with Mrs. Reimer and Barb to name the plants at Mamquam, did you know we have kiwi growing out there! We weeded and planted some carrots in our plot as well.
- We have our last of day of soccer tomorrow. Ask your child how they are feeling about their soccer skills. Please make sure your child comes with a water bottle, appropriate running shoes & clothes tomorrow.
- Tomorrow is Jump Rope for Heart! We are encouraging all students to wear red to support the Heart & Stroke foundation. We have an opening ceremony in the morning and a closing ceremony at the end of the day. Our class will be jumping from 1:40-2:00.
- We have begun graphing. The students have come up with a question such as "What is your favourite pet" along with 4 options. Today we collected our data and tomorrow we will create bar graphs.
*If you are able to come in on Tuesday between 11 and 12, we could really use some extra help to support our Writer's Workshop publishing.
Friday, May 11th
Happy Mother's Day!
- We had a fun short week together! Today we made our Mother's day gifts with our big buddies, I hope you enjoy them!
- We went to the garden and planted some purple corn and some cucumber. We also weeded and picked herbs for iced tea next week!
- We had reading groups, all the students have shown big improvements in their reading since we have started this directed reading program.
- Yesterday we read a book called "All the water in the world" by G Lyon. We again discussed what water means to us and then each child had an opportunity to create their own Water poem!
- We created our third butterfly in our series of four. With kind and specific feedback each student was able to add more detail or change the shape or colour of their butterfly to make it look even more like the original.
- We worked on our writers workshop, specifically about the author. The stories are slowly being published but I need your typing skills! If you can lend an hour to help type some stories it would be greatly appreciated!
May 4th
Today we read the book Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni. In the story the inchworm inches across all the animals to measure them. So based on the book, we created our own animals to measure. We measured in centimeters though because Canada uses the metric system.
We went out to the forest at the end of the day to create music with nature. Mrs. Clegg and I demonstrated a 'song' using two or three different beats and using a variety of objects. They then went off in groups or alone, to create their own piece. They used beats such as ta-tee-ta/ta-ta-ta/tee-tee, ta, ta. It was simple but so much fun! We will continue to build on our musical skills through this medium as everyone really enjoyed it!
We went out to the forest at the end of the day to create music with nature. Mrs. Clegg and I demonstrated a 'song' using two or three different beats and using a variety of objects. They then went off in groups or alone, to create their own piece. They used beats such as ta-tee-ta/ta-ta-ta/tee-tee, ta, ta. It was simple but so much fun! We will continue to build on our musical skills through this medium as everyone really enjoyed it!
Tuesday, May 1st
For the past two Tuesdays, we have been introduced to one of the Play as the Way games, Picadilly Circus. Our class started with one ball and moved to two and then today three. We were able to pass the three balls around our circle in 1 minute and 44 seconds. We have shared our time with Mrs Gilchrist’s class and now I feel a challenge coming!!! During the game, I use language of “good choice/bad choice, weak moment/strong moment, helping/hurting” We are using nonverbal communication throughout.
During Art today, we looked at drawing the sun. We started our process by watching a real video of the sun and then looked at how the sun makes us feel and colours that we connect with when we think about the sun. The class noticed a big difference between the sun they started with and the ones they ended with. We will continue our process next week.
A bunch of students from our class joined Lunchtime soccer, the yellow team played the blue team. The kids came back smiling and sweaty!
During Art today, we looked at drawing the sun. We started our process by watching a real video of the sun and then looked at how the sun makes us feel and colours that we connect with when we think about the sun. The class noticed a big difference between the sun they started with and the ones they ended with. We will continue our process next week.
A bunch of students from our class joined Lunchtime soccer, the yellow team played the blue team. The kids came back smiling and sweaty!
April 27
This morning we watched a video about giving kind and specific feedback. We then did our first draft drawing a butterfly using scientists eyes, looking at the detail. Next week will have the students partner up and give each other kind and specific feedback on their drawing. This will be a multi step activity where each time we will add more detail and eventually colour.
In math we chose a 3D object and make clues so people can guess which shape we have. They will be displayed in our hallway.
We had gym and played a few tag games.
We went to the forest this afternoon and worked on building forts, making nature bouquets, and just enjoying being outside on this beautiful day!
In math we chose a 3D object and make clues so people can guess which shape we have. They will be displayed in our hallway.
We had gym and played a few tag games.
We went to the forest this afternoon and worked on building forts, making nature bouquets, and just enjoying being outside on this beautiful day!
April 26
We had such a fun Thursday!
We created our ThibknOutside the Box pictures focusing on two criteria- to create an original image and to use the elements of design, line, shape & colour. The students are getting more creative each week!
We went to the library where Mrs. Kranz read us ‘Curious Garden’ by Peter Brown and we voted on our favourite Chocolate Lily Book. We got a Hershey’s kiss for participating in the Chocolate Lily reading program!
We went to the forest with our buddies and did a nature scavenger hunt. Students had to look for things like a bird, a cloud, a tree, an ant... and check it off on their sheet. Most students found everything except a squirrel and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! Such a beautiful day!
We discussed why water is important and where it is found. Lots of great answers. We learned that most of the worlds fresh water can be found in ground water, glaciers & icebergs.
We went to the garden with Mrs. Reiner, Barb & Michi. The students planted radishes in our garden and watered it.
We watched the Talent show again today, new performers including one of own, Colten doing parkour! Way to go Colten, very brave for getting up in front of all those people! The teachers also did a surprise performance ;)
We have started doing math talks. We use the website ‘Bedtime Math’ and ‘which one doesn’t belong’. The students have to exlain their answer and share it with the class. Everyone is right if they can rationalize it.
We created 3D shapes with plastercine & popsicle sticks. The kids had fun building these shapes, some hopefully made it home in one piece though many broke as they were lifted off the desk.
We created our ThibknOutside the Box pictures focusing on two criteria- to create an original image and to use the elements of design, line, shape & colour. The students are getting more creative each week!
We went to the library where Mrs. Kranz read us ‘Curious Garden’ by Peter Brown and we voted on our favourite Chocolate Lily Book. We got a Hershey’s kiss for participating in the Chocolate Lily reading program!
We went to the forest with our buddies and did a nature scavenger hunt. Students had to look for things like a bird, a cloud, a tree, an ant... and check it off on their sheet. Most students found everything except a squirrel and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! Such a beautiful day!
We discussed why water is important and where it is found. Lots of great answers. We learned that most of the worlds fresh water can be found in ground water, glaciers & icebergs.
We went to the garden with Mrs. Reiner, Barb & Michi. The students planted radishes in our garden and watered it.
We watched the Talent show again today, new performers including one of own, Colten doing parkour! Way to go Colten, very brave for getting up in front of all those people! The teachers also did a surprise performance ;)
We have started doing math talks. We use the website ‘Bedtime Math’ and ‘which one doesn’t belong’. The students have to exlain their answer and share it with the class. Everyone is right if they can rationalize it.
We created 3D shapes with plastercine & popsicle sticks. The kids had fun building these shapes, some hopefully made it home in one piece though many broke as they were lifted off the desk.
April 23-25
We had a great morning celebrating Earth Day on Monday! It started out with an Earth Day assembly where our class, along with the other grade 1-2 performed ‘Each of us is a flower’. They were great! I have a video to send, but will send it in an email.
We then went to Willow Park to pick up garbage. Together, our school collected 60 kilos of garbage!!! Thank you to the parents/grandparents who joined us.
We then went to Willow Park to pick up garbage. Together, our school collected 60 kilos of garbage!!! Thank you to the parents/grandparents who joined us.
We continue to work on our Writers workshop. We talked about what makes a good title this week and the students are starting to find some interesting titles for their stories. We would love some parent volunteers to type out some stories when it is time to publish. Please let Mrs. Clegg or I know if you would be willing to come in for an hour or two and help. Thanks!
Today we made water cycle bags to watch in the window. Each student drew the water cycle on their ziplock bag, added water and taped it to our window. We are hoping to get enough heat so we can watch the cycle. However, we don’t get sun in our window so we may have to send them home so the students can watch at home.
We got to watch the Talent show today, we have incredibly talented kids in our school! We hope to see everyone tomorrow night if you missed tonight’s show. The show starts at 6:30 and is about 40 minutes.
We also had an incredible First Nations performance this morning! I’ve never seen the whole school so quiet, watching and listening so respectfully . The masks, costumes, and carvings were amazing!
Today we made water cycle bags to watch in the window. Each student drew the water cycle on their ziplock bag, added water and taped it to our window. We are hoping to get enough heat so we can watch the cycle. However, we don’t get sun in our window so we may have to send them home so the students can watch at home.
We got to watch the Talent show today, we have incredibly talented kids in our school! We hope to see everyone tomorrow night if you missed tonight’s show. The show starts at 6:30 and is about 40 minutes.
We also had an incredible First Nations performance this morning! I’ve never seen the whole school so quiet, watching and listening so respectfully . The masks, costumes, and carvings were amazing!
April 20th
JUMP ROPE FOR HEART donation collection package went home today.
Every child in the school was sent home with a collection form today. Jump Rope for Heart is a fundraiser our school has decided to participate in. If students wish, they can fundraise money from now until May 18th, to help support heart research. On May 18th, we will have a school wide skip, where every child will skip, jump, and hop our way through the afternoon to promote healthy hearts. Please have a look through the collection package, and decide if this is something your child (and you) would like to fundraise for. Regardless of fundraising, every child will participate on May 18th. Our school goal is to collect $1000, approx. $100/class. That’s only about $5/student! All monies raised are due back by May 25th.
Hand washing... Today we practiced washing our hands for at least 20 seconds. We got to see all the "germs" under the black light and how they disappeared after we washed our hands with soap and water.
We learned a new song for the water cycle, which was to the tune of Old McDonald. Students are starting to understand the terms, evaporation (from liquid to gas, turning into water vapour), condensation (water vapour in clouds), precipitation, and accumulation (bodies of water). We learned new word yesterday too, transpiration (plants absorbing water through their roots).
Our Earth day assembly is on Monday, we hope you can join us! I will try and video tape the song and post it if you can't make it.
PAC PLANT FUNDRAISER order form will be going home on Monday. All orders due back May 15th. Plant pick up will be May 25th at the school.
Every child in the school was sent home with a collection form today. Jump Rope for Heart is a fundraiser our school has decided to participate in. If students wish, they can fundraise money from now until May 18th, to help support heart research. On May 18th, we will have a school wide skip, where every child will skip, jump, and hop our way through the afternoon to promote healthy hearts. Please have a look through the collection package, and decide if this is something your child (and you) would like to fundraise for. Regardless of fundraising, every child will participate on May 18th. Our school goal is to collect $1000, approx. $100/class. That’s only about $5/student! All monies raised are due back by May 25th.
Hand washing... Today we practiced washing our hands for at least 20 seconds. We got to see all the "germs" under the black light and how they disappeared after we washed our hands with soap and water.
We learned a new song for the water cycle, which was to the tune of Old McDonald. Students are starting to understand the terms, evaporation (from liquid to gas, turning into water vapour), condensation (water vapour in clouds), precipitation, and accumulation (bodies of water). We learned new word yesterday too, transpiration (plants absorbing water through their roots).
Our Earth day assembly is on Monday, we hope you can join us! I will try and video tape the song and post it if you can't make it.
PAC PLANT FUNDRAISER order form will be going home on Monday. All orders due back May 15th. Plant pick up will be May 25th at the school.
April 18/19th
- We have had a busy week with a ton of special guests! Today Mr. Fisher came to talk about trees and the environment. He answered our questions and we learned a lot about trees. We all got to take home a cedar tree sapling to plant. Please follow the instructions that came with it for planting.
- We had big equipment, where we set up the gym for the rest of the primary classes. The class enjoys it and the rest of the primary classes appreciate our weekly hard work!
- We have started to learn about the water cycle. We brainstormed a huge list about what we know about water. We also watched a Bill Nye the Science guy video on the water cycle, he always is entertaining!
- We practiced our Earth day song in the gym today so we are feeling ready for our performance on Monday! Please join us if you are able to.
- We visited with our buddies and did an earth day wordsearch, it was very tricky though and even with their big buddies it was a hard one!
- We went to the forest to end our day on Thursday.
April 16/17th
We had the privilege of meeting Sara Leach, a local Whistler author who wrote the novel “Slug Days.” Our class had many amazing questions and were able to connect it to their own story writing. She talked about starting with three things a setting, a problem and a character. She was very impressed with where our Grade ½ students were at with their writing comprehension.
We had a visit from Alex Cairns, a local paraolympian who is a sit skier. He was a student at Mamquam and he shared his journey as an athlete and as a competetitor in Pyeongchang. Here is a link to a short documentary about him https://www.whistler.com/blog/post/2018/03/07/sit-skier-alex-cairns-paralympics/. What a fabulous inspiration for our students and our community!
Our students continue to be working hard on their Writer’s Workshop story, they are starting to add more detail and their story is starting to make more sense. They are proud of their writing and love to share. Their homework is to start to think about a great title for their creation!
We had a visit from Alex Cairns, a local paraolympian who is a sit skier. He was a student at Mamquam and he shared his journey as an athlete and as a competetitor in Pyeongchang. Here is a link to a short documentary about him https://www.whistler.com/blog/post/2018/03/07/sit-skier-alex-cairns-paralympics/. What a fabulous inspiration for our students and our community!
Our students continue to be working hard on their Writer’s Workshop story, they are starting to add more detail and their story is starting to make more sense. They are proud of their writing and love to share. Their homework is to start to think about a great title for their creation!
April 12th
- Today we made Calendula salve with Mrs, Reimer and got to plant peas and sunflowers in our garden and in the greenhouse! We are so lucky to have such fabulous gardeners volunteer their time to help us learn outdoors in our garden!
- We continue to study shapes. This week we focused on 3D shapes and learned some of the shapes names - cube, cylinder, rectangular prism, sphere and where in our environment can we see this shapes being used. They learned the name for a corner - a vertex and the face of a shape.
- We did a 3 day art mixed media project using wax resist (crayons), blue paint, and on Monday the students will add the last stage to the art which will be displayed outside our room.
- We played with the parachute, played at and mouse as well and using it like a tent and playing a colour game underneath.
- Today we were lucky to watch a special performance featuring Robin Hood, the students loved it!
- Next week Author Sara Leach will be coming to give a presentation to our grade 1-2 classes. We are almost done Sara's book Slug Days, ask your child about it. We have Mr. Fisher coming on Wednesday to give a presentation on trees and will give each student a tree to plant! Also on Friday we have our schools public health nurse - Jenn Bridge coming to do a handwashing presentation. Our week is so busy with exciting presentations! The following wee is even busier with an Earth Day Assembly - Monday, April 23 (parents are welcome to join!).
April 6th
Welcome back to school! We have had a good week visiting with the children and hearing all about their spring break adventures! We were also excited to see the green house behind the garden. We have our first gardening day next Thursday! Upcoming events: Thursday afternoon - Robin hood presentation for all students in the afternoon. Friday, April 13th - Pro-d, no school for students.
We have a few new math concepts that we are learning about. Mrs. Clegg will be teaching financial literacy with a focus on coin combinations to 100 cents, and spending and saving. Please work at home, in the store, counting and naming coins. They have a wealth of money knowledge and we will continue to build on it. We are also learning more about shapes. The students already know a lot about 2D shapes but we will be learning about 3D shapes, vertices, edges and faces. Point out shapes in your everyday environment and ask your child to do the same.
We worked with the Scientific Method and explored Magnets. Our students are starting to think like a scientist and explore new vocabulary.
We continue to build on our Writers workshop focusing on the middle of the story, the problem, and also adding the 5 senses to our writing.
Our school is participating in the Chocolate Lily awards. This is a BC event where the teachers read 5-7 books written by BC Authors and then the students vote on their favourite book.
We met with our buddies this week and read books with them. We enjoy spending time with our buddies and the students always look forward to it.
March 16th-forest play
March 15th
- We had a great morning walking to and releasing salmon fry at Coho park! The students did a mini stream study first, played on the rope swing and in the forest and then got to release a bucketful of salmon fry! It was so exciting for everyone! They learned about why it is important to release salmon fry to not only help increase the salmon population but how it helps create oxygen (by providing nutrients to the ground which then the trees use to grow), and provide food for other animals. They learned the stages of the fish - egg, eyed egg, alevin, fry then grown salmon. Each student got to release around 100 salmon fry and a total of 15,000 was released this morning into the stream by other classes! A big thank you to Carly, Andrea & Leanne for joining us!
- Mrs. Kranz came to us for library today and read us a book about Leprechauns. The students loved it and looked for clues and signs of leprechauns on our walk!
- Thanks to all the families who came for student led conferences today. I could see the pride in the students as they showed off some of their learning and their skills.
March 12-14
- This week we have been preparing for our student led conferences on Thursday. We have learned some new math games, you will play one of them tomorrow. Please remember that this is an opportunity for your child to show you some things they have been learning and to shine so please also come by 5pm so you have time for your child to run you through their schedule.
- We have learned Oh No 99, a card game using mental math addition & subtraction strategies.
- We have played a Spring Subtraction game, having to subtract from 20.
- We wrote about why we are lucky & made Shamrocks.
- We had big equipment and set up the vault and springboard so we could practice our gymnastics skills from last week.
- We worked on writer's workshop focusing on our 5 senses.
- We went outside to investigate the signs of spring.
- On chart paper we worked on big numbers for spider math.
- ***Tomorrow we are walking to release salmon fry at Coho park. We leave right after recess and will return around 12:00. I have two parents joining us but if you would like to join please do so!
- ***Student led conferences are tomorrow. Early dismissal is at 2pm, please make arrangements to pick up your child then.
March 5-7, 2018
- We have been busy learning about the community of Squamish over the past two weeks. We discussed reasons why people live here and what activities there are. We compared Squamish to Vancouver and talked about the similarities and differences. In groups the students identified things in Squamish that were human made or natural. They shared with the class what their group came up with. We noticed a trend and there were a lot of common items on both lists (trees, cars, buildings) but each group came up with a few unique items (shoes, Adventure centre, gondola).
- For math we have continued to work on learning our doubles (5+5) and doubles plus 1 (5+6). We have played some doubles plus 1 math games as well as completed a worksheet. We continue to do spider math almost daily where we find multiple ways to make the number of the month (March 7, so we found a whole bunch of ways to make 7). The students are very good at using the number chart to think of new answers.
- Mrs. Clegg worked on ways to improve their writing on Tuesday. They came up with a list of words that could describe their senses (It looked..., I ate..., I heard...) to make their story/writing more interesting. They also came up with ways to help when they get stuck when they are writing such as looking around for ideas, borrowing an idea and making it your own, and trying again.
- We have had two gymnastics lessons so far and the students are LOVING it!! Erin, the instructor is amazing and the class has been so keen and focused! We have our last lesson tomorrow. A huge thanks to the PAC for organizing gymnastics for our school, it is a hit!
- Next Thursday- we have been invited to release salmon fry! So we will be walking to Coho park at 10:40, returning at 12:00. If you can join us to supervise please let me know asap.
- Student Led conferences, 2:00-5:30 - next Thursday, March 15th is an early dismissal at 2:00 for student led conferences. We invite you to come with your child for them to show you some things we have been learning. Come anytime between 2-5:15.
Grade 1's - Feb 21 - Learning with Mrs. Shier's grade 1's
Our learning today was all about the Olympics! The children took home some writing and an activity book. Big equipment had some Olympic fun.
Whistler Olympic Park-Feb 21
February 16th
Gong hei fat choy! Happy Chinese New Year! Today we learned the myth about Chinese New Year and how the sea dragon named New Year would come each year and scare the villagers and how one woman and Buddah changed that. Ask your child to tell you about the legend. Thank you to Zoe who brought in a fortune cookie for everyone in our class! What a treat!
Today we:
Today we:
- started out our day noisy reading, where students read in groups or alone.
- We had reading groups. The students are really progressing in their reading skills especially from this directed reading. Their comprehension skills are improving and their fluency!
- We had our Writer's workshop - our mini lesson today was learning that when we write 'i' it is always capitalized as well as reminding students to use punctuation, especially periods to break up thoughts.
- We learned about Chinese symbols and the importance of them. The students chose two or three to draw and then we made a hanging decoration. They will come home on Monday as they were still wet.
- We have our second and last xc ski day on Wednesday! I hope your child is looking forward to it!
February 14th
Happy Valentine’s Day! What a beautiful day it was with the fresh snow & sunshine!
- Today we celebrated friendship with our fruit salad. Most students brought a pice if fruit to contribute to make a fruit salad.
- For big equipment the students helped make some Olympic themed stations. We had hockey, ring toss, bean bag toss, jousting & luge. We had fun making the stations and of course participating in the activity.
- We read a coloured a Valentine’s book. The students brought this home to read.
- We made little Love Bug by rolling a dice.
- We started our ‘What I love..’poems.
- We played in the snow and spent some time in the sun!
- Had studio wih Mrs. Layte.
- Handed out Valentines to each other. Thanks for all the sweet Valentines!
Friday, February 9th
This week went quickly with a ski day in the middle! Have a lovely Family Day weekend everyone and Mrs. Clegg will see the students on Tuesday. Please remember to send in a piece of fruit for our friendship fruit salad on Wednesday!
- We talked about what a prediction is in science and how it is called a hypothesis. We were talking about gravity today so we had a little experiment. If we have two objects that were dropped from the same height, what would happen? Some people hypothesized that both would fall, one would fall faster or that one would fall slower due to weight, size, etc. The students were pretty accurate.
- We played a place value number game.
- We had gym with Mrs. Clegg's class - we taught them Space Invaders
- We had our exploration time out in the forest today.
- We made Valentine Monsters for our Valentine cards to go in next week.
Whistler Olympic Park, Feb 7, 2018
Gr.1’s with Mrs. Shier’s class while the grade 2’s skied.
February 1, 2018
Today we:
-had reading groups
-had an earthquake drill where the students got under their desks, counted to 60 during the ‘rumbling’ and then counted to 60 again for ‘aftershocks’. It’s a scary things to have to practice but the kids were very good at it and listened well to the instructoions.
-we visited the library where Mrs. Kranz read them poems from ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’ by Shel Silverstein
-in math we talked about the 10’s patterns. I introduced more than 10 and less than 10 and showed them the pattern that that the ones column stays the same and then they can just add or subtract 1 to make ten less or more (21 would be 11 or 31). They loved finding the pattern and were able to do this much easier then when I first told them what we were doing.
-we worked on our weaving project with our buddies
-in partners we wrote down double digit addition questions and had our partner solve them.
-we learned about Kandinsky’s art and started to create our own Kandinsky hearts with watercolour.
-we ended our day with our dance party to ‘Happy’ by Pharell Williams’.
*Pro-D tomorrow so no school for students.
**Wednesday, Feb 7th is our ski day for the grade twos!
-had reading groups
-had an earthquake drill where the students got under their desks, counted to 60 during the ‘rumbling’ and then counted to 60 again for ‘aftershocks’. It’s a scary things to have to practice but the kids were very good at it and listened well to the instructoions.
-we visited the library where Mrs. Kranz read them poems from ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’ by Shel Silverstein
-in math we talked about the 10’s patterns. I introduced more than 10 and less than 10 and showed them the pattern that that the ones column stays the same and then they can just add or subtract 1 to make ten less or more (21 would be 11 or 31). They loved finding the pattern and were able to do this much easier then when I first told them what we were doing.
-we worked on our weaving project with our buddies
-in partners we wrote down double digit addition questions and had our partner solve them.
-we learned about Kandinsky’s art and started to create our own Kandinsky hearts with watercolour.
-we ended our day with our dance party to ‘Happy’ by Pharell Williams’.
*Pro-D tomorrow so no school for students.
**Wednesday, Feb 7th is our ski day for the grade twos!
January 29-31
We started double digit addition!! The class was amazing and caught on so quickly! We continue to work on doubles (5 + 5) and doubles plus 1 so the students can really be confident with numbers.
The class has been talking about Random Acts of Kindness. For the month of February we will try to reach 100 Random Acts of Kindness!
We continue to work on our stories in writers workshop. The children are so engaged in their stories and have been working so hard on them! We conference with students daily and encourage them to re-read their story to us, look at punctuation and spelling and support them with where to go next.
We had a playdate with Mrs. Wagner's k/1 class on Monday. Our class helped them with sight words and then they came here for exploration time!
The class has been talking about Random Acts of Kindness. For the month of February we will try to reach 100 Random Acts of Kindness!
We continue to work on our stories in writers workshop. The children are so engaged in their stories and have been working so hard on them! We conference with students daily and encourage them to re-read their story to us, look at punctuation and spelling and support them with where to go next.
We had a playdate with Mrs. Wagner's k/1 class on Monday. Our class helped them with sight words and then they came here for exploration time!
Week of Jan 22 - Jan 26
- In Writer’s workshop this week we we looked at picture books to help answer the question "What makes a good beginning?" They found some great beginnings that we have posted up in the classroom such as Oh, no! or I am bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. or Henry is very organized sort of pig. We will use our brainstorm to help kickstart our stories.
- From this, a story was modelled, empasing an interesting beginning makes you want to keep reading. The students all have began their first story and will continue working on it over the next few days. The focus was on the beginning but they also planning out what their middle and end of the story will be.
- We explored motion in Science and how we move in different ways – straight, up & down, circular, zigzag… We timed it perfectly as the sun came out when we went outside!
- In Math, we continued our practice of Place Value. We created place value houses at the beginning of the week. The students chose 3 playing cards, then had to create a house/building/shed… using the cards. If they chose a 3,4,6 cards then they made a house with 3 hundreds, 4 tens, and 6 ones. They are hanging in our room!
- Feel free to point out numbers in your surrounding and ask them what number is in the tens or the hundreds OR can you share a 2 digit number that has a 7 in the tens column. Keep it fun!
- Grade Two's are brought home a cross country ski notice. Please send it back, along with the money by Thursday, Feb 1st.
- We started our weaving project with our buddy class on Thursday. They look pretty cool already! If you have any buttons, or wool you don’t use, please send them in as we will use them for our project!
- We participated in DEAR this week – drop everything and read for the Canadian literacy day!
- As per our new tradition, we ended the week with a dance party!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Week of Jan 15-19
Happy rainy Friday!
- We have been working on our characters for our writing folders this week. Each child created a character and illustrated it. They then came up with facts and things about their character. This will be a guide for some of their writing.
- We continued to work on place value this week. We also had math stations which they really enjoyed.
- In gym we practiced more ball skills including, dribbling and passing.
- We read the book ‘If’ and then the students created their own ‘if’ image. It is a great book, ask your child to tell you some of the book and about the one they created.
- We met with our big buddies on Thursday and started working on our next project. The students will all make a weaving on a cardboard circle.
- We learned some new reading and writing strategies. Flip the sound – if they read a sound and it sounds wrong flip it (g as in giraffe or g as in go, a as in apple or a as in ape…). We learned that there is a vowel in every syllable. This has been great for our writing as the students remember to add vowels to their writing. The last strategy we learned was when ‘two vowels go walking, sometimes the first one does the talking’.
- We did a picture sort for our forces and motions science unit. The students enjoyed finding different forces in the magazines.
- Next week: Hot lunch on Friday!
January 12th
- We were talking about snow in the class which led us to brainstorming things you can and can’t do in the snow. We created snow poems from our list.
- We created little books about a snowman named ‘Snowy’. We read and illustrated them together. I hope your child read it with you at home too!
- We continued to work with place value. We played a stand up game where students wrote a two or three digit number on their white board (say 46) and I would call a number from one of the columns (4 in the tens column), if they had that number they would have to sit down. They really enjoyed it!
- We visited with our big buddies and read with them in Mrs. Reed's class.
- We visited the library with Mrs. Kranz and most students signed out a book or two. Please try and remember to send your child’s library books back when they are done so they can get a new one! Thanks!
- We started learning about Force & Motion today. The students got the concept of push and pull quite easily and discovered that a lot of things can be both pushed and pulled.
- New sight word reading books were sent home today. There is a letter for you to read to explain what to do with them. Please practice with your child and when they are ready to be tested we will test them at school. If the level I sent home is too hard/easy please tell me and I will check and change their books.
- In gym we played a new game called ‘Space invaders’, the students loved it and ran like crazy! I haven’t seen them get so tired and sweaty from a game before ;)
- We did math rotations today where we worked on different skills, such as adding, writing the word for a number, finding the missing sign (+ or -)…
- We ended the day with a visit to Mrs. Clegg’s/Mrs. McClements class for a play!
January 10th, 2018
Welcome back to school! We hope you all had a fun yet restful holiday!
Everyone was excited to share stories of their holiday when we came back on Monday morning! We shared one thing that we did over the holidays during our morning circle.
Everyone was excited to share stories of their holiday when we came back on Monday morning! We shared one thing that we did over the holidays during our morning circle.
- We did a review of place value for tens and ones and then did a quick math sheet to check in where the students were. They are all very confident in understanding tens and ones in place value!
- We got back into our routine of writing down our morning message in our communication books - please continue to read and initial these nightly and return to school daily.
- After taking a break from Words Their Way in December we are back into our word sorts. Please review the sheet that came home on Monday with them and have them teach you their word sort.
- Reading Groups started up again Tuesday! It was nice to meet with our groups and check in with our students.
- We went on a Place Value Scavenger Hunt using magazines and printed material. Point out numbers around your environment and check where your child is at with tens/ones for place value? Don’t be afraid to use large numbers. We will be moving towards Hundreds next!
- We are continuing with our Reading Power ‘Making Connections,” we read Enemy Pie and made a direct connection from the story to our own lives. Continue to use the language of This Reminds Me of and I Am Connecting to when you are sharing stories together.
- We talked about New Year's goals for both school and home. The students came up with a ton of goals and then wrote them down on their arm, which we traced, and are now displayed in the classroom.
December 22nd
Happy Holidays! What a great concert last night! I was so impressed with our class, they performed so well and listened quietly to all the other performers! What a great night! I hope you all enjoyed it too!
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! See you in 2018!
- This morning we had our last reading group of 2017! All the kids seem to be improving with their reading and enjoying our groups.
- We made little messages and tied them onto candy canes. After recess we walked over to the London Drugs area and handed them out to random people. The kids were very excited to deliver these little treats and were very polite and kind. They got a lot of smiles and thank you's! It was also good practice for the kids to interact with strangers appropriately and receive their Christmas wishes. Thank you to Carly & my sister who joined us!
- We went to the gym to sing Christmas carols with the whole school.
- For the afternoon the three grade 1-2 classes came together to watch Christmas is Here Again in our room followed by milk and cookies from the PAC.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! See you in 2018!
December 20th
Today we:
- Played a math subtraction game in partners
- Visited the studio with Mrs. Layte
- Created an elf! This was certainly the highlight of the day, they had fun making silly faces and then decorating their elf. They came home today in their packs.
- We read The North Pole Penguin.
- We enjoyed the sun during our DPA in the afternoon!
December 19th
I wish you all a wonderful Christmas! I look forward to hearing all about your adventures together in the New Year! I look forward to seeing you all at the concert.
Cheers
Love Mrs Clegg
Cheers
Love Mrs Clegg
December 15th
We have had a busy week prepping for the Christmas concert, creating some Christmas gifts & ornaments all while learning lots and of course having fun!
- We delivered our Cards of Cheer to the Squamish Public works department yesterday afternoon. They were so thrilled to receive the cards and it was so great for the class to see the impact it made! It meant so much to them they even posted it on the District of Squamish’s Facebook page!
- We have been learning about place value. The students have caught on really quickly! They certainly are able to identify which number is in the tens or one’s column and some even know the hundreds!
- We worked on our heart map for our Writing Folders, a few students will be working on these over the weekend to complete them.
- The Children’s market was such a success! The students put so much thought into choosing a perfect present for each member of their family, it was sweet to see! I bet you can’t wait to open your gifts on Christmas morning ;)
- We now have a class Ipad, the children will take turns using it for literacy and math activities as well as documenting their learning.
- A reminder the Winter Concert is next Thursday! The matinee show is at 11:00 am and the evening show is at 7:00. Please ensure your child is in our classroom ready to roll by 6:45 in their costume clothing. They need their costume for the matinee as well please. Tickets came home this afternoon. If you won’t use your tickets please send them back on Monday to be redistributed. Thanks!
December 14th
December 12th
- We started Day one of Writer's Workshop today. The students were introduced to the Steps of the Workshop today with a mini lesson, time to write and time to share. Our lesson today was The Map of My Heart. These will be the cover of our writing folders.
- Mrs Sisson's class joined us today for some Outdoor Engineering. We made A Trap for an Elf! We used found objects, worked with a group, made a trap that wouldn't hurt an elf and shared our creations. It was a great way to meet some new friends and enjoy the forest.
December 8th
- We had a great time viewing the eagles this morning! We saw seals, eagles and lots of seagulls. The eagles are so majestic and the kids really enjoyed watching them through the scopes. It was quite cold so some children got quite chilled but we survived the cold and the long walk! Thanks again to the parents who came to join us, much appreciated!
- We ended up donating 178 items from our classroom and $18 to Community Christmas Care! Our school beat last years record by donating over 1800 items! Way to go and thanks for contributing!
- Have a good weekend!
- Next week: Christmas concert singing all week long. Friday is our Kids Christmas market, we have had lots of donations so far but we could always use more! I'm noticing a lack of men's items or household items as many people have donated mostly items for kids so far. Thanks again!
December 7th
Our 2nd Annual Cards of Cheer writing day was another big success! The kids created the most beautiful snowflake cards and wrote messages of thanks to the Squamish Public Works department. We thanked them for salting our sidewalks and roads to keep us safe, for cleaning our water, and for planting flowers that help make our community beautiful! Thanks to all the families that came to help with this event, we couldn't do it without you!
- We also worked with our buddies on our secret project today in the sunshine! Some students even learned how to use a hammer for the first time!
- We practiced our Christmas songs in the gym again. Please help your child practice their lines for our song. For the Christmas concert please have your child dress in black, white, or grey clothing as we are singing Foggy Foggy Nights and we want to be the Fog.
- We are at 94 items for Community Christmas Care. We are encouraging everyone to bring one or two more items as well as a small cash donation, anything helps! Thank you!
- We read the book Fraser Bear by M. de Vries and created a story map....still in progress.
- We are creating our persuasive writing for our reindeers that we made last week. The students need to convince Santa to choose their reindeer to help pull his sleigh on Christmas night!
- Tomorrow we are walking to view the eagles in Brackendale! Please ensure your child is prepared to walk there and back with comfortable footwear and warm enough clothes. Also pack a snack they can fit into their pocket. Thanks!
December 1st
Wow, December 1st! We are starting to be festive in the classroom with our snowflakes hanging and we now have some twinkle lights! There may even be a Christmas tree next week!
- We have begun a new reading rotation with the three grade 1-2 classes using a program called Readwell. Every student was placed in a group with others who are at a similar reading level. We will be meeting 4 days a week in these smaller groups, reading, doing some sight word and sound decoding and then completing comprehension sheets.
- We have been focusing on subtraction recently. The students were making subtraction equations and then solving another students’ problem. Most students are remembering that we subtract the small number from the big number. We continue to work on skip counting and often play skip counting games as a class.
- We have also started word problems where the students have to first figure out what the question is asking, then they have to solve it and explain or illustrate their thinking.
- The kids have loved Aikido! They learned some really cool moves and were able to build on their skills from their first session to their second. Thanks again to the PAC for organizing and supporting this great program!
- We have been creating story strips where the students write things about themselves such as I have a sister, I am 6, I like to bike… then we are trying to make that ‘robot writing’ more interesting by adding an example or an interesting detail. So instead of ‘I like to bike” we could write “I like to ride my red bike super-fast down the street”.
- Our class song for the Christmas concert is Foggy-Foggy night’, I will send a copy home next week in case your child wants to practice at home.
Volunteers: - Next Thursday- is Cards of Cheer. The students will create an art card in the gym with their buddies and then will write a letter to thank someone in our community for their contribution. Most classes will then deliver them to the organization they write to.
- Next Friday: We are going to the dyke in Brackendale to view the eagles. We need some parents/grandparents to join us as we will be walking there. It shouldn’t take much longer than 1 ½ hours. We will leave the school at 9:30, walk to the dyke, view the eagles and walk back to school. Please have a conversation about walking safely along Government Rd. and remind them to stay inside the white line.
- Community Christmas care – the class with the most donations wins a skating trip! There is a class with over 110 items already! We are around 30 items.
- Kids Market donations – remember to send items in for the kids market – if most kids will be buying for 4 people or more, we are encouraging each family to send in at least that many. Thanks!
November 24th
- We had a wonderful introduction to Taiko drumming today! Our class was able to learn new vocabulary in Japanese, learn the proper technique for drumming, practice the stance and learn some new rhythms. Ask for a demonstration at home!
- We have been focusing on subtraction lately. Learning that the larger number always goes first in the equation (20-6) and using our number line and fingers to help answer the question.
- We worked on learning alphabetical order and the students were able to put lists of words into ABC order.
- We continued to learn about beginning, middle, and end of a story. We read the book Stone Soup and the students made a story necklace by drawing the three parts of a story. They are displayed in our classroom.
- Mrs. Kranz came to visit us this week. She brought mystery bags with random items in them. She has one of her own, which she showed to the class and then made up a story to go along with the items she had. The story had a clear beginning, middle and ending and the kids shared back the parts of her story. They then worked in groups with their own mystery bags and created their own stories and then shared them with the class.
- We continued to learn our Christmas concert songs in the gym lead by Mrs. Layte.
- We wrote stories in our journals. Students were focusing on creating a story that had a clear beginning, middle and end. If the student couldn’t write a story then they were able to draw one. These are a work in progress.
- We started learning about ‘Brain Pockets’ where our information is stored and where we can get ideas for writing. Ask your child if they can name their three ‘brain pockets’.
- We got outside for some fun in the forest! We even saw a rainbow!
- We will have Aikido instruction in the gym next week thanks to the PAC for funding this!
*Kind reminder, if your child is sick (has been vomiting or has had a fever in the last 24 hours) please keep them home so we don’t all get sick. Thanks!
Next week: first term report cards come home on Monday. Parent teacher interviews are on Wednesday & Thursday starting at 2:00 (call Mrs. MacDonald to book), early dismissal at 2:00 Wed & Thurs. Aikido in the gym.
November 17th
We have begun to practice our songs for the Christmas concert. Our concert will be on the Thursday December 21st and if you can’t make it that evening then our dress rehearsal is in the afternoon but we would prefer you to come in the evening.
- We had an eagle presentation on Wednesday by two of the volunteers who give eagle interpretive talks at the Brackendale dyke. We learned a ton about eagles and the kids listened really well.
- We then shared all of the new information that we learned about eagles, wrote them on the board and the students then wrote a few of the facts into their journals.
- In math we worked on making patters with a 100 chart – many of the students did patters counting by 5’s, 10’s, some people made them with 4’s, 3’s, and even 11’s!
- In their math journals they did spider math – ask them to show you what that means!
- In gym, we had a great time doing big equipment. Next week we will be doing Aikido during our gym blocks thanks to the PAC for bringing this to our school! We also started to learn some basketball skills. We talked about having an athletic stance, being able to bounce the ball without looking at it, and dribbling back and forth! They were quite good!
- We went to the library with Mrs. Kranz on Thursday and learned about just right fit books. We are hoping the each child takes a just right fit book home and a look book, a book that a parent can read to them.
- We visited with our buddy class. Together they are making a surprise for Christmas!
- We read the 3 Little Pigs today and talked about the beginning, middle and end of a story. The students had to help put the pictures in the order of the story.
- We created some beautiful winter wax resist trees. First we made a border, then we did a directed drawing with a bottom line & three triangles. We then traced over the pencil lines with wax crayon. After they used watercolour to paint over them. They are displayed in our hall, take a look next time you are in!
- We had exploration time with the other grade 1-2’s at the end of the day!
Have a good weekend! Next week: craft fair on Thursday night, hot lunch on Friday!
November 10th
This week was spent talking about Remembrance Day and why we celebrate and honour this holiday. Many of the kids shared their own personal story about who in their family was in the war or that someone they know had a grandparent in it. This topic also brought up some emotion in our class, so I would recommend talking to your child about it.
- We had our buddy class visit us this week and we read books together.
- We made doves for our school entrance with one thing that peace means to our class.
- We made a beautiful wreath for our assembly out of markers and coffee filters.
- We visited the library with Mrs. Kranz who read a beautiful book about peace.
- We played literacy & math centres in small groups: bingo, silly sentences & a money matching game were all hits.
- We practiced the song "Do you know where I find peace?" throughout the week as we performed it in our assembly today along with the other grade 1/2 classes.
- We had our Forest Friday today where we all created our names out of natural items. They all turned out so beautifully!
- We have been paying attention to our loudest “thinking voice” when we are connecting to our read alouds. Please try to model your connections when sharing books together, use the language of “this reminds me of….. or I am connecting to….”
- We started looking at Even Steven and Odd Todd to teach even and odd numbers. Ask your child what they know about even numbers and odd numbers.
- Our students did a great job sharing their Remembrance Day song! Some were nervous and persevered. Thank you to all the families that supported the students today!
- Naomi, the Be Active Everyday doctor who came at the beginning of October came today to give the students a certificate and a little gift to thank our class for participating in the program.
November 6th
Today was a touching day. We talked about peace, Remembrance Day and about a little boy named Jacob who is terminally ill.
- We created beautiful poppies out of fabric, markers & buttons and they are on display on the ‘creativitree’ across the hall from the library.
- We read a poem about Remembrance Day and circled all the of sight words we have done so far and underlined the ‘e’s’.
- We read an article about a 9 year old boy named Jacob, who lives in Portland, and is terminally ill with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer. One of his last wishes is to receive Christmas cards from people around the world. His family is celebrating Christmas early this year as they don’t expect him to make it until Christmas:( His favourite things are penguins and Christmas so our class drew a penguin (directed drawing) and made it into a Christmas card. We hope the cards reach him in time and are able to brighten his day :) https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/inspired-life/wp/2017/11/03/this-9-year-old-may-not-live-until-christmas-so-strangers-are-sending-him-an-early-holiday/
- We spent some time outside this afternoon getting some exercise and our vitamin D fix! What a spectacular day!
November 1st
The whole school walk was such a great way to start the day. I noticed many of the students came in tired after Halloween last night but after the walk most were energized and ready to learn.
- We wrote our second morning message today - please look for their communication books in their bee folders and initial their morning message. They will write in it most days so please ensure their Bee book & communication book come back to school daily.
- We practice writing a card today. We have a new writing center up in the classroom and one of the options is to write a card. The students chose who they would like to write their cards to. We focused on capitals, punctuation and kid spelling.
- We wrote in our journals about who they kids went trick or treating with and what they dressed up as.
- They had studio with Mrs. Wilkinson and then went outside for some sun and fresh
- We finished the day with centers and then changed desks for the start of November as we move desks each month.
October 31st
Happy Halloween Everyone!
We began the day in the Gym for a whole school costume parade. It was great to see so many staff and students dressed up! From there, we spent a lot of time together with the other Grade 1/ 2 classes celebrating Halloween! We sang, engineered, played Bingo, danced, watched a short movie and explored the witches forest. Your child is coming home tired and only one very small treat was shared.
Have a safe and Happy Halloween!
We began the day in the Gym for a whole school costume parade. It was great to see so many staff and students dressed up! From there, we spent a lot of time together with the other Grade 1/ 2 classes celebrating Halloween! We sang, engineered, played Bingo, danced, watched a short movie and explored the witches forest. Your child is coming home tired and only one very small treat was shared.
Have a safe and Happy Halloween!
October 30th
Our day today flew by. We worked on a variety of things and before we knew it the day was over!
** Whole school walk on Wednesday at 9:15, it is supposed to rain so please ensure your child has appropriate rain gear! Also if you are able to, please join us!
- The students will now start bringing home their ‘Communication books’ in their Bee folders daily (or most days). This is a quick peek at what is coming up in the next few days or something we are working on. Please take a look at it each evening and initial that you have read it. Thanks!
- We got our new words for our words their way, they cut them out and then sorted them. I do send them home so please review what sounds or letter combinations (blends, cvc, long & short vowels) they are working on and practice spelling them.
- We did some Halloween math – skip counting by 2’s, 5’s & 10’s. The students also had a word search they did.
- We talked about wetlands and marshes and what plants and animals would live there. We are applying for a grant through the WWF to buy plants to go beside our soon to be outdoor classroom, so we got our class and one other involved in brainstorming what plants we should purchase to go there. In groups, the class made posters of a wetland including plants and animals. The posters will be included in the grant process!
- We learned about zentangles - The Zentangle Method is an easy to learn, fun and relaxing way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. Then we created beautiful zentagle pumpkins. The students first had to draw an oval, then draw two crescents on either side of the oval. They then drew their designs (zentangles) in the oval & crescents with pencil then traced over them with a sharpie and finally they painted over with watercolour.
** Whole school walk on Wednesday at 9:15, it is supposed to rain so please ensure your child has appropriate rain gear! Also if you are able to, please join us!
October 27th
On top of the daily (except Wednesday) library times from 8:48-9:15, Mrs. Kranz has created some additional library times - Monday and Friday 8:30-9:15 & Tues and Thurs 3-3:15 - Parents and students are welcome to come into the library during these times.
October 26th
- Today we decoded our morning message and did our word sort, number of the day & sight word.
- We went to the library where Mrs. Kranz taught us the difference between fiction and non-fiction. The students also had a chance to sign out books if they had returned them.
- We had a whole school presentation from Zero Hero’s where they taught us about how to create zero waste and to help the environment.
- The students did some math with a dice. Then they created a jack-O-lantern by rolling a dice (draw eyes if you roll a 3, draw a mouth if you roll a 2...)
- We played a Halloween vocabulary game on the smart board this afternoon. The students had to sound out their word and then touch the screen hoping to get the hidden ghost.
- We ended this beautiful day in the garden with Michi & Mrs. Reimer where we helped to rake leaves to cover our garden for the winter. We also found a few rouge zucchini’s that hadn’t been picked so Michi cut them up for the kids to try!
- Hot lunch is tomorrow.
October 25th
- Each week we learn a new poem. We read it together then circle different letters or sounds. This week in our October poem we listened for and circled rhyming words as well as underlined all the ‘u’s. The students keep their poems in their binders which will come home at Christmas to share.
- The students just started working on daily sight words during their morning routine. They have a new sight word each day to work on along with their word sort and their number of the day.
- The students started a Halloween spider web focusing on types of line. They will finish it next week in time for the big day!
- On Tuesday, Mrs. Clegg worked on making connections to a story. When you read with your child every night continue to encourage your child to make predictions about what will happen in the story and to make connections with what they hear in the story. There are three types of connections: text to self (something that has happened to them), text to text (a connection to another story they have read) and text to world (connections to real world).
- The kids really enjoyed big equipment today as we pulled out the big crash mat and the spring board. They took turns running and doing jumps and flips onto the mat. We also brought out the gymnastics mats, scooters, bouncy balls & the plastic ‘house’.
- The students created a class book called ‘what should Ms. O’Neill be for Halloween’. The students each wrote what I should be for Halloween and listed three reasons along with a picture of me dressed in that costume. It is a pretty funny book!
- We reviewed the 10 fact families for the grade 2’s and introduced it to the grade 1’s. Each number from 1-10 has a partner to make 10 (1+9, 7+3...)
- Hot lunch is on Friday
- Popcorn day was rescheduled to Oct 31st (if you sent in money today I have put it in a bag with your child's name on it for next Tuesday)
- Halloween-we will be dressing up, having a parade and then the three grade 1-2 classes will be doing a fun rotation in the afternoon!
- We are having a whole school walk on Nov 1st at 9:15 (to walk off the sugar high and sleep deprivation!). If you can walk with us we would appreciate it! Come dressed for the weather!
October 19th
- This week we learned about bats. We read Stellaluna and made predictions as we went. We cut and glued a sequencing sheet, the students had to put their pictures in order of the story. Then we made a K-W-L chart (what we know, what we wonder & what we learned). The students knew quite a bit about bats already. We watched the Wild Kratts video on bats and learned quite a bit from it. We also then read a bat fact sheet and filled out some questions about bats. Ask your child what they learned about bats!
- Mrs. Clegg read Wemberly Worried making connections to the story as she went. She will continue working on different reading power strategies with the class on Tuesdays.
- With our buddies we made paper roll Halloween creatures. They had a lot of fun creating them.
- We have been working on word families this week – we have done ‘at’, ‘am’ & ‘an’ – ask your child to write some words for you.
October 13th
This week was action packed, superhero style!
- On Tuesday, Mrs. Clegg talked about what makes a good reader. The class gave her lots of good thoughts such as the brain, reading with mom & dad, practice, pointing at the words, using pictures, and many more. She started teaching the kids about comprehension – what it means to read and understand what is happening in the story. We also read with our buddies this week and worked on predicting. We encourage you to ask your child questions while you read with them such as, what has happened so far, where did the story take place, what do you think will happen next in the story…
- We continued to work on number sense focusing on adding & subtracting numbers to 20. We used a number line, played an adding game with dice, and used our math journals. We are also working on skip counting by 2’s, 5’s & 10’s. The students are learning why we are working on these math skills. Please ask them why they are learning about this.
- We had our first fire drill of the year, in the pouring rain! The class was efficient at leaving the classroom in an orderly fashion and assembling at our meeting spot quickly. We will continue to have multiple drills throughout the year.
- We had Naomi Dove, a medical doctor come to our classroom on Thursday to tell us about the Be Active Everyday program, Superhero theme, that we are participating in. Our class is one of two classes in our school and one of over 5000 classes in BC participating in this amazing program put on by the Doctors of BC. They are encouraging healthy eating and being active everyday through this. There are videos, helpful links and information online at https://www.doctorsofbc.ca/news-events/event/be-active-every-day-2017. We have watched the week 1 and week 2 videos, I will attach the link in the video page. Please watch them with your child and have them write the phrase of the week into their booklet that they brought home yesterday. Each day, if possible, please help your child record the number of minutes of exercise they do, including gym, recess & lunch, walking to school, extracurricular activities, playing outside, etc….
- By sending a picture or short 15-30 second video of their best hero moves or pose into Doctors of BC, kids and their pose may be featured on the Doctors of BC website AND all kids around the province who submit will be entered to win a prize.
- The grand prize is a custom comic book cover featuring the winner as a cartoon super hero!
- We worked in the garden on Thursday with Mrs. Reimer and Michi. They went through the garden to gather stems for our bee pollinator hotel. We chose plants with no flowers or seeds - keeping any remaining flowers for the bees and seeds for the birds - and cut them into short lengths to go into the box attached to the sunny side of the garden shed. Michi showed students the mason bee house she has, and unrolled several paper straws to show off the cocoons where the mason bees are hibernating. As well, students made paper straws for the bees in the spring. We also harvested the remaining Kale from our garden before the bed was covered for the winter. We baked the kale and made kale chips for a snack today!
- We explored fall colours and lines in our leaf art on Friday. The students used oil pastels and created a fall leaf, which are displayed in our room.
- We had lots of cowgirls/boys today for our first spirit day! Way to go crew!
- Today in the Bee folders will be the hot lunch form for October, due on Wednesday and a fridge magnet with our school calendar on it!
- Don't forget about the PAC Movie night tonight! Doors open at 6, movie starts at 6:30 for the Despicable Me 3 movie.
October 6th
- We had a French TOC (teacher on call) on Monday as I was home sick. The kids thought it was pretty funny as she didn’t speak much English but they said it was a great day! They read a fall poem together, circled all the vowels and based on the poem they created a fall scene with torn paper-coming home today. They also used a number line to add and subtract.
- We played a counting game on the smart board, the kids played a turkey math game where they worked in partners, rolled two dice and added the numbers and then added two more, the player with the most numbers covered won. We worked on whiteboards practicing addition and subtraction.
- Tuesday with Mrs Clegg, she gave the students at challenge to be "Noticers," they read the Invisible Boy and reported out their findings during circle at the end of the day. She has also been working on counting by 2's by playing class games and partner games.
- In the library Mrs. Kranz read us Stuck by Oliver Jeffers and then the children were allowed to sign out some books. Our regular library day in on Thursdays, please help remind your child to return their books regularly. We have other opportunities throughout the week, though Thursday is a definite day we will be going as a class.
- The students are in a great routine sorting their Words their way words. You should have seen this week’s words come home on Tuesday. If you can have them continue to sort them occasionally throughout the week or talk about the words and their sorting rule that would be great!
- In circle we talked a lot about what we are thankful for…family, life, pets, friends…those were all consistent answers. We then made a turkey choosing five things we are thankful for. We also wrote what we were thankful for on a feather which will stay in our classroom.
- We love our Thursday garden days with Mrs. Reimer and Michi! This week we collected radish seeds (so tiny), licorice mint (ditto), calendula seeds, corn flower seeds, toad flax seeds, lettuce seeds, and sunflower seeds (for our February bird feeders). We were careful to leave any flowers still blooming for the bees, and our green tomatoes, which we hope will get a chance to redden up in the next week. As well, some of the sunflowers have been left in the gardens for the birds.
- The kids are still enjoying our Wednesday big equipment days and are really good at working together to set up fours stations that all the k/1/2’s will enjoy for the day. We also had gym with Mrs. Clegg’s grade 1/2’s on Friday. We played a variety of tag games together focusing on playing fairly, cooperation & strategy!
- We got to visit our buddy class on Thursday. Mrs. Reed quickly explained computer coding to our class. The grade 3/4 class had written their buddies name on a grid, for each letter both buddies worked together to code the letter like a computer would with beads. They then put all of the beads onto a necklace! I bet you saw them yesterday, they did such a great job and really enjoyed this activity! We visit our buddy class each Thursday.
- We changed desks on Friday - ask your child who they now sit with. We also only had 13 students today as a lot of families took the opportunity to have a long weekend so for a special treat we made hot chocolate and ate cookies that Zeffe brought! Yum!
- Next week: Thanksgiving Monday – no school. Friday October 13th – Our first spirit day of the year! Wear your best cowgirl/cowboy clothes for our Harvest day! PAC Movie night at 6:30 – doors open at 6. Despicable Me 3 will be playing on the big screen!
- Please check your child's Bee Folder for a notice - we have a student who has lice in our classroom, please find a notice about it.
September 29th
- Thursday we visited the library where all students had the opportunity to take home a book. We will be having library times most mornings, so please remember to send the books back to school so they can get a new one!
- We worked together on patterning with the whiteboards. We learned what the core and what the term is of the pattern. Ask your child to teach you!
- We read some beautiful books about Residential schools. Shin-shi-etko & Shin-chi’s Canoe by Nicola I. Campbell. We read You Lift me UP and wrote our own class poem about it. We talked a lot about Residential schools and what life must have been like for these families and children. Our Orange shirt day assembly was a powerful culmination to our learning this week regarding Truth and Reconciliation. I hope you continue this conversation at home.
- We met our buddies on Thursday and read a story with them working on finding picture clues to help us figure out what the story is about.
- We spent some time exploring and building forts on Thursday with Mrs. Clegg’s class.
- In the garden on Thursday we made leaf and flower prints from things we selected from the garden. The maple and bean leaves were great for different colors of green, and provided clean lines and borders, with the help of the texture of the table underneath our pounding project. Then we added the purples of cornflowers, dahlias and other wild flowers, the yellows of sunflowers and brown eyed susans, the reds of scarlet runner beans and beet leaves and the lovely oranges of poppies and calendula. Our prints were so beautiful! The student’s brought them home yesterday.
September 27th
- What a great day for the Terry Fox run today! The class had fun running and walking the route. Yesterday the class learned about Terry Fox. They watched some YouTube clips about his Marathon of Hope and some information about him. The students all wrote on their stickers who they were running for and many choose to run for Terry.
- In honour of Orange Shirt day on Friday, throughout the week we have read a series of books about residential schools. We spoke about residential schools and what that meant for children and their families then and now. We have our Orange shirt day assembly Friday where they will learn more information about it.
- We continued to work on addition problems as well as patterning and math games.
- The students are already very quick at doing their word sort for our Words Their way spelling program. Starting next week they will bring an extra copy of their words home so you can see what they do with the words and extend the learning at home.
- On Thursdays we will have the opportunity to visit the library and spend time with the librarian, Mrs. Kranz. Some days she will read a story and the children can sign out a book, and on other days we will do activities and eventually a research project with her. Book exchange will happen on other days also, so please have your child return his/her library book often.
- **Hot lunch on Friday!
September 22nd
We have had another great week together building a community within the classroom. In circle, we are working on whole body listening and remembering to respect the talking piece.
We have settled into our daily routine nicely. The children are becoming confident in the classroom, making new friends and learning the class expectations. An important word we keep repeating is respect. We are reminding the students to respect themselves, their belongings, our class, and our school.
We have continued learning about plants. We got to work in the MESY(Mamquam Edible School Yard) Thursday with Mrs. Reimer & Michi. The students planted garlic in our class garden bed which will grow all year and be ready to harvest next fall. They also got a chance to taste some roasted garlic (harvested over the summer) on bread, yummy! We learned about the compost and how long it takes to decompose, they picked some Calenduala flowers which will be made into a salve, and they picked Coriander seeds to plant next spring. We are so lucky to have these two great garden experts teaching and working with us in the garden!
We got out in the forest for Forest Friday today! Our class and Mrs. McClements/Clegg's 1/2 spent some time building forts and playing. We will continue to have forest time weekly, it will alternate days though.
We are continuing to work on patterns and number sense. We have played some math games including Pumpkin Bump & Connect Four.
We revisited Zones of Regulation today. Most of the students know the four zones - Red (angry, mad, out of control), Yellow (excited, frustrated, silly), Blue (tired, sick, sad, bored) and Green (happy, ready to learn, calm). It would be great if you could talk about the zones with your child as we will use this language often.
The students have began with their morning word sorts from the developmental spelling program-Words their way. You soon will see this coming home each Friday. Please encourage your child to read their words with you and show you their spelling pattern/rule they had to follow.
Next week-TerryFox run on Wednesday morning and Hot lunch on Friday.
We have settled into our daily routine nicely. The children are becoming confident in the classroom, making new friends and learning the class expectations. An important word we keep repeating is respect. We are reminding the students to respect themselves, their belongings, our class, and our school.
We have continued learning about plants. We got to work in the MESY(Mamquam Edible School Yard) Thursday with Mrs. Reimer & Michi. The students planted garlic in our class garden bed which will grow all year and be ready to harvest next fall. They also got a chance to taste some roasted garlic (harvested over the summer) on bread, yummy! We learned about the compost and how long it takes to decompose, they picked some Calenduala flowers which will be made into a salve, and they picked Coriander seeds to plant next spring. We are so lucky to have these two great garden experts teaching and working with us in the garden!
We got out in the forest for Forest Friday today! Our class and Mrs. McClements/Clegg's 1/2 spent some time building forts and playing. We will continue to have forest time weekly, it will alternate days though.
We are continuing to work on patterns and number sense. We have played some math games including Pumpkin Bump & Connect Four.
We revisited Zones of Regulation today. Most of the students know the four zones - Red (angry, mad, out of control), Yellow (excited, frustrated, silly), Blue (tired, sick, sad, bored) and Green (happy, ready to learn, calm). It would be great if you could talk about the zones with your child as we will use this language often.
The students have began with their morning word sorts from the developmental spelling program-Words their way. You soon will see this coming home each Friday. Please encourage your child to read their words with you and show you their spelling pattern/rule they had to follow.
Next week-TerryFox run on Wednesday morning and Hot lunch on Friday.
September 17th
- We have had a great first week! We are focusing on building a kind and empathetic classroom community and a fun and safe learning environment.
- We have started making patterns and will begin to learn about the core and the terms of a pattern. The kids sure are good at making patterns with two and three terms. They also are learning some new math games, Connect 4 & war to name a few.
- Mrs. Clegg read the class The Perfect Square by Michael Hall and the students had to create an image with scissors, paper & glue based on the book. They also drew where their favourite place to read is.
- We are learning about lifecycles of a plant focusing on sunflowers as we have many in our garden that we can study. After reading about their lifecycle, we took our journals outside and drew them. We really took some time to look at the flower, count the leaves, the seeds and the petals before we began to draw them. Then the next day we added some sunflower facts below our pictures.
- On Friday, we sent home our classroom newsletter, we hope you had a chance to read it. If you have any questions, please feel free to email or phone us.
- Also on Friday we went to the library and Mrs. Kranz (our librarian) read the students a cute story called Library Mouse. Your child also was able to sign out up to two library books. We will have an opportunity to exchange library books most days. Please send books to and from school in their library bag or another reusable bag to keep them safe from the elements and dry.
- On Thursday, Sept. 21st we are having our Meet the Teacher and Back to school Potluck dinner. Please bring a dish to share along with your own cutlery, dishes & beverages (eating/socializing from 5:00-6:30, classrooms open from 6:30-7:00). We look forward to seeing you there!
- Helpers: We will begin having helper of the day starting tomorrow - I have sent some notices home with some information about how we do sharing in our classroom to the students who will be helper this week.