Grade 1/2 room 3: November 2014

Dear Parents,

I hope you are all well. We had a very busy schedule this week. On top of our daily subjects and learning, we have been preparing for our presentation for next week's character trait assembly. Unfortunately, Art, Fun Friday activity time and DPA took a back-burner this week, as Ms. Ritsakis' class joined us to learn our song and actions so we can be ready for next week.
A copy of the song was sent home in each child's book bag. They are encouraged to practice the song at home and to view it on YouTube (the Bucket Song by the Learning Station). The song is so cute - you don't want to miss it. The assembly is scheduled for next Friday. For anyone who can't make it, don't worry we will record it and take pictures.

Click the link below to go directly to the song:
Bucket Song

Another thing I would like to mention is that we could not have book exchange this week because the library was occupied by the kindergarten class on our book exchange day.

With our first snowfall this week, the boys and girls were eager to build snow forts. Unfortunately some students in our school did not show empathy, therefore the building of snow forts has been put on hold until further notice.
One suggestion: It may be a good idea to send an extra pair of pants and a shirt in a ziplock bag with your child. There were a few students that were left with wet pants because they didn't have snow pants on.

Here is what we did this week:

Language:

In Language we have been continuing with procedural writing during our Writer's Workshop. This week we did some shared writing on how to brush our teeth (the students that are seen in the picture were chosen by drawing out popsicle sticks that have their name on them) and how to blow a bubble using bubble gum (you will see the pictures below. Don't worry, they chewed gum to attempt to blow a bubble, but disposed of their gum right after and then rinsed their mouths with toothpaste). For independent practice they wrote about the steps involved in washing their hands. Next week we will do one final independent task and then wrap up our unit on procedural writing before moving on to Letter Writing.
Journal writing has been getting significantly better. I am so impressed with the students' progress in writing in such a short period of time. Everyone is trying their best to achieve a level 4.
For our Reader's Workshop we read three different versions of a book called Stone Soup. We looked at the procedures required to make Stone Soup and next week we will attempt to make our own Stone Soup. Moreover, we will get into comparing the texts using a Venn Diagram and we will make text-to-text connections. One guided reading group has also been chosen to do a mini skit on the book. They are eagerly waiting to practice and present.
Our focus in Language this week was looking singular and plural nouns. We learned about nouns, came up with a list of nouns, discussed where to capitalize nouns and then practiced singular and plural nouns. Below you will see a picture of one of the anchor charts we co-constructed.

Math:

In Math we have been continuing with Number Sense. This week we continued to work on mental math strategies, place value, problem solving, and Fact Families. Students worked in pairs and independently. They also played some math games using dice to determine place value.

Science:

Science presentations have been continuing. We still have quite some time to complete them before moving on to our next Science Unit and starting our Social Studies unit.
Another amazing thing that has been going on in our classroom has been observing the life cycle of a butterfly. For her project on Butterflies, Filia brought in some caterpillars for our class. On Monday morning I came in and saw that all five had made it up to the top of the container lid and had formed the pupa/chrysalis stage. I removed them from the small container and transferred them into a larger net. We are still anxiously awaiting for them to turn into butterflies. Unfortunately we cannot release them as they will not survive in the cold. Below you will see a couple of pictures.

ENJOY THE PICTURES BELOW:
I have also included two problem solving questions that we worked on last week (one is for Grade 1, the other is Grade 2). Also, the DPA pictures are from last week as well.

Grade 2 Math Problem from last week

Grade 1 Math Problem from last week

Math work from last week

DPA in partners

Alina presenting on the Butterfly

Roussos presenting on Termites

Roussos explaining his diorama

Alexandros presenting on the King Cobra

Nabid presenting on the King Cobra

Nabid

DPA - Planking

DPA partner game from last week

Alina presenting in Science last week

Gregory presenting on the Shark

Math from this week - Independent Practice

Math Game - Roll It

Partner work - Math game

Math game on Place Value

Math game

Independent work

Zarina reading with me during Independent Reading

Partner/Shared reading

Partner reading

Chewing Gum (how cute are their faces? lol)

How to Brush our Teeth

Following the steps on how to brush our teeth from the chart we created

One student volunteered to give one step.

List of Compound Words that the kids came up with last week

Grade 1 Math Problem this week

Chrysalis

Pupa Stage

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I hope that you are enjoying the extended weekend with your kids.
We had a very busy yet shortened week this week.
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing, chatting, and meeting all of you that came to the parent-teacher interviews. I really enjoyed speaking with each and every parent and addressing goals that we will be working on for our little ones.
Also, I tried to emphasize this at the interviews but I'll mention it here as well - Please do not think that it is only during interviews that you can come and join us in the classroom. We all share this classroom and it is open all the time. Please feel free to drop in at any time or come and visit so that you can observe your little ones. School is a partnership between parents and teachers working together to shape the minds and lives of our little ones, therefore I think it is imperative that I make everything we do in class transparent. Our classroom always looks the same - we don't try to "fix" our shoes so they can look nice just for interviews. It doesn't matter when you drop in, you will always see the same thing. Room 3 belongs to the students - I simply assist them in making the right decisions and I facilitate the direction of the learning that takes place. Otherwise, our classroom is a community whereby students take ownership of their classroom and they work together towards a common goal.

Before getting into our week, I would like to inform you that I forgot to email myself all of the pictures from this passed week. I apologize and will update the blog with the remainder of the pictures once I get back into class next week.
As well, there are some more dates that I would like to make you aware of:

First, Room 3 will be teaming up with Ms. Ritsakis' class to sing a song for Kindness and Caring during the Empathy assembly coming up at the end of this month. The assembly is scheduled for Friday November 28, 2014. I am not sure if it will be in the morning or the afternoon, but stay tuned as I will post this once I find out.
If there are any parents that can make it out to the assembly, please come and see these cuties perform.

Additionally, we just found out the date for our Winter Concert. After a few changes, the date for the concert has been confirmed for Monday December 15, 2014.

Overview of our week:

Monday was our fun-filled field trip to the Royal Winter Fair. I had a wonderful time and wish we could have stayed a lot longer. I would like to thank the amazing parent volunteers that were so wonderful. Thank you for all of your assistance - trips like these could not take place if it wasn't for you. The class was split up into groups of 4-5 and each group was assigned to one adult.
Below you will see some pictures of my super fun group (Diego, Evie, Filia, George). If any parents have any pictures from the Field trip, please send them to me and I can post them on the blog. I cannot express how many laughs I had with this group. I literally had a cramp from laughing so hard with their comments of how bad the smell was in certain areas.
We got to see and learn a lot about animals. This was the perfect field trip to consolidate all that we have learned in Science. Both grade 1 and 2 students have been studying animals in Science. We got to see a dog show, a horse demonstration show and a cattle competition. Some other things that we had the pleasure of observing was the cattle milking area, the petting section, the butter carving contest, and the giant Ontario award winning pumpkins to name a few. Moreover, we got to observe a lot of different animals, such as llamas, African Geese, chicks, chickens, bees, cattle, lambs, rabbits, goats, and horses. The Fair was very educational in that we got to feel the fur from different animals, we got to learn about the process of getting milk and eggs, and we learned about the colony of bees. We spotted the queen bee and learned that every single bee in the colony was one of her children. The queen bee was bigger than all the other bees and we also learned that there are at least ten bees catering to her at any given time. I learned so much and had so much fun with the kids.

Language:

This week in Language we have been carrying over with everything from last week. One great mini lesson was learning about compound words. The boys and girls of our class came up with at least 50 compound words (stay tuned for the picture next week). We also had some read alouds using books that display empathy. We came up with an anchor chart that lists everything that empathy means to us. The anchor chart will be posted outside in the school hallway near the office.
In our writer's workshop we discussed the different levels of writing. Students gave a grade to 4 different writing samples. We discussed the differences between each level and then students attempted to write a level 4 journal entry. After writing out their journal, they graded their own work and then had a partner grade their work. Once they finished, I got to conference with each student and discuss their writing. When students know what the expectations are, then they strive hard to achieve a high mark.

Math:

Similar to Language, we have been working with problem solving in Math and learning how to answer questions. Students have learned that they will not get full marks in a problem solving question by simply having a correct answer. Instead we have discussed the importance of showing our thinking, relaying our steps, and including a full sentence. Additionally we are learning how to pick out the important details in a problem solving question. We cross out all the unnecessary information and we circle all the important information.We will continue to work on problem solving next week as this is a main area where students get stumped in Math.
We also played some active addition games. Students moved to music around the room in pairs. Once the music stopped I called out a number. Each pair made an addition sentence using their fingers. It was a very fun game.

Science:

Our Science presentations started on Tuesday. Alexandra was the first to go followed by Gregory and Alina. They are so prepared and excited to present - I am loving this unit. Each student is using the "Ladybug" projector to display their work and their diorama. In order to ensure that everyone is listening, we have discussed accountable listening and students have been told that they can earn bonus marks if they show that they are great listeners that ask questions and provide comments to the presenters.

DPA:

In DPA we played a movement game that incorporated Literacy and Numeracy. The game was called the "Power Plank". Students learned about planking and the benefits that it has on our bodies. Students planked and faced their partner. Each pair had a marker in between them. From there we played different games where I would either call out words that begin with vowels, or were even/odd numbers. The object of the game was to maintain a plank and be the first to grab the marker once a certain word/number was called. They had a lot of fun doing this. Unfortunately I have no pictures of this because I was partnered off with one of the students.

Remembrance Day Assembly:

The Remembrance Day assembly was beautiful. Everyone was so respectful and well behaved. We watched as a few of the junior grades presented some songs and skits, and then we stood for our moments of silence as we remembered those who fought for this beautiful country. Two students were chosen from each class to lay their class wreath on the cross. Bobby and Helena were the chosen students from our class. They did a great job with our wreath.

This sums up the important things that took place in our classroom. Enjoy some of the pictures below, and stay tuned for more pictures once I update the blog next week.

Have a great weekend!