Grade 1/2 room 3: Overview for the first week of Novemeber

Happy November!!!

Boy did November enter with a bang - I battled the flu bug this whole week and as a result missed work on Wednesday. Nonetheless it didn't stop Room 3 from being busy.

As usual, I would like to note some things about next week before I get into this week's overview.

I am so excited for our field trip to the Royal Winter Fair on Monday. A couple of things: Please make sure that children are wearing comfortable shoes as we will be walking for a large part of the day. Additionally, it is recommended that students bring their backpack with them so that they can have their lunch inside, as well as their coats (since there is no place to leave our coats).
There were so many parents interested in volunteering and I felt terrible in not choosing everyone however, I based it on a first come first serve basis. For the parents that could not make this trip, I promise to ask you first the next time we have a trip.....sorry :-(.
Speaking of trips, we unfortunately received news this week that we can no longer have Scientists in the School. As a result, we had to cancel our end of November date. We have already looked into some programs that come to schools free of charge, and we will notify everyone once we have something set in motion for the future. Once again, my apologies but this is not in our hands.

Next Monday is also the day progress reports get sent home. Interviews will commence on Wednesday and will run through to Friday. I have received more than half of your requests for interview times and unfortunately with many requests overlapping, I had to go on a first come first serve basis. So far whoever has sent in their request is getting the time of their choice. I have coordinated with teachers that have siblings from our class and we worked hard to ensure that our interviews are back to back.

Next Monday is also the due date for Grade 2 Science projects. Presentations will begin on Tuesday. For Grade 2 parents, there is a separate post for science this week.

Next Tuesday is our Remembrance Day assembly. We will also have two students from our class bring up our class wreath and place it at the front of the gymnasium. Stay tuned for some pictures!

Friday is a PA day!!!

Overview of our week:

Language:

In Language we have been continuing to work on Procedural writing, journal writing, popcorn words of the week, word work, creative writing, independent reading, conferencing, and guided reading. This week students chose their own topic to write about for procedural writing. For our shared writing lesson we wrote out the steps and materials required to make chocolate milk, and then we put our writing to the test by actually following the procedures and making chocolate milk. MMMmmmm what a nice morning refreshment it was right before recess!
Guided reading has been going great! I have met with each and every group this week and there have been some great conversations that have come from it. With guided reading I usually go into it knowing what prompts and questions I'm going to ask students or what answers I am looking for or trying to elicit from them. Other times however, a conversation or question may take us into something totally unplanned. For example, while working with one group we read a book on animals with wings. There was a bat that was represented in the book and a conversation arose as to what classification it fell under. One student stated that it was a mammal because it had fur, another said that perhaps it was a bird because it has wings. Ultimately I brought out the IPad and they researched on their own to see what a bat fell under. A bat is a mammal!!!

Math:

In Math we have been working on Place Value and ordering numbers. Students created the first letter of their name using paper base ten block representations. They then indicated how many tens and ones they used, and what the total number was. I unfortunately do not have any pictures of these yet, but will definitely post some on next week's blog post. Better yet, you will be able to see them on the wall during the interviews. We also did some more five and ten frame counting and anchoring of numbers to 20.
Grade 1's also worked on sorting and ordering numbers from 1-100 on a pocket chart. As well, they played some games with number cards. They flip cards over and the person with the highest number earns a point. Math is essentially something that is integrated in a lot of our conversations, our morning message and pretty much anywhere else that it can tie in.

Art:

For art this week we created a wreath for our Remembrance Day assembly next Tuesday. We read a book on Remembrance Day, we saw a video on the origins of the Poppy, we heard the In Flanders Fields poem and talked about its origins, and we talked about doves and what they symbolize. Students came up with different words to describe a dove. Words such as peace, hope, love, and freedom were a few that came up. For our wreaths we traced two doves, painted them, drew poppies on them, and then wrote on them. Our wreath is titled "We Remember". Once the two doves were dry and finished, we glued them together and stuffed them with cotton balls to make them 3D. I think they all turned out beautiful. Most importantly, I am happy with the way our discussions went regarding Remembrance Day; it is extremely important for children to remember those that fought for our freedom. We are truly blessed and lucky to live in the best county.
Below you will also see the finished product of our Pumpkin Patch artwork from the previous week.

DPA:

I haven't touched on DPA in passed posts, but I wanted to inform you on DPA. DPA is mandated by the government. It stands for Daily Physical Activity and it is required on days when physical education is not held. There are not many things that the government mandates with regards to classroom instruction other than the curriculum documents, however 20 minutes of daily physical activity is one of them. I feel very strongly about DPA and I "try" to include it on all of our non-phys ed days. I feel that we are all so consumed with marks and grades, that we lose sight of the importance that physical education plays on a child's development. The most important thing we have in life is our health, therefore physical activity takes equal precedence as all other subjects. Studies have proven over and over again that physical activity fosters a child's social, cognitive, behavioural and physical development. As such, I make it a point to include some form of physical activity in our day, whether it be inside the classroom or outside on the field. On days where we are indoors and limited in terms of space, we have used Just Dance for kids on our projector. We have danced to different songs that have been requested by the students. Other things have been a "Simon Says" game using fitness activities such as jumping jacks, skipping, hopping and running on the spot. This week's game was a community building game. Students skip around the classroom to music and at the stop of the song, they follow the command given to them. For example, I call out 6 elbows, 5 knees, 20 fingers, 8 hands, 4 feet, etc. The point of the game is to ensure that there is no one from the class that is left out of a group. Students must work together to figure out how they will do this. Some used both their knees in a group, while others had one knee in. The point of the game is to make it inclusive and to build community. Below you will see a snapshot of them during DPA.

I hope you enjoyed yet another post from our week. Enjoy the pictures below, have a great weekend, and I look forward to seeing you all next week.

Sincerely,

Ms. Nikoletopoulos