Conferences and Book Fair

Yesterday a note was sent home in regards to our open house conferences this year. On Thursday, November 24, families are welcome to come in any time between 4:30-7:00 to share in what is going on in our classroom this term. No appointments are necessary.

The following day, Friday November 25, parents are welcome to set up an appointment time with teachers between 9:00-11:30. This is intended for families who may have concerns or questions they would like to discuss in a more private setting.

Look for report cards coming home next week on Wednesday, November 23!

Also plan to stop by our book fair during your visit to the school on either Thursday or Friday and check out the fantastic selection of books we will have on display!

Remembrance Day 

We hope to see you at our service

Circtastic

We had such an exciting start to our week! Performer Robin Chestnut showed off his amazing juggling, coordination and balance skills, inspiring many of us to try and duplicate what we had seen.

Robin about to balance a shoe on his face.

Attempting the same trick!

Newly formed "circtastic" group....part circus stunts, part gymnastics, all fantastic!

Tomorrow morning we have an assembly at 9 am we would love for you to join us at.

This week we will be looking at the wants and needs of humans and animals, and comparing and contrasting them.

In Math, we will continue to work on patterns, representing numbers, counting and problem solving. Looking for some quick activities to work on skills at home?? Try counting! This is an easy activity with no supplies needed and can be done anywhere, in the line at the grocery store, driving in the car, or even while washing your hands.

Grade 2's can start off counting forward and backwards to 100. Start off by 1's, then move on to skip counting by 2's, 5's and 10's starting at multiples of those numbers. Take turns with your child to model correct counting.

Grade 3's can start in the hundreds, and when ready for a challenge skip count by 2's, 5's and 10's at nonmultiples.

Another idea is to make flash cards with your child on addiction and subtraction facts to 12 (grade 2) and to 18 (grade 3). Then use these for just a few minutes a couple of times a week to practice and reinforce mental math fact fluency. These skills are so important do that students are more easily able to solve 2 and 3 digit addition facts as the school year progresses. 

 

 

 

We Are All Unique

This week, students listened to the story "The Crayon Box That Talked", and participated in a lesson surrounding the theme in the book...we are all unique, but all an important part of our classroom community.

It is now our bulletin board, reminding us of this important fact every day!!

We also did some problems solving using pattern blocks this week, and challenged ourselves to create the same shape using different amounts of blocks.

Please send in donations for the Shamattawa First Nation next week. This community is fly in only, and their only grocery store was burnt in a fire. We are collecting non-perishable food items, as well as cash. Items most needed are for the smallest members of the community, and include items such as diapers and wipes.  Thank you so much for your anticipated support!!

DATES FOR NEXT WEEK:

Early dismissal at 3:10 on Tuesday

Library book are due Wednesday

What a Week!

It was a busy week in Room 12! We spent time getting to know one another, building our stamina for read to self, learning the morning routine and creating some art!  

In Math we are working on patterns, as well as representing numbers. Over the next few weeks we will also be doing problem solving, and getting started on math stations. We will also begin our Science and Social Studies units in the upcoming days.

IMPORTANT DATES FOR NEXT WEEK:

Monday, September 19 - please return library books

Tuesday, September 20 -  Early dismissal at 3:10, and Math Night! Join us for dinner and an evening of math games. This is a great opportunity to see what your child will be working on, and a fun way to work on math skills. Teachers will also be available to discuss anything you may want to talk about.

Wednesday, September 21 - Spelling test. The words were written down in agendas. Here they are in case you cannot find them...

one      two       three      four     five     six      seven      eight      nine    ten

The words will not be given in order for the test. Next week we will continue with number words, please check agendas for the new words.

 We spent time discussing what kind of a person we want to be. From this we will create our class rules.

 Enjoying rainbow carrots from the garden!

 Sharing a favourite story from her ME bag

 Self portraits....learning about perspective and placement when drawing a face.

Lined up and excited on the first day!

Welcome Back!

A new school year is upon us, and I am so excited to meet the new students, as well as say hello to those returning to Room 12!

I hope everyone had a relaxing summer, and was able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather we had.

I plan to post classroom news and updates here weekly, as well as on our Instagram account. If you aren't following us already, please look up room12sb and follow us so you can see what we are up to and comment on the things we are thinking and learning about. As well I plan to keep families up-to-date through Remind (please sign up! Let me know if you need help to do this) and our agendas, which will go back and forth between home and school daily.

If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

Sabre Saves!!

What an inspiring and amazing few weeks we have had in rooms 11 and 12! We have been so busy fundraising for our chosen charity, D'Arcy's A.R.C. Students were so busy over the past few weeks. 

Our marketing team designed and created a variety of posters to advertise what we were selling and who we were fundraising for.

The public relations team worked on writing blog posts,meters home, announcements at school and presenting at our assembly.

Our finance team was busy comparing prices, working out how many supplies we needed, coming up with prices, and totalling our money collected every day.

Everyone was involved in production, which included making and decorating 7(!) batches of sugar cookies and packaging candy.

Everyone also participated in sales at recess.

These types of projects are so rewarding in so many ways. It expands their vocabulary and knowledge of business related terms and ideas, and incorporates all sorts of math and language arts concepts. It also brings in Socual Studies concepts such as helping out in our local community.

Our marketing team designing posters.

Some of the information our finance team used to determine what supplies we needed and what our price points should be.

Production hard at work!

Cookie decorating!

The finished product. We sold out!

Quality control inspecting bagged candy.

Addition and Subtraction Strategies

This week we are busy working on our addition and subtraction strategies when working with 2 and 3 digit numbers. The first strategy students have been introduced to is called number hops. 

In this strategy, students start at the first number. They then draw out their "hops" to find the solution. In the question above, students draw two big hops back to take away the two groups of ten, then draw six smaller hops to take away the ones. They record the numbers as they count back, finally arriving at the solution.

This strategy is great for students who still need to see the process to fully understand how to arrive at the correct solution.

Another strategy we have been using is called "Tens and Ones".

In this strategy, students start out with the whole first number, 75, and then take away the 20 from 26. Once they have calculated that solution, they take away the remaining ones to come up with the final answer. Over the next few weeks students will work on subtracting, using these strategies, or a personal strategy that they can use and explain correctly.

If you ever have any questions about these, or any other strategies, please let me know and I can help explain.

We Love to Read!

With the month of February just around the corner, we welcome in I Love To Read month and all the activities that go along with it. There will be an assembly in the gym Monday morning at 9 am, which all families are welcome to attend. I also hope to see most of you at the Family read In on February 4 from 6-7 p.m.

In Social Studies, we are currently learning about the 7 continents. Students have been listening to a song which provides facts about each continent, as well as using a special children's atlas to record facts about each continent.

In Science, we have continued to use magnets to explore how they work, as well as ways we use magnets in our every day lives.

In Math, we have continued to work on graphing and writing story problems. We have also really been working hard on some open-ended problem solving. This has proven to be very difficult for students, especially when it comes to showing and organizing their work, and clearly explaining their thinking. This will continue to be an area of focus throughout the year, as we attempt to integrate problem solving in to our daily routine and across subject areas.

DAYS TO REMEMBER...
assembly Monday
library book are due Tuesday
early dismissal Tuesday

Baby, it's cold outside!

It has been a cold week with lots of indoor recess. Students have lots of options for indoor recess such as the gym, cup stacking in the library, go noodle in the French room, walking club on the main floor, or visiting friends in other rooms.

This week we have begun writing story problems during our math and writing periods. All students are working on putting capitals in the correct place and writing in complete sentences. We have also continued to work on putting data on to a bar graph, and writing sentences about the information displayed.

In Social Studies we have continued to explore maps if the world, and are learning to identify the equator, North Pole, South Pole, Northern hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere.

Drawing our own maps during free time.

Creating owls in art using oil pastels and watercolour paints.

Pattern blocks continue to be a favourite activity for many!

Next week library has been cancelled due to some inservicing happening. Early dismissal on Tuesday.

Back to School

Welcome back, I hope everyone had a restful winter break, all the best for 2016! We have been busy starting new units and getting back into the swing of things. There were lots of tired faces to start the week, but it was wonderful to see everyone.

As the weather gets colder, please remember to have your child dressed appropriately for the weather. Ski pants and boots, scarf and hat, and water resistant mitts are what I hope everyone is wearing outside. Indoor recess occurs when it reaches -28, with or without the windchill, and it can be cold especially over the longer lunch recess.

We have started our new unit in Science...."Forces That Attract and Repel". We begin this unit looking at magnets, their uses and how they work. And of course, we have lots of fun playing and exploring with them!

We also wrote New Years resolutions this week, and did some peer editing with classmates.

In Math, we have started working on data management. Students are learning how to collect and organize data on to a bar graph, as well as write statements comparing and contrasting the information shown.

Next week, we will continue to focus on data management, and will begin writing our own story problems. We will also continue to work on problem solving and mental math.

In Social Studies, we have begun our unit "Exploring the World". We begin by looking at maps and globes and learning the names of the continents and oceans. We will then move on to comparing our lives to the lives of children in other parts of the world.

The best week EVER!!!

Next week is our last week of school before the winter break. This week we have been busy wrapping up reading groups, solving "12 Days of Christmas" word problems, and working on several different art projects.

Designers, builders and painters working on the box. This week we painted the outside, made the chimney and window, and made flowers and bushes for the side of the house. The next steps are painting our hands to decorate the roof, add the brick detail, and attach the flowers and bush.

This week we took apart flowers. We looked at the petals, pistil and the stamen.

We started to make some holiday books about what we do in the wi tear at our winter centres.

Next week, there is early dismissal at 3:10 on Tuesday, and library books are due on Thursday.

Graphs and Seedlings

We are staring to work on graphing and data management in Math. While students are generally able to collect information and put it into a graph fairly easily, the questions about the information tend to be more difficult.

On this graph, most students could easily answer which ornaments the reindeer had the most or least of. Questions such as "how many more glittery bows than paper snowflakes do they have?" and "how many more paper snowflakes will the reindeer need to make to have 20 in all?"are the most difficult, and these will be the types of questions we will be focussing on in the the few weeks and into the new year.

Other things to work on include counting forwards, backwards and skip counting. Students in grade 2 can practice with numbers up to 100, and skip counting by 2, 5 and 10, forwards and backwards, at multiples and non multiples.

Students in grade 3 are working on counting forwards and backwards with numbers up to 1000. You can also start practicing counting by 3 and 4, in order to get ready for multiplication.

We started to plant some beans in a bag wrapped in paper towel and soaked in water. When they started to sprout, we planted the ones that were growing in soil. This week, one of the seeds we planted sprouted out of the soil! This is called a seedling. Some of our seeds grew, and some of them did not. We think it is so cool how they look when they are sprouting.

Shared writing project with students.....our first shared blog post!!!

We had so much fun singing at the winter concert. We worked really hard to present our songs to everyone. We felt so proud of the Winter is Fun song because there were lots of different parts, like instruments, dancing, chanting and signing. Also, we wrote it ourselves!!

Winter Concert

Winter Concert rehearsals are in full swing! Students have been busy learning songs, dances, and adding in instruments. Please mark your calendars for December 2. Students are asked to wear their "holiday best".
There will be a brief intermission between the K-3 show and the 4-5 show. If you wish to watch the 4-5 show, we ask that you please pick up your child in the classroom between shows.

It was a pleasure to see so many of the families come out to conferences either Thursday evening or Friday morning. If you were unable to attend and would like to meet, please send me an email or call the school, and I an happy to arrange a time that works for you.

Library books are due Tuesday next week.

Problem solving and Projects

The past few weeks students have been involved in projects, meant to foster imagination, teamwork, and build relationships among students. We have created thugs out of Lego, k'nex, art supplies, and today we used tin foil and pipe cleaners.

We have also been focussing on problem solving in math, with partners, and it has been very challenging for students. I am so proud to see them persevere through difficult problems, and it is so rewarding when they finally reach the answer!

As we approach the time of year when report cards will be sent home, please feel free to contact me at any time to discuss the progress of your child. I am happy to meet with families, send home work, and answer any questions you may have.

Reminder that picture retakes are November 18.

Actors and Scientists

This week we were busy exploring plants! We looked closely at roots and are talking about the differences between fibrous and tap roots.

 We also had a guest artist work with us this week. Through drama and role playing, we are exploring topics such as body language, feelings, friendship, and conflict resolution.

We are exited to have her back next week to wrap things up!

Next week, library books are due on Tuesday.

Have a great weekend!

All About Soil

This week we have been digging deep while learning about soil and its composition. We collected samples from around thee school and analyzed them. We have been learning about the types of rock found in soil, and what soil is made of.

We also shared our class smile at our assembly on Monday, so everyone knows what is special about Room 12!

This week we also learned a new part to a math game, in which students are expected to record number sentences as an assessment piece.

Important dates for next week...

No school Monday 😊🍗

Field trip on Tuesday October 13