News for February 14

News for February 14

On Monday this week the class celebrated the 100th day of school! The children did a lot of activities to help them understand the amount of 100. They counted and strung 100 "Froot Loop" cereal pieces. They drew and stamped 100 times on a 100 chart. They played with bags of 100 marbles, football cards, straws and cubes. They worked in small groups to link together 100 paper clips and measure how long the chain was. Of course we also finished creating our 100 pieces of CD art in the stairwell by our school.

In math, we reviewed skip counting by 2, 5, 10 and 25. This strategy helps students to count coins. The children learned and practiced counting coins and figuring out which coins can make different given amounts of money.

In writing, the students each read a typed version of their fairy tale stories. Then, the stories were read by another student and that student wrote a letter to the author of the story telling him/her the best part of the story, how they could improve the story and asked a question about the story. Finally, the author got a chance to read the letter and write a response to the question. These letters are now part of a class book.

The class learned about Flag Day. In Canada, Flag Day is on February 15 each year. It celebrates the day that the Canadian flag first was flown in Ottawa, on February 15, 1965. That makes the flag 49 years old. The students learned how to make a Canadian flag, focusing on the symmetry of the centre maple leaf. These flags are now on display in the hall outside of our classroom decorating our Winter Olympics display.

The students learned the story of St. Valentine. (Did you know it is thought he lived 1,700 years ago?) They created heart flower Valentines, wrote Valentine letters to their families, folded origami hearts and decorated paper bags for their Valentine "mailboxes". Of course, on Friday the students exchanged Valentine cards and enjoyed treats at our Valentine's Day party.

The class went to the gym to see a performance celebrating Black History Month. The musicians and dancers entertained the students with drumming and dancing and even taught the students a dance.

Books read aloud this week:

My Father's Dragon (chapter book - continued) by Ruth Stiles Gannett
The 100 Shirts of Mr. Lee by Nancy Rawlinson

Here is a video showing some of the crazy shirts of Mr. Lee! (From a 100 days project done with my
class five years ago in 2009.)