News for June 22, 2018

News for June 22, 2018

This week the children performed their plays, reviewed the work in their portfolios and learned how to make their own “word search” puzzles!

At the beginning of the week, the children counted the number of “word wall words” covered this term and then added that number to the number of words studied last term. The class learned how to spell and use correctly 125 words during Term 1 and 139 words during Term 2, for a total of 264 words. Most of the words were common grade 2 level words with irregular spellings, but there were LOTS of homophones and topic vocabulary words as well. These words are recorded in each child’s personal dictionary which will be sent home next week to be used, as needed, in the future.

The students learned how to make their own WORD SEARCH puzzles! Using the word wall words from this term, each child created a personal puzzle. Later in the week, every student solved the word search puzzle made by another student in the class. 

The students are almost finished their sock monkeys. This week they sewed on arms, tails and mouths. The children are getting very good at sewing!

The class was divided into small groups to plan and create movies starring their sock monkeys. They are required to create credits and props to tell a complete fiction story with a problem that needs to be solved. The movies will be filmed and posted to the blog next week.

The two groups of children performed their plays at the final character assemblies of the year on Tuesday. Everyone did an OUTSTANDING job! Being on the big stage in the gym in front of hundreds of students was a bit scary, but all the children did their jobs and they were all very proud of both performances. It was a huge amount of work getting ready to perform these plays and the children now realize the effort it takes to put on a good performance. After the assemblies, the class completed a written reflection sheet to help them think about this project and what they learned from being a part of it.

Finally, the class reviewed the portfolios of their work over the school year. They did a lot of cool stuff! Each child picked a piece of writing and a piece of art that he/she was particularly proud of and then they each had a chance to stand up in front of the class and talk about why they liked the projects they chose.

On Friday, the children were outside at the last Play Day of the year and in the afternoon, they worked in the library with a supply teacher, because the moving men were in our classroom helping me to pack up the classroom for the big move to the new school. Right now there are over 40 boxes packed and I still have more to go…

Books read aloud this week:

That Darn Yarn by Tony Millionaire

Everything’s Coming Up Sock Monkeys by Bonnie Connelly

Sock Monkey Goes to Hollywood - A Star is Bathed by Cece Bell

Going Up! Elisha Otis’s Trip to the Top by Monica Kulling

Thing Thing by Cary Fagen