Sunday, March 31, 2019

Update from Ms. R





The homework for this week is to complete the math/language worksheets on symmetry, reading comprehension and use of quotations that was sent home with your child on Friday.  This homework is due on Friday, April 5th.

Notes for parents:

1. Please send your child to school properly dressed for playing outside. The weather at this time of year can be unpredictable... warmer one day, then colder the next. The students spend a significant time outside each day: 15 minutes before school, 15 minutes at morning recess, 30 minutes at lunch and 15 minutes at afternoon recess.

2. Please help your child to hand in the weekly homework on or before each Friday. Over half of the class did not hand in their homework on Friday. If you or your child is unsure of what is required, please consult this blog on Sundays, email me or have your child ask me or another student in our class.

3. The 15th Annual 100 Books Party! May 1st (AM only). SAVE THE DATE! We will be celebrating the reading and writing work of the students in Room 222. It's a HUGE celebration and it would be wonderful if all the parents could join us, even for a short time.

Important Dates:

April 19 - Good Friday - no classes on this day
April 22 - Easter Monday - no classes on this day
PLEASE NOTE- May 1 - 100 BOOKS PARTY! (morning)
May 16 - Spring Concert (evening) - Our class will be performing.
May 20 - Victoria Day - no classes on this day
June 7 - P.A. Day - no classes on this day
June 27 - Last day of classes for the 2018-2019 school year

News for March 29







News for March 29

This week the class learned about symmetry in math, how to use quotation marks when writing and created art using their cursive names.

In math, the children had lots of opportunities to practise adding and subtracting two-digit numbers with regrouping. They also applied these skills to solving word problems. Later in the week, the students talked about symmetry and lines of symmetry. They learned how to identify symmetrical shapes and designs, how to draw lines of symmetry, how to complete the other half of a symmetrical design and drew their own symmetrical pictures. They also learned how to use "mirras" or pieces of red plastic that show a reflection (like a mirror), but is also transparent.

In writing the children reviewed the standard five stages of writing: plan, rough copy, edit, revise and publish. The class learned the difference between editing and revising. Editing is finding and correcting mistakes in pencil, like capitals and periods, missing words and misspelled word wall words. Revising is making good writing even better by adding more words to sentences to give the reader more information using coloured pen. Each child began writing a fiction story based on the "flat" character of themselves that they made last week.

The class continued to chorally read and discuss the chapter book, "Flat Stanley". They are practising how to read with expression and we have been focusing on interpreting the story by "reading between the lines" and discussing what the reader knows about what is happening in the story, even though the text might not say so directly.

Later in the week the class learned about quotation marks and practised how to use them correctly when writing "spoken words" in their sentences and stories.

In social studies, the children worked very hard to complete their country research posters, create titles for the display, rehearse the song and film a video about it all! The posters are now on display in the hall outside of our classroom. Here is the video:


The children learned how to play the pencil-and-paper game, "Snowman". (This is a more age appropriate version of the old fashioned game known as "Hangman"). The children worked in partners to guess a word by suggesting letters and if that letter is in the word, it is written in the appropriate place, but if the letter is not in the target word, a part of the snowman is drawn.

The children have been asking me to teach them how to write capital letters in cursive. So, the class had a chance to practise writing these this week. On Friday, the students wrote their first names in cursive, then again backwards to make a symmetrical design. They began to colour in these designs and think about what the shapes remind them of...

The Room 222 Interview Show will return next week with episode 7.

Books read aloud this week:

Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown (chapter book - read chorally)

Sunday, March 24, 2019

The Room 222 Interview Show - episode 6

This week our guest was Ms. Reinelt. She is a teacher at our school.

Update from Ms. R
























The homework for this week is to invent a new country! The children were asked to create a new, fictional country and write about it in their homework writing journals. The students were instructed to use what they learned about countries from their research projects to guide their writing. What is the name of the new country? What kind of money (currency) do they use? What language do they speak there? How do they say "hello"? What is the national animal? What does the flag look like? When did it become a country? How many people live there (population)? I'm looking forward to reading all the details. There are also two worksheets: one of cursive letter writing practice and one of add/subtract questions with regrouping. This homework is due on Friday, March 29th.

Parent Note:

SPRING CONCERT - SAVE THE DATE - Our school's spring concert will be held on the evening of Thursday, May 16th. Our class will be performing at the concert. More information will follow closer to the date.

Important Dates:

March 29 - Superhero Day
April 19 - Good Friday - no classes on this day
April 22 - Easter Monday - no classes on this day
May 16 - Spring Concert (evening) - Our class will be performing.
May 20 - Victoria Day - no classes on this day
June 7 - P.A. Day - no classes on this day
June 27 - Last day of classes for the 2018-2019 school year

News for March 22









News for March 22

This first week back after the break, the class was busy learning to add and subtract two-digit numbers with regrouping, creating flat, paper versions of themselves and writing new lyrics to a Johnny Cash song!

In math, the children learned the theory behind how to correctly add and subtract two-digit numbers and practised solving these kinds of questions independently. Using what they know about place value, the children demonstrated how to get the answers using place value blocks and how to regroup ones into tens (for adding) and tens into ones (for subtraction). By the end of the week, the children were able to solve these questions using the standard method. The class also practised how to apply these skills to solving word problems.

In social studies, the children have all now completed their graphic organizers to collect facts about their chosen research countries. They each took their facts and are now writing complete sentences on their posters. The students also created paper flags to put on the posters.

The class began a reading/writing project based on the chapter book "Flat Stanley". Using a class set of books, the students read the first two chapters chorally and we discussed the story elements. The main character "Flat Stanley" has an accident and is flattened to only one centimeter thick. The book is about his adventures. On Friday, the children had a chance to create a flat character of themselves out of thick paper. What adventures will these characters have?

The class learned about the contractions couldn't, shouldn't and wouldn't and how to use these words correctly. We also looked at ten (of many) digraphs (or consonant blends like "sk" and "br") and how to identify them to help with reading and writing.

The class finally finished learning how to write the 26 lowercase letters of the alphabet. The students reviewed writing their letters and practised writing their signatures. The students are now able to choose to write their work in printing or cursive. They are also now able to read cursive writing.

The students learned about the Hindu spring festival of Holi. We talked about why this day is celebrated and how it is celebrated. There are lots of bright colours! Here is the link to the video that we watched:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1hs5FO_Oqk

As a connection to our social studies unit, the class listened to the song, "Everywhere Man" by  Johnny Cash. In this song, he sings about all the places that he has visited. He even sings the names of Toronto and Ottawa! Our class rewrote the lyrics to include all the names of the countries that we are learning about. We sorted the names by the number of syllables to help. Our version of the song will be included in video to be made next week. Here is Johnny Cash's version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM_ncuwDtcE

The class attended an assembly on bus safety on Thursday.

Finally, Ms. Reinelt was our guest this week on The Room 222 Interview Show. This video can be seen in a separate posting.

Books read aloud this week:


Chicken Little retold by Marilyn Helmer
The Seven Little Kids by the Brothers Grimm
The Three Bears retold by Paul Galdone
Goldilocks and Just One Bear by Leigh Hodgkinson
Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown (chapter book - reading chorally as a whole class guided reading activity)


Sunday, March 10, 2019

The Room 222 Interview Show - episode 5

This week our guest was Mr. Currie. He is a gym teacher at our school.


The Room 222 Interview Show - episode 4

This week our guest was Ms. Potter. She is a teacher at our school.

Update from Ms. R







The homework for this week is to teach parents how to to play the board game that your child created this week. After the lesson, each student is to complete the reflection worksheet and write about how the lesson went. This homework is due on Friday, March 22nd.

Notes for Parents:

1. The swimming pool has been closed for repairs. Hopefully, lessons will begin again around the week of April 15th. This means that our next class lesson will be in April. I will let you know the exact date of our next class in a few weeks.

2. I spoke with the class on Friday and the students promised me that they would each read for a minimum of 20 minutes a day over the March Break. Please help your child to continue to improve his/her reading fluency and reading comprehension because the only way to get to be a better reader is by reading! (Remember that this includes: reading to self, reading to an adult and an adult reading aloud.)

3. On Friday, children took home their water bottles to be cleaned and some children chose to take home their indoor shoes as well. Please help your child to remember to bring back his/her water bottle and indoor shoes when classes begin again on Monday, March 18th.

Important Dates:

March 11-15 - MARCH BREAK
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day
April 19 - Good Friday - no classes on this day
April 22 - Easter Monday - no classes on this day
May 20 - Victoria Day - no classes on this day
June 7 - P.A. Day - no classes on this day
June 27 - Last day of classes for the 2018-2019 school year

News for March 8






News for March 8

This week the class designed and created board games, researched countries for their social studies projects and made (and ate) pancakes!

In math, we continued the probability unit by doing math experiments to develop and show the understanding of probability. One experiment we did was to use a "peek box" to determine the number and colour of plastic cubes in a sealed box. The children took turns shaking and "peeking" at the open corner of the box to see which colour showed up. We tallied the number of times each colour was seen and using that information the children predicted the number and colour of the cubes in the box. For example, if the colour red had the most tallies, then red was likely to show up so there should be lots of red cubes in the box. The children realized that their predictions got more accurate as we did more and more experiments to get more information.

Later in the week, the students designed and created their own board games, using what they know about probability devices (e. g., dice, spinners, picking chance cards) to include in their games. The children planned their games on scrap paper and then made big game boards with spinners and chance cards, collected playing pieces, paperclip spinners or dice. On Friday, the students worked in groups to play each others board games. (When I said it was time for lunch, the class cried out, "Noooo!" So the class continued playing their games in the afternoon.) These board games were rolled up to take home, for children to teach their parents over the holiday.

In guided reading, the children read and discussed a non-fiction book about flags. Did you know that Greenland is part of Denmark? Did you know that the extinct bird, the dodo, was only found on the island of Mauritius off the east coast of Africa, east of Madagascar?

In writing, the children put the final touches on their glovetopus chapter books. Next, each student read a fellow child's book and then wrote the author a letter telling the author his/her favourite part of the book, what they could do next time to make the book even better and a question for the author about the story. Finally, the authors read their letters and answered the questions. These chapter books are now in binders and are available for the children to read during independent reading times.

In social studies, the class learned how the Earth is divided in half by the equator, creating the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere. At the top of the Earth's axis is the North Pole and at the bottom is the South Pole. The students also learned about how the 195 countries on Earth are grouped into seven different continents.

Last week, the class generated questions they had about their research countries and I put these together to make a graphic organizer to help them organize their social studies research information. The children learned how to use encyclopedias to collect information about their research countries.

On Tuesday, we celebrated Pancake Day! March 5th this year was Shrove Tuesday. This day, in the Christian tradition, is also known as Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday. The class learned that long ago there were no refrigerators so food had to be eaten up before it spoiled. On Shrove Tuesday, fatty, rich foods are eaten and pancakes, for example, help to use up butter and eggs. The class mixed up the pancake batter and flipped the pancakes and ate them with syrup. Yum! On Friday, the class learned the history and traditions of St. Patrick's Day (March 17).

The class learned to write the cursive letters e, f, h, o. Only six more lowercase letters to learn.

On Friday, after afternoon recess, the class went to the gym for the school's "Dragon Dance Party".

Finally, in response to our kindness project from last week, the caretakers took the time to write a thank you card to the class for the eight glovetopuses the children made for them and the letter we wrote. They really appreciated being recognized for their hard work!

Books read aloud this week:

Curious George Makes Pancakes by H. E. Rey
Pancakes, Pancakes by Eric Carle
Once Upon a Time - Three Barnyard Fairy Tales retold by Marilyn Helmer (This week, The Little Red Hen and The Ugly Duckling were read aloud.)
The Flag Book by Sarah Polin
Hooray For St. Patrick's Day by Joan Holub

Sunday, March 3, 2019

The Room 222 Interview Show - episode 3

This week our guest was Ms. Macina. She is a vice principal at our school.


Update from Ms. R



The homework this week is to complete the cursive writing review sheet, the probability math review sheet and to teach the Provinces of Canada to an adult and then write about it. This homework is due on Friday, March 8th.

NOTE FOR PARENTS

The students had a great time during swim class on Friday! Please remember to take out your child's swim gear to dry out. The children can bring their swim bags back to school anytime and store them on their coat hooks, so that they will be prepared for class on Friday.

Important Dates:

March 8 - School Spirit - Dance Party - period 7
March 11-15 - MARCH BREAK
April 19 - Good Friday - no classes on this day
April 22 - Easter Monday - no classes on this day
May 20 - Victoria Day - no classes on this day
June 7 - P.A. Day - no classes on this day
June 27 - Last day of classes for the 2018-2019 school year

News for March 1









This week the class learned about math probability, international flags and their countries and fables and fairy tales.

On Monday, Ms. Heath asked me to accompany the primary choir to the Kiwanis Festival. Since six children from our class are in the choir, the balance of the class spent the day with either Mr. Baillie or Ms. Tiralongo.

In math, the children were introduced to the probability words for grade two: certain, likely, equally likely. unlikely and impossible. The students made word cards to help them recognize and create statements that apply to each probability words. The children also learned about spinners and how to design ones that are "fair".

In social studies, the class talked about how the world is divided up into different countries and their flags. Each child chose a different country to learn more about by doing a research project. First we brainstormed questions that the students had, for example, "What language do people speak there?". Then we focused on flags and how flags say the name of a country without using words. As a class we will do a country project on Canada. The students learned a song about the Provinces (10) and Territories (3) of Canada to help them remember the names and their order from east to west. The class reviewed some Canadian facts (for example, Canada became a country on July 1, 1867) and wrote the names of the Provinces and Territories on a map of Canada. The students also began to make their big research posters.

The class learned about the musician K'Naan who was born in Somalia and came to Canada when he was a child. The children heard the story of his life and how he used the words from a poem written by his grandfather to create a song that became a hit worldwide.(He wrote: "When I get older, I will be stronger, they'll call me freedom, just like a wavin' flag". The students also watched a video of K'Naan singing his song. Here is the video:


The class has begun to talk about fables and fairy tales. We learned about a man named Aesop who is credited with creating many well known fables, or stories with a lesson or moral. Did you know that Aesop lived in Greece over 2,500 years ago? We have also started to talk about what makes a fairy tale different from other forms of fiction stories. So far, the children have identified that in some fairy tales animals talk and act like humans and some fairy tales have royalty characters like kings and queens.

In cursive writing, the class learned the cursive letters, j, k, l, r, and s.

As an act of kindness, the children created a bunch of glovetopuses for the caretaking staff at our school to thank them for all they do at our school to keep it clean and safe. We brainstormed the kinds work that they do from cleaning up the lunch room to shoveling snow and wrote a letter to them to thank them. The caretakers were so pleased!

The Room 222 Interview Show episode 3 was filmed this week. Our guest was Ms. Macina. She is a vice-principal at our school. This video can be seen in a separate posting.

Books read aloud this week:

The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Anderson
When I Get Older - The story behind the song "Wavin' Flag" by K'Naan