Sunday, September 29, 2019

Update from Ms. R









Welcome to our new Room 222 families! On Monday, seven new grade 2 students joined our learning community and now we are a class of 20 grade 2 students.

HOMEWORK

The homework for this week is for children to complete the worksheet on using capital letters and on completing growing patterns. (For students new to our class, there is a "A Little Bit About Me" worksheet to complete to include in our class book and a 100 chart to help your child to orally practise skip counting by 2's, 5's, 10's and 25's forwards and backwards. Please keep the 100 chart at home. It takes less that two minutes to practise each day and it really helps to boost your child's math confidence.) This homework is due on Friday, October 4th.

Recall there are two types of homework in Room 222: daily and weekly homework. Daily homework is to study and practise the Word Wall (spelling) Words each day. A copy of these words will be sent home, on an index card, every Monday. PLEASE HELP YOUR CHILD TO LEARN HOW TO READ, SPELL AND USE THE WEEKLY WORD WALL WORDS. Also children are expected to read for at least 20 minutes EVERY day. Weekly homework is assigned every Friday and is due on or before the following Friday.

As always, please email me if you have any questions.


Notes for parents:

1. The students are encouraged to take home their water bottles each day to be cleaned and refilled. This makes sure that the bottles are clean and decreases time away from the classroom refilling bottles.

2. The Room 222 timetable has changed. I will send an updated timetable home with your child next week. (Swim class is still on Day 1, which for now, is on Tuesdays.)

3. If your child will be absent, for a day or an extended period, I appreciate your emailing me to let me know that your child will be away. PLEASE KNOW THAT THE OFFICE DOES NOT INFORM TEACHERS OF PLANNED ABSENCES OR THE REASONS FOR A CHILD'S ABSENCE. If you email me, I will let the office know. You can also call the school office directly at 416-393-0570.

Important Dates:

October 10 - Curriculum Night & BBQ
October 11 - P.A. Day - no classes on this day
October 14 - Thanksgiving Day - no classes on this day
October 31 - Halloween
November 11 - Remembrance Day
November 14 (evening) and November 15 (morning) - parent/teacher interviews
November 15 - P.A. Day - no classes on this day

News for September 27






Our "new" group of students this week, started a class novel study, learned about growing/shrinking number patterns in math and had a guest gym instructor (Ms. R)!

In math, the children continue to practice their skip-counting skills and their place value understanding. The class learned how to identify growing (or increasing) and shrinking (or decreasing) number pattern, how to extend the terms of the pattern and how to write a pattern rule. For example, 37, 35, 33... is a shrinking pattern, the pattern rule is "subtract 2 (or -2) each time" and the next three terms in the pattern are 31, 29, 27.

In writing, the children focused on when to use CAPITAL letters. They are used as the first letter in all sentences and as the first letter on proper nouns. (Proper nouns are names of people, cities, countries, days of the week and months of the year.)

Each student created a sock puppet character. To help them develop this fictional character, the children answered questions and wrote sentences in their journals about their sock puppets (for example, "What is its name? What is its favourite food?)

In reading, the class began our first novel study of the year. The children chorally read aloud the first four chapters of the book, Frog and Toad are Friends. We talked about how a reader would know that this is a fiction story (they wear clothes and talk) and compared it to some research on real frogs and toads (they are amphibians and have sticky tongues to catch their prey). We also discussed the format of a chapter book and how it differs from a standard picture book.

The reading benchmark assessments for our class are almost completed. I will finish this process next week.

In oral communication and media studies, the class talked about different ways to tell a story (oral storytelling, books, comics, graphic novels, movies, videos). The children began to work together in small groups to create stories for sock puppet movies. They created "credits" communicating the title, creator names and actor (puppet) names. Then they rehearsed their movies. These movies will be filmed next week and posted on the blog.

In art, the class learned about the standard colour wheel that shows the primary colours (blue, red, yellow) and secondary colours (green, orange, purple). The students used playdoh to create their individual colour wheels. They used the primary colours to make the secondary colours. Adding white to any colours creates a tint of a colour (for example, pink is a tint of red), while adding black creates a shade. Mixing all the colours together creates a muddy grey-brown colour. Did you know that mixing colours to make a new colour is an irreversible change? The next day, the children wrote about their colour wheels. These colour wheels and the students' written reflections will be displayed on the bulletin board in our classroom.

The children went to an assembly to see a presentation by the authors of "The Gumboot Kids" books and video series.

The students had their individual school photos taken on Monday. In a few weeks, whole class photos will be taken and that will also be a time for individual photo retakes, if necessary.

Finally, our new-to-us gym teacher Ms. Harnick was away on Thursday, so I filled in and taught the class gym. (I used to teach gym to my classes years ago when Davisville was a much smaller school, so I know a lot of gym activities!)

Books read aloud this week:

Everybody's Welcome by Patricia Hegarty

Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel (chapter book read aloud chorally by the whole class)

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Update from Ms. R







Our school's reorganization is now complete. Room 222 is now a straight grade 2 class. Unfortunately, that means our 12 grade 3 students will leave our classroom and now be moved to become a part of one of the three classrooms with grade 3 students at our school. They are a wonderful group of grade 3 learners and we will miss them. Good luck!

On the other hand, the reorganization means that, on Monday, we will be welcoming seven new grade 2 students to our classroom, making a total of 20 children in grade 2 in Room 222.

Note to parents:

Please remember that our classroom and the hall outside of our classroom is a "food free zone", due to severe food allergies in our class. Water only is allowed in water bottles and thermoses and snacks are to be opened only when outside at recess.

Thank you so much for your donations to the "Toonie for Terry" fundraiser for cancer research. Our class raised $52.40.

Important Dates:

September 23 - First day of classes for newly reorganized primary classrooms
September 23 - Author visit - for grades JK to grade 2 students only
September 25 - First School Council meeting -  7:00 pm @ Hodgson Middle School (gym)
October 10 - Curriculum Night & BBQ
October 14 - Thanksgiving Day - no classes on this day

News for September 20







News for September 20

This week the students continued to learn about place value in math, they used their math knowledge to create kinetic origami models and on Friday, they participated in the school's annual Terry Fox Run.

Here are some highlights of the week:

In math, the children continued to investigate place value. The students tried drawing as many happy faces as they could in one minute. Then they drew circles around groups of ten to help them count how many they drew. (The number of groups of ten becomes the tens digit and the remainder becomes the ones digit.) The children also did activities using place value blocks. (These blocks that represent ones and groups of ten.) They also practiced identifying the digits in two-digit numbers.

In writing, the children played a writing game where they used different coloured markers and a die to write a funny story with a partner. The roll on the die determines the number of words the player can write when its his/her turn. The pairs of students then shared their stories with other groups and finally we heard the stories read aloud in a whole class sharing circle. The children also practised placing capital letters at the beginning of sentences and periods, question marks or exclamation marks at the end of sentences.

In preparation for the author visit on Monday, the children learned about the Canadian authors and creators of the CBC children's science series, "The Gumboot Kids". The class also watched one of the videos in the series. Here is the link:

https://www.cbc.ca/kidscbc2/watch/scout-the-gumboot-kids/the-crackling-sky

In an integrated art activity, the class learned how to create a kinetic origami model. This model is a common children's game, also known as a "fortune teller" or a "cootie catcher", but is actually an alternate use of a well-known "salt cellar" origami model. Origami is a great review of geometry and fraction words and concepts, as well as, an engaging fine motor exercise. Did you know that the word "origami" is a Japanese word for "fold" and "paper"?

On Friday, the class went outside to participate in our school's annual Terry Fox run. After lunch the class worked together to review how to count money (sort bills and coins, count the largest value coins first, add it all together) and we figured out we collected $52.40 for cancer research. Earlier in the week, I challenged the students to determine how much money our class (25 students) would collect if each child brought in a $2 toonie. Many children chose the strategy of skip counting by 2's to help them. The answer? $50.00. So we actually collect more than that!

Books read aloud this week:

Swimmy by Leo Lionni
A Fly Went By by Mike McClintock
The Bookshop Dog by Cynthia Rylant
What Pet Should I Get? by Dr. Suess
Terry Fox by Maxime Trottier

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Update from Ms. R







There is no pencil and paper homework this week due to the upcoming changes to our classroom next week. What was assigned was for children to practise skip-counting, forwards and backwards, by 2's, 5's, 10's and 25's. Each student was given a annotated 100 chart to help them with this. The ability to skip counting accurately and quickly helps children in many areas of mathematics.

Regular weekly homework will be assigned next Friday, when the reorganization is finished and the class lists are finalized.

SWIM CLASS

Swim classes begin next week. Our day is on Day 1 which currently falls on a Tuesday. All students are expected to participate in this program. Please help your child to bring a swimsuit, towel and swim goggles. (If your child does not currently have swim goggles, there are some they may borrow for the day.) Children with long hair need to wear a bathing cap or at least put their hair into a pony tail. Please put these items in a plastic bag labelled on the outside with your child's name.

PERSONAL BELONGINGS

As the staff member in charge of the whole school's "Lost and Found", I can tell you that LOTS of clothes, lunch bags, swim gear, water bottles and sports equipment are left behind at school each day. Please write your child's name on ALL his or her belongings that they bring to school. My mandate is to return all items on the Lost and Found tables within 24 hours. However, I am only able to do this if the child's name is on the item.

Important Dates:

September 16 - Reorganization Day - some students will move classrooms this week
September 20 - Terry Fox Run
September 25 - First School Council meeting -  7:00 pm @ Hodgson Middle School (gym)
October 10 - Curriculum Night & BBQ


News for September 13











News for September 13

This week the children began to learn about place value in math, made a class book about squirrel facts and created some abstract art!

In math, the students concentrated on practising how to skip count by 2's, 5's, 10's and 25's to 100. We timed our daily practice and it takes just 1 minute and 38 seconds to practice the different ways counting forwards. They created their own 100 chart, by writing the numbers 1 to 100 and using the patterns we saw to help them fill in the chart correctly. Then the children used these charts to play the game "Race to 100" using a die. Some children played variations of this game by going backwards or "Race to Zero" and using two dice instead of one die. Later in the week, the class was introduced to place value, or the value of the digit depends on the place that you put it. So 23 means two groups of ten and 3 ones, but 32 means three groups of ten and 2 ones. We also discussed how the place value system can create every number in world, using only the ten digits, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

The class practised their word wall words for the week in a variety of ways, walking and clapping, writing on chalkboards and completing fill-in-the-blanks questions. We also played a spelling game called "Word Ladders" where clues inform players how to change letters in one word in order to create a new word. As a group, the children learned how to change a hen into a fox by simply changing one letter at a time: hen, pen, pin, fin, fix, fox.

In writing, most students finished their stories based on the paintings they made this week and edited their stories with me for clarity and for sentences having capital letters at the beginning of the sentence and a . ! or ? at the end of each sentence. At the end of the week the children gave titles to and wrote a short reflection on their abstract art. These written reflections are displayed in the hall with their artwork.

In science, the children chorally read a short non-fiction text about squirrels. They learned how to use a highlighter to mark words and phrases that contain important information. Each child was responsible for creating a page containing a fact about squirrels and illustrating the fact. These pages will be assembled into a class book for students to read during independent reading time.

In art, the class created some abstract art. First they used a continuous line to create spaces of varying size and shape. Then they put colour into the spaces using wax crayons. Finally, they mounted their art on black construction paper using staplers. These artworks are now on display in the hall outside of our classroom.

The class went to the pool on Tuesday to review the rules and routines of the pool area and the pool safety rules. Next Tuesday, the children will go in the pool to swim.

Books read aloud this week:

Those Darn Squirrels by Adam Rubin
Please Open This Book! by Adam Lehrhaupt
The World That Loved Books by Stephen Parlato
My Best Friend Bob by Georgie Ripper
I Wish That I Had Duck Feet by Dr. Suess

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Update from Ms. R





Welcome to Room 222!

We had a great first week learning together! Please check here to see and read about what your child did in school each week. I post every Sunday by 1:00 PM and, when I receive all the parent email addresses, I will send out a group email to inform parents when the Room 222 news has been posted.

***PARENTS PLEASE NOTE***

Our class has too many students. The provincial government guidelines restrict primary grade classrooms to 20 students per class. Currently, there are 25 children in our classroom, and even higher numbers in other classrooms. On September 16th, there will be a REORGANIZATION of classes, with new classes opening up to accommodate the overflow of students. Please know, that some children will be moved out of our classroom and placed in different classes that week. (At this time, we do not know if Room 222 will stay grades 2 & 3. The class could possibly become a straight grade 2 or a straight grade 3 classroom.)

HOMEWORK

The homework for this week is to fill out the "A Little Bit About Me" worksheet sent home with your child on Friday. This homework is due on or before Friday, September 13th.

There are two types of homework in Room 222: daily and weekly homework. Daily homework is to study and practise the Word Wall (spelling) Words each day. A copy of these words will be sent home every Monday. Also children are expected to read for at least 20 minutes EVERY day. Weekly homework is assigned every Friday and is due on or before the following Friday.

ALLERGY ALERT

There is a child in our class that has severe, life-threatening allergies to many foods. Our class therefore is a food-free classroom. Water bottles may be kept on students' desks, but please WATER ONLY (no milk, juice, tea etc.).

BIRTHDAYS

Birthdays are celebrated in our class by students creating a group card for the birthday child. If a student has a birthday in July or August, we will celebrate these summer birthdays in June. Some families like to send a small gift for each child (no food please) and these will be distributed at the end of the day.

AGENDAS

This year, our school will not be supplying agendas to students. However, we will have some form of a homemade agenda soon, but we will wait until after reorganization to to this project.

Important Dates:

September 9 - school snack program begins
September 11 - school information forms are due
September 16 - Reorganization Day - students may move classrooms this week
September 20 - Terry Fox Run
September 25 - First School Council meeting -  7:00 pm @ Hodgson Middle School (gym)
October 10 - Curriculum Night & BBQ

News for September 6






News for September 6

It was a busy four-day week in Room 222! The students started writing their first fiction stories, practised skip counting by 2's using odd and even numbers, began a science research unit on squirrels and learned how to play the game Snakes and Ladders.

In writing, the students reviewed how to print the 26 letters of the English alphabet in both UPPERCASE and lowercase. Uppercase letters are easiest as they are all the same height. Lowercase letters are trickier. The children sorted the lowercase letters into tall (7 letters - bdfhklt), middle (14 letters - aceimnorsuvwxz) and  below-the-line (5 letters - gjpqy).

After reviewing basic sentence punctuation, the children started to write fiction stories based on the paintings they made. The students are expected to have a capital letter at the beginning of all sentences and a period (.), question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!) at the end of every sentences.

In math, the class reviewed the use of a number line and a hundred chart. We focused on how to identify if a number is odd or even, and then how to use odd and even numbers to skip count by 2's. The class learned the hand gesture game "Odds and Evens" to help them practise identifying if a number is odd or even. At the end of the week, the class learned how to play the board game, "Snakes and Ladders". Did you know that this game originated in India, 2,000 years ago?

In science, the class started our first research project. After hearing a couple of read aloud books featuring squirrels, the class had lots of questions about real squirrels. Using the standard questions words (who, what, when, where, why, how) the children generated some great questions to help guide our research: Why is a squirrel called a squirrel? Where on Earth do squirrels live? What are baby squirrels called? Stay tuned for the answers...

In art, the children learned how to use watercolour paints and painted pictures to help them plan a story. They planned their art using pencil, then painted in the colours and outlined the colours with black Sharpie marker. (Putting a thin black line around areas of colour is an artist's trick to make the painting really POP!)

Students in our classroom each have an art journal to draw in. The children designed front and back covers of their journals and even had a quick drawing lesson on how to draw a cat.

Books read aloud this week:

The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers
The Secret Life of Squirrels - Back to School by Nancy Rose
Squirrelly Gray by James Kochalka
Do Not Open This Book by Michaela Muntean