I have been working for the past little while to get everything ready for my new and returning students. It's been a great first week back!
This summer's sewing project was to make shoe bags for the students to hang their indoor shoes at the end of the day. Each year, I try to make things a little more organized and this also helps keep the room tidy for the custodians to clean. A few new bins for me, some whiteboard erasable dots on the guided table, and the fm system all ready and the class was set for the students!
We started the week by making personalized name cards and doing some get to know each other activities. "Par ici la sortie" was a fun read aloud about zoo animals trying to escape at the end of the season. We did some short reading and writing activities over the past few days as well.
We started our math with a survey and graph on birthdays. Then we got right into our first math unit on patterning. While both grades need to be able to create/identify patterns and explain the changing attributes in a pattern, the grade threes will be going into more detail. After the first day of pattern making and explaining orally with manipulatives, both grades got right into doing written activities on patterns.
In Science, the grade twos have started a unit on animals while the grade threes will be learning about plants. In Social Studies, the grade twos are beginning with some activities on cardinal directions and mapping. The grade threes are beginning with the types of communities found in Ontario.
This year we have a student in our class with a peanut allergy. We spent some time discussing allergies after reading "Aïe! Ça pique!". We looked at the two types of medications and took turns practising with them. We talked about how each of us can help keep Jack safe in the classroom and how to help him in the event of an allergy attack. Jack shared with all of us where his medications are kept.
