Dances and a Short Week

This week in Language, we read "Le bébé" to review the "é" sound and its various spellings. We also read the poem "L'écureuil" which had lots of new vocabulary for all of the students. We also finished our read aloud of "Le loup qui voulait faire le tour du monde". Throughout the readings, we made references to maps to see exactly where le loup traveled in the story. 

A group reviews the "ou" sound in Guided Reading.

Students work on picking out key information from texts in Guided Reading.

In Math, Mme Misener has continued to teach the unit on place value. The students have done a variety of activities, hands-on, games, and written work . She has been assessing where they are in an on-going manner and will be completing a final assessment of their learning (with my collaboration and supervision). Look for a rubric covering this unit to come home over the next little while. 

Mme Misener is going over the learning goals for the unit for both grades. 

All set up for hands-on activities. 

Mme Misener began to introduce volleyball skills to the class this week. They learned proper hand positioning for volleying and had the choice to practise with soft balls or actual volleyballs. They then played a mini-game designed to teach them that each team has three tries to get the ball over the net in volleyball.

Learning about volleyball

Playing a volleyball mini-game

Playing a Halloween game with the Grade 5 FI class

In Visual Arts, the students have finished up their name art. They are now working on a musical colouring.

In Science, the Grade twos are learning about animal adaptations. The Grade threes are learning about the differences and similarities between the needs of plants and the needs of animals. They are also learning about the various uses of plants, food, clothing, medicine, to make things.

In Social Studies, the Grade twos learned about Diwali. The Grade threes continued to learn about differences in amenities available in small and large communities. Both groups looked at the geography of Canada, its 10 provinces and 3 territories (and the differences between the two) and the capitals and important cities in each.

We finished the week with a dance. Each division had its own dance at a different time. Friday is a PA Day so there is no school. Monday is Black and Orange Day.

Have a great long weekend!

Swimming, Safety Week, and Colour Houses

It's a short post as I've been sick with a sinus infection most of the week and didn't take as many photos as usual. 

This week the students reviewed the "è" sound in the poem "Le secret".  We worked in our Daily 5 centres in between all the Safety drills that we did. 

Working on sounds in a guided reading group 

Mme Misener has been teaching place value in math.

On Wednesday, we spent some time discussing understanding what the problem is asking and picking out only the pertinent information, not all of the information provided. 

We had bus evacuation practises on Tuesday before we went swimming at Henderson Pool. We had a Bus Safety presentation on Wednesday. 

Physical Education outside when the gym was unavailable

On Thursday we had our first Colour House assembly. The students dressed in the colour of their Colour House. 

 Next Friday is a PA day so there will be no school for students. 

Hopefully everyone enjoyed their weekend!

Gould Lake and Newcomers

This week we welcomed someone new to our class. Mme Robyn Misener is a Queen's University Bach. of Education student who will be doing a 6-week placement with me in the classroom. The students were very welcoming and we hope she will enjoy her time with us.

This week in Language, we looked at another CAFE lesson, this time to work on decoding skills. We used this strategy with our comptine and poem and will continue to practise this skill over the coming weeks.

We reviewed the "oi" sound in "Les petits pois". We also looked at how some poems are formatted when we read "L'automne" and we discussed the creative license that poets have with spelling in poems.

Listening to reading

Working on words activities

Reading with someone

In Math, we continued to begin our lessons with daily math work, followed by a math talk at the carpet. This activity gives the students the opportunity to practise explaining their thinking orally, both with a partner and with the class. We discuss what strategies will work with a problem and why. When we work out the answer/answers, we discuss the reasonableness of an answer, something they are not used to doing at this point of the year.

Math talk example

Another Math Talk example

Discussing strategies during a Math Talk

Working on math problems in a guided group

Looking at different ways to represent a number (place value) in a guided group

Working with tens and ones to figure out a number

Math by themselves

Evelyn brought in a turtle shell that she had found to show the class. This tied in well with the grade 2 Science unit on Growth and Changes in Animals.

In Social Studies, the grade 2s learned about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippour, the celebrations of the Jewish New Year which took place recently. The grade 3s began to look at differences between life in a city and life in a rural setting.

In Dance, we began to look at some examples of African tribal dancing.

On Thursday, we spent the day at Gould Lake. Despite getting a bit lost on the way there, a bit of rain, and some chilly weather, the class had a great time. Due to a staff shortage at Gould Lake, we did all activities with Ms. Ambury's Grade 2/3 class, sometimes together, sometimes doing alternate activities due to space limitations.

Mme Misener is sharing beaver facts with the students while the other class visits the beaver dam. They had done the same while we visited it.

The underwater beaver lodge was across the water, only slightly visible by the pile of sticks in the distance

An above ground beaver lodge hidden in the bushes jutting out into the water

Dan, our outdoor educator, shares information about the characteristics of beavers

The sun came out briefly in the afternoon

A little playing during lunch

The beach is ready for some beaver dam exploration

Beaver dam materials ready to go

Making beaver dams in small groups

Testing the dam with water

Next week is Safety Week. We had a surprise fire drill this week but next week we will be practising other drills such as Lock Down and Shelter in Place. On Tuesday, the students will be practising bus evacuation procedures. The students will be attending the Buster the Bus Presentation on Wednesday.

Please check agendas regularly for information that may not have been sent out on Bloomz. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!