Monday, September 30

 This year, our Terry Fox run will be on Thursday, October 10th.  If you would like to donate, please go through the following link:

Terry Fox Donation Page

This week in Language, the class will be working on a "Descriptive Setting Mystery" whereby they will be giving 6 clues (surrounding the 5 senses) towards a hidden setting picture of their choice.  The focus will be on the descriptive language that they will use, in addition to using proper sentence form.

In Math, we will be continuing with our addition and subtraction to 100, then moving onto some lessons on 2D shapes.  I have added a class page at thatquiz.org where there will be regular practice assignments posted.  Here is our class link:

That Quiz Class link

In Science, we have been looking at our sand is actually just rocks broken down.  This week, we will be doing another class experiment to display how this occurs.

In Art, we will be using our colouring and drawing skills that we have been practising by making a picture of a tree.  We will be looking at lines, curves and using the shading techniques that were taught last week.

Monday, September 23

First a quick message:

• next Monday (September 30) will be Orange Shirt day.  Wear something orange if you have it!

This week in Language, we will be working a little further on descriptive writing.  Last week, we looked at different shades of colours.  This week, we will be adding taste words and working in groups once again to brainstorm some descriptive words based on taste.  Also, we will be doing an EQAO reading this week (likely Wednesday) and will go through the questions and answers that would have been part of that years EQAO test.  I will go over some exemplars with the class to show what different levels/grades look like.

Late last week in Math, we looked at how shape patterns can change using a variety of different attributes.  We looked at how shapes can change in colour, size, number, direction and their shape.  We attempted to make some patterns using 2 different attributes.  For example, changing the colour from red to blue (an AB pattern), but the shape changed using the core triangle, square, square, triangle (an ABBA pattern).  It was challenging, but making a plan on paper certainly helped!  This was done on an online tool (https://www.coolmath4kids.com/manipulatives/pattern-blocks) so that they could change the colours of the pattern blocks.  When they were done, they were taught how to screen-clip these patterns and place them into their google slide (found in the workspace).  They are very quick tech learners!! This week in Math, we will be moving onto Addition and Subtraction to 100. 

After our lesson last week on how to use colouring pencils, we will be having a lesson on "Atmospheric Perspective".  This will give the students a chance to start to see how depth can be used in pictures.  To help with this, we will also be using an online drawing tool called Kleki.

We will be having our first library visit this week.  We will be going to the school library on Wednesday mornings.  Please ensure books are returned each Wednesday so that we don't have many overdue books this year!

Monday, September 16

FIrst a quick reminder to ensure that you go through all the forms if you haven’t already.  These can be found on the parent portal.  These include the Responsible Use of Technology form, the Verification Form, and Off-Site Permission.

In Math, we have continued our patterning unit.  Last week, we looked at growing and shrinking patterns.  We have also been looking at a variety of patterns on hundreds charts, bar graphs and number lines.   We have also been using number lines to help us understand and assist us with our addition and subtraction.  The strategy of "jumping" on a number line to help break larger numbers into smaller portions is helpful for some.  As such, we have started some skip counting this week.

In Language, we will be looking at a variety of words used to describe colours.  For example, instead of using the word orange, the class was exploring additional ways to describe the shade of that colour (eg. pumpkin orange, apricot, marmalade, merigold).  I will be posting some links on the workspace for the class to explore.  We have also looked at ways to describe the colour (eg. bold, brilliant, deep). 

In Science, we will be exploring Soils this week.  There will be a pair of texts that we will be reading together on Wednesday.

In Visual Art this week, we will be exploring how to use colouring pencils to provide different shading techniques.  This will likely be on Thursday of this week

Week 2

 We are certainly chugging along through the first week of school!  Quick note that this Thursday, our school will be hosting an Open House from 3:30 - 5:00.  I will give a short presentation in the classroom around 3:45 and 4:30 about the year.  

We try to start each math class with our Daily Math, followed by our "Math Up" lesson on patterns.  We looked at patterns around the classroom and in our life, then looked specifically at number patterns on 100-charts, number lines and calendars.  As we progress through the year, if you are interested in seeing what our "Your Turn" questions look like, they are linked on the student portal (in Hapara) under the Math tab.  This is accessed by going to the student portal (https://sites.google.com/a/ocsbstudent.ca/k-6/), and clicking into the workspace.  The student log in using their email which is firstname.lastname@stu.ocsb.ca  If they do not remember their password, please feel free to let me know (or they can tell me at school).  The math work in the workspace does not have to be completed as it is the same as what is done in class.  There will also be some "Sum it Up" pages which is a good read for you if you would like to see the taught concepts for the day/week.  One quick comment about the daily math.  This is only a 5-10 minute exercise at the start of the day that I project on the front screen.  We go through all the questions together, and the class puts their answers in a notebook.  It is just a nice routine to do that helps touch upon concepts that they will see at different points of the year.  For example, this week there are some questions that involve fractions.  Although we won't specifically look at fractions until later in the year, it gives a quick look each day now which will make it easier when the time comes for more formal lessons.  Again, I post the daily math in Hapara so you can see what the questions look like if you are curious.

In Language, you may have seen a yellow duotang go home on Monday.  This is for the Working with Words lessons for the week.  The class can practice these words for the week, and they will be quizzed on 10 of them for Friday.  If you are looking for homework for the week, I recommended to the children that they can choose 10 of the words at write them in a proper sentence either in the document in Hapara, or they can write them on paper too!  Last week (and this upcoming week), we worked on our descriptive writing.  We have been looking at the 5 senses and how they can be used to add description in their writing.  So far, we have focused on sounds (the Pear Decks are always linked in Hapara if you are curious).  We also continued our read aloud of A Dog's Life.  I have also linked the first and second chapter on the workspace if anyone wanted to reread (we are halfway through Chapter 2).  While I read this aloud, I have multiple pause points that I will discuss "tricks" the author uses, get them to predict what may happen next, draw real-life connections and give them basic thoughts that a "good adult reader" thinks about as they are reading a story.  

Finally, in Science class we have started our unit on Soils.  We looked at the parts of soil (tiny rocks, air, water and humus) and designed our title page.  Also, we are finishing up our Lego Portraits.

Day One!

 It was nice to see everyone this morning!  The enthusiasm to come back to school that was seen in the morning, carried through the whole day.  I am sure this will be a great year.

This year, the class will have French first block, so I won't see them until after recess.  We spent the second block learning a little about myself, the school and our routines.  It didn't take long until we were already at lunch! 

After lunch, I showed them a number of read alouds I will be reading during the year.  I prefer to read from chapter books, where I provide numerous pause points to discuss what is happening in the story and take predictions of what may happen next.  It leads to a lot of deep conversations.  The books are projected on the Smart Board so they can read along, and we often use it to discuss the language concepts for the term.  For example, we will be looking at descriptive writing first, so I will be using opportunities in the book to analyze how the author described the setting.  The first book I will be reading from is A Dog's Life: An Autobiography of a Stray, written by Ann M. Martin.  Each night, you can always ask your child what happened in the chapter for the day.  Would provide a great opportunity to provide a little recount!  I will also be posting each chapter in their workspace, so they will have access to past chapters as well as the chapter that will be read the next day!

Afterwards, the class filled out an All About Me page that we will finish up tomorrow.  

On a side note, we do have 2 snack times after each recess, plus our lunch of course.  Please make sure you send nut-free snacks and lunches, as we do have a nut allergy in the classroom.  If you would like to take a peek at our day schedule so far, I have included a link at the top of the sidebar on this page (you will have to be on a web browser to view).

Fourth block, we watched a Mystery Doug science video.  We normally will be watching this on Mondays, but the Lego video was too good to ignore today.  Here is a link to the video.

How were LEGO bricks invented?

Finally, we had our first Art class.  We discussed the difference between portrait and landscape.  To make our art today, we were going to use portrait style because we are making Lego People.  This helps discuss concepts of line and shape to make forms.  This is the video we were learning from:

Lego Person Self-Portrait

Soon, we will be adding their face and hair to make it unique to themselves.  Here are some samples we referred to:

Lego Hair

Lego Faces

Whew!  That is a lot!  I won't be posting so much every day, but did want to give a good idea what we have been doing and if there are any school activities coming up (you should also regularly review the school newsletter for this information as well).  I usually post around once a week (usually Monday) before 5:30 pm, hopefully earlier, but it depends on my schedule after school. Still lots of driving to help out my own family!  See you all tomorrow!