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.