Well, well, well…isn’t this mild temperature a nice break? How long can it last? I am hoping until Thursday, January 25 at least (to allow for a great day at the Zoo!).
This week’s Ask Me question was posted on See Saw and is to be answered in the Home Reading folders. The reason I started posting the Ask Me question on See Saw is because I can go into more detail than before when the kids were writing one sentence. It is also convenient for you to contact me with any questions. It’s too bad that we cannot post an activity and have you answer using See Saw…but this is the best we can do…for now at least!
The Ask Me question is about students naming their “Top 3 moments of last week”. I’d also like the students to go into some detail as to why those are their top moments and what they have learned.
Here is a recap of last week!
-We read a lot of Pax! I know that it is kind of a heavy book, with content that is allowing for a lot of conversation, but the class is doing great with it! It is really helping to spark some questions, wonderings and thoughts about habitats and the impact of humans and natural disasters have on animals.
-I’ve been finding some great material on Twitter about nature and animals. Each day we’ve been looking at these tweets, reading the articles and watching video clips that go along with them. Why have we never done this before?! The sharing we have during and after this time of day is very impressive. If you find anything worth sharing while you read the paper, surf the net or peruse Twitter please let me know. It’s teaching us about things that are happening on our planet RIGHT now!
Discovery of Canada’s Deepest Cave Found in B.C.
We also looked at areas such as the oil spill of the coast of China and the impacts on the environment, animals and the world and a new underwater cave found in Mexico that is believed to be the biggest flooded cave ever that might link back to the Maya Civilization AND Helen shared a video about the most disgusting pile of garbage that is just lying in the ocean.
This is powerful stuff and a great conversation starter for home too!
-We did some more research on the White-tailed Deer. This is our starting point for our next inquiry. We are going through some of the research together to help learn the process of how to take notes, scanning websites to make sure they are credible and what we are looking for and taking down the website names to give credit to those who wrote the material that we are borrowing from
-We are pretty much done with addition and have started subtraction. Over the past weeks we have been meeting in Grade groups and really focussing on math concepts. We are slowing things down, using lots of manipulatives, playing games, doing mental math to build recall of basic facts, etc. Back in Room 123 we will do one more day of addition practice and send that work home! I will keep families informed of students who can benefit with more practice with 3 and 4 digit addition and basic facts. If you have flashcards at home…use them, even just a few minutes per day. *See last week’s post for some of the ideas we came up with as a class to practice math at home.
-We did all 3 writing samples that we said we would be doing last week! Narrative, Informational and Persuasive! Check out what the very persuasive writers of Room 123 convinced me to do…
After reading through everyone’s work it is clear that we have great ideas and have been working hard on choosing exciting words instead of always using common words. Some of the students are really able to demonstrate a sense of voice and their writing really sounds like ‘them’. There was a lot of evidence of titles and an attempt at opening and closing sentences. This is something we will continue to work on. Editing skills are going to be a real focus. It seems that the students can tell me all the ‘rules’ but are not always transferring these skills into their everyday writing.
-Circle of Life choir: we’ve been practicing all of the songs for the divisional musical! Ms V says a note will be sent home early next week.
-Zoo field trip! The kids have ranked the 3 choices for the programs we have set up for the zoo (field trip on Thursday, January 25).
ARCTIC ECOLOGY
Discover what it means to be an Arctic ecologist. Students will discover the growing field of Arctic ecology through an active exploration of the Journey to Churchill exhibit.
AWESOME ADAPTATIONS
How do animals survive the heat and rain of the tropics or the cold winters in the Arctic tundra? Students will learn how animals survive in their habitat and study specific characteristics of animals here at the Zoo through age appropriate activities! Choose from Arctic or Tropical Adaptations.
RAINFORESTS
Tropical rainforests are considered the lungs of the planet. Through a variety of activities, you will discover how rain forests provide valuable resources like medicine, habitat, and oxygen. Their location, geography and climate provide an essential support system to an immense variety of animals, plants, and people.
The 3/4 classes will be mixed and put into groups based on interest. We will do our best to give everyone their first choice of program BUT the group size has a maximum and each teacher should be bringing the same amount of students.
After the programs we will have lunch and explore the zoo. I’m able to take one volunteer. If you are interested…please let me know!
-AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) Awareness Day on Wednesday, January 17. If you saw our Instagram post you would’ve seen the name of each of the 6 stations. It was a great day to educate the students about different methods of communication. Lori (from Room 113) came to talk to us yesterday about her job in the Autism Centre. She showed us this amazing video which helped us to learn more about Autism.
I hope that helps give you some ideas to write about!
As for next week…
-No school on Monday, January 22
-The book order has been sent in! Books should arrive next week 🙂
-I am still missing a few field trip notes. If you haven’t signed and returned the note please do so right away
-Tuesday is Outdoor Education day. Let’s cross our fingers the weather cooperates and we can get outside and play!
-My goal is to read another 50-60 pages of Pax. I think we will finish by the end of the month!
-I’m going to try and create an editing activity for See Saw that the kids can do from the computer lab. No idea if it will work, but if it does I think it can really help with editing practice and show you, as parents, where your child can benefit from more practice
-We are going to be learning about Canada’s North in the next few weeks. We are going to look at our North through the Arts
-I’m hoping by the end of the week the students will have an idea of what animal they would like to learn more about. They will be studying their habitat and the impact things like weather, natural disasters, human activity, etc. have on that animal and their habitat.
Have a great weekend. Enjoy the weather!
Until next time,
Danielle
Dear Room 123.
You are keeping Danielle busy for sure and I know she loves it. It sounds like you have made some very interesting discoveries in your work this last couple of week. That garbage patch in the ocean is certainly a concern and how about that underwater cave – wow!
If you have ever walked the Hart trail through the Assiniboine Forest then there is a very good chance that you would have seen white tailed deer. I saw two white tails deer last week very near St. Vital Park. I’m pretty sure they were working their way along the river bank. How majestic!
Do you have plans to participate in the Global School Play Day? Please let me know.
Mr Stefaniuk!!!
We ARE planning to participate in the Global School Play Day…are you interested in joining us?!