Monthly Archives: October 2018

Week 7!

Leave a reply

Happy Weekend Everyone!!

I hope all my 123 kids had a fantastic Friday away from school yesterday…unless you were at daycare of course, then I hope you were able to do something extra fun!

Here is a glimpse of the past week and what’s coming up this week!!

-We started our new read aloud book: The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd. It’s interesting to read another book by the same author and see what similarities we can find!

-We’ve continued our Word of the Day, which has quickly become something we look forward to each morning

-Light/Sound Book Clubs are in full force! We are so fortunate to have Murray and Stacy work with us so we can have 10 small reading groups! The 3/4 students love being able to work with their peers from other classrooms and experience working with several different adults. I feel honoured to work such a collaborative team  🙂

-We will be transitioning from a place value focus to a pattern focus for a bit in math. We will continue to work on place value, but not each day. What kinds of patterns do you notice around your home or outside?!?

-On Tuesday the class had a whole day with Murray! Just a friendly reminder that I will be away on Day 6s as I facilitate Forest Exploration with the students of Montrose. Lori and I have been having a great time experiencing Assiniboine Forest with different groups of students! Murray’s next day in Room 123 will be Wednesday, October 24! We’ve decided that he will do some of our Genius Hour activities so make note of that on your timetable (Genius Hour could be on Day 6 or Day 1)

-Our narrative stories about our driftwood ‘animals’ are almost complete! Next week will be recording time. The kids are really excited to share their stories!!!

-October 23 is Global Maker Day! To celebrate we will have “Maker Time”  on Tuesday (from 10:45-12:00). The students will be able to choose a station, similar to how the Create-a-Thon was run. There will be four areas from the kids to choose: the library, 122, 123 and 126. We will ‘make’ and then change stations as needed and finally…clean up!

-Speaking of the Create-a-Thon…what a fun time! This week’s Ask Me question has been posted to Seesaw and is all about the kids’ favourite experience during the Create-a-Thon. Please continue to fundraise and then submit your money as soon as you can. Our time is almost up! Please remember that this fundraiser helps us to go on field trips (especially trips to the forest!) and purchase items for the classroom that help all students on their learning journey, so please try to raise the $30 (or more of course) if you can!!

-October 24 is Take Me Outside day! I’ll be in the forest with the 1/2 classes BUT I’ve already mentioned it to Murray, so I’m sure he’ll get everyone outside for a bit 😉

Some of the benefits of being outside include (but are not limited to):

getting exercise, reducing anxiety, building connections with other students and with nature, improving sleep quality, getting you some vitamin D, risk management and it really promotes happiness!

Challenge: Do something outside on Wednesday as a family (because being outside benefits ALL of us)!! If you have’t gone to the new playground…you should! We had a great time exploring on Thursday afternoon. It didn’t hurt that it was 23 degrees!

-There haven’t been any book orders submitted. If you want something but have not ordered, please let me know. If I don’t hear from anyone by Monday I will make an order for the classroom, but you won’t be able to order again until November.

-Halloween is coming…what should we do? I’m open to suggestions for a low key celebration during the afternoon of the 31 (‘witch’ 😉 is also when costumes are allowed at school). Snacks are a possibility if we stick to healthy choices, respect allergies (nuts for us this year) and don’t create a lot of waste. I really love Halloween but the one thing that bothers me so much is the amount of garbage that is produced from all the candy. Anyone else feel this way too?!

I think that is all for this weekend!

Just in time for the Jets game #GoJetsGo

Until next time,

Danielle

Week 6

1 Reply

Happy Sunday!

Just a quick post before we all get settled in for this evening’s Jets game!!

Recap and Things to Come!

-We FINISHED The Problim Children! And yes…it left off having us wanting more! I have good news and not so good news! There is a sequel! BUT The Problem Children and the Formidable Foe doesn’t come out until February 19, 2019! Should we read it?!

The Ask Me question for this weekend is: Which character from The Problem Children do you most connect with and why?

Remember your options?

Sundae (Sunday), Mona (Monday), Toot (Tuesday), Wendell (Wednesday), Thea (Thursday), Frida (Friday) and Sal (Saturday).

I was born on a Saturday AND I really love outdoor stuff so I’d have to say that I’m most similar to Sal, although I felt a connection to Thea too.

-I think we are going to read another Natalie Lloyd book called The Key to Extraordinary!

-The CREATE-A-THON is coming!! We had our kick off assembly and I hope your children are in fundraising mode! Each time a student raises $30 s/he gets their name put in a draw for some spectacular prizes! The actual Create-a-Thon will take place this upcoming Thursday (October 18), but you have 2 weeks to get all your pledges in! Good luck team Room 123!

-Murray still requires small boxes for the Create-a-Thon. I’ve noticed Kleenex boxes, cracker boxes and even cereal boxes. Have some to donate? Either have your child bring the boxes into the class or drop them off in the library with the others!

-We have completed our first round of Common Learning Times! It’s been a lot of fun, so much fun actually that we are sticking with the theme of learning as a 3/4 team and starting book clubs tomorrow (Monday)! We will be looking at non fiction books as we learn about light and sound!

-We have been writing some incredible stories about out driftwood art pieces! Next week we will work on our final copies and then we will be ready to reveal them to you via Seesaw! These are narrative pieces with a focus on word choice. Our final copies will give us the chance to practice our best printing! We can’t wait to share them!

-We are half way through WALK-tober! Thanks to all the students and parents who joined our walking school bus last week. Lori and I have decided to continue the “bus” for the rest of the month. October 31 will be our last walking day. Don’t live on our route? You could drop off your child if that works for you! The walking school bus is for all students in the school (not just the 3/4s). Parents may choose to walk with us or just drop off their children. Our largest group is 13 students…can we beat that?! Let’s see!

-The October book order is due this week. If you are wanting to make an order, please do so soon!

-This week is Waste Reduction Week!!

We will spend some time each day talking about the impact waste has on our lives and what we can do to make more positive impacts!

-There is no school on Friday!

Week 5!

Leave a reply

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend Everyone!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend with your families and take that extra moment to share something you’re grateful for. I’m looking forward to spending time with my family at our cabin, which is one of the places I am most grateful for. It has allowed for 35 years of amazing memories. It’s also the place where I get to practice my best hygge (the Danish word for creating cozy experiences and enjoying the things you like most, especially when with friends and family)! I’m grateful for a career that I am passionate about. I am grateful for kindness in those I know and those I will never meet. I am grateful for this Earth and will do my best to make choices to promote sustainability. This list could go on and on! What are you grateful for?!

This week in 123!

-I was able to snap a few photos of the Zentangle art covers before I left school (the first five I saw!) so you could get an idea of what we worked on. Maybe the students will take a picture of their own and post it to Seesaw for your enjoyment!

-Today (Friday) was a paint day! I’m excited to see what everyone has created. A big thank you to Kristi Marie and Mrs. Duncan for their help. I hope everyone remembered to thank them for their help and also remembered to take care of the library by cleaning up after themselves.

-We’ve made it page 205 in The Problim Children! My voice was a bit rough for a few days, so listen to reading wasn’t actually possible. I think if we try really hard we can finish by next Friday!

-We have 2 more sessions in our “Common Learning Time” with 122 &126. On Friday we will do a final assessment to see how much we’ve learned. I’m really enjoying my time with my two groups. I hope the kids are enjoying these common learning times as well!

-The kids were so excited to see the snow! Me on the other hand…not quite ready for it! I will admit it was beautiful to play and make yesterday during Friluftsliv because the snow was perfectly sticky and it was warm and sunny out! We also have a few friends in the school who are new to Canada and watching them experience snow for the first time is quite special!

-We started writing some poems this week! So far we’ve written a free verse, a rhyming poem and a haiku. Once we write a few more we will share via Seesaw! Writing poems is a nice way to work on word choice and adding some beautiful and exciting words into our writing!

-We met author Annie Barrows! She was pretty funny. It was so neat how her stories came from her own memories and experiences, then she added her own twists to them!! Thanks for coming to Montrose Annie!!

-We finished our Storybook Engineering projects with Murray! We read After The Fall (a story about Humpty Dumpty) and designed some ways to help poor Humpty back up that wall and conquer his fear of heights!

This definitely helps us learn to make a design plan and then implement the plan, making changes as the piece requires. It’s also great practice of the 4Cs (Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Critical Thinking).

Whats happening next week?!

-No school on Monday!

-Picture Day on Tuesday!!

-WALK-tober “school bus” starts on Tuesday! Who is joining us?! See your Ask Me question on Seesaw for more details!

-The Montrose School Create-a-Thon assembly is happening next week. It’s the kick off to our school fundraiser. Students will receive their pledge forms and then they will be ready to fundraise! Stay tuned for more details! Murray is asking for some help from families. Please read the message below (which has also been emailed to families earlier this week)

Create-a-Thon
On Thursday, October 18 Montrose School will be having our annual fundraiser to support all the exciting events and field trips that your children will be participating in this year. This year the students will create many exciting projects using a variety of objects, props and household items to help invigorate their creativity. Could you please send all your empty tissue boxes and any other boxes about that size to the library?
Thanks,
Murray Mandzuk
Inquiry and Innovation Support Teacher/Yoga Teacher
Montrose School

I think that’s it for now!

Have a wonderful weekend 🙂

Until next time,

Danielle