Monthly Archives: January 2019

Keeping Warm!!

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Good Morning Everyone!

Anyone else getting a bit tired of our “deep freeze” weather?! Unfortunately it looks like we have a bit more of this until it starts to warm up. With these cold temperatures comes indoor recess. Indoor recess is usually fun for a few days BUT then we all realize how much we appreciate getting outside, getting fresh air and getting the chance to run and play. Has anyone been braving the cold after school?! My Hudson sure doesn’t mind these Arctic temperatures…we are having a hard time trying to get her to come inside!! I’d still rather live in one of the coldest cities than deal with other weather related catastrophes. We are Canadian. We are tough! We’ve got this 😉

What a week we just had!! Here’s a glimpse of what we learned and experienced!

-Since it was the highlight of the week we might as well start with Harry Potter Day!! It took us the majority of the day to watch the whole movie but it was totally worth it! Thank you so much to those of you who contributed snacks, drinks and “props”. There was so much to choose from! One of my favourite parts of the day was watching the kids’ faces as the movie was playing. Whether they’d seen it before or it was their first viewing there was pure joy on their faces!!

We did a reflection and comparison about the movie and the book. As far as movies go I think they did a pretty good job keeping true to the story but there are a few things that are quite different. It’s was fun to spot some of those differences!! I’ve also noticed a lot of kids reading the other books in the series!

-We’ve had two sessions in our Ancient Civilization Book Clubs. I know my groups have been learning a lot about Egypt and I look forward to hear about what the other groups thought about their civilization! We will finish the reading portion this week and then see where the students want to take their learning from there!

-Subtraction is going strong! The students are able to regroup with very few errors!! Try out a few questions at home to see your child’s progress. If you are able to work on additinabs subtraction facts at home I continue to recommend that. We’ve pushed our basic fact assessment to this week. This will really help us do some  targeted instruction and practice.

-We are about 70 pages into Crenshaw and so far so good! Most of the kids think there’ll be a bit of magic involved in this one…we’ll have to keep reading to find out!!!

-The students seemed to enjoy doing our word work (spelling) this week. All students had their word list and an overview of why we were doing this in their mailbox all week (since Monday) so I hope everyone received those! I can only remind the class so many times to empty their mailbox before the responsibility shifts to them! Reminder: assessments will start on Monday (tomorrow).

-We did another research day for our Ancient Civilization projects and I was able to check in with 6 groups. I will continue to check in with the remaining groups to make sure guiding questions have been answered, there is a plan for the written component coming up and that everyone is happy and on track with their progress.

-We’ve had one chance to make our groups and work on our new dance routine. This week we will have at least another two opportunities to choreograph and practice!

-We submitted our Top 5 Reasons that the Jets Should Read to our Class! Keep your fingers crossed that we are selected! We wrote a fantastic persuasive letter as a class. I’d be persuaded if it was me choosing the winner!! #GoJetsGo

-The book orders haven’t come in yet. They emailed that the order was sent out on Wednesday, so it could arrive any day now.

What’s Up This Week?!

-More Crenshaw, more Ancient Civilization research, more book clubs, more subtraction, math fact assessment, more indoor recess?!, more dance AND no school on Friday, February 1st!

-Ms Mary from the Green Action Centre is with us on Wednesday to teach us more about making a positive impact on the environment.

-Murray is with the class on Wednesday, which means Genius Hour time!

I think that is about it for now. Stay warm!!

Until next time,

Danielle

 

The Blog is Back!

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Happy Sunday Everyone!

I’m back to blogging! I never meant to stop actually! Things got really, really busy while I was taking my first university course last term, so I’m taking a break from my classes and doing two courses this summer instead. It is always a difficult decision to stop doing something you enjoy but it’s also difficult to make space for everything we like to do! Instead I am just shifting things around so I can get to it all…in time!

Well 2019 has come in like a blizzard…literally! First we got so much snow and now we are living in a deepfreeze! I met a friend at the airport for lunch today and laughed at how the parking metres need to wear ‘winter coats’. Only in Winnipeg!

Here is what we’ve been up to since the New Year!

-We’ve finished Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone! I really enjoyed sharing this special book with all the students. Whether they’ve read it before or this was their first time hearing this magical story, students were hooked! We will be watching the movie soon! Perhaps as soon as Wednesday, January 23! We have a volunteer baking some “sorting hat cupcakes” and some requests to dress in the Harry Potter theme. The students and I will do some more planning tomorrow (Monday) and will let you know official plans ASAP!

 

-We’ve been doing LOTS of writing! The students did their 3 writing assessments (narrative, informational and persuasive). This gives us a benchmark of the growth made since last time we did these three assessments and also directs our lessons moving forward. We’ve also wrapped up four “Writing Craft Workshops”. Each student has rotated though four stations (3 lessons per station) that was led by Helen, Stacy, Ms Solomon or myself. The students learned about “The First 4 Words”, “Telegram Notes”, Topic Sentences” and “Gems That Make Writing Sparkle”. Doing these workshops have helped improve our students’ writing…especially informational writing.

-Word work in the form of spelling high frequency words with 122 & 126 has come to an end for now! The students have been working hard on learning to spell the most commonly used words in reading and writing. These words are becoming our “No Excuse Words” for spelling. IF you know how to spell them then you shouldn’t be making errors and when you do make an error you should be able to find it as you edit your own work!

-Subtraction is in action! The students are doing a good job working with subtraction. They are making connections with place value and regrouping. We are also working hard to develop instant recall of our subtraction facts. Using flashcards at home for subtraction (and addition) is very helpful for those students who are not able to recall the facts in 3 seconds or less. It only takes a few minutes each day. You can even make it a game!

-Ancient Civilizations are being discovered! Our research projects are in full force! Ask your child what civilization they are learning about their guiding question(s).

-We have a new volunteer! Handa, a retired teacher, is coming to our school three afternoons a week to volunteer with the 3/4s! She is spending some time reading with us and helping with projects. What a kind thing to do! Reading aloud to others is a great skill for the students to have and they really enjoy doing it! If you haven’t listened to your child read for awhile see if you can make some time to hear how far they’ve come!

What’s Coming Up:

-Book orders were submitted last week and hopefully will arrive by Friday!

-We will be starting a new read aloud book…Crenshaw! There is a giant, talking cat…what’s not to love?!

-We will finish up our subtraction books and do an assessment to see what we still need more practice with!

-Ancient Civilization Book Clubs start this week! The students have chosen what they’d like to learn most about and we were able to assign them to their first or second choice. The 4 civilizations we will look more in depth about are: the Vikings, Japan, Maya and Egypt. We will do 4 lessons and at the end will do a Maker project  so groups can teach each other about the civilizations. *Most students are learning about a civilization different to what their research project is about.

-As we finish up our research we will be ready to write an informational piece. We can put all our Writer’s Craft Workshop lessons to work!

-I will be sending home spelling words this week. These are words that I have found in each student’s Writer’s Notebook and are individual for each student. Starting next Monday (January 28) I will assess the students on their words. The reason I am sending them home is so you can work on them at home too if you want to. We will continue to work our way through the Fry’s Word Lists (high frequency words). If you would like a copy of these words for home please let me know 🙂

-Murray will continue to work on Genius Hour projects on Tuesday while he is with the 123 students and I am doing Friluftsliv with other classes in the school. Students are at different stages of their projects which is great. Some students enjoy working on their project at home as well as at school which is great too. Any questions regarding Genius Hour can be directed to Murray 🙂

-We will take all of our ideas about “Why the Jets Should Read to us” as part of the Reading Takes Flight program and submit a group writing piece. Maybe this is the year that we are chosen!!

-By popular demand we will do another round of dance choreography! The students enjoyed creating a movement piece to a holiday song in December and have been asking for round 2! Ask and you shall receive!! What will they come up this time?!

 

Stay warm!

Until next time,

Danielle