Tag Archives: read aloud

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

Week 6

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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!

We Belong at Montrose!

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Good Morning Everyone!

I hope the students have been able to share about their experiences from the We Belong Vertical Group sessions we’ve had this year. Yesterday was the wrap up assembly and unveiling of our new Montrose Treaty!  Even though I wasn’t there to experience everything, I was able to get a feel for the morning thanks to a parent who has sent photos and videos of the assembly 🙂 Room 123, you did a great job leading the Round Dance.

Montrose Belonging Tree

Montrose Treaty

-It was presentation day for Book Clubs! Ms V sent me a few pictures, but I can’t wait to hear all about it!

-Ms V also told me that our art display is up! That’ll be a beautiful surprise when I walk into the room on Monday morning! Ms V has been a super substitute for us this week and this whole year <3

-We are about 60 pages into our final read aloud of the year: The Wild Robot Escapes! 4 students who recently purchased the book have been bringing their copies in and following along as we read. If anyone else is interested in doing that, please do!

-I’ve picked up two selections for our Summer Book Clubs! I am almost finished previewing the first one called Family of Spies: Paris by Jodi Carmichael. It’s a great story and since the author is from Winnipeg there are many details that are Winnipeg related! The only problem is…the rating I found online was for ages 8-13 (which is a pretty big range). I’d say this book is more Grade 5+. There are some pretty challenging words, a lot of French words and names of buildings and the topic of World War II is more detailed than I think most of the students are ready for. That being said, I think a few of the students would be ready for the content and would really love it. If you’d like to borrow it from me then please ask! It will NOT be our Summer Book Club choice!

-Our other option is called Endling: The Last by Katherine Applegate. She has written some of our favourite read aloud books over the past few years (The One and Only Ivan, Crenshaw and Wishtree to name a few). I will preview this book to make sure it’s age appropriate. Once a decision has been made I’ll let you know and students can decide if they’d like to join!

In case you are new to our Sunmer Book Club here’s what you need to know!

-We use the blog as a tool to communicate about the book

-I’ll post a reading schedule for us to follow and some ideas for talking points

-The kids will post their thoughts each week (as often as they can)

-In September we will do a wrap up event at school!

All students in the school are welcome to read with us. Parents may also choose to do this as a read aloud if they feel like the book is too challenging for their child to read independently. The beauty of the blog is that we can read and communicate from anywhere! Last year I posted from the lake and Mr. Stefaniuk posted from Australia! Stay tuned for more details!

Our plants are growing…for the most part! There are still a few that haven’t sprouted, but don’t give up hope! Maybe rethink what your plant needs. Are you giving it too much water? Not enough? Too much sunlight? Not enough? Do a little research and see what you can find! I’m thinking that plants will be sent home this week. The kids want them to stay BUT the reality is that we need to start finishing projects and getting organized for summer! We only have 3 weeks left of school!

-Speaking of which: We are headed to Assiniboine Park on Wednesday, June 20! Our plan is similar to our Gimli trip last year. Things will not be over scheduled. The kids will have choice of what they want to do and how much time they want to spend doing it. Options may include-organized games, kites, guided meditation, walk/exploration, drawing, reading, drama, etc. If you are interested in joining us for the day (or part of the day) please let me know. We can accommodate many volunteers since we will be at the park. We just ask that you can take your own mode of transportation so we don’t have to worry about space on the bus!

-It’s also Field Fay this week on Thursday! Please be ready to spend the morning (I believe) outside! Mr. Strachan has been planning some fun events for you to enjoy!

-I’m sending the book order in this week (on Monday). If you’re thinking about making one last order please do so sooner than later!! We want to make sure the orders come in before school is out!

-The Ask Me question this week is posted on Seesaw and is about fractions! Post a comment or send me a picture of a ‘real life fraction’ you’ve encountered over the weekend!

We used these measuring spoons when making pancakes! These are all fractions of tablespoons and teaspoons that can be used for cooking! Need to double a recipe? Can you use a differed measuring spoon to accommodate the new fraction?!

-Don’t forget about our June Kindness Calendar! Have a great weekend practicing mindfulness and playing outside!

Have a great weekend:)

Until Next Time,

Danielle

And Just Like That…It’s June!

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Hello Everyone & Happy Saturday!

Last week seemed to go by impossibly quick! Sadly, I think that is going to be the norm for the remainder of the school year 🙁

Here is what happened lsat week at school and what will be happening this week!

Book Clubs: The end is near! We have a work period on Monday, a rehearsal for our presentations on Wednesday and then our final presentations on Friday! We will be making some final decisions about how to proceed with our Drama sessions and then let the kids know what to expect!

Math Groups: We are working on fractions and how we use fractions in our everyday lives! We are counting by 1/2s, 1/3s, 1/4s and 1/10s and also doing compatible fractions. For example: If I ate 1/2 of a pie, what fraction did I not eat? (In other words what fraction do you need to get to one whole). Or 4/10 of the kids in the class were away today, what fraction of the kids were at school? The progression of compatible numbers continues! First we needed to learn compatible numbers (number pairs) to 10, then 20, then 50, then 100 and now fractions!

Mathantics Fractions are Parts

IF you are still challenged by recalling or determining compatible numbers to the whole numbers I listed above…please practice! It is so helpful with addition and subtraction in mental math if you know those number pairs.

1+9=10        9+1=10

2+8=10       8+2=10

3+7=10      7+3=10

4+6=10     6+4=10

5+5=10

*Use those facts to help you with 20! 50! 100!

If you know that 2+8=10, then 12+8=20 and 22+28=50 and 32+68=100

Use the number pairs for 10 to get you to the next group of 10 (22+8=30 and then think about what you need to get from 30 to 50 which is 20 so 22+28=50).

Practice for a few minutes each day!

“Let’s do compatible numbers to 50” “I have X, you have?” and your child will determine the fact that is missing. Example: If you have “34” and you are looking for the missing added to 50. On paper this would look like 34+?=50.

We are still asking that families practice skip counting at home if your child isn’t able to skip count fluently. If they are having to stop and think by counting on, then they need more practice. Students should be able to fluently count by 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 10s. 6s, 7s, 8s and 9s may still be developing.

Once your child is able to count then they are ready for multiplication fact practice. If you have flashcards then pull those out and practice for a few minutes each day. You can split them into piles of “mastered” and “still working on” or see how many they can get in a given time and compare each day, etc. Turn it into a game!

You can do the same things with division facts. We’ve made the connection that division facts are the commutative property for multiplication facts! If you know 3×4=12 you also know that 4×3=12, 12/3=4 and 12/4=3 🙂

Uptown Funk Multiplication Song

Multiplication Rap (x2 or x3)

3 Times Table Song

4 Times Table Song

5 Times Table Song

6 Times Table Song

7 Times Table Song

8 Times Table Song

Read Aloud: We finished Wishtree! It was a lovely story about friendship and belonging. I hope the kids have talked about the story at home. It got a “slow clap” from the kids when I finished reading, so I think that means they liked it! We will be starting our final read aloud book for the year…The Wild Robot Escapes! If you already own the book  you are welcome to bring it in and follow along as I read!

Compost Presentation! Ms Mary came to school on Friday to teach us about composting and soil. She was very enthusiastic and passionate about the subject. Compost is something that I’ve been thinking about lately and she definitely provided us with great information.

I am hoping that next year we take on composting at school!

Plants: Our plants are growing! We will let them grow for another week at school and then think about sending them home! Some of the plants will need to leave their Ziploc bag home and be planted in a container that will give them more room to grow! I love it when the kids come racing in to the window to see if their plant has grown overnight! We worked with a partner and compared two plants using a Venn Diagram. This way we could see how the plants were similar and different. Our “classroom pets” are growing too! Well…some of them! We are learning about which of the growing environments we created are best suited for pumpkin seeds 🙂

We will wrap up our Observation Station with 122 & 126 this week. We’ve observed and documented the same spot outside since there was still snow on the ground! It will be super neat to pull all our pictures and notes together to see how our nature spots have changed with the change of season.

Volunteer Tea: Thanks to all of our wonderful volunteers for making helping out in so many ways. It means a lot to have connections between home and school 🙂

*Due to the performers at the Volunteer Tea we will have to change Genius Hour to this week. I’ll do some planning and let the kids know on Monday when a good time will be. I’m thinking about Thursday as of now.

Family Life/Health: We have met twice and will have two more lessons this upcoming week and two more after that.

*Book order is due on June 11so we have enough time to get those final orders in!

This week will we also do more learning about provinces (hint-there will be a connection to our upcoming Drama activities!), do an art project about provincial flowers, get back to our outdoor education (I regrettably let the weather dictate a few days of not going outside) and create a giant kindness calendar for the whole school! This is part of your Ask Me question for the weekend: Through Seesaw send me an idea of what we can add to our calendar to inspire our school community to show kindness to themselves, others and the earth. This idea came from the calendar below that we found in the copy room at school. Now we want to make a kid/family friendly one instead!

Have a nice weekend 🙂

Until next time,

Danielle

Cinco De Mayo!!!!!

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Happy Weekend Everyone!

I hope that you find time to enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful spring weather this weekend! Let us know what you’ve been up to via the Ask Me question on Seesaw or the Home Reading folder!

We have completed the first ten days of our 30 outdoor challenge at school!! We’ve been lucky to have had some gorgeous weather but let’s be honest…I think we need some rain to help get the dusty streets and sidewalks under control! Reminder: there is no school on Monday so Day 11 of our outdoor learning will not take place until Tuesday!

Tuesday is also our 3rd running club meeting. As you know, we’ve decided to change things up and have run club in the mornings this year (8:10 on Tuesdays and Thursdays). We have had about 40 kids join us so far but would love even more! This run club is about developing/maintaining a healthy lifestyle and getting some fresh air. Being outside before school has actually helped those of us involved get a great start to the day! It’s not too late to join! Students in the run club in grades 4-6 do not have to participate in the Fit Run in June. So if that’s holding you back…don’t worry. You can be new to running to join or you can also walk and work your way up to running. Parents: Thank you for joining us! You don’t need to commit to coming each session or even each week. You can choose to help supervise, you can walk or you can run. We’ve had at least 5 parents out to each session so far and we really love the community feel that it creates having students, parents, daycare and teachers out together. We hope to see you soon!!!

Here’s a recap of last week at school!

-We finished A Boy Called Bat and have started a new book called The Wishtree. On Friday we actually sat outside our window near a tree which might just become our very own Wishtree! I also finished pre-reading The Wild Robot Escapes and have decided (by request) that it will become our next (and possibly final) read aloud choice. Some students have already chosen to purchase and read their own copy of the book and are aware that there was a chance I’d be reading it to the class. Those students are welcome to bring in their copy and read along with me when the time comes!

-The grade 4 book club was a success. We had 20 kids join us!! I think we have time for one more book… then it’ll be summer book club time! We will let the grades 4-6 kids know ASAP about the book choice and the meet/eat/treat time. Grade 3s you will get your chance at a book club in the summer. That one will be open to all students (tell your friends in the other classrooms) 🙂

-Book Clubs with 122 and 126 are going well too! We will finish our books by the end of the month and present a maker piece to the other groups. After that…we will keep this time slot to do some drama!!

-We have been doing a daily edit to help develop editing skills. Each morning the students are greeted by a message on the board. It’s a letter that outlines what is taking place on that day. They get a chance to fix an error before the announcements begin. After the announcements we finish up any corrections as a class until the letter makes sense. The kids love being detectives! Give it a try at home! We are looking for: uppercase letters in the correct spots, punctuation, homophones, contractions and spelling of commonly used words.

Looking for a weekend edit?! Copy this out (be mindful of proper letter formation) and bring it to school on Tuesday. Good luck finding all the errors!

-Multiplication is going pretty well. Some students would benefit from at home practice of skip counting and basic facts. This can be done anywhere and anytime! Out for a walk or in the car or during the intermission of the Jets game…just ask some questions! Example: skip count by 4s to 40, name the doubles facts to 20+20, explain how any factor multiplied by 4 is related to doubles, use flashcards, etc. Throw in some addition/subtraction/compatible numbers too!! This will all help to develop recall and 5 minutes if regular practice can go a long way 🙂

-Our first We Belong Day with our vertical teams was great! We (123,124,125 and PM Nursery) listened to a great story, did some dancing with Mrs. Silk and then wrote down a word that described how dancing made us feel! Next time the kids will change stations and the teachers will repeat the same activity with a new group of students! Great job on remembering to wear clothing that reflected who you are. We loved hearing all the stories about why you chose your outfit 🙂

What’s happening this week/month?!

-May 17 is Outdoor Classroom Day and May 18 is Planting Day so we are thinking of combining these two themes and spending the day outside (Friday, May 18). Any ideas?! We have some ideas but would love to hear what you’re thinking!

-This week we will choose our plant/soil/environment inquiry topic. I will be asking the students to write down their top 5 wonderings and we will go from there!

-We will also continue our research on provinces and territories

-Monday is Day 2 and because there is no school there is also no Genius Hour. I’m thinking about giving the kids time on Friday instead. There are a number of students/groups ready to present their work. So we will make time for that and for a work period as well

-Don’t forget to get your book order in if you plan on making an order this month. I’ll be sending that in this week. After that you’ll have one more chance to order before summer!

-As many of you already know, Murray is taking a team of Grade 6 students to the Global Finals for Destination Imagination!! If you are interested in supporting this exciting opportunity please visit the GoFundMe page below!

I think that’s all for today! Enjoy your weekend!

#GoJetsGo

Until next time,

Danielle

Happy Earth Day!!

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Hello Everyone!

I’m so excited to be writing this as the sun is shining and the temperature is on its way to 18 degrees! It looks like a perfect day to celebrate Earth Day!

Here is a little recap of the past 2 weeks at school and a glimpse of what to expect this week. I needed a little blogging break last weekend. I had “Winnipeg Jets brain”!

-Our 30 day pledge posters and sign up sheets are on the bulletin boards and people have already started to sign up! The students did a great job creating their posters and we are very excited to make a difference within the Montrose community! The WSD twitter account saw a post I made to spread the word about our action plan and they were inspired by our efforts. They asked if they could post that information on their account!

Take a look! WSD Twitter “moment”

     

They also included a few photographs that Murray posted about our inquiry morning last week! Great job Room 123 and Montrose kids 🙂

-The Ask Me question has to do with the calendar that was sent home earlier last week. If you are in Grade 4  you will remember this from last year and if you are in Grade 3 you may have noticed us doing this last year…it is our 2nd Annual 30 Day Outdoor Challenge! The ‘school version’ begins on Monday and the ‘home version’ begins when you see fit! At school we will spend at least 30 minutes per day outside. We will play, read, explore, work, whatever we decide to do! At home you can use the calendar to track what you’ve been up to. If you wish to share photos please do! You can email me or send photographs through Seesaw or Instagram. Have fun 🙂

-The inquiry morning with 122, 126 and Murray was very interesting! We had a lot of objects put out for students to write down their wonderings and things that they noticed. We also had a book browse and a Maker challenge. This will kick off our next inquiry study about plants, soils and the connections to all living things 🙂

The Seesaw reflections that the students did really helped me see the direction they’d like to take the inquiry. Some of the common themes are bees, planting seeds, compost and hybrid fruit. I bet we can come up with some fun ways to learn about these exciting topics 🙂

-We finished The Wild Robot by Peter Brown! It took us 12 school days…that’s pretty amazing! I’m happy to report that the class really enjoyed the book, even those who didn’t like it at the beginning! It is a good reminder that sometimes  you need to keep reading. If you give up on a book too early you might just miss out on something that you could really enjoy! We are currently reading A Boy Called Bat by Elana Arnold. April is Autism Awareness month and we are reading this book to remind us about some of the things Lori shared with us about Autism. It is a great book and I look forward to continuing reading it this week!

-We are almost finished our Time for Times book and we have completed our Mental Math Dictionary. The students are working hard learning their multiplication facts and knowing that if they do not know a fact that they can skip count, start from a fact they do know, turn the fact around (3×9 can be thought of as 9×3 so you only have to double 9 and add one more group).

-We Are Monsters! It is the week of our school musical!! Tomorrow afternoon (Monday) is the dress rehearsal. Students are asked to dress and do their hair as outlined in the emails that have been sent by the costume committee. Jocelyn has also sent a reminder email on Friday! The performance times for Wednesday, April 25 are at 10:00, 1:30 and 7:00. Please wear your outfit and have your hair done on this day too. I have a parent volunteer to help me with make up on Wednesday morning. I’d love a second set of hands if anyone is able to join us. The stage is nearly set and looks great! I cannot wait for the show! Still need tickets? I’m pretty sure the evening show is sold out, but there are tickets available for the morning and afternoon performances 🙂

That’s it for now. I hope you enjoy your Earth Day. I’m headed to the park with Hudson and later I’m going to a special Earth Day Yoga class. I look forward to hearing  how you celebrated!

Until next time,

Danielle

#GoJetsGo

April Snow…Just Has To Go!!

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Hi Everyone!

I’ve heard that April showers bring May flowers, but this April snow just has to go!! Anyone else think we’d have more signs of Spring by now? I had this nice picture in my mind that I’d go away for Spring Break and come back to puddles instead of snow hills. Oh well…it’ll happen when it happens I guess.

I enjoyed hearing about everyone’s breaks. Whether you went away or relaxed I’m sure it felt great to take a bit of a break. Now that we are back it seems impossible to think that there are less than 3 months before summer break begins. We have so much to learn and discover until then and we aren’t wasting any time!!

Here is a recap of last week!

-We started a new book called The Wild Robot (by Peter Brown)

We have mixed reviews about the book so far (we are about 100 pages in). Some kids are really enjoying it, some are waiting to get “hooked”, some have expressed that it isn’t their favourite. I’m so glad that kids are comfortable enough to share their true feelings. I am not offended nor do I take it personally if kids don’t love the books I choose to read to them. I’d love for every kid to fall in love with every book I read and recommend, BUT it just isn’t realistic. I do put a lot of thought into what I choose to read and the kids totally understand why I chose this one. Have them share what’s happening so far!!

-The grade 4 Book Club is in full swing. If you are having difficulty finding a copy of


please let me know and I’ll see what I can to do help. I think I’ve had a chance to reach out to all the kids from 123, but I know students from other classes were having some trouble finding a copy. We have 21 kids on our book club list! This is more than expected…so there is a bit of a book shortage in the city! Reminder: we meet once, on April 30, at lunch, to meet/eat and discuss the book!!

-Book Clubs with 122 and 126: This is part of the Ask Me question for this week (posted on Seesaw). We have 73 students split into 12 groups that are led by 6 adults! The students seem to be excited about doing these book clubs and let me tell you…I am too! We meet for an hour on Days 1 and 3, then can use a half hour on Day 5s as a work/‘ketchup’ time. Ask your child about the book they are reading, who is in their group and who their book club leader is, etc. We will meet until the end of May and this will replace our WTW sessions. Therefore there won’t be spelling words coming home on a regular basis anymore. We will be doing spelling in other formats for the rest of the year.

-Multiplication Fun: We’ve been having some fun with multiplication this week. Some of the work we’ve been doing includes crack the code puzzles, games and creating our own “colour by number” sheets (multiplication version). It’s a fun way to learn basic facts and students can work on facts at different paces and challenge themselves as they are ready. 2 digit multiplication will be next for those students who are ready. (Below is an example of the type of puzzle we’ve been doing, but is different from the actual puzzles we’ve been solving. It is one that I found online  from https://www.math-salamanders.com/).

-Earth Day Inquiry: I shop a clothing line called 10 Tree (Disclaimer: this is by no means an endorsement for 10 Tree) and was sent an email about an Earth Day initiative. The email was a really neat idea that I wanted to share with the kids. Turns out they liked it too. I’d like to share it with you as well because it serves as the inspiration for our next inquiry project. We are in the planning stage but hope to have our newest (interactive) bulletin board up and running soon!! We plan on using the following ideas (AND 8 more of our own) to inspire our school community to make a pledge and make a change for 30 days! We have been talking a lot about changes we’d like to see and how we also need businesses to make initiatives to help people to become more aware. #BeTheChangeYouWishToSeeInTheWorld

Ten Tree Pledge

-The Twitter!: I had many things to share via Twitter with the kids. We had a great time scrolling through my “likes” and seeing what happened around the Twitter world while we were on Spring Break!

-Book order was sent in on Friday and should arrive next week

What’s Coming Up Next!

-I am away on Monday morning for PD (but will still be in the building). We have a substitute who is new to the school and I expect to hear lovely things from her upon my return. Please show her a warm Montrose welcome 🙂 #BAM

-Swimming lessons for Grade 4s start on Wednesday. The kids are divided into two groups. Half of our class is going with 122 in the first session and the other half is going with 123 in the second session. The first group will eat lunch a per usual and the second group will eat lunch when they return. Please send your child to school with everything they will need for the pool. As for the grade 3s…we will think of something fun to do 😉

-We will try again with Genius Hour this week (also on Wednesday). Last week we had some challenges with remembering how to be active listeners and how to demonstrate expected behaviours. I look forward to seeing a positive change this week 😊

-Book Clubs will happen on Tuesday and Thursday morning (9:30-10:30)

 

-In the next few months we have a LOT of birthdays coming up. I’d just like to remind families of allergies that we have in the class and in the school. Please be mindful of kids with allergies as you decide if you’d like to bring in a treat to celebrate a birthday. We want all students to be able to take part in all class activities and student safety is our top priority. Bringing a birthday treat is not mandatory and many students do not bring in anything at all, so please do not feel like you have to send something in. We’ve also been talking a lot about products that have extra (wasteful) packaging and therefore we are encouraging families to consider this before providing a snack. We are challenging families to send in snacks that contribute as little waste as possible (which also relates to snacks with the most Heath benefits…fruit, vegetables, etc.). Thanks for your cooperation!

-Whiteout!!! Let’s support our Winnipeg Jets and wear white during the playoffs! Whether you are a hockey fan or not, you might feel yourself getting into the spirit that the community the Jets brings to our city. #GoJetsGo

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Until next time,

Danielle

Spring Break!!

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Well…we’ve made it to Spring Break!!!

I hope you all have an excellent break. I know some of you are going on vacation and others are staying close to home. Whatever your plans are…please enjoy them to the fullest! I’m looking forward to visiting with my family for a few days while I bring my fur baby to my mom’s. After that I’m headed to Toronto to visit a friend and catch a few Blue Jays games AND was lucky enough to get tickets to see the Jets play the Leafs. We will meet up on April 2nd and share stories 😉

Spirit Week was a pretty big success this week at Montrose! I think my favourite part was seeing everyone dressed up on Tuesday for the Masquerade Ball! Although I do love that we had some “Fancy” PJs today (since our kids usually do Fancy Friday and didn’t want to change their tradition)! What are your favourite Spirit Week moments?!

We finished Magic Misfits this week! We talked about doing the sequel (Magic Misfits 2) for our summer book club, but unfortunately I found out that it isn’t released until September 25th. I’ll find another book for us to read over the summer! Speaking of book clubs…you were sent an email invitation for Grade 4 students to join a book club with Mrs Ko Heinrichs and myself. If you are interested in joining please let me know. We are reading Flora and Ulysses by Kate Di Camillo.

You can start reading anytime and we are meeting to discuss on April 30. Sorry Grade 3s. We can only take one grade at a time. Maybe next time 🙂 Our next read  aloud selection is called…The Wild Robot

I hope you enjoyed some of the Seesaw posts this week. I LOVED the post about what makes you happy that the kids did on International Day of Happiness. My goal is to do more posts like that where it is a selfie video reflection. They are really powerful messages. The environmental maker we did with 122 was also really fun. The inventions were well thought out and so much fun to see come to life! I showed the following videos to the kids (and posted one on Seesaw for you to see). They were excellent conversation starters and helped serve as inspiration for some of our inventions!

https://twitter.com/amazlngnature/status/974595678058856448?s=21

https://twitter.com/bbc/status/974978692177911809?s=21

When we make positive changes to the environment…we make life better for everyone (including plants and animals)!

Looking to make a change over Spring Break? You might want to take part in Earth Hour!

Also…please remember to make choices that impact the environment in a positive way when you are on vacation. I think sometimes we forget the routines we have in place at home and do things that we wouldn’t normally do just because it’s “easier”. What can you do? Say no thank you to straws, bring and use reusable water bottles and coffee cups, reuse towels in the hotel, recycle, etc. Be mindful of other people’s communities. Take care of them like you would your own 🙂

That’s it for this week! Enjoy the break. Don’t forget to do  the Ask Me question…read, play outside and make sustainable choices!

Until next time,

Danielle

#GoJetsGo

#LetsGoBlueJays

Welcome February!!!

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February already AND I hear there are 6 more weeks of Winter?! If the next 6 weeks go as quickly as the last 6…it’ll be melted snow and green grass in no time!

Here is a recap of our shortened week!

-The letters the kids wrote to Austin were really great! I’m sure he’s going to be inspired to create even more amazing inventions. I love how the students are starting to see themselves as writers and are able express themselves through the written word

-The last of the addition Math practice was given to the students last Monday (January 29). I’ve written each student a note saying which pages they need to complete by Monday, February 5. We had some time at school to work on the remaining pages and many of the students have already handed their completed work in, while others have chosen to finish on the weekend. If your child does not have any math work with them at home, it should be in my possession, ready to be checked by me! I wanted to give the students lots of time to complete the work and for them to have the responsibility for completing the work by the due date. We have also worked through subtraction with regrouping and practiced our basic facts to help build recall. I urge you to use flashcards for a few minutes each day to develop recall. We watched a new Math Antics video. This one was about polygons! Ask your child what a polygon is!

-We finished Pax!! It was a tear jerker but also a bonding experience for us as a class. I know we are always hoping for a happy ending, but I think Pax ended as it should have. It was happy in its own way. The book also taught us about character development and maybe a little about ourselves!

-We are about half way through Shout Out To The Fitzgerald-Trouts! It’s pretty cool having this sneak peek. I think we’ve found 4 mistakes so far! Esta’s message about editing was pretty valuable. It’s like being detectives as we read these first few chapters!

-The art we’ve done so far is quite beautiful…see for yourself!

-Wednesday was #BellLetsTalk day! We had some important messages to share with each other, the school an the world!

We were very excited to hear that almost $7 million was raised this year and almost $100 million raised to date. Let’s keep talking and listening each day and let everyone know that they matter 🙂

-We got to touch a polar bear skin!!! How cool is that?!

-The Ask Me Question was posted on Seesaw and is to be answered in the Home Reading folder! It’s is all about celebrating reading and coincides perfectly with World Read Aloud day and I Love to Read month! It’s also a good opportunity for the students to practice their oral reading skills and for parents to hear the growth in accuracy, fluency and expression that their child has made. I read some of The Fitzgerald-Trouts without stopping at punctuation and then when only stopping at the end of a line, not at punctuation and then lastly without expression! Let me tell you…it was NOT a hit with my audience. Practice, practice, practice! Take turns reading to each other. It might just be the favourite part of your day too 🙂

-Animal/Habitat inquiry topics have been decided! All students who brought in their top 5 choices were given an animal that they were interested in. Students who didn’t submit any choices have been given a topic and if there are any concerns will have to make arrangements to speak with me. We tried to cover animals from a variety of animal types who live in a variety of habitats.

Upcoming plans!

-We will finish the Fitzgerald-Trouts and begin our next reading adventure…

It’s a great story about belonging…with a little bit of magic!

-Art round #2 starts on Monday! The grade 3s will work with me and the grade 4s will work with Helen! We will learn about the artists and practice their style and the following week we will create our final products!

-Anna (our student teacher) is going to be doing a lesson with us to kick off our next health unit. We’ve talked about a healthy mind for months and I think the students have learned some great strategies to help them cope with anxiety, fear and stress that we experience in our daily lives. We will continue to practice mindfulness each day at 1:00. Mindfulness is called a practice because we need to work on mindfulness just as we would work on skating or math. Some of the kids have asked about the app I use in class. Here it is as an FYI!

The plan is to link having a healthy lifestyle to the Olympics! We can compare what we need for optimal health to that of an athlete! This week we will work on creating a bulletin board to track Canada’s successes in Pyeongchang! #LetsGoCanada

-We will begin our animal inquiry project research in the lab and see where it takes us. That’s the beauty of inquiry. It’s not all planned out…the direction is influenced based on the interest of the students 🙂

-There is no Day 2 this week so therefore there will not be a Genius Hour work period until Monday, February 12th

– Words Their Way (WTW)…students are responsible for bringing home their words after their WTW leader tells them they are finished with the sort. Then they are told when the test day is. It was a coincidence that all groups had a test on the same day last week. Words are sent home as each group completes their tasks. We will try our best to also post words in Seesaw, but ultimately the students are responsible for transferring their words to the Home Reading folders to take home and practice before the test 🙂

-Book orders for February are due on Friday, February 9. It is also Winter Fun Day on Friday afternoon. As we receive more information we will let you know! Thank you for returning the Circle of Life permission slips and for returning tickets if you are not able to attend the evening performance. It’s almost show time!!!!!

Enjoy your weekend!!!l

Until next time,

Danielle