Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Hi, all.  I just realized that I had posted Monday's entry as a draft so it didn't show up.  Sorry 'bout that.

We had another wonderful day today!  We started our morning singing once through The Residential School Song.  Then we worked on the Canadian Artists posters, either finishing write-ups, planning the layout of the poster, or creating an effective title.  The kids worked well so we kept going until recess.

After recess, we listened to (and some dance to) The Multiplication Tango, a fun song about the challenges of memorizing one's multiplication facts.  Next, we did the 3 minute drill and recorded the results on our line graphs.  After that, the students did a short (12 marks) quizzette about area and perimeter.

When everyone was done the quizzette, we created our own fishy tessellations.  I showed some MC Escher posters first, and discussed his work a bit.  Before lunch we managed to create the tessellations and start drawing them on our papers.  After P.E. in the afternoon (an extended period today!) we came back to class to fill in Agendas, work on colouring the tessellations, and had book exchange.  Many kids finished their pieces completely.

That brought us to the end of our school day:)

Special Event: The Spelling Bee is taking place tomorrow morning in the gym @ 9:00 am.  We have ten participants; the top four finishers will compete in the district spelling bee next week at Arrow Heights.

 
 

 

 
 

Monday, February 27, 2017

Welcome back Monday!

Friday's pro-d session, as I mentioned, was just what I needed!  We started off our morning with a circle talk; our discussions focused on emotions, the feel in our class, how to arrange our desks, and getting to know everyone... not just our usual friends.  The kids also talked about what they did over the weekend.  The class then set up the room and chose where to sit, and it's feeling better already!

We also started to learn a song: The Residential School Song.  It will be an important song for our play in June, the chorus especially.  You'll have a better idea about what I am saying when you see the play:)

Just before going for recess, we played a quick game of "I have... Who has ...?" - a multiplication math game.

After recess, we reviewed and discussed the science quiz "Scales and Tales!"  Then the kids were off to music with Mr. Redding.

After lunch, we focused on the write-ups for our Famous Canadian Artists.  Before we knew it, it was time for clean up and P.E.

**The school's spelling bee will be held Wednesday, March 1st at 9:00 a.m.  Everyone is welcome to attend.

Enjoy your evening.

Friday, February 24th, 2017

Friday was a Professional Development Day for school district staff.  I attended a session at the college.

It was an amazing presentation; Dr. Brown is truly an exceptional man.  The personal connections that were made for me Friday, and that have since been made (and it's only Saturday morning) leave me speechless.

I left after the session to return to school with plans to change everything about my plans for Monday.  I hope that I am able to inspire my students one tenth as well as Dr. Brown inspired me.  A quote that I will leave you with here, and a profound reminder which is now up on my bulletin board, is this:

"Whatever is in my heart affects my children."

And by children, I mean (at this time) my students.

Thank you, Dr. Brown!

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Hi Folks,

I am behind in my posts but thought I'd go back to Thursday anyway.

A TTOC was in this morning, but here's what they did:

Read Westcoast Reader, then completed the answer sheets.

After recess, they wrote the math quizette about area and perimeter as scheduled; there was an omission that didn't get passed along so will rewrite Monday.

Then they had P.E., with the TTOC.

For lunch, PAC provided a free hot soup lunch for everyone.  Thanks, PAC and all the parents who came to help serve!

After lunch, I was back.  Students completed their Agendas and had some time for silent reading.  Then we watched a short video about Immigration in Canada and added a timeline to our lap books.

The science quiz from Monday did not get returned as planned because I wanted to have time to go over the quiz with everyone.  We ran out of time today.

Reminder: Pro- D Day tomorrow; no school for kids.  Enjoy the extra day off:)

Wednesday, February 22, 2017 / C'est mercredi le 22, février 2017.

Happy Pink Shirt Day!  We had an assembly before lunch; Mr. Pfeiffer showed a video about how Pink Shirt Day came to be.  If I find the link, I'll add it here.  Following the assembly, students joined their little / big buddies and decorated hearts with messages about anti-bullying, words of kindness, et cetera.  Mrs. Klassen put them together to form the "CPE Kindness Tree".

 

We started our morning marking / reviewing Serge's Strange Day, and added more spelling rules to our Interactive Notebooks.

After recess, we went to P.E.  Austin taught us a new game called "long ball".  The kids enjoyed playing something different.

In math, we did some more word problems.  These were very similar to yesterday's so the kids worked through them for a bit before we did them together on the board.
*There will be a short quiz tomorrow (10-12 marks) about perimeter and area, to see what the students can do without help.  There will not be any of the word problems on tomorrow's quiz.

We finally got to do some French today.  We revisited the days of the week and learned how to say the date.  The kids were given three pages (due next Wednesday) to practice writing out various dates, and days of the week sequence.

Enjoy your evening.  Remember that there is no school for students on Friday.  Pro-D for teaching staff.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Good day, folks.  We had quite a busy day today; I am pushing the kids a bit as we pick up the pace.

We are addressing spelling rules specifically; today's focus was the silent "e" and "dropping the e when adding suffixes that start with a vowel.
Examples of these rules:  rob - robe;  slid - slide
slide + ing = sliding;  joke + er = joker

We added notes to our Language Arts Interactive Notebooks about these rules.  We also looked at soft and hard g and c sounds, and how having an i or an e after these two letters keep them soft.  For example: George vs gorge; science, gorgeous, conscious...

Students were given a story to read: "Serge's Strange Day" to identify -ge and -dge words.  A word sort has been assigned and is due tomorrow.

A key quote that the students wrote down today is:
 “You can improve your spelling if you
                      study it,
                     notice it,
                      use it.”
                                                    How to Spell.co.uk 

In math today we did the usual 3-minute multiplication drill to start, then marked the area / perimeter worksheets from yesterday.  Mrs. Strange, an additional part-time teacher to our staff,  worked with a small group of students today.  In class, we did some word problems relating to area and perimeter.  There is no math homework today.

Social Studies - We set up Immigration lap books today, adding a world map and a separate map of Canada to a folder.  We will continue this new format over the next couple of weeks, providing a summary of various immigrant groups to Canada. 

In PE, we played a couple of tag games which reinforced the understanding of herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores, and another game involving bugs, fish, ducks, American Bullfrogs, and Red-tailed hawks.  

Reminders: 

Pink Shirt Day is tomorrow.

Math Quizzette Thursday (focus: perimeter and area) - This will be a short quiz to see where students stand regarding their understanding of these concepts when working independently. 

Monday, February 20, 2017

Good evening.  Just a quick overview of our day and a couple of reminders.  First, many thanks to Autumn's mom for baking muffins for us!  They were delicious:)

Wednesday is Pink Shirt Day to represent taking a stand against bullying.

Friday is Professional Development Day for teachers and Education Assistants in our district; there will be no school for students that day.

We started off our morning with the Scales and Tales! quiz.  After looking over their packages for several minutes, we started the quiz.  It took quite a long time as it included a variety of question formats (True-False, multiple choice, short answer, complete the table, unscramble the words, and matching).

After recess we did a multiplication timed drill and started to mark the Area of rectangles and pyramids worksheet in the Math Antics package from last week.  We will continue marking tomorrow; the entire package has been assigned for tomorrow.

Mr. Redding took the kids for music class where they worked on The Life Cycle Song.

After lunch we had Library.  It is during this time that we have been working on the Canadian artist project.  Most kids are at the 'typing up the information' stage in preparation of putting their poster together.

We had a few minutes of PE at the end of the day, once the chairs were stacked and the room tidied.

Enjoy your evening.

Friday, February 17, 2017 / C'est vendredi le 17, février 2017

Our day started with an Assembly; I recognized AH for the quality of his work on his ABC book about salmon.
**Quiz reminder: There will be a quiz on the Scales and Tales! package on Monday, postponed from today.

After the Assembly, we finished listening to Stuart McLean's story about training a cat to use the toilet.  This well-known story teller died last week.

I showed a couple of ABC books that I felt were very well done!  We discussed this project as a class; many said that it was a difficult assignment, and that they were challenged to come up with words about salmon.  I am looking forward to reading them all.

Next, Aiden shared something that he had found on the web involving the book he is reading: Marvel.  It was very interesting and well done.  Ask your child.  I'm sorry that I don't have the link here.

Also before recess we filled in Agendas, cleaned out cubbies, looked at book orders, and did some reading.

After recess, Mr. Redding took the kids to music for half an hour while I had some make up prep time from Monday.  Following that, we worked on Area in our Math Antics package.

Notice: PAC need volunteers for the CARNIVAL MARCH 3RD as well as requests for CAKES for the CAKE WALK!

 

Students also cleaned out their desks before the afternoon session of Exploration Friday.

 

 

 

Thursday, February 16, 2017 / C'est jeudi le 16, février 2017

We started our day with Math as we had a lot to do.  Students did a 3-minute timed multiplication drill, the results which were added to their line graph.  Next, we marked / reviewed the multiplication (4-digit X 1-digit) worksheet from yesterday.  Then, we watched some Area videos on Math Antics and completed the practice sheet together.  This took us to recess.

After recess, we watched the "Silent E" video by the Bazillions (youtube) and read a booklet "Silent E Gets Fired" to reinforce a basic spelling rule about words ending with silent e.
Example: rob - robe, plan - plane
*We will be focussing a lot on basic spelling rules these next couple of weeks.  Students will also be adding notes to their Interactive Notebooks.

**Our school spelling bee will be held March 1st at 9:00 in our gym; the district bee at AHE March 8th.

Mr. Pfeiffer took the kids to P.E. during my prep time.

After lunch, Tina came in to help prepare for banner creations.  We started with a brief history of canneries along BC's coast.  We also briefly discussed our year-end play and what it is going to look like (more or less).  After discussing the banners / backdrop for the play,  the students chose which group they wanted to work in to help plan / design a banner.  This took some time and is a work in progress.  Here they are, concentrating and working hard.

That's our day.
*Please note that the Scales and Tales (salmon package) Quiz is postponed until Monday!

 

 

 

Wednesday, February 15, 2017 / C'est mercredi le 15, février 2017

This is the first blog of the week: Monday was BC Family Day, and yesterday was St. Valentine's Day (I was too tired to do it yesterday.)

First thing this morning, we did a couple of activity sheets identifying Figurative Language.  Numbers 19 and 20 are due tomorrow.  Next, students shared their "I'd Rather Be... "  poems that they worked on last week.  Lastly, we started to review some spelling rules; we will be addressing these more formally in the days ahead.

Later, in math , we added notes about perimeter and area to our Math Interactive Notebooks, reviewing the formulas for each.  We also did a 3-minute multiplication drill and added today's results to our line graphs.

This afternoon we had a special presentation!  Sue Davies and her squad came in for a brand new presentation specifically about aquatic plants and animals invasive species.  The kids learned about several species, how to deal with them, what not to do with pets that they tire of, and other methods of prevention.  Then the kids played Jeopardy, which was a lot of fun.  Finally, they created their own "Wanted" ad about fictional or non-fictional invasive species.

Somewhere in our day we played some badminton during PE, and almost all of the art cards were finished (just one to go!).

REMINDER: The ABC salmon booklets were due Tuesday; marks will be taken off for lateness.

Here are some photos from the Invasive Species presentation:)

 

 

 

Friday, February 10, 2107 / C'est vendredi le 10, février 2017

Another busy but exciting Friday....

We started our morning with our 'little buddies' making valentines pouches in preparation for Valentine's Day Tuesday.

Then back to our class where we spent a great deal of time on our art cards; four are completely done!  The rest are coming along quite well.

This afternoon was Exploration Friday!  The following photos are of some of the works either finished or in progress. Students are being given the opportunity to explore their own projects; some even brought their own materials from home:)

REMINDER: MONDAY IS FAMILY DAY!  IT'S A PROVINCIAL HOLIDAY SO NO SCHOOL!