Happy Spring Break

To enhance our understanding of Passion Week, two boys from Grade Nine came to present a powerpoint on the Stations of the Cross and they led the class in prayer.  

Don't be surprised if your child wants to attend Mass this Sunday, as it is Palm Sunday and they understand the significance and know that they would receive their own palm leaf.

It only makes sense that if the students are going to explore the cultures of India, Peru, Tunisia and Ukraine, that they should explore the culture of Canada.  So many of the little ones say "I'm Ukrainian, instead of I am Canadian with ancestry going back to Ukraine."

I know I won't be the most popular teacher this Spring Break, sending homework to be completed for the return to class in April, but I know that so many of you will spend Easter with family.  What a wonderful opportunity to discuss where each child has their roots.  Please write the maiden names of the women of the family as well as their married names.  The most important thing to add at the bottom of each circle is what country that person was born in.  This visual will really assist the children in seeing that they may actually be fifth generation Canadians and be proud of that fact!

We ALL Scream for Ice Cream!

Today was the day that the students finally received their banana split rewards.

You may remember that earlier, in January, the students focused on knowing

the basic addition facts, a skill that they should have mastered by the end of Grade Two.  Many were still counting in their heads, which is an inefficient strategy.  After many little timed quizzes, the majority of the students are well on their way!

No matter the activity in our classroom, there is always a learning opportunity attached!  The students wrote their own recipes for their reward.  On the Provincial Achievement Test there are almost always questions that relate to recipes!  Here are the different toppings that they could choose.  To make it even more of a challenge, each child could only include six items besides the icecream in their recipe.

The focus in the recipe is writing the directions in the correct order and using verbs that specifically belonged in recipes.

Today, the surprise was that each student did NOT make their own banana split or ice cream sundae!  Instead, another classmate had to read the recipe and make it for them, then deliver it to them!

There was lots of excitement when the sundae creator was finished and walking towards the others.  "Would it be for me?", they all wondered.

There was only one little issue, where one little guy complained that his banana split was lacking chocolate syrup.  Lesson learned because although it was in the ingredient list, it was not mentioned in the actual 'how to' directions.  It was a good example why the writer must re-read their work once they are finished!

They all looked so yummy, or should we say...

...bowl licking good!

The Luck of the Irish Didn't Show Up in Our Room!

 There has been a lot of mysterious goings on in our classroom this month.  Every day, there have been little signs that we have been having night visitors of the small, green, sneaky kind.  In the morning when the students come into the class, they have found glitter, small footprints, green sequins, green pom poms and such strewn around.  Mrs. Matheson had had enough!  She asked each and every student to create a trap because she was convinced that leprechauns had been behind the break-ins.

Last Friday, the students brought in their 'traps' and explained their designs to their classmates.

They varied in size,

and plan,

and the materials used.

Each one had some shiny thing to act as bait,

and some element of surprise so that

the pesky little guys could be caught!

Each student chose where they wanted to set up their trap.

This fellow decided he would put it up on his desk and even created a ladder for the leprechaun to use to climb up to the top!

When we came into the class this morning, this is what we saw!

The contents of the traps were strewn about, glitter spilled,

little footprints going from one spot to another...

traps destroyed and all of the gold, coins and gems that were meant to lure the leprechaun were gone!

It took a while to clean up the mess, but the old saying rang true...

"Many hands make light work!"

But that glitter sure does hang around...one little guy needed to be vacuumed off, or he would have left fairy dust everywhere he went!

The mystery was solved as one girl found a note rolled up and tied with a ribbon on the teacher chair.

It helped us know that there had actually been four leprechauns coming in, and that they were trying to do us a favour.  Thank you O'Rourke, O'Toole, O' Brian, and Seamus for fixing my chair!

Dear children,

We are so sorry that we made a mess of your classroom.

We just couldn’t resist looking inside all of the lovely boxes

that we found scattered around the room.  Thank you for

all the fun!  Mind you, you really must be much more careful.

There were sticky tape pieces that were difficult to walk on,

lots of cramped little spaces and even a couple areas that

were difficult to climb out of.  Whatever was that slippery

stuff in that plastic bag?  It took three of us to pull O’Brian

out of there.  We loved the food that you left.  It was lovely

to have something to snack on as we worked on fixing that

broken chair.  It took us weeks to figure out how we were

going to get the tools into the class!  You might have noticed

that we had been in.  We really aren’t known for being tidy

little fellows!  It did make us wonder, though, why you children

would be so careless with your valuables.  We decided that

if you couldn’t look after the gold coins, gold nugget and shiny

stones, then we would just teach you a lesson.  We’ve taken them

ourselves to add to our own pots of gold.  Now that the chair

is fixed, we’ll not bother you again.

                                                 Sincerely,

                                               O’Rourke, O’ Toole,

                                               O’Brian and Seamus

Spirit Week

The students LOVE spirit week.  On Monday they wore pj's.  Tuesday was Twin Day while Wednesday was Backwards Day!  Thursday was Crazy Hair Day with some cool examples in this photo and Friday, the students showed their Spirit by wearing "Hawks" items or green and gold.

The natural progression from our practise of adding and subtracting larger numbers is to count money.  Using the special plastic coins that we have the students worked in pairs to count to each other.

They now know that money should be sorted and counted starting with the coins that have the largest value.  That means they start with two dollar coins first, then one dollar coins, followed by quarters, dimes, nickels and finally pennies.  Yes they are still practising with pennies even though Canada is no longer making them.  It will give practise for rounding up and rounding down, later in the school term.

The students loved this activity and really put forth wonderful effort!

When parents come for Student Led Conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, they will be able to see the result of this concerted effort to keyboard (one finger at a time!!) the student's own original story based on the pattern of "The Mitten."  There are some very creative versions!

The Mitten - A Ukrainian Folktale

One of the important aspects of studying another country, is to recognize that the culture of that country is both similar and different to the culture we enjoy here in Canada.  This is done through hearing the music, seeing the dance, tasting the food and hearing the stories of the people who live there.

 In Ukraine, there are many traditional folktales, one of which we know here, The Mitten.

The students heard a variety of versions of the folktale and discussed why so many versions exist.  They then took the traditional version and retold it themselves, practising the new skill of adding conversation properly, to a piece of writing.  You might wonder why when they are self editing their work, they are asked to use their highlighters to underline words.  In this piece of writing, they were asked to underline verbs in blue, adjectives in red, punctuation in green and possible spelling errors in yellow.  By doing this, the students are practising their focus, recognizing their understanding of the various aspects of the writing process and then, through colour, can recognize more clearly, where they might need to revise their work.

This is a piece of writing that you will be viewing during the Student Led conferences later this month, so the students worked to create a final 'good' or 'clean' copy, which will be shaped like a mitten!

They created a title page...

..and wrote "About the Author"

(We used photos from the beginning of the year and some of the children were exclaiming "Look how young we looked!", truly letting me know that they too believe that they are growing up!)

Finally, each student used yarn to individualize their book covers, choosing to create a design,

any way that they wanted.

They are all very different,

and creative!

You should look at your calendar today and block off the evening that you will come to celebrate your child's learning with them on Tuesday, March 19 or Wednesday, March 20.  This time is really their opportunity to shine and they need your undivided attention.  I realize that so many of us are busy, with sports, meetings, commitments and of course, more than one child, but really, nothing should come before your child's positive experience of being able to show off and demonstrate just how hard they have been working on their job of learning.

The Evidence of Learning Binders will be going home with the children on Monday.  Please feel free to take sheets out of the plastic sleeves and go over them with your child.  Return them into the sleeves and bring the entire binder back with you when you and your child come for Student Led Conferences next week or send them back earlier if you would like.  There is a sheet at the back of Term Two for you to fill out that will set the tone for our conferences.  There will be 4 students booked into each ONE HOUR slot.  All the students come with their parents and stay for the length of time it takes to get a chance for the child to demonstrate some new learning, take a shiny leading role and sit with the teacher to discuss learning to date. The goals that you and your child have set, either behavioural or academic, for the final term will be discussed.  Sitting with me, is just like a regualr interview and will take about 15 minutes per family. For some families this process will take the entire hour, and for others it may take a little less time.  Please remember that four families will be in the classroom at the same time.

A yellow sheet in the front pocket of the Evidence of Learning binder gives details on how to book your time electronically.  This is the way that times are set at this school.  It will be a first come-first served booking situation.

We are entering the fourth week of Lent.  May the joy of knowing that the story of Easter is near bring you happiness.

Skipping through life...

After two months of projecting, passing and receiving skills that led to games of floor hockey and soccer, this month the students are working on learning how to skip!

They are working on creating a pattern that they can hear as they skip....bounce, bounce...bounce, bounce...as compared to just jumping without the bounce inbetween the rope turns.  Not all of the students have been able to skip this way yet, but practise will bring it about!

Today they worked on 'tricks'!  They made their legs go forward and back to do The Skier, and then apart and together to do Hopscotch.

They enjoyed the opportunity to skip in the hallway instead of in the gym!

 

Some of the students appear to be a bit stressed over the little 'quiz' that we will have on our learning in the science "Hearing and Sound' unit.  Please remember that later in May/June this class will be writing Provincial Achievement Tests mandated by Alberta Learning.  The students need practise in being able to sit on their own and read questions and think of answers. Little quizzes will become part of their preparation for the PATs.  This science quiz is part of that preparation.  They are also learning that school work sometimes invades home life!  Having them tell you what they know, asking practical questions using the knowledge being worked on and just discussing their learning will demonstrate to them, that education is valued and worth the effort.

 

Thanks for being involved in your child's learning!

Happy Birthday!

All these years of teaching and I think this might be the first time that a little munchkin in my room shared the same birthday as me!  The flowers were a gift from my sister and brother in law from Ontario.  They never forget my special day!