Double the Fun!

Have you ever heard of 'reverse recess'? It means that the students play and run and get their exercise first and then return to the classroom to have their morning snack or lunch.  Thought I would share these happy smiling faces as they munch on their fruit or vegetable that they have brought for morning snack.  

Fruits and vegetables are the perfect thing to pack for your busy child because they have the right dose of vitamins and natural sugars to give these little learners the energy to make it through until lunch.

Prepackaged fruit snacks or fruit rollups just don't come close to the nutrition that is packed into nature's sweets!

It does my heart good to hear the students' say "Guess what I brought?  I have veggies and dip!" or "Great!  My favourite!  Grapes!"  Involve your child in choosing what they would like to see as a snack.  The easy choice is nature's best food, fruits and vegetables!

Here are the DOUBLES games that the students will be focussing on for the next few days.  The curriculum asks the students to recognize a variety of strategies when adding or subtracting to ensure their understanding of the way numbers work.

When a student knows the doubles, such as 8 + 8 makes 16, they then can think about using what they know to help with an equation such as 8 + 7.  Here's what they may be saying inside their head..

"I know 8+8, so when I see 8+7 I can see that 7 is one smaller....that means that answer will be one smaller....the answer is 15....that's one smaller than 16."  

Does your child know all the doubles to 20?

Daily Five

The students have had about a week of Daily Five instruction and are working on building their stamina in each of the five areas up to 20 minutes.  Building stamina allows the students to have the opportunity to do what research tells us is the best way to have children be successful readers.  The structure or framework which the students work in helps them work independently and develop the daily habits of reading and writing.  

To date the students have been working on 'reading to self' and 'working on writing.'  'Reading to someone' is another important component of the program.  To ensure that this element is included, the students will be bringing home a 'home reading book' that is a right fit for their independent reading level.  As a student moves up through the levels, it is still very important that they have the practise of reading aloud.  They are working on fluency, expressiveness and comprehension.  Reading is much more than saying the words.  Understanding what is being shared is the area to focus on now.  

If your child still has a 'kanga pouch' from Gr. 1 or 2, they are welcome to use that.  If they do not, may I suggest a plastic pouch such as these that I purchased for less than $2.00 @ Dollarama.  Since all of the books that the children will be bringing home belong to me, it is important that a plastic pouch protect them from the spills that happen in backpacks all the time!

While you are out getting a pouch, please pick up a set of highlighters.  I appreciate that you sent one or two at the start of the year, but the students will be using multiple colours when they are working on writing.  Again the set at Dollarama is just fine and costs very little!  There is no need to pay more!

I have four iPads that I have the students use for 'listening to reading.'  Please send in a set of earbuds, with whichever ear piece that your child prefers.  These should be in a small ziplock bag and will be kept in their book boxes to use when it is their turn.

Thanks for all your support!

Getting to Know You

Over the weekend, all of the students will be looking about their homes for 4 or 5 small items that will fit into the paper bag that they brought home.  The items will be shared on Monday at school.  This activity will allow all of us to know each other better.  Here's all the pieces cut apart.

It is best to fill in the blue page first before trying to paste it onto the back of the bag.  Notice how the page is folded over so that it forms the top closure of the "backpack"?  The other two blue strips are folded and glued on to make the straps.

Once the backpack is created it is time to fill it!

For example, I might put in a small photo of my family because they are so important to me, a little cat statue because I love cats, a pin cushion with needle and thread because I can sew and maybe a packet of seeds because gardening is one of my hobbies.

Being able to share with our classroom family, allows the students to have a chance to express themselves orally.  Talking about themselves is always easier than talking about other topics.

I look forward to learning more about each and every student this way.

Don't forget:  OPEN HOUSE on Monday @ 7:00 p.m.  See you then!

International Dot Day

Just wanted to show you that not ALL of the classroom ideas that I try with the students are actually successful!  Here's one that wasn't so perfect.  Who knew that in the box of Alphabets cereal, all 26 letters don't appear?  Hard to spell when s is missing!  The idea was to spell the child's name on the 'coconut tree'...one of those I won't try again!

Friday brought out a wonderfully dedicated group of parents who were making pancakes very early for the school's Welcome Back Breakfast.  Elected members of our community, church members and community service people were also there to lend a helping hand.  THANK YOU ALL!

Here's some of my happy students with their families...

Did you notice that pancakes look a lot like dots?  That's perfect because all the Grade Two classes celebrated....

Watch this video to see the story written by Peter H. Reynolds:

THE DOT by PETER H. REYNOLDS video

We all took our hand at creating some lovely artwork, based on the story to proudly sign and then display.

The finished pieces were 'framed'...

..in the corridor just outside the classroom.

This year we will follow this great advice: "Make your mark and see where it takes you!"

Oh No! David teaches the students to think further than the story!

I really did try, but somehow this picture wants to stay laying on it's side!

David Shannon wrote stories about another little boy named David, based on a book that he had created as a little boy.  Throughout his book he wrote the only words he knew how to spell: no and David.  We looked at three of the books in this series.  There are few words, and wonderful illustrations, but we used the stories to learn about a comprehension strategy that we will be practising throughout the school year.

First the students made their own David, following both oral and visual directions.

They turned out so well!  The real learning happened as we looked at the illustrations again.  I asked the students what they could tell about the story, really what they were thinking, as I showed the pictures and read the words.  For example, on one page, David is chewing food with his mouth full....quite gross!

The students shared their thoughts, which I scribed in green.  All of their thoughts were not on the page either in word or illustration, but their ideas are very valid.  

They are learning how to recognize when they are 'inferring' which means that they are using what they  saw and heard to deduce information from the evidence.  Pretty cool for the 7th day of school!

Pete the Cat helps us learn!

There are SO many wonderful books available that it will take all year for me to introduce my children to them all.  We are adding the Pete the Cat series to our list of favourites.  It's important to know that literature is always linked to curriculum in my classroom.  I use the stories to engage the children, so that they learn, without even knowing it!  In his first story, Pete lets the children know that when things go wrong (like when his white shoes turn red after he steps in a pile of strawberries) he just keeps walking along and Goodness No!, he does not cry!

I used the second book about Pete's groovy buttons to focus on the concept of addition.  Using buttons, the students demonstrated their ability to independently manipulate the buttons to find five different equations that use two addends to make four. Through this simple activity, I am able to assess which students need to practise this concept before moving on to a new concept.

By having the students make Pete (by the way the pattern was shared by another teacher on her blog, so cute and so generous of her) I am able to see which students are able to follow directions, can manage more than one task on their own, and even who may need special assistance with fine motor co-ordination.  Nothing is ever done in class without an educational purpose behind it!  Even picking out the buttons involved seeing if the students could distinguish between colours.

Another teacher shared these darling posters which now are displayed in our room.  Pete is cool!

                         Here's a cute video for Pete the Cat and his four Groovy Buttons

Hope to see many of you at the early morning (7:00 a.m.!!) Welcome Breakfast on Friday morning!

It's Day 5!

The students are getting into the swing of things in the classroom.  When they come in, they are now trying to independently work on their "Rise and Shine" binder, a wonderful idea that I got from another teacher named Reagan Tunstall.  The binder works on basic math understandings that children need, that are usually reinforced through calendar work.  They tell me, using a dry erase marker, what day of the week it is, what month, what year and how many days we have been in school.  

Using that number, they also work on tally marks, the numbers that come before and after, how that number is created in ten frames and how it can be created in part-part-whole sections.

The binder allows for daily practise in a fun manner, without duplicating paper for each day's work.  After it's done, the students just use their little dry marker erasers and they are all set for the next day!

Today we began a little alphabet review using a wonderful book called "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom."

In the story "a told b, and b told c, "I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree."  The students searched for their own alphabet letters and made them climb up their coconut trees.

Finding the letters was quite the challenge!

Here's our first little birthday girl with her special cupcake chair, her special glasses, her sticker that tells everyone  that she is celebrating a birthday attached to her shirt and the balloon that she will take home with a twisty drinking straw.  She also got to take home our first literacy bag, that includes a game and a journal to complete.