How Wonderful!

Nothing warms my heart more than those moments like the one above.  This little darling was finished his work, and happily scooted off to the rug, cuddled up with the pillows (see how he's got one on his tummy?) and dove right into his library book which he has been dedicated to for weeks now.  I smiled all day long with this picture in my head!

Snow and Ice

There's a real difference between a student in September and a student in January.  Students are now comfortable within the classroom environment, know all of their peers, understand the expectations and are settled into the routine of learning.

Today the students worked on a variety of valuable skills.  The book that they are using is a non-fiction book.  They have been learning about the features of non-fiction writing since the beginning of the year. One of the skills that they were working on was reading a chapter to look for specific information.

Another skill was then processing that information and writing the information in their own words so that they could share their knowledge with others.

 Perhaps the most valuable skill that they practiced was co-operation.  The class only has six copies of the book, so they worked in small groups of three or four students.  They decided who would read, what was important to know, and how they could write the information in their brochures.  They discussed,  they shared and they negotiated.

The room was full of the comfortable hum of learning.  It was music to my ears!

Happy New Year!

Setting a goal for the New Year is a tradition in Canada.  We used this opportunity to learn many new vocabulary words such as resolution, celebrate and confetti !

The students worked through this project by first remembering some of the things that they did in 2011, stating which was their favourite book read, naming a new friend and sharing what they were proud of learning.  They then thought about what they might like to improve in, stop, or get better at.  Finally they were ready to share their goals which were as varied as "learn better", "learn to handwrite", "learn to ignore my brother"  and "be healthy."

Making ourselves in paper form allows the students to continue to practise their fine motor skills, creativity, and even some mathematics.  Note that the stockings on the legs are following a specific pattern!

These little cuties are based on another teacher's idea from a blog.  Sadly I don't remember which one, but I am so grateful that so many teachers are sharing their wonderful ideas within the blogging world.  It allows me to continue to change activities to suit my student's needs!

The students played some wonderful New Year's Games that I found on the blog "First Grade Parade"

(Having fun makes learning easy!)

Over the holidays, I spent time creating a new unit for January.  Traditionally I focus on the stories found in Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad series.  Because of the combined class, I felt it was important to offer the students something different so the theme is Winter and Snow.  This first week we will explore activities related to winter.  Next week we will look closely at snowflakes (cute!!) and explore the tracks made by animals in the snow and then we will continue to keep with the theme as we work on snowmen.  There's lots of reading and writing to share so come back often!

The Greatest Concert of All

Spread the news...tell everyone....

this class was angelic.....

at our Christmas Concert today!

Thank you parents for helping make the angel wings, donating the silver garland, the elastic and having such adorable, talented children.

God's blessing to you during the holidays.

Jesus is the reason for the season!

Writing with a purpose

I believe that students will write better when they understand the power of words and they have a purpose for writing.  Yesterday, they were able to accomplish both!

This clever book suggests reasons for the manner in which Santa does things, because of his previous jobs such as why he goes down chimneys, delivers things at night and uses reindeer to pull a sleigh.

 We came across a HELP WANTED sign and decided that we would all apply for this job!

Each student filled in a two page application with the vital information required (including finger prints)!

They then created an elf that looks surprisingly similar to themselves!

The elves turned out to be almost life size and took up more space than the bulletin board had.

Each student had to explain why they were perfect for the position that they were applying for. My favourite one was where a child circled no to the question that asked "Do you like toys?"

When I asked if he thought Santa would want to hire someone who didn't like toys, the cutie answered "I don't have to like toys to load the sleigh and that's the job I want to apply for!"

Christmas Concert Costumes

Christmas Concert Costume Update

News flash!!  The students in Mrs. Matheson’s Grade Two/Three combined classroom have been upgraded to angels in the 2011

Christmas concert production!

(That sounds a lot better than there was a tiny mistake made!)

The students are to be dressed as angels.  The costumes are being sewn as you get this notice.  But there is a way that YOU can help!

Please come on the afternoon of Thursday, Dec. 15

@ 12:30 to Jean Vanier School and participate in the angel wing making marathon.  The 21 sets of wings will be made of white Bristol board with silver garland trim and elastic arm supports.

We are in need of the following donations:

a)       Silver garland - the kind that goes on Christmas trees) that will go around the wings and also create the halos for each child

b)        Skeins of sewing elastic that will be attached to the wings and then be used to comfortably support the wings onto the children

Doubles

The students have been focusing on the facts that are called 'Doubles."  That means the same number is added to itself.  They drew a monster and whatever they drew on one side had to be drawn on the other.  Thus, the monster had 3 hairs plus 3 hairs and 5 eyes plus 5 eyes.

When they wrote out these numbers as a mathematical sentence they noticed a pattern!  The answers are like skip counting by twos!  Tonight the students will be bringing home the 'flash cards' that they make in class.  Please practise so that each student knows them as quick as a wink!

 Within the classroom, the students practised first in the " I have...Who has..." game.  They noticed that they did not all know these facts.  They then paired up with a peer and played a game called "On the Double" which supports the learning of the facts in order to be the first to acquire the winning number of bingo chips.

 Winning isn't everything, but in this case, it is encouraging the learning of the double facts!