Whisper Phones

A HUGE "thank you" to the Parent Council at Jean Vanier Catholic School for supporting our request for ten 'whisper phones' for our classroom.  These simple devices allow the students to read to themselves, hearing their own voices among the multitudes of noises created in a hectic classroom.  Being able to hear yourself read can be very important to a student who is still not ready for 'silent reading'.  Knowing what the sentence sounded like allows for better comprehension.  The students love these so much!

The Fabulous Fifties continue.....

Last Thursday just wasn't long enough to complete all the ideas that I had found in a wonderful pack from Cara Carroll, a blogger at First Grade Parade. It's wonderful to have a fun day full of activities that the students will remember, but every activity also has a connection to our curriculum objectives.

Here the students had an opportunity to compare their life to the life of others in the 1950's.  They practiced writing a comparative sentence with the joining word but.

Those delicious root beer floats provided the perfect segway into learning to write to inform.  The students completed a planning sheet, to recognize that when making a float, steps were followed in a certain order.  Using the planning sheet, each student then wrote a book that explains, step by step how to make a root beer float.  

The assignment provides the opportunity for me to assess each students' skills in spelling.  All of the words that they would need were written on their planning sheets.  If a student didn't know how to spell a word independently, they could have referred to the sheet.  When the student doesn't follow through with that opportunity, it alerts me that I must re-teach that lesson, to ensures that all students know that there are many ways to help themselves to spell words correctly.

Winter is here!

Here's what the well dressed student is wearing this winter season in Mrs. Matheson's class.  Note the covering of every inch of skin eliminating the possibility of frostbite.  The mittens are not just stylish, they are also much thicker than the inexpensive knit gloves that become soaked when snow is played with.  Boots are a must as are the snow pants.  This lovely model is ready for a romp or slide in the snow.  Especially key is the hat that covers the ears, not just a hood.  When the wind blows, she will be toasty warm!  Glad to see the zipper done up right to the neck to ensure no nasty colds will take her away from the times she loves best, learning new things in Mrs. Matheson's class!

A whole lotta shaking' going on....

We took this day to do a whole lotta learnin' as well.  I used a wonderful resource made up a teacher named Cara Carroll, who has a blog called "First Grade Parade."  She had so many wonderful ideas on how to celebrate the 50th day of school that I knew that the students would both love and benefit from.  We spent the morning really looking at the number 50, recognizing that it is an even number and that there many ways to get to 50, such as counting by 2s, 5s and 10s.  We also compared life in the 50s to life in 2011, recognizing that we might like music, but we don't use LPs today!

The students really enjoyed the chance to dress up, but they know that students in the 1950's would have considered these clothes as just their regular everyday wear.

The students now know what a jukebox, saddle shoes, and dungarees are, as well as knowing that when you learned to read in the 1950's, you might be reading books where Dick and Jane or Tom and Betty were the main characters.

In the afternoon, we all went into our Daily Physical Activity room and took a bunch of fun pictures, both in front of the Jukebox and in our own pink cadillac!

We learned how to do the stroll, the twist, and the jive.

Look at all that 'shakin' going on!

Like the students in the 1950's after dancing so much, these students were a tiny bit thirsty, so what better way to end the day, but with a root beer float!  Our day had come to an end, but I have so many activities that we didn't get to, that I think 50th Day of School, Part Two will be taking place on Monday!  (We just won't be dressing the part!)  Thanks to Mrs. Kaban for providing the music and to our two mom helpers who took pictures and made floats!

Increasing Patterns

Sometimes the students amaze me with their ability to really learn a new concept.  Today, increasing patterns was introduced.  In the Mathematics program of Studies, students in Grade Two must demonstrate an understanding of increasing patterns by describing, reproducing, extending and creating both non-numerical and numerical patterns. 

 I told the students about a little caterpillar who on his first day out of the egg, had a head, one body part and two legs.  After eating all day long, he slept and the next day he had two body parts and four legs.  This continues until the caterpillar has four body parts and eight legs.  I then asked what he would look like on the sixth day AND they got it!  They recognized that as his body increases by one part, his legs increased by two!  They were they sent off to create their own increasing patterns.  It didn't happen instantly for all of them, but with support and explanation as well as visits to others' desks, they eventually were quite successful.

This work looks easy but would you believe that the students are actually building pre-algebra skills?

Think in terms of x and y and other unknowns.  Here is the number example to go with the example above.  Each day, the creature increases by 3 legs.  How many legs would the creature have on the 7th day?  The students need to extend the pattern, in their head, recognizing the relationship between the upper number and the lower number.  This is a 1 to 3 relationship.  As the top number increased by one, the lower number increased by 3.

In this example (cool that they started to make the patterns both in horizontal and vertical planes) the yellow hexagons increase by twos, as the red quadrilaterals increase by ones.  It is an inverse relationship if you put the yellows in the top spot on the grid and the red on the bottom.

How do the red quadrilaterals and the green triangles relate to each other in this example?

Here's a true challenge.  Can you find the first part of the pattern?  Where does it start to increase?  What colour increases and by how much?  How would you create a chart for this one?  What might look like child's play is truly work!  

The best part was how excited they were when I brought out the camera!  They really LOVE to see their ideas showcased on our classroom blog!

Week of November 14 - 18

The sound that we are focusing on is the short vowel sound of o this week.  Words such as ox, clock, mop, and got all have the sound.  The students noticed that when they make the short sound of o, their mouths made quite a large o shape, but when they tried the long sound of o, their mouths could not be opened as widely.  They were surprised at the way that the 'Bossy R' changes the sound of o, so that you almost don't hear it at all.  All you can hear is that 'Bossy R'!

You'll notice that in the spelling duotang there is a list that also includes words that the Grade Two students will be focusing on, and a different list for Grade Three students that are words relating to their study of Hearing and Sound in science class.  The words for the Grade Two students are already on the Word Wall, so after this week, they will be expected to print them in their everyday work without error.

Upcoming Conferences

This will be the note that you will find in the front pocket of the Bee Binder tomorrow.  Please fill in and return asap! Thanks...

Three Way Conferences: Respond Promptly

Elk Island Catholic Schools is implementing a new method of communicating student’s progress with parents district wide.  In some schools this is completely new, but in some schools, this method has been in place for a number of years.

Later this month, your child will bring home their “Evidence of Learning” binder.  In it will be pieces of work and a variety of assignments that demonstrate growth over time, areas of strength, areas of challenge that need perseverance, and formative and summative examples.

On Monday, December 5 and Tuesday December 6, students and parents, will come to meet with classroom teachers to discuss individual strengths, challenges to work on, and create a plan to support continued progress.

Please sign up for a preferred time and I will do my best to accommodate your requests.  We will be working collaboratively between teachers to schedule family groupings as close together as we can.

Monday                     Tuesday

_____ 3:45               _____3:45

_____ 4:00               _____ 4:00

_____ 4:15                _____ 4:15

_____ 4:30               _____ 4:30

_____ 4:45               _____ 4:45

_____ 5:00               _____ 5:00

_____ 5: 15               _____ 5:15

_____ 5:30               _____ 5:30

_____ 5:45               _____ 5:45

_____ 6:30               _____ 6:30

_____ 6:45               _____ 6:45

_____ 7:00               _____ 7:00

_____ 7:15                _____ 7:15

_____ 7:30               _____ 7:30

Student Name along with name of adult who will be attending