Exploring the North Through Art

Thanks to Rubble Road for coming and spending the morning with my class this week.

The students had the opportunity to work with rasps to carve a pre-cut piece of soapstone.

They learned that having something wonderful happen takes hard work and they were all determined to create their own version of a famous Inuit sign post.

Inukshuk stand like sign posts in the bleak northern landscape, showing the way to hunting or fishing locations or even where food has been buried.

Once the edges of the rock were smoothed, and some details added with the rasps, the students used three different grits of sandpaper to smooth the stones.

I love the look of determination and

of joy, as they created and knew that they were very capable!

One boy even said "This is going to be my job when I grow up!"

What a wonderful opportunity to try something new!

Once the stones were all dried out, they were coated with tung oil to bring out the colour.

They will be sent home after the conferences of Wednesday night.

On Friday, the students used a new medium, chalk pastels, to create the dancing Aurora Borealis.  Though the students had the same materials, just like each time we see the Northern Lights, they are different as they vividly dance across the night sky, so too were their final products different and unique.

This is a catch up on life in our classroom...

Sometimes life in the classroom is far too busy!  I realize that we shared our 100th day bottle activity in the classroom way back on February 21 but I didn't get this photo onto the blog.  Here it is now!

The final bear that we used as the jumping off point for our reading and writing lessons is the sweet little bear named Corduroy. (The students didn't know that the word corduroy was the name for a particular type of fabric!  You never know where learning will occur)  The students worked very hard on learning how to use elaborate detail, to describe a character or a setting.  They will be working on this aspect of writing throughout the year, and started by describing the toy bear and the setting of the second book, the laundromat.

The RCMP school liaison officer stopped by on the day we all wore pink shirts in support of the campaign to stop bullying, and brought a friend, who offered each student a free hug!

Thank you to the REAL Foundation, a group who supports our Catholic school district in ways that allows our students to experience the joy of being Catholic through concerts and retreats.  On Shrove Tuesday, Face to Face ministries worked with all the students at our school to see that we are meant to Know God, Serve God and Love God.  The photos aren't the best because of the lighting in the gym, and all the movement.

The students raised the roof, lifting their voices in song.

They showed their joy by dancing.  They loved it!

Another huge thank you is owed to Mrs. Phelan and her junior hight students who flipped pancakes ALL MORNING LONG in order to feed our entire school population.  So many of the students told me that they love pancakes.  

There was juice and fruit to round out the meal, which is always part of the day before LENT begins.

Aren't these puppies the cutest?  This was a fun activity to kick off our next set of books that will lead our reading and writing activities in March.  Who is the star of these stories??

It is Clifford, of course!

 
I have noticed that there are not many parents who are taking the time to read the blog, so here's the deal.  I have a prize for each student in my class who can tell me on Monday morning, where I spent the afternoon on Faith and Wellness day.  The pictures should offer you all a clue!  I would love to be able to give away 22 gifts!!

All About the Math

This image can be found at the mathcoachscorner.com

I wanted to share the newest strategy the students are practising for adding and subtracting larger numbers (two digit numbers).

Most adults were taught the addition algorithm.  Most adults do not know that this algorithm is used in North America but is not as popular in other countries.  It is not important which way you solve an addition or subtraction equation (and ultimately use that method in everyday encounters with problems such as when one is buying items in a store or trying to calculate how many beads you might need to complete a craft project).

What our Alberta curriculum is asking us to do is to expose the students to a variety of strategies that may resonate with a particular student and that they can use to be successful.  Over the years what I have observed is that by exposing the students to these practises and asking them to try them out, the students begin to understand that tens need to be added together and that ones need to be added together.  When they understand that concept (which we easily understand as adults because we have had so much practise), then when the algorithm is introduced, they understand what they are trying to achieve when they follow the steps of the algorithm.

We worked on the strategy of using an open number line and 'jumping' in chunks such as 10s, or 5s or 2s or 1s.  This strategy shows the students that adding means the final sum will be larger and that when the numbers are subtracted, you are going to have a final smaller number, because you started with the larger number and moved down the number line.

Now this week the students are working on the splitting method shown at the top of the chart.  I call it the 'pull down' method because the students pull down the ones to add them together, pull down the tens to add them together and then add the tens and ones to find the final sum.  Next week we will be working on the same strategy but with subtraction.

I get that this is different for you.  Please trust in this process.  In the end, it is not the final correct answer that we are trying to get to.  That will be achieved with practise.  It is the understanding of what adding larger numbers or subtracting large numbers will result in, that is important.  The process of how to get there is not the same for all minds.

Later in March, the students will be introduced to our traditional algorithm.  I believe that this practise of the strategies will make them understand the steps of the way you know how to add and subtract, clearer in their mind.

We keep on learning...

I think the students really enjoyed reading their three clues to their classmates and then revealing what 100 items they had put into their bottles.  It was a great activity to introduce the concept of volume, and the students were intrigued with what 100 of each item looked like!

Corduroy is a lovely little bear and the students are working on using him and his stories as the backdrops of their efforts to really describe a character or a setting.  It has been hard work for them, but they are proud of their efforts.

Here's a list of what I know are important things to note from now until Spring Break:

February 27 - Wear pink to stand up to bullies

February 28 - Author visit

March 5 - Shrove Tuesday (the students will get pancakes but should be bringing a lunch because we don't know when the pancakes will be ready for our class)

March 6 - Early Dismissal     Students will be going to mass for Ash Wednesday at OLPH

March 8 - PD  No school for students

March 11 - Assembly

March 16 - 2:30 to 6:00 Holy Communion retreat at OLPH church

Week of March 18 - book fair

March 19 - follow a Friday schedule  / Parent Council meets

March 20 Little Mermaid puppet presentation

March 21 In school field trip - need 4 parent volunteers

                Conferences in the evening

March 22 Day in Lieu  No school for students

Week of March 25 is Spring Break

Students return to school on Monday, April 1

Happy Valentine's Day

It's just my opinion but I think my kiddos were much more excited that they were going to go skating in the afternoon on Valentine's Day than they were about their valentine cards!  Thank you to ALL the wonderful parents who came out to tie skates, offer encouragement and skate along with these happy, happy children!

This is an example of the happiness we saw all afternoon!

I tried to get the kiddos to stop for a minute to pose for a picture, but it wasn't easy!

In our physical. ed. classes back at school we had been practising doing static balances, so here was our attempt to do a balance on ice!

This was a great challenge for them!

It didn't matter how often these kiddos get to skate, they were all happy to try!

Posing for a picture is a favourite activity as well.

I love when I can get a photo with a mom in the picture, because we know that 

doesn't happen nearly enough!

These two hung out all afternoon and improvements were definitely seen!

Outside the classroom are the students' opinion writing pieces.

I believe that students do a better job of writing when they have actually had the experience, so each kiddo got a Hersey Kiss and a Hersey Hug to eat, which helped generate more vivid vocabulary (Shhh! Don't tell anyone we were eating chocolate in class, but it was only two tiny pieces!)

The students writing followed a specific pattern, so the first sentence shared their opinion, followed by three sentences that each explained a reason for that opinion and the last sentence summarized and restated the first sentence.  

I have included an example of each go the opinions, just to be fair!

These lovely art pieces use mixed media, including sharpie pens, pastels and a blue wash, to share some lovely words from the Bible.

Yep!  I do love these kids!