A Creature in our Classroom

While listening to the poem "A Creature in the Classroom" by Jack Prelutsky, students visualized what they thought the creature might look like. Visualization is a strategy that can help students to comprehend a story that they read or hear.

Next students made their creature. They will be asked to describe their creature. We are learning what describe means and we are practicing describing familiar things (e.g., our clothing). Tomorrow we will describe our favourite food and also describe some of the living things we find outside.

Ask your child to describe for you what his/her creature looks like.

Jumping Over Pumpkins!

Ask your child what he/she did in gym class today... We had a variety of relay races involving the gourds that have been generously donated. Students hopped over them, ran around them, carried them without using their hands and passed them over their head and through their legs. Students had a great time and got a lot of exercise!

You did what? Really? When? Where? With who?

In writing, we have been using some of the 5W's to help add detail. On Mondays, (or if Monday is a holiday, then on Tuesdays) students talk about and write about their weekend. It is a great opportunity to practice writing without struggling to come up with the ideas. Using the organizer you see here, students are required to give details about their weekend.

At home, you could support your child by having a conversation at the end of the weekend about what you did. It is a great chance to remember fun times and also to remind your child of some of the details of his/her weekend that he/she may have forgotten about already!

We have started to use this organizer to give an oral recount of the weekend. Next, we will be putting these ideas together to write a recount in proper sentence format. Some students are expected to write one sentence, while others are expected to write several detailed sentences. Everyone is working at their own pace, trying to improve each day.

Please look at me when I'm talking to you.

 

Do you ever find yourself saying that? Well, we are working on it. Part of the Oral Communication (Language) curriculum includes active listening. When students are listening actively, they are looking at the person who is talking to them. They are waiting their turn to share and trying hard not to interrupt. At an appropriate time, they are responding with a comment or question.

Every morning when students come in, they are given a topic to discuss with a partner. Sometimes it is a topic of interest like what they did on the weekend or their favourite sport. Other times it is a topic related to a book we will be reading or to what we are learning in another subject. This is an opportunity for students to practice their active listening in a conversation with a peer.

At home you can support your child by being mindful during your conversations. Model good eye contact and respond with a comment or question. Be consistent in your expectations about taking turns speaking in a conversation.

What are we learning in math?

Symmetry is all around us. The towers we are building, the pictures we are drawing with miras, the shapes we are tracing, the paper we are folding are all examples of symmetry. All students are recognizing the symmetry and grade twos are also drawing lines of symmetry.

We have also been learning about mass. Students have been exploring the relative mass of a variety of objects using a balance scale. Grade ones are describing which object is heavier or lighter. Grade twos are counting how many cubes it takes to balance an object and ordering a group of objects from lightest to heaviest.

As well, we have been working with numbers in words. Through simple printing practice and also games like memory, go fish and hopscotch, students are learning how to read and write numbers in words. (Grade ones to 10 and grade twos to 20)

Fall is Here

 

For Science we have been going on nature walks around the school yard to observe the variety of living and non-living things and discuss what those living things need to survive. Most recently, we have been looking for signs of fall. Students found many signs of fall and drew and labelled diagrams of what they saw.

In Science we are always asking questions or inquiring. We are wondering why leaves fall, why leaves have veins, if the needles will fall off of this tree, why wasps don't come out when it's cold, why bees die when they lose their stingers... The list goes on!

You're performing in a play?

Yes! The students have all decided that they would like to put on a play. We have been reading a variety of fairy tales for inspiration. We know that our story will have both good and evil characters and the good characters will have to defeat the evil ones! A team of writers helped to draft the storyline last week and now, with input from all students, we are continuing to modify the story as new characters or plot twists are created. Our next (BIG) job is to write lines for each character.

If you are available during the school day, stay tuned to find out when we are ready to perform....