November 28th, 2018

Casual Wednesday

We read a story to start our day about the Tattle Tongue. This was an interesting story and a lot of friends are concerned that this is real and it could potentially happen to them!! AHH! They don't want a yellow tongue with purple spots! We learned when it is a good time to tell an adult and when it is tattling... for example: Telling Ms. Gray that someone got a pencil from the pencil box = NOT something to tell the teacher in the middle of the lesson. If someone is in danger or hurting your feelings or body then you tell the teacher immediately. We learned the "Rules of Tattling" according to the Tattle Prince. 

After we read our story and talked about the rules of tattling... we worked on our phonics. We learned how to neatly write the letter Jj and the sound that Jj makes! We practiced this by writing in our phonics journals. We found a bunch of words that begin with the letter Jj and we even have a friend in our class that starts with the letter J! Almost all of us drew this friend in our phonics journals! :)

During our inquiry into Math we took our math test! We did VERY well on our math test and we followed directions the whole time. Ms. Gray was so proud of us because everyone kept their eyes on their own paper and we were able to complete the test with ease!

After this we wrote our reflections for our report cards! We talked about all of the things that we learned this term and made a list on the board. Our friends then wrote their reflections. When everyone was done with their reflections we had 5 minutes of free-time in the classroom. Some friends chose to read in the tent, some chose to play with Legos and some friends chose to draw pictures! We had a lot of drawings of the Solar System today!

During our unit of inquiry we were learning about the planet, Mercury! We watched a video on Mercury and then we used glitter and grey crayon to colour the planet. Ms. Gray is excited to put them on the windows! We will be learning fun facts about all of the planets. After this, we had a dance party and practiced our dance for the Christmas Concert! Then it was time to pack up and go home! :)

Reminders/Announcements

1. Math Test went VERY well! :) Expect to see those next week in the agenda.
2. SPELLING TEST FRIDAY!!
3. Report Cards go home on Friday! :)
4. For the Christmas Concert: Outfit -- If you have a green or red track suit (sweatpants and matching top) or if you don't have that then jeans and a green or red sweatshirt/shirt will work! Any questions please ask. I can send an example of some through email.

November 27th, 2018

Tuesday!! 

During morning meeting we read a story from The 7 Habits of Happy Kids... We love hearing about the same characters over and over. We are learning from how they are developing new habits and becoming happy kids! We worked on the blend SS today and found a bunch of words in the classroom that have the blend in them. Our friends have been LOVING word searches lately so, Ms. Gray has been getting some of these for our friends to find words that have the blend in them!

During our inquiry into math we reviewed graphs and how to read them. We reviewed collecting data and then reading our data... We got into our group from the day before and presented our results of our data (information) that we gathered about SMARTIES!! Then we completed a worksheet by sorting, counting, tallying, and graphing to practice our data skills! We had a great time!

During UOI we watched a video and learned a bunch of fun facts about the sun! We learned that it takes 170 YEARS to get to the sun from Earth if we were to drive 100 km/hr in a car! We learned that the sun even has oxygen like Earth does! After this we had a BLAST making a sun out of a paper plate and got very messy with the yellow paint and orange pastels. Ms. Gray got a lot of compliments with this activity... positive reinforcement pays off. We will be making more arts and crafts planets the next few days! (If you would like to send in a shirt to protect their uniform, you are welcome/encouraged to do that!)

We had recess, snack and french then we packed up and got all of our stuff ready to go home. Once we were all packed up to walk out the door, we did some daily 5 -- we were reading to someone, or reading to self. We love doing this, especially in the tent!! :)

Then we had MUSIC! We worked on the song (The Christmas Clap) with Mr. Flower that we will be performing at the Christmas Concert!

Reminders/Announcements:

1. Homework: Review Packet for Math -- TEST IS TOMORROW!!! 
2. MATH TEST TOMORROW!! & Casual Day is tomorrow! (Wednesday)
3. BAKE SALE TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY DURING LUNCH (not snack)!!
4. SPELLING TEST FRIDAY!!
5. Report Cards go home on Friday! :)
6. **Remember when wearing Gym Uniform -- we wear WHITE socks.**

November 26th, 2018

Misty Monday 

We started out our morning singing our Days of the Week and Months of the Year songs by heart! Ms. Gray was very impressed that we had them memorized. We shared that on Friday this is how they sang the songs for Ms. Hayward.

For language we worked on our astronaut writing piece. We used our best writing and colouring to finish our work from last week. We used finger spaces and wrote what we would do if we were an astronaut!! Some of our friends would play basketball on the moon, some would meet aliens, some friends would fix something in space! Either way, we understood that in order to get into space we needed to use a rocket to get there!! We enjoyed writing and tried our best to impress Ms. Gray with following directions and working first before we played! :) She was very impressed.

We had fun in Gym then we had indoor recess! :)

For Math we worked on a smarties activity. Ms. Gray let us use smarties to sort, count, tally, and graph! We had SO much fun! We worked with partners and coloured our graphs when we were done. We have been doing a great job following directions and not eating the manipulatives!

During UOI one of our friends read us a story about the Solar System. We learned all about the different planets and the order that they travel around the sun. Then we learned the wish upon a star poem and wrote "I wish _____________." Some of our friends wished that everyone was happy or that they get a really cool toy (or candy) from their dad! We have been working on answering Ms. Gray's questions in complete sentences. Ms. Gray has been encouraging us to write the complete sentence starting with an upper case letter and ending with a period.

After another indoor recess, snack and french we had a show and share and worked on our phonics journals! Our friend brought in a LEMON for the letter L! Today we were working on the blend ss! We brainstormed some words that ended with the blend ss.

We had music today!! We practiced our dance and the words of the song for the Christmas Concert!

REMINDERS/ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. Homework: Review Packet for Math
2. MATH TEST WEDNESDAY!! & Casual Day is Wednesday!!
3. BAKE SALE TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY DURING LUNCH (not snack)!!
4. SPELLING TEST FRIDAY!!
5. Report Cards go home on Friday! :)
6. **Remember when wearing Gym Uniform -- we wear WHITE socks.**

November 22nd, 2018

Thursday

We started out our day at the assembly watching all the boys and girls receive their awards for their science fair projects! It was fun and everyone seemed very excited to win! Then we came back to the class and ran morning meeting while Ms. Gray observed the leadership. She was very impressed that we were able to run the meeting as if she was running it! 

During math we worked in our math workbooks and made our own surveys. We asked everyone in our class if they like to do something that we like to do. We had to practice writing all of our friends names and keeping track by collecting & recording data (information).

During UOI today it was AMAZING! We learned about astronauts and how they are very smart scientists who travel to outer space. Before they go to outer space they have to go to space camp and learn about traveling in space and how to get used to life without gravity. We read the story about Pete the Cat when he was going to space camp! It looks like lots of fun! We did an art project and Ms. Gray took our pictures to make ourselves into astronauts. After we completed this, Ms. Gray watched as the kiddos played "astronauts" and flew around the room!

We were so well-behaved for Ms. Gray today and even surprised her multiple times by sitting quietly in our seats until she came behind us! She was SHOCKED-- even mlle. Jessica was shocked!

One of our friends was VERY excited because he lost his tooth at recess yesterday! I think this is the most I have ever seen him smile. :)

For our journal today we wrote about astronauts. Some of us wrote about how astronauts are clever scientists. Some wrote about how they are very strong people. Some wrote about the animals that went to space in Pete the Cat! We had fun to writing today and when we were finished some of our friends drew pictures of rockets and some drew the moon... some of our friends decided to read a story in the tent.

Reminders/Announcements

- Lunch is open to order for December
- Data Management Test is on Wednesday, November 28th.
- Spelling test for the month of November will be on Friday, November 30th.- Report Cards will be going home on Friday, November 30th.- Homework: Data Management review packets to prepare for the test on Wednesday, November 28th.

November 21, 2018

Wonderful Wednesday!

We worked on the blend ll... we came up with some words that have the blend ll such as fall, all, tall, ball, yellow, mall, dull, dolly, and llama. As we worked on our phonics journals we came up with more and more words that have the blend ll.

During our math work today we completed an activity with partners where we had to 1. sort it, 2. count it, 3. tally it, 4. graph it!! We LOVE working with a teammate and Ms. Gray loves to hear us using kind words when working with others.

During UOI we learned a HUGE word... Constellations! We even realized as we were writing the word that there is an ll blend in the word! We learned about the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. We completed a poem about the Big Dipper and how stars look teeny-tiny because they are so far away!

In the afternoon we practiced our performance with Ms. Bannon's class! We still need lots of practice... if the kiddos tell you the song, have them show you the dance! We really have lots of fun doing it... a little too much because it still looks like it did the first day!

Reminders/Announcements:

- Lunch is open to order for December
- Data Management Test is on Wednesday, November 28th.
- Spelling test for the month of November will be on Friday, November 30th.
- Report Cards will be going home on Friday, November 30th.
- Homework: Data Management review packets to prepare for the test on Wednesday, November 28th.

November 20th, 2018

Terrific Tuesday 

Today we started by making a list of words that begin with the letter Ll. After we made our list, we practiced our list writing in our journals and used our phonetic strategies to sound words out that start with the letter L! Ms. Gray's favourite was "laminate"... She LOVES to laminate everything!

During our Math time today we worked with partners on a count it, tally it, & graph it activity! We had so much fun working with our teammate and completing this activity. Ms. Gray heard lots of kind words and saw friends taking turns! Practicing tally marks will be very helpful for our friends. Tomorrow, I will be sending home a review packet for next weeks test on data management! (Test November 28th)

During UOI we finished up our project from yesterday! They are ADORABLE!! One of our friends read us a story about Slam and Dunk who found Moon Man who had a broken spaceship. They all fixed the ship and then went to the moon to play basketball! In the end they came back to Earth because their mom said they had to come home by 6! We identified the characters, plot and the beginning, middle, and end of the story!

We had a fun day and made lots of green choices today!

Reminders/Announcements

- November 28th Data Math Test!!
- Spelling Test next week!!
- Picture Retakes on Thursday!!
- Please remind our friends to WASH THEIR HANDS WITH SOAP!!

November 19, 2018

 MONDAY!! (and Friday)

This morning we worked on the letter Ll. We were INSISTENT on reviewing ALL of our songs!!! Ms. Gray was extremely surprised that we remembered EVERYTHING (songs & actions for all of our letters) that we had learned. We then worked on our phonics journals.

During Math we worked on tally marks and learned about reading tally marks. We counted by 5's... We completed a worksheet practicing recording data. We asked everyone in the classroom the question: "Is Christmas your favorite holiday?"... We had 9 yes, and 1 no... (Ms. Gray said no so that the data would not be all one-sided.) We still need lots of practice graphing our data. (Data is "INFORMATION") We had fun talking and gathering our data today!

During our UOI we heard the story "Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me" and we worked on a moon craft. As a class we talked about what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. We also talked about the difference between fantasy and reality. Could we REALLY climb a latter to the moon? This was fantasy (make-believe/ pretending). We had so much fun working on our craft with our friends. We wrote very adorable sentences about who we would get the Moon for and why (because I love them)! Lots of moms, dads, and baby sisters would be getting the Moon if it was realistic! :)

Today we had a fun day in S.K.! Our focus this week is PERSONAL SPACE! With all of the germs floating around we want to be sure to keep our hands (and our faces) in our own personal bubbles...!

Science Fair Fun!! 

We did SUCH a great job for our Science Fair Project!! We had some friends reading our question, materials, procedure, results and conclusions! Photos from Friday:

Reminders/Announcements

- Ordering Lunch for December is now available online!!
- Practicing tally marks with the kiddos will help prepare them for our math lessons! :)

- Have a great night! 

November 14th, 2018

Wednesday

During our inquiry into Language Arts we learned a new BLEND! We learned the blend ff... We talked about how there are not many words that begin with the blend ff (if any)... and that this blend usually comes at the end of the words. We came up with a list of words that ends with the blend ff. We worked in our phonics journals.
When we were done with that Ms. Gray read a story from the 7 Habits of Happy Kids! :) We love these characters and are looking forward to more stories about them! We learned that we are in control of our own choices.

After Gym, Recess and Lunch we had French!

During Math we practiced making graphs and sorting. We worked with a partner or in a small group and sorted our manipulatives then we recorded our data. After that we talked about the most and the least! We had fun with this and enjoy working with partners. Ms. Gray was very impressed with our teamwork! :)

During UOI we practiced the stages of the moon and did a fun exercise where one person was the moon, Earth and the sun! We watched a video about why the moon changes and found out that the actual moon does not change just the part that we see of the moon changes! We also learned that the word "month" comes from the word Moon.

We had a fun day in SK today. Towards the end of the day we got a little silly... Ms. Gray spoke with us about how tomorrow is a new day and we need to make green choices and follow directions. :)

Reminders/Announcements

1. Sent home the math test today! Our friends did AWESOME!! Please sign and return this!
2. Sent home scholastic book order. You can place your order online by Friday! :)

November 13th, 2018

Terrific Tuesday! 

Today was World Kindness Day! In the morning we worked our hands where we wrote something kind or a kind action on them. We made a list of different ways to show you are kind. Some of my friends decorated multiple hands!! Very impressive!

After Gym, Recess, Lunch, and French, we worked on our science experiment! Even though we have done our experiment 2 times before, and SALT wins every single time, some of our friends decided to choose something different for their hypothesis. GOOD THING THEY DID!! Apple Cider Vinegar won for the material that caused the ice to melt the fastest today!

While the ice was melting, we worked on Math. We collected data for our names in our class and counted the letters. After this, we figured out which friend in our class has the most letters and which friend has the least amount of letters. We had fun coloring the bar graph and spelling everyone's names! We even spelled out Ms. Gray's married name and counted the letters... There are 10 letters!!

After recess and snack we created 4 stages of the moon with oreos! IT WAS AWESOME. Ms. Gray was obviously a little too rough with the box of oreos because a lot of our moons were falling into too many pieces! We had fun learning about the moon and how it revolves around the Earth! It seems to be a very entertaining topic for all of the kiddos. Outer Space is interesting! :)

Reminders/Announcements:

1. School pictures went home - if you would like to keep them please send the order form and money back to school. If you would like retakes, please send back the package with the checked box on the order form that says retakes. RETAKES ARE NOVEMBER 22.
2. I sent home a moon tracker for the kiddos to draw what they see when they look at the moon!

November 12, 2018

Happy Monday! 

We got to perform at the morning announcements today! We sang a song about a poppy field and we learned more about Remembrance Day! We watched a video and had a moment of silence for all of the people who served to protect our country and our freedom!

During our inquiry into Language Arts we had our morning meeting, practiced the sound for Ff and learned the Jolly Phonics song for Ff. Then we worked on our phonics journals! We had LOTS of friends finish their journals and start on their other work.

When we returned from Gym, Recess and Lunch we did our sciences experiment again. We used the scientific method to complete our experiment. We started with a question, created our hypothesis, and then conducted the experiment. Our particular experiment has a little bit a of waiting so while this part of the experiment was happening we worked on some Math and UOI!

For Math today we did an assignment that shows Ms. Gray what we already know about data collection! Ms. Gray was VERY impressed with our friends and their work during Math! When we were done with the assignment we started to talk about the SOLAR SYSTEM!!! This is SUPER DUPER fun!... EVERYONE was so, so excited to hear the songs about the solar system. A lot of our friends were already talking about their favorite planet, which not many said Earth... I actually don't think anyone said Earth. However, someone did tell me that it is "OUR JOB TO KEEP THE SOLAR SYSTEM CLEAN!" I think that this little one was referring to Earth... Yes, we are responsible for our planet and need to keep it clean! No littering! :)

We had a fun and exciting day in SK today!

Announcements / Reminders:

1. Tomorrow is Kindness Day! If the student brings 2 dollars, they can dress casual!
2. We are starting the Soaring Through Space Unit! We will be doing lots of fun activities with the moon and all of the planets. I will be sending more information home tomorrow about this! 
3. Have a great night! :)

November 8th, 2018

Short Week Thursday!

We had SHOW & SHARE today!! We were showing our items from home that begin with the letter Hh and the letter Bb!! We had a bracelet, basketball, a blue jays hat, and a hairy stuffed animal! We spelled each of the words together on the board! Then we played a little with the basketball and got to writing in our phonics journals! 

During our inquiry into Math we took our patterning unit test! We did AMAZING! Ms. Gray was SO proud of all of our friends for doing such a great job with the test! She will be sending them home on Monday! After we were done with our test we read quietly (sort of) while others finished their test. 

During our UOI today we made an art project! We used paint to make poppy flowers to represent the soldiers that fought for our country. We are going to celebrate this on Monday as a whole school and Ms. Gray will display our beautiful poppies for the whole school to see! 

During our journal today we wrote a sentence about Remembrance Day! We watched a few videos of students talking about what Remembrance Day means to them.

We also have a special friend who has a birthday this weekend!!! I hope you have a great party with all of our friends! :) 

Reminders/Announcements

1. No School Tomorrow! 

2. Have a great weekend! 

November 6th, 2018

Ms. Gray, what's wrong with your voice?!

Great morning in SK. Because Ms. Gray was unable to talk very well today (lost my voice)... we ran morning meeting! We did SUCH an amazing job that Ms. Gray thinks that we should run morning meeting every day!

For language today we worked on our letter Hh. We sounded out words that begin with Hh on our worksheet. For example, there was a picture of a Horse, Hat, House, and Hippo... Ms. Gray was giving out A LOT of stickers today because our friends were so kind to Ms. Gray, asking if she was okay and making sure to encourage each other to make Green Choices! :)

Gym was SO much fun! Ms. Yustin says we had a FANTASTIC day! Ms. Gray was so excited to hear this. After Gym we had indoor recess! We wanted to go outside, but it was raining "cats and dogs" out there!

For Math we practiced our patterns. First we sat in our own personal space, so that we were only looking at our own paper, and we drew a pattern. Once we drew the pattern, Ms. Gray had us identify the pattern AND circle the core! After this we worked in partners to practice our patterns.

During our UOI today we did a few things... we used our senses to do our experiment for the science fair but we also finished up some of our fall work! We framed our beautiful artwork for the hallway! :)

When we did our first trial of our experiment, we could not contain our excitement!! :)
We used the scientific method: What melts ice the fastest?
Our hypothesis was: apple cider vinegar/ salt/ sugar/ water/ oil melt ice the fastest...
We did the procedure, and found that SALT was the fastest to melt the ice!! None of our friends had a hypothesis to say that Salt melted ice the fastest.
We can't wait to do our next experiment! :)

Reminders/Announcements: 

1. MATH TEST THURSDAY on Patterns... Please have the kiddos practice the packets that I sent home!!
2. No School Friday -- November 9th
3. World Kindness Day -- November 13th -- If students bring $2.00 they can have a casual day.
4. Science Fair -- November 16th!
5. November 22nd -- Picture Retake Day!
6. Homework sent home was a pattern packet to practice on Friday, if there are still pages left in that, complete that this week! I will send home a new one tomorrow with things to focus on. :)
7. I have heard from a number of parents how incredible RazKids is and how much it has helped their child. I have seen an improvement with the kiddos that have been doing RazKids!! Very impressive!! :) Keep practicing reading, friends!

November 5th, 2018

Awesome Monday! 

Today we started our day off working on the letter Hh! We were able to brainstorm 20 words that begin with the letter Hh! Then, we learned the new song and motion for the letter Hh! We earned stickers for getting right to work on our phonics journals and making good choices! We now have friends pointing out when others are making "green" choices! So exciting.

During our inquiry into Math we practiced patterns for our test! Our test is on Thursday! We worked with partners to create a pattern and then waited for Ms. Gray to see our pattern. We had to tell Ms. Gray what the core of the pattern was and what kind of pattern it was. Ms. Gray was very impressed with their work!

During our Unit of Inquiry we were learning more about the senses. We worked on the sense of touch. We learned about the neurons that send the messages to our brain from the nerve endings in our skin! We did an experiment with a partner, closing our eyes and the partner put their finger on our wrist and moved it up our arm and we had to tell them when to stop when we felt that their finger was in the crease of our arm. We LOVED this... it was so silly and we were all very ticklish.

We then worked on our journals and then packed up for Music!! We have been practicing our song for the Christmas Concert! It is ADORABLE!!

Reminders:

• Math Test Thursday on Patterns -- Please, please, please practice patterns with the kiddos. I have sent home LOTS of worksheets.
• No School Friday -- November 9th
• World Kindness Day -- November 13th -- If students bring $2.00 they can have a casual day.
• Science Fair -- November 16th!
• November 22nd -- Picture Retake Day! 
• Homework sent home was a pattern packet to practice on Friday, if there are still pages left in that, complete that this week! I will send home a new one tomorrow with things to focus on. :) 
• I have heard from a number of parents how incredible RazKids is and how much it has helped their child. I have seen an improvement with the kiddos that have been doing RazKids!! Very impressive!! :) Keep practicing reading, friends!