Thanks to everyone who came out to the BBQ and Curriculum Night this week! I met a lot of family members and we chatted about a lot. Here are some highlights. The Power of - YET! As teachers and parents, we've all heard those three words - "But I caaaan't!" 😉 There are a lot of things that some of our students can't do in Room 108 ... write independently, spell difficult words, count beyond 20, listen without interrupting, tie their shoes, hang on the monkey bars, jump rope, read a picture book, remember to bring home their water bottles at the end of a long day! But, these are things that they can't do ... YET! We've continued our TRIBES conversations and have been talking a lot about GRIT - trying something new, even if it's difficult and we're afraid to make mistakes. Check out author Todd Parr's read aloud of It's OK To Make Mistakes on YouTube (we have this in class - we'll read it next week) Reading Try to read for 15 minutes a day - and there are MANY ways to read: - parent reads a chapter book; stop to discuss what might happen next, ask "if you could be a character, which one would you be and why? - parent reads a picture book, from start to finish, as child listens - parent reads a picture book, child tracks the writing and points to each word as they're read aloud - child "reads" a picture book; they can use the pictures to retell favourite parts (ignoring the words, but focusing on comprehension and story patterns) - use a picture book and play "Eye Spy" - the word the, where do you see it on the page? Use our word list! - recognize the letters and words on a cereal box at breakfast in the morning! Once students have mastered Sight Words and can recognize them without having to sound out each time, reading will become more fluent. Play these Sight Word Games at home! *While these are games that students can play independently, please sit with your son or daughter the first few times they play. Writing For some of our grade 1 students, I'm scribing for them when they write: they tell me their thoughts, I write it on a dry erase board, then they copy the words onto their writing paper. As a first step, this is OK! Students need to practice the mechanics of writing before they worry about how to spell each word. For our developing writer's, we focus on asking questions that our reader's might want to know - giving more information and details - use who, what, where, when, why, how to pull more, to s t r e t c h ideas. For example: At school, I like to play. At school, I like to play at recess. At school, I like to play on the monkey bars at recess. At school, I like to play on the monkey bars with my friend Leah at recess. At school, I like to play on the monkey bars with my friend Leah at recess because it's fun to swing. We focus on: Lower Case Letters - use capitals for names, places and at the beginning of a sentence, but now, all other letters should be lower case. Spaces between words & letters - we use the term 'finger spaces' in between words, as well as 'meatball spaces' (larger) between words and 'spaghetti spaces' (smaller) between the letters of a word. Spacing on the page - like reading, start at the left and work your way to the right. If a word won't fit at the right edge of a page, then skip down to the next line and start it from the beginning. Temporary Spelling - we come back to "YET" and it's OK for students to spell many words phonetically at this age. Measuring as 'mechuring' or climber as "klimr" - if a student has the sounds, from beginning, to middle to end - that's great! The only words that we stress students should spell without mistakes are the ones from our word list. There are others that they can find in the room and copy - words from title pages of a book (e.g., Scaredy Squirrel), or words from our schedule of the day (Gym, Writing, Music, Science etc). - but that's a next step. Next week, we'll look more closely at math and our Number Books...
0 Comments
Students have been cooperating and working as a team to earn gems all week! While we're doing independent work at our tables, we like to listen to "the quiet music" because it helps us concentrate: CBC Radio 2 Calming Music Zen Music Tribes For more info, visit the Tribes Website Students have been learning about our Room 108 Community Expectations and have agreed to follow these rules: - Appreciations (not put downs) - Participation (with a right to pass, and then be revisited) - Listening - Mutual Respect (of ourselves, others, and our environment) When talking about Appreciations, we read & discussed: One David Goes to School When talking about Participation, we read & discussed: Little One Step Wemberly Worried We discussed the word "Grit" - Wemberly was definitely in need of some! Grit is when we - try - even if we're worried, scared, tired ... we keep trying and believe in ourselves. We also discussed the word, "Fail". It's OK if we fail, if we're not perfect (nobody's perfect!), if we don't get it right the first time. When talking about Listening, we read: David Gets in Trouble! SLAM! A Tale of Consequences When talking about Respect, we read: Zero - respect yourself, believe in yourself - you are WORTH something Whoever You Are - respect others, because we're all the same inside Math As we continue to work on our Number Books (we're at day #9!), students are learning to represent #s with organized, images, stacked in long rows (remember, "row, row, row your boat - horizontal) and tall columns (remember, "big tall columns we see on buildings - vertical). If we stack our images (rather than draw them all over the page, in no order) it helps us to see them quickly, without even counting - this is a strategy called subitizing. When we see the dots organized on a die, we can just see the number, we don't have to count each dot individually. Practice using these dot plates at home and talk about how you see the #s to know what they are. For example: Visit this website for more information, for downloadable & printable resources at home. Make your own plates (or flash cards) to play with at home!
Grade 2 students who have mastered some of the Most Frequently Used words can use these games
ABCya! Alphabetize write a list of ANY words (preferably some word list words) and then put them in alphabetical order ABCya! Sight Word Bingo choose second or third grade ABCya! Spelling Practice choose second or third grade Please practice sight words at home, in the car, as you walk to and from school - anywhere you can! When writing, students are asked to find common words on the 100 Most Frequently Used Words list: You may also want to use the Dolch Word lists to practice other, commonly used words: Start off simple and easy with any 2 letter words. Read the words on the list aloud and have your son or daughter repeat after you. Ask them to use a yellow marker or a crayon to highlight the word after they've said it out loud. You write a word, then they have to read it, or vice versa.
Make your own Sight Word Memory Game (use a computer to print, or just write your own on scrap paper!) Starfall Sight Word Memory Game Dolch Sight Word Memory ABCya! Signt Word Bingo *If you find that your child is struggling with letter / sound relationships, please visit: Starfall ABC practice each letter and sound, listen as the computer prompts ABCya!Alphabet Match play an extension activity as follow up Wednesday September 7th First thing before entering the class, students checked their backpacks for their Yellow Home Notes Folder (to be returned to school on a regular basis) and for water bottles to be kept in the room throughout the day. After going through and discussing our schedule for the day, students finished "This is me ..." writing and drawing then had the option to share their work in the Author's Chair. When you come for the Welcome Back BBQ Night on Sep 22, be sure to check out their work displayed on our board in the classroom! After recess, we started a Writer's Workshop where students worked on two pieces, a "_____'s Family Picture" page and a "On my summer holiday" page. In the afternoon, Helena taught Health Class; throughout the year students will talk about personal safety, nutrition, hygiene, physical fitness and they'll also take time to do some mindfulness activities. Both Helena and I enjoy using Go Noodle - check it out at home for FREE! Create a log-in for your family and enjoy tons or videos that promote physical fitness as well as calming, mindfulness strategies (I love the Categories: Stretching {yoga exercises} & Calming, as well as the Channels: Flow & Think About It). Go Noodle Parent Info Letter & Crossword Search for Kids For Math on Day #2 we continued to use Words (two), Images (🔺 🔺), Numbers (2), Tally Marks (II) and the Face of a Die (⚁) to represent the #2. Some grade 2s remembered using ten frames from last year as well as number sentences (addition and subtraction). After Recess, students were excited to explore Centres in the Classroom. - Puppets - Games (Connect 4, Battleship, Sorry, a Geometry/Cube Game) - Artwork - Bin Toys - Book Nook - Big Blocks (but in our room, they're empty plastic buckets!) * Soon, we'll open the Listening Centre with Books & CDs as well as the Computer Centre We finished the day with a closing circle, checking in to see how the second day at school was for everyone. I'm happy to report that we had many students show the 👍! Thursday September 8th Students started the day again at a Writing Block, finishing up their Family Pictures and their Summer Retellings but today, they edited their work to make sure there were words (a sentence, or a word / letter label) and a background for their pictures. We joked that many of their family portraits must have been taken during a big snow storm ... because there was so much white snow in the background! But no, instead they added sand, sky and water for beaches or tables, couches, and windows for living rooms at home. After recess we began a new Writer's Workshop and discussed "Coming back to school, I wonder..." , as well as "I worry ...". While on the carpet students had a chance to Think to themselves, Pair with a partner on the carpet to talk in a small group, and then Share with the whole group afterwards. (See Think, Pair, Share strategy). Once they all were set with ideas, they went to work independently on their writing. Before students had a chance to finish we went to a Primary Student Assembly with both HPAS & Annette classes. We met Mrs. Keenan & Ms. Tahirovic and they reminded us of the school rules and expectations. After lunch we really focused on adding number sentences to our Math Book for Day #3. Here are a few we thought of: 1+1+1 = 3 1+2=3 2+1=3 3=2+1 3=1+2 3=1+1+1 ... some of our students are beginning to use subtraction sentences too! We had a shorter center time before recess, but as soon as students heard our tidy up song (we find it much easier to tidy if there's fun music playing in the background), they earned a gem cooperating and working together to pack up our room so quickly. Gems are a positive reinforcement strategy that we use throughout the year; we have two small bins, one full of purple gems and the other is empty. If students work together, cooperate, follow the expectations as a whole community, then a gem is moved from the full bin to the other. Once they're all earned ... we celebrate their teamwork with a gem party! (more info when we get to that point). On Day 3s, Violet will be teaching a double Music period after PM recess and then she'll do dismissal in the White Circle outside at the end of the day. Friday September 9th Once again students started off the morning finishing their writing from the day before and had the chance to share their work in the Author's Chair. After recess, they began their last two pages of their All About Me booklet with one about "I get excited about ..." and "I feel OK when ...". Once students finished, we stapled all their Writer's Workshop pieces together to make books; students did some Buddy Reading with one another, sharing their stories and offering feedback in the form of Stars and Wishes (I really like how you sounded out those words; I wish you'd printed more neatly because it's hard to read). Now that we've discussed Number Sentences (particularly addition), students were introduced to their Red Math Folders in their Work Cubbies. To begin the year, the Red Math Folders are full of Colour by Number activity pages that students can work on whenever they finish their classroom work, during centre time, during the morning arrival routines - it's there to work on. Day #4 in the Math Books again reviewed Words & Numbers but we focused on neat and organized Images. Now that our numbers are growing, we need to be sure our Images are in groupings, columns & rows make it easier to count objects. A read aloud that many of us were familiar with in Have You Filled Someone's Bucket Today? Throughout the week, individual students are caught filling other people's buckets (making the right choices, following the routines, going out of their way to be kind to others). For example: - Jackson was kind and let another student play with a toy that he wanted at centre time - Alex S. found a word list and worked on his writing independently, finding words he needed in the room - Cale helped me find something that I'd misplaced in the room and that I was looking for - Maggie was helpful with a grade 1 student and showed her words on the word list - Kira took a risk and showed her classmates where to find something in the classroom ... there are lots of ways that students can 'fill their bucket' and at times, I might see them and ask them to write their name on a paper droplet and put it into our classroom bucket. At the end of the week I pull a few droplets out of the bucket and those students are recognized - they might get to choose our class read aloud, a game that we'll play together, or they might even go home with a trinket like a sticker or a pencil for home. After recess we met our new Book Buddies for the year from Anastasia's grade 7/8 class (ask your son or daughter what their buddies name is!) and then students went to Gym class with Helena. Fun and Run We heard on the announcements this week that Fun & Run is starting up - and some of your kids are interested in joining in! (I volunteer on Tuesday mornings, hope to see you there) What a fantastic first day back to school! We have a group of 18 students (10 grade 1s and 8 grade 2s) that seem eager and ready to have some fun this year in Room 108. First, we took a good twenty minutes to wander the room, meet each other, explore a few centres and get comfortable. After that, we listened to the story “The Night Before First Grade”. Students took a healthy snack out for morning recess, then came in ready for math- we talked all about the number 1 (the word, numeral, what it looks like on a die and as a tally mark) and represented in it our student created “Number Books”. We played a mystery bag game before lunch and learned a little bit more about one another. In the afternoon, we listened to the story “My Happy Book”, did some mindfulness breathing, and thought about the things in our lives that make us feel happy. Once we shared at least one idea on the carpet with the group (my family, the beach, water parks, video games), students went to their tables to start their “This is me…” writing (still in progress). At closing circle we listened to two more stories, “First Day Jitters” and “Say Hello” before the students went to gym with Helena.
If you find it tricky to get them to answer “what did you do today?”, ask your son or daughter about: - Gems - Droplets - Washroom routines - Lunch bins - To finish the sentence “1, 2, 3, eyes on me …” Please be sure to check your son's or daughter's Yellow Home Notes Folder - caregivers have some homework this week ; ) Please feel free to comment below and let me know if your little ones have any feedback once they get home! Looking forward to a great year, ~ Kelly Report Cards & Interviews
Thank you to those parents who have already contacted me to schedule an interview. If you'd like to come in to discuss your son or daughter's progress, please send me an email. Daily 5 Volunteers A big thanks goes out to: Jess, Heather, Tanya S., & Shawna for volunteering this week at Daily 5 Games! Next week we’ve got 2 newcomers, Tanya C. & Petra. Thanks to everyone for your support! What is Daily Five Word Work? During Word Work, we focus on spelling and vocabulary, creating a richly literate environment. During the Word Work time, students experiment with spelling patterns, memorize high-frequency words, and develop a genuine curiosity and interest in new and unique words. By playing with words, word patterns, word families, prefixes, suffixes, and so on, students hone their knowledge of words and increase their writing skills. What are Daily Five Word Work Games? Word Work Games are interactive and parent lead games that support the principles of ‘Word Work’. We rotate through many games throughout the year - if you have any favourites that you’d like to suggest or share, please contact me! African Heritage Month BookFLIX has an entire playlist titled: People and Places, full of great Fiction and Non-Fiction paired texts. If you do not remember the login and password that was shared with you earlier in the year, please contact me (TDSB has a subscription!). So far we’ve read about Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks. Ask your son or daughter what the word ACTIVIST means! You can also read from Storyline Online and listen to White Socks Only, or No Mirrors in my Nana's House. Dexterity Doodles As we transition into term 2, a more formalized homework program will begin. During term 1 families were encouraged to visit the Teacherweb 1) Homework and 2) Links - Extra Practice pages (see them in the column to the left) as well as any 3) sites/resources listed in this blog. Dexterity Doodles are a great way to encourage patience, focus and fine motor skills. Please take a look at the black folder that went home today for more information and to get started. The folders will be used both at home and school; please keep folders in students’ backpacks at all times. Health Nika & Carolynne from Foodshare ran an amazing workshop with us! Students listened to “Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk: Mama Bear lays down the law when she notices that Papa and the cubs are getting too chubby. With the help of Dr. Grizzly's slide show on how the body works, the Bear family makes a healthful adjustment in their diet and fitness habits.” Afterwards we discussed the benefits of healthy eating and regular exercise, we did a sorting activity of healthy & unhealthy foods, we did some stretching and mindful breathing, then … we made smoothies! Three bananas, a cup of frozen berries, a little maple syrup and about 5 spinach leaves, then add water to blend. It was delicious! Scroll back through the Twitter Widget on the Announcements page for some pics. Science We’re having so much fun with Solids, Liquids and Gases! Check out this video Matter Chatter to learn more about their properties. We did an experiment to see what would happen if we poured snap cubes into a container (what shape would they make?) and then if we poured water into the container? In fact, we had three different containers and poured water into all 3 - ask your son or daughter what happened! Google Apps For Education #GAFE For the past few weeks our Writer's Workshop has focused on Fictional Winter Stories. To begin, students used Graphic Organizers to plan their characters, setting, problem and solution. Before moving on, they checked in with a partner - does this make sense? does it sound interesting? should I add more details? Students then used their plan and wrote a first draft, constantly checking in with their graphic organizer to make sure they included all the elements of a fictional story. As they worked we reviewed a new 'Writing Character Trait' each day; Donna Details, Willy Word Choice, Vicky Voice and Charlie Conventions. Once they finished they peer-edited each others' work, checking for: 1) proper use of lower and upper case letters 2) proper spacing *meatball spaces between words *spaghetti spaces between letters 3) proper spelling of our Word List Words 4) proper use of punctuation 5) I can read this and it makes sense. Then, students conferenced with me and I helped them to edit their writing one last time before publishing. Finally, students began to use their personal #TDSB Google Drive to publish their work. They opened a New Google Doc, typed their stories as they'd written on their drafts, then shared them with me through Drive so I could assess and print. Students have been taking turns on our classroom desktops and our school's shared laptops to write their stories during Daily 5, Writer's Workshop and even during Media / Computer Lab with Helena. They are very proud of their accomplishments!! If you'd like to access Google Drive from home, please do! Students are welcome to write further stories on their Drive. Feel free to share with me too by clicking the blue Share tab in the top right hand corner, then typing "Kelly Fricker" Google Documents (Docs) By using Google Documents, our goal is to: · practice different writing forms; · practice our typing skills; · writing and reflecting on anything related to school; · we can share our thoughts and brainstorming with our teachers and friends in a safe and creative way; and · we can learn to proofread, edit, and publish our work! How can I access Google Documents at home? 1) Using Google Chrome, type in: aw.tdsb.on.ca 2) Log into your account by typing your student number in the User Name box, and Password. The password is likely set for “kellyjan”. If it is not working, the code is: “kelly_ _ _”. The last three digits of the password are the first three letters of the present (or previous) month. For example, the password in March will be “kellymar”. *Students use these logins daily during Daily 5 and also during each Media class with Helena; if your son or daughter does not know their student number, please contact me and I can forward it to you. 3) Hover over the Google tab and click on the Drive link. This will open up a new tab. Click “My Drive” to access your work! You can click on “New Google Doc”, or “Shared with Me” and start typing! Have fun. lass Rep: Is there anyone willing to step in and shadow Claire for the next few weeks? She’s signed on as Communications lead for HPAS and would like to offer our Class Rep position to another eager parent. Please speak to either Claire or me if you’re interested! Thanks in advance. Language Reading As students listen to read alouds, they are encouraged to think about the characteristics of simple fictional stories (Curriculum 2.1, Understanding Text Forms) 1) characters 2) setting 3) problem 4) solution. We read Boo Hoo Bird (it emphasizes the character traits Kindness & Caring, Teamwork and Empathy) and talked about the problem and solution. Ask your son or daughter to retell this story or better yet, as you read simple fictions at home talk about these four main components (especially problem and solution). Writing Students are working on creating their own Winter Stories Using Knowledge of Form and Style (Curriculum 2.1). First: we used a graphic organizer to help us plan our ideas during pre-writing (Characters, Setting, Problem, Solution). Then: we had a modelled/shared writing lesson as the students helped write a story using Kelly’s sample planner. Now: the students are writing their stories using their planners. This will take some time and that’s OK! Students will check in with me as they write and have the chance to revise their work. Next week: we’ll buddy up and edit each other’s work (Capitals/Lower Case Letters, Punctuation, Spelling, Spacing & Legibility, Content: does it make sense?). Finally: students will revise their work and get it ready for publishing. Daily 5 Students continue to rotate through the centres, choosing 2 each morning from Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, Word Work, but we’ve been cutting them short and setting aside some time to learn new Word Work Games. *PARENTS* This is your chance to come in and volunteer with a literacy focus! THIS PROGRAM ONLY WORKS WITH YOUR SUPPORT. You can volunteer for a regular time slot, once a week, once a month or simply whenever you have the time in your schedule. Each month we’ll ask for your availability and then create a calendar for volunteers. Starting in term 2 (February), parents will be invited to come in each morning between 9:00 - 10:00 to run two, 20 minute Word Work Game groups. The students will already know the games and their rules, all you have to do is supervise and support them with the game play (we’re doing some shared writing and creating a rule book so you’ll be familiar with all the expectations!). So far we’ve learned how to play Jenga, Build-a-Word and Sight Word Uno. Please ask your son or daughter about the ‘how to’ writing we’ve shared and stay tuned for more info re: a starting date! If you want to volunteer in the class, please check with Marlene to see if you have an up to date Police Reference for this school year. You can reach out to Jess, our trip/volunteers rep, if you need more info about the process. Thanks! Math Mental Math On Tuesday, students brought home two mental math sheets to show you their progress. These are from math-aids.com and are samples of sheets we’ve been working on throughout the year. They are quick, 10 minute, 7 minute, 5 minute drills that support students’ memorization of addition facts from 1-20. You can continue to practice at home by filling in the ones students missed on their sheets, or by printing your own from math-aids.com (Addition tab on left, ‘Zero to Twenty’ OR ‘Adding Doubles’, set the limits as you see fit.) *Reminder* Please visit this amazing site to read more about Counting On, Doubles, Doubles Plus One, Making Ten, Making Multiples of Ten and Front End Addition (which we call Partial Sums)! We're using these strategies and encouraging the students to explain their thinking, to show their work and really demonstrate an understanding of the strategies. Measurement We took a short break from Patterning and Geometry this week to talk about the seasons (we finally had a drop in temperature and there’s some snow!) and how they help us measure time. Grade 1s will: name the months of the year, in order; relate temperature to experiences of the seasons. Grade 2s will: relate days to weeks, and months to years; explain how changes in temperature affect everyday experiences. Math Folders Students have red math folders to keep their class work in (after we’ve done a lesson and have a follow up activity), but also to go to for extension and review activities. Every few weeks or so students are given a new package of work to add to the folder and to complete at their own pace. We spent some time this week catching up and doing some review. Other
Grade 7/8 Fundraiser: We had a visit from two senior students from Anastasia's class today and they told us about their Toy and Book Sale. Happening January 28th, HPAS students will have the chance to visit the sale to buy gently used items and support the senior class in their fundraising for their end of the year trip... but they need your help! If you have any gently used toys or books that you and your children are willing to donate, please send them in ASAP! The senior class will be collecting and sorting items in the next two weeks. Thanks for your support. We finished our latest chapter book read aloud, Guardians of Ga'Hoole. Check out the author's website for more information.
We will watch the movie interpretation, Legends of the Guardians, this week at our Holiday Celebration. Next up, Flat Stanley. Short and easy to read chapter books (5 chapters) about an adventurous little (flat!) boy. We'll get to Flat Stanley: Christmas Adventure in no time! Who will save Christmas?Santa Claus is not his usual, jolly self. In fact, he's in a terrible mood. He doesn't believe that children appreciate Christmas anymore. This year, he has decided that he is not going to deliver any Christmas presents! Luckily, his daughter, Sarah Claus, knows who to call for help. The Lambchop family! But can they convince Santa that there are still good children in the world? Just leave it up to Stanley. |
In our Room 108 Classroom Community, we foster an engaging, respectful and caring environment. I aim to balance a consistent program with flexible responsiveness to students' individual needs. Archives
November 2017
Categories |