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)
1 Comment
Tanya
9/12/2016 07:33:19 am
Thank you so much for the sneak-peek into the classroom Kelly, I really appreciate you doing this!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
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 |