This Week in Room 21...

Hello again! Here is a sneak peek at our work this week!

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In Language Art, students continued to learn about and review various letter sounds. This week we covered /r/ and /a/. We also looked at the r-controlled sounds-- /ar/, /or/, /er/, /ir/ and /ur/. We also began to talk about 'Heart Words'. These are words that, because of their unusual spellings, are not as easily decodable as most words. For example, words like 'the', 'to' and 'said'. We look at the parts we know and then have to memorize the parts that we don't. In the word 'said' the first and last sounds follow the normal pattern, but the 'ai' is different so we have to remember that it makes the short 'e' sound. We place a heart above or beside these words to help us remember that it has an unusual sound in it. 

                                                 

In writing, we talked about what we are thankful for. We read a book about thankfulness and made a list of all the things we are grateful for. Students then wrote about what they are thankful for. 

In math, students learned what attributes (eg. size, position, colour, shape and thickness) are and how we can use attributes to create patterns. Students in Gr. 1 made patterns in which only one attribute changed. Students in Gr. 2 were challenged to make patterns in which two attributes changed. We also continue to review what the core and terms of a pattern are. 

In Social Studies, students learned about the First Nations tradition of using Winter Counts to record important events in a tribe's history. Winter Counts are like a timeline of important events. We began to create our own Winter Count highlighting one important event from the past month. We will be adding to this each month throughout the year. 

In Science, students explored creating colour through a fun art activity. They listened to the book "Mouse Paint" and discussed the difference between primary and secondary colours. They then mixed the various primary colours (blue, red, yellow) to create the three secondary colours (green, purple, orange). Lastly, students painted some feathers with each of the colours to make a fun, fall turkey! They brought these home today to share with you!

This week we talked quite a lot about Success Criteria (a.k.a 'How do we know if we have done our best work?'). We created and examined success criteria for a number of the different assignments that we worked on. For example, the students in Gr. 1 have been working on creating a poster showing the Signs of Fall. We talked about what their poster should look like to get a 4, 3 or 2. Students are learning to ask themselves what they could add, change or do differently to make their work the best it can be. 

In gym, students had the opportunity to use the scooters to play a variety of games. They learned how to safely use scooters to avoid accidents and injuries. They participated in a number of tag games and relay races using the scooters and working as a team. 

On Thursday, we went outside for gym to play some Indigenous Games. The first game was called "Run & Scream". Each student was given a stick to hold. They then had to run and scream until they couldn't scream anymore. At this point, they dropped the stick and then went back to the starting line. The second time they tried to run and scream for longer (i.e. past where they had dropped their stick the first time).The second game was a partner game in which they tried to pass a strip of leather or a small ring to each other using two long sticks. 

 

Important Information & Reminders:

• Please ensure that your child has both a pair of INDOOR and OUTDOOR running shoes. This helps to keep our school clean and also ensures that students have proper footwear for P.E. whether we are in the gym or outside. 

• Picture proofs came home this week. Picture orders are due by Oct 10th. Orders can be sent in to the school or done online.

• Scholastic Book Orders were sent home today. If you would like to order any books you can go online and use the Class Code written at the top of the flyer.

• Alien In-line Skating is coming! Students will be participating in an inline skating residency during gym on Oct. 14, 19 and 20th. Students will need to bring their own bike helmet from home to wear. All other equipment will be provided. If you have any questions about this please contact me asap. Thank you!

• There is NO SCHOOL this Friday or Monday. 

• Happy Thanksgiving to all who will be celebrating this weekend. Enjoy your time with friends and family!

Upcoming Events & Dates to Remember:

Oct 7 - PD Day/No School

Oct. 11 - Thanksgiving/No School

Oct. 27 - Halloween Dance @ 6:00-8:00pm

Oct. 28 - PD Day/No School

Nov. 1 - Photo Retakes

Nov. 10 - Remembrance Day Assembly

Nov. 11 - Remembrance Day/No School

Nov. 24 - Parent-Teacher Conferences (pm)

Nov. 25 - Parent-Teacher Conferences/No School 

Dec. 5-8 - Book Fair

Dec. 22 - Last Day of Classes

Dec. 23 - Jan 8 - Winter Break

Jan. 9 - Classes Resume