This Week in Room 21....

We have been as busy as elves in Santa's shop this week! Take a look at what we have been up to!

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In Language Arts we have been working on Stretchy Sentences using the 5W's. We watched a video explaining what stretchy sentences are and then worked through some examples as a group. Then the students worked on writing some stretchy sentences on their own. 

We also continued to work on building words using our moveable alphabet cards listening for the number of sounds we heard and matching those sounds to the correct letters. Finally students had to then blend the sounds together to figure out the word they had made. 

In math, we have been working on counting numbers by 2s to 20 and backwards from 20 to 0 by 1s. Students have also been exploring basic addition using counters and ten frames. They have learned what the term addition means (i.e. putting things together or getting more) and how to write an addition equation. 

In Science, students began a STEM building project. Santa's sleigh has broken down and he needs a new way to get around! The students had to design and construct a vehicle that would allow Santa to deliver all his presents in time for Christmas. Their creation must have a place for Santa to sit, hold 5 presents and they must be able to explain how it moves. 

In Social, students have been sharing their Family Traditions with their classmates. We have learned about pizza & movie night, Christmas Eve PJs & game nights, going to visit families over the holidays and much more. We will continue with these presentations next week. Please ensure that your child has their yellow sheet and an object or picture related to their tradition to share with the class. 

To end off the week, we were very happy to be able to get together with our Buddy Class to do a craft and read some stories! 

In gym we continued to learn about volleyball and attempted a real game of volleyball where we had to keep the ball in the air instead of catching it. The students had lots of fun trying!

Important Information & Reminders:

• Continue with Home Reading. If you are finding the books to easy or to hard please let me know so that we can adjust the level. 

• Please have your child return their Spelling Booklet each Monday.

• Students are strongly encouraged to have a water bottle at school in order to eliminate the need for frequent trips to the fountain throughout the day. The BEST bottles have a FLIP TOP not a screw top. Please send one if you have not done so. Thank you!

• Please ensure your child has proper clothing for the weather. While we may not be going out for recess and lunch on really cold days there is always the possibility of an unexpected fire alarm, late busses or other events in which warm clothing is necessary. 

• TRADITIONS ASSIGNMENT- last week your child brought home a yellow paper with instructions on sharing a Family Tradition with the class. Your child has been assigned a day to share. Please have your child practice presenting their tradition several times before they present next week.

• School Spirit Days next week - see the Upcoming Events & Reminders below:

Upcoming Events & Dates to Remember:

Dec 19 - Festive Hat Day

Dec. 20 - Ugly Sweater Day

Dec. 21 - Winter Solstice Day

Dec. 22 - PJ Day

Dec. 22 - Last Day of Classes

Dec. 23 - Jan 8 - Winter Break

Jan. 9 - Classes Resume

Feb. 3 - No School

Feb. 16-17 - Teachers Convention/No School

Feb. 20 - Family Day/No School

This Week in Room 21.....

Hello Everyone! I hope you have been enjoying the warmer weather. This kids have been thrilled to be outside for recess and lunch this week : ) We had a lovely surprise this week when we came in on Monday-- there were presents under our Christmas tree! We're not sure how they got there, but we think the elves had something to do with it : ) We have been opening one each day and reading it during carpet time.  Ask your child which books we have read so far!

                                 

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This week we have been reviewing and learning some new letter sounds. We reviewed the /ch/, /sh/ and /th/ digraphs. We also learned that sometimes a word will have a double consonant at the end as in: mitt, buzz, puff, mess and bell. The students practiced building words using letter cards with double consonants at the end. This also helped students to review many of the short vowel sounds which can be tricky to differentiate. 

In writing, we continued to talk about different techniques that writers use to make their sentences more interesting. When we add details to our writing this is called elaboration. We read the story 'Owl Moon', by Jane Yolen and examined one sentence to determine what made it interesting. We learned that the author used strong verbs to add interest to her sentence. We discussed what a verb (an action word) and brainstormed verbs we could use in our own sentences. We also worked on adding adjectives to some sentences to make them more exciting. 

In math, we continued learning to count to 100 by 1s, 5s and 10s. We also worked on representing larger numbers (above 20) using base ten blocks. The students have enjoyed playing a variety of games using our 100 Chart carpet. The students played "Switch" and "Mystery Number" and also "100 Race". Ask your child how to play these games.

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We have also been talking about graphing. What is a graph? What are the parts of a graph? How do we read graphs?

In Science, we reviewed warm and cool colours. Then we worked on a landscape drawing that uses warm and cool colours to create two versions of the same landscape-- one using cool colours and one using warm colours. Ask your child what warm and cool colours are.

In gym, we began our volleyball unit. We began by using balloons to develop students familiarity keeping the ball in the air. The students practiced keeping the balloon up using various body parts and then passing the balloon to a partner.

Important Information & Reminders:

• Continue with Home Reading. If you are finding the books to easy or to hard please let me know so that we can adjust the level. 

• Please have your child return their Spelling Booklet each Monday.

• Students are strongly encouraged to have a water bottle at school in order to eliminate the need for frequent trips to the fountain throughout the day. The BEST bottles have a FLIP TOP not a screw top. Please send one if you have not done so. Thank you!

• Please ensure your child has proper clothing for the weather. While we may not be going out for recess and lunch on really cold days there is always the possibility of an unexpected fire alarm, late busses or other events in which warm clothing is necessary. 

• Building Project - Next week we will begin a Christmas building challenge! Please send in BOTTLE CAPS from milk cartons and other containers. We could also use some cardboard, paper towel rolls and plastic containers/lids.

• TRADITIONS ASSIGNMENT- this week your child brought home a yellow paper with instructions on sharing a Family Tradition with the class. We will begin sharing this Tuesday. Your child has been assigned a day to share. Please have your child practice presenting their tradition several times before they present next week.

Upcoming Events & Dates to Remember:

Dec. 5-8 - Book Fair

Dec. 5 - Deadline for Gingerbread House Decorating Night

Dec. 10 - Deadline to donate to Christmas Hampers

Dec. 15 - Deadline to order for Dec 15 Healthy Hunger Lunch (Mucho Burrito)

Dec. 15 - Gingerbread House Decorating Night

Dec. 22 - Last Day of Classes

Dec. 23 - Jan 8 - Winter Break

Jan. 9 - Classes Resume

Feb. 3 - No School

Feb. 16-17 - Teachers Convention/No School

Feb. 20 - Family Day/No School

This Week in Room 21....

Hello Families & Happy Friday! I hope that everyone has been staying warm in this terribly cold weather! I also want to wish those of you who have been sick a speedy recovery. There is lots going around right now and our class has been hit especially hard. Miss Tucker has also been away and so her class has joined ours the last two days. It has been fun learning together : ) Keep reading to find out what we have been up to!

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In Language Arts we worked on writing in our journals about winter. We watched a video and discussed some facts about winter first. Then the students used this information to craft sentences remembering to use capital letters at the start, a period at the end and spaces between our words We are also working on elaboration in our writing. Students are being challenged to write more than one sentence on a topic and to use juicy words in their writing. 

We also listed to a story about a bear that is sleeping so soundly nothing can wake him up. Some animals sneak into his cave to get out of the cold and end up having a party. When the bear wakes up he is sad he missed all the fun! We examined one sentence from the story in particular to see what the author did to make that sentence interesting. We noticed that she used juicy words such as 'lair'. We also noticed that she used describing words (a.k.a. adjectives) to help paint a picture in our head. Next we came up with a list of some other animals and brainstormed some words to describe them. Finally the students created their own sentences using their describing words and draw a picture to go with it. 

In reading, we reviewed the /ch/ and /sh/ sounds. The students worked on making words using letter cards that contained those sounds and practiced their decoding skills to blend and segment words when reading. We also worked on listening for sounds in words using a Word Ladder activity. In this activity, there are as series of pictures next to a ladder. On each rung of the ladder students must write the word to go with each picture. The catch is that from one word to the next only one letter changes. They must listen for the letter that has changed to form a new word. 

In math, we continued to explore numbers to 100. We worked with the TLC carpet to order numbers to 100 and have been learning strategies to quickly find numbers on the 100 chart. Students are also learning to use the chart to tell what is one more or less than a given number. 

In Social Studies, we talked about who the Metis people are and learned about their history. Students learned that the Metis nation was here before Canada became a county! Their people are a mix of First Nations and European cultures. We discussed some of the important symbols associated with the Metis people and learned about a unique art form called Metis Dot Painting. This is similar to pointilism in that it uses dots rather than strokes to created images. The students selected one of the various symbols from the Metis culture to draw and then paint. They turned out fantastic!

In Health, we read a book entitled "Size of the Problem". The students learned that there are three sizes of problems: small, medium and big. Through the story they learned that the size of the problem determines the size of the reaction. If I have a small problem (e.g. someone budged in line), but I react as if it were a big problem (e.g. shouting, hitting, shoving, screaming) then I have not only not solved the problem, but I have made it worse! We discussed many scenarios that could happen, what size of problem it was and how we could handle it. 

Important Information & Reminders:

• Continue with Home Reading. If you are finding the books to easy or to hard please let me know so that we can adjust the level. 

• Please have your child return their Spelling Booklet each Monday.

• Students are strongly encouraged to have a water bottle at school in order to eliminate the need for frequent trips to the fountain throughout the day. The BEST bottles have a FLIP TOP not a screw top. Please send one if you have not done so. Thank you!

• Please ensure your child has proper clothing for the weather. While we may not be going out for recess and lunch on really cold days there is always the possibility of an unexpected fire alarm, late busses or other events in which warm clothing is necessary. 

• Book Fair next week! Your child brought home a flyer with information about our Book Fair. We will not have our regular library book exchange while the book fair is going so your child may keep any books they have for the following week. 

Upcoming Events & Dates to Remember:

Dec. 5-8 - Book Fair

Dec. 5 - Deadline for Gingerbread House Decorating Night

Dec. 10 - Deadline to donate to Christmas Hampers

Dec. 15 - Deadline to order for Dec 15 Healthy Hunger Lunch (Mucho Burrito)

Dec. 15 - Gingerbread House Decorating Night

Dec. 22 - Last Day of Classes

Dec. 23 - Jan 8 - Winter Break

Jan. 9 - Classes Resume

Feb. 3 - No School

Feb. 16-17 - Teachers Convention/No School

Feb. 20 - Family Day/No School