This Week in Room 21....

Here's a sneak peek at our work this week....!

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In Language Arts we began learning about "Small Moment" writing. We read a story entitled, "Night of the Veggie Monster" by George McClements, in which a young boy has to eat peas at dinner. After reading this story, we worked on sequencing the events in the story and retelling the story using the pictures. 

After that we brainstormed some other 'small moments' from our own lives that we could write about. The students shared their small moment in pairs using the "5 Finger Touch & Tell" technique. 

On Friday, we began creating a whole class small moment. We began by reviewing a small moment from earlier in the year-- a fire drill. We reviewed the events in this small moment and then began to illustrate our small moment by "Drawing Across the Pages". 

In math, we began playing a fun game called 'Splat'. This helps students to develop mental math skills to solve basic addition and subtraction questions. Ask your child how this is played. 

We also began looking at strategies to help with solving addition and subtraction problems. We focused on using a chart to help us add and subtract and played 'Addition Memory'.

In Science, we finished our "Signs of Winter" wheel in which the students had to sort pictures into either people, plants, animals or weather. 

We also completed an activity related to colour where we looked at the concepts of transparent, translucent and opaque. Can you see the rainbow?

In gym, we worked with the parachute to play many fun games like: popcorn, colour wheel, cat & mouse, mushroom and more. 

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. This week's spelling words were: my, by, day, you, with, have.

• 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. 

•  We are going on a Winter Walk next Thursday. Please ensure your child has boots, a warm coat, gloves/mitts and snow pants. 

• Our Google Classroom is up and running! Last week we had a chance to go into our Google Classroom with our Buddies. This is a resource for students to use at home to support learning here at school. You can log into your child's classroom by following the steps below:

1. Go to Google. com.
2. Click the blue "Sign In" icon near the top right of screen.
3. Click on the "waffle" icon and select the chalkboard icon from the drop down menu.
4. Enter your child's email address. (this can be found in your MyCBE parent account or you can ask me and I can email it to you.)
5. Enter your child's password. (All students have the same password. It is: 12345678 )
6. Click on "Mrs. V's Classroom")
7. Go to "Classwork" tab for links to games and activities.

*Note: If you have any trouble logging in let me know. Thanks!

• Report Cards go live on Monday. You can view and access your child's report card using your MyCBE parent account. If you do not have an account or have trouble accessing your account please let me know and I can provide a paper copy. If your child is on an IPP this will be sent home on Monday. 

Upcoming Events & Dates to Remember:

Jan. 30 - Report Cards go live in Powerschool

Feb 2 - Winter Walk 

Feb. 3 - No School

Feb. 16-17 - Teachers Convention/No School

Feb. 20 - Family Day/No School

Feb. 22 & 23 - Lacrosse residency

Feb. 28 - Telus Spark field trip

This Week in Room 21....

This week has been a blur of activities and adventures! Take a look!

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This week in Language Arts we continued building our awareness of letter patterns and sounds using our Making Words activities. We introduced a new sound-- the 'ng' sound. Students listened to a story and identified the different words with the 'ng' sound in it. They also learned that 'ng' can come after a number of vowel letters as in: -ing, -ang, -ong , -ung.  They completed a sorting activity listening for the various 'ng' endings. 

In math, students have been rotating through a variety of math centres practicing their skills in skip counting, building numbers using place value blocks, using 100 Charts, counting sets of objects and more.

In Science, we reviewed the signs of winter for people, plants, animals and weather. The students began creating a "Signs of Winter" wheel sorting pictures into each of the four categories. 

On Friday, we went outside to explore and look for signs of winter. We also listened to an Indigenous story called "The Legend of the Chickadee and the Spruce Tree", that talks about why evergreen trees never lose their needles. In the story a chickadee is looking for a home in the cold weather. It goes to a number of trees and asks if it can live in their branches but they all say no.  Finally, it asks a spruce tree. The spruce tree says yes. As a reward for helping the chickadee, the spruce tree stays green all year. 

In health, we discussed what New Years' Resolutions are. We listened to a story about a squirrel who wants to make a new years' resolution but isn't sure what to do. Everyone else has a resolution but him. He ends up helping his friends to achieve their resolutions and discovers that he wants to do something to help someone everyday. Students learned that a resolution is like a promise you make to yourself to change or improve something over the next year. They then came up with their own resolutions to write and draw about.

In gym, we finished up our floor hockey unit learning to pass, shoot and play a small game. 

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.

• 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. 

Upcoming Events & Dates to Remember:

Jan. 30 - Report Cards go live in Powerschool

Feb. 3 - No School

Feb. 16-17 - Teachers Convention/No School

Feb. 20 - Family Day/No School

Feb. 28 - Telus Spark field trip

This Week in Room 21....

Hello Families and Welcome Back! It has been a great start to the new year. Take a look at what we have been up to!

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In Language Arts, the students shared a highlight from their break and wrote about it in their journals. They have made so much progress in remembering to use capital letters, leave spaces between their words and using periods. They continue to work on adding greater detail and writing longer and more sentences in her writing.

In math, we have been working on basic addition and subtraction with numbers up to ten. We reviewed what it means when we add (to get more) and what it means when we subtract (to get less or take away). They practice drawing pictures and then writing addition and subtraction sentences (equations) to go with them. 

In Health, we reviewed the Zones of Regulation and Size of the Problem work. Students did an activity in which they had to sort pictures into groups based on whether it was showing a small, medium or big problem. 

In Social Studies, we worked on completing our Winter Count for the month of December. We brainstormed all of the important events that occurred last month-- PJ Day, Secret Santa books, Winter Solstice, Festive Hat Day, Winter Sweater Day, Building Challenge. Then we voted and selected which one was the most important and added it to our Winter Count.

In Science, we also tested our vehicles to see if they met the criteria set in the challenge. They loved sharing thier creations with the class and testing them.

In gym we began floor hockey! The students learned the proper way to hold a hockey stick, played a game of keep away and played a fun game of called Captain's Coming using their sticks. 

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.

• 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. 

Upcoming Events & Dates to Remember:

Jan. 9 - Classes Resume

Jan. 30 - Report Cards go live in Powerschool

Feb. 3 - No School

Feb. 16-17 - Teachers Convention/No School

Feb. 20 - Family Day/No School

Feb. 28 - Telus Spark field trip