This Week in Room 21...

Hello Families! I hope you had a lovely week. The weather has warmed up and the kids have been able to get outside most days for recess and lunch. Here's a sneak peek at our week : ) 

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This week we finished writing letters to our buddies. The kids also had a chance to get together with their buddies and read their letters to them. Their big buddies also read a story to them and talked about the setting, characters, problem and solution of the story.

 

We also began a new Author Study author-- Kevin Henkes. Mr. Henkes stories are relatable to students because they deal with situations that kids often face and offer a positive message of overcoming challenges. They also contain a wealth of vocabulary words that are unfamiliar to students and offer an opportunity to learn about new words and their meanings expanding students understanding of texts. We read several stories and talked about the setting, characters, problem and solution. This is preparing the students for our next unit on story writing.

In math, we learned about the making 10 and counting on strategies for addition. We also continued to work on graphing with a focus on line plots. The students worked through several line plots reading the graph and answering questions.

In science, the students had a fun time learning about computer science and beginning to explore the fundamentals of this discipline. The students learned what code is, what it means to code and what an algorithm is. They got to play a game in which they had to "code" a computer (another student) to move their piece through a maze. 

Important Information & Reminders:

• Library Day is on Wednesday. If your child misses a Library Day we will try to send them on a different day, however, it will not always be possible to do so. Most times they can simply wait for the following Library Day.

• Google Classroom - Our Google Classroom is up and running. Students can log in at school and at home and click on the various links to practice typing, math skills, reading and even do an art activity (Art Hub) or some exercise (Cosmic Yoga). Your child can go to: classroom.google.com, click on the waffle (nine dots in upper righthand corner of screen), select the Google Classroom icon and log in from there. They have already logged in at school so they will just need to put in their student email address (available in PowerSchool/My CBE Account) and their password (eg. 12345678). It's that simple. If you require assistance logging in the first time, please let me know. 

• RAZ-Kids - students brought home a sheet with information explaining how to access their online RAZ-Kids account. This is a levelled reading program that students can use to practice reading at home with their parents. Once logged in students can listen to the story, practice reading the story (with adult support if needed) and then take a short quiz to assess their comprehension of what they have read. This is a wonderful compliment to our Home Reading program. If you did not receive your child's login information please email me. Thanks and happy reading! 

• Healthy Hunger is up and running. Below are the upcoming fun lunch dates. To order please go to the Healthy Hunger website. 

Upcoming Events and Dates to Remember:

Jan 31 - Report Cards go live in Powerschool

Feb. 13 - School Council 6pm

Feb. 14 - Valentine's Day

Feb 15-16 - Teacher's Convention/No School

Feb. 19 - Family Day/No School

Feb. 23 - 100th Day of School!

Feb. 26 - Swimming Starts

Feb. 28 - Pink Shirt Day

This Week in Room 21...

Hello Parents! Here's a sneak peak at out week!

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This week we focused on Robert Munsch for our Author Study. We learned about his childhood and also how he became a writer. He always loved storytelling and worked in a daycare for awhile. The owner of the daycare told him he should write his stories down and that's how he got started writing. We continued to identify what the setting, problem, characters, and solution of a story are as we listened to each story. As we read we looked for interesting vocabulary words and discussed the lesson in each book. 

We also continued to learn about a variety of letters of the alphabet and building words during our Making Words activity.  As we build words listening for the sounds in each we also talk about the meaning of the different words we build. 

In math, we finished looking at the doubles +1 strategy for Gr. 1 and adding two-digit numbers with regrouping in Gr. 2. We have also been learning about making and building graphs. Students have learned about the parts of a graph, what data is and how we can use data to answer questions and draw conclusions.  The students came up with their own question to ask their classmates and plotted the data on a graph. 

In science, we began talking about computer science and performed an experiment to see if we could "program" (give instructcions) to a "computer" (me) to draw a snowman. Of course, I did it with my eyes closed so they had to try to give me directions on where to put each part of the snowman not just what to put. The results were quite hilarious but the kids got the idea of having to give very specific instructions. 

In gym, we have started learning about floor hockey and played some fun games to practice stick handling.

Important Information & Reminders:

• Library Day is on Wednesday. If your child misses a Library Day we will try to send them on a different day, however, it will not always be possible to do so. Most times they can simply wait for the following Library Day.

• Google Classroom - Our Google Classroom is up and running. Students can log in at school and at home and click on the various links to practice typing, math skills, reading and even do an art activity (Art Hub) or some exercise (Cosmic Yoga). Your child can go to: classroom.google.com, click on the waffle (nine dots in upper righthand corner of screen), select the Google Classroom icon and log in from there. They have already logged in at school so they will just need to put in their student email address (available in PowerSchool/My CBE Account) and their password (eg. 12345678). It's that simple. If you require assistance logging in the first time, please let me know. 

• RAZ-Kids - students brought home a sheet with information explaining how to access their online RAZ-Kids account. This is a levelled reading program that students can use to practice reading at home with their parents. Once logged in students can listen to the story, practice reading the story (with adult support if needed) and then take a short quiz to assess their comprehension of what they have read. This is a wonderful compliment to our Home Reading program. If you did not receive your child's login information please email me. Thanks and happy reading! 

• Healthy Hunger is up and running. Below are the upcoming fun lunch dates. To order please go to the Healthy Hunger website. 

Upcoming Events and Dates to Remember:

Jan 31 - Report Cards go live in Powerschool

Feb 15-16 - Teacher's Convention

Feb. 19 - Family Day

Feb. 26 - Swimming Starts

This Week in Room 21...

Hello! It's been a cold one! Thanks to everyone who braved the cold this week. Here's a peek at what we've been up to!

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This week we learned about Friendly Letters. Students watched a video talking about the parts of a friendly letter and then got to work writing a letter to their Gr. 5/6 Buddies! Students also had to be sure to remember to use capital letters, leave spaces and include a period in all their sentences. 

In math, students in Gr. 1 have been learning about Doubles facts. They played a game in which they had to use their doubles facts, drew pictures of the doubles and completed a fun colouring sheet using doubles. The Gr. 2's began learning about adding two-digit numbers both with and without regrouping. 

In Social, the students in Gr. 1 continued to learn about a community in the past. The also started to learn about the different groups of people that helped to settle this area. They learned a little about the NWMP-- what it was like to be a NWMP and why they were sent out to the prairies. 

The Gr. 2's began learning about the northern community of Nunavut. They watched a video and started colouring the flag of Nunavut.

 

In Science, students in Gr. 1 completed their signs of winter activity in which they had to sort pictures of into the correct category-- i.e. people, plants, weather or animals.  The Gr. 2s started learning about the continents and oceans and completed some maps to show their learning.

In gym we have playing various games with the parachute. The students have had fun learning to use the  parachute together to perform certain tasks, creating a large mushroom to sit under, running underneath etc. 

Important Information & Reminders:

• Library Day is on Wednesday. If your child misses a Library Day we will try to send them on a different day, however, it will not always be possible to do so. Most times they can simply wait for the following Library Day.

• Google Classroom - Our Google Classroom is up and running. Students can log in at school and at home and click on the various links to practice typing, math skills, reading and even do an art activity (Art Hub) or some exercise (Cosmic Yoga). Your child can go to: classroom.google.com, click on the waffle (nine dots in upper righthand corner of screen), select the Google Classroom icon and log in from there. They have already logged in at school so they will just need to put in their student email address (available in PowerSchool/My CBE Account) and their password (eg. 12345678). It's that simple. If you require assistance logging in the first time, please let me know. 

• RAZ-Kids - students brought home a sheet with information explaining how to access their online RAZ-Kids account. This is a levelled reading program that students can use to practice reading at home with their parents. Once logged in students can listen to the story, practice reading the story (with adult support if needed) and then take a short quiz to assess their comprehension of what they have read. This is a wonderful compliment to our Home Reading program. If you did not receive your child's login information please email me. Thanks and happy reading! 

• Healthy Hunger is up and running. Below are the upcoming fun lunch dates. To order please go to the Healthy Hunger website. 

Upcoming Events and Dates to Remember:

Jan 15 - PD Day

Jan 16 - School Council meeting 6pm

Jan 31 - Report Cards go live in Powerschool

Feb 15-16 - Teacher's Convention

Feb. 19 - Family Day

Feb. 26 - Swimming Starts