This Week in Room 21...

 Here's a peek at our week....

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This week in languge arts we have been focusing on learning our long vowel sounds and looking for the clues in words that tell us if a the vowels make the long or short sound. We watched on video on "Magic E" (a.k.a. silent e, King E, bossy E etc.). The students learned that when /e/ comes at the end of a word it makes the vowel say it's name (eg. same, lake, note etc.).  In Gr. 2, the students have been focusing on the vowel teams (ai, ea, ee, oa, ue etc.) and learning to decode those sounds.

In writing, we began creating the plan for our fractured/twisted fairy tales. The students picked a fairy tale we had already read and changed the character, the setting and maybe the problem a little bit. For example, in the story "The Little Red Hen" no one will help the hen to make bread, but in the fractured fairy tale the character might make cake or build a house. The problem, however, is still that no one will help. We will continue working on our plans next week.

In math, we continued to practice using various strategies to help when solving subtraction problems. The students in Gr. 2 began learning how to use tens and ones to subtract two-digit numbers. We also started a new math routine called Math MashUps. The students are given a puzzle with some numbers and some pictures. They have to figure out what number each picture represents and use that to solve for the total value of the puzzle. These puzzles give students practice in applying their addition and subtraction skills and also teach logical reasoning.

In social studies, we learned about what daily life was like in Early Calgary. The students watched a powerpoint that examined the roles of men, women and children living at that time. They have begun to create a brochure showing the different jobs each was responsible for.

In science, we have continued to learn about sound. This week students learned about the characteristics of sound such as pitch (high/low), volume (loud/soft) and duration (long/short). They listened to some animal sounds and orally described their pitch, volume and duration. Then they completed a sheet describing different sounds.

In gym we have been learning to play badminton. The students have learned how to hold a badminton racquet properly and have been practicing hitting the shuttle.

Thursday was the 100th Day of School! We celebrated on Friday with a fun math Scavenger Hunt in the library, listening to a story about the 100th Day and doing 100 exercises! The students were also supposed to make a crown, but we ran out of time. Hopefully they can make it next week. 

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:

Feb. 26 - Swimming Starts

Feb. 28 - Pink Shirt Day

Mar. 21 - Parent Teacher Conferences

Mar. 22 - Parent Teacher Conferences

Mar. 25-April 1 - Spring Break

April 2 - Classes Resume

April 15 - Gymnastics starts

April 18 - Class photos

April 19 - PD Day

April 26 - Gr. 1 Immunizations

This Week in Room 21...

 It's all about the hearts this week! Take a peek! 

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In language arts we learned about poetry. We watched a video explaining the parts of a poem and some of the techniques poets use when writing them such as, rhyme, repetition, onomatopoeia and other forms of figurative language. Then we wrote a poem for Valentine's Day. This poem used repetition to create/build expectation in the reader. Unfortunately, I forgot to send them home so they kids will bring them home next Tuesday. 

In math, we learned about using a number line to 20 (Gr. 1) and an open number line (Gr. 2) to subtract. We also learned about subtraction as comparing or telling how many more there is of one thing than another. In this type of subtraction problem, nothing is being taken away we are simply looking for the difference between the two amounts. 

In science, we began a new unit on Energy. We began by learning about sound and going for a Listening Walk. As we walked we kept track of the many different sounds we heard and made a note of them when we got back to the classroom. We also sorted sounds into natural or processed. 

In art, we learned about the artist Piet Mondrian. His art was the beginning of modern art and is part of a type of art known as abstract art. He used only red, yellow, blue, black and white in his art. He also used only horizontal and vertical lines. His art influenced architecture, fashion and even other artists. We created a heart based on his artwork. The students learned about shape, colour and balance in art.

On Friday, we got together with our buddies and made a birdfeeder using pipecleaner and cherrios. This fits in with our study of Earth Systems (seasons) and what animals do in winter. This is a great way to provide some food for birds that don't migrate or hibernate. We made it into the shape of a heart to celebrate Valentine's Day. 

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:

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. 20 - Swim forms due

Feb. 23 - 100th Day of School!

Feb. 26 - Swimming Starts

Feb. 28 - Pink Shirt Day

This Week in Room 21....

Happy Friday! Here's a look at our week : ) 

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This week we began retelling and writing a twisted or fractured fairy tale. We choose "The Enormous Turnip" as our template. We decided to make ours about an enormous potato. We changed the characters to an ant, ladybug, caterpillar, spider and worm. We set the story in a forest but the problem was the same-- the potato is too big to pull out. So far we have used loose parts to tell the story and we have written the beginning and the first two events in the story. 

In math, we have started learning about subtraction and some strategies to help us when solving subtraction problems. We learned that subtraction is taking away, part-part-whole and as a comparison. We played a math game about part-part-whole, built collections of counters and practiced taking away an used counters to practice taking away.

We have also been learning a math routine called Splat! Students look at collections of dots and determine how many there are. Then the Splat covers some of the dots and they have to use mental math to count up or down to find out how many dots are under the splat.

In science, we have been learning about coding as part of our computer science topic.  On Friday, we logged into our Google Classroom and used the CodeSpark website to practice our coding skills.

In health, we began talking about kindness. We read the book "The Kindness Quilt" and started to create our own quilt square showing an act of kindness. 

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:

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 and Happy Friday! I hope you have had a lovely week. We have been very busy working on a number of different projects. Here's a look at our week : ) 

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REMINDER:  Report Cards are available for viewing in Powerschool. Please log in to your MyCBE account to access your child's report and see their progress.

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In language arts we have been reading fairy tales and fractured fairy tales. A fractured fairy tale is a story in which the original story has been changed in some way. Maybe the characters or the setting or even the plot of the story have been changed. The students identified how the fractured story was the same and different from the original. 

Then they practiced retelling one of the stories using loose parts. Loose parts are just a collection of different objects that can be used to sort of dramatize the story as they retell it. They would build the setting and events of the story and then verbally retell it using the model they had built. 

On Friday, it was Groundhog Day so we watched a video about the history of this holiday and listened to a book of facts about groundhogs. Then the students wrote about what they had learned in their journals. They are still working on remembering to use capitals, periods and spaces in their sentences. 

In math, we finished up learning about addition strategies and did some more graphing. We decided to create a graph about Groundhog Day and whether or not he would see his shadow. Then we watched a news clip to find out what the groundhog predicted. Looks like we're going to have an early spring!

The students also worked on their January calendar. Each month we fill in the dates on the calendar and then students answer questions about the month and calendars in general. For example: "What month of the year is January?" or "How many days are there in 2 weeks?". 

In social, we continued to learn about Nunavut. Students learned that Nunavut is in northern Canada in the arctic. They also learned that this is a tundra environment. Ask your child what a tundra environment is. What kinds of plants grow there? What is the land like? 

Students also worked on creating a large wall map of Canada. They worked with a parent volunteer to paint the provinces and territories. Next we will put it up on the wall, label it and use it to show where the different communities we are studying are located.

In art, we began learning about the elements of art. We focused on line. The students learned about the different types of lines (curvy, straight, zigzag) and that lines can go in different directions (horizontal, vertical, diagonal). They created a collage of different lines. 

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:

Feb. 7 - Winter Walk

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