Reminders
Monday December 17th-Friday December 21st is Spirit Week! We are ‘encouraging’ students that want to dress up for any of the days to bring a donation for the food bank. Spirit Squad will come around to collect donations that you bring.
Monday December 17th: Crazy Sock Day
Christmas concert rehearsal in the afternoon.
Tuesday December 18th: Ugly Sweater Day
Wednesday December 19th: no dress up
Bring in your items for the green Christmas sale to the Mother Goose Room.
Christmas concert! The colours for our song are bright! For the concert, we would like the students to wear a solid coloured top. any colour works.
Matinee 1:00pm, Evening show 6:00pm
Thursday December 20th: red and green day
Green Christmas market. Please bring in items on Wednesday December 19th. Wrapping will be limited to 3 items.
Friday December 21st: PJ day
This is our last day before the holidays. Progress reports will be sent home today. Please return the signed brown envelop during our first week back in January.
Language
Students have settled into their Daily 5 routine. They have successfully learned ‘Read to Self’, ‘Work on Writing’, ‘Word Work/Study’, ‘Read to Someone’, and ‘Listen to Reading’. Each day during our Daily 5 time, students choose the order in which they want to practice their literacy. Students generally have time for 3/5 options each day. I am now able to conference individually with students or in small groups each day and set goals for reading and writing.
***If your child does not come home with new word study words at the beginning of the week, it means that they have not completed their weekly word study work in class and will continue with their words from the previous week. Please continue to play the sorting games at home to support your child.
Reading: Students learned about metacognition this week and how we need to be thinking, connecting, predicting, visualizing and inferring while we read. This is what good readers do! We will continue to study connecting through Reading Power in the months to come.
Raz kids online home reading accounts will come home this week. Please take a moment over the holidays to familiarize yourself with your child’s reading account. Encourage your child to spend some time reading online as well as reading books and reading with you!
Writer’s Workshop: Students will be writing a letter to their Pen Pal in a grade 1/2/3 Montessori class in Vancouver. Students will work using the writing process. They will write a draft, edit and write a final copy to mail to their Pen Pal.
Ask your child about GUM!
It stands for: give it a go, underline it, and move on, when it comes to spelling in their writing. This strategy allows students to try spelling the word on their own, recognizing when they might not have it right, and moving on so that they can get their thoughts down on paper. Please try to reinforce this strategy at home.
French Pilot Project: Every Wednesday afternoon. Students are learning basic French language through songs and games.
Library: Tuesdays at 11:10am.
Read Aloud: We are finishing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone written by J.K. Rowling. We will begin the second book this week!
Math
This week our classroom bank and currency will get up and running. Students will be learning how to handle money, earn money (through classroom jobs, care of materials, being your best tickets), save money and make change in the classroom. Students will be able to purchase for time for work they really enjoy, such as ‘listen to reading’, ‘drawing time’, ‘read to self’, ‘work on writing’, and ‘read to someone’ time.
I recently ordered many new manipulatives for our study of mathematics. I am so excited to teach the students how to use the materials to strengthen their foundational knowledge in math. I am in the process of hopefully getting permission to purchase more math materials for the classroom.
Students have been practicing their numeracy using various manipulatives in the classroom. Students will be learning about place value and practicing their number concepts before moving into static addition.
Science
Salmon Study: We have an alevin in the tank! Students have been very excited about learning about the eyed eggs and this week we will be learning about their next stage in the life cycle: the alevin.
Social Studies
We have started studying ourselves with the hope that understanding ourselves will lead to a greater understanding of the people in our community and the world. This week we will continue to explore our likes and dislikes.
Arts Education
Music: Wednesdays, 8:30am with Mrs. Snider
Gym
Mondays (nature walk through the back woods with myself), Tuesdays (Mrs. Snider), Thursdays (Mr. MacKenzie): 8:30am