Oct 31-Nov 4 * Halloween *

Leader of the week:Kara (don't forget to bring your mystery object)
I hope you had a wonderful birthday, Victoria!
day 3- Mon. Oct. 31- Halloween parade at 9 AM, classroom party approx. 9:20- 11:15
Thank you to our volunteers: Ella's mom, Matthew's mom, Hudson's dad, Santino's mom. You may come into the classroom and set up at 8:30.
physed (please make sure that your child has a change of clothes and proper shoes)last day for food drive
day 4. Tues. Nov. 1- computers, music
day 5. Wed. Nov. 2- author visit 9-10 (no physed)
day 1. Thurs. Nov. 3- library

day 2. Fri. Nov. 4- health

Remembering to point to our words with witch nails

Reminders/News:
HALLOWEEN:
The Halloween parade will begin right after morning announcements (everyone is welcome). Students will walk around the school and show off their fancy costumes. If it rains, the parade will take place inside the school. If your child is coming to school in a costume, please make sure that they are comfortable in their clothing. They must be dressed when they arrive to school. There will not be any time to get changed before the parade.  Please try to label everything so that nothing gets lost. Also, please ensure that your child has a pair of running shoes for physed. A lot of children have been wearing boots to school with no change of shoes for gym. They are unable to participate in certain games without proper footwear (safety first!). Your child's face should be visible at all times to avoid tripping, etc. (no masks, only face paint). Please do not send any plastic weapons with your child. I have already explained this to the class and they were very understanding. If your child is bringing treats for the class, please make sure that all treats are store bought, peanut and nut free. Please check the label for "may contain traces of nuts". We have 19 students in the class. We will not be eating any treats during our class party since the children will have plenty of treats from trick or treating.

FOOD DRIVE: Thank you for all the wonderful food donations! The food drive ends on Monday.

No Pokemon cards. I am so sorry but the children are no longer allowed to bring Pokemon cards to school. I continue to find cards in students' pockets during class time and they have been trading. On Thursday, I had students crying because they traded cards and wanted them back.

PARENT VOLUNTEERS: Thank you to Amelia's and Sam's mom for helping us out with pizza lunch and Santino's mom for reading with the children on Friday. I was away sick on Friday and Mr. Brown, a regular supply teacher at LKS taught the class. Unfortunately, I was informed that a lot of students misbehaved on Friday and chose to ignore Mr. Brown's instructions. I am aware that not every student was part of this, however please speak to your child about respect and the importance of being a good listener. This is an ongoing conversation in our classroom. We are a very busy group of children but we are definitely capable of following instructions. We have been working so hard. We will certainly have another big chat after all the Halloween excitement ends. I apologize to all our parent volunteers for any unacceptable behaviour on Friday.

We have been discussing our responsibilities and taking care of our belongings in the classroom and in the hallway at our hooks. Please talk to your child about bringing their library to school on day 3 (Thursday for now, until we have a PA day and then it gets moved). 

Sneak Peak into 1D:
LANGUAGE: The students completed a writing activity based on a story called The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin. Spookley was a square pumpkin and did not fit in with all the other round pumpkins. He saved the day after some of the pumpkins rolled and fell into the water through a hole in the fence. Spookley blocked the hole and everyone loved him afterwards. The story teaches children not to judge a book by its cover. We talked about being unique and special, just like Spookley. We also watched a short video which you may find here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo2BAoqxbdM

The students did a great job retelling three things from the story. Please continue to ask your child to retell events from a story after reading. This is an important skill that we will work on in grade one. The children enjoyed this task and the video was a big hit. We watched it three times.





MATHEMATICS: The children learned about even and odd numbers. We talked about even numbers always having a partner and odd numbers always having someone left out. We had several children stand up and as a class we discussed if the number of children was even or odd. We also talked about looking at the last number in the ones column to see if it is odd or even. Afterwards, we added a 0 to the Even Steven side because numbers such as 10, 20, 30 etc. can also be divided into pairs equally.

VISUAL ARTS: We learned about an artist, Piet Mondrian and talked about his famous composition with primary colours. We discussed primary colours (blue, yellow, red) and began to create our own masterpieces. It was messy with paint on all over the floor but we did an amazing job cleaning up.







WRITER'S WORKSHOP:

                   
                      Writing about Pokemon cards


               Writing cards for people that we love

Vowel Sounds

We have been learning about the short and long vowel sounds. After last week's spelling check, it appears that some children continue to mix up the short "i" and "e" sounds. We will continue to focus on these in class. Here are some videos to help your child distinguish between the short vowel sounds. Enjoy!

Short "e" Sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXcpYuhtPz8

Short "i" Sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7VGb7LivZ0&list=PLyCjTDUMqqdskK2hAakZvWW9Am0LmCsmE&index=2

Short Vowel Sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR-BLFZyAWs

Oct. 24- Oct. 28

Leader of the week: Matthew
day 3- Mon. Oct. 24- reading buddies, physed,  food drive continues
day 4. Tues. Oct. 25- computers, music
day 5. Wed. Oct. 26- physed, chess club,  fall fair
day 1. Thurs. Oct. 27- library, haunted house in the school ($2), picture retakes
day 2. Fri. Oct. 26- health, pizza lunch, happy early birthday Victoria!

Reminders/News:
- Please ensure that your child has an indoor and an outdoor pair of shoes at all times.  A lot of children had wet running shoes on Friday :( Also, an extra pair of socks is always a good idea.
- We continue to collect canned, boxed, bagged and nut-free food items for the Daily Bread Food Bank. Thank you to those who have donated already and thank you in advance for all other donations.
- We are visiting a haunted house in one of the grade 8 classrooms on Thursday. Entrance is two dollars. Please send money in a labelled zip lock bag. Thank you.
- Please speak to your child about their lunch. Are they enjoying what they are eating? A lunch supervisor has noticed that some children have been throwing out their lunches. We had a big chat about food and the importance of having enough energy to learn and play. The children also mentioned the fact that throwing out food is wasting money.
- When you are creating words with the "Making Words" sheet that I often send home, please do not feel pressured to make the 4 or 5 letter words. If your child is able to create a list of 3 letter words, that is fantastic! The 4 and 5 letter word sections are there for a challenge for those that want or need the challenge. This shouldn't be a stressful exercise.
- Please continue to read with your child every night. I hope that everyone is enjoying RazKids!

Sneak Peek into 1D
- We had a Power of One presentation this week which consisted of a number of skits on the topic of bullying. The children learned about the importance of standing up for themselves and speaking up for others. This sparked an interest in more writing. Take a look.....



- On Friday, Rory, Sam and Ella had an opportunity to visit Mrs. Norton's office. They read their stories to her and received wonderful feedback. They were so excited to come back and share the notes that were given to them. We will continue to share our writing with Mrs. Norton and Mrs. Caddel.

- We have been learning various reading strategies to help us when we are stuck on a word. So far, we have discussed the Eagle Eye (looking at pictures), Chunky Monkey (looking for little words in big words that we already know) and Lips the Fish (get your lips ready, what is the first letter sound?).

- In Mathematics, we have continued to create graphs. The students counted colourful goldfish crackers by ones and twos. They coloured in their bar graphs and answered various questions about their data. We have also continued to work on number words which students have begun to use in their writing. On Friday, the children were introduced to a number line. They labelled their individual number lines and had an opportunity to create their very own games. The children came up with the most creative games! They were racing to number 20, sliding plastic bugs from 20 to 0, rolling dice for marker lids and so on.

 

 

LEGO addition and subtraction game

* Oct. 17-21

day 3- Mon. Oct. 17- reading buddies, physed,  food drive begins
day 4. Tues. Oct. 18- computers, music
day 5. Wed. Oct. 19- physed, cross country at Centennial Park
day 1. Thurs. Oct. 20- library
day 2. Fri. Oct. 21- health
LEADER of the week- Ella

October 26- Fall Fair
October 27- Picture Retake Day
October 28- Pizza Lunch
October 31- Halloween Parade (AM) and Halloween/Fall party (AM)

Picture of the week
"We are pirates!"

News/Reminders:
Scholastic Orders: If you are purchasing an item online, you still need to fill out the paper strip and send it to school with your child. Our scholastic rep needs the slips in order to complete the order.

Scare Hunger Food Drive (Oct. 17- Oct. 31): Our annual food drive to benefit the Daily Bread Food Bank begins on Monday. We are asking for donations of canned, boxed and bagged nonperishable and nut-free food items. The school is going to keep a tally of the daily collection totals in the display case by the office. Feel free to drop off food items in our box outside of the classroom. Thank you in advance for all your donations.

Raz-Kids: I have created a username and a password for every student. A letter will be sent home this week so that you may log in and begin using the website. Every student has been assigned to a reading level based on their reading assessment. It is important for your child to read books at their assigned reading level before moving up. Although a child may be reading books above their reading level, they may not always comprehend what they have read. After reading, your child may complete the quiz provided below the book (?- the question mark). You may also ask your child to retell the story. What happened at the beginning, middle and end?
Note- I will not be monitoring Raz-Kids on a regular basis. I may log in to see how often students sign in to read, however I will not be providing feedback or sending messages on the website. If you have any problems or questions, please send me a note in your child's agenda. Here are some other educational websites that you may want to use at home with your child. starfall.com, abcya.com, readworks.org

* Although I do not assign much homework, you may often find a worksheet in your child's backpack that they may complete at home. I hope your child had fun making words :)

What did we do last week?
The children had their first writer's workshop and it was a big success! They had an entire work period to create their own writing pieces. We talked about creating cards, recipes, books, stories and so on. The children created cook books, pirate maps with instructions, cards and much much more! Everyone was extremely engaged. It was incredible to watch the children as they shared their ideas, helped each other and created unique work. Take a look at these photos!


                       A beautiful card for Hudson's little sister.


                         Learning how to make a book.


              Lines book inspired by our Art lesson from the week.




  Writing scary stories (author & an illustrator working together).


      A card for Mrs. Burn.          Creating Maps.

                  A recipe in a cook book.

Math- The students have been been learning to collect data, create graphs and analyze data results. We have also completed several class graphs. (What is your favourite ice-cream? How do you get to school?). We are learning to read the data and answer questions such as, "How many MORE children chose chocolate than vanilla?"




                    Our word wall is getting full !


                               Making words activity

* Oct. 17-21

day 3- Mon. Oct. 17- reading buddies, physed,  food drive begins
day 4. Tues. Oct. 18- computers, music
day 5. Wed. Oct. 19- physed, cross country at Centennial Park
day 1. Thurs. Oct. 20- library
day 2. Fri. Oct. 21- health
LEADER of the week- Ella

October 26- Fall Fair
October 27- Picture Retake Day
October 28- Pizza Lunch
October 31- Halloween Parade (AM) and Halloween/Fall party (AM)

Picture of the week
"We are pirates!"

News/Reminders:
Scholastic Orders: If you are purchasing an item online, you still need to fill out the paper strip and send it to school with your child. Our scholastic rep needs the slips in order to complete the order.

Scare Hunger Food Drive (Oct. 17- Oct. 31): Our annual food drive to benefit the Daily Bread Food Bank begins on Monday. We are asking for donations of canned, boxed and bagged nonperishable and nut-free food items. The school is going to keep a tally of the daily collection totals in the display case by the office. Feel free to drop off food items in our box outside of the classroom. Thank you in advance for all your donations.

Raz-Kids: I have created a username and a password for every student. A letter will be sent home this week so that you may log in and begin using the website. Every student has been assigned to a reading level based on their reading assessment. It is important for your child to read books at their assigned reading level before moving up. Although a child may be reading books above their reading level, they may not always comprehend what they have read. After reading, your child may complete the quiz provided below the book (?- the question mark). You may also ask your child to retell the story. What happened at the beginning, middle and end?
Note- I will not be monitoring Raz-Kids on a regular basis. I may log in to see how often students sign in to read, however I will not be providing feedback or sending messages on the website. If you have any problems or questions, please send me a note in your child's agenda. Here are some other educational websites that you may want to use at home with your child. starfall.com, abcya.com, readworks.org

* Although I do assign much homework, you may often find a worksheet in your child's backpack that they may complete at home. I hope your child had fun making words :)

What did we do last week?
The children had their first writer's workshop and it was a big success! They had an entire work period to create their own writing pieces. We talked about creating cards, recipes, books, stories and so on. The children created cook books, pirate maps with instructions, cards and much much more! Everyone was extremely engaged. It was incredible to watch the children as they shared their ideas, helped each other and created unique work. Take a look at these photos!


                       A beautiful card for Hudson's little sister.


                         Learning how to make a book.


              Lines book inspired by our Art lesson from the week.




  Writing scary stories (author & an illustrator working together).


      A card for Mrs. Burn.          Creating Maps.

                  A recipe in a cook book.

Math- The students have been been learning to collect data, create graphs and analyze data results. We have also completed several class graphs. (What is your favourite ice-cream? How do you get to school?). We are learning to read the data and answer questions such as, "How many MORE children chose chocolate than vanilla?"




                    Our word wall is getting full !


                               Making words activity

Play, explore and have fun!

October 3- October 7

Mon. Oct. 3 (day 5) Physed in AM, starting our spelling program
Tues. Oct. 4 (day 1) Library in AM, bring back your library book
Wed. Oct. 5 (day 2) Health in PM, cross country at Centennial Park
Thurs. Oct 6 (day 3) Physed in PM, spelling check
Fri. Oct. 7 PD day (no school for students)
Mon. Oct. 10 Thanksgiving (no school)

Reminder: No Pokemon cards at school. I reminded my students that they can bring their cards as long there is no trading and they keep them in their backpacks after recess. Unfortunately, students have been trading and bringing cards into the classroom. In order to eliminate problems, please make sure your child keep their cards at home. Often, students will trade their cards and eventually want them back. This results in crying and parents also become involved.                       

Thank you to our Terry Fox volunteers (Li-Na's dad, Rory's grandmother, Kara's mom and Barbara's mom). It was an extremely wet walk but we reminded ourselves that Terry Fox ran in the rain, so we knew we could do it too. I was very proud of everyone! We read a book about Terry Fox and the students completed wonderful writing.                 

Our All About Me presentations have been fantastic so far. We are learning a lot about each other, asking questions and making comments after every presentation. I can definitely tell that everyone has been practising their presentations at home. We continue to practise our printing. Last week we completed letter "d". Since a lot of young children tend to write certain letters backwards (which is normal), we discussed a good trick that helps us remember which way the letters go. Write the word bed and draw a person sleeping. If you write the letters backwards, the person is very uncomfortable!               
               

We have been playing a lot of math games in class. In pairs, students played a game called Race to 100 and they were very engaged. They took turns rolling dice, adding the dots together and moved their game pieces closer to the number 100. We talked about being a good sport and not getting upset or sad when we lose. We only had smiling faces at the end of the game and that's the most important thing!                                     
Raz-Kids and IXL will hopefully begin after Thanksgiving. I am still awaiting my own username and password so that I may set everyone up. I cannot wait for your child to begin using both programs at home.

                  
                            We beat our time in silent reading!

Am I a 5 star writer?

We write during "free choice" and we fix books all by ourselves.

2 green, plus 8 red equals 10!

Using shapes to make creations.


 Magic Ten: Practising combinations to ten
Who knew that a coat hanger and some clothespins would be so much fun!