Monday, September 30

Hi parents,

We had a good day today - probably not as good as if it had been a snow day, but still pretty good.
In the morning, the students worked on their usual Monday work choices (Journals, Spelling Practice, Morning Math, Printing Practice). We talked more about Orange Shirt Day too. I think that the students are a bit too young to learn about everything that happened at the Residential Schools, but we've talked a lot about how the First students did not get to express themselves, speak their own language, or see their families.

The students went to Music in the morning too, and we had a lesson about the 'ck' letter blend, and the 'ir' blend.

In the afternoon, we did a quick science / social studies / art combo activity, where the class mixed red and yellow paint to create orange, and then painted some paper shirts in honor of Orange Shirt Day. We also went to Gym, and at the end of the day, we all went outside to build with the snow. One of our science topics for this year is "Building Things", and the snow today was perfect for that. :)
I also feel like its really important for kids to learn to appreciate the snow in Calgary, because we get so much of it, and if you can't appreciate it then winter is very depressing, haha...

Tomorrow is Picture Day! I hope everyone can be here for our class photo!

Have a good night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of Sep. 29)

Spelling List A

Back	Pack	Sack
Black	Stack	Crack

Spelling List B

First	Third	Bird	Girl
Dirt	Thirsty	Shirt	Birthday

Friday, September 27

Happy Friday!

Today the students wrote their third spelling quiz of the year, which went quite well, and then we went to Gym and Music. 

We had a long discussion about Orange Shirt Day, which is coming up on Monday, September 30! Many students did not know much about the origins of Orange Shirt Day, so we talked about Canada's First Nations peoples, Residential Schools, and the rights of children. We'll spend more time talking about it on Monday, but if you wanted to chat with your kids about it at home, there are some good videos on this website: http://www.orangeshirtday.org/ . The first video uses child friendly language, and we usually watch it in class.

The students responded to the writing prompt: "I matter because _______". We talked about how every child matters, and deserves to feel safe, happy, and cared for at school. 

Have an excellent weekend, and remember that Monday is Orange Shirt Day!

Zac

Thursday, September 26

Hello families,

Today was a good day all around, until we had to cancel the Family BBQ at least. :(

In the morning, we had another discussion about Terry Fox, and then the students wrote letters to Terry. This year, the students seem exceptionally invested in Terry Fox, and everyone put a lot of time and effort into their letters. Even the students who are often reluctant about writing didn't need any help at all staying on task. The finished letters are really nice!

We did an outdoor art project based around a book called "Leaf Man". Basically, the students used leaves, twigs, and pebbles to create pieces of art. I took pictures of everyones art and am in the process of getting them printed out. 

Our afternoon was mostly dedicated to the Terry Fox Run, but we also did a lot of cleaning. Hopefully the room will get lots of visitors at the Open House, otherwise what was the point???

Just kidding - I just hope the students appreciate the tidiness of the classroom as much as I do.

Tomorrow is our Spelling Quiz, and with all the work we've done this week, I'm getting the feeling many students haven't had as much time to practice their words as usual... any last minute practice at home could go a long way!

Have a great night,

Zac

Wednesday, September 25

Hi parents,

We had a good day today all around! In the morning, we did an activity about Warm and Cood colours, where the students cut out books from old scholastic catalogues and sorted them by colour. We also had work period time, and gym. When we got back from the gym, we met with our Grade 3/4 Buddy class for the first time, and the students worked with their buddy to do a quick interview activity. Lots of the students in our Buddy class were in my class last year, so there were a lot of familiar faces. :)

In the afternoon, we did Daily 5, Mindfulness, and Music. After recess, we watched a video about Terry Fox, and had an excellent class discussion about why Terry is such an important person, and what we can do to raise money for cancer research and other charitable causes. Here is the link to the video, in case you want to watch it at home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BzyHYZgMz8&feature=youtu.be

On that note - tomorrow is our school's Terry Fox Run! Please see the previous Blog Post for more information!

It is also the Family BBQ, and Open House! The Open House runs from 4:00 - 5:00pm. I hope to see you there!

Tuesday, September 24

Hi parents,

We had a good day today! In the morning, we went to the Library, and some students checked out library books. If your child forgot to bring their book back today, I have been informed that they can bring it back any day this week, and check out a different one! 

When we got back from the library, we had Gym, and then we talked about the word "peace", following up on our discussions from last week. The students coloured in doves, and wrote their ideas of what peace means. 

In the afternoon, we did a Science activity involving Skittles. It sounds like many of the kids had already tried it at home, but if you haven't, I recommend it! All you have to do is create a circle of Skittles, around the edge of a white plate, and then put a small amount of water into the plate, so that all of the skittles get wet. It was amazing how quickly the colours started to mix! I'd never actually tried this one before so I was quite pleased.

Before we actually did the experiment, the students made predictions about what they thought would happen. Once the experiment was complete, they created sketched of their observations, and we talked about what had happened. This group of kids seem to be very engaged in class discussions, so we've been having a lot of them.

Have a great night!

Zac

New Blog!

Welcome to room 6's new blog! This format should allow me to share more photos of what we are doing in the classroom.