Spelling Words

Spelling List A (The Bossy e, part 2!)

Wide	Ride	Hide	Side
Pride	Bride	Slide	Inside

Spelling List B

Sting	Spring	Thing	Bring
Fling	King	Singing	Bringing

It's a slightly easier List B this week - could be a great opportunity for some students to start trying both lists!

Good luck!

Thursday

Hi parents,

Today was a great way to end our week! The students did an awesome job with their One World Drumming performance, and it was cool to see all the other classes that participated as well. We spent some extra time in the classroom 'practicing' - the students drummed along to some Kris Kross and Ramones songs on their laps.

Today, we officially started our Community Project. The students looked at the five different landscapes, and wrote down some of their observations on sticky notes. I asked them to think about what kinds of animals would live in each environment, what kinds of resources they saw, and what they thought the temperature would be. I was quite impressed by how seriously they took this task and how thoughtful their ideas were! I might even have to post some of them on See-Saw, so that all of you have a better idea of what this project looks like.

Our spelling quiz went well today - stayed tuned for next weeks words. And remember that tomorrow is a PD day!

Have a nice weekend,

Zac

Wednesday

Hi parents,

We had another good day today! All around it has just been an exceptionally good week for our class. Everyone is getting along, working hard, and staying relatively calm.

In the morning, we had our third One World Drumming session, and the students worked on their most complicated drum pattern yet. This time, half of the students were maintaining a steady beat, while the other half played something more intricate. It sounded pretty good I think, for a band comprised solely of drummers.

We had an in-depth discussion about bullying and Pink Shirt day today. The students and I shared personal experiences with bullying, and talked about the approaches we can take if we see it happening. We also talked about how just because someone says or does something that makes you feel upset, that doesn't make that person a bully - people make mistakes, and sometimes, that means unintentionally hurting another person's feelings. In situations like that, it's important to just talk things through and apologize. One of the most interesting conversations we had was about why people might bully others. I talked to the students about how often, bullies have been bullied in the past, and that's why they feel they can treat other people the way they were treated. It ended up being a 20 minute discussion, and it seemed like everyone in the class was listening pretty attentively - I hope I was able to give them some meaningful advice! Thankfully, at Lake Bonavista School, bullying is incredibly rare, and it's not typically something kids have to worry about. :)

One World Drumming Sharing 

There will be a sharing celebration for all students who have been participating in One World Drumming this week on Thursday February 27 at 1:00 pm:

• PM Kindergarten
• Rooms 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12 and 16

Parents and Guardians are welcome to attend. There will be limited seating available.  Each classes performance will be approximately 5 minutes long.

Thank you to the Lake Bonavista School Council for making this possible!

Because Friday is a PD Day, our Spelling Quiz will also be tomorrow!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday (Pink Shirt Day is tomorrow!)

Hi parents,

We had another great day today! Our One World Drumming session was a lot of fun once again, and the students learned the second 'note' of the drum scale. 

We talked a lot about Pink Shirt Day today too. The students created posters to encourage others not only to wear pink tomorrow, but also to always treat others with kindness and compassion. If you would like more information about Pink Shirt Day, you can find it here! https://www.pinkshirtday.ca/

We went to the Library today and I was happy to see that many of our overdue books made it back!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday

Hi parents,

We had an exceptionally good Monday today! One reason for this is that we had our first One World Drumming session. Today, the students met their instructor, and learned about the types of drums we will be using, which are called Djembe drums. They come from the rainforests of West Africa, and are a 'hand drum' rather than a finger drum. The students had an awesome time learning some basic drum patterns.

We also had Music class this morning, and a bit of time to work on our regular Monday work choices. This week in Math, we are working on addition and subtraction problems involving 'friendly' numbers. For example, any multiple of ten! I'm hoping that the students will start to see how easy it is to solve a problem like 10 + 7 once you think of 10 as a benchmark. But, even though the 'tricks' to solving these problems may seem quite obvious to adults, for students, this is something that doesn't t usually come naturally - it takes a lot of exposure to numbers, and ultimately, just a lot of practice!

Grade 2 students are working on similar types of problems, but involving numbers in the hundreds. For example, one of the tricky ones I've given them is "795 - 600 - 90 = ___". 

In the afternoon, we had Daily 5 and Gym, and then went to presentation that taught the students about eyes. We learned how to take care of our eyes, what the different parts of the eye are called, and how glasses can help people to see clearly. 

Library Books

This year, our class goes to the LBS library every Tuesday! Students are allowed to check out books if they have returned their book from the previous week. Please remind your child to bring back any books they have checked out tomorrow, so that they can make the most of their library time!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of Feb. 23)

Spelling List A (The Bossy e!)

Make	Bake	Take	Lake
Late	Date	Fate	Gate

Spelling List B

Dishes	Wishes	Watches	Misses
Brushes	Bushes	Rushes	Pushes

The "Bossy E" can be a difficult concept for many students to grasp at first, so for the next few weeks, List A will be dedicated to showcasing how adding an 'e' at the end of a word can change how a vowel sounds. I have found this video to be helpful in the past: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBP-AW29YDk

Good luck!

Zac

Friday

Hi parents,

Today was a pretty good day for our class all around. The students had time to catch up on any work from earlier in the week they hadn't completed, and I'm happy to report that just about everyone was able to complete everything! This might not seem like a huge accomplishment - after all, students are always expected to do their work - but in a Montessori classroom, getting everything complete can be very difficult for young students, because they are responsible for balancing multiple work choices over the course of the week rather than just doing stand-alone activities. I feel like this week, the class just seemed to be the most independent that they've been all year, and I'm proud of them for that.

The Spelling Quiz went well today, and after that, the students followed up on our discussion from yesterday about community helpers, by choosing one job, writing about why they feel it is important, and what would happen if nobody did that job.

We had our Class Dojo store today too!

Next week, our school will be working with "One World Drumming", to learn about the role that drumming plays in the music from cultures around the world. I'm pretty excited for that! 

Have a nice weekend,

Zac

Thursday

Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today!

In the morning, we had an excellent discussion about the 'helpers' in our communities. Basically, this refers to the doctors, firefighters, police officers, teachers, builders, etc. that help their community in a variety of ways. However, the students quickly realized that every job helps a community to thrive, and soon enough, we had brainstormed a giant list and had some good conversations about why each job is important. The students created their own lists of community helpers too, and drew pictures to accompany each idea.

In the afternoon, we had some quiet reading time, and watched a Bill Nye episode about the Sun. I recently bought the first season of Bill Nye on youtube so I'm pretty excited about it right now... I also feel like it's a great way to expand the students' horizons in terms of science. The curriculum for Grade 1/2 has specific things that we have to learn about, but I don't feel like the kids should have to wait until they're in Grade 5 to learn about something as important as the Sun! 

We spent the rest of our afternoon doing Work Period.

Remember that tomorrow is our Spelling Quiz, and it is also the Class Dojo Store. 

Have a nice evening,

Zac

Wednesday

Hi parents,

Today was a great day for our class! It was our Winter Walk day, and also the 100th day of School.

In the morning, we had a sharing circle and talked about things that we wish we could have 100 of. The students had some incredibly creative answers and I felt like I should share some of them, so here you go:

• "I wish I could have 100 tickets to Jojo Siwa so I could see her 100 times in concert."
• "I wish I could go on 100 adventures."
• "I wish I could have 100 fire safety activity books."
• "I wish I could files of math and science."

And that's just a small sample - everyone in the class had a unique idea!

We spent some time this morning painting the clay landscape ornaments that we made at the Leighton Arts Centre. Students who did not attend the field trip got to paint landscapes on paper instead. They all looked quite nice.

We had our school-wide "Winter Walk" this morning, in which the students trudged around the field while also enjoying the beautiful Winter day. I've been thinking it would be fun to try doing a miniature version of the Winter Walk each day, as a sort of 'body break'. I think the fresh air and exercise could be very healthy for the class, especially when energy levels are high.

We did another group-work activity today, to help the students develop skills such as working as a team, assigning roles, supporting their classmates, and communicating clearly. For this activity, I asked the students to draw 100 pineapples, as a group. For most groups, this meant that each student should draw about 25. I felt like this simple activity was actually a huge success for the class because it truly showcased how kind, responsible, and cooperative the students can be. I noticed that students who finished quickly would immediately move to help their group members who were still working. I also heard many words of encouragement being exchanged, and students politely asking group members to take on certain roles within the group.

I'm feeling very optimistic about our upcoming community project! It is going to require a ton of teamwork, but I think the students are up for the challenge.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday

Hi parents,

I hope everyone had a nice and relaxing Family Day long weekend!

We had quite a good day today all around - there were lots of moments when the class was almost eerily silent, as everyone was just completely focused on their work. I think the students appreciate the quietness as much as I do but sometimes it's just not feasible.

In the morning, the students wrote about 'family', in honor of family day. The students wrote about their parents, siblings, grandparents, and even pets, and described some of their favourite things to do with their favourite people. :) They also practiced spelling and went to the Library. 

In the afternoon, we had Daily 5, and then I read the class a book called "Where Do I Live?" This book was interesting because it showed the different 'layers' of where people live. For example, a person's house is within a neighborhood, within a city, within a province, within a country, and so on.... 

We're about to start a very cool project about how communities grow and develop over time. This project is going to involve a lot of collaborative group work, so today, we talked a lot about how to divide up tasks, resolve disagreements, and ensure everyone's voice is heard. I gave the students a fun, collaborative building task involving Lego, and they did an awesome job with it all around. :)

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words! (Week of Feb. 16)

Spelling List A

Tell	Bell	Well	Sell
Fell	Yell	Smell	Shell

Spelling List B

Rush	Wish	Push	Dish
Fish	Smash	Trash	Slash

Happy Family Day!

Tuesday

Hi parents, 

We had a good day today, but I don't have too much to write about it!

In the morning, the students wrote paragraphs about their experience at the Leighton Arts Centre. Students who did not get a chance to go yesterday wrote paragraphs about why being sick is no fun at all. I'm trying to help the students develop their ability to write cohesive paragraphs by giving them a few sentence starters to get them going. For example, today I asked them to start their sentences like this:

• At the Leighton Arts Centre, we...
• We also...
• The best part was...

The students also practiced their spelling words, because as I reminded them, their quiz is in about 17 hours. We went to the library, and ran around outside for Gym because we were too loud for the gymnasium.

In the afternoon, we had Music and Daily 5. The students also put together some Valentines bags for the 'party' tomorrow. :)

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday (Field Trip Day!)

Hi parents,

We had a great day at the Leighton Arts Centre today! 

This morning, the students learned about 'landscapes', and used clay to create their own landscape sculptures. They used a bunch of different tools to create unique textures in the clay. After that, we went for a walk to "Echo Hill", which has a breathtaking view of the mountains, and is an excellent place to create echoes.

We also got to take a tour of the Leighton house, which serves as an art museum as well as a piece of Alberta's history. Finally, the students did a weaving activity.

The students were not able to completely finish their art pieces today, but we'll be sure to finish them up as soon as we can in class. :)

Here are some important events coming up this week (they are actually all on Wednesday):

Room 6 Valentines Party - Feb. 12 (AM)

Students are encouraged to hand out valentines to their peers! We will be creating 'valentines bags' tomorrow in class. Please make sure to send enough valentines for everyone, if you choose to send them. I'll be sending out a class list (first names only) later tonight in case your child did not bring one home already.

Literacy Event! Feb. 12 (PM)

On Wednesday, February 12^th, 2020, students at Lake Bonavista School will be celebrating Family Literacy Day!

The theme for Family Literacy Day 2020 is “Let’s Read Together”. Students will gather together to participate in a whole-school literacy assembly in the afternoon, followed by an opportunity for families to come and read together in our school environment.  

Please join us on February 12^th, 2020 starting at 2:00pm and “Let’s Read Together”!

Family Dance Wednesday, February 12 @ 6:30 pm

Have you got your tickets to the Lake Bonavista School Family Dance? Purchase tickets online at: lakebonavista.yapsody.com  Tickets are available until February 11. Contact lbstreasurer1@gmail.com if you would like to buy tickets with cash or cheque.

Everyone loves the Cake Walk! Add a donation of a cake, cupcakes or cookies online, too.

What a busy Wednesday! Have a nice day,

Zac