Tuesday, November 30

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today!

In the morning, we talked about paragraph writing once again, and the students wrote paragraphs about food (it was inspired by an episode of Molly of Denali that we'd watched earlier). I'm going to try to ensure we have at least one paragraph writing task each week so that students can continue to familiarize themselves with 'expository writing', and they won't ever have to buy a Grammerly membership.

For today's paragraph, students used these sentence starters:

A __________ is a kind of _________.

It is...[what it looks like]

It comes from...

It does not...

Now you know all about ______.

It's a pretty simple format, but it's flexible and can be applied to many different topics besides just food.

The students got to spend a lot of time outside with Ms. Brown today, learning new games and going over expectations. We will be working with Ms. Brown for an hour, 2-3 times each week, and much of this time will be spent outside. As such, it is especially important for students to dress warmly, and to have boots and snow pants if possible for the snowy days.

In the afternoon, we had a wonderful Montessori work period where the students worked on all kinds of different things. After that, we did Daily 5, and then did rough versions of our Norval Morrisseau-inspired artwork. 

We ended the day with some skip-counting worksheets.

Here's a cool video abut counting by 3s:

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, November 29

 Hi parents,

It's good to be back at school! I hope you enjoyed looking through your child's work. It was great to talk at conferences. If you have not sent back your child's workbooks yet, please do so tomorrow! There are 5 Class Dojo points on the line.

In the morning, we looked at various art pieces by Norval Morrisseau, and make observations about the common themes that occurred in all of them. We noticed that Norval Morrisseau's artwork almost always includes bright colours, dark outlines, big eyes, and abstract / unrealistic shapes and colours. We practiced sketching a few animals in Morrisseau's style, just to get the feel for it. Tomorrow, the class will be doing rough sketches for their own Morrisseau-inspired artwork - it's going to be really cool.

The students also wrote in their journals, practiced spelling words, and did Morning Math.

We visited the library to exchange books.

In the afternoon, we had Daily 5, Gym, and Music.

It was a pretty typical Monday!

Have a nice evening,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of Nov. 28)

 Spelling List A

Gold	Cold	Told	Sold
Me	They	My	For

 

Spelling List B

Whole	Polar	Molar	Golem
Bolt	Scold	Troll	Stole

 

Spelling List C

Voltage	Control	Bologna	Swollen
Solution	Werewolf	Granola	Patrol

Good luck!

Helping a Classmate Through a Tough Time

Hello families,

A family in our classroom has been going through some very difficult times, and a 'Meal Train' has been organized to help them through this time. Please click here or see the link below for more information. If you are interested in contributing a meal, please sign up at the link. Another parent has volunteered to take care of the delivery portion.

Thank you for your support!

https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/go666l

Wednesday, November 24

 Hi parents,

Today was a cool day for our class because we got to visit the library / learning commons for a special activity, also known as a "peace provocation". Students got to use 'boom box' speakers listen to CDs from a variety of different music genres. The theme of the activity was "I feel peaceful when I listen to Music". I had a lot of fun watching the kids appreciate the technology, and even some of the music, that I grew up with. 

The students learned how to use patterns to draw dreamcatchers in their sketchbooks.

We also learned about Telling Time, which can be a really tricky concept to teach. It's hard for students to grasp that each number on the clock represents a different value depending on which hand is pointing at it. However, our recent practice with skip-counting by 5's undoubtedly came in handy today, and I feel like with a couple more lessons we'll all have it figured out.

In the afternoon we did some literacy activities and went to Gym and Music.

Tomorrow, I will be sending home some workbooks with students, as well as our Colour Monster activity. I hope that these will help you get a better idea of all the work we've done this year. Please remember to send the workbooks back to school next Monday! 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, November 23

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today all around. In the morning, we read the story "Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox". It's a good one. Especially for a class that has been obsessed with similes lately. 

The students wrote animal-themed similes about themselves too, following the format "Sometimes I feel like a [animal], because I am [adjective] and [adjective]. They had the option to write a paragraph focusing on one single animal they identify with, or to pick a few different ones.

We worked on multiplication some more. I feel like we're at the point where we've discussed a few solid strategies and when to use them, and now it's just a matter of practicing. 

In the afternoon we had Daily 5, worked on literacy activities, went to gym, and did a bit of preparation for conferences. Students looked through their workbooks and found tasks they were particularly proud of, and also identified personal learning goals.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, November 22

 Hi parents,

It was a pretty typical Monday for Room 4. We practiced and discussed our new spelling words, went to the library, worked on addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems, and the students wrote in their journals.

There were two writing challenges within journal writing today - first, to include a 'simile', and second, to include a question for me.

We worked on Daily 5 in the afternoon, went to Music, and spent some time enjoying the wonderful weather outside.

Conferences are this Thursday and Friday - if you have not booked a time yet, please do, and if you're having any trouble just send me an email. 

I will be sending home student workbooks in fancy envelopes at the end of the week, so that you can get a better idea of what we've been working on this year, and how your child has grown! I know that the students are really excited to share their work with you too. Please send the workbooks and envelope back to school after Conferences!

Also.....

Time to Shop!

Dear families,

It’s here! Our school’s Scholastic Virtual Book Fair has begun! Our very own shopping site will be open from Monday, November 22nd – Sunday, November 28th

Experience the joy of a Book Fair online by joining us at our Virtual Family Event! Make your favourite snacks, and come together as a family to view the fun, exciting and inspiring titles by clicking the link below:

https://virtualbookfairs.scholastic.ca/pages/5163640

Share this link with Grandparents, too! Extended family can participate in the Virtual Book Fair from the comfort of home.

Remember, all purchases benefit our school and earn Rewards that can be redeemed for books and Education Resources for our school’s classrooms and library.

Thank you for participating in our

Scholastic Virtual Book Fair!

Happy reading! 

 Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of Nov. 21)

 Spelling List A

Right	Night	Sight	Tight
Fight	Light	With	Went

 

Spelling List B

Bright	Fright	Flight	Slight
Knight	Tonight	Mighty	Alright

 

Spelling List C

Lightning	Sunlight	Eyesight	Midnight
Frighten	Twilight	Fortnight	Enlighten

Good luck!!

Friday, November 19

 Hi parents,

Today was an awesome way to end an exceptional week. The students completed the spelling quiz with confidence and clearly benefited from the extra practice. I guess there's no such thing as too much practice when it comes to spelling.

We completed our Colour Monster activities today, by combining yesterday's writing with a colourful illustration. The end result looked fantastic. I'll be sending them home next week in November conference envelopes as an example of 'assessed work'. But here are a few examples to give you an idea of how nice they look!

We went outside for gym / recess time, and did Daily 5 when we came back in. We also talked about how 'Noodles and Bowls' can easily be transformed into other fun multiplication strategies, such as 'Fries and Buckets', 'Fish in Lakes', 'Cookies and Chocolate Chips', 'Pizzas and Pepperonis', etc. I think this discussion and activity helped reinforce the idea that multiplication is essentially just groups of equivalent quantities. Hopefully this will also help them see multiplication in the world around them, because just like patterns, it's everywhere.

Stay tuned for next week's spelling words, and have a nice weekend,

Zac

Thursday, November 18

 Hi parents,

We had another good day today. In the morning, the students rewatched yesterday's video about Norval Morrisseau, and wrote quick notes about his life and artwork. 

We wrote good copies of the 'colour monster' writing that we started on Tuesday, and they look awesome! I'll be sending them home next week for conferences, as well as some work from other subject areas.

In honour of Pattern Day, we did a review activity about patterns to see how much the students remembered from last year. I'm hoping that this year, we can move away from the classic "red, blue, red, blue" types of patterns, and more into number patterns, and patterns in the real world. We talked about how patterns like Day and Night, the four seasons, animals life cycles, etc. govern our entire world! And without patterns, our lives would be absolute chaos.

In the afternoon, we did Daily 5, worked on some literacy activities, and ended our day with another Morrisseau-inspired art lesson.

Tomorrow is (finally) our official spelling quiz, and in spite of the additional time to practice, I'm worried the students might struggle. I feel like it was almost too much time with the same words. In any case, doing one extra practice at home tonight could be helpful!

Also, thank you to everyone who did the Blog Homework from yesterday! Taking the time to identify similes outside of school is a great way to help students see all the ways descriptive writing is present in the world around them.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, November 17

 Hi parents,

We had an awesome day today!

In the morning, the students had an extra long work period / explore and play block because of all the responsible choices they were making. Our classroom could've been in a Montessori ad. Students were working on floor puzzle of Canada, writing stories, writing detailed ideas for video games, creating artwork, doing bonus math problems, and more.

We revisited our challenging writing prompt from yesterday and had a lot more success. We spent more time discussing 'similes', and brainstormed examples of adjectives and nouns that could be used to create a simile. We talked about how some adjectives and nouns work well together (example: "It was as graceful as a ballerina), but that other combinations don't really make any sense. For example, if someone wrote, "The dog was as hungry as a school", that wouldn't really help anyone understand how hungry the dog really was. Even though the adjective and noun were used correctly, the sentence still doesn't make sense. 

In order to reinforce the importance of similes that make sense, students wrote 3 examples of good similes, and 3 non-examples. The non-examples were fun to write and quite entertaining to read. Students went back and revised their work from yesterday, and they're looking a lot better now.

BLOG HOMEWORK:

Today, we listened to the song "Cold as Ice" by Foreigner and talked about similes. Can you find and listen to another 'simile song' at home? Students will receive 2 bonus Class Dojo points if they can tell me another example of a simile song tomorrow in class.

We talked about the Noodles and Bowls strategy for solving multiplication problems. Students worked through a few problems to show that they understood it. Even though 'Noodles and Bowls' is a somewhat inefficient strategy,  I think it is a great starting point for multiplication as it creates a clear visual of the process. 

Tomorrow is PATTERN DAY at Lake Bonavista School!

Wear something with patterns! The more patterns the better.

Have a nice night,

Zac

PS: We still need about 11 containers before we start our drum project. If you finish any yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, etc, please clean out the container and send it in. :)

Tuesday, November 16, and Room 4 Lost & Found

 

Hi parents,

I found these items in various places around the classroom and I feel like they may have been forgotten. If you recognize any of them, please ask your child to take them home tomorrow!

We had a good day today, with many opportunities for students to build up resiliency and perseverance. Which is another way of saying we did some really challenging work.

In the morning, we read "The Colour Monster", which is a story about emotions. It's kind of like Inside Out. Students filled in planning sheets for their own 'colour monster' paragraph. They were challenged to use similes, like "When I feel happy, I am as _____________ as a ___________________". This was the part that turned out to be a big challenge, and many students had to go back over and over again to create similes that made sense. But I think it was a valuable learning experience!

We worked on skip-counting by 5's today and applied that skill to solve multiplication problems. 

In the afternoon, we learned about Norval Morrisseau, an Indigenous Canadian artist with a very unique and colourful style. The students tried to emulate his style through some sketching of their own. 

Thursday, Nov. 18, is Pattern Day at LBS.  Students are encouraged to wear clothing that has some kind of pattern. We'll be doing some pattern activities in math too.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Virtual Scholastic Book Fair

 SAVE THE DATE!

Dear families,

Our school’s Scholastic Virtual Book Fair will begin next week! Our very own shopping site will be open from Monday, November 22nd – Sunday, November 28th

Experience the joy of a Book Fair online by joining us at our Virtual Family Event! Make your favourite snacks, and come together as a family to view the fun, exciting and inspiring titles. A link will be sent out on Monday the 22^nd.

Share this link with Grandparents, too! Extended family can participate in the Virtual Book Fair from the comfort of home.

Remember, all purchases benefit our school and earn Rewards that can be redeemed for books and Education Resources for our school’s classrooms and library.

Thank you for participating in our

Scholastic Virtual Book Fair!

Happy reading! 

Monday, November 15

Hi parents,

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!

We had a good day back at school, but like most Mondays, I don't have much to report. This week there is even less than usual since we are continuing to work on the same spelling words.

In the morning, we exchanged books at the library, worked on journal writing, and did a multiplication / skip-counting worksheet. Grade 2 students learned about skip-counting by 10's, and multiplying by 10's, while Grade 3 students learned about skip-counting and multiplying by 4's.

There is a whole series of Scratch Garden videos that are really helpful for learning skip-counting, but at the end of the day, it all comes down to how much you practice. Hopefully these make practicing a bit more fun though (I'm not going to post them all here but they're all on Youtube).

In the afternoon we worked in Literacy Groups, went to Gym and Music, and did some mindfulness. 

Students received Flyers for our school's Book Fair, which is happening near the end of November. If you're not already overwhelmed with Scholastic promotions, please consider buying a book as a portion of the proceeds will go towards our school.

Have a nice day,

Zac

Wednesday, November 10

 Hi parents,

We had a good day today!

The students worked hard on Remembrance Day artwork, and on the good copies of their letters to veterans from yesterday. Here are some examples so you can see how well they turned out! The students also wrote 'Lest we forget' in cursive, which I guess was technically our first cursive writing lesson of the year - more of that soon!

The students also completed their 'In Flanders Fields' video, which I believe features everyone who was here this week and was a great team effort. I've added the video to the Google Classroom if anyone would like to see it.

Thank you to Ms. Burnham and Ms. Melindy's classes for putting together a wonderful Remembrance Day assembly. We really enjoyed watching it as a class and taking time to honour the veterans who fought for our freedom.

We did a practice spelling quiz today - the official quiz will be next Friday! I didn't think it would be fair to have a quiz at the end of a 3 day week.

On that note, remember that there is no school tomorrow or on Friday.

I hope you all have a nice Remembrance Day and a good weekend,

Zac

Tuesday, November 9

 Hi parents,

Today was a great day for our class and it really made me appreciate how cool it is to work in a Montessori classroom. The students worked hard on their assigned work throughout the day, but what really impressed me was how they chose to spend their free time. Students have been writing amazing, detailed stories, challenging themselves to learn / practice advanced math, creating colourful Remembrance Day artwork, making thank you cards for staff at the school, and more! A small group of students even organized a video of each student in our classroom reading from In Flanders Fields. 

In the morning, students wrote rough copies of letters to veterans. They gave thanks, asked questions, and expressed wonderings about life during and after WWI and WWII. 

We continued to work on multiplication today, and I introduced the students to the Noodles and Bowls Strategy, as well as the Skip-Counting strategy. Both of these strategies are fantastic when working with small numbers, and it's awesome to see how fast the students are picking up this new concept. It's way easier than 2-digit subtraction.

We practiced Spelling, had Music class, worked in literacy groups, and cleaned up.

Our Cohort is super close to having the highest number of food donations in the whole school! If you have any non-perishable food items you would like to give to the Veterans Food Drive, please send them tomorrow! Monetary donations for poppies are also welcomed. :)

Have a nice night!

Zac

Veteran's Food Drive Reminder

 Hello Families! 

 

So far, our food drive to support the Veterans Food Bank is off to a great start!  As of today we have collected 112 food items!  Our goal is to collect 500 items and we hope that you will continue to help us not only reach that goal, but make a positive difference in the lives of veterans.  Keep up the generosity LBS Community! 

 

Did you know that the food items that food banks are in need of are: 

 

• Canned Beans, Vegetables, and Meats (Fish or Chicken) 
• Cooking Oil 
• Crackers 
• Nuts 
• Spices 
• Granola Bars 
• Peanut Butter 
• Cereal 
• Soup, Chili and Stew 

Thank you! 

The Students in Action Club 

Monday, November 8

 Hi parents,

We had a good day today, a pretty typical Monday all around.

In the morning, students wrote about their weekends in their journals, we learned and practiced this week's spelling words, and went to the Library to exchange books.

We watched another great Remembrance Day commercial (see below). This one is really cool because it forces audiences to make inferences and predictions, rather than explicitly telling them what happened.

I have really enjoyed our commercial discussions! It's funny because usually ads are the bane of my existence, but in November they're kind of awesome.

In the afternoon we did Literacy activities, including Daily 5, Sentence Writing Practice, and Literacy Games.

We ended our day with an introduction to multiplication!! I feel like we've gotten our fill of addition and subtraction and its time to kick things up a notch. We will still continue to practice addition and subtraction problems as part of our daily Morning Math, but the focus of math lessons in the near future will be multiplication.

We'll be starting with 2's, 5's, and 10's, because students are already familiar with skip-counting by those numbers, and they can apply that skill when multiplying. The Number Blocks episode below is my favourite way to introduce it.

Have a nice night!

Zac

Poppy Fund Donations

Students will be given a poppy on November 10th while honoring Rememberance Day at school.  If you would like to send in a monotary donation to support the Poppy Fund that day, it would be greatly appreciated.  You can also show your support by donating online by following the link below: https://legion.ca/donations

Spelling Words! (Week of Nov. 7)

Spelling List A

Bird	Firm	Girl	Dirt
Our	After	Very	Just

 

Spelling List B

Third	Stir	Shirt	Birth
Smirk	First	Birch	Thirty

 

Spelling List C

Virtue	Mirage	Circle	Circus
Chirp	Circuit	Thirsty	Giraffe

On List A, you'll notice some words that don't fit the the '-ir' theme. I felt it was important to include some 'no-excuse' words that students use frequently in their writing, rather than delving into obscure '-ir' words that nobody knows the meaning of.

Good luck!