Tuesday, May 31

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today. Things have been really busy around LBS lately and will probably continue to be that way for the rest of the year, so apologies in advance if I miss any more Blog posts!

We received a shipment of caterpillars yesterday, as well as a net enclosure, because we will be raising (not sure if that's the right word) butterflies! This project connects perfectly to our science unit on small crawling and flying animals. 

The students have been working diligently to finish their Fairy Tales. Some students have already finished and are now typing their stories up with the seldom-used laptops. They're really excited about that. The stories are coming along quite nicely too.

Our Peace Train practice has also been coming along nicely, and our assembly will be on June 23. Fingers crossed we will be able to have parents watch in-person like the old days. I still need to look into that though.

We started to learn about Peru today. The students watched this video about Peru and took jot notes on their observations. They then wrote paragraphs about things they noticed, and wondered, about Peru. 

Can you believe we did all that and ended our day with Music class?

Tomorrow we are meeting with our Kindergarten buddies to do a classic science activity - the 'egg drop' challenge. Please send your child with materials that may be helpful for this task - tape, cardboard, glue, fabric, etc, would be great.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of May 29)

 Spelling List A                 (May 30 – June 3)

Under	Please	Of	His	Had
Said	Went	Him	Her	Some

 

Spelling List B                 (May 30 – June 3)

Hurt	Cut	Kind	Fall	Carry
Small	Own	Show	Watched	Said

 

Spelling List C       (May 30 – June 3)

Shouted	Surprised	Laugh	Vertices	Edges
Prism	Cylinder	Happily	Triangular	Polygon

 

More sight words, and some math /fairy tale vocabulary words for list C.

I hope everyone can spell 'said' - it'll save them a lot of time on story editing!

Thursday, May 26

 Hi parents,

I am happy to say we had an excellent day today. The students did some awesome work, got barely any noise reminders, and did such a fantastic job practicing Peace Train.

We wrote the "middles" of our fairy tales today, although since the middle is usually where all the action happens, it will take at least another day to finish them up. Students worked quietly and independently for 20+ minutes and were able to write quite a bit! Students who finished the writing portion early went on to draw nice colourful pictures. It's great to see the '3 tips for success' are being followed!

We continued our exploration of 3D shapes by learning about rectangular prisms. While very similar to cubes, there are some key differences that the students were able to identify, while also pointing out the similarities (faces, vertices, edges).

As I mentioned earlier, we practiced singing Peace Train all the way through, this time with Ms. Greenhall's class, and it sounded way better than I ever expected. Other teachers who happened to be passing by even commented that it sounded like "a children's choir". So if that's how we sound after 2 practices, I can't wait to hear it in a week! 5 - 10 minutes a day seems to be the perfect amount. 

But as nice as it is that we sound good, what really makes me happy is just how excited the kids are to be singing again. They're requesting to practice multiple times a day and they seem so happy the whole time. I love the enthusiasm. 

We ended our day with Music and a Fire Drill.

I will be away tomorrow and Mrs. Jemmott will be teaching the class! I'll post next week's spelling words later tonight because there will be no blog tomorrow.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, May 25

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today - there were still some moments of craziness, but I could tell that the students were trying a bit harder to focus and do their best work! Thank you for taking the time to talk with them at home yesterday and for all of your support. I know that summer is just around the corner and this is probably the hardest time of year for students to stay focused, but it'd be great if everyone could give it their all (at least until early June). 

This morning we tried to sing Peace Train for the first time, and honestly it sounded way better than I was expecting. Prior to this, all we'd done was listen to it while we worked, so it's great to see that the class has picked up on the melody so quickly!

We started to work on Fairy Tale / Story writing today. We just did the 'beginning' part. I find it is helpful to dedicate a certain amount of time to each part of the story as it helps with time management. Tomorrow we will be working on the middle. 

We talked about vertices, faces, and edges of 3-D shapes, and the class created cubes from paper nets. 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, May 24

 Hi parents,

We had an okay day today. The students worked on planning their own Fairy Tales, which we will be writing over the next week or so. Story writing is tough - many students want to incorporate all of their favourite movie characters, and have their story be full of endless action sequences, but sadly, this approach to story writing often leads to convoluted and confusing plot-lines and underdeveloped characters. Although I do feel like the Avengers movies somehow pull it off pretty well.

For our stories, we're trying to take popular fairy tales, and switch up some details to make an original story. We may spend some time reading 'fractured fairy tales' to get the ball rolling.

We practiced spelling, continued to paint Peace Train cars, and did some Montessori math with the golden beads, coloured bead bars, and stamp game.

I sent an email out a few minutes ago about the issues we've been having around socializing and silliness in the classroom. I am in the process of writing report cards and am looking closely at how the students are using their time in class.

Please take a moment to talk with your child and review these three simple ways to be successful in a Montessori classroom:

1.  Use all of your work time to make your work the best it can be. Adding more detail, editing for mistakes, and taking time to write neatly and thoughtfully are great ways to do this.
2.  Save socializing for recess, lunch, and snack time.
3.  Choose responsible places to sit at the carpet. Avoid sitting with people who are likely to distract you, even if it's more fun with them. 

Thank you and have a nice night!

Zac

Spelling Words! (Week of May 23)

 Spelling List A                 (May 23- 27)

Eat	Who	New	Must	Black
Was	Soon	Our	Ate	Say

 

Spelling List B                 (May 23- 27)

Bring	Drink	Only	Better	Was
Warm	Full	Done	Light	Pick

 

Spelling List C       (May 23 - 27)

Because	Through	Sign	People	Brought
Enough	Other	Listen	Answer	Though

I will not rest until everyone in room 4 is able to spell 'was'.

Good luck!

Thursday, May 20

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today! In the morning we had our spelling quiz, which did turn out to be quite difficult, but I think it went well overall considering how hard the words were.

We did a writing activity / lesson on "Sky, Grass, and Ground" letters, as I have noticed a lot of students aren't printing some of their letters properly. This is especially common with 'ground letters', which are supposed to hang below the line. I often see 'p' and 'g' written fully above the line. Usually this isn't really a big issue, but we are going to start learning cursive soon, and it seems like a good idea to review proper printing first.

The students brainstormed examples of words that featured all three types of letters. Then, they challenged themselves to find the longest word that involves only 'grass letters' - the longest ones we came up with were "unicorns" and "memories". Can you find a grass letter word with more than 8 letters?

We learned about polygons and quadrilaterals. The students did worksheets to show their understanding of each.

We did Daily LA and Gym, and read another chapter of Droon.

Stay tuned for next week's spelling words, and have a great long weekend!

Zac

Wednesday, May 18

 Hi parents,

We had another loud day today, and I'm disappointed because the endless socializing is having an impact on the work students are completing. With report cards right around the corner, it's extra important for students to be using their time effectively during the work period and saving the socialization for recess, snack, and explore and play! 

If you wouldn't mind having a chat with your child about times for work vs. times for chatting, that might really help. I feel like the students are generally pretty good about understanding their own role in the classroom, and acknowledging whether they've truly been giving it their best shot lately.  

We started painting our Peace Train artwork today, and this was hands down the best part of the day. The students did an amazing job - their work is looking even better than my "A+ Exemplars"!!

We also revisited the 2D shapes from yesterday. This time, the students chose a particularly unusual shape, and wrote about its sides and vertices. We also learned about the somewhat pretentious word 'somewhat', and the students wrote: "It looks somewhat like a ______" sentences.

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

Remember, there's a Spelling Quiz tomorrow! And it is a doozie.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, May 17

 Hi parents,

We had a loud day today. We had to interrupt our work flow on several occasions to practice 'mindfulness' because our volume was anywhere between "mall foodcourt" and "Slayer concert". That being said, it was still a pretty good day in terms of work.

We reviewed the Th, Ch, and Sh blends, using the Animated Literacy characters from last year. We brainstormed examples of words from each family. The 'Th' blend seems to be the trickiest, but it is also a really important one to be able to identify when reading and writing because it's used in so many common sight words. The, then, they, their, there, this.... etc. I'm a little nervous for this week's spelling quiz!

We reviewed 2-D shapes today in math. We also discussed the term 'vertices'. The students used the Montessori Geometric cabinet material to trace 2D shapes and label their vertices. There are a lot of 2D shapes we don't know the names of!

We watched a Magic School Bus episode about the Rock Cycle. It did an awesome job of explaining how rocks change from sedimentary to igneous to metamorphic (though not necessarily in that order!) and illustrated the process of erosion in a fun way using the superhero Weatherman.

In the afternoon, we practiced spelling, read Droon, and went to Gym.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, May 16

 Hi parents,

We had a nice Monday!

In the morning, the students wrote in their journals. We once again revisited the fairy tale themed apporach to writing, and I challenged the class to use a cliche ending for their journal writing ("and I lived happily ever after", etc.) We talked about how when we're writing stories, it's better to have a boring, predictable ending, than to have no ending at all. And often, we can use phrases like "happily ever after" or "once upon a time" as place holders until we replace them with something better in the editing phase.

We visited the library, as we do every Monday, and had a picnic outside. The Grade 2 students learned how to use the Stamp Game. It is a material that functions basically the same way as the golden beads, but is a bit more abstract as it uses 'stamps' to represent '1s', '10's', and '100's' instead of the actual corresponding quantities of beads. 

The Stamp Game is somewhat deceptively named, as it only a 'game' by Montessori standards which were established about 100 years ago, and so it is only slightly more fun than playing with a calculator. 

The Stamp Game

In the afternoon, we continued to work on our Peace Train art. We read the first chapter of The Secrets of Droon, and talked about onomatopeia words. We also practiced spelling.

Have a nice night!

Zac

Spelling Words! (Week of May 15)

  ​​Spelling List A                 (May 15- 19)

This	They	That	Both	Them
For	Saw	Well	Ran	Brown

 

Spelling List B                 (May 15- 19)

These	Those	Their	There	Though
Much	Keep	Try	Start	Ten

 

Spelling List C       (May 15 - 19)

Through	Month	Health	Third	Earth
Without	Thought	Sleuth	Rhythm	Youth

When the Teacher Assigns the Hardest Word Family on A Four-Day Week:

Friday the Thirteenth

Hi parents,

We had a great day today in spite of the date. 

In the morning, the students observed geodes in our sharing circle, and we also learned a bit about sulfur.

The spelling quiz went pretty well - the students did not have a chance to do their corrections, but they took the tests home, so feel free to encourage them to do those if you like.

We had Music and also started a new art project, that is going to be a huge part of our upcoming assembly (date TBD, but probably mid to late June). The students are designing train cars, that they will paint with watercolours. We'll put them all together and make a big train, and then use that for a stop motion animation. It'll be amazing. And I'm hoping that it will also be an in-person assembly that will allow for parents to come watch...? We'll see how it all pans out but I will certainly be sending more information out soon.

Have a nice weekend,

Zac

Thursday, May 12

 Hi parents,

Sorry to keep dropping the ball on blog updates! I will do better moving forward.

Today was a great day for our class.

In the morning, the students did a multi-step mini-research project on minerals, using the Gemstone / Mineral Index found here: https://kidsloverocks.com/educational-resources/gemstone-mineral-index/

They then wrote brief paragraphs about a mineral or gemstone of their choice, using a combination of poetic smilies and factual vocabulary to describe their selection. The students worked well together and spent a solid hour working on this task without getting distracted.

We've been learning how to skip from the Grade 4/5 students in Mrs. Mumford's class, and today, I'm happy to report that every student felt they'd made progress since we started earlier this week. That's what it's all about!

In math, we are revisiting Montessori materials like the Golden Beads and Coloured Bead Bars to do subtraction and addition. While these materials may not be an efficient as traditional algorithms, they do an amazing job of helping students understand the processes involved in traditional algorithms, so when they go back to using those, they'll have a new appreciation for them. I realize that Covid robbed many students of the opportunity to use certain Montessori materials in Grade 1 / 2 and I want to make sure they don't miss out.

We're starting to read the third Secrets of Droon book, which has made some students very excited and others not so much. This will be our last Droon book of the year and I encourage anyone who has really taken to the series to look at Value Village, Goodwill, and the public library to find more books! They are typically a perfect reading level for Grade 3 students.

Have a nice night!

Zac

Tuesday, May 10

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today. The Grade 4/5 students from Ms. Mumford's class showed our class how to skip, and even how to do some skipping tricks. They told us about the 2 minute Skip Challenge that is sweeping the LBS Nation.

We worked with the school's Rocks and Minerals kit. The students worked in groups to sort various mineral samples into groups, and identify igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. We learned about how to determine which rock is harder by scraping it against other rocks. We also watched a video about some very intriguing rock formations around the world.

We did two rounds of Daily 5 today because we missed out yesterday.

The Grade 2 students learned how to use the Golden Beads & Coloured Bead Bar materials to solve 2-digit addition and subtraction problems.

The Grade 3s learned how to use the Multiplication and Division Bead Boards to solve (you guessed it) multiplication and division problems.

Tomorrow is Jersey Day!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, May 9

 Hi parents,

We had a great Monday today! We spent a bit of time outside in the snow and also did the usual Monday work.

Students transformed their weekend journals into 'weekend fairy tales', by starting their entries with "Once upon a weekend, there lived a ______ named _______." They then wrote about their weekends in third person. We are starting our unit on Fairy Tales, so this was a fun way to celebrate that. 

Fairy Tales may seem predictable or cliche, but that is actually what makes studying them so important. For many students, fairy tales lay the foundations for creative writing, by incorporating tried-and-true plots, settings, and characters, as well as phrases like "once upon a time" and "happily ever after". 

Many students struggle with creative story writing, especially with creating cohesive plots and characters. Sticking to a Fairy Tale structure can help students successfully write their first stories, feel accomplished, and learn from the experience.

We also practiced spelling and visited the library for book exchange. If your child forgot to bring their book back today, that's okay - please send it later this week and we will try to arrange an additional library visit.

We ended our day with Music.

Remember that Wednesday, May 11, is Jersey Day!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of May 8)

 Spelling List A                 (May 8- 13)

Jumping	Singing	Listing	Hunting	Helping
Into	Good	Want	Too	Pretty

 

Spelling List B                 (May 8- 13)

Nothing	Knowing	Walking	Making	Taking
Never	Seven	Eight	Today	Myself

 

Spelling List C       (May 8 - 13)

Something	Building	During	Facing	Raging
Loving	Designing	Wrestling	Learning	Exciting

 

Challenging words this week on all three lists! Good luck!