Spelling Words: Week of Sept. 31

 Spelling List A (October 1 – 5)

Or	Fort	Sorting	Cord	Short
North	More	Cork	Orb	For

 

Spelling List B (October 1 – 5)

Force	Storm	Sorry	Order	Scorn
Glory	Shore	Vortex	Portal	Torch

 

Spelling List C (October 1 – 5)

Chord	Ivory	Sorrow	Mentor	Horror
Chorus	Flora	Orange	Formula	Gorgeous

A lot of interesting vocabulary words. I tried to pick ones that were unusual, but not too difficult to spell (except gorgeous), in the hopes that students will feel more confident using them in their writing. This might be a good week to take on the challenge of List C if you were on the fence about it.

Good luck!

Thursday, September 28 (Orange Shirt Day)

 Hi parents,

Orange shirt day was a big success in our classroom. We had some great discussions and the students showed so much empathy through their contributions.

We officially met with our Grade 1/2 buddy class! We worked on a Truth and Reconciliation Day art project, which now is on display between our two rooms.

We attended the school's Orange Shirt Day assembly, and sat in circle while we learned and listened.

In the afternoon, we finished our Canadian History pages, by talking about reconciliation, and modern day Canada.

We also had our spelling quiz. Our class has earned enough points for the month of September to earn a special prize - which will ideally be revealed on Monday!

Thank you all for reading the blog and helping to support all the work we do in class. I really appreciate it. :)

There is no school tomorrow - have a nice long weekend!

Zac

Wednesday, September 27

Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. The students continued to work on their "Canadian History" pages, as we learned about what happened that led to the establishment of Residential Schools. The students showed exceptional empathy during our class discussion. We read the book "When We Were Alone", which told the story of indigenous children who were able to find creative ways to continue practicing their culture and traditions in spite of attending schools that forbid it.

Remember that tomorrow is Orange Shirt Day! Please encourage your child to wear orange. If you do not have anything orange, a favourite shirt of a different colour will work too.

We continued to work on expanded form and place value in math. The students solved a variety of expanded form word problems, and then made their own.

Blog Homework: Complete the Word Problems. Show Your Work.

  

Along with being orange shirt day, tomorrow is also our spelling quiz on the -ing pattern. 

Have a nice night!

Zac

Tuesday, September 26

 Hi parents,

We had a good day today. In the morning, we did part one of four of our 'Canadian Indigenous History' lesson. We talked about what life was like for indigenous peoples in Canada before European settlers arrived. The students already knew a lot about the ways indigenous peoples lived off the land by hunting and gathering, built temporary, easily moveable shelters to follow Bison (at least in the Alberta region), and lived fairly sustainably. We also talked about how during this time, people in Europe were living very different lives, that were often driven by a desire to expand and progress. which ultimately led them to explore over seas and arrive in Canada.

I'm trying to provide students with a general, age-appropriate context of what the world was like a few hundred years ago. I'm a bit of a history nerd so it's been tough to condense everything and I have went off on quite a few unnecessary tangents. But the students were an excellent audience, and contributed a lot to our discussions as well, so I think we're off to a great start. The class has been working to capture their understanding with illustrations in their sketchbooks.

For math, the Grade 4s worked on a "grueling" numeracy assessment, which covered multiplication, division, fractions. number lines.... pretty much everything. It was quite tough!

The Grade 3s worked on a place value / expanded form activity.

In gym, we played "Plank Air Hockey". It was also grueling.

In the afternoon, we had Daily LA, and then practiced spelling words in a fun way by playing -ing word charades. Students were given an -ing word (lets say 'crying'), which they would act out, and then their group would have to guess it by writing it correctly on white boards.

Remember that orange shirt day is on Thursday - and have a nice night!

Zac

Monday, September 25

 Hi parents,

We started off our week on the right foot once again. In the morning, we did a quick weekend journal activity because time was short, but the class used the time they had especially wisely, and actually ended up doing work that was on par with our regular journal writing. 

We were in a bit of a rush today because we have a lot of content to cover this week in preparation for Truth and Reconciliation Day on Friday, as well as Orange Shirt Day on Thursday.

Today the students set up pages in their journals for the work we'll be starting tomorrow. 

We watched an episode of "Molly of Denali" which does a good job of introducing the concept of residential schools in a kid-appropriate way. 

In math, we talked about Place Value. We learned the Montessori colour-coding rules for place value, and the students discussed the patterns they noticed.

In the afternoon, the students went to music. We had Daily LA and more work period time. 

Have a nice night!

Zac

Also....

Spelling Words (Week of September 24)

 Spelling List A (September 24 – 29)

Ring	King	Sing	Thing	Sting
Going	Doing	Being	Lying	Bring

 

Spelling List B (September 24 - 29)

Living	Gaming	Eating	Moving	Finger
Fading	Saving	Single	Evening	Nothing

 

Spelling List C (September 24 - 29)

During	Mingle	Lodging	Ceiling	Viewing
Winning	Grueling	Stunning	Ginger	Pending

The theme this week is "-ing" words.

For List C, I tried to throw in some cool vocabulary words that students might not be familiar with. Spelling practice is also a great way to expand children's vocabulary. It'd be awesome to see words like 'grueling' show up in some journal entires.

Good luck!

Thursday, September 21

 Hi parents,

Today was an interesting day for our class, and a good one. Our walking field trip plan had to change last-minute, because when we arrived at Lake Wapta Park, we found a big crew of tree-removal vehicles and workers. This ended up being pretty cool to watch actually. A big thank you to Ms. Cooper for explaining the sketching activity over the sound of chainsaws and woodchippers, and students talking excitedly about chainsaws and woodchippers.

The crew later brought in a big bin of tree cookies from the trees that were cut down, and the students had an opportunity to look at them up close. It was really cool!

We did some work on rounding to the nearest thousand when we got back. 

We also did the spelling quiz.

In the afternoon, we did the annual "September Numeracy Assessment", which is a government assessment that we started doing a couple years back to see how covid had affected students' math abilities. I think it went really well. I haven't checked over them yet, but in general, students seemed to have a more positive attitude, as well as more stamina, compared to previous years.

We ended our day with a big classroom cleanup. We're excited for the Open House and BBQ!

I hope to see you soon!

Zac

Wednesday, September 20

 Hi parents,

We had another great day today.

In the morning, the students drew and painted their good copies for our 'zoomed in' Montessori Material artwork. It turned out fantastic! I wish I could post the full display but a bunch of students decided to sign their full names in massive text, which is awesome, but sadly also a privacy issue for Blog stuff.

In math, we talked about rounding to the nearest thousand, and the students did a few practice problems, but this is a topic we'll revisit. They're really getting the hang of rounding when we focus on one place value at a time. The challenge will be when they're faced with a variety of different rounding tasks at once.

In the afternoon, we did Daily LA, and the class went to Music. We talked about the Open House and Welcome Back BBQ, which are tomorrow after school. I hope to see you there!

Tomorrow is also exciting as we are going on a "walking field trip" to Lake Wapta Park. This park is right across from the school, but it still somehow feels kind of exotic. We are going from 9:45 - 11:00am. There was also a school messenger with more info.

Finally, tomorrow is our spelling quiz,  as it is the last school day of the week.

Have a nice night!

Zac

PS: If you're interested in ordering from the scholastic flyer, please place your order tonight! I am going to officially submit the orders tomorrow. Thank you!

Tuesday, September 19 (Terry Fox Run!)

 Hi parents,

We had another great day today!

In the morning, the students made Terry Fox Mini-Posters, that featured drawings of Terry, and motivational phrases. They turned out really well - I'm in the process of getting pictures of all of them.

We did a sketching activity, in which the students chose Montessori Materials, or even just components of the materials, and sketched them, on a macro, zoomed in level. So one single bead would take up almost an entire page.

I'm hoping this activity will be a fun way of helping the students familiarize themselves with the wide range of materials they can use to help with their work, or just to further their learning. There are so many cool ones.

In the afternoon, we had the Terry Fox Run and Assembly. Both were a blast. Our class ran a total of 110 laps.

We ended our day by watching "Hair Love", and amazing short film that is connected to the things we've learned about Terry Fox. Highly recommend, but you will probably cry. We also went to the Learning Commons and reviewed how book check-outs will work this year when they start back up.

Have a nice night!

Zac

Monday, September 18

 Hi parents,

We had an awesome Monday today.

In the morning, we watched a video about Terry Fox, and then the students wrote in their journals about him. The options were:

"Terry Fox is a hero because..."

"Dear Terry, [write a letter]"

"My thoughts on Terry Fox"

Students were also allowed to come up with their own writing prompt that was related to Terry Fox, and some of them decided to write poems.

In math, we revisited rounding to the nearest hundred, and used 'rounding hopscotch' to help students practice. Hopscotch is underrated for counting. I can't believe it took me this long to realize. It'd be a great way to practice counting by 7's too, when we get there.

We also practiced the new spelling words, had Music and gym, and learned about some of the Montessori materials in our classroom.

Terry Fox Run - Tomorrow!

Lake Bonavista School is proud to be participating in the Terry Fox School Run. Please join us and continue the legacy of one of our greatest Canadian heroes. Donate at: https://schools.terryfox.ca/LakeBonavista Thank you for joining us in the fight against cancer! #terryfoxschoolrun @theterryfoxfoundation 

  

Have a nice night,

Zac