Tuesday, April 30

  Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. In the morning, we went to the Grade 1 / 2 assembly, which was all about water, and how to save it. I hope it inspired some kids in room 6 who are writing speeches on that same topic!

When we got back to the classroom, we did in fact work on those speeches. The students used sticky notes to add 'hooks', and 'personal stories' to their speeches, because we noticed that a lot of the Ted Talk Kids did that in their speeches. We discussed how telling the audience a 'personal story' is a good way of showing how you are invested in what you're talking about, rather than just reporting a bunch of second-hand information. We also discussed how starting as speech with an engaging hook can help ensure the audience stays with you and pays attention.

We went outside and made snow forts again. I can't believe how many great snow days we've had this year, it's seriously awesome. I do think snow fort building is the ultimate way to build teamwork, creativity, stamina, and strength, so I am determined to take advantage of every snow day we have.

In the afternoon, we learned about Peru, and also about division with remainders.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, April 29

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. In many ways it felt like a continuation of Friday, as the class kept working on their India posters, Speech rough drafts, fact families, and dialogue writing.

We did add some new work in math though. We laid down the groundwork for long division by going over how division problems can be written like this:

We learned how to read the problem (in this case, "six thousand two hundred fifty eight divided by eight") and where to put the quotient. We're not actually going to be doing anything this difficult, it was just the first example I found.

We went over this week's new spelling words, did Daily LA, and ended the day with more work period.

Please let me know if you'd like to volunteer for our field trips from June 3 - 7!! There are still tons of spots open. Ideally we'd have 3-5 volunteers each day. Right now we have 1-2 for each day.

Thank you and have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of April 28)

Spelling List A  (April 29 – May 3)

food	soon	bedroom	pool	tools
roof	cool	moody	foolish	tooth

 

Spelling List B (April 29 – May 3)

monsoon	gloomy	afternoon	broomstick	drooling
smoothly	choose	poorly	tattoo	balloon

 

Spelling List C (April 29 – May 3)

waterproof	toothbrush	classroom	boomerang	Saskatoon
kangaroo	soothing	mongoose	typhoon	raccoon

The theme this week is 'oo', where it sounds like 'ooh'. 

But a secondary theme is also compound words. 

Good luck!

Friday, April 26

 Hi parents,

We had an awesome catch-up day today. 

Aside from the spelling quiz, we didn't start anything new today. The students did an awesome job managing their time over the span of 3 hours of work period time, and the results speak for themselves. The India posters and speeches are looking fantastic. And a few students enjoyed the fact families work so much that they decided to do extra!

We were also busy doing wellness surveys throughout the day and unfortunately I did not have a chance to mark the spelling quizzes.

Thank you to everyone who expressed interest in volunteering for our field trips in June! And, to everyone who has already returned their Sound Kreation dance forms. 

Have a nice weekend,

Zac

Thursday, April 25

 Hi parents,

We had a busy day today. In the morning, we watched a couple more Kids Ted Talks, and discussed what the speakers did well, and what they could've done better. Then, the students started to write their own speeches, about one of the "5 R's". It was a bit of a struggle. We'll spend time revising tomorrow!

In the morning we also learned about the fact families of multiplication and division. For example:

6 x 4 = 24

4 x 6 = 24

24 / 6 = 4

24 / 4 = 6

The students had a bit of trouble with this too, and extra practice at home would probably be helpful!

In the afternoon we had Music and Daily LA, and then the class started working on posters to show their learning about India. I opted to do posters instead of travel journals, because we've had so many other writing-intensive tasks on the go lately and I felt we needed something a little different. I think it was a good call because the posters are actually looking really awesome so far, and I'm quite happy with the broad variety of information they've included. I was worried it'd just end up being 23 Taj Mahals.

Tomorrow is our spelling quiz. Have a nice night!

Zac

Wednesday, April 24

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. In the morning, we read two short stories about recycling and water reduction. We read about the adventure of an aluminum can, as it gets mined, transported, changed into a can, drank from, and then recycled into a baseball bat. It was interesting!

Next, we watched this video as an introduction to our next topic in literacy - public speaking and presentations. The students did an amazing job of noticing all of the things the speaker did well to engage the audience, including: 

-focusing on one topic

-speaking confidently

-asking rhetorical questions

-using props effectively

-moving arms and hands while speaking

I was actually super impressed by how much they caught. I was sure we'd have to watch the video at least a couple more times before they picked up on everything.

The students don't know this yet, but they're going to be writing and presenting their own speeches, on their choice from one of the "Five R's" we've learned so far. Their speeches won't be nearly as long as the examples we're watching in class, but will still ideally be engaging and persuasive, and probably cheesy too.

We continued working with the division bead boards and practicing basic division facts.

In the afternoon, we went outside with our Buddy Class for Buddy Kickball.

We had Music, and ended the day with some social studies and work period.

Have a nice night,

Zac 

Tuesday, April 23

 Hi parents,

Today we did some more work around dialogue writing - the students are doing great! Today's challenge was to create a conversation between two random characters from books, TV, etc. Think "Shrek has dinner with Batman." I had a great time reading these.

We continued working on division today in math, and the students learned how to use the Division Bead Board material.

In the afternoon, we learned more about India, practiced spelling, and did Daily LA.

Please send back your Sound Kreation Dance forms if you haven't already done so!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, April 22

 Hi parents,

Happy Earth Day! 

Today we spent a lot of time talking about ways we can have a positive impact on the earth, through the "5 R's" (they added two more):

Reduce

Reuse

Recycle

Repair

Repurpose

The students brainstormed ways that they could do each of these things - and they came up with pretty impressive lists! We also looked for ways that we already do these things in the classroom, such as using pencils until they're tiny, filling up every page in spelling / math books before getting a new one, keeping half the lights off, and reusing cubbies / chairs even when kids put stickers on them.

We're going to be focusing on how we can take care of the planet all week, so please continue the conversation at home!

Speaking of conversation, in writing, the students wrote about a conversation they had on the weekend. This gave them a chance to put their knowledge of quotation marks, adverbs, and more interesting words for 'said' to the test.

In math, we officially started to learn division, using these great Numberblocks videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_LxqBQ2jVs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf_5K15GqdE

And in the afternoon we also did Daily LA.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of April 21)

 Spelling List A (Adverbs!) (April 19 – 26)

badly	newly	only	lastly	weekly
really	simply	mostly	kindly	nicely

 

Spelling List B (Adverbs!) (April 19 – 26)

nearly	easily	majorly	slightly	vividly
timidly	rigidly	rapidly	angrily	utterly

 

Spelling List C (Adverbs!) (April 19 – 26)

urgently	scarcely	gingerly	promptly	covertly
gravely	carefully	foolishly	prudently	naturally

This week's words are meant to help with this week's writing!

Good luck!

Thursday, April 18

 Hi parents,

Today we continued on our quest to write better dialogue, by brainstorming "Other Ways To Say 'Said'".

Students looked through chapter books, or just used their imaginations to come up with words like "whispered", "yelled", "thundered", "mumbled", "growled", "squeaked", and more! 

Because there is no school tomorrow, we had our spelling quiz today, and unfortunately it was another rough one. I thought the words this week were easier (not list C) but I guess they were still pretty tough. 

In math, we did yet another Multiplication Check-In. I know we've done a lot lately. They're really helpful for me as its easy to see which students might need extra support. Sometimes with morning math, and our less-formal math tasks, students end up collaborating to find answers and its difficult to determine how much they can do fully independently. I haven't marked this one yet, but I did send home a couple from the last two weeks, in case anyone was confused by which one's which.

In the afternoon, we continued learning about India, and talked about the idea of culture. This was another great discussion that revealed that the students in Room 6 have wisdom beyond their years.

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

Zac

Wednesday, April 17

 Hi parents,

We had another good day today. In the morning we continued our work around 'dialogue', by revisiting the talk we had yesterday about adverbs. Today we discussed how adverbs are not only great at enhancing dialogue in writing, but also at enhancing any verb and making it more descriptive. We're in the process of compiling a list of adverbs, which, once it is completed, can be glued into everyone's writing books for easy access. Here's what we have so far: 

Aggressively

Anxiously

Badly

Bravely

Cautiously

Cheerfully

Cowardly

Creatively

Creepily

Deeply

Efficiently

Enthusiastically

Fastly

Finally

Futuristically

Gracefully

Gullibly

Hastily

Hauntingly

Hungrily

Importantly

Kindly

Mindedly

Mockingly

Nightmarishly

Noisily

Overcautiously

Peacefully

Physically

Proudly

Recently

Roughly

Safely

Scarcely

Senselessly

Slowly

Smoothly

In social studies, we continued learning about India, and turned our attention to the concept of Quality of Life. We spent a long time discussing this concept, and the factors that contribute to it. The students were quite insightful. We debated the importance of 'wants', and what 'really matters' in life, which led to some really interesting points.

In math, we relearned how to play the Math game "Dungeon Dice", which involves multiplication and division and is basically a simplified Dungeons and Dragons. 

We had Music, and more students gave their novel study presentations.

Since we don't have school on Friday, the spelling quiz will be tomorrow. Good luck!

Zac

Attendee panel closed

Tuesday, April 16

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. In the morning, we learned about writing dialogue, using quotation marks. We also talked about using adverbs to describe the way characters in a story deliver their dialogue.

Students wrote 5-6 sentences of their own hypothetical dialogue, using adverbs to spice things up. For example, 

"I've asked you to clean up your lego a hundred times," said the parent hopelessly.

In math we did some multiplication word problems. They went pretty well. We'll move on to division by next week I'm sure, but multiplication is one of those concepts that you can never fully move on from. We'll keep up the daily practice till the end of the year.

In Social Studies, we continued learning about India, and the class did more sketch-noting. Today we learned about the three seasons (Winter, Summer, and Monsoon), and also about a village in India that is the wettest place on earth. It was really interesting!

More students presented their novel studies. I'm so proud of them. 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, April 15

 Hi parents,

Today we started a new topic in social studies - communities and cultures around the world. We will be studying India, Peru, Tunisia, and Ukraine, and learning about the geography, language, traditions, food, and landmarks in each place. We will spend one week learning about each place, and then at the end of the week, students will write a 'travel journal' entry, as though they had visited there themselves. They will incorporate specific examples from their learning into their writing.

Today we looked at an overview of India, and then focused on the Taj Mahal, India's most famous landmark.

In math, we did 2-digit by 1-digit multiplication using the Golden Beads material. The class saw how regrouping in a multiplication problem is very similar to an addition problem - which makes sense, because multiplication is just repeated addition.

In the afternoon, we talked about the -oy word family, and the class practiced spelling.

We had Music, and ended our day with some Novel Study Presentations.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of April 14)

 Spelling List A (April 12 - 19)

joy	toys	boy	soy	coy
oyster	cowboy	enjoy	loyal	royal

 

Spelling List B (April 12 - 19)

annoy	decoy	ploy	enjoying	envoy
voyage	employed	destroy	loyalty	royalty

 

Spelling List C (April 12 - 19)

boycott	soybeans	buoyant	overjoyed	voyager
annoying	coyotes	gargoyle	clairvoyant	corduroy