Spelling Words! (Week of October 4)

 

Blogger is doing this really cool thing where it turns all tables into really blurry images. Hopefully you're still able to decipher the words for this week. They're all from the 'ot' family! I'm hoping this slightly different approach will help encourage students to try both lists. I'm trying to encourage Grade 1 students to challenge themselves to attempt some words from list B so I can see how they're doing with inventive spelling. 

Jack Hartmann Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2ZghKzfJE0

Alphablocks 'O': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MUJPxCJEuI

Friday, October 2

 Hi parents,

We had a fun day today due to the Class Dojo Store, and of course, the spelling quiz. 

In the morning, we watched a Canada Crew video about flowers in Canada. I was disappointed that the video didn't explicitly mention Alberta's provincial flower, so we talked about the wild rose after that.

The students watched a SciShow Kids Fall Compilation video that covered all sorts of science topics related to fall. You can watch it home too if you like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB2DiiAOpCg

Although the video covers a ton of information is a short time, we'll be looking into many of the topics covered in more detail over the course of October. Maybe we'll even do some pumpkin experiments, in spite of last year's fiasco... If your child was in my class they will probably know what I'm talking about. If not, you could sum it up with four words: "rotten pumpkin juice puddles".

The students received their Visual Journal Sketch Books, which are fancy versions of their regular sketchbooks. I'd like to use these books only for school work and not for casual drawing since they have really nice paper. Today, we used them to create "Fall Pages" on which the students wrote and drew all things Autumn. We talked about seasonal changes, fall attire, important events, etc.

We went outside in the field and looked for different kinds of leaves. I challenged the students to arrange leaves in order from lightest to darkest. We also had a "biggest leaf" challenge, and a "crunchiest leaf" challenge. We saw a garbage truck that was driving way too fast. The kids thought it was cool but it was a bit scary.

At the end of the day, we did the Class Dojo Store activity. Looking back, I should've definitely spent more time practicing subtraction with the class leading up to it. Still, it was a big hit. Everyone seemed so excited about their purchases. 

Alberta Health Services Disclaimer: Students were required to clean their hands before browsing the store (which is just my desk), they were adequately distanced while lining up, and all items in the store were thoroughly sanitized. 

This isn't really related to anything, but I want to say how incredibly proud I am of the students for their patience, positivity, and resilience during this unusual return to school. They have been doing an excellent job of following the Covid protocols while also being respectful and kind to one another, and trying their best on every work choice. I was nervous that students would be disappointed about having to come back to school, and resentful of all the new rules and expectations. I was prepared for a rough September because I thought it would take weeks for them to adjust to being back in school. But they're doing an amazing job. So parents - thank you for raising such great kids!

Have a nice weekend,

Zac

Thursday, October 1

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today, as I predicted we would in yesterday's blog. In the morning, we watched an episode of Canada Crew about the different kinds of food in Canada. A very broad topic to say the least. After the video, we talked about our own favourite restaurants, and did a class survey to determine which one was the most popular of all. Needless to say I was pretty pleased with the results although I do think Wendy's got robbed.

Today the students wrote "I am" statements in their journals. These statements had to be positive and strength focused. We had an awesome discussion about the qualities and skills that make each of us unique. I'm planning to get students to choose their favourite sentence to use as part of an upcoming art project - I'm really excited for it! If your child was not able to be here today, please feel free to help them write their own "I am" statements at home. But don't feel obligated to - I'll make sure they're caught up when they get back.

We went for our first neighbourhood walk today! It was very, very short, but the students were still so excited. We saw some willow trees along the way, which were interesting, and made the walk feel more like a field trip. We focused on safety, and the students took our talks very seriously. There was no silliness the entire way.

In math, we had our very first lesson on subtraction. I feel like it is easier for students to learn subtraction before addition because subtraction problems typically involve smaller, more familiar numbers. For example, if I asked a student to solve 10 - 8, they could simply hold up 10 fingers, and then put down 8 to find the answer. On the other hand, to solve 10 + 8 on fingers, a student would need to be comfortable with the idea of 'counting on', which is actually a lot more complicated to teach than it sounds. The other reason I like to teach subtraction first is because it comes in handy for our Class Dojo Store!

The Class Dojo store is an activity I typically do at the end of each month, where the students have an opportunity to spend their Class Dojo Points on fancy erasers, pencils, pencil grips, and anything else that seems like a good deal at the dollar store. I think the Dojo Store is a fantastic way to help kids develop basic money management skills. Since the items at the store are all different prices, students have to figure out their purchasing options. Should they buy several cheap items, or one more expensive one? Or, should they just save their points for the next time, so they can buy something that they currently can't afford?

At the Dojo Store, I ask the students three questions:

1. How many points do you have?

2. How many points are you spending?

3. How many will you have left?

Using the subtraction strategies we learned in class today, I'm hoping most students will be able to set up a subtraction equation that will help them determine the answers to each of these. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Tomorrow is also our spelling quiz! Students have built a lot of independence around practicing spelling, which in a Montessori classroom, is an excellent thing to have. It's gotten to the point where I usually have to just say "practice your spelling" and they'll take out their books and get started. Hopefully that means tomorrow's quiz will be our best one yet.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, September 30

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today although the afternoon was a bit rough. It gave us an opportunity to revisit our conversations from earlier about the type of place that school should be. The kids were very respectful and thoughtful during this discussion and I'm confident we can make sure tomorrow is a great day!

In the morning, we talked about Orange Shirt Day, of course. I was very impressed by how well the students were able to answer my questions about why we celebrate orange shirt day, what the term 'First Nations' means, and the difference between Calgary and Canada. I can tell many students had some great conversations with parents at home. :) 

We went outside for our nature walk, and I've got to say - it's amazing to see how much the students' perceptions of outside time has changed since the start of the year. When we started doing nature walks at the start of September, the kids couldn't wait to be done the 'learning' portion so they could play on the playground. But now, even after the lessons are done, I've noticed more and more kids choosing to stay in the field and look at pinecones, leaves, tree roots, birds.... It's awesome! What's even more exciting is that they've started asking more questions, and making predictions about the natural world without even being prompted. 

On our walk today, we talked about different words we can use to describe 'colours'. For instance, words like 'bright', 'dark', 'light', 'pale', 'dull'. According to the science curriculum, the main ones we are supposed to focus on in Grade 1/2 are 'light' and 'dark'. So if your child is already able to distinguish between 'dark red' and 'light red', they're off to an amazing start.

We did a word brainstorming activity that is connected to an upcoming assembly. The students were shown three pictures, and had to think of words that described each one. Tomorrow, we'll arrange the words in some kind of order, thus creating a poem. I'm hoping it will seem like a poem anyway.

The issues we encountered this afternoon were mostly caused by students not being kind to one another. It seemed to all happen during recess too - there was more "telling on" after today's recess than we had during the entire last week! As a class, we talked about ways that we would like to be treated, and ways that we would not like to be treated. It seemed like everyone was on the same page about what constitutes 'unkind' behaviour. I think often, students get caught up in the idea of 'fault' and lose sight of their own actions. If someone else initiates what they see as unkind behaviour, it seems to justify more unkindness. I think what happened today at recess is a very normal, and important part of being in school, and I hope the class can learn from it. 

Have a nice night!

Zac

Tuesday, September 29

Hi parents,

We had an awesome day today. The students seemed exceptionally focused and motivated throughout the day, and as a result, a lot of students did some of their best work of the year so far!

In the morning, we went outside for a nature walk in the field. Today we talked more about seasonal changes, roots, and directions. I'm hoping to take students on some walks off of the school grounds in a few days, depending on the weather. The people in Lake Bonavista have some amazing gardens in their front yards, and I thought it could be really interesting to see all the different plants. We won't go far, probably only about 100m from the school, but I thought I should let everyone know just in case you have any questions or concerns! As we start to explore beyond the school grounds, my focus will be a bit less about nature and more about safety. 

We talked more about Orange Shirt Day today, and I showed the class the Phylis Webstad video that I posted on the Blog yesterday. We had some great conversations afterwards. I was really impressed by the students during this discussion - they all seemed to understand that it was a serious topic, but also that it didn't need to be only sad. I hope that the students feel excited that, by learning about and participating in Orange Shirt Day, they can be part of a positive movement will help to ensure all children are treated with fairness and kindness at school. Here's the link to that video again, if you missed it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3vUqr01kAk

The students wrote lists in response to the writing prompt, "School should be..." I asked each student to write down five words that described how they felt school should be. Some examples could be "fun", "happy", "Peaceful", "accepting", etc.

Today was picture day! We spent about 20 minutes getting pictures taken. If your child was unable to attend school today, that's okay - I'm certain there will be retake opportunities later in the year!

Our Number Spotlight today was on 15. At the end of the day, the students drew their own orange shirts, and decorated them however they chose. After all, Orange Shirt day isn't just about wearing orange - it's about having the freedom to express yourself at school!

Tomorrow is Orange Shirt Day at LBS. I've encouraged students to wear orange if they can, but if not, to choose one of their favourite shirts and wear that instead.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, September 28 (Picture Day Tomorrow!)

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today! As the year progresses, you'll probably notice that my Monday blog posts get more and more repetitive. This is because we tend to do the same sorts of activities on Mondays. I feel like starting the week with familiar, comfortable tasks helps the students transition more easily from weekend-mode to school-mode.

Today was no exception. The students wrote in their journals about their weekends, learned and practiced their new spelling words, and did a 'Number Spotlight' on 14. 

We started to talk about Orange Shirt Day, which is coming up on Wednesday, September 30. Students are asked to wear orange shirts on Wednesday to celebrate Reconciliation and pay respect to the Indigenous peoples whose lives have been affected by Residential Schools. Reconciliation is a very big topic and I do not expect children to understand much of it at this point in their education. I also understand that going into too much detail about Residential Schools could be very upsetting for young children, so I try to focus more on discussing what school should be like, and explaining that many indigenous youth did not get to experience the same fun, comfortable, and safe kind of school that we are accustomed to. 

I think this video does a good job of summarizing Orange Shirt Day in a way that is appropriate for young children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3vUqr01kAk

Anyway - that was a bit of a tangent. When I said we started to talk about Orange Shirt Day, I mean we mostly just discussed what the terms 'indigenous' and 'First Nations' meant. We talked about how students' in our classroom have family trees that come from all kinds of different places around the world, like China, Russia, Japan, Germany, Korea, India... I explained to the class that that First Nations peoples of Canada come from families that ave always lived in Canada, even before it was called Canada. We watched this episode of Canada Crew again too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztodE6_6qb4

Tomorrow is Picture Day! 

Unfortunately, this year we are unable to get full class pictures taken, so this will just be for individual headshots. 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Virtual Open House!

 Here is the link to the LBS Open House Videos: 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLk-XgLH3ifaD_-8hLASlMBDcyAdNDod23

After watching some of the other teachers' videos I realize I did not go into much detail about areas of the school outside of the classroom... sorry about that! If you're interested in learning more about our school, I recommend watching Ms. Midgley's video.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at zalink@cbe.ab.ca. 

Enjoy!

Spelling Words (Week of Sep. 27)

 Spelling List A 

Cup	Pup	Up	Cut
Nut	But	Hut	Shut

 

Spelling List B

Rain	Main	Pain	Gain
Stain	Brain	Rainy	Spain

Here are the spelling words for this week. 

And here is the obligatory Jack Hartmann videos to accompany List A: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQE4EUpED6s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4SkjeWHATY (fre$h collab with Jan Richardson)

I've been having a hard time finding videos that do a good job explaining the spelling rules on List B, so I think I'll just explain that in class.

Good luck!

Thursday, September 24

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today! The Terry Fox Run was a big success. We ran from about 8:30 - 9:15. I think that's longer than usual but there didn't seem to be any complaints. :)

Before we started the run, we talked about why we were running. It's not about the number of laps, or how fast you go - it's about trying your best, just like Terry did.

When we got back inside, we had our second Spelling Quiz of the year. It went pretty well. Better than the first one for sure but many students still get mixed up about where to write the words. That's why this is such a good skill to learn in Grade 1! Nobody wants their first 'test' to be a provincial exam.

The students drew pictures of Terry Fox, and we brainstormed adjectives as a call that describe him. 

Today's Number Spotlight was on the number 13. These Number Spotlight worksheets are a really big hit for some reason. They are basically just 'Morning Math' sheets (which were hugely unpopular this year!) so I don't really understand the appeal, but the students are consistently doing excellent work using them, so I'm not going to question it. I'm trying to reinforce the idea that '13' is basically just ten and three. I'm hoping that will help students to build their understanding of place value.

For today's Nature Walk, we went to the front of the school and counted the number of different plant species we could see. We talked about the traits that make it easy to differentiate between different plants. For instance, leaf shape, size, colour, etc.

I sent the students home with two forms today. One of them is promoting our upcoming School Picture Day on Tuesday, September 29.

The other form is regarding Walking Distance Field Trips, which I'm hoping to do more of in the near future. Basically, we will walk to different parts of the neighborhood and explore. I will be sure to let you all know when we're planning to do our first walking field trip. I don't feel like the class is quite ready yet because we need to talk more about sidewalk safety.

Tomorrow is our Virtual Open House! I am putting together a video that talks about classroom routines, layout, work choices, and things like that. While it won't be the same interactive experience as the Open House usually is, I think it will be fun for parents and children to watch together. Hopefully the students can fill you in on anything I may have forgotten to include!

I will be making phone calls to any parents of students who are brand new to our school. However, I'd be more than happy to arrange phone calls with anyone else who is interested! Please let me know if you would like to set something up.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, September 23

 Hi parents,

Today was a pretty good day all around for our class, but there seemed to be more disagreements between students than usual. I think as students become more comfortable in the classroom, they start to push boundaries a bit more, and that's where the trouble starts. Today I spent a lot of time reinforcing the concept: "Treat others how you would like to be treated", and that seemed to help with most of the minor disputes.

We watched the same Terry Fox video that we watched on Monday this morning. It is really cool to see how much the students respect and admire Terry. Even though they'd already seen the video, they were completely captivated by it. 

Tomorrow is our Terry Fox run! Our class will be running around the field for about 30 minutes tomorrow at 8:30am. Please help your child choose appropriate footwear for running around a wet field! Some combination of rain boots and running shoes would be ideal, if such a thing exists...

For our nature walk this morning, we talked about the importance of tree bark. There is a tree at the edge of our school field that has split down the middle, and you can see all of its layers - it's really cool! I think the kids were surprised to learn that trees had layers.

We had a class discussion about heroes, both super and ordinary. The students drew pictures of a person they considered to be a hero.

In the afternoon, we had some Quiet Reading time, went to gym, and then talked about the letter 'u' using the Animated Literacy program. The character for the letter 'u' is named 'Uncle Upton'. He is an umpire who hangs upside down in a tree. I don't know why there is a tree in the middle of a baseball diamond.

Because Friday is a non-instructional day, tomorrow is our Spelling Quiz! Although we've only had time to practice twice in class, I think the students will have a better time with this one than last week's. Last minute practice at home can go a long way too!

Friday, September 25: Virtual Open House

Normally, we would have our regular Open House around this time of year, but unfortunately, due to Covid-19, we're forced to do it virtually instead. I am in the process of creating a video that will capture the essence of our classroom. I know it probably won't do it justice, but I hope you'll enjoy watching it with your child anyway! 

The Open House was a great opportunity for parents and teachers to meet in person, and for kids to show their parents around the school and classroom. I'm very disappointed that I won't have the chance to meet with any of you face to face this time. I would've even been okay with 'mask face to mask face' but I guess that is not an option either...

If you'd like to arrange a time for a phone call please let me know! I'd also be happy to talk via email if you have any questions, concerns, or would just like to say hi.

Sorry for the extra long blog post. I think they'll get shorter as the year goes on. 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, September 22

 Hi parents,

Once again today was a good day for Room 6. In the morning, we watched a Terry Fox music video which featured the song "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers. Here's the link if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbjlO7UOgeY 

After that, we went outside for our Nature Walk. This time we talked a lot about tree roots! We noticed the destruction caused by roots in the alley behind our school field. The students learned that tree roots help trees in two big ways - by absorbing water and nutrients, and by keeping the tree steady.

When we got back to class, we talked about the number 11. We skipped ahead in Number Blocks and watched the episode on 'eleven' because it does such a great job of showing how '11' is made up of a group of ten, and a group of one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpPs1XqknQc 

The class completed "Number Spotlight" worksheets for the number 11. These worksheets challenged them to identify the numbers that came before and after 11, as well as showing 11 using ten frames, tallies, etc. I am in the process of putting together some blank 'number spotlight' templates that I can upload to Google Classroom. Those will be helpful for anyone looking to get additional number practice at home.

We read the book "I'm Fun Too!" again, and then the students wrote sentences about things they like to do for fun. The sentences followed the format:

"______ is fun because...  ______ is not fun because..."

In the afternoon, we talked about the letter 'P'. We watched a cool Jack Hartmann video and practiced printing plenty of perfect P's. Here's the link to that video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14hXRz94jRQ

At the end of the day, we practiced Spelling Words.

I've noticed that there are more absent students lately and I hope that these Blog posts are helping everyone stay in the loop while they're at home. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask! 

Have a nice night!

Zac

Upcoming Events

Thursday, September 24: Terry Fox Run 

Friday, September 25: Virtual Open House