Tuesday, Feb. 16

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today - sort of a Tuesday that felt like a Monday.

The students met their new pre-service teacher, Ms. Rehill, which they were all quite excited about, and then we did our usual Monday jobs.

The students wrote about their long weekends, practiced spelling words, and reviewed the 'Th' letter blend. We read about the Thick, Thorny Thing, our Animated Literacy Character of the day.

Today the students had Music class too, which made it an especially fun way to start our week.

We started reading a new book series - Junie B. Jones! This series was one of my absolute favourites when I was younger and I hope the kids love it as much as I do. Ms. Rehill has graciously volunteered to read aloud to the class, and she did an excellent job.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, February 10

 Hi parents,

We had a great Valentines day today in spite of not being able to do things the usual way. Our "Secret Cupid" Valentines exchange actually went really well. Each student worked so hard on a card for one other person in the class. They wrote kind messages to each other and included colourful pictures too.

We read the story "Roses are Pink, Your Feet Stink", and then the students wrote their own Valentines poems. 

In the afternoon, the Valentines were distributed, and we had Film Studies class. Today we explored the classic film "Gnomeo and Juliet", the tragic tale of two star-crossed gnomes with different coloured hats who race lawnmowers. The soundtrack was exclusively Elton John which was a plus. 

Even though I had previously said that this week's spelling words would 'show no mercy', I decided against having the quiz today because we just haven't had enough time to practice. Also, next week is only 4 days, so it seems to make more sense to just have the quiz next Friday.

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Zac

This is not a good weekend for lying on the ground.

Tuesday, Feb. 9

 Hi parents,

We had a great morning and a tough afternoon today. I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with the fact that we've been unable to go outside for recess. 

In the morning, the students learned how to use rulers to measure. This is also a more challenging skill than you'd expect! Students often get mixed up and use the inches side of the ruler, or measure starting at the wrong end without noticing. I think we made some great progress today though!

The students also had Music class. With Valentines right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to get the students to write about 'love'. They wrote sentences using the prompts: "Love is..." and "Love isn't...". 

We read a Valentines Poem aloud as a class. We practiced spelling using hearts for o's. We did some very peaceful, very quiet reading. The end of the day was loud and a bit crazy. The students are struggling quite a bit with cleanups, which seems to be a recurring theme with my classes so I think I am at least partially responsible.

Tomorrow is our school "Valentines Day". Unfortunately, we are not allowed to do a traditional Valentines exchange because of Covid rules. I think the idea is that we want to avoid things being sent to and from school, in case those things have germs on them. Of course, the kids will still be going back and forth between home and school, so who knows.

In any case, we are still allowed to make Valentines at school and send them home, so the plan is to do a 'Secret Santa' (secret cupid?) type of Valentines Day tomorrow. It won't be our usual Valentines Day rager, but it will still be fun. :)

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, February 8

 Hi parents,

We had a good day today, although it was a very typical Monday. I have to get going pretty quickly so I'm just going to summarize what we did and hopefully that will help to prompt some discussions at home!

-Weekend Journals (Self explanatory)

-Fill in the Blanks Math.  (for example, _ + _ = 9.    _ + _ - 4 = 42) These problems give students an opportunity to be creative with math and see that there are many ways to reach an answer!

-Measurement Snakes (Students drew snakes that corresponded in length to various classroom objects)

-Spelling Practice (EMOJI O's. Students wrote their spelling words and turned the o's into emojis)

-Quiet Reading

-Gym (noodle tag)

We had to stay inside all day due to the freezing cold weather, and that took a bit of a toll on student morale. Grumpiness was up at least 30% in the afternoon, although the kids did do an excellent job working in the morning. We all miss Ms. Thaxter too.

Have a nice night!

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of Feb. 7)

 Spelling List A

 

Boo	Too	Moo	Food
Moon	Loop	Hoot	Noon

 

Spelling List B

 

Shoot	Swoop	Groom	Broom
Spook	Spoon	Gloom	Scoop

 

Spelling List C

 

Noodle	Baboon	Cocoon	Maroon
Moonlight	Scooter	Monsoon	Bassoon

 

It's a short week, but the spelling words know no mercy.

Alphablocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XozoxMjLmQ4

M-o-o-n, that spells moon

Friday, February 5

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today, but it was so sad to say goodbye to Ms. Thaxter at the end of the day.

Ms. Thaxter planned fun, educational stations for the students to engage in throughout the day, and they had a blast. There was an Uno station, a bracelet making station, a technology learning station, a building / kinetic sand station, and a guided drawing station. The students spent 15 minutes at each one.

We also played a math jeopardy game as a whole class, which challenged students to apply their addition, subtraction, and word problem skills to solve more than 25 problems!

At the end of the day, we the students presented Ms. Thaxter with a painting they collaborated on, and a book of 'reference letters'. We had lots of time for heartfelt goodbyes. It was a very emotional time. 

Unfortunately, in all the emotional chaos, we completely ran out of time for the spelling quiz. I'm sure the students were even more devastated about that.

Have a nice weekend,

Zac

Thursday, Feb. 4

 Hi parents, 

We had a great day today!

In the morning, the students learned about friendship after reading "The Rainbow Fish". We had an engaging class discussion where students talked about the qualities of a good friend, and the importance of having positive relationships in our lives.

The class continued working on their 'spirit animal' writing. Today, the responded to the prompt: "The animal I chose can teach me how to..." The students did some awesome work on this project and I'm really impressed with how they turned out! I'll take a picture once they're all up on the wall.

In the afternoon we had Music, and did a fun spelling practice activity in which the students had to extend their spelling words by adding some extra 'eeeeeee's'. The students had fun reading words like 'beeeeeeee' and 'feeeeeeeeeeel' out loud - it also really helped solidify their understanding of the 'ee' blend!

Our spelling quiz is tomorrow, and tomorrow is also Ms. Thaxter's last day. :(

The kids have been working on a mysterious special project to give her tomorrow, but if anyone would like to make an extra card at home, I'm sure she'd really appreciate it.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, Feb. 3

 Hi parents,

We had an okay day today! In the morning, the students learned more about the significance of animals in Indigenous stories and artwork. Each student coloured in an animal of their choice, cut it out, and mounted it on paper. The students are working on writing sentences to explain why the animal they chose is significant to them.

There has been a resurgence of unusually defiant behaviour this week, and today about half of the class ended up having to join the Listening Club at recess. It looks like we'll have to spend more time relearning classroom expectations again.

Also - since the start of the year, I have been reminding the students to wear their shoes in the classroom. I feel like this is something that comes up multiple times each day. They keep falling down on our classroom's slippery floor but they aren't learning from it. Today we had a practice fire drill and about 8 kids had to go out in the snow without shoes on. So if your child comes home with soaking wet feet, that is probably why!

We did a fun measurement activity today where the students used 'steps' to measure various distances around the school. They also used their hands, and 'cubits' to measure objects in our classroom.

Have a nice night!

Zac

Mindfulness Webinar (for parents!)

 

 

*This presentation is intended for an adult audience and will be about 1 hr long. We will also share a recording of the presentation for parents who are unable to attend. 

Amber will be hosting the meeting on Zoom: 

 https://zoom.us/j/95663706186?pwd=NzdJc3l2dnExQkZxK05aK0JrdGRsZz09

Tuesday, Feb. 2

 Hi parents,

Today was a good day for our class, although it's been pretty loud lately. We might need to do some lessons on 'quiet talking' as I've noticed students have this tendency to unknowingly yell throughout entire conversations. They would do very well in theatre.

We had Music this morning, and then the students did a really cool art project in which they made their own miniature totem poles! Students first learned a bit about the history and meaning of totem poles. They chose which animals to include in their own creations. Students were encouraged to choose animals that represented them in some way.

We practiced spelling words, did some quiet reading, worked on 'counting on' addition and subtraction, and did work period. 

Have a nice night!

Zac

Monday, Feb. 1

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today! We did typical Monday things like weekend journal writing, spelling practice, and Daily 5. 

We had an interesting discussion about 'symbolism', and how animals can represent different traits. Sometimes we can even learn from animals! Canada's indigenous people learned often took inspiration from animals in their traditional hunting methods, artwork, songs, and dance.

We spent a fair bit of time playing outside this morning on the big playground. A new student joined our class and I thought this would be a great way to help everyone get to know them! 

We practiced the new spelling words with "Bee Writing". Students drew pictures of bumblebees and then put the letters of the words in the bee's stripes. I was excited to see how many students chose to challenge themselves to try List C!

Have a nice night,

Zac