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!

Friday, May 6

 Hi parents,

We had a great Friday today, and a great re-do of the Hats on for Mental Health Day.

In the morning, the students did their usual morning work, and then we had a long, meaningful discussion about mental health, and the power of positive thinking. We talked about how negative thoughts can easily snowball and create sad emotions, and how we can also focus on positive thoughts to improve our mood. We also talked about how emotions like sadness are not bad emotions, they're just emotions we need to watch out for and be extra aware of, because they can impact how we treat others and the decisions we make.

The students did a writing activity that compared their "Happy Mind" dialogue to their "Sad Mind" dialogue. We also did our spelling quiz.

Some exciting news - today,  we met our Kindergarten Buddies for the first time, and the general consensus is that it was a blast. I am so happy that our class is getting an opportunity to be the 'big buddies'. The students played social-skill board games to get to know each other, and then read books when they were finished. This was probably the highlight of the day for many students. They were asking over and over again when we could meet with our buddies again!

We ended our day with Spelling corrections, and by watching a Bill Nye episode on earthquakes. This episode connected a lot to our Rocks and Minerals unit as it talked a lot about magma and tectonic plates, and the way these contribute to the creation of rocks, as well as cause earthquakes.

I hope you have a wonderful Mothers' Day Weekend! 

Zac

Upcoming Dates: Jersey Day - Wednesday, May 11

Thursday, May 5

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today! The students were calm and responsible, which is exactly what I needed as this was my first time teaching a full day since Mrs. Fernandez started!

In the morning, the students finished working on a poetry writing task that they started yesterday.

We spent time outside exercising and doing mindfulness.

In the afternoon, we did Gymnastics, Daily 5, and rocks and minerals research. For this research task, the students were given five questions to answer, and then they worked in pairs using PebbleGo to answer them. They reviewed the different types of rocks, and learned examples of each. They also reviewed how each type of rock forms.

Tomorrow is our Hats On For Mental Health Day! It is also our spelling quiz :)

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, May 4

Hi parents,

Today was a good, but sad, day, as we said goodbye to Mrs. Fernandez. The students have been sneakily working all week on a surprise book for her, which has been so secret that I haven't even been able to post about it on the blog. Students chose whether to write a haiku about Mrs. Fernandez or to just write a paragraph about things they appreciated about her. The book turned out really nice. I'm so impressed by how much work the students put into it and how thoughtful their ideas were - it's easy to see what a positive impact Mrs. Fernandez had on our classroom. We will miss her very much!

 But that's not the only interesting thing we did today. We also got to finish our Starburst rock cycle experiment, which we started yesterday (sorry I didn't have time to make a blog entry!)

For this experiment, the students were given 8 pieces (we'll call them "sediments") of starburst candy. They applied pressure to mash them together into 'sedimentary rocks'. Then, using their hands, they applied heat, and more pressure, to turn their sedimentary rocks into metamorphic rocks. Finally, the metamorphic rocks were put into the microwave, and melted into starburst magma, which then cooled into the igneous starburst rocks that the students brought home today.

Students finished their pizza recipes, worked on a poetry writing task, and also had Music class.

Today was Hat's On For Mental Health day at LBS, and I completely dropped the ball and forgot to remind the class. So, this Friday, May 6, Room 4 will have our own Hat's On for Mental Health Day, so ensure we give this important day the time and attention it deserves. 

It was also Star Wars day and I forgot to remind them of that too. :(

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, May 2

 Hi parents,

We had a good Monday today but I don't have a whole lot to write - much of our day was spent catching up on work we started last week, and for those fortunate enough to have already completed last week's work, the reward was getting to work on this week's Monday work. Weekend Journals, Spelling Practice, the works.

We went to the library to exchange books, which is something we will be doing every Monday until the end of the year. Please help your children to remember to bring their books back! Bringing books home is a brand new thing for many of them because we weren't allowed to do it during the covid times.

The students worked on their Fraction Pizza projects. Today, they had to work cooperatively to actually create the pizzas, ensuring they divided them into equal pieces, and put the correct toppings on each piece. They're actually turning out pretty well so far - some of them are surprisingly appetizing. 

We ended our day with Music.

Have a nice night!

Zac