Happy Holidays!

 

Thursday, December 17

 Hi parents,

Today was a great conclusion to our 2020 school year! We did a lot of different holiday-themed activities today, but still also worked on patterns, spelling, and colouring. We watched "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" - the original. I was surprised by how many kids had never seen it! I'm glad I was able to share one of my favourite Christmas traditions with them. :)

Thank you all for your kindness and support over the last few months. It has been a challenging year, but I feel incredibly lucky to have such a funny, imaginative, and understanding group of students. I feel like we've already been through a lot, and learned so much together! 

I could write so much more but unfortunately I have to take off pretty quickly today. Stay tuned for more information about online learning, technology borrowing, and maybe even some more sentimental reflecting coming tomorrow.

Have a wonderful night!

Zac

Wednesday, December 16

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today! The students worked hard throughout the day and earned lots of Dojo Points. 

In the morning, the students responded to the writing prompt: "If I borrowed Santa's sleigh..." They did an awesome job with this task - I was surprised by how many drastically different responses I received. It turns out there are a lot of things to do with a magical sleigh. 

The students worked on pattern booklets for math. I will upload them to the Google Classroom for anyone who is interested in doing some extra pattern practice, or who may have missed today's lesson.

In the afternoon, the students made up their own nonsense words following the 'consonant, vowel, consonant' format. They then created "Word'e'mon" creatures to go with each word. The students had a lot of fun with this activity, and I really recommend giving it a try at home!

Tomorrow is our school-wide Festive Sweater Day! Students are encouraged to wear their most festive sweaters. If they don't have anything festive, they can wear their favourite instead. It is also our spelling quiz, and of course, our last school day of 2020!! Tomorrow, I will be sending home an important package containing information and resources relevant to our week on online learning from January 4 - 8.

Tomorrow is also our spelling quiz.

Have a nice night!

Zac

Tuesday, December 15

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today! 

In the morning, we did some work with patterns, and the students made body movement patterns that followed the forms 'AB', 'ABC', etc. This is a great way to practice math while also giving students a chance to get up and move - we'll probably continue with these pattern breaks even after we've moved on to new topics in math.

The students spent a lot of time this morning painting their salt dough creations. It was a messy process, but they turned out well. We also watched an episode of Wild Kratts that focused on how animals adapt to survive in winter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ONGfbgWhlc

The students also had Music in the morning.

In the afternoon, we did Daily 5, practiced spelling, cleaned out cubbies, and went to Gym. The students practiced spelling by writing and drawing their own definitions for the nonsense words.

Have a nice day,

Zac

Monday, December 14

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. The kids were a bit crazy at times, but it's the last week of school before Winter break, so I get it. 

In the morning, the class continued to work on their 'Identity Art', which we started on Friday. Most students are just about finished now, even the ones who were away last week. Students who finishes early got to write in their weekend journals. 

In math, we have started learning about patterns! Patterns are another topics, like shapes, that students don't always consider to be part of "math". However, they always tend to pick up the concepts fairly quickly.

Today, I introduced the class to the idea of 'Ab', 'AAB', 'ABC', and 'ABCD' patterns. These letters basically just refer to what elements are are in a pattern, and what order they go in. For example, the pattern, "red, blue green, red, blue, green" is an ABC pattern. There are a few awesome pattern videos that I use every year to teach pattern basics:

Jack Hartmann Pattern Pump:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoFhVdYsmPg

Banana Banana Meatball:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ9q4U2P3ig

Pattern Palace Number Blocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U__EFzinbA8

Those should be enough to get everyone started! Once kids know what patterns are, they can start finding them everywhere. They could be as simple as "Day, Night, Day, Night" or as complicated as our weekly schedules at school.

In the afternoon, we practiced our wacky spelling words, went to gym, and did Daily 5.

I also showed the students how to Make Salt Dough, for a mystery science project we're working on this week. The students got to use cookie cutters with the dough. Here's the recipe, if you're interested:

https://wholefully.com/make-salt-dough-ornaments/

Have a nice night!

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of Dec. 13)

 

What's going on with List A??  Could it be some elven mischief?

Actually, I've wanted to do a nonsense word spelling list for a while now, and I thought our last week of school would be a great opportunity to do so. Every year, I notice that many students are reluctant to write because they are afraid of making spelling mistakes, and as such, they deny themselves opportunities to practice letter sounds and 'inventive spelling'. The words on List A are an excellent way to help students understand how letters can be rearranged to spell anything, even words that don't exist - yet. I hope this will help kids realize that by knowing the alphabet, they have all the tools they need to write independently.

List B is just festive.

Why Nonsense Words are Worth Learning (for parents): https://www.simplykinder.com/nonsense-words/#:~:text=Nonsense%20words%20help%20build%20confidence,(even%20big%20dinosaur%20words.)

Sounding out Nonsense Words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sMLSdLVAPg

Jack Hartmann Alphabet Sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwxNBQnhRrM

Jack Hartmann (counting video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9bFRa8WMto

Friday, December 11

 Hi parents,

We had a good day today, which is nice because it was our last 'school Friday' of the year!

In the morning, the students did their spelling quizzes, and we went outside for a quick, chilly visit to the garden to check on our last egg shelter. 

When we got back to the classroom, the students continued to work on their Culture / Identity artwork. They wrote words and sentences on strips of paper and glued them onto the painted background, above the pictures of themselves. These sentences reflected their personal values, culture, and interests, and were mostly derived from the family culture interview sheets that were sent home a couple weeks ago. Students who did not return the forms still did a great job with this task - they wrote down things that they knew were important to their families.

For math, the students drew tables in their sketchbooks with the headings "EVEN" and "ODD". They were given sheets with a variety of 2-D shapes, and asked to sort these shapes based on whether they had an even or odd number of sides. They cut out the shapes and glued them into the appropriate columns. Here is a copy of the sheet, in case you want to try it at home.

We ended the day with Daily 5. The students also debunked the hilarious "Blue Baby" myth.

Have a nice weekend!

Zac

Thursday, December 10

 Hi parents,

We had a good day today! In the morning, we went outside to check on and retrieve our egg shelters from the garden. Today turned out to be "Judgement Day" for many eggs - the snow and cold weather proved to be too much for many of them, including 'Crazy Edgar', who had a giant crack in his shell.

The class approached the whole experiment with a positive, inquisitive mindset. Nobody seemed overly upset that their eggs or shelters had broken, and they all had plenty of ideas of what they would do differently next time. The class wrote reflections in their journals on the whole process, whether their shelter was successful or not, and what worked well for them.

We started working on the Identity Art / Social Studies Project that is connected to those purple sheets I sent home last week. The students glued pictures of themselves onto the backgrounds they painted two days ago. The next step is to add words and statements about their family, values, interests, culture, and background. We will begin working on that step tomorrow.

The students also had Music class this morning, and we read a book about different kinds of foods from around the world. Our letter of the day was "L".

Tomorrow is our Spelling Quiz - the second last quiz of 2020!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Also, here is an update on the Food Drive:

Dear Families,

You continue to surprise us with your generosity!  We had so many more food items brought to the school today. We did A LOT of counting!  Tomorrow is our last day for collections, so if you were planning on sending in any items please do! 

Keep your eye out for a total item count tomorrow, as well as news about if we reached our collection goal of 500 items.

The Students in Room 16 & 17

Wednesday, December 9

 Hi parents,

Today was a great day for the class! This morning, we went outside and built things with snow instead of doing Explore and Play. I don't think anyone had any objections to it. The students made some pretty amazing forts and snow people too! 

The students wrote in their journals about what they would do if they were suddenly given $100. This was a fun writing prompt that was very entertaining for me to read. The students perception of the value of money is quite hilarious. I couldn't break the news to them that in today's housing market, $100 won't quite get you a mansion. 

We went outside again to record more observations of the egg shelters. The snow definitely put the shelters to the test, and a lot of students noticed that the eggs got fairly wet despite being sheltered. Still, none of the eggs are cracked yet, so I think everyone is feeling pretty successful. 

In the afternoon, the students practiced their spelling words by using them in sentences. Writing sentences is, in my opinion, the ultimate form of spelling practice, because it also helps kids practice writing short, simple sentences. Often, when students complete writing tasks, they'll use one lengthy, run-on sentence, and then they have to go back and split it into smaller ones. Practicing writing short sentences is a good way to prevent this from happening.

We did the letter B for Animated Literacy, and met "Baby Barnaby". Due to some technical difficulties, I wasn't able to print out the colouring sheet for him, so I challenged the students to invent their own "B" character. They had some fantastic ideas - I was really impressed, especially considering it was the end of the day!

'Listening Club' had a few less members today than yesterday. I think the students are starting to focus a bit more on following expectations, and hopefully realizing that school can still be fun when they're following the rules and working hard. In fact it is probably more fun because the teacher is less grouchy.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, December 8

 Hi parents,

We had another crazy day today unfortunately, it was the opposite of yesterday!! I had a record breaking ten students walking with me at recess today... hopefully things get better because I do not enjoy spending so much time getting students in trouble.

We had a good morning today - the students had a lot of fun doing Music class outside and checking on their egg shelters. We also did a writing task in which the students reflected on a holiday memory of their choice. I encouraged the class to approach this writing task with the same "how can I make this better?" attitude that we worked on during yesterday's writing.

In the afternoon, we practiced spelling, did Daily 5, and did a Body Break in the classroom. Gym didn't work out today due to questionable listening skills. At the end of the day we did an art activity where students learned how to draw Rudolph. We also spent some time cleaning out cubbies.

In math, we are still focusing on 2-D shapes. I think the main things students need practice with is just the terminology, particularly the word 'vertices', which I'm trying to encourage students to use instead of corners. It makes it easier to translate into 3-D shapes.

We had a great talk at the end of the day about school, behaviour, and listening. It is clear to me that our class is full of kind, caring students who do not mean to be disruptive or disrespectful - they just really like playing. The key to ensuring things get better is knowing when to play, and when to listen.

Have a nice night!

Zac

Monday, December 7

 Hi parents,

I am so happy to report that we had a fantastic day today. After last week, I was ready for the worst, and I let the kids know first thing in the morning that I was going to be much more strict than usual - I wasn't going to let anything fly. To my great relief, the class was so well behaved that I never had to be. They worked harder throughout the day than they did for all of the last week, the silliness was minimal, and I don't think there was any 'tattling' whatsoever. I think we are off to a great start for this week, but I do plan to keep the bar extra high. After today, I am even more confident that the class can, and will, exceed my expectations. 

In the morning, I gave the students eggs to use for the Egg Shelter project. We went out into the garden and the class found good spots for their shelters. We'll check on the eggs each morning and write down observations. We have also included one shelter-less egg named Crazy Edgar to serve as a controlled variable. If Edgar gets frozen, cracked, or stolen by an animal, but the eggs in shelters do not, then we can assume that the shelters were effective.

Crazy Edgar, out in the open

Last week I noticed that a lot of students were rushing through their work, and when I tried to prompt them to go back and make it better, they didn't seem to know what I meant. So today, instead of Weekend Journals, we did a 'work enhancing' activity. For this activity, I gave the students 15 minutes to improve a very mediocre work sample, which was about Bears. Before the students got started, we talked about some of the ways we could improve work in general, such as correcting spelling errors, adding more ideas, colouring pictures, and adding details. Here is the work sample each student was asked to improve...

And here are some of the finished products!

And those are just the first few I picked up - everyone did an excellent job with this task and I am thrilled. It's the first time we've done something like this too - we'll have to do more in the future!

In math, the students did shape colouring sheets, where they had to identify shapes and colour them specific colours. In the afternoon, we did Daily 5, Spelling Practice, and some watercolour painting. The painting is part of our big culture and identity project.

Have a nice day!

Zac