Week of October 23rd

VISIT TO THE LIBRARY

The weather man was wrong (or maybe I just don't know how to read the weather!) and we ended up having a beautiful walk to the library! Along the way students had fun looking at the different Halloween decorations around the neighbourhood. Mrs. Jong read the students some Halloween books and then showed a Mickey Mouse Ghost movie.

MATH

Each day the Special Helper comes up with a question for the daily survey. On Thursday, the results were very interesting to the class. They could not believe how many friends picked chocolate over vanilla! Looks like we have a lot of chocolate lovers in our class!

Another Daily Survey that excited the class was on Friday. It was the first time that we had the same amount of results for both choices.

This week, students had the chance to try out a new Math Centre and develop different math concepts.

LITERACY

The Letter of the week was Pp.
Some of the words we brainstormed that begin with the letter Pp were:
- pumpkin
- pirate
- popsicle
- party
- popcorn

The Jolly Phonics song is:
Puff out the candles on the pink pig cake,
/p/ /p/ /p/,
/p/ /p/ /p/.
Puff out the candles on the pink pig cake,
Puff, puff, puff


To form the uppercase P:
- Start at the top
- Big line down
- Jump to the top
- Little curve

To form the lowercase p:
- Start at the top
- Dive down
- Swim up and around

BOOK MAKING

Many students have shown an interest in writing. This week we set out some blank books for students to write and draw in. Students picked a variety of topics to write about such as Fall, dragons, their family and dinosaurs.

Emotions, Moods and Feelings

Over the past few weeks, the class has been reading books about our emotions, moods, and feelings. We have had whole group and small group discussions about how we are all have similarities and differences. Each of us bring many special things to our classroom environment event though we don't all like the same things. We talked about how we feel on different days and how we can manage our emotions in positive ways. One of the Learning Centre choices this week was a Loose Parts Play activity. Students used a variety of Loose Parts and mirrors to represent themselves and show different emotions, moods and feelings they experience.

How do you feel today?

Happy face

Mad face

Happy face

Ninja face! 

TRINKET

Sue came for a visit with Trinket on Thursday. The students have enjoyed getting to know Trinket and really look forward to when it is their turn to read with her!

Week of October 16th

This week in Literacy

The letter of the week was I/i. Student's practiced printing uppercase and lowercase letters.

Students followed these steps to create the uppercase I:
Start at the top
Big line down
Jump to the top
Little line across
Jump to the bottom
Little line across


Students followed these steps to create the lowercase i:
Start at the top
Dive down
Bump the line
Jump to the top
And add a dot

The Jolly Phonics song for I/i is:

Inky the mouse is my pet,
He spilled the ink and got wet,
The ink it spread all over the desk,
/i/ /i/ /i/ /i/
Inky's wet!


Journal Writing

Everyone's writing is already starting to improve! Student's are being encourage to to use finger spaces and punctuation.

This week in Math

Student's are now experts in their first Math Centre and will be exploring a new centre next week. During Math Centre's this week, student's took on the role as teacher and explained how their centre worked.


How many different ways can you represent the number you rolled on the dice? 

How can you sort these fall Loose Parts?

Sorting by colour.

Sorting by shape/object.

This week at the Creative Corner

Student's explored the shapes, patterns, textures and colours in sunflowers this. Students first drew in pencil, then traced over with a black permanent marker and finally added colour using water colour paint.

Week of October 10th

Even though this week was short, we had a very busy week in Room 7. We had Reading Buddies, a visit to the Leaside Library, a visit from Trinket, some great focus during Journal Writing and some exciting Math Centres. 

MATH CENTRES

Over the next few weeks, students will have the opportunity to explore 5 different math centres. Students will visit the same Math Centre multiple times before moving on to the next centre. This will ensure that they have concretely mastered the learning skill at each centre. 

1. Representing their family using Ten Frames and exploring numbers in different ways.

2. Exploring with Loose Parts.

3. Representing number 1-20 using playdough and jewels.

4. Fill the Ten Frames Game.

5. Ten Frames Race. 

The first time students visited this centre, they were asked an open ended question, 

"What can you do with these Loose Parts and mats?"

The second time this group visited the centre, they were asked the question,

"How might you sort these Loose Parts using your mat?"

Using number cards, number stampers, playdough and jewels, 

students represented numbers from 1-20.

 Students drew the people in their family and then represented the number of people on a ten frame with dots.

Using a pencil and paper clip as a spinner, students played in partners to see who could colour all their numbers first, according to the ten frame they landed on.

Exploring with numbers

Visit to the Library

On Thursday we walked to the Leaside Library, and thankfully we didn't get caught in any rain! All three classes listened to 4 stories about libraries and books. They enjoyed predicting different rhyming words.

Literacy

This week we had 2 sessions of Journal Writing. 

Students have been introduced to a 3 step writing process:

1. Think - Silently take a few minutes to think about what you want to write about

2. Share - Share with the class or a friend what you will write about

3. Write - Independently write words or beginning letter sounds that match your picture

The letter of the week was Tt. Students practiced printing uppercase and lower case Tt's and also learned the Jolly Phonics song.

When I watch the tennis game,

/t/ /t/ /t/

/t/ /t/ /t/ 

When I watch the tennis game,

My head goes back and forth.

We discovered that the upper case T and lower case t look different, but we use the same steps to form them. "Big line down, little line across". We also took the time to remember when forming ALL letters, we start at the top!