Wednesday, 28 February 2018

February 28th

Happy Last Day of February!

We started off the day by finishing up our 2's and 4's time tables work from yesterday...Then we read a few chapters of Holes and had some independent/guided reading time.

Period 2 we practise using those quotation marks again, I think most kids get it!  Then we had some time to write.

Period 3 we had some technical issues logging onto www.pixton.com, but I think we sorted it out by the end.  I was hoping to have them re-create their favourite scene from Holes.  I encourage them to try it at home if there is time.

Period 4 Mrs. Smith is teaching Health.

Period 5 Mrs. Djonovich is teaching them music.
Period 6 I'm going to show the kids one of the new 'tech tools' Mrs. Wigle bought the school.  I'm just learning the program myself, but I think the kids will be excited by it.  Here is a video of Sphero  .   I just need to figure out what I'm doing, and we need to get some of the hardware and software sorted out and set up...It will be a lot of fun (and educational) when it's all ready to go.


Tuesday, 27 February 2018

February 27th

So it's Tuesday again, which means the only time I have to 'blog' is 2nd period...

Here is how today unfolds...(at least in my mind).

Period 1 - we finally finished our Winter Sport art for Red Light.  We read 2 chapters of Holes.  Then the kids had 20 minutes to either read or write.

Period 2 -Mrs. Smith is teaching Social Studies.

Period 3 I'm hoping to begin teaching the kids the times tables....starting with 2's (doubles) and the 4's (double-double).   We'll practise on these sheets:
2’s and 4’s


Then Periods 4 - 6 we'll be participating in our panther packs for 'Olympic Spirit Day', and the kids will be participating in a variety of 'winter Olympic sports'...like the one I'm running, Speed Skating. 
It should be fun!

Monday, 26 February 2018

February 26th

Happy Monday everyone.

Quick Note - Report Cards are coming home tonight.  Please sign and return page 3 as well as the envelope!

A pretty good day thus far.

Period 1 we had our weekend round up, as well as a special viewing of Marcus' newest movie trailer.  Then we had some independent reading
Period 2 we watched a quick video on using quotation marks and played this game:
https://www.quia.com/rr/335442.html -
The kids had a blast and we 'won, a million dollars'.

Period 3 we quickly revisited the multiplication chart before Library. Then we had library.
Period 4 Mrs. Chamberlain was in for Mrs. Smith today to do Health.

Period 5 we have the computers, and we're going to answer a few questions on Google classroom about the book Holes.
Period 6 is dedicated to finishing up our Winter Sport Art and having a circle to discuss report cards and goal setting.

Friday, 23 February 2018

Friday February 23rd

Another Friday, another rushed post!

Period 1 we actually did some art to start the day.  We needed to paint the background to our winter scene in order to give it time to dry.
Period 2 we had reader's/writer's workshop - kids choice (we all finished at different times).

Period 3 we have the computers.  I'm hoping we finish our Olympic posters.
Period 4 we have gym.

Period 5 we're going to look closely at the multiplication table, how to use it, and for patterns.  Hopefully we'll have some time for some multiplication bingo.
Period 6 we're going to add the foreground to our Winter Sports art we started at the beginning of the day.

Have great weekends!

Thursday, 22 February 2018

February 22nd

Another good day, almost done.

Period 1 we practised some more 1-point perspective art for RED light.  Then we read aloud and had some independent/guided reading.
Period 2 we wrote, some kids tried writing letters to olympians.

Period 3 had gym, played some fun scooter hockey/handball games.
Period 4 we listened to some Canadian Olympians live chat about their experience in Korea, and growing up. 
https://www.classroomchampions.org/teamcanadachampionchats/
After the 'chat' we finished up our math problem from yesterday (Mr. McDonald's desk problem)

Period 5 Mrs. Smith was teaching health (I believe)
Period 6 we're going to finish up a chapter from Holes and do another 1-point city scape.

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

February 21st

Since it's a Friday Schedule...it means I have no preps...which means very little time to write the blog.

Here is how I'm hoping today goes.

Period 1 Red Light - practise our 1-point perspective art from yesterday.
Read Aloud - Wolf Island and Respond
Independent Reading
Period 2 - writing
-using prompts to help up generate ideas

Period 3 computers - finish posters, develop success criteria / prodigy after that
Period 4 gym.

Period 5 A quick Drama game, where we have to guess the perspective of each other, without words.  Then we'll continue to work on the math question from yesterday.
Period 6 we'll look at a couple of cool pictures and videos, and attempt our own 1-point perspective artwork.
perspective city skyline
video

Tuesday, 20 February 2018

February 20th

Happy Tuesday....which is actually a Monday schedule...and tomorrow is a Wednesday, but really a Friday Schedule....I'm confused.

Anyway, we had a good day after the extra long weekend.

Period 1 we had our weekend round up (and olympic updates).  Then we had a bit of time for some independent reading.
Period 2 we talked about all the strategies we know to help us write.  Then we wrote.

Period 3 we had discussed a problem to get us thinking about multiplication...here is the problem...

Mr. MacDonald has 24 desks in his classroom. He would like to arrange them into rows of equal length. What are the possible ways he could arrange the desks? Show your work.
...we'll continue working on it tomorrow.
Period 4 Mrs. Smith taught Science.

Period 5 (now) the kids surprised me with a lovely card, song and crown for my birthday.  The they are creating Olympic posters using Google Drawings in partners.

Period 6 I"m hoping to finish up some math...and possibly start some art...


Thursday, 15 February 2018

February 15th...

I'm going to try and blog before school.  I apologize, this is a very busy time of the year between meetings and report cards.

Period one we're going to try this difficult Problem of the Week question.   I don't expect most kids to be able to solve this...I just think there is value in going through the process...perhaps you could try it at home and figure it out together.  I'm really pushing perseverance!
Then we'll do some more read aloud and then some independent/guided reading.

Period 2 is devoted to writing.  We'll be looking a little closer at paragraphs using the hamburger model.

Period's 3 and 4 we're getting into our Panther Packs to work on some goal setting/wellness.

Periods 5 Mrs. Smith is teaching Social Studies.
Period 6 we'll be finishing any unfinished work before the long weekend...maybe even have a little free time!

***Remember - Tomorrow is a PD day and Monday is Family Day...Enjoy your long weekends...see everyone on Tuesday!


Wednesday, 14 February 2018

February 14th

A crazy happy Valentines day to everyone.

Here is what we've done so far.

Period 1 we did a Valentines themed red light activity.  Then we read aloud some of our class novel, Holes.  Then the kids had some time to read independently.  We had a long conversations about what 'effective partner reading' looks like.  We also talked about using the computers as a tool to help us read (not just play around).
Period 2 we reflected on our awesome Writer's Workshop so far this year.  I shared with the class some of the work I'll be sharing with the staff at our PD session on Friday.  Then we wrote.

Period 3 we had the computers, and we continued to work on our google classroom paragraphs.
Period 4 Mrs. Smith is teaching science.

Period 5 Mrs. Djonovich is teaching music.
Period 6 we'll hand out our Valentines (if we brought them and celebrate with an Alvin and the Chipmunks Valentines video.

Tuesday, 13 February 2018

Feb. 13th

Sorry folks...need to do a super short post today...I'm in meetings for much of the day.

Period 1 -Red Light we made up 3D problems (e.g., I have 5 faces, 9 edges, 6 vertices...who am I?).  Then we did some read aloud.  Then we did some writing, focusing on writing paragraphs.
Period 2 -Mrs. Smith taught Social Studies.

Period 3 we had library.
Period 4 we looked a little closer at nets.

Period 5 and 6 we have the computers.  We're going to do a writing activity on google classroom and some questions on prodigy.

Monday, 12 February 2018

February 12th

About half way through another good day.

Our red light activity today was to name as many winter olympic sports as we could, I was pretty impressed.

Then we had our weekend round up.  After that we had some Reader's/Writer's workshop.  We had enough time to watch a few Olympic videos from the cbc website.  Some pretty funny videos (according to kids)

Period 3 we played this game in Math, and did a couple of 3D solids/nets worksheets.  I'll include the link, but I think you need a membership to fully see the worksheets.
https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/geometry/nets1_GEOMN.pdf?up=1466611200 nets

Period 4 Mrs. Smith is teaching social studies.

Period 5 we have the Jump Rope For Heart assembly.
Period 6 we'll be finishing up our unfinished math.

Snow Shoes / Valentines - Feb 12th

Hey everyone,

Here is a link to some of our Snow Shoeing adventures on Day 2.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WvvUvyJVlz252cgMBX-KdXpZ8oNv2Cic?usp=sharing (Thanks Tanya)

Also, I had a parent ask me for a list of student names so they could bring in Valentine's cards.

Here it is:

Yousif
Maanit
Lily
Violet
Wyatt
Ellene
Marcus
Ayla
Lara
Jacob
Lena
Tianna
Brady
Natalie
Kyle
Charlotte
Zane
Gillian
Grayson
Miliana
Melissa
Andy



Friday, 9 February 2018

February 9th

Going to try a quick 'pre-school' blog.

Period 1 we'll finish up our 'Olympic Art' from yesterday for red light.
then we'll read aloud and do some independent reading.

Period 2 we'll do some writing.  Focusing on more 'persuasive writing'.  We're going to look at these commercials and talk about how they 'sell' their products.  The kids are going to try to write a script to sell their own 3D shapes.

Period 3 we have the computers and we'll make Flipgrid commercials for our 3D shapes (see period 2).
Period 4 we have Escarpment Adventures in the gym.

Period 5 is going to be some finish up...
Period 6 we're going to try snowshoeing for the last time (here at school).  Thanks to the parents that coming to help so far (Violet's mom, Grayson's mom and Marcus' mom).  The more volunteers we have, the less likely I am to loose an extremity.

I'm hoping to try this problem of the week today too:

A great kids olympic site to explore at home:

Thursday, 8 February 2018

February 8th

Another good day!

Here's what we've done...so far.

Period 1 we talked about WE Are Silent - campaign happening in our school.  Then we read aloud and had some independent/guided reading.

Period 2 we talked a bit more about persuasive writing and tried filling out this graphic organizer about how we fell about zoos.

Period 3 we had a lot of fun playing in the gym with Escarpment Adventures. 
Period 4 we played this game:
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/earlymath/shapes_shoot.htm
and finished this worksheet from earlier in the week:

Period 5 Mrs. Smith is teaching health.
Period 6 we're going to do a little 'drama' and finish up some Library responses.

I SURVEYED THE CLASS:
 -5 KIDS ARE DONE WITH SNOW SHOEING, AND 17 WANT TO TRY IT AGAIN. 

SO WE'RE TRYING IT AGAIN!

ONLY IF I GET HELP FROM PARENT VOLUNTEERS.  ANY HELPERS?  LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS.  THE MORE THE MERRIER.

WE'LL MEET AT 2:50 AGAIN IN MY CLASSROOM.  

YOU MAY LOOSE SOME FINGERS DUE TO FROSTBITE, BUT THE SMILE ON YOUR CHIILD'S FACE WILL (almost) BE WORTH IT.




Snow Shoeing!

Thanks so much to Miliana's parents and Lily's mom for braving the cold and helping 'tie' up snow shoes yesterday.

I think the kids had a blast, it sure seemed like it.  Perfect weather. 

I'll 'poll' the kids today to see if we liked it enough to try again tomorrow.

Unfortunately my camera/phone died, so I wasn't able to get any pictures, but thank goodness my trusty volunteers did. 

Hope this works:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1C8jmbBs6f6LQukwryEob4hldPMfXfvXT?usp=sharing


Wednesday, 7 February 2018

February 7th 2018

Today we began with a red light activity where we made Charlotte belated birthday cards....unbeknownst to me, today is Yousif's actual birthday...so tomorrow, we'll be making Yousif belated birthday cards.

That makes 3 birthdays in 3 days...I think.

We started our next read aloud, Holes, today.  The kids seem to be sucked in already.
Then we had some independent/guided reading time. 

Period 2 Mrs. Harris came in to help with the Writer's workshop.

Period 3 we practised naming all the 3D solids we could...then we worked in partners to draw and name as many as we could.

Period 4 Mrs. Smith is teaching science.

Period 5 Mrs. Djonovich is teaching music.

Period 6 Miliana's parents and myself are going to attempt to get 21 Grade 3 students hiking through the field out back in Snowshoes.  It will be an exercise in patience and perseverance (for both the kids and adults I suspect).  Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures and post them later....



calling all parents...

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog.

I am really hoping to take the kids out 'snowshoeing' last period today.

Some of the other primary teacher's have given me some advice like "YOU NEED HELP TYING UP THOSE SNOW SHOES!!  or YOU'RE CRAZY TAKING PRIMARY KIDS OUTSIDE or YOUR HANDS ARE GOING TO FREEZE!!!"


So, if any parents are around at like 2:50, and want to help me take 22 eight year olds out for a snow shoe hike on our back field, please come up to my room or meet us outside!

Wish us luck! 

Gulp,

Adam

Tuesday, 6 February 2018

Tuesday February 6th

Well, I'm back.  That really gross flu that is going around has made it's way through the Cross household.  I'm hoping for good!

Mrs. Sullivan was in for me yesterday, and "had a great day, with great kids".  

For Red light we finished up some unfinished work and made Brady birthday cards.  Then we read Don't Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late.  After that we worked a bit more on the difference between a reason, and an example.  Then the kids had 20 minutes to read or write, their choice.

Period 2 Mrs. Smith is teaching the kids science.  Here is what I am hoping the rest of the day looks like.

Period 3 we might be going to the library to make up for yesterday's missed period.  If not, we'll be doing some more work on Edges, Faces, and Vertices of 3D shapes.  I'm hoping to play this game and the following worksheets.
Games
Worksheet


Period 4 we have the computers.  We're going to use Flip Grid to be a little more specific about audience reaction to The Witches.

Period 5 we're going to do a little Drama, focusing on perspective and acting out emotions.
Period 6 we'll be painting our awesome rose doodles.

NOTE:  We have a class set of 'snow shoes' at OP for the next week.  I'm hoping to take the class out on Wednesday and Friday - Please make sure your kids have boots and snowpants!

Also, we'll be making some pretty awesome marble runs in Science class in the next few weeks.  I' trying to collect as many paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls as possible.  Please send them in if you have any at home!

Thursday, 1 February 2018

February 1st 2018

Happy February everyone.

Today was an eventful day.

Period 1 we did a 'which shapes are congruent' worksheet for red light.  After that we did our monthly 'seat swap' using the random number generator. 

Period 2 we had some time to choose between reading or writing.  Then we used the OREO (opinion, reason, example and restate-Opinion) organizer to help us write Mrs. Wigle a letter convincing her to allow us to have a 'coding club' at nutrition breaks.

Period 3 we had gym.  We used the Omnikin balls.
Period 4 we had a discussion about the movie 'The Witches' and the target audiance.  Then we started the movie.

Period 5 Mrs. Smith taught science.
Period 6 we finished the movie The Witches.  I'm hoping we have enough time to discuss the differences between the movie and the book.

Tomorrow is a PD remember.  I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Friday November 20

Dear Parents, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for a wonderful year so far. It has been a joy working with your children, and I’m...