Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Room 15 Smiles
April is Dental Health Month!
Today we had a visit from Dr Schenk -- our visiting dentist. She taught us about dental health and how to brush our teeth. We got to take home toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste!
In celebration of Dental Health Month, we are using our powers of observation to try to identify which smiles belong to our classmates. It's harder than you think!
Today we had a visit from Dr Schenk -- our visiting dentist. She taught us about dental health and how to brush our teeth. We got to take home toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste!
In celebration of Dental Health Month, we are using our powers of observation to try to identify which smiles belong to our classmates. It's harder than you think!
(click on the image to enlarge it)
Monday, March 31, 2014
Teacher ATCs
We recently made ATC's (Artist Trading Cards)
I am part of a group of artists who get together regularly to exchange Artist Trading Cards. The students were intrigued by this and asked if they could make some too to trade. So we did!
ATCs are the same size as sports trading cards - 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.I gave them each a piece of lined paper (our theme was "School Days") and asked them to draw a teacher. They had to decide what a teacher looked like. Funny, many of them wear glasses.... and were wearing the same thing that I was wearing that day. But I asked them to close their eyes and visualize what a teacher looks like (we close our eyes and visualize fairly often).
This is what the class came up with!
We will do more trading cards in the future. We are hoping to trade some with some other classes in Toronto!
I am part of a group of artists who get together regularly to exchange Artist Trading Cards. The students were intrigued by this and asked if they could make some too to trade. So we did!
ATCs are the same size as sports trading cards - 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.I gave them each a piece of lined paper (our theme was "School Days") and asked them to draw a teacher. They had to decide what a teacher looked like. Funny, many of them wear glasses.... and were wearing the same thing that I was wearing that day. But I asked them to close their eyes and visualize what a teacher looks like (we close our eyes and visualize fairly often).
This is what the class came up with!
We will do more trading cards in the future. We are hoping to trade some with some other classes in Toronto!
Sunday, March 30, 2014
We are AWESOME writers!
We have been learning how to write short fiction stories. I am so proud of all of the authors in Room 15!
We have learned that stories (usually) start by introducing the CHARACTERS and the SETTING (more characters might come in later though).
Then comes the ACTION -- this is where a problem happens
Then comes the CONCLUSION -- this is where the problem is solved. Then the story has an ending. The reader shouldn't be "left hanging" at the end of a story!
Here is an example of *someone* in Room 15 reading his story. Watch for more to come!
We are already moving from our simple stories, to stories that have more interesting words -- more description and detail.
We read a book called Suddenly by Colin McNaughton. They really liked the simple "plot twists".
I expect the word suddenly to feature in many of our upcoming stories :) I had to add it to our word wall.
We have learned that stories (usually) start by introducing the CHARACTERS and the SETTING (more characters might come in later though).
Then comes the ACTION -- this is where a problem happens
Then comes the CONCLUSION -- this is where the problem is solved. Then the story has an ending. The reader shouldn't be "left hanging" at the end of a story!
Here is an example of *someone* in Room 15 reading his story. Watch for more to come!
(don't you just love how the shark is handsome and dangerous?)
We are already moving from our simple stories, to stories that have more interesting words -- more description and detail.
We read a book called Suddenly by Colin McNaughton. They really liked the simple "plot twists".
I expect the word suddenly to feature in many of our upcoming stories :) I had to add it to our word wall.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Germs
I think that I have the blog fixed! As you might know, I have been having trouble posting pictures to the blog -- and sometimes the blog posts don't post at all. (although they appear to be published when I look at them on my computer!)
Lately we have been "Germ Detectives" and have been discussing how we can stay healthy. We have learned about washing our hands :)
I pretended to "sneeze" red germs over my hands (paint) and then washed my hands. We were VERY surprised to see that even though I washed my hands with soap, the "germs" didn't come off. So we learned that we need to very carefully wash between our fingers -- and the backs of our hands.
These are my hands after I washed them for -- what the students said - was a long time! We counted to 20, AND said the alphabet while I washed with soap! Yuck!
The students also did an experiment about germ transmission and washing your hands with Ms. Mattar (on a day that I was away). We used glitter to represent the germs. Ask your child what he/she learned during the sparkle experiment!
Lately we have been "Germ Detectives" and have been discussing how we can stay healthy. We have learned about washing our hands :)
I pretended to "sneeze" red germs over my hands (paint) and then washed my hands. We were VERY surprised to see that even though I washed my hands with soap, the "germs" didn't come off. So we learned that we need to very carefully wash between our fingers -- and the backs of our hands.
These are my hands after I washed them for -- what the students said - was a long time! We counted to 20, AND said the alphabet while I washed with soap! Yuck!
The students also did an experiment about germ transmission and washing your hands with Ms. Mattar (on a day that I was away). We used glitter to represent the germs. Ask your child what he/she learned during the sparkle experiment!
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
The Muddy Puddle
The Muddy Puddle
By
Dennis Lee
I
am sitting
In
the middle
Of
a rather Muddy Puddle,
With
my bottom
Full
of bubbles
And
my rubbers
Full
of Mud.
While
my jacket
And
my sweater
Go
on slowly
Getting
wetter
As
I very
Slowly
settle
To
the Bottom
Of
the Mud.
And
I find that
What
a person
With
a puddle
Round
his middle
Thinks
of mostly
In
the muddle
Is
the Muddiness of Mud.
Words of the Week
Grade 1+2
Focus:
double letters before an ending like er, ing, y
on root words (the double consonant helps the vowel before it stay "short")
muddy
mommy
daddy
getting
sitting
*bonus word: muddiness
(The class asked me for harder words this week!)
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
My Favourite Word
My Favourite Word
Lucia and James L. Hymes, Jr.
There is one word—
My favourite—
The very, very best.
It isn’t No or Maybe,
It’s Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, YES !
“Yes, yes, you may,” and
“Yes, of course,” and
“Yes, please help yourself.”
And when I want a piece of cake,
“Why, yes. It’s on the shelf.”
Some candy? “Yes.”
A cookie? “Yes.”
A movie? “Yes, we’ll go.”
I love it when they say my word:
Yes, Yes, YES ! (Not No.)
Words of the Week
Grade 1 + Grade 2
yes
best
west
rest
test
bonus word: quest
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