Saturday 25 February 2012

Riddle of the Week

A bus driver was heading down a street in Colorado. He went right past a stop sign without stopping, he turned left where there was a "no left turn" sign and he went the wrong way on a one-way street right past a police car. The police officer did nothing. Why?

Student of the Week - Madison

Madison studied hard for our recent science test, and as a result of her effort, she got a very good mark. Congratulations, Madison, keep up the great work!


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Friday 17 February 2012

Salish Weaving

Earlier this week, we were once again fortunate enough to have Aboriginal cultural worker Debra Merrier visit our class. If you have read our blog before, you know that we are really lucky to have wonderful Aboriginal workers in our district. They regularly come into our classroom to share different aspects of Aboriginal culture.

During this visit, Ms. Merrier introduced us to Salish weaving. First, she spoke a little bit about how weavings were made and what they were used for. We learned that mountain goat and wooly dog hair were spun into wool for weaving, and that weaving was done on wooden looms. We also found out that Aboriginal groups traditionally used things from nature to dye their wool. For example, red came from berries and animal blood, yellow came from dandelions, and black came from charcoal. After her introduction, we were eager to give it a try ourselves! It was a little tricky in the beginning, but by the end we all had the hang of it. Check out the photos below to see us hard at work.





Student of the Week - Hareum

Hareum is our student of the week for regularly performing random acts of kindness in our class.  When students come in late, Hareum often rushes up to get them a chair while they put away their coats and backpacks.  Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Hareum!


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Riddle of the Week

A carrot, a scarf and five buttons were found lying on the lawn.  If nobody put them on the lawn, how did they get there?

Reminder: In the comments section, you may post yes/no questions to gather more information before you make your guess.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Valentine's Day

Yesterday to celebrate Valentine's Day we had many special activities in our school and class.  Many students wore red, pink, purple or white as part of school spirit day.  There was also face painting before school where some students got hearts on their cheeks.

In our class, we started off the day by reading the poem "Friendship."  You can listen to it below.  
Friendship - Alexandra & Roy (mp3)

Next, we brainstormed lists of positive qualities for each of our classmates.  Ms. Birdsall is going to put everyone's ideas into Wordle to create a special word cloud for each student.  After lunch we finished off the heart-shaped pockets we started last week so that we would have a place to put all of our Valentine's cards.  While we were working on these, Ms. Birdsall called students over one at a time to help prepare our "friendship fruit salad."  Each member of the class brought a piece of fruit to contribute and we made a delicious fruit salad.  When the salad preparations were done it was time to hand out our Valentine's cards and the air was filled with excitement.  We then enjoyed our fruit salad with frozen yogurt and cookies and had some time to read all the cards we got.  We finished off the day with a couple of silly games that left everyone laughing.  We discovered that it's pretty hard to keep a straight face when someone says "Sweetheart, do you love me?" in their most dramatic voice!  Overall, it was a really fun day full of friendship.  Check out the slideshow to see some of our activities.

Saturday 11 February 2012

Friendship Week – Feb. 13 – Feb. 17

Next week we will be celebrating “Friendship Week” and Valentine's Day with a variety of events and activities.


Feb. 13-24
Random Acts of Kindness
Students who are kind and friendly to others will be recognized with a special heart that will be displayed in the front hall.  We are encouraging students to focus on others and help make someone's day.

Monday, Feb. 13
Kick Off Assembly at 11:00 a.m.
Parents/ Guardians are welcome to attend.

Tuesday, Feb. 14
Class Party
We will be making a friendship fruit salad and enjoying it with frozen yogurt and whipped cream.  Each child is asked to bring a piece of fruit to contribute to the fruit salad (please no bananas or strawberries due to allergies).

Students will also have the opportunity to distribute Valentine's cards if they wish and we will be playing some class games.  


Red, White and Pink Spirit Day
Wear your Valentine's colours and win a prize.

Heart Face Painting 8:15 a.m.
Intermediate Students will be outside the front main entrance to draw hearts on students’ and parents’ cheeks.  All students and parents welcome.

Walk For Your Heart – Tuesday to Friday
We know that exercise is what helps strengthen and give us Healthy Hearts, so, we are having Walk to School days all next week.  We encourage all students to walk to school to help have a healthy heart.

Wednesday, Feb. 15 – Friday - Friday, Feb. 17
Candy Estimation Jar (in front foyer)  at recess and lunch - 25 cents per guess.

Thursday, Feb. 16
 “Heart Toss” – Throughout the day
We will have a “Heart Toss” throughout the day and there will be prizes for the students that land closest to the heart in the centre of a big heart.  All students who wish to participate in this event will have the opportunity to.

We look forward to a wonderful week celebrating and learning about friendship, belonging and helping each other. 

Student of the Week - Langson

Langson is our student of the week for the creative, thoughtful writing he has been doing on his individual blog outside of school time. Great initiative, Langson!


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Friday 10 February 2012

Riddle of the Week

Two fathers and two sons enter a shop and spend $1 each.  The shop owner takes only $3.  Why?

Just a reminder:  You may ask "yes" or "no" questions in the comments section to gather more information before making your guess.

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Poetry - "My Heart Soars"

Today our poem of the week was "My Heart Soars" by Chief Dan George.  Learning about Aboriginal cultures is a big part of our curriculum, so this poem was a perfect fit for us.

First, we were given a copy of the poem with many of the words blanked out.  We needed to write a word that we thought would fit for each blank.  After sharing our ideas, we read the original poem together as a class.  We also talked about the theme (the big idea) of the poem.  We decided that the theme was loving nature.  Next, like every week, we got together with our poem partner and practiced reading the poem aloud several times to build our fluency.  Each week one or two pairs are picked at random to recite the week's poem in front of the class after the partner practice.  This week, Jasmine and Ryan A., and Alta and Armaan were chosen.  You can hear their recitations below.  Enjoy!

My Heart Soars - Jasmine & Ryan A. (mp3)

My Heart Soars -Alta & Armaan (mp3)

Sunday 5 February 2012

Math in Different Ways

In our class, we learn about math every day right after recess. Different students learn best in different ways, so if you come into our class you will see this.  Here's a peek at some of the ways students do math in our class.
Sometimes we play games to practice our skills . . .

like "Product Cross-Out" for multiplication.  
When they are problem solving, some people
 like to work with a partner . . .
 or in groups  . . .                            
while others prefer to work alone. 
We use different materials like whiteboards . . . 
counters and other manipulatives to help us.   
   
How do you learn best in math?

Friday 3 February 2012

Student of the Week - Michelle

This week, Michelle made excellent contributions to her group's literature circle discussion about the novel, On My Honor. She asked deep-thinking questions, made connections, and elaborated on the ideas of others. Well done, Michelle!


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Riddle of the Week

I am starting a new feature here on the blog.  In our class, sometimes we do riddles to build our critical thinking and questioning skills.  We thought it would be fun to put riddles on the blog too.  Here's how the on-line riddles will work:

1) I will post the riddle on-line.
2)  You may ask "yes" or "no" questions to help you get more information before you make your guess.
Example:  You could ask, "Does the elephant live in a zoo?", but you couldn't ask, "Where does the elephant live?"
3)  I will post the answers to your questions as quickly as possible.
4)  When you think you have enough information, you may post your guess.
5)  If your guess is right, I will let you know, and I will post a new riddle.  If your guess is not right, I will say that, so other people (and you) can keep guessing.

This week's riddle:

A man leapt out of an airplane unhurt, even though he had no parachute.  What happened?