Thursday, Movember 26

I'm so impressed. When the kids came to school to find me unable to speak this morning, only whispering because of laryngitis, they were incredibly respectful. The noise level was nice and low in the classroom all day as they had to listen very carefully to hear my whispered instructions. I guess it's not every day that a kid would expect find his or her teacher speechless. :)

Today was Mustache Day. Such fun! I'm happy to see that so many of the kids participated. We had some emergency mustaches here at school for those who needed them.

Scholastic Orders are due Monday, and I'll put in the order that day.

Have a safe and wonderful long weekend!

Thursday, November 19

Hot Lunch Forms: I handed out the pink hot lunch forms for the kids to take home, and then found four of them abandoned on the floor after school. This covers hot lunches until March. If you need a hot lunch form, please send me an email or agenda message.

Food for thought...

The Long-Term Effects of Skipping Your Reading Homework

Wednesday, November 18

Math Quiz: I will be sending yesterday's Math quiz home with the kids tomorrow. Please take a look, sign it, and send it back so I know you have seen it. For those who didn't have a wonderful result, I will be launching our Math Club on Tuesday next week for those who need some extra help. Math Club will be weekly extra help for those who need it and anyone who feels that they could use more support is welcome to come.

What's next in Math? Subtraction with and without regrouping. We started that today. The next quiz will be late next week and will include addition and subtraction.

Scholastic: We are up and running with our class book club orders. I sent the December flyers home yesterday and I'll be placing an order on November 30th. I just activated the Parent Pay option, which enables parents to go online, search for my name, and place an online order with a credit card payment. I'm happy to do it the old fashioned way, but this is so easy!

Anti-Bullying Week: There are lots of activities on the go for the week. Pink shirt day is Friday. We will also have a short assembly to wrap it up on Friday. Here's our product from today...

Friday, November 13

Today was Random Acts of Kindness Day... we made some notes for people around the school and distributed them.

Quiz on Tuesday: Addition of two digit numbers with carrying. Word problems are fair game, which includes showing the work and including a concluding statement—for example, There are 71 hamsters altogether.

Homework: I sent a practice sheet home with the kids today in their agendas. This is the type of word problems they can expect to see on the quiz.

Raz-Kids: The Raz accounts are now password protected. I sent those passwords home with the kids in their agendas yesterday. Please test them out and make sure they are working properly.

Oakville Public Library: Our visit from the librarians was lots of fun. Check out the web site: http://www.opl.on.ca/

Thursday, November 12

Math Quiz: We will have a math quiz on Tuesday, November 17.
Topic: Addition of one and two digit numbers with and without carrying. We have discussed a variety of strategies for solving these questions, including using fingers and tally numbers for counting as well as representing the ones and tens columns using base ten blocks.

Librarian Visit: A librarian from the Oakville Public Library will be joining our class tomorrow to give a 30 minute presentation about what they will find if they visit the public library. The kid will come away with a voucher for a free gift if they visit the library.

Wednesday, November 11

Wow! Wow! Wow! The primary kids did a fabulous job with their choral reading poem today at the assembly. Check out some of this grade two awesomeness.

Our class wreath, hand coloured poppies and some peaceful doves.

Some amazing art that made my heart sing and dance... These should all be framed and hung in a museum. I'm so impressed, as were several other people in the school who stopped me to comment.

And the link to a video we discussed in class today: Bell Canada Remembrance Day TV Commercial: Poppy

Monday, November 9

The Remembrance Day assembly is Wednesday at 11:45. Parents are welcome to join us if they wish.

The primary division classes are doing a combined performance: a choral reading of the following poem. For homework, we have asked that the kids to their best to memorize their part, which is the 3rd and 4th verses.

Remembrance

By Helen Gardner

In Flanders field the poppies grow,
For the reason we all should know.

Standing proud and tall as can be,
Its glory and beauty we all can see.

Remembering the men who saved us all,
Their bravery and honour we all may recall.

A symbol of courage we shall never forget,
For the men who died in the war they met.

They gave up their lives to save the rest,
Although they died, they did their best.

To the bravest of all man and your respected ranks,
We look up to you always and give you thanks. 

Thursday, November 5

Homework: Math worksheet. We are working on adding with carrying. Because this is such a crucial skill, the worksheet I've sent home is for extra practice over and above what we have done in class.

Things to look for:
- Carrying the 1 to the tens column
- Remembering to count the 1 in the tens column

Wednesday, November 4

And we're back in business! Big thanks to all the parents who have been keeping in touch via email over the last few weeks. I appreciate it when you reach out to me with concerns because sometimes keeping up with 23 sets of parents is difficult to juggle. As always, if you have concerns, email is the best way to find me. I strive for a 1 business day turnaround time if it's humanly possible. (I take a tech break every weekend.)

I have to say that I really enjoyed the Halloween costumes the kids wore last week. It was really fun to play dress-up and hit the dance floor with them.

I have so much to share, but I'll start with a Raz-Kids update. We are migrating to a new teacher account. Once that has happened, I'll send home new cards in the front pockets of the agendas with the new information. Stay tuned.

Ms. S