Weekend Update: Sunday, December 18

We made it! One more week to go before our well earned break begins. We will do our best to ensure that we keep to our regular routines this week. Thursday morning we will watch a movie together with the K through 3 classes. Friday morning we will have a sing along with Mrs. Dodds and then some celebration time in our classroom.

Big thanks to those who have sent indoor shoes that can stay at school. The classroom is much tidier for it.

Don't forget to check the homework tab at the top of the blog to see some ideas you can us for homework activities.

Have a super week!

Weekend Update: Sunday, December 11

Welcome to Winter! Stay safe out there.

We are counting down to the holidays, but there's lots of fun in store over the next two weeks. Just a few things to remember for this week:

Winter Concert: Wednesday afternoon and evening. The kiddos have been asked to wear something green or red or otherwise festive. Santa hats are definitely encouraged! Can't wait to see all the parents at the event. I have the honour of being the stage manager, so I'll be backstage for most of it, with a few exceptions.

Indoor Shoes: Kiddos coming to school without proper indoor shoes is getting to be a serious problem. When they track in mud from outside and then wear their outdoor footwear in the classroom, it makes a mess of the floor, the carpet that the kiddos sit on, and the furniture. The dirt on the floor also becomes a slipping hazard. Please, please, please ensure that your child has some indoor shoes that they can leave in the classroom. Boots are also not appropriate for the gym, and kiddos wearing boots will not be permitted to participate in phys ed activities.

Friday is 1970s Spirit Day: Dress like they did in the 70s, or wear Falgarwood t-shirts.

Scholastic Orders: Brochures went home on Friday. It's a short turnaround time this month so we can get the order filled before the holidays. Orders are due by Wednesday this week. I'm happy to help parents with secret orders if there is any Christmas shopping you'd like to do. Scholastic is way cheaper than Chapters/Indigo.

Weekend Update: Sunday, November 27

Big thanks to all the parents for all the wonderful support during our student led conferences!

This week we will probably be the calm before the storm. December is shaping up to be super busy with lots of fun stuff going on.

When you have a few minutes to sit with your child, please check out the information I put in the Weekly Homework tab at the top of the blog. For those looking for homework activities, this is your one stop shop.

Email feedback if you have any, please. Is this useful? What should I add? 

Weekend Update: Sunday, November 20

Okay, so is this the official launch of winter weather? We have been so spoiled with such a beautiful Autumn, but it seems our "no coat" recesses might be a thing of the past.

Monday evening, please check the front pocket of your child's agenda for: 

• Progress reports and appointment slips for student led conferences later in the week. Please email me ASAP if there are any problems with the scheduling.
• Hot lunch forms. Apparently there are changes to the protocol this time around, so please read the sign-up instructions carefully.

This week is Bullying Awareness and Prevention week. We will have kindness activities going on all week, as mentioned in the Week at the Wood. Our confetti colours that we are expected to dress in on Thursday are: 

• Grade 1: Red
• Grade 2: Orange

We will be visiting the book fair on Tuesday to browse and Wednesday to buy our items. The book fair will also be open to everyone during conferences on Thursday evening and Friday morning.

Dreambox and Raz-Kids seem to be in full swing at home. Please email me if you have any trouble getting online with either of those programs. I'm getting pretty good at troubleshooting. :) 

Have a great week! See you at the conferences...

Ms. S

Thursday, November 10

As we get ready to remember... There will be poppies available for any kiddos who choose to wear them. Donations are optional, but certainly welcome and will be placed into the donation box on behalf of our class. 

Dreambox is up and running. There is a link to the application on the right side of the main blog page. If it asks for a password, I've gone in and set up each child's account to use the same 4 digit number that they use for signing in to Raz-Kids. It was a manual process, and errors are always possible, so please email me if that doesn't work. I'll investigate ASAP. 

Accessing Dreambox and Raz

Raz-Kids
https://www.kidsa-z.com/main/Login
teacher username: kstevenson8
username: first name
password: four digit number taped into agenda

Dreambox
https://play.dreambox.com/login/z3vf/falgarwoodps
username: first name and last initial
password: same as the Raz-Kids password

Very Important Tips for Dreambox:

• Do not help your child while they are working through the activities on Dreambox. This is an adaptive program that caters the activities to the needs of the individual learner. If someone is helping, it will diminish the integrity of the data that the program is collecting. It records how long it takes for the child to respond as well as how accurate the answers are. 
• Instead of helping, refer your child to the ? button at the top of the page, which will provide instructions. Sometimes there is also a Hint button.
• Don't forget that you can set up access to the Dreambox dashboard so you can monitor your child's progress. I sent home instructions in the agendas this week. It's a green paper and it should be in the front pocket of the agenda.   

Any questions, please email me. 

Monday, November 7

Hello everyone! Just a few updates for the week.

Just a friendly reminder that indoor shoes are a must. In order to keep our classroom as clean as possible (and help out our custodial staff) the kiddos are required to have indoor shoes that stay at school and must only be worn inside the school.

Scholastic flyers went home on Friday and orders are due back at school by Friday this week.

An overview of our Primary division learning skills "look fors" went home in the front pocket of everyone's agendas today. While the specific skills vary from class to class, this list helps us as we assess the ongoing improvement of the kiddos.

Have a great week!

Sunday, October 30

Happy Diwali!
Happy Halloween!
Happy November! (Oh my goodness! How did November arrive so quickly?)

I'm excited to see all the costumes tomorrow! For those participating in the dance tomorrow it's during the first block of the day. For those who do not wish to participate, there will be a quiet area for them to go.

We have some fun activities planned for the primary division during the last block of the day, which means we'll miss our library book exchange. I'm in talks with our librarian, Ms. Anderson, to get a make-up visit booked for later in the week pending her availability.

For those who ordered individual pictures of their child, they will be sent home on Monday.

Have a great week!

Tuesday, October 25 - Friday is PJ Day in Our Class!

The jar of awesomeness is full! It's time for a class reward. To celebrate our team effort at filling the jar with beads that represent good behaviour and overall awesomeness, we will be taking it easy in our pajamas on Friday. Each kiddo is also invited to bring along one snuggly friend.

Weekend Update - Sunday, October 23

It's time to get our Halloween on! This week we will be using a Halloween theme to do things like predict, estimate, and count the number of seeds in our class pumpkin. We will look at some literature (poem, picture book, etc.) related to Halloween. From a social standpoint, we will talk about how not everyone celebrates Halloween and touch on the other celebrations that are also going on at this time of year (including Diwali). We will also talk about some Halloween safety tips.

This is the final week for We Scare Hunger. Non-perishable food donations are still being accepted and are very much appreciated.

Photo retakes are tomorrow (Monday).

Take Me Outside Day is also tomorrow. We will be doing a community walk during period 6. Don't forget your walking shoes!

Indoor shoes are a must. Now that the weather is changing, it's imperative that the kiddos have indoor shoes they can keep at school to change into while inside. This becomes a safety concern because wet boots should not be worn in the classroom, and the kiddos can't participate in physical education class while wearing boots.

On Thursday we will have our first visit from Baby Josiah, our Roots of Empathy baby. If you haven't already, please return the permission form allowing us to photograph your child for the Roots of Empathy program.

Wednesday, October 19 - Falgarwood Does Science

Wow! What a great day! We had a wonderful day at the Ontario Science Centre. I saw some amazing things happening. Our kids were looking out for each other—sticking close to their buddies and helping each other. They were engaged in learning during our workshops—sharing, collaborating, taking turns, talking things through, listening attentively, trying new things. They should be so proud of themselves.

Huge thanks to all of our parents who came along to support our kids in their learning. We couldn't have done this without you!

Here are some photos from our Grade 1 Structures workshop:

What is it about this bridge that makes it really strong?

Why does the arch not fall down when we take away the supports?

Here are some photos from our Grade 2 Simple Machines workshop:

Can you sort these simple machines? 

How can ramps help you move the marble slowly from top to bottom?

Weekend Update: Sunday, October 16

It's Science Centre Week! Six buses! Six grades! Falgarwood is going to represent big time!

• What to pack: To make planning for Wednesday easy, we've put together a checklist for students. Check the front pocket of your child's agenda for that on Monday. 
• Outstanding permission forms: Please return these ASAP. Due Monday at the latest, please. 

Waste Reduction Week is also ongoing this week. Are you all ready to pack litterless lunches?  

We Scare Hunger: We are still collecting non-perishable food items for the food bank.

Raz is Ready!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that our Raz-Kids accounts are up and running. I taped the login information into the front of everyone's agendas today. Help for logging in is located in the Helpful Links section on the main page of the blog.

Holiday Weekend Update: Sunday, October 9

Happy Tofurkey Day! I know. Everyone in my family rolls their eyes at me when I say that too. I do hope that everyone in our little community is finding time to be grateful together with those they love the most.

This flock of turkeys appeared in our classroom this week.

Field Trip: The permission form for our field trip to the Science Center was sent home on Thursday. Mark Wednesday, October 19 on your calendars. All the primary and junior classes are going together (grades 1-6), but we will be attending grade/division specific workshops that touch on our science curriculum. More to come on that when the details are ironed out. I've saved a copy of the form for each of our kiddos who were absent on Thursday and will send it along on Tuesday. I also have extras if they are needed.

Switch Day: Thursday this week we will be following a Monday schedule, so we will have our library book exchange that day.

The Big Crunch: Can you imagine what it looks and sounds like when the entire population of a school bites into that many apples at the same time? Well... we will find out on Thursday.

We Scare Hunger: Our annual food drive is up and running this month. We are collecting non-perishable food items in our classrooms for the month of October. All donations are appreciated. There are prizes for the classes in each division who collect the most items. Let's win it!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Weekend Update: Sunday, October 2

Welcome to October! (Wait a minute. Where did September go?)

This month we will be watching the leaves on the trees as they continue to change and fall. We will also be discussing Thanksgiving traditions and celebrations. Later in the month we will be discussing Halloween, including safety and the community helpers who are around to make sure we are safe if we choose to go trick-or-treating. We also have a field trip coming up. More details on that are on the way. Did you know that you can find the Ontario curriculum documents online? Here's the link: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/

Indoor shoes are a must: As the weather changes, it's becoming more and more crucial to ensure that our kiddos have proper indoor shoes at school. Muddy and wet shoes should not be worn in the classroom because mud and water on the floor are not only unpleasant but they can also create safety hazards. On our Phys. Ed. days, Tuesdays and Fridays, the kiddos cannot participate in gym activities without proper indoor shoes.

Extra change of clothes is highly recommended: Since school started, we have had several unexpected circumstances that have caused several of our kiddos to need a change of clothes. Accidents do happen! Please ensure your child has a season appropriate change of clothes available at school in a clearly marked plastic bag.

Raz-Kids: The school board has asked us to be patient while they work on centrally populating our class rosters in Raz. As soon as I have confirmation that it's set up, forwarding that info to our families will be my number one priority.

Wednesday, October 5 is Walk to School Day: Our Eco Club is encouraging everyone to walk or bike to school this Wednesday.

Two Short Weeks!: Because we have a four day long weekend coming up, we have two short weeks ahead of us. This Friday is a PD Day. Monday is Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a wonderful time with their families. 

Have a wonderful week!

Weekend Update - Sunday, September 25

All ready for week 4 folks? September has blown by and now we're at the end of it already. Just a few reminders for this week.

Terry Fox Run Day: This Tuesday we will participate in our annual Terry Fox event. The kiddos should come prepared to spend lots of time outside depending on the weather—hats, sunscreen, sweaters, etc.

Open House & BBQ: Wednesday evening from 6:00 - 8:00 is our open house and BBQ. I'm looking forward to mingling with the 1/2 parents—especially the ones I haven't met yet.

Last Call for Scholastic: Technical difficulties made me unable to enter the Scholastic order last week. I'm ready to go for it now, and any last minute orders will be entered on Monday. If you don't have the flyers, but still want to place an order, you can do so by looking them up at http://www.scholastic.ca/clubs/ and providing me with the following information:

• Name of the flyer you're ordering from
• The title of book and book number from the order form
• The price including tax from the order form
• The payment (online payment number or cash) 

Have a spectacular week!

Ms. S

Weekend Update: Sunday, September 18

I hope everyone is well as we wind down the weekend. Just a few things to mention...

Picture Day: I almost forgot. Picture day is tomorrow (Monday). Hopefully everyone brings their most beautiful smiles.

Scholastic: Our first round of Scholastic forms went home last week. The due date for orders is Thursday this week. I'll place the order that day and we should receive the shipment within about a week. Sometimes it's faster than a week!

Shoes: We are getting into mud season. At this time of the year the field the kids play on is often very muddy. Please ensure your child has a pair of indoor shoes so we can keep the mud off the carpet and out of our learning spaces.

Call for Building Materials: We would like to fill a bin with building materials for our classroom building space. For the next couple of weeks, please send in the following household items as they come available:

• paper towel and toilet paper rolls
• empty tissue boxes
• clean plastic bottles/jars and lids 
• empty egg cartons
• styrofoam trays from the grocery store
• anything else you can think of that might be useful in our building supplies bin 

International Day of Peace: There will be discussions at school this week about International Day of Peace (which is this Wednesday). This web site, http://peaceworks.tv/index.html, should be useful in helping families continue the conversation at home. 

Raz-Kids and Dreambox: Still waiting for the board to sort these out for us. Stay tuned. Login details will be taped into everyone's agenda once they are available.

 

Weekend Update: Sunday, September 12

I hope everyone enjoyed the first weekend of the school year. This week we will continue to work on getting to know each other as well as setting up the norms and expectations we will follow in our classroom. We started working on the contents of our class time capsule that we will open in June. Ask your child about what we are including in the time capsule.

Parent Volunteers: Please remember that any parent who wishes to interact with students in the school (in the classroom, on field trips, etc.) must have a current vulnerable sector police check on file with the office. Contact the local police for information on how to obtain a police check. They often take several weeks to be processed, so the sooner the better.

First Week Forms: Thank you so much to all the families who have returned the massive package of forms that were sent home on the first day. For those who have not yet returned them, please send them to me ASAP and I will forward them with my class set to the office.

Onward! Have a great first full week of classes.

First Day Back!

Welcome to 2016-17! What a pleasure it was to meet the wonderful members of class 1/2. 

We had a busy day learning about lots of procedures and expectations and getting to know each other. We met our two French teachers, Madame Tscherner and Madame Kreczko. We also met our coverage teacher, Mr. Cuthbert. We read a picture book called First Day Jitters and had a discussion about what emotions we might have been feeling on our first day of school. We even spent some time drawing our self portraits, which family members will have a chance to see when they stop by during our open house on September 28.

Stay tuned for more updates as the week rolls on. I don't update the blog every day (who has time for that when we're having so much fun in grade 1/2?), but I do try to provide an update at least once per week. In order to be notified of the updates, I encourage parents to connect to me via Remind.com (the link to instructions is on the main page of the blog).

A stack of forms was sent home with the kiddos today along with their new agendas. Please return those to me ASAP and I will forward them to the office.

Big thanks,
Ms. S

Setting up Remind Notifications

Remind is a notification system that many teachers use to keep their families updated about the goings on in their classroom. I would like to use it to notify the 1/2 parent community when there's a blog update. I will also use it for urgent messages, such as when we have a snow day or if a field trip is cancelled due to bad weather.

Our class code for Remind is: 3kk33g
You can click this link for easy access: https://www.remind.com/join/3kk33g

If you would like more information about Remind, please check out their FAQ at: http://help.remind.com/hc/en-us

What is Remind and What Makes Remind Safe? is a particularly good place to start: 

http://help.remind.com/hc/en-us/articles/201342445-What-is-Remind-and-what-makes-Remind-safe-

Wednesday, June 15: A Great Day at Country Heritage Park

"I liked the chicken on the loose because it was funny."

"It was fun because we got to see animals."

"It was funny because I put my finger in the milking machine."

"I liked the John Deere place because a girl pretended to use an old phone."

"I liked that we got to go in the house where they shot Ann of Green Gables."

"I liked the milk machine because it was useful for farmers with lots of cows."

"We saw some cool stuff there."

What a great day we had at the Milton Country Heritage Park! The quotes above are from a journal activity we did today as we recapped our experience. 

Everyone was on their best behaviour and we learned so many interesting things. It was wonderful to see how the kiddos were asking amazing questions throughout the day. 

We toured four buildings: 

• Barn (caring for farm animals, the difference between straw and hay)
• John Deere store and service department (farm equipment and simple machines)
• Lucas House (what houses looked like in the 1800s)
• Milk on the Moooove (dairy farming)

Here are a few pictures from the John Deere building and the Lucas house (no pics of kids are included for privacy reasons):

Friday, June 12: Homework post

(Apologies for the delay on this. I just noticed that it didn't publish properly when I posted it on Friday.)

How can you make 83 cents with 7 coins?

How can you make 17 cents with 5 coins?

How can you make 39 cents with 8 coins?

How can you make 99 cents with 12 coins?

How can you make 50 cents with 6 coins?

Thursday, June 9 - Grade 2 is Extra Awesome!

Big big big thanks to all my dancing partners last evening! I had so much fun dancing with the XMovement team and all the Falgarwood kiddos who came out to Arts Night. I was super impressed with all the stars who participated in the Glee Club performance too! Great singing! Here's a quick snap I took of the grade 2 art work selections:

Big shout out to Ms. Douglas who comes up with the most amazing Art projects!

Saturday, June 4: Weekend Update

Hi everyone! I'm having a great time this afternoon reflecting on all the great things we have accomplished in grade 2 this year. Report card writing is in full swing!

Here are some reminders about the upcoming week: 

Country Heritage Park trip: Permission forms went home on Thursday for our next field trip. The printable PDF version is here for those who were away or who can't find theirs. We are asking for two parent volunteers from each classroom. If there are more than two volunteers I will do a lottery style draw to determine who gets to come along. (We are looking into the possibility of parents driving up and paying their own way and joining us if they don't win the lottery, but we are waiting for confirmation that this is okay.)

Homework this week: Take a look at the Country Heritage Park web site to see what it's all about. What might we learn there?

Tuesday is a switch day: Friday schedule. We'll be doing some dance that day, so proper gym shoes are needed, please.      

X-Movement: We'll start the day off on Wednesday with some music inspired movement. The group will also be at the school in the evening during Arts Night for kids that want to do it again. 

Friday, June 3 - Sunscreen on Monday, please.

Happy long weekend everyone! The Iroquois Ridge Reading Buddies will be back in action on Monday, June 6 to do an outdoor play day for us. There will be 10 stations (including a freezie station!) and lots of fun to be had. Please ensure the kiddos are well sunscreened, and dressed for outdoor fun in the sun. The event runs from 12:00 - 1:30.

Sunday, May 29 - Weekend Update

Happy Sunday! Just a few information items as we ramp up for our new week.

Friday's homework: The kids were to come home and tell someone about how to tell time on an analog clock. We only have to worry about the quarter hour increments: 1:00, 1:15, 1:30, 1:45, etc. We are moving on to 3D shapes this week, so I would appreciate it if parents can help to reinforce the learning we did around time.

Shoe boxes needed: We are building dioramas this week and need about 5 more shoe boxes in order to ensure there is one for each group. If we have extras, they won't go to waste. Please help us out if you can. We cannot begin this project until we have enough boxes.

Scholastic deadline extended: I extended the deadline to Monday for Scholastic orders to accommodate any late submissions. We will likely have one more round of ordering in mid-June so parents can stock up their summer reading libraries.

Short week: Another one! Don't forget Friday is a PA day.

Save the date: We have a tentative plan for a field trip on June 14th. We will likely need some parent volunteers to join us. I'll pass the details along once I have the specifics.

So hot!: The good news is that we will have air conditioning in our upstairs classrooms next year. The bad news is that we have to endure the heat for the rest of this school year. Lightweight clothing and wicking fabrics are good options. Long sleeves and long pants would basically be torture at this point in the year.

Unfortunately, ice blocks are not allowed in the classroom as they create a slip and fall hazard. ;)

Sunday, May 22: The great butterfly liberation

Friday afternoon we gathered in the front garden to send off our butterfly friends. Some of them bolted out of there in the blink of an eye, but a few stuck around for a while to say a proper goodbye. In the spirit of protecting the privacy of our kiddos, I cannot include any pictures of faces, but here are some pictures of our final moments with our beauties. The coolest thing is that these pictures were taken by the kiddos as they took turns taking snaps on a couple of iPads.