Ms. Midgley's Blog

Hello families! This morning, I had to read the story, "Too Much Snow" by Robert Munsch. This week, we chose words from the "-ar" family. I learned how to spell a lot of Pokemon names today! Students also finished up their Terry Fox work from last week if they didn't finish. We continued talking about Orange Shirt Day, talked a little bit about what reconciliation means, and read the story, "Stolen Words." In the afternoon, we had gym, recess and music! We also read the story, "You Hold Me Up." Today, students are bringing home Scholastic Book Order forms. We had a chat about not always being able to order from them and not being upset if we don't get to order. They will be due on Monday, October 7th so that you will receive the books in time for Thanksgiving/Halloween (hopefully!) Please remember to either pay online or send a cheque as I am unable to mail cash to Scholastic! Tomorrow is picture day!  📸  📸  📸

Hello families! Today we began discussing Orange Shirt Day. Between this and Terry Fox, it's been a heavy couple of days! We talked about residential schools and read the story When We Were Alone. This story focuses on how clothing, hair, language and family were taken from students attending residential schools. We also watched this quick video about why orange shirt day exists. This is definitely a big topic that requires more attention than just one day. We did not discuss the specific details of how children were treated at residential schools but more so focused on what it would be like if we weren't allowed to look they way we want, act the way we want, etc. Orange Shirt Day is Monday, September 30th. Students are invited to wear an orange shirt on Monday. I will try to remember to send a reminder email on Sunday! During work period, students practiced their "-an" words and coloured an orange shirt and finished the phrase, "I can't imagine life

Hi families! Today we continued talking about the Circle of Courage and generosity. We watched this video about generosity and we discussed how being generous doesn't just have to be giving objects to people but also sharing your attention and time and doing kind things for others. We connected this to positive ways to build friendships. Today we also started comparing numbers using less than, greater than, and equal to. We watched this video to help us remember - "the hungry alligator eats the number that's greater. The numbers that's least is never part of it's feast!" The video goes into a little more detail then they really need to know, but it's catchy! Students rolled dice to create numbers and compared them. In the afternoon we did our Terry Fox run! Thank you to all the families who were able to make it! I look forward to seeing many of you at our open house soon - please note that the Family BBQ has bene postponed due to the weat

Hello families! Today students has music and gym in the morning. We read the story "Leaf Man" and created our own leaf art in the garden. These photos have been shared with you on Seesaw! (If you haven't checked your emails - make sure to do that!) I'm really excited about Seesaw and hope it will be a good way for students to share their work with you! A Guest Reader schedule also came home today. Students will come to school ready to share their story with the class. They can choose a book from home, a home reading book (we'll get that started soon!), or a book from our classroom or library. It should take between 5-10 minutes to read. The class will share 2 stars and a wish, meaning 2 things they liked about the guest reader and one think they would suggest working on for next time. Students will then bring the form home, watch their guest reader video on Seesaw (1-2 minutes) and come up with a star and wish for themselves. The form is then signed and ret

Hello families of room 13! This morning we had library and students took out a new book if they returned their book from last week. During gym time, students went outside with a guest teacher while I was in a meeting! During work period, we continued with our Peace activity - they will be on display during Thursday's open house, so I won't share photos for now. Students also practiced their weekly words. In the afternoon, we learned how to do "Listen to Reading" for Daily 5 Literacy time. Our Raz-Kids account still doesn't seem to be working (sorry - out of my control!) so I have been using Epic, Bookflix, or Storyline Online. Today we also continued talking about belonging and the Circle of Courage. Each student drew one group they belong to to add to our classroom's Circle of Courage. Tomorrow we will be talking about generosity and Terry Fox! Students will also have music in the morning and we will be doing a fun autumn activity outside! Today I s

Hello families! Can you believe today is already the 14th day of school? This morning during work period, we brainstormed words from the "-an" family in partners and chose 5-8 words to focus on for the week. Students also finished up their sentences about peace. In the afternoon, we read a story about peace, talked about the difference between our morning activities/free choice activities in the classroom, and responsible work choices when we're done our work period jobs. We also had gym and after afternoon recess, students went to music.  Library Tomorrow we have library! Please return your books for tomorrow if you're done with them and students can pick a new story tomorrow. If you are not done with it, you can keep it for another week! Student Demographic Forms Please returned the signed student demographic forms as soon as possible so we have your most up-to-date information!  Terry Fox Run 2019 We will be having our Annual Terry Fox R

Hello families! I learned yesterday that when you follow the blog by email, you actually end up receiving the email much later than the blog is actually posted? I'm looking into how to fix this! I've heard from parents in the past they receive blog emails at 4am! (I can promise you I'm not writing blogs at 4 in the morning...) I will let you know if I am able to fix this issue so you can see the blogs in a more timely manner. This one should be posted around 3:35pm. Yesterday students had music in the morning and we continued our discussion about belonging and the groups and communities we belong to. In the afternoon, we did a math activity with numbers to 10 and 20. This activity was based on the story, Mouse Count . Students either got a cup of 10 or 20 counters, and had to spill some in the grass. They then had to count how many were in the grass and either use their mental math skills or counting to determine how many would then be left in the jar. For example if we

Today a student demographic form came home. Please ensure the information is correct, sign it and return to school! Terry Fox Run 2019 We will be having our Annual Terry Fox Run on   Thursday, September 26, 2019, at 2:00pm . Teachers will be discussing with students the life of Terry Fox and the contributions he has made to cancer research. We would like to extend the invitation to all parents and families to join us for the Terry Fox Run! Also, a reminder that our school Open House and BBQ are the same day, so you’re welcome to join all of the events! Students can dedicate their run to someone who they know that has been affected by cancer. Please speak to your child prior to our run and if they choose to, they can write who they are running for on a sticker that they will wear during the run. These will be available in the classroom on Thursday. Should you wish to make a donation online, please use the following link to donate through the Terry Fox website:  http://www

Hi Families! Today we had library for the first time! During work period, we practiced our weekly words and added a few items to our visual journal books. In the afternoon, we started learning about how to do Daily 5. During daily 5 time, students will be in 5 groups and will participate in a different literacy activity each day: read to self, buddy reading, listen to reading, word work/writing, or reading with Ms. Midgley. Today we all practiced read to self. We had a little discussion about why all of these elements of reading are important and how all of them together work as a team to help us learn how to read. Tomorrow we will all be buddy reading. I noticed a little bit of trouble with some students when differentiating vowel sounds - here is a fun video to help with vowel sounds. This afternoon we also started to talk about the idea of belonging. Students were asked: What does it feel like when you belong? and How does it feel when you do not feel like you belong? Their ans

Hello families! This morning we learned a new material and talked about the letter "B." There was a little confusion on Bs vs Ds so this will be something to focus on this week! We learned how to use the Teen Board material to learn numbers from 11-20 and students brainstormed and chose words from the "-ab" family. Montessori Teen Board Material  In the afternoon we had gym and we played a new game called "Cheese Movers." At the very end of the day, students had music!  Don't forget to return your "homework" from the weekend! I will start reading the Guess Who cards tomorrow.  Library Tomorrow we will be having library for the first time this year! We do not have a set schedule for the year but I am hoping to get a time on Tuesdays. I will let you know our regular library time as soon as I know. We will have library every week however students may keep their book for 2 weeks before it becomes over due.  Scholast

Hello families! We had a busy day today! Mrs. Green came to give our class a lesson on the Bead Cabinet and the proper way to care for the material. We had a short gym time and we played Snakes in the Grass. We had our first buddy activity with Mr. Pereira's grade 3/4 class. Students did a buddy interview with their big buddy to get to know them and then could choose to draw or read a book with their buddy. During our snack times, I had a special request to check out the show Brain Child so we watched an episode split up between our two snack breaks. Weekend Homework  📚 Students are bringing home a "Guess Who" sheet. They will fill out some of their favourite things and then at the end of each day we can read them and try to guess which form is for which student. This will be a way to get to know more about each other. If you could please work with your child to complete this for Tuesday, September 17th, that would be great! I'm still missing a few Back to Sch

Hello everyone! Today we continued to talk about International Dot Day and what it means to be creative. We brainstormed lots of ideas of ways we are creative and students did some writing about what personally makes them creative. This morning we also had our first fire drill. Our class did an AWESOME job! They were calm, responsible and quiet during the drill. I know our fire alarm is very loud and can cause some anxiety, so I do my best to prepare the students and help them feel as comfortable as possible.  We talk a lot about the importance of fire drills and why we shouldn't cover our ears during a fire drill (may not hear instructions/announcements), and how fire drills help us to stay safe. Yesterday, students were so eager to create dots for Dot Day in whatever way they wanted so, I promised that today they could be as creative as they like with their dots! Today at lunch there was a meeting for any students who are interested in joining the LBS Card Games Club. Y

Hello everyone! We've had a busy couple of days! Yesterday we worked on some name art for the front covers of our visual journals. If anyone who is cleared to volunteer with us is interested in helping to attach all of the artwork to the students' visual journals (just with packing tape) I would really appreciate the help! Please send me an email if you're interested in volunteering! Yesterday we also coloured some short story books about hermit crabs which students were able to bring home to share with you. We also practiced our Weekly Words. Today students had music and gym in the morning. We learned how to use the Spindle Box material and the Red Counter Material (matching the correct quantity of dots to the corresponding numeral). We also chatted this morning about an exciting current event. Did you hear that a new dinosaur was discovered? Here is a link to an article we looked at (I know Narcity isn't the most reliable site!) This morning we also practice

Hello families, I hope everyone had a great weekend! We now have our finalized schedules. Students will have music at the very end of the day on Mondays and on Wednesdays in the morning time. I will be on bus supervision after school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I will be around Mondays and Thursdays after school if you're looking for me! I decided to do some letter review with our class for a few minutes every morning. We will choose a letter to review, practice writing uppercase and lowercase letters and brainstorm 10 words that start with each letter. Today we started with the letter "A." I am also hoping to introduce a different material each morning. Today we learned the proper way to use our Montessori mats when working on the carpet and we learned how to use the Bead House material with the Coloured Bead Bars. The idea is to create the chosen number in as many different ways as you can! (ie. you can make 3 with 3+0, 2+1, 1+2, 0+3) We also starte

Hello families of room 13! Happy Friday! I can't believe the first week of school is already over. I've really enjoyed getting to see all the grade 2s again and getting to know our grade 1 students. I have a feeling it's going to be an awesome year! Today we had our gym time outdoors and we did some bunny art based on a story we read yesterday called "You're Finally Here!" It involved a lot of cutting and gluing. We talked about a "worker hand" and a "helper hand" when we're cutting - one hand does the cutting and the other moves the paper. We also read a funny story today called "The Princess and the Pony." On Fridays, I usually like to play a show during our snack time. Today we watched a Wild Kratts episode about hermit crabs. Did I mention I finally got a class pet?! We have three hermit crabs in room 13. Next week we are going to spend some time learning more about them and how to care for them. We also enjoye

Hello families, We had another great day today! We had our first music class with Mrs. Kawchuk and enjoyed gym with Mr. Link's class. Yesterday we read a story called "School's First Day of School" and today students worked in partners to draw and write about what makes a good school. In the afternoon we had "Mindful Minutes," which is a quiet time after lunch to help bring energy levels down. We also went on a school tour and talked about our Classroom Contract (fancy way of discussing classroom rules) and everyone signed the contract. We agreed to.. 1. Be kind 2. Be honest 3. Try our best 4. Be safe 5. Have fun!  A large brown envelope came home today that is filled with paper work for you! Please return it at your earliest convenience.  School Spirit Day  💙 On Friday we will be wearing our school colours! You are invited to wear your LBS t-shirt, if you have one, or blue & white. Pick up and Drop off  🚌 You may have no

Hello families of room 13! Welcome back to the families of our Grade 2 students and welcome to our new Grade 1 students & families! This is the best place to keep up to date on everything going on in the classroom. You can even "subscribe" to get an email every time I post a blog. I try to update the blog a few days per week! Today I sent home a yellow "communication folder." This is meant to travel to and from school every day. I'm trying to think of some sort of prize for any student that can keep their folder in good condition and not lose it all year. 🤔 We had a great first day of school! It went by so quickly and it was challenging to fit in everything that I wanted to do! I hope all of your children enjoyed their first day of school... it seemed like many students are already looking forward to tomorrow (and so am I... after a good nights sleep!) Please note that I am on bus supervision after school every day this week. Normally, I will like