September 25-28

Hello Families, 

Sorry for the late blog post - here's an update from last week! 


Math 

We learned a new math game called the "Game of Totals." This game involves adding 1, 2, or 3 and trying to be the player that makes 10! We also finished up the grade 2 government assessments, focused on teen numbers in grade 1, and the grade 2s learned about growing patterns with shapes. We also looked at patterns in the calendar starting with the months of the year and the seasons! 







Literacy

This week we reviewed the letters T, P, F and I! Students continued their work drawing things that start with these letters and stretching out the sounds as best as they could. Grade 2s are continuing to work on their sentence writing with this activity! The grade 1/2 teachers agree that we've seen a lot of improvement in letter formation since starting the UFLI program! Alphablocks is a great educational show for blending letter sounds and we enjoyed meeting some of the letter characters. T is my personal favourite. We've continued with our Daily LA rotations and grade 2 students completed two literacy government assessments each - phew! 


We were supposed to take out some library books this week but Mrs. Smith has been away so we will reschedule for this week! 

Science and Social Studies

This week we learned all about Orange Shirt Day and residential schools. We started with reviewing who Indigenous people are and learned a little bit about the medicine wheel. We were able to participate in some learning from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, including learning from some survivors about the food that was offered at residential schools and watching Phyllis Webstad read one of her books with her grandchildren. We also read my favourite story on the topic called When We Were Alone. I will include some of the resources below for you to check out! We also learned about the meaning behind truth and reconciliation and what we can do differently moving forward. 






We also explored the question "Who am I?" Students drew and wrote about what makes them, them! It will be interesting to go back to this work in the future to see what they can add as their learn more about themselves. 






Opening Task
This week students also started their "Opening Task." This is an activity that they work on as soon as they come into the classroom in the morning. It will always include a literacy and numeracy activity depending on what we are learning in the classroom. This week students worked on stretching out the sounds to spell the words in each picture, and drew pictures to represent different numbers. Students are able to choose a "just right" level for their learning. Here's an example: 



Did you know we practice mindfulness every day after lunch? We have learned a lot of different breathing techniques this year. We've learned rainbow breathing, flower breathing, balloon belly breathing, square breathing, hot cocoa breathing, figure eight breathing, feather breathing, and more! Ask your child what their favourite breathing technique is! 


Not many 1/2 students went to the meeting last week, so if your child is interested in joining they can get a form from Mr. Link this week and attend the next meeting on October 16th. 


We are still looking for volunteers for our October 18th Fish Creek field trip! Please let me know if you're available to help out! 

Upcoming Dates
  • Monday, October 2nd - Picture Day
  • Monday, October 9th - Thanksgiving (no school)
  • Thursday, October 12th - Fun Lunch
  • Wednesday, October 18th - Fish Creek field trip
  • Friday, October 20th - PD Day (no school)
  • Thursday, October 26th - Fun Lunch
  • Tuesday, October 31st - Halloween at LBS (guidelines to come)

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