Ms. Midgley's Blog

Hi everyone, This morning we had our first music class of the week! We missed our music time on Tuesday afternoon because of the Terry Fox run. Today we talked a lot about Orange Shirt Day. We listened to a story called "When I Was Eight," a short video about why we wear orange, and another story called, "When we were Alone." The students seemed very interested in this topic and had lots of great questions. We discussed some of the Right of a Child and talked about what school felt like for some of the First Nations people versus what school should feel like. We brainstormed ideas for what school should feel like and students completed the sentence and decorated a shirt with the saying "Every Child Matters." Remember to wear your orange shirts tomorrow! The communication folders were very full today! Today I sent home... Brown envelop with demographic information Picture Day info MAPSS info Home Reading info R.E.D Home Reading folder Tomorrow...

Hi Everyone! I only have a few minutes to write the blog today so here is a quick overview of our day! This morning, in addition to our normal daily routine, we had buddies! We finished our book marks and did some step by step drawing with our buddies. During work period we had some time to finish up our jobs from earlier this week. In the afternoon we had a trial run of our literacy groups. The students in our class, Miss Ireland's class, and Mr. Link's class split into three groups where we did some different literacy activities. The groups worked on letters and sounds, letter blends, and similes. I am hoping to send home the Home Reading folders tomorrow. Again, please send me an email if you are not interested in borrowing books from the classroom! Tomorrow we will have music and we will begin talking about Orange Shirt Day. Have a great evening!

Hello everyone! Today we continued on with our daily routine of Explore and Play and Daily 5 literacy. The group I was reading with today talked about contractions! Before work period we watched a video about Terry Fox. The students were very curious and compassionate. Don't be surprised if they come home with even more questions! Tomorrow afternoon is our Terry Fox Run! Feel free to join us at 1:45pm if you'd like! Tomorrow students will wear a sticker that says, "Terry ran for me, I am running for..." Students were asked to talk to their families tonight about who they could run for tomorrow. Feel free to send a note in communication folders if you don't think your child will remember!  During work period students had the choice of writing about their weekends or responding to the question, What can we learn from Terry Fox? Students were also given a list of 10 numbers (4 different lists with varying difficulties they could choose from) and were asked to r...

Hello everyone! In this Blog! Weekly Words Library info Responsible Work Choices Items due back (student information package, ADmazing and Scholastic orders) Welcome Back BBQ/Open House Upcoming Fort Calgary field trip My apologies for the late blog! The back-to-school germs have gotten to me! Last week we had a quick chat about how to stop germs from spreading and what we can do to help prevent ourselves from getting sick. I know this is a long blog but please take the time to read it as there is lots of important information!  My favourite part of today was during work period when we got into a discussion about counting to 10 in different languages. We determined that in our classroom we can count to 10 in English, French, Spanish, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese. Pretty neat! I'm hoping we can have some of our students with second languages teach the rest of the class how to count in their language. Today we started our Daily 5 cycle- students w...

Happy Friday! I am still getting used to these early dismissal Fridays... it doesn't feel like there is enough time in the day! Today we had our first spelling quiz! Students did a great job. For our grade ones, I wasn't looking to see if they could spell every word correctly but rather if they could identify the beginning, middle, or end sound of words. Please don't worry if they were unable to complete the spelling quiz! It is only the second week of grade 1. The quiz gave me an idea of student literacy skills and where we need to start with each student. We had a quick PE class where we played snakes in the grass and 4 corners. We also enjoyed some "free choice" time and watched The Magic School Bus about colours during our snack time. On Fridays, Mrs. Kawchuck is able to provide extra music classes for students so today we had a bonus music class right at the end of the day! If you have not yet sent headphones, and you are able to, please try to send t...

Hello everyone! Over the past two days we have been talking about International Dot Day! International Dot Day is on September 15th! All of the Grade 1/2 classes have been working together on a collaborative dot art project. Each class is creating different coloured dots that will go together to create a beautiful art piece. You will be able to see if in the hallway during the Welcome Back BBQ next Thursday. We've talked a lot about primary and secondary colours, different types of lines, warm and cool colours, and shades a tints. Each student created a yellow dot that used at least 2 different types of lines with one shade and one tint and then painted over them with yellow water colour. We will cut them out tomorrow! Please remember that tomorrow is an early dismissal day - 12:15pm! School pick-up arrangements If your child's pick up arrangement changes please notify the office. We don't often check our emails in the middle of the day and may miss important infor...

Hi everyone! Here is a quick update from today... This morning we started "Explore and Play" in the morning time where students can choose their own activity. They are encouraged to try new things and be creative. They also have access to lots of scrap materials to make some different projects (a mini maker-space if you will!) We did some buddy reading with our Grade 3 buddy class. During work period we did morning math, spelling and writing. Students could choose between writing about what they did on the weekend of what they did over summer vacation. Some students still need more time to finish tomorrow. In gym we played 4 corners. After lunch we had mindful minutes and continued reading our Secrets of Droon book. Students then has music until recess time. After recess we had guest reader and classroom jobs. Scholastic Book Order forms were sent home today. They will be sent home monthly. We discussed how families won't be able to order every single month but tha...

Hello everyone. I hope everyone had a restful weekend! I was telling students today that I slept until noon on Saturday! I am all rested up for the week ahead! This morning we did our morning tub activities and did a sharing circle where students shared what they did over the weekend. I shared with them that when I visited the school yesterday, I found a fish from our fish tank on the floor (we're sharing our class pet with Miss Ireland's class). He had jumped out when no one was here and unfortunately didn't make it! I learned that sometimes fish do this when the ammonia level or pH balance is off or if the tank is not decorated enough or it doesn't have enough hiding spots. We had introduced new fish to the tank and we guess this guy just wasn't very happy about it! We started learning about "Daily 5" literacy by doing "read to self." Next week we will be starting our real Daily 5 program where students will be divided into 5 groups and w...

Happy Friday! I can't believe the first week is already over. I have really enjoyed seeing my grade 2s again and meeting my new students. I have a great feeling about this year! Today we created a classroom contract based on some of the expectations students came up with on Tuesday. Our 4 classroom "rules" are... 1. Be kind 2. Be safe 3. Try your best 4. Have fun!  Students signed the contract to agree to doing these 4 things during the year. We did morning math for the number 4, 18, or 723. During snack time we watched Magic School Bus and finished it during our second snack break. We discussed some of the expectations for assemblies and went over O'Canada and the Salute to the Flag. Students then enjoyed "Free Choice" where they get to choose any activity in the classroom - we do this most Fridays! We then had music and our welcome back assembly. This went a little longer than I anticipated and unfortunately we ran out of time for gym. Instead, ...

Hello everyone! Today we had our first music class! We will have music again tomorrow. We will also be having an assembly which means our phys ed time will need to be outdoors. During our sharing circle we shared about our favourite foods and then we were really ready for snack time. We discussed what "Work Period" sounds, looks and feels like and students worked on Morning Math (using the number 3, 22, or 972) and their activities from yesterday that weren't finished. In gym, we played Snakes in the Grass. After lunch we did mindful minutes and read another chapter from our Secrets of Droon novel. We then watched a story on the Smart Board called Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox. This story talks about what a memory is and students were given a "Homework" task! (SEE BELOW!) HOMEWORK Students were given a "homework" assignment today! They have been asked to bring something to school on Monday that represents a memory. This item mus...

Hello families of room 13! We are off to a great start this year! I had to rush off to an appointment after school yesterday and was unable to write a blog post but here is what we have been up to for the past two days! In the morning time, students have been working with materials at their table such as lego, colouring and snap cubes. We then have a sharing circle and do a morning exercise on Go Noodle to get our bodies ready to learn. During snack we have been watching some stories on Storyline Online. Yesterday during work period, students did "Morning Math" and today we did Morning Math again as well as decorating our name cards, placemats, and drawing pictures of ourselves with 5 things we enjoy. Every day students will be completing morning math on a laminated sheet. Each day students get the choice between a 1-digit, 2-digit, and 3-digit number.  They will answer questions such as, is it even or odd? what is 1 more? 1 less? 10 more? and what are the next 5 number...