Pink Shirt Day!

On February 25th, students in our class and throughout the school supported PINK SHIRT DAY, an anti-bullying campaign. Our class started the day by reading a few stories about bullying. 

We learned how to braid Think Pink bracelets! A few students made extra bracelets to pass out around the school. 

The students also worked on an Instagram template to create their own message about Pink Shirt Day. They were asked to take photos of eachother showing kindness and to search for special kindness quotes to add to their Instagram picture. 

In Language Arts this week, the students wrote summaries and biographies for the back of their published stories. They are so excited to publish a book and can't wait to share these stories with students around the school. 

We have also been working on writing our second paragraph of their "All About Me" projects. The good copies will be complied into a booklet, which will make a great keepsake. 

The students worked on some extra handwriting and spelling practice this week! 

They also reviewed lines and loops. 

They enjoy using time to quiz eachother on their spelling words. 

In Math, we continued to work on two digit subtraction. As an assessment, students worked on a math review of subtracting two digit numbers. 

We worked through a variety of mental math strategies for subtracting double digits. We talked about finding a friendly number. For example, if they are trying to answer 76-48 in their head, they may want to think about 76-50. We also discussed how to start at the smaller number and count up. They might start at 48 and add 2 to get to 50. Then they can add another 26 to get to 76. Some of the kids prefer to stack the numbers in their head to figure out the answer. After working through a number of questions using their preferred mental math strategy, they played a new math game. 

Next week, we will work on three digit subtraction. 

The class was given their third Survivor challenge. There is a storm heading our way and we need to build a shelter so that we have somewhere dry for the night. We see that a few pieces of tin have came off of our aircraft during our emergency landing. We decide to hall the tin to a small clearing and make an arch out of the tin for our shelter. We need to make sure it is strong enough for the downpour of rain. We will have to figure out if a wider or smaller gap will be stronger for the arch. Students were given poster paper to make their arches. They were asked to check the strength of the arch by changing the width of the gap. 

For Art this week, the class made animal trading cards of their favourite African animals! They used directed drawing booklets to illustrate the front of their cards. 

In Gym, we practiced some basketball skills such as passing, dribbling and shooting. 

We have been spoiled with beautiful weather so we enjoyed a game outside during Healthy Hearts called, Spy Tag. 

Congratulations! Our students are so eager to complete their individual goals! Some of our students are flying quickly around the Amazing Race! 

Some of them are already working on their second lap! 

Congratulations to our new Student of the Week! 

Special Activity

We had the opportunity to work with Darren Maltais (Technology Integration Facilitator for Black Gold) this week. We set our class up with Google Classroom and the students completed their first assignment creating winter cinquains. 

They also had an opportunity to help grade 1 students with some penguin activities. They accessed these through Google Classroom. 

To practice our spelling words this week, we created word search puzzles. The students also played "teacher", taking turns calling out the words. 

We also worked on another "All About Me" paragraph. The students are creating great introductory and concluding sentences to go with their topic. 

The students have finished writing their spin off stories of the "Three Little Pigs". They have had the opportunity to conference with us in order to edit their stories. Most of the stories are quite lengthy so we are typing them for the students in a published book format. They will be writing a summary for the back of their book and a biography of the author (themselves). They will also be starting their illustrations next week.

 

For handwriting, we reviewed the "curves" and "ascenders". 

For Math, we practiced various methods to subtract 2-digit numbers. Below are the strategies we reviewed. Ask your child to explain to you which they prefer using. 

For Social, we added to our lap book and continued reading and recording information about Tunisia.

In Science, the students were given their second Survivor challenge. Most of us are starving and haven't eaten for hours. Ahead of us, in a dense jungle we spot some trees with bananas! We need to cross a fast moving river and decide to use some tree bark to build beams for a bridge. The students were given paper to create three types of beams: rectangular, box girder and accordion. They placed their beams across a gap that was 14cm and used blocks to test the strength of the beams. Most of the students found the accordion beam to be the strongest. 

For gym, we played "clothes pin tag", "builders and bulldozers" and rotated through various physical literacy centers. 

The students continue to enjoy our daily Read to Self, Read to Someone and Listen to Reading. 

DOJO DAY! For the last few months, our students have all been working hard to receive Dojo points as our classroom reward system. Every second week, they have to opportunity to exchange these points for an individual reward or donate them towards a class reward. They worked together and donated 3600 points to earn a movie with popcorn! Way to go, kids! 

Congratulations to our student who has read over 5000 minutes!! Wow!

Congratulations to our new Student of the Week!