Busy week and a hard working bunch...

For Language Arts this week, the students worked on their Pet Rock paragraphs. They started off with a graphic organizer which asked them to answer a variety of questions about their rocks, such as, "Where did you find your rock?" "What does your rock look like?" What makes your rock special?". We are still focusing on writing complete sentences with capitals and punctuation. A few of the students are challenging themselves to write more complex and detailed sentences.

After completing the questions, the students transferred their sentences to build a well written paragraph about their rock. They typed their paragraphs up and a lot of them are improving the speed at which they can type. It is great to see! They also love experimenting with different fonts and sizes.
Their pet rocks and paragraphs are displayed outside of the classroom for you to see next week at the Parent Teacher Meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday!

To introduce and prepare the students for a descriptive writing project that we will be completing next week, we worked on monster adjectives. We read, "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak and talked about different words that could be used to describe a monster. Then they were asked to use a list of adjectives to create their own monster using a fill in the blank activity sheet.

We also continued to read from our Collections series. Most of the students are eager to read out loud to the class, which is great! The students are working on fluency and expression while they read to the class.

In Math, we finished our Patterns and Relations unit by completing a Show What You Know. This activity was a combination of increasing and decreasing patterns so we could assess the students on what they learned throughout the unit. We also started our next unit, Number Sense. The students have been working on place value. For example, in the number 352, what place value is the number 5 in? It is in the tens column.

We learned about the three different rock types in Science. We watched a video together as a class, stopping periodically to fill in an activity. Ask your child what the three rock types are. (Igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary). We also talked about the Rock Cycle.

The students then started assembling their Rocks and Minerals Lapbook. This is an exciting way to organize what they will be learning in this unit. 

This week we have also been working on Christmas cards for the fundraising committee. Each student will make a card sample which will be completed in time for you to view next week at the Parent Teacher Meetings. These cards will be available to order in bundles of 10. The card we decided to make, requires a few different steps so we have been working on them a bit at a time. We can't wait for you to see the finished product!

We have some very eager readers and we can barely keep up with flying their planes around the room! Way to go!

Read to Self continues to be an important part of our day. The students have been working hard to build their stamina, staying focused for the entire reading time. We like to use this time to read with students individually and test their comprehension. 

In gym this week, we focused on the skill of "aiming". The students played a variety of games. This game was a favourite, as the students had to try and move a large ball to the other side of the gym by using smaller balls. 

We read Monster Mama and for art we created our own screaming monsters. They worked so hard to draw, colour with crayon (to resist the paint) and use a blowing technique for the hair. These turned out amazing and will be on display outside our class for interviews. 

 Congratulations to our new Student of the Week!!