First Day Jitters...

What a wonderful bunch of boys and girls in 2S!  We had an extremely busy day which included the all time favourites:  gym and recess!!

We read the story First Day Jitters by Julie Dannenberg.  It's a fabulous story about a first-time teacher’s first day at school. It surprised the students to learn that teachers get nervous too. We talked about having "butterflies" in our stomach on the first day of school.  We drank a glass of Jitter Juice which we used to "wash our butterflies away!"

Several important notices were sent home today in your child's red folder.  Unfortunately, our agendas have not arrived, so I will be using the temporary one until they do.  Please return all correspondence as quickly as possible.

We will be making class t-shirts again.  Please send a black (short or long sleeved) t-shirt to school with your child.  I am planning to design and make our original t-shirts tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Zack!

Thanks for the delicious, green frogs!

Building the Blueprint

Our blueprint

In Math today, we added ten to various numbers and recorded the results.  We discussed the place value pattern in our results and examined why it is happening. This encouraged the students to use place value patterns to take leaps of ten and use landmark numbers. Together, we also created a blueprint of our measurements of our "Art Projects" using connecting cubes and adding machine paper.  We marked the measurements on the blueprint.

Day Two: Measuring for the Art Show

Counting by Tens

Counting by twos

Counting by twos

Making tens

Measuring for the Art Show

Today we read the book Measuring for the Art Show.  This story is of a teacher who has offered to organize an art show of children's work as a school fund-raiser.  The children have produced beautiful pieces of art and the teacher and several children set out to make signs to hand underneath each piece, listing the title of the piece, the artist's name and the price.  They want to measure each each art piece very carefully so that the sign will be exactly the same length as the piece of art.  But this hug pile of work is daunting.  Thankfully, the students soon figure out a solution.  They sort the art by size, measure each size, and make a blueprint - a pattern strip - that will be used for cutting all the signs.

The story sets the context for a series of investigations in this unit.  Today, we measured various sizes of art paper with connecting cubes. 

VOTE FOR DEVON
March 6 - 20

http://www.bigvalleyjamboree.com/

The LORAX!

Mitchell and Megan said, "We loved the movie!"
Kale said, "It was cool!"
Zack thought the Lorax was hairy!


2S at The LORAX!



Dylan thought the Lorax was funny!

Cole Haniak and Eyvind thought the movie was funny!

Cole Johnson and Jorja said, "It was awesome!"



Mmmmmm! Truffula Trees by Mrs. Forchuk



A huge thank you to all of the RBES parents who gave time to cover supervision, set up and organize, cook delicious food or sent in donations to provide for our Staff Appreciation Luncheon – it was delicious!


Also, a big thank you to our skate tiers yesterday and today: Mrs. Saville, Mrs. Forchuk, Mrs. Peace, Mr. Klassen, Mrs. Brattland, and Mrs. Wearden!

Tomorrow is our library day!

For our art project next week, your child will need a 2L clear, plastic pop bottle. Please ensure it has been cleaned thoroughly! We will be transforming these bottles into beautiful fish!

Last day of skating tomorrow – 10:50 – 11:50!

No school on Friday.

The LORAX on Monday!

Skating again tomorrow!

There are a still a few permission slips and money that have not been returned for our trip to see "The LORAX" on March 5th.  Please return ASAP.

There are not any new WWW/POW this week.

CWACOM Day!

We read with the kinders in KF!

All cozy watching the CWACOM movie!

CWACOM Day tomorrow!

In Math, students explored the mass of three different objects. They first chose one object from around the room to weigh on the balance scale. Their challenge was to find two more objects after which were heavier!



An eraser was lighter than 7 die.




A bottle of glue was heavier than an eraser.



The trophy was lighter than a bottle of paint.

A can of rulers was heavier than a kleenex box.

An eraser was lighter than a deck of cards.

Library Tomorrow!

• "Lorax" note went home today
• Black WWW/POW duotangs went home today - we completed the sentences in class

In Math tody, we continued to Compare Masses.  We chose 3 objects and a unit to measure the mass of each object.  Using a balance scale, we were able to figure out which were the heaviest and lightest objects.

Happy Family Day on Monday, February 20th!

How many times can you count to 10 in 100 seconds?

We are 100 days smarter!

The mass of an eraser is 98 pop tabs!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thank you for the delicious snacks!



2S Candy Stew....mmmmmmm!



Valentine's/100th Day Party tomorrow!

We will be having our party in the afternoon!  Don't forget to send 100 pieces of small candy to make our "Candy Stew".

In LA today, we completed the Dinner portion of our Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs story.  You will enjoy reading some extremely creative writing!

In Math today, I posed the problem, "Find a length, height, and distance around that total 10 of a unit.  We discussed the problem and made sure that students used the same unit for each of length, height and distance around.  We thought about:

• What do you have to find?
• What do you already know that will help you?
• What plan could you use to solve the problem?

Students worked in groups to agree on a plan and list materials that they needed.

See you on Monday!

Tomorrow is Red and White Day!

Today in math we used string to measure around our heads - it was a lot easier! 

In Social Students we discussed Ukrainian traditions, culture, dance, art, music, food, etc. Madison dressed in my Ukrainian dance costume - she looked adorable!!

Happy Birthday, Mitchell!



Happy 8th Birthday, Mitchell!  Thanks for the scrumptious cupcakes!



In math today, we used units such as popsicle sticks, pop tabs, squares, teddy bears and corks to measure the distance around our partner's head - it was hard!  We recorded our measurements and will measure with string tomorrow to see how accurate we were!

Today in Social Studies we talked about Saskatoon and it's Ukrainian history. Students learned to write three words in Ukrainian and then we played Boomchyk's Kitchen (http://www.ukrainianpower.com/UKGAMES/kitchen.html) where we learned to say several basic kitchen words in Ukrainian.

In math we measured the length 3 objects from around the classroom using 2 different units.  We discovered that if the unit was larger (popsicle sticks instead of pennies), we would need fewer of them.  We also discovered that the width of our hallway is 120 pop tabs!!  Eyvind and Emily measured one square (which equalled 12 pop tabs) and multiplied it by 10 squares (the width of the hallway).  Well done!

No school tomorrow!

In Math today, we chose different units (popsicle sticks, corks, squares, pennies and pop tabs) to estimate and measure our heel-to-toe step.  We learned that is easier to estimate with a larger unit than a smaller one (ie. there are fewer popsicle sticks to count than if I used pennies)

A final "Thank you" to all of my skate tiers!

In Math students had fun going on a schoolwide scavenger hunt. Our mission was to find items that were the following lengths: 5 paperclips, 7 straws, 3 markers and 12 unifix cubes.

Delicious Snow Pancakes

In the past, Acadians believed that the first snow to fall in May had special healing powers.  Today, some Acadians still celebrate the First Snow of May by making "snow pancakes" and so did we!

Titanica!

What a fabulous day!

Hot lunch and FFF tomorrow!

In Social studies, we moved on to the Acadians from Meteghan.  We looked closely at their flag and their language, French.  The kids had a blast learning a few French words and phrases like "I love you" and "Will you marry me?"

A pink note went home today, we are skating all next week (except for Monday) from 9:50 - 10:50.

Ten of us braved the frigid temperatures!

An eventful day full of:

• A journal entry....How would I spend a Snow Day at home? Students wrote a Bold Beginning and Excellent Ending for their entry.
• Addition and Subtraction to 18 Assessment with Mrs. Suter
• Crazy Addition - a card game to help us use different Mental Math strategies
• Music
• Gym - a whole hour!  Thanks, Mr. G!
• Games at recess and the walking circuit at lunch!

This week students will see the culmination of our addition/subtraction to 18 unit in Math. Students will finish off the unit by meeting one-on-one with me for a math interview.


In Social Studies we continued to look at Iqlauit. There are so many exciting things about the Far North! Students learned that Inuit live by the "golden rule" and that this applies not only to other people, but also to animals and nature. We learned about Inuit art, culture and also music. It was neat to watch as a man carved a soapstone polar bear and also listen to throat singing and watch drum dancing. The culture of the North is rich, and beautiful!

Today in Health we discussed proper use of medicine. Students brainstormed times when they have required medication (i.e.: flu, cold, stomach ache, broken bone, eye infection). We then discussed what rules should be followed when taking medicine (1. Take the correct amount, 2. Take it at the right time, 3. Only take medicine given to you by a parent).

In Math we played a very fun game of "Doubles +1". It is a dice game that can easily be played at home. Please feel free to send a note in your child's agenda or an email if you would like a board for at home.

Brrrr!

Even though we will be having indoor recesses all week, please ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for when they travel from home to school.  Keep warm!

• New POW/WWW went home today

Congratulations, Logan, on being the first to reach our Reading Finish Line!

New Year's Resolutions for Families


As stated in the RBES January Newsletter, families have been asked to make a Family Resolution.  Please send in your 2012 Family Resolution to be entered into a contest!  Be sure to include your family's name.

Playing Double The Die on the Smartboard




Playing Double The Die to help us learn our doubles!



Beginning our Cultural Festival Assignment - The Inuit



Choosing parts of the Ukrainian Culture for the Cultural Festival




Excited about the Cultural Festival - The Acadians



Early Dismissal Tomorrow!

The weather is supposed to plummet to seasonal temperatures tomorrow.  Please ensure that your child is properly dressed for the weather!

Today we started our new Social Studies unit, Looking at People. Students were introduced to the flags which represent each of the three communities we are studying. They then took their knowledge of flags and created either a flag for their family or our class. The students are proud of the thought and effort that went into them!

Welcome to 2012!

In Math today, we looked at another mental strategy to help us with addition facts to 18.  It's called DOUBLES AND NEAR DOUBLES.  It is important that your child know their doubles to 18:  1 + 1= 2; 2 + 2 = 4; 3 + 3 = 6; etc....  We can use the near doubles strategy to write a sum for 13.  We know that 6 + 6 = 12 and 1 more makes 13 OR that 7 + 7 = 14 and 1 less is 13.