Les aventures des jeunes

Field trips and special events Dinter's- We had a wonderful trip to Dinter's this week. We toured the greenhouses and the tropical area of the store. We learned what the plants need to grow. We also learned about ponds and the predators that eat Koi in the ponds. We also released ladybugs to help keep the plants healthy by eating the aphid. Of course we also transplanted tomatoes to a bigger pot. I hope that you were able to find a good home for the plants at your home. The plants will grow an Italian type tomato. Museum trip- We will be heading to the museum and Beacon Hill park on Tuesday. As we will be walking and eating outside, please pack layers as well as a hat for your child so that we are prepared regardless of the weather. At the time of writing the temperatures are supposed to be cool, like they were at the beginning of this week.  At the museum, we will be focusing on the second floor, the Natural gallery as it matches well with the science curriculum...

Subtraction We started subtraction this week. We describe subtraction as one big group separating into two other groups. Like our definition of addition, this definition usually stays true even when applied to negative numbers. The goal is to lay the math foundation in grade 1 and 2 that does not have to be relearned as the children deal with negative numbers, absolute values and the imaginary number set (if and when they do calculus!) We spent a few days playing with toys as is shown in the pictures to help solidify this concept. This is something you can definitely do at home! We are now working with cuisinaire rods to demonstrate that subtraction is the difference between 2 numbers. We are beginning to write math equations for subtraction from 10. We will expand to equations from 15 and then 20 over the next week or so.  Story writing We spent this week talking about a time when we were hurt. You may have heard about how I hit my chin on the side of my ...

Dandelions and the Garden We have been learning about dandelions this week. Have you noticed how dandelions close at night and reopen in the morning? We voted first thing this morning on whether or not the dandelions were open or closed. Then we went outside today to look at the dandelions first thing this morning and then again mid-afternoon. Ask your student what we noticed at the different times of the day! Yesterday we went on a scavenger hunt to find dandelions in all 4 phases of growth; bud, open flower, closed flower and in seed. We also looked for insects that act as pollinators such as bees, ladybugs and butterflies. Today we returned outside and drew the 4 phases of the dandelion. It was a beautiful day to be outside! We have started to clear out our class garden to plant flowers. We are still working on that project. I am looking for volunteers to come in after 1:30 any day next week to help the children finish weeding and begin to plant our seeds. If you are inter...

Castles As we move towards the March Break we have worked hard to finish our research project on castles. The students have been using library books and we have been watching videos about the life in castles. In their research reports (which came home March 8th), the students wrote about who lived in the castles, what they ate and the role of knights.  They enjoyed making catapults and several groups created successful catapults. In order to have a successful catapult, they had to create a structure to support the spoon. The catapults were to be able to launch pompoms. They also made a shield to represent themselves as knight carried shields that represented their families and rulers. The shields include their favorite natural object(s), favorite activity, favorite shape and favorite animal. The background was to be their favorite colours. 100th day of school The 100th day of school (more or less) :)  The Friday before the break, we celebrated 100 days at s...

Home Reading The snow definitely slowed down the momentum over the past week. Thanks to everyone who read the home reading books and returned the bags so that your children could bring home new books to share with you. Our exchange day is Wednesday, but if your child has read the books several times they can exchange any day at reading time.  We talked at school about always keeping the books in the cloth bag and keeping them in the same place so they can be easily located and brought back to school. The backpack is not the best storage location as sometimes water bottles spill etc. The books can only be ordered as a set and the sets are very pricey (in the hundreds of dollars) so I thank you for helping me to preserve the books for as long as possible.  If home reading is not something that fits with your busy schedule and you prefer not to have extra books at home to keep track of, please just let me know. At this point I would rather your child enjoy school and have ...

Home Reading The children chose 2 books from their reading basket to bring home to read. The books are due back every Wednesday so that they can be sure that they are reading a variety of books. To help keep our books in good condition, please keep the books in their book bag in a safe place at home.  If your child is ready to change the books more often, just send the books back and they can switch the books during the reading block.  Storytelling and Fairy Tales We are continuing to work on telling stories with character, place, problem and solution. We are beginning to talk about fairy tales and what they have in common. Fairy tales usually have a mean/ wicked character, magic/ talking animals and they have a moral to the story. Next week we will read a version of Beauty and the Beast.   Math We have been working with 2D shapes. The students are really capable of describing shapes to each other. We played a game where on partner picked a...

Report Cards Report cards are coming home today, January, 24. These reports are a summary of information on Ed Inform up until mid- January. The more recent entries on Ed Inform are not included in this report. The language has changed for the report card. We now use the descriptors emerging, developing, proficient and extending. The description for these terms is on the back of the report card cover. As always if you have any questions or concerns, please contact me and we can chat about your concerns and questions.  Please return the envelope and report card cover to the school. The report card is yours to keep.  Ed Inform I am adding new examples of learning activities to Ed Inform. The learning activities show what activities  your child is doing in class to meet the expectations for this topic/ unit. On Ed inform this week I am including learning activities under the following learning samples: New reading videos under « reading » New activities unde...