Our First Month of School

We have had a very successful first month of school. We will be celebrating our first month with a PJ and stuffy day after the long weekend. Students are invited to wear their PJ's and can bring a stuffy on Tuesday, October 10th.

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Theme Studies 

 Theme studies is a combination of art, drama, English language arts and Social Studies. In theme studies our focus has been on our personal identies and getting to know each other and our classmates. We learned about the famous artist Pablo Picasso, abstract art and cubism. We then recreated our own self portraits which expressed who are through cubism.  We have also begun talking about our heritage and how that connects to our personal identity. We will look at how language, traditions new and old to connect to our personal identity.  In October we will be looking at our responsibilities and begin to explore rights.

Birthdays 

 This year for birthdays I have been giving students a scholastic birthday coupon that can be used to order a book during their birthday month. Please keep an eye out in their agenda for these coupons close to your child's birthday.

  Math

In math this month we have been exploring numbers and how to represent them in different ways. We have been skip counting by 10s starting at different points. We learned about estimation and practiced estimation of a collection. We have also been learning about equality and how to balance different types equations. We have been learning about how equations can look different. For example, 20=10+10, 19+1=18+2, 19+1=20 etc. We have also been filling in different equations so that they are balanced. For example, 13+?=14+2. Students have been learnig and practicing balancing equations through a variety of small math group activities and centers. Students have also brought home math practice which will focus on developing and practicing number concepts and mental math.  In October we will be working on problem solving strategies, and patterning in math. 

  Readers Workshop

 Our current chapter book read aloud is the One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. Students are using real reading comprehension strategies while the story is being read aloud. We are wondering, making predictions, wishes and explaining our thinking before, during and after our reading. Students have been working on their independent reading goals during readers workshop. Everyday we spend a chunk of time enjoying our chosen books during our read to self times. It is one of our favourite times during the day. Students have been working hard on making their own choices of good fit books during our read to self time. I have been reading one on one with students to help them with their reading goals and strategies. We have also been having lots of discussions on great books that we are reading and enjoying.  Students are encouraged daily to chose home reading books. Home reading books can come from the school library, the classroom library or home. Don't forget to log their home reading every night.

  Writer's Workshop and Word Work 

 We got our new writing journals for the year where we will be collecting  all of our writing. We have been writing everyday. This month we have been working hard at building our stamina during writing times. We have been developing our ability to generate ideas in writing. Students created heart maps which mapped out people, places and things that we hold close to our heart. This heart map will help us throughout the year come up with things to write about. We also have been writing about our "Dot" moments. These moments are inspired by Peter Reynold's book The Dot. We have been thinking about times where we have struggled to learn something and overcome this struggle. Students are working on describing these moments in their lives.  Our writer's workshop is linked to our word work or spelling in Room 41. During writing we have been working on independent spelling strategies. Students  are learning these important strategies so that they can get all their amazing writing ideas out into their journal with confidence. Some of the strategies being used are...

• Using word wall in our classroom.
• Using our personal word office which has lists of words.
• Bubble gum stretching the word out.
• Approximate spelling
• Using a book where we may have seen the word.
•  Using a word family.

Currently during word work we are working on generating words for word families. For example, if I can spell "would" I can spell words like could, should etc.   Now that we have a growing amount of writing in our journals we will begin  to pull our own words we need help spelling from our journals. Every student will have an individualized word list to practice which will be directly connected to their writing and their needs as writers. Students will do a variety of hands on activities to practice these words and work on directly connecting these words to their own writing.

  Halloween 

 Stay tuned for our Halloween plans.....