Wednesday February 24, 2016.

Today we had a wonderful Wednesday!

We:

• Had outdoor play
• Had Science with Mr. I
• Had small journal groups
• Had free play
• Had math (we are learning about money!)
• Continued working on Todd Parr inspired art

Here are a couple of links to some money songs we like:

Canadian money song #1

Canadian money song #2

We are following some of the Jolly Phonics program for our literacy instruction

Here is a link to the Jolly Phonics songs (feel free to practice at home):

Jolly phonics songs

Please note: Today was pink shirt day, however, due to buses being cancelled, the bullying prevention assembly has been rescheduled to Friday and so students are invited to wear their pink clothing again on Friday to show their support for working together to prevent bullying. We loved seeing the sea of pink in our classroom today!

Wednesday February 24, 2016.

Hello everyone,

In last night's blog post I said that the Ardagh Wendy's fundraiser is tonight, but it is actually next Wednesday, March 2nd. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused. Next Wednesday from 4:30-7:30 you can dine in or drive-through, mention Ardagh and some proceeds from your visit will come back to our school. What a great reason to "treat" yourself!

Tuesday, February 23, 2016.

We have had a great last few days!

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for a wonderful first month at Ardagh! Everyone has been so kind, and welcoming! Ardagh is a fantastic school, and I am proud to be a teacher here. Thank you so much for making me feel so "at home". The students have been so helpful and patient as I have learned routines and have been very accepting of change. They are fantastic little people!

Tomorrow is pink shirt day to show our support of bullying prevention!

We have been busy these past few days and are wrapping up our study of Todd Parr with an activity, and we will be starting to read some Dr. Seuss books this week in preparation for Dr. Seuss' birthday March 2nd!

Today we:

• Had Outdoor Play
• Had Free Play indoors
• Had Math with Mrs. Robbins (area and perimeter)
• Had literacy
• Had grade 2/3 reading buddies and half the class started their Todd Parr art and writing
• Were introduced to a new problem solving method, Visual timer, and a few more items were added to our sensory toolkit

Here are some pictures from the last few days:

Our door is filling up!

We can use this chart to be independent problem solvers!

Child: "It bugs me when you...I wish you...next time"

We are learning to set goals

Each week we will each select a goal we want to focus on

More goals

Our goal setting wall

We brainstormed a lot of ways that "it's okay to be different." Very proud!

Some Todd Parr inspired art and writing.

"It's okay to have boo boos."

"It's okay to have one eye."

"It's okay to have different hair" (unfinished).

Elizabeth researching with her inquiry buddy.

Jack researching with his grade 8 inquiry buddy.

Michael and his inquiry buddy.

Keira and her inquiry buddy researching answers to their questions.

Andrew and his inquiry buddy focused on the task at hand.

Abby and her buddy.

Edyn and his inquiry buddy are learning a lot!

A little bit of health research for personal hygiene. "What will happen to the piece of bread that we touch if we don't wash our hands?"

Control group (handled with gloves), Clean hands (washed with soap and water), Dirty hands (touched by every student in the class).

Our shared procedural writing text about how to wash our hands.

Lilah doing some dinosaur math during number sense small groups!

Another example of some of the work from number sense small groups.

Dinosaurs make learning math fun!

Thursday, February 18, 2016.

Today we had a thoughtful Thursday.

We:

• Had outdoor play/exploration
• Had language centres
• Had math with Mrs. Robbins
• Had free play
• Read the book, "The Biggest Snowman Ever"
• Wrote a procedural text on "how to build a snowman"
• Opened up a snow sensory station
• Used the iPads
• Learned and practiced what it means to "shine"-active listening
• Talked about various ways to use the 100's chart we put up- students loved this, and played "school" during free play, or just went up individually and practiced on their own!

Here are some pictures from today:

"We can count by ones in soft or loud voices, slow or fast. We can count by 2's, 5's, and 10's. We can count evens and odds. We can count backwards. We can count row by row or column by column. We can cover a number and tell which number comes before and which number comes after. " 

"Show me how you shine."

Our snow sensory/discovery bin.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016.

We had a terrific Tuesday celebrating the 101st day of school!

Thank you to all the families that brought in 101 items for our display board! The items will be returned when the board is taken down.

Today I was at a workshop so Miss Bradley was in for me. I heard it was a great day!

Yesterday we:

• Went outside for outdoor play and exploration
• Did language centres and table top activities
• Had math with Mrs. Robbins (measurement-area)
• Had free play
• Did some 101st day of school activities (made dalmatian headbands, brainstormed 101 words, counted to 101, writing activities, word hunt, etc.)
• Had grade 2/3 reading buddies

Here are some pictures from yesterday:

Happy 101st day of school from our 101 dalmatians! 

What does 101 look like? We have 101 stickers, beads, buttons, macaronis, crayons, and words!