Dec. 16

This morning we started with carol singing again. Then, we did some festive centres.  After that we practiced singing our 12 Days of Christmas song.  We will perform our song during caroling tomorrow. If you can't join us for caroling please ask your child to perform the song for you. Here are the lyrics:

Dr. Coffin 12 Days of Christmas

A porcupine in a willow tree

Two basketballs

Three children playing

Four owls hooting

Five fun lunch pizzas

Six crazy treat days

Seven students learning

Eight missing laptops

Nine iPads freezing

Ten gardens growing

Eleven teachers dancing

Twelve snowforts melting

Tomorrow we are going to have a little party in the afternoon. We will watch a special movie and do some fun activities. If you want to sent a small special treat just for your child that would be nice.

We are getting excited about our Winter Sports Day on Friday. We are still looking for some volunteers to help out. If you are available please email Ms. Boyer. 

Our helper tomorrow is: David.

Dec. 15

This morning we started the day with Christmas caroling! Then we finished writing our Dr. Coffin version of the 12 Days of Christmas. Some of us also finished writing our own versions. Some of us will be working to finish them tomorrow.

On Friday we will be having our Winter Games Day! We will be spending the whole morning outside playing winter games. We will need to be wearing our warmest clothes including our snowpants and boots.

If you are available to volunteer to help with the Winter Games Day on Friday please email Ms. Boyer. 

Our helper tomorrow is: Stephanie

Dec. 14

Today in gym we started practicing some hockey skills. We practiced moving the puck with control and passing. We also had new centres today. We are doing some special centres for Christmas!  They are: Festive colouring pages, word puzzles, holiday cards, snowmen, and foamy decorations.  In math we moved on to our next pattern tubs. This is our third tub.

Tomorrow we will be doing carol singing in the learning commons starting at 9:00am. If you would like to join us we would love to see you! 

Tomorrow our helper is: Ellie

Dec. 11

Today we learned about predators and prey. We learned about the food chain that could exist on Nosehill and then played a game outside to see what it would be like to be an animal in the Nosehill food chain.  Before we went outside we did some research to see what our animals would eat to survive and created a chart to help us.

In our game some people were herbivores and had to hunt for food in special food stations. Other people were omnivores and carnivores and had to hunt the herbivores for food. At first there was a lot of running and screaming as the herbivores tried to run away from their predators. As we kept playing the game we noticed that the game started getting quieter. The herbivores like mice, hares, and deer started figuring out that hiding and being really quiet was important for their survival. If they yelled and stayed in the open areas it was easy for the predators like coyotes, cougars, and eagles to catch them.

We also discovered that the game was a lot harder for herbivores that were wearing really bright colours. We talked about how animals have to be able to camouflage so they blend in with their environment. If they don't blend in they will get eaten quickly.

Some of us even saw a real mouse! We noticed that it ran away really quickly and hid inside a hole near a tree. We realized that the mouse through we were a predator and was using its survival strategies to keep itself safe.

Dec. 10

Don't forget that tonight is the festive evening! We are all getting excited as we watch the wonderful volunteers get everything set up. It looks like it is going to be a great event!

Tomorrow is Fresh Air Friday. We will be working in Whispering Woods. Please make sure you have snowpants, and warm socks, mittens, and toques. 

Dec. 9

Today we started a new project during our writing time.  We started writing our own versions of the "12 days of Christmas".  Ask me about my version of the first day!

In science we started adding facts to our colour page to prove that we have learned a lot about colour. Did you know that you can't mix to get primary colours?
Did you know orange, red, and yellow are called warm colours?
Did you know that you can make all the other colours using the primary colours (yellow, blue, and red)?
Did you know that blue, green, and purple are called cool colours?

Tomorrow is our festive evening! We are very excited!

We will be working on mathletics tomorrow so please make sure you have your agenda at school. 

Our helper tomorrow is: Aiden

Dec. 8

Today we started working on our colour page in our visual journals. So far, we have added our tints and shades lines and our colour wheels to the page. Tomorrow, we are going to add facts that we have learned about colour.  In math, we started working on our second pattern tubs. We will be working on 8 tubs in total.  It will take 16 days.

In gym, we played our first real basketball game. The score was 2-1. We were working on trying to spread out and play defense and offense like real basketball players.

Don't forget that our Festive Evening will be on Thursday!

Our helper tomorrow is: Eiman

Dec. 7

This morning we had journals and finished up our first pattern centre in math. The grade one's also started doing some spelling practice during our guided reading today. This will be a new part of our guided reading routine. Grade two's will start their own spelling routine next week.

This afternoon we did a really beautiful art activity using corn syrup and food colouring as a final celebration of our learning about colour. We learned about the difference between opaque and transparent. Here are some examples of our artwork:

Our helper tomorrow is: Pania

Dec. 3

Today we did our vote for indoor garden planting! We also started planting our garden by putting our Tiny Tim Tomato, Diva Hybrid cucumber, California Wonder Pepper, and Sweet Basil seeds into peat pellets. We didn't plant the carrots and beans because they get planted directly into the big garden boxes. We will do that next week.

Please remember there is no school tomorrow. Have a great long weekend! 

Our helper on Monday is: Jason

Dec. 2

This morning we finished up writing our convincing arguments about the indoor garden. We have been working to write in ways that can convince other people to choose the same vegetables for planting as us. We learned that we need to include both facts and opinions in our writing in order to make it convincing.

In math, we started our pattern centres today. Today our centres were: snap cubes, opti-designs, xylophones, and crazy bugs. We will be spending two days at each centre.

We got to have a choice day in music because we earned 10 points for our hard work during class. We played 3 games. hangman, freeze dance, and wax museum.

p.s there wasn't a home reading volunteer today so students have the day off from their usual books. Please take a look at raz-kids for some extra reading practice today!

Don't forget that we have a PD day on Friday so there is no school for students. 

Our helper tomorrow is: Pania

Dec. 1

Today we did knee-to-knee sharing in journals. We focused on finding our most interesting sentences in our writing. In gym we kept practicing our passing and dribbling skills for basketball. We played a 3-on-3 passing game.  In math we learned about the new pattern centres that we will be working on for the next few weeks. We will be starting the centres tomorrow after recess.

We also wrote the observations and "I wonder" questions about the magic milk experiment we did last week. Some of the questions we came up with were:
- Why didn't the soap bubble?
- Why didn't the milk turn brown when the colours mixed?
- What would happen if we added more soap?
- How did the soap make the colours spin around?
- What if you added baking soda?
- What would happen if we put it in the microwave?
- What would happen if we added soda pop?
- What if we used shampoo instead of dish soap?

Some of us might want to do some extra research at home to find answers to these questions!

Tomorrow our helper is: Isabel

Nov. 30

Sorry there was no blog on Friday. We ran out of time.  On Friday we went looking for signs of animals in Nosehill. We found animal tracks, holes in the snow, scratched bark, holes in tree trunks, and places where bark had been rubbed off the trees.

Can you guess who's been here?

Today we started making animal footprints for a piece of animal track artwork. We will be putting it on the big wall outside our classroom. We are using black paper to make animal tracks for different animals we could find on Nosehill. We are making tracks for: porcupines, american badgers, red foxes, coyotes, deer, moose, deer mice, and crows.

Nov. 26

Today we did some drawing and writing about our favourite Dr. Coffin spirit day. We were excited about Crazy Hair day and the Shave-a-lid event. 8 students shaved their heads over the lunch hour. They raised more than $5600 for Kids Cancer Care.

In gym, the high school students from Sir Winston Churchill came to lead us in some games. We played "What time is it Mr. Wolf?", and different versions of "Red Light, Green Light".

At the end of the day we had a class meeting to talk about some problems we've been having with our whole group learning times. We have been finding that some of us are having trouble listening and staying focused when we are in the large group. We have decided to spend some time working in our smaller class groups so that we can practice our group listening, sharing, and participation skills. We will be moving back to working as a large group when we are ready.

Tomorrow is Fresh Air Friday. We will be working in the Whispering Woods. Please make sure you have snowpants and snowboots. We will be walking in the snow! 
Rafiki bracelets will be on sale again tomorrow for students wishing to place an order. 

Our helper on Monday is: Aanya

Nov. 25

This afternoon we did a science experiment called Magic Milk.  To try this experiment at home you need milk, food colouring, and dish soap.
We also started a colour pattern project called Pattern-A-Palooza! We are trying to create the most interesting colour patterns that we can.
Today in music we sang Three Blind Mice. We were practicing singing it as a canon. We watched the Nutcracker movie. It was the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Please remember that tomorrow is crazy hair day! We are excited to see all the crazy hairstyles that our classmates might have!  It is also Fun Lunch and the Shave-a-Lid event.

Tomorrow we will be working on Mathletics. Please make sure you bring your agenda to school so that you can get logged-in. 

Nov. 24

Today we started planning our indoor garden for this year! We started by looking through our new seeds to see what vegetables we can choose.  Our seeds are:

Next, we will have a vote to decide which vegetables to pick. We have 5 planter boxes to use for our indoor garden this year.

Don't forget that Thursday is Crazy Hair Day, Fun Lunch, and some older students are participating in Shave a Lid for a Kid. We will be invited to watch them shave their heads in support of Kids Cancer Cares. 

Our helper tomorrow is: Peter

Nov. 23

In math we worked on a pattern problem. The problem was: How many patterns can you make using only red and blue. So far our highest number of patterns is 10. Can you figure out more than 10? Are you smarter than a 2nd grader???
In science we practiced created creating tints with paint. A tint is when you start with a hue and then add white to make the colour lighter.
In gym, we practiced our dribbling skills. We are getting ready to play basketball.  In music we sang a new french song called "Are you sleeping" or "Frere Jacques". We sang it as a canon. A canon is when one group starts singing the song and then half way through the other group starts singing the song.

Our helper tomorrow is: Isla

Nov. 18

Today we worked very hard to complete our poetry book artwork and typing. It was our last chance to get help from our big buddies so that we could finish typing in time for conferences. Tomorrow we will be putting our books together! In music we watched a video called the Battle of the Nutcrackers.

Tomorrow we will be putting on a Bollywood show at 10:45. We have been working hard to learn all of our moves and to memorize our dance. Parents and families are welcome to come watch!
This is just a quick video of our warm up routine.

Don't forget that Parent-Teacher conferences start tomorrow at 4:00pm. If you have not registered yet please do so tonight. Remember that there is no school on Friday.  Tomorrow is also the last day to bring in Fun Lunch orders.

Nov. 17

Sorry there was no blog yesterday. Ms. Boyer had to leave early for a meeting downtown.

Today we had help typing up our poetry from our grade 5-6 buddies.  We are making our poetry into a book. We started painting the pages for our books this afternoon. We are making tints, shades, and hues of different colours to match our poetry. They are going to be beautiful!

We also worked on our name pattern project. Some of us got the job done, and some of us need another day to finish. We are hoping to have them ready to share with you on Thursday and Friday.

On Thursday we will have our Bollywood performance! We have been practicing very hard. We are getting much better at using our shoulders and keeping the beat. Please come see our show on Thursday!

It was also treat day today.  There were some delicious choices!

Our helper tomorrow is: Evelyn

Nov. 13

Today we walked over 4.5km up to the top of Nosehill! That was about 7000 steps!

We spent some time sketching the view from the top of hill. We were able to see the school, Northland mall, COP,and the Children's hospital.  In our sketches we included the aspen trees, fescue grasses, mountains, hills, roads, and houses. We tried to imagine what Brentwood would have looked like before all the houses were there. We found a picture on one of the Nosehill signs that showed a farm where the Brentwood Shopping Centre is now.

Please remember to register for Parent Teacher Conferences next week. 

Our helper on Monday is: Levi

Nov. 12

Today was our first day of Bollywood dancing! Our teacher's name is Ms. Kody. We started learning our dance.  We start in a little ball and then jump up like a star.  We got to end the class with a game of freeze dance.


This morning we also worked on our colour poetry. We are working hard to get our poetry finished in time to share at Parent Teacher conferences. This afternoon we added the final details to our portraits. We are excited to be finished and to share them with our families next week! After that, we had library. If you forgot to bring back your books please bring them tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are going to Nosehill for Fresh Air Friday. Please make sure you are dressed warmly, are wearing good boots and have a snack to eat at the top of the hill.  We are going to walk all the way to the top of Nosehill tomorrow! It will be about 5km round trip.  If you are able to join us please email Ms. Boyer.

Our helper on Monday is: Levi

Please check child's backpack for a fun lunch order form. 

Nov. 10

This morning we had our Remembrance Day assembly. It was a very serious assembly. The grade 4,5,6 classes performed poetry, songs, and a dance to tell us about Remembrance Day. We all sang "Oh, Canada".  Before the assembly we created poppies and made a display to put outside the gym.

This afternoon we added the shirts to our self-portraits. We used fabric, sequins, and buttons.

There is no school tomorrow due to Remembrance Day.  We are planning to go to Nosehill on Friday. We need 2 parents to join us. If you are able to join us please email Ms. Boyer. 

Our helper on Thursday is: Morgan

Nov. 9

Today we finished our black dot experiment and started making poppies for our Remembrance Day assembly. Some of us have very red fingers from making the poppy petals! We also started using our understanding of name and colour patterns to make a special placemat to use for Fun Lunch. In music, we played 2 games. One was called Riggedy Riggedy Jig.

Tomorrow is the Remembrance Day Assembly at 10:45. Please bring a small donation (25 cents) for a poppy or bring your poppy from home to wear. Parents are welcome to join us for the assembly.  Students who have uniforms from Scouts, Brownies, Sparks etc. are invited to wear them tomorrow. Other students are invited to wear black, white, and red.

Tomorrow our helper is: Claire 
(Don't forget, the new category is sharing a photo or souvenir from a trip.)

Nov.6

Today was Fresh Air Friday!

We went to Nosehill to see what we could discover about the animal habitat that exists there. We looked for signs of animals, the types of plants, and the terrain. We took pictures, collected evidence, and made field notes. Then when we came back to the school we created a collage to show our findings about the Nosehill habitat.

Nov. 5

Today we did a science experiment about black. We learned that scientists have to write down their procedure so that other scientists could repeat their experiments. If scientists can't repeat an experiment they won't believe the results.

Our procedure:
We took a coffee filter and used smelly markers to make a black dot in the middle. Then, we added drops of water.

Our Observations:
We noticed that the colour changed. We discovered that there is orange, pink, and blue inside the black.

This experiment helped us to answer 2 of our colour questions:

1. Can you make colours out of black?
Yes! When we added water to the black marker it separated into colours.

2. How do you make black?
Mix all the colours together to make black. When we separated the marker colour we saw turquoise, blue, orange, pink, yellow, and peach.

Now we wonder why the marker did this? We wonder what would happen if we re-did the experiment with a different colour?

Tomorrow is Fresh Air Friday. We will be going to Nosehill. Please be sure that you are wearing warm layers, hats, mittens, warm socks, and good boots for walking in wet grass. Please also bring a small water bottle and an extra snack. 

Nov. 4

Learning About Colour

We are learning about colour. After doing a few activities and learning about primary and secondary colours we started brainstorming all the questions we have about colours.  Then our teachers sorted our questions into categories so that we could decide what we should try to learn next. Here are the categories we have:

1.   History of colour.

·      How did colours get their names?

·      How did people first make colours?

·      Who discovered colours?

·      Why do colours exist?

·      Could new colours be invented?

·      Who discovered the primary, secondary, and tertiary colours?

·      Why are colours important?

·      Who invented crayons?

2.   Making colours.

·      Can you make dark colours out of light colours?

·      How do you make the primary colours?

·      What type of colour is brown?

·      What comes after tertiary colours?

·      Are there “forthiary” colours?

·      How many colours are there?

3.   Black and white.

·      What makes white?

·      Is white a colour?

·      Can you make colours out of black?

·      How do you make black?

·      Does mixing the primary colours make black?

·      How are different shades made?

4.   Colours in nature.

·      Why are there so many colours?

·      Why can’t flowers be black?

·      Why is food so many colours?

·      How do things get their colour? Eg. Why are leaves green? Why is the sky blue?

·      Is there any place that doesn’t have colour?

·      How do they make coloured plastic?

·      How to rainbows happen?

5.   Seeing colour.

·      How does information about colour get to your brain?

·      Do animals see colour the same way we do?

·      Why is green so bright?

6.   Feelings from colours

·      How would people feel without colours?

·      Why do we use colours?

·      What are cool colours?

·      What are warm colours?

·      Can colours make people feel mad?

·      Can colours make people feel happy?

Our helper tomorrow is: Atiksh

We are still looking for 2 volunteers to join us on Friday. We will be leaving the school just before 9:00. 

Nov. 3

We started today by reading some stories and colours and nature.  We are getting ready to write some poetry that will include colours and nature ideas. In math, we started talking about patterns. We talked about letter patterns, number patterns, and picture patterns. Then we went on a pattern hunt around the school. We found colour patterns on posters, patterns in our recess equipment, and even patterns in the girls bathroom! Today we also added the hair to our multi-media self-portraits. We used yarn, fabric, and felt for hair.

We also picked a new helper sharing category. Our new category is trips. The helper is invited to bring one picture or souvenir that will help them tell us about a trip they have been on.

Our helper tomorrow is: Jessica

Please remember to send donations for our Food Bank collection this week if you can. Also please remember to email Ms. Boyer if you can volunteer for our Nosehill trip this Friday!

Nov. 2

This morning we worked on writing in our journals. Our grade 2's worked really hard during centres to get a lot of extra writing done. In science we began thinking about what we wonder about colours. We are going to look at the questions and decide what kind of research or experiments we can do to find the answers.

Today in music we used the xylophones to play a song called Rocky Mountains. In gym we practiced our tricks with hula hoops and skipping.

At recess we enjoyed playing with the snow and lots of us made snowmen! Please remember not to throw snowballs and to bring your snow boots, warm jacket, mittens, and toque to school from now on.

This week our school is participating in "We Scare Hunger". This is a food drive to collect food donations for the food bank. Please bring in non-perishable food items to donate if you can. 

On Friday we are planning to head to Nosehill. If you are able to volunteer and have an approved police clearance please email Ms. Boyer.

Oct. 28

Today we worked on our portraits, played a new math game, and finished our colour wheels.

Portraits
We learned a few different ways to make noses and mouths. We used felt, tissue paper, paper, sequins, buttons, and beads.

Race to 100
To play race to 100 (first way) you take 2 dice and take turns rolling them. After each roll your write down how many points you rolled using tally marks. You keep rolling until your tally marks add up to 100.
To play race to 100 (second way) you need a group of 3 and one dice. Your group picks one lucky number. If you roll that number you get to start writing down the numbers from 1-100. While you are writing the other two people keep rolling. If one of them gets the lucky number they take the pencil away from you and then start writing. You keep going like this until someone has written all the numbers from 1-100 correctly.

Colour Wheels
Today we finished our colour wheels by adding the secondary and tertiary colours. The secondary colours are: purple, orange, and green. The tertiary colours are: blue-green, blue-purple, red-purple, red-orange, yellow-orange, and yellow-green.

Tomorrow we will have our Halloween parade in the afternoon. In the morning we will be doing our regular school work so please don't wear your costume in the morning. We will have a chance to change into our costumes after we eat our lunches.