Fresh Air Friday #10

Today for Fresh Air Friday Room 2 went into the Whispering Woods to create art in nature using things found in nature. We were inspired by a British artist named Andy Goldsworthy, who creates temporary art installations out of sticks, stones, leaves and anything else he can find in nature.  Some students worked in groups while others worked by themselves, using leaves, dead branches, and twigs to create their art on snow, in the woods, on live trees or large stones.

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Afterwards, we continued our work on our nature sketches and watched a demonstration on how to use watercolor paints. Some of the students were able to get started on their painting and filled in the background or sky with a light wash of color. 

Pattern Palooza & Special Helpers

Today we got started a new project in math called Pattern Palooza Challenge. The objective is to create a large placemat of various patterns by filling in chart paper. However, there are two rules: (1) you can only repeat the same type of pattern twice, and (2) two patterns of the same type cannot be beside each other. Each pattern's core is highlighted and described with letters. Once they are complete we will be laminating them so that they could be used as placemats for fun lunch!




We also found out that our CBC Music Challenge video has been published on YouTube, so we watched it in music class!


It can be viewed at the following link: https://youtu.be/SUauc7Yyluk








We also started Helper Jar today. A special helper will be selected for each day and this person will have the opportunity to share something about themselves based on a selected topic from a list that the class brainstormed today. Also, the special helper will have special duties such as being the line leader, handing out materials, or helping the teacher with various tasks.

For the first round, the topic is: favorite stuffy, toy or action figure.

Our special helper for tomorrow is: Nooray

Finally, at the end of the day, the whole school gathered to say goodbye to Mr. O as he is retiring!

A Day Full of Spirit

Spirit Day was a hit! Many students dressed up in plaid shirts and jeans. Some students even had on fake beards to mimic Mr. P's look.
Mr. P was very surprised and lots of laughter was shared.


Today, we started sketching our good copies of the pictures we took from nature on watercolor paper.

Once these are done, we will be painting over them with watercolor paints.



We also started our research of the prairies by using iPads and desktops to search for photographs of the land. We noticed that the landscape in the prairies is full of grass and crops and can be flat or have low hills. We will be continuing on with our research in the upcoming classes.

Finally, Mrs. Polski visited our classroom and gifted each of us with a new book: Giraffe and Bird. She read to us a part of the book, but it is up to each student to finish the story when they get home.

Introduction to the Prairies

A great big thank you to all the Room 2 families that brought in treats for Treat Day today! Also, thank you to the volunteers who came to help us set up and sell the treats. From all the money made, Room 2 has decided to use the money towards our class pet.

Today we started our new Social Studies investigation - we will be learning about different communities in Canada. After reading "If You're Not From the Prairie", we learned that we will begin the study with the prairies.  To start our study, we brainstormed the various things we already knew about the prairies and things we thought you might see in the prairies. We learned that the prairie provinces include Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Next, we will conduct some research and see what things on our list were correct and incorrect.

Finally, please remember that tomorrow is our spirit day, and we will be surprising Mr. P (Room 6 teacher). So, if you have a plaid shirt and jeans, please wear those! Also, you may bring your Fresh Air Friday mug or non-breakable travel mug.

Treat Day is Tomorrow!

As a final reminder, tomorrow is Treat Day! Room 2 still needs one more volunteer to help set up and sell treats at recess time. If you are available to volunteer, please sign up through Sign Up Genius or contact our room parent directly, thank you!

Final Production for CBC Music Contest

Hello families, just as a reminder that Room 2 is providing treats for Treat Day on Tuesday, November 27th. We still need some volunteers to help set up and sell treats at recess time. If you are available to volunteer, please sign up through Sign Up Genius or contact our room parent directly.

Patterns in Nature

Today was our final day for working on our nature patterns posters in math. Each group had the opportunity to present their patterns to Mrs. Yoon, where the grade ones shared the patterns in one or more photographs, and grade twos shared patterns in two or more photographs.

For science, students re-visited their Arthropod flip-books and applied the feedback provided by Mrs. Yoon. This involved having to research more information in books and on the internet, then adding more details and examples to the flip-books.

For word word, the grade ones had the opportunity to start a spelling test, which will be continued tomorrow, while the grade twos had independent reading time.

We ended the day with a second round of grade 1 and 2 CBC Radio Contest rehearsals, and are excited to film the final submission tomorrow! 

CBC Radio Contest Rehearsal

Today room 2 was busy practicing for the music project - CBC Radio Contest - performing the Big Yellow Taxi. All grade 1 and 2 students gathered together in the gym to sing and play instruments such as the triangle, percussion, xylophones, and drums. This will be very exciting because the final performance will be recorded on Thursday, so this week there will be more rehearsals!

For word work, grade twos completed their spelling test and will be going over spelling mistakes tomorrow. These words will be used to practice and improve our spelling in the classes ahead. Grade ones had book time and practiced reading to self.
We also finished up our final drafts of the name stories and have them out on display in the hallways.

In math, we were working away on their math posters of patterns found in nature. They identified and described the patterns in the photographs that they took from the Whispering Woods and the Nature Grounds. A few more finishing touches and details are needed.

Finally, for science many students have moved on from backgrounds and habitat to adding other details such as food and predators. Please remember, you are welcome to bring in any creative items you would like to add to the diorama from home.

Diorama Backgrounds

Today in Room 2 Mrs. Yoon came back from being sick for the last few classes. So, we went over class expectations and took a pledge together to speak to each other with kind words, treat others with respect, and act responsibly.

In science we went to work on the arthropod dioramas and started adding details with colored paper, pipe cleaners, tissue paper and items brought from home such as sand, beans and rocks. Here are a few examples from class:


We will continue working on our diorama project this week by adding things such as food and predators.

Just a reminder to all families, please make sure to bring home readings back to school - if you would more time to read the same book, just leave a note in the home reading to return the same book home again.

Arthropod Research, Next Steps

Today Mrs. Hamby introduced the next steps with our arthropod research project. We learned about creating a flip book of facts using our research.
Also, we learned that we will create a diorama showing where and how our arthropod lives.




Starting with the arthropod's habitat, we will be using colored paper and tissue paper for the background. We learned that if you layer the tissue paper and pinch it in the middle, you can make a 3D flower. It would be great if you could start brainstorming other materials you might want to include and bring in for building the other parts of the diorama, which will be happening in the classes ahead.

First Day with Mrs. Yoon

Today in Room 2:

Since it was the first day with Mrs. Yoon, we talked about what it means to be a part of a classroom community. Then, we created a class promise about how we will respect others, the environment, and ourselves. We also brainstormed ways that we can show respect. Finally, we each created a personal promise and wrote them onto individual hand cut-outs that we pasted on the poster as reminder and symbol of its importance.

After recess the grade 1s started book time while the the grade 2s were introduced to a new work work activity. In pairs, the grade 2s tested each other on Sight Words and learned to spell them correctly.

Then it was time for some math. We worked in our table groups to start our patterns poster from Nature. First we had to create a title, then cut out and glue on our pattern pictures that we took from the Whispering Woods and the Nature grounds on Friday.

For gym, we learned three different ways to serve in badminton. Then, we practiced our serving skills by playing a game of "Not in Our Backyard".

We finished the day with more research for our insect projects in Science.

Remembrance Day

Today was our Remembrance Day assembly. Before the assembly we had a bit of time to do an outdoor pattern hunt. We went out with our table groups and an iPad and tried to find at 11 different patterns in nature. We will be using these patterns for a math activity next week. Ask me what kinds of patterns my group was able to find. 

After our recess break it was time to go to the Remembrance Day Assembly. We all did a great job remembering to be respectful during this very serious occasion and enjoyed listening to performances by students in other grades.

When the assembly was over we all met together to say goodbye to Ms. Boyer and welcome to Mrs. Yoon. All the grade 1-2's had secretly made a book of baby advice for Ms. Boyer and Jeff. We presented it to Ms. Boyer along with an alphabet book by Oliver Jeffers (One of Ms. Boyer's favourite authors!). She was so surprised by our gift because we had all kept it a secret for almost 2 weeks!  After that we gave Mrs. Yoon the welcome book we had created for her earlier in the week. We also gave her a Dr. Coffin t-shirt now that she if officially a Dr. Coffin teacher!

Have a great weekend!


A NOTE FROM MS. BOYER

Dear Room 2 students and families,

Thank you so much for all of your hugs and kind wishes as I leave to begin my maternity leave. I am very excited to welcome our new bundle and to spend the year getting to take care of her but I will also miss seeing each of you everyday. I have truly loved being your teacher! 

As you continue your school year I know you and Mrs. Yoon will have an awesome time and you will become even more brilliant than you already are. I will be sure to keep in touch through emails to Mrs. Yoon and I will try to share lots of pictures. 

Have a great year, see you soon!

Love, 
Ms. Boyer

Remembrance Day Art

This morning we worked on a special art project for Remembrance Day. We started by reading some stories about peace and Remembrance Day and then we started preparing our supplies for an art project inspired by Eric Carle.  To create our poppy art project we started by painting red and green papers. We did this before recess so that our supplies were ready to use after recess.

After recess we watched a video about the way that Eric Carle creates his artwork using different painted papers that he cuts and glues together. Then we used this technique to create beatiful poppies that will be on display during the Remembrance Day assembly this Friday.

This afternoon we had a bit of time to finish up our poppies and our surprise for Mrs. Yoon. Then we played badminton in gym. After that we watched a story on the smartboard called The Quiet Cricket. After the video we learned a new interesting fact about crickets and temperature. Ask me about our new fact! Then we spent some time getting our desks cleaned out (some of them were getting very messy!). At the end of the day we got to move to our new table groups! Ask me about my new table group!

Getting Ready for Mrs. Yoon

This morning we switched up our routine a bit to work on a few special projects for Mrs. Yoon. We won't mention exactly what we were doing, in case Mrs. Yoon reads the blog, but please ask me about our special projects!

After recess we started talking about our new math study: patterns. Today we talked about some important features of patterns and then we went and started to conduct a pattern hunt around the school. We will finish up our pattern hunt tomorrow.

This afternoon we worked on our arthropod research. Almost all of us are using books to find out about the habitat, diet, survival strategies, and interesting facts for our arthropod. Before we got to work, Leander shared some research he had done to answer Ms. Boyer's challenge question from Friday. He found out that ladybugs huddle together with other beetles to keep warm in winter.  After Leander finished his sharing Ms. Boyer asked a follow-up question for us to try to answer: Is there something special about Ladybug blood that helps them survive in winter?

At the end of the day we had a visit from some students in grade 5-6. They were here to tell us about the foodbank drive we will be running starting tomorrow. Each class will be working to collect as many donations as possible for the Calgary Interfaith Foodbank.  The class that collects the most donations will win the Souper Can!

Today we are bringing home our school photos. Orders are due by Thursday Nov. 8. This is also re-take day. If you would like re-takes please bring your photos back to school with you on Thursday. 

Don't forget your foodbank donations!

Nov 2 - Searching for Insects

Today was Fresh Air Friday!

Our activity today was to go exploring through the Whispering Woods and look for insects. We then documented our findings on a table that lists various insects that can be found in our community. We will be will be revisiting this document throughout the year to compare which insects we can find at different months.

After our activity, we came together with all the grades 1s and 2s to discuss some of our findings. We discovered that some insects, like ants, will burrow deep into the ground to keep warm and survive the cold. Ms. Boyer then challenged the class to investigate further and find out the answer to the following question: "What do ladybugs do to survive the winter?" If you find the answer, please write it down and bring it to school on Monday so you can share it with the class. 

To go along with our insect day we read the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but this time in two languages: English and Mandarin. Everyone was very excited to hear this story because their classmate, Enxin, was able to read the parts in Mandarin.

Nov. 1

Happy November! Today we were lucky enough to have both Ms. Boyer and Mrs. Yoon here with us. Mrs. Yoon was excited to see how our daily routine works and to have a chance to start getting to know us.

Before recess we had centers and we had our first classmate get his whole poetry bingo card filled! WOW! We are really motivated to learn more about poetry and to share with our classmates. After that we worked on finishing up our name writing. A few grade 2 students have asked if they could bring their work home so they can continue the typing on Google Docs. Ms. Boyer says this is fine, but not required at this point.

After recess we spent some time comparing the Smarties graphs we did yesterday. We were looking for ways that our results were the same and different from the results of other table groups.

After lunch we had computer time. The grade 2's worked on their name writing and then went to Mathletics if they were finished. The grade 1's tried Mathletics for the first time this year. Mathletics has some really great activities for us to try but it can be a bit tricky to log-in. If you have time to practice logging in to Mathletics at home that would be really helpful and would mean more playing time when we go onto it at school.

This afternoon we also had library. Mrs. Kidd was very excited today because the brand new public library has opened downtown! Mrs. Kidd let us know that there will be lots of exciting activities happening down there this weekend and encourages us all to take a trip down to see the new building if we have time.

Please remember tomorrow is Fresh Air Friday. We will be doing some sketching outdoors so please dress warmly.