March 21

Highlights:

• Math: we created our own word problems where we picked different objects and numbers then solved them on white boards. Some of them were silly but fun. For example:
• There were (10) horses, and each of them had (5) poops. How many poops are there in total?
• There were (4) motorcycles, and each had (5) puppies on them. How many puppies in total?

• Music: we learned new notes to play on the recorders

• Gym: we played revenge tag with "what's the sum" and baseball tag, then ended with dodge ball. 

• After recess we had a huge desk clean out :)

Reminders:
1. Special Helper for the Monday after spring break: Lily (favorite movie or actor/actress)
2. Face-to-Face Conferences starting tonight
3. No School Tomorrow
4. Spring Break is next week enjoy!

March 20

Highlights:

• Science: We continued our discussion of salt water vs fresh water. We had a demonstration of how the salt molecules interrupt the water molecules and create a reaction where the ice turns to liquid water. With the reaction energy is being used up so temperature actually decreases as it melts! The reason why the arctic ocean isn't frozen is because the freezing temperature of salt water is much lower than the freezing temperature of fresh water. 

• Social Studies: We worked on our Arctic research using books and iPads. We added information about the resources, such as arctic animals, and different jobs that are in the arctic. Then we played a game where we sat in a circle and listed an item that we would pack in our luggage if we were to travel to the arctic. The next person would repeat what the first person said and add to the list, and so on. It go tricky near the end but we helped each other out by acting out the items to provide hints. Then we got to work on our arctic suit cases - most people were still working on decorating the cover with various bumper stickers of the arctic and the prairies. Some people got to start adding items that they would pack. 

• Word Work: We created acrostic poems to go with our Inuksuk art that we made with Clay for Kids. We first brainstormed different things about Inuksuk and the Arctic to go along with the letters of Inuksuk, then created sentences for each. These will be hung up in the main hall way.

Reminders:
1. Special Helper for tomorrow: Senna (favorite movie or actor/actress)
2. Face-to-Face Conferences are tomorrow and Friday
3. Remember to bring library books tomorrow!

March 19

Highlights:

• Math: we did more practice with word problems as a group then we tried solving a word problem on our own.  

• Word Work: the grade 2s practiced sentence dictation - where Mrs. Yoon read out a sentence and we had to listen for each word and try to write them down. The grade 1s had independent quiet reading time. 

• SS: we read a book about the Arctic and learned about transportation. Many of their roads are special and made from ice and snow. They use snowmobiles, dogsleds, and all-terrain vehicles in the summer. Longer journeys require flying. People in Nunavut rely on things like planes and icebreakers to get around. 

• Gym: we started with hot dog tag and then we played dodge ball and capture the flag. 

Reminders:
1. Special Helper for tomorrow: Eli (favorite movie or actor/actress)
2. Face-to-Face Conferences start Thursday
3. Try to find the answer to our SS question: what is the difference between a territory and a province? Why is Nunavut a territory?

March 18

Highlights:

• Math: We focused on the word "each" when solving math word problems. If this word appears we have to make sure to apply the  We reflected on our experience sharing our math board games with the big buddies. We recorded our thoughts on what worked well, and what would have benefited from some changes or additions. 
• We also played "What's the Sum" and "What's the Difference" to practice our adding and subtracting skills. Ask us how to play this and try it with us!

• Science: we conducted an experiment using ice and salt. We investigated what happens to ice when salt is added.  

  (before)(after)

We learned that ice melts a lot quicker when salt is added. This is because salt lowers the freezing temperature of water so the ice begins to melt. We had a discussion about how this effects salt water in the Arctic Ocean. We came to the conclusion that since the Arctic Ocean is salt water, the freezing point is a lot lower than that of fresh water (0 degrees Celsius) - if it was made out of fresh water the ocean would be frozen solid because the temperatures in the arctic are below 0 degrees Celsius.

• Gym: we played ant tag then capture the flag! 

Reminders:
1. Special Helper tomorrow: Aadhya (favorite movie or actor/actress)

March 15 - Fresh Air Friday and Big Buddies

Highlights:
Today we spent the entire day with our big buddies!

• We shared our math board games with our big buddies and played them! It was great because our buddies gave us feedback and made some suggestions - they really enjoyed the cards and extra things that we added to our games to make them more interesting. Afterwards, our big buddies taught us a new game such as Chess.  

• We also went snowshoeing with our big buddies :) 

Reminders:
1. Special Helper for Monday March 18: Taylor (favorite movie or actor/actress)
2. Next Thursday and Friday will be Face-to-Face Conferences

March 14

Highlights:

• Math: we worked on typing up our rules for our math boardgames and adding finishing touches to them because we are planning on playing our games with our big buddies tomorrow! Some of us have decided to take home our games to add final embellishments for tomorrow. 

• Social Studies: we sat in a circle and shared our knowledge about the Arctic by brainstorming different things we would pack if we were to travel there now. We talked about the climate, landscape and building and homes in order to help us figure out what would be appropriate to pack. Ask us what we brainstormed!

• Gym: we played doctor dodgeball - some of the rules included: (1) no headshots - if it hit someones head you have to sit on the bench for 10 seconds (2) if you are out and catch a ball from the air you are back in the game

Reminders:
1. Special Helper for Monday March 18: Taylor (favorite movie or actor/actress)
2. Tomorrow is Fresh Air Friday - we plan to go snowshoeing - please dress appropriately

March 13

Highlights:

• Science: we did our last Ice village observation today - it was completely covered in snow! We noticed there were footprints in the snow on top of the ice village so we think there was definitely some human interference! More ice blocks were missing, broken and melted. Not only were they tampered with by humans, but we also think that the sun and warmer weather made it melt. Another idea was that animals, such as bunnies, coyote, or dogs, came by and damaged or moved the ice blocks. 

 (before)
 (after digging through top layer)

• Social Studies: we started creating our "suitcases" for our trips to the arctic. We decorated the outside of the suitcase with stickers that we made which represented the Prairie and Arctic.  

(here are a couple of suitcases from today - we will continue to work on these in the upcoming classes)

• Math: we got to try out some of the word problems made by students in the class - we used whiteboards at the carpet and shared different ways to find out the answers. 

• Word Work: while grade 1s worked on their "-in" words the grade 2s gathered in teams to fill up our "hard-i" sound combinations on our table of words. Here is what we have so far:

If you think of other ways to make the hard-i sound, share it with us next time in class!
Reminders:
1. Special Helper: Kais (favorite movie or actor/actress)
2. Fun Lunch is tomorrow
3. Please bring library books for tomorrow

March 12

Highlights:

• In math we worked on our boardgames and gave feedback to each other. With these suggestions, we will use this week to finalize our boardgames.

• For science we revisited our experiment "What Happens When Glaciers Melt?" We had a discussion about what would happen if all the ice and snow on Earth melted, then watched a video about this: click to watch. Ask us what we learned!

• For gym we continued on with scooter relays with added challenges: (1) army crawl under a ringette stick that was held up with pylons, and (2) ball and cup.

• In Social Studies we learned about our suitcase project and saw a demonstration on how to make it. We will be doing it this week. Before we can figure out what to pack, we have to understand what it is like to live in the Arctic. So we added to our research about the Arctic based on the information we have been learning from the Arctic stories and videos shown in class.

• In music we played recorders! It was amazing. 

Reminders:
1. Special Helper tomorrow: Cedar (favorite movie or actor/actress)
2. Fun Lunch is Thursday, March 14

March 11

Highlights:

1. In math we had the opportunity to make correction and re-submit math problems from last week. Then we created our own math word problems and some may be used in class in the future.

2. For science we went outside to look at the Ice Village. We noticed that many ice blocks had melted or were broken. We think this was caused by the sun and warmer weather over the weekend or human interference. We also noticed there was melting on the ice from the south west direction - which is where the sun goes to set!


3. In gym we had our scooter relay races

4. The grade 1s learned about the "-in" word family, while grade 2s went on the "hard -I" sound word hunt.

Reminders:
1. Special Helper: Aksel (favorite movie or actor/actress)
2. Treat Day is tomorrow - 25 cents per treat
3. Fun Lunch is Thursday, March 14

March 8 - What Happens When Glaciers Melt?

Today we went outside to create "glaciers" for our science experiment, "What Happens When Glaciers Melt?"

We investigated this question by making an "island" out of plasticine then placing our "glaciers" beside it inside of a tin.

Then we poured in some water to mimic the Arctic Ocean.


Throughout the morning we measured the water level to see if it would rise or lower.

Here were our results:

We realized that the water level started to cover more of the "island" once the "glaciers" began to melt. However, for the last water level reading, there were a couple of strange results where  two groups experienced a decrease in water level. We think some factors were involved in this strange result, such as the size of the "ice burg" and how condensed it was. One idea was that the snow might have melted so fast and then the water started to evaporate in the warm room. Another idea was that people were putting their hands in and out of the water, making some water leave the tray before the taking the final water level reading. Finally, there may have been some water lost due to small cracks in the tin tray or bumping the tray making water spill out.

Next week we will revisit this experiment and discuss the potential impacts this would have in the world. Over the weekend, brainstorm some ideas on how this might impact:

• animals and people in the Arctic 
• life and habitats of other places in the world

Reminders,
1. Special Helper for March 11 is Inaya - prepare to share about your favorite movie or actor/actress
2. The next Fun Lunch, Extreme Pita, is scheduled for Thursday, March 14, 2019.  The deadline for you to place your child's order online at HealthyHunger.ca is tonight, Friday, March 8 at 11:59 pm.

Mar 7 - Mistakes Makes Brains Grow!

Today we tackled our second math word problem. We learned from yesterday that there are many different ways to try and answer a math problem. Also, it is really important to read the question carefully and find the clues within the word problem, such as any numbers that may be present and any key words. Then, we can use pictures or symbols to represent our thinking and problem solving. Some people prefer to use manipulatives or can solve it in their minds, but it is important to communicate that thinking on paper as well. Finally, we have to add a final sentence that answers the question. After trying the word problem independently, we discussed a few examples from the class.

Here are a few examples from today:
In this example, large circles represented "dogs" and the little circle represented "puppies". After drawing the symbols, it is easy to count up all the circles to see what the total number is. Once the answer is found, we are to write a final sentence answering the question.


Other people used tally marks or cubes to represent the animals, then added them all together. 

We were also reminded that when we make a mistake in math, our brain grows! Click for Video

Today was also our last day of Jungle Safari. Our new challenge for today was to do 7 squats any time we landed on a red mat.

In computers we had the option of typing up our math board game rules - students who wish to type their rules up at home may do so and bring them in next week. Everyone else was working on Mathletics or Raz Kids.

For word work, the grade 2s went over their word findings and to their own word tables for the hard-e sounds. Some of the "ee" words were: green, tree, feel, queen, freeze, knee; and some of the "ey" words were: key, journey, valley, hockey, honey, parsley, money.
We realized, though, that the "ey" combination can sometimes sound like the hard "a" (such as, "they, hey, grey").

Reminders:
1. Special Helper for March 11 is Inaya - prepare to share about your favorite movie or actor/actress
2. The next Fun Lunch, Extreme Pita, is scheduled for Thursday, March 14, 2019.  The deadline for you to place your child's order online at HealthyHunger.ca is tomorrow night, Friday, March 8 at 11:59 pm.  

Mar 6 - Testing Thermal Insulators

Today we conducted our science experiment, "How Do Polar Bears Stay Warm?"
First we made predictions about which insulator would be the best at keeping heat in and cold out.
The different materials we tested for insulation was fur, blubber, feathers, fur and blubber. We put our hand in an insulator then placed it in ice cold water to see what it felt like and to see how long we could hold it under the cold water.



In the end, we gathered our results and discussed about our findings. The best insulator overall in the class was fur and blubber we think this is because it was two layers of insulation. Second best was the feathers - we think that there were a lot of feathers in the bag so it provided good insulation.

We also read a story about the Arctic, called the Arctic Son (by Jean Craighead George) and learned many things about life on the Arctic, such as:

• the northern lights have many beautiful colors that fill up the sky
• people would fish through holes in the ice 
• polar bears, snowy owl, and whales live in the Arctic
• If a whale is hunted by harpoon, the community shares all parts of the whale for various things such as food, art supplies, monuments, and fuel.  The people show their thanks with a celebration to honor the whale.
• People must dress in layers for warmth because it is really cold
• Games such as the one-foot-high kick and the seal walk are commonly played
• Winters have lots of darkness - some places without any sunlight
• Summers have lots of sunlight - some places without any darkness

In gym we played Jungle Safari with an additional twist - any time we landed on the red mats we had to do jumping jacks or sit-ups.

Finally in word work, the grade 2s moved on to searching for hard-e sounding combinations in their books: "ee" and "ey" - these were added to our word chart with post-its.
Grade 1s gathered at the carpet and worked on more "-ig" words.


Reminders:
1. Grade 2s - please return the Alberta Oral Health Questionnaire by tomorrow
2. Home Reading volunteer spots for April to June is now open on Sign-up Genius.
3. Library books due tomorrow

March 5

Today, we continued on with our map of Canada. We added symbols of things that represented the arctic region to the map, such as a snowy owl, sled dogs, inuksuk, polar bear, muskox, wolverine, and igloo. We also added symbols for the prairie region, such as wheat, bison, and grain elevator. Then we added an arrow from Calgary to Iqaluit with a plane symbol.

For word work, the grade 1 worked on writing "ig" words independently, while the grade 2s searched for "hard-a" sound words that have "ea" and "ei". Some of the "ea" words that we found were: steak, great, and break. Some of the "ei" words we found were: neighbor, vein, reindeer, eight, and beige.

We also had a serious discussion about internet safety. The internet and technology are amazing tools for learning but we have to be careful and critical thinkers when using it. We are responsible for only using technology in school for appropriate things - which would be instructed by our teacher. If there are strange things that pop up on the screens we know to tell an adult or show the teacher immediately.

At the end of the day we all got a turn to play the new drum sets that Mr. O'Reilly in music class.

Reminder:
Special helper for tomorrow is Maeve

Mar 4

Today we learned about writing hamburger paragraphs and then tried writing in our journals with all parts of the "hamburger". We start the paragraph introducing the topic of the paragraph, then we add juicy details in the middle. Our goal is to add at least three separate details. Finally, we summarize the paragraph with the concluding sentence.

Then, for word work the grade 1s started the "-ig" family while the grade 2s finished their journals and then moved on to quiet reading.

In math time we had a "Show and Share" for our board games with all of the grade 1s and 2s. We did this to share our ideas, get inspiration and provide feedback to each other before finalizing the games.  This week we hope to finish up our games boards and add embellishments from the feedback we received today.



Then at the end of the day we conducted our science experiment. We put our hands in hot water and cold water for 30 seconds, then put both in lukewarm water. We found out that the hand from the hot water felt colder in the lukewarm water than the hand from the cold water, which felt warmer. It was interesting because the lukewarm water did not change temperatures but it felt different depending on the hand. We think this is because the hand in the cold water was adjusted to the cold temperature so the lukewarm water felt hotter than it actually was, and vice versa.

Reminders:
1. Special Helper for tomorrow is Jeffrey - please prepare to share about your special talent.