The last rockin' day of November!

Today, first thing, we had choir and we were on the risers. We were with the Grade 1's and 2's, and we practiced for the Christmas concert. After lunch, we had free Gym, and there was basketball and volleyball. There were ropes we could swing on and there was a spider net we could climb on. There were those rings and bars that hang from the wall, and you could do five swings on them. There was also bouncy balls and bowling set up. - Cam H.

For Writers' Workshop, we did a copy of our other paper about a party we went to. We had to do our writing goals to make it better. We also had Daily 5 after Phys. Ed., and in the morning. - Markus

Another awesome day in Room 18!

Today we saw the book fair for the first time, and there were robots set up. They had a contest, and they put people's names in the draw for $5 for the book fair. One of the winners was Tyler in our class. - Cam H.
In our Christmas concert, we get to tell a story and the Grade 1's play music at special parts of the story. We're playing Boomwhackers and we have a special order for two songs. The two tallest people go in the middle, and it goes to the smallest people. Me and Lexi are the ones who lead off on the Boomwhackers order. - Cam H.
At Phys. Ed., we played a game where we have to throw balls and run around and steal the tennis balls. We had to switch our partner every two rounds. - Markus
Our Christmas concert is in 5 more school days, and I can not wait! - Markus
It's almost Gal's birthday - it's on Friday. - Markus

Thanks to Markus and Cam H. for our blog entry and title today - they are this week's Classroom Bloggers (a new job that appeared on our job board last week!).

It's a Monday!

Between getting the report cards ready to send home today (which, hopefully, all of you should have found in your child's backpack!), extra choir practices for the Christmas concert, preparing for student-led conferences on Thursday/Friday this week (and, perhaps, recovering from the sting of yesterday's Blue Bomber Grey Cup loss!), I just realized, as I sit at my computer at work, that I forgot to get the kids to write on our blog today - oops! They'll have something to say tomorrow... I promise!

Friday

We had Music. In Music, we practiced reading a story for the Christmas concert. Today, we read for 2 hours and 15 minutes in Daily 5. After Math, we read to the Grade 1'ers. At Library today we saw the robots made by students in the school, and someone is painting the wall in the Library. - Hailey M. and Joey

We Day!

Today we missed Science and watched We Day. It was famous people from around the world who were at the MTS Centre. They were singing songs, talking about children in Africa and Haiti that needed clean water, beds, medicine, and schools. They were telling us how we could help the children, so that they don't have to work to live. - Joey and Hailey M.

This morning, we changed up our regular routine to watch part of We Day Winnipeg, which took place at the MTS Centre. What is We Day? Here is a great synopsis from their website:

At We Day, youth from across North America join together to celebrate the positive actions they are taking and to build the momentum of the movement of young people making a difference in their communities and around the world. Through We Day, youth learn that it is cool to care.

The students got to listen to speakers such as actress Mia Farrow, former Vice-President of the United States of America Al Gore, former Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin, and musicians such as Shawn Desmond and Down With Webster. The class heard about all the ways that children around North America are making a difference in the lives of children all over the world! This afternoon, the students did some writing to describe their experiences of watching We Day. We are going to be talking more about We Day in the days to come, and to see if our class can be inspired to help children elsewhere in the world! You can learn more about the We Day movement at http://www.weday.com/, and you can learn more about today's event in Winnipeg at http://www.weday.com/event/winnipeg.

The force of gravity

Today we did an experiment where we looked at the force of gravity. We estimated and then measured how long a student in our class could hold his arm straight out to the side, while holding up a piece of paper, then 1, 2, 3, and 4 books. We talked about why his arm got so sore trying to hold those objects up... even when it was just a piece of paper - it's because gravity is acting against his arm, wanting to pull it AND the object toward the ground. Here's a shot of our test subject fighting against the force of gravity, to keep that ancient dictionary from being pulled to the earth!

Skyping with Mrs. Malkoske's class!

Today we Skyped with Mrs. Malkoske's class. They were telling us how to act when we are on Skype. After that, we asked questions about how to behave when Skyping, like not goofing around, not waving your hands around, and stuff like that. At the end when we were going to say goodbye, we asked them if we could read to them and they could read to us one-on-one on Skype some other time. - Hailey M. and Joey

Keeping batteries out of the landfill

Throwing batteries into the garbage is something that has always bothered me. As a result, I had been storing up all my used batteries for years, in a container in my basement storage room, keeping them for some future day when I could find somewhere to properly dispose of them. Well, that day has finally arrived! I have enrolled our school with Call2Recycle®. Who is Call2Recycle®, you ask? Well, here is their bio, from their website (http://www.call2recycle.ca/):

Call2Recycle® is the only free battery and cell phone collection program in North America. Since 1996, Call2Recycle has diverted over 60 million pounds of rechargeable batteries from the solid waste stream and established a network of 30,000 public collection sites. Advancing green business practices and environmental sustainability, Call2Recycle is the most active voice promoting eco-safe reclamation and recycling of rechargeable batteries and cell phones. Founded in 1994, Call2Recycle® is operated by RBRC, a non-profit organization. Call2Recycle® is funded by product manufacturers across the globe committed to environmentally-sound recycling of rechargeable batteries and cell phones. These manufacturers place the RBRC recycling seal on their rechargeable products and batteries, informing users that they are recyclable.

Call2Recycle® is becoming more and more popular, as this year alone, more than 6.5 million pounds of batteries have been collected! With our school now a collection site for Call2Recycle®, you can send your used up batteries with your children, and I'll put them in the collection box. Every time a collection box becomes full (50 lbs.), Purolator comes to pick it up, and Call2Recycle® sends another collection box. There is absolutely no cost to the school, and no cost to those dropping off batteries. It's an easy way to safely and responsibly dispose of your used batteries... finally! So, if you're a parent of a student at Radisson School, send those old batteries in a plastic bag to my room, and I'll send them away to Call2Recycle® - it's the environmentally responsible (and easy!) thing to do!

P.S. Don't forget... when buying batteries for your household use, purchase rechargeable ones - it means that there's that many less batteries that we have to worry about disposing of in the first place!

Adding details and description to our writing

Last month, the students did some small moment writing - that is, taking a small moment in your life, and using a lot of detail and description to show just how interesting these moments often are. We revisted this writing today, and talked about how much better we could make it, by adding more details and more description. Both times, the students wrote about what had happened that day at lunch. Here is one student's first attempt, from a few weeks ago:

At lunch I went to Big Brothers Big Sisters. After lunch we went to the gym to play games.

Here is what the same student wrote today (in the same amount of time that they had been given in the previous attempt), after we had our big discussion about adding more details and more description:

At lunch I went to Big Brothers Big Sisters. I had a tuna sandwich, a granola bar, a orange juice. It was awesome. After lunch I went to the gym to play for ten minutes. Now let me tell you about at lunch recess. Most of my classmates and my mentor Devin were playing tag and a race. What would you play?

This was from a student that I would consider to be a somewhat reluctant writer. The difference between the two is remarkable - the second attempt is so much better, in terms of drawing the reader in. I am so proud of this student (and all the others who were able to improve their writing after our discussion)! For me, it is moments like this that make teaching one of the best jobs in the world!

Family Group bins

Today, during our second period of the day, we had Family Group bins time. This is when students get to spend time with their family groups, playing games and having fun. It's a great way for students from all of the different grades at Radisson to interact with each other, and get to know one another better, which helps to make for a warmer, more caring school climate. Also during this time, teachers take turns meeting with their grade-level teaching partner, so that they can do some planning together. Today, it was the K-2 teachers who were meeting, while the remaining teachers supervised the students while they were having fun. I had the pleasure of hanging out with my group: the Blue Jays. Here are a couple of shots of the students enjoying their time together...

Learning about Nanuq

Today on a website, after lunch, we watched polar bear videos from Churchill. - Jenna

We did some cool magnet stuff. We used a compass to see what happens when we put it near a magnet. - Tyler

We had intramurals, Phys. Ed., and Health today - we've never had them all on the same day before. - Gall

At lunch, we had intramurals and we played Tchoukball. The score was 1-0. - Cam H.

In Science, one group's compass wasn't working right, so it gave them the wrong answers. - Hailey M.

After lunch, we did some research on how to save the polar bears. Tomorrow, over lunch recess, if we want to watch the video about the polar bears, we can stay in and watch with Mr. H. - Marie

Today, after lunch, we had the pleasure of watching the last portion of a live webcast from Churchill, all about polar bears. We tuned in to the webcast on http://www.chillingwithnanuq.com/. Andy McKiel, who is the K-12 Technology Coordinator in the St. James-Assiniboia School Division (and my fabulous 2nd-year B.Ed. cooperating teacher!) is currently in Churchill with Edmodo, Polar Bears International, and a team of scientists from around the world. They are there to share the fall polar bear migration with the rest of the world. It was neat to watch the webcast, and hear Andy and the scientists answer questions live, as they came in on Edmodo, e-mail, and Twitter from different classrooms from around North America. Tomorrow is the last day of live webcasting - the webcast starts at 12:00 CST. I'll be watching in the classroom, along with any of my students who want to stay in for lunch to watch the webcast, as well. We'll be tuned in - will you?!

(Andy McKiel fielding questions from different North American classrooms)

Remembrance Day

Today at the Remembrance Day ceremony, we sang O Canada and Mrs. Cross read a book called 'My Wish For Tomorrow'. - Jenna
In our Remembrance Day SLC, a guy played the trumpet and we had a moment of silence so we can honour the ones who fought in the wars for us - the ones that came back, and the ones that died for our country. - Robyn
After morning recess, we went to a Remembrance Day SLC and some of the classes were singing songs. Mrs. Cross read a book about children's wishes. - Dasia
At our Remembrance Day SLC, the Grade 1/2 and Grade 2 classes said a poem called 'Hug o' War', the Grade 5's shared their wishes for tomorrow, and the Grade 4/5's sung a song called 'A Child Of The World'. - Cam H.
At the SLC, the Grade 5's made a Photostory with posters with their wishes for tomorrow. - Lexi

(source: CTV.ca)

More fun with magnets

Today in Science, we did something with a compass where we looked at which way the white arrow was pointing when we put it by a magnet. - Jenna

We are almost done the third Aiden and Meg book, called 'Now You See Them, Now You Don't'. - Marie

We did Number of the Day in Math today. It was number 43. - Cameron W.

At Daily 5, we could read with a partner, write, read to self, or work on our spelling. Mr. Hoeppner was working with kids on their writing. - Logan

We used compasses and whatever way the white part of the needle pointed, we had to draw an arrow on our papers. - Lexi

We continued our investigation of magnets and magnetism in Science today. The students studied what happened when the different poles of magnets were put together, and what happened when a compass was placed at different locations around a bar magnet. We didn't have time to discuss the compass findings, but there were a lot of interesting theories as to why they saw what they saw...

Grade 1 Reading Buddies

Every Day 3, our class get to read with Ms. Derkson's Grade 1 class, right before lunch. It's always a highlight of the day, for both grades. Here are a couple of pictures from today's session...

"Science Rules!"

Today we had Science after lunch, and we worked with magnets. We did predictions if buttons, pennies, marbles, nails, screws, paper clips, pop can tabs, and staples would stick to a magnet. - Sydney

In the SLC we had this morning, we watched a little bit of Toy Story 3, where the kids were playing really crazy, messing up the toys, breaking them, putting them up their noses. We watched that because we were talking about how to care, share, and play fair outside on the playground. - Joey

Today, after recess, we had Phys. Ed. There was one station with football, two stations with soccer, one station where Ms. Beach timed us while we dropped three chickens in a hula hoop, and one station where we threw a ball against a rebounder and had to catch it. Grade 5 students were running the stations. - Cam H.

At all three recesses, most of the Radisson students played in the snow and made snowmen. - Jenna

As much as I love teaching Math, I love teaching Science. I love seeing students explore, investigate, and manipulate materials. Today, we began studying forces that attract and repel (magnetism, gravity, and static electricity), by watching a Bill Nye: The Science Guy video on magnetism, followed by a hands-on investigation of different everyday items, and whether or not they are attracted by magnets. The students had lots of fun 'playing' with the magnets and the objects, and then sharing their findings with the class. Bill Nye says it best on each of his videos: "Science rules!"

Goodbye, Taylor!

Today was kind of a sad day, as we had to say goodbye to one of the members of Room 18. Taylor is moving with her family to Thompson, MB, and will be living there as of next week. We've been privileged to have Taylor with us at Radisson, and we are going to miss her dearly! We hope she continues to read our blog, so that she can keep up to date with everything that's going on in her old classroom. Thanks for being such an awesome part of Room 18 and Radisson School, Taylor - we are going to miss you a lot!

Mr. Pudsey rocks!

I was out of the classroom for a divisional Workplace Safety and Health meeting this afternoon (I'm the teacher representative for Radisson School), so that meant I needed to book a substitute teacher. I'm very lucky to have Mr. Pudsey be able to come into the classroom for me. Mr. Pudsey is a friend of mine, whom I met when we were both working towards our B.Ed. degrees at the University of Manitoba. When I'm out of the classroom, and he's in there for me, I know my students are in very capable hands. Mr. Pudsey does a great job with whatever I leave for him and the class, and if things have to change at the last minute, I know he can 'roll with it' without flinching. Not only is he very capable, but the students absolutely love him! In fact, when I told the class this morning that Mr. Pudsey was going to be in for me in the afternoon, they cheered, and told me that they liked me "100%", and that they liked Mr. Pudsey "100%". I'm glad he has such a high approval rating with them... because he's in our classroom again tomorrow!

Words Their Way

Today we did word work after morning recess. Some people went into room 17 with Mrs. Sigurdson, and some people stayed in room 18 with Mr. Hoeppner. - Sydney
We had Phys. Ed. first thing. In Phys. Ed. we did our fitness test, where we had to run for 8 minutes. - Logan
After afternoon recess, we did all the five things in Daily 5. It was our first time doing all of them. - Jenna
Today we had Library, and it was my last Library class. - Taylor
It was our first time having Library right before lunch. We usually have it in the morning right before recess. - Joey
After Phys. Ed., we had Music. We were practicing for the Christmas concert. We're using Boomwhackers for one of the songs. When they hit the ground, they make a sound. - Lexi

Today, we finally started working on the last of the Daily 5 literacy tasks - word work (or 'spelling', as it was called when I was in school). 'Words Their Way' is a system to learn spelling by completing different word sorts, based on the students' individual needs. A quiz of 25 words is given to the students, and based on what they get right and wrong, their individual strengths can be identified, as well as the areas that need to be targeted for improvement. In our class, we are starting off with three groups: one that is working primarily on short vowels, one group that is working on long vowels, and one group that is working on other vowels. As they come to the end of each spelling stage, an assessment is given. If they successfully complete it, they move on to the next stage. The students progress through the stages as they are ready to do so.

We all started working on our word sorts together today, but as part of being independent during the Daily 5, this will be one of the tasks (reading to self, reading with someone, listening to reading, writing, word work) the students can choose from (and they seemed pretty pumped when I told them that!). I am new to 'Words Their Way', so I am really excited to see how it helps the students improve as spellers!


(one of the students in the 'long vowel' group, starting her word sort)

Learning our Addition strategies

In Math, the students have been learning their Power of Ten addition strategies since the beginning of the school year. The Power of Ten is a way of thinking about Math that encourages students to make as many 10's as they can when adding (because it's so much easier to work with them). So far, we've worked with strategies to make 10's when adding 9, 8, and 5, as well as making sure they know their 'Friendly Number' facts (any two numbers added together that make 10: 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, etc.). The students were surprised to learn that they've already learned strategies that allow them to successfully solve more than half of their basic facts (addition facts from 0+1 to 9+9)! Today, we started working on the next strategies - doubles, doubles +1, and doubles -1. Here's a sample of their work from today:

I love teaching Math!