Monday 24 September 2018

September 24

Where did last week go?  We have been very busy.  We have created our classroom belief statement.  We have also started our theme work for the year - we chose the location for our islands.  We had to chose a location on a map, find the latitude and longitude of the location, name our island, and we are now drawing a map of our island.  Very exciting.  We did talk about climate around the globe, but some still chose to put their island in the arctic/antarctic waters.  It will be chilly for them.  We have learned some more math games and worked on some vertical problem solving.   I hope to start our math centre work later this week.  Tomorrow is our Terry Fox walk.  Hope it warms up and is dryer than today.  Today we gathered our grade one reading buddies and shared some Terry Fox facts with them.  In class we talked about book reviews.  We created criteria and a rubric.  We are required to do 10 book reviews over the school year.  Each one is marked out of 20.  Everyone received a copy of the rubric, as well as a sample.  Our first book review is due October 9th.

Thursday 13 September 2018

September 13

We are almost a week into the new school year.  We are learning routines, learning about ourselves and preparing to dig into our subject areas.
We have looked at our multiple intelligences and will look at how this will help us learn.  We are starting to focus on our multiplication facts.  We have learned a couple math games. We tend to get really involved in these.  Tomorrow we will get our reflex accounts, then we just have to wait for our iPads to come back.  Today we are going to do some writing too.

Friday 7 September 2018

September 7, 2018

The first day of the new school year is done.  Today, everyone was in class.  We had a lot to take in.  We talked about attendance, lunch attendance, classroom procedures, recess expectations, classroom expectations, lunch hour expectations, to name a few things.  We took it pretty easy, easing back into the classroom routines.  The weather co-operated and we were able to go out and take some pictures.  We made 'get to know me' signs, we decorated name plates for our bins, and started working on a project thinking about what meets our needs for Love and Belonging, Fun, Freedom and Power.  These are needs that affect a lot of our decisions.  We will be looking at this closer as time goes on.  We ended the day with Gym - always a favourite.  Just a reminder that everyone should be reading at least 20 minutes a day - and these should be Good Fit books.  We'll talk more about those next week.  Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Thursday 6 September 2018

One more sleep

classroom ready - check
supplies ready - check
plan for first day ready - check
meeting with parents - underway
schedule finalized - check (ps Library is day 6)
I think we are good to go.  This time tomorrow we will be underway.

Friday 31 August 2018

Parent Conferences

Wednesday and Thursday next week are opening conferences. We have some new policies in place for the upcoming school year. 
When you come, watch for information on new lunch routines and expectations, new school times (pm),  student code of conduct, parent council, signing up for remind with Mrs Palmer and bus contact, ordering milk tickets using cash online, as well as how to sign up and register for the cash online program.
As always you will also have community walk permission, updated medical information, as well as consent for family life, internet usage, acceptable use agreement, and print and digital medial release. 
A lot to take care of, I am looking forward to seeing you there.  Sign up on schoolsoft. Information on school website.


Where did summer go?

August is coming to an end and school is just around the corner.  The classroom is ready, plans are in place, and soon the students will arrive.  Something a bit different this year.  After teaching a straight 5 for the last several years, this year I will be teaching grades 4s and 5s.  While my class this year will all be new to me, next year I will have returning students.  Looking forward to this change.
One last weekend in front of us and then it begins.