Friday Sept 30: Mr. Clark's last visit

Notices:

Spelling tests were marked and sent home

We began the day with a creative visualization as we did attendance. After attendance we had the first of our weekly spelling tests. The spelling was marked and handed back to the students. After Spelling we then did a graph, grid, drawing, math assignment. My goal today is to talk to the students about the beauty of Math and how math is more than numbers. I wanted to make the connection that Math is connected to music and art and abstract thought. I often find that the students who are artistic do not believe they are good at math. In reality artistic students are thinking mathematically all the time.

After Recess we had buddies. During buddies the students read to their little buddies and helped them learn how to tie their shoes. As there are only 17 little buddies only 17 students who were finished a certain amount of their weekly work went to buddies. The remaining students worked on completing their unfinished work.

After recess we watched an excellent 1959 Disney movie where Donald duck wanders into a magical land where the beauty of the laws of mathematics unfold before him. The students took written or visual notes. We then had a discussion on the beauty and magic of math. If you would like to see this movie search You Tube for '1959 - Donald in Mathmagic Land' or go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRD4gb0p5/RM

After Lunch Mr. Clark, who teaches us First nations history and mythology, came to tell us stories and introduces us to an art project. This is the fourth and last of Mr. Clark's Friday visits to our class. We are very fortunate to share his teachings and stories which are filled with First Nations lore, wisdom and knowledge. It is always wonderful to see that students will still sit still, enraptured, listening to an oral story. We will miss him and his stories. "hyeshqe" Mr. Clark "hyeshqe."

After Mr. Clark's visit we cleaned up the class and shared a gym class with Mrs. Crystal's class. We played a rousing game of bench ball with the brand new balls the school just purchased.

Have a good weekend everyone and don't forget to work on your 'ABC mini-book of Me (you)' due Monday.

Thursday Sept 29 with Mrs. O'Connor

Notices:

Spelling test tomorrow... study lists on the right

The students read silently while I took attendance and then we started the day with a writing activity. I have cards with writing topics on them and I get the students to choose one and then write about that topic. The card that was chosen today asked the students to pick from 5 different topics and 5 different characters. The task was then to write about the topic from the characters point of view.

After finishing our activity I gave the students time to work on the fractured Fairy Tales that we started yesterday, I explained what they are in the last post. Ask your kids to bring the books home when they are finished so you can see all the hard work they have put into them.

Recess

After recess we had show and tell. We are working on public speaking skills, however I am asking the students to keep the items in the cloak room during other times of the day.After a person speaks to the class the other students are asked to generate questions about what they have heard and seen.

We currently have quite a few things being worked on so I gave them some time to catch up so we can move onto new activities soon.

During math we continued to work on addition and understanding the math strategies that are being used to solve the problems. We split the students into three groups so they can have more individualized instruction. Mrs Colley joins us and takes a group, I take a group and our wonderful assistant Mrs. M takes a group on the days she is in the classroom during that time.

I am impressed how hard they are working on their math skills.

Lunch

After lunch we went to Library. The students love library day and enjoyed getting new books to read.

After library we walked back to class and took out our science books. As you know we have been studying habitats and communities. Today I got the students to think about how are personal choices affect habitats and communities. If negative changes happen to a habitat it may put plants and animals in danger. I got the students to think about how their play or actions had affected an animal or plants habitat and then write a letter to it explaining what they had done and how they could change their actions next time. I was impressed with the amazing insights they came up with. This might be an interesting topic to discuss with your kids, they are very excited to share their new ideas.

The students worked hard today, so I took them outside for some DPA, we went for a short run, played a quick game and then came inside and organized our desks. Tomorrow they can start fresh with their books all organized, just like the first day if school! I will see you all next Wednesday morning.

Wednesday Morning Sept 28th with Mrs O'connor

Today the students started the day silent reading while I took attendance. I read them the the fractured Fairy tale " The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig". Fractured Fairy Tales are traditional fairy tales rearranged to create new plots with different meanings and messages. They are a fun way to teach literary elements such as character,setting, problem, plot, climax,conflict and theme and conclusion. Today we studied character development. I had the students storyboard a new character from a traditional fairy tale. They will have the next week to work on creating their own fractured fairy tale around the character they developed today.

After recess I gave the students an interest inventory. They answered questions about their likes and dislikes. This helps me get to know them better and also helps them develop skills that are important in developing for career education. After 15 min of D.P.A our brains were ready to concentrate again and we split into three groups to continue working on our math strategies.

Tuesday Sept 27, the great cat vs dog debate

Notices:

Tomorrow is the Terry Fox fun run in the afternoon.

Please have proper shoes for running around the school.

We began the day with 10 min of work time to finish off their name tags and or to work on their mini-books while I did attendance.

Two students did a show and tell. "C" lost her tooth a few days ago and brought it to school to get a cool tooth container that they give out at the office. "C" explained that the tooth fairy had actually dropped it so C was able to bring it to school for the cool container. "I" showed a dog that she bought on the weekend at Spirit lake from someone who was trying to raise money for cancer. "I" and her cousin had made food to sell at the roadside to also raise money for Cancer.

Students prepare for the debate

The Debate

Every Tuesday morning I have the students do a writing assignment to compare and contrast two things. To help the students find ways to express their opinions, to set the stage and come up with ideas the students divided into two groups. One group that like dogs better than cats and one group that like cats better than dogs. The two groups worked together to brainstorm ideas. The dog people made a chart to list the good qualities of dogs and the bad qualities of cats. The cat people did the same but the reverse. Three students were chosen by the group to have a debate. The first student said why the (cat/dog) was the best, the second why the (cat/dog) was the worst and the third person had to rebuff the other teams arguments and make a final statement in support of the (cat/dog). The debate was good for a first attempt and the interest in the process was great. The debate was followed with a writing assignment where the students wrote about which are better cats or dogs.

After recess we read for 30 minutes then watched a 11 minute video on Terry Fox as we have the Terry Fox run at the school tomorrow in the afternoon. Keeping the spirit of Terry Fox alive is something that every one of us in Canada and the world can be proud of. We are going to make Terry Fox in the afternoon after P.E. After the video we looked at strategies for addition.

We began the afternoon with P.E. After P.E. we worked on our terry fox posters and watched another 44 min video on the life of Terry Fox.

Hello from Mrs. O'Connor

Hello everyone,

My official posts with pictures will make a debut tomorrow. I want to introduce myself to those of you that I have not met yet. My name is Kyla O'Connor and I am currently the grade 4 teacher in Mr. Wilson's class on Wednesday morning and Thursday. On Friday's you can also find me in the school working with Mrs. Shortreid's class.

I am very fortunate to work at Tillicum School this year with such a great staff and group of students. I look forward to working with Mr. Wilson to share our learning experiences with you. Tomorrow I will arrive with my camera in my hand!

Monday Sept 25th

We began the day with a five minute name game "7-up" to help the new students to the class and school learn and remember the names of all the students. After attendance and the game the students began their third mini-book, "An ABC of me" The students are making an ABC book of themselves. It will have their likes and dislikes and things about themselves for each of the letters of the Alphabet.

The students were given their spelling words for the first 15 weeks. There are two spelling groups so ask your child which spelling list they received to study. The spelling words are in a black duo-tang. A separate small sheet containing the spelling words was also sent home, however, the beauty of the blog is the words are also on the right side of the blog so you will always have access to them. After recess the students had music with Mrs. Awalt. In music the students began with a game, sang a french song and a few other familiar songs.
After music the students had 15 min to work on their new mini-book and make sure they finished their last week's mini-book on fear. Music was followed by Math where the students worked in their groups on addition.

After lunch most of the students in our class went to choir. Those students not in choir had a musical appreciation period where they listened to music by Beethoven and worked on a one page report oh him.

After choir the students had 10 min of free catch up time followed by Social Studies. In social studies we studied the West coast Longhouses. We compared them to temporary structures such as the igloo and the tepee. The students worked on completing a one page report on the Longhouse.

We ended the last 10 min of the day with a game of 7-up because they were working hard on their Socials.

Friday Update Sept 23

Notice:

Click on the pictures to see them larger. The pictures on the blog are just a few of the ones taken. Click on the photo gallery (along the right) to see all the pictures.

We began the day with two show and tell. Student 'I' shared her remote control super tank, and 'J' brought in a unicorn toy, a mythical magical creature that she likes.

After Show and Tell we began working on our mini book on "dealing with a fear" based on a poem by Shel Silverstein and the book "There is a nightmare in my closet" by Mercer Mayer. As we worked on our mini books we watched part of the movie "Monsters Inc" which deals with the monsters that live in our closets.

In the half hour before lunch we broke up into three math groups one guided by Mrs. Colley, one by Mrs. M and one by me. We worked on addition and each group worked at their appropriate math level.

After recess we had our first Buddy class where we learned strategies as older buddies for working with beginning readers. There are 16 little buddies and 26 of us. Today all were trained and had a chance to interact and read with a little buddy in Mrs. Dagg's grade 1 class... in the future we will take turns during buddy activities, some students with little buddies the others working in the class.

We ended the day by having the little buddies join us in the gym for relay races. It was fun, it was hilarious and we got to know our little buddies and they got to know us.

Tuesday Sept 20

Notices:

Please return your permission forms for the blog

Weekly Spelling will start next Week as this is a short week.

The students asked for the first half hour to work on catching up on work due. I guess like me they did nothing on the long weekend. ha ha...

These students proudly show their mini books from last week. The mini-book was a circular story that began and ended at the same place. It was based on the popular book series by.... If you give a mouse a cookie.

This weeks mini-book writing theme is Fear. We read the poem Frightened by Shell Silverstein, and the book "There is a Nightmare in my Closet" by Murcer Mayer. Both the story and the poem are intended to help children face their fear. This Friday the students can earn the movie "Monsters Inc." if enough students have finished their work.

Here are some tips for parents on helping children with fears:

Tips

• Respect your child’s fears.
• Understand that your child will outgrow most fears.
• Allow your child to gradually work through the fear.
• Understand fears in relation to your child’s personality
• Be aware of the variety of fears children experience at different ages

After recess the students had a library and reading period. Students all took out two books, one of which is to stay at school and the second may come back and forth from home. For math, just prior to lunch, the students were given a math diagnostic quizz so we can set up appropriate learning groups for each of the students. The quizz was given by our learning assistance teacher Mrs. Colley (Holt).

After lunch we read or worked on our mini-book on a fear (due next monday) had a rousing P.E. period followed by Social Studies. In Social studies we are looking at the diversity of First nations houses, homes group dwellings etc. Our focus is on how resources from the natural environment were used to make a wide variety of amazing buildings to suit the lifestyles of each of the First Nations peoples. Today we wrote about the Inuit show house the Igloo. We finished the day with a rousing game of P.E. with Mr. Edwards class.

Writing a description

The students were given the assignment of writing how to make a peanut butter and jam sandwich. Other students had to follow their instructions exactly. The results were usually quite hilarious as the writers often skipped simple steps.

Blog will be up and active as of Tuesday Sept 20

We will have the blog up and running after the Pro-D day on Monday the 19th. Look forward to updates on the great things we are doing at school. Thanks Mr. W and Mrs. O'connor

School Begins

Welcome back students. A note will go home for permission to use your work and picture on our blog. The blog will begin next Monday. Take care Mr. W and Mrs. O'connor.