Feb 2

Can you guess what this Inuit artifact is?

With your family, come up with some ideas and if you have some time go to this link to learn more:

http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_groups/fp_inuit5.html 

In our class, we have been learning about the Inuit people of Canada.  We have been so engaged learning about their homes, food, and clothing of the people in the past.  We have been looking at each aspect very carefully and the wonderings and questions that have emerged have been so thoughtful.  Some questions include: 

• Where did the Inuit children go to school in the past if they followed their food?
• How did the Inuit people make fishing rods without much wood in their environment?
• Where did they learn to hunt?
• How would they lift a whale out of the ocean? Wouldn't it sink?

One part of the investigation that really intrigued the students was the different ways that they used the caribou.  They loved learning how the different parts of the caribou provided the Inuit people with everything from clothing, to shelter and weapons.  Here are a few of our recordings about what we have learned:

We will be looking at the pioneers of both an Acadian and Ukrainian community in the near future.

Coming up:

• Mrs. Jordan away Friday morning
• Scholastic due tomorrow!
• Bird Sanctuary Field Trip on March 7. Thank you for returning all the forms :)

Feb 27

Today we started a new literacy strategy called "Wall Stories".  These are non fiction, or fiction reading passages, poems, letters or any other text that is written on poster paper and posted in the room to allow for shared reading.

Typically students use a fun pointer (we have a donut pointer) to read the text.  This shared reading helps improve vocabulary and fluency.  Depending on the needs of the students, we complete a variety of tasks including: finding specific types of words (verbs, nouns, etc), reading sentences to determine if they are complete or not, replacing boring words with juicy words, or correcting mistakes to create a complete, correct, shared piece of writing.

This shared reading allows for conversations, small group work, and personalized tasks based on students needs. Today as a class we read this poem and then our first group improved their fluency by reading it  together. This allowed them to use their different reading strategies to tackle new words.  I think the students would agree it was a fun new addition to our class.

Coming Up:

• Mrs. Jordan away tomorrow morning at Design the Shift Meeting (Not Wednesday...ooops!)
• Mrs. Jordan away Friday morning at Galileo Meeting

Feb 24

It's not everyday that you get the big juicy snowflakes like we did today... so we took complete advantage of it!

At recess another teacher noticed how clearly we could see the snowflakes against our black jackets.  We thought it would be a perfect tie in with her class studying seasons and our class studying liquids and hot and cold temperatures.

After recess, we came inside for a quick warm up, grabbed some magnifying glasses and then went back out.  We partnered up with a grade 1 student and caught some snowflakes.  We looked at the intricate designs, counted the "arms", and noticed the slight differences between the flakes.  They were so excited to look at the snowflakes and have some extra time in the snow! Isn't being a kid the best?

Coming up:

• Field trip forms due Monday
• Scholastic due Tuesday
• Mrs. Jordan away Wednesday and Friday morning

Feb. 24

In math today we started a new addition strategy.  We used what we knew from adding using expanded form and applied that vertically.  For many students, this was the first time adding vertically so we spent a fair amount of time ensuring we lined up our tens and ones properly.

We reviewed expanded form and that it meant stretching out a number like an accordion to show its values.

Here is an example of what we did today:

We practiced with a partner on white board and many of us started to see the connection between this and other strategies and become more confident with it. We will continue to practice this as well as the other two strategies throughout the year.  Next week we will starting adding with "Carrying".

Coming up:

• Movie Night tomorrow evening at school: $10 per family
• Mrs. Jordan away Wednesday and Friday morning.

Feb. 23

We were lucky enough to have a guest speaker come to our class today to talk about self regulation, feelings, and being mindful. Erin Novak is a registered Occupational Therapist who works regularly in our school.  She came today to talk about feelings, how we control them, and strategies when we are feeling out of control.   We started by reading the book "In My Heart: A Book of Feelings".  We talked about the different ways we can feel and where we feel those emotions in our body. For example, we might feel tired in our eyes or in our head and anger in clenched fists or in the pit of our stomach.  We defined the word mindful  as being aware of the present moment and what is around us.  We talked about how it is important to know how our feelings affect the different parts of our body, especially anger so aren't tense or holding energy in.  We noticed that when we are angry or upset we hold our breath, breathe harder or our heart can beat faster.  Learning to be in the moment, be present, and be mindful allows us to calm these feelings and refocus.   One way of doing this is pretending we are holding a cup of hot chocolate. When we breathe in, we smell the hot chocolate, when we breathe out, we cool down the hot chocolate. This visual and kinesthetic reminder helps us calm quicker and more effectively.  We will continue to work with Erin through the year so I will post anything new as we do it! Two notes from the office: Main Office/School Access   Hello Parents and Guardians, In order to keep up with CBE Security Standards our  main entry doors will now remain locked.  To access the school you will need to buzz the front office.  The buzzer is located on the brick wall to the right of the doors (see attached picture).  Once the office has unlocked the door please use the handicap entrance to enter the school; once in the vestibule please push on the door to the office. 2016 Child Care Receipts

Dear Parents and Guardians, Student Fess has prepared the 2016 Child Care Tax Receipts.  These receipts are generated for families who have paid for Noon Supervision in 2016.  Please watch for these in your child’s backpacks over the next couple of days.

Feb. 21

Welcome back after an extra long weekend!  I hope you had some time to spend with your family and enjoy the beautiful weather.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Teacher's Convention last Thursday and Friday. I came away with a few new ideas to try with the class!

Today marks our 100th day of school.  We spent the day completing a variety of activities revolving around 100.  We started by reading the book: 100 Things that Make Me Happy

After reading, we formed small groups to brainstorm our own ideas for this book. Over the next couple of days, we will choose our own 100 things that make US happy and publish our own book. Some of the ideas we came up with are: warm cinnamon buns, hockey, snowflakes, friends, and writing.

After recess, we started some math stations for 100 days.  We formed groups of 5/10 and counted how many groups we would need to make 100, we flipped a coin 100 times and tallied our heads and tails, we took 100 steps around the school and we even built a lego creation out of 100 pieces.  We didn't get done today so we will continue these stations tomorrow.  

Race to 100 Game

Writing our name as many times as we can in 100 seconds

Heads or Tails 100 times

Heads or Tails 100 Times

Forming Groups of 5

Forming Groups of 10

Lego Creation using 100 Blocks

Coming Up:

• Fun Lunch Wednesday
• Field trip forms for the Bird Sanctuary in Snail Mail. Send Back Mon. Feb. 27
• Movie Night this Friday!

Feb. 15

We are well on our way with addition, using a variety of strategies.  We are currently working on two digit addition with and without regrouping.  I have attached an explanation of the two strategies that we have been working on.  These are only a few of the many strategies that there are for adding. I am introducing these strategies but there will be students who have their own strategies that work too.  The purpose of introducing a variety of strategies is to give students different options if they get stuck.
Here is the expanded form method of adding. This is a great strategy as it allows students to do this mentally as they become more proficient.

Here is the number line method of adding. This strategy is a good visual reminder for students and allows students to break the numbers up into smaller, more manageable numbers.

So far we have been only adding horizontally. Next week, we will be moving into vertical expanded form and "old fashioned" way.  Yes... this means the way we were taught!  I will post more information next week about where we are at.  You are welcome to practice these strategies at home using any addition number up to 100.  In class, we usually do one question and then check to ensure our answer is right using the other strategy. 

You can have your child practice on IXL using both G.4 and G.5

Just a reminder that we have no school until Tuesday. I hope you all have a restful break :)

Coming up:

• No School until Tuesday

Feb. 14

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a great afternoon visiting our CSSI Buddies and delivering our handmade Valentine's Day cards to them.  They were so happy to get them from us - so happy that some students didn't want to put them down.  We had some time to do puzzles with them, explore some of their technology, and read some books together.  Don't we look so proud of our heart animals we created?

This morning we got our letters from our penpals at Buffalo Rubbing Stone. They made us beautiful cards with polar bears on the front.  We partnered up to read out letters and many of us made connections to the similar learning between their classroom and ours. For example, they are learning about the inuit and so are we.  We also noticed that they were getting ready for a grand opening just like us.  We came up with a simple letter template to use tomorrow when we start writing our letters back.  The students confidence with letter writing has greatly increased this year.  There is a better understanding of the purpose of letter writing and the structure of a letter. With these letters, we plan to make some Ken Taylor Postcards as a way of showing them a little more about our school.  

 Coming up:

• No School Thursday or Friday for Teacher's Convention
• No School Monday for Family Day

Feb. 13

Today our class had some time to make some Valentine's Day cards for our CSSI buddies.  Tomorrow afternoon we will go to our buddies to give them our cards and do a short art activity with them. 

Just a reminder about Valentine's Day for tomorrow:

 We will celebrate Valentine's Day tomorrow afternoon.  If your child wishes to hand out cards/candy please ensure that each child in the class is given one.  Here is a list of the students in the class:

Kyle
Bosco
Justin
Thomas
Adam
Ramish
Tandra
Ella
Catrrina
Amarelle
Everee
Zoe
Chloe
Makennia
Juliette
Isra
Jayden
Ben
Carter
Kieran
Sam
Katerina

We will have a special time in the afternoon hand out our cards, play some fun Valentine's Day games, and have a special snack. Please send a special snack of your child's choice for this afternoon. This snack will just be for your child to enjoy so you don't need to worry about bringing enough for the whole class. 

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Two messages from Parent Council:

Coming up:

• No School Thursday or Friday due to Teacher's Convention. 
• No School Monday - Family Day
• Watch for Bird Sanctuary Field Trip forms coming home next week

Feb. 10

Just a quick post to say that today was AWESOME!  Our students did such an amazing job at the assembly today being a respectful audience.  It was so special to have all of our students, staff, parents, and special guests at our school.

We were honored to have Patricia Taylor, Ken Taylor's wife, come join us for the ceremony. She spoke beautifully about her husband and her experiences in Tehran.  We were also lucky enough to have our Deputy Chief Superintendent, our Chair of Board of Trustrees, our MLA, our Ward 2 Councillor, our Area 2 Director and many others.  It was a once in a lifetime experience and one that we will remember forever.

Thank you to all the people who could join to volunteer and watch.  To those who could not make it, we are working on getting you access to a video you could watch of the opening.

I hope you all have a restful and relaxing weekend!

Coming up:

• Card orders due Monday
• Valentine's Day Tuesday
• No School Feb. 16, 17, 20

Feb. 8

Today, the students had an excellent learning day with Mrs. Duncan, while I was in the gym doing preparations for our grand opening. She always has the nicest things to say about our class!

The class read the story "How the Zebra Got His Stripes" that one of our students brought in.  It is an African Pourquoi story that fits in perfectly with our literacy and social study focus.   They loved this story!! (Thank you Ella!)

As a strategy for comprehension, students paired up with a partner to act out the story and retell it.  This strategy is accessible for all students as it allows everyone to have a role. When they thought they had all the parts, they had the chance to perform for the class and receive feedback from their peers.

Next, students recorded their retell through their writing on our story diamond.  We use this diamond as a visual for our retells and eventually their own stories.  We have covered each of these parts except for the suspense section.

Our next step in this project is to pick an animal from one our our communities, do some research on their adaptations and finally write our own pourquoi stories.  We hope to present these to you at our next student led conferences.

Coming up:

• Grand opening rehearsal tomorrow at 1:00pm
• Grand opening Friday at 1:00pm
• Valentine's Day Tuesday. Please see Monday's post for more information
• No school Feb. 16, 17, 20

Feb. 6

I hope you all kept warm and dry today with all that snow out there! 

Thank you to everyone for coming out to our student led conferences on Thursday and Friday. It was so nice to connect with you all and talk about your child and their learning. They have all come so far and we are only half way through the year.  We will have another chance to get together like this is April.

I have had several questions about Valentine's Day.   We will celebrate Valentine's Day at Ken Taylor in the afternoon of the 14th.  If your child wishes to hand out cards/candy please ensure that each child in the class is given one.  Here is a list of the students in the class:

Kyle
Bosco
Justin
Thomas
Adam
Ramish
Tandra
Ella
Catrrina
Amarelle
Everee
Zoe
Chloe
Makennia
Juliette
Isra
Jayden
Ben
Carter
Kieran
Sam
Katerina

We will have a special time in the afternoon of the 14th to hand out our cards, play some fun Valentine's Day games, and have a special snack. Please send a special snack of your child's choice for this afternoon. This snack will just be for your child to enjoy so you don't need to worry about bringing enough for the whole class. 

Coming Up:

• Grand Opening Rehearsal Thursday/ Grand Opening Friday - get your tickets here: https://kdtopeningceremony.eventbrite.ca

Feb. 1

Happy February 1!  

Tomorrow will be our first student led conferences at Ken Taylor School!  If you haven't signed up, please do so at My CBE Account.  

These conferences will be a bit different from past conferences as this will be a chance for your child to share his/her learning and share the classroom with you.  There will be several stations for your child to walk you through and each of these will give you an opportunity to see their work, participate in a classroom activity, or learn a little more about your child's learning.  You will have a chance to read their writing, look at artwork, play a math game, and see some of their work that they are proud of.  

We will have a a short opportunity (5-10 minutes) to touch base, discuss progress, and clarify any questions, but please be aware that there will be other families in the room.  If we feel we have more to discuss after our time, we can book a private meeting for the future.  

These conferences are a great opportunity for students to take ownership and leadership for their learning.  It is wonderful to see the students become so grown up and responsible when sharing. If you have any questions about these conferences, please don't hesitate to email me!

Coming up:

• Parent Conferences tomorrow and Friday
• No School Friday
• School Grand Opening next Friday