Wednesday, September 9th, 2015 - Where has the week gone?

Today was a very full learning day!

We started out by reading another picture book about how we are the same and different.  It was called I'm Like You, You're Like Me. 



We finished up our interviews from yesterday and each pair of students shared how they were alike and different.  We discovered some new things about one another and enjoyed the sharing time.  The purpose of these activities is to build an understanding that although we have many things that make us unique, we can accept, respect and celebrate those differences.  The things we have in common help to hold us together as a community.

Daily 5 today focused on reviewing our anchor chart for Read To Self and practicing as a whole class.  We were successful in everyone staying focused and reading for 5 minutes.  This may not see a long time to parents, but it is an accomplishment for the beginning of the year with 23 students!  We will continue to build our stamina in the coming weeks and you can practice at home.

We also worked on a focus lesson under the C for comprehension.  Our strategy was Check For Understanding.  Please have your child share what they learned about his strategy and how it works.

After our snack we headed outside for a short body break where we did some running to prepare for Terry Fox.  We discussed how our body and brain need movement and oxygen to work well at school. This led into our Mind Up work back in class where we finished our brain sketches. We finished up our brain facts and then then wrote some wonders about our brains!

This afternoon we worked on adding to our addition fact strategies.  We looked at two new strategies and how they make our facts easier to figure out:

1.)  Plus 9 - we found out that there is a pattern when you add 9.  The answer in the ones place is one less than the number we are adding nine to.  For example:  4+ 9 = 13 - the 3 in the ones place is one less than 4!  Boy does this make it easier.



2.)  Counting up - sometimes we rely on counting when trying to figure out a fact.  Today we learned that if we put the larger number in our head and count up it makes it quicker.  We hope that as we learn new faster strategies we won't have to rely on this as much.

In our science inquiry we learned about the term fossil fuels.  We looked at what a fossil actually is and how fossil fuels are taken from the earth.  Tomorrow we will continue to look at what actually is a fossil fuel and how are they formed.



It was a first dance class today and boy did we ever have some "boogie" in our step. We were great listeners and we all seemed to have a lot of fun!

Things to Remember:

1.) Please return all forms and Hot Lunch orders/payments.
2.) Please try and remember that we would like to students to have a one handed nutritious snacks. All treats (candy, cakes, puddings, jellos, and yogurt drinks, etc.) are to be eaten with our lunch as they tend to cause a mess when eaten while doing our work.
3.)  Please be prepared to have gym outside tomorrow.

What has been the most interesting thing that you have done at school so far?  Please explain why you find it interesting.