Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas Everyone,

Thank you so much to all of the families who came out for our Christmas Concert.  I think you will agree that all of the students did an excellent job.  I was so very proud of them. 

Friday we will be having our assembly at 10:45.  We will also be having a party with the entire school.  For this party,  the students will be watching a movie (title TBA) in the afternoon.

Just a reminder that for the party students are welcome to wear pajamas.  That's right... Friday is Pajama Day.

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe Christmas Holiday. 

All my best.

Congratulations

Congrats to our November Principal's Award Winners.

This month Paige, Polina, and Amy won the award for doing an excellent job on their Barbara Reid inspired artwork. 

They all tried their very best and I am so proud of them.  Their work will be displayed in the library, along with their classmates for the next week or so.  Their picture will also be at the office for the next month.

Congratulations again girls. 

A Busy Week

Hello Everyone,

Here is a quick overview of the important things happening this week.

Parent Teacher interviews are Wednesday and Thursday night.  If you did not receive your appointment time from your child please call the school to schedule a time (786-5510). 

Friday will be Green Day for our school's spirit day this month.  The students and teachers are wearing green to cheer on the Saskatchewan Rough Riders in the Grey Cup. 

I will be sending home permission forms this week for our Christmas field trip.  We will be going to the Yorkton Western Development Museum for their Christmas Past program.  This program connects with our ELA outcomes for our Celebrations and Traditions Unit as well as with our Social outcomes for the year. 
If you are interested in volunteering as a supervisor for this field trip please notify me on your child's permission form. 

Have a great week everyone. 

Amazing Day

Hello Everyone,
Welcome back after our long weekend. 

We had an amazing day today.  The kids were terrific.  They behaved wonderfully and worked incredibly hard.  I was so proud of them, especially since it can be hard to get back on track after an absence like that. 

We had a special treat today.  The kindergarten students came over to buddy read with us.  It was absolutely fantastic.  The kindergartens were so attentive and the grade 2's were not only wonderful readers and teachers for the younger students but they were also amazing role models.  Just another reason for me to be proud of them today. 

I thought you would enjoy a few photos of our reading buddy time. 

Our Classroom This Week

Important Announcement:
- there is no school on Friday, Nov. 8 and Monday, Nov. 11.

We have been studying animals in both English and Science.   As part of that, we watched some of the amazing live footage of animals in both natural and artificial environments.  The students asked me to put up the link to the website.  It is www.explore.org. 

In math we are still working on our 0 to 100 unit.  We have been working on skip-counting this week.   I added some great videos we found onto the favourite link section of this blog.

Principal's Award and Cougar of the Month Awards

Our Principal's Award Winners this month are Promise and Andrew.


Promise won for the excellent job that she did on her social assignment about members of our community who help others.

Andrew won for the excellent job that he is doing on our Math Unit (on understanding numbers from 0 to 100). 

We also had an additional award this month.   Hayley was awarded the Cougar of the Month award this month for her constant efforts to be a respectful, diligent, and kind person. She always follows instructions and the rules.   She is always kind to the kids in her class and includes everyone.
She always works hard to do her absolute best. Hayley is a great role model for both student and adults. 

Congratulations to all of our award winners.

Happy Halloween

Hi Everyone,

I am a teensy bit late with the Halloween Blog Entry.  My apologies.

We had a great time yesterday.  Together we read some Halloween books with Mrs. Gallagher,
carved two pumpkins, did some fun math activities,
played Halloween Bingo with Mrs. Maloney, watched a short film, participated in the Halloween parade, and made ourselves some healthy Halloween snacks (pumpkins made out of oranges, ghosts made out of bananas, and roasted pumpkin seeds).  We finished off the afternoon with a dance party. 


Thank you to all of the families that sent goodies for the children.  That was very generous of you. 

I also shared some news with the students... that we had an extra party goer in the classroom...an invisible one. No, it wasn't a ghost.  I am expecting my first child in early April.  My hopes are to remain at work until after the second term report cards and for you and the children to meet the new teacher at parent-teacher interviews in March. 

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween.  On to November :).

Thank You

Thank you so much to those who were able to come to the open house. 

It was a wonderful opportunity for the kids to show you what they have been up to.




A few parents have been asking about the Halloween parade next week. It will take place on Halloween day, sometime in the afternoon.  I will let everyone know as soon as I know when exactly it will take place. 

What We've Been Up To

Hello Everyone,

It's been a busy couple of weeks here at school. 

To help with our reading we have been learning about connections.   Connections help us understand what we are reading by linking things in the book to things we already know.   So far we have looked at text-to-self connections (when the book reminds us of something that happened to us, making it easier for us to understand what is happening in the book), and text-to-text connections (when the book reminds of us another book we have read, making it possible for us to make predictions about what will happen next, explore plot structure, explore the author's methods, and more). 

In math we have finished up working on patterns and are working to understand two digit numbers.  We have discussed how there are only 10 digits: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, and 9, and that these digits make up all of the numerals (or numbers) that we know.  In grade two we will only really be working with two digit numbers but to understand them we need to understand place value.  That's what we are looking at right now, as well as how to represent (or show) these numbers.  The students have learned about the tens digit and the ones digit. They have also learned that 24 is not 2+4 but rather 20+4.  Soon we will be looking at odd and even numbers, ordering and comparing numbers, estimating, and skip counting.  When we finish this we will be ready to start focusing on addition and subtraction. 

There are no important events for this week but next week will be very full.   Be ready for our Open House Night on Tuesday, Oct. 22, starting at 6:30.   There will be a book fair that evening.  It will also be open on Wednesday at lunch for kids who missed their chance the night before.  Hope to see you all there. 

Just as a side note, I will be away at a conference this Friday (Oct. 18) and Mrs. Beynon will be returning to substitute teach for us. 

Have a great week.

Important Things This Week

Hello Everyone,

We will be beginning our food drive today and it will continue until Thursday.   Students can bring in non-perishable food items to the school.  These items will be donated to the local food bank. 

Just a reminder about bringing in Picture Orders before Thursday.

Thursday will also be our October Early Dismissal Day.  Students will be dismissed at 2:30.

Important Day: Early Dismissal and Picture Orders

Hello Everyone,

Next Thursday (Oct. 10th) is an early dismissal day.  Students will be dismiss at 2:30 once again.

That day is also the due date for picture orders.  If you would like to order some prints of your child's school photo please submit the order form and the payment before Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013. 

Thanks

Principal's Award Winners for September

Congratulations to our first Principal's Award of Excellence winners:
Tailynn and Hannah

Tailynn also received her award for doing an excellent job on her art response page.

 

 

Hannah received her award for doing an excellent job on her art response page.  

 

For these pages the students were given a picture of a piece of artwork (done by a Saskatchewan artist) and had to tell us what they thought about it (what is was about in their opinion, how it made them feel, how they thought it would feel if they touched it, etc.)

 

The girls work will be displayed in a place of honour at the principal's office for the next month.

 

Congrats girls. 

Exploring Saskatchewan Art

Hello Everyone,

The students had a great discussion today about art.  We looked at art from Saskatchewan artists and talked about a lot of things, including appreciating art, finding different meaning in abstract art, how art can reflect where a person is from or where they make the art, different media used in art, and more.  

 

 I am attaching links to the Saskatchewan Arts Board website, which has an online exhibition showing the work of Saskatchewan artists.  

http://www.artsboard.sk.ca/showcase

 

I wanted to show you this piece in particular -- entitled Rainbow Sentinels and Jerry Didur -- because Dayton noticed that this artist used an increasing pattern.  

Great observation Dayton and way to connect to what we have been learning.

 

 

 

Speaking of patterns, I also wanted to share what we worked on today in Math today (Math is such an easy subject to share with you because of all of the hands on things we get to do).  

The students coloured shapes then began assembling them into patterns.  For their assessment (assessment is how I make sure they understand what we have discussed) they needed to identify the core.  

 

This picture was created by Hanna.  She not only identified the core of her patterns but also labeled them using the ABC system we talked about in earlier blogs. 

Great work Hannah and thanks for sharing. 

 

Our next assignment will be for the students to create patterns that change more than one attribute (we will be aiming for 3 or more).  We learned this week that an attribute is how we describe something.   Hannah's patterns have two main attributes that are changing: colour and shape.  For example, the core of her first pattern can be described as:

 

yellow, orange 

or

hexagon, square

 

 

Thank you so much for reading our blog.  I absolutely love reading your comments.  If there is anything specifically that you would like to see on the blog please let me know and I will do my best to accommodate you. 



Just a reminder

Scholastic book orders are due this Friday (not Saturday, as the forms said... opps).  

Hayley's Post for Wednesday, September 18

It was picture day.  A couple of people had purple, blue, green, gray and red backgrounds.  Lots of people had blue.   We had to take two serious pictures then we got to take one goofy one. 

What We Have Been Up To in Math

Hello Everyone,


Here are some of the students' repeating pattern bracelets

Here are the photos I promised of what we have been up to in math.   The students have been learning about patterns.   They created patterns using blocks, beads, pompoms, and by coloring pictures.  

We started with repeating patterns.  The students learned that repeating patterns have a core that repeats over and over.  

The core of the first bracelet's pattern is blue, purple, red, red (ABCC)

 The student's also learned that they can explain what the core looks like using letters. 










For example, here is an AB pattern that Jace made.  The pattern's core is Big Pompom, Little Pompom.  








Here is another example.  This is an  ABB pattern.  The core of Xyrel' pattern is white, orange, orange.  

We have also been learning about Increasing Patterns.   These patterns have rules instead of cores.   The rule for the pattern to the right is "Start at 3, Add 1".  We were practicing more increasing patterns today.   Here are some pictures of our patterns.   See if you can figure out the rule.  

Welcome to Grade 2 (2013-2014)

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to a brand new year here at Columbia School.   I am really looking forward to it and I hope you are too. 

This blog will show some of the things that the kids are doing in the classroom as well as help remind you of important upcoming dates.


Tomorrow (Thursday, September 12) is our first Early Dismissal Day. 
Early Dismissal will begin at 2:30 this year rather than 12:00. 

Picture Day will be Wednesday next week (Wednesday, September 18).  

Tomorrow I will add some pictures to the blog to show you what the kids have been up to in their first few days of class.