Henry B. Wigglebottom

Calling all Howard B. Wigglebottom fans
If you really enjoy these books then you will enjoy this interactive website. My students really love the songs and e books. When you watch the books, right after the credits there is a great rap or song. 
Here is the link for you:

                                        HOWARD B. WIGGLEBOTTOM


                                      More news soon! 

Ted Harrison Art, Celebrating the arts, Working with words lesson

Celebrating the Arts
Did you know Florence Meares P.S. has plans for an 'Arts' evening in April? Mrs. Kirk is getting ready for a fabulous musical showcase with many of our FM students. WE are working on art to display around the school with some special art for the gym for this night. You will be amazed at our creativity! More details soon :)
April 10th, Thursday. 7:00 p.m. (choir members need to come earlier as indicated in the note from Mrs. O'Rourke). There is even a silent auction for a guitar and 2 free lessons. Woo hoo!


Ted Harrison Art
You may have seen some of Ted Harrison's books in our school library. Although he was born in England, he spent many years working/teaching in the Yukon. I was fortunate enough to hear him speak at an art conference a few years ago and was very moved by his speech and artwork. Using bold colours, he depicts scenes from Canada. So, for our artwork....we read his books, discussed and analyzed the types of elements of design used in his work (colour, space, shape, line, texture and form). Then we picked our favourite piece and recreated the vibrant colours using a 3D line drawn with glue and then added some oil pastels. Here are some examples for you to see. I am always so proud of how my students try new techniques and don't give up if the product is not exactly as they envisioned. I think this is because so often they surprise themselves with how good it turns out!

Working with Words:
Each week when I send word wall words home, I always do a mini lesson to support the word choice sent home. For example it may be a lesson on 'silent e', 'blended sounds', word endings, or vowels. This week one of my students actually guessed the lesson for the week by asking the question; "Ms Fink, if the words this week are' to, too and two', how in the world will we ever know which one to write for the test? Great question! To help you at home, I am providing a copy of the chart that we used to help explain each of the words. Hope this helps you as you assist your little ones at home. 

Something to make you smile...
One of my former students visited today to show me the knitting she just did. She learned in my class and has kept it up with some support from home. She is in Grade 4 now and I couldn't be prouder! 

                                                                 How cute is this?!?

Olympics and Mapping

Schlegel's Trip

We really enjoyed our time at Schlegel's gym. It happened to occur right in the middle of the Olympic hockey games so excitement ran pretty high. We learned from Elfi Schlegel herself a little bit about her time in the Olympics (1980) and got to pose with the Olympic torch she carried when she ran four years ago. Students moved in small groups through the gym using equipment to strengthen core muscles. They really impressed me with their ability to try what might seem a daunting task, like climbing a knotted rope to the ceiling and ringing the bell at the top. Yikes! Although I had a small moment of worrying about the weather not cooperating (darn those incessant snow storms this winter) we got there safely and had a great time. 

Our next Social studies unit is mapping. Here is a link to the curriculum requirements of this unit if you are interested (page 81 in the pdf) :   Ministry curriculum  . We began our discussion about maps by learning about Harriet Tubman for Black History Month. We discussed the underground railroad and how she had to follow the 'North Star' to freedom. Using a world map, we then discussed how 'Slaves' had to escape to freedom and where the Northern free states are located. Sounds complicated for Grade Two but we used books like 'Henry's Freedom Box' to help explain. 
                                                               
The students have shown a great deal of interest in this topic. They have asked intelligent questions along the way and are quite engaged in the fact that "history really happened". If your child is interested, please help them to locate many of the great resources available on our school Book Flix program. There are great e books on there about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jackie Robinson and Harriett Tubman just to name a few. After this month we will be moving into creating maps and learning to read symbols e.g., understanding the compass rose. 

Inservices: I have been out of the classroom for a few in-services this week which is always a bit hard for the children and I. The good news is I have learned lots of great math and language ideas to implement in my classroom. I do always try to get great supply teachers to help provide seamless instruction. I know one of the retired teachers that comes in for me does magic tricks...hmmm, I might have to brush up on my magic skills to compete :)

Have a great week. I noticed that on Mineral Spring Road in Ancaster the sap buckets are out on the maple trees. Maybe the trees think 'Spring' is coming, even though it sure doesn't feel like it!