Safety Village Trip
This trip will be in the morning for our class (right after announcements) on October 3rd. This is a rain or shine event. Students will go by bus to the mini-village located in Oakville. Here is a picture of the jeeps they will get to drive! Today some of the students asked if they could drive the jeeps on the highway if they get really good. I love how children see the world...one driving lesson and they are ready to drive on the Q.E.W.
The mini village awaits us soon!
Terry Fox Run
Thank you to all who participated in the run or came out to cheer us on. The students did very well and met the challenge with enthusiasm. What a beautiful day for the event too!
School Barbecue and Open House
This Thursday October 2nd is our school Open House. From 5:30 to 8:00 is the school barbecue. From 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. is the Open House. There will be no formal presentation in the classroom but students will be given a checklist to complete with some fun activities. My favourite activity is 'the introduction' which we will be practising. I always love how students have to think what their parents names are instead of Mom and Dad. Looking forward to meeting you soon :)
Please remember to check the 'Homework' section of this blog for weekly updates and upcoming events.
Terry Fox Run
This week our 'Me to We' team held an assembly led by our Senior students to introduce the upcoming Terry Fox Run. We watched some inspiring videos of Terry's original 'Marathon of Hope' and his message to all of us. Please consider donating to our school goal of raising one dollar per student. I read this book to my students and we had a great chat about Terry Fox and his story. The students asked such great questions.
Our Florence Meares', Terry Fox run will be held on September 24th at approximately 1:45 p.m. Hope we have lovely weather and a great school run!
Books, books and more books
We have read many books already! As you may have heard, reading aloud is an integral part of my program. As well, I like to foster a real love of reading early by introducing books of all different variety and levels. I particularly have a love for well written humorous stories. We talk a lot about what we have read together which is the beginning of the 'shared language' created within our classroom community. Here are some of the stories we have read so far.
Chapter Books too!
We have also read two Roald Dahl beginning chapter stories. Everyone knows his 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' book but I like to introduce his lesser known works like the 'The Minpins' which is a lovely story about little people with suction boots that live in the trees. It is a great adventure story with a lovely ending. Other fun books include 'The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me' or 'The Enormous Crocodile'.
Learning Skills
Understanding learning skills; knowing what those big words mean and working towards a goal is a big focus for term one. We co-created a learning goal chart using our understanding of what the words mean for us and what it may sound or look like. This year my students made an excellent suggestion. As I was creating the chart with them, they suggested I use 'word bubbles' to put the 'sound' words inside. I think this turned out really well and I already see students looking at it as a reference.
Welcome to Ms Fink's Blog for the year 2014 to 2015!
This year I am teaching a straight Grade Two class and am really looking forward to working with a new group of students. Please take a moment to peruse this site and get acquainted with the many features and weekly updates. I will post information about how and what we will be learning as well as ways to help your student at home. I often post pictures but rest assured that I will never post a picture of your child's face on the internet. As indicated in my welcome newsletter, information on learning and exciting events will be posted here. Please have a look at the Twitter feed located on the right of this page to see updates about school-wide events. We will also record relevant information in our student agenda to assist communication between home and school.
Something new I am trying...
I always try a new way of teaching something each year. This year, I decided to look at the 'whole picture' way of teaching the calendar. Rather than just focus on a month at a time (which has already been done in Kindergarten and Grade 1), I will present the whole picture as shown here:
I think if we look at the year as a whole, then it will be easily understood by students and the transfer of information to the agenda will be more practical and useful. We will see how it goes!
Did you know, this class LOVES the Black Lagoon series by Mark Thaler?
Dreambox (Math program on-line)
Did you know that 'Dreambox' is already up and running for student use. I sent all the information (passwords and log-ins) in a letter which was put in the agenda bag on Tuesday. Lots of students have been asking about homework (yes, they are so keen in grade 2) so let them start Dreambox this week!
Upcoming Trips
Did you know that our first trip to Safety Village will be on October 3rd? There is no charge for this trip and the best part is the students get to drive around a mini village in jeeps while obeying the traffic signs and rules of the road. Always a great start to the year!
Mrs Kirk (our music teacher) is organizing a trip to see
Boris Brott and the National Academy Orchestra of Canada at Mohawk College Theatre: Gr 1-3 - Tuesday, November 4th at 9:40 am - Carnival of the Animals
