Mathies website, The Power of YET, Mosaics

Mathies
Are you looking for math games to play with your child to help them improve their math skills? Then 'Mathies' is for you! You can play games on-line as well as download game cards and activities to play with your child. When I am looking for great sites for children, I always play them first and see if they are useful. As well, I look for websites that have minimal to no advertisements. I think you will find this site very useful.
MATHIES WEBSITE

The Power of Yet
We have seen the last (Part 3) in the Class Dojo series! We really hope they produce more this year. The discussion around 'getting out of the dip' when we face challenges and 'reflecting' on our work to help us improve has really done wonders in our way of thinking about learning. I have seen a real difference in the 'self talk' my students use to handle a difficult task and overcome frustration. Here is the last Dojo movie in case you haven't logged on to the 'class story' section and viewed it. You will see at the end of the 'Art show' that there are examples of student work. We entered the drawing competition and sent our art into Class Dojo. We aren't sure if we won but it is kind of fun to see some student art in the animation of the movie!
Part 3 Growth Mindset Movie 'The BIG show'

Here is an example of the bulletin board we created for the 'Mountain of Yet'. Students re-created their Class Dojo monsters and brainstormed things they 'can do' already and things they 'can't do yet' but ultimately will succeed at doing. For example one student wrote, "I can tie my shoelaces into double knots but I can't ride my two wheel bicycle YET." Another student wrote, "I can skate really fast in hockey but I can't score a goal YET." It is interesting to see students read the bulletin board and then use the expertise of other students. When one child had trouble doing up their shoes, they simply looked at the bulletin board to find the student who put 'tying shoelaces' as their expertise.

Did you know? 
Mosaics
The big unveiling of the school mosaics will be at an assembly on May 5th. This has been a two year culmination of effort by artist 'Heather Vollans' and our students. The mosaics were made with small pieces of cut glass and each grade had a character trait as the theme to their artwork. Here is a sneak peak picture from upstairs through the window. You can't really see the colours and can only guess at the size but they are most impressive and will really give our school a creative, colourful and welcoming atmosphere.

Butterflies
We have ordered a class set of Butterflies (or larvae) that will arrive on May 18th for us to study and watch grow. Some students may have had the benefit of watching this 'life cycle' process if they were in a split grade last year but I think they will still enjoy it again. We are very lucky that our administration allows funding for this project in 'Grade Two'. Once again we have ordered 'Painted Lady' Butterflies from Boreal Laboratories as we have met with good success each year. Here is what they will eventually look like...

Art Gallery of Burlington trip
There will be a note coming home mid-May about our final trip of the year to the Art Gallery of Burlington for an all day trip. The students will do a tour of the gallery and see whatever exhibit is on display for the month of May, followed by a Pottery class and a Weaving class. The A.G.B., has offered to do a butterfly theme for our pottery experience so this should be a lot of fun! The trip is on May 30th!

There are many school activities coming up! Be sure to monitor the 'twitter feed' to the right of this blog for all the excitement. Dance-a-thon and Music Monday are happening soon! There is always something happening at FM!