Author visit, More butterfly news

Author visit
We started today with a visit from author 'Andrew Larsen. He has written some of the books that have been part of our 'Blue Spruce' book series. These are the books that are new to the library and students all over Halton, read them and vote on which should win an award. Mr. Larsen was very entertaining (with a magic lightbulb) and lots of great stories about how he started writing as early as kindergarten. It was nice that he brought in a book from those days to show students that he was a 'developing' writer. He read to us his published book 'In the Tree House' using a slideshow. Very entertaining and a nice way to start the day!

Butterfly news!
Well, the caterpillars ate like crazy last week and are now this big.

Many have made a chrysalis and were moved to the observation container. A few that fell had to be glued back up. Yes, I used the old, glue gun trick that worked so well last year. More pics soon!

Updates:
Looking forward to next week. Our trip to the Burlington Art Centre to do weaving and pottery should be fun. Please send the usual lunch and snack. We will eat our snack there and arrive back at school a little late and eat our lunch. If your child gets pizza from the school order it should be waiting for us upon our return. 

Hard to believe there are only a few weeks left. I've SO enjoyed this class. The other day I went to say my usual attendance joke, "Put up your hand if you are absent" (corny, I know). However, before I had a chance one of my student's did it for me! I laughed and said, "Oh no you know all my jokes I guess you will have to go to grade 3". The student ran over, hugged me and said, "Ms. Fink, you just need to get new jokes!"

Butterfly larvae arrival! Lots of pictures!

It has been a busy week...
                        First of all this mysterious box arrived! 

Then we quickly had to get the butterfly larvae into their little containers and make sure they have enough food to grow into a chrysalis. Each child named their little creatures...'Ella' and 'Rose' seemed to be very popular! When the children return after the weekend, they won't believe how quickly these little guys will grow! They are eating machines!

Then of course we had to create some butterfly art! We created a fold on white paper and drew a design on one half using black pastel. Then we folded it to create a symmetrical imprint on the other half. After filling it in with colour, we used a toilet paper roll to secure it to our wrists, Then it was time to fly it around the room.                                 Lots of fun for a Friday :)

We are also getting the first of our Mr Men or Little Miss books done. They are looking good and the students love sharing them with each other!

Why Read Aloud?

                            Reading Aloud

One of my favourite things to do as a teacher is read aloud to my classes. We are currently enjoying the 'Little House' series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. There is enough interest and action for both girls and boys in these books. Particularly the second story 'Little House on the Prairie'. My class this year seems to have a particular interest in the historical aspects and we often look up pictures of the real people (photos on the internet) and places on a map. 


Reading aloud to children helps in a number of ways:

1. The teacher models expressive reading (many students need to hear your voice to understand fully how to move from a robotic reading style to a more conversational and expressive fluidity of thought and speech patterns). Yes, I model different voices, accents and affect when I'm reading...much more entertaining :) Developing fluid and expressive reading is especially important if you have second language learners in your classroom that may not be hearing English spoken regularly in their home.

2. Understanding the link between speech and print. Have you ever heard a word spoken and then realized that when you have been reading it, you were pronouncing it wrong? I have some funny ones I recall hearing for the first time; the proper pronunciations of such word like the name Seamus, or gazebo or the singer's name Sade. You do not even want to know how I thought they were pronounced!

3. To help children develop stronger vocabularies and more sophisticated language structures. A great example happened to us recently. In the 'Little House' book there is a chapter called 'Fever and Ague'. Since I wasn't entirely familiar with that term, I modeled how to look up the word and make sense of it in context (turns out it is malaria). As well we had a very interesting class discussion about pioneer misconceptions about illness (comparing what we know now to what they thought then). 

4. To increase attention span 
 Consider the amount of visual changes that occur when watching television or working with apps on an Ipad. Listening to a story allows for that 'slow, deep learning' that enables students to incubate ideas, discuss, ask questions and focus for longer duration. In my class, I also allow a kinesthetic activity such as knitting or corking to happen while I am reading aloud a book for enjoyment. (Not to be confused for when I am reading a 'mentor text' to be followed by a lesson...If this type of book is being read I usually set a context or purpose why we are listening so they know what to listen for). 

5. To introduce different genres and writing styles
Many of the books and series that we have read this year provide students with an overview of what is available at our own Florence Meares library. I know our librarian Mr. Cann has often said that my students know what interests them, are highly interested in certain authors and make requests about subjects/authors/genres with great sophistication. I love to hear that :) I especially like watching students who like similar books read together...like a mini Oprah book club!

If this topic interests you, consider reading more on this subject here: http://www.education.com/reference/article/reasons-read-aloud-children/
Some of the subject headings are from this article but I personalized the explanations to help you understand what that looks like in our classroom. 

If we want to help children learn to use cognition, imagination, and all six cues when they read, we need to get them excited about reading through energetic guidance and proactive practice. One of the most effective ways to guide children into becoming stronger readers and to give them the necessary mental practice for doing so is to read aloud to them every day. There is no substitute for regularly reading aloud to children; when we do so, we are helping them create meaning the way they do naturally—via the ear (Sanders 1995)

Class News:
Stay tuned for information about our last class trip to the Burlington Art Centre in June.

May 14th - Class butterflies (larvae) arrive

                          Time is flying by. Report card information soon!

Former students, Earth Day

Former Students!
I have taught long enough now that my former students are off into the world doing great things. Last night I was privileged to receive an invitation from a former group of students to come watch the White Oaks High School production of 'Hairspray'. Almost all the main lead parts were children I had taught! They were an incredible group of talent and it was so rewarding as a teacher to see them grow, thrive and find their creative spirits. When you teach children in the primary grades, you can still see that little person you used to know in the grown up bodies of the teenagers up on stage. Perhaps one day, I will get an invitation from your child to attend something wonderful that they are doing. Although we never know what the future holds, I would consider it an honor and if I could make it...I certainly would. 

Another former student, Kathryn who has been working in our classroom in between her teacher's college practicum assignments is off to Peru for the month of May. She is going to help teach English to school children and work on construction projects. She is allowed to take a suitcase full of donations and I have asked the students to consider looking around for a few small items so we could make a care package for her. I realize we are asked many times for donations but this is a chance to actually see our donations in action as I know Kathryn will bring back pictures and talk to the students about this adventure. Don't go out and buy anything. I'm just going to look around my house for a few items to donate so feel free to do the same if you can. 
Here are a few ideas:
markers, post-it notes, band-aids, dental hygiene things (floss, toothpaste), crayons, crafty items (rainbow loom bands). I know all items will be gratefully accepted and truly appreciated. No pressure though! 

Earth Day
April 22nd was Earth Day. We learned some of the history of Earth Day and discussed many ways to help our Earth. We explored the Eco-Kids website using the new Chrome books that the school has purchased. It seemed only fitting to go outside for some extra Gym time on a beautiful sunny day to celebrate as well. Our school will be doing a school-wide scavenger hunt in our Tribes this Friday afternoon, as well as working together to beautify the school (also known as picking up trash with gloves). We read the book Peter's Place (by Michael Foreman) which discusses what happens in an oil spill. As well, we had great discussion about our own classroom waste and how we could reduce and re-use a little better. 

Funny Story
Usually I tell a funny story about my class but today I will share with you my new learning. As some of you may or may not know, I like to grow my own vegetables and cook with organic foods as much as possible. I decided to make a lovely chicken soup this weekend. I added a purple, organic carrot to the crockpot. Who knew that one little, tiny purple carrot actually turns the whole soup...well...purple. An orange carrot doesn't turn it orange! No worries, I think. Then I tried to eat it. Let's just say it tastes great if you don't look at it. Who knew eating lilac coloured chicken with purple broth would be so hard to stomach! And here is your learning for the week...

                                                      Yep, it's really purple, isn't it?!?

Pysanky eggs, Art's Night, Story Mountains and Making Books

Pysanky Egg Art
Have you ever seen those beautiful Pysanky eggs? I have always thought they were so artfully created. When my father was in the Ukraine many years ago, he brought me one back and so began my little collection that you see here. I started to make a few and as I was doing them, I began to think how could I do something like this with children?

So, we made these 3D decorations. The children colour planned and persevered to create such wonderful Pysanky eggs using paper, small coloured markers, fancy scissors and small bits of sponge to separate the layers. Here is our bulletin board before I took it down today and sent them home for you!

Art's Night 
Thank you to everyone who came to listen to our choir performance and view our artwork. When we set the art up a few days before, it was lovely to see all the students admiring each other's work. Many of the older students came up to me and complimented our 'Grade Two' artwork. It was a positive experience all around. 


Story Mountains
Some of you may remember a post I did last year on how to identify or de-construct a basic story. Here is a link to that post: http://msfinksclass.blogspot.ca/2013_04_01_archive.html
Using familiar stories with predictable story patterns we plot the events on our story mountain and discuss all the elements of a basic narrative story. By this time in the year, students have heard many types of different text (fiction, non-fiction, info-fiction). Info-fiction is a story with both real and fake elements. An example that comes to mind is 'The Magic School Bus' series which has some great science facts but they are embedded with a fictional narrative (Ms Frizzle and her magic bus). As we look at the stories and discuss the 'beginning, middle and end' of the stories studied, we also begin to identify key elements that we will need to add to our own written work. Using the 'Little Miss' or 'Mr Men' books by Roger Hargreaves, which has a very predictable pattern, we will first draft a story outline before we begin to write our own stories. I am looking forward to reading some of our first Mr Men/Little Miss inspired published stories. We have titles like; 'Mr Slapshot', 'Miss Bad Luck', 'Mr Floppyfeet' and 'Little Miss Gymnast' just to name a few. Let the story writing begin! 

Spring
I took this picture on Tuesday of this week when we had that surprise snowstorm. I had put up spring flowers on our windows and you can see them against the sky with all the snow. A bit of a paradox! Hopefully this is it and sunny skies are ahead :)

Butterfly larvae arrive May 14th! I know students who were with me in grade one last year have done this but I think it is a learning experience that can be repeated. It will be nice to have experts in the class :) 

Teaching Digital citizenship

Technology is a great thing. I will always remember when my Grandma (who was in her 90's) marveled at the fact that I could take a picture and casually send it to my printer via wi-fi and hand her the picture within minutes. 

Really, if you consider her first camera was a little 'Brownie camera' and most people didn't have the means to buy one...then the instantaneous ability of computers is truly amazing. Having said all this, a good teacher has to keep up to date on the technology and media that interests students at any age. Social media, changes so quickly. When you consider MySpace changed to Facebook, which also includes Twitter and now Instagram...it makes one wonder what  will be cool next week? Even though my students are in Grade Two, it is important to talk about 'Digital Citizenship'. We watched some age appropriate movies that featured scenarios that could happen when using the internet. Then we discussed what we would do. Many students were surprised that even if you delete material (e.g., on their chatt accounts) that someone could still retrieve the information. We also talked about personal safety and using the internet responsibly. Today the students brought home a stickie note with a few points to discuss with you. I hope you have a great discussion. As you can see by our chart...we certainly did. 

1.  

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!