Daily Update: Everyone came in rested and ready after a beautiful weekend! Our spelling word today was “STRAWBERRY,” and we worked on three "Show, Not Tell" sentences describing “It was windy.” We learned about bus safety, practiced what to do in an emergency, and even got to evacuate out the back door of the bus! After that, we completed our phonemic awareness exercises and doodled a shark. A surprise fire drill followed, and we all got out safely in record time. We then reviewed what good behavior on the mat looks like, shared stories about our weekend, and wrote quick stories about it before recess.

Math: Grade 3 students worked on skip counting by 5’s, 10’s, 4’s, and 3’s. Grade 1 and 2 continued rotating through their centers, focusing on making numbers, matching numbers with words and diagrams, and skip counting backward from 20. The centers are flowing much more smoothly than last week!

After Lunch: We continued reading The One and Only Ivan, where we learned that Bob the dog was a stray who was much luckier than his siblings as a puppy. Since we doodled a shark today, we went online to see if any sharks were tagged near Miramichi on Ocearch. We saw that some big Great White Sharks and leatherback turtles are not far from us! We also looked at our Terry Fox Pledge Sheet and the book order—The One and Only Ivan is in the book order!

In PE: We played quick games using light equipment, like tag, races, and some skills/tricks with different equipment. A new game called “Tail Snatch” had everyone coming back with red faces from all the running and excitement!

Day End: We ended the day by filling out our Book of Gratitude, reflecting on “Someone who filled my bucket today was…,” and signed our Home to School books. They should have reminders for: reading 10 minutes, the Pledge Sheet, and the book order. Even if it’s just part of a bedtime routine, reading for 10 minutes every night is a great habit to build!  We worked on our Responsible Choices.  Whats the difference between "Responsible Choice" and "Free Choice"?

Picture of the Day: While I was working in the classroom during PE, I heard lots of laughter outside my window. Here’s a picture I snapped of some classic hula-hooping attempts!

Daily Update: We spent a bit more time today self-assessing our work at the start of the day, and it’s paying off! Our spelling word was “LEADERSHIP,” and we worked on three "Show, Not Tell" sentences describing “he was sad.” We completed our phonemic awareness exercises and doodled our puppy—this time at 1.75 speed! We also had a quick lockdown drill, and everyone took it seriously, staying quiet and focused. After that, we had an 11-minute Read-to-Self session and did some guided reading. In our writer’s workshop, we practiced using the formula Character-Problem-Try-Fail-Try-Fail-Solve. What was your child’s story about?

Math: The Grade 3s worked on skip counting and representing numbers up to 1,000! The Grade 1s and 2s rotated through centers with new partners. The Grade 2s focused on skip counting forward and backward by 2s and representing numbers with hundreds blocks. The Grade 1s worked on representing and finding numbers from 1 to 10.

After Lunch: We continued reading The One and Only Ivan. Can your child remember what the pink clouds are that humans like to eat? We also discussed upcoming classroom jobs, like charging iPads and handling milk orders, and talked about the difference between “being friends” and “being friendly.”

In PE: We practiced soccer drills today—kicking, dribbling, throw-ins—and even played a scrimmage. After PE, we stayed outside with the whole school to practice making a NAPAN DOT for tomorrow’s DOT Day! A drone will be coming to take our picture! We ended the day by heading back inside to finish our Book of Gratitude, writing “One cool part of my day was…” and signed our Home to School books.

Picture of the Day: During writer’s workshop, the students all found their own space and worked hard on their first drafts of stories. Here’s the proof!

Daily Update:

We kicked off the day by setting up our pages, and I even did an amazing cartwheel to introduce our spelling word—"gymnastics!" Everyone seemed pretty impressed! We practiced "Show, Not Tell" by describing a new car using details about how it looks, sounds, smells, and feels, instead of just saying “The car was new.” We also did our phonemic awareness exercises with some new hand signals I’m learning. Can your child remember any of them? This week’s doodle is a puppy, but I’ll make it a bit trickier each day! Our transitions between activities still need some work, but we’re aiming for progress, not perfection. After a quick Read-to-Self session, we did some exercises and checked the calendar—don’t forget, Meet the Teacher is on Wednesday, and Friday is DOT Day!

Math: The Grade 3s practiced skip counting by 5’s, 10’s, and 100’s, both forward and backward. The Grade 1s and 2s worked through our four math centers again, and things ran more smoothly now that we’re using a rotation wheel. The 2s focused on skip counting by 10’s, while the 1s worked on numbers up to 10.

After Lunch: We had guidance with Mrs. Robichaud, where we talked about strategies to stay safe with adults. There may be a letter going home about our new program soon, so stay tuned! We also had a good discussion about friendships and the challenges we might face this year. In PE: There was a big soccer game today! It sounded intense from everything I heard—seems like you really had to be there to get the full experience! We wrapped up the day with our Book of Gratitude, sharing “Today I was thankful for…”.  One boy made 5 shots in a row today at lunch (I caught a picture of the 5th one going in).  I wonder if he wrote anything about it at the end of the day?  As a group, we got all our end of day work done and earned a record 13 minutes of free choice time!  Great job!

Our First Friday Together! Our routines are getting stronger every day. We came in this morning and got straight to work. Our spelling word was "transition"—we might be seeing more of that interesting “-tion” ending! We practiced "Show, Not Tell" by describing an angry dog, and we did our final doodle of a tractor. Afterward, we swapped out the books in our book boxes for Read-to-Self and then partnered up for buddy reading. How did your buddy read go? We also outlined a story about Foxy the Cat, who had a very messy room. In Math the Grade 3s practiced skip counting with Mr. Ross, while the 1s and 2s explored our M-A-T-H centers: M (Meet with the Teacher) A (At-your-seat worksheet) T (Technology with DreamBox math) H (Hands-on math—today we played a dominoes game). It was our first introduction to using the centers, so we worked through each one together as a class. Lunch and Afternoon Fun: During our pizza lunch, we watched part of a movie. It looked a bit scary to me with all those monsters! Afterward, we learned about "Bucket Filling" and headed outside for gym with Mr. Ross. I recognized the soccer game, but the paired ball-throwing game looked like a lot of fun too! End of the Day we wrapped up with our Book of Gratitude, reflecting on “Something that filled my bucket today was…,” completed our Home to School books, and somehow had a little extra free time at the end of the day. I won’t be betting on someone making a mid-classroom basketball shot again anytime soon! Have a great weekend, and thanks for an amazing first week!

Day 2! We are working on mapping out our morning routines.  We started our Language Arts with our spelling word “adorable”.  We did a quick write on a summer activity, and doodled another tractor.  Everyone follow the same instructions, draw the same thing, and all have very different looking pictures.  The same is true of our writing.  We did a quick review and practice of 'Read To Self'.  We read a book called Doug's Shoes.  We found a pattern that we will start to use in our own writing.  (Character, Problem, Try, Try, Solve).  Does this pattern help you remember the Doug’s Shoes Story?

After recess we had math.  We reviewed and practiced printing our numbers.  The 3’s worked on getting their dream box accounts active while the 2’s and 1’s worked on learning and playing snakes and ladders.  We even tried a quick version on the outdoor basketball court!  We finished off with some skip counting.  Some of us can skip count by 2’s to 50, others are still working on making it to 20. 

After lunch we reviewed our lock down and fire drill routines.  We watched a quick video on Terry fox before heading to an outdoor gym class with Mr. Ross.  I saw him taking hula hoops outside.  I never did find out what he was using them for?

We finished off our day with a quick write on “My favorite thing in the world right now is …” and we signed the home to school books. The day flew by!