Spirit Week

He read from Shazam.

Illustrator Mr. Anderson 

For I Love to Read Month we had Spirit Week. Tuesday was dress up like a Dr. Seuss character or wear a silly hat, Wednesday was wear a readable shirt day, Thursday was dress up like a book character and Friday was PJ day. It was a great week of school spirit. Our class won a prize for our great participation in wearing a shirt with writing on it. What a treat! We even squeezed in a visit from an illustrator and the Fit-a-thon.

Silly Hat Day!

Fit-a-thon

Dress like a book character

Here are our thoughts:
I dressed up like Bat Girl. Pajama day was so comfy and cozy. -Bianca
I liked pajama day because it was comfy and I barely got to go outside. I went to run club. -Brody
I liked pajama day because it was so comfy and we took a picture of us pretending to sleep. We had so much fun in our pajamas. -Adria
I liked pajama day because in my pajamas I could just fall asleep. -Jack
I dressed up as Pinkalicious. People kept asking who I was. I had the book to show them. -Charlotte
I liked pj day because we got to stay in our pajamas all day. -Lily
I liked wearing pajamas. -Chase
I liked wearing my pajamas because I like them. -Andrew
Pajama day was fun. -Desi
I wore a t-shirt that said, Smile, Love, Be happy. It was pink. -Brooke
I liked pajama day because I could fall asleep. -Ava
I liked when we decided to fall asleep and then we woke and I was about to actually fall asleep. -Marshall
I liked pajama day because I can sleep in my pajamas and I don't have to change. -Blake
I liked wearing my angry moose t-shirt. -Dominic

Mrs. Palamar stopped by when we were having a class meeting on Friday. We were feeling so cozy we just put our heads down. . .just. . . for. . . a . . . minute. . .

Thanks to everyone for the great fun this week. Thanks to the I Love to Read Committee for all their organization and hard work. We have had so much fun celebrating reading.
-Mrs T :)

PJ Day! zzzzzzzzzz

100th Day of School!

We celebrated the 100th Day of School on Thursday. Stations were set up to highlight the multiple intelligences. Students from three classes were combined and the groups rotated through the stations all morning. It was so neat to see the kids interacting with each other as they experienced different challenges at the stations. There were even kids telling me that they played with a new friend at recess....that made my heart very happy.

Here are our thoughts:
I liked snack because you had to get 10 of each thing and put them on a piece of paper in the right spots. If you had any left over you could put it in the cup to eat it. -Tyson
My favourite was food because I got to eat all kinds of food. -Lily
I liked the art one. I made a dog. -Dominic
I counted the snacks. They were good. -Ben
I liked the music station because I like music. We did a marching band with the musical instruments. -Bianca

I liked eating the marshmallows. -Desi

I liked building because I got to use 100 pieces of Lego. I built a house with no roof because they didn't have a big enough flat piece for the roof. - Brody
My mom was at the wonder station. We talked about long ago and what it could be like in 100 years. -Brooke
I liked snack because I ate some candy. -Chase
I liked the art station because it was fun. I made the 100 into a grass trailer. -Blake
I liked snack because my mom ran it. -Theo
The one I liked was the reading one. We had to find words to add to a chart. I added 4 words. -Adria
I liked the snack because when there were 100 pieces of food we got to eat them. We put them in cups. I finished it at the different stations. -Jack
I liked the art station. I liked it because I made my dog, Scarlet. -Charlotte
I liked the snack station because there were Smarties and chocolate chips. We counted to 100. -Ava
I liked building with popsicle sticks and clothespins. I made a tower. It held 100 pennies. -Marshall
I liked counting 100 snacks. Marshmallows and butterscotch chips were my favourite. -Andrew

The snack station is always a hit! We will be looking more closely at the multiple intelligences to identify what kind of smart we are. We all bring so many interests and talents to our classroom.

A big thank you goes out to the volunteers who helped at the stations. Thanks also to Ms. Wasney for allowing some grade 5 students to be part of our morning. The leadership and encouragement offered to our little ones was greatly appreciated. You all made it 100 times better.
- Mrs. T :)

Design Process in Action

We have been learning about objects and materials in science. For our design project, students were given the challenge of creating a card holder for Valentine's Day. We saw some examples, talked about criteria and appropriate materials, and began to plan our holders. All drawings were labeled and materials were collected before the building could take place. It was a hub of excitement with so many ideas being shared and explored. Students were involved in lots of problem solving as some original ideas didn't work out quite like they expected. It was wonderful to hear compliments being given as students shared their learning.

Here are our thoughts:
I learned to connect easy pieces to hard pieces by using glue. -Chase
I put paper over it and I used tape. -Arianna
I learned how to trace my box to cover it with paper. -Tyson
I liked stapling all by myself for the first time. I stapled paper. -Lily
It was hard to cut open the big hole to put my cards in. -Bianca
I learned how to cut out a heart and to use the stapler. -Brooke
I used glue on my paper. -Dominic
I never used folded paper before to make hearts. It worked very good. -Adria
It was harder than I thought to close the ends of the box. I used glue, but it was too runny. I will use more tape. -Theo
I never tried using staples ever. Staples are really good for holding paper together. -Jack
It was hard to get the glue stick on the box. Instead I used white glue. -Charlotte
I learned how to stick paper to cardboard. I used white glue. It really stuck. -Ava
It was  hard to cut the paper to fit my box. I used white glue and not a glue stick. -Ben
It was easy to make the small hearts out of paper. I folded it and made a heart. -Marshall
I learned that you can cut holes in the middle of boxes without cutting the top off. The cards will go in the hole. -Andrew
I made a heart out of paper. I stapled my heart and I tested it with dominoes. -Desi

What amazing work grade 1s! We can't wait for our card holders to be used on Valentine's Day.

-Mrs, T :)

Gluing station

Testing station

Can it hold 20 cards and 10 dominoes?

Tournament of Books

For I Love to Read Month our school is having a Tournament of Books. We have read two books so far. One was called Edie's Ensembles by Ashley Spires (She is the author of Small Saul which every Grade One student in Canada received as this year's TD Grade One Book Giveaway) and the other one was Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino. We were fortunate to have Mrs. Small, our school secretary, come to our room to read them to us. On Thursday we voted for our favourite book out of the two. It was a close vote, but Edie's Ensembles won in our room. All class votes will be tabulated and the winning book for this week will advance in the tournament to go against a new book that we will read next week. This is such a great way to have the whole school talking about these books. I wonder which one will be the winner? Stay tuned!

Mrs. Small had on a lovely ensemble

Edie's Ensembles

Don't you love Mrs. Small's tangerine top?

Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress

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Exploration Time

During our exploration time we are working on discovering new things, or practicing a skill. The kids are introduced to different materials and create many unique experiences. The socialization or quiet time allows for them to learn, explore and have fun!

 Here are our thoughts:
I like using the kinetic sand. There is like white stuff in the kinetic sand so it doesn't make a mess. -Lily
I like exploration time because it helps me learn to build. -Blake
The kinetic sand is really fun because we get to make a restaurant. -Charlotte

Exploration time makes me better at stuff. When I get older I'll be better at building. -Jack
I learn stuff at exploration time. I can build and make patterns. -Ava
I like that we can meet people that we don't know very well. -Brooke
I colour pictures and and draw pictures too. -Adria
I enjoy exploration time because I can use paintbrush markers to colour my mandala. -Tyson
Exploration time is good because you can learn to work together to build a big castle. -Chase
I like exploration time because it's challenging. -Brody
I like blocks because you can build stuff and balance stuff. -Ben
We put blocks on the bottom and then 2 less on a row. When it gets far enough to the top you can put the top on. -Andrew
Exploration time is fun because I get to use sand to build different things. -Desi

I love watching, listening and asking about what they are doing. Exploration time is big hit in Room 2.
-Mrs. T :)

Beautiful Birch Trees

We made amazing birch trees in art class. There were several steps involved. Masking tape was used to form the trees. We thought 4-7 trees would be a good number to fit the paper. The tape had to be pressed down really well. Watercolour paints were used for the background and salt was added to the wet paint for a neat effect. Once the paint completely dried, we brushed off the salt and we were able to do the big reveal of the tree outlines as we gently peeled the tape off the paper. The trees were white and no paint had leaked through! Black crayons were used to outline the trees, and to draw on the bark.

We reflected on our artwork to explain something that was hard, something that was different, something we learned or liked, or maybe something we would change next time.

Here are our thoughts:
It was hard to draw the black lines. I would make my lines straighter. -Lily
I liked how my trees crossed. The lines were hard to make. -Desi
It was hard to peel the tape off really gently. It was hard to trace the trees with crayon. -Brooke
It was hard to make lines with the crayon. I like the colours. -Dominic
I have never painted over tape before. I would not change anything because it looks fine. -Brody
I learned how to make birch trees. I dumped a lot of salt in one spot. -Chase
I thought that we would do straight trees but trees are not always straight. I thought I would not do a pattern, but then I did a pattern. -Bianca
It was hard to keep my lines in the trees. It was neat to paint over the tape. -Adria
The tape was hard to get on because you have to spread the tape out. The salt made a good pattern. -Tyson
I learned how to paint trees. The tape made the trees really straight and white. -Jack
The hard thing was to do the sides of the trees. I would change my trees to go different ways. -Marshall
It was hard to keep the black lines on the very edge. Don't put way too much salt on the paint. Theo
It was hard to brush the salt off because there was lots of salt. The trees are straight. -Ava
I learned it was cool how we made the trees. We took tape and we put it on the paper and painted over it. We put on salt then we tore the tape off. -Blake
Doing the black lines was hard because it was hard to stay straight. I like the colours. -Andrew
I did good on my birch trees. I learned that I could tape it and I wouldn't get any paint on the trees. -Arianna
It was hard to trace the trees with black crayon. I learned that birch trees have lines. -Charlotte
The lines were hard to make. I would make the lines outside of the trees really dark. -Ben

The results are absolutely beautiful. Please have a peek at them on Artsonia. As I have been driving to work this week I have noticed the colours of the sky look just like the backgrounds created by the artists in Room 2. Simple breathtaking.
-Mrs. T :)

Word of the Year

We talked about the power of words and how they can have special meaning to us. After sharing important words, we selected only one word that would make us happy and give us good thoughts. It's not easy to pick just one word, but this would be our Word of the Year. We hope that if you ask us in a month, we will remember our word.

Here are our thoughts:
Help . . . I like to help people. -Desi
Love . . . because I love my dad. -Marshall
Hockey . . . because I am in Tim Bits. -Andrew
Caves . . . because they are cool. You might see gold. -Brody
Maui . . . because I like to go to the aquarium. -Ben
Love . . . I love my mom and dad and sister. -Lily
Hope . . . I have great hope that the year ahead will be awesome. -Mrs. T.
Daddy . . .  because I play with my dad. -Dominic
Peace . . . because it means you have lots of room to play. It means you can play. -Theo
Puppies . . . I like puppies because they make me happy. I like when my puppies lick me. -Arianna
Mom . . . I love my mom because she takes care of me. -Blake
Caring . . . it is a nice thing to do. I care for my mom and dad. -Charlotte
Love . . . because I love my family. -Ava
Play . . . I like playing with my friends. We play on the trampoline. -Tyson
Dragons . . . I love dragons because they can fly. -Brooke
Love . . . I love my mom and dad. -Adria
Brothers . . . I love my brothers because they share. -Jack
Cats . . . I like them because they are cute. -Bianca
Dad . . . because he loves me. -Chase

What would be your Word of the Year?
-Mrs. T :)