Week 19

 

We had a great week with our Tennis residency this week!  Thank you to the Ramsay School Parent Society for all of your fundraising efforts that make experiences like this happen!

I Can Identify an Odd or Even Number Using Concrete Contexts

This week we worked on identifying numbers as odd or even using dominos as our manipulative.  This early mathematics skill is important for students as they begin to develop an understanding of division (not until grade 3).  Even numbers always break up into two equal groups and odd numbers will always have a remainder.  Students who have strong foundations in even and odd numbers will also have an advantage when they are self-checking their work as we move to hight numbers in addition.  

 

even + even = even

even + odd = odd

odd + odd = even

Ms. Yasin's Math Group:

In math with Ms. Yasin this week, students warmed up with representing numbers in a variety of ways, including using base ten blocks, tally marks and objects/pictures. Then they explored double number facts and practiced drawing some themselves. Doubles skills can be used as a mental math strategy for addition or subtraction! Everyone had fun practicing even more doubles with some large dice games! 

Literacy:

This week we added the red words: where, too, small, love

We also spent some time building our understanding of the words 'order' and 'between' during our vocabulary study.

Reminders:

Monday, January 31st - Non-instructional Day - No School for students

Thursday, February 3rd - Rescheduled Learning Commons Day: Library Book Exchange

Week 18

Hello Families!  I hope you all enjoyed your weekend!  I just want to remind everyone about the exciting opportunity at Ramsay School this week - our Tennis Residency.  

I Can Identify Cool and Warm Colors/ I Can Identify and Evaluate Methods for Creating Color

In science and art we have been working on identifying warm and cool colors.  We also experimented with mixing different cool colors together to get different shades.

Literacy:

Our red words this week were:  tall, come, watch, who

Reminders:

Monday - Thursday - First Serve Tennis Residency

Monday - Learning Commons (book exchange)

Monday, January 31 - Non-instructional Day

 

Week 17

 We had a great first week back at school!  It was so nice to see almost everyone after the long break!  The transition back into school was smooth and we picked up right where we left off before the winter break.

I Can Learn on the Land

We were so lucky with the weather this week and were able to get out for a community walk.  This week was the first time that we have seen the river frozen over and students had some great questions and observations.  Every time we go for a walk we notice new things.  This week we noticed how red some bushes and berries were and wondered if that was a way to attract animals.  We also saw what looked like fresh evidence of beavers and wondered where the beavers had gone.

We also took this as an opportunity to talk about winter safety.  We learned how to walk on icy sidewalks like a penguin and why it is not very safe to walk on frozen rivers.

I Can Record Equality Using the Equal Sign and Show the Relationship Using Manipulatives and Pictures

This week we also spent some time using balances to build an understanding of equal and unequal.  Students worked through balancing addition and subtraction equations using manipulatives.  This critically important skill and understanding helps lay the foundation for all future math learning.  Our biggest take away for students is that the = sign does not mean 'answer goes here'.

Literacy:

This week we added the words: tall, come, watch, who

Week 16

 

I hope all students and families have been able to find some moments of joy during our winter break!  It's amazing how quickly time has flown by as we welcome the year 2022!  I'm excited to welcome students back into the classroom as we re-establish our routines and pick up our learning where we left off in December.

I know there are likely many health related questions as we move forward and I encourage families to check out the CBE's website and the Ramsay School website for up-to-date information.  I would also encourage students and parents to log into our Google Classroom so you are familiar with the site if we were required to transition online.  As a side reminder, please remember to send a sweater or hoodie with your child as the classroom windows are frequently open and it can get quite chilly in the classroom.

I Can Persevere Through Tricky Math Challenges

During the last week of December, students were asked to work on a challenging math task asking them to determine how many different ways they could decorate a gingerbread man if they had three different eye colors, two different button colors, and a choice between either a hat or a scarf.

Students used hands on manipulatives to work through the challenge and were asked to record the evidence of their thinking onto a graphic organizer.  Many students found this task difficult but after some guidance and suggestion of different strategies many were able to find the correct answer.

Literacy

Our red words for the last week of December were: old, some, does.   Just a reminder that these words are ones that students will frequently come across but are difficult to sound out because they are irregular words.  We go over them in class and work together to orthographically map them out.  However, it is only with repeated exposure and reading that most students will be able to store them into their sight word repertoire.   I have posted copies of these words in our Google Classroom for students and families to practice.

Reminders:

January 10th - Library Book Return and sign out

January 12th - Tentative Community Walk

January 24th to 27th - First Serve Tennis Residency

January 31st - Non-instructional Day