Week 20

 

Wow!  Last week flew by so fast!  

I Can Appreciate How Language, Traditions, Celebrations, and Stories of Families, Groups, and Communities Contribute to Their Sense of Identity and Belonging. 

We started off the week with reading a non-fiction book about the Lunar New Year.  We also had a chance to read a story that explained the Chinese Zodiac.  This week in art we also took the opportunity to draw and paint some tigers.

Literacy:

This week's red words were: many, here, once, buy

One of the ways we practice these words is by playing games with them during literacy centres.  This week many students chose to play "Go Fish" with the red words.  Our practice words were written onto card stock in pairs and then we followed traditional "Go Fish" rules.  This game can easily be replicated at home.  All of the red word lists can be found in our Google Classroom.

We also returned to our study of phoneme/grapheme relationships (phonics).  This week the majority of the class looked at the 'bl' blend and a few students worked on the long vowel pattern 'ie'.

Ms. Yasin's Math Group:

This week in math groups with Ms. Yasin, students reviewed the mental math strategy of using doubles to solve problems. Hit The Button was their favorite game! Students extended their learning by exploring "doubles plus one" as a math strategy. Dominos helped visualize what doubles plus one looks like. Students used this knowledge to sort dominos based on if they could see doubles, doubles plus one, a number bond to 10, or none of those on the domino. 

Reminders:

Monday, February 7 - Learning Commons / Book Exchange Day

Tuesday, February 8 - Carnaval - please help students to dress warmly for the weather

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

Week 15

                            

This week we enjoyed creating a fused glass birch tree designs in our Clay for Kids residency.  Students were encouraged to think about what season their trees would be in a picked the colors for the leaves and the ground accordingly.  All students enjoyed the process and it will be exciting to see how our final designs turn out when we get them back in January.

I Can Ask For Help When I Need It / I Can Use Feedback to Make My Work Better / I Can Show Interest in Learning New Things

Residency opportunities like this are a great opportunity for me as the teacher to have an opportunity to observe and evaluate student learning as it relates to the Result Statements for their report cards.

Literacy:

Red words for this week:  there, want, go

Reminders:

Tuesday, December 14 - Student Council Craft Fair Day - items are $1 to $5

Tuesday, December 14 - Ramsay Shirt Day

Wednesday, December 15 - Virtual Save-on-Foods Field Trip

Wednesday, December 15 - Holiday Sweater Day

Thursday, December 16 - Holiday Hat Day

Friday, December 17 - PJ Day

Week 14

It's hard to believe that it's already December!  We have a busy couple of weeks before we break for winter break.  Here are a few reminders and an update from Ms. Serra.

December 6 - Fused Glass project and Library book return

December 9 - Music Filming Day

December 13 - Library book return 

December 14 - Student Council Craft Sale

December 15 - Virtual Field Trip with Save-On-Foods, Sweater Day

December 16 - Hat Day

December 17 - Last Day of classes and PJ Day

Dear Parents,

We will be videotaping our Virtual Holiday Performance on Thursday December 9th. This performance is called the Tree in Celebrations. We are asking students to dress in a festive way for the video. Any of these options are fine:

-any festive holiday wear

-any clothing your child associates with a celebration

-plain red, green, black or white shirt (if a shirt has a picture on the front we can just turn it around)

Please let me know if you have any questions about this.

Thank you so much for your support!

Jennifer Serra

Music Teacher

Ramsay School

I Can Build/Create a Device to Slow an Ice Cube from Melting

After learning about "Hot and Cold" in science.  Students were tasked with creating a device that would slow an ice cube from melting.  Their first task was to create a design plan that included a sketch of the design and materials they would need.

Afterwards, they were given free rein (and lots of tape) to start working on their device.  They had to think of a way that they could open and close it (to check on the ice cube), think about how to construct it, what materials would be good insulators, and to negotiate with others - either in terms of working on one design or deciding how to share the materials. 

The next day we tested out our devices and I'm happy to say that all ice cubes mostly made it to the 30 minute mark (my control at home) and a few were still impressive in size at the 1 hour mark.

Literacy:

This week we added the words:  me, call, her, he

I have also started sending home some practice sheets from our decodable books.  This is a great opportunity for your child to show you what we've been working on during small reading groups.