Making Our School A Better Place

Imagine a group of students willingly giving up time from their recess and lunch breaks and working hard to get a few spare minutes of class time, all so that they can make our school a better place! Those are our kids!

Since beginning our most recent Social Studies project, the children have been very excited to take part in small group projects to improve our school community. Our Social Studies curriculum has a large emphasis on developing skills, and this project has focussed on (a) collaborating with others to make fair decisions, and (b) making an age-appropriate contributions as responsible citizens.

The children began by brainstorming ways to make our school a better place. They each recorded an idea that interested them, as well as several ways to make a fair decision.

Meeting time! Children met in their small groups. They shared their idea and listened to others. As a group, their task was to fairly agree on a way to give back to our school. 

Sharing and listening. 

Using rock, paper, scissors to decide.

It wasn't always easy to agree, and some were initially disappointed with the kind deed their group decided upon. However, after realizing that they actually got to go beyond the walls of our classroom and work as a team, EVERYONE was excited!

Some students chose to shelve library books. It was neat to learn how the letters on the side of the book tell us where a book belongs. 

Another group decided to help the Grade 4's with lunchtime recycling. Each student worked with an older buddy to learn how to clean and sort drink containers. 

Gathering and sorting drink containers.

One group offered their help to the teachers down our hallway. Boy, did the work pour in! They bagged cereal, sharpened pencils, sorted books and crayons, and did anything and everything to lighten the load for our staff!

Sharpening a HUGE pile of dull and broken pencils.

The last group of students chose a thoughtful way to make our school a better place. They wrote kind notes to our hard-working staff! The delivery was the best part!

Delivering notes to our Custodian, Assistant Principal,
Secretary, and Principal.

As this week winds down, it appears as though most of the projects will continue informally, with kids from different groups crossing over and helping with their peers' initiatives. The children had so much fun and were so proud of their contributions!

If this is the difference they can make as children, imagine what they could do when they group up?

Snowballs & Shovels & Skates, Oh My!

This week we embraced winter and made posters celebrating our favourite winter activities!

We began by taking a picture of each child dressed in his or her winter attire. The children posed as if they were doing their favourite winter activity. Can you guess what snowy activities these kids are acting out?

After developing these pictures, we cut out each child from their picture. Then the students chose a background for their poster. So many choices!

After adding a few details, such as a snow shovel, snowboard, skates, or snowballs, the posters were nearly complete! 

Finally, students wrote a sentence to accompany their poster.

Here are some of our finished products:

 (Top L to Bottom R): 
In winter I like to have snowball fights. In winter I like to snowboard.
In winter I like to build a snow fort. In winter I like to make a snow angel. 

This activity was so rich. We were able to focus on writing a complete sentence that made sense, paying careful attention to beginning with a capital letter and including a period at the end. We were also able to draw on our knowledge from our recent Science unit, Seasonal Changes in Winter, and describe activities people do in this chilly season.

Come enjoy our work!

Project idea adapted from a project featured by Christina Bainbridge. Visit her blog at Bunting, Books and Bainbridge.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

The boys and girls in our class were in celebration mode all day today, and with good reason. We were celebrating Jesus' birthday today! Yes, it is a few days early, but we all agreed that an early birthday party was a fantastic idea. Dressed in pajamas, we sang an enthusiastic Happy Birthday to Jesus, blew out the candles, and enjoyed a delicious birthday cake together (thank you Mrs. M)!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Birdseed Ornaments

Our Snazzy Snack this month was not for us to eat, but for the birds! Our focus in Science has been the seasonal changes in Winter. We have learned that not all birds migrate south for the winter, and some birds, including bluejays, cardinals, and chickadees, stay throughout this chilly season!

This week we made beautiful bird feeder ornaments to decorate our trees and treat the birds! We gathered our ingredients:

We mixed 1/4 cup of warm water with a package of gelatin, and then stirred in a cup of bird seed. We mixed two different kinds of seeds together to make a really tasty treat for the birds!

Then we packed the mixture into a cookie cutter and poked a straw through one spot so we could tie a string through it later. It was very messy, which is probably why it was so much fun!

We waited a few days for the ornaments to dry, then threaded a piece of yarn through the hole left by the straw. Look at the beautiful snacks we made for the birds!

Happy munching, birds!

The Friendly Beasts

This past week we prepared for the birth of Christ by rehearsing and performing our Christmas Concert! The focus was A Traditional Christmas, and the students learned timeless carols, including Silent Night and Joy to the World, which were woven in between the Nativity Play. What a wonderful experience it was to focus on the true meaning of Christmas!

We performed The Friendly Beasts, a peaceful song about the animals present in the stable the night Jesus was born. The children sang about what each animal did to welcome Jesus into the world. The donkey carried Mary, His mother, to Bethlehem. The cow gave his manger for a bed and the sheep shared his wool for warmth. The doves cooed from the rafters, soothing Jesus to sleep. The children's performance was beautiful.

Here are some special moments from the concert:



Thank you to the parents who sought out supplies and created such precious costumes for the children to wear. Thank you to Mrs. Montgomery for taking the photos of our class performing during the concert, used in the video above.

This week marks the third week of Advent. Throughout Advent, we have been discussing how we are preparing our hearts for the arrival of Jesus, and students are encouraged to take time to pray and find ways to share kindness with others.

May your families be blessed with peace and joy throughout this Christmas season!

Addition: What's Your Strategy?

What's your strategy?

The students are well into addition to 12, and while the problems are fairly simple to solve, the challenge often comes when they are asked, "Well, how did you sove that? What's your strategy?".

Our Math curriculum aims to arm students with a bank of strategies they can draw upon to solve a problem. This enables students to develop a deeper, more meaningful understanding of addition, subtraction, and numeracy overall, and requires them to think about the problem.

Posted on our wall are strategies that can be used when solving addition problems. As we are introduced to a new strategy, it is posted on the wall. Here are the strategies we have worked with so far:

Posters courtesy of Step Into Second Grade

(1) Draw a Picture / Use Counters
This strategy is fairly straightforward. Students know that pictures do not need to be fancy and detailed, but do need to be neat and functional. Counters do not need to match the problem exactly (e.g. using real cats or dogs), but can be used to represent the problem (e.g. brown counters for cats and white for dogs).

Here is a student solving a challenging word problem using counters:

There are 10 marbles in a box. Some are yellow. Some are green.
There are two more green than yellow marbles.
How many yellow marbles were in the box?

(2) Doubles

Doubles are math facts that use the same number, such as 4+4 or 6+6. To help students remember their doubles to 12, we learned a catchy little song.

(3) Counting On

This strategy can also be called counting on from the bigger number. For this strategy, students put the bigger number "in their head", then count on. For example, when solving 2+7, students put the bigger number in their head, in this case it is 7, and then count on two more. Say, "7 (touch forehead) ..., 8, 9". Students are encouraged to touch their forehead when they put the bigger number in their head.

Using the counting on strategy for 2+7.
7 (touch forehead) ... 8, 9!

ZAP IT! Game

We have really enjoyed the game ZAP IT this week! Students play in small groups. Each group receives a cup of popsicle sticks. On the sticks are math facts (and for now, they are all addition problems with answers no bigger than 12). A few sticks in the cup say ZAP IT.

• Set the timer for 3 minutes.
• Take turns pulling a stick from the cup.
• Keep the sticks you get correct.
• If you pull the ZAP IT stick, put all of your sticks back.

Can you tell the addition strategy this
little one is using to solve his addition problem?

Students have been using their doubles and counting on strategies to help them!  Why not make this game at home? If you are interested and would like a set of popsicle sticks, I would be happy to send a pile home. Or just buy a box of popsicles and get licking!

Next up? Subtraction!

Building Snowmen ... Indoors!

How can you build a snowman indoors?


Make a bagel snowman!

 We have winter fever in our class, and Bagel Snowmen were the Snazzy Snack that we made and enjoyed!

Snazzy Snacks are simple "cooking" activities, layered with opportunities for language and math instruction (originally featured on Mrs. Bainbridge's blog). We make a snack each month. We enjoyed Applesauce in September and Monster Mash in October. Although we are a few days shy of November, we couldn't pass up the chance to build snowmen ... indoors!

First we gathered mini-bagels, cream cheese, chocolate chips, cheezies, and pretzel sticks. Next, students split their bagels in half and took turns spreading on some "snowy" cream cheese. Then, with just a few chocolate chips, pretzels and a cheezie, the bagels suddenly became snowmen! Finally, we munched!


We had a wonderful afternoon! Here are some highlights:

This free picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

While this activity undoubtedly looks like lots of fun, there are many teachable moments and opportunities for learning. Thank you to those parents who kindly donated the ingredients for our Bagel Snowmen!