Bullying Awareness Week

The nursing students have organized a Bullying Awareness Week for the week of September 29-October 3. They have organized activities for each day to spread the message.

Monday Sept. 29– There will be an assembly to kick off the week. We are also making Kindness Handprints which will be displayed within the school. We have also been given an “Act of Kindness” Pocket where we can nominate classmates who have done a Random Act of Kindness…I think there will some prizes given at the end of the week.

Tuesday Sept. 30– Wear Red and Pink to promote Bullying Awareness.

Wednesday Oct. 1– The nurses will be coming around to do in class bullying presentations. Our class will also be creating a poster for a poster contest. I have a SUPER idea…you’ll have to check our poster out once completed.

Thurs. Oct. 2 and Fri. Oct. 3– The student nurses are not at WES on these days but we will continue to learn about this important topic through class discussions and literature.

Hopefully the nice weather continues and the forecasted rain stays away- have a great week!

Is Playdoh a solid?

Today in science we experimented with playdoh. We realized that YES– playdoh is a solid and that solids are not always hard objects. A solid keeps it’s shape unless something is done to change it. It was fun to test out some of our questions with the playdoh. We also found out that some of the things that we thought were true about solids were actually misconceptions. Thank you to Mrs. Weatherington for sharing her playdoh with us….science in second grade is so fun!

Remember that tomorrow (September 23) is picture day for our class 🙂

Terry Fox

Today we had our kick off assembly for the Terry Fox walk which is happening next Wednesday. We watched a few videos and learned about what Terry Fox did and why it is important to remember him.

The students and staff of WES will be participating on a Terry Fox walk on Wednesday September 24 at 1:00pm. Students are encouraged to dress in school colours (red and blue) and to wear comfortable shoes. We will walk even if it is raining so please dress appropriately for the weather. Students are also asked to donate to the Terry Fox Foundation for Cancer Research. This year, our school goal is to raise $2000! We will be accepting donations the week of September 22-26.

Parents are welcome to join us on Wednesday afternoon to walk with us. Thank you in advance for your support- have a great weekend!

Dot Day 2014

Have you read the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds? It is a book about a little girl named Vashti who doesn’t think that she can draw. Her teacher encourages her to make a mark and then sign her name.  With this encouragement Vashti is off experimenting with dots. The story ends with Vashti offering support to a little boy who doesn’t think he can do it either. It is a wonderful story and I encourage you to read it with your child.

We celebrated Dot day by wearing polka dotted clothes, watching the story on Tumblebooks, painting our own Dot pictures with Q-tips and talking about the message in the story….which is to try your best! We were supposed to Skype this morning with a grade 1 class from Texas. I was excited for the children to share their work and ask questions about Texas, but because of technical issues our Skype session did not work out. Mrs. Woodward is going to try and reschedule for us.

Our Dot paintings are on display in our classroom…come and see them when you come to the Meet the Teacher Pancake Breakfast on Thursday morning September 18th from 7:30-9:00am.

A Busy 2nd Week

We have had another great week in grade 2 Tebay. We went to the computer lab and checked out TumbleBooks, and we also visited the library for our first book exchange. In Science we started our unit on Matter, and in Health we began our Respect unit. In gym we played some fun games with the parachute.Today we had our first spelling test- I will send the tests home Monday for you to sign and return. By this afternoon I had a lot of tired children in the classroom after our first 5 day school week! Next week is shaping up to be just as busy. Mark your calendars- Our picture day will be September 23!

Enjoy your weekend 🙂

Patterning in math

Today in math we did some review of what we learned about patterning in grade 1. Here are some important vocabulary words the children should know:

  • core– is the part of a pattern that repeats.
  • attributes– is the kind of pattern that it is…for example colour, shape, size and position
  • element-is the actual objects used in the pattern…for example we made patterns today with blocks. Our element was blocks.

We then used the blocks to build patterns and then coloured the patterns into our math books. I challenged the children to try and start with an easy pattern and then make them a little trickier. A way to extend this learning at home is to look for patterns around your house.

Enjoy the pictures!

Patterning in math 001 Patterning in math 006 Patterning in math 005 Patterning in math 004 Patterning in math 003

 

 

REE and Spelling

Today we started both our REE program and our Weekly Spelling lists. This is our “homework” in grade 2 and both should be completed every evening. The spelling list each week will follow a pattern- this week we are focusing on the short a sound. On Friday we will have our first spelling test. Thank you in advance for helping your child prepare. We also started our Read Every Evening (REE) Program. Each child has chosen a book at their reading level. Please read this book with your child and record it in the reading log. This should be a continuation of the levelled reading program that began in grade one. Please contact me with any questions or concerns about Spelling or REE.

Our First Week Together

Hi Everyone!
We had a fantastic first week of grade 2. The students have adjusted to the routines that a new classroom and teacher brings.
Here are some things that we have learned about our group of wonderful students;
-Blue is the most popular favourite colour
-Tacos are the most popular favourite food
-Winter is the most popular favourite season(??) although I do not agree with this one….summer is the best!
-We love using the iPads!
-Go Noodle is a fabulous website that we love using for body breaks in our day.
-Mrs. Tebay has the best class in the school this year 🙂
I hope you enjoy reading the “Friday Journal” that your child brought home with them……please write back to your child and send the notebook back to school on Monday.
Spelling, Computers, our Read Every Evening Program…as well as library vists will begin next week.
Have a fantastic weekend!

Going Outside my Comfort Zone

For anyone who knows me, I am not much of a techie. I can do basic things on my iPhone and computer, but for anything more than that I need help. Three years ago I was given 10 iPads to use in the classroom and that forced me to learn how to add apps, sync iPads and figure out how to make ipads work with my students. This year I wanted to challenge myself to start a classroom blog motivated by several of my co-workers who blog with their students. I am not that brave…yet, but I do plan to use this blog to share with parents about what we are doing in my classroom and also to post my students learning as we move through grade 2 together!