How tall are you?

Our new math unit has begun and we're having fun "measuring up"!  We helped each other in partners by tracing each other on large graph paper.  Then we began filling in our faces, our hair, our clothes etc. and measured each others' heads, arms and hands.  At the moment, we're working on linear measurement and proper use of the rulers and metre sticks.  We're sure to start at 0 so that we don't miss that first centimetre!  Next week, we'll be diving into perimeter and area.  Spencer is our "perimeter expert"!  When I asked the kids to stand around the edge of the carpet in a circle, he said "You mean the perimeter, right Mrs. O?"  Well done, Spencer!!

Look at Kinley's shirt!  She is paying such wonderful attention to detail!

We also created some new Flat Stanleys and Stellas this past week!  We dressed them up for Halloween and measured heads, arms, legs and shoes!  Watch for them to come home soon!

Well, the time is drawing near when we get to perform for you at our Cooperation Assembly!  Our assembly is THIS WEDNESDAY!  Come and join us if you're able at 9:30 a.m. in the gym.  We have some nice things to share with you about cooperation!  Thank you for working with your child at home on his/her lines for our presentation.  Everyone is doing a great job getting ready!  Here's a sneak peak of a great story we're going to share with you on Wednesday......

Other fun events are happening this week!  On Thursday, it's Halloween!!!  Students are invited and encouraged to wear black, orange and/or purple for a Halloween spirit day.  Primary kids will be seeing a halloween "movie" together in the gym, and we'll have our classroom celebration on Thursday too!  We'll have treats, listen to music, do some crafts and have lots of fun together!  Our "treat teams" were sent home in the mailbags last week.  Please find your child's name on that list to see which holiday is yours to share treats!  Thank you for your enthusiasm with these fun spirit days!  Hope to see you on Wednesday! 

Friendship photos!

We've been practising every day for our October Assembly on the 30th!  We're learning the song "Change the World".  The song sings about kindness for others, greeting people with a smile and helping those in need.  We're singing this song because we feel these sentiments are a great way to "change the world". Our assembly will celebrate "cooperation"......when we cooperate with each other we not only work together and get along but we respect and care about each other too.  We took some friendship photos today to show our big, kind smiles!

We also had an exciting week sharing Gavin's fantastic slide show project!  Last weekend, Gavin had a boys' weekend in Detroit where he met his favourite players from the Maple Leafs!!!  Ben was there too enjoying the same excitement! 

Great job, Gavin! 

We hope to see you at our October 30th assembly from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.!  In the meantime, watch for some information about our classroom Halloween narratives, our Halloween celebration, and treat teams! 

Turkey Time!!!

Here we are, Thanksgiving weekend already!  Time flies when you're having fun!  We hope you enjoy our Thanksgiving turkey wreaths to decorate your homes.  We also had fun joining together with Mrs. Hammond's class to create our Thanksgiving gift bags for our families.  We sure do have a bunch of grateful kids in our class.  They came up with so many things to be thankful for and right up there at the top of the list was family.  :) 

We wrote more "thankful stories" on our dinner settings.  Our kids did a great job on these!

Also this week, we signed out the chrome books and began this year's journey on Raz Kids!  Next week, I will glue into the front of your child's agenda the username and password for your child to login at home and read with this valuable tool.  

We were unable to use the Library today for a book exchange but will choose new books on Tuesday.  

Also remember that our Cooperation Assembly is on Wednesday, October 30th from 9:30 to 10:30 and we're super excited to share a few "acts" with you!  Please come if you are able!  

Stayed tuned for more information about a Halloween celebration in our class!  I will create "treat teams" so that we can take turns bringing in treats for each special occasion this year.  A reminder will come home about our food allergies and I'll include some ideas for safe treats.  

Next Thursday is a math quiz!  We will test our skills on drawing tens and ones blocks for a given number, making tallies, using expanded form (20 + 5), using greater than / less than signs, telling "one more, one less" and marking a number on a number line.  A practice sheet came home yesterday along with some suggestions for practice for individual students.  

We'll start writing some simple narratives next week!  We're going to create a classroom Flat Stanley and he's going to take some adventures and write stories about them!  We'll create spooky Halloween narratives too.  Please remember that Flat Stanley doesn't have to be a large, fancy project.  He can go on several "adventures" throughout the year!  Perhaps you're mailing him away somewhere and that will take a longer time but if you still have him at home waiting to be mailed, he can go somewhere with YOU on the weekends!  I know there are a few families taking him to their Thanksgiving dinners this weekend.  All you need to do is take a few pictures of him doing your activity and email them to me at bopthoog@scdsb.on.ca.  I'll pop them up on our screen and your child can present the adventure to us!  We're looking for nice volume, speaking clearly and describing the adventure as best as he/she can......but this will also be good practise getting up in front of an audience and speaking bravely.  If we have jitters with public speaking, this will be a fun way to say good-bye to those jitters!  

I wish you all a very safe, happy Thanksgiving weekend with your families!

Orange Shirt Day and Apples!

We had a great day at Kennedy Orchards on Monday!  Unfortunately, Mrs. O forgot her camera!  But Mrs. Hammond and Mrs. Kutcy had a few great pics for us and I'm very grateful!  Thank you to the Kennedy family for hosting us on this great day and for teaching us so much about the apple harvest!  

Next week, we'll use some of our apples to create apple print art!

Monday was also Orange Shirt Day!  Students learned about a little girl, years ago, who entered a residential school in a shiny, orange shirt.  Her beautiful shirt was taken from her and thus began a childhood of unhappiness.  The empathy shown by our students while learning her story was very moving for me as their teacher.  Way to show heart, Nottawa :)  

We had fun doing "apple math" this week!  We counted apple Cheerios and represented our numbers in many ways.  

Stay tuned next week for lots of "turkey time"!   See next blog for the video that wouldn't load up above!