Sunday, April 28, 2013

What's New Newsletter April 29 - May 3, 2013

What’s New in One and Two?


Week of April 29 – May 3, 2013

*Reminders –

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FLAT STANLEY PROJECT
This week we are starting our Flat Stanley Project to go along with our CANADA unit. We are reading a book called “Flat Stanley” by Jeff Brown. Stanley Lambchop is a regular boy until he gets squashed flat by a falling bulletin board. One of the advantages to being flat is that his parents can put him in a large envelope and mail him for a visit to his friends in other places. We are making our own “Flat” people and mailing them, along with a postcard from Winnipeg, to our friends and family in other Canadian cities.

We need – 1) The complete name and address of a friend or family member who lives in Canada (or the U.S.) and is willing to write back to your child. 2) One post card from Winnipeg (I know they have some at Hallmark Cards)

The children will be sending their flat person and a postcard from Winnipeg with some information about our city to their “out of town” family and in return they should receive 2 or 3 postcards with information about another city. We are hoping to learn a lot about different families in different cities all across Canada.

Please send the address and the blank postcard to school this week.

OWL WRAP-UP
Last week we had two owl visitors from Wildlife Haven - Luna, the barn owl and Max, the great-horned owl. The children were excellent during the visit, quiet and respectful and they knew A LOT about owls. They were very attentive and asked great questions! We also became scientists last week and dissected some owl pellets. We used tweezers to take off the fur and take apart the pellets. We found lots of bones and used a chart to identify which bones they were and which animals the owl had eaten.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

What's New Newsletter April 22 - 26, 2013

What’s New in One and Two?


Week of April 22 – 26, 2013

*Reminders – NO SCHOOL this Friday, April 26 (Professional Dev. Day)

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HOO’S VISITING? 
We have a couple of special “feathery” visitors coming to our class on Wednesday, April 24, in the afternoon. They are coming from the Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre. It should be very interesting and exciting!

OWL RESEARCH
This is the last week for our study about OWLS. Most of the students have presented their Flip Book research projects to the class and they are posted in the hallway across from our habitat mural. We will be talking about what we learned and reflecting on our unit work.

CANADA
Next week we will be starting a new social studies unit about Canada. I would like each student to have one contact family that lives somewhere else in Canada (a relative or a close friend) that they can send a letter to and receive an answer from. Perhaps over the next week or so the parents can think of someone suitable and contact them, asking if they would be willing to help us out with our Canada project. They will be asked to send a few postcards from their city and tell us about where they live. (It is not too much work but I would like every child to receive a reply.) More information about this “Flat Stanley” project will be coming home soon.

READING BINGO
The children are reading “Reading Bingo” books like hotcakes around here! Some of them have filled in their first Bingo card (yellow) and have started card #2 (pink). Don’t forget, they can read Bingo books at home for home-reading but they must do the write up at school and have ME sign the Bingo boxes before they choose their prizes.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

What's New Newsletter April 15 - 19, 2013

What’s New in One and Two?


Week of April 15 – 19, 2013

*Reminders – PIP meeting, Tuesday, April 16, 7:00 – guest speaker

- Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast, Wednesday, April 17at 8:30

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WHO’S WHO?
The children painted a large mural in the hallway last week. It shows the various kinds of habitats where owl’s live. We also started to paint our own life-sized owls which we will add to the mural this week. Stop by sometime this week and see “Who’s Who?”

The children have also (almost) completed their Owl Research projects and will be presenting them to the class this week.

MATH
Hopefully all of the grade two students brought home their addition flash cards last week and are practicing them every night. The cards should be in a Ziplock bag. They can practice by themselves or with a partner.

OWLS IN THE FAMILY
Last week we finished reading the book “Owls in the Family” by Farley Mowat. We had been talking about creating pictures in our minds while reading this book. As a final wrap-up to this story, I gave each child one descriptive passage from the book and had them illustrate it. Then we all had to guess what part of the story was shown in the picture. Everyone did a wonderful job with their illustrations and we were able to match all of the pictures to the parts from the story. I was very impressed!

LIVING and LEARNING KITS
For the month of April, we are collecting money donations to pay the shipping costs for the Living and Learning Kits that our school is making for Canadian Lutheran World Relief. Each kits that we put together costs $5 to ship. Any donation amount would be greatly appreciated.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

What's New Newsletter April 8 - 12, 2013

What’s New in One and Two?


Week of April 8 – 12, 2013

*Reminders – Scholastic Book orders for April due Wednesday, April 10

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WET WEATHER
Spring is here (supposedly) and with its arrival, come puddles! Please send wet weather clothing with your child for recess. They need rubber boots and splash pants. A couple of extra pairs of dry socks would also be a good idea to keep in their back packs. It can also be cold, so make sure they have warm jackets and mitts. We go outside every day for recess.

READING BINGO
Our Reading Bingo is off to a great start. Your child can read the books at home to use for Reading Bingo but they must do the write up and check in with me at school, before they colour in their Bingo square. If you have any questions regarding Reading Bingo, please e-mail me or write me a note.

OWL RESEARCH
We started our owl research projects last week. The children have five questions to answer. What do their owls eat? Where does it live (its habitat). What does it look like? Describe their nests and babies. And find one interesting facts about their particular owl species. We will be continuing our rough drafts this week then work on our final “Flip Books”.

GRADE TWO MATH
I am sending home some addition flash cards for the students to practice EVERY NIGHT at home. Some of the students know their facts quite well and some of them need more work. The new curriculum does not require grade two students to memorize their math facts, however, when they move on to the higher grades, quick recall of their facts will greatly help with the speed and accuracy of their problem solving skills and will give them a good base when learning more challenging math concepts.

Monday, April 1, 2013

What's New Newsletter April 1 - 5, 2013

What’s New in One and Two?


Week of April 1 – 5, 2013

*Reminders – April Scholastic book orders are due Wednesday, April 10

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HAPPY EASTER! WELCOME BACK!

EASTER PARTY
We are having our class Easter party on Friday, April 5 at 1:00 pm. The snack parents for this party are – Kaelan, Mafalda, Maya, and Nate.

HOME-READING
Please return the yellow reading log for March. Instead of using reading logs, we are going to be using a READING BINGO sheet/booklet from now until the end of the year. They can read these books at home and at school. There are 16 different squares on the bingo card and each one has a different genre listed. Once the students have read the book, there is a short “This book was about …”, written part to complete at school. Next, they have to show their reading bingo booklet to me (and maybe answer a few questions about the book). Afterwards, they can colour in the Bingo square. When they have completed a row on the Bingo card – they can collect a small prize. The goal is to try reading different types of books – but remember … THE BOOKS NEED TO BE AT THE APPROPRIATE READING LEVEL! Rushing through 16 really easy books will not count for Reading Bingo. I am sending home a copy of the bingo sheet so you know what types of books they need to be reading (yellow sheet). You can keep this copy at home.

COUNTRY WEEK
We traveled to many different activities from France during the last week before Spring Break. The students had lots of fun, especially during the evening Family Fun Night. Thanks to the PIP and all of the parents who helped out. We are starting back on our OWL research projects this week.