Alternative Energy Solutions

On Monday, we had a presentation by the St. Clair Conservation Authority about renewable energy sources. After a brief presentation in the classroom we spent the rest of the first block outside experimenting. The students attached a solar panel to a motor to race a little car. It was very exciting to see which cars went the fastest!  The students also experimented with models of wind mills. They had a blast trying to find the windiest spot on the playground to hear their wind mill make music. Finally, the students were each given a picture of a shape and challenged to try to find their shape in nature. Some were definitely easier to find than others.

Welcome Back!

Welcome Back!  I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing March Break.
We were busy before the break building and testing our floaters and floats.  The students had a great time.  I heard one student say, "This is so much fun.  I wish we could do this all of the time!"

We are wrapping up our unit on Matter (grade 2) and Structures (grade 3) and will be starting our next social studies units soon.  The grade 2's will be comparing a hot community (Zimbabwe) to a cold community (Iqaluit).  The grade 3's will be looking at the different types of communities within Ontario.

In Writing, we are continuing to write narratives.  Our stories with our names in the title are finished and we will be publishing them later this week.  Our next narrative is about something this gets lost.

In Reading, we are working on writing a good retell.  We have to include the characters, setting, problem, 3 events (that happen after the problem), the solution and the lesson learned.  An example of a retell that we did together is shown below.

In Math, we are working on subtraction with regrouping.  For the grade 2's, this is a new concept, so we take it very slowly and step by step.  The grade 3's learn to regroup when subtracting 3-digit numbers and will also learn how to make change.

Writing!

We have read a couple of books from Dan Gutman's My Weird School series and the students LOVE them!

We are learning to write narratives so we thought we would try to write a silly book with a rhyming title! We are writing one as a class called, "Mrs. Coates Found Some Goats". Here is our plan

The students are also writing one on their own using a form of their name. Here is a list of our creative titles!

They will bring them home to share when they are finished. 

Here is a blank copy of our plan if you want to write a story with your child at home. 

Please make sure that the events happen AFTER the problem. 

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing holiday!

We started a new unit in math - addition. The grade 2's will learn adding strategies (counting up, doubles, making tens), how to count change, and how to add 2 digit numbers with and without regrouping. The grade 3's will learn how to round to the nearest 10 to estimate sums and differences, how to add and subtract 2 digit and 3 digit numbers, and how to add and subtract money.

In Language, we are continuing with our persuasive writing. We are also reading the chapter book Miss Klute is a Hoot! which the students are really enjoying!

In Social Studies, the grade 2's are going to begin their research of a celebration in the next couple of days. The grade 3's continue to learn about early settlers in Canada. 

In Drama, the students are busy working on plays.  They will present them to the class using a lot of vocal and facial expressions. 

In Art, we went on a hot air balloon ride last week!

Putting the question in the answer

We were interviewing each other and practicing answering using part of the question in the answer.

Measuring the primary hall

The grade 3s and I were wondering how long the primary hall is so using only 4 metre sticks, they measured the length.  They found that the hall is 55 m and 39 cm long!

Buddies!

Wednesday we read with our grade 8 buddies!  The students in both classes really enjoy this time!

Measurement

We have finished our data management unit and are into measurement now. The grade 2's are learning to measure linear distances, perimeter and area with standard (cm) and non-standard units (paper clips, cubes, etc.). The grade 3's are learning to estimate and compare lengths in centimetres and metres and they will learn how long a kilometre is. They will also estimate, measure and compare perimeters and areas. 

November already!

It's hard to believe that it's November already!  It was great to see the students enjoying the snow today!  
We are finishing writing our recounts - the grade 2's wrote about their best birthday and the grade 3's wrote about their field trip to the Pioneer Village.  Next up for writing, is writing persuasive texts.  
In reading, we are going to be learning how to use part of the question in our answers.  
In math, we are finishing up our data management unit and will be starting measurement shortly.
In science, we know what the mealworms become now - beetles!  We have several crawling around in their cage!  
We are busy preparing for Thursday's student-led conferences and I am looking forward to seeing the students and their families. 

Patterning

In both grades, we finished our number sense and numeration unit and are into our patterning unit.  The grade 2's are working on creating patterns using two attributes.  Soon, we will start looking at growing and shrinking number patterns. 
The grade 3's are learning about growing number patterns and pattern rules.  They will also learn to identify, extend, and create a repeating pattern using two attributes.

Even the Cat in the Hat is helping out with patterning!

It worked!

Our seeds germinated!!  Check out the roots, stem and leaves in this student's cup!

Experiments!

We have been busy in science doing experiments.  The grade 2's are taking care of some mealworms and anxiously waiting to see what insect they will become after they go through metamorphosis.

The grade 3's did an experiment to see how the stem of a plant works.  We started with 2 stalks of celery and put them in cups of water.  We put some red food colouring in one cup and some blue food colouring in the other cup and left it over night.  When we came back to school the next day, the leaves of the celery stalk had changed colour and the water level had gone down.  We learned that the stem transports the water to the leaves. (I don't know why the picture is upside down - I have tried everything to flip it around!)

Now, we are trying to germinate seeds without putting them in soil so that we can see how it happens.  We are using black eyed beans and keeping them in a cup with a wet paper towel.  I will post more pictures when the beans sprout.

September 8 to 12

What a great first week we had!  We have an amazing class and I am so excited for this year!  The students showed me that they are really good listeners and hard workers.  I am enjoying getting to know them better.  Thank you to those who have already signed up for Remind.  If you haven't signed up yet, the info is on the side.
During our literacy block, we are getting into the routine of reading daily, writing a 'Me Book', and answering questions based on the book "First Day Jitters" by Julie Danneberg.
 

Our first unit in math is number sense.  The grade 2's are looking at numbers to 100 and different ways to make the same number (using tens frames, base ten blocks, money, tally marks, and addition and subtraction questions using the hundreds chart, eg., 40 - 6 = 34, 31 + 3 = 34).  The grade 3's are looking at numbers to 1000.  They will learn about different ways to write numbers (expanded form:  50 + 3, numeral:  53, number word: fifty-three, tens and ones: 5 tens 3 ones), different ways to make the same number using base ten blocks. For e.g., 624 = 6 hundreds 2 tens 4 ones or 5 hundreds 12 tens 4 ones, skip counting forward and backward by 2s, 5s, 10s and 25s, starting at different numbers, and comparing and ordering 3-digit numbers.

In science, the grade 2's are learning about growth and changes in animals and the similarities and differences between the 6 animal groups.  The grade 3's are learning about growth and changes in plants and how we use plants in our daily lives. 

We will be starting our home reading program this week, so stay tuned for more information to be sent home! 

Supplies

The Water Cycle

We have been learning about the water cycle in science.  Your child brought home a pamphlet that they made about each step in the water cycle (evaporation, condensation and precipitation).  Please review this with your child until they can explain it to you without looking at the pamphlet.  The students will be writing an explanation of the water cycle in class later this week.  Thank you! 

The Week That Was...

We are coming to the end of a busy week.  The students wrote their final narrative piece.  I'll send them home after I mark them.  In reading, the students are learning to retell non-fiction texts by identifying 3 things they learned, 2 interesting facts and 1 question they have.  In math, the grade 2's are starting a unit on multiplication and division.  The students will learn how to explain multiplication as the combining of equal groups, e.g., show that 3 groups of 2 is equal to 2 + 2 + 2 and to 3 X 2.  The grade 3's are nearing the end of their algebra unit, determining the missing number in one and two digit equations, e.g., 24 - 5 = 15 + ?, and investigating the properties of 0 and 1 in multiplication.  In science, we are continuing to learn about liquids and solids.  We will be making our floaters early next week so please send in the materials as soon as possible.  In social studies next week, the grade 3's will be comparing a fishing community (Port Stanley) to Chatham-Kent.  The grade 2's will be learning more about life in Zimbabwe.
The poem this week was called Chatterbox, The Rain, which is fitting for April!  

Frog's Lullaby

This week's poem was a fun one!  Your child will enjoy reading it to you.  Once they become fluent at it, challenge each other to read it quickly!

Snowed in at ICRPS

We have been working on writing narratives in class about being snowed in at school and the students have typed up their first piece using the website www.scrawlar.com.  They did a great job and are excited to share their work with you.  Please go to this website and log in with your child.  Our class code is coates23 and your child knows his/her password.  Have your child read their story to you.  Together, edit (fix spelling and punctuation) their story.  Please remember to save (the button is in the top right corner) after you edit the piece.  

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a relaxing, enjoyable March Break.  
There is a lot happening in our classroom this week.  In writing, the students are starting a new narrative in which they chose the topic.  They have written their plans and introductions, and so far they look great!  In math, the grade 2's are learning how to subtract 2-digit numbers with regrouping.  The grade 3's are finishing their geometry unit, in which they learned about congruent shapes, symmetry, angles, translations, reflections and turns.  In social studies, the grade 2's are starting a unit in which we will compare a warm climate (Zimbabwe) to a cold climate (Nunavut).  The grade 3's will be studying Ontario with a focus on land uses.  In science, we are starting a unit on matter.  We will be investigating the properties of liquids and solids.

Poem of the Week - March 3

Here is our poem for this week.  Along with reading it daily, we will be discussing how the poem is rich in action and imagery and the students will be drawing pictures to show some of these images.