CP Holiday Train

On Monday, November 28th, the CP Holiday Train passed through Belleville at 9:00 am. Students in our class were so excited that they met me at POW for 8:20 am so that we could get on the 8:30 am #8 bus via public transit. From here, we went to the bus station and took transfer bus #1 to Dundas and Herchimer. 

Students not only had a fun ride to and from the Holiday Train but they learned how to take public transportation, read bus schedules and confidently travel in the city of Belleville. Life skills were learned and put into action today!

Makayla and Thomas on the city bus.

 Abbey and her dad on the bus. 

Reegan and Me!

We arrived just in time as the box car door opened and became a platform for the musical performance. Parents, students, educators, parents, families and community members cheered and sang their hearts out!

Thomas and his mom!

Hailey and her Dad.

Us...having a great time!

Look who we found! A cheery elf who was handing out candy and singing along with us. 

 Hayden dancing with her mom.

Community volunteers served free hot chocolate and gave out hand made mittens to those in need. 

        Look who came off of the train and visited with our students!

Just before we left the Holiday Train, the Mayor of Belleville handed out frisbees to our class! 

I am grateful for all of our parent volunteers who continue to support our learning both in and out of school. Without them, field trips would not be possible or as much fun! 

Brown Bag Presentations - Family Traditions

We brought brown bags to school with 3 or more items that helped us to learn about each other and our family traditions!

Thomas shared a wood chip that reminds him of cutting down a Christmas tree every year with his dad. 

Ruby puts on the glasses that her dad wears every night when they make up a silly story before going to bed. 

Hailey shares her stuffies that snuggles and reads with to her parents. 

Students place their brown bag items on the table to share with classmates. 

~Co-created by 2/3P

Strategy is the Name of the Game!

Every Day 5, we have a 40 minutes for math. Sometimes we play a variety of math games. Here are few pictures of students using strategies to support their thinking. We had so much fun!

 Gabe and Reegan playing Chess.

Thomas B and Brady playing, Snakes and ladders. 

Savannah and Courtney playing cards . Jordan and  friends are also playing Twister. 

 Thomas is debating his next move in the game of Battleship!

LIP SYNC in 2/3P

On Thursday, November 17th, the top 3 students in 2/3P who have been lip syncing with Mr. Oliver were in a sing off competition. Savannah Leigh, Jayme and Ruby ramped it up with some rockin' tunes and Brady shone the strobe light!

          

After Mrs. Pallett and Mr. Oliver talked it over, the winner of the lip sync competition in 2/3P was .....RUBY! 

 

Let's hear it for Ruby! 

Thank you, Mr. Oliver for making music/drama so much fun! The top three were also treated to McFlurries. Yummy!

Co-created by 2/3P

UPDATE from Mr. Oliver 

A video clip of Ruby performing her lip sync song that won her first place!

YAY, RUBY!

Literacy Art - So Much Fun!

To support us on our literacy art journey, Andrea Kerr, a Learning Support Coordinator with HPEDSB, joined us.

 Mrs. Kerr read to us, Students were encouraged to re-create the "carpet of leaves on the forest floor" using style and technique of ripped paper collage. 

This is what students have created so far:

Mrs. Kerr will join us on November 23rd to support our continued learning with our art creations. We can't wait!

Plasticine Art - We are "FALLin'!"

A few weeks ago, we read Picture a Tree by Barbara Reid. This mentor text supported our inquiry connected to seeds, plants, soil and our role in protecting our environment and realizing its beauty!

Following the style of Barbara Reid, we created our own "tree"; a Fall Tree. 

Check out what we created!

Students used their knowledge of line design to sketch a tree. Students chose a variety of modelling clay colours that helped each of them represent a Fall Tree. 

I am so impressed with their creativity and detail communicated through their art work! 

Student Generated Problem Solving Questions

Today's math class was a follow up to our problem solving on Friday. I used the following question that was created by students to continue our investigation of problem solving and representing numbers.

Ambe and Aerin's question that was solved in class today was:
"If a centipede has 100 legs, how many legs will 10 centipedes have?"

 Collin - "I drew a number line to help me count by 100's"

 Makayla - "I drew pictures and made a number sentence to count up to 1000."

 Hayden and Thomas - "We drew centipedes and counted up by 100's to get the right answer."

Here are some up close pictures of student documentation:

    

We are on our way! Documenting our learning helps us take ownership and pride in our work!

Representing Numbers - Problem Solving Strategies

On Friday, November 4th, students were involved with a problem solving question that was taken from the Guide to Effective Instruction, K-3. I also asked Nikki Roy, from Curriculum Services, to join us to support our math thinking and to explore pedagogical documentation with students and myself. 

Using the chart stand, we brainstormed things that come in 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 6's, 7's and 8's. Then, students were given the following problem to solve together: If a spider has 8 legs, how many legs would three spiders have?

The strategies that students choose to use were: counting on their fingers, mental math, pictures, number lines, number sentences, 100's chart and arrays. I was so impressed to see how they displayed and communicated their thinking! 

As part of our pedagogical documentation journey, students were given sticky notes to name which strategy (strategies) they used and how the strategy (strategies) helped them solve the problem! By encouraging student to explain and document their thinking, they are able to communicate their thinking and take ownership in their own learning.