From Blah, Blah, Blah to Wow!

So your child brings home a report card in the new year and it says something like, "Frankie systematically describes, extends, and creates a variety of numeric patterns and geometric patterns." Frankie's parents look befuddled. "Frankie, you got an A in Patterning and Algebra. You systematically described, extended, and created a variety of numeric patterns and geometric patterns. This all sounds very important. What did you do?" Frankie scratches his head. "I don't remember doing anything like that."

Alright, this great kid holding his systematically organized key leaf pattern does not go by the name Frankie, but he sure knows how to create and explain a beautiful pattern and apply his understanding to real-life contexts. That's what it's all about. Oh yeah, and Math is beautiful.

To see more, visit the Room 108 student blog. Grab a cup of coffee and click here to enjoy.

- EH

This Week in Room 108

Hello,

I sure hope everyone had a chance to get out and enjoy the beautiful leafy fall weather this weekend.

Reminders: I know, I know... so many.

1. Don't forget that our class will be going to Forest Valley this Thursday. Parent volunteers will be confirmed tomorrow with a note going home in your child's Friday Folder. Please make sure your child is at school on time this Thursday and remember that lunch will be provided, including Halal hotdogs.

2. Scholastic order sheets will go home in your child's Friday Folder this week. Sorry that I didn't get them out sooner, but Scholastic was still sending me Junior-level catalogues. If you are interested in ordering any books, please return your order this Friday with the cheque or cash needed. Cheques are made out to Scholastic Canada. Teachers receive bonus coupons based on the dollar value per classroom order. I always buy more books for the class with the bonus coupons.

3. Clairlea's Terry Fox Run falls on the day we're going to Forest Valley. I believe that our class will be doing the run either on Friday or Monday with Miss Lowen's class. I'll keep you posted. Please return the Terry Fox question sheet and pledge sheets when possible.

4. Please remember to use envelopes or baggies with your child's name on it when sending in money for anything.

5. Ensure agendas come in on Monday. I only sign them on Monday when the homework goes home. If you need to send me a note, you can either write it in the agenda or have your child pass me a note. Please let them know that there is a note for me since we don't take up instructional time "doing agendas" every day. Thanks.

Here's what we're working on this week:

Language - Word Study: Long and short vowels. We're concentrating on long and short a and e and students will engage in a variety of hands-on writing activities. We will also be continuing with prefixes. This week we're looking at the prefix re-. My favourite student quote of last week proved that somebody was paying attention when the class was initially introduced to the prefix re-. "Ms. Hawkins. What's the word that starts with re- and means vomit?" "Oh, you mean regurgitate." Ahh, gross-out learning.

Reading/Writing: Retelling - This week we will look at setting in Knuffle Bunny and The Pied Piper. Eventually, students will compose a written retelling of a story. Right now, students will engage in shared writing activities and begin organizing their ideas in graphic organizers.

Math - Patterning: Grade 2s will describe and create growing and shrinking number patterns involving addition and subtraction with and without calculators. Grade 3s will extend growing and shrinking number patterns (e.g. Write the next three terms in the pattern 4, 8, 12, 16, __,__,__). Both grades will be involved in hands-on math activities, including M.Dungo's awesome number line clothes peg activity, which she shared with me. Thanks again!

Science: Grade 2s will label the water cycle on their beautiful paintings they created last week. They will also conduct an experiment and I will begin reading the book One Well. Grade 3s continue soil studies with Miss Lowen. The kids loved learning about erosion with lollypops. Great idea!

Social Studies: Last week students sketched the front of Clairlea. They were introduced to the term "bird's eye view" and sketched the roof of Clairlea using Google Maps. All maps included a compass rose. We will continue our school sketch this week and students will locate India on the Map. We will be discussing India as the country is playing host to the Commonwealth Games and has been in the news.

* There will be a brief math quiz on Friday. Students need to be able to identify the core of a pattern (the part of a pattern that is repeated), and create a growing, shrinking, and repeating pattern. I will also give students one or two patterns that they must state the pattern rule for. I will send home a practice sheet with examples. We have been working on growing, shrinking, repeating patterns, and pattern rules and I feel confident that students are really understanding the concepts and should do well.

Homework: Reading homework - A sheet is coming home with instructions for the Grade 2s and 3s. Students can fill out their Reading Log on the sheet and paste it into his or her notebook, or they may write their log directly in the notebook.

Math: Patterning quiz practice sheet.

Have a great week. Here's a cheesy song from my youth with a chorus that's all about vowels. It's guaranteed to become an ear worm (one of those songs you can't get out of your head). Enjoy.

E. Hawkins

Water Cycle Song

Our Grade 2s are learning about the water cycle. To help those musically-minded kids, we've been singing this tune, set to the melody of "She'll be Coming Around the Mountain." You can click on the YouTube link below to hear the melody and have your child sing the song for you. Grade 3s are welcome to sing too :)

The Water Cycle Song

The sun warms up the ground water - yes it does.

It warms oceans, lakes, and rivers - yes it does.

Water goes up as evaporation,

It turns into condensation,

Then comes down as precipitation - yes it does!

Spelling Centres

In Word Study, we're looking at words that have the long 'a' sound and long 'e' sound. Today, students tested themselves on some words with the aforementioned vowel sounds. They made their corrections and copied the correct spelling on sheets with the outline of these vowels printed in a large font. This sheet became the master copy, which they took to five different stations where they had the opportunity to write words with the long 'a' sound. These stations were: magnets, white board, poetry, painting, and chalk board. Tomorrow, they will do a buddy check to see how well they remember the spelling. Time permitting, we'll begin a new round of centres for words with the long 'e' sound. All students were engaged in their learning and came up to me full of pride and excitement sharing their work. Well done, class!

The Envelope Please!

Hello there,

Just a note asking families to kindly send in money for agendas, field trips, pizza lunch, etc. in an envelope or baggie with your child's name on the outside. I have been collecting money for agendas and our Forest Valley field trip and several children either came in and put cash in my hand, or gave me an envelope without their name on the outside. I have a drop box for forms to be placed in and I did not realize that so many students brought in unmarked envelopes. Now it's CSI (Clairlea Student Identification) Toronto. Break out the fingerprint duster!

I will try to sort things out in the meanwhile. If you haven't sent in agenda or field trip money/forms, please do so as soon as possible.

Thanks a lot,

Erin Hawkins

Room 108 Student Blog in Action

Hello families of Room 108. Just a message to let you know that the Room 108 student blog is rocking. The first post for our class went up tonight. You'll see a gallery of the wonderful patterns found by the Great 108s last week. Click here and enjoy. Be sure to bookmark this link. The blog address has my old classroom number on it, but it is the Room 108 blog indeed!

E. Hawkins

Photo Day and Homework Update

Angry Leprechaun and Vampire Guy remind you that tomorrow is Photo Day at Clairlea. Give your teeth an extra good cleaning and come with your best smile.

Homework: I sent one sheet home for reading this week. Students will answer a few questions on the reading survey sheet and fill out their reading log on the bottom of the sheet. Students can paste these sheets into their Home Reading Notebooks this Friday in class. I will not keep the reading log going indefinitely as it will become boring and tedius. I just want to get a sense of reading habits during the first few weeks of school. More interesting home reading projects will be forthcoming.

Thanks. You'll find This Week in Room 108 below.

Erin Hawkins

P.S. Please keep working on shoelace tying at home. There are several students in our class who need a little work in this department. Thanks!

This Week in Room 108

Look up - way up! The compass rose as seen from the landing at the centre staircase. This is easily one of the most beautiful features of our school.

Hello,

Thanks to all who were able to make it out to Curriculum Night. There were new faces, and familiar faces and they were all happy. If you weren't able to make it, I will post the agenda this week and recap the important information discussed. Welcome also to our latest student Lyndsay who comes from Miss Moledina's class. Aloha!

Here's what we're working on this week:

Language: Our Word Study block kicks off with the prefix sub-. Students will also begin developing a list of personal spelling words that fall under the category of "high frequency" words. There will not be a formal spelling dictation. Research shows that this is not the best way to help students learn words. They tend to study for the quiz and then forget the spelling by Monday. Instead, we'll be working on strategies and students will have numerous ways to practise spelling in class. Each child will be partnered with a spelling buddy who will help them check their spelling to determine which words have been mastered and which ones still need more time with.

In Reading we will continue with "pretelling" as part of our unit on retelling. As well, this week, students will be introduced to a simple graphic organizer for retelling. We will do a shared retelling of Knuffle Bunny.

In Writing, students will continue writing their book of antonyms based on the book Hot Cold Shy Bold. Our goal is for each student to write and publish a book that can be shared with the the English kindergarten class at Clairlea. So far, I've seen some great word choices and illustrations. We will also carry on with penmanship: printing legibility skills (for Grade 2s) and cursive writing for Grade 3s. Fine motor skills are still developing in Grade 2 and 3, so this is worthwhile practice on many levels.

Math: We will continue working on growing and shrinking patterns using various manipulatives and will explore patterns found in the hundreds chart.

Science: Grade 2s will learn about humidity (water in air). They will also get to do their first science experiment. The Grade 3s continue working with Miss Lowen on soil. I know Miss Lowen had the students "get their hands dirty" last week and they loved it.

Social Studies: Mapping: We'll continue working on compass directions as they relate to the Clairlea neighbourhood. We will also continue on our booklet of geographical landforms.

Homework:

1. Reading Interest Survey. Students will tell me about what they enjoy reading. Please complete Reading Log as well. The log can either be filled out on the sheet that's coming home in the Friday Folder and pasted into their Home Reading Notebook, or copied directly into the notebook. Students should be reading for approximately 15 minutes a day at home. Don't forget about books that come with CDs. These are available at your local library.

Patterning: It's in the Bag. Students will plan a growing pattern and gather objects needed to create it in class on Friday. Please make sure your child brings the objects in the brown bag provided and put the brown bag in their Friday Folder. All information will come home in the form of a handout. Please make sure your child does not do the assignment at home, but rather just bring the planning sheet and materials to school on Friday. I will provide paper and glue.

* Don't forget that Tuesday is Photo Day.

Thanks. Have a terrific week.

E. Hawkins

Here's a sub- song to get things prefixing along.

Mapping With Google

In Social Studies, we're learning about mapping. To kick the off the unit, our class used Google Maps to navigate their way around the Clairlea community. They learned how the expression Never Eat Shredded Wheat will help them remember directions on the compass. Theron suggested Never Eat Sour Watermelon. I like that too! We looked at features of the Clairlea community and talked about the words "urban," "rural," and "suburban."
It didn't take long for students to figure out the compass and head east from Clairlea P.S. to the Cineplex Odeon cinema.


This budding cartographer found Japan on the map and took the class into the streets of Tokyo. Cool!
More to come...

Cookie Has Flown the Coop

Our pet hamster Cookie escaped out of her cage yesterday and is now missing in action. We hope she'll either find her way back to the room, or be rescued somehow. Two parents have told me tales of hamsters returning after several days, so keep a good thought for our fluffy friend.

On a related note, last month I saw this bird at our backyard bird feeder.

It was a blue budgie that had escaped from someone's home. I couldn't bear the thought of it dying in the cold, Toronto winter. So I hatched a plan (no pun intended) and with a lot of patience, I captured the bird.

I hung the bird feeder in a scrunchy bag and then hung the scrunchy bag from the hanger. Eventually, the bird went in for food. Stealthily, I snuck up and covered the bag with mesh.

My neighbour helped me get the budgie into an empty cage and I made a perch with a paintbrush. I was so happy that I was able to help a critter out. When I told my husband that I could get a job with animal services, he said something like, "Oh yeah. I really see you climbing on roofs to get raccoons out of chimneys." Point taken.

I blogged about the experience, and a woman in Brampton asked if she could take it. She'd already rescued another budgie from a tree across the street. We drove out to Brampton to make the special delivery and here's the bird, they named Labatt Blue. Don't you love a happy ending?

Erin Hawkins

Labatt Blue tweeting in Brampton

Caleb's Nest & Curriculum Night

Hello there,

I'd like to send out a big thank you to Caleb for bringing in his tiny and perfect bird's nest yesterday. Caleb noticed that I've left out many objects from the natural world in the class for the children to look at and ask questions about. Caleb told us the story about his nest and let the class pass it around to examine how it was constructed. Fantastic! Children are encouraged to bring interesting bits and pieces from nature to class. It all connects to Science and our lives in general.

I hope the homework went well and was not too much or too little. Please let me know if your child ran into any problems and we can adjust accordingly to needs and abilities. These are still early days and I'm still getting to know the students.

I look forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new families tomorrow at Curriculum Night. We begin with the first session at 6:30 and switch to the second section at 7:00 for families with more than one child at our school. I'm sure you'll be interested to see what your kids have been up to within the first week.

All the best,

Erin Hawkins

Here's the biggest nest I've ever seen. It's in Namibia. I'll let Sir David explain. Gather the kids around to watch :)

This Week in Room 108

The Rideau Canal all aglow this past August. How many patterns can you find in this picture?

Hello families,

I hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy the glorious weather this past weekend. We took in the Cabbagetown Festival, which was great fun. Today, I went back with my son to see a pantomime of Peter Pan held at the tiny chapel at the Necropolis Cemetery. It's not every day you get to do that. Don't forget that the Riverdale Farm is always open. It's always a pleasure hanging out with farm animals in the city. Admission is free.

Here's what's cooking in Room 108 this week:

Language: I've started a three block literacy program that involves word study, reading, and writing. Fortunately for our class, our timetable allows us to spend the entire morning on language-based learning. I will speak more about this on Curriculum Night this coming Thursday evening.

Word Study: Our exploration of antonyms continues this week as students created a poem or short story based on opposite words. I have started informally testing students on grade-appropriate high-frequency words, just to help me get a picture of where students are at with their spelling. Students will be introduced to a variety of strategies to help them learn the correct spelling of words and how to test themselves.

Reading: All Primary students at Clairlea will be working on Retelling during Term 1. This week, we will be looking at various texts and "pretelling" by making predictions based on such things as book cover and title, illustrations, previous knowledge of author, and prior knowledge of genre. I will model this and we will engage in shared "pretelling" activities this week.

Writing: We will review basic punctuation and students will use in their writing.

Math: Students really enjoyed the hands-on activities in Patterning last week. Below, you'll see students involved in a barrier game. In this activity, one student creates a pattern, which the other student cannot see (a book is propped up between them). The student who created the design must carefully describe the steps needed to create this pattern so the other student will have the same pattern. This activity strengthens oral skills and targets math vocabulary. This week, students will continue working on repeating patterns and will start looking at growing and shrinking patterns. The overall emphasis is to have students comfortable with stating the pattern rule and identifying the core of the pattern (the initial part that is repeated).

Science: Miss Lowen will be working with the Grade 3s in Science. I will be working with the 2s from our class and Miss Molidina's room. Currently we are investigating the properties of air and water. Last week we made pop bottle terrariums which will lead into our study of the water cycle.

Social Studies: We are going to begin looking at geographical landforms by creating a picture dictionary of landforms. This will lead us to mapping in weeks to come.

Homework: Students will bring home their Friday Folder. Please ensure this comes back on Friday. This week, students will be asked to draw and describe (using words), repeating patterns at home, in nature, outside on city streets, and one other of their own choice. Altogether, they are responsible for four. Students will have four days to return homework, so this should be a manageable activity if not left until Thursday evening. Students will also begin a home reading notebook. They will jot down what they're reading and approximately how many pages per day. As well, they will respond to a prompt I will give them. Students in Grade 2 are asked to write 2-3 sentences. Students in Grade 3 are asked to write 4-5 sentences. Students in both grades are asked to draw a picture that connects to the book they are reading. This week, students are only asked to make one entry in their notebook.

Have a great week!

Erin Hawkins

Antonyms & Patterning

It's all about antonyms right now. Play some antonym word games in the car or at the grocery store. Give your child a word and ask them for the opposite. Have them pick your brain too. Below are some pictures of our antonym word hunt this morning. It's so good to see how well our class works together.

*More pictures will appear as media release consent forms trickle in. Student names are never used with pictures and this blog is only linked through the Clairlea website.

In Patterning, we talked about the word "attributes" and described the attributes of various patterning tiles. New vocabulary included vertex (for corner), vertices (corners), and rhombus. At home, try to use the word "rhombus" instead of diamond when referring to the diamond shape. Math language can be fun if you make it so.

Below, check out the fantastic patterns made by your kids!