Wednesday Sept 29

 Hi all, 

Today we were doing a lot of work around Truth and Reconciliation Day. We participated in a smudge in the morning and did some journaling about it afterwards. We write about what we saw, what we noticed, and what we wondered. We also designed orange shirts and thought about what we would miss most of all if we were taken to residential schools. 

We had mathletics on ipads for math, we practiced passing and trapping in soccer for gym, and we read a little more of Charlottes Web.

Remember:

No school tomorrow!

Tuesday Sept 28th

 Hi all,

Today we talked about Orange Shirt Day and Phyllis' story, who was the founder of Orange Shirt Day. We made thought about how our lives are very different to hers and made hopes for the future. We will put these hopes in a tobacco offering pouch that we will present tomorrow morning at our smudge. Thursday is Truth and Reconciliation day but we will observe it tomorrow in school. Please wear orange if you have any to help remember the stories of the residential schools. 

We also had music with Mr. Wiens and made patterns with our bodies based off a go noodle video - banana, banana, meatball.

This afternoon we tried, unsuccessfully to log in to the google classroom and also ran the Terry Fox run in gym. We ended our day reading a little more of Charlotte's Web but then got distracted watching videos of spiders spinning webs.

Tomorrow - wear orange

Thursday - No school

Friday - Pillars of Care assembly

Monday Sept 27th

 Hi all,

Today after calendar we read for 18 minutes! Getting so close to our daily goal of 20 minutes! We then talked about where capital letters go and don't go. We need capitals for the start of a sentence, for the word I, if you're talking about a person or place's name like Bobby or Walmart, and if you are using a calendar word like Saturday, May, or Christmas. We then journaled about our weekend trying to put all our capitals in the right place. We did number of the day and then worked on patterns in math. We found errors and fixed them. Then we translated patterns, recognizing an ABB pattern and making a different ABB pattern.

After lunch we tried some mindful breathing for our mindfulness period. Then we logged into Raz kids for the first time to take the placement test. After recess we talked more about Terry Fox and designed shoes in tribute. After gym we read another chapter of Charlotte's Web.

Reminder:

Tuesday - Terry Fox run

Wednesday - Wear orange for Orange Shirt Day 

Thursday - no school

Thursday Sept 23

 Hi all,

Today after calendar and reading we revisited the pillars of care and thought about all the examples we've seen so far of people showing care. We made a border for our documentation of learning board which will be up outside our classroom soon. 

We looked at repeating patterns in math and filled in the gaps, extended patterns, and named them (AB, ABA, etc).

This afternoon we talked about Terry Fox and the run that we will do on Tuesday. A form was sent home if you wish to donate to the cause or collect donations from friends and families. 

We also did a guided drawing of Charlotte's Web and read a little more of the book. 

Remember to log in tonight for the meet the teacher 

No school Friday

On Monday we will have a slightly different meeting spot in the morning. We will line up between the school and the fence instead of by the bike racks. It is close enough that you will see me standing there and I can just redirect traffic to the right spot if needed.

Enjoy the three day weekend kids! See you Monday.

Wednesday Sept 22

 hi all,

Today we practiced writing off of a picture prompt. We brainstormed a list of words we might use and tried to put them together in our own sentences. We had music with Mr. Wiens then we learned how to tell if a number is odd or even. 

This afternoon we went on mathletics for the first time and also practiced our scientific observation skills. We went outside and took one thing from nature and then practised drawing it as accurately as we could and then made some observations. We ended our day practicing soccer dribbling in the gym and reading some more Charlotte's Web.

Tomorrow is meet the teacher night. Please sign up for a session on mycbe so you can get the link for the live presentation.  

No school Friday for a teacher PD day. 

Tuesday Sept 21

 Hi all,

Today we read a story called Welcome Home Bear and talked about what makes our homes so special. We wrote about it in our journals. We looked over some patterns and found some fakers. We also had our first fire drill today. It went really well. We were quiet and got our quickly and safely. 

After lunch we did some mindfulness and then talked about Wilbur, the pig from Charlotte's Web. We did a text to self reflection and thought about a time that we felt lonely or bored. We also designed some pretty sweet pig traps to keep Wilbur from escaping. We ended our day with gym, looking at what kinds of scientists there are and then reading another chapter of Charlotte's Web.

Meet the teacher is Thursday night - please sign up for the link to join the virtual meeting. 

Friday there is no school.

Monday Sept 20th

 Hi all,

Today we read for 14 minutes after calendar! We wrote all about our weekends with the focus of using capital letters and periods in our writing. We did number of the day and started talking about patterns. We talked about what a pattern is and then went on a pattern hunt around our classroom. We found lots. 

After lunch we did mindfulness and then did some work on the first two chapters of Charlottes web. We talked about our community and what we have in Beddington. We ended our day with gym, practicing for Terry Fox, and then reading the next chapter of Charlotte's Web.

Please return all forms! We are using ipads on Wednesday and currently I will have 4 sad friends who play games while we all get to use ipads!! MA, AV, AR, and YS, I'm talking to you here!!! (I can't use names but I can use initials)

Fire drill tomorrow

Meet the teacher is Thursday

No school Friday

Friday Sept 17th

Hi all,

Today we worked on our individual quiet reading and then had some time to do some partner reading as well! We played some running and tag games in gym. We wrote our Friday Favourites in our journals about the best bits of the week. We played a new math game where you have to add dice. We also started reading a new novel study. We will be reading Charlotte's Web and talking about the book as we read it. 

Have a great weekend.

Next week:

Tuesday there is a fire drill

Thursday is meet the teacher - this will be a virtual meeting and more info will be coming soon

Friday 24th there is no school

Thursday Sept 16

 Hi all,

Today we read for 12 minutes as we keep building our stamina up to 20 minutes of quiet reading. We played a new word work game called big word where there is a jumbled up word and you need to find as many words as you can using those letters. We had music with Mr. Wiens and then did the last of the math tests for the government. 

This afternoon we talked about what is tattling and when it is important to tell a teacher. We read the book ish and made some ish art. We also started building our running stamina for Terry Fox which is coming up on Sept 28th.

Next week:

Tuesday there is a fire drill

Thursday is meet the teacher - this will be a virtual meeting and more info will be coming soon

Friday 24th there is no school

Wednesday Sept 15

 Hi all

Today we did quiet reading and calendar before we watched the story Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, a story about a little mouse who makes a mistake and has to make up for it. It went in to our health folders as a lesson about respect. After recess we did two more math assessments - subtraction and writing numbers as we hear them.

This afternoon we talked about different strategies you can use if you are low energy or high energy. We had gym with Ms. Sterne and also made an art piece using only lines and colours. My example is here and we all followed the same instructions but the point was they all looked different as two painters can look at the same scene and create two different pieces. 

Tuesday Sept 14th

 Hi all,

Today we read for 10 minutes in quiet reading. We went through our dictionaries to make sure we know where to find all the colour words. We did 2 more math assessments, adding single digit numbers, and checking if number sequences were increasing or not. We even had time for a math game afterwards! 

This afternoon we finished the movie inside out and made our own Islands of personality pages. In the movie it explains that they are "what make Riley, Riley" so we thought about what makes us unique and special and made our own. We had gym inside and practiced hand eye coordination with scoops and balls. 

Please remember to return the grey technology usage forms as soon as you can. 

Have a great night!

Monday Sept 13

 Hi all,

Today we started our day with calendar and quiet reading. We then watched the story The Calameade Dragon which is about a poor dragon who is judged before the town get to know him. We then thought about all the ways that we are special and unique. We had music after recess and then did a quick math assessment sent to us by the government to get a baseline of where we are at right now. It is not for report card marks or anything but gives us some insight as to what we have to cover in more detail this year. 

This afternoon we finished our zones pages and thought about what we look and feel like in the red zone. We had gym on the compound and then watched a little more of Inside out. We will finish it tomorrow.

Please return your grey digital citizenship forms and stapled packages as soon as possible. 

Friday Sept 10

 Hi all,

Today we worked some more on our silent reading, we are up to 9 minutes now! We are aiming for 20 minutes right now and see how we do. We had music with Mr. Wiens and gym with me where we played tag games and some races. We finished off the blue zone work and talked about how we look and feel in the yellow zone (high energy - either good energy or bad energy). We ended our day watching a bit more of Inside our which goes with our Zones of Regulations work. 

Please return the student information forms and the grey technology use forms asap.

Have a great weekend.

Wednesday Sept 8th

 Hi all,

Today we worked more on our reading stamina after our calendar. We made our personal dictionaries so that we can have something in our desks to help us with our writing this year. We made a graph in math about how we get to school. We talked about how we look and feel in the green zone and started watching the movie Inside out to go along with our zones lessons. 

Please return those forms from yesterday as soon as you can. 

Have a great night!

Tuesday Sept 7th

 Hi all,

Hope you all had a great long weekend! Today in class we did a whole bunch of health work. We talked about the pillars of care (Care for self, others, learning, and place) and how we can show the pillars inside the classroom and outside at recess and gym. We also talked about the zones of regulation. We went over the 4 zones and how it can be really useful to know what zone you're in. There's green zone - calm and ready to listen and do your work, blue zone - tired, sad, sick, run down, yellow zone - high energy, silly or upset, and red zone - lost control, angry, upset. We also talked about how we all experience the 4 zones all the time and that's ok but in class we need to try to stay in the green zone as much as possible. We will go over some strategies later on and think about ourselves in the 4 zones. We also did a math assessment and wrote the numbers 1-100. We read for 5 minutes today. We had music with Mr. Wiens. We went outside for gym too! Busy day.

Some forms are in your backpacks. Please review the stapled package and return asap. The loose papers are for you to keep. 

Have a great night!

Fri Sept 3rd

 Hi all,

Today we worked on our silent reading stamina and read for 4 minutes. We will keep going till we reach 20 or even higher. We talked about the Golden Rule (treat others the way you want to be treated) and how that is a good rule for our classroom. If you wouldn't like it, chances are others wouldn't like it either. We all signed a paper that shows that we will try and follow the Golden Rule in room 6 this year, We had our first music class with Mr. Wiens. We did a basic facts check in for math (adding and subtracting numbers up to 10). And we played some racing games in the gym. 

It was a great first week and we had lots of fun and learned a couple new things too, Remember Monday is a holiday so I will see you on Tuesday at 7:55!

Have a great long weekend everyone!

Thurs Sept 2nd

 Hi all,

Today we started building some stamina with our silent reading. We talked about how stamina is being able to do something for a long time without giving up. Today we read for 3 minutes. Tomorrow we will read for longer until we build our stamina to about 20-30 minutes!! We also talked about how we can read the words, read the pictures, and retell the story to ourselves. It all counts as reading. 

We did some grade 1 review in math to see where everyone is at. We finished off our art masterpieces of the first day of school. We added details to the background to give it more information and really see what pictures we could create. 

We went outside for gym and recess and then came in and did a first month writing sample. I'm already impressed at how much we can write so it will be amazing to see where we get to in June!

Our line ups are getting better but we are still working on we don't touch the person in front of us or behind us. With so many kids it's easy to jostle each other around and get hurt. 

Have a great night and we will see you again tomorrow.

Remember that Fridays are short days and we will be in school from 7:55-11:50. We will have a snack in class but no lunch time. 

Wed Sept 1st

 Hi all,

What a great first day! We got through so much today and did a whole bunch of running around so I would imagine you have a lot of tired children coming home today.

We went over some classroom routines and did a tour so hopefully we know our way around the place. We went to the gym and went over expectations in there. We also had time to play some games.

We did some math and talked about our number of the day sheet which we will practice more throughout the year. 

We started a little art project called self portrait of my first day of grade 2. We talked about adding details that make it a better picture. 

Hopefully you have a bunch of happy and tired children full of stories from their first day of grade 2! If there are any issues you need to discuss with me feel free to email me jdbeechey@cbe.ab.ca and we can discuss them there. 

Have a great night, get some sleep, and we'll do it all again tomorrow.

Mr. Beechey