Thursday Sept 17th

Scholastic book orders went home

We then carried on with the addition from yesterday, except we turned it into a race.  Putting a little extra pressure with a time limit or a race helps students when they don't have to worry about rushing, which is 90 percent of the time.  The students got two points for each question.  One point for the correct answer and one point for identifying tens and doubles. In the end it came down to A for the girls and C for the boys.  In the end the boys won.  The girls won quickest but had one more mistake than the boys so the boys got bonus time and won.

After Math we had our first Library period.  Mr. K introduced the students to the library, talked about what was new then because we are going to have a fire drill during the library period, we went straight to book sign our.  The students are expected to read every day at school and at home.  We encourage reading appropriate interesting books(chapter books) at their level.  

After Recess the students were happy to settle down to reading their new, first library books 

An ongoing thing in the class is for students to suggest and vote for favorite songs.  We are currently doing Disney songs.... Lion king "Not one of Us" suggested by A won for the second day in a row, this time against Frozen: Come Build a Snowman.

We then began to prepare to choral read Chicken Little. I had all the Chicken little's read off the the Henny Pennies etc.  Choral reading develops  fluency and interpretation of mood and feeling in text which has to translate into a voice.  All good readers can feel the right mood and voice.

 





At 1130 the students went to Music with Mrs. Awalt.  We have music three short times a week before lunch on Tues, Wed, and Thursday.  It is amazing the games and fun musical movement and dance things that Mrs. Awalt introduces to the children.  Mrs. Awalt is taking summer courses on the latest and best methods of developing a love for music in children.

After Lunch we continued with our choral reading of Chicken Little.  Choral reading develops  fluency and interpretation of mood and feeling in text which has to be translated into a voice.  All good readers can feel the right mood and voice.  The students worked in groups of 5 to practice.  The students were great and worked very hard on their reading.  I heard words like "listen for your cue" and "When she says 'can I come' it is a question so say it like this."   Each group choral read to the class.   They want to go read it to other classes.  There was lots of laughs and lots of smiles.  Drama is definitely something this class loves.

After choral reading presentations we went on to Social Studies. The students drew a map of the classroom in their duo-tang.  Map concepts focused on:A)  only draw the things that are permanent like desks, not papers and books.  We also discussed that chairs are a bit of both and the student can choose to add them or not.  and B) maps have a key or legend to show what the symbols mean.

great day everyone

Wednesday / Math, Reading, Assembly, Music

Calvin and Hobbs  the irony of saving a snowball until summer

No School Monday 21st Pro-D Day

Notices:
Scholastic Book Orders
Due Wed Sept 23 

Was Our Class was the first in the school to return all forms?:   

Will we win the ice cream treat prize?
we will find out tomorrow......

We began the day with Calvin and Hobbes.  This was followed by and a song off where "Not One Of Us" from Lion King, suggested by A. was up against "I Wanna Be Like You" from the Jungle book, suggested by me.  The students voted and "Not One Of Us" won.  

We then carried on with the addition from yesterday. The students got two points for each question.  One point for the correct answer and one point for identifying tens and doubles. I find that giving students simple addition makes them think the basics are hard.  Giving them a longer list of numbers makes them think that the basics are easy.

After Recess the students had silent reading followed by Coral reading of the story chicken little Choral reading is reading aloud in unison with a whole class or group of students. After hearing the teacher read and discuss a selection, students reread the text together. Choral reading helps build students' fluency, self-confidence, vocabulary knowledge, motivation, and enjoyment of literature.  As this was their first time, I realized that they found it hard to identify all the different voices.  We will try again tomorrow in groups of 4 or 5.  The students may bring this home to practice with you, so be prepared to work on your funny voices.

After lunch a group of students went off with our ESL teacher Ms. K.  The rest of the class worked on catching up on their unfinished work.

We ended the day off with our first assembly. The students were welcomed back, we talked about assembly expectations, heard a few announcements then New and Old staff members were  introduced.

Great day everyone.... see you tomorrow

ME / Learning from facing fears / Math / Music / Reading / Socials

Thank you for returning Signed forms... All but 3 students brought back their forms... one student was absent so we are very close to being the first class to bring in all their forms.  Thanks everyone

We began the day with ME.  M.E. is morning exercise and usually involves a writing exercise.  ME also stands for 'me' which is a place where the students ideas, personality, thoughts and feelings will show up in their daily writing. 

Today we read , Scaredy Squirrel sets out to make The Perfect Friend. And once he's spotted a perfectly safe candidate (with no teeth), Scaredy's ready. Armed with a name tag, mittens, a mirror and a lemon, he's prepared to make The Perfect First Impression. But just when every detail is under control, Scaredy's Action Plan takes a surprising — and "toothy" — turn. Will he survive this ordeal? Will he find his kindred spirit? Will he discover the true meaning of friendship?

The students had to retell the story in their own words and come up with the big message.  The message is basically if you face your fears good things can happen or Fear will hold you back in life.

Our Calvin and Hobbes for the day was Calvin pretending to be a dinosaur.

 After ME, we did addition of 4 numbers to show tricks in addition with basic facts.  The main idea was to group numbers for example adding 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 1 =   is hard if you add it in sequence.  So instead group the 6+4 and the 8+2 makes it 10 + 10 + 1 = 21  easy.  Students who are good at math do those tricks.  Students who are not comfortable with math do not know tricks.  Math is not hard...It can be complicated so the trick is to know how to make it easy.

The students had their first music period today with Mrs. Awalt.  She is an amazing music teacher and brings music to life in a fun way.  I am going to insist that All Students Join Choir.  Music is a gift and we are gifted to have Mrs. Awalt.

After lunch the students read silently for 25 minutes then did the title page for their reading log. After reading  the students will be given 5 or 10 minutes to report or respond to what they read.

After reading we filled in and designed a cover for the September Calendar.  Using and understanding calendars is a life and organizational skill to help with planning and time management We filled in important school dates and they could add in any of their information like birthdays etc

Things are up and running

Notices:

 A million important notices are coming home.  

Most important

 please make sure that you check the information on the white form

and sign it. 

Next most important (to me) 

are the blue computer information forms. I cannot include your child or their work on this blog if it is not filled out and accepted.  Note we do not use names on the blog only Initials.  

Thirdly

 the other forms are important too

 (to someone somewhere and they probably want you to fill them out soon)

Welcome parents.  We have just begun our first real whole week of class.  I am very impressed with the students so far.  They are moving up to my expectations for quality of work.  Once I have those permission forms in my hands you will love this blog as a way of keeping up with the exciting things we are doing.

Take care:  Mr. Wilson

P.S. Weekly Spelling will start in three weeks (I would have started next week, however, Monday is a pro-d day) but you can make sure, if you do not already, that the students have time for reading at home on those days where they are not in sports, clubs, extra curricular activities etc...

Welcome to the 2015 - 2016 School Year

 Class configurations could change

Welcome to a new year at Tillicum Elementary.  The school has expanded greatly from 14 divisions (classes) to 16 divisions and we are close to adding another one, which will make 17 divisions. If the 17th division is added all the class configurations will change.  For example I am currently a grade 3 - 4 class and could probably become a 4 - 5 class.  We will know the real configuration by Wednesday so Enjoy yourselves where you are and we will probably make the final changes by Thursday morning.   Looking forward to seeing you all again.  Take care Mr. Wilson.

SPCA Presentation and The Great Canadian Mail Race

This week we had volunteers from the SPCA, Peter and Cheryl, visit our classroom. They brought in their two dogs named Suki and Veda. Peter taught us how to properly approach a dog. He also told us what signs to watch out for if a dog is becoming aggressive. We also learned about the best way to protect ourselves in case a dog does attack.

Peter showing a student the proper way to protect yourself if a dog attacks.

Last week I received a letter from a Grade 4 student in Port Coquitlam inviting our class to participate in 'The Great Canadian Mail Race'. Each student wrote a letter (using their first name only, as well as Tillicum's address) to another Grade 4 student anywhere in Canada. They used Google to look up a school's address in any province or territory they wanted. After we learned the proper format of a letter, we learned how to address an envelope. Hopefully most of the students will get a reply before the school year is over!

SPCA Presentation Next Week

A message to Parents and Guardians, 

Next week, on Tuesday, June 2, our class will be receiving a presentation from the SPCA on bite prevention and dog safety. The SPCA volunteers will bring two small dogs into the classroom to supplement the presentation. These dogs have been temperament tested and visit many classrooms in the district each year. Parents are welcome to attend this in class presentation. It will take place from 1:00-2:00 on Tuesday, June 2. Please feel free to email me at cdesmarais@sd61.bc.ca, if you have any questions or concerns regarding this presentation. 

Thank you, 

Ms. C. Desmarais