October 27, 2014 SPOOK-TACULAR WEEK

Greetings on this “Spook-tacular” Day, Parents and Students,

I cannot BELIEVE it is the END of October!  Time flies when we are having fun in Grade 2/3!  We worked on a visual arts/writing project this past week.  We molded our clay bats last Friday and painted our bat creations on Monday.  Each child created a paragraph about his/her Canadian bat (hoary bat, silver haired bat, little brown bat, big brown bat, silver haired bat, eastern long eared bat, eastern red bat, etc.).   They will be taking them home NEXT week, after University of Regina Biology Professor, Dr. Mark Brigham views them. 

Hunter was our incredible Star of the Week and did a fabulous job presenting.  He enjoys his trampoline and downhill skiing.  He has traveled to the ocean, The Grand Canyon, Montana and Lake Diefenbaker.  His family owned Bonburger.  He enjoys spending time with his older sister, parents and cat, Molly.

This week the kids explored reptiles and amphibians.  The word reptile is a Greek word which means “to creep”.   We created jot notes and supported our notes with illustrations.  A few new videos/songs  we enjoyed this week include: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkqKSSea9As  and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMHUq9djPA4.

Miss Kezama and Miss Lechler helped us with COMPUTER STATIONS on Tuesday morning.  The focus was raz_kids and abcya.com money bingo.

French fun this week entailed creating Halloween puppets and performing short dialogues in French in pairs using the puppet theatre.  The children LOVED this activity.  They were very motivated and excellent participants, having fun and encouraging each other.  See photos 51 to 61.

Mr. Cross and Miss Saunders, ECS 100 students from Mrs. Pankewich’s Grade 2 class, assisted us on Tuesday afternoon, helping us to create over 200 catnip toys out of recycled socks for the Humane Society!  On Wednesday afternoon, Kristin Folk joined us from the Humane Society, entertaining us with a story (A Friend in Need) about a puppy, needing a home.  Then the children participated in her “Pet suitcase” activity, where they discussed items such as leashes, collars, dishes, pet toothbrushes, nail clippers and more.  Kristin even brought an adorable kitten for us to enjoy and to love.  This was a big hit!  Parents, thank you again for your catnip contributions and socks! 

Photos 72 to 77 include money games we played on Wednesday after our lesson on new vocabulary:  least to greatest and greatest to least. 

We read a silly, spooky story called The Ghost of the One Black Eye to support our reading and writing.  After reading this story, we acted out parts of it, using some of our class finger puppets.  The focus with the puppets was to introduce DIALOGUE and QUOTATION MARKS.  I refer to the quotation marks as “sixes and nines”.  Have your child show you what this means at home.  Write some fun sentences with your child using dialogue and see if he/she can place the quotation marks in the right spots.  When you are reading with your child, look for dialogue in the stories and discuss. 

The boys and girls briefly met my mom at lunch time today.  She made some yummy Greek orange cookies for them to try.  What a wonderful surprise for the kids.  Thanks mama! J

Parents, please send your child to school tomorrow with his/her READING LOG and MINUTES TOTALED for OCTOBER.

HERE IS A BIT OF PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK: 

  BRODIE is * STAR OF THE WEEK * the week of Nov. 3^rd.

                    

MON., NOV. 3^rd (Day 3)         Austin McCabe, student from Faculty of Education, Gabriel Dumont Institute - SUNTEP Faculty, will be “Job Shadowing” Ms. Selimos in the afternoon.

Tues. 4^th (Day 4)         University of Regina ECS 100 students, Miss Kezama and Miss Lechler will be working with us in our Grade 2/3 classroom, every Tuesday morning until December! J

LIBRARY EXCHANGE

Professor Mark Brigham visits in the a.m.   TOPIC:  BATS J

Wed. 5^th (Day 5)   Welcome: CREATE artist, Joyce Belcher for Visual Arts Session #1 of 3 in p.m.

Spelling Test # 8         Parents sign test page 

         

Thurs. 6^th (Day 1)       See NEW SPELLING LIST in your child’s agenda. 

                                    George Bothwell,  Librarian Marilyn visits in p.m.

Fri. 7^th (Day 2)           Remembrance Day Ceremony in individual classrooms at 10:50 a.m. Parents welcome to join us.

                             SPECIAL SUB LUNCH for those who ordered, today.

SONAKSHI is * STAR OF THE WEEK * the week of Nov. 17^th

On Monday, November 24^th, the Grade 2/3 class will be attending the Western Canadian Agribition.  In preparation for the Agribition, we will be learning about agriculture and farm life through Science, Language Arts, French, Visual Arts and Dance.  We will be leaving the school at approximately 9 a.m. and will return in time for the 3:37 p.m. dismissal.

I will require 5 parent volunteers, so that our students are well supervised. This involves a commitment to supervise 3 to 4 students on the field trip (Pre-schoolers are NOT able to attend). It is important to attend the ON SITE workshop on SUNDAY, November 23rd at 10:30 a.m. The purpose of the workshop is to familiarize you with an appropriate, safe route to take on that day.  Please meet at the Co-operators Centre Foyer at 10:30 a.m. at EVRAZ PLACE.  The workshop will last approximately one and a half hours and is well worth attending.  The Showcase exhibitors will also be on hand to explain their displays and answer any questions.  Remember to dress for barn conditions and to bring a pen/pencil.  Maps will be made available.

____ I am sending $1.50 cash for bus cost.

______ I am paying $1.50 bus cost on PARENT PORTAL. 

______ NO, unfortunately I am UNABLE to assist with this class trip.