Adventures With Mrs. Craig

 This has been a very different year of teaching, but with this group it has been one of my favourites! Thank you so much to my kids for being so happy and positive everyday! I am so lucky to have each of you to spend my days with.  Thank you for all of the wonderful gifts! We had a ton of fun today on the last day of classes for 2020!  I hope you have a wonderful break and make some beautiful memories with your families. 

https://youtu.be/EaKsxZemVz8

 This is our last week before winter break. Friday is a P.D day so our last day with students is on Thursday.  We will have no spelling words this week.  This morning we did some writing around "Frosty the Snowman." What they noticed and would change about the story and how the detail in the movie was very different (1969)! I showed them an image of hundreds of boxes. They had to write down what they: think, wonder and notice. We then did our sharing circle with our thoughts and guesses. They also told the class was zone they were in today.  In the afternoon they went on Mathletics and then finished up their 6 region's mini posters.  I am away tomorrow and have a substitute teacher. 

 We had a wonderful Friday together. They completed a survey online about how they feel about reading. Afterwards, they went on Mathletics or typing.com Yesterday they had a pop Math quiz on everything we have learned up to this point.  We have been working on creating 6 different fact mini posters of Alberta's 6 regions. Ask your child what this looks like and what the regions are.  We continued working on our secret project today!  Please look over your child's spelling test.  I can't believe next week is our last week before winter break! Thank you to those parents who got back to me (email). Please let me know, as we are close to the 4 days of online learning.  Have a wonderful weekend! 

 We learned about a Science word today - "Classifying." Ask your child what it means and how Scientists use it to organize information and data. They read an article in pairs called "Life Science Stories" and answered multiplication questions on the back.  They have been excited every morning to see where Elfie John is. This has been a great way to get them excited about journaling. The weird thing is, Elfie didn't move for 2 days!  We did a guided drawing of a reindeer the other day. We used water colour to complete them. Afterwards, they created stories called "The Little Book of a Reindeer named ________." Ask your child what their book is about.  I sent out a school messenger today regarding online schooling for the 4 days in January. Please reply back to me so I know how to organize those days. I will be sending home cards again with all of their login information. I will do this next week.  We worked on secret projects today that included clay! T

 We had an important conversation today about the email sent out last night. Please continue this important conversation at home: mask safety, social distancing and staying with their cohort. I am so proud of how our school has been following these guidelines so far.  In the afternoon we had our first 'sharing circle.' We sat in a circle and each went around and explained how they are overall feeling. I was so impressed with how well they were able to express themselves, especially in front of their peers. Ask your child what they said.  In Math we were given 2D and 3D shapes 'cheat sheet.' We examined these and tried to memorize them.  In Science, most of them have completed their animal research project. They had to choose from an amphibian, bird, fish, insect, reptile or mammal. Ask your child what animal they decided on and what they learned.  Today we talked, in depth, about what a mammal is. We then created a classroom poster together.  Spelling words:  Red: plot,

 This morning we made posters and learned and relearned the "Zones of Regulation.' They worked in small groups to add detail to each poster about how they react and self regulate for each of the zones. We feel lucky to have such a calm group of students to spend our days with! We also realize that we are all human, and sometimes we get into the red zone. Ask your child how they self regulate when this happens.  In Math we learned about 2-D and 3-D shapes. We counted sides, vertices and edges and logged these in our Math books.  They helped me alphabetize our word wall word. They asked for this dictionary posted to help them with high frequency words.  Your child is coming home with a recipe card. Please help them print a holiday joke on the card. We will be reading these every day of December.  In the afternoon we watched 'Inside Out' to go along with the 'Zones of Regulation.' In the afternoon we also had a fire drill practice.  We had a great day! See you tom

 This morning we found an elf hanging from the ceiling! We will be journaling about where he came from, how he got there, what is plan is..etc...daily! We did a class vote and decided his name will be Elfie John.  We are doing a count down for the holidays! They made trees with neatly printing the numbers 1-25. We can't believe there are only 12 more school days until the break!  A month ago your child came home with a green card that had all of his information for online learning. Please make sure you have this. Ask your child to login to his Google Classroom for you, as well as Raz Kids and Mathletics. If you have any issues, please let me know and I will send you the information. In math we practiced skip counting for multiplication. They had to go through mazes in order to do so.  In Social Studies we learned about the Canadian Shield Region. To learn this information we talked about the benefits of Non-Fiction text. I showed them the index and glossary. They were amazed at how