Adventures With Mrs. Craig

 Yesterday was 'Pink Shirt Day.' We decided to talk about kindness, empathy and being a good friend, rather than focusing on bullying. We realize we don't have any bullies in this classroom and feel really proud of that. We did talk about any experiences we had with people treating us unfairly or unkindly. We watched a live stream of the Calgary Hitmen talk about 'Pink Shirt Day.' In Math today they did a basic facts pop quiz. Please have a look at these in your child's backpack. This was done without teacher help to see where they are at, independently.  In Science today we learned that the moon is not a light source! The moon, safety reflector vests, and minerals are all examples of light reflectors. The moon is a light reflector that reflects light from the sun. Ask your child to explain this to you.  Today we started a fun project! They are creating a reader's theatre script and putting on shadow plays. This will take a few days as they write their scrip

We are very quiet and calm readers in the morning. Some students read with me and others are reading chapter books independently. I am very happy that everyone stays silent and respectful.  I read them the book "Froggy Goes to School." The used a story map to record the beginning, middle, end and characters of the book. We realized that sometimes you need to listen to an entire story to distinguish the difference between each story element. Afterwards, they were each given a photograph of a different setting. They glued it on a piece of paper and wrote all of the words that describe the setting. We realized it was important to use our 5 senses to truly imagine being there. Some setting examples were: home, Disneyland, movie theatre and pool.  We went on Razkids after lunch. Remember to use this tool (if possible) at home too.  In the afternoon we had a pop Math quiz on subtracting double digit numbers with regrouping. This is a really tricky skill!  Spelling words this week: 

 Room 13 enjoyed learning the difference between 'wants' and 'needs.' Many of them had lots of different examples of both. Some students had examples of 'needs' that they could justify with a reason and respectful argument. For example: bees.  We had a quick introduction to long division today. This is grade 4 math but some grade 3's were very interested to learn as well. We will be working on this skill throughout the rest of the year. Ask your child to show you the steps:  In Science, I traced their side profiles. We noticed that the closer the light was, the smaller the shadow was. Ask your child why this is.                                                                                                               At the end of the day, they wrote letters to someone of their choice (that they live with). Please have them share these with you.                                                                                                               

We copied a poem off of the board today:  Reading decimals is easy, you'll see The have 2 names like you and me.  First you say the name as if there were no dot.  Then you say the name of the last place value slot.  Ask your child how they used this poem to understand place value.  They also completed a place value chart in their math book.  Ex. thousands, hundreds, tens, ones. tenths, hundredths, thousandths We made a venn diagram as we studied two heroes: Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Everyone seemed to really enjoy learning the changes they made in the world and seemed to be inspired by their stories.  In Social Studies we learned about 2 students going to school in India. One went to school on a lake and the other a boat! See you tomorrow!

 Welcome back! We all seemed to be feeling reenergized today and ready for a week of learning. Last week we had many friends missing so I am happy to see most of their faces today!  February is Black History month. We had an important conversation about what this means. Please ask your child about 2 heroes we learned about today: Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. We watched a video of their bravery and learned about the Civil Rights movement. We will be continuing this learning and conversation within our classroom. Many students had so much passion and expressed their thoughts with one another.  In Math today they played bingo with individual placemats (using their multiplication skills) and ended with playing connect 4 (with multiplication) in partners.  They had free writing at the end of the day. Ask your child what they wrote about. They had the choice of a letter, poem, song, story, list..etc!  Spelling words:  Red: sun, end, out, the, fun Blue: solved, bulb, allow, living,

 We had quite a few kids missing today. It sure is cold out there. They did awesome and kept their energy down, even with indoor recesses! They started off their day with last weeks spelling test. Please remember to check the blog and study every week.  They continued with their family portraits. I loved hearing students complimenting one another.  Please remember to read your child's report card with them. It is so important for them to hear and see their next steps and celebrations.  It is Teacher's Convention this week which means no school on Thursday and Friday. Monday is family day.  I read the story "We are all Wonders" and we started watching the film "Wonders." Ask them how this connects to Health and how they are a wonder. 

Our Friday went by fast! I will give you the weekend to study for the spelling test! We have started family portraits. We will continue with these on Monday! In Math today we reviewed rounding. I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend! Enjoy the snow! 

 Ask your child what a protagonist and an antagonist is. Why are characters so important to a great story as we relate to them or feel negative towards them? This morning, each of them created a character. They wrote their names, interests, friends, likes, dislikes and drew a picture of them.  Yesterday was ground hog day. We looked at the history of this day and how reliable the ground hog is, when it comes to knowing when Spring will be here! We went on a shape walk within the school and graphed 2D and 3D shapes. The winner got a little prize for finding the most! In the afternoon they each created a vision board collage. We used many magazines to create these posters. I will send them home soon as they are excited to show you!  In Science we learned about natural and artificial light. Ask your child about the facts they learned.  Please have your child show you what they did for Math today. They learned about symmetrical shapes, asymmetrical shapes and lines of symmetry. We used mir

 In Science today they went in pairs and read about energy and light. Energy is the ability to do work as it allows things to move, grow or change. Ask them to explain this to you. Also ask them to give you some interesting facts about light.  We started off the morning by creating our classroom calendar together. February is our kindness and friendship month. They did some writing in their journals about kindness. During our circle share time, they each went around and explained what made them a good friend! In Math we did less than, greater than, and more than in comparing fractions. They also did some review with division and multiplication.  In Mindfulness we did some class yoga. We talked about how yoga originated in India. Ask them what 'namaste' means.  Spelling words: Red: test, best, rest, nest, West Blue: light, shadows, heat, reflect, terms Green: energize, properties, interacting, materials, questioning