Crazy but True

Our writing theme today was: What is a Crazy but True thing that happened in your life? As the students listen to each other's ideas, their memories get jogged and it's very interesting what rich experiences they have had!

One of the forms of writing that we learn in grade 2 is "the recount." A recount is a telling of a story. Some of the elements of recount that we will learn and practice in our writing workshop are:

• main idea
• important details
• connecting and sequencing words (e. g. then, next, after that, finally) which help the story make sense
• adjectives
• words that "show" the reader what happened instead of just telling (e. g. the blue paint was in huge blobs like giant spiders on the wall, instead of the blue paint was everywhere)

And, the usual suspects:

• letter formation
• spacing between words
• when to use capitals
• periods, commas, exclamation marks

Ask your child to tell you their "Crazy but True" story! Some day soon I might tell you mine!

Terry Fox Event reminder

Hello everyone,

Just a friendly reminder to send sponsor money to school with your child, so that their participation in our Terry Fox Day fund-raising walk will be worthwhile. Blue permission forms were sent home last week. The students begin walking at 2PM Thursday September 24, and will be travelling through the neighbourhood, returning to the school at 3.

Feel free to join us and help raise money for cancer research.

G.B.

Movement: Using a Pulley

We began a science project today. The board provided my classroom with a set of pulleys for students to experiment with. Pulleys are one of the basic "simple machines" which are defined by the following:

• they use human force
• they make work easier

The simple machines are: lever, ramp (inclined plane), wedge (two ramps back to back), and pulley.

Working with a partner, students will design a way to hold their pulley up off of their desk. Their design must be strong enough to hold the pulley firm while it lifts a load. As part of the learning, the students will experiment with different materials and methods of holding up the pulley.

You can support this project by providing some simple construction materials such as a cereal box that your child can bring to school. We will need these materials on Wednesday, Sept. 23 for our construction session.

For more information and interactive computer learning, check out http://www.edheads.org/activities/simple-machines/

Mr. B.

Home Reading - Part of Literacy Growth, (but not all of it)

Hi everyone,

An important part of a child's reading growth is just the enjoyment of books, pure and simple.

Too often we try to push our kids too hard with reading, and we forget why the books were written in the first place! If your child isn't enjoying home reading, then something's wrong, and it's probably not the kid's fault.

In our home reading collection, many of the books are slightly above our students' reading levels, but they are (hopefully!) stories or topics of interest. So it makes sense that an interested family member (a parent, grandparent or caring older sibling) has to sit with the student so the two can share the book together. The purpose is to enjoy the content, mostly by talking about it together or having a conversation about a related idea that pops up.

I should emphasize that book time at home shouldn't be about trying to read every word in the book! This approach will lead to discouragement and perhaps even conflict with your child.

Feel free to talk about the pictures and the content. There's no problem with you reading the text to your child; after all, kids will follow a good role model! Sometimes a child will be glad to find words they know on the page, or just read the headings or the labels on the pictures, and then an adult read the details.

My three kids are now between 9 and 16. Our upstairs bookshelf is clogged with hundreds of books that we used to read together at bedtime. Often I was more tired at that point in the day than my kid! I sometimes found myself nodding off in the middle of "Snow White" or something. ("Dad!...Dad!...Wake up!") So, to help get it done faster, I would try to leave parts of the story out (I hate to admit it). My kids had heard some of those stories so many times that they had memorized every word, and they would always say, "Dad! It doesn't go like that! Read it right!"

Lesson: don't think for a second that they don't listen to you and appreciate the book when you read to them.

Could my kids read every word of those books? Hardly!
Did they learn and enjoy hundreds of stories? Yes!
Were they becoming literate? Absolutely!

Take the pressure off yourself.
Home reading is not, "Time to do your homework!"
It is, "Hey, what book can we enjoy together today?"

Thanks for Taking the Time

Thank you parents for dropping in last evening to meet me and chat. I look forward to seeing you again, most likely at interview time. Until then, watch for word lists in your child's agenda, starting in early October.

The home reading time is a daily opportunity to share a good book with your child. They will likely need your support in reading the book they have chosen.

Our Science Unit

Science is one of my favourite subjects. I like the way it gives everyone an opportunity to explore the world and the way it works. Our first science unit is on "Movement" and it touches on concepts of simple machines, mechanisms, how toys work, and also some aspects of how things operate and move to help us.

Our classroom has a science kit called Gadgets, Gears and Gizmos to help support this unit. Look for some pictures in the days to come.

Vocabulary building ideas:

1. lever
2. wedge
3. screw
4. ramp
5. fulcrum
6. effort
7. force
   
8. load
9. push
10. pull
11. turn
    

What's in the Bag

Here is what was sent home this week. Did you get it?

• Scouts Canada information pamphlet
• Insurance pamphlet
• Blue sheet - permission form for home reading kit
• White permission form bundle (stapled), containing "walk around the neighbourhood" trip permission forms, medical information, emergency contact information, permission to photograph
• Notice about this web site, www.room9parents.blogspot.com
  

A Neat Thing Happened Today...

We were having our sharing time at the carpet. I had invited one student to read his writing to the class, and he agreed. This boy had been working hard to make some fixes to his work. When he read it to me out loud he had to stop and think - there were some words missing, so he added them in so it made sense.

After he read his piece, the students were asked, "What did you hear him read, and what do you see?"

Immediately the boy realized that his picture needed to have some changes made. Then another student asked, "What kind of toys does the animal play with?"

He very seriously explained what he meant, and the whole class listened respectfully.

What is neat about this is how quickly the student took ownership for his work, and how willing and ready he was to make it better. I believe that all of our students want their writing to be as good as possible, as long as they can find their topic meaningful to them, and provided that they have enough time and help to fix it up.

We really can't expect students to jump in and write perfectly on the first try. But with time, they will get the hang of it!

If you come into our room on Meet the Teacher Day (September 16), you will be able to look at all the writing we've done.

Mr. Brown

Second Day

Writing Workshop:
Our young writers are learning to make decisions about their writing.

There are 3 options for writing, left up to the student to choose:

1. Add more to work done before.
2. Fix up (edit) some work that was done before.
3. Start some new writing.

The work of writing is very satisfying. There is something magical and important about being able to put your ideas onto paper! It's one of our basic, essential skills in grade two this year.

Mr. B

Our First Day

Well, I had a great first day today! I feel really good about our class and how we will get along with each other. I think the students feel pretty good, too. We read two books together, the first one being "First Day Jitters" and the second being "Chrysanthemum."

We had time to choose our own books to read, and we each wrote about something that is very important to us.

We had gym today. Our gym days are Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Those are the days to bring running shoes to school. (Some parents like to have an extra pair of shoes to leave at school, especially when the weather gets wet and snowy!)

We are going to try to remember the different ways we can read a book:

1. We can read the words out loud.
2. We can whisper the words.
3. We can read the words in our head, silently.
4. We can tell the story in our own words using the pictures.

As time goes by, we will more and more be able to read all of the words on the page!

Here's Our Classroom

Our computer centre is ready to go.

Desks in pairs for the first day.

Our story carpet and sharing area.