RamsayRowland

  February 21 - 24th This week was chilly and forced us to be indoors however we had an awesome week together. Here is a look at our week: Math - This week we centered on addition using the strategy of adding on.  To count on, students need to identify the largest number in the equation and count on from it. This means they need to understand the communicative property (turnarounds or flip-flop facts). Students  must understand that 1 + 5 = 5 + 1.   Students practiced this strategy using a beaded number line. This allowed them the opportunity to count out the number of beads for each number in an addition equation and then identify the larger number and count on to find the sum.  Literacy -  This week our phonics focus was on the FLSZ Rule which states that  when a one-syllable word has a short vowel sound and ends in one of those four consonant sounds, the final consonant is usually doubled (eg buzz, boss, will, off).  We also worked on the high frequency words - many, then, them, the

February 13-15th We had a short but jam packed week!  Valentine's Literacy activities     - students spent time immersed in activities which built on  their literacy skills (reading and writing along with building their awareness of relationships with friends and what it takes to be a good friend).   Finding our friends names in puzzles - Identifying and writing characteristics of good friends -  Sight word scavenger hunt -  Making cards/letters - We also celebrated the 100th day of school with stories, games, body breaks, counting, building a hundreds board with our peers, building a beaded number line and building with 100 objects.  Students brought home their beaded number line to help practice identifying and representing numbers and to continue to build their numeracy fluency. These beaded number lines are also an excellent tool to assist with addition and subtraction. 

February 6-10th It was a wonderful week in room 9 transitioning to the changes and being a grade 1 family.  Here is a look at our week - I can learn about the past and how individuals/groups shaped and changed history. I can identify the meanings to new vocabulary. I can formulate my own opinions and share them with the group.   This month is Black History month and we took the time this week to explore new vocabulary, learn about individuals and discuss our opinions on the stories we shared. We began by looking at the terms diversity and race then the terms racism and prejudice. As a group we spent time formulating our understanding of these concepts from anchor texts we read along with videos and student voice. From there we went on to read about three individuals who had dramatic impacts and shaped history - Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr and Viola Desmond. Here is a sample of student documentation after reading about these individuals-  Phonics/Sight words - This week we continu

January 30 - February 2nd  This was our last week as a grade one and two group and we spent lots of time enjoying one another's company, celebrating each other's unique abilities, opinions and ideas. We talked about how we would always be a part of one another's family and this transition led to many discussions about change, resilience and strong relationships. Students had  many thoughts and perspectives about change and related this to other events in their own lives, stories and in history.  Here is a look at a few other activities we participated in:   I Can Develop Listening Skills / I Can Sequence Main Ideas in a Story. I Can Document My Understanding. We continued and finished our chapter book, My friend Hedgehog by Lauren Castillo. We had some wonderful discussions about the themes in the story and the way the author documented the pictures in the book. Each chapter, students created their own story board of the events that took place.  Here is a sample of some of