Outside Blogging!

Today it's the morning before lunch and we're blogging outside in the out of bounds part of the playground. -Rhianna
It is so sunny that we can blog outside. We are having fun because it's so hot. Yay! -Cameron
Today we're blogging outside because we are going to have a guest teacher. Ms. Koehn is coming. Lindsay asked to go outside to blog. -Sydney H
Yesterday there was gardening club and we got to pick out all the weeds. -Ashley
There are bugs crawling everywhere!!! -Kendall
While we are outside blogging I saw a butterfly. It might be a monarch. It is very, very hot outside. -Madeline
It's too hot! -Sydney R
It's really hot and my face already feels like its going to be burning. A spider was crawling to me so I took a rock and led it into a crack. -Ali
Today after Word Work we came outside. It is too hot. -Nick
When we were in garden club we saw a monarch butterfly. -Taylor

The Most Important Mammal.... People!

Today at the end of the day we learned about food groups and we watched 3 short videos about things that you should do and things that are healthy for you. They were made by the grade 1 & 2 class last year. The four food groups were Meat and Alternatives, Dairy Products, Grain Products, and Fruits and Vegetables. We added Junk Food too.

Here is a link to the Canada's Food Guide website. You can build your very own food guide and print it out to keep at home to remind you to eat healthy!

Make Your Own Food Guide

-The Kids of Room 9

More Paper Slide Videos!

Here are the rest of our lifecycle videos!

Paper Slide Videos!

Hello Room 9 Followers! Here are our Paper Slide Videos about animal lifecycles! The rest will be posted later today. The kids of Room 9 worked hard to research, plan and create these awesome videos. Please leave them a comment!

Making Numbers

Today we were making numbers and you had to do the number and when you're done your number you had to pass it over to the next person. -Nick
When we were doing the numbers I did the hardest number at my table. It was 998. -Ali
Today when we were doing math centres we were doing numbers. At the end we all had to do a number together. It was 3684. One number was 99 and I forget the rest. -Sydney H
The blocks that we were using were called place value blocks. There were ones, hundreds and tens and thousands in some of them. -Kendall
Today at math Tristan came to our table and we had to do numbers and I had fun. -Kaspir
Today we had math. The oldest person made the biggest number and we had 6 people in our group. -Cameron

Can you guess this number?


Taylor and Sam came back today! -Jolene

The LLLOOOOONNNNGGGGG Weekend!

Here's what we're up to for the May Long Weekend:
Jadyn - I'm going to hang around home and I might got the the States.
Rhianna - Tomorrow I'm going to my cabin and staying there for the whole long weekend!
Olivia - I'm going to my friend's cabin on Sunday!
Tyson - I'm going to my cabin today!
Kaspir - I'm going to the zoo tomorrow!
Brandon - I'm going to my cabin!
Sydney H - I'm going to my cabin!
Sydney R - I'm doing nothing.
Rylee - I'm going to my cabin and I'm going to suntan on the rock by the water.
Ashley - I'm going to my cabin to spend time with my cousin.
Cameron - I am going to hang around at home.
Jolene - I'm going to my cabin on Sunday with my Auntie and Uncle and baby cousin.
Ali - I'm going to my cabin.
Tristan - I'm going to my cabin today with Tyson
Lindsay - I'm going to hang around home and I might go to Rhianna's for a play date.
Kendall - I'm going to annoy my brother.
Andy - I mgiht go to Aaron's house today.
Cole - I don't know what I'm doing.
Nick - Tomorrow I am going to my cousin's for a visit.
Mrs. M. - I'm going to Grand Forks to visit my nieces and nephew!

Paper Slide Video Project!

Last week I was able to attend the Riding the Wave Education and Technology Conference in Gimli, MB as both a presenter and a participant. One of the sessions that I attended focussed on 4 different ways to create videos with kids. The one that caught my attention the most was Paper Slide Video. If you have ever seen a video from the http://www.commoncraft.com/ website, you'll know what I'm talking about. Next week the children in our class will create their own Paper Slide Videos about lifecycles. Today we watched this YouTube video that explains how to make this type of video:


The kids in our class will plan, film and edit their own videos next week using our Flip and Ipevo cameras. When we're done we'll post them here!

Today we went to the computer lab and we watched the video up there and then we blogged and we had to blog about animal groups. I did it like a list. I'm going to finish it today. -Jadyn
When we went to computer lab we did a KidBlog about animal groups. The animal groups were amphibians, fish, insects, mammals, reptiles and birds. Mrs. Malkoske put a link to something but I don't know what's on the link yet. I did a big KidBlog. -Rhianna
At computer lab we were doing KidBlog and we were writing about animal groups. I was writing about the animal groups. I said, "We were learning about fish. Fish live in water." -Nick

Why I Love Grade 1 & 2...

It's been a while since I've added "my two cents" to our blog... so here it goes. I know I've posted about why I love teaching before, but over the last week or so I've been able to add to the list many times. Here are 5 more reasons...

1. Growth & Tiny Bloggers - I love this picture! Here is one of my grade one students at our computer during Daily 5 time. He was very excited about getting a new puppy and wanted, needed to share his story. He asked if he could blog about it. It wasn't enough to write it in his notebook and put it back on the shelf, he needed to share his story with a bigger audience. At the beginning of the year writing wasn't his favourite thing to do, now he's a blogger! 

2. Random Acts of Kindness - This next picture is a card that one of my grade 2 students brought in and asked me to take to my niece who is in the hospital. The two girls connected via our classroom KidBlogs and have been blogging and commenting on each other's blogs this year. (My niece, Nora, is in Grade 3 and lives in Grand Forks and asked to be a "Guest Blogger" on our site.) When her blogging buddy heard she was sick, she went home and made her a get well soon card. :)

3. Curiosity - Some of the kids in our class have been conducting Personal Inquiry Projects during Daily 5 time. One of my grade 2s is learning about plants. She's planted marigolds and a bean plant. Everyday she comes in and immediately goes to her 'greenhouse' on our window sill. Each day she giggles and shows how much her plants have grown, carefully waters them and takes a picture. I love when kids get excited about learning about something that they are genuinely intersted in.

4. Gratitude - Yesterday on of my grade 1 students came up to me and asked if she could write a letter during Work on Writing. I asked her who she was writing to and she explained that her Nana was staying with her this week and that she's been putting little notes and messages in her lunch kit all week. She wanted to write a note to Nana to thank her.

5. Weeds in a Cup - Spring time in grade 1 & 2 means lots of "bouquets" for me. Every time a student brings in a fistful of whatever they find outside, we put it in a cup of water and leave it on display for the day. It always makes me smile :)  

Amphibian Facts

Today in inquiry we switched from birds to amphibians. Mrs. Malkoske went on the computer and we looked on The National Geographic Kids website. We looked on Bullfrogs and Red Eyed Tree Frogs and Salamanders and Mexican Axolotl. The Mexican Axolotl looked funny because we saw some pictures and two of them kissing. -Madeline
In the book Amphibians there was a page called "Stay Away" there were two frogs that were blue and black and orange and those are the poisonous frogs. When the predators take a bite they die instantly. -Taylor
Today we were talking about amphibians and there was a page that said that there were frogs as big as your thumb nail and a different page that said a salamander can be as big as a man like Mr. Chan (our music teacher). The best part was that the Mexican Axolotl were kissing. -Jadyn
When Mrs. Malkoske turned the page of the book there was a sign that said "Stay Away". There was two poisonous frogs. -Nick
There were three kinds of amphibians: frogs, salamanders and toads. -Cameron
We watched a video. First we watched a frog video, then a bullfrog, then a salamader (on National Geographic Kids site). -Aliegha
Today we looked up frogs and salamanders. We did some writing about the frogs. -Kaspir
Today Mrs. Malkoske was talking about amphibians. I liked a salamander that had spots. -Brandon
We were reading a book about amphibians and we saw salamanders. We learned that they can blend in really well and they can have orange spots and yellow spots. They are cold blooded and turtles try to eat them. They are born under water, like their eggs are under water when they are born. My favourite is salamders because they are sort of like geckos. -Tristan

The Very Hot Day

Today we went to gym and we played Billy Goat Gruff. Before we started playing there was a fire drill. We went outside in the back and stood out there for about 10 minutes. And when we were coming in I took my shoes off because I thought it was recess but it wasn't. -Jadyn
Today we had math centres and I did money centre and it was fun. -Brandon
When we went to gym me and Rhianna got to sit on the bench and we asked the gym teacher if we could draw on the board and he said yes. -Lindsay
Today in math centres, Brandon, Jolene, Cameron and Tyson were in my group. We started at money and then we went on to the beads and then we went to the ten frames and you had to skip down from 6. Every time you skipped down from 6 you would land on a different number and it always had 6 in it. -Sydney H
In math centres the beads were exciting and first I went to money second the beads, third the ten frames. -Cameron

A Very Hot and Busy Day

Today we had outdoor gym. I played on the play structure. It was fun. -Brandon
In computer lab we went on to the wiki and looked for information about birds. After computer lab we came back in to the class and there was a note that said "I have your stick bugs. Thanks, Sydney R's Mom" -Nick
I went on the monkey bars and after I went to the front play structure and played on the spider web. In the sandbox people were playing shark attack. I was it not a lot but then we had to go for regular recess in the front and I was skipping the whole time. When I came in Mrs. Malkoske put prizes in my bag from Jump Rope. I was surprised I got the prize I wanted. It was a frisbee that lights up. -Rhianna
Today in the computer lab our first job was to write some facts about birds. One of the facts was that when a whole bunch of penguins are in a group it's called a colony. When I was done I went on KidBlog and did a post that was called "My Adventure in the Woods". It was 11 lines. -Tristan
Today when we were looking at the birds I chose bald eagle. When I was playing a game when I was done, I was playing make a flake and I made my flake really tiny. -Sydney H
Today at outdoor gym the grade 4s and kindergarteners came outside too. I saw a kindergartener and she was playing something and I wanted to play too. I asked her if I could play and she said Yes! We played restaurant. She's my friend now. -Rylee
Today we cut out our chameleons and Mrs. Stetson's daughter was helping us. I skipped at recess. -Jadyn
In outdoor gym I went on the monkey bars and on the slide. Then after I just walked around and had a break. -Cameron

Painting Chameleons

Today we had gym. We played basketball and dancing. We have to learn the dance for folk dance. -Sam
Today we read a little bit about reptiles and after we got to finger paint them. We used the three primary colours. They are blue, red and yelllow. On my chameleon I put yellow, purple, blue, green, red and orange. -Jadyn
The chameleons are reptiles just like we're learning. It's special because once they land on something that's a colour, for example like the carpet, they would blend into it so that they could be safe. -Rylee
I painted a chameleon. I used red, blue, purple, orange, yellow and green. They change colours. -Cameron
Today at inquiry, Mrs. Malkoske read us a story about reptiles and then we got to go to our table and write some stuff that we learned and a lifecycle of a reptile. Then we went back to the carpet and Mrs. Malkoske read some more of the story and we wrote some more. -Sydney R
All the chameleons are cute and colourful! -Kendall
Mrs. Malkoske read us the story "The Mixed-Up Chameleon". The author was Eric Carle. When the chameleon said he wanted to be something like an elephant, he turned grey. Then he wanted to be a flamingo and got wings and flamingo legs. -Madeline
My chameleon had a whole bunch of colours like green, purple that were mixed. I had red and blue polka dots. Tomorrow we will cut them out. -Taylor

We're Back!

Last week we decided to leave our blog for a little while so that we could visit other blogs and leave comments for some of the people we love to read about... this week we're back!

In the morning we were doing Daily 5. For work on writing we had to write something special about our moms. Some people did a list and some people wrote a story. I'm thinking that tonight or tomorrow I might do a post about why my Mom is special but she reads all my posts. I'm not going to let her read it this time until Mother's Day. Then maybe she'll comment. Here is a link to my blog -Madeline
Today we did Daily 5 and first we did Read to Self. After we did word work. Then we did Work on Writing. We wrote about our moms. -Nick
Today we did Math Centres and it was very awesome. -Brandon
On Saturday I might do a blog post about my mom if I have time. I'm going to try and make it a whole page. -Jolene
Today we had indoor recess because it was raining. Only at one recess we went outside. The other ones we stayed inside. We got some new math blocks. -Taylor
Today we talked about reptiles. We watched a movie on YouTube. Some reptiles are alligator, crocodile, snakes and turtle. -Cameron

Sharing the love :)

We love to get comments on our blog posts so for the rest of this week we are looking at other blogs and sharing the love :) We follow and check in on lots of teacher and classroom blogs during our morning meeting and quite often we find information, talk about what other classes are doing and borrow ideas. This week we'll comment on some of our favourites. See you next week!