Choice Time

Today at the end of our day, the children in Room 9 had some Choice Time During choice time the children choose an activity to work and play independently or in a small group. The options available to them are connected to the curricular focus in our classroom. Some of today's options were connected to our inquiry topic, Machines & Motion, others were connected to our Daily 5, and others were connected to the Bag Up Manitoba recycle project we are starting next week. Choice Time is one of my favourite times in our classroom. The kids are given an option for learning and as such, stay focussed on thier activity for a longer period of time. They are given the opportunity to choose the direction of thier learning and today they made some great choices! -Mrs. Malkoske

 Here's what happened:

Today we made a book for Wallace because he was sick. He was supposed to come back yesterday but he didn't. We made it before Choice Time. Me and Cayden built a rectangle and we used our marbles on it. We built a small one first. Then we built a bigger one. I had fun with Cayden and the other kids who were playing with me. -Andy

My group did some sorting with papers. When we did the sorting we had to count all of them. I had lots of fun counting. The papers were about "Bag Up Manitoba!" We are starting Bag Up on October 1st. If you have any plastic bags send them to school in your bag. -Rylee

Today at the end of the day we did Choice Time after we made a get well soon book for Wallace. My choice was doing Work on Writing on the iPad. On the iPad I was writing on KidBlog. I did "Save as Draft" because I didn't finish 5 sentences. I was writing about my friends. -Rhianna

We drew a target and taped it. We flew our paper airplane to the target. I coloured mine with stripes. -Sam

I coloured my airplane with markers and stuff. I started throwing my airplane. My airplane got stuck. -Kaspir

Today I was blogging about Wallace. I really miss him. I wrote a lot of writing on my KidBlog. I was like a speedy person. -Nick

Today I made a book for Wallace. I had lots of details in my book. It had a double garage and some bubbles. On my Kidblog I taught Karys how to blog. I had only one sentece so far so I saved it as draft. I built a ramp in choice time. I had fun with lots of kids. And I had a big marble -Cam

Building Ramps

I built a ramp with my group and it was fun. -Elly
Today we tested our wheels, big and small. The big ones went further and the little ones went closer. The little ones turned around. -Sofia
We built ramps to see if they worked. We had to push our wheels down the ramps. -Ella
Today when we tested our wheels, the big wheels went faster and the little wheels went slower. It was awesome! -Nick
It was fun building ramps because we got to work in a group. -Cali
Today my group found out that the bigger wheels went further than the little wheels. We were using the same force but it still did not work. -Rylee

Before we built our ramps we read a book and we learned some fancy science words. They were FORCE, STEEP, FRICTION, the 2 forces were PUSH AND PULL. Then we went to build our ramps and our group got to go by the library in our classroom. We leaned a long piece of cardboard by a chair and put our cars down. The bigger one worked better. -Syd

We tested our ramps. The big wheels broke a lot. They went faster than the little ones. The little ones were turning lots. -Cam

One of the fancy science words is AXLE. It is the part of a car where the wheels connect. -Andy

Me and my group were in the area where the book boxes are to build ramps. My group built a steep ramp and a non-steep ramp. -Reegan

To build the wheels we used plastercine on the inside and outside and for the axle we used a straw. For the wheel part we used plates. We tested them after we built them. The little wheels were a little food stick like for shishkabobs, and beads. -Rhianna

Runclub

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This mornig some of the people in the class went to run club. 5 of the people went. they were me elly ella rylee and reegan went. we were running with mrs. malkoske. we went really far. when we got back ms. castor took a picture of us at the tracks. There was a few people behinde us in the back groud. we were at the back of the school. when we got back to school the bell did not ring so we played outside for  a bit.it was fun. - Rhianna 
today we went to runclub. I ran with Rhianna. it was fantastick. -ella
Today was run club. I had fun. I ran with mrs. malkoske.we got our picweher.Rylee. 
we went to runclub -elly
Today we did runclub. -Reegan

Math & Daily 5

Today we had Daily 5. When I was reading I found information about rocks in a rock book. When I get home I'm going to look at the rocks in my rock garden and I'm going to crack them with bigger rocks and see what's inside them. -Rhianna

We did some math, adding and taking away. We had to use dominoes and we sorted them by number. -Sofia

Today I went with Mrs. Green and I read two books and I sounded out the words. Mrs. Green helped me a little bit. -Nick

Today we did some math with dominoes. We sorted them. Somebody got it mixed up. -Cam

I read a book to Mrs. Malkoske and it was fun. -Elly

When I was reading a book, I read two chapter books. -Kayla

In our math time this month we've been reviewing addition and subtraction facts to twenty using a variety of materials, games, stories and centres. Today the children in our class worked with dominoes. The thing that I was most impressed by was how well the groups worked as a team to count, add, sort and organize their dominoes. They had conversations about patterns and addition, strategized about how to organize, and cooperated and divided the work to be done. It is still early in our year together and I'm already seeing our older and younger students connecting, supporting, and celebrating together... and that's AWESOME :)

Drawing Penguins!

Today we were learning how to draw penguins like the penguin from "Lost and Found" by Oliver Jeffers. We used this slide show to help us: How to Draw a Penguin

There are 12 steps to follow. You should try it too! We practiced a bunch of times and then some of us got to paint them!

Oliver Jeffers!

Today we had to do read to someone and me and Rhianna were partners. We were doing outher studes on Oliver Jeffers and we had to pick an Oliver Jeffers books and we picked The Way Back Home. - Sydney

Oliver Jeffers has made a lot of books that we have in our class room. He does the drawing and the writing. His first book is How to Catch a Star. His second book is Lost and Found. His therd book is The Way Back Home. His forth book is The INCREDIBLE Book EATING BOY. His fifth book is the great paper caper. Oliver Jeffers is from England Belfast but now he lives in Brooklyn New York. He makes Exhibits art and he enjoys a good game of rock paper scissors! He has Exhibits in painting in Belfast, New York, and Sydney. - Sydney

We read stuck and the first time it was funny and when Mrs. Malkoske went to a meating she herd that two other teachers had also read the book stuck that they were discussing that the tree terd different colors in each of the pages. We are still trying to figger out why! - Rhianna

Here's a link to Oliver Jeffers' website.

Stuck!

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Today we reread the book "Stuck" by Oliver Jeffers. We found this video of Oliver Jeffers reading it. It was read again because Mrs. Malkoske got a message from Ms. Nairn and Mr. Stimson and they sent the message and told Mrs. Malkoske that they read it too. When Floyd went to bed he forgot everything else in the tree!-Rhianna

Ms. Narin's class noticed that the whole time the tree turned different colours. We didn't notice that. Then we read it again and we discovered that it did have different colours! But haven't discovered why yet. -Rylee

We noticed the tree changed different colours. The tree was red when Floyd was mad. When he was sad it was blue. It was gray when he was frustrated. It was an awesome book. -Cam

The first time we read Stuck it was really funny. And then when Ms. Narin's class noticed that the tree turned colours we read it again and saw that it did. This time that we read it, we didn't laugh as much, we were more concentrating on trying to figure out why the tree turned colours. Ms. Nairn's class thought that it turned colours because of Floyd's feelings and Mr. Stimson's class thought it was the time of the day. -Sydney

I noticed that the letters S-T-U-C-K are stuck in the tree on the front. -Jonathan

I like the book because it was funny. -Elly

When the tree changed colour Floyd's face changed. His eyebrows changed. -Ella

It looked like unibrow. -Sydney

In the book, every time things went into the tree, it changed colours. -Cayden

Oliver Jeffers read it super fast. It seems like he's read it a million times. -Rylee

Today I was away from school in the morning at a committee meeting at the Manitoba Teachers Society. During our coffee break, I noticed that two Manitoba teachers that I follow on Twitter were discussing a book that the kids and I read (and loved) last week. They were posted some things that they noticed about the book. When I came back to school I told the kids about the discussion I read and they decided to look into some of the other classrooms' comments. We're hoping to set up a Skype date with the other two classrooms to continue our discussion about this great book! -Ms. Malkoske

Check out our post from last year about another Oliver Jeffers book, "How to Catch a Star".

Being Builders About Ramps

Today everybody got to bring a toy to school. If you didn't bring one you get to build one or pick one out of things that move. We got partners and my partner was Elly. We had a paper and a marker. We wrote what we did when we were building ramps. We did 6 things. One of the things we used was a clipboard. We tried a whiteboard too. -Rhianna

We each got to work with partners on building a ramp. It was like we were builders. I felt really proud of myself. My partner was Ella. -Rylee

Today I built a ramp. My partner was Brandon. We worked hard to find the right ramp. The right one was a white cardboard. It was the biggest one we could find. -Cameron

Today we had to do ramps. We had to get a car. We had to ride them down the ramp. -Nick

I had fun building a ramp with Rhianna. -Elly

I had fun. We got to get a car and ride it down. We built a cardboard ramp and my partner was Jonathan. -Carter

My partner was Karys. -Reegan

It was fun! Yay! -Cayden

My partner was Carter. It was fun. You had to run stuff down ramps. Carter had a plane. -Jonathan

When we were talking about making ramps, Mrs. Malkoske asked if we could look around the room and find something that you could use for a ramp. I found a big piece of wood. When it was time to make ramps I went and got it. My partner was Cali. We tried a bunch of places to put the ramp but a few of them worked. Then we went to the carpet and put a stool under and put the ramp over top and got little place value blocks and we put them underneath. We got some foam things that we put at the end. When we put the place value block under and the foam at the bottom, our cars went really far and it worked really well. I had fun. -Sydney

Today we each got to bring a toy to school. We got to build ramps. -Kayla

Daily 5 Video!

Today we did read to self and we made a video of what we're supposed to do. We recorded the expectations with a partner. On the video people got to be recorders and actors and talkers. We worked two or three in a group. We used our FLIP video camera. Here is our movie:

This year the children in the K-3 classrooms in our school will once again be participating in the Daily 5 on a daily basis. The children in our classroom already knew the expectations for Daily 5 and were ready to dive right in! We've spent  a week reviewing and adding to our expectations for each of the five choices and have decided to create a short video series to share with others. This is the first video in the series. The children decided what they would do and say, and they filmed each clip themselves. I put it together during recess with a couple of guest editors :) -Mrs. Malkoske

Time for Animals to Move

Yesterday we started our first Science Inquiry of the year. We're learning about Motion and Position. During our Inquiry, we're going to look at how people, animals, and machines move. We'll even design and build a machine that moves! Today we talked about animals moving and watched this video :)


Today we did some learning about how animals move. I hope you like this video just like the kids of room 9 like it! -Rylee

Today was fun! -Cayden
Today we watched a Madagascar 2 music video. It's about moving. The video was funny. -Nick
The video is called Move it! Move  it! I've watched Madagascar on tv before and I learned the song. I also met one more new friend. My friend is Cali. -Elly
Today we watched a video. It was Madagascar. After we cut animals out and glued them about how they move. It was fun. -Cameron
After the Madagascar video Mrs. Malkoske gave us a piece of paper with a bunch of animals on it. We had to sort them by how they move. There were lots of animals that had four legs. -Sydney

Cayden Joined Our Class!

Today Cayden came to our class. I like that because he's really special. -Nick

We had a little party to celebrate for Cayden. It was exciting. We all had fun. -Rylee

On the morning message Rylee was pointing to it, and when we all read it something special was in it that Cayden was coming to our class. For the celebration we had Rice Krispie cake with Smarties and choice time. -Rhianna

Cayden joined our class and we had a little party. We got to play on the iPads. -Elly

Today Cayden did math centres with us. We did 3 centres. It was Power of Ten, Pattern Blocks and Patterns. I did a whole bunch of patterns. -Cameron

Today a new kid came to our class. Yay! -Ella

To celebrate Cayden joining our class we made a book for him and had a little party. Mrs. Malkoske made a Rice Krispie Cake with Smarties. It was fun making the book. -Sydney

Today was an exciting day as we had a new student join our classroom. During our morning meeting I let the children in our class know that Cayden would be joining our crew. I was surprised and impressed with the kids in my room (although I shouldn't have been surprised!) as they suggested, and then insisted, that they make something for Cayden to welcome him. They talked about how nervous he must be feeling and thought that making a book with welcome messages and put ups might make him feel a little better. As a teacher, these are the moments that make my day. The kindness and caring that kids show one another is... AWESOME :) -Mrs. Malkoske

A Busy First Week!

Welcome to Grade 1 & 2! We're going to have a awesome year! We have a whole bunch of new friends joining our classroom this year. Some of our classmates from last year have moved on to grade 3 and we look forward to visiting their classroom blogs thoughout the year. Here are some highlights from our week.

On the first day of school we did self portraits. We did it last year too. This year we painted it. Last year we coloured it with pencil crayons. Mine looks a lot better than last year. -Sydney
This week we made self portraits. We got a little bit of choice time. On Monday we're going to start glyphs. Today we started with O Canada and then after we went outside for Gym instead of having it inside. I saw flowers coming into the shcool. This morning I got to do my first TWAS with a full page and  a little bit more. I helped Ella for a little bit. Today is our first blog post with kids. Tomorrow is Saturday and it's the weekend. On the back of the TWAS page is a weekend job that you have to do and bring back to school. The job is to make a list of things you do at your house. -Rhianna
Today we did our first TWAS. I almost did a whole page. -Cameron
Today on TWAS I wrote a whole page. It was fun. -Nick
Today was the third day of school. I was late for school. I'm always late for school. -Rylee
Today we had Gym outside and I played with Sam and Nick. -Kaspir
We have new book boxes. -Reegan
Our book boxes are rainbow colours. -Rhianna
I got a new classroom. -Elly

Here is a song that we're learning in our classroom. Listen carefully to the words... What we are is AWESOME!



I am looking forward to another AWESOME year in Grade 1 and 2! It was so nice to start the year with my returning students and to meet our new classmates. We are just getting back into our routine and should be back to blogging EVERY DAY by next week... so stay tuned! -Mrs. Malkoske