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

Painting Eyes and Other Stuff

Today we painted eyeballs. The eyes are going to go up on the wall. We went to groups and we did some writing. After Spring Break we're going to go on a field trip and we're going to make some stuff out of wood. -Rhianna
We painted our eyes different colours. And then we had to dry them off. -Sam
Today we did centres and Mrs. Malkoske put us into groups. There was measuring tapes and beakers and scales and thermometers. For the thermometer group I put mine in the freezer and it went to 11. -Taylor
Today Sydney R's Mom came so we could paint our eyeballs that we made yesterday. The colours that I used were brown, yellow, and green. The paints are water paint. We did some centres and there were four. My first centre was the beakers. -Madeline

At lunch recess when the bell rang I saw my Mom. Me and Kendall got undressed really fast and then we grabbed our shoes and went into the corner and then we went behind the word work wall and we put our headphones on. Mrs. Malkoske and my Mom laughed and me and Kendall laughed too. In the afternoon my Mom came. I got to paint my eye first because my Mom was here. Me and Madeline were cleaning the paper that my Mom cut. -Sydney R

Today we had centres and I went to Joining and Building centre. We had to write what you can build with and join with. -Cameron

Today we painted our eyeballs. -Nick

Today we painted our eyeballs and tomorrow we are going to hang them up on the wall. We are going to take them home after. -Kaspir

Today we painted eyeballs. Eyeballs look very creepy to me. -Rylee

The Best Number Of The Day

For number of the day we could pick the number that we wanted to do. The grade ones got to pick between ten and fifty. The grade twos got to pick between fifty and 200. The number Madeline's picked was 195.
Sydney R number was fifty that was the highest number you could go if you were a grade oner. One of the number sentinces was 20 + 30 = 50. We had to draw a math picture how much the number was.
- Madeline, Kendall, and Sydney R

We also talked about measurement today. Here are some of the ways and tools we talked about:
-length (tape measure, measuring tape, ruler, meter stick)
-height
-weight (scale)
-temperature (thermometer, fish tank, outside, your body, in the car
-time
-GPS measure distance
-in the oven
-baking... using measuring cup and spoons
-level tells if something is straight or not

The WOW! Word Day

 Today we had a substitute teacher because Mrs. Malkoske had to go to a meeting. Our subs name was Ms. Koehn. (Rhianna) Today Mrs. Malkoske went to a meeting and then she came back with Mrs. Kosolowski. We were talking about snow and Wow words. One of the wow words is white as flour and white as a wedding dress. (Madeline) We had two charts; one was ordinary words and one was Wow words!(Kendall) When it was recess I was playing Lego and we made the biggest houses and mine was a little bit big and I liked it. (Nick) We had gym and there was a subistitute. We played Ollie Ollie Octopus and after that we played soccer and then we played basketball. (Ashley)
Today at lunch, Nicholas' tooth started to hurt and I thought that it was going to fall out. (Kaspir)
Today it was hot lunch. It was pasta from Boston Pizza. I don't like pasta so I didn't get any. (Aliegha)
Kendall's mom brought cupcakes because it was Kendall's 7th birthday. The cupcakes were yummy. (Sydney R)
This afternoon we did math and I finished because I used a ruler. (Rylee)
We did mini bubble art with little pieces of paper. Mrs. Barnes helped us. (Jonathon)
We have had indoor recess for the last week. We are tired of playing inside and want to play outside. (Olivia)

Mystery Numbers and More!

Today it was Kaspir's birthday. We drew pictures for him and sang Happy Birthday. He went down to the principal's office to get a pencil. (Ashley) Today we did Mystery Numbers. My numbers are below. 14 means my bus number, 5198 means my home, 8 is my age, 17 is my birthday number, 99 is the number of times I've been to the States. (Jadyn) My numbers are below too. Can you guess what they mean? (Mrs. Malkoske)  Today we did Daily 5 and I did Read to Someone with Brandon. He is my best partner. (Nick) Today in gym the girls played Ringette and the boys played Hockey. (Sydney H) This week I am the Star of the Week! (Lindsay) We played a counting game in math with high fives. (Sam) Today after lunch in Inquiry we talked about solids, liquids and gases. (Rylee) In math Mrs. Malkoske put her mystery numbers on the white board and we tried to guess what they were. I put 7, 65, 215, 2, 13, and 7 (Madeline). Today it was my birthday and I had fun. (Kaspir)

The Christmas Concert and Other Stuff

We showed our skip counting raps to the whole class. My group was Aliegha, Sydney H, Lindsay and Olivia. -Madeline
In two more days we have to do our Christmas Concert. -Jolene
We had our Christmas Concert rehearsal today in the Gym. -Olivia
Today we had a fire drill after last recess. -Rhianna
Today we had Choice Time and I drew a picture of a sunset and a rainbow. -Ashley
Today we had a fire drill. I got scared when it rang to go outside and when it rang to go back in.- Sydney R
We had Music. There were lots of kids. -Sam
Me, Jadyn and Cameron and Sydney H and Aliegha and Madeline stayed in to make Christmas decorations for our tree out in the hallway. -Lindsay
We counted hats in the case and I counted 46. -Aaron
Please be at our Christmas Concert. -Jadyn

Monkey Machine!

This week during our Math time we've been exploring skip counting (counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, etc). At the beginning of our exploration we watched a Youtube video rap of skip counting. It was very catchy! Throughout the week I've caught a few different children singing it quietly as they work. :)

In order to help us remember the counting sequences, the kids in our class have decided to create their own rap videos... from scratch. We started on Tuesday by choosing our skip counting sequence, writing a rhyming introduction (which is much harder than we thought), and practising. Today we used a site called Monkey Machine to create our beat tracks. It was really easy and a lot of fun. Here's a sample:



Stay tuned to see our finished videos next week!

Making a Math Video

We maked a math video today. it is a video about cownting by  2s  and  5s  and   we    allso   did    10s     my    gruop     did    2s. my gruop did 10s. my   group  had fun doing 2s and are excited because we did our very own song. It went like this: 2s 2s 2s lets count by 2s, 2,4,6,8,10 lets all count by 2s again.
-Olivia and Rhianna

The Skip Counting Day

Today we swtiched jobs and my job is library and my partner is Jolene. Me and Jolene are at a different table but are really close to each other. Today we had a Christmas concert rehersal and the actors came over so we watched them do their play. -Taylor
We had gymnastics and we were doing backward rolls and we were doing cartwheels and we were doing balancing. -Nicholas
Today I got a new job and my new job is greeting. We had gymnastics at lunch recess and I like gynmastics because you can do cartwheels and I like to do cartwheels. -Rhianna
Today we went to music and the actors were there. We also switched seats and jobs. My job is cleanup with Aleigha. -Ashely
We switched seats today and we switched jobs too. I played a math game with Aleigha. - Cameron
Today I went to the dentist but I was here this morning. I came back at lunch but everyone was still outside. -Jadyn
We had music today and the grade 4, 5 and 6s came and watched the rehersal. - Kaspir
We switched our jobs and our seats today. I sit beside Taylor and Olivia. My new job is survey. We played a math game and my partner was Sam. -Madeline
I switched jobs and my partner is Taylor for my job. My old job was survey and I was with Ashley. - Jolene
We switched seats and I sit beside Sydney H. and Cole. - Jonathon
We switched seats and I was beside Sydney and Jonathon.- Lindsay

Today we practiced skip counting by 2, 5 and 10. Here is one of the videos we watched. (Be careful, it is catchy!)

Good Times

In Daily 5 I was doing reading to someone and my partner was Sydney R. Her book was New Kitten and it was the Berenstein Bears.- Nicholas
Mrs. Malkoske and Mrs. Masey came to our class and helped us with the writing continium. - Kaspir
I want to write more than one page. -Cole
We looked at our writing in our writers notebook. -Brandon
Today in gym we were learning how to catch and pass. - Lindsay
Today we had gym and we played a couple games, one with balls and we tried to see who was the last one standing. - Ashley
In gym we played hot potato.- Jolene
In gym my partner was Brandon. We almost were standing at the end.- Tyson
In gym today we played two types of ball. My partner was Sydney R and we won one of the games. -Rhianna
In gym we played a game and my partner was Ashley and we had to practice before our little competition. A couple of times we were almost left standing. -Taylor
We did math and my partner was Sydney H. We played number blackout. - Cameron
We played a game that had Bellybutton dice. There was a blue dice inside and a see-through dice on the outside. -Tristan
We had fun playing with the belly button dice.- Rylee
We made a Glyph and it was a gingerbread girl or boy. -Madeline
We made gingerbread mans but they were actually us. - Aliegha
We had a subistitute. We were learning about our Community.- Olivia
We had recess. - Sam
I was late for school because I was at my grandmas house with my cousin. -Alexander
Today Ms. Anderlic wrote the Blog post instead of Mrs. Malkoske. -Sydney R

Today I taught my first actual lesson. We are starting a new Social Studies unit that focuses on Canadian Communities. The children learnt what a community is and what makes a community. I am so happy that the lesson went well; the kids were very well behaved and I am so proud of them. -Ms. Anderlic

Survey Questions!

Yesterday we had a booklet that we got to make surveys. On one of the sides it has all of our names. On the other side we made 3 questions and after the next day we got to write on the back and do one today. -Taylor
Before recess we started our books and after recess we finished. Some of us had interesting questions. -Rhianna
Today we walked around the classroom and asked people which one they like. One of the sheets had all the names and the other had all the questions. On one of them, after you asked the person your question, you put a checkmark on the person you just did. When the answered we put a tally on their answer. Some were Yes and No and some were choices. -Ashley
We were thinking of finding out about what people like and don't like. -Sam
There were 4 different ways to start a Yes and No question. They were "Have you ever...?" "Did you want to...?" "Do you like...?" and "Do you have...? -Kendall
I was coming around and I was asking people which colour they like and the colours were blue, green, yellow. -Nick
My survey was what's your favourite hockey team. The choices were All, Other, Jets, Vancouver, and Pittsburg. -Cole
My survey was "Have you ever went to Mexico?" -Lindsay

If you want to answer some of our questions.... click the link below to do our Survey Monkey Survey:
Click here to take survey

Reflections on the Daily 5

This morning I asked the children in our classroom to talk a little bit about what they liked best about the Daily 5 now that we've learned about all of the different components and have had a chance to practice them. Here is what they said...
I like listen to reading because you get to look at the pictures and listen to the stories. -Jolene
I like word work because Mrs. Malkoske bought whiteboards. -Lindsay
Read to someone is my favourite because you get to read to someone else. -Kendall
I like read to self because I sit in a comfy spot and have fun there. -Cameron
I like listen to reading because you can hear a story and you don't need to read it. I also like work on writing. -Olivia
I like work on writing because we can write about what we want and I write different things every time. I do some writing and some pictures. -Tristan
I like read to someone because you get to  hear the other people read a story to you and you get to read to them. -Cole
My favourite is listen to reading because you get to hear the story and there's lots of books on there. -Peyton
I like work on writing because I get to write what ever I want and me and Ashley work together when we need help. -Taylor
I like work on writing because I get to write what I want. It's fun because I can draw pictures and write a lot. I also like read to self because I can read chapter books. -Ashley
I like listen to reading because I like listening to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie because there's a song after. -Jadyn
I like listen to reading because you can go on Tumblebooks and you could pick what ever story you want and listen to it. When you're done you can listen to another one. -Madeline
I like work on writing because I can write about my family. -Rhianna
I like work on writing because I like to write a lot of things. -Aliegha
We can pick where we want to go (and what we want to do). -Jolene
I like word work because you get new words when you get them right. -Brandon
I like listen to reading because I don't have to read a story and it's fun. -Sydney H
I like work on writing because I never draw pictures. -Tyson

Choices, choices, choices! As I read over the reflections the children made, one thing is very clear... They love to have choices in their learning. Choice in materials for word work, choice in which books to read or listen to, choice in what they write about, choice in location for working. When they have choice, they are happy and focussed. They are working on activities that are important to them, and appropriate for their skill level. As I looked around the room today during Daily 5 I saw a room full of children making great choices. At any given time there were children listening to reading on the computer or the iPad, children practicing their words with a variety of materials, children sitting side-by-side reading to one another, children quietly curled up in a comfy spot reading a great book, and children working on writing in their writer's notebooks. What a great way to start the day!

The Happy Day

It was picture day today. -Kendall
It's my birthday. We sang happy birthday and Mrs. Malkoske blew up a balloon. -Nicholas
Aliegha showed us her bird's nest. We had word work. -Tristan
We had pictures in the gym and a birthday to celebrate. -Taylor
Today we had library and music. -Peyton
We did some shape work. The stars were my favourite. -Cameron
We had fun! We had 3 recesses!-Sam
We wrote in our writer's notebook. -Brandon
I wrote a whole page in my writer's notebook! -Jadyn
We did finger painting. We made ovals. -Lindsay
My favourite centre was the finger painting.-Sydney R
We wrote in our books. I wrote about my birthday. -Rhianna
I wrote two pages in my writer's notebook. -Tyson
Today is Mr. Chan's birthday. -Jolene
We're gonna go to music right now! -Olivia

Substitute Teachers!

We had a substitute teacher for gym and this morning. We were in gym when the fire drill rang. We went outside to the back in gym. -Tristan
In gym the substitute teacher taught us a new game called Billy Goat Tag. -Ashley
Ms. Koehn was here this morning and she's nice. -Jadyn
She's a very nice teacher. -Rhianna
She remembered some of our names. She was here til lunch -Peyton
Ms. Koehn is fun! -Taylor
Ms. Koehn is the sister of my neighbour. -Jolene
We had our second fire drill. -Cole
We went outside when the fire bell rang. We waited outside for another bell. -Nicholas
Today we learned about shapes. Two people read a story to people in groups. They read their book over and over to different groups. -Ashley
We're doing shape stuff in Math. -Cameron
We have 3 play structures. Yesterday was our day. -Sam
We had fun today. -Rylee

Reading Rocks!

We read a lot this morning. -Taylor
We did read to self. -Kendall
We did read to someone. -Alexander
Today we started word work during Daily 5. -Lindsay

Here are some other things we did today:
Today was our first day of math centres. We started Inquiry too. We talked about ourselves and had to answer questions.-Tristan
We did counting by 5s in math centres. -Brandon
We had the grade 5s and 6s in gym with us. -Jadyn
We did our jobs. -Nicholas
We had an awesome day! -Taylor

Watching young children grow as readers throughout the course of a school year is an awesome experience. Listening to a young child read a book that they couldn't read just a few short months or weeks before is rewarding, but watching their faces as they realize what they've just done is magic. :)