Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

I hope that everybody has a safe and happy Christmas break! Enjoy your time celebrating with friends and family :)

I have posted a few important dates to note for the new year under "Important dates." The January calendar and newsletter will be posted in the new year once we return to school.

Merry Christmas, and see everybody back to school on Monday, January 9th!

    Mrs. Miller

Christmas Concert

Congratulations to our students for such a great job singing at the Christmas Concert this afternoon! Thank you to all of the parents that were able to make it, the students enjoyed having such a wonderful audience.

  Don't forget that tomorrow is Pajama Day at school!

 Mrs. Miller

Reminders for this week

Hard to believe that Christmas is just about here! This week is pretty busy with a few special events; here are some things to remember:

  - Tomorrow (Wednesday) is shopping day at the Christmas store. Don't forget to send money with your child tomorrow if you would like them to purchase anything.

- Tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) I will be showing the movie "The Polar Express" in class as a reward for the students. Over the past 2 months we have been working hard to earn marbles and we have reached our goal to earn our first reward: a movie in class! They have filled the Jar half way (they have earned just over 120 marbles) and they will get a second reward once the jar is filled all the way. Great job students!

- Thursday is our Concert for the parents! The show starts at 1pm in the gym. Please don't forget to have your students wear a red or white shirt that day as well as a Santa hat, if they wish. Hope to see you all there!

   Students are very excited for Christmas but we are still working as hard as we can in between all of the special events! Here they are hard at work this morning working on a Christmas themed math and language package.

   

Liquid or Solid??

Today I put students to the test to figure out whether my "mystery substance" was a solid or a liquid! Sounds easy enough, however our mixture seemed to be showing characteristics of both solids AND liquids. We have been learning about the characteristics of solids and liquids, and students argued their thoughts very well:

   Reasons why they thought the mystery substance was a solid:
                          - You could pick pieces of it up out of the container
                          - The pieces kept their own shape for a little bit
                          - When you hit the substance with your hand it was hard
         
   Reasons why they thought it was a liquid:
                         - When moved slowly it "flowed" like a liquid
                         - It took the shape of the container it was in
                         - You could stick your finger right into the substance like water
                         - It dripped off your hands
                     
   The "Mystery substance" was Oobleck, which is a combination of Corn Starch and water. This mixture is special because it can act both as a liquid AND a solid. It is a liquid in it's resting state, and turns into a solid when pressure and force is applied. I have included a couple pictures of our activity below as well as a link to a youtube video that shows you what Oobleck is and how to make your own.

Video:  Oobleck Instructions


  Mrs. Miller

St. Pete's Band

On Friday we were treated to a performance by St. Pete's Senior Band! They helped get everyone into the Christmas Spirit by playing many different Christmas tunes.

  This upcoming Monday will be the last book exchange until after the Christmas break. Please return your child's current book on Monday if you would like them to have one last one before the break! All books will then be due back on Monday, Dec. 19th and no new books will be checked out until the new year.

   Mrs. Miller

Our first science experiment!

Our new unit of Solids and Liquids is filled with the opportunity to conduct many different experiments. Yesterday we discussed and learned safety rules for conducting experiments, and today students did a very good job at demonstrating them!

  Today's experiment was to determine, by examining different properties of liquids, what the mystery liquids were. Students examined the colour, thickness, smell, and feeling of the different liquids to help figure out what they were! Most students identified them correctly: Vinegar, Honey, Dish Soap, and Water.

 

Quizzes this week

Hello! This week students will write two short quizzes in class. These are very simple quizzes to test understanding and are only testing exactly what we have been working on in class; there is no need to study, students have been practicing these skills frequently!

    1). Students will write a quiz on reading pictographs and constructing a bar graph tomorrow in math (Wednesday).

    2) Students will complete a spelling quiz on 10 of the word wall words we have been working on. There are NO new words this week, and there will not be any new words until we return from the Christmas break.


 Mrs. Miller

Friday Math Centers

Here are a few pictures of some of the work we did on Friday during our Math centers!

Addition trees. Students had to add the two numbers below to fill up the boxes as they moved up the tree. The biggest tree was quite challenging!

Everybody had a chance to use Dreambox Math on Friday. Hopefully they will want to continue using this wonderful resource at home to practice their math skills. 

Graphing game on ABCya.com

The most popular center this week was our OSMO! Students tried the "OSMO Coding" game and it was a huge hit!

December Update

It is very hard to believe that it is already December!! There is already lots of excitement in the air as students anticipate the upcoming holiday season.

There will be quite a few special events and activities this month so please check the blog often to keep up to date on everything. Important events are outlined on the December calendar. Here are a few important things to note this month:

      Wednesday Dec 21st: Shopping Day for St. Francis of Assisi Christmas Store. Information is going home tomorrow about this event so please check your child's mailbag.
      Thursday Dec 22nd: Students will be performing Christmas Songs! Each class in the school is being given the opportunity to perform and present a Christmas song to the school. Parents are invited to come and watch this event at 1pm in the gym.
     Friday Dec 23rd: This is the last day of school before the Christmas Break! School resumes on Monday, January 9th.


 Even with all of our special events this month we will still be covering a lot of the curriculum. Here is what we will be focusing on in each subject this month:

      Math: We will continue to work on graphing data using different types of graphs and will explore addition and subtraction strategies.
      Language: We will be finishing up our work on persuasive writing and learning the last of the 5 "Daily 5" activities.
      Science: We have started our unit on Solids and Liquids! We will continue to explore into this subject and do a few small experiments.
      The Arts: We have moved on from our focus on Visual Arts and will be starting to focus on Music, including practicing for our Christmas Song performance.
      Religion: We will continue to work on activities from the students First Communion booklets and will discuss the Christmas story and the true meaning of Christmas.
      Phys Ed: We are exploring different equipment in our gym and learning how to use them in different ways and during cooperative games. We will also start some discussion on healthy eating,

I am looking forward to this exciting month ahead!

   Mrs. Miller

Happy Snow Day!

Today marked the beginning of Snow Day season! I hope that everybody had a safe and happy day today. We had a total of 6 students in our class today.

  I have added this weeks word wall words to the list; these will be the last new set of words before Christmas. We will be having a spelling quiz sometime before Christmas to see how everybody is doing!

  A reminder that Scholastic orders are due on Thursday. If you would like to order anything as a gift for your child, please don't hesitate to let me know that you want it to be a surprise and I will send the books home with your child in a bag they cannot see into.

  Looking forward to seeing the rest of our class tomorrow!

Mrs. Miller

Dance-a-thon

Wow, what fun we had today at our Dance-A-Thon! We got to dance for a full hour together in the gym. Thank you to all families who helped raise money for this fundraiser; together as a school we raised just over $8000 to spend towards St. Francis!

  Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy :)

     Mrs. Miller

 

Dance-a-thon Tomorrow

Our Dance-a-thon is taking place tomorrow! Thank you to everyone who returned their fundraiser sheets. We are asking students to wear purple tomorrow for our dance to support our awareness of this week's Bully Prevention and Awareness week. We will be dancing for an hour in the gym so also make sure that your child is dressed comfortable so they fully participate.

   Mrs. Miller

67's visit and a new Daily 5 activity

Today was a busy day!

Students were treated to a visit by two members of the Ottawa 67's hockey team today! They listened to one of the players, Pat White, read a story and then were able to ask questions to the players afterwards. Students were then given a voucher to redeem for 2 free tickets to any home game for the Ottawa 67's. Look in your child's mailbag or school bag for a bookmark explaining how to get your free tickets!

   Students were also introduced to the fourth "Daily 5" activity today: "Listen to Reading." This part of the Daily 5 uses our classroom IPads for students to listen to stories using Apps such as RAZ Kids.

  Have a great night!

    Mrs. Miller

Dreambox and RAZ kids update.

Thank you very much for your patience in receiving information about RAZ kids and Dreambox Math access! Here is some information on how to access your child's account. **I am sending home your child's login information AND passwords tomorrow in their communication books.

   DREAMBOX - You can access dreambox both on your PC or as an App on your IPad.

     1. PC access - click on the link below and click on "Miller-2." Find your child's name and enter the password for your account.
       
                     https://play.dreambox.com/login/bau5/stfoa


  2. App on your IPad -  To access DreamBox on iPad, go to http://www.dreambox.com/ipad, or search for "DreamBox Math" in the App Store. Download DreamBox Math Green and DreamBox Math Blue to ensure your student has access to the full catalog of DreamBox Learning Math lessons. When prompted in the app, use this School Code: bau5/stfoa

   RAZ Kids - You can access your RAZ kids account both on your PC and on an App on your IPad.

 1. PC access -  Click on the link below and click "Kids Login." Enter the teacher user name: smiller98. Click on your child's name and enter the password provided.

                 https://www.raz-kids.com/


  2. App on your IPad - Download the "Kids A-Z" app and enter the teacher username "smiller98". Find your child's name and enter the password provided.


Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any further questions!

   Mrs. Miller

Dance-a-thon

Next Thursday, November 24th is the annual Dance-a-thon at St. Francis! A reminder to please return any of your pledge forms by next Monday, November 21st at the latest. Thank you,

  Mrs. Miller

Parent Teacher interviews

Next Thursday, November 24th there will be parent-teacher interviews held between 4:00 pm-8:30 pm. Only students who are currently experiencing difficulty and/or are experiencing some issues that I think need to be addressed will be formally invited to attend an interview; I will be sending notes home tomorrow (Wednesday) inviting parents who I would like to meet with.

   If you do not receive a note from me and you would like to have an interview to discuss your child's progress, please do not hesitate to contact me! Just write a quick note in your communication book telling me that you would like to meet. If you are available on Thursday, November 24th in the evening please let me know and tell me a preferred time frame for us to meet and I will schedule an interview time for you. If you would rather set up another time/date to meet please also indicate that in the book.

 Thank you!
        Mrs. Miller

I hope everybody had a great weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

Just a reminder that if you didn't already send back the blue first communion/reconciliation books from the weekend please do so as soon as possible. We will be working in the books this week so I need to have them all back!

Also a reminder that this Friday is a P.D. Day so there will be no school.

Mrs. Miller

Remembrance Day reminder and Weekend Homework

Just a quick reminder that students can bring in a small donation to purchase a poppy tomorrow (Friday) to wear for our ceremony. Also, all students who are in Brownies, Scouts, Cubs, etc... are invited to wear their uniforms to school tomorrow.

   Today I have sent a small homework assignment home with each student. There is a note as well in your child's mailbag explaining the task. Please complete over the weekend and return the workbook by Monday, November 14th. Thank you!

  Happy Thursday! Mrs. Miller

Our Math Block Today

**Here is another blog post written by our wonderful students! Here is a Retell of our Math block today. Enjoy! :)


Dear Parents,

      We did some math today and we used graphs and tally marks. First we chose a partner and we did our first assignment using a spinner. The spinner had two colours and when we spun the paperclip we made a tally mark for what colour it landed on. Then we made a graph of our results. We learned that on the spinner even though there was a small amount of blue it could still win but all of our green colour won. Green won because it had the most amount of space on the spinner.

  After the spinner activity we talked about likely and unlikely events and drew different spinners to show likely, unlikely, certain, and impossible events.

  Last we did some more math and what we did was we picked coloured tiles out of paper bags. Whenever we picked a colour out of the bag we put the colour on the graph and we stopped when one colour went to 10 and it was called "Race to 10." We learned that even though red had 10 and blue had 5 that blue could still win.

  From, Mrs. Miller's Grade 2 Class.

Important Updates: Poppy collection and First Eucharist

     This Friday is Remembrance Day and students at St. Francis will have an opportunity to purchase a poppy starting tomorrow and again on Thursday; please bring in a small donation to contribute in exchange for a poppy. Our goal is to have all of our students wearing a poppy to our Remembrance Day celebration on Friday. Our celebration will be starting at 10:30 on Friday morning.

   I would also like to remind our families of the special meeting tacking place at Divine Infant Parish tomorrow night (Wednesday, November 9th) at 6:30pm. Hopefully you can attend! I have posted all of the important dates that you need to know regarding your child's First Reconciliation and First Communion under a new tab "Sacramental Schedule."

  Have a great night!

  Mrs. Miller

Please check your mail bags

If you haven't already checked your child's mail bag tonight please do so, a couple pieces of important mail went home today. Thank you!

Mrs. Miller

What a fabulous Friday!

Students had an amazing and busy day today!

   In gym class today students were treated by a visit from the "Rocks and Rings" program. They learned some of the rules to curling and played a version of curling adapted to by played in our school gym. They did great!

  In Math we finished off the week by doing some more Math centers. Here are pictures of this weeks activity choices:

ABCya addition games on the Smart Board

Roll and make tally marks with Popsicle sticks. 

Roll and write (make a graph) with word wall words.

Addition sentence puzzles.

Make 10 with playing cards.

Math games on the IPad.

Addition and Subtraction game with playing cards.

Tic-Tac-Toe (Addition version)

   Students also had their first opportunity to paint in Art class today! We worked on different techniques to create texture in our painting, and prepared some art for next week's Remembrance Day Celebration. They turned out beautiful!

  Have a safe and happy weekend,

  Mrs. Miller 

Our new Daily 5 topic

** Today's update has been written by all of the students in our class! We worked together to tell you all about our new Daily 5 topic. Enjoy!

Dear Parents,

   I hope you have a great day and night :) We have a brand new topic in Daily 5 and it is called Read To Someone. We have been doing good so far on reading and focusing on the book. We have done 3 Daily Five's so far: Read to Someone, Read to Self, and Word work. We are trying to build up our stamina in reading and focusing on our book. We are still trying to work on staying quiet and reading in one spot.

Right now we are practicing our Read to Someone.

Yesterday we made this chart explaining how we should Read to Someone.

From,

     Mrs. Miller's Grade 2 Class

Pyjama Day

This Friday is Pyjama Day! Our school is holding a fundraiser for United Way and students are invited to wear their Pyjamas to school as well as bring in a toonie as a donation.

November Update and Calendar

     Wow, I can't believe it's already time for a November Update! It seems like just yesterday we were starting out our school year, and now we are well into our routines and curriculum.

     The November Calendar is posted under the Calendar section of the blog. Please check it out, and you are welcome to print if you would like! There are a few important events on the Calendar which will also be posted under the "important dates" section on the right hand side of the blog.

     Progress reports are being sent home on Thursday, November 3rd and there will be interviews taking place during the evening on Thursday, November 24th to discuss your child's progress; more information to come regarding interviews.

    I have noticed that more and more Mailbags are being forgotten/left at home these days and I am having fewer and fewer being returned on a daily basis; this makes it difficult to ensure that important notes and handouts get home to you, and leaves me without a communication book should I need to send a note home. Please ensure that your child is bringing the mail bags to school every day.

   Mme. Cote would also like me to remind all of the parents to please ensure that the green French Homework duo tang and reading program book are returned every Monday so that she may assign new homework for the week and a new book every Tuesday. She also wants to remind parents that she does have her own Blog set up for the French program which she updates on a weekly basis. The blog also contains links to many of the songs that your child sings in class. Her French Blog can be found here:  http://mmecote.blogspot.ca/ 

   Please continue checking out our blog on a regular basis for constant updates on what we are doing in class. Here is a brief outline of what are planning on working on during the month of November in the following subjects:

     Language Arts: This month we will add two more elements to our "Daily 5" by introducing "Read to Someone" and "Listen to Reading." Students will work on building stamina in these new areas of the Daily 5. We will wrap up our work on writing proper "Retells" and will move into Procedural Writing tasks.
     Math: We will continue working on our Data Management unit and will also start working on our unit on exploring addition and subtraction.
     Phys. Ed: We are currently working on specific throwing and catching skills related to volleyball, and will continue working on our cooperative play through games.
     The Arts: We are continuing to focus on elements of design, such as texture, by creating works of art using various materials. This month we will also make a colour wheel to reinforce knowledge of Primary vs. Secondary colours.
     Science and Technology: We are wrapping up our unit on "Growth and Change in Animals." Students will be writing a test to finish up the unit as well as completing a research project on an animal of their choice (more information to come home shortly). We will then begin our next unit: Properties of Liquids and Solids.

   Thank you again for all of the continued support I have received throughout the school year from everybody!


 Mrs. Miller

Happy Halloween!

   I hope everybody had a safe and happy Halloween this evening! Students enjoyed their Halloween Parade on Friday and had a few fun activities today in class :)

  In the next few days/weeks please only send a reasonable amount of Halloween Candy each day (one or two treats), and remind students that the candy is only to be eaten after lunch. Thank you!

   Our class has also won the October School Yard Safety Award! Congratulations students, keep up the hard work!

  Mrs. Miller

Pumpkin Fun!

WOW, who knew that carving a class pumpkin could present SO many learning opportunities? Over the past few days we have been doing many different things involving our class Jack-o-Lantern.

  - On Tuesday we started things off by deciding what design our Jack-o-Lantern should be. I gave the students 4 options, then we build our graph and collected the data together to see what the winning design would be. We surveyed the class and kept track with tally marks before putting the data into our graph.

Pokemon was the winner! What a close vote.

- On Wednesday we carved our pumpkin! But first I introduced one of our next topics in Language Arts: procedural writing. Together we made a list of materials we would need to carve our pumpkin, and then thought about what steps we would need to take to turn our pumpkin into a Jack-o-Lantern. 

The finished result!

- Today we extended our learning even further in Math. First, we read the book "How many seeds in a Pumpkin." Then we estimated how many seeds would be in our class pumpkin. During math centers students had an opportunity to count the pumpkin seeds in small groups. Students had to collaborate together to find a way to count all of the seeds together. Students decided that counting the seeds in groups of 10's was easiest. After centers were finished, we gathered at the carpet and counted the seeds together. Finally, we took all of our original guesses, ordered them from smallest to largest, and decided who was closest to the answer (Congratulations Austin! He guessed the closest). 

   Great work this week students!! We had lots of fun this week while still learning.

      Mrs. Miller

   Wow, what a great day we had today! Students worked really hard today on writing about their pumpkins that they made last Friday. They started by writing a rough, "practice" copy in their writing journals. We then edited their work together using the anchor chart in our classroom to make sure that they have included everything they needed to for their assignment. After the editing was complete, they wrote their descriptions onto their "good" copy.

 

Students were given a choice to choose their work spaces for this activity (choose a "Smart" spot to work). Here are some of the "Smart" spots that students worked at.  

Some of the finished work! Looks great in the hallway, and we already had some compliments from other students and teachers about how fantastic they look. 

Here are a few examples of some of their hard work. 

  Mrs. Miller.