October 31, 2014

Kicking Off Readers Theatre in the Classroom
This week I introduced our next literacy adventure -Readers Theatre! I'm excited to kick off our Readers Theatre groups because this is an excellent way to get kids excited about reading aloud so they can build fluency. Research shows that repeated reading helps improve word recognition, speed and phrasal reading -all keys to fluent reading! Remember, repeated practice leads to proficiency!

 The play we are working on is a spooky, yet funny story called "A Ghost at the Gifford School". The class was divided into three groups and each student has their own role to read. I love seeing students engaged and taking responsibility for their learning  This is an activity that engages even reluctant readers to participate and builds confidence in all readers.

Spreading Kindness to Our Classmates!
On Wednesday, we took part in a fun, feel good activity to build up our self esteem, as part of our health discussion on positive self talk and self esteem. Students each had their own poster with their name in the middle of the page. The class then moved around the room to each of their classmates desks and added a positive compliment onto others posters. It was nice to see students spreading kindness to others while recognizing their classmates strengths and positive qualities. The students were beaming with smiles during the entire activity, and the smiles grew even bigger as they returned to their own poster to see all of the positive compliments that were written about them!

New Fundraiser Begins - Help Make Your School Some $ Dough $ Selling Dough!
On Wednesday morning our school gathered in the gym to learn about our new cookie dough fundraiser! You may remember last years fundraiser where the students earned monkey lanyards for every odd container of cookie dough they sold. This year works the same, however instead of monkeys, the students can earn BEARS! Students can hand in their money/sales on the designated "Bear-a-Palooza" days. The first "Bear-a-Palooza" day was on Friday. Check your child's agenda for the upcoming "Bear-a-Palooza" days, where students can hand in their orders and collect their bears! Our class is "beary"excited to get started!

Achievers Assembly
On Thursday afternoon we had our achiever's assembly. Congratulations to Austin and Micaela for being great leaders in our classroom and earning the first award of the year for Self Control. We are so proud of you!

GMS Annual Fright Night
Thank you to everyone who came to the Annual Fright Night on Thursday night to support the Grade 7/8 Outdoor School and have some family filled fun. The students were beaming with smiles and excitement as they toured to school, played some games, and showed off their creative costumes! It was a fabulous opportunity to come together as a school community and have some fun!

October Reading Log Results - We Reached Our Reading Goal! 
On Friday we added up our October Reading Logs to see if we met our goal. Our goal was for each student to read at least 15 minutes every night, for a total of 450 minutes per student.  That is 11, 700 minutes as a class! The class total was 12, 012 minutes and we will be having a reading party to celebrate our success!

*A few students forgot their reading logs at home. Please send them to school on Monday as we would like to add the minutes onto our total. Our goal for November is to read 15 minutes (or more) each night and we hope to exceed our October reading minutes!

November Reading Logs Begin
November Reading Logs were sent home on Friday! Please remind your child to read every night and fill in their reading logs. We also talked about reading the blog from home each Friday and including it as part of our reading log minutes! We hope to reach our goal again this month! Reading Logs are due on Monday, December 1st. 

Birthday Shout Out!
Happy birthday to Matthew who turned 10 years old on Tuesday!

Important Dates and Reminders:
Tuesday, November 4: Bear-a-Palooza Day (Hand in Cookie Dough Orders)
Friday, November 7:  Bear-a-Palooza Day (Hand in Cookie Dough Orders)
Friday, November 7: Remembrance Day Assembly 10:45-11:30
Monday, November 10: P.D. Day - No School
Tuesday, November 11: Remembrance Day - No School
Friday, November 21: Report Card Day

October 24, 2014

Simple Machines PowerPoint Presentations
To celebrate the end of our Simple Machines unit, the students presented their PowerPoint Presentations to the class. Each group had their own kind simple machine to teach the class about. Some of the machines included levers, pulley, inclined planes, gears, and wheels and axles. The students really enjoyed sharing what they have accomplished with others and using technology to show what they know was an added bonus for many!

Exploring Rocks and Minerals
On Thursday we started our next science unit, Rocks and Minerals. The students examined the layers of the earth (crust, mantle, outer core and inner core). We also learned about how rocks change through the process of erosion. As water fills the cracks of rocks and freezes, the ice expands breaking the rock. To help students visualize this concept, we filled a glass jar with water and put it in the freezer. The students made a prediction as to what would happen to the glass jar. Students were able to see the power of the ice expanding and were surprised to learn that the ice could break through a glass jar! Lastly we took a close look at sand from our playground under a magnifying glass. The students were able to identify the quartz minerals while learning how quartz is used in everyday life (i.e glass, concrete etc.).

Positive Self Talk Graffiti Board

In Health we have been learning about identity including self esteem and positive vs. negative self talk. Here is our graffiti board where each student added things they like about themselves and examples of positive self talk to boost their self confidence. We are learning about the impact power positive self talk has on our lives and what we can accomplish.

Happy Birthday Ty!

On Monday it was Ty's 9th birthday! Happy Birthday Ty!

Shout Out!

Shout out to Rayan, Jacob, Abdullah and Moeed for working together during the lunch hour to create this astounding tower! They were so proud of what they accomplished they insisted it be shared on the blog! Great teamwork boys!

Important Dates and Reminders:
Friday, October 31: Home Reading Logs are Due *Please Send Back to School
Thursday, October 30: Fright Night Carnival 6:30-8:00 PM *Students can wear their costumes*
Friday, October 31: Boston Pizza Special Lunch & Black and Orange Day

October 17th, 2014

A Visit from Constable Duff
On Wednesday we had a special visit from Constable Duff. He talked to the class about Halloween safety for Trick-or-Treaters. Some key tips from Constable Duffs visit included:

• Be bright at night. 
• Look both ways and listen for traffic before crossing. 
• Cross at corners. 
• If there are no sidewalks, always walk facing traffic. 
• Think about your boundaries and go with a responsible adult. 
• If wearing a costume, make sure it doesn't obstruct your vision. 
• Sort and check candy with an adult before eating. 

First Aid Skits
In Phys. Ed we have been learning about how to treat different injuries. Each pair of students were assigned a specific injury to research and prepare a short skit to teach the class about what to do to treat the injury. The students love the drama portion of this assignment! We are wrapping up our planning this week and have already began to share a few of the skits with the class.

Important Dates and Reminders:
Wednesday, October 22: Picture Retakes
Thursday, October 30: Fright Night Carnival
Friday, October 31: Boston Pizza Lunch

October 9th, 2014

Independent Learners in Daily 5
During the month of September our class has been reviewing our jobs and building our stamina to ensure our Daily 5 runs smoothly for the year. Up until this week, we have been practicing each of the daily 5 rounds together as class. Now the students are ready to take our Daily 5 to the next step - independence!

Students are now all working on our different rounds (Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Word Work and Work on Writing) at the same time! We have also added a "Student Choice" round to our wheel where students can choose which round they would like to work on. Each day we complete three 20 minute rounds and meet at the story carpet between each round for a quick check in to see what went well and address any "Speed Bumps" or things we can work on during the next round. I'm so proud of how independent our class has become so quickly! Last week we had several guest teachers in our school to observe how the Daily 5 operates and they were blown away by how focused and involved our class was. They could hardly believe it was only the second day of using our Daily 5 wheel! I'm so proud of how our students take ownership over their own learning!

Science Projects

We are continuing to work on our Simple Machines Project while rotating through three stations: planning our projects, building our lego machines, and creating our PowerPoint presentations. The students are so excited about this project and continue collaborate with their partners every step of the way.

Party Planning
This week we have been getting excited about reaching our reading goal of 15 minutes per night, every night. We have decided that if we reach our October reading goal we could have a class party to celebrate. Students have been busy adding plenty of party ideas to our box. We are encouraging each other to keep up their home reading so we can make the ultimate reading party happen! Help us reach our goal by encouraging your child to read every night for at least 15 minutes and record it on their blue reading log.

I am Thankful...
In Writer's Workshop we are working on our "I am Thankful" writing. Once students finish drafting and editing their work they can move onto the publishing step. However, we are publishing our work a little differently this time by making our writing into a work of art! It is still a work in progress but here is a sneak peak of our "Thankful" writing.

Student Quotes: What are you thankful for?

"I am thankful that the world is a beautiful place and that everyone in it is special." - Micaela

"I am thankful for my life and my family" -Ty

"I'm thankful for a beautiful world because in the whole world there are beautiful countries, beautiful oceans and beautiful cities." -Abiha

"I am thankful for my family. They are the ones who make me feel belonging and told me to achieve for what I believe in" -Ishmal

"I am thankful for hospitals for healing and treating other people." -Jacob

"I am thankful for who I am and I'm thankful for life and earth" -Callyn

"I'm thankful to have clean water to drink and food to eat" -Chloe

"I am thankful for getting to go to school and have two amazing teachers Ms. Cameron and Mrs. Faulconer." -Austin

"I am thankful for my wonderful, fun and awesome family." -Fatima E.

Boston Pizza Lunch
Our SRC and School Community Council are organizing a Boston Pizza Lunch for students on Friday, October 31. Order forms were sent home this week and are due on Friday, October 17th.

Important Dates and Reminders:
Friday, October 10: No School - P.D. Day
Monday, October 13: No School - Thanksgiving
Friday, October 17: Boston Pizza Lunch Order Forms are Due
Wednesday, October 22: Picture Retakes Day
Thursday, October 30: Fright Night Carnival
Friday, October 31: Boston Pizza Lunch
Friday, October 31: *Reading Logs are Due

I am thankful for the opportunity to learn alongside such an amazing group of staff, students and families at Gladys McDonald School. I feel so lucky to have a job that allows me to do what I love, share my passion for learning, every single day.

Enjoy the long weekend with your friends and family!

Ms. Cameron

October 3, 2014

Our First School Assembly
On Tuesday morning, our school gathered in the gym to have our first school assembly of the year! Mrs. Mcpherson introduced our new reading and writing goals for the year. As you may already know, when the students met their literacy goals last year, Mrs. Daelick kissed a frog at the year end assembly! Mrs. McPherson already has the students brainstorming ideas about what they would like to see happen if we reach our reading and writing goals this year! Students can put their ideas in an "ideas box" in the office.

Our Literacy and Numeracy Goals
Reading: By June 2015, 80% of grade 4-8 students will achieve an increase in one of the areas of Main Idea and Comprehension Strategies using the Reading Assessment Diagnostic. Students will show growth of one point from the pre RAD to the post RAD.

Writing: By June 2015, 80% of the Grade 3-8 students will achieve growth of one point in the area of Structure on the Value Added Assessment using the pre and post writing samples.

Numeracy: By June 2015, all students in Grade 1-8 will achieve at least one level of growth in each area of focus on their numeracy data card rubric.

Students on a IIP will achieve their literacy goals as set out on their individual plan.

Mrs. McPherson also encouraged students to do lots of tattling this year! But don't worry, she is asking students to tattle on the good things they see others doing! What a great way to start the school year! The "tattles" will be handed into their teachers and a few will be drawn during our upcoming assemblies to recognize the many leaders we have in our school.

Our class performed the "I P.I.C.K." song at the assembly to remind others about how to pick a good fit book. They did an excellent job! No assembly is ever complete without a little dancing and we even had a special guest to help us dance our way out of the gym - Mrs. Daelick! Mrs. Daelick stopped by our classroom for a visit and was greeted with many hugs and stories!

Simple Machines Fun
We dived into the second part of our Science unit on forces this week, which is all about Simple Machines! Simple machines make work easier and include pulleys, levers, gears, wheels and axles, and inclined planes. This week we went on a Simple Machine's Scavenger Hunt around the school and playground and realized how many of the everyday objects we see and use every day are simple machines! We also started our next science investigation using LEGO. Students are assigned a specific simple machine and instructions as to how to build the machine using a LEGO kit. They will then show what they know about their simple machine by creating their own PowerPoint Presentation using the computers. For many students this will be the first PowerPoint project they have worked on so they excitement over our Simple Machines project is through the roof!

Simple Machines Scavenger Hunt

Building Simple Machines using LEGO

Friendly Reminder:
We are starting to use the computers more now for projects and to publish our writing. Please send a USB to school with your child as soon as possible,  if you haven't already done so. We share computers with other classrooms so students are seldom able to use the same computer from time to time, making it difficult to retrieve their unfinished work without it being saved to a USB. This also allows students to take their work to and from school if they are interested in working on a project at home.

Learning about our Province 
In Social we continue to explore world view, the relationship of First Nation and Metis people with the land and settlement patterns in Saskatchewan. We had a lot of fun exploring Saskatchewan on a map the size of our story carpet! The students were making all kinds of connections to the different places on the map while we took a closer look at what Saskatchewan had to offer in terms of land and resources.

New This Month: Reading Logs

You may be wondering what should my son or daughter be doing for homework? Although students will have math homework or other subjects from time to time, I try not to send too much home because the homework I believe is most beneficial to students across all subject areas is READING! This year,  I want your child to read 20 minutes per night, every single night! The students voted on using a reading log this month to hold themselves more accountable. The reading log will also help make home reading a habit while allowing students to track whether we have met our individual goals, and our class goal! Students are expected to bring the reading log back to school at the end of this month.

Expectations for Reading: Students are to track the amount of minutes they read EVERY NIGHT. We decided for the first month we would work towards reading 15 minutes each night. Our class goal is 11, 700 minutes (195 hours) of home reading this month. That means we want every student reading for a total of at least 15 minutes or more every night for 30 days. If students read for 10 minutes one day they should try to read for an extra 5 minutes the next day. Together, we are in the process of planning the "ultimate celebration" if we meet our class goal at the end of the month! Let's do it team! ... and don't forget to read every night!

*Please consider keep the reading log somewhere visible in your house to help remind your child of their goal. If students misplace their reading log, please let me know so I can send a new one home.

Saskatchewan Library Week "Book Spine Poetry" Contest
October 19-25 is Saskatchewan Library Week and the Saskatchewan Library Association is having a "Book Spine Poetry" contest. It is free verse poems composed by using the titles written on the spines of physical books and stacking the books on top of one another. Next, take a photo of your poem to submit into the contest. This contest is voluntary and students who are interested in entering can do so at home or school. I would be happy to help anyone who is interested but would like assistance completing or submitting their entry if needed.  The contest runs until November 1st.

 Prizes will be awarded in four categories:

• Children (5-8)
• Children (9-11)
• Teen (12-18)
• Adult (19 and older)
  
  A grand prize of $100 Chapters Gift Certificates will be awarded to one winner in each category. Two additional runner up prizes will be awarded in each category. You can enter online by visiting bookspinepoetry.ca  

Coins for Cancer

Thanks again to everyone who donated towards our "Coins for Cancer" fundraiser in support of Cancer research. Our classroom raised a total of $130 and the school raised a grand total of $300. During Tuesdays assembly, the students were happy to learn they had raised the most money and won a class popsicle party!

Important Dates and Reminders:
Thursday, October 9: Book Orders are Due
Friday, October 10: P.D. Day - No School
Monday, October 13: Thanksgiving - No School
Wednesday, October 22: Picture Retakes
Thursday, October 30: Fright Night Carnival
Thursday, October 31: Hand in October Reading Log