Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!

My goodness we have had a busy few weeks! I've been neglecting our little blog as of late as we are busy,busy,busy working on many Christmas surprises!  I just wanted to let you know beforehand about a few upcoming events.

Tuesday December 17th-Kindergarten Christmas Concert
Wednesday December 18th-F.E.S Turkey Dinner for students
Friday December 20th-Night Before Winter Break-Wear your Christmas jammies!

Also I found this cute link. The kids love watching this at snack time-they get to watch a live stream of Santa's reindeer and even see the big guy in red feed them at certain times of the day. Enjoy!

www.reindeercam.com

 

Have a safe and Merry Christmas! See you sometime next year!

 

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

Be Cool Day

A few kiddos in our class dressed up during Be Cool Day. Here are two cute photos of them below.

Their sign says Be Cool-the kids loved using the anti-bullying pledge during their word work that day!

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

Rob Rayner Visit

The Gr. 2's had a chance to listen to author Rob Raynor yesterday. A few of the students in Gr. 1 and 2 were even asked to go to a writer's workshop hosted by the author. Below please find a few pictures of the workshop.

The primary students at work.

The author working with a student.

A display of the Rob Rayner's books in the library.

 

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

100 Chart Puzzle

This week we played a few new Math games in class to reinforce a concepts. One of the new favourite games is called 100 chart puzzle. I have 10 mini 100 charts that we have cut up into random pieces. The goal is for the kids to use what they know about number patterns to attempt to put the pieces together. A few kiddos tried to simply put the pieces together that looked like they would be a good fit but then their 100 chart didn't make sense. This was a game we played with the Gr.2's however, the Gr. 1's were feeling left out so my 2's got to "teach" them about the game. Below please find a few pictures of my Gr. 2 teachers and their Gr. 1 students/partners working together to build the 100 chart.

 

 

 

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

Math Mentor-Working with Rekenreks

Yesterday, our class was given the opportunity to work and learn with Mrs. Wallace our Math Mentor. Mrs. Wallace brought in a great tool for the kids to use. It is called a rekenrek.The rekenrek, or arithmetic rack, was designed by Adrian Treffers, a mathematics curriculum researcher at the Freudenthal Institute in Holland, to support the natural development of number sense in children.
Smaller versions consist of two rows of 10 beads. Larger versions with ten rows of ten beads are also available. Each row is made of five red beads and five white beads. This allows students to make mental images of numbers. Using 5 and 10 as anchors for counting, adding and subtracting is obviously more efficient than one-by-one counting. This tool provides learners with the visual models they need to discover number relationships and develop a variety of addition and subtraction strategies, including doubles plus or minus one, making tens, and compensation, thereby leading to automaticity of basic facts (K-5 Math Teaching Resources Website).

The rekenrek

 

 

Yesterday was our introduction to the rekenrek. The kids learnt how to use it to show the number 0-20. Here are a few action shots!

 

Mrs. Wallace explaining how to use this new tool.

The kiddos trying it out!

 

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer



Netbooks

The kids were so excited today because we were finally able to use our netbooks! Our wireless internet had not been working in our room, but our tech team got it up and running and we were ready to go today! The kids learned how to log on, use a few sites on the internet and log off. It was a little tricky at first but I am confident the kiddos will be experts with these computers in no time as we will be using them every Friday!

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

Halloween Party Pictures and Videos

Sorry I've been neglecting our little blog lately. Mrs. Grant (our new educational assistant)  and I have been busy establishing our new routine. She is a lovely addition to our classroom and I certainly enjoy the extra help!

On Thursday, we had a little Halloween party. We began the day by showing off our costumes, reading a few Halloween books, playing some very fun minute to win it games and making some beautiful art. Below please find a few pictures and videos of the kiddos playing their games. The kids played 4 games: Frankenstein's Castle, Spiders on a stick, Witchy Fingers and Ghost Poop. I've posted the videos below. The first video is of the kids playing Spiders on a Stick. Each player had to get as many spider rings on their own straw in one minute. They were not allowed to use their hands! The second video is of the kiddos playing Witchy Fingers. Students had to wear witch fingers and try and sort m and m's into buckets. It was the most difficult game by far!  The third video is of the kids playing Frankenstein's Castle. In this game  groups of two competed against each other to build the tallest "castle" using cups in one minute. The final video is of the kids playing Ghost Poop. They had to transport "ghost poop" (marshmallows) via a spoon to a bucket. It was a relay race.Thank goodness for Mrs. Grant and Mrs. Allison (a class mom) who helped with the games!

 

 

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

Welcome Mrs. Grant!

 

We are so very lucky to have a new helper in our class-Mrs. Grant. She is an Educational Assistant at our school and will be working with all of the students in our class. Welcome Mrs. Grant!

 

Lunch Notice

 

Due to a need in our room, the children in 2/1 Creamer will be eating lunch first and then playing. Lunch will be from 11:30-11:45.Snack time will remain unchanged.

Class Pumpkin

Jungle Jim's put forth a challenge to the teachers at Fairvale to create a class pumpkin to be displayed at Jungle Jim's for the remainder of October. The only rule-we were not allowed to carve the pumpkins. Below, please find a picture of our creepy spider pumpkin that we created. Two of our kiddos were unable to participate in the pumpkin creation so our class decided to name our large spider on top after the girls. So we are pleased to introduce to you our spider Miss Kaylyn Maddie Itsy Bitsy.

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

Wall or Fame/2 Star kids!

 The kids wrote about patterns in nature and went outside to use stick, rocks and weeds (really anything they could find) to create patterns. Sarah did such a lovely job on her Math journal about patterns that I just had to put it up on the Wall of fame. Way to go girl!

 

 

I also wanted to celebrate Luke and Cali. We have been working on creating 2 star sentences (with the end goal of 5 star sentences). To make a 2 star sentence the children need to use spaces and capitals in their writing as well as end punctuation on their own. These two kiddos have been working so hard at this that I had to make a big deal. I stuck two star stickers on them and made the whole class celebrate. It was wonderful-and I am now seeing almost everyone creating 2 star senetences in Gr. 1 now!

 

 

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer



Pattern Palooza!

Well 1/2 Creamer families Pattern Palooza was a huge success! Our class started the day off checking out the fashion-the kids had on so many patterns and they looked fantastic! Mrs. Blanchard was by far the best dressed teacher. Ask your kiddo about what she wore.

We started off the day with name tags. The kids were given a name tag with a pattern. The kids were experts in their given pattern all day and completed each activity using their given pattern. Once each kiddo had a name tag we were ready for the fun to begin.

We started with patterning stations. There were 4 fun stations that the kids had a chance to experience. We had a robot patterning station, friendship bracelet patterning station, patterning blocks station and a food pattern station.

At the robot patterning station our kids had to build a robot using their pattern (so if they had an an ABB pattern we would see that in the colours of the robot) then write about their robot.

At the patterning block station, students had to first complete a patterning block paper activity then build the pattern that they created on their paper with the patterning blocks.

At the friendship bracelet patterning station students made a friendship bracelet using their assigned pattern. This station was wonderful because they could use the attributes of size, shape and colour when making their patterns as I had many different types of beads!

The food patterning station was hands down the class favourite. The kids had to build their core, repeat it two times and once I checked it they were then allowed to eat their pattern. This station also allowed for the kids to use size, shape and colour in their patterns.

We ended patterning palooza with a group picture, and then divided the kids off into small groups to chalk patterns on the school, make patterns out of objects from nature and to perform movement patterns. It was a fantastic day!

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

We are Famous!

Our kids are famous this month! We have our Twitchy Witchy Watercolour Witch Hats on display in the main lobby and Kai is featured on the Wall of Fame!

If you are ever in the school check these two things out-the kids are really proud!

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

Read to Self

We can read for 20 minutes without stopping! We have great stamina!

 

 

 

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

September Math Games

In Math we play a lot of Math games as warm-up activities or to help us learn a new concept. This week the Grade 1 students played a matching game with numbers and number words. I wanted them to practise reading number words. This was a warm-up activity for Gr. 1 before we got into the "meatier" math. The Grade 2 students played the "Guess the Core" game. One player was the "teacher" and one player was the "student". The teacher made a pattern. They needed 3-4 elements in their core. The student had to guess the core, then roll a dice and extend the pattern 1-6 elements (depending on the number they rolled). Here are a few pictures of the kids in action!

No peeking! The kids were not allowed to watch "the teacher" build the pattern.

A Gr. 1 kiddo sorting her cards before playing the matching game. She knows she needs to be organised to play!

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

Today's Math-Patterns

Both the Gr.1's and 2's are working on a unit on patterns. The kids are learning the words pattern, repeat and core (the part of the pattern that repeats). Grade 2 are going one step further and learning about attributes (colour, size,shape and orientation) and elements (the parts) of patterns. Below are journal entries from both grades. The Gr. 1 kids had to make a pattern, label it (tell me if it is AB or and ABC etc. pattern) and tell me the core (they did this part orally so you won't see it on their pictures). The Gr.2 kids wrote about their patterns. Below are a few examples done in class today.

By Hazen

By Brooke

By Maddie

By Kiona

By Simon

Mrs. Ashley Daley Creamer

Words of the Week Chants

Our kiddos can't be expected to sit down and learn all day-they need to get up and move! During our word work time the kids not only write our words of the week but they also use their bodies to remember/spell our words. Below please find a video of our grade 2's chanting the words of the week to our cheerleader chant. We use many chants/actions-soccer, mouse/bear, tennis and hockey just to name a few more.

I cut the first kiddo off a bit! Oops!

Mrs. Ashley Daley Creamer

Watercolour ABC 123

Our kiddos have been using watercolour paints (thanks to our new Art Room at FES) to create beautiful works of art. I love starting the year with this project as it is simple and a great way for the kids to practise holding a paintbrush properly. Check out our work below! 

Mrs. Ashley Daley Creamer

Picture Day

As was announced in our September newsletter and weekly homework sheet-TODAY WAS PICTURE DAY!

 

 

I just received the proofs and the kids look great!

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

Setting Goals

A new year calls for a new set of goals. At the beginning of the year I like to have students write about what they hope to accomplish while we are together. I had quite a few students tell me they wanted to get better at Math, learn new songs in Music etc. Below I've posted two goal sheets from our class so you can see what some of our kiddos are hoping to work on. I would have posted the goals of our entire class but my smart phone isn't being so smart today! Be sure to ask your child what they hope to get better at!

Love the money bit-we will definitely be touching on that in Gr.2!



Unfortunately I cut off the last two goals-#2-Be better at writing long sentences. #3-I want to learn how to tie my shoes.
Check out my shoe tying technique that I like to teach the kids-http://youtu.be/eoH0P8JKy90

 Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

Vowels!

Today in Gr. 1 we were talking about vowels. First of  all let me just say- that Ms. Shuttleworth is very creative! Almost all of our Gr.1's were in Ms. Shuttleworth's kindergarten class and they learnt a song about vowels when they were with her! I want to say it is almost like the song in the link below but I couldn't find an exact version. 

http://youtu.be/aqizfmO_D_A

I am not as musical as Ms. Shuttleworth (although I wish I was) so I showed them a little trick that I learnt in order to remember the vowels. See below-your kiddo will definitely be able to explain the vowel face to you!

Ask them why Yy is not a part of the face!

We also identified the vowels on our ABC chart. The kids and I put post-its under the vowels. We ripped a post-it in half under the Yy because Yy is only sometimes a vowel.

Only half of a post-it for Yy!

Anyway, since we were able to identify the vowels we practised all of our vowel sounds, and "stretched" a few words to figure out the vowel sounds that we heard. The kids did a wonderful job! It makes me very excited to start reading groups!

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer