One of my favourite learning tools!

As part of our Morning Message today, we looked at the illustration below of a General Store from about 100 or so years ago. 

While it wasn't exactly the "Pioneer Days" back in 1914, the picture was a great way to start a discussion this morning about what we notice about the way stores have changed and the way they have stayed the same.

Since I'm asking the children to speak in full sentences that include a part of the question, the illustration provided us with a very rich discussion opportunity. Speaking in full sentences will also assist the boys and girls in their writing.  

From here, we talked about how the children in the pioneer days were taught in a one-room schoolhouse and used slates and chalk instead of using paper and pencils. 

One of my favourite and most effective learning tools (in addition to that whisper-phone I mentioned the other day) is a white-board.  

I love that I am able to provide each child in the class with their own board, marker and eraser because the participation and learning just soars when we use them. It's a very effective, very low-tech learning tool that can be used across all subject areas for a variety of purposes.

The boys and girls understand that if they misuse their slates or are not following my instructions while using them (e.g. doodling on them instead of doing the work assigned), they'll loose them for a week. 

  

We're going to pay homage to our pioneer friends by referring to our white-boards as "slates" for the year. 

The kids also got a kick out of learning all the ways their teacher violates the pioneer "Teacher Contract": wears jewelry, paints her nails, shows her ankles, annnndddd she even eats ice-cream in public with her husband! Tsk. Tsk.  

  

Happy Fun Friday!

We had a terrific first Fun Friday! We learned (in a very entertaining way, I might add) all about the different types of manners: 

• Healthy manners
• Classroom manners 
• Friendship manners 
• Food manners 
• Family and Home manners 

We watched some funny cartoons from the Hoops and Yo-yo website and played a really "Password"-type game where everyone was able to demonstrate good sportsmanship and friendship. We also had indoor recess this afternoon due to the heat, which gave the boys and girls a great opportunity to play with some of the games and toys I have in my classroom. It was fun to watch them interact with each other and enjoy the time together.  

You can see the videos we watched here. Our favourite was the one about how to open a door. We watched that one several times!

And of course, it wouldn't be a Fun Friday without Full House on the Smartboard at lunch. We watched the episode where little Stephanie accidentally cuts off Uncle Jesse's hair. We won't be able to watch every episode this year, but I've chosen 40 or so of them from the show's eight seasons that present especially positive messages and are in line with the themes we'll cover as part of our Religion program. 

Thank you again to all the boys and girls for a great first week of school! 

Preparing for the weekly POTW test

Each Friday (occasionally a Thursday), the boys and girls will write their Poem of the Week test. For short, we call it a "POTW test".

We do the bulk of the preparation of the test as part of our Morning Message, so very little studying is required at home.

In order to help your child prepare for the weekly test, I have prepared a two-page printable for parents and families. 

Click on the picture below to download the full document.

This week, we'll write the POTW test together as a class. I want us to work through the test together so that the boys and girls will be ready to write the test on their own next week.  

Day Two!

Our second day of school was another hit! 

We began the day the way we'll begin everyday moving forward: with our morning handshake in the hallway. The boys and girls line up with their lunches and their agendas and I shake each of their hands as they enter the classroom.

If you are a teacher yourself, I highly recommend this as a way to begin the school day. It's a wonderful way to welcome each student in the morning. Greeting my students at the door each day not only teaches them about how to give a good handshake, it gives me a chance to connect with each one of them before our day even starts. 

Those quick conversations we have each morning go a long way in making each child feel at ease and an important member of our classroom community. 

We moved on to copying our agendas together. We reviewed that routine and talked about the importance of responding to any notes I might write to the child in their agenda. 

We are working on a booklet called, "All About Me" that I'm really looking forward to sharing with you on Curriculum Night. The students are sharing all kinds of interesting facts about themselves and at the same time, I'm able to show them how we use the Smartboard and Document Camera to help us with our assignments.  

It's kind of a 2-in-1 activity in that sense! 

I had some fun this morning modeling my own answers on the Document Camera. This helps the boys and girls know the quality of written work I'm looking for, and at the same time, demonstrates the extent of my fine art skills known as "stick people with big mouths".