It's all about words this week!

I ask my students to bring their manners, their sense of humor and a kind heart to school every day. We even have a good morning song about it! And all three of those require you chose your words carefully.  

Words matter a lot. Once they're out, you can't take them back can you? My good friend would always say "they're like toothpaste, once that stuff's out, there's no getting it back in the tube". 

As adults, we know that when we read, we use those words to construct meaning. Of course, kids know this too, but it's up to us to explicitly teach certain clue words and strategies to help that process along when it comes to being both consumers of media and problem solvers.  

This week, by coincidence, we're talking words in both our reading and Math lessons.  In reading, we're learning about the author's purpose (what is the author trying to tell you through the words he or she has written?). 

And in Math, we're getting ready for our first big unit by asking: what are the key words that tell me if I add or subtract? Students will learn there are some common "math language" words that will always point them in the right direction, but what if you don't know those words yet? What if you need to kind of make a movie in your mind to help you to determine which operation you'll need to use? We looked at these five examples today and talked about how words like "dropped" or "spent" suggest subtraction, while words like, "bought" or "more" tell us to add. 

So between this week's Text of the Week called, "Nate's First Day" (why did I write it: to persuade, entertain or inform?) and thinking of a math problem like a story or a mystery to be solved, words have somehow become our theme this week! 

I wonder what kind of dessert one serves at a word party?  Oh my goodness...it's "pie" isn't it? 😂

All about the number-sense folder

We start our Math program with a real confidence builder: something I call the number sense folder. Aside from the fact that there's a typo on the cover of it, it's a great way for kids to feel, well, great about Math.  

Today we reviewed the basics: when I add, I end up with more, when I subtract, I have less. Then, we talked about how to use the 100s chart to help us see the relationship between numbers. Each student received one to keep in their desk for the year and they are encouraged to use is whenever they need to.  

We also read one of my favorite Math stories: 100 Hungry Ants.  I love this book and I think I know it by heart! What a great story for teaching kids first of all, how we divide 100 into equal groups and for much younger kids, that no matter how you move a set around, it will still equal the same number. It always reminds me of this Bert and Ernie bit from Sesame Street. If I taught kindergarten, I would love to share this with my class! "If there's one thing I don't want, it's four cookies!"😂 

I love the number-sense folder for a variety of reasons. In addition to reviewing many of the related concepts covered in grade 2, students learn about things like, following a set of very specific directions with respect to assembling the folder, what does the room sound like when we're doing these kinds of activities, what do I do if I need a glue-stick? 

It's about Math as much as it's about routines and procedures.  Routines build community and really give kids a sense of belonging and with this activity, we all start off on the same foot in more ways than one.   

Why "thank you" for a great second day of school!

I ask students to bring three things to school each day: their manners, a sense of humor and a kind heart. Today, I taught them our "good morning" song! I made a video this morning of the song so kids can practice at home and share it with their families.  

On the first day of school, we read a very funny story called "You're Finally Here" and we're going to revisit it today. We'll look at all the different themes covered in the text such as: 

• why is it important to be on time? 
• have you ever been excited for someone to arrive? 
• what do you do when you're bored?
• why do we need to "be present" when we're socializing? 
• why did the author write this book? Was it just to entertain us or is there more to it? 

To build a successful and effective learning environment, we first must start with building relationships.  Talking about good manners, keeping a sense of humor and a kind heart are the starting points.  Over the next few days, children will have the opportunity to work together with their classmates in a variety of ways, such as preferred activity time and Fun Friday. They'll learn that we are always building bridges, no matter how old we are.  Maintaining our bridges is essential and when we damage our bridge by, for example, using unkind words or hurting someone physically, we need to own our "business" and make things right.  

We used Lego blocks this afternoon to talk about how we build
bridges with others one brick at a time.  

Without these lessons and practice opportunities, there's really no point in teaching curriculum...in the classroom of the 21st century, no one really learns if they can't work with others effectively (←there's that word again!). When we don't focus on relationships and classroom management, authentic and meaningful learning simply doesn't take place.

Working with our Play Doh this afternoon was a great
way to explore effective listening, the importance of following instructions and
what happens when we don't! 😉

  

"I can't wait to come back tomorrow!"

Every teacher in the world loves the sounds of those words! What an incredible first day of school! Today is a day for many, many exclamation marks! Thank you to all the boys and girls for a most memorable day! I loved meeting you all and I can't wait to get to know you better! 

I have a tendency to over-plan, so needless to say, we probably only got through about half of what I wanted to, but that's okay, we have something like 190 days ahead of us! There's loads of time (says the lady who always wonders how June comes so quickly 🤣). 

We keep our water bottles on the tray and thank you to all the boys and girls for
bringing water instead of juice. 

I'd like to share with blog visitors the "big things" we covered today: 

• we talked about "the Big 12" see pics below 
• we learned about "Smartboard mode" 
• we talked about those wonderful table points! 
• students know that it's essential they get their agendas signed 
• the Play-Doh was distributed! They know it's a big deal, but they don't really know what we'll be doing with it! 
• We talked all about the importance of manners, and even "built" a bulletin board on our carpet. I have no room on the walls for it right now, so this had to do! 
• We ate Goldfish crackers (because we're "Oh-fish-ally" in grade three you know!) 
• we started an awesome (and very old) novel called "There's a Boy in the Girls Washroom". It's a perfect way to start the school year because the main character, Bradley, gets EVERYONE talking!  

Overall, it was a terrific day! I hope everyone gets their agenda signed tonight and comes to school with the three essentials: their manners, a sense of humor and a kind heart.  Oh, and don't forget those indoors shoes! I hear the teacher likes a clean classroom! 😉