Friendly Reminder and a Request...

Report Cards:
If you have not already done so, 
please complete and return page 2 of your child's 'Term 1 Report'.  We would appreciate it if you would return it in the report envelope that was sent home. 

Thank you to the families who have already completed and returned their pages!

Request for Kleenex:
If you are able to spare a box, we would appreciate it if you would send a box of tissues for our class with your child.  (Hopefully, this runny nose weather will end soon.)

Pink Day:

Lastly, but certainly 
not least, thank you
for helping us 
make Pink Day a big success at 
Nellie McClung P.S.! 

We are Wondering About...

As you may be aware from your child, we have been learning about the Arctic in our class.   We have done some reading, and we have watched some video clips about Arctic animals and the Inuit people who live in Nunavut.  

Yesterday, we asked each student to choose an animal that they are interested in researching further.  This morning, Joshua, Blake and Natalie started researching polar bears.  At the end of the morning, we held a 'knowledge circle' so they could share what they found out with the rest of the class.

In the afternoon, Zachary, Emmy, Alon B. and Jake were able to do more research to find the answers to the first 4 questions.  They also shared what they found out with the class.  (You may want to ask your child if he/she remembers some of the information he/she heard about polar bears.)

Your child may enjoy doing some research at home, too.  We have been using a simple organizer at school to record our information:

E.g., Polar bears are ...

       Polar bears have ...

      Polar bears can ...

We would love it if he/she records the information with pictures and/or words and brings it to school to share. 

Here are some other Arctic animals we have been focusing on: caribou, walrus, ringed seal, orca whale, beluga whale and narwhal whale.

Happy Researching!

Lost and Found...

Are you missing some container lids?  The following lids were found in our class, but none of the children thought they belonged to them.

Please let us know if they belong to you, and we will send them home with your child.

Happy Lunar New Year!

If you and your family is celebrating 

Lunar New Year, 

we would like to wish you 

all the best for the coming New Year!

An Interesting Website - DK Visual Dictionary

Mrs. Gordon-Rak, our teacher-librarian at Nellie McClung, shared an interesting link with us, and we thought the site would also be of interest to you and your children to use at home, too.

DK has released a Beta version of their visual dictionary.  It is good for many subject areas and all learners. The orange box with horizontal lines is the category index.  You can see it at:   http://www.dkfindout.com/us/

Thank you Mrs. Gordon-Rak!

Wednesday, Feb. 25th is Pink Shirt Day!

On Wednesday, February 25th, all students and staff at Nellie McClung P.S. are encouraged to wear something pink to show that we are all working together to prevent bullying in our school, in our community and online.  (If you don't have something pink, wear something red or purple.)  

Pink Shirt Day started with two Nova Scotia high school students who decided to take a stand against bullying in their own school.

From erasebullying.ca:

How it Began

Here is a snippet of the Globe & Mail article that describes how Pink Shirt Day began:

"David Shepherd, Travis Price and their teenage friends organized a high-school protest to wear pink in sympathy with a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied [for wearing a pink shirt]...[They] took a stand against bullying when they protested against the harassment of a new Grade 9 student by distributing pink T-shirts to all the boys in their school.

'I learned that two people can come up with an idea, run with it, and it can do wonders,' says Mr. Price, 17, who organized the pink protest. ‘Finally, someone stood up for a weaker kid.’

So Mr. Shepherd and some other headed off to a discount store and bought 50 pink tank tops. They sent out message to schoolmates that night, and the next morning they hauled the shirts to school in a plastic bag.

As they stood in the foyer handing out the shirts, the bullied boy walked in. His face spoke volumes. 'It looked like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders,' Mr. Price recalled.

The bullies were never heard from again."

First Term Reports

The Term One reports will be sent home tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015, with your child.  

Parents of SK students will notice that in addition to the anecdotal comments, your children have also received ratings in the various literacy and mathematics curriculum strands.  The ratings range from 'Beginning to Extending'.  
According to the Full Day Kindergarten Curriculum Document,
"... reporting must always indicate the child's growth and achievement in relation to the learning expectations for the end of the Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten program."
(page 32)
Sometimes a child will receive a rating of 'Approaching' because we have not covered all the curriculum expectations, yet.  The anecdotal comments will, hopefully, give a clearer indication of how your child is progressing.

If you have any questions about your child's report, please do not hesitate to contact us.  Please remember to complete page 2 with your child, and return it to school in the envelope.

F is for February, Friendships and Families

Valentine's Day

We had fun on Friday exchanging Valentine cards. The children delivered their cards to their classmates' Valentine bags.  It was a good opportunity for the children to practise reading names and numbers.  
In the afternoon, most children chose to spend some time looking at their cards.  It was interesting to see and hear how some children were sorting their cards and treats.  Everyone did a great job of resisting the temptation to eat any of their treats at school.

Happy Family Day

We hope you and your family are enjoying the long weekend together!  See you tomorrow.

What's Been Going on in Room 110?

It has been a while since we last wrote a post on our blog, but a lot has been going on in Room 110:

100th Day of School

As you are probably aware, we celebrated the 100th Day of School on February 10, 2015.  We finally coloured the 100th circle on our ten frames chart, and the celebrations begun!  

Here are some of the activities that we had fun with on the 100th Day of School:
We moved and counted to 100 by ones, fives and tens.  We made 100th Day crowns.  We cut out 100 hearts.  We found and cut out out 100 words that we could read.  We sang songs about 100, and we read books about 100.  We measured how far 100 strips of paper, 100 blocks and 100 links would go down the hallway.  We also measured if we could get dressed for recess in 100 seconds, and most of us did it!  We built with collections of 100 objects like cups, blocks and straws.  

Starting our 100th Day wearing our crowns!

Stamping each letter 10 times ... How many stamps will that be?

The students completed a 100 piece puzzle.  Thanks to Brian for bringing it to school for us to complete.

Do 100 scoops of snow fit in the bin?

We counted some of our collections, too.

Many students also brought their collections of 100 to school to share with us.  It was great to see all the different collections, and we imagined all the counting that had gone on at home, too.  

Here are some of the collections:

                             

               

                                             

 

A book of 100 words

Thank you for helping us make the 100th Day of School a fun and good learning experience for us all! We hope you are enjoying playing 'Roll for 100' at home.  At school, the teachers played against the students, and the students won!

(Playing dice games together offers many opportunities to reinforce various counting and numeracy skills for your child.)