Jan 28 - Feb 1

Welcome back to Winter! The temperature is expected to continue dropping over the weekend- please check Monday and have your child prepared with mitts, toques, etc. It looks like we will have indoor recess breaks.
Students brought home their first term's report card yesterday. I had a mini conference with them all about their progress so far. We will discuss the setting of personal learning goals early next week.
We had a fun "Hawaii" spirit day on Wednesday! Our next special day will be Wednesday, February 13. We will have a small Valentine's celebration and card exchange on that day, as there is no school for students on the 14th and 15th due to Teachers' Convention.
Thank you and stay warm!

Jan 14 - 18

Thank you to all who were able to attend the K-4 Artist In Residence dance performance this Thursday!
We have been doing a lot of "catch up" work this week, as students are being evaluated for this year's first report card, which will be sent home on the 31st.
Thank you to parents who have returned the "plans for next year" forms!
We had a chat in class about internet safety this week and will continue discussing strategies your child should follow in the event that they stumble across any type of inappropriate websites. We do have firewalls that block inappropriate materials at school and there are parental controls that can be set at home as well. I mention this because I have recommended that most students would benefit from using the "Raz Kids" program at home. It would be wise to monitor your child while they use the internet, and perhaps have the Raz Kids site bookmarked for easy access. If your child does not have access to a computer, it is not a problem, as we will use the program in class once or twice per week. We will also continue with our keyboarding lessons.
Thank you parents, and please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.
Ian

Happy New Year

Hello again parents, and Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed a happy holiday!
It was great welcoming students back on Tuesday-we shared stories about our holiday and wrote an extended journal about our activities. We began our Artist In Residence work with Sound Kreations. Students are having fun learning some Hip-Hop dance moves. There will be a performance night for parents this coming Thursday, at 6:00. More details to follow ASAP.
We are beginning a new Science unit on "Hot And Cold Temperatures". Expect one or two homework assignments during this unit. So far, students have learned how to read a thermometer and to describe objects as being "hotter than" and "colder than".
In Social Studies, we learned about the early days of the Inuit people of Iqaluit and examined their strategy for making igloos.
Hope we see you for the dance performance this Thursday!

Winter Break

Thank you for your support with your child's learning so far, parents! A huge thanks for all the gifts and generosity this week. I am truly humbled.
We have had a really good start and first term to our Grade 2 year and will be moving on with new units once school resumes on Tuesday, January 8.
Have a safe and happy holiday, everyone!
Ian

November 19-23

Thank you for attending our November conferences, parents and guardians of Room 5 students! It was great seeing you again or meeting for the first time to discuss your child's progress so far and
how to help with their development.
We have had a productive but short week- trying to finish up our unit on addition and subtraction strategies for Math, and our "Exploring Liquids" unit in Science. We will continue working on addition and subtraction all year, but increase the difficulty level to include numbers up to 100.
We are wrapping up our Social Studies unit on Saskatoon over the next couple of weeks. Ask your child what they can remember about Saskatoon and the Ukrainian community there!
Thanks again, parents, and I look forward to seeing you at our Winter Concert on Thursday, December 6!
Ian

Oct 29-Nov 2

Halloween week! One of the writing tasks students completed this week was a journal entry about our trip to Heritage Park. These are now entered into students' Visual Journals. All students did well on their Spelling homework and tests that we did today. We had a fun Halloween party on Wednesday, and students wrote a journal entry about their night the following morning. These are also in their Visual Journals, and we will share them with you during our conferences later this month.In Math, we continued working on addition and subtraction strategies, and learned how to complete a basic Sudoku puzzle. In Science, students learned that a drop of water can be manipulated in a variety of ways once it is placed on a non-absorbant surface. (We used wax paper).
We also had a wonderful assembly from the Earth Rangers on Thursday. And finally, our class won 2nd prize in the Elementary Pumpkin Decorating Contest!
Check it out!

Oct 15-19

Hello Parents,
In Room 5 this week, students learned how to write sentences in order to describe a process. They wrote a short paragraph about their leaf art, beginning their sentences with "First", "Second", "Third", "Fourth", and "Finally". They are up on our bulletin board if you'd like to see. We also created some Halloween scenes by cutting coloured paper and tearing blue paper for clouds.
In Science, students used eye droppers to stack drops of water onto a penny. They were surprised to discover they they could add close to 20 drops before it overflowed!
In Social Studies, we worked on the flags of Saskatchewan and Nunavut. We

also continued our work on one of Calgary's pioneers, Sam Livingston, in preparation for next week's trip to Heritage Park. It looks like we are going to enjoy pleasant weather for our trip!
Thanks for reading!