May 12, 2009

Be sure to check the planner pocket for important information on our personal safety unit. During these lessons, your child will learn standard names for private body parts and will learn when it is OK to say no to an adult or older child.

These lessons often bring on the sillies if children are embarrassed by the topics.

On another level of safety, we had a great discussion about what to do if we have an earthquake during school hours. The children had some excellent questions:

What can we do if the door won't open?
What if we aren't in the classroom when the shaking starts?

They also know what to do if the adult is injured and can't help them. (Count to 60 after the shaking stops, follow the designated student to safety, and if you are the "door person," tell an adult that there is someone injured in the building.) We spent a lot of time talking about how important it is to behave calmly and to keep everyone around us safe in an emergency.

You can be proud of the responsible attitude your child has shown during the discussions.

May 11

Today was a day for changes.

We were assigned to new reading groups.

That meant we had to move some furniture in our classroom.

That meant we had to have a new seating plan for our desks and also for our carpet time. (Our carpet time is now lino time.)

We also read about earthquakes and practiced what to do if one happened at school. We talked, too, about what to do at home if we felt an earthquake there. We know it's serious, but we don't want to be too scared.

You can help by talking about what your family would do during and after a quake.

April 30, 2009

We finished our swimming lessons this afternoon. Everyone shows improvement! And everyone had fun!

I'm sorry that I forgot to bring my camera today, but you can see how well your child swims the next time you swim together. Tomorrow I'll send home the certificates from the instructors.

I was also very impressed today at how well the children did in putting pieces of pasta into groups that would make it easier to count. We've decided that groups of 2, 5, and 10 work much better than groups of 13 or 7. We wrote riddles for each other about numbers and put them into little books. During free time, we can do the riddles our friends made.

April 27, 2009

When Dylan's team reached 100 points, Dylan asked that his prize be a day teaching the class. We negotiated one lesson. Today with his Mom as a helper, Dylan showed us how water combined with the dye in washable felt and traveled up a strip of coffee filter paper.

Dylan said the hardest part was to get people to listen. Part of that was his lack of experience in managing a classroom. But not all. Our whole class has been slipping in this area lately. Here's how you can help. Watch your child. Does he or she wait until someone else has finished talking before talking? Does he or she actually look at your when you are speaking? Being a good listener is a vital skill both in the classroom and in life. Any help you can give your child in learning to listen well will be a lifelong gift.

Look at our beautiful art work.

We read The New Baby Calf, a book that Barbara Reid illustrated.

Then we used her style to make animal artwork. You can see the originals in the hallway, but until then, you can enjoy them right here.

April 23, 2009

Retro Day!

Some of us came with attitude as well as retro clothes.

Can you tell which decade each of us dressed for?

April 22, 2009

Hurray for Canada Day!

Mr. Heidebrecht got all dressed up.





We went to the gym to listen to our choir.

April 21, 2009

Aren't we amazing!

We had some very crazy hair in our classroom today. Riley took this photo for us. Thank you, Riley.

Remember that tomorrow is Canada Day in our Spirit Week. It will be interesting to see how each person decides to celebrate being Canadian.

April 20, 2009

This week is Spirit Week at Gibsons Elementary. We started it off in fine form today with Books, Bathrobes, and Slippers Day. Thanks to Celyna who took this photo for us.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow is Crazy Hair Day!

April 16, 2009

Swimming is so much fun when you wear your clothes in the water. It's even more fun when you learn how to rescue your friends in distress.

The children learned not only how to rescue someone in the water, but how to save themselves if they fall through the ice. Powerful and useful lessons.

April 9, 2009

Wow! What a day we had!

We started with a visit from two Easter bunnies, Fluffy and Spotty.

Christopher helped Katherine share the story about her pets.


Later, the Easter bunny -- we don't know which one -- left some yummy treats for us. But first we had to go on a big treasure hunt all over the playground.

Then, after lunch, we went for our second swimming lesson. This time, we have some video to show you. We are all become better swimmers.

Next week we have to wear clothes in the pool over our swimsuits. That means we have to bring extra clothes because we will need dry clothes to go home in.

April 7, 2009

Au Revoir, Madame Marshall!

Today we had our last French class with Madame Marshall. We sang our French songs and did our puppet play for the last time. Then we filled in a paper for Madame Marshall so she knows what we liked to do.

Hello Jade!

We lost Madame Marshall, but Jade joined our class today. Welcome Jade.

April 2, 2009

Today we had our first swim lesson.

We are divided into three groups, according to our swimming levels.

Everyone came home happy, having learned something new.

Thanks to the parents who came to help.

And big congratulations to the children for their excellent behaviour in the change rooms and their respect for the swimming teachers.

We also said happy birthday to Chelsea today.

March 31, 2009

Thanks to Mr. Sullivan's class for sharing their Science projects with us this morning. We got to try out several simple machines.

March 26, 2009

Today we start the last unit in our Second Step lessons. These lessons are all about handling anger. There is important information in the planner pocket today. This adds to what is in the planner.

Anger is neutral. It is neither good nor bad. It is simply a signal that something is wrong.

We feel anger when we are frustrated or feel threatened in some way. It is important to know when we are angry so we can fix whatever is wrong. Our lessons will be helping children to calm down, not because the anger itself is bad, but because we don't think well when we are at the top of Anger Mountain.

In his excellent book, Make Anger Your Ally, Neil Clark Warren says that anger is like nuclear power, it can blow up a city or light up a city. Learning how to identify and harness our anger is one of life's most important lessons.

March 25, 2009

Today we took the challenge of measuring to see which curved path was longest and which was shortest. We used string because we could bend it. 

At home you can collect things with curves and use a string to see which things are longer and which are shorter.

March 24

Mr. Heidebrecht dropped in this morning and caught us dancing.

On the academic front, we have been comparing measurements using words that end in -er. We are using words like taller, shorter, wider, longer, thinner, heavier, lighter, bigger, and smaller.

Today we thought about whether it would be better to be big or little.

We will be talking about how something can be both big and little at the same time.

Not everyone was able to come to class on Thursday. Our door is open. You should know that you child made a hanging and left a place for you to write what your child is doing in school that makes you feel proud. When you come in, your child will help you to add your comments to that of the other parents.

March 10, 2009

Today we practiced Mental Math. We made pictures in our heads to help us solve story problems. You can help by asking simple questions we can figure out by making pictures in our heads.

For example, today we thought about 10-frames and how they help us to add up numbers like 5+6. 

We also practiced showing our work to each other so we will be able to show it to you when you come on Thursday.

March 9, 2009

With all the snow at the north end of the coast, there were some changes in who was in our building.  Mr. Heidebrecht stayed snuggly safe in Halfmoon Bay, while Mr. Walters, the principal from Halfmoon Bay was here. He came into our room just before lunch to read Scribbleville.

Today's Good Math Question:

Some summer bears are roaming. Winter comes.

Some bears go into the cave.

3 bears are left out.

How many might have been summer roaming bears?

How many might be in the cave?

The big idea was to learn how to write a number story like:

5-x=3  

Except that we drew a box instead of writing an x, and I haven't figured out how to make the box on the Web.

For those whose children did not bring home the notice this week about coming to the school, here is the information:

I will be in the classroom this Thursday from 1:30 to 6:30. During that time you are welcome to come with your child who will show you his or her work. 

I will be available to answer specific questions about student work, but will not be having private interviews at that time. 

If you want a private interview with me, please let me know what time works for you, and I will do my best to accommodate you.

March 6, 2009

Today was report card day. Remember to sign the card cover and return the cover and the envelope. We'll need them at the end of the year.

We had a great time this morning with our special guest from the Knotty Daughters. Each child had a chance to play a marimba-xylophone duet with Katherine. The video camera didn't cooperate, but I'll create a slide show of all the kids playing and post it here when I get a chance.