Day 10
Tomorrow evening is "Meet the Creature" night!
Looking forward to meeting all of our wonderful parents.
Today we worked a bit on our chrome books.
The students teamed up in pairs to practise their math skills.
They visited "Dreambox".
Indeed, math is fun.
Great practice!
Collaboration.
A challenge is good for all of us!
Our schoolwide spiritual theme for September is "Hope."
This is one of the many murals painted by high school students which adorn the school.
Outside the teacher's staff room is a large wall where classes are encouraged to share work pertinent to the spiritual theme. We chose to colour a butterfly. The saying we came up with is "Trust in God as we fly on the winds of Hope."
A contribution from a French class.
A great image exemplifying hope!
An even greater image exemplifying hope! Hehehe!
Who's face appears on the blackboard?
Why, it's the calendar person. Yes, today is "Monday, September the 18th."
Before our spelling test the children were paired off to study the words one more time.
To quiz each other.
Hmmm...these two words look like tuffies!
Spelling is fun!
"Do you want to be the teacher or do you want to be the student?"
Some healthy snacks.
Yum, yum!
The richer the colour, the healthier the snack...that's what grandma says!
Yes, mom...I'll pick up some milk on the way home tonight!
Our newest student in class. What's his name?
We'll find out tomorrow!
I'm so famous, I'm on a fridge magnet!
Remember, tomorrow is "Think Pink Day" so bring in a small donation if you can.
Our Weekly Spelling List - Week Three (Quiz will be next Monday)
Grade One (short e) Grade Two (short o)
1. get 1. job
2. bed 2. pop
3. pen 3. box
4. fed 4. rock
5. hen 5. got
6. web 6. fox
7. net 7. hop
Day 11
Day 12
Today we revisited the story of Creation in The Beginners Bible.
This is a suitable version for a grade one/two class.
The boys and girls listened attentively.
As we read through the days of creation.
Remember...if you click on the picture it will enlarge for you to see the finer details more clearly.
Whenever you have time, feel free to review with your son/daughter the stages in the water cycle.
The use of the SMARTboard technology enhances the lessons.
Evaporation, condensation and precipitation were the three main aspects of the water cycle I learned as a little boy.
It's interesting to see the inclusion of "Collection" in the cycle...it makes sense.
While collection is not mentioned above, you can point out to the children that the water would collect in lakes, oceans, soil and ground water.
Seeing as today was Day 12, we were finally able to complete the learning of the song "The Twelve Days of School" based on the music to "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
Have your child sing it to you.
It will be fun with some tongue twister effects.
Don't forget the long, drawn aspect to "Five....gold...stars"
Nearing the end...listen carefully to what your child sings for the letter "Z".
Later in the day, we worked on a "Creation Story Anagram" sheet and the students worked with partners in order to attempt the "unscrambling" of the letters.
Each day, a different student gets the chance to play teacher.
As we review the calendar.
She's a natural!
Speaking of natural teachers, we visited Ms. Avila in the Learning Commons today.
Ms. Avila explained to the boys and girls the learning commons expectations.
I try to be inconspicuous as I snap a photo.
The children are reminded of the use of Shelf Markers while searching for a book.
A close-up view.
Ms. Avila took us over to the area where new books are showcased.
A book basket.
Time to head over to the shelves.
Here's a fast learner!
He has mastered the use of the library stick while searching for a book.
"I like this one!" she says.
"And I like this one!" he responds.
The search is on.
I'm ready to read.
Learning how to sign out the book.
Smelly Socks seems like a great read.
"I'll choose this book!"
Ms. Avila shows the children how to place their book under the book reader.
When the red line travels over the bar, the book is automatically signed out.
Some comfy chairs.
In different styles.
The orange brigade!
I want to try.
Easy as one, two, three!
The class decided to make one more "group" balloon for he HOPE section in the main hallway of the school.
Each student was given the opportunity to add to the balloon.
While others were reading.
Back in class we spent a few more minutes with our books.
With everyone on task.
Learning so much.
The balloon develops.
And becomes more colourful.
Just like our classroom.
As we conduct our work for the day.
Super Sam, the Sentence Snake keeps a caring eye over everyone.
Indeed a happening place.
Almost done.
Think Pink day was yesterday, but we still had a few students dressed in pink on this day.
Smiles abound.
All around!
Our balloon is complete and now adorns the hallway in the main school.
On the HOPE wall.
When you are given "lemony weather".
You make lemonade!
In block four we got out our chrome books and headed out in the hallway where there was actually a lovely "cross breeze".
Yes, learning comes alive in so many situations!
On behalf of the entire staff at St. Bernard, thank you for your support for Think Pink Day yesterday!
Have a great evening everyone!
Mr. Hamer OCT
Day 13
Lilly enjoys providing a message to the boys and girls in the morning.
We became so busy with other work today that we didn't get the chance to read Lilly's message, so here it is for you now.
With our faces on a magnetized disc, we can do some creative things with ourselves.
Like create a pictograph on our favourite season.
The children love coming up to the board.
They take pride in sharing their knowledge, skills and ideas.
This lad loves summer.
While this fellow prefers fall.
The pictograph is slowly evolving as each pupil comes forth.
Each child had this tally chart I created for them to track the number of students who preferred each season.
As each boy and girl went to the blackboard, we marked their tally on our tally sheet and we also coloured their little name/season bubble on the sheet.
What a creative and fun way to learn about graphing.
Later in the day we will turn this "pictograph" into a bar graph.
Parents and guardians...feel free to ask deeper questions around the pictograph. Just click on the image to enlarge it. A couple of examples are written below.
Easy question: "What season is the most popular in class?"
Deeper question: "How many fewer children prefer the fall than summer?"
Always nice to see the healthy snacks abound in the room!
Yum, yum!
Well, we needed the nourishment from our snacks as we went to gym following the morning recess.
First activity: "Everyone run around the perimeter of the gym three times!"
Then we review the gym expectations at the large circle.
A circle of friends.
We are family!
Cool view!
Some warm-up activities.
Involving balancing.
Stretching.
And fun!
More fun!
As one team plays, another waits their turn.
The boys and girls are guided to watch the action fully for safety.
A few blurry action shots.
There it goes!
"Go deep everyone!"
"I've got it!"
A few fun "staged" shots!
Good balance.
Nice technique.
We rock!
Back in class we begin to learn how to take the information from our pictograph and tally chart to make a bar graph.
Once again, I have "scaffolded" their learning. Note the graph sheet at the top of the image that is slightly cut off. I drew the "top section" of the bar and the students had to use their rulers to draw the sides. Using a ruler may seem easy to adults, but it is a learned skill for grade one and two students.
Once each child used their ruler to draw the vertical lines to complete their bars, it was time to colour them in.
Following a model I shared with them, they went about creating some really colourful bars.
With some of the pictures matching the season.
Love the snowman and the flowers!
Arrows show where each season tops out...another form of creativity on one little person's part.
I'm so proud of the efforts of the charges in the class.
A couple of examples of our tally chart.
We also learned a new song today entitled, "Biscuits in the Oven".
A bit of time to colour the pictures on the song sheet.
Sharing resources.
And personal spaces.
Our calendar "person of the day" asks a series of great questons.
The hands begin to go up.
"Can someone read me this date?" this little teacher asks.
Near the end of the day in Block Four, the children were given the choice to complete some earlier work or learn on the chrome books.
Buster Bear learns a few things about math from this classmate.
You can hear a pin drop in the room!
A well-deserved break.
Aha! One child ops to complete work from his "Work to Finish" folder. I'm really proud of him!
I'm also proud of my computer whiz kids!
Just a reminder to parents to send in a set of headphones for your child.
This lad loves math too.
As does the little girl who is learning from this program.
Looks like Buster Bear has a new friend to play with.
Total focus.
Snug as a bug in a rug in the corner of the class.
A real hot spot where the children love to spend their time.
No, it's not winter yet...but with all this heat, I'm tempted to wish it was...no, no, no...soon we'll be complaining about the cold! Ya can never win!
Have a lovely evening everyone!
Mr. Hamer OCT
Day 14
Yes, today was the Autumnal Equinox!
At 4:02 PM autumn officially arrived.
I'll run and jump in the leaves with my friend, Snoopy, only if the weather cools down a bit!
In science class, we performed an experiment to determine the buoyancy of ten objects.
The children first made their predictions on the page above.
Then we headed over to the carpet to run the experiment.
I went over the stages of an experimental write-up using words that the grade ones and twos could relate to. You can see these words in blue. The bracketed red terms were the ones I remembered from my youth.
Our "Circle of Friends" gathered at carpet.
Eager to get started. (They had already made their predictions back at their desks. We'll share those results on Monday.)
First object up was a plastic spoon.
Aha! It floats.
Second batter up...a pencil.
Yessirree, it floats too!
Then came the plastic spinner.
All the children were excited to be chosen to perform the experiment.
I asked them to drop the object from a few cms above the water's surface.
(As you know, you can gently place some object that would typically sink on the surface of the water and the surface tension will be strong enough to have that object float over a wide surface area.)
Plastic spinner...a floater!
A twig.
Are you ready?
Here goes!
Yup it floats too. (It was fun to listen to the comments..."That was exactly what I predicted"..."I thought for sure that it would sink!" Hehehe! Teaching is so much fun.
A number cube came on deck.
"I like the number four!"
The big drop!
Whoa...the number cube sinks!
Mr. Hamer pulled out his guitar pick.
It floats!
Here's an object we don't see around too much anymore.
A penny...it sank!
We earlier showcased a plastic spoon...what about a metal one?
I'm ready, Mr. Hamer!
Here she goes!
Down to the bottom of the bin!
How about a clothes pin?
This experiment is fun!
One, two, three...
It stays up at the surface of the water.
A paper clip.
My turn!
Here goes!
Sank right to the bottom!
Here are our floaters!
The calendar friend today had a special day...the equinox!
Looks like a natural teacher to me. I'd better watch out or I'll be out of a job!
As always, lots of eager participants.
The magic green wand is a favourite with the boys and girls.
One little friend brought in her own book to show the class.
It was a book all about colours.
With fun animals teaching the reader.
A proud teacher.
With an attentive class.
Remember when we visited the learning commons on Wednesday?
Ms Avilla sent me the link to a video she wanted the children to watch on the proper care of books.
We enjoyed watching it today. It lasted a little over seven minutes. Feel free to check it out at the hyperlink below: (you may have to copy the link into a search bar.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBC8HKSsK78
As we were conducting our experiment, two young ladies from Grade Four came to our classroom to drop off three prizes. They will be given to three students in our class on Monday who wear the most "Green and White" as we celebrate Jour de Francophonie. (Francophonie Day)
If there are many pupils dressed magnificently in green and white, then we'll revert to the trusty and tried "Pick a name from a container" method to determine the winners of the three prizes.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Mr. Hamer OCT
Day 11
We read one version of the story of Creation from a Children's Beginner Bible.
This is a "modelled" example of how the Creation story can be represented.
Yet another version of "modelling" our homework for the week.
And...another!
The boys and girls worked hard today getting the classroom set up for "Program Night".
Which Mr. Hamer affectionately calls "Meet the Creature" night!
Here is our bulletin board which showcases our hard work.
These pages will be taken down in a couple of days and published into a "Class Book".
Mr. Hamer interviewed each one of us for something he called an "Inventory of Me." I'm not quite sure what "inventory" means, but I think it's kind of like a story "All About Me."
Here's what our desks looked like when our parents came in to visit the class this evening.
I like my new name tag on my desk. It has a lot of information Mr. Hamer says we can reference.
I'm not sure what reference means, but I think he means that we can check out the information to help us when we need to know something.
Mr. Hamer wrote all of these fancy words on the blackboard. He said that he would "reference" these words when he talked to our parents this evening.
I love coming to carpet where we learn so much about so many things!
Mr. Hamer sure has fun teaching. His smile tells it all as he sits with a couple of new teachers to our school.
Day 12
Today we revisited the story of Creation in The Beginners Bible.
This is a suitable version for a grade one/two class.
The boys and girls listened attentively.
As we read through the days of creation.
Remember...if you click on the picture it will enlarge for you to see the finer details more clearly.
Whenever you have time, feel free to review with your son/daughter the stages in the water cycle.
The use of the SMARTboard technology enhances the lessons.
Evaporation, condensation and precipitation were the three main aspects of the water cycle I learned as a little boy.
It's interesting to see the inclusion of "Collection" in the cycle...it makes sense.
While collection is not mentioned above, you can point out to the children that the water would collect in lakes, oceans, soil and ground water.
Seeing as today was Day 12, we were finally able to complete the learning of the song "The Twelve Days of School" based on the music to "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
Have your child sing it to you.
It will be fun with some tongue twister effects.
Don't forget the long, drawn aspect to "Five....gold...stars"
Nearing the end...listen carefully to what your child sings for the letter "Z".
Later in the day, we worked on a "Creation Story Anagram" sheet and the students worked with partners in order to attempt the "unscrambling" of the letters.
Each day, a different student gets the chance to play teacher.
As we review the calendar.
She's a natural!
Speaking of natural teachers, we visited Ms. Avila in the Learning Commons today.
Ms. Avila explained to the boys and girls the learning commons expectations.
I try to be inconspicuous as I snap a photo.
The children are reminded of the use of Shelf Markers while searching for a book.
A close-up view.
Ms. Avila took us over to the area where new books are showcased.
A book basket.
Time to head over to the shelves.
Here's a fast learner!
He has mastered the use of the library stick while searching for a book.
"I like this one!" she says.
"And I like this one!" he responds.
The search is on.
I'm ready to read.
Learning how to sign out the book.
Smelly Socks seems like a great read.
"I'll choose this book!"
Ms. Avila shows the children how to place their book under the book reader.
When the red line travels over the bar, the book is automatically signed out.
Some comfy chairs.
In different styles.
The orange brigade!
I want to try.
Easy as one, two, three!
The class decided to make one more "group" balloon for he HOPE section in the main hallway of the school.
Each student was given the opportunity to add to the balloon.
While others were reading.
Back in class we spent a few more minutes with our books.
With everyone on task.
Learning so much.
The balloon develops.
And becomes more colourful.
Just like our classroom.
As we conduct our work for the day.
Super Sam, the Sentence Snake keeps a caring eye over everyone.
Indeed a happening place.
Almost done.
Think Pink day was yesterday, but we still had a few students dressed in pink on this day.
Smiles abound.
All around!
Our balloon is complete and now adorns the hallway in the main school.
When you are given "lemony weather".
You make lemonade!
In block four we got out our chrome books and headed out in the hallway where there was actually a lovely "cross breeze".
Yes, learning comes alive in so many situations!
On behalf of the entire staff at St. Bernard, thank you for your support for Think Pink Day yesterday!
Have a great evening everyone!
Mr. Hamer OCT
Day 13
Lilly enjoys providing a message to the boys and girls in the morning.
We became so busy with other work today that we didn't get the chance to read Lilly's message, so here it is for you now.
With our faces on a magnetized disc, we can do some creative things with ourselves.
Like create a pictograph on our favourite season.
The children love coming up to the board.
They take pride in sharing their knowledge, skills and ideas.
This lad loves summer.
While this fellow prefers fall.
The pictograph is slowly evolving as each pupil comes forth.
Each child had this tally chart I created for them to track the number of students who preferred each season.
As each boy and girl went to the blackboard, we marked their tally on our tally sheet and we also coloured their little name/season bubble on the sheet.
What a creative and fun way to learn about graphing.
Later in the day we will turn this "pictograph" into a bar graph.
Parents and guardians...feel free to ask deeper questions around the pictograph. Just click on the image to enlarge it. A couple of examples are written below.
Easy question: "What season is the most popular in class?"
Deeper question: "How many fewer children prefer the fall than summer?"
Always nice to see the healthy snacks abound in the room!
Yum, yum!
Well, we needed the nourishment from our snacks as we went to gym following the morning recess.
First activity: "Everyone run around the perimeter of the gym three times!"
Then we review the gym expectations at the large circle.
A circle of friends.
We are family!
Cool view!
Some warm-up activities.
Involving balancing.
Stretching.
And fun!
More fun!
As one team plays, another waits their turn.
The boys and girls are guided to watch the action fully for safety.
A few blurry action shots.
There it goes!
"Go deep everyone!"
"I've got it!"
A few fun "staged" shots!
Good balance.
Nice technique.
We rock!
Back in class we begin to learn how to take the information from our pictograph and tally chart to make a bar graph.
Once again, I have "scaffolded" their learning. Note the graph sheet at the top of the image that is slightly cut off. I drew the "top section" of the bar and the students had to use their rulers to draw the sides. Using a ruler may seem easy to adults, but it is a learned skill for grade one and two students.
Once each child used their ruler to draw the vertical lines to complete their bars, it was time to colour them in.
Following a model I shared with them, they went about creating some really colourful bars.
With some of the pictures matching the season.
Love the snowman and the flowers!
Arrows show where each season tops out...another form of creativity on one little person's part.
I'm so proud of the efforts of the charges in the class.
A couple of examples of our tally chart.
We also learned a new song today entitled, "Biscuits in the Oven".
A bit of time to colour the pictures on the song sheet.
Sharing resources.
And personal spaces.
Our calendar "person of the day" asks a series of great questons.
The hands begin to go up.
"Can someone read me this date?" this little teacher asks.
Near the end of the day in Block Four, the children were given the choice to complete some earlier work or learn on the chrome books.
Buster Bear learns a few things about math from this classmate.
You can hear a pin drop in the room!
A well-deserved break.
Aha! One child ops to complete work from his "Work to Finish" folder. I'm really proud of him!
I'm also proud of my computer whiz kids!
Just a reminder to parents to send in a set of headphones for your child.
This lad loves math too.
As does the little girl who is learning from this program.
Looks like Buster Bear has a new friend to play with.
Total focus.
Snug as a bug in a rug in the corner of the class.
A real hot spot where the children love to spend their time.
No, it's not winter yet...but with all this heat, I'm tempted to wish it was...no, no, no...soon we'll be complaining about the cold! Ya can never win!
Have a lovely evening everyone!
Mr. Hamer OCT
Day 14
Yes, today was the Autumnal Equinox!
At 4:02 PM autumn officially arrived.
I'll run and jump in the leaves with my friend, Snoopy, only if the weather cools down a bit!
In science class, we performed an experiment to determine the buoyancy of ten objects.
The children first made their predictions on the page above.
Then we headed over to the carpet to run the experiment.
I went over the stages of an experimental write-up using words that the grade ones and twos could relate to. You can see these words in blue. The bracketed red terms were the ones I remembered from my youth.
Our "Circle of Friends" gathered at carpet.
Eager to get started. (They had already made their predictions back at their desks. We'll share those results on Monday.)
First object up was a plastic spoon.
Aha! It floats.
Second batter up...a pencil.
Yessirree, it floats too!
Then came the plastic spinner.
All the children were excited to be chosen to perform the experiment.
I asked them to drop the object from a few cms above the water's surface.
(As you know, you can gently place some object that would typically sink on the surface of the water and the surface tension will be strong enough to have that object float over a wide surface area.)
Plastic spinner...a floater!
A twig.
Are you ready?
Here goes!
Yup it floats too. (It was fun to listen to the comments..."That was exactly what I predicted"..."I thought for sure that it would sink!" Hehehe! Teaching is so much fun.
A number cube came on deck.
"I like the number four!"
The big drop!
Whoa...the number cube sinks!
Mr. Hamer pulled out his guitar pick.
It floats!
Here's an object we don't see around too much anymore.
A penny...it sank!
We earlier showcased a plastic spoon...what about a metal one?
I'm ready, Mr. Hamer!
Here she goes!
Down to the bottom of the bin!
How about a clothes pin?
This experiment is fun!
One, two, three...
It stays up at the surface of the water.
A paper clip.
My turn!
Here goes!
Sank right to the bottom!
Here are our floaters!
Here are our sinkers.
The children came to a few conclusions. It seemed that wooden objects tend to float. Some plastic objects floated but one, the number cube, sank. "It's heavier than water," one little girl stated.
Check in Monday to see some of the student predictions and how they measured up!
The calendar friend today had a special day...the equinox!
Looks like a natural teacher to me. I'd better watch out or I'll be out of a job!
As always, lots of eager participants.
The magic green wand is a favourite with the boys and girls.
One little friend brought in her own book to show the class.
It was a book all about colours.
With fun animals teaching the reader.
A proud teacher.
With an attentive class.
Remember when we visited the learning commons on Wednesday?
Ms Avilla sent me the link to a video she wanted the children to watch on the proper care of books.
We enjoyed watching it today. It lasted a little over seven minutes. Feel free to check it out at the hyperlink below: (you may have to copy the link into a search bar.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBC8HKSsK78
As we were conducting our experiment, two young ladies from Grade Four came to our classroom to drop off three prizes. They will be given to three students in our class on Monday who wear the most "Green and White" as we celebrate Jour de Francophonie. (Francophonie Day)
If there are many pupils dressed magnificently in green and white, then we'll revert to the trusty and tried "Pick a name from a container" method to determine the winners of the three prizes.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Mr. Hamer OCT
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