Week Ten - We Remember

October Review

This is the special week when we remember all of the fallen, all of the injured, and all of those brave men and women who served for Canada to help make our world a more peaceful and loving place.

This post acts as a review of the month of October.  The new spelling list will be posted Monday night when we take a gander at a few of the activities conducted Monday.

In October a new banner was hung in the classroom featuring a bus driver driving the children to school on a lovely autumn morning with the colourful leaves falling from the trees.

It replaces our "Back to School" banner which hung in its stead for the month of September.

We studied the seasons and learned how we, along with all God's creatures, adapt to the changing conditions found in the various times of the year.

Mr. Hamer read the story Four Seasons for Toby as a springboard for our writing activity.

When all of the written submissions were handed in, they went straight up on the wall which showcases the work the children have created.  Later the pages were bound and published into a class book.  We now have 15 class books published in the first two months of school!

In music, we learned how to snap the beat of a song.

And how to clap the rhythm.  Lots of fun!

On our desks we found a font of information on the new name tags Mrs. Hamer bought for Mr. Hamer.  Thanks, Mrs. Hamer!

Every day we worked with a different word family with the "an" family taking center stage this day.

In math we learned many new things including patterns.

We love it always when Mr. Hamer gets out Mr. Guitar!

It's so cool!

A birthday girl in October!

Some indoor recesses found us playing with the many toy options.

So did our visits to the learning commons.

Where we visited the MakerSpace module.

In October, we attended an in-service put on by the junior students in the environment club where we learned where each of these items should be placed when we no longer need them.

The playground was painted with many "live action" game boards.

We gave thanks for all that we have.

Our SMART board allowed us to learn while playing at the same time.  This memory game helps boost our brain power.

Yes, we were "Up. Up and Away" with a great two month start to the school year.

We even made a class book about "taking off" in our learning!

We combined leaves with a little creature to make an autumn hedgehog in art class.

"My leaves are as colourful as my shirt!"

Two little hedgehogs

With two little friends

We hope the fun of learning

Never ends!

After a day or so, the class was overridden with hedgehogs!  Too much fun!

"I like to practise my printing."

"Me too!"

Even though the Terry Fox Run was in September, we began to read about Terry's story in October.

The chrome books get a workout.

Especially in inclement weather when the children have to stay indoors.

The number line helps us to subtract.

When we subtract, we go backwards down the number line.

The answer we end up with is called the "difference".

Sometimes it is our classmates who read us a story at carpet.

In Religion, we read the story of the Garden of Eden and the story of the Great Flood.

I hope I can be as good as Noah and his family!

When it wasn't raining it was very nice out with some mild temperatures in October.

Sometimes we enjoyed phys. ed. class outdoors.

Or we simply enjoyed an early recess by heading outside five minutes before the bell rang.

This was fun because we could play on the climbing structure even if it wasn't our day to do so for recess time!

Our little magnetized faces sure come in handy when we want to make a graph.

We visited three kindergarten classes in October to sing with the little ones.

"Do you like our hot-air balloon math?  We had to solve some subtractions to determine which colour to put in each area of the picture.

Mr. Hamer worked with the choir quite a lot in October especially when they were getting ready for the Thanksgiving Mass at the church.

We made a class Thanksgiving book.

We enjoy the opportunity to show the class one of our own favourite pieces of work we had done.

Halloween was approaching and the banner took on a different look!

Here is a picture from a visit to our second Kindergarten class.

Our big balloon is adorned with images of all of us.  We fly high in our learning.

Mr. Hamer has given us folders for each subject.  We don't keep them all in our desks as they might get all wrinkled up.  At the end of the year we will bring them all home!

Did you know that our school staff enjoyed a 100% participation rate for the United Way last year?   We hope to repeat this year.  We are proud of all of our staff members.

"Here's a piece of work I particularly like!" says this little boy.

Mr. Hamer read us a number of stories around the topic of bullying.

We learned a number of strategies to use should we encounter a bullying situation.

It was so nice one day that we headed over the park to play for phys. ed.

That was a lot of fun.

"I'm dressed for play!"

It's nice to see children adopt a healthy love for their environment at a young age!

Don't spin too much, girls!

You know you might feel sick afterwards!

King of the castle.

Hanging out with the hippos.

Some cleaner up-erers!  Hehehe!

Now I'm the king of the castle.

A web of friendship.

Too much fun...this can't be school, can it? (Big grin!)

Just hanging out is fun.

We like to hang around.

Now, that's the king of the castle!

Crazy poses everyone!

In French Mme makes smart use of the computers.

Such as these programs.

That help teach vocabulary.

More outdoor fun.

On the playground.

In net.

"I just scored a goal!"

Friendship.

Our Grade Four buddies visited our classroom.

We read together.

Taking turns.

"I'll read a page, you read a page."

Smiles abound.

Lots of activity.

Then it was on to the chrome books.

"Hi Mr. Hamer!"

Total focus.

Sibling affection.

We visited the church for our Thanksgiving Mass.  (Picture taken at another time.)

For homework one week we talked about Fall from various vantage points.

We thanked God for many things.

Our food drive was a huge success.

A co-op student spent a week with our class.

She was a great teacher's aid.

It was soon time for Halloween so we created our own Halloween acrostic poem.

We worked with Halloween compound words such as "broomstick" and "graveyard".

Our Halloween song progressed each day with a new verse added each time.

Mr. Hamer shared a number of Halloween stories with the class.

With Piggie Pie being a popular one.

Clifford likes to hang out with us in class.

He really likes it when his stories are read.

The staff gathered to celebrate a staff member who is doing very well following a health issue.

Wow, are those teachers ever party animals!

Two-digit addition was so much fun.

We learned that a short-vowel word...

...can be changed into a long-vowel word with the simple addition of the "magic e"!

It is always fun picking a new library book.

Sometimes we take our work to the learning commons and catch up on things.

Science is fun.

Whoa...look what happened when our co-op student put her finger in the water!

Yup, we love to gather at carpet.

Another birthday to celebrate.

The birthday boy is all a-smile!

Indoor gym is fun too.  Handball really gets you running!

When it's indoor recess, even the teacher goes crazy!

Grade Three friends are asking us to save the can tags for a little girl's mission to earn money for wheelchairs.

Using math to solve a Halloween puzzle is a blast!

Total concentration.

Our "still to finish" yellow folders filing system.

Art class with our buddies.

This time in their room.

Mr. Hamer checks in on things.

The calendar is getting filled up...the end of the month must be near.

The class was invaded...

...by mammals of the flying kind!

Our French class was visited by two other classes, the Kinders and the Grade Six group.  The students learned all about trick or treating safety!

Another fun SMARTboard activity.

On Halloween day we were all in orange and black.

We then were invaded by more costumed creatures.

More still.

Even more again!

Our accordian witch was a big hit.

She could have an orange body.

Or a black one!

Love the spooky spider!

Classrooms are colourful.

With colourful kids.

Who have colourful ideas.

It sure was fun coming up with the "shall we say - colourful" ingredients for our witch's brew!

Our science experiment on surface tension certainly amazed the children!

Our classroom "spidies" say good-bye to all.

We hope you have enjoyed our October synopsis.

Here's to the month of November!

Have a great 11th month of the year.  

Mr. Hamer OCT

Day 43

 We will be devoting many of our lessons on Remembrance throughout this school week.
Our Remembrance Day service will take place in the school's gymnasium on Friday at 10:30.

Our classroom walls will be decorated with items of remembrance.

We will learn stories of many brave women and men who served.

These images come from the book Honour below.

The book Honour.

When I was a teacher in the junior grades, my class created this poem entitled Peace Begins.

We will study the verses of the poem and brainstorm ideas around each verse.

As this student did.

And this student as well.

We will make a poppy stained glass craft.

Today we began a different poppy craft.

The children love when the paints come out!

Our little project will take on a "water colour" appearance.

"I love painting!"

The old egg cartons are cut.

And ready for painting.

The backgrounds are coming along really well.

Almost dry!

Yup...you've got to get some paint on your fingers!

The poppy flowers are allowed to dry.  
You'll see Mr. Hamer's sample of this craft at the end of this posting.

Remember last Friday.

When our Grade Four buddies visited?

Here is our mosaic around the theme of Love and Dignity of the Person.

Some close-up views.

Of the many pieces.

That make up the mosaic.

Lots of colour!

A lovely theme.

Art snuggled together.

Too cool!

Nice message!

That's all!

Our new banner has Snoopy added to our classroom group.

Learning about our Peace Tower here in Ottawa.

Another colourful classmate!

Time for home!

The line-up lengthens.

And...lengthens!

Dress warm for the cold.

Here is what our poppy art will look like by the end of the week.

Our Weekly Spelling List - Week Ten (Quiz will be next Monday)

                            Grade One  (short u words)         Grade Two  (double ee)

                                 1.   bun                                             1.   bee

                                 2.   jug                                               2.   need

                                 3.   us                                                3.   week

                                 4.   cup                                              4.   feel

                                 5.   fun                                               5.   meet

                                 6.   tub                                               6.   seem

                                 7.   rug                                               7.   deep

                               Day 44

In our week of Remembrance we take time each day to offer prayers for all of the fallen women and men who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

The children learned today that poppies grow in soil rich in lime.

With many of the village houses and buildings in Europe made from limestone, following the devastation of the battles, the shattered limestone dust leached into the soil and within a short while poppies grew out of this devastation in abundance.

This young lad has completed his "background wash" as well as the initial phase of the poppy petal painting.

He is determining the placement of his poppies for his image.

"I like mine right here, Mr. Hamer!"

Time to draw the stems using a large tip magic marker.

"The stem is wavy because the poppies blow in the wind!"

Looks nice, young man!

"Now I'll just dab a few more poppies directly onto my page."

Coming along nicely.

Two happy lads.

Great devotion to the task.

While some worked on their poppy picture, the others got to work on colouring the remembrance wreath with an acrostic poem in the centre.  Click on the image to enlarge it in order to read the acrostic poem.

"I'm proud of my colouring!"

"I created this poppy art all by myself!"

"I'm holding my poppy down on the page so the glue will set nicely."

Time for more poppies at the bottom of the page.

"I'm working hard to keep a tidy work space while I paint."

"We're proud of our hard work."

"I'm leading calendar today!"

"And these are my faithful students!"

A close-up view of some of the poppies adorning our classroom blackboard.

In math we reviewed the pattern core.  Some people call it the pattern rule.  The core is the segment of the pattern that repeats itself.

In social studies we've been learning about our vast country.

Children were invited up to the SMARTboard to see if they could locate three provinces or territories within an allotted time.  "Can you find Alberta?"

"Here's Alberta, Mr. Hamer!"

"Great job young lad!"

Teachers use a multitude of diagnostic resources when evaluating the abilities of students in reading and math.  Leaps and Bounds is a new math resource.

To see how children view numeracy this card asks them to show six in three different ways.

That's one way.

That's another.

...and another.

Here's a cool way!

Of course this is a very basic task.  The task cards become more challenging at a gradual rate and they are great in helping a teacher to diagnose a child's sense of numbers.

In the afternoon we put our desks in rows as a neat change for a while.

The young lad in the blue shirt in the foreground said, "Mr. Hamer, this is like being in a movie theatre!"  I got a big chuckle out of that comment.  For sure, he no longer has to crank his head to the left to look at the SMARTboard.  We'll go back to island groups at a later date.

Some students have finished their work and are enjoying some educational "social time."

And just plain "having fun!"

Children take pride in their creative endeavours and love to share them with their classmates as this young boy is doing with this young girl.

Still a few things to do before our poppy art is completed.  We have to paint the inside of the poppies, draw the remaining stems on the smaller ones and glue the paper on to a black construction paper frame.  All of this will be accomplished tomorrow and they will be up in the classroom for Parent/Teacher interviews Thursday evening.  Following that, they will be moved to the larger school and placed somewhere near the main lobby for all to enjoy Friday morning when we will have our school's Remembrance Day assembly.

Some students chose the configuration with the middle poppy below the other two.

While other children chose to have their middle poppy elevated above the outer two.

Have a lovely evening everyone!

Mr. Hamer OCT

Day 45

Lest we forget.

It's nice to walk into the classroom in the early morning hours.

And see how each child will be ready when the day starts.

Our black dots are painted on the poppies now.

It's interesting to see the differing arrangements of the trio of main poppies as chosen by each child.

A lot of care and devotion went into the making of the craft.

With the crosses in behind and the Vimy Memorial on the posting this image is so touching.

To know that every child in our class has so much freedom in their lives due to the sacrifice of so many before them.

The first lines of Flanders Fields can also be seen in the background.

The young lad is peering over at the young lady's artwork.

So she does the same in kind!

Yes, the blackboard gets a lot of wonderful usage as well as the SMARTboard.

Mr. Hamer leading the recital of the first five lines of the poem.

Later, we find ourselves in the Learning Commons for our book exchange...but first, a story.

About a little boy who visits his grandma to learn all about his grandpa who had served in the war.

"Should I take out this book?"

"Or...maybe...another?"

"Chapter books are fun to select!"

Our class's artwork now adorns the main hallway of the school.

We are very proud to do so.

The words of the poem surround our poppies.

For all to see.

We remember those who rest forever in Flanders Fields.

Later activities found the class completing a "dot-to-dot".

Then colouring it in.

To make a medal of courage.

We all coloured in a poppy for our class wreath.

"Hmmm...which colour should I choose for my medal?"

"What do you think, Mr. Hamer?"

"Any colour you wish to use!" was Mr. Hamer's response.

Classmates.

Enjoying working together.

A devoted student.

Lots of attention to detail.

A finished work of art.

And she's proud of it too!

"Here's mine!"

"...and...here's mine!"

"Do you like mine?"

We love them all.  Later...a bit of "down time" on the chrome books!

To cap off a great day!
Have a lovely evening everyone!
Mr. Hamer OCT

 Day 46

Lest we forget.

In preparation for Remembrance Day, Mr. Hamer took the children on a walkabout through the school.

We discovered some pretty spectacular poppies in the front lobby.

Thank you to Ms. Porcari for bringing them in!

A nice bulletin board is taking shape outside "The Zone".

Our students know this poem.

Mrs. Crupe's grandfather is pictured above.

Inspirational indeed.

Back in class I shared a song I learned many years ago called "Where Have All the Flowers Gone."

While this folk song indicated that it was the men that went to war and the women stayed home to work in the factories, we held a discussion to indicate that many women also served and still do today.

The children enjoyed learning a little bit more about the author of "In Flanders Fields" and the horse he rode on during the war.

At lunch hour I popped into the learning commons to check in on the model building club.

Looks like some pretty cool looking cars are on the assembly line.

Great job Mr. Papineau!

Back in class later in the day we practised our letter "G".

Students worked in pods together.

They assisted each other with a Halloween wordsearch which still required some finishing touches.

With her letter "G" sheet completed, it was time to colour the picture.

Nice form from this lad!

And...a nice smile from this one!

Three proud smiles.

"We're beaming because we love our work!"

Nice friends.

"I prefer to begin with my colouring first!"

A little grainy shot in the dark while the children watched a cartoon while eating.

It's been a long day but it was so nice meeting so many of the parents this evening!

Have a great rest of the evening!

Mr. Hamer OCT

 Day 47

Today all classes gathered in the school gymnasium to remember those who served.

We prayed for their families.

Mr. Hamer taught us about the Books of Remembrance located in the rotunda at Parliament Hill.

He told us that his daughter worked for Veteran's Affairs for a few years where she took the Books of Remembrance across the country so that the very senior of veterans wouldn't have to travel all the way to Ottawa just to see them.

We looked again at this image of Dr. John McCrae on his horse, Bonfire.

We learned that animals made a contribution to the war effort like Gander, this beautiful Newfoundland dog.

Many troops adopted pets to help lighten the mood during the downtimes of war.  In fact, the downtimes far outnumbered the times when battles took place.

We learned that some dogs are trained to sniff out hidden explosive devices.

We also learned that animals suffer loss in wartime just as humans do and they often require companionship when loss occurs.

We learned the story of "Winnie", the small bear cub adopted by this veterinarian who had enlisted.  The soldier was aboard a troop train that stopped briefly in Winnipeg...thus the name Winnie was given to the little bear cub.

Upon arrival in England, the troops decided that the battlefield would be too dangerous a place for Winnie, so he was donated to the London Zoo.  This little boy, Christopher Robin Milne, loved to visit Winnie at the zoo.  Christopher's father, A.A. Milne, would write stories about Winnie to entertain young Christopher.  Thus, the seed was created for the "Winnie the Pooh" story.

As always, we gather at our desks in the morning and quickly copy down our agenda from the SMARTboard.

We were pensive today as we devoted our day's efforts for those who fought for our freedom.

What a lovely class.

Many students throughout the school wore their respective uniforms and they formed an honour guard outside the gymnasium prior to the ceremony.

Our guest speaker, Sue Milner, brought this lovely display showing the 158 Canadians who have sacrificed their lives for the cause in recent times.

Sue brought along this beautiful flame with poppies skirting the bottom.

It shone bright later on during the assembly when all of the lights were turned down.

Some blurry images from the ceremony.

Some of the junior classes performed tableaus and choral chants.

Sue Milner with Father Paul.

Sue, with her good friend, Carol.

Carol served overseas in a number of campaigns.

Thank you both for taking the time out to visit our school for this beautiful and solemn occasion.

A great group shot of many of the children who had participated in the cause.

The bulletin board we saw earlier in the week continues to develop with chalk lines around the edges.

The wonderful wreaths the classes made.

Certainly look beautiful laid in front of our ceremonial monument.

The tableau of In Flanders Fields.

Carol.

Some of the little activities the children completed today.

Our wonderful nation.

A lovely poem.

A beautiful wreath.

Today our buddies visited our class to close off the day.  I didn't have my camera out, so these images are from some previous visits with our buddy class.

We certainly enjoy gathering each Friday.

Sometimes we read together.  Other times we create a craft or go on chrome books.

Today we discussed what we had experienced in our ceremony from the morning.  Mr. Hamer showed a few more images of animals contributing to the war effort as well.

As Mr. Hamer was leaving the school he just had to stop and snap this wonderful image of our church and its tall tree almost in silhouette.

Just moments before, Mr. Hamer bent down to pick up this lovely little glove off the playground.  He will bring it in to school on Monday morning for a beautiful little girl who will need it to keep her left hand warm.  Indeed this little glove represents so much of what we learned today...about people sacrificing their time to "lend a hand" to perfect strangers, no matter what the cost.

On this weekend of Remembrance, it will be nice to pause and say "Thank You.  We will never forget your sacrifices."

All the best, Mr. Hamer OCT