Sunday 18 October 2015

Math in Action

I love that my students look forward to math!  We have mental math routines that we do each day and the students actual beg to do them because they are so much fun!  A new one that we tried was "Order Up".  The students were all given random numbers in the hundreds.  I timed them to see how fast they could put themselves in order from least to greatest.  Each time we play, we challenge ourselves to beat our previous time!

Science Fun


Same crew…..new grade

We are one year older now!  It's nice to be moving up and teaching these same kids grade 3.  The beginning of the year was a really smooth start for us, as the students just fell back into the regular routines and were great role models for our 3 new students, Biasha, Amelia and Janeia.  We all really miss Ben and Everly and we still talk about them a lot.  We wrote a new set of Classroom Beliefs, created a Team 25 art mural of our hands, and did a sharing activity with our "Me Bags".  It's been a great start!

Thursday 26 February 2015

100 Day & Valentine's Day

February 13th was a super fun day for Team 25.  We celebrated both Valentine's day and the 100th day of school.  For 100th day we watched a short video showing people from ages 1 to 100.  Next, the students went on a scavenger hunt around the classroom for 100 hearts.  They only managed to find 95 hearts but over the next few days, three more were found!  After that, they were challenged  to see how many times they could write their names in 100 seconds.  The students also did a short writing activity where they had to say what they would do if they were given $100.  Most students said they would buy toys or candy but Max said he would donate it to charity.  What a kind heart!  The highlight of our day was when I took pictures of the students using the "Aging Booth" app so that we could see what everyone would like when they are 100 years old!  Funny how you lose your teeth when you're 7 years old and then again when you are elderly!  We had a great day!




Sunday 8 February 2015

Outchie Stories


It has been extremely slippery outside.  I told the students about how my nephew Ty slipped on the ice at school and had to get 6 or 7 stitches on his eyebrow.  This sparked a 45 minute conversation about all the times we have ever gotten hurt.  I decided to turn this into a writing opportunity so the students began writing "Outchie Stories", i.e., telling about a time they got hurt.  These stories are going to be compiled into a class book and given to my nephew Ty so that he doesn't feel like he is the only one who has ever gotten hurt.  This provides the students with an authentic writing experience where they are writing for a specific audience (Ty).  Everyone was further motivated to tell their stories when they found out that they would each get to type their own story on the iPads and airdrop it to me.  Once I receive all of the students' stories along with a photo, they will be formed into a book on the App, "Book Creator".  We will be able to electronically send a copy of the book to Ty's classroom teacher, as well as keep our own copy, plus I will print a hard copy to have in our classroom library.  I'm SO proud of all the students for all the work they have put into this project!  Way to go Team 25!


Scaredy Diva Squirrel-Entry 3

After the conference was over, we were still able to spend the weekend in Florida.  I had no idea that Mrs. Shabaga had such great connections!  I was actually able to meet my heroes Chip and Dale! OMG!  However, panic immediately started to set in when Chip actually tried to TAKE A BITE OUT of me during our "meet and greet"!  Fortunately, I was whisked away for another photoshoot where I was surrounded by mini Chip and Dale Stuffies!  When Mrs. Shabaga's feet and ankles got sore, Miss Kirkland provided piggy back rides so she wouldn't have to walk.  What a great friend!



Thursday 22 January 2015

Scaredy Diva Squirrel Entry 2-Losing an eye….

Hi, it's me SDS again.  Apparently, this technology conference that Mrs. Shabaga brought me to is so "Eye Opening" that I actually LOST one of my eyeballs!  So did Scaredy Fluffball Squirrel!  Mrs. Shabaga is always telling you students to put your eyeballs on her "but don't take them out of your head because that's gross" and then mine just pops out of my head!!!!  I will never forgive her for not packing her hot-glue gun.  Not only did that happen today but she tried to have me killed by a GIGANTIC robot at the FETC conference.  I panicked and started to scream until the man at the booth explained what this robot was for.  It is a robot that goes to school for students who can not attend because of a disability.  It has a camera on it so the student can see all around the school and what the teacher is doing!  I was even brave enough to get right in front of the computer so that my face showed up on the front of the robot!  Aren't you proud of me?  Mrs. Shabaga learned about incorporating LEGO into math problem solving….she wishes she knew about that while she was teaching her LEGO theme at the beginning of the year.  She put me back in the bag for the rest of her seminars where I was happy to play



Wednesday 21 January 2015

Scaredy Diva Squirrel in Florida Entry 1

Scaredy Diva Squirrel was convinced by Mrs. Shabaga to join her on her technology conference in Florida.  She was not thrilled about leaving the comfort of her nut tree, however, Mrs. Shabaga ensured her that she was going to LOVE the palm trees and warm weather.  SDS (Scaredy Diva Squirrel) ditched her Emergency Kit in favour of a new Michael Kohrs bag because she wanted to travel in style.        She is very happy to have her friend Scaredy Fluffball Squirrel (created by Mrs. MacLean-Pilat) along with her on the trip.  The plane from Winnipeg to Minneapolis only sat 50 people and Mrs. Shabaga and I had to sit at the VERY BACK of the plane.  Mrs. Shabaga put me in the window for a picture but I started to panic so the flight attendant asked her to put me back in the bag.  The airport in Minneapolis had MOVING sidewalks!  Mrs. Shabaga thought they were great and they gave her ankles a rest but I was worried that someone would step on me and wreck the flower in my hair.
PS.  Tell Mr. Bychuk that my pom pom fell off my collar.

Scaredy Squirrel Theme

Team 25 had a lot of fun with our Scaredy Squirrel Theme.  We read the books,  did lots of writing activities, designed emergency kits, created our own Scaredy Squirrels and had a pyjama party!