****ONLY ONE MORE SLEEP UNTIL OUR CELEBRATION OF LEARNING
When: Tomorrow Thursday April 20th 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.


Today we finished our Nova Scotia centers. Some of the centres that we explored are:

• Beaches/Hiking
• Whale Watching
• Lighthouse 
• Large Maps of Canada
• Smaller maps with Provincial Flags
• Kayaking 
• Lobster
• Blue Nose Boat
• Books about Nova Scotia
• Bay of Fundy

After looking at the pictures and reading the material we had to draw a picture (I see) and then write an I think and an I wonder for each. Ask me what I learned and what I would like to know more about?

Charlottes Web: Reader Response Novel Study

Chapter 8: A Talk at Home Page 52
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNqz4t057ls

New Vocabulary from Chapter 8
Queerly
Boast

Science
Today we learned more about magnets. We watched a video about magnets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I1WqXHkVgs

We learned some scientific words about Magnets: Repel and Attract

We also learned that the Earth is a BIG magnet

.

We also learned that when you put Magnets together there is a Magnetic Field around them.



Magnetic force can go through water and even through solids.


Some Magnets are stronger than others. There are different sizes and strengths of magnets.

We learned that a compass is used to help us find direction but it also uses magnetic force to work and the magnetic field of the earth to help us tell direction.

Explain Everything, Persuasive Writing and Perimeter!

Reminder: This Thursday April 20th is our GRADE 2 CELEBRATION OF LEARNING from 6pm-7pm. We are so excited to share our learning with you!

Today we practiced telling our story orally and using the Explain Everything Application so that we can be experts and share our story both orally around the fire and on Explain Everything

Charlotte's Web: Chapter 7: Bad News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhiBT2MHpwA

We learned 3 Synonyms for Hated:

Loathed...Disliked...Detested...

Sometimes when we want to make our writing more exciting we can find a different word that means the same thing but is much "juicier"!!

Thesaurus.com will help you do this! 

http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/

We also learned about PERSUASIVE WRITING. We had to write a letter to Mr. Zuckerman to persuade him not to kill Wilbur. Ask me what my reasons were. 

We also talked about what Persuasive Writing is and what it is used for:

Math

Today in math we came up with rules for a triangle. We also practiced drawing a triangle using rulers. We also learned a new measurement vocabulary word called PERIMETER. Ask me how I can figure out the perimeter of a square or a triangle? 

Charlotte, Rectangles and Magnets!

Reminder: NO School Tomorrow: Friday April 14th or Monday April 17th. Enjoy your Easter Weekend! 

Charlottes Web: Chapter 5
Reader Response/Novel Study

Today we wrote a response to Charlottes Web, Chapter 5: CHARLOTTE
After yesterday coming up with 5 Adjectives to describe Charlotte, today we had to answer these questions:

How do you feel about Charlotte? Why?

I think Charlotte is _______________ because ___________.

I also feel that Charlotte can be _________________

because _______________.

If you missed reading Chapter 5 or want to hear it again please listen to it over Easter Weekend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXAeYmpqd_c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnS6qVV3HAQ

Math

In math we had a challenge to build a rectangle that was 40 long and 20 short. We used rods to build them and this was a continuation from yesterday when students built a rectangle that was 30 units long and 10 short. If we finished this we were also challenged to DOUBLE IT. Ask me what I did to build and double my rectangle. We also had to prove how we knew it was a rectangle. Ask me how I knew? 

RULES FOR A RECTANGLE:

Science: Magnets

New Vocabulary

Repel: Push away from each other (not like each other!)

Attract: Pull together (like each other!)

We practiced using magnets and putting together North-North   North-South   South-South    South-North to see what would happen with the magnets and what it would feel like?  We observed magnetic forces of attraction and magnetic forces of repulsion. 

Building a Rectangle and Mission Impossible!

Charlottes Web: Reader Response/Novel Study
Today we re-read chapter 4: Loneliness. We listened to a voice recording of the chapter and followed along in our own book. We are so lucky that Mrs. Azam was able to find 40 copies of the book. It can be very powerful to follow along while listening to a story. Today we practiced making sure we were on the same part of the book and summarizing the most important parts of the chapter. 

MATH

Yesterday we did a shape search and had to find all the shapes we could in our classrooms and school hallway.

Today we had to prove/explain how we knew that a Square was a square?
How we knew that a Rectangle was a rectangle?



Today we had to find a rectangle anywhere in the two classrooms or hallway and draw it and explain to Marvy the Martian (who is not from Earth) how we knew that it was a perfect rectangle. 

Here are some of the rules that we came up with:

We got into groups and used blocks or cuisinaire rods. We were challenged to try to build a rectangle using all of our materials. Then we were also challenged to try to build 2 without changing the amount of materials that we were using. 

Ask me what I noticed about my materials and how I knew how to build a rectangle? Did I notice anything about the materials that I was using that made it challenging to build a perfect rectangle? 

GYM

Today we started Mission Impossible!!! IT was so much fun. Ask me which obstacles I found the most difficult and why? Ask me what I had to do to get through each obstacle? 

Charlottes Web, Instructional Writing, Nova Scotia, and Magnets!!

Readers Response
Charlottes Web
Chapter 4: Loneliness

Today we read chapter four of Charlotte's web. We did a summary of 3 or 4 important events from the chapter. We sketched it and wrote it. It is important to be able to summarize the important parts when we read a chapter. 

Why is Wilbur feeling lonely? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYezhr-C21Y

Nova Scotia: Halifax, Peggy's Cove and Meteghan

Today we started discovery centres about Nova Scotia. We looked at pictures, books, maps and flags that have something to do Nova Scotia and specific areas such as Halifax, Peggy's Cove and Meteghan. We used our sketch books to sketch and write:

• I see
• I think
• I wonder 

Ask me which two centres I investigated today. We also watched a video of Peggy's Point/Peggy's Cove lighthouse. This link has videos of many famous lighthouses in Nova Scotia. Why might a lighthouse be a symbol of Nova Scotia?

http://nokaoidroneguys.wixsite.com/nokaoidroneguys/nova-scotia-lighthouse-project-jd6kd

Instructional Writing/How to Writing

Today we continued looking at important TEXT FEATURES that can make our Instructional Writing more interesting. We looked at how to make a mind map and how much more fun it is to look at writing that uses these features. 

We looked at using mind maps and charts in order to organize our writing and make our writing more interesting and exciting!

Science

Today we made a mind map about Magnets. We wrote all of the things "I think I know" about magnets. We were also challenged to think about "what I think magnets might be for or what they can do?". 

GYM

Hello Students and Parents

We have just completed a very successful week in the gym where students participated in the combative games unit and had the opportunity to learn how to wrestle. If you happen to be in the school please check out the bulletin boards outside of the PE office for some great photos of our amazing Royal Oak Wrestlers.

This coming week we will be doing Mission Impossible. Our Secret Agents in Training will work hard to complete 4 training courses through out the week. (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday) Students are asked to bring a flashlight and/or headlamp to their classes' final Mission Impossible Session, either Tuesday or Thursday. During this class the lights in the gym will be turned out and students will work hard to use their training to complete their final mission.. in the dark. Please ensure that your light is clearly labelled with your son or daughters name.

Thank you for your continued support!

Helen Hennick

MUSIC

http://royaloakmusic.blogspot.ca/2017/04/grade-one-and-two-spring-choir.html

Volunteers Needed!

IMPORTANT MESSAGE!!!!!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!!

Urgent Call for Volunteers for the Casino

It is urgent that we get 25 more volunteers for the Casino Fundraiser which benefits all the children in the school.  If we are unable to get the volunteers, we are in danger of losing the casino as well as the $60,000 – $70,000 to support your children’s education through technology, field trips, new award winning books for the library, a potential Naturalization area and many other wonderful experiences.

                                                                                                                                               

Lynn Sparks

Principal, Royal Oak School

The Royal Oak Fundraising casino will be taking place on Apr 17 & 18 at Elbow River Casino this year and we need YOU to come out and make this a huge success!!

The casino brings in a huge amount of funds that support our children's educations! Because this is such a huge event, we need over 40 volunteers between the two days. It is a fun event that you can enjoy with your fellow volunteers and have we mentioned you'll get FREE food!! 

If you can volunteer and have not already given us your name, please contact us ROScasinofundraising@gmail.comand we will be in touch!!

Thanks for giving your time!

Day Shifts:
10:45am - 7:30pm

Night Shifts:
6:45pm - 3:30am
11:15pm - 3:30am

Today we had our last day of Regrouping for the Arctic. We are SO excited to share our final creations  with you at the upcoming CELEBRATION OF LEARNING: THURSDAY APRIL 20TH at 6PM!

Charlotte's Web-NOVEL STUDY-READER RESPONSE:

Today we finished reading Chapter 3: ESCAPE from the book Charlottes Web. Ask me who escaped and how? We used our senses to describe how Zuckerman's Barn:

-Smelled

-Sounded

-Looked

-Felt

Using clues from the author we were able to write about these areas and VISUALIZE what the setting is like? 

If you want to follow along at home and don't have a copy of Charlotte's Web you can listen to the first 3 chapters online:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLM7d5Rx8Po

Math
Today in math we used our family timeline to pick one person and figure out how many years until I will be that age? 
We wrote out our problem and the numbers that we needed to write out equation
We used a T-Chart for tens and ones and drew our solution using base ten. 
We wrote a stacked subtraction equation.
We solved by drawing our bigger number in base ten and taking away our smaller age by circling what we were taking away and EXPLODING a ten if we needed to.
We solved the stacked equation
We wrote a statement to answer our problem.
Here is the website we use as a class to help build and solve subtraction problems through stacking:

http://www.glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/mathematics/ebook_assets/vmf/VMF-Interface.html

Instructional Writing

On Tuesday we started the process of learning about how to write instructions. Mrs. Lagrana and Mrs. McDonald asked the students to write instructions on "How to Brush Your Teeth". There were no steps given or any instructions to guide our writing. We then read out from student's instructions and acted out scenes of brushing our teeth using different student's instructions. We learned that it is important to have our steps in proper order and to make sure we are very specific about each step! 

Yesterday we re-visited the idea of instructional writing but had a lesson on ORDINAL NUMBERS. Here are two links that we watched and talked about in class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_3AI-qNBlE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CWWNzprEQ4

We made an anchor chart to help us remember and did a new scene this time using Ordinal Numbers and making sure to try not to skip important info for each step. Ask me how my instructions changed the second time. We also talked about labelled diagrams and how they can be important for instructions as well. They help the reader understand what they will need to do the task. 

Today we learned about VICKY VERB! She is a superhero who helps us with ACTION words! If we make sure to have a verb in each instruction it will help us to make our instructions more specific. It will also make our writing more descriptive and interesting to read. 

A New Community:

Peggy's Cove

We have started learning about a different community in Canada. We began this process by looking at 2 pictures and doing and I SEE...I THINK...I WONDER about it. These are some of the wonders that we came up with as a class:

Reader Response, Stacking Practice and Germs!

Tuesday April 4th, 2017
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful and restful Spring Break! We are excited to be back at school but we were all a little tired yesterday by the end of the day!!

Save the Date!
It is our Celebration of Learning on Thursday April 20th from 6pm-7pm. Please mark the date in your calendar as your child is super excited to share all of their hard work and learning with you! 


Reading/Writing
Novel Study: Reader Response Writing

Yesterday we began reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. We are excited to begin a new novel study. 

We will be writing reader response's to many of the chapters and are excited to share this story as a class. If you have a copy of your own that you would like to bring to follow along when we are reading please feel free to do so. Make sure to write your name on the inside cover so we know whose book is who's. 

Ask me who the characters are so far? 
Ask me what the setting is so far? 
Ask me how I feel about Wilbur? What about Fern? 


Math
In math we are continuing to look at the strategy of stacking and "cracking the code" of a math problem. What symbols do we need to see in order to know if we are adding or subtracting? What does it mean if we are adding numbers? What does it mean if we are subtracting numbers?
We have been using Stickies when we add (to remember to add the ones together when they make a Ten)

Remember to always start with the ONES. We can see that we can make a 10 with all of these 1's. That ten cannot live in the ones. When there are 10 ones they STICK together to make a 10. That 10 needs to MOVE to the Tens House.

Once we circle a ten they can be STUCK together and move on over to the Tens House!

Now we have 6 tens instead of 5 and only 1 one left in the ONEs house. 

What is your final answer?

We also have been talking about how you need to read the secret code of the stacking problem, in order to understand how to solve it. 

These symbols are important. What do they tell you about the problem?


Today we talked about germs, bacteria and how important hand washing is to stay healthy. We had fun looking at pretend germs on our hands and trying to wash our hands well so they would all disappear! 

We read a book called "William Won't You Wash Your Hands? 

Ask me when it is important to wash my hands?