I've Unleashed the Monsters

Well I've unleashed the texting monsters. They were so excited to know how to text me information. I've had them add my contact information to their list of contacts so it's easier for them to send me video or images. 

I also had a talk with them about what's appropriate and not appropriate to send to their teacher and to someone else. 

Some of the students did not have iMessage set up. It's a simple thing to do and it doesn't cost you anything because Apple is genius, yes I just said that, sorry Blackberry or Android users. iMessage is used over wi-fi so anytime the students send me something it's through iMessage and not normal texting, unless you had a texting plan which I'm sure you don't. If you could set this up on their devices then it's an easy way for them to send me images or video they might take in the classroom.

They also used voice memos today. The iPads/mini's don't have this app and it's not one you can get in the App Store. You can get others just not the Apple version. You don't need to have this app, it's just a fun way to record voices. 

Have fun. 

What is Quantity?

Students learned a new math word today? You might to ask them what does quantity mean? 

We also looked at what was 10 more than 35. You might want to ask them?

They also looked at what a boat needs to float. Do you have any ideas you could share with them? 

Their task is to build a boat from either paper, wax paper, plasticine or tin foil. 

What Are We Up To...

It's been a very busy 2 months of school and the days are flying by. I can't believe Halloween is next week...please save me know. Here's what's been happening in 2B.

Writer's Workshop:
In September the kids focused in on writing their ideas down. Some are still working on this while others are moving on to use Organization in their writing. They are learning how to use question leads and sound leads to create Bold Beginnings.
• They'll be moving onto learning how to write Mighty Middles and Excellent Endings.

Word Study:
They've learned the routines and activities we'll do while Ms. Brown works with small groups to teach them their sounds.
• Our first test is on Tuesday. You won't know how you did until Wed.
• New words will come home on Wednesdays - I think we'll take 2 weeks to do this next set of words again because we miss school on Friday and Halloween activities the following week.

Reading/Daily 5:
They've built up their stamina for being able to read independently for 20 minutes. I've finished the testing I needed to do and now I get to conference with students. They'll be picking a reading goal and strategy to work on during Daily 5 time. I can't wait to meet with each of them.
• Several reading strategies have been introduced and they have all been sent home. More will come home so please save them.
• They are working at building their stamina with Reading to Someone. Work on Words and Listening to Reading will be coming up next.

Math: (Ms. Brown's favourite subject to teach :-))
They've worked on knowing the words Compare, Build, Measure, Organize and Thinking. They've done a lot of work with building with Cuisenaire Rods (They are math manipulative used to help explain their thinking). They've built relationships, worked on building their visual memories, building equalities all to reach the goal of being able to use personal strategies to solve problems. They've measured length, height, and distance around then compared the measurements.
We'll be looking at how to measure the canoe/kayak as well as look at building larger numbers to 100 in the coming weeks.
Here are some photos of the Kayaks they built. I learned in my research that a traditional kayak is:
- The length of they kayak is 3 full arm spans long (from finger to finger)
- The cockpit is your hips plus 2 fists
- The depth of the kayak is your fist plus the hitchhikers thumb.
Interesting information, so we set out to build the length of what their kayaks would look like.

Look at how long they are. Some were very surprised. 

The length, distance around of cockpit and the depth of their kayak.

Helping each other measure.

Showing where he'd sit in his kayak.

So nicely labelled

Science/Social:
We're investigating Boats/Canoes and trying to answer the driving questions:
Why would the canoe be named as one of Canada's 7 Wonders of Canada?
• They'll work in building canoes/boats that are stable and can carry a load.
• They've tested to see what objects float and sink
• In the coming weeks, they'll learn more about Canada and the communities of the north, east and a prairie community.
I can't wait to share all that we learn about these communities.

In the coming weeks, we'll be prepping for our Halloween Party. The students will decide what they would like to do. We've also committed to decorating a Mini Christmas Tree for the Festival of Trees. I can't decide if we should be a Charlie Brown Tree or a Scaredy Squirrel Tree. I'll need to make a decision soon.

If you have any questions, please just email us. Or better yet, leave a comment so the students can learn how to respond and write good quality comments themselves.

How to Get Edublogs on Devices

Blogging has become part of our routine in grade 2. Some of you might ask, What is blogging? Good question. It's an online journey which allows you to keep up to date with friends, family (close or far away), global community or write about how you're feeling or just share some of your thoughts. 

I've created this classroom blog, my apologies for not keeping it up, but I can always strive to be better so that I can share what happens in our classroom with all of you. 

I started blogging with my students to help improve their writing and willingness to write. Writer's write for an audience, blogging provides that audience which is you the parent, aunt, uncle or grandparent as well as an engaging platform. The possibilities are endless, images and videos can be added which opens up the opportunity to be creative in other ways. 

This video from Linda Yollis who has been blogging for many years with her grade 2 and 3 students shows a little bit about what the possibilities are with blogging. She uses it for a more global perspective, I'm not quite their yet. 

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating that your child should be on their device for hours on end. Devices can be used for creative purposes rather than than just a taking in of information or an escape from boredom. 

I am using a new blogging platform this year called Edublogs. In the past, I've used Kidblogs but I wanted to try something new that allowed the kids to add more content. This is an experiment and we'll see how it goes. 

I know Edublogs has an app that can be downloaded onto your child's device, that way they won't always have to go to the web to have access to it. Here's how to download the app and save it on their home screen so they can use their devices to blog with.

Let's get started:

1. Find the app (Edublogs) in the App Store. It looks like this. Download it. 

2. Open it up and you'll see a screen that looks like this or like this, it will depend which device you are using. 

iPod Screen

iPad screen

3. You want to press "Add blog hosted at Edublogs"  to get access to your child's blog. 

4. You'll then see a screen that looks like this. 

5. Your child can add their username and password. If they don't know it, please email me and I will pass it on. 

6. Then it's time to start blogging. The app is easy to use and I am showing students in class how to use it. I am open to having your child blog on their devices during writer's workshop time. 

Also, here is a nice link to show the reasons why kids start blogging. 

http://kidsblogclub.com/why-do-children-start-blogging/

I hope this helped and we are looking forward to hearing your comments. 

Breaking Rocks 2013

I promised I would share photos but time just slips away. We're into week 6 of grade 2 and it's just flying by. 

Our Investigation on Breaking Rocks/Persevering was a huge success. I know the kids had fun and they learned what it means to persevere. We'll continue to work on this during math, Reading, Writing and of course our new unit Boats/Canoes.

Here are some photos to keep you updated as to what we've been doing in class. 

We sorted rocks by 2 attributes.

They checked to see which rocks weighed more and then ordered them by their weight.

Planned what they would bring to break rocks. 

And smashing they did. 

He brought the big guns.

Will this work???

I've got to think about safety.

Hmmm... How am I going to do this?

I wouldn't want to be the rock right about now. 

Lookin' Good while breaking rocks.

Some of the rock holders we made. 

I hope you enjoyed the images. More will come. Up next Boats/Canoes.

Here's our driving question for our Boat/Canoe Project:

Why would a canoe be named as one of Canada's 7 Wonders of Canada?