Ms. Swinton's Class

Today in Math we had some time to finish up the textbook pages about strategies for basic multiplication and division that we started earlier this week. In French we began creating visual journal pages about what someone is wearing, drawing and labeling the items of clothing and their colours. We will continue with this work tomorrow. In Language Arts we started writing responses to our January quote. In the afternoon we had our first Buddy time with our grade 2 buddies since coming back from winter break. We spent time catching up and then reading together. After Buddies, we continued our work with the Interior Plains region in Social Studies. Students finished up their jot notes about the region (which will now be unfinished work/homework if they are not yet completed), and began writing scripts for the newscasts that they will be creating to demonstrate their understanding of this region. We finished up the day by reading more of The Boundless, finishing chapter 9 and then...

With the rampant sickness that seems to be spreading throughout our school, we spent some time brainstorming and discussing ways to keep ourselves from getting sick, including washing our hands well, not touching our eyes, mouths, noses, and ears, getting enough sleep, and eating a healthy, balanced diet, including drinking enough water. As part of our discussion, we also looked at this website and listened to this song . In Math we continued our work with basic multiplication and division facts by exploring the strategies of doubling /repeated doubling and halving/ repeated halving . In Language Arts, we finished up our Decade Writing and 2020 Goals visual journal page, had our usual quiet reading/unfinished work time, and read more of chapter 9 in The Boundless . In Science, we explored static electricity , and defined a lot of important vocabulary including current, circuit, electron, conductor, insulator, and charge. These are concepts that we will continue to work with through...

Welcome to a new, cold week! A reminder that chilly temperatures are forecast all week long, so students should expect a lot of blue days, but be dressed to be outside just in case. I apologize for the lack of posts at the end of last week; I was absent due to illness. I would encourage you to read Ms. Williamson's blog posts for last Thursday and Friday , as they offer a good summary of our learning and include some really helpful links/resources, particularly for Math. Today in Math we reviewed strategies and vocabulary for basic multiplication and division, and then worked on a textbook page to demonstrate our understanding. We also discussed why we can't divide by zero.  In Language Arts we worked on our Decade Writing, had time to read and work on unfinished work, had our regular Circle sharing time, and continued reading The Boundless . In Social Studies we continued with our Interior Plains region jot notes. Important Dates: Cordillera Region Brochure: *OVERDUE*...

Today in Health we spent time setting goals for the upcoming year, recording these in a combination of written and visual elements in our visual journals. In Math we reviewed our 1, 2, 5, 9, and 10 times tabes (and related division facts), with students sharing and discussing helpful strategies for each of these fact families. We also discussed important vocabulary for this unit (factors, product, dividend, divisor, quotient, and multiples), and completed a maze game worksheet for the 5 and 9 times tables. I've strongly encouraged students to continue practicing their basic multiplication and division facts at home, highlighting how much easier the more complex multiplication and division calculations will be if these facts are automatic or at least can be reached quickly. Ways to practice at home include the website I linked on yesterday's post (amongst a plethora of online games - just Google "multiplication and division fact online games"), reciting times tabl...

Welcome back to school and to the year 2020! I hope that you all had wonderful breaks full of quality time with family and friends. I enjoyed hearing about some of the adventures students had over winter break when they shared during our Circle time today. We are also celebrating this fresh start by trying out a new seating plan, as students are not yet all able to responsibly and respectfully choose their own seats. We may try more flexible seating again later in the school year, but for now assigned seats seem to be most useful for our current classroom environment. In Math today, we played another round of SNAKE, a game we learned before the break. This game helps us practice basic multiplication facts and addition, as well as reinforcing learning from our probability unit. Students are strongly encouraged to continue practicing basic multiplication and division facts at home (up to 10 x 10). In French we reviewed our clothing and colour vocabulary, and in Language Arts we s...

Happy Winter Break!! We had a fun day leading up to the break, playing Prodigy for the first half of math class, followed by the choice between finishing up multiplication colouring sheets and Sudoku from earlier this week or playing another game of SNAKE. Phys. Ed. brought more parachute play. We had Circle time to share about our lives as well as to support one another in concerns we had. We almost finished chapter 7 of The Boundless  in Language Arts, and will come back to that after the break. This afternoon brought our final carolling time, with a special visit from a festive version of Harry the Hawk and another handbell performance. We ended the day with a movie and snacks for our Positive Choices reward. Report cards are coming home today. Please read through the report card, and then sign and return just   the envelope , which will be used again for Term 2's report card. If your child was absent today, the report card can be picked up from the office during the...

It was fantastic to see so many students dressed up for Sleepy Santa today! The overall mood of the school was very festive! This was compounded by today being our first carol singing time, along with an opera singer and one of the handbell groups performing. Our second and final carol singing time will be tomorrow afternoon. In Math we worked to sharpen our logical thinking skills by solving Sudoku puzzles . In Phys. Ed. we "wrapped the present" with the parachute, sending one another for a spinning ride! In Language Arts, we finished up our chapter 6 storyboard for The Boundless  and started reading chapter 7, as well as practicing our parts of speech by completing holiday-themed Mad Libs. Social Studies provided another opportunity to work on posters about the Arctic region of Canada, either alone or with a partner. We also had a chance to explore the toys that some of the grade four students invented using simple machines. Reminder: Tomorrow is our Positive Choi...