It was nice to see all the students after that extended break. I teased them by saying that I almost didn’t recognize them; they had been away so long! It sounded like the students had a nice time enjoying the snow and being with their friends. I told the students that they were lucky as it was -45 in La Crete, Alberta where I used to work. However, it was back to work today. We managed to do a little bit of everything today. The students went to music in the morning where they are studying one of my favorite composers, Aaron Copland. You can hear one of my favorite songs of his here:

Here the whole song here:

Spring

The students also had library and gym where they have been busy practicing their basketball moves. As we missed gymnastics this week, we have rescheduled the last session to next Wednesday at the same time.

I also let the students in on part of a secret that won’t be fully revealed for a couple more weeks. I told the students that I am keeping them in suspense. Strangely enough they don’t seem to like that word.

Students also had a chance to finish off an old art assignment using lines to create maze-like art.

All in all it was a busy day. To end this blog piece I thought I would throw in this video I was sent which I think the students would enjoy.

Actually, they are not actual photos but rather, an interesting experience in art. Most likely you know all about Google Earth, a free program allowing you to view the earth through satellite photos. If you have not downloaded this program yet, do so right away. I have added a link on the side. It is a fantastic program which allows you to view the earth in many different ways.

Anyway, a group from Australia has taken the idea of Google Earth and portrayed biblical events as if you were viewing a satellite photo. I put two of the pictures here. The rest can be viewed at CR Blog. It is definately an interesting idea and kind of neat to see, though maybe not historically accurate.

Noah’s Ark

Parting the Red Sea

The days just seem to get busier and busier. This morning students had Gym, announcements, devotions/prayer, Reading Rockets, Spelling and Home Letters . . . and that was all before recess!

The kids did a really good job with everything today. They worked hard and got a lot accomplished. In the afternoon, we had a wonderful class meeting. I don’t know if the students have told you about our class meetings. Typically occuring on Fridays, we all get together in a circle. We then greet each other, practicing how to shake hands and look each other in the eyes. This is a tough skill for students but very important as they grow up and enter the work force. We then play a couple of cooperative games. To finish off the class meeting, we go around the circle discussing the good things that have happened in the class and applauding students who have done those things. After, we go around the circle once again and discuss issues the students may be having. As those items come up we try to help each other come up with strategies that they can use to help them deal with those issues. This gives students the means and ability to try and solve problems they typically deal with during the day. We want to build the students confidence and tools to deal with problems in the world.

If you are practicing basic facts with your child and have an internet connection (which obviously you do, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this), there is a great site where you can create pages of math facts you can print out and use with your child. The site is called Math Fact Cafe. A very useful site for you. I will place it in the side column for you.

To end off, I saw a neat video on a great site called TED. This site has a series of speeches from the great thinkers of today. You may remember the one on children and creativity. This video is entitled “5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Children Do”. I’m not sure I subscribe to it all but it was funny and had a couple of good points.

So, you may have noticed a new box on the right side (Just as an aside, those items on the side of the main text window are called widgets). The new widget is called box.net and it allows me to add documents to the website. As you can see, I have added the last two newsletters. All you have to do is click on the document and it will ask you if you want to download it to your computer. I hope you enjoy this new feature and find it useful. I will be adding other kinds of documents to the box over time including worksheets we are working on and information for you on various topics.

Mr. H

Today was a nother busy day here in 3B. Not only did we learn about those pesky -ly words and create some awe inspiring lists of words ending with -ly, we also had two math tests and gymnastics. The first math test was to see how well the students remembered the 0, 1 and 2 times tables. I believe the students found it to be quite easy. The other math test was testing their knowledge of the nine times tables and using that knowledge in a word problem context. Next Wednesday, the student will have another quiz on the 5 and 9 times tables.

After lunch the students had their second field trip to the gymnastics club. The students were having a blast jumping around and twirling on the bars. This old body of mine tried to participate but quickly found out that I was not 9 years old anymore. I told the students that of course I used to be a gymnast before I started drinking coffee, but they didn’t seem to believe me.

As for reading, I found an interesting statistic on the benefits of reading at home with your child. As you know, students are supposed to be reading at home as often as possible for approx. 10 mins a night. A study from 1988 found that reading for 5 mins a day will allow a child to score in the 50th percentile (50-60%). However, if a child reads for 21 mins, their score improves to 90%. Just 16 more mins. a night!

A challenge for you and your child!!

It was the beginning of another week here at Highroad. The great thing about these students is that they get right into their work even though it is a Monday. Yesterday, we continued on with our paragraph writing in Language Arts. Students have been working on increasingly harder paragraphs and have also been working on including at least to “because clauses” in their writing. This week we will be talking about combining sentences and adding “-ly” words to our work.  Using “-ly” words can make a paragraph more interesting and complex as they can be used not only within a paragraph, but also at the beginnings of sentences. Following that we will look at what an exciting verb is and how to use them effectively in a paragraph. February will be an exciting month as we take a break from our paragraph writing and focus on poetry. One of the exciting things I am hoping to do with this class is take our class poetry that the students have written and publish it online to create a real paperback book that students can keep and take home. I will share more info on this as I finalize plans.

Another topic we are close to finishing is our Building Unit. Though the students have been having a great time and have been doing an incredible job, all good things must come to an end. Our next unit wil be Space Science and it looks to be a lot of fun as well.

We will be starting a series of quizzes this week testing the students basic facts in multiplication. Tomorrow, students will have their first quiz on the 0, 1, and 2 times tables. I will also be sending home some review pages to help students review and memorize the times tables up to 9.

Have a great day!

I just wanted to write out a thank you today. It has been a tough few weeks for my wife and I. However, throughout these tough times, there have been some blessings. My wife and I wanted to thank all of you for your words of comfort and support during this difficult time. It has been wonderful to come back to the school and feel the support from the school, parents and children. We feel very blessed and privilaged to be a part of this loving and caring community.

Thank you!

We had quite a wide-ranging conversation this morning after chapel. One of the students talked about the provincial flag and gave a great description on how the top part of the flag as a pattern that came from England. From there we talked a bit about the British Empire which then led us to the Northwest Passage. From this we talked about Canada trying to make sure other countries did not trespass on our soil. The students were fascinated and a little upset that the Russians had put a flag underneath the Arctic. Anyway, I told the students that I would try to find a video showing what happened.

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(Source: cbc.ca)