Sunday, January 27th 2013
Can you believe we are almost into February??? As they say...time flies when you are having fun. And we are having so much fun...we have been very busy, but in our business we are loving the things that we are doing and learning. I can safely say that by the looks on the children's faces and by the words that come out of their mouths. Often I can hear...."I love school!" and aren't those the words that we love to hear!!!

We are continuing on our Owl Unit and read a book about the barn owl and the developmental stages of it. Then with our pinecones (from Grand Forks) and the cotton balls that were brought in, we made our own little baby barn owls. They are so fluffy and cute. I told the children that this was a Craft...not the typical art that we do. And they loved it...and were able to see their own little stage of development right before their eyes. I will have attached a picture for you to see.

We will be starting our Magnet Unit this week and will be using our magnets to learn more about their properties. This is also part of the Physical Science Unit that will lead us into our Forces and Motions Workshop provided by High Tech High Touch on February 14th. Some children have already brought in their $4. for the workshop, please continue sending in the four dollars next week. The cost of the workshop is $8 but as we still have money from the fund raising, we are able to cover half of the workshop costs.

We have had two excellent skating sessions already and have two more to go. The children are quickly becoming much more confident on their skates and more and more are trying to play hockey with the dads at the far end of the rink. For next Thursday we are looking like we may be short of drivers. Poor Bettina, snapped her achilles tendon...owwww and will not be able to drive....so if you are able to drive for next week, i would really appreciate it. Please remember your carseats....a few were missing last time. Also, please make sure you are sending a carseat that is portable...it is far too difficult for the children to carry the giant car seats and then even more difficult to put them into the cars. The small lap ones are just perfect for the children and for field trips.

Our Gala is coming our gala is coming! This event is an amazing evening out with all these wonderful baskets, and donated items and the platters up for sale. It is a festive event that is a wonderful evening out. Tickets are being sold...get yours as soon as you can! Babysitting is even provided!!! To add to this event (besides our beautiful platters) each classroom is given a THEME and the families are asked to donate something for our theme basket...we luckily got one of my favourite baskets...called READING.....Now there is so much one can add to for this basket besides the obvious of books....tea, cozy blankies, chocolates, cookies....etc. So if you would like to donate something, it would be graciously accepted.

Lastly....the Penny Drive that will be on next week. This is a great initiative sponsored by the Royal Bank and by the Me to We organization. As pennies are being taken out of circulation we thought this would be a great time for everyone to see if they can make their pennies `count`....the money collected will be sent to third world countries who are struggling for food and water. Every $25 dollars collected is enough to sustain one person with water for life. Our class decided we should at least try to fill two bags...if we could fill more...hurray for us! The children were very excited about contributing to this cause.But I told them not to empty out their piggy banks until they got permission from you!

Anyway...again, thank you for always being so generous and thankyou for reading down to the bottom of the blog! This was a lengthy one....!!
Have a great Sunday and I will see you in school tomorrow,
Cheers,
Teri

Montaganews-January 22, 2013

Today we continued with MY HEALTHY BODY and with our focus on the food groups. The students enjoyed going through the grocery flyers and cutting foods and sorting them into the right food groups. Sometimes things like blueberry muffins can be challenging! I planted the seed about them opening up a conversation with you at home about trying something new so be prepared for that. I didn't want to send them all home with the same 'homework' about eating salmon or broccoli for example because some already do. My aim is to simply open up conversation possibilities and hopefully for them to extend their food repertoire. I said, "Maybe you can ask your parent to give you that one thing that they've tried to feed you before but you didn't want to or even didn't like again...." I reminded them that we sometimes have to try something 15 times before we like it-even if the first bites are 1 or 2 spoonfuls. Good luck! Some students shared how they've been looking at the food guide at the dinner table or looking at their plate at home and sorting them into the food groups-YEY!




See if they remember this: EAT A RAINBOW OF FRUITS & VEGETABLES
Mr. A got in on this unit and explored this website with them during computers.  They seemed to love it.  Here is the link in case you want to check it out at home: http://www.nutritionexplorations.org/kids.php


We also continued on with SHAPES in Math.  Did you know that a square is actually a rectangle?  Well out of all the years of my teaching career, I had never heard this until Ebony enlightened me and then I of course had to confirm it on good old google. :)  Well yes...apparently a SQUARE is a special type of rectangle, not the other way around.  AND then I wondered why we teach students circle, square and triangle first in the early years and why how in all the workbooks that's the order it's introduced in. So then I was enlightened once more by one of our master primary teachers that that's probably because kids that age mix up the 2 'angle' words (triangle, rectangle) so we teach them square first.  Interesting hey?

I'll leave you pondering on that note....
See you next Tuesday,
Ebru Montagano

PS)  Bayview's most amazing fundraiser is coming up on Friday, Feb. 22.  If you missplaced your ticket order form, here it is: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bw-w6MUGTwevSU5qWXZHSkJqTEE/edit

January 21, 2013

Good Morning Parents,

I hope you have remembered to sleep in this morning as it is a Professional Day today.

In about 45 minutes I will be leaving for a workshop presented by Gabor Mate. I am very excited to be hearing what he is going to be talking about as I have seen him before and he is an amazing speaker. I will let you know what I have learned on Wednesday. I hope everyone has an excellent day today!

Last week:

1. We had a fantastic presentation called Feathery Friends and we made these amazing bird feeders. I got a picture from Theo showing me the birds nibbling up his feeder and yesterday a note saying they ate up his entire feeder! So, they loved it!!! It really was a great presentation.Thank you to Naomi's mom (Karen) for helping us out.

2.Thank you to all the parents who came out to the conferences last week. The children enjoyed showing you their stuff and I enjoyed touching base with everyone and applauding your child's successes. Everyone is doing a great job!!

3. We learned about the parts of an owl last week. Ask them what the facial disk is for??? We will continue to talk about Owls for the next couple of weeks, before moving into magnets.

4. Jan Brett is an interesting story teller with more than one story going on at a time. The children have been enjoying our author study on her. Our recent book that we read is The Umbrella, set in Central America. We are mapping where she takes us in the world.

5. You will be hearing about project Chef a lot over the next few months as they will be entering our school very soon. The smells of cooking will be enveloping your senses. Our date is the very last session and is from March 4th till March 8th. We will need five volunteers a day. I have a sign up outside of our classroom with many spots a day yet to be filled. As I have said, grandmas, grandpas, dads, nanny's are all welcome. The only thing is, siblings are not....sorry. The cooking program is designed for the children in the classroom.

6. The gala is coming the gala is coming. Tickets are being sold. You can press on the following link and download your own order form to buy tickets and then send it in. It is an excellent night with a beautiful selection of platters to bid on. Our platter is being displayed in the showcase across from the library. If you havent seen it, to and take a look at it. It is gorgeous!!  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bw-w6MUGTwevSU5qWXZHSkJqTEE/edit

7. Please remember that this Thursday afternoon is our second skating session. Please send your appropriate skating gear, plus your CARSEAT!!

8. I am so sorry that i havent been putting in any pictures lately, I have misplaced my battery charger and until I find it, i am at a bit of a loss for taking pictures. Sorry Cherish!!!

With that, have a great day and I will see you on Wednesday. Keep your eyes open for some more beautiful watercolour liquid owls....our abstract owls!!

Teri

Montaganews--Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013

Today simply flew by....

Important thing about today is we started talking about HEALTHY EATING.  We are going to stay with this topic for a little while.  I sent home the current Canada Food Guide today. We looked at the guide and noticed how the fruit & veggie column is the biggest and then the food groups go in order.  We touched on servings per day.  Next week we will look more closely at the food groups.
             ****I will need flyers so we can cut out pictures of foods next Tuesday. I put out a basket by the Home Reading bin just outside the classroom door. If you remember to bring in a flyer just drop it in there please. I'm thinking Safeway, IGA or Walmart or whatever flyer with coloured food pictures. Thanks very much!

Happy Birthday Emma!

It's a short one today....
See you next Tuesday.
Ebru Montagano

Update for week of January 14-18

Good Morning Families,

I am sitting in my kitchen watching the sun rising and what i see is blue sky and white tipped mountains. It is such a beautiful sight!!

A great day to go outside and enjoy the day! But bundle up. It is sooooo cold outside!! Here is some news and information to help you navigate next week!!!

1. We have been lucky enough to get a FREE workshop offered by the Institute of Urban Ecology called Feathery Friends TOMORROW, between recess & lunch. The workshop will include a chat about how we can help keep birds during the winter months, especially when food sources are so limited, then we will be making our own bird feeders, which will include lots of peanut butter, suet and bird seeds. We will then be taking our bird feeders home to hang in our own yards and will be able to watch the birds come for some snackies! So for this project we are asked if we could get one or two volunteers as well as each child needs a plastic bag to bring their bird treat home in. As I can only take two volunteers the first two to respond are in....I know you will all want to join in right? hahaha. It should be an awesome workshop tomorrow-Monday!  

2. It Parent-teacher-student interview time this week. Our conferences go from Tuesday till Friday. There will be early dismissal on Wednesday and Thursday (2:00). If you forget to get your child, they will be waiting in the office for you...(it does happen sometimes). Each interview is 20 minutes long. If you have booked the three way conference, then your child will spend from 10 to 15 minutes showing you their stuff and talking about what they are learning and what they have learned, then the teacher will join you for the last few minutes to review the goals on the report card and to see if they have been working towards fulfilling their goals and then it is over. Please be on time for your conference as we would like to give everyone their fair share of the time! 

3.Last week Project Chef forms were sent home. These permission slips need to be signed and returned as soon as possible. If you do not know what Project chef is you can go to the following link for more information www.projectchef.ca and you can get an idea of what your child will be doing. There is no fee to any of the parents as the moneys have been raised from our Dance-athon. Our week is the last week of February that runs into March. We will need five volunteers per day. So if you can bring your calendars to school during parent teacher interviews...we can sign you up for a time to participate then. You will have so much fun!

4. This last week we began our Author Study on Jan Brett. We read two books from her already: The Trouble With Trolls and Honey, Honey, Lion. We will travel all around the globe with Jan Brett. We will also look at what makes her books so special. Ask your child if they know some elements of her writing style already. We are also incorporating winter into our creative writing and have begun our study on OWLS....wait till you see our beautiful snowy owl art that we did on Friday. They will be going up on MOnday! Their gold eyes will be watching you every day. They are stunning!

5. Lastly here is a link to see what adventures Lola and her family have been up to over the Winter Break. We hope you are having a good time Lola.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bw-w6MUGTwevQjR1QVpqaG1qWFU/edit?pli=1

With that I hope everyone will have a wonderful day today and I will see everyone on Monday.

TAke care,

Teri

Montaganews--January 8, 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I wish everyone a happy, healthy & magical 2013!

Let me take this opportunity to say a BIG THANK YOU again for your generous gifts and all the wonderfully yummy treats you showered me with before the holidays.  I love the spa idea and look forward to a pampering now that my kids are back at school. :)

Today was a wonderful day! The students were all so happy, positive, well-rested and eager to learn more, more, more!  I love this group's enthusiasm and cheerfulness.  They make me happy.  Today we:
-started our new unit in Health & Career Education: Heartsmart.  Students will learn 3 key messages:
     1.  Eat Good Food          2. Get Active Play                3. Live Smoke-Free
These lessons are developed by the Heart & Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon with the assistance of teachers throughout BC.  Research shows that the habits people learn when they are young can make a big difference to their adult health.  And as usual, I feel that if their teacher says it, the children listen better....well, this is my experience with my own kids anways.  To this end, I hope my focus on teaching them to make good choices about the food they eat and being physically active will help you with things at home.

-started our new unit in Math: Shapes. We focussed in on CIRCLE today.  Feel free to look for shape hunts at home or on your walk around the neighbourhood. I want them to notice that shapes are all around us!

-did Dancemat Typing in Computers (keyboarding skills).

-wrote in journals. Remembering to put periods at the end of sentences and an uppercase letter next is something Grade 1s are getting very good at now.  Grade 2s are working on writing more & with more detail. Today I talked to them about using 'sparkly' words (ex. "We had a blast!" instead of  "We had fun.").

-did a "People Search" on what our classmates did during the Winter Holiday. They had fun....I mean...They had a blast!

-we started our latest Reader's Theatre story: Caps For Sale.  Our performers this time are: Naomi, Annie, Nils, Simon, Thomas, Ellen.

**Oh! I almost forgot to mention that I was sooooooo impressed with the students today! I spoke to them about making wise decisions at recess & lunch and not getting soaked and NO ONE came back in to learn wet!  Our motto was NO BOOTS, NO PUDDLES and boy!, they sure listened! Way to go Division 10!!!!!

I can't wait until next Tuesday already....
Enjoy skating on Thursday!
Ebru Montagano