Good Morning everyone,
Congratulations to Casper's family who bid and won the classroom platter. It is a beautiful platter and I hope it will bring you many happy smiles!! Like it did when we made it. It was great seeing so many of you at the Gala. It was so beautifully decorated and I think everyone had so much fun. A lot of work was put into throwing such a lively, fun event. A big shout out to all the parents in our class who worked many long hours with the decorating and the baskets and the organizing....thank you Kelly for being the team leader. It was so much fun!

We had a fun and busy week last week. The highlight of our week was the Kitsilano kids coming and doing some script writing and some voice recordings. They will be putting together the little skits over the month and when it is all done, then we will be invited to watch their shows. The kids are so excited. Now the day did not go without it's little problems and it came with some learning curves, but over all it was a very valuable experience.

Last week we also had a visit by Nikoo and we observed and discussed red wiggler worms. If you and your family would like to purchase any red wigglers for your compost then Nikoo does have a link that I can share with you.

This coming week we will also be filled with a lot of exciting activities. (Isn't it always exciting in our classroom??) On Monday Sarah will be in to do some Penguin drama (she was sick last week so we missed her, so are very excited to have her in). On Wednesday is our annual anti-bullying day. Everyone is encouraged to wear Pink. We will be having an assembly between recess and lunch and celebrate positivity, support and accepting others for who they are.
On Thursday a group called Hoja will be coming in. Thank you to PAC for allotting funds for these valuable performances. Everyone is welcome to join us for this performance. It will be held at 915.

Finally a big thank you to everyone for helping out with the skating. Everyone improved so much and had so much fun. We couldn't have done it without all the parent support.

Have a great Sunday and I will see you on Monday!
teri

Nikoo talking about recycling! Look at the great listening!!

Observing the red wigglers.

Dont you just love the intense looks?

The Kitsilano kids talking with the various groups.

See the one in the glasses....that's Kieran, i taught him for two years!! So exciting to see him back at Bayview.

See the red headed girl....Amber...I taught her as well!!

The Penguin's year is completely opposite to ours.

Mrs. Montagano came in and did a lesson with our children, while I did art with hers.

Hi Everyone,
I thought I would send out all the pictures that i took of us on our skating trip.
I think I got all the kids??
I tried to anyway.
Enjoy.
teri

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!
I send you all a big X and O!!! Enjoy the day and each other!!

We have a busy and very interesting week planned. I think the children will be having a lot of fun and learning a lot of different things this week. I will be stressing to the children that they must be accountable for their own behaviours even if we are doing many fun activities. It is easy for me to plan lots of fun events if their behaviour is appropriate and acceptable...please discuss this with your child.

Here is our week:
Monday:
On Monday Nikoo (our Spec teacher) will be coming in after recess to do a lesson on worms and the importance of composting. We will look at worms, touch worms, and build a compost together...we however will not be keeping the compost in our classroom this year as Nikoo will be taking it back to her own work.
After lunch we will be having our Valentine's Party. We will begin with our DEAR...drop everything and read, make our card bags, then deliver our cards...if you are making and bringing cards...please ensure (in the spirit of friendship) that all children receive a card. After we will have some snacks...if you want to send something it's fine...if you don't it's fine as well.

On Wednesday Sarah, my drama volunteer, will be coming in to do Yoga with the children. Sarah just finished a one month course and is excited to do some stretching and breathing exercises with the children. This will be our second time doing Yoga with Sarah. The children very much enjoyed doing the fun poses. Some children required some reminders of having self-control and being mindful so as not to wreck it for the others.

On Thursday we will have students from Kits High school coming to spend the afternoon with our children. They high school students are part of a drama club and they are coming to do an activity that sounds like so much fun. They will develop a script with small groups of four students...then they will tape the audio portion of what the young children will say...then their goal is to lip sync what the children are saying while being video taped themselves...it sounds confusing...but if you want to see something similar go to....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsRk0TXYXuA&list=PLDFD0284A5DA24371&index=157
If this doesnt come through google Kid Snippets...the salesman...it is hilarious. Once again, because of the "fun" aspect of this activity, I am counting on SELF CONTROL....we want to have fun without causing behavioural problems for the high school students. Once the videos are made...they will send me a copy so that we can watch it...maybe we will have a viewing party. I will keep you informed!

Finally on Friday...Friday afternoon is our last skating session. I have been so amazed by the skaters and their ability, their attitude and their drive. Thank you to all the parents who have volunteered to drive and have fun with us!
Friday evening brings us to our GALA night. Again, a big thank you to everyone who donated things for our basket...it is a wonderful basket and I for one will be putting in a bid for it. It is a foodies dream basket!! I hope to see everyone at the gala. I have had so much fun there in the past years and know that Kelly and her dream team have put together an amazing event for all of us.
Our platter is beautiful...one of our nicest to date (I might say that every year, but it really is beautiful!!)If you can not make it to the gala and you would like to put in a pre-bid to me, then you are more than welcome. What usually is done is you give me your top bid that you will go to and I will bid for you...and maybe you will be the lucky recipient of our platter. It is in the hallway glass cupboard outside of the library.

Now with all that...we will still be busy with our reading, writing and arithmetic!! So , if your child comes home and is exhausted...now you will know why!!!
Some pictures for your viewing pleasure!!
Have a great day.
teri

Eli, Casper and Ben do a presentation on Penguins!

Learning about the Penguin Life Cycle.

Gung Hay Fat Choy....learning about the Chinese New Year

We wrote love letters to our Penguins...they were our odes!!

Stars of the week go to Eli, Ben and Casper who did such an amazing self-directed penguin presentation!

Happy Family Day to everyone!
The sun is shining and the sky is blue!!
I hope everyone will be out and enjoying each others company.
We are so lucky to have been given an extra day to revel in the outdoors and in our families. Also remember that tomorrow Tuesday is a Professional Day for Bayview, so this will make your weekend and exceptionally long weekend. I hope to hear some wonderful stories.

We have had a busy and productive week last week. WE continued learning about Penguins. We talked about the parts of a penguin and why the penguin was designed and built like he was. Because their bones are not hollow, like most birds bones are, allows them to be able to swim underwater for a very long time. But it is a bird and not a fish...as the penguin has feathers! We also learned about the life cycle of a penguin and have been doing lots of work to show that we understand the concepts being taught. The children have really been enjoying all the penguin stories that have been read in class, both the fiction as well as the non-fiction.Penguins are definitely very cute little birds!!
If anyone has any little jars (baby food works the best), I would love them for a penguin art project that I would like to do.

When I teach a unit be it about Penguins or winter or anything, I completely immerse the children in the subject. We do all of our reading, writing, science, poetry, art etc. all about that subject. That is why your children become experts by the end. Know that even though we are focusing on Penguins, we are doing everything else too! Just in case you wondered.

This last week, we also talked about the Groundhog and whether the cute little critter would see his shadow or would not. Well none of them did. I listened to the news and none of the critters from around North America saw their shadows, so spring will be here soon. I have certainly been seeing signs of it everywhere!!

This week we will be continuing our talk about Penguins but will also take a look at the Chinese New Year celebrated this week. It is the Year of the Monkey!! We will be doing some talking and reading and some art that will involve this subject.

In math the grade twos have just started exploring the concept of double digit adding (without regrouping) and will be starting double digit subtracting (without regrouping). It is important to continue practicing their basic addition and subtraction facts at home so that they will find the next concepts not seem so complicated.

The grade ones continue looking at number families and how multiple combinations of facts can add up to the same number...4 plus 3 equals seven but so does 5 plus two....Everyone is working very hard at becoming mathematicians!

On Thursday we had a visit from Sarah. Sarah volunteered last term for us and did an extensive unit on Drama and movement, all around the subject of Bats. Sarah has returned from a one month extensive Yoga course. So on Thursday we were lucky enough to have Sarah do some Yoga with the kids in the afternoon. She will be alternating her activities as she is so talented. One week we will receive some drama from Sarah and one week we will do yoga. We are very lucky to have such a talented volunteer!!

On Friday we went and had our second skating session.Thank you to all the parents who drove. A big get well to Brody who had a fall and cut his chin on the ice. Hope you are feeling better Brody. The rest of the children did so well. I have been proud of how they perservere.

Reminders:
1) Gala is February 19th. Buy your tickets online or from the office. It is an amazing event.
2) Our basket is the Gourmet Basket. If you would like to send in any gourmet items you still have time.
3) On Wednesday, I will be sending home a class list so that if you are planning to do Valentines Day cards you will have the list of ALL the children. We will be postponing our Valentines Day party till the 15th of February as we have skating on the 12th.

With that,
enjoy the pictures!
t

Maureen from the Vango arts umbrella teaches us how to draw owls and then colour them in using chalk pastels.

 Hope you like our owl pictures...come to our hallway and you will see all the big eyes looking at you!!
They are very cute!!