When doing inquiry, there are many different resources students can learn from. Yesterday, we discussed how we can learn from books, websites on the internet, experts, and videos, for example. We watched an episode of the Magic School Bus called “Spins a Web” and learned a lot from Ms. Frizzle and her students. Please feel free to watch the video with your child and talk about what they found most interesting. Ask them what other questions come to mind because we want to continue to foster their curiosity. While we cannot ride on Ms. Frizzle’s Magic School Bus, the next best thing is what we have organized for next week! And that is to learn from a spider expert!

We are so very excited to inform you that we will be walking over to SFU’s Biological Sciences Department to participate in some hands-on learning. Students will be working with a couple grad students who are passionate about insects and spiders. They will have an opportunity to see samples, ask more questions, and be curious. Here are the details:

Date: Friday, November 16th, 2018

Time: 9:30 am – We will be leaving the school shortly after 9:10 am and will return at approximately 11:00 am.

Place: Simon Fraser University’s Biological Sciences Department

Thank you so much to Priscilla’s mom for connecting us with the Faculty of Science to make this walking field trip possible!

We have been learning about many different reading strategies during our whole class read alouds and during reading groups time. One of the biggest things children are learning is that they need to ALWAYS read for understanding. One way to self-monitor is to regularly ask ourselves, “Does it make sense?” Children are being taught that there are a number of different strategies they can use when reading and to notice the ones they are already using when reading so they continue using them.

Ms. Cowan just returned on Monday feeling invigorated from a 2-day weekend workshop about reading and I am a part of a District book club reading Catching Readers Before They Fall so we are both very excited to have these ideas and strategies fresh in our minds to teach the students.

Today, we introduced students to a new reading strategy: picture walk. Here, we went through the book A Poppy Is to Remember one page at a time to take a look at the pictures before actually reading the words in the book. We discovered that by taking the time to study the pictures, it helped us to understand and make predictions. Next time you read with your child, feel free to take a picture walk through the pages before you read the words in the book and see how this strategy might help improve comprehension.  

After reading the book, we discussed what a poppy is to remember and thought about some of the reasons why we wear a poppy. We then wrote our A Poppy Is to Remember poems which will be shared at our Remembrance Day assembly this Friday, November 9th at 10:45 am. Some of the ideas shared in their poems were simply heartwarming. Here are some examples:

• A poppy is to remember the people who risked their lives.
• A poppy is to remember those who fought for peace because they were brave.
• A poppy is to remember those who went to the war because they sacrificed their lives for us.
• A poppy is to remember those we love because they wanted peace and for us to be free.
• A poppy is to remember people that are still living (who were in the war).

Each child will receive a poppy on Friday. Feel free to send donations to the poppy fund as we are collecting at the school. All families are welcome to join us in the gym this Friday for the Remembrance Day assembly. If you are not available at that time, then we hope to see you during our Family Read at 8:55 am!

On Monday, your child was introduced to our new spelling program called Chunk Spelling. They all enjoyed discovering the new words they could make with the “at” ending while using their sound boards. It also helped them think critically when they came to a beginning sound that sounded like a word but wasn’t one or was a word but it didn’t have the same sound as in the word family. For example, dat (not a word) or what (has “at” at the end of the word but makes a “uht” sound rather than “at” sound).

Week after week, students will be introduced to a new word family to create words with different consonants, blends and digraphs. They record their words in a notebook in three columns: first column are words with just consonants, second column are words with blends and digraphs, and the third column is where they challenge themselves to think of larger fancy words with the word family. Some examples of bigger words were: scatter, flatten, and attic.

The homework pamphlet that went home is to be completed during the week. Every Monday, they will be given a spelling check and a new set of words for a new word family. Typically, grade ones will have five words and grade twos will have up to ten words.

Click here to learn more about the program.

Please ask if you have any questions. Thank you for your support at home!

Click to enlarge image.

This week, we did some experiential learning as we pretended to be spiders. Well, we were actually scientists doing another experiment. 

First, we asked some questions. Then we formed a hypothesis. Next, we tested our hypothesis and recorded our observations. Finally, we came to a conclusion.

We started with a sugar cube which represented the fly that the spider caught in its web. 

Then we added water to the cup to mimic how a spider “vomits” digestive fluid over the prey (sugar cube = fly) and we carefully and excitedly observed what happened. 

After a few minutes, we noticed that the sugar cube dissolved just like how a fly would after the spider’s digestive fluid liquefied it.

The next step was tasting the delicious fly (or dissolved sugar cube). Some enjoyed their “meal” but others thought it tasted disgusting and were rushing to get water (too sweet!). 

We recorded our observations. Here is an example:

This experiment gave us a good sense of how a spider “eats” its food!

Dear students,

What did you think of our experiment? What was the most interesting part of this experiment or this kind of learning? How did it make you feel? Please ask your parent to help you write your response as a comment on this post. We’d love to hear your thoughts! Thank you.

Sincerely, Ms. Chan & Ms. Cowan