Kid Blog

This week I introduced our classroom to an online program called Kid Blog. Have you been trying to think of new ways to get your child writing at home? Ask them to sign into Kid Blog to read/comment on their classmate’s posts and create a blog post of their own! Students can develop voice by writing about topics that interest them, share stories, and provide positive feedback to others about their writing. Occasionally I will post topics for students to respond to. For example, our class homework over spring break is to log into Kid Blog, read their classmates posts and write at least one blog post of their own about their Spring Break or a topic of their choice. The students are provided with their own individual blog in a safe classroom blogging community.

Students are aware of the responsibility that comes along with having their own blog. We have discussed clear expectations about internet safety and using kind, and respectful language. Only first names will be used on the blog and all comments have to be approved by me before it will show up on the blog. This allows me to moderate every comment and ensure each student is using the blog safely and appropriately. Kid Blog allows me to maintain complete control over student blogs and user accounts. Only our class can view the blog as it is password protected.

How to Log In:

Students can access our Kid Blog by clicking on a link found on our classroom blog.  The link can be found under the “Kid Blog” tab along the top of the home page.
Here is a quick link to the log-in page: Ms. Cameron's Class Kid Blog

·         The students will log-in to their account using the password “Cameron”.

·         Parents and Family Members:
I have created a "Guest" account where parents and family members can log in to read and leave a special comment on their child's blog. The guest log-in password is “noexcuses”. Please sign each post with your name so the students know who the “guest” comment was from.

Our class has been buzzing about their blogs this week! This is a great opportunity for all writers to develop their literacy skills through different mediums. I can already see a positive change in how motivated our class is to practice their writing at home. The blog will also help students create classroom discussions, learn digital citizenship, practice writing skills and reflect on their learning.  If you have any further questions or concerns regarding Kid Blog, please let me know.

The Great Canadian Mail Race 
We are still receiving letters of reply from the Great Canadian Mail Race! This week, Sierra received a letter from her namesake Ciera, a Grade 4 student from Edmonton, Alberta!

Friends for Life Party
On Tuesday the class took part in the final Friends for Life session. The instructors ended the program with a class party! The students made their own friendship bracelets while enjoying some snacks. They also received a F.R.I.E.N.D.S for Life certificate and treat bag.

Tweet Tweet!
Our Twitter Board continues to be a big hit in our classroom. This week our "Trending Topic" was related to our monthly virtue, "What does fairness mean to you?" It's inspiring to see our students reflect on their learning, set new goals and motivate each other by adding a new tweet to the board.

Pointillism-Palooza! 
This week we have been working on a technique called pointillism. Pointillism was created by a famous painter named George Seurat in the late 1800's.  The technique involves creating pictures using only small dots, which we made using Q-tips! These paintings look so cool!

Spring School Photos:School photo proofs were sent home this week for those students who had their pictures taken. If you would like to order photos, the order deadline is due back to the school by Monday, April 28th.

Important Dates:
Friday, April 18: No School
April 21-25: Spring Break - No School
Monday, April 28: School Photo Order Deadline (Portrait Payment is Due Back)
Wednesday April 30: GMS Achievers Assembly 9:30 AM

Have a wonderful long weekend and spring break with your family!

Ms. Cameron

Day of Pink: Imagine No Bullying!

Fraction Museum

This week the Grade 3/4 students  invited me into their math class to check out their Fraction Museum. The students created their own fraction puzzles and circulated around the room trying to figure out each of the Mystery Fractions!

Our Classroom Twitter Feed
We also launched our own classroom Twitter feed this week! The students had a blast coming up with their own usernames and hash tags! This week's "Trending Topic" was "I am proud of..."

The Great Canadian Mail Race
We are still receiving letters from our Great Canadian Mail Race. This week Mahika received a letter of reply from a Grade 4 student in Hamilton, Ontario. Tyler also received a letter of reply from a Grade 4 student in Kingston, Ontario!

Important Dates:
Thursday, April 17: Boston Pizza Lunch
Friday April 18 - 25: Spring Break (No School)

Mystery Bag Reveal!

This week, our class has been bursting with excitement over our Mystery Bag Inference Reveal. Each day, we take several bags off the wall, and each student makes a final guess about what is in each bag. Students are reading between the lines while using their schema (what they already know) and the written clues to make predictions. Once we start sharing their bags, we don't want to stop - it's so much fun!

Artists at Work!

More Snail Mail!
Ethan received a letter of reply from the Great Canadian Mail Race! His letter was from a Grade 4 student in Hamilton, Ontario. 

Scholastic Book Fair
Raeann was our school's lucky winner of the $25 book fair gift certificate! Since the winner was in our class, our classroom was also given $25 to put towards new books for our room!

Bake Sale
Our ACT group will be having a bake sale during recess times on April 7th, 8th and 9th. The money raised will help the Red Cross bullying prevention program in Saskatchewan schools. We would greatly appreciate donations of home-made or store bought cookies or cupcakes for us to sell. You may drop them at the school or have your child bring them. We plan to decorate the items with pink icing. We will be accepting donations on April 2nd. Please e-mail Ms. Flengeris at maria.flengeris@rbe.sk.ca if you have any questions. Don't forget to wear pink on April 9th for our Day of Pink!

Important Dates:
April 7th, 8th and 9th: ACT Bake Sale
Wednesday April 9: Day of Pink & BP Order Forms Due
Thursday, April 17: Boston Pizza Lunch
April 18-25: Spring Break - No School

Fred Penner Concert

The highlight of our week was attending the Fred Penner Concert on Thursday morning. The students were singing, dancing, and laughing the whole time! We were very lucky because 4 students from our class, Mahika, Carys, Joshua and William joined Fred Penner on stage for one of his songs!

More Snail Mail!
The students were thrilled to receive two more letters this week from the Great Canadian Mail Race. Hifsa received a letter of reply from a student in Toronto, Ontario and Jacob received a letter from a student in Edmonton, Alberta!

A Special Treat 
A few weeks ago, our class had written a fabulous story about a terrifying dream using a technique called "Wrap Around Endings". The story was about an alien who turned out to be more funny than he was scary, as this alien loved root-beer floats! Our class also enjoyed making some floats of their very own at the end of the week as a special treat. I wish you could have seen the students reactions when they entered the room from recess and seen the ice-cream waiting for them on their desks! It was priceless! Hmmm. I wonder what they are going to write about next...

Author's Chair
Our students love to write interesting stories while collaborating with a partner! After we enjoyed our floats, we listened to Ethan and Tyler share a piece of writing they have been working on together. I'm so proud of the amazing readers and writers we have in our classroom!

Upcoming Events:
April 7th, 8th & 9th: ACT Bake Sale
Wednesday, April 9: Day of Pink

What's In The Bag?

In Daily 5, the students continue to learn about the comprehension strategy "Inferring". Making an inference involves "reading between the lines" by using what you know to make a guess about what you don't know. Readers who make inferences use the clues in a text, along with their own experiences to help them figure out what is not directly said. 

This week, we created a "Mystery Bag Inferences" wall in our classroom! Students chose a small item to put in their mystery bag, and wrote clues about their item. We have been having a blast trying to infer what each item is. At the end of the month students will have a chance to make a final guess before we open the bags to see if our predictions were correct! 

Learning Centre 3's Got Talent!
It is such a wonderful treat when students share their special talents with the class! This week Carys showed her musical talent with us while playing the guitar! This was definitely the highlight of our day and the class cheered Carys on the whole way! Way to go Carys!

Our Great Canadian Mail Race Winner!
On Thursday Khadija received our FIRST letter of reply from the Great Canadian Mail Race! We were bouncing with excitement to read Khadija's letter from two grade three students in Edmonton, Alberta! We are crossing our fingers that there will be more letters to come! 

GMS Achiever's Assembly 
Our monthly virtue this month is Tolerance. On Friday morning we had our monthly assembly and celebrated the amazing things happening in our school! Our class is very accepting of others, and the students chose two people who they felt were great examples of accepting of others for who they care. Congratulations to Gairiden and Muhammad for earning this month's Tolerance Award!

Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences
Conferences are on Friday, March 28th. There is no school this day, however students are expected to attend the conference with their parent or guardian. Conference times have been sent home on Friday, in your child's report card envelope. Please complete the bottom portion of the form and return the form to the school by Monday, March 24th. I look forward to meeting with you to celebrate your child's success and set new goals for Term 3!

Important Dates:
Monday, March 24: Conference Time Slip Due
Thursday, March 27: Fred Penner Field Trip
Friday, March 28: Conferences

Read Every Day!

On Thursday, our school had a Daily 5 Assembly. How exciting to see a whole school engaged in sharing their love of reading with one another! Check out our readers in action! 

Inquiry Based Learning
In science, our class is learning about habitats. Students are exploring different habitats of their choice using books, computers and iPads. The students predicted what kinds of plants and animals live in their habitat and are now in the researching phase of the project. Here you can see students using technology to explore their topic further and determine whether their predictions were correct or not. Our class LOVES using technology to explore new information and answer questions that come up throughout our day!

Exploring Worldview
We have also been exploring the topic of Worldview which is this months Treaty Essential Learning topic. Here are some of the quotes students learned after listening to a First Nations Elder speak about worldview. The class worked together to summarize the elders idea and created a "wordle" poster of their ideas for our Treaty Essential Learning bulletin board.

Worldview Quotes from Learning Centre 3
"Accept people for who they are."

"Worldview is respect, being thankful, happiness, peace."
"Treat people the way you want to be treated."
"Everyone and everything is equal in the world."

"A life is the same thing. If you are human, you are the same as a plant or animal."
"First Nations people respect and care a lot about mother nature"

"Family is important."
"Respect the earth and nature."

"Learn from each other."

We also had a visit from Elder Betty this week. The students are so engaged in her stories and love asking her questions about her life experiences and First Nations worldview. 

Fred Penner Concert
This week a note was sent home with your child about our next field trip on March 27th. We will be attending the Fred Penner concert at the ORR Centre with the Kindergarten, Grade 1/2, and Grade 2/3 classes. Our buses will pick us up at 9:00 a.m. and will return approximately at 11:15 a.m. The cost of the ticket and transportation is $7.40 per child. Please make your payments online and send your child's permission form back by Friday, March 21st. Some of the students who are familiar with Fred's funny and catchy songs such as "The Cat Came Back" have already been singing/humming these songs throughout our school day in anticipation of the concert! 

Important Dates:
Friday, March 21: GMS Achievers Assembly
Friday, March 21: Extreme Pita Lunch
Friday, March 21: Fred Penner Field Trip Permission Forms Due
Friday, March 21: Report Cards Go Home
Thursday, March 27: Fred Penner Concert
Friday, March 28: Conferences

Snail Mail!

This week's blog post will be short and sweet - just like our school week! We have finished writing and editing our letters for the Great Canadian Mail Race. The letters have been signed, sealed, and on their way to be delivered! The students chose the destination of their letters and our snail mail will be travelling to schools in almost every province/territory in Canada, including the Yukon! We are crossing our fingers that other classes take part in the fun and we receive some letters back!

Wrap Around Endings
In Writers Workshop, our class has been working on writing "take it away" endings! This week we focused on a writing technique called "Wrap Around Endings". These endings use key words to connect to the last sentence of the story to the first sentence by "wrapping" back around to the beginning. The students and I wrote a story together to model the technique. The story started with "Last night I had a terrifying dream!". After completing the short story, about a seemingly scary alien that ends up being more silly than scary,  the students came up with the wrap around ending "As it turns out, my dream wasn't so terrifying after all!"

Friends for Life
One of the highlights this week was the drama activities during Tuesdays Friends for Life class. Students used their problem solving skills to work through various situations and how these social situations would make themselves and others feel.  Students worked cooperatively with their peers to act of different situations, while the rest of the class guessed what the situation was and described the emotions the actors were feeling.

Scholastic Book Orders
March book orders went home this week. If you would like to order, please make cheques payable to "Scholastic Canada". Book orders are due next Wednesday, March 12.

Extreme Pita Special Lunch
The SRC and School Community Council is putting on an Extreme Pizza Lunch on Friday, March 21st. Order forms were sent home on Wednesday. Orders and payment are due on Wednesday, March 12th. No late orders will be accepted.

The Red Cross Day of Pink 
On April 9th, Gladys McDonald School will be taking part in the Red Cross Day of Pink. The day of pink started in 2007 when two high school students in Nova Scotia took a stand against bullying in their school. The students asked all of their peers to wear pink to school after they heard a male classmate had been bullied for wearing a pink shirt.  Students are invited to wear pink shirts on April 9th in solidarity to show that bullying is unacceptable and to stand for respect.

To order your child's Day of Pink T-shirt for $5.25, please return the attached order form along with payment (exact cash or cheque made payable to Gladys McDonald School) by Thursday, March 13. Order forms were sent home this week with your child this week.. Even if  you chose not to order the official T-shirts, students are encouraged to wear pink on this day.  

Bake Sale
Our ACT group will also be having a bake sale during recess times on April 7th, 8th, and 9th. The money raised will help the Red Cross bullying prevention program in Saskatchewan schools. We would greatly appreciate donations of home-made or store bought cookies or cupcakes for us to sell. You may drop them at the school or have your child bring them. We plan to decorate the items with pink icing. We will begin accepting donations on April 2nd. Please e-mail Ms. Flengeris at maria.flengeris@rbe.sk.ca if you have any questions.

Important Dates:
Thursday, March 6: No School (PD Day)
Friday, March 7: No School (Teacher Convention)
Wednesday, March 12: Scholastic Book Orders are Due
Wednesday, March 12: Extreme Pita Special Lunch Orders are Due
Thursday, March 13: Red Cross Day of Pink Order Forms are Due
Friday, March 21: Extreme Pita Special Lunch
Friday, March 21: Term 2 Report Cards are Sent Home
Friday, March 21: GMS Achievers Assembly