Happy I Love to Read Month!

Check out the cool bulletin board next to our school library! Ms. Solar and Ms. Bell came together and brainstormed these very special activities you can do over the month of February to celebrate I Love to Read Month! Happy Reading and Writing!

Cozy Cuddly Polar Bears?!

Cozy Cuddly Polar Bears?!  You bet!  Room 4 used chalk pastel to create these beautiful portratis of polars bears.  Students blended colours to create a soft effect.  The directions of the lines give the bears a 3-D appearance.  Beautifully done, Room 4!

Poetry Paradise!

I Am Poems!

Here are the shared writing I Am Poems that I promised earlier this week.  After a lot of trial and error, I was finally able to upload them just as they were published.  The students chose their own fonts and I wanted to be sure to share them to the world they way that was intended!

I am so proud of their efforts!  These poems have alliteration, onomatopoeia and of course "juicy" words!  There are some really amazing lines that really make really imagine what is being described.  Most of the poems are somewhat of a mystery until the end.  Can you guess what each one is about before the reveal in the final line?

As another added bonus, our school is having a Poetry Contest for I Love to Read Month so we will be sure to enter these pieces!

Happy Reading!

Shared Writing

Our school is currently part of a Writing Residency based on the works of Regie Routman.  Though it isn't taking place in Room 4, I have had the chance to check out a lesson and have conversations with the teachers involved. 

We are currently writing poetry in Room 4 and one of the strategies discussed in the residency is the idea that students become better writers by first watching their teacher write.  The next step can involve the students writing together. 

We did this by creating a poem about our class.  We followed the template of an I Am poem, where each lines begins with I ____________.  We decide to take poetic licence and change it to We ____________.  Then the creativity really started to flow. We had a lot of fun (and a lot of laughs) coming up with the ideas.  When we had trouble, we went on the the next verse, got a thesaurus or dictionary to find new words, and used a classroom resource called "Banish Boring Words" that has tons of great adjectives and adverbs you can use to add detail to your writing.

After a lot of revising, editing, reading and re-reading, this is what we came up with.  I've included a picture of our writing, but I have copied it down for you below.  

We are

We are valuable
We wonder what the end of the year will bring
We hear laughter through out our days
We see our friends by our side
We want to stick together
We are a community

We pretend we are in "the cafe"
We feel safe, happy, proud
We touch each others souls
We worry about our future
We are a family

We understand we sometimes get upset
We say sorry when we need to
We dream of what lies ahead
We hope this chapter will never end
We are Room 4

-by the 20 members of Room 4





Next, we did some shared writing. Students brainstormed together and read aloud possible lines they could add to the poem.  The students are currently finishing up their I Am poems and I will be sure to post them when they are ready to be published!

 Happy Reading and Writing!

Who Says Indoor Recess Can't Be Active!

Because of the recent cold snap, we have been spending many of our recesses inside. Rather than doing the usual indoor recess activities quiet games and activities, today we did something different. Check out the pictures and see if you can guess . . .

Flash Mob!

Great Memory!

                                                          



. . . if you said "Danced the Macarena in the Hallway, you'd be right!  Comments I heard included -

This is the best recess ever! - Vika

You looked like a flash mob! - Mrs. Evans

What a great change of pace!  We wonder when then next impromptu dance party will be!?!

Math Puzzles!

Our class is testing Celia Baron's new Math Cross Puzzles.  We have been using her past Cross Puzzles all year as part of our daily math, but we now are lucky enough to try out some samples from her upcoming book!  So far, three students have spend some time completing the self - checking and highly - motivating math puzzles.  Today we are going to do them as a class.  We will reflect on the questions and give Celia feedback as to how we like them.  It's amazing to be part of an author's process.  Thank you, Celia!!

Who's checking us out?

Hello Everyone! 

I am really curious as to how many parents actually check out our blog from time to time.  We try to post at least once a week, and each post almost always include pictures and words/explanations from your son/daughter's daily perspective. 

Please don't hesitiate to leave a comment or questions - we'd love to gain some followers :)

 - Mrs. Steinhoff