Linear Measurement

 Today we launched the Linear Measurement Unit in Math. Using their pinkies (the width is about 1cm), the students had to estimate objects in the class that they thought were close to 30 cm in length. Once they recorded their estimates, they used a ruler to measure their chosen objects.

Mad Science!

Our exploration of carbon dioxide continued today with an experiment involving Mentos and Diet Coke. We learned that bubbles of carbon dioxide from the Diet Coke lodge themselves and grow in the little craters on the surface of Mentos mints. Once these bubbles pop, they release a lot of carbon dioxide which causes a volcanic eruption of Diet Coke, as well as squeals of delight from the 2/3 class!

Rhythm Circles with Leo Brooks

While the Grade 2 students played Subitizing math games with Ms. Morris' class, the grade 3 students joined the Grade 5 classes this morning for a rhythm circle with Leo Brooks. The students learned that for rhythm to work, it has to be organized (patterns). The students got to create rhythms using a variety of percussion instruments including djembes, shakers and guiros.

Week at a Glance!

Reward Afternoon!

What a fun way to end a short week! The students had a blast this afternoon being cozy in their PJ's, hanging with their stuffies and friends, playing with their devices and eating delicious snacks! Thank you so much to the students and parents who thrilled our taste buds with scrumptious treats!

Choose Kind!

Today, each class prepared a special anti-bullying presentation to share with the rest of the school at our Anti-Bullying Assembly! Here is a link to 2/3W's contribution!

2/3W Chooses Kind!

Class Reward!

As a reward for completing the paperclip chain (for spectacular group effort and behaviour), the 2/3W students will enjoy a celebration tomorrow afternoon! Students are welcome to wear their PJ''s and to bring toys, games and/or electronics. There will also be Chromebooks available for students who don't bring in electronics. The electronics will be in the locked classroom during recesses and lunch. The students are also welcome (but not expected) to bring in some nut-free snacks to share with their classmates.

Chemical Reaction!

Today during our ongoing study of liquids, solids and gases, the students were asked to hypothesize what would happen when baking soda contained in the balloon pictured below mixed with the vinegar in the pop bottle:

Here are a few of the kids acting out their hypothesis...

Here is a peak at the cool science we excitedly witnessed:

Ask your child the name of the gas that was formed when baking soda was mixed with vinegar !

This Week's Precept According to 2/3W...

"Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud."  Maya Angelou

"The cloud is a person who's sad or mad, and the other person is the rainbow trying to make the cloud feel better because it's angry...so it's basically trying to put the light in the cloud!"  -Emily

"The cloud is the sad person and the rainbow is trying to fill that sad person's bucket!"  -Brye-Anna

"The cloud is okay but not happy, and the rainbow is happy. It is an object that gives happiness, and if you put the rainbow in the cloud you get a happy cloud!"  -Hannah

"The cloud is mad because his friends are being mean to him or maybe he feels like he is being bullied. The rainbow is a true friend who turns your frown upside down." -Goewra and Breeona

"The cloud is sad and lonely. Then the rainbow comes to colour it in."  -Matteo

"The cloud is a hurt student, and the rainbow is going to get the teacher and helps bring the cloud to the office." -Braeden

"The cloud is all alone and has no one to play with. The rainbow is a good friend who helps him and plays with him." -Maximus

"The Cloud family is very poor and Christmas is coming. The Rainbow family gives them money to buy presents for their family. The Rainbow can tell them about Jesus' birth and the true meaning of Christmas". -Olivia and Brye-Anna

Week at a Glance

Descriptive Writing Continues...

The students have been honing their descriptive writing skills. Today they learned the difference between metaphors and similes. Read your child the following two sentences and ask him or her to identify which is a simile and which is a metaphor. Once your child has wowed you with this ability, ask for an explanation!

He is a sly fox!

Ms. Wills wishes she was always as cool as a cucumber!

The students used their senses to describe an imaginary island of their dreams...some of these included: Candy Land, Math Island, Dinosaur Land, Hockey Island and Football Island! The completed paragraphs with accompanying illustrations grace a bulletin board in the class!

What's Your Favourite Way to Fly?

Airplane? Helicopter? Hot Air Balloon?

That was one of the survey questions the students asked each other today. They used their collected data to make a bar graph. Airplane was the most popular but a few adventurous students opted for helicopter and hot air balloon! Tomorrow, the students will formulate their own survey question! They look very official with their clipboards in this picture!

Metis Presentation

The students and teachers enjoyed an interesting presentation this afternoon by Metis Elder Bob Stevenson. He spoke about living off the land respectfully and how all parts of an animal are used by indigenous people (food, tools, clothing, musical instruments). Mrs. Kelly took the following wonderful pictures of some of the incredible objects he brought with him. It was an awesome Show and Tell!

Photo Retakes are Tomorrow!

Forgot to mention this in the Week at a Glance!

Oil and Water Experiment

As part of the Grade 2 Science study of the properties of liquids, we conducted an experiment today to observe how oil and water interact. We added squirts of coloured water into a dish of baby oil. The students got a chance to swirl it around and discovered that the two really do not mix!

Breeona squirted purple drops of water on Alrizha's oil-covered hands. The purple droplets on Alrizha's hand really illustrate how the two liquids do not mix! Did I mention that things got a little messy?!

Making Bar Graphs

The students paired up today to make bar graphs. We will look at their work tomorrow and discuss the importance of using a reasonable scale, including a title and labeling the axes. Later this week, the students will conduct surveys and display their collected data on bar graphs.

Shedding Light on This Week's Precept...

Every Monday morning, I introduce the Weekly Precept and we discuss its deeper meaning. This morning after sharing it with the students, their responses were so lovely that I felt compelled to write down their words and share them with you. The precept that launched this discussion was:

"When it's dark, be the one who turns on the light!"

Here are their responses which warmed my heart and made me grateful that I get to spend my weekdays with such wise and kind students:

"If light is good, and darkness is bad, dark is someone being mean to you and you ignore them with your light." - Cameron

"When somebody is sad, be the one to help them." -Lilah

“When someone is being mean to you, and you just want to be bad back, STOP! Be nice. Be the light and they will shine their light back at you.”  -Brionna    “Like a mirror!” added Josh.

“When you forgive someone who is bullying you, it will confuse them.” - Emily

"When you help somebody, you make the light shine in their hearts." -Alrizha

Week at a Glance

Remembrance Day Service

Students are encouraged to wear red and black for our Remembrance Day Ceremony tomorrow. Parents are welcome to join us for our Service at 10;30 in the gym.

What Does Peace Like?

In honour of Remembrance Day, the 2/3W students reflect on peace in the following video:

What Does Peace Feel Like?

Bumper Coasters

While the Grade 2's were with Ms. Morris' class this morning rockin' it out with Junkyard Johnny, the Grade 3's and I joined Mr. Pope's class for a science experiment involving insulation tubing and marbles! The experiment involved "designing" a new roller coaster called the Bumper Coaster. You just had to make sure that the two roller coaster cars (marbles) did not ended up swallowed by the alligator in the swamp (the cup). The students discovered that where they placed their bumper marble and the force of friction had a lot to do with whether their bumper cars got swallowed by an alligator.

Rhythm Workshop

The grade 2 students had a chance to further explore percussion and rhythm this morning with Junkyard Johnny.The reviews were very positive!

Junkyard Symphony

The students learned about the 4R's - Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle & Rock - this morning during a high energy performance by Junkyard Symphony. ! Junkyard Johnny will be back tomorrow to lead rhythm and recycling workshops with the Grade 1 & 2 students. Our Grade 2 students will join Mrs. Morris' class for this session! The Grade 3 students will participate in rhythm workshops later this month.

Catching Some Zzzzz's!

I forgot to post this last Friday for PJ's for United Way. As you can see one of my exciting lessons lulled the students to sleep!

Week at a Glance

PJ and Stuffie Day Tomorrow!

The students are encouraged to wear their cozy pajamas and bring their favourite stuffie to school tomorrow, along with a toonie for United Way.

Patterning!

I sent the students home with their yellow Math duo tangs which contains a Patterning Review the students wrote last week. It says test but it was a review. If you can review it with your child over the weekend and return it to school on Monday that would be terrific! The students will write an actual Patterning Test on Monday.

Can You Guess My Monster?

Today our class and Ms. B's grade 5 class met up for the Annual Monster Mash Match Up Activity. Based on their descriptive monster paragraphs, the students had to guess each other's monsters. It was a real success!

Sugar Update!

A sugar savvy parent kindly let me know that there are 4 grams of sugar in 1 teaspoon therefore there are roughly 10 teaspoons of sugar in a can of Coke (not 39 as I claimed yesterday - big whoops)! Still enough to make it sink! Thanks J.M.!

Buoyancy Bonanza!

During Science class today we explored the concept of buoyancy. The students learned that buoyancy is a force that pushes up on an object in water. They learned that the denser the object, the less buoyant it will be. We then had some fun testing the buoyancy of a variety of objects starting with an unpeeled orange and an unpeeled mandarin.

They floated! The students then predicted whether peeled oranges would float...

They didn't float! We discovered that the peel has a lot of air in it and acts like a life-jacket for the orange. When we took its life-jacket peel off though - the oranges sunk!

I then asked the students if they thought a can of Diet Coke would float...it did! I then asked them if they thought a can of regular Coke would float. A few of the students predicted that it wouldn't and I asked them why. Neela thought maybe it was because the ingredients were different...like maybe there was more salt in Coke. Garven figured Neela was on the right track but he figured it was sugar. Well we put our theories to the test and discovered that...

The regular Coke did sink! We then Googled that a can of Coke has 39 grams of sugar in it! That is 10 teaspoons of sugar! No wonder it sank!

We then had a bit of time to test the buoyancy of different classroom objects!

Alrizha, Braeden and Neela compared the buoyancy of their personal pencil sharpeners and discovered that only Neela's wasn't buoyant - the other two are larger and not as dense as Neela's blue sharpener!