Ms. Schmidt's Grade 1/2 Blog

Mealworms Now that warmer weather is here, we are beginning to continue our insect unit that was started at the beginning of the year. As nature wakes up around us, we have brought some critters into the classroom in order to observe their life cycle: mealworms! Mealworms turn into darkling beetles. Some have already pupated! Students will have periodic opportunities to observe these small animals as they progress through their life cycle and we will look at how they, and other decomposers, contribute to the food chain/web. Feel free to explore these animals that are native to Alberta on this website . We also watched this interesting YouTube video  to help learn more about these insects. 'ou' as in Ouch! This week's word work continued on with the sound 'ow' as in cow, but this time with the spelling 'ou' as in out or ouch ! Here is a list of words that the students generated and we sorted by spelling: In our word work this week, we also learned about comp...

What a week! I find that when the weather does a 180, our perception of time shifts, in this case back to winter yet it is nearing the end of April! 'Sprinter' is fun! On the whole, the children had a great attitude about our continued appearance of winter weather in springtime — 'sprinter' — and profited from the excellent building conditions outside! It is so rare that we get snow that binds well in our dry climate, but the shoulder season weather this week gave us that opportunity and the kids definitely took advantage of it. Once balls became too large to roll solo, they worked well together in small groups until they could make them positively monstrous in some cases! We also talked about fair play and if it is/n't acceptable to wreck someone else's creation. Walking Rainbow To continue our study of liquids this week, we did an experiment that involved capillary action with water traveling up (and down) paper towel. We also took advantage of the opportunity...

April (so far!) in Room 170 We have had a busy start to April! Thank you all for your welcoming notes and patience as we get to know each other, and as I learn the routines of both Room 170 and Tuscany School. The kids have been amazing adapting to change and helping me to become a member of this space. As a class, we have taken some time to review expectations to help facilitate the best learning environment possible, including respecting each other’s space to learn. In spite of ‘Sprinter’ making an appearance this second week of April, we’ve enjoyed getting outside every day: thank you for helping get your child to school with the appropriate outdoor clothing, no matter the weather, so that they can have fun and move their bodies in the fresh air! This time is an important brain break, part of their daily physical activity, and a powerful social-emotional learning space because they are playing with other students, as well as learning to work with them, including opportunities to pro...