Quotable Quotes!

 
This week, I added 2 new quotes in our room. I had a local artist, Kal Barteski, create a favourite quote of mine in her amazing script and vibrant colours. I just love it! I then found a cute "play on words" which I framed and placed in our classroom. The students noticed both right away!

It made me think of how I don't want the quotes just to become part of the wall, and get ignored! So today, students had to choose 3 quotes and explain what it meant to them, then give an example of the quote in action. It was super neat to see how mindful the students were! There were over 20 quotes to choose from posted along our walls! Whoa!

Here are their thoughts . . .

Aidan - Quote: "It's okay to not know, but it's not okay to not try." Meaning: To try my hardest!

Brogan - Quote: "Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it. Right is right even if no one is doing it." Meaning: If something is wrong, then you don't have to do it just because your friends are.

Carter B - Quote: "No act of kindness however small is ever wasted." Meaning: Doing something kind is always worth it. The smallest thing can brighten up someone's day.

Carter Grace - Quote: "Can one good deed from an ordinary girl change the world?" Meaning: Anything is possible.

Corbin - Quote: "When given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind." Meaning: Be kind to all even if they're not kind to you.

Donavan - Quote: "The time is always right to do what is right." Meaning: You can do the right thing.

Dylan - Quote: "Just be YOU." Meaning: Act and be yourself and don't follow other people.

Gina - Quote: "Your actions speak louder than your words." Meaning: Treating others with kindness.

Isabella - Quote: "Of all the things you wear today, your smile is most important." Meaning: Your smile will make someone's day.

Jace - Quote: "Do the right thing even if no one is looking." Meaning: Do the right thing and no one has to see you do it.

Jack - Quote: "Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." Meaning: Come to school happy.

Kaitlyn J - Quote: "Just be YOU." Meaning: I can just be ME!

Kaity S - Quote: "When given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind." Meaning: Being kind to everyone you see.

Katrina - Quote: "Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten." Meaning: Write your future, live your life.

Keaston - Quote: "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, but also to sit down and listen." Meaning: Having courage to stand up in front of a crowd.

Laine - Quote: "The time is always right to do what is right." Meaning: It's always the right time to fix your wrongs.

Mackenzie A - Quote: "Can one good deed from an ordinary girl change the world?" Meaning: Everyone has a chance to do something amazing, even if it's tiny.

Max - Quote: "Just be YOU." Meaning: Be myself. Play my own role, not others'.

Xavier - Quote: "Your actions speak louder than your words." Meaning: Including others.

Giving Tuesday

Today is "Giving Tuesday" . . . a day that often sees online charitable donations skyrocket! In Room 31, we decided to write out notes to brighten the day of someone else. It could be for someone at home or at school. I was so touched by the thoughtfulness of the students, as well as their eagerness in this simple activity. It was just awesome seeing the smiles on the faces of students that received a warm and fuzzy note.

Thanks for being you.

Student Blogs are up and running!

It has been one very exciting week in Room 31! I'm super pumped that our student blogs on Kidblog have officially been started!

We have worked extremely hard on creating our Paper Blogs, learning about gadgets and quality comments.

Please check out our student blogs and feel free to leave a comment, or two, by clicking HERE. Or you can also find the link in our gadgets on the left-hand side of our blog.

Thanks for supporting our journey into blogging!  :)

Paper Blogs: Commenting

This afternoon, we practiced leaving quality comments on our paper blogs. We're trying to follow "CAP Comments":

C - Compliment or make a Connection
A - Ask a Question
P - Polite ending (sign your name)

It was so awesome to see the time everyone took in reading each and every blog around the classroom. And, then the thoughtfulness in the comments was just great! All the students loved reading the feedback from their peers. You could hear a pin drop in our class because everyone was so engaged in the activity!

I'm proud of you Grade 5s!    :)

Blogging in the new year!

At the beginning of every school year, teachers need to create a Professional Growth Plan . . . which is like a personal teaching goal to work towards. This year, mine is to have students working on their very own blogs! I'm pretty excited by this, because all of our students enjoy contributing to our class blog through posts and comments. 

Mrs. Dent Scarcello suggested that I try a paper blog before launching the online one. This seemed like the perfect week to do it! It has been so much fun to see the students and their creativity. Some "techies" even included a QR code and the Instagram logo as one of their gadgets! So neat!

I'm looking forward to sharing our blogging journey with you! I will share the link once they're up and running!

Ms. Wasney   :)

If I lived in a snow globe . . .

A week before Christmas break we started an art project and these are the steps:

1^st We took pictures outside

2^nd we wrote our rough copy in our writer’s notebook our if I lived in a snow Globe 

3^rd we wrote our good copy

4^th we decorated and glued our snow globe

5^th we gave it too Ms. Koehn and she hot glued a plastic plate and fake snow to it

These are the steps we did to create our snow globe. Now here are some materials to make it:

Pencil, thin sharpie, construction paper, normal paper, glue, hot glue, plastic plate and scissors.

We had so much fun doing this art project and everyone’s look so good now.

By: SYDNEY AND JAYDEN

Writing with a purpose!

For the last week, we have been writing our own Pourquoi Tales. This is a school-wide project as part of the AAA program. Every class will publish a collection of Pourquoi Tales in a hardcover book. The books will be stored in the school library so that all students will have the opportunity to withdraw the books at any time. We will also be working with a local artist, Mrs. Kulyk, to create tiles to illustrate our writing. These tiles will be showcased in a permanent display in our school.

Today, I showed another awesome way we can write with a purpose . . . The Winnipeg Jets is once again holding their "Reading Takes Flight" contest. As a class, we will submit a letter explaining why OUR class should win the opportunity to welcome a Jets player to visit and read to us during "I Love to Read Month" (which is February). I have entered this contest twice before, and am crossing my fingers that the third time is the charm!

Writer's Workshop

Yesterday, we had an amazing brainstorming session during our Writer's Workshop! I was so impressed with the participation of all the students! I couldn't help but smile when one table group came up with the idea of record labels as a place where we can find writing! Just where exactly have they spotted those lately?!

On Tuesday we did Writer’s Workshop. We had to brainstorm about why writers write and where we can find writing. Each table group worked hard together. Our class got to share their ideas table group by table group. Some table groups shared just where they could find writing, while the others did both. When we were finished Ms. Wasney printed off all of the ideas on different wordles. One wordle for where we find writing, and one for why writers write. Then we glued them into our writing journals. We came up with 110 ideas for where we find writing. WOW! And for why writers write we came up with 29. In total we came up with 139 ideas altogether. We had a lot of ideas shared for the assignment, but while each table group were sharing, the others thought their ideas were awesome so they wanted to put them down. Each table group had a lot of fun doing this assignment. Ms. Wasney was happy with all the ideas we came up with too. We all hope to do another fun assignment like this again soon!!

By: Chelsea and Taylor P

By clicking on a wordle, you can see the larger version . . . which is easier to read!

Week One: Done!

Well, we made it through the first week of school! Woohoo! We spent the last part of the day writing reviews of the first week in Room 31. Some students even wanted to take their unfinished writing home for the weekend! Are these kids great, or what?! I've had the pleasure of reading their reviews, and I think you'll enjoy reading some quotes!

"This is my first week at Bird's Hill School. For the past few days, it's been really different!" - Aliyah

Attendance on the SMARTBoard!

"We do attendance on the SMARTBoard, and every month it's a different picture. This month it's apples and you drag them with your finger and put them into a basket." - Alyssa

"Did you know there are only 3 SMARTBoards in the whole school? Our class is lucky because we have one." - Angela

"We have a memory jar and there are 2 so far in it!" - Anna

"When I walked in the class for the first time on the right, there was a SMARTBoard. On the left, there was our class pet. In the middle, there is a quilt that Ms. Wasney's mom made. And all over the classroom there were colourful bulletin boards. I could go on and on and on about what we have in our classroom but I better stop there." - Aria

Our class pet . . . he's VERY quiet!

"Did you know we have another teacher that teaches us French? Her name is Mrs. Daraska." - Brett

"We even have a class pet, but he doesn't talk or fly because he's not a real bird. But what's good is nobody has to feed it!" - Carter

"So, what do you want to know? First week of school . . . LOVED IT!" - Chelsea

"We learned that Book Nooks are special chairs, mats, and cushions. Sometimes you even get Ms. Wasney's chair. I got it once already!" - Cole

Book Nooks are a hit with 4/5W!

"We have a R Chart. This particular chart is about being respectful". - Daimin

"Did you know that I have been in Ms. Wasney's class for 3 years? Kindergarten, Grade 3, and Grade 5." - Emily

"This year I am a Peacemaker. A Peacemaker is a person who walks around the primary side and solves problems." - Emmy

"The first week in Ms Wasney's class is awesome." - Hailey B

"Everyone in the other classes wanted to see our class pet. But they found out it was fake!" - Haley J

"Ms. Wasney's class is on Instagram and we have a blog which is updated all the time!" - Hannah

"I rate the first week of school 10 out of 10." - Jason

"This year, I am so excited to be a bus patrol!" - Jayden

"Ms. Wasney said that Railay is going to visit once or twice." - Katelyn

"This week was a 4 out of 5 star week. I give it a 4 because I missed an afternoon because I was sick." - Matt

"Does your class sit in table groups? We do, I sit with 5 people. 4 + me." - Noah

"To me, the SMARTBoard is a small theater, really it's a big touch screen you can write on." - Rowan

"Room 31 has a mascot: Railay." - Sydney

"It's cool that we get to name our classroom jobs. My job is called Mr. Clean." - Ted

Hero Writing

Here are the Hero envelopes.

Over the last few weeks, the students have been writing letters to a hero. Today, several students were able to complete their good copy, decorate an envelope and take home the finished letter. I am looking forward to hearing the response from families about these heart-warming letters! Here's a summary of the process:

Here is Mrs. Augusta writing out
her letter to Daniel. We learned lots
about what good writers do doing the
writing process.

We started working on our hero writing on May 1. Mrs.Augusta told us tips about how to write our hero writing. She wrote to her son Daniel. She just wrote a rough copy so she could fix her mistakes and see how she did. And then we brainstormed about who we would do for our hero. There were a lot of options like: Dad, Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle, Aunty, Cousin, Friend, a teacher, and a Sibling.

Then we brainstormed qualities of your hero. Some of the qualities were Helpful, someone you could trust, smart, someone you look up to.

Then we wrote our good copies and made an envelope.

 By Ryan.S & Jack

Book Nooks

In our classroom, we have a variety of comfy spots to do our work. Students are welcome to grab a clipboard and work anywhere around the room . . . as long as they aren't distracting others from their work. I always like to say; "you're not glued to your seat/desk"! To make it fair, we have a way of keeping track of who gets what each day. Choices include: comfy cushions, carpet squares, 2 butterfly/camping chairs, a black moon chair, a share chair (which is a director's chair), a rocking chair, "Free Choice", at your desk, and even "Ms. Wasney's chair". So far, this system is working wonderfully! We have a person that rotates the names along the list at the end of each day. Several students make a point of checking out the list to see what chair they will be getting next! I'm hoping this enthusiasm stays throughout the year!

What has your favourite Book Nook been so far? Which one are you looking forward to trying out?

Concrete Poetry

Today, we had our final poetry lesson. It's one of my favourites because it really shows off the creativity of the students! A concrete poem has a special shape or design. The poems are written to display the shape of the topic or they can create a visual effect with the words. I was really impressed with all the fun ideas the students came up with! Way to go!

Perfect Poetry!

I love working on the poetry unit with students every year because by the time we're nearing the end, so many students express how much they enjoy it! This week we learned about limericks and haiku poems. I have a shirt that I love to wear this time of the year. I like to think that if the students can understand the shirt, then I know that they understand haiku poetry!

Eagles + Poetry = Our 50th Blog Post!

This week, we have been watching the Decorah Eagles during part of our morning. They always seem to be feeding during this time, so we really get a great view of them! Recently, we started a poetry unit that has been lots of fun, and today, we learned about cinquain poems. Faith was inspired by the eagles today and wrote the following poem:

eagles

cute, fluffy

flying, sitting, standing

I love watching them!

birds

This post also marks our 50th for our blog! To celebrate, we are enjoying some monster cookies! YUM!

More Writing Fun!

Yesterday, Alyssa brought in a piece of writing that she did at home in the voice of her new dog Maxx. I think she was inspired by our recent Novel Study job and Emmy's writing in the voices of Railay and Wilton! I'm so excited to see the enthusiasm for writing by the students of Room 5! Woohoo!

It sounds like Maxx found the perfect family!

(Click on the picture for a larger view.)

Writing in a different voice is a challenge . . . but fun!

We have been working hard on a novel study over the last few weeks! We are currently reading Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat. The students have to complete a job for each chapter, and then we will be working on final projects when we finish the book. The final projects are my favourite part of Novel Study! Today, the task was to retell the events of Chapter 6 in the voice of a different character. This was the best chapter to do this with because the setting is a pet parade with a wide variety of characters! When I was introducing the job, I saw a sea of confused faces . . . until I demonstrated (literally standing on a chair!) and shared what I was looking for in this writing job. I was so pleased with what the students came up with! Several students wrote in the voice of animals, not just people! When Emmy was done her work, she decided to take it one step further and wrote in the voice of Railay and Wilton! These are so adorable, I just had to share. Try clicking on the picture to get a larger view!