Halloween Week!!!

I don't think anyone is more excited that Halloween is on a Friday than teachers.  As much as it is a wonderful day for the kids and teacher at school, we do not have to see them the next day after they have had all that sugar :)  We can hear all the wonderful stories the following Monday.

Now for some odds and ends.  Just a reminder that we will be walking to Salem Manor for our annual Halloween parade in our costumes.  Please send your children to school dressed up in their costumes.  Also we will be having a potluck lunch.  We will have cheese and crackers, fruit, vegetables, and juice boxes.  It is hot lunch day as well, so if you have ordered hot lunch for your child, they can eat that. They do not have to feel pressured into having the potluck lunch.

Language Arts

Spelling:

Our spelling words for this week are as follows:

wide   mile   line   hide   fire   nice   fine   mind   find   behind

Phonics:

In phonics, this week we are continuing with unit 3, looking at long vowel sounds.

Writing:

In writing there is still a major focus on sentence structure, but now we are putting an added focus on adding detail through the form of descriptive words (adjectives). We will be writing a descriptive piece of writing at the end of the week with a Halloween theme to it.  I have been encouraging the students to describe things using their senses.  What do you see, how does it sound, what does it feel like, how does it smell?  I am seeing some great progress and some great descriptive/detailed writing.

Science

In science, we will be writing our Unit 1, Magnetism, unit test this Thursday.  I think all the students are well prepared and will do very well.  

I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween and safe "trick or treating" to everyone.

Mr. Aasen

Week of Oct 20th - 24th

Good evening parents.  Here are a few reminders.  Tomorrow and Wednesday are parent teacher conferences.  If you haven't signed up as of yet there is still time to do so.  Just use this link:

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0C44A4A629A6FD0-mraasens 

Also reminders that we have library tomorrow and hot lunch on Friday.  Here is a snippet of how our week is going to look.


Language Arts

Spelling:

Our spelling words for the week are as follows;

save   lake   face   same   gate   rake   tape   sail   paint   afraid

The spelling test will be the regular Friday this week.

Writing:

We are continuing our autumn theme for writing.  This week we are really putting a heavy focus on sentences and what makes a good and proper sentence.  Feel free to ask your children what we have been discussing regarding what every sentence needs. (Beginning capitals, ending punctuation, a who/what (subject) and a doing/describing (predicate)).

Phonics:

We are continuing our phonics unit on long vowels.  To coincide with our "long a" spelling words the first parts of this unit deals with "long a" words as well.

Math

This week in math we will continue with patterns on Monday and Tuesday.  Today we learned what "attributes" are in a pattern.  The students now know what pattern "cores" are (the part of the pattern that repeats) and pattern "attributes" (the "objects" that you see in the pattern.  eg. a square and a triangle).  On Wednesday and Thursday we will continue with representing numbers to 100.  Our goal this week will be able to confidently recognize and identify numbers that are higher than 12, just by seeing them written.


I hope everyone has a wonderful week and see you over the next couple of days.

Mr. Aasen

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parents,

Here is the link to sign up for parent teacher interviews.

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0C44A4A629A6FD0-mraasens 

Happy Thanksgiving and welcome back.

I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend with lots of family time and time for thanks.  This week is a very short week but there is lots to talk about.

First we will be having an author visit Thursday afternoon where the students will all get to listen to a published author at 1pm in the Gym.

Picture retakes will take place tomorrow (Wednesday, the 15th), and Thursday the 16th for any students requiring.  You will need to bring the sheet with the previous picture proofs on it with the box checked off that says you will require retakes.


Language Arts

Spelling:

There are no new spelling words this week.  We will have a review of the first 5 weeks.

Reading:

Just a reminder to keep up the great reading at home and to bring in the red duotangs when you have accumulated an hour of reading.  Just a reminder that our goal for October is 3 hours.  Also, you can use Raz Kids as a reading option at home.  It is a way for your child to engage with the book they are reading and earn points for doing tests.  When you get to the Raz kids site, you type in eees1 in the teacher username.  Your child then finds their name and types in their password.  They should all know what their password is now.

Writing:

We will continue with our writing theme this week of Autumn.  We will be doing some writing based on the book "The Night Before Thanksgiving" as well as getting into some Halloween themed writing in the coming days.  Our focus is still on narrative and informative themed writing.  By now your child should be able to tell you the difference between an informative piece of writing and a narrative.

Phonics:

Our next phonics unit will focus on Long Vowels.

Math

In math we will be focusing on two different units at a time.  Our Monday/Tuesday math we are working on patterning (creating, extending patterns and increasing patters). This week and next we will be working on pattern cores and how we find the part of the pattern that repeats. Our Wednesday/Thursday math with focus on numbers to 100.  This is an extensive unit where we will begin by identifying and representing numbers.  We are beginning by seeing numbers that are larger than 12, as well we will be counting by 2's, 5's and 10's.

Social Studies

We have just begun our first Social Studies unit.  It is titled "Looking at Places".  We will be looking at different communities in Canada and what makes them unique.  We have also all made our very own "Flat Stanley's" that we will be sending off to other grade 2 classrooms (hopefully in the communities we are studying).  These communities are Saskatoon, Meteghan, and Iqaluit.  



Thank you and have a wonderful "short" week.

Mr. Aasen

Week of September 29 - Oct 3

Happy weekend everyone.  I hope the cooler weather has not dampened any extraordinary plans.  It definitely did not hurt our Terry Fox run on Friday, or the Eskimos drubbing of the Roughriders.

There are a few things that I need to mention for this week. Wednesday is our first early dismissal of the year.  The students are dismissed at 2:10.  Please make sure you are there to greet your kiddies :)

Also we will be having a fire drill on Tuesday.  If your kids come home with any questions regarding fire drills or lock downs, please assure them that East Elementary is a safe place for your students to be and the adults in the school will do everything they can to keep them safe.

Language Arts

Spelling:

Our spelling words for this week are as follows:

gum   pot   dust   frog   must   sock   pup   shot   soft   tug

Reading:

I am very happy to see many students returning their red duotangs to show me they have reached an hour or more hours of reading at home.  Again, I would like to see 2 hours of reading by the end of September.  That leaves two days to reach 2 hours.  Keep up the fantastic work.

And Fall Begins..

So here we are and it is the last day of summer.  We can't complain about the weather can we.  Those highs of 3 degrees seem like forever ago.  Let tomorrow, the beginning of fall, bring another chapter to our school year.

A few odds and ends to talk about.  We are having our annual Terry Fox run this Friday in the afternoon.  If you haven't done so already, the permission forms need to be returned, as well as an optional "Toonie" for Terry.  For every donation of $2 to the cause, the student that makes the donation will have their name entered into a prize draw on Friday.
Hot lunch orders are also due on Friday for October hot lunch days.  If you wish to make any hot lunch orders, please do so online.  I also had someone asking me when picture retakes are.  They will take place on October 15th and 16th.  If you want your child to get retakes, you must return their previous picture proofs to school on the day of the retakes.  Do not return it before then.  Also a reminder that we have library tomorrow.

Language Arts

Spelling:

The spelling words for this week are as follows;

band   fit   him   tack   sad   list   mitt   have   will   skin

Reading:

I am encouraging all the students to read as much as they can at home.  I encourage you to do the same, giving as much encouragement as possible.  I am going to keep track of every hour that every student reads and we will work to a specified goal of "X"  number of hours combined in the class.

Math

We are continuing to work on addition as well as subtraction and recognizing the + and - signs.  I am working with the students so they can recognize when they make errors and self correct their work.  They are strengthening their addition and subtraction skills by learning new strategies that they may not have used before, or reinforcing old strategies.  Finger counting and using a number line are the most popular strategies.


I hope everyone has a great week and enjoy the beautiful weather while you can.

Mr. Aasen

Short Week

Good afternoon everyone.  I hope you all had a fantastic weekend.  There are a few odds and ends that need addressed.

First of all, there is no school this Friday as we have a Professional Development day.  Second, a reminder of meet the teacher night at East tomorrow.  It begins at 6:30 in the gymnasium.  It is a free for all where you go and introduce yourselves to the staff.  Third, is a reminder of library tomorrow. Don't forget those library books at home.

Here is a low down of our short week.

Language Arts

Spelling: 

Our spelling words for this week are as follows
let   his   had   ask   old   took   also   sat   fell   get

Our spelling test will be on Thursday this week as there is no school on Friday.  I also sent yellow spelling duo-tangs home with your students.  These duo-tangs will contain the previous weeks spelling test, as well as the current weeks new words and worksheets.  If your child has not finish the work in the work pages, they are to finish it prior to bringing back their duo-tangs on Thursdays.  I would also like them to correct any mistakes they have on their spelling tests, as additional practice will only help them with their spelling.

Phonics:

We finished up unit 1 on beginning and ending vowel sounds. We will begin our second phonics unit this week.  This unit will focus on short vowel sounds.

Writing:

Every Monday the students will be writing in their journals.  These journals are written without assistance to show the progress of their individual writing skills and their improvement throughout the year showing capitalization, punctuation, as well as complete sentences. We are also continuing with the narrative and informative writing styles.

Math

This week in math we will continue with review of single digit addition.  We have played some games of math addition bingo to really get the students engaged in working with strategies that help them to quickly come up with an answer to an equation.  Our goal is to be able to quickly solve equations of single digits as it will be beneficial to solving 2 digit addition equations later in the year.

Science

We will continue with magnetism and exploring magnets for the rest of this month and into October.

Social Studies

I am positive that all the students in the class are able to locate Canada, Alberta, as well as a general location of Leduc on a map.  We have been working hard studying the map of Canada as well, including other provinces., I have introduced the other provinces to the students.  They are beginning to show interest in other areas of the country which will lead into new units we will study this year.


I hope to see you all at our meet the teacher night tomorrow.  'Till next time, have a wonderful week and enjoy the beautiful weather while you can.

Mr. Aasen