100 Day

Wednesday, February 19 was the 100th day of the 2013-2014 school year.  We keep track of the days on our Smartboard calendar and have been talking about this day all year.  For example, on the 64th day of school, we would think that 6 more is 70 and then 30 more is 100 so we were 36 days away.  Here is a website where you can practice making complimentary numbers.  Our friends in Grade 1-2 brought in collections of 100 items to mark the day and some of us did too.

We played a game called "One Hundred, or Not?"  We had to count out a collection of objects and put them in a bag or container.  We each took turns asking the class if they thought our collection had 100, or not.  If someone thought there was 100, they clapped and otherwise they didn't.  We got really good at estimating amounts after a while.  It was much easier when we had a referent, something to look at that you know how many it has.  Here is a website where you can practice estimation. 

We have been working on cursive writing since Christmas so our teacher challenged us to write 100 words in cursive.  It was time to go to gym so we will have to continue the challenge tomorrow!  We found out that 100 words is a lot of writing.  It sure speeds things up when you choose short words or just add an "s" though!  How long would it take you to write 100 words?

Our Principal has been to Russia!

Can you believe our principal, Mr. Lochhead, has been to Russia?  He brought us some things to show that he got when he was there  about 40 years ago!  It was his first year university and he went to Moscow when the Summer Olympics was on.  Some countries boycotted (stayed away from) the Olympic Games that year.  One of the things we remember the most was that he went into a underground tunnel (a tomb) and he saw a dead body! They were told they couldn't bring cameras or anything else there.  There were guards with guns.

 

He was so lucky because he was given a bronze medal that a man won for the 100 yard dash race!  We can't imagine Jennifer Jones giving anyone her gold medal for curling! We were excited to watch them win at school today and then when the women's hockey won gold we went crazy!!

Mr. Lochhead also had some pins to show us from when he was in Moscow, Russia.

He showed us his Olympic bag and key chain and some Russian wooden dolls that stack inside each other.
We found out that in Russia, if you misbehave in school, your parents get called in to the principal and they will lower their salary if you don't behave. Everyone has to wear the same outfit in school and everyone has to be in the army. 
Would you like to live in Russia? Thanks to Mr. Lochhead for sharing your experience with us.

Teach Your Monster to Read

We have monsters in our room.  We are teaching them how to read!  

Actually, our teacher found a great website that was suggested by another teacher that she follows on Twitter.  It is called Teach Your Monster to Read. She was able to set up free accounts for each one of us.  First we had to build our monster and then we start exploring the islands.

This is a picture of someone's computer screen who is playing the game.  Their monster is in the middle and the voice on the headphones might say to drag all the sheep to the word "air".  Then the student would have to use  the mouse to move the sheep in a group.

You can keep going through all the islands (because there are 9 islands) and it gets harder the more that you get right. You get prizes for your monster like clothes, food, underwear or a treasure box!  The website is free.  It was created by the Usborne Book Company to help kids learn to read and have fun doing it!  We hope you will teach your monster to read too!