Nov 15-19

On Monday we had a Fire Safety presentation. Some Regina firefighters came to our school and taught us how to get out of the house if there was a fire. They set up the smoke tunnel and each child went through it. Each student practiced calling 911. Make sure your child knows his/her address and phone number!

On Tuesday we had an Animals in Winter presentation. Kent from the Board Office came out and brought many furry friends with him. He talked to us about migration, hibernation, shelter, growing new coats, and camouflage...all the things animals do to prepare them for winter.

Our CREATE artist had to cancel last week, so our last session was Friday Nov 19th.

In our class we have been talking about people who are less fortunate than we are. The kids talked about raising money for Santa's Anonymous. They put themselves into groups to see who could raise the most money. They gave themselves a team name; ask your child what his/her team name is. Some kids started bringing money in already! We talked about ways to raise money at home (chores) and not just having our parents give us money.

Report cards will be handed out on Wednesday November 24th and conferences will be on Friday November 26th.

I am looking forward to sharing your child's growth and progress with you in the report card. I am also looking forward to meeting with you on Friday to discuss future goals for your child!

Have a great weekend!

November 1-5

Hello Grade 2/3 Families,

I will be posting some pictures from our CREATE dance sessions very soon. Last week we did circle dances and this week we worked on squares. Our last session will be this Wednesday afternoon. Stay tuned for the pictures!

Report cards will be coming out on November 24th and conferences will be on November 26th. I will have the conference times sent out to you by the 19th of November if not sooner.

This week we finished writing out PWIM paragraphs and labeling our picture. The students started choosing their own activities for Daily 5 and it is running quite smoothly. They like being in charge of their choices and they stay more focused and on task. They are making connections and working on many other reading strategies.

Please check the school website for more school information!
Shannon Sanchuck

***please note that the pictures were deleted off my camera before I uploaded them. : ( **

October 18-22

Hello Grade 2/3 Families,

The kids did an amazing job singing at the Education Week assembly! They made some really nice posters about "Valuing Diversity". They are displayed in the hall outside of our classroom.

Next week we will be having a CREATE artist come in to teach us some dance. She will be visiting us once a week for the next three weeks. She will be here on Tuesday so make sure to ask your child to tell you about it.

Friday will be orange and black day. We will also be having a dance in the gym with a canteen. Check the school website next week for more info.

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Sanchuck

October 12-15

Hello Grade 2/3 Families,

This week was a short week but we got lots accomplished!

We have been talking about texture in art class. We made texture rubbing pictures and we are collecting objects to make a texture collage. Please send your items by Monday.

After reading a few stories this week, a class discussion occurred. We talked about people who are less fortunate than we are and how we could help them. The students were thinking of ways to raise money and donate it to some less fortunate people at Christmas time. You can help by discussing ways your child can raise money at home. Some suggested doing extra chores at home or having a readathon. We talked about how kids can make a difference to help people, not just adults!

I have been busy reading with all of the kids. I am learning a lot about what type of reader your child is and what goals he/she needs to work on in reading.

We have our new PWIM picture up. Ask your child what his/her word is. We will be working on titles and paragraphs next week. In writing we also talked about making a plan. The kids worked hard in their planning books making lists about their likes/dislikes, things that scared them/things that didn't scare them, and things they are good at/things they are not good at. Now we need to use these ideas to help with our writing.

In grade 2 math we have been working on counting by 1's, 5's and 10's using coins. We have also been working on ordinal numbers.

Next week we will be singing at our Education Week Assembly and you are invited to join us! We will be heading to the gym right after recess (2:15).

Please don't hesitate to call or email me if you have any questions or concerns.

Mrs. Shannon Sanchuck

October 4-8

We had another great week in our classroom. It was a short week for me since I was sick on Tuesday and Friday was a PD Day.

Just a few quick things to let you know:

- We will be performing a song at our Education Week assembly. You are more then welcome to attend. The assembly will be at 2:15ish and we are going to be the first ones performing.

- We have starting logging minutes for the Mayor's Reading Challenge. You can log minutes at home too!

I hope that you have a great long weekend with your families. I am thankful to have such a wonderful class this year.

September 27 - October 1

This week we went on a fall walk and took some fabulous fall pictures. One of them will become our new PWIM picture! Stay tuned to see it! I haven't decided which one since they are all wonderful!

On Wednesday we had grade 2 math groups. Some students work with me and some go to the other grade 2 room. We have started Unit 2 which is called Numbers to 100. You can help your child by checking out the math connections link on my school home page.

On Thursday we watched a Terry Fox video and went on our Terry Fox walk. We had a great discussion about Terry Fox and the kids loved their tattoos and stickers. It was a beautiful day for the walk.

On Friday we celebrated Mr. MacKenzie's 83rd birthday with him at our first assembly of the year. The grade 3's also had their first math test of the year and they participated in a basketball clinic.

Next week we will try to finish writing our book about the school. I hope to have it published and ready for you to view at our three way conferences on November 26th. The kids have been busy researching different people and parts of the school. Ask your child who/what they are writing about.

Please email me at shannon.sanchuck@rbe.sk.ca if you have any feedback, suggestions or concerns. I would love to hear from you!

September 1 - September 24

Things in grade 2/3 are moving along quite nicely. We have established some very important routines and have gotten to know a bit about each other.

In math the grade 2's have finished their unit on Patterns. Ask them about their test scores. We had a test on the first day of school and a test at the end of our unit. The kids were all very excited to see their growth!

We are still building stamina with Daily 5. Our Read to Self is at 15 minutes, Read to Someone is at 15 minutes and Work on Writing is at 10 minutes. We are working on some comprehension strategies when reading. We are also working on conventions (capitals, periods, etc) in our writing.

I will try to update this blog every Friday so make sure you check in to see what is going on in our classroom.

Please write the word "NOODLES" in our child's agenda so that I know you have read this!!

Important dates to remember:
Sept 30: Terry Fox Run
Oct 1: Grade 3's Basketball Clinic
Oct 1: Book orders due.

Welcome Back!

Wow…the summer has flown by and a new school year is quickly approaching! I hope everyone enjoyed every minute of their vacation and is excited to welcome a new school year. I know that I am excited to meet each one of my new students and get to know each of their unique personalities.

Please check back to learn about we are doing in the classroom!
Mrs. Shannon Sanchuck

June 18th

On Tuesday we walked over to the Sunrise library and got some books for our book boxes. We all signed up for the summer reading program! There are so many chances for your child to keep reading over the summer. They can read wherever they are... on a plane, in a car, at a cabin or even in a tent! Make sure to encourage your child to read as much as he/she can!

We have been busy wrapping up our math units on Measurement and Geometry.

Friday was Fun In The Sun day. The kids had a blast at the dance and many enjoyed the canteen.

Have a great summer!

A Few Pictures From May

It's June!

The month of May has just flown by and I can't believe it is already June!

We still have lots of work to do in the next month and we also have many fun activities planned!!!

We are wrapping up our Under the Sea unit. Many kids aren't finished with this unit yet. They are researching and working hard on individual projects. It is nice to see the excitement and focus they have while working on their projects.

In June, we are doing a mini unit on First Nations. We will be visiting the Royal Saskatchewan Museum on Friday June 11th. We are also going to be working on a Father's Day project and wrapping up our Measurement and Geometry units in math. It will be a busy month.

Dates to note:

Thursday June 10th: Bike parade at 9:30
Friday June 11th: Museum field trip in the afternoon and Rider Day
Monday June 14th: Playday
Friday June 18th: Fun In The Sun Day (wear beach wear and there is also a dance)

May 10th - May 14th

The kids are really enjoying their swimming lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays. They have learned the routines at the pool and they are very quick in the change rooms. Thank you for the parent help! All parents are welcome to help out at anytime!

This week the kids have been busy working on crab reports. We are learning how to read and understand non-fiction material. I was modeling how to find information out about crabs and the kids all wanted to make a crab report. Over the next few weeks the kids will be working in small groups to discover information and interesting facts about an animal that they chose.

We are having sports shirt day on May 20th.

On June 11th we will be going on a field trip to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. I will need 2 parent volunteers for this trip. Please let me know if you can help out!

Enjoy the wonderful weather!

May 3rd - May 6th

This week we started our swimming lessons!! Thank you to all of the parent volunteers who came out this week. We can always use volunteers for supervising the change rooms. Many of the kids were hungry after the walk to the pool and the swimming. Please feel free to send a nutritious snack for them and I will give them some time to eat it when we get back.

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there! I hope you have a great weekend.

April 26th - 30th.

This week we wrapped up our Nutrition unit. We made a vegetable salad on Wednesday. Some of the kids weren't to sure about it. Everyone tried the salad and the majority ate it all. Most enjoyed the fruit salad from last week over the vegetable salad. Thank you to those of you who sent your recipes in by April 30th.

The kids were busy working this week. Some started to make posters about their nutrition questions while others continued to work on writing their paragraphs. Many of the kids have started to read The Weird School series during read to self time.

On Friday we had PJ and wacky hair day. The kids all looked so cozy with their PJ's, blankets, and stuffed animals! Since it was rainy and wet outside and the kids were in their PJ's, I decided to have a movie afternoon. We watched a Magic School Bus movie about water, had popcorn and of course indoor recess.

In math we are working on adding and subtracting numbers to 100. I am still doing Homework Club during the noon hour on Tuesday for those students that need to catch up on some work or that require some extra one on one assistance.

This week we revealed our new PWIM picture. It was taken at the Sandra Schmirler swimming pool. We will be doing an Under the Sea unit for the month of May.

We will be starting swimming on Wednesday May 5th. We welcome all parent volunteers to help out in the change rooms!

April 2010.

I hope that you all had an enjoyable Easter holiday with your families.

We have been busy getting back into the swing of things this month.

This week we had a Ducks Unlimited presentation. We learned all about the wetlands and had fun doing some experiments about water, air, shelter, and food. I'm sure your child has told you all about looking though the animal poop!

Thank you all for sending some fruit on Wednesday with your child. We made a FANTASTIC fruit salad and the kids loved it! Next week we will be making a vegetable salad.

On Thursday we had beautiful weather for Earth Day. We did a playground clean up and collected lots of garbage. Our playground looks much better without the garbage.

On Friday I attended the South Saskatchewan Reading Conference and I had the pleasure of meeting the two sisters. These are the ladies wrote the book The Daily 5.

Don't forget:
- Recipes are due on April 30th
- Swimming starts on May 5th

March 29th - March 31st

Thank you to everyone for coming to the conferences on Friday to discuss your child and his/her goals. It was nice to meet with you all again! All of the kids are very proud of themselves and the growth they have shown.

This week we had Superhero day and a Skipping for Cambodia afternoon. The kids enjoyed both of these events. We have some great skippers in our classroom!

We had 3 guest teachers come visit our classroom on March 31st. We got to show them how our classroom works with the Daily 5 and PWIM. We love having guest teachers come to our room!!

Thank you to those who have returned their swimming forms. Our first day will be on May 5th. We can always use volunteers to help with swimming!

I hope that you have a happy and safe holiday with your family! Perhaps I will see some of you out and about at the library, museum, or Science Centre!

See you on the 12th!
Mrs. Sanchuck

March 15th - March 19th

Report cards came home on Friday!!! There is a letter that has your conference time on it. Please fill out the bottom part of the sheet and send it back as soon as you can! I look forward to meeting with you all next week to discuss your child and his/her progress.

On Friday everyone wore orange and we had an Anti-Racism assembly. The gym looked great with all of the different colours. The kids heard many important messages about racism from some of the senior students.

We also had a Subway special lunch day. Thank you to the wonderful parent volunteers!

Next week we will be starting an inquiry based unit on Nutrition. The kids are going to come up with some questions and we are going to research the answers. You may hear your child coming home and telling you a thing or two that you may not have known. We may also be doing some cooking for this unit. Please let me know if you are available to volunteer to help us out!

See you all next week!
Mrs. Sanchuck

March 3-March 11

This week we learned about Internet safety. We learned that you should not believe everything you read on the Internet. I taught the kids all about the tree octopus and showed them this website: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
They were amazed that a tree octopus existed. I then told them that this was a fake website and they were shocked. Many have asked me to post the link so that they can share this information with you!

Next week in math we will be starting our Addition and Subtraction to 100 unit. We will be finishing up or Friendship unit and moving onto our Nutrition unit.

Friday:
- Report cards and conference times will be coming home.

- We will be having an anti racism assembly. Our class has been asked to wear the colour orange.

-Special lunch!

Have a great weekend!

March 1- March 4

This week we had Clown Day and we watched the Clowns musical. It was a fantastic afternoon!

We have been working on our Friendship unit this week. We are learning a lot of things about our friends. In math, we have been collecting data about our friends using tallies. We have also been graphing this information.

Last week we got tables in our room! We have more room to work and it is easier to move around when we get into different groups. Everyone seems to be enjoying the tables.

I have been busy benchmarking the kids to see how their reading has improved since last term. They have all shown a tremendous amount of growth and I am excited to share this with you on the report cards. I am sure your child has already told you how they are doing! Report cards will be coming out on March 19th. We will be having three-way conferences on March 26th!

February 16- February 19, 2010.

I hope that everyone had a relaxing long weekend and you got to spend some quality time with your families!

This week started out with our Winter Olympic Afternoon on Tuesday. The kids participated in many different stations including snow soccer, curling, snowshoeing, and bobsledding. Ask your child what their favourite station was!!

We have started a new unit in math called Data Analysis. We have been sorting, comparing and graphing information. The kids seem to enjoy this unit, especially when we use jellybeans!

We are wrapping up our Winter Unit and we have started our Friendship unit. Our new friendship PWIM picture will be ready soon.

Thank you to Jaden, Sarah, and Meika for the Valentine treats! We appreciated it!

**Please note that special lunch and book orders are due on Monday February 22.

PJ Day, Snow Ice Cream, 100 Day and Twin Day!

Last week of January and First Week of February

We made snow ice cream on our PJ day. We read lots and lots of books on PJ day. We brought our housecoats and teddy bears. It was lots of fun. by Meika and Madison T.


We have been busy in grade 2! We have been doing snow art and snow experiments. We even made ice cream out of snow. We celebrated the 100th day of school on Friday February 5th. It was also TWIN DAY! Pictures to come!!

Next week we will decorate our Valentine boxes. We will be having our party on February 16th.

On Wednesday February 10th we will be having an outdoor Olympics day.

There is NO SCHOOL February 11th-15th. Enjoy your time with your family!
Mrs. Sanchuck

Snowshoeing and Winter Field Trip

Here are some pictures from our snowshoeing and winter field trip! Enjoy!

January 18 - January 22

This week has been extremely fun and exciting!! Our week started out with snowshoeing. On Monday, we spent time in our classroom learning how to put them on. On Tuesday, we tested them outside. It was a bit more challenging to put them on when we were in snowsuits. On Wednesday, we brought our boots into the school and put them on in our classroom. It was a learning experience for all of us! The kids had a great time snowshoeing in the the field and we wish we could have gone a few more times.

On Thursday we went on our outdoor adventure to BC Valley. Thank you so much to all of our parent volunteers. It was a great day and I think everybody learned something. I am sure you all heard about our tour guides Sadie and Nanuk. Mr. Conway was our outdoor teacher and he had lots of interesting things to share with us. Mr. MacKenzie also came out on our trip which made it extra special. Pictures will be posted shortly!

Next week we will continue with some more snow activities including artwork and experiments. Please continue to send ski pants everyday!

**Write the word "SNOW" in your child's agenda when you have read this!**

January 11th- January 15th

I have posted a few pictures from December below. Check them out!

This week we have been getting ready for our field trip on January 21st. Mr. Conway came out and gave us a checklist of things that we would need for our trip.

We need:

- to dress in layers

- winter jacket

- ski pants

- wool socks

- winter boots

- toque or balaclava

- neck warmer

- warm pair of mitts

- backpack

- 1/2 litre of water

-hot beverage in thermos (optional)

- healthy snack

- No gum, seeds, junk food or pop

- bathroom tissue in a plastic bag

We have also been spending time outdoors enjoying the beautiful weather. Next week we have the snowshoes so we will be out everyday. Make sure your child has a toque and mittens at school!

Check out your child's learning log for more things that we did this week!

Mrs. Sanchuck

December Pictures: Our Finished Magnet Paintings

December Pictures: Winter, Magic Show and Magnet Paintings

January 6th - January 8th

Happy New Year!

I sent home a note today regarding our winter field trip. Please let me know if you did not receive it.

We have started a new unit and we have a new PWIM picture. Ask your child to tell you what it is about.

Mrs. Sanchuck