Making a Difference...

Thank you so much for your support of our Halloween For Hunger can drive.  We had a class goal to collect at least 50 cans.  Due to your generosity, we almost doubled that total and collected 93 cans!!  As a school, we surpassed our school goal and collected more than 1000 cans for the Downtown Mission.

Helping others in our community is very important not only to Dougall, but to the students in our class.  Thank you so much for supporting others in the community, and for truly teaching your children the importance of helping others.

Our can drive is not over - if you have any other cans you would like to donate, please keep sending them in.  As a school, we will take part in our annual walk to the Downtown Mission to hand deliver all these cans at the beginning of December.

I can't say it enough - thank you, thank you, thank you for giving!

We remembered...

We took time to remember all the men and women who have worked so hard, and given so much to bring peace to Canada and the world on Friday, November 11th, 2011.

We read this story, and had some time to talk about what Remembrance Day is really about...

The students wrote postcards that will be sent to Canadian Service Members in Afghanistan.  They shared words of thanks on Remembrance Day.

Dancing and Mapping??

We have been having an amazing time with Miss Louise - our LTTA artist.  LTTA stands for Learning Through The Arts.  This is an amazing program that allows school to partner with artists to help students learn about curriculum topics, but using the arts.  Our focus has been Social Studies - Mapping.

Miss Louise has helped us to understand how we use maps, and what important places are on maps.  The students have not only been dancing, but creating their own dances and performing them for each other.  We have one visit left this week - and we will be sad to see Miss Louise go.  However, the dance techniques and mapping skills she has taught us will be hard to forget!

(Sorry some of the pictures are a bit blurry - it's hard to catch how quickly they were dancing!)

Good, Clean Words

The students are having a blast at our newest literacy centre.  All we needed were a few cookie sheets, and a can of shaving cream.  The students have been practicing writing their letters, numbers, names and practicing their WOW words.  This is a fun and easy activity you can try at home.  Both cookie sheets and shaving cream are available at a dollar store near you.  Take a peek...

The Hungry Students...

We spent the week reading a fun big book called The Hungry Giant.  In this story, a giant demands certain food from the townspeople:  bread, butter and honey.  They try to find everything he wants, but when he asks for the honey, none can be found.  The townspeople trick the giant and send him running for home.  Ask your child to retell the story to you.

To celebrate our reading, the students found some items in the Surprise Bag.  We found honey...

and bread - but no butter.

We did find some whipping cream...

plastic knives...

some salt, and a mason jar with a marble in it.

The students did some problem solving and decided since we didn't find any butter, we should try to make it use the cream and the mason jar.  We filled the mason jar with whipping cream and a pinch of salt.  We left the marble in to help mix everything up.

Then it was time to SHAKE...

and shake....

and shake!!

We all took turns shaking the jar over and over and over again.

As the jar made its way around the circle, we noticed the cream was getting thicker and the marble was moving less.  We decided to take a look inside, and we found...

BUTTER!

Now it was time to have a snack just like the Hungry Giant!

Welcome to Gr. 1/2F!

Welcome!  My name is Kathy Freeman, and I am looking forward to working with both you and your child this year.  This blog is an excellent tool to help us stay connected, and to share our classroom activities with you.  My goal for our classroom blog is to make it a window into our classroom, so you can see some of the learning that happens in our room.  I will also update monthly school and classroom important days.

Our classroom is a community, a school family.  We hope you will be a part of that family too!  Throughout the year there will be various opportunities for you to also participate in our classroom - we can't wait!

If you ever have any questions or concerns, please come to me.  My door is always open, and I am only a phone call away.  Working together, we can help your child to reach their highest potential.  

This is going to be an exciting and fun year!  Please check back to our blog often.  I will be updating it regularly with pictures and videos (I hope) of the things we are learning together.

A great year awaits!

Your partner in learning,

Kathy Freeman

Thank You!

What a wonderful year we've had together.  We had a great last day together today - we read some favourite books, created some abstract art and had time celebrate together.


It has truly been a pleasure working with your children this year.  While we were sad to say goodbye today, it is so exciting to think of all the great adventures they will experience in Gr. 2.  


I can't say thank you enough for all the support you have shown your children, and myself this year.  Whether it was encouragement about the blog, activities in the classroom, or supporting your child at home, you made a difference this year!


Enjoy the summer months, and as I encouraged the children today - keep reading, keep writing and get outside to play whenever possible.  Thank you -- I can't say it enough -- thank you!


Best wishes,
Kathy Freeman