Saturday, October 30, 2010

Halloween "Poems and Pies" 2010...

On Friday morning, parents, grandparents, and friends got into the Halloween spirit by enjoying a wonderful "Poems and Pie" assembly performed by the Grade Two classes. At the completion of the program, parents were invited to stay for lunch and for dessert, yes you guessed it , yummy pie. A big thank you to Mrs. McKibbon, the pie makers, and of course all the parents who came and enjoyed. A job well done Grade Two !!! We hope those who could not make it, enjoy the this post....






The Twelve Days of Halloween...

This past week we have been very busy creating, collaborating , and performing. The "Twelve Days of Halloween" was the focus for a  collaborative writing project with our very good friends, Miss Dunsiger's Grade 1/2 class in Anacaster (Hamilton) Ontario. Creatures and things (nouns) and words that describe them (adjectives) was the learning focus. Both classes wrote their version of the "Twelve Days of Halloween", then using Google Documents, exchanged stories and created illustrations. Using the web 2.0 tool VoiceThread, each class created Digital Story Book versions, then through a video conference call via Skype, did a shared reading of each  Digital Story! Thank you for collaborating Grade 1/2 !





The "Twelve Days of Halloween" written by Miss Dunsiger's Grade 1/2 class, illustrated by Mr. McDonald's Grade 2 class. Click on this link for a full screen version !




The Twelve Days of Halloween written by Mr. McDonald's Grade 2 class, illustrated by Miss Dunsiger's Grade 1/2 class.Click here for a full screen version!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

All About Patterns !!


Our first math unit this year is all about patterns. They are an integral part of mathematics, they develop important critical and creative thinking skills needed for understanding other math concepts. Check out some of our patterns and see if you can find patterns around your home.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Welcome to the World of Blogging!

I would like to inform you of some exciting things that have been happening in our classroom this past week. You may have heard from your son/daughter that they have set up their own Blog, and are now Bloggers. This is true, and you may be wondering "what the heck is a Blog? " and "my son/daughter is a Blogger?? ". A blog is basically a type of website, the features that make blogs different from other websites are:

* content is published in a chronological fashion

* content is updated regularly

* readers have the possibility to leave comments

An educational blog such as the one your son /daughter has created will have some very unique features. Like a regular web log (blog) students will be able to write posts, post photos, drawings, stories, pictures, slide shows, and videos. They can even leave comments on other students blogs. The main difference between a regular blog and an educational blog is the role of the Administrator. The Administrator is the person who oversees everything that is posted on the blogs. Any article, picture, story, and comment must have the approval of the administrator before it will be published. As administrator, I receive information on all activity on all of our classroom blogs.
Safety is always a concern when you have students working on the internet. Having their own blog allows me as a teacher, to give them a real life experience in a safe, controlled , environment, yet still allowing them to create, collaborate, and celebrate their learning and life experiences with others. We now have another platform in which we can discuss internet safety rules, talk about how to make a good comment, and collaborate with others in a learning community.
I'm encouraging students to work on their blogs at home if possible. I hope you will share in their excitement and help out if the need arises. Students love to read comments left by parents and classmates. Please try to read and leave comments whenever possible.
This is a new learning journey that we all will be taking together, I hope you are excited as we are.
I will keep all updated as we continue our exciting learning adventure.

Please feel free to drop me an e-mail, phone call, if you have any questions, comments , or concerns.
Your child's blog can be accessed by a direct link off our Classroom Blog...
The link is called Student Blogs

Thanks for you cooperation and happy Blogging !!
Mr. Mc

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Harvest Festival 2010




On Friday October 8 students at Taylor School gathered together to enjoy a "Turkey" lunch with all the trimmings in honor of the Fall Harvest. A huge Thank you goes out to Vernice Eggie for catering, and to all our hard working parents from the P.A.C. for helping serve the feast. A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Betcher and Eden for bringing us the most delicious "Turkey" cakes. What a great way to celebrate the end of Harvest.

Turkeys, Turkeys, and more Turkeys !




Thanksgiving means many different things, but in our classroom, the Turkey is King. We talked about turkeys, read stories about turkeys, and made turkeys. We had some Oreo cookies left over from our O.R.E.O. project, so we decided to make some delicious tasting OREO cookie turkeys. Not to be forgotten, but with a 21st Century Twist,  that timeless classic "The Paper Plate Turkey."

Friday, October 1, 2010

Terry Fox Run...




On Thursday September 29 students, staff, family and friends participated in the annual school "Terry Fox" walk for cancer. Blessed with beautiful weather, all enjoyed a 25 minute walk around the Legion Park, all for a great cause- cancer research.