mrsbarker.ca - Millgrove 2B

Buoyancy and Boats

4/19/2019

We've been working on boats in our classroom since Spring Break, and the students have highly enjoyed exploring how different materials float or sink in the water and have done some excellent problem-solving in our boat challenges. There is also quite a lot of excitement among some students who have been reading about the Titanic and discussing why it sunk! Because of our in-school field trip this upcoming week, we will be wrapping this unit up by the end of the month. In our unit on buoyancy and boats, students will work to achieve the following outcomes:

I can determine if an object can float or sink in water
I know that some “floaters” sit mostly above water and some sit mostly below water.
I can make a floating object sink.
I can determine if an object will float or sink in water.
I know that some “floaters” sit mostly above water and some sit mostly below water.
I can make a floating object sink.
I can make a sinking object float.
I can put materials together so they will float, carry a load, and be stable in water.
I can alter a watercraft so that it can carry more cargo.
I can alter a watercraft to increase stability in water.
I can determine and explain which materials will be best in the construction of a watercraft.
I can design a watercraft so it can be propelled through the water.

Math Sales

4/18/2019

We made good use of our two-digit addition and subtraction skills this week as the students set up their own classroom stores and went shopping with pretend Millgrove Gift Certificates. There was lots of adding sums, subtracting to figure out change, and thinking about how we use math in our everyday lives. We also performed some price comparisons between items from a toy store flyer to see the difference in price using subtraction.

The Child Who Cried Wolf

4/17/2019

Some wonderful drama students from Concordia University performed "The Child Who Cried Wolf" for the grade one and two classes today! There were plenty of laughs and scares, and it was really neat to see actors performing a play they had created all on their own. The students favourite parts were the wolf coming out to terrify the villagers and watching the very silly sheep. The actor who played the main character actually went to Millgrove when she was in elementary school, so it was wonderful for the students to see how far their education can take them!

Student Vote

4/16/2019

2B officially voted in the 2019 Alberta Student Vote! Over the past month, they've enjoyed evaluating different policies and are very excited about participating in the democratic process. We learned about respecting people's opinions, and what types of ideas were matters of fact and which ones were matters of opinion. Our class vote was quite a tight race, and it was exciting for the students to watch and see how the student vote and adult vote the next day turned out. They promised me I could expect unanimous voter participation from them when they're 18!

William Wegman Art

4/13/2019

This past week we learned about the artist William Wegman. William Wegman is a photographer who is famous for taking pictures and videos of his Weimeraner dogs wearing costumes. His dogs are very well-trained, and have even appeared on Sesame Street. This month, 2B made our own silly-looking drawings of dogs in human roles. We hope you enjoy them!

Boats Field Trip

4/12/2019

We enjoyed our big in school field trip where we explored buoyancy and boats this week! We conducted many experiments, learned a great deal about what causes objects to sink or float, and the students even got to construct their own boats! It was a great afternoon of learning. Special thanks to our instructor Shari and our four wonderful volunteers!

Published Library Authors

4/11/2019

Our fantastic school librarian Mrs. Smith helped us become published authors this week as week as we took some good copies of our writing and published them in Millgrove's library! Each piece has its own unique barcode and the students are all officially catalogued in the library now as authors. It was delightful to see the students taking out each other's writing, and for them to know that their peers around the school can take their writing home and read it!

Badminton in PE

4/5/2019

This week we got to practice our badminton skills in PE! It is tricky to learn to control the birdie with the racket, but the students worked hard and got some great rallies in by the end of the week. You can watch the world's longest badminton rally below, which was 108 shots!

Sending Postcards Across Canada

4/4/2019

2B has been lucky to receive dozens of postcards from classrooms around Canada this year, and it was our turn to send out our postcards this week! We wrote to the other Canadian students about our favourite Spruce Grove facts, including Jennifer Heil, Jack's Grill, and some of our favourite events at Millgrove like the pet parade. We can't wait to receive the rest of the postcards from Canadian classrooms over the next few months!

Rainbow Connection

4/4/2019

Our school is lucky to be participating again in the eight week Rainbow Connection program sponsored by Save On Foods and TransAlta Bri Leisure Centre. The Rainbow Connection was created to increase the amount of vegetables and fruit consumed daily by children. The program encourages students to try diverse fruits and vegetables while learning about healthy eating for life. The program also includes a daily exercise guide to promote the benefits of daily physical activity. Participants will learn nutrition awareness and why physical activity is important for overall wellness.

If you would like to receive weekly emails with a recipe that includes the fruit or vegetable they tried, as well as a family activity, and wellness tips, please register by clicking here. During the program students will be encouraged to eat more vegetables and fruit through education, taste testing, and tracking. We are now having weekly samples of vegetables or fruit delivered to our classroom (this week we got to try out oranges!).