Persuasive Writing

One of my favourite types of writing to teach my grade two students is persuasive writing. I really enjoy hearing their opinions (Yes. They've got opinions!) and the reasoning behind their thinking. Our conversations are always very engaging and students begin to debate with one another naturally. I find that using Mo Willem's "pigeon" books is a great way to introduce  persuasive writing because children think the books are hilarious and we can either agree or disagree with the pigeon. 

We used "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late" by Mo Willems to do a visual tug of war. The students were so excited to hear what one another said and to see which side "won". It was very engaging activating activity.

Here is what a few of them said about "Would you let the pigeon stay up late?":

No, I would not let the pigeon stay up late because after he falls asleep I will have peace and quiet.

I would make the pigeon go to bed so he doesn't have read eyes. Yawn, yawn.

No, I would not let him stay up late because it's probably past his bedtime.

I would let him stay up late so we can play together. 

Yes, I would let the pigeon stay up late so we can have a party.

I'd let the pigeon stay up late so he could eat hot dogs with me and my cat.

Our Favourite Books.

February is I Love to Read month. We are celebrating reading this month by reading our favourite books, listening to guest readers, having teacher swaps and a storytelling evening!

Here are some of our favourite books:
My favourite book is iCarley. I like this book because it has funny pictures. iCarley is also a T.V show and I like watching it. -Caydence
My favourite book is Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. My favourite part is when the pigeon has rages! I also like the part when he's about to cry. I like playing the Mo Willems app too. -Savannah
My favourite book is called Easter. It is written by David E. Marx. Did you know that Easter only comes once a year on a Sunday in March or April? Also, people who are christian celebrate Easter. They honour a man named Jesus. -Kaitlyn
My favourite book is A to Z Mysteries because it is always about mysteries. At the end of the book, the three kids always solve the mystery. -Blaine
My favourite book is Mr. Popper's Penguins and it was written by Robert Lawson. My favourite part of the book was when Captain was swimming in the bathroom. My favourite penguins were Loudly, Lovely and Captain. -Riley
My favourite book is called the Gingerbread Girl. I like this book because of the song. it goes like this, "I'll run and I'll run with a leap and a twirl, you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread girl." She passes lots of animals and people who are trying to catch her, but she passes them because she is brave! -Brooklyn
My favourite book is Big Nate from the Top. I like it because it is a comic book. It's so funny! It is written by Lincoln Peirce. I really recommend this book because it is awesome to read! -Ryan

Comment below and let us know what your favourite book is!

D'Arcy's A.R.C

A few weeks ago Darcy from D'Arcy's A.R.C came to our school. He brought a dog and a kitten. One of the ears of the dog was hurt.  He told our class that about 50,000 homeless animals roam the streets of Winnipeg. When we heard this, we wanted to help. We asked the students in our school to help us help D'Arcy's A.R.C. We asked them to bring in cat or dog toys, food bowls, blankets, leashes, collars, dish soap, newspaper, garbage bags, and cat or dog beds.  On Thursday, Nov. 20th we made a speech about D'arcy's A.R.C and we told the classes about how they can help them.  We want to make the animals be safe and we want to protect them from people who hurt animals. D'Arcy's A.R.C is a no-kill animal shelter.  There are over 100 sick animals in the shelter.  If you see a poster of a missing animal you should look for them. Our donation drive is over and we wanted to say thank you to all the students at Athlone School for bringing in donations and helping us!
Talia and Julia

World Kindness Day

Today is World Kindness Day! We visited http://www.randomactsofkindness.org  and agreed that "No matter where you are, this is the day to change the world with one simple act of kindness." Our class decided to pay it forward to another class in our school. We made "monsters" (found at the above link) and left brownies for our grade 5 reading buddies and hope they pass it on! Kids remember kindness. Mrs. Pollock

When has someone been kind to you?
My dad gave me a chocolate bar and I felt happy. -Mahad
My mom gave me a present. -Lennon
Jared played wolf tag with me. -Savannah
When I was at school and my mom was in my room she gave me a chocolate bar. I said thanks. -Gabby
My dad was kind to get me a very good and cute dog. Her name is Willow. She's cute. -Blaine
When I was two and I fell down my brother ran so fast to see if I was hurt. He was worried. He gave me a kiss and an ice pac and let me sleep with him. -Julia
My friend helped me build a snow hill. -Jared
When I was five I was sick. My sister put me in bed and gave me some books to read. Then, she gave me a cup of ice. After that, I fell asleep while she was cuddling with me. -Talia
One day Mia gave me a treat. -Brooklyn
My mom helped me with my homework and gave me a hug. -Rayan
When Lennon helped me when I was gushing with blood. -Thomas

Remembrance Day

When you close your eyes and think of peace what do you see? 

Making new friends. -Talia
The world being safe. -Julia
Being alone. -Blaine
Spending time with pets. -Phoenix
Playing with others. -Savannah
Newborn babies. -Brooklyn
Keeping the world clean. -Jared
Having time with family. -Lily
Having peace and quiet. -Rayan
Being happy. -Caydence
Reading books. -Precious
Being with friends. -Braxton
Making new friends. -Mia
Thinking about loved ones. -Hunter
Helping others. -Gabby
People keeping the world clean. -Kaitlyn
Listening to my music. -Biasha

                       

Our Community Mosaic

We have spent the last three weeks working with our artist Dimitri. In our first session, we talked about our community and how it can be represented in our mosaic. Students used the ideas we had brainstormed and sketched how they wanted the mosaic to look. During our second session, Dimitri had looked at every sketch and had created the mosaic for our school. We practised placing tiles and he showed us how tiles are cut. In our third session, we placed the tiles on the images of our mosaic. As each section was completed, Dimitri taped the tiles down. Every class in our school was part of the same process just like our class. Next week, Dimitri will put the mosaic together and we will watch him grout. We can't wait for this project to be completed and be up in our school for everyone to enjoy! -Mrs. Pollock
We are making a mosaic. A mosaic is made up of small tiles. Everyone in the school is working together to make a giant mosaic that will be in our school. -Julia
When the mastic is finished, it will be in our school for a long, long time. We worked hard and slow to add each piece. -Lennon
When we were doing the actual mosaic it was super, duper hard! We had to concentrate and think about where this goes and that goes. -Thomas
We had to use lots of different tiles like green, red and blue. We had to put the tiles on top of the picture. I did the hand. -Gabby
We were making a picture to create a part of the community. -Talia
It took a lot of days to make it. -Blaine
We were making a part of the circle. I was working on the wheel. -Biasha
We still have to put it together. It is really hard to make. When our parents see the hard work that we've done, they'll be super proud of the mosaic. -Brooklyn
It was really hard to keep the right amount of space between the tiles and not to shake the table because the tiles would move all around. -Hunter
A part of the whole school is helping make the mosaic. -Rayan
It was hard because it took a long time. -Kaitlyn
When Mrs. Pollock told us what we were going to be doing everyone was really excited. We could hardly wait! -Lily

Visiting Lower Fort Garry

I liked to touch all the furs and pull the ox cart. -Lauren
I didn't like when we went into the Governor's House because the boys had to put their hands behind their backs and take their hats off. Other than that I really liked the trip. -Ethan
We went back in tome to the 1850's. If we wanted to turn back to 2014 we had to turn on the bridge. -Brooklyn
I liked when we went into the room with all the animal furs. My favourite fur was the fox fur. -Jeremy
My favourite part was when we went into the Governor's House. I liked how it was so big and the girls got to keep their hats on. -Tynysha
My favourite part was when we went into the Blacksmith because it was so cool that he pulled down this lever and it kept the fire going. He warmed and sharpened metal into a nail and gave it to our class. -Daniel
When we got off the bus it was neat to see everyone working there dressed up like they lived in the 1800's. I liked how their was this bridge and it separated our time (2014) to the 1800's. -Claudia
It was cooler than I thought it would be. -Gracie
I liked how they had holes in the rock walls so they could shoot out. If they put wood up to cover the holes, other people couldn't shoot in. -Theo
I liked it when my group pulled the giant ox cart. -Julia