First Day of Swimming today!

This morning we wrote about our feelings about the first day of swimming. Here are some things we wrote about:
- I am feeling scared and uncomfortable
- I felt really really excited because I always have great times when I'm swimming
- What level we are on and why or why not you wanted to be on that level
- Meeting the new teacher
- I felt so excited and nervous because I didn't know what my instructor was going to be like

In math we played a game called "I have, who has". We each were given a 2 digit, 3 digit or 4 digit number and had to find another student with a similar number based on clues of numbers in the thousands, hundreds, tens and ones place. This could be a game that can be created and played at home.
After our game we worked on place value by having to figure out a number based on pictures of base ten blocks. We also had to write down a number in expanded and standard form. Some things we found easy and tricky about this task were:
- Something that was easy was adding up all the ten blocks
- It was a little tricky getting to the hundreds when you have had more than ten ten blocks
- It was easy counting out the blocks and then writing standard form
- I found expanded form easy
- Writing out the digits and then expanded form was easy
- I used tally marks on the place value chart
- I found it hard when there were more than ten tens because I had to regroup

Today was our first day of swimming!! We are leaving the pool during our normal lunch time so it is important that students have a snack that they can eat at recess. Please remember to bring a separate bag for your swimsuit and towel. If you have longer hair please bring a hair tie. Backpacks will be left at school. Don't forget to pack everything you need!!
Here are some of our thoughts about our time at the pool as well as some things we learned:
- My favourite thing was jumping in the water
- I love diving
- I like how they use kid words like the Spiderman and Superman
- Knee diving was fun
- Kneel diving into the deep end was great
- Showering was my favourite thing because I was so cold afterwards
- Diving under the water
- Jumping up and down and watching my friends do stuff

This afternoon we went on a sound tour to listen to outside sounds. We walked around the schoolyard and listened to the world around us. Some sounds we heard included:
- a car alarm
- birds chirping
- rocks being kicked
- the clanging of metal on the playground
- a basketball on the compound
- a dog barking

We got our spelling test of our "No excuse words" back today. The test is out of 96. Ms. Binks highlighted all of the incorrect words and will be using these words as our personal spelling words. We will begin working in groups to build our knowledge of these words in our reading and writing. Some of us wrote all of the words correctly so Ms. Binks will be using words from grades 5-7 to help us build our vocabulary. Please review the spelling test. Incorrect words would be great words to practice at home with your child.

REMINDERS:
- We have swimming the rest of the week! Don't forget your bathing suit!
- There is no school on Friday or Monday for students (Happy Thanksgiving!)
- We have library tomorrow! Don't forget to bring back your books!