Let Everyday Be Pink Day!

COMMUNITY NEWS ITEM

On February 27th, Pink Day (also known as Pink Shirt Day) was celebrated in schools across the nation.

This event originally began in a small town in Nova Scotia.  A ninth grader was being bullied for wearing the colour pink, so two boys took a stand by encouraging their peers to wear pink shirts in support of that bullied student.

This seemingly small act created a bigger movement and resonated with many, bringing forth much needed attention on bullying behaviour, the promotion of kindness, and the inspiration to be a hero (instead of a silent bystander) for others in need.

Our Grade 1 and 2 writers wanted to share their thoughts on this important community event in the form of Syllable-Count Cinquains.

A Syllable-Count Cinquain is a five-lined poem that has a total of 22 syllables.  It has a specific syllable pattern…

  • Line 1 has 2 syllables.
  • Line 2 has 4 syllables.
  • Line 3 has 6 syllables.
  • Line 4 has 8 syllables.
  • Line 5 has 2 syllables.

WHAT PINK SHIRT DAY MEANS TO US…

The Begbie Buzz – What is a Book Review?

LIFESTYLE AND ENTERTAINMENT

It’s definitely full steam ahead for our newspaper inquiry!

As a class, we recently talked about the Entertainment section of a newspaper, and how it usually includes movie reviews, information about music events and live theatre, and reviews about the latest bestselling books!

Given that the children have been doing an Author Study on Mo Willems in the classroom, it made complete sense to have each of them do a Book Review on one story by Mo Willems!

We discussed the importance of having Book Reviewers in the newspaper world, as they help to shed light on literature that readers may find interesting or even uninteresting.  The children learned that when they write book reviews for an audience, their opinions matter!!!  Yes, they do!!!!

As Book Reviewers, the students know they have a responsibility to tell their readers how they feel about a book (was it good?  was it terrible?), so that their readers are better informed to choose to check out the book (or not).

NOTE:  Full credit for these Book Review Templates goes to Mrs. N’s Classroom.  These free templates can be found on her page on Teachers Pay Teachers.

To see Mrs. N’s Book Review Templates on Teachers Pay Teachers, please click here!

Check out the kids’ book reviews…

Maybe you’ll be inclined to pick up a book or two from the public library after reading Division 11’s Book Reviews?

The Begbie Buzz – What is a Recipe?

 

FOOD:  RECIPE FOR V-DAY STRAWBERRY SAUCE

The students had a whole group discussion about the Food Section of a newspaper.  The children came to realize that food writers often share their thoughts about a restaurant, or share recipes on how to make a certain food or drink.

The kids made Strawberry Sauce from scratch for our Valentine’s Day Sundaes on February 14th.  What a great opportunity for the children to try their hand at procedural writing!  They learned that recipe writing is very different than prose or poetry; a recipe has to include step-by-step instructions that are clear and concise.  Also, the students realized that a list of ingredients is mandatory, while a photo or picture showcasing a step or the final product is always welcome.

Wash 2 cups of strawberries.
Cut the strawberries into small pieces.
Put the strawberries in a pot, along with 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice.
Stir while cooking over medium heat. The strawberries will slowly break down.
Keep cooking until you reach your desired texture.
Once the strawberries have broken down into a smooth sauce, turn off the heat and let cool.
Serve the strawberry sauce with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

This was the kids’ very first foray into writing recipes…

The Begbie Buzz – What are Comic Strips?

OUR “SUNDAY FUNNIES” – GOOD FOR EVERYDAY OF THE WEEK!

As a class, we revisited features that are often found in newspapers.

As soon as someone mentioned comic strips, the students all declared that learning to cartoon would be our next project for our newspaper blog.  Most of the kids love to draw, and given that a comic strip is just a sequence of drawings arranged in panels to showcase humour or a short narrative, this medium was right up their alley!

To help us along, we took time to study Mo Willems’s artistic style and stories.  The children noticed the following things about the way he illustrates characters such as Piggie, Elephant, Knufflebunny, Trixie, and Pigeon:

Mo Willems often uses:

  • speech or talking bubbles to reveal what the characters are saying to us or to each other
  • thinking bubbles to show what his characters are thinking or reflecting on
  • HUGE words to show someone is loud, excited, or upset
  • all CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation point to show strong emotions
  • tiny font to show someone is quiet, shy, or unsure
  • quotation marks to show a character is talking (“Hello Gerald!”)
  • lots of punctuation marks !!!!???? to emphasize what the character is feeling
  • different facial expressions on the animation to show the different characters’ emotions 
  • feeling words
  • movement or motion lines. 
  • direction to show which way characters are going
  • sound words (“POW!”)
  • humour

The children were very eager to try out many of Mo’s writing elements in their own comic strips!

Full credit goes to Kate of picklebum.com for the free comic strip templates.

Please click on the picture below to see her free comic book templates:

Free Printable Comic Book Templates!

We hope you enjoy our “Sunday Funnies.”  🙂

 

Gung Hey Fat Choy, Happy Lunar New Year!

COMMUNITY EVENT

Ms. Housego, Begbie’s Music teacher, taught every student a popular Chinese folk song called, “Jasmine Flower.”  All of the children learned to sing the Mandarin lyrics in honour of Lunar New Year!

This song dates back to the 18th century, and is one of the most well known Chinese melodies in China and abroad.

On Thursday, February 14th, Begbie students performed this song at our Lunar New Year assembly.  Many children took such pride in singing a song that was familiar and culturally significant to them.

The English translation of “Jasmine Flower” is:

What a beautiful jasmine flower.  What a beautiful jasmine flower.

Sweet-smelling, beautiful stems, full of buds.

Fragrant and white, everyone praises it.

Let me pluck you and give you to others.

Jasmine flower, oh, jasmine flower.

Have a listen!

Happy Year of the Pig to everyone!

Super Blood Wolf Moon for Super Outer Space Fans

COMMUNITY NEWS

On January 21st, many people in the city of Vancouver caught a glimpse of the moon looking drastically different than usual.  What you witnessed was the “Super Blood Wolf Moon” total lunar eclipse!

A total lunar eclipse takes place when the Earth comes in between the Moon and the Sun, forming a straight line.  It is sometimes called a “Blood Moon’ because of its reddish colour.  In addition, this year, this supermoon happened to be the very first full moon of the year, and so, its name was coined after howling wolves.

Photo Credit:  (Mrs. Oudt’s brother) DENNIS YIP of dennisyip.ca

The total eclipse lasted about 60 minutes, and space fans were thrilled to see the changes occurring right before their very eyes.

Just click on the moon picture below to see a short video of the eclipse produced by my own brother, Dennis Yip.  Check it out!

 

 

 

 

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Division 11 was absolutely intrigued by the Super Blood Wolf Moon.  This seldom seen phenomenon connected nicely with our class unit on Objects in the Sky, as well as the picture book, “Taan’s Moons:  A Haida Moon Story.”  The young writers shared their thoughts and feelings about the moon in haiku form.  They accompanied their 3 lined-17 syllable poems with gorgeous art pieces that highlighted the traditional northwest coast First Peoples shapes such as ovoids, circles, split Us, and U-forms.

Coyote Spotted at Begbie

BREAKING NEWS!!!

On Tuesday, January 22nd, the students were all abuzz at school because a coyote was spotted not once, but twice, on our school grounds in the morning.

Our Roving Reporters were given a mission:  to work as an entire news team to get the latest information on the situation.  Children were split into 3 groups.  Each group was responsible for getting the “scoop” regarding this very unusual circumstance.

One group – the second graders – focused their attention on what is a coyote.  Like all good reporters, they investigated and researched heavily (using online sources on our iPads) to find out valuable information about the animal in question.

For Animal Research Templates, full credit goes to:  Teaching Resource Queen

Another group was responsible for reporting to the general public what exactly happened yesterday:

  • Who saw the coyote first?
  • What time did the coyote come to our school?
  • Who dealt with the coyote?
  • Where was the coyote?

Our final group worked on finding out what people ought to do if or when a coyote is nearby.  They had the essential task of providing information to readers for the purpose of public safety.

The BEGBIE BUZZ News Team was absolutely invested in wanting to write.

They wanted you to know about the coyote situation at Begbie because they wanted you to be informed.  They wanted you to know what to do should you ever meet a coyote.

Reporting for BEGBIE BUZZ NEWS, we are Division 11.  Good night.  🙂

The Begbie Buzz – What is an Ad?

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Our class continued with our newspaper inquiry during our first week back after Winter Break.

The children looked at different types of print ads from newspapers.

The students were quick to realize that the pictures they were looking at were not just ordinary photos accompanying an article.  Rather, they figured out that these images – which often included photos, bold colours, big fonts – had one purpose, and one purpose only.

These images were meant to try to sell readers something, whether it was a piece of fancy jewelry, a big pick-up truck, or even the Evening News program on CBC!

The kids had an especially big “A-ha!” moment when it dawned on them that even on newspapers, there were ads that specifically promoted readers to get the news from a particular source!  Wow…how “meta!”

The children learned this:

Ads, or advertisements, are created by marketing companies for people or businesses to promote their services or products.

Now that the kids understood what advertisements can look like and what their purposes are, they were grouped into small marketing teams.  Each group was responsible for creating an ad for something we had been studying in Math class…

…3D shapes!  

Things each team had to consider for their ad:

  • a catchy slogan
  • clear communication of what shape they were trying to promote
  • interesting features of their assigned shape:  what makes their shape more special than the others?
  • design and visual elements that catch the readers’ attention

The students worked in teams of 2-3, and did I ever see cooperation and collaboration during the entire process!  They were absolutely engaged during the entire time!

Check out the ads the marketing teams made for THE BEGBIE BUZZ.

The Begbie Buzz – Our First Interview

CELEBRITY PROFILE

After Mr. Cortens answered all of our questions, the Junior Journalists watched (and re-watched) the recorded footage from their interviews for research purposes.

The students then all wrote their very first article.

Below every article you will find a soundbite from the reporter.  Our Junior Journalists recorded their own reflections about their experience as first time reporters!  They used the app called “Voice Memo” to share what they felt they were good at, and to express what they would like to work on in terms of writing future articles.  The students talked about…

  1. being able to summarize key points
  2. writing a short paragraph that makes sense and is cohesive
  3. coming up with a catchier headline
  4. using interesting words in their articles
  5. making sure to tell readers facts about our subject
  6. creating a nice presentation or layout so that it catches readers’ eyes

For newspaper article templates, full credit goes to the owners of the following sites.  Please click on the following links…

Enjoy reading the character profiles on Mr. Cortens, and celebrate what the students have learned from this task!

3, 2, 1…and Action!

On the morning of December 3rd, the kids were all abuzz with excitement, as they waited for our interview subject to arrive.

Mr. Cortens showed up in our room, but before we started our activity, the class made sure to ask for permission to videotape our person of interest.  After getting verbal consent, the students took turns interviewing our school principal, asking some very interesting questions and showcasing their oral communication skills along the way.

They loved being reporters!

Check out a few soundbites below.