Remembering Terry Fox

Terry Fox was grew up in British Columbia, Canada, playing basketball and other sports. He loved being active. When Terry was 18 he was diagnosed with bone cancer in his leg.

After being treated for his cancer in the hospital, Terry had to learn how to walk, play sports, and run on his new artificial leg. Terry remembered the other young kids he met in the hospital. They had cancer, too, and some of them were even younger than he was.

Terry decided he wanted to do something to help other young people with cancer. He had a big dream: to run all the way across Canada to raise money for cancer research. Nobody thought he could do it.

Terry Fox ran over 5000 kilometers trying to help young people in Canada. He raised over 2 million dollars on his own, and soon everyone knew who he was. In Thunder Bay, Ontario, Terry finally had to stop because he was too sick to run any further. Canadians were so moved by Terry's run, which he nicknamed his "Marathon of Hope", that they donated over 10 million more to the cancer foundation.

Since Terry has died, people across Canada have come together every year to run in Terry's name. Across the country, Canadians have raised over 25 million dollars, making Terry's dream of getting a dollar from every Canadian come true!

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This afternoon, our whole school participated in our very own Terry Fox Run. We ran around town and kept track of how many laps we made. Then, we came back to the school for a snack before heading home.

Running so fast you can hardly see us!

Challenges were made! Could you do more laps than Miss OC?

Even though there was rain, we still had happy, helpful parent volunteers! Thanks everyone!

We got refreshments after our run. Looking good, Division 2!

Exhausted!

That was great!

How many laps did you do?

Leave us a comment:

How many laps did you run in our Terry Fox run?

What do you know about Terry Fox?

Can you think of another hero?

Take a look!

This week our friends at Leftwich Primary asked us some questions about our town and our school. We decided the best way to answer your questions was with photos! Here are some photos we took of where we live, play, and go to school.

We live in the Fraser Valley along the great Fraser river.

Our town has railroad tracks running on both sides of it. There is even an old caboose downtown!

Our playground is a lot of fun!

We have lots of equipment to climb and play on.

... and we have a big field to run around in! Can you tell what word we're trying to spell?

We are lucky because our classroom is really big.

There is a lot of space in our classroom for reading, playing, and learning.

We hope you liked our picture tour! We had fun walking around town taking photos for you.


Leave us a comment:

What is your favourite part of your town?

What do you like about your classroom, and why?

Blogging Buddies

Division 2 is excited to make some new blogging friends this week!

We are going to be a part of a project called Quad Blogging where we get to connect with 3 other student blogs from around the world. Every week, a different blog from our Quad will be the center of attention. All the other blogs in our Quad will visit to read posts, learn, and leave comments. One of the very cool things we will get to do during Quad blogging is learn about different countries in the world.

And ... this week is our week to share! That means we will be welcoming some special visitors from France and the UK.

Leave us a comment:

What would you like to learn about France or the UK this year? 

For our Quad blogging friends, what are you hoping to learn about Canada? 

Flat Stanley Predictions

Today we made predictions about what we think might happen in the novel, Flat Stanley. We wrote about our predictions and then illustrated them. We will be sharing our predictions with the Division 1 class tomorrow, and we are looking forward to reading their predictions! Here is what we think might happen in Flat Stanley:

Leave us a comment: 


What do you think of our predictions? 


What adventures would you go on if you were flat? 

Reading along with the WORLD!

Today we started a reading a book with other students around the world! Our class is taking part in a project called the Global Read Aloud Project. Along with thousands of students in classes around the globe, our class will be reading aloud from the book Flat Stanley every week for the next month.

While we read, we will be making connections, asking questions, and predicting what will happen next. We will even be doing some writing and drawing about Flat Stanley's adventures. The best part of the project is that we get to share our thinking and our written creations with other kids all around the world. Miss. Petschl's Division 1 class will be taking part in the Global Read Aloud, too. We can't wait to share our experiences with the Kindergartens and Grade 1's! 

We are excited to connect with students from around the world! 

Leave a comment:

What are some ways that you connect with people who live far away from you?

Why do you think connecting with students from other countries will be fun? 

Reading Around the Room

In Division 2, we have been building our stamina for reading independently. Today we talked about all the different places in our classroom that are great for reading. We made a list of what makes a "Yay!" reading spot, and a "Boo!" reading spot. Check out our ideas: 

Comfort is very important!

One thing we could all agree on was that it was important to find a reading spot that was comfortable and free of distractions. Here are some pictures of us in our favourite reading spots: 

Sitting under tables is cozy.

It's fun to read on the stability ball!

Reading on mats and cushions is relaxing.

This reading spot is a favourite of many!

Our window seat and reading cave are always the first spots taken! 

A bench makes for a comfy place to stretch out!

We also have a mini-armchair. This is the king of comfortable!

Please leave us a comment:

What do you think makes a "Yay!" reading spot? 

Where do you love to read in the classroom? 

Do you have a favourite reading spot at home? 

Reading rocks!

Today in Division 2 we talked about why it is so important to practice reading often! We came up with lots of great reasons to read: you can find information, get smarter, and become a better reader. Someone even suggested that practicing reading now will make us great readers when it's our turn to read to our own kids some day! Most of all, we thought it was important to read a lot because, well, it's fun!

After reading through a picture book together, we talked about what it means to be an independent reader. Look at all of our great ideas! Today we worked on reading independently for just three minutes without any interruptions. We're building our stamina for reading. That means we're training our body and our brains to read independently. Tomorrow we're going to read for a little longer, and then a little longer, and then a little longer. You get the idea!

What are we reading, anyway? Our book bins are filled with all kinds of different books. We have picture books, chapter books, non-fiction books, and more!

Leave us a comment: 

What kind of books do you like to read?

What do you think makes a good independent reader?  

Summer Fun

Miss. OC had a great summer, how about you?

This summer, I went on a trip to Victoria and visited the Bug Zoo. I got to hold many different kinds of insects and I learned a lot about some very strange creatures.

This is a thorny devil. It is a kind of stick bug from New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. They eat leaves, not people, so don't worry. Why do you think this stick bug looks so thorny?

This looks like it might be a stick bug, too. Actually, it's a grasshopper! It's very good at blending in to its environment. Where do you think it might live?

I held some more dangerous creatures, too. This is an emperor scorpion. Even though it's really big, it actually isn't very harmful to humans. Our guide told us that getting stung by an emperor scorpion would feel like getting stung by a bee. Still, I wouldn't want to experience that! Andy was really excited to hold the scorpion, too!

This is a mexican red-kneed tarantula. She's really friendly! As you can see from the picture, I was a little nervous about holding her because I don't like spiders very much. I was surprised by how soft she was! It felt a little bit like I was holding a tiny kitten. A tiny kitten with a lot more legs than a normal kitten!

We had a great time at the Bug Zoo! Our guide was funny and he knew so much about every creature in the Zoo. He really, really loved bugs. This is a great picture of him with his bug-stache. That's a giant millipede! I held one, too .... but I didn't want it anywhere near my face!




Leave a comment: 


Did you encounter any strange animals this summer?


Did you go on a trip this summer?