April 28

Today we had a special assembly from the Grade 3's and two grade 1 classes.  The Grade 3's presented about the Earth, taking care of our world, and how the different elements of Earth are present in our day to day lives. The Grade 1 students shared their learning about the seasons, more specifically Spring.  It was a great morning as a school community together.

We are currently tying up our science unit on Hot and Cold Temperatures and today we have been applying design thinking skills to creating a heating or cooling device.   Students spent time individually ideating good materials and coming up with different plans.  They then joined groups with a similar interest to come up with more ideas and start to finalize a plan.  Today they gathered materials and started to draw their plans.  Next week, we will begin building these and testing the devices.

In math, we created some repeating patterns, labelled them, and identified the core of the pattern.  We used a variety of materials from the class to create some interesting and challenging patterns. Next, we will be applying our problem solving skills by using these patterns.  Here are a few that we created:

We continue to work on our Little Bird Tales and are VERY close to finishing. Once we have these done, we will let you know so you can watch them at home.

Have a great weekend!

Coming up:
Special In School Performance on Monday
Movie Night tonight! The Movie is Secret Life of Pets

April 19

What a great week of learning we have had!

We were lucky enough to welcome back Denise Miller who is an aboriginal story teller.  She shared about her culture, told us some stories (the funniest one was about the coyote!), and sang some songs with us.  The students enjoyed hearing the stories and learning more about the aboriginal history and culture.

In math, we have also started to learn another subtraction strategy... one that many of you will know well: The Regrouping Method. This is probably the most difficult strategy that we will do this year. It is important that students understand not only what to do, but why they are doing it.  We have spent a lot of time talking about why we cross the tens out and move a ten to the ones spot, but this is still difficult for many students. It would be wonderful if families could practice this at home.  We have fun making up story problems for the questions and usually this gets quite silly, but encourages laughter.

We are creating an insulating device to keep ice cool or tea warm as a culminating activity for our Hot and Cold Temperatures unit.  We are hoping we could have students bring in any items below that you have available for our classes to use:

·      cotton balls

·      tinfoil

·      fabric

·      newspaper

·      wax paper

·      solo cups

·      feathers

Please send any items that you can share to school by next Tuesday so that we can start this fun project!

Thank you!

April 12

We are so excited that the Calgary Flames are in the playoffs and to show our excitement, tomorrow we are having Flames Day! Wear any Calgary Flames gear or anything that you have that is red as a way to show our support.

Today in class we played a fun game called HeadBanz to help us with our questioning skills.  This game is similar to 20 questions and promotes students to ask good questions to help them gain clues.  It forces students to start with broad questions and then move into more specific questions. The students had so much fun and they practiced a life long skill! 

In math, we started to learn about how to regroup and trade tens with ones in order to solve a double digit subtraction question. We used blocks as a tool to help us manipulate the numbers and look at numbers in different ways. This method requires us to use our prior knowledge of place value and how numbers can be flexible.  For some of us, this was a bit confusing. We will continue to work on this subtraction strategy for the next few days. 

Coming up:

• No School Friday. Have a wonderful long weekend!
• Student Led Conferences Monday. No School
• Mrs. Jordan away Tuesday morning at a meeting. Mrs. Duncan in. 
• Mrs. Jordan away April 20, 24. Mrs. Duncan in. 

April 10

In math, we have been learning even more strategies to help us subtract two digit numbers.  Last week, I wrote about the number line strategy.  Today we learned about using a hundreds chart to help us subtract. This strategy builds off the number line strategy and was natural for many to use.  This strategy is good for students who need to use manipulatives and are more visual.   We can't wait to show you in person during conferences on Monday! Here is how it works:

You should have received a School Messenger email with this information, but just in case, here it is again:

Today we are beginning our Home Reading Program! 

Here is how it works: 

·       Each day your child will be bringing home their home reading bag with their leveled reading book and a time tree. 

·       Set aside a convenient and quiet time each evening when you and your child can read and discuss the book together.   

·       After reading for 15 minutes, please fill in the “Time Tree” and return the book to school the following day (Even if you aren't done to encourage the habit). 

·        Once your child has read for 465 minutes, he/she will receive 5 tallies.  Please keep the time tree at home and return it when it is completed.  

·       The books that the children are bringing home are chosen according to their reading level. It is important to read the book several times so that your child is familiar with the vocabulary.  At school we suggest reading it 3 times: 1 for reading/problem solving new words, 2 for fluency (how smooth they read) and 3 for understanding.  

·       You may keep it for a day but please return it to school, as your child will be reading it at Daily 5 Time.  If your child would like to bring it home again, he or she will have the choice.    

·       Please note that we have taken great care and time in preparing these books to be ready for your children.   

I hope that you enjoy spending time reading with your child and please be patient with your child and make this reading time fun for your child.  Next week, we will send home some comprehension cards that your child will use to help them gain a deeper understanding of their book.  

Coming up:

• No School Friday. Have a wonderful long weekend!
• Student Led Conferences Monday. No School
• Mrs. Jordan away Tuesday morning at a meeting. Mrs. Duncan in. 
• Mrs. Jordan away April 20, 24. Mrs. Duncan in. 

April 6

Over the last few days we have done a small study of writer and illustrator Barbara Reid.  She writes lovely stories, but more important for us, she creates beautiful pictures from plasticine. We have been watching, rewatching and watching her videos again and again to learn from her. Using her techniques and a few of our own, we are creating scenes from our Pourquoi Stories. We will have these on display for you when you come visit on April 17th.  

In math, we have been working towards subtracting numbers from 99, using a variety of personal strategies.  Today we practiced using the number line strategy for subtraction. This was familiar for us because we had used this for addition.  It was a great opportunity for us to review that subtraction is the opposite of addition, therefore we start our number line in the opposite way.  

Here are the problems that we worked with today.  The students had a good giggle when they saw their names on the board.  For those who finished all the problems, they had time to create their own silly word problems and exchange them with a peer. 

Coming Up:

• Good Friday next Friday. No School

April 3

Welcome back!!  I have heard from the students about their wonderful spring break holidays and all that they did! It sounds like you were all very busy over the last 10 days :)

Today we eased into the day by sharing about our break with partners and as a whole class.  It was obvious that the students missed each other and had lots to catch up on.

We worked on our pourquoi stories and are really close to finishing our rough copies.  We can't wait to get these published and to start to share with you. We have worked hard to write interesting and engaging stories full of juicy words!

We also reviewed repeating patterns and had the chance to create our own patterns, draw them, and label them using various math manipulatives.  It was neat to see how students in the same group created such different patterns.  Here are a few we created:

As a class we did some choral reading with our new wall story about Arctic animals.  We learned some new vocabulary such as "fuss, bellow, and awaken".  In order to learn these words, we practiced a vocabulary strategy called a "Rev up".  We learned the meaning of the word, used it in a sentence in our own context and then shared that sentence with the class.  Tomorrow in small groups, students will use this knowledge to read the wall story and complete various tasks with the text.

Coming up:

• Book exchange tomorrow