Mrs. Hamm's Grade 1 & 2 Blog

June 20 - 24

2022-06-26T17:14:00.002-07:00

It is hard to believe that we have now completed our last full week of school and there are only a couple of days left, both are all day. We have had an exciting week of interesting activities. Here are some of the things we have been working on

We were excited to learn about the solstice and to be able to enjoy the longer days of sunlight. We used this opportunity to get outside and celebrate National Indigenous People’s day by listening to a recording of Elder Saa’Kokoto telling a story.

We have been reviewing addition and subtraction in math, as well as playing games to practice our facts.

Sadly, our Sports Day was rained out this week. Many thanks to the volunteers who came out to help and stayed to make sure that our final Fun Lunch was successful.

As part of our Social Studies and Health curriculum, we watched the movie, “Inside Out” and are talking about how our actions and emotions affect ourselves and the people around us. Students are learning to draw one of their favourite emotion characters and will do some reflective writing about their emotions next week.

Students will bring most of their books and their work home tomorrow. Please send a reusable grocery bag to help if their back pack is not very big. We are keeping our visual journals to use right up to the last day. I will also have them bring home their headphones and any other items that they will not need.

I am looking forward to some fun and exciting wrap up activities for the last two days of school. Note: Again, Monday and Tuesday are full days of school.

Upcoming Events

Tueday June 28 -Report Cards available - Last Day of School

June 13-17

2022-06-19T13:04:00.002-07:00

The days in June just seem to fly by. Here are some of the things that have kept us busy learning this week:

In Language Arts we have been putting our writing skills to work in a variety of ways. Students did a great job finishing up their stories. They are now typing their work into a google document. If you want to check out your child’s story, it is in their google drive. We have also been gathering information about the small crawling and flying animals that share our environment through observation, reading books, and watching videos. We have then been writing about what we have learned about these amazing animals and their important roles in our ecosystems.

In Math, we have been learning about different types of graphs as a way to show data. We learned how to read bar graphs and how to use the information from the graph to answer questions. We also learned about pictographs and how you can use a single picture to represent a specific value.

Our Science experiment this week was an exploration of taking something that sinks and making it float by changing. It was an opportunity to use their knowledge from last week's experiement and applying it to this challenge.

As we are coming up to the end of school, you will notice that your child is coming home with some of their notebooks. I am trying to send a few things at a time so that we don’t have the kids too loaded down on the last day. Please check your child’s folder and backpack daily to ensure that these items are taken out and stay at home.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Upcoming Events

Thursday June 23 - Sports Day and Fun Lunch (don’t forget sunscreen and a hat!)

Tueday June 28 -Report Cards available - Last Day of School

June 6- June 10

2022-06-12T05:06:00.002-07:00

Students have spent this week working on their adventure boat stories and some of them are really taking off. Next week, if they finish early they will begin to type their work into a google document for practice. Speaking about typing, students were introduced to the web-based program Dance Mat Typing. It is free and online and is a fun way to begin to learn how to type using the correct fingers.

In Math, students have been reviewing addition and subtraction equations, watching for the appropriate sign in order to perform the correct operation. It has been joyful to watch and experience as they grow in their confidence in applying the skills they have learned to this work.

We had our final in-line skating session this week and students had an opportunity to skate with the gym lights off and have some fun disco lights to see by. They have done an amazing job of learning how to skate or advance their skating skills. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the students are now asking for in-line skates at home. Wink…wink… When we were not skating in the gym, students were outside for tag games and an introduction to kick ball.

In science, we have continued our conversation about small crawling and flying animals and the different roles they play in our world. Pollinators, decomposers and predators all have important jobs in the world to help keep everything balanced. Students watched videos, listened to stories and then drew a landscape. Then they added different creatures, insects and animals to show how this ecosystem works together.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday June 15 - Return all library books today

Thursday June 16 - After school BBQ and art display

Thursday June 23 - Sports Day and Fun Lunch

May 30 - June 3

2022-06-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

The time is flying by this past week. Here are some things that have kept us busy:

We finished reading our read aloud novel, “Gooney Bird Greene” We talked about how stories have characters, take place somewhere, and often have a problem or exciting event. We were inspired by our Art and Social Studies work this week and decided to set our fictional adventure story in the Maritimes, either on, by, or in the ocean. Students will create a story plan to record some ideas and then work on writing our stories down this coming week.

Speaking of art, we completed our multi-media art piece of an Atlantic shore line. Last week students created the background using watercolour paint and torn paper. This week they added a 3D lighthouse that they made our of toilet roll and paper cups. Finally, they used coloured card stock to create additions to their picture of something that would be found in the maritimes. Many students added boats, a harbour, starfish, crabs, and fish. The final pictures look amazing. I will add a photo next week once I have them up on the wall.

Everyone was super excited to try our in-line skating this week in the gym. Some students are very proficient skaters and some students were trying this challenging activity for the very first time. I am so impressed with how well they persevered and how quickly everyone improved their skills. Thank you so much to the volunteers who have come to school to help with all of our classes. We will have our final skating session on Monday afternoon.

Upcoming Events

June 6 - 10 - Bike to School continues

Monday June 6 - Final In-line Skating - bring your helmet

Wednesday June 8 - Library final day to take books out of the library

Friday June 10 - Fun Snack

Thursday June 16 - After school BBQ and land art display walk through the school

Thursday June 23 - Sports Day and Fun Lunch

May 22-27

2022-05-29T10:26:00.001-07:00

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Alien In-Line Skating - Monday 8:30-9:25. Please bring your child to the same doors at 8:25am, after picking up the students from Coded Minds I will come open the doors a few minutes early to allow for a couple of extra minutes to get orgnized for gym first thing. Please remember to send your child with their bike helmet and if they want elbow, knee pads and/or wrist guards (please send in a bag). If they don't have those items they will be provided for students to wear during skating. Your child must have socks for in-line skating.

Don't forget it is also ride your bike to school for the next two weeks.

It is hard to believe that we are in the final week of May. We have had a lot going on during this short but busy week. Here are some of the things we have been up to:

We have almost finished our read aloud novel of “Gooney Bird Greene”. Students have been working on their listening comprehension and have been learning some of the rich vocabulary that Lois Lowry uses to make her stories interesting and humorous. Students worked in partners to read passages from the book and highlight some of the descriptive words. They then came together to share their finding and we have created some word banks that will help us when we begin writing our next stories.

Another way that students have been using their developing reading skills as well as their math reasoning is by learning the game “Qwirkle”. Students had to read through instructions to learn the rules of the game and how to score. This was a complex learning task and during the playing of the game, students needed to go back and check the instructions several times to make sure they were placing the tiles correctly. This game requires players to identify colour and shape attributes as well as think strategically about how they place their tiles in order to score the highest number of points. It is a fun way to meet some of the curriculum outcomes for shape, space, sorting, and logical thinking.

We decided to wrap up our learning about magnets with an activity that incorporated our understanding of designing and building a structure with a purpose. Students designed a character and a maze for them to complete. The character was made of paper with a paperclip on the bottom and after some design practice, students were able to build their maze using popsicle sticks glued onto cardboard. By placing a magnet under the cardboard, they could use the magnetic force to move their character through the maze. They had great fun sharing their mazes with their classmates and the students in Mrs. Batchelor's class too!

We are so glad that spring appears to really be here. We had an exciting opportunity to see some live ducklings. We talked about their needs as a part of needs of plants and animals and sketched them as well. It was really neat and thank you to Lucy for bringing them in for us!

Just a reminder that we will begin in-line skating on Monday. Please send your child to school in comfortable clothing and have them bring their helmet. This is perfect as it is also the beginning of our Bike to School initiative, so hopefully your child will have their helmet with them anyway.

As we look ahead to the month of June, I would like to let you know that we have planned an exciting day on Thursday June 23. We will be having our Sports day that morning and students will be outside all morning participating in a variety of physical activities and games. As this is our last Thursday of the school year, it will also be our final “Fun Lunch” and students will have the opportunity to eat outside that day in picnic style. More details will be provided as we get closer to this event, but I wanted to let you know about this in advance as I will need 3-4 volunteers for this event. If you have your clearance and would like to participate, please email me as soon as possible. Thank you in advance!

Upcoming Events

Monday May 30 - In-Line Skating (8:30am) and Bike to School Starts - bring your helmet

Home Reading ends - please return all books to the school - you can have your child read their own books from home still.

Wednesday June 1 - Library book Exchange

Thursday June 2 - In-Line Skating (afternoon)

May 16-19

2022-05-22T13:58:00.003-07:00

Our week has been full of learning through exploration and observation. Here are some of the highlights of our week:

Our work on the Maratimes continued this week. We watched a number of videos about the area and students had an opportunity to look at the landscapes, animals, and symbols that represent this part of our country.

We began a new read aloud story this week by Lois Lowry called “Gooney Bird Greene”. This novel is about a grade two student with a talent for storytelling. Students have been listening to a chapter each day and have been developing their understanding of character, plot, and dialogue. We have also been listening to the author’s use of rich vocabulary.

In Science, students have completed the exploration of magnets through the independent stations provided. Students had to work as a group to read instructions, do the activity, and record their observations and what they learned. Applying scientific thinking and using their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills were all an important part of this work.

Our mathematics work continues to focus on subtraction and problem solving. This week the grade one students worked on equations with a missing number. This was challenging work at first, but students soon realized that they could use addition or subtraction to help find the missing number.

Grade two students worked to become more proficient with two digit subtraction. Everyone was proud of their success with equations that did and did not require regrouping. Students are now working on mastering the standard algorithm in order to be efficient and accurate with their calculations.

We are all excited for our In-Line skating activities which will take place at the end of May and the first weeks of June. Students will need to bring their bike helmets to school on the days that we skate. If your child has their own pads and/or skates, they are welcome to bring them, but there are skates and pads available for all students. On skating days we are asking students to wear comfortable, loose fitting clothing (no skirts please). Students should also come every day with running shoes and socks as we will be doing gym outside on days that we do not skate and sandals and bare feet will not be appropriate for the activities that we have planned. Here are the dates that we will be skating:

May 30 AM

June 2 PM

June 6 PM

Here are some photos of our crocus art from last week. Enjoy their beautiful spring feeling.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday May 24 - Home Reading

Wednesday May 25 - Library

Thursday May 26 - Final Home Reading Exchange - Fun Lunch

Monday May 30 - All Home Reading Books to be turned in - In Line Skating

May 9-13

2022-05-15T10:43:00.001-07:00

We had had great fun exploring a number of new things this week. Students really rose to the challenge and are working to demonstrate independence with their learning:

Our Social Studies work is now taking us to the Maritime provinces. Students have learned the names of the provinces and learned about their flags and what their symbols and colours represent.

In Science, we have begun our investigations into the property of magnets. We have set up a number of stations that students will be working through in small groups in order to learn what materials magnets work with, the strengths of different magnets, and how the magnetic field stretches beyond the physical magnet.

Another Science project that we wrapped up this week was our investigation into the life cycle of insects. We had previously observed mealworms as the larva stage. We saw them enter their pupa stage and recorded our observations. This week our creatures emerged from their pupa as adult beetles. The students were fascinated to observe the life cycle close up.

In Language Arts, all of the students completed their non-fiction writing about a prairie animal by finishing up their google slides. Everyone worked hard to type up their information using complete sentences and worked to organize their facts. Students learned how to change the colour of their background and the print and how to add photos to make their presentation more appealing. About half of the students have had a chance to share their work with the class and the rest will be able to do this next week. Students are working to speak loudly and clearly when presenting to others. They have also been working on how to listen to someone’s information and ask good questions and give constructive feedback.

We wanted to celebrate our spring season through art this week. We decided to create crocus art using chalk pastels. The results are quite striking. I will post pictures of our completed work next week when I have a chance to put them on display in the gathering space.

In Phys Ed. students had the opportunity to begin to learn racket skills by using badminton rackets and birdies. The co-ordination required to hit a birdie back and forth with a partner takes some time to develop. Students did a great job working on this skill and persevering with this challenging task.

We had a focus on Health this week by learning about things we can do to grow and stay healthy. We learned about the importance of having healthy teeth. We talked about caring for our teeth through brushing and flossing regularly. We also explored what foods help us to have strong teeth and bones. We also learned about how sugary food cause problems for our teeth. We also were fortunate to have an on-line presentation about how our bodies grow and what we can do to make sure that we are staying healthy through eating right, getting a proper amount of sleep, and being active.

Upcoming Events

Monday May 16 - Home Reading

Wednesday May 18 - Library

Thursday May 19 - Home Reading

Friday May 20 - PD - No School for Students

Monday May 23 - Victoria Day - No School for Students

May 2-6

2022-05-07T06:46:00.001-07:00

What a busy and amazing week of learning we have had. Here are just a few of the highlights from the past five days:

With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend, we took some time to read some stories about what mothers do and how they take care of us. Students completed their special gift for their moms and decorated an envelop to hold their art piece. Their cards are great and I am sure that their artwork and writing will touch their mothers’ hearts.

Of course, our highlight of the week was our amazing trip to the coulee. Students took the time to look closely at nature and to notice the signs of Spring. It was great to see many different bugs and to see things starting to sprout and grow. Students had an opportunity to explore math through measuring things in nature using their pencils, their hands, and objects that they found. We also had our final session working with our artist, Karen. Students used the concept of journey, pathways, and pattern to create some unique art pieces. Many thanks to the volunteers to helped to make this trip possible.

Speaking of volunteers, we have now begun working on our performance for the volunteer celebration that is coming up later in May. Students are learning a song and we will record it next week. We also worked with our buddies to create special messages and keepsakes that the volunteers will receive at this event. Please watch your email for details about this event.

In Math this week, grade one students worked on “Triangle Math” and fact families. This helps students make connections between addition and subtraction. We learned that if you had 3 numbers that all worked together, you could make four related number sentences. (3, 6, 9 - 3+6=9, 6+3=9, 9-6=3, 9-3=6). The grade twos have continued to work with number deconstruction as a way to do two digit by two digit subtraction. They are now working on how to apply this to equations where re-grouping is required. Ask your child to explain to you how it works.

In Language Arts, students have been busy working on their google slide animal presentations. As students finish their work, they are getting the chance to share their slideshow with the class. Students are learning how to type their information, add pictures to their slides, and make their background and print more colourful. Some students took home their research book to work on their slides at home. Please send that book back on Monday. As well please don't do the work for them, I can teach them how to check their work, edit spelling, etc. They will have time to work on it more during Literacy centres.

Upcoming Events

Monday May 9 - Home Reading

Wednesday May 11 - Library Exchange

Thursday May 12 - Home Reading

Friday May 13 - Fun Snack

April 25 - 29

2022-05-01T10:17:00.003-07:00

Thank you parents I now have a second volunteer for our coulee trip on Tuesday morning. It is only with your hep that we can have these wonderful experiences learning in nature! In prepration for some upcoming health lessons, please send in your grocery flyers for students to cut up on Thursday this week.

The students have had a great week of learning last week and we have been working to apply what we have been learning to new and interesting tasks. Here are some of the things we have been doing:

This week we started continued working on our googlee slides about prairie animals. Students are working to create a slide for each of the following headings: Attributes, Habitat, Food, Babies, and Interesting Facts. Learning how to use the functions of google slides and how to type on a keyboard are great new skills for everyone. Here is the class created rubric for our finished product:

As part of our Science work about insects, we are raising mealworms in the classroom. This will allow us to observe the life cycle through from egg to larva, to pupa, and finally to adult. Students are fascinated by observing these creatures.

Some of the reading groups have been focused on reading instructions for how to play the game of Quirkle. After reading the instructions they watched a how to video and then tried playing the game. Click here to see the video: Quirkle. This is a great math game that focuses on using shape and colour attributes to play the game. Students also decided to use tallies to keep score, another great math skill that was demonstrated independently.

In Phys. Ed. we began our unit on floor hockey. Our focus this week was on how to move with the puck on your stick and how to pass the puck while moving. Students are having fun developing their skills.

Upcoming Events

Monday May 2 - Home Reading

Tuesday May 3 - Coulee Walk in the morning

Wednesday May 4 - Hats on for Mental Health & Library Exchange

Thursday May 5 - Home Reading

April 19 - 22

2022-04-22T12:03:00.003-07:00

What an exciting and busy week we have had. We have been working on the following projects and concepts:

Our Math work continues with more strategies for subtraction. The grade ones are continuing practice for counting back and number line. This week we also looked at being able to subtract 0, 1 and 2 quickly. The grade twos have begun a new strategy for two digit subtraction - decomposing numbers. As this is a new and challenging concept, they have been working with numbers that do not require regrouping.

Our Science and Language Arts work on non-fiction research has continued this week. Students finished with the book exploration and began working on the computers to learn more about their animal. Appropriate website links, Epic books, and videos are posted in the google classrooms for students. The researchers are learning to work collaboratively in order to gather information effectively.

In Phys Ed. We wrapped up our Curling unit. As they became more proficient at making their rocks go the way they wanted, students developed their ability to be strategic in their sport. They learned to consider if it would be better to aim for the house or to knock an opponent’s rock out. It was so much fun to hear them strategies with their team.

We are hoping for more seasonal weather in the coming weeks as we have another coulee trip planned for the May 3rd. If you have your clearance, please consider emailing me to join us for this event.

Upcoming Events

Monday April 25 - Home Reading

Wednesday April 27 - Library exchange

Thursday April 28 - Home Reading

Monday May 2 - Home Reading

Tuesday May 3 - Coulee Walk in the morning

Catch Up Blog Post

2022-04-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

First, I would like to apologize... I am sorry that I have dropped our 'blog' ball two weeks in a row. I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter Weekend with family and friends. Please enjoy this catch up blog.

April 11 - 14

We have had a short, but busy week. Here are some of the things that we have been working on:

In Language Arts we have been practicing reading non-fiction text and taking notes. Students are learning to just write down the important words to help them remember new information. They have been working in groups to help find information in a variety of books and are learning how to collaborate in order to effectively find and share important facts. Everyone has learned how to use a table of contents and an index to help them find the information they were looking for.

As our work on the prairies in the past continues, students have been examining artifacts of prairie life. They have been learning to look at artifacts from a scientific perspective. They are drawing, measuring, and recording the observable characteristics of the artifacts they have in the classroom. Using their senses they are recording what they notice and are formulating theories of what the objects are and how they were used. It is fascinating work.

In Phys. Ed. we began out unit on curling. We have special mats and equipment that helps us turn our gym into a curling rink. This week we practiced how to throw our rocks and aim for the house. We also learned the basics of how to score in curling. The students have done a great job developing the feel for how hard to throw their rocks in order to reach the house.

In math, the grade one students have been practicing subtraction using counters, drawing, counting backwards, and using a number line. Students are also working on finding ways to make their subtraction easier by relating it to what they know from addition. Grade two students are working on using a number line to accurately calculate two digit by two digit subtraction. All students are also participating in daily number talks in order to develop mathematical thinking and to learn how to communicate they thinking clearly to others.

Wednesday April 20 - Library

Thursday April 21 - Home Reading

Friday April 22 - Earth Day - Wear Green and Blue

April 4 - 8

Snow, rain, and plus 20 weather all in one week. It must be spring in Calgary! Here are some of the things we have been working on:

We have begun our research about animals that are native to our prairie habitat. Students are working in small groups to collect information about their animal from non-fiction books. Students also watched videos showing how to draw their animal and practiced several times before creating their own art piece. They drew the picture, outlined it, and then added colour using watercolour pencils. The results are quite striking.

Of course, the biggest highlight of the week was our field trip to Heritage Park. The students all did an amazing job of listening, exploring, and making connections to the artifacts and things that they saw at the park. The staff told the teachers how impressed they were with the students thinking and how they shared their ideas. Here are a few pictures that you can look at with your child. They should be able to tell you about the buildings they visited, some of the jobs that people did in 1912, and about pretending to be the Webster family who moved from Toronto to build a new life in early Calgary.

In Math this week, we began working on subtraction. Students in Mrs. Hamm’s and Mrs. Batchelor’s grade one came together to work in Mrs. Batchelor’s class to explore subtraction of numbers under 20. Students in grade two worked with Mrs. Hamm and her grade twos to learn about two digit subtraction using the number line as a strategy.

In gym this week, we wrapped up our Circus unit. Students did an amazing job developing their coordination and dexterity with a wide variety of equipment and unique tasks. Next week we will begin curling.

March 28 - April 1

2022-04-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

It is finally beginning to feel like spring and we are so happy to have the opportunity to spend more time outdoors with our learning. Here are the highlights for this week:

We were so excited to have another coulee adventure this week. Our work this time was to notice signs of spring using our senses. We looked carefully at the mud, grass, and the buds on the trees. We listened to the sounds of returning birds (robins and woodpeckers). We noticed that the earth smells differently when things start to melt.

We also explored two different types of art on the land during this trip. Students explored creating designs with rocks in the snow.

We also worked with our artist, Karen on capturing shadows of things in nature and we will use these marks as a jumping off place for creating colourful images inspired by Na’a.

In addition to our art work, we read a picture book called “Ishi”. This story is about a rock character who gives ideas about how to deal with difficult feelings and situations. We created our own little rock “Ishi” characters and found a place in the coulee that we hoped would make our Ishi happy. If you get a chance to visit the coulee in the next little while, you can ask your child to show you where we left our Ishsis and see if their little friend is still there. If not, maybe he/she has found his/her way home with a new friend.

After these wonderful experiences, students worked on writing about the coulee. As we are entering the last few months of the school year, I am challenging students to really show what they are capable of doing with their writing. Everyone has really developed their stamina for writing and with all of our work on developing descriptive detail, their work is really taking off. I was so impressed with how much students were able to communicate about their experiences and feelings. You can see how well your child did with this activity by checking in powerschool.

Grade 2 - Sample

Grade 1 - Sample

In Gym, we started an exciting new unit of Circus activities. Students have the opportunity to participate in a variety of stations that allow them to develop their balance, dexterity, and coordination.

In math, we have reviewed our addition strategies through games, colour by number solution and puzzles such as solve it strips. Students also started to participate in daily math talks. This is an opportunity to develop our fluency in speaking about mathematical concepts specifically by sharing their own understanding through engaging partner talk and large group conversations.

In Art, we worked in small groups to watch a drawing video of our prairie research animal. Then we practiced drawing the animal on our white boards. Next week, we will have another opportunity to practice before we draw and use water colour pencils to complete a final drawing of our animal.

Important Dates:

Monday April 4 -Wear Blue for Autisim awarness day

-Book Fair Purchasing

-Home reading

Wednesday April 6 -Heritage Park ALL day (don't forget water bottle, lunch and snack & drees for the weather)

Thursday April 7 - Home reading

March 14 - 18

2022-03-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

Our last week before the Spring Break has been incredibly busy. Here are some of the things that we have been up to:

We started off our week with Unique Sock Day. This is a special day to recognize and appreciate the unique tallents and abilities of all students and particularly students with Down Syndrome. We read some stories about kids with Down Syndrome and had a great discussion about how we each have our strengths and passions that help to make us special.

Another part of our work on Monday was to read a story about catching a Leprechan. Students were very keen to try and catch a leprechaun themselves on St. Patrick’s Day, so we spent some time to design and write about how we could build a trap. On Tuesday, we went to the gathering space and worked to build our trap using materials from the maker space bins. Students were recorded sharing how their traps work and this little video is now in their Iris accounts. Please use your students CBE id number (found on the report card or in their show and share book) and their log on password to view this video on-line. Unfortunately, the leprechauns were too clever for us. When we came in on Thursday, our traps were upset and no leprechauns were caught. :-(

On Tuesday we talked about the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day and how we traditionally wear green on that day. We had a great discussion about how we could “eat green” (eat green and healthy things) and also “be green” (do things to take care of Na’a). We decided to work in small groups to create posters so that we could share the messages of Green Day with others in our school. On Wednesday, we shared our work with Kindergarten and some of the other one/two students in the school. This was a great chance for students to work together and share their learning with others.

In Math, we explored 3D objects using plasticine and built nets with paper.

Our Phys Ed. unit on gymnastics wrapped up this week with our own version of “Misson Impossible” This is where we set the whole gym up as a spy training obstacle course. Students are challenged to use all of their strength, control, skill and stealth to move through the course as the spy music plays in the background. We managed to get an extra session in the gym by teaming up with Ms. Hamm’s class. We had all the spies moving stealthily around the gym and everyone did such a great job.

We are looking forward with excitement to our next trip to Twelve Mile Coulee on Tuesday March 29 in the morning. We will be exploring Land Art with Karen and Stephanie and will be doing some important outdoor learning. I have one volunteer, but would like at least one more parent to join us if possible. Please let me know if you are available to support us with this learning.

We have been learning about contemporary life in the prairie regions of western Canada as part of our Social Studies work on our Canadian Communities. Next we are going to be learning about life on the prairies in the past. With this in mind, we watched the first episode of Little House on the Prairie and we have planned a trip to Heritage Park on April 6. We sent the letter home on Monday and the forms home on Tuesday and we already have half of our forms returned and all of our volunteers lined up for this trip. The fee for this trip is now in your power school account. If you have not had a chance to complete the forms, that is ok. We would like all forms back by Friday, April 1.

I wish all of the students and their families a safe, relaxing, and healthy Spring Break!

Upcoming Events

Monday March 28 - Home Reading

Tuesday March 29 - Coulee Walk in the morning

Wednesday March 30 - Library Exchange

Thursday March 31 - Home Reading

Friday April 1 - Book Fair viewing

Monday April 4 - Shopping the Book Fair

Wednesday April 6 - Field Trip to Heritage Park

March 7 - 10

2022-03-13T16:26:00.001-07:00

We were so glad that everyone had a chance to look at the work we have been doing as part of the Celebration of Learning. Here are a few of the things we got up to this week :

In Language Arts, we worked on our persuasive writing. We read the story “Franklin’s Class Trip” and the students thought it would be great if we could go on a field trip this year. We decided to write an email to Mr. Tomczyk to convince him that it would be a good idea. Students talked about what would convince him that a school trip was a good idea. Each student wrote about their ideas and also had to come up with things we could do to be safe while learning outside of school. Once everyone had done their writing, we shared our ideas and composed our email together. We are delighted to let you know that Mr. Tomczyk gave us the go ahead to plan a field trip. We will be headed to Heritage Park on April 6th. We have been learning about the prairie region of Canada and this trip will allow us to learn more about how the prairies have grown and developed in the last 150 years. More detailed information (and forms) will be coming your way shortly. We will also be looking for 3 volunteers to help out on this trip.

Our Math work with space and shape is off to a great start. Students were measuring length, width and height with a variety of objects. We quickly learned that using different sized units of measurement made it hard to tell the size of different things when comparing our work. We also explored measuring weight through the use of balance scales. Students were able to organize and compare things by using the balances. They worked in partners to order a group of objects from heaviest to lightest and then explored to see what other things were heavier than the objects provided.

This week we tied our Science and Social Studies work together in learning about the prairies. Last week we watched videos and read stories about life in rural prairie communities. This week we have been learning about the grasslands ecosystem and the amazing plants and animals that live there. We discovered that much of the natural prairie landscape has been converted to farmland and we are keen to learn more about the wild animals from the grasslands that are trying to adapt and survive in some of our wilder prairie landscapes. We are looking at what plants and animals need to survive and students will choose a prairie animal to research so that they can learn more about how they are adapted to live in their prairie environment.

In Phys. Ed. we continued to explore movement and balance in the gym. Students were challenged this week to change the way they use the equipment. They were also given an opportunity to explore creative controlled movement with a variety of materials including ribbons.

Students completed their prairie perspective art and it is now on display in our hallway. Their choice of colour and their care in creating these pictures shows how engaged they were in creating these artistic prairie landscapes.

We have a couple of special days coming up next week that we would like to make you aware of. On Monday, we are encouraging students to wear colourful or mismatched socks in recognition of Unique Sock Day. This is an initiative that we participate in to recognize the value of students that are unique and have talents and gifts that may differ from our own. This is in support of World Down Syndrome Day which will happen on March 21 while we are on Spring Break, so we are doing our Sock Day a little early.

On Thursday, St. Patrick’s Day, We are encouraging students to Wear Green (any items of green clothing), Eat Green (bring green and healthy foods for snack and lunch), and Be Green (being environmentally aware).

Upcoming Events

Monday March 14 - Unique Sock Day - Home Reading

Wednesday March 16 - Library exchange

Thursday March 17 - Green Day - Wear Green, Eat Green, and Be Green- Home Reading

March 19 - 27 - Spring Break

Tuesday March 29 - Coulee Walk in the morning

Wednesday April 6 - Field Trip to Heritage Park

Feb 28 - Mar 4

2022-03-06T12:12:00.001-08:00

Here we are at the beginning of a new and exciting month of learning. Time is going by so quickly. Some of our highlights of the week :

In Phys. Ed. indoors we moved from mats to equipment. Students are exploring moving their bodies in a variety of ways using balance beams, ladders, tunnels and foam mats and pads. The students are working to develop confidence and control in moving through a variety of environments and situations. Our outdoor gym was all about exploring winter through snowshoes and sleds. Hopefully we will get more snow so we can try the snowshoes in more wintery conditions, so please ensure that your child brings snowpants and wears warm gear this coming week. We just might get a chance to snowshoe again on an outdoor gym day!

In Math, we did a quick quiz to check in and see where students were at with using a variety of strategies for addition. I timed the students as they worked to get a sense of whether they were quick and confident with their strategies or if using the strategies provided were more effortful. We are taking a break from direct whole group instruction on addition in order to do some work on measurement, shape, and space. We will return to addition in April and will connect our understanding to subtraction and how the two concepts work together.

Our Language Arts this week has been tied in with our Social Studies exploration of the Prairies. We have been watching short videos and reading stories about what life is like on prairie farms and in the small towns on the prairies. Students have worked to record their understandings in their visual journals.

We also tied our Art to Social Studies with work on a prairie perspective piece. Students followed step by step instructions on how to use their ruler to draw lines that trick the eyes into seeing things close up as bigger and far away as smaller. They just need to add the finishing touches with their oil pastels. I will post pictures next week.

We had two exciting events in Science this week. We worked on an experiment around the water cycle and evaporation. We set up a plate of water on the counter, one by a blowing fan, and another by a space heater. We then observed the differences in evaporation. Students were amazed and excited to see the results.

We also began looking at the needs of plants this week. Students are going to be growing sunflower seeds and bean seeds. First we drew the dry seeds and then we put them in a warm tray with water and drew them again when they germinated. On Friday we planted them. We will be observing and recording our observations and comparing the differences between the two types of plants.

We are very excited for our celebration of learning this week. We know that parents will be amazed to see how their students’ work has progressed over the past few months. Please make sure that the books return to school on Monday so that we can continue to use them without interruption. Don’t forget that booking for conferences begins on Saturday. I am looking forward to my conversation with you about the work your child is doing.

With the change in Covid protocols that came out this week, I have decided to begin the parent volunteers schedule following the Spring Break. I will be slowly adding days and times. If you are cleared to volunteer, please send me an email and I will send you the booking link. If you have not yet gotten your clearance, I encourage you to bring you ID to the office to begin the process. It can take several weeks and we will have some more exciting volunteer opportunities as the spring progresses.

Upcoming Events

Saturday March 5 - Booking opens for conferences

Monday March 7 - Home Reading

Wednesday March 9 - Library book exchange

Thurs March 10 - Home Reading - Conferences 4:30-7:30

Friday March 11 - No School for students - Conferences 8:00-Noon

March 19 - 27 - Spring Break

Tuesday March 29 - Coulee Walk in the morning

Feb 22-25

2022-02-27T13:05:00.002-08:00

It is hard to believe that we are already coming up on the end of the month. Time flies when you are busy learning. Have a look at what we have been up to:

This week our Social Studies work has been focused on building relationships and creating a sense of community in our classroom and our school. We decided that one thing that we can do to make others feel like they belong is to do a random act of kindness. We read a great story called "In the Great Meadow." We decided that we would share our kindness and spread some joy through making bookmarks. Students brainstormed ideas for messages and created unique designs for their bookmarks. When they were complete, we gave them to Ms. Mansey in the Learning Commons for students to take when they come to sign out a book. We hope that other readers in our school will enjoy having a special bookmark when they choose a new book.

Wednesday was our Pink Shirt Day event. We read a book called “Pink is for Boys”, which is about how boys and girls like all the different colours and many different things. We talked about how we can show appreciation and respect for each other. It is important to stand up for yourself and for others, but to do it in a positive and supportive way. We created self-portraits using mirrors to do careful drawings of our own features to represent and celebrate our looks and our personal styles. We also decorated our door with messages of kindness. We created our messages on keys with the message "Keys to Kindness".

This week’s Math has been all about finding quick and efficient ways to solve addition equations. Grade one students are continuing to practice their double additions and adding 9 to a number. Students are becoming quick and flexible with their addition strategies.

Grade two’s have also been working on strategies for addition. This week we worked on how to do two digit addition with regrouping using the standard algorithm. For some students, this is new learning. Other students are familiar with this work, but need to record their equations with standard notation in order to become more proficient and accurate.

In gym we began our unit on gymnastics. Students worked this week on the mats, learning a variety of balances and ways to move with control across the space. We practiced balancing on different parts of the body and developing our strength to hold a balanced pose. We tried moving through the space by skipping, hopping, jumping side to side, and rolling across the mat in a number of different ways. We will continue with gymnastics for the next couple of weeks, so please ensure that your child is dressed in comfortable clothing that allows them to participate with gymnastics activities and equipment safely. (no skirts or tights please)

We also celebrated the 100th Day of School today! We had fun doing a probability activity where students flipped a quarter 100 times to see how many times they would get heads, and how many times they would get tails. We also read a poem of 100 words.

Upcoming Events

Monday Feb 28 - Home Reading

Wednesday Mar 2 - Library Exchange

Thursday Mar 3 - Library Exchange

Friday Mar 4 - Celebration of Learning

Saturday Mar 5 - Booking opens for conferences

Thurs Mar 10 - Conferences 4:30-7:30

Friday Mar 11 - No School for students - Conferences 8:00-Noon

Feb 14-16

2022-02-21T06:37:00.000-08:00

What an exciting short week we have had. Between Valentine’s Day and Carnaval, we have been so busy. Here are the highlights:

Students were so excited to exchange cards and gifts with their friends on Monday. We also worked on making paper hearts and using them to create animals and pictures. I was amazed at everyone’s creativity. I hope you enjoyed the picture that they brought home.

We also had our kick off to Carnaval on Monday. Students created an effigy of Bonhomme and this has now been attached to their jackets to show that they are participating in our event.

One the the exciting things we have done in connection with Carnaval is to play the musical spoons. Students watched a couple of videos to learn some techniques for these interesting instruments. If you have never seen them played, you can watch this video below to see how it sounds.

http://quietube7.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1OOqWN6YCw

Of course, we all enjoyed creating our Ice sculptures on Tuesday. Thank you to everyone who helped provide us with building materials.

You may have noticed that many teachers were wearing the ceinture fléchée this week. This traditional French Canadian sash is red with a patterned design. Students had an opportunity to create their own ceinture fléchée and to show off their understanding of how to create and record a pattern through weaving multicoloured paper. You can see their work hanging in the windows of our classroom.

Of course, the most important part of Carnaval is being excited about being outdoors in winter. We are so glad that Mother Nature came through with the perfect snowfall to wrap up our Carnaval.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Family Day weekend!

Upcoming Events

Thursday Feb 17 - Friday Feb 18 - Teacher’s Convention - No School for Students

Monday Feb 20 - Family Day - No School for Students

Tuesday Feb 21 - Home Reading exchange

Wednesday Feb 22 - Library exchange

Thursday Feb 23 - Home Reading exchange

Feb 7- 11. & Feb 1- 4

2022-02-13T06:17:00.045-08:00

Our week was full of exploration and learning of new ideas. Here are some of the things we worked on through the week:

On Monday we finished our frozen land art from the week before. It looked beautiful for a very short period of time due to our sunny weather. Everyone enjoyed the experience of creating, gifting and recording it in our reflectie writing.

In Math, grade ones are working on becoming more efficient and accurate adding numbers with sums up to twenty. They also learned how to solve equations with three addends. The grade twos have shown a great understanding of two digit addition. This week we began to work on using the base ten blocks to show what happens when we have more than 10 - ones blocks. This will continue next week and then we will begin using the algorithm.

Our Social Studies learning about the Arctic has wrapped up and we are now learning about the prairies. Students explored where the prairies are in Canada and what it looks like on the prairies. We also learned about the map of Canada and which proviences are a part of the prairies.

In Science, we explored how condensation creates clouds. We did an experiment to see how much water is needed in a cloud before it is saturated enough to rain. Students had a great time making predictions and testing their theories.

We continued our art exploration of colour through a creative painting experience with acrylic paint on canvas. Students were given some painter’s tape to put on their canvas and then mixed primary colours to create secondary and tertiary colours for their art. They also experimented with creating tint through adding white. After the paint dried, they removed the tape and filled the resulting negative space with gold or silver like potters in Japan do in kinstugi. Our final step was to use stencils and black paint to add patterns to our work. Our finished pieces are quite striking.

Due to covid, we started our Valentine’s preparations a little early this year. On Friday, students created valentine holders and distributed their Valentines to their friends. They will be quarantined over the weekend and will be sent home on Monday. We will also do some special activities on Monday to celebrate the holiday.

Next week, in addition to Valentine’s Day, we will also be celebrating Carnaval Du Tuscany. We hope that everyone is busy filling containers with water and freezing them for our Palais De Glace activity on Tuesday.

Upcoming Events

Monday Feb 14 - Home Reading exchange & Valentine's bag goes home

Tuesday Feb 15 - Palais De Glace

Wednesday Feb 16 - Home Reading exchange

Thursday Feb 17 - Friday Feb 18 - Teacher’s Convention - No School for Students

Monday Feb 20 - Family Day - No School for Students

Tuesday Feb 21 - Home Reading exchange

Feb 1- 4

It is a start of a new and busy month of learning. Here are some of the things we have been up to this past week:

On Tuesday we added the water to the land art we have been working on. We had perfect weather to set out our water art and watch it freeze into ice. We wrote a message to Na'a about how beautiful the objects we used are and how we feel about nature and the gifts it gives us. We also wrote about what we hope others will notice or think when they see the art we have created.

In Math we made a February calendar. Students put on the month, days, and numbers and then added important dates. We use the calendars as ways to talk about how we measure time, how we use ordinal numbers, and how to locate and read dates on a calendar.

We are continuing our work on addition with all students. Grade ones are working on knowing the doubles up to 10+10 automatically as this is very helpful in becoming proficient in addition and will also help with subtraction. Grade twos are working on using decomposing two digit numbers to help with addition. Give them a two digit by two digit question and ask them how to use a number tree to help them add.

We had two wonderful presentations by "Grandma Carol" who shared pictures and experiences about living in the arctic. She also showed us some of the interesting artifacts that she brought home from her time in the north. Many thanks to her for enriching our students and helping them to understand about life in the northern parts of Canada.

Everyone finished up with their “Mitten Story” writing this week. Students did such a great job of capturing the spirit of the original story and putting their own twist on the tale by using different arctic animals.

A new focus in our Language Arts work is to develop greater fluency and accuracy in our writing through the learning of spelling long vowel patterns. As students develop the ability to create longer pieces of writing, being able to write many of the words easily and with more standard spelling will allow them to communicate their message with more clarity to their reader.

Jan 24 - Jan 28

2022-01-29T05:55:00.002-08:00

We have been exploring some new information this week and puting our understanding to work in creative and interesting ways. Here are some of our highlights:

In Science, we learned more about hot and cold and how people and animals keep warm in winter. We discovered that things can be kept hot or cold by using different materials to keep heat from entering or escaping. We learned that metal conducts heat quickly, but things like plastic and wood are slow to conduct heat so they make good insulators. We also learned that creating air space between layers provide insulation. That is why wool, fur, and even snow can make good insulation. We took this information and used our building materials to create a container to see if we could insulate an ice cube and slow down the melting time. I recorded the students talking about their insulators and will try to post these videos to each child’s Iris this weekend. If you would like to see them explain their work, you can search “Iris CBE” and you will get to the sign in page. The user name is your child’s CBE number which is on their report card in powerschool. The password is the same one they use to access google classroom.

In Science, we have also begun to talk about the water cycle. Stuents watched a video, started a classroom experiement and created a moving manipulative to help them develop their understanding of the vocabulary used throughout the cycle.

We also experimented with warm and cold water to see how our skin senses cold and then we used shortening to make a glove to simulate the layer of fat or blubber that arctic animals have to help their bodies to stay warm. If you want to re-create this experiment at home, here is a video that shows you how. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DQGAcqhkGs

Our mitten story writing has been going very well. Students have written about the animals that found the mittern and then came up with creative endings so that the animals got out of the mitten and the main character finds it again. As students finish their writing, they are going to be moving on to learn some simple revising and editing techniques.

In reading, grade one students are working on changing one letter in a word to make new words. Grade two students are learning how to use this same knowledge to help them spell more of these words correctly when they write. Grade two students are working on answering questions about the information or stories that they read. Things like, “Why did that character do that?” “What do you think he/she is feeling?” “Why did the author add that information?” are important questions for the students to answer. Look in the front of your child’s Home Reading Log for more ideas of good questions to ask when you read with your child.

We spent some more time this week investigating the interesting artifacts of traditional Inuit life that we borrowed from another school. Students have been examining these objects, learning about the materials used to make them and how they were used in everyday life. Students have sketched, discussed, talked about their ideas, and learned what the objects and tools are. This has given them some insight into what life was like in the north in times past.

We wrapped up our dance unit in Phys. Ed this week. It has been so much fun learning all about a variety of Hip Hop styles and about the culture and history of this type of dance. Today we recorded our class demonstrating all the moves that we learned. A school wide video will be shared with all of our families soon.

Next week is the beginning of a new and busy month. Students are very excited about the upcoming holidays including Valentine’s Day. Many students love making and exchanging Valentines, but this is an optional activity for your child. In order to follow Covid protocols, I am asking that anyone who wishes to bring in valentines for their friends bring them in on or before February 11th. We will distribute them on that Friday and then quarantine the valentine bags so that they are safe to go home on Monday the 14th. If your child wants to bring in valentines, please ensure that they have one for each child in their class. They all wrote the names of their classmates in their show and share books today. Just a reminder that candy or food items are not allowed. If you child wants to bring in something special, pencils, tattoos, stickers, etc. are great.

Upcoming Events

Monday Jan 31 - PD Day - No School for students

Tuesday Feb 1 - Home Reading exchange

Wednesday Feb 2 - Groundhog day and Library exchange

Thursday Feb 3 - Home Reading exchange

Jan 17 - Jan 21

2022-01-23T06:50:00.005-08:00

This week we have really settled into our routine and have extended our learning in new and interesting ways. Here are some of the things we have worked on:

In Language Arts, we have been continuing our writing of own versions of “The Mitten” using arctic animals. Students have been working on using interesting words to describe how each animal moves and what happens when they one by one try to snuggle up in this new warm place.

We continued to learn about styles of Hip Hop dance this week with the help of Mr. J. from Sound Kreations. Students have been so engaged and enthusiastic in this exciting work. We have one more week with Mr. J. and we will then perform a dance piece that we are putting together. Due to covid, we are unable to have an audience for this, so each class will be recorded and a school-wide performance video will be created so that we can see everybody’s dance moves.

Our Math this week is an extension of our beginning addition we began last week. Grade one students learned to look at the addends (numbers being added) and used counters to help them make the two groups to add together. Grade two students worked on adding two double digit numbers by using decomposing one of the numbers and adding the tens and then adding the ones. They used a number line to 100 and an open unnumbered line to help with this work. We are working to develop a number of strategies for adding two digit numbers as this allows students to be flexible with their mathematical thinking.

Our Social Studies learning about life in the north continued this week with an exploration of the different types of Inuksuk. There are different ways that the rocks are arranged for different purposes. They can be used to navigate as landmarks, they can point to the north star to help with navigation when the sky is too bright to see the stars, they can mark caches of food, point to shelter or good hunting locations, and they can also be located to be useful in directing herds of caribou into a valley for hunting. Students learned to recognize and draw the different types of inuksuk and learned about their importance to people in the the north.

In Science, we explored colour and colour mixing using water colour pencils. We created two colour wheels. One with the primary colours making up the secondary colours. We then used primary and secondary colours together to create a colour wheel that included some of the intermediary colours.

We combined our Social Studies learning and our Science to help us with our art this week. looked at several pictures created by Ted Harrison and talked about how he used bright colours and unusual colour choices to create striking pictures that catch the attention and create an emotional response in the viewer. Students then created their own piece of art with a type of inuksuk in a northern landscape. We used oil pastels to create the lines and then used complimentary and contrasting colours of paint to create the effect we wanted.

The end of January marks the half-way point in the school year and it is time to share your child’s progress with you. Report Cards will be released on-line at the end of the month through power school. Please take the time to review the report card with your child and celebrate all that they have achieved. If you have any questions about the report card, please feel free to email me and we can set up a time to meet on-line.

Upcoming Events

Monday Jan 24 -Home Reading exchange

Wednesday Jan 25 - Library Exchange

Thursday Jan 27 - Home Reading exchange

Friday Jan 28 - Sound Kreations performance recording

Monday Jan 31 - PD Day - No School for students

Jan 10 - Jan 14

2022-01-16T14:42:00.004-08:00

We are so thrilled to be able to welcome students back in person this week. Everyone was happy to be with their friends again and to do some great new learning. Here are some of our highlights:

We continued our social studies work on learning about life in the north through exploration of artifacts from traditional inuit activities and ways of life. We explored one of the artifacts as a class and then students chose a different artifact to work with independently. They reflected on what they could see, what they thought about the artifact, and what they wondered. They then shared their ideas with the class and learned a little more about what the artifact was made from and how it was used. Ask your child to look at the pictures below and tell you what they remember about the artifacts.

In Language Arts, we enjoyed journaling about our winter break and sharing our writing with our friends. Students have developed a greater confidence and fluency in communicating their ideas in print. To put these developing skills to work, we have begun to do some story writing. We read the Jan Brett story, “The Mitten” and decided to create our own versions of the story using arctic animals. We reviewed some of the animals that we learned about before Christmas and watched some videos about a few others. Students then chose the animals that they wanted to use in their own stories and created a story plan. We have just begun writing our stories and will be continuing this work for the next few weeks.

In Math this week, began our number operations unit starting with addition. We did an initial assessment (a 10 minute quiz) in order to see where each student was at and what strategies and skills they need in order to become proficient in adding and subtracting. Grade one students worked on an activity called “Math Train” which allows them to find all of the possible addition combinations for a given number. For example - 0+4=4, 1+3=4, 2+2=4, 3+1=4, 4+0=4. Grade Two students played a game called “Shut the Box” that allowed them to practice adding and subtracting two dice in order to make all of the numbers from 1 to 10. They also practiced using a number line to add two digit by one and two digit numbers and to begin adding by 10 from any number.

On Friday we also began to explore chess, under Ms. Batchelor's guidence. Students played pawn storm and learned about how this piece moves in the game.

We were super excited to begin working with Mr. J from Sound Kreations in the gym. He will be working with us for three weeks to learn some Hip Hop dancing. Students learned the “Hip Hop Ready Position” and 3 important moves, the bounce, the rock, and the arm wave. They also learned two types of steps, the two step, and the heal toe. Ask your child if he/she remember some of these moves.

Upcoming Events

Monday Jan 17 -Home Reading exchange

Wednesday Jan 19 - Library Exchange

Thursday Jan 20 - Home Reading exchange

Dec 6 - Dec 10

2021-12-10T19:12:00.004-08:00

With the holidays quickly approaching, we have been busy with some great winter learning. Here are some of the things we have worked on this week:

We began this week with some outdoor learning. Our plan was to go to Twelve Mile Coulee, but mother nature had other things in mind. Due to the cold weather, we opted to stay closer to school so that we could come in for warming breaks. We engaged in a number of Science, Art, and Language activities during our outdoor learning.

We were thrilled to have another opportunity to work with Karen Taminga-Paton on some land based art. This time we used a variety of natural materials and fabric to create an image and communicate an idea or a feeling.

Students followed this up by naming their art and writing about it in their visual journals that afternoon.

Unfortunately, we were unable to meet with Saa’kokoto in person on Monday as he was away sick. We did take the opportunity to listen to one of his stories that we had recorded previously and talked about the indigenous view of storytelling and how stories about animals often teach us things about ourselves and our natural world.

Our Science this week has been a continuation of our work on measuring temperature. We have been comparing warmer and cooler temperatures and practicing reading a thermometer. We also began an experiment to see how temperatures around the school are affected by location and time of day.

In art this week, we have been working on some special pieces to give as presents to our families. You will have to wait until Christmas to see the results.

In the last two weeks leading up to the break, we thought that everyone could benefit from some time to learning to pay attention to our bodies and learning to breathe. We are doing some yoga poses to help us develop our flexibility, strength, and balance.

In our Social Studies we have continued to explore Nunavut through videos, stories and a presentation from Mrs. Hamm, who lived in Kuggaruk Nunavut for her first year of teaching. As part of our Social Studies learning, we will be exploring different cultural and family traditions during this holiday season. On Monday Decemeber 13th, we will be having a chance to share some of our personal traditions prior to working in our visual journals. You can support this work by having a conversation with your child over the next few days about some of your family's holiday traditions. If you could help your child make a list of things in their show and share book, this will give us a jumping off point for our conversation.

Next week, in lieu of a winter concert, we will be doing daily Google Meet sing alongs. My class will be leading the song "Jingle Bells" on Thursday. I am asking students to wear a Santa hat or any other festive wear that they would like for this performance. We will record each of the sing along sessions and parents will be sent a link so that they can view the events.

Upcoming Events

Monday Dec 13 - Home Reading exchange

Wednesday Dec 15 - Library exchange

Thursday Dec 16 - Home Reading return books, Fun Lunch and Winter Singing Performance

Friday Dec 17 - and Pajama Day

Nov 29- Dec 3

2021-12-05T06:14:00.000-08:00

We are at the beginning of an exciting month. Students are all keen to share ideas about the holidays and what it means to them. We have also been showing our learning in a variety of ways. Here are some of the highlights:

As a part of language arts, students listened to the story A Promise is a Promise by Robert Munch and Michael Kusugak. This connected with our learning about the arctic as well as to understanding how other indigenous leaders tell stories for children to learn and keep them safe from the natural world around them. After listening to it, students worked as a class to sequence the story and then retell it using their puppets that they made the day before. Students were able to take home their puppets and could share telling the story to the family.

In Math, we continued our exploration of larger and smaller numbers by working with the base ten blocks and then recording the numbers in our Math journals. Students are developing a strong sense of what the numbers represent and how they compare with each other. We also learned a great card game to work with bigger and smaller numbers. We call it two digit face off. It is a two player game that you can play with your child at home. Take a regular deck of cards and remove the 10’s and face cards. Shuffle the remaining cards and divide them evenly between the two players. Each player turns over 2 cards and tries to make the highest number they can (ex - a 2 and a 7 can make 27 or 72). Once each player has made their highest number, they compare their numbers and the person with the highest number gets all 4 cards. If the players turn over the same exact numbers, they put those cards aside and draw again and the winner of that round gets all 8 cards. Keep playing until all the cards have been shown and then shuffle the cards you have won and continue playing. The game ends when one person has no cards left. We also counted another collection. Students are becoming very proficient with their counting in both accuracy, strategy and recording using numbers, pictures and words.

In Social Studies this week, we have been focused on learning more about the arctic, particularly Nunavut. We watched several videos and looked a pictures of the land around Iqaluit to get a better understanding of what it is like to live in the north. Students then worked to create a visual journal page to capture their understanding of the animals that live in the north.

As we are getting colder weather and are getting closer to the holidays, we decided that we wanted to create some special decorations to brighten up our school. We created Chritmas card ornaments. After the holidays, if you are finished with your old Christmas Cards, I would appreciate having the picture cover sent in for the next time this art is created. They are now hanging around the school for the next two weeks, but will come home for the holidays.

Our basketball skills are really coming along. Students are now able to dribble the ball with good control to move up and down the court. We have been practicing moving around the gym and passing to our peers. The students are excited to practice shooting baskets and most are able to get the ball in the net several times each time we practice.

With the arrival of the colder weather, I would like to remind parents that we go outside several times each day. Students need to come with appropriate winter wear every day and perhaps have a couple pairs of mittens in case one set gets too wet to wear. It is also a great help if their name can be inside each item of clothing as many students have similar boots, snow pants, and mittens. We can avoid some confusion with your help.

We are so excited for our coulee trip on Monday. We plan to go and enjoy the new fallen snow, so please dress your child in layers on that day so that he/she can stay warm. As we will be sitting for a period of time, snow pants are essential. Please also ensure that your child has a snack that can fit into their pocket as we will be gone all morning and will be taking our recess snack with us on the trip. Thank you so much to the parents who have volunteered to accompany us on this outing.

Upcoming Events

Monday Dec 6 - Coulee Walk and Home Reading exchange

Wednesday Dec 8 - Library

Thursday Dec 9 - Home Reading exchange

Nov 22-25

2021-11-27T05:57:00.000-08:00

This has been a week to look back and see how much we have learned in the first 50 days of the school year. We have also begun some new and exciting investigations as well. Here is what we have worked on this week:

We began our Math this week with an assessment. This was an opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding of patterning and number concepts that we have been working on thus far. I was so impressed at how clearly everyone was able to show their mathematical thinking. I'm sending this home on Monday, please sign and return it for Tuesday. Thank you i advance!

Our next step in Math is to develop some new ways to work with numbers and develop a deep understanding of what they represent. This week, students had an opportunity to begin working with Base Ten Blocks to demonstrate a new way to show numbers. These blocks represent the ones, tens, and hundreds in a way that is visual and tactile. We will be using Base Ten Blocks and our beaded number line to show how the numbers can be shown in a variety of ways. This will prepare our students for number operations (addition and subtraction) which will begin after the winter break.

In writing, we continued our work on responding to a book read aloud in class. Listening to stories is a great way to learn about how authors use words to share their ideas and paint a picture in our head. This week, with our colder weather, I decided to share a book called "How Cold Was It?" It had us thinking about what it feels like when we are out in the cold. Students were encouraged to use some of the great descriptive words from the book to make their own writing more interesting. If you want to see how your child's writing has progressed, I encourage you to listen to the story posted on the google classroom and have your child do a written response from the celebration of learning.

As part of our Science work for Seasonal Changes (grade one) and Hot and Cold (grade two) we have been graphing the temperature for the month of November in three communities in Canada. We have used Calgary as our prairie community, Iqaluit as our arctic community, and Meteghan as our Atlantic community. We have learned that zero is the freezing point and students have noticed that Iqaluit's temperatures have all been below zero, Meteghan's temperatures have all been above zero, and in Calgary we have gone up and down from zero several times this month. We have gotten our information on-line, but are interested in collecting our own data, so this week we learned how to read a real thermometer. Each student made a practice thermometer so that we could learn how to read and understand the temperatures that we see on the real thermometers.

In gym, students have been working on their ball skills. We have moved from the larger, softer, playground balls, to basketballs. students have been practicing dribbling in one place while moving the ball from one hand to the other and dribbling with control while walking.There are complex tasks and the students are learning to persevere in order to develop their skills.

We are excited about our upcoming opportunity to visit Twelve Mile Coulee again with our Elder, Saa’kokoto, and our artist, Karen Taminga Paton. If you have your volunteer clearance and are able to help us with our trip, Monday December 6th from 8:25-11:30 am please email me by Wednesday. Thank you!

Upcoming Events

Monday Nov 29 - Home Reading exchange

Wednesday Dec 1 - Library book exchange

Thursday Dec 2 - Home Reading exchange

Monday Dec 6 - Coulee Walk

Nov 15-19

2021-11-21T05:29:00.005-08:00

Despite our cooler weather, we still managed to get outside for physical activity and learning. Here are some of the things we have been working on this past week:

Students were so excited to continue our work on the class logo project. We chose the name "Peaceful Stars" as a class to show that they want to be calm and peaceful in our group. The stars are from nature and shining bright. In the logo the stars are at the top of a tree which also symbolizes nature and that we are rooted in the natural world. The 0 in the room number is in the shape of a heart to symbolize caring. The people inside the star show that people can all be unique, but can come together to make a strong group. Finally we were ready to put our logo on our t-shirts. Many thanks to the generous parents who sent in extra shirts so that we had a back up for students who didn’t have a shirt. Everyone is very proud of their new shirts and we look forward to wearing them all at the same time to show what a great team we are.

In Math, this week we worked on open ended word problems. We have done some work with counting coins and also worked on using drawing to help us find solutions to problems. An open ended math word problem has several possible solutions to answer the question. Students are encouraged to use numbers, words and pictures to show as many solutions to the problem as they can.

In writing, students have been working with a checklist to ensure that they include the necessary elements that good writing needs. This week we responded to a story in our writing. Some of the grade two students have begun revisiting their writing in order to identify words that may not be written correctly and to use a dictionary to make edits to their work. We look forward to demonstrating our writing to you during our Celebration of Learning at the end of the week.

Students visited the book fair in the library on Friday. They had a chance to look at some of the books on offer as well as some posters, erasers, book marks, and other small items. You can purchase items on-line if you prefer, but we will also have a chance to “shop in person” on Wednesday November 24. If you would like to send your child in with money to spend at the book fair, please put it in an envelope marked “Book Fair” and send it in the blue folder. We will help your child shop the book fair. Thank you for supporting our library fund raising efforts.

Upcoming Events

Saturday Nov 20 - Bookings for conferences open

Monday Nov 22 - Home Reading exchange

Wednesday Nov 24 - NO LIBRARY BOOK EXCHANGE -Book Fair - students can bring money to spend at the book fair and we will visit the fair as a class to make our purchases

Thursday Nov 25 - Home Reading exchange - Parent Teacher Conference 4:30- 7:30 pm

Friday Nov 26 - Parent Teacher Conferences 8 am - Noon - No School for students