I enjoyed speaking with all of you over the past two days. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me and to see your child's work.

This week we focused on the words: pets, nets, pats, and sits. We learned that the s at the end can indicate that the word is plural or can be used with a verb to show that the action is happening now (in the present).

We spent a lot of time this week working on our multi-step, multi-media buffalo art as well as our paper and paint snowpeople. We learned about the importance of the buffalo for Indigenous people and why this animal is revered by Indigenous people. In the Past, every part of this animal was used for a variety of uses including food, shelter (teepee canvases), clothing, moccasins, tools, utensils, weapons, and more.

The students practiced using the digraphs: th, sh, ch, and ck to spell words in a Write the Room activity. They are becoming adept at listening carefully for the distinctive sound of each digraph.

The students are getting very excited for their upcoming Christmas concert and had the opportunity to get together with Mrs Burch's class for an extended practice time with Mrs. Darr on Thursday. Please mark your calendar for the evening of Thursday, December 12th. The performance will begin at 6:00pm and will run approximately 1 hour. Please see more information below.

If your child's name was drawn for the lunch-hour Holiday Craft Club, please ensure that you sign the form your child brought home and have your child return it to me on Monday.

We did not have library book exchange this past Thursday because of the Book Fair. Please have your child bring their book back by next Wednesday so they can take out a new book this coming Thursday.

Please see the information below from the office for important dates and events.

Holiday Celebrations

December is around the corner, and we have a number of Holiday Celebrations coming up at MTS.

The Magic of Christmas will return starting on Monday December 2. 

Every Christmas Eve, The Magic of Christmas loads up Calgary Transit buses that are magically transformed into “reindeer buses”, with hundreds of gifts and volunteers dressed as Santa and his elves.  Then they deliver Christmas spirit into the homes and hearts of those who need it most.  From December 2 to December 20, please bring in a new, unwrapped donation items (not food) and place them in the boxes located in the front foyer. 

For more information, including suggested donation items, or to make a monetary donation, please visit
https://www.themagicofchristmas.org/

*** On Thursday December 12, the Grade 1 & 2 students and Grade 3 & 4 Choir, will be hosting their Christmas Concert. ***

Dress Rehearsal Times

Grade 1 - 10:00am

Grade 2 and Grade 3 & 4 Choir - 1:30pm

Evening Performance

Grade 1 Students - 6:00pm-7:00pm

Grade 2 Students and Grade 3 & 4 Choir - 7:00pm-8:00pm

Upcoming Dates

December 3                          Grade 3 Field Trip - Arts Commons - Charlotte's Web Performance

December 11                         FUN LUNCH - Little Caesers

December 12                        Grades 1 & 2 Christmas Concert 

December 16-20                   Festive Week

December 19                        Holiday Pajama Day

December 23-January 3     Winter Break - NO SCHOOL

For more information visit our website and Teacher Blogs

MTS Traditional Calendar 2024-25.pdf 

Unfortunately, I have been out of the classroom since last Friday with a low back strain.

Ms. Moghe was covering for me this week. From what she has told me, it sounds as if the week went well with the students in her care. :)

The students created their own paper-art monsters this week and practiced using descriptive language to write about their creations. These will be shared with you at the upcoming parent-teacher conferences.

They also did some Metis dot art with their Grade 4 Buddies both last Friday and today. They listened to an Indigenous story called Trudi's Rock and designed their own special rock using this art form.

In Math, the students continued to practice different strategies to solve addition and subtraction questions - number lines, fingers, simple pictures, counting on, and counting back. They also continued to develop their understanding of patterns this week by identifying the core of various types of patterns, labeling, and extending given patterns.

In Social Studies, students completed a picture of their family and used family member words to label their picture. We will begin to share what activities our families enjoy doing through writing next week. I will also be asking each student to share a family winter celebration tradition with the class in the next couple of weeks. Please watch for a note that will provide more information about this activity.

You can sign up for a Parent-Teacher Conference with me beginning tomorrow morning.  Information about sign-up was sent in an email by the office this week. I look forward to sharing your child's work and speaking about their progress with you either Thursday night or Friday morning.

The Book Fair will be going on in the library both Thursday and Friday. I will be taking the students to view the Fair on Tuesday and they may come home with a wish list. Students can make purchases on Thursday during our regularly scheduled library time. We will not be having library book exchange next week.

This week we continued our focus on the four digraphs from last week; ch, sh, th, and ck. Our focus letters were L and V.

We have started to learn about the Grandfather Teaching of Respect. The buffalo represents Respect in these Indigenous Teachings. We will be learning more about this animal and its symbolism and significance to Indigenous people when we return from Fall Break.

We read The Peace Book by Todd Parr this week as a tie-in to Remembrance Day. We shared some of the things we do that make us feel peaceful. The students wrote a sentence and drew a picture about this in their Visual Journals.

Many children shared photos of their family this week and we had the chance to learn about the people they live with as well as some pets. I love seeing how proud the students are to introduce their family members to one another! If your child has not had a chance to share a photo yet, please email me one or send in a print next week. We will be drawing family portraits next Thursday!

In Math this week, we continued to practice solving basic addition and subtraction equations as well as word problems. We also used an online activity called "Splat!" to practice our number sense skills. 

This week in Math we also returned to working on pattern work. The students identified the core of various patterns and labeled the patterns using A,B,C. For example the pattern, ?$$@?$$@?$$@ has the core ?$$@ and we would label it ABBC.

In Gym, the students have been practicing many lacrosse skills and tricks. Their eye-hand coordination is really improving and they love the challenge of the tricks!

I hope everyone enjoys a relaxing Fall Break. Please remember to return library books next Thursday when we return. See you then! :)

We had a busy and fun-filled week. I'm sure your child was tired by the end of today. The school had a quiet, relaxed feel to it this morning after the excitement of yesterday!

Our focus sight words this week were "was" and "my" and our focus letter was J.

In Math, we reviewed and practiced representing numbers 1-20 in tally marks with a monster-themed  Around the Room activity. We continued to work on writing addition and subtraction number sentences (equations) to represent oral word problems and practiced using fingers, simple drawings, and number lines to solve these equations.

We practiced counting by 10s to 100 as well as counting by 2s and 5s to 40 daily.

In Writing, we continue to work on sentence writing and using our letter/sound skills to spell words. We have been focusing our attention on listening for the sounds "sh", "ch", "th", and "ck" in words and identifying these digraphs in printed words.

Here is a Which One Doesn't Belong Halloween-themed picture we worked with this week. You may be interested to see which one your child chooses. Please ask them to explain their thinking to you.

In Science, we learned what the word "investigation" means and we did a pumpkin investigation together. We also did a "Dissolving Candy Corn" experiment. We put 2 candy corns in each of the following liquids: cooking oil, dish soap, warm water, vinegar, and carbonated water. Ask your child which liquid dissolved the candy the quickest. Before we started the experiment the students wrote their hypothesis. We learned that a hypothesis is only a guess/prediction and it does not matter whether it is correct or not.

We also read the book "Ada Twist the Scientist" and learned the importance of curiosity, creative thinking, and experimenting.

On Halloween, we heard a fun story called "Room on the Broom" and did a sequencing activity to demonstrate our understanding of the story's order of events and our memory for details.

Today, we worked on a beautiful poppy art piece with our buddies. These will be displayed outside the Gym next week when we observe Remembrance Day. We will be having an assembly on Thursday, November 7 at 10:45 am. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Family Photo

Next week, as part of our Social Studies curriculum, we will be starting to talk about families. If possible, please send a print of a family photo you have of your immediate family or you can email this to me at jllarmer@cbe.ab.ca. Each child will have the opportunity to introduce their family to the class.

Fall Break

A friendly reminder that there will be no school Friday, November 8 due to a Professional Development Day and no school Monday, November 11 - Wednesday, November 13 due to our Fall Break. School resumes Thursday, November 14th.

Enjoy your weekend. Stay warm! :)