Our focus words this week were: be, give, any, like, look.

This week in Science, we continued to learn about animals that hibernate, migrate, and adapt. We learned that animals can migrate on land, in the air, and in water. We also learned that animals who adapt to survive the cold months eat a lot of food in preparation for winter to increase their body fat. They often hide food in the fall to have food throughout the winter.

We read a book titled, Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner that taught us about many animals that stay under the snow in the winter and about the animals that continue to be active above the snow. Did you know that Wood Frogs' hearts and lungs shut down completely as they sleep in the mud in frozen ponds and lakes? Seventy percent of their body freezes and then thaws out again in the Spring!

We have started an art piece based on this book that shows where each animal stays during the Winter. I will post pictures of the completed work next Friday. 

In Math, we continue to practice strategies to help us with addition. This week, we focused primarily on counting on and using a number line to help us reach the sum of an equation.

Valentines Day Information

Your child is welcome to bring in Valentines' Day cards for each of their classmates, if they choose but CBE policy is that no candy can be attached to these cards. Also, please have your child sign only their name to the cards and simply leave the To:____________ section blank or write To: My friend. This makes the passing out of cards much quicker and easier. There are 24 children in our class.

Important Dates

No school Feb 15 and 16 - Teachers' Convention or Feb 19 - Family Day.

Report Cards

Report Cards will be released at the end of January to be viewed online. 

Please see the Grade 1 Curriculum Letter below for a synopsis of what has been covered in the different curricular areas this past term.

               Math:

My apologies for this late entry. I had to leave school right after our afternoon meeting yesterday and completely forgot to post this.

The sight words we focused on this week were: went, have, her, off. Please remember to look in your child's backpack for a word list each Monday.

The students completed a page in their winter booklet about activities people enjoy doing in the colder months. We also learned about hibernation, migration, and adaptation and the students worked in small groups to sort animal pictures into these three groups. We watched a short video about Arctic Foxes that showed how the fox uses its sharp sense of hearing to track where rodents are hiding under the snow. Once they determine where the rodents are, the fox does a big dive/pounce to catch their prey. We loved watching the fox in action!  Here is the link to view the video, if you wish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdTvYMlRO9g

In Math, we continue to develop our number skills and estimation skills by doing an Esti-Mystery each week. Here is a photo of this week's mystery. The answer is 37.

We also looked at the following photograph to determine and discuss which sign does not belong. There are many possible answers.  You may want to ask your child which one they would choose and can share your thinking with them as well. It is always interesting to hear the different perspectives. The students are becoming keen observers and can articulate their reasoning well. We have just started to learn how to effectively use a number line to help us reach the sum of an addition question.

The students did a lot of writing in their notebooks this week. They enjoy the opportunity to share their work during Author's Chair where a few students are randomly chosen to read their writing. This week they wrote about 4 or 5 things they did on the weekend and wrote sentences to describe a picture they were given of a boy and a girl in their backyard.

We have a new Music teacher named Mrs. Darr. The children had Music twice with her this week. 

Please return Home Reading books on Monday and library books by Tuesday.

I hope you all can find time to get outside and enjoy the warm(er) weather this weekend. Have fun! :)

Happy New Year everyone! It's hard to believe we've only been back 5 days. It's been a long but good week back. :)

This week's focus words were: has, want, said, from, are. 

You may have noticed that your child came home on Monday with a list of these words in their backpack. Please watch for a list each Monday. You may wish to copy these words onto slips of paper to use as flashcards for practice and review throughout the week. Looking for these words in the Home Reading and library books your child brings home, practicing reading and spelling them, and having your child put them into sentences goes a long way in making these sight words readily identifiable. 

This week we worked on writing a variety of sentences - both telling sentences and questioning sentences. Our focus remains on ensuring the sentence begins with an uppercase letter, ends with a period, question mark or exclamation mark, and that spaces are left between words. As the students build their sight word vocabulary and their ability to identify letter blends such as; th, sh, and ch, their ability to express their ideas through writing increases.

In Science, we have been learning about matter. This week we learned how matter can be manipulated through stretching, tearing, cutting, breaking, and twisting. By using a ball of playdough, the children experimented with these different forms of manipulation. Using the playdough, a pipe cleaner, googly eyes, and popsicle sticks, they were challenged to create a creature. After they sketched their creation into their journals, they had to manipulate the materials to create a second creature. We learned that although the structure could be changed, the base materials remained the same.

We watched a story on Youtube called Squirrel's New Year's Resolutions. We discussed that a resolution often means making a promise to ourselves and/or setting a goal for ourselves. The students each wrote about one thing they'd like to get better at this year and one thing they would like to learn. You may wish to ask your child to share their goals with you.

We had less than half the class in attendance today. For those who were here, we enjoyed getting together with our Grade 4 buddies to make beautiful snowflakes out of Q-tips. We watched a short video that explained how snow crystals are formed and we looked at some snowflakes that had been magnified to observe their beautiful and unique structures.

Please return Home Reading books on Monday and library books on Tuesday.

Please remember that Monday is a Professional Development Day for teachers and there will be no school for students. See you on Tuesday!

Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm! 

Well, we've made it to the holidays! :)

We enjoyed a busy week filled with many fun and festive activities including caroling, Festive Sweater Day, storytime with Dr. Slater with a special treat provided by our School Council - thank you! - and Pajama Day.

Today, we met up with our Buddies and played some Minute to Win It games organized by Mrs. Miller. The students had a great time working with their Grade 4 buddy to complete each fun challenge!

All of the teachers enjoyed a delicious lunch today also provided by our School Council. A huge thank you to all the parents involved in organizing this meal. It was a wonderful way for us to celebrate the start of the holidays together.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a restful and enjoyable holiday break.

I will see you back at school on Monday, January 8th.

Take care,

Jennifer Larmer :)

This week our focus words were: fish, wish, with, bath, much, such.

I am very impressed with the writing the students are beginning to do. They are keen to write sentences and are working hard to sound out words and reference texts in our classroom to help them express their ideas. Many of the students are eager to share their writing and illustrations during "Author's Chair". 

A big focus for us this week was making food together! Not only did we all participate in making a delicious soup yesterday but we also made bannock and butter. The children enjoyed the bannock and butter and all but a few hesitant vegetable eaters loved the soup! It was really nice to share these delicious treats together. I have included the recipes for the bannock and the butter below and have shared the link to the beautiful story, Stone Soup - definitely worth a read!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Avo5FJ250

Butter:

Pour 1 cup whipping cream and a pinch or two of salt into a small, tightly-lidded jar and shake vigorously for 15 - 20 minutes!

Bannock:

3 c all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp baking powder

1/4 c vegetable oil

1 1/2 c water

pinch salt

2 Tbsps granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees C

In a large bowl, mix flour, bkg pwdr, salt, water, and oil. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes. Let it rest for a minute, then spread out onto a cookie sheet to 1 inch thickness. Poke holes into it with a fork.

Bake for. 15 - 20 minutes until the bottom is golden when you lift the bread to take a peek.

In Gym, Mr. V had the students do a combination physical-creative activity where they had to run laps, collect pieces of equipment, and then work with their group of 4 to create a Christmas-themed "art piece". The creativity was awesome! :)

This week. we also met up with our Grade 4 Buddies to do some art. The students created beautiful winter trees using watercolour paints, watercolour paper, and Sharpies.

Of course, the highlights of our week were the two Christmas Celebration concerts on Wednesday. Thank you to all of you who were able to attend. Having a big audience to perform for is very exciting and it was great to share some holiday cheer with all of you.

We will not have book exchange at the library this week. Your child can return their book or they are welcome to keep it over the holidays. Please return Home Reading books, if you didn't do so on Friday.

Some fun and exciting events next week:

Monday - 9 am Christmas Caroling in the Gym

Tuesday - Festive Sweater Day

Wednesday - 1:15 pm Christmas Caroling in the Gym

Thursday - Pajama Day

Friday - Last day of school before our Christmas Break!

The Magic of Christmas Fundraiser   This holiday season, McKenzie Towne students and staff are encouraged to support The Magic of Christmas.  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 5th to Dec. 18th, please bring in new, unwrapped donation items (not food) and place them in the boxes located in the front foyer.  Please see the attached wish list for ideas of items to donate. For more information or to make a monetary donation, please visit https://www.themagicofchristmas.org/ Thanks for your support!

This week seemed very short to me as I was away for 2 out of the 4 days due to illness. I will do my best to summarize.

Our focus words this week were: did, sit, six, will, have, give, live. We also continued to practice reading and writing words that included the digraphs sh, ch, th, and wh.

In Science this week we learned about measuring weight and when and why we would need to weigh an object, food, person, or animal. Using scales, the students compared the weights of various classroom supplies such as an eraser, pencil sharpener, glue stick, etc., and had to determine which was heavier and which was lighter,

We also did a Candy Cane Dissolving Experiment to look at the changing nature of matter. We placed a candy cane in each of the following: warm water, cool water, and vinegar, and made predictions as to which one would dissolve the quickest. Unfortunately, I had to leave before we could review the results together but it was the warm water that dissolved the candy cane the quickest!

This week in Math we practiced Making Tens. We used the rainbow method below to help us see which pairs of numbers add up to ten and we practiced writing equations to represent pictures. We have also been practicing our doubles skills - 1+1, 2+2,...

In writing, the students wrote sentences based on a picture prompt they were given of a Christmas scene. The prompt also included vocabulary that they could include in their writing. For example: The girl has a red scarf.

Next Thursday, Dec. 14th is our Christmas Sharing Celebration and the students are very excited to perform for you. The sharings will be held in the West wing of the school at 8:15 and 1:15. It will be the same performance both times so please choose only one to attend.

On Wednesday, we will be making butter and bannock to have with our Stone Soup on Friday. Please see the orange note sent home on Thursday regarding Stone Soup. 

We will be sharing family Christmas/Winter Holiday traditions beginning the week of the 18th. Please watch for a letter that will come home with your child next week.

The Magic of Christmas Fundraiser

This holiday season, McKenzie Towne students and staff are encouraged to support The Magic of Christmas.  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 5th to Dec. 18th, please bring in new, unwrapped donation items (not food) and place them in the boxes located in the front foyer.  Please see the attached wish list for ideas of items to donate. For more information or to make a monetary donation, please visit https://www.themagicofchristmas.org/ I hope you are all staying healthy and that you enjoy a wonderful weekend in the snow! :)

Our focus this week was on short vowel u. Our words were: cut, nut, run, fun, sun.

The students had many opportunities to write this week and are continuing to do a great job at using their letter-sound knowledge to sound out words to the best of their ability as well as reference the room for words we have posted. It is exciting to see their eyes light up when they remember where they can go to find the word they want. I've had students looking through their reading books, at posters hung up in the classroom, and at our daily visual schedule. The students are definitely becoming resourceful!

We also continued to work at identifying the following digraphs/consonant blends at the beginning at end of words - sh, th, ch, and wh and did a fun word hunt in the classroom to find and sort many words containing these blends.

This week in Math we did some work identifying numbers as even and odd, worked to solve an open-ended word problem, and did an activity where the students worked with a ten frame and counters to come up with as many ways they could to make ten. They also learned how to write an addition equation to represent their findings.

Now that most of the students have shared their family photos with their classmates, we did a family portrait in the Visual Journal and the students wrote a sentence about the people in their family. I will include photos of the portraits in next week's blog.

Mrs. Carter told us about a fantastic live webcam set up on Grouse Mountain in Vancouver. The camera is set on a man-made "hibernation station" for two grizzly bears. We have thoroughly enjoyed checking in on these two throughout the week to see what hibernating bears really do all day! Here is the link for your viewing pleasure.  https://www.grousemountain.com/web-cams/bear-den-cam

This is what it looks like:

We met up with our Grade 4 buddies again this week and did a creative activity based on the book, This is Not a Box by Antoinette Portis. 

Each buddy group was challenged to take a given shape or line and transform it into something using their imaginations. Here are some examples:

** Important Christmas Sharing Information **

We have started practicing songs and a poem for our upcoming Grade 1 Christmas Sharing. We will be sharing a total of 4 songs and a poem. This sharing will happen at 8:15am and again at 1:15pm on Thursday, December 14th in the West Wing open space of our school. Grade 1 parents, grandparents, and all other family members are encouraged to join us for one of these performances! 

We did not have our regular book exchange at the library this week due to the Book Fair. We will be going again this Tuesday. 

Thank you to everyone who is returning Home Reading books each Friday. I will be sending home a game for you to play with your child this week to review and practice some of the CVC words we have been working with in class.

Please keep your eyes open for a letter regarding an upcoming class activity called Stone Soup. The letter will be sent home early next week.