This week we worked with the digraphs "wh" and "ph". The "wh' work was review from a month or so ago as many students were not yet applying this learning into their written work. The work with "ph" was new. Our focus words were: graph, phone, what, when, and where.

We are expecting our duck eggs to begin hatching on Monday. It has been interesting to see some developments in the eggs recently, however, it is difficult for the students to see many of these small changes. The excitement will definitely rise once we see cracks in the eggs! Here is a recent photo of an egg when it was out over the light. The eyes and beak are becoming visible.

In Math this week we watched/listened to a book called One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab. The book focuses on representing different numbers using feet. A snail has one foot, a person has two feet, a crab has eight feet, etc. The students were challenged to represent given numbers using a combination of animals. It is always interesting to see all the different ways students approach these problems. We will continue this work next week.

In Science, we continued working with our unit on Movement. We discussed pathways of movement and did some line art to represent many of the different pathways including straight, curved, spirals, and zigzag.

We enjoyed a great day at the zoo on Thursday. A big thank you to the parent volunteers who joined us. We could not have gone without you! :) The students had lots of time to explore the zoo in small groups and our class participated in a one hour long program about polar bears and other arctic animals. We learned about seasonal and permanent ice and how seasonal ice impacts the ability of polar bears to travel between Churchill, Manitoba and the Arctic. The students were able to touch a number of biofacts including pelts of a polar bear, seal, and arctic fox.

A friendly reminder re: baby photos:

If you have not yet done so, please email me or send in a copy of a baby photo of your child by Monday, May 27 so that I can put together a "Who Am I?" photo board. The children will be challenged to match the baby photos with their classmates. This is part of our unit on Past and Present in Social Studies.

Library:

This coming Tuesday will be the last time the students will be able to exchange their library books this year. Please make sure all library books are returned by Tuesday, June 4. 

Our focus in Word Work this week was on words that end in "ng" and "nk". Our five words were trunk, thanks, thing, rang, and long.

We have been putting more of an emphasis on sentence conventions in our writing and have been practicing using our writing skills to identify and correct mistakes in sentences. The students are looking carefully for the proper use of uppercase letters, correct use of punctuation marks, and accurate spelling of high-frequency words.

In Math this week, the students were introduced to our Canadian currency - focusing on the coins. We learned a fun song about the coins called I've Got Canada in My Pocket. Here is a link to it should you want to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnZlAOSEmYQ.  The students learned how to identify the coins by their images and to give their value in cents and dollars.

Our bean seeds are growing fast and we have started to document their growth and changes in our "Bean Booklet". We will soon have many different plants to compare our bean plants to as we plant our indoor garden boxes next week.

In Social Studies, the students worked in groups of four to make close observations of 6 aerial photos of McKenzie Towne taken between 2003 and 2012. As a group, they were challenged to put the photos in chronological order. We discussed how not that long ago this area was farmland and looked at how changes were made bit by bit to develop it into the community it is today. 

Another little bit of homework...

**As we continue to talk about the past and present, I would like to ask that you send me a photo of your child from when they were a baby. You can email this to me if you like or send in a printed copy. I am going to put together a poster with all of the photos for a Guess Who's Who activity. I would like to have all photos in by Monday, May 27. Thank you for your help with this.**

Important Zoo Field Trip Information:

A friendly reminder that we are going on our field trip to the zoo next Thursday (May 23). Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to join us for the day. Please ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather and that they are wearing comfortable footwear as we will be doing a lot of walking. Please pack a lunch and two snacks and make sure your child has a water bottle.

Other School Events:

Walk or Ride Day to MTS

Starting this week, every Thursday is going to be a Walk or Ride Day. 

Each Thursday everyone at MTS is encouraged to get to school in an active way.  This could include walking, biking, scootering, skateboarding, anything to get to school in an active way! 

Students can store their bikes or scooters at the bike racks at the front of the school.  Hopefully they are nice and full this Thursday!

MTS BOOK FAIR

We will be hosting our third Book Fair of the year and it will be held on Thursday, May 23rd from 4pm-7pm. This is a unique event as ALL ITEMS are BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE!!!

PLEASE NOTE: Students will be given the opportunity to buy from the fair on Thursday May 23rd during the day but ONLY books will be available for purchase at that time.

Posters and Boutique items (Pens, erasers, journals) will be available from 4pm-7pm.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. McLean at tlmclean@cbe.ab.ca

This week we focused on the vowel combination "ai" and practiced reading and using "ai" words daily in our shared reading and writing. Our focus words were: plain, pail, sail, train, and chair.

We have been checking in on our eggs periodically (placing them over a light to get a glimpse at their development). We noticed some veins but no real structure as of yet. The eggs typically hatch after around 28 days so we have a way's to go yet! We are at Day 11 today.

We have been learning many interesting facts about ducks by reading books, watching videos, and consulting various websites. You may want to ask your child to tell you 2 or more facts they find interesting.

All of the students planted a bean seed today which they will observe over the next few weeks. We will also be planting a variety of vegetable seeds in our classroom's garden boxes and will be learning all about how seeds grow and the life cycle of plants.

In Math, we have been learning about balancing equations this week. This is when you have to come up with two equations that give the same sum or difference. For example, students will be given the problem 4+3 = 2+___.  Most students are now able to confidently balance equations but some are still finding this to be a challenging concept. Practicing this skill with your child at home would serve as good practice if you are able. :)

We listened to the Children's Treaty 7 Land Acknowledgment again this week - the students had been introduced to it back in the Fall. (Please see the link below). We then created our own classroom Land Acknowledgment. Having recently celebrated both the Spring Equinox and Earth Day, it seemed appropriate to spend time considering the land we live on, to show gratitude for the beautiful spaces, and to make promises to the natural world about how we will look after it for ourselves and all other living things. See our land acknowledgment below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VXhTLS9aS4

Today, we had a lot of fun with our Grade 4 buddies when we went outside and did a variety of relay races with our older friends. It was fantastic to get out into the warm, fresh air and enjoy exercising with them!

Please watch for forms being sent home on Monday regarding our upcoming zoo field trip. I am still in need of two volunteers. Please email me at jllarmer@cbe.ab.ca if you can join us. Thank you in advance!

A message from Mr. van Sluys:

Starting next week, every Thursday is going to be a Walk or Ride Day.  Each Thursday everyone at MTS is encouraged to get to school in an active way.  This could include walking, biking, scootering, skateboarding, anything to get to school in an active way!  Students can store their bikes or scooters at the bike racks at the front of the school.  Hopefully they are nice and full this Thursday!

A friendly reminder that there is no school next Friday due to a Professional Development Day nor the following Monday due to the May long weekend.

I hope all of you moms enjoy a wonderful Mother's Day and that everyone has a great weekend enjoying this fantastic weather.

It was quite the week weather-wise and we were all very grateful to see the sun shining and the green grass re-emerging today!  

This week we focused on ow and ou and continued to work with r-controlled vowels. Our focus words this week were: clown, town, brown, out,  shout.

We read a book called Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman this week and recorded the main character, what they were seeking/wanting in the story, what got in the way of them getting what they wanted, and how the problem was resolved. We use a method called, Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then, What, to focus on story elements. We will continue to use this method with more stories in the following weeks. We will also be starting to write our own stories soon.

Our duck eggs arrived and we have eight eggs in an incubator. We "candled" three of them this week to see how they are developing. I have attached a photo below. We began learning some interesting facts about ducks and have started recording this information in our "Duck Booklet".

We did an art piece of a male mallard duck today using oil pastels and paint. 

In Math, we continued to do some work with data collection and graphing as well as starting to learn how to add double-digit numbers without regrouping. 

The students were excited to share their pink page from interviewing an older family member. It was great to hear about favourite toys, games, and special memories and the students were proud to share these stories. I hope your child enjoyed learning a little about what it was like for their relative when they were 6 or 7 years old. If your child has not returned their sheet yet, please have them return it next week.

Volunteers Needed for Upcoming Field Trip

We are going to the Zoo for an all-day Field Trip on Thursday, May 23rd. I will need 5 volunteers for this trip. Please let me know if you can join us. You must have a current CBE Police Check done in order to participate. Please email me at jllarmer@cbe.ab.ca as soon as possible if you would like to come.

My apologies for not posting a blog last week. I realized that I had completely forgotten to do one when I logged onto this site just now.

For the past two weeks, we have been focusing on r-controlled vowels - ar, er, ir, or, and ur. The students have been reading texts that include many words with these vowels and we have been working on sounding out and spelling words containing these vowels.

I introduced symmetry this week in Math. The students have learned the terms symmetrical and a-symmetrical and we have been identifying shapes using these terms as well as making shapes with our bodies that are symmetrical and a-symmetrical.

We also did some work with data collection and graphing in Math. We used our "Math Carpet" (looks like a hundred chart) to collect data on various topics. The students were each given a block and were asked to place it in the column of their choice. For example, the question was "Which is your favourite sport?". Three choices were decided upon - soccer, baseball, and hockey. Once all the blocks were placed, two "data analysts" had a chance to tell us three things they each learned from the data collected.

In Social Studies, we have started to discuss the concepts of Past and Present. We sorted pictures of clothing, telephones, homes, vehicles, etc., and discussed how these items have changed over time. Please watch for a note coming home on Monday regarding a small homework assignment.

Monday was Earth Day. We recognized it by reading the book The Earth Book by Todd Parr and coming up with a long list of actions we can take to look after our planet. Each student wrote three promises they have for the Earth with regards to what they will do to care for it.

We completed our study of the 5 Senses by making a "Feeling Hand" that had objects representing the textures rough, smooth, bumpy, hard, and soft.

We are very excited to be welcoming duck eggs to ours and Mrs. Burch's classroom next week. We will be monitoring these eggs in an incubator until they are born and will then get to enjoy the ducklings for a few days before they are returned to a farm!

We enjoyed the great Spring weather this week and took advantage of the warmer temperatures to get outside a couple of times.

On Tuesday, our class and Mrs. Burch's class went on a community walk to the nearby "Pirate Park". On our ways there and back we stopped to look at some of the features of a neighbourhood. These included street signs, traffic signs, community mailboxes, crosswalks, etc. At the park, we had the students find their own spot to do a 2-minute sensory activity. We had them stand quietly to use their hearing, sight, smell, and sense of touch to explore the area around them. Afterward, they shared what they had observed in the silence. It was wonderful to experience 48 Grade 1 students being calm and observant in this environment! :) They also had a bit of time to play at this community playground.

This week in Math, we have been learning about 3D objects and have been starting to identify them in our classroom and school. Next week, the students will get to build some of these objects using toothpicks and marshmallows. We will begin to learn about faces, sides, and vertices.

The students have been working on completing a booklet about Spring. We have been discussing the clothing we wear, the activities people take part in during this season, as well as changes that are occurring in nature. We went for a walk around the field of our school on Wednesday to observe signs of Spring and were able to see leaf buds, new green grass, insects, mud, and snow that was melting.

We have also been focusing on the senses of taste and smell this week and did two activities to test these senses. Next week, we will focus on sight and hearing.

Looking ahead...

A friendly reminder that next Friday is a Professional Development Day and there will be NO school for students.

 I hope everyone enjoyed a good Spring Break. Let's hope that the true Spring shows its lovely face soon! :)

This week we focused on "Bossy e" and learned that a silent e at the end of one syllable words makes the vowel say its name. We have also been working with compound words to identify the two words that make up the compound word (examples: popcorn, firefly) and have started to find this type of word in various texts we read.

In Math, we spent some time reviewing 2-dimensional shapes in preparation for learning about 3D shapes (objects) next week. 

As Spring has "officially" begun, we started work on a Spring booklet where the students will write and draw about different aspects of the season such as; changes that occur for animals and plants, activities people take part in, clothing we wear, and the weather.

We also began learning about the five senses. We will be doing a smelling and a tasting activity next week. Please watch for a note coming home on Monday regarding the tasting activity. 

Today, we met up with our Buddies and heard a story about an eclipse. We also did an art activity to show what an eclipse looks like and came up with questions we have about solar eclipses. As per directions from the CBE, we will be keeping the students inside on Monday between 11:50 and 2pm due to the solar eclipse taking place that day.

As long as the forecast holds, Mrs. Burch and I plan to take the students for a community walk on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday to observe signs of Spring as well as elements of a neighbourhood - part of our Social Studies focus on communities. Please ensure your child has suitable walking shoes or boots on all three days. Thank you.