My apologies for not posting a blog last week. I was attending an Early Childhood Teachers Conference in Edmonton from last Thursday evening until Saturday and completely forgot about my blog. I hope your child was able to tell you some of what we did last week if you were interested. :)

This week we focused on reading and spelling words that contain the vowel team "ai". Our daily Word Work words were: paint, braid, wait, and chain.

We worked on identifying the main characters and the setting of different stories during the week. We will continue to practice retelling the beginning, middle, and end of stories. Soon, we will begin to work in partner teams to create oral stories to share with the rest of the class. This storytelling will later transfer to writing simple stories.

In Math, I introduced the Canadian coins to the students. We listened to this catchy tune to learn the symbols that are on the coins and their values -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnZlAOSEmYQ. We did some addition problems using different groups of nickels and dimes.

On Thursday, we went on a community walk to the nearby Inukshuk Park to look for more signs of Spring. It's great to be able to take the students outside to enjoy some exercise and fresh air off the school grounds.

The students completed their Spring Booklets and will be bringing them home to share with you next week.

As our library will be getting painted next week we will not have our book exchange. Your child is welcome to keep their book from this week until Thursday, May 8.

Upcoming Field Trips

We will be going to the Zoo on Monday, May 26. Permission forms will be sent home in the next two weeks.

Our second trip will be to Heritage Park on Tuesday, June 10th. Please let me know if you are interested in volunteering for this trip. You will need a current Police Clearance for the CBE. Please contact me if you are interested.

Celebration of Learning - May 27

The Grade 1 classes will be having a short Celebration of Learning on Tuesday, May 27th. I will let you know of the confirmed time for this sharing next week.

Have a wonderful weekend!

This week, we continued to focus on words ending in double "l" such as full, pull, spill, and shell during Shared Reading and sentence writing.

In Math, we continued to learn about symmetry. The students were challenged to complete the symmetrical half of a different monster drawing this week. Once completed and coloured, they answered questions in writing about their monster's name, favourite colour, a special talent(superpower), etc. These colourful monsters now hang on the bulletin board outside our room.

We completed the first two pages of our Spring Booklet where the students drew clothing that is worn in Spring as well as activities people participate in during this season.

In Social Studies we began to learn about mapping. We drew and labeled a compass rose and learned about map keys (legends). The students created their own maps using common symbols for landmarks such as shools, hospitals, railroad tracks, police, and parks.

Today, we enjoyed our time with Hal Eaglesmith. He shared stories, teachings, and songs from his Indigenous culture. Many of the students expressed how much they liked listening to the drumming and the songs sung in his language. He is a very engaging speaker and we look forward to working with him more in the future. Please ask your child to share something they learned from him today.

A friendly reminder that there is no school tomorrow for Good Friday nor on Monday due to our Professional Development day.

I hope you all enjoy a wonderful Easter weekend. See you on Tuesday!

This week our Word Work focused on words ending in "all" such as: tall, fall, wall, small, etc.

The students continue to refer to the 5W questions to help them create interesting and detailed sentences when writing about their weekend activities, things they enjoy doing in Spring, and when writing about what they observe in a given photograph.

Next week, we will start to look at story structure. We will be using a model called Somebody, Wanted, But, Then, So, What to break down a story into the main characters, the problem, and the solution. This is our first step toward writing our own stories.

This week, the students started work on a Spring Booklet. We went on a community walk to the Pirate Park and observed many signs of Spring - new grass shoots and leaf buds, lots of bird activity, people gardening, etc. We will work to complete this booklet in the next two weeks.

In Math, we are learning about symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes. The students were challenged to fill in the missing half of a drawing of a monster and a butterfly. We discussed how this work requires close observation of shape, size, and details. We have also been looking for symmetrical shapes in our classroom and in clothing designs.

Everyone was excited to create a shared community using the Minecraft Education program with our Grade 4 Buddies yesterday. Each partner group built their own home and we discussed the challenges of building communities where people can live harmoniously and have their needs met.

We will be going on a field trip to the zoo on Monday, May 26th. I am sending an email to the four parents who expressed interest in volunteering. If, however, they are unavailable I would like to hear from others who may be interested in joining. You will need to have a Police Clearance to join us. Please let me know if you can come. Thank you!

Please see the note below from Mr. Van Sluys regarding Gym next week.

Next week, all PE classes will be held outside as our gymnasium is getting a fresh coat of paint. Please ensure your child comes to school dressed appropriately for the weather, including proper footwear for outdoor activity. We'll continue with fun, active lessons—rain or shine! Thank you for your support and flexibility.

A friendly reminder that there is no school Friday, April 18 due to Good Friday and no school Monday, April 21 due to a Professional Development day.

Our focus this week in Word Work was on the soft c sound in words ending in e. The focus words we used daily in our Shared Reading sentences were: face, race, rice, and dice.

In Math, we continue to hone our fact recall skills with Math Minutes twice a week. The students are given 15 addition facts to solve in one minute. We have been practicing our doubles facts as well as identifying numbers that we can add together to make ten. We will continue to do Math Minutes twice a week for the rest of the year. Next week, the students will be given 15 subtraction questions. The facts have a sum no larger than 10 for these timed "tests".

We continued to work on our Animal Movements booklets in Science and are close to having them complete. We have been focusing on animals that fly, hop, swim, walk, and climb.

It has been very interesting to observe our eagle family this week as the eaglets are growing and changing daily. They are beginning to grow their feathers and are much larger and stronger than they were prior to Spring Break. If you have not had a chance to see them yet, you can view them at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4-L2nfGcuE.

Today, the students worked on a torn paper art piece of an eagle. They had to tear small pieces of magazine photos and collage them to create this art. We will finish these next week. The finished one below was done by one of our Grade 4 buddies but the Grade 1's art will look very similar!

We continue to work with the 5 W questions (who, what, where, when, why as well as how) when writing sentences. This week, I gave the students the picture below and asked them to come up with an "I wonder" question for each "W". Please see some examples below.

It looks like we will have some great weather for at least the next few days. I hope you can all get out and soak in some sunshine. Enjoy! :)

This week's Word Work focus was on "Bossy e". The students learned that Bossy e will jump over the consonant in front of it to make the vowel say its name like in the words "tube" and "hide".

In Science, we started our "Book of Animal Movements". We brainstormed many ways animals can move and made our first page about 1 - 3 animals that swim. Each student could choose which animals they wanted to draw for this page. Our booklet will include 5 animals and their respective movements.

Everyone was excited to build a leprechaun this week. We discussed different features that might attract a leprechaun such as; gold coins, rainbows, signs that welcomed leprechauns, and/or advertised "Free Gold". Each trap needed to include a trap door or a one-way door and the students were encouraged to provide a soft landing for a leprechaun, should one fall through a trap door! :) Ladders, ropes, and ramps were built to allow the leprechauns to reach the pots of gold. We are anxious to see on Monday morning if anyone will have been lucky enough to catch a leprechaun and be granted three wishes! :)

In Math, we focused on data collection and graphing. We reviewed how to represent numbers using tally marks and to write sentences using "the most" and "the fewest" to describe the survey's data. The students also completed two Math Minutes, an exercise I plan to use twice a week for the next little bit to develop quick recall of basic addition and subtraction facts.

In Social Studies, we worked with vocabulary to describe a rural community and labeled a photograph of a rural scene. We will move on to mapping skills next week.

We celebrated "Pi Day" with our Buddies today. The students created bookmarks using a variety of circular stickers. They had to choose how many of the numbers in addition to 3.14 that they wanted to represent. Then they chose a coloured sticker for each number and represented Pi in an artistic manner on their bookmark.

Upcoming Dates

March 17                             Wear your Green for St. Patrick's Day

March 19                             Dress like your favourite character from a book

March 19                              Fun Lunch - Subway

March 20                              NO SCHOOL FOR KINDERGARTEN

March 21                              NO SCHOOL

March 20 & 21                     Parent/Teacher Conferences - ONLINE

March 24-28                        SPRING BREAK - NO SCHOOL

April 18                                Good Friday - NO SCHOOL

April 21                                Non-Instructional Day - NO SCHOOL

April 22                                Bow Habitat Station Field Trip - Sharma/Klasen

April 24                                Bow Habitat Station Field Trip - Holt/Pynn/Thomson

April 30                                Grade 3 & 4 students visit McKenzie Highlands School

April 30                                Fun Lunch - Little Caesars

This week we focused on words containing "or" for our daily Shared Reading and Word Work. We continue to work daily on sentence writing using picture prompts and questions. It is great to see the progress the students are making in their ability to come up with sentences that include good description and detail. We have also been practicing identifying mistakes in given sentences. The students are becoming good at identifying incorrect letter sizing, missing punctuation, and spelling errors.

In Math, we continue to build our addition and subtraction skills through daily word problems, worksheets, and games. The students practiced solving equations that used three addends such as 4+5+2. We also started to learn about surveys and graphing. We will continue to do this work next week. The students will be able to create their own surveys and will poll their classmates. They will keep track of answers by using tallies and will then graph their results.

This week, the eagles we observe via webcam had two eaglets. Their third eaglet is pipping and will most likely fully hatch in the next day or two. Please see last week's blog for a link to the webcam. We've been watching Jackie feed the two eaglets and it's been incredible to witness the precision with which she can pass small pieces of fish from her beak to their tiny mouths!

We did not have a chance to go on a community walk this week. We had hoped to go with our Buddies today but had to change our plans. I will take the students for a walk early next week.

Thank you to everyone who sent in a cereal or shoe box with your child this week for Leprechaun traps. We will begin work on the traps on Tuesday. I would like to have all boxes in by Monday. Thank you. :)

Online Parent/Teacher Conferences

With labour action by CUPE Local 40 members limiting access to CBE schools after hours, the decision has been made to move March parent/teacher conferences online.

Conferences will take place on Thursday March 20 and Friday March 21. Bookings will close on Thursday March 20 at 2:00pm.

On Saturday March 15 at 8:00am, please go to your CBE Account to book your conferences.

You will receive an email confirming your date and time and providing a Microsoft Teams link for your online conferences.

I hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend!

We continue to learn how to identify, read, and spell words containing r-controlled vowels. This week we focused on words with "er". Our focus words for Shared Reading were: tiger, water, paper, and germs.

In Math, we spent most of the week learning about 3D shapes. We identified these shapes/objects both in our classroom at in our homes. The students participated in games and activities that reviewed and reinforced the names of these objects. Next week, we will learn about the properties of the 3D shapes - whether they can stack, roll, and/or slide and we will touch on the terms "faces" and "vertices".

Here is a link to a song about the 3D shapes that the students enjoyed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cg-Uc556-Q 

Thank you to everyone who supported your child in completing the 3D Shape Hunt "homework" task I sent home this week. The students really enjoyed sharing some of the objects they found and we had a large variety of examples for each shape.

We have been keeping an eye on Jackie and Shadow - two eagles nesting in Southern California. The pair shares the responsibility of tending to their 3 eggs and we love getting a glimpse of the eggs when we can. "Pip Watch" begins this Saturday. This is when the eggs might begin to hatch. See information from The Friends of Big Bear Valley below. I have also included a link for the live webcam. if you'd like to take a look. I'd highly encourage taking a couple of minutes to check it out.

* Webcam link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4-L2nfGcuE

This Thursday, we spent a lot of time listening to stories, conversing, and writing/drawing about the importance of kindness, tolerance, and respect to mark Pink Shirt Day. A fantastic organization in the United States called Lifevest Inside made this video about the power of random acts of kindness. The students asked to watch it again as soon as it was finished. Many said they loved it! It's an excellent reminder of the impact a kind gesture can have. It is one of my favourite videos.

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

***With St. Patrick's Day approaching, the students are going to be challenged to plan and build their own "Leprechaun Trap". Each child will need to bring in their own shoe box or cereal box with which to make their trap. All other materials will be supplied by the school. Please have your child bring in their box this coming week so that construction can begin on Monday, March 10th. Please do not do any work on the trap at home.***

Now that the weather is warming, our playground area and field are becoming very wet and muddy. Please ensure your child comes to school with appropriate footwear and clothing. I would highly encourage you to pack either rain/splash pants and/or an extra pair of pants and socks as we do not have any extra clothing at school. Thanks for your support with this! :)

I hope to take the students on a community walk at some point next week to observe the many different components that make up a neighbourhood - homes, mailboxes, light standards, fire hydrants, etc. This will be weather dependent so your child should be prepared to go any day next week.

I hope you all enjoy a wonderful and relaxing weekend!