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! :)

This week's sight words were "are" and "his" and our focus letter was R.

We have also started to work with the digraphs (when two letters work together to make one sound) ch, th, and sh as well as ck. We have been practicing identifying these digraphs in words that we see in different texts as well as practicing writing words that begin and end with these sounds.

In Science, we learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin through books and videos and completed a small pumpkin booklet. Next week, we will do a pumpkin investigation and make predictions for how many seeds there are in our pumpkin, whether it will float or sink in a tub of water, and do some measuring of our pumpkin. We also started a pumpkin art piece on Thursday which we will complete on Monday.

In Math, we continue to practice counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s and have started to identify even and odd numbers. Here is a link to a catchy song we listened to all about counting by 2s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMQ89agGfrk Definitely worth a listen! :)

This week, the students also worked at identifying and filling in missing numbers on a variety of number lines up to 20. Many students continue to work at ensuring the correct orientation of their numbers. Numbers 3, 5, and 7 often get reversed. We have also started to use number lines to help us solve addition problems with sums up to 15.

Once a week, we work on an Esti-Mystery as a class. These are fantastic estimation challenges created by a fellow named Steve Wyborney that involve number work, the concepts of greater and less than, patterning, and more. See the photo below for an example.

HALLOWEEN at MTS

Halloween is on Thursday, October 31, students in K-4 can wear their costumes to school.  

A reminder to all participants to please leave any weapons or gory accessories that may go with your costume at home.  Costumes must be non-violent in nature (no guns, swords, fake blood). If a mask is part of their Halloween costume, we ask that students not wear the mask at school as it may be disruptive to student learning.  

Please do not send any treats with your child to share due to allergies and other medical concerns. 

Students will be participating in classroom-based Halloween-themed learning activities that are sure to be fun and engaging. 

Upcoming Dates

FRIDAY                     PD Day - NO SCHOOL

October 30                FUN LUNCH - Little Caesars Pizza

November 7              Remembrance Day Assembly - 10:30am

November 8              Non-Instructional Day - NO SCHOOL

November 11-13       FALL Break - NO SCHOOL

November 19            Picture Re-take Day

November 26            Grade 2 Field Trip to Sam Centre (Pynn/Thomson/Olson)

November 27            Grade 2 Field Trip to Sam Centre (Penford/Klasen) ** Make sure to cancel your FUNLUNCH Order

November 27            FUN LUNCH - SUBWAY

November 28            NO SCHOOL FOR KINDERGARTEN

November 29            NO SCHOOL FOR ALL STUDENTS

November 28 & 29    Parent/Teacher Conferences

 Our focus sight words this week were "her" and "by" and our focus letters were E and B.

This week, we began to write simple sentences using the sentence starter "I see...". I showed the students the following picture and they needed to write three sentences using an uppercase letter at the beginning and a period at the end. 

We talked about leaving spaces between words and using lowercase letters. The students referenced classroom posters and listened carefully for the letter sounds in words when completing their sentences.

We have started to work with number lines in Math. Zero the Hero brought us a fun Around the Room activity on Tuesday for our 30th day of school. The students had to look at a partial number line and determine which number was being covered by a pumpkin. We will continue to work with number lines up to 20 next week.

We have been practicing counting by 2s to 20 and by 5s to 50. We have also been working to solve simple word problems using addition. The students have been practicing their listening skills to draw simple pictures to aid in solving these problems. An example would be: I brought 5 cupcakes to my Grandma's birthday party. My cousin brought 4 cupcakes. How many cupcakes did we bring altogether? Practicing problems such as these while you are in the car, in a line-up at a store, or while hanging out at home is a great way to hone your child's skills while still having fun. All your child needs are their fingers to count on!

Our school will be doing a Winter Card fundraiser in the next few weeks. We spent a lot of time this week creating a beautiful winter art piece using paints and Sharpie markers. Here are a few samples of the work:

In Science, we continued to talk about how plants and animals change during Fall and we completed our Fall booklet. Next week, we will begin to learn about a pumpkin's life cycle and will do some investigations with a real pumpkin.

Gym classes have moved back inside now. The students have been working on underhand and overhand throwing with a lot of attention being given to body positioning and accuracy.

A friendly reminder to have your child return their library book by Wednesday each week. Also, there is no school next Friday as it is a Professional Development Day.

Enjoy your weekend! :)