Going on a Field Trip!

Who built this city anyways?? 

I mentioned to students today that we will be going on a field trip to the Glenbow Museum on January 11 which is quite soon after the break. We are just finalizing all the forms now but thought we would put the bug in your ear early. In order to go on this trip we will need quite a few volunteers so please let me know if you would like to attend and if you have a police clearance on file already (unfortunately it's too short of a window to just begin the police check for this trip but we have 2 more later in the year as well). Due to the cost of busses and the maximum capacity already being met by just the students and teachers, we are asking for parent volunteers to drive themselves down to the museum and meet us there.

Our trip to the museum will be focussing on the program:

Our Community Our People: Who Built Calgary

(Social Studies)

Who were the individuals that helped build our first communities? Whose ideas led to the creation of our unique city? Based in the Mavericks gallery, this program allows students to explore with artifact handling and photographs and discover the pioneering men and women who first settled the West and began building our great city ... Calgary!

Students will also have the opportunity to explore other exhibits in the museum with a guide. Please email me at ljstewart@cbe.ab.ca  if you are interested in volunteering for this trip. Thanks so much!!

Recent learning

Today's first carolling session went great! We will be having 2 more assemblies this week. Thursday at 1:00 pm and and Friday morning at 8:30 (our class is doing a dance at Friday's assembly as well). As the weather was a bit warmer today (not much but it's an improvement) the students were able to get outside for a shortened recess and a few minutes of running around outside at lunch time. Also in the mornings if it is above -20 the students will stay outside until 8:00 am, if there is an orange circle on the door then students can come on inside. It may cool down later this week again so we may not get out but please ensure that students have proper clothing to stay warm. I plan to have the students visit and dig through the lost and found tomorrow to make sure nothing belongs to them as the pile is growing and I believe that items unclaimed will be donated soon.

Just a reminder that Thursday is Red and Green day and Friday is Pajama Day.

In Science we did an experiment on how many drops of water could fill a penny before the surface tension would break- everyone had very low predictions. Most students observed that they could fit double digit drops on their penny and were very excited to see how big their miniscus bubble could get before overflowing. The average number of drops was around 30 but students found that the size of their drops and how high in the air they squeezed their eye dropper made an impact on how many drops could fit.

Our Scientific Process Documentation 

Here are some pictures of our experiment.

A few drops in 

Students worked in partners

They were all so captivated as they worked in partners!

Hello Parents / Guardians,

Here are just a few reminders before we break for Winter Break.

Weather

• Please ensure your child is dressed for the extreme temperatures (hats, mitts, boots, snow pants and warm jackets).  The students will have some outside time for recess when the temperature is warmer than -20c including windchill. 

Donations

• If you and your family have any children’s (G rated) DVD’s that you would be willing to donate for indoor lunch/recess, please send them to school on Monday.

• Christmas time is traditionally associated with a time of giving and sharing. In keeping with the spirit of Christmas, we will be running a Christmas hamper campaign from December 5th through to December 13th. During this time please send your cheques or cash donations to the school in a sealed envelope marked ‘Christmas Hampers’. We will be distributing gift cards from all funds collected to Evanston families who would appreciate a little extra during the holiday season.

Caroling

• Students at Ken Taylor School have been participating in a Creative Movement unit for the three weeks in December. Together we have learned about a variety of cultural celebrations and dances that are from around the world. Each class will have an opportunity to share what we have been learning during our Caroling Assemblies next week. Below is a list of dates and which class is performing when. We welcome parents and guests to come and share in the magic of the season with us.

• Tuesday, December 13 @ 9:30am 

• Pearson/Stewart
• Brar/Bakkan              

• Thursday, December 15 @ 1:00pm  (Red and Green Day)

• Hargreaves/Sayani
• PM Kindergarten  

• Friday, December 16 @ 8:30am (Pajama Day) 

• Carstairs/Witczak
• AM Kindergarten 
• Steckly/Fraser/Jordan 

Lost & Found

• We have accumulated many lost items in our lost and found.  Please take a moment with your child to make sure none of the items belong to you.  We will be donating any items left over after December 16^th.

Spirit Days

• We will be having 2 Spirit Days next week

• Thursday Dec 15^th Red and Green Day
• Friday Dec 16^th Pajama Day

Last Day of Classes

• Dec 16^th is our last day of classes before Winter Break.  Please note this is an EARLY DISMISSAL FRIDAY which means students will be done school at 11:30 and there will be NO PM Kindergarten that day.  Report Cards will be sent home on this day as well.

The Staff at Ken Taylor would like to wish your family a relaxing Winter Break.

Geesh! This cold snap is really harsh! It's been a tough week for the kids not being able to go outside but they've been really great about it. Luckily they still get gym time daily to let out some of their pent up energy! Tomorrow I'll likely need to do some more movement breaks then normal. With next week being the last week before break and the cold weather snap, their regular routines are a bit off.

Next week we have some fun winter/Christmas activities coming up. We will have some caroling in the gym as well as a few dance performances during each of these assemblies. Parents are definitely welcome to come be a part of/watch these sessions if you'd like. Our class is one of the lucky few who get to perform on 2 separate days. (Mrs. Buonomo says we are all stars!!) Students can bring Santa hats, reindeer antlers, snowman or elf themed accessories for caroling as well.

Tuesday, December 13 @ 9:30am  (Our class is doing a dance this session)

Thursday, December 15 @ 1:00pm 

Friday, December 16 @ 8:30am (Our class is doing a dance this session) 

We also have 2 spirit days next week. 

Thursday, Dec. 15-  red/green day 

Friday, Dec. 16- pajama day - also early dismissal day 

Solving Shoe Sale problem

We read a book called Centipede's 100 Shoes by Tony Ross about a little centipede who stubbed his toe and decided he needed to get shoes to protect his feet.

After having to spend most of the day tying his shoes he decides that maybe he doesn't want the shoes after all so he sells them to other bugs. He sells his shoes to 5 spiders, 4 beetles, 2 woodlice, 1 grasshopper and 2 worms. Our problem for the past 2 days has been to figure out if the author got the right combination of critters right to get rid of all 100 shoes. This allowed us a chance to 

I didn't give any specific procedures that students had to follow to solve the problem because I wanted to see what strategies they could attempt on their own. We laid out lots of manipulatives like blocks, hundreds charts, 10 frames, etc. and students went to work. They were allowed to work with a partner and some students even chose to do it in a small group as well.  

It was awesome to see how students approached the problem. Some used coloured blocks to represent the different animals and their legs, others used a hundreds chart to track their combinations. We will continue to work on this problem and I will attach some pictures of the process!

December 7

BRRRR!!!! Well we've definitely been hit with a wave of winter! On days that are -20 or colder, we have indoor procedures in the morning. This means that when your child comes to school all the doors will be open at 7:45 and students are invited to come into the school and go to their classrooms. It doesn't matter what door they come in so please use the one that is closest to you. A supervisor will be at the doors but they will also be unlocked for you to pull open and for kids to come in. Please if you are later than 8:00 am have your child go through the office doors as no one is at those doors to let students in after 8:00 am. On these days we also stay inside for recess and lunch. In the chance that it warms up and students are able to get a bit of fresh air and exercise, please make sure to have extra warm clothing like hats, mitts, boots, and snow-pants available. As a class we are working on strategies to help keep track of these extra items and keep them organized in our room. Let me know if your kids are missing items that I can help them look for in the lost and found.

In Social Studies, we have started looking at landforms and different types of landscapes across Canada. In completely coincidental timing, we have been looking at the territory of Nunavut this week. Haha! Students have discovered that right now our temperature is very similar to theirs and looking at pictures of the landscape draws a lot of similarities! Today we looked through books as well as pictures and used the thinking routine of "I see, I think, I wonder" in our journals. Students made many inferences based on the pictures such as "it must be cold because there is so much snow there". We also noticed that we didn't see trees or plants in the pictures. After some research we learned that there are few trees and plants because the climate is too cold. It was also identified that because it's mainly rock and ice, the plants don't have soil to grow in. We were excited to see some amazing pictures of icebergs, and snow covered mountains.

We will continue to look at the northern territory and will narrow our focus to the community of Iqaluit.


Parent Council is still looking for a few parents to volunteer as Parent Volunteer Coordinator for each classroom.  If you have received your CBE police clearance and this position would interest you please contact parent council at council's.kennethdtaylor@gmail.com .

On this same note, we will be going to the Glenbow Museum on January 11th for our first field trip. If you would like to volunteer, let me know. If you don't have a police clearance done yet- I believe you still have time. You can email me at ljstewart@cbe.ab.ca Thanks!