Busy Weeks Ahead!!

Well I hope you and your families are enjoying the beautiful spring weather that we are finally experiencing! We are in for a few busy weeks ahead! Here are some important dates and events for the upcoming weeks.

May 29- Morning Field Trip to the Aboriginal Learning Center. We will be leaving the school around 8:30 am and will return at lunch time. Students can bring a hat and a water bottle in their backpacks as some of our morning will be spent outside if the weather is nice.

June 2- Grade 2 Assembly!!- We will be presenting some of our learning in a school-wide assembly on Friday morning at 8:30 am. Parents are welcome to attend. We will also be presenting in the afternoon again for the volunteer appreciation at 1:30. If you volunteered this year for field trips etc. then you can choose to attend either as the content is the same for both.

June 12- Swimming starts!

This week will be busy busy busy preparing and practicing for our assembly. When we are not rehearsing we will continue to work on these concepts below:

Science 

The past few weeks have been full of buoyancy experiments and discussions. Students have been learning how the shape of an object can affect its ability to float or sink. Our class has discussed the different purposes boats can have and the what the differences are between the variety of boats (and their names)- and there are many! We will also be taking an in depth look at the importance of using waterproof materials when building boats before we start designing and building our own. Student are fascinated with the Titanic ship and it's connection to Canada. Many students were previously aware of the tragic story of the Titanic but they were surprised to learn that it sank off the coast of Nova Scotia. We will continue to study everything from canoes and kayaks to military aircraft carriers as we get closer to building boats of our own. Also if you have any materials at home that you would like to donate to creating our boats it would be greatly appreciated! The school is continuing to also collect reusable items for our Makerspace/Project centre so if you have any items like toilet paper rolls, bubble wrap, tin foil, cardboard, ribbon, elastics, etc etc. they will be happily received at the school.  

Reading

The class has explored many informative books about the Titanic and other boats, which is a great way for them to practice their non-fiction reading strategies. Students have been using photographs with their accompanying captions to examine artifacts and historical pictures. Many questions arise as the kids read the texts and they practice using the index, table of contents and headings to try to find the answers to each others wonderings. We will continue to learn more about these strategies and work to understand new vocabulary concepts through scientific inquiry and our work in Social Studies. 

Math

We have been working with our 2 digit addition and subtraction through the book Alexander who was rich last sunday book. 

He is the same Alexander from "Alexanders and the terrible, very bad, no good day. Students love him because he is so relatable. In this book, Alexander gets $1.00 from his grandparents and tries to save it to buy himself these walkie talkies that he really wants but he keeps spending (or losing) his money. With this book as a springboard, we have discussed loonies, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies (even though we don't use them anymore they are a good representative of ones for place value). The class is exploring different ways that they can combine coins to equal 100 cents and practicing their understanding of 10's to help them add and subtract efficiently. We will do a few more problems around adding and subtracting using money (and different amounts) this week before moving into measurement. It would be great practice for students to use coins at home to count and then express/explain using addition or subtraction sentences. 

Mismatch Day and Popcorn Day

Just a reminder that tomorrow is mismatch day- you can wear mismatched outfits, a backwards shirt, or inside out clothes!

It is also Toonie Popcorn treat day- bring in $2 to buy popcorn to support our school fundraising!!

Also we are headed on another field trip in June so we sent home that form today (it's orange). We are sorry for so many forms in such a short time! The end of May and June are going to be very busy for us in Grade 2!!

Stampede Breakfast on Friday

Hi everyone- We would love it if you are available to join us this Friday morning for our first ever Stampede breakfast. Students are to come into the school at 8:00 am as usual for attendance and we will head outside as a whole class and can connect with parents and siblings outside. Everyone is welcome but you just have to meet us outside at 8:15. As far as I know if there are rain/weather complications we will still go ahead with the breakfast but it will be on rotation in the gym. We hope to see you there!

You should have received several forms today, I know it seems like a lot at once but you have some time to return them. We will be going on a half day field trip to the Aboriginal Learning Centre on May 29 and are in need of some volunteers. Please let me know if you are available to help out and you have a police clearance. Swimming lessons are also upcoming- June 12-20, we need to let the pool know what our various swim levels and numbers are so that they can plan accordingly for their instructors. Please return the forms when you get a chance to fill them out. Thanks!

May 1

What an awesome day we had today! We had a very special guest, magician Steve Harmer. The students absolutely loved him. His show Brilliant and Resilient included many amazing tricks like a rabbit appearing, a table floating, and some interesting string and card tricks. Along with the magic tricks, Steve taught us some valuable life lessons and shared the 7 C's with us to improve ourselves. Ask your child what they remember about being Resilient and Brilliant.

Thank you for all the donations for building supplies for our Insulators. Students have been planning their devices. They have sketches and material lists prepared for the build session. We will be building on Tuesday and Wednesday if needed and testing our devices with ice cubes or hot water on Thursday this week. We want to see how long our insulating devices can keep the heat from transferring.

On May 3- it's hats ON for Mental Health so everyone is encouraged to wear a hat to school. They can be funky crazy hats, toques or just regular ball caps- any hat is fine.

If you are planning on ordering book orders, they are due this Thursday, May 4th.

Students are doing a great job of bringing back their home reading books. If students want to keep their books for a few days, that is totally fine. However, they do have the option of changing their books daily if need be. If you are noticing that the book level they are bringing home is too tough or too easy, please send a note in the bag and I can try to make sure to find texts that suit the student the best.

Hot and Cold Insulating Project

We are creating an insulating device to keep ice cool or tea warm as a culminating activity for our Hot and Cold Temperatures unit.  We are hoping we could have students bring in any items below that you have available for our classes to use:

·      cotton balls

·      tinfoil

·      fabric

·      newspaper

·      wax paper

·      solo cups

·      feathers

Please send any items that you can share to school by this Wednesday so that we can start this fun project!

Thank you,

Mrs. Sayani

Mrs. Stewart

Mrs. Jordan

We need your vote!!

There was a problem with the system for voting on the Hitmen Hockey Restoration Grant so if you've already voted we need you to do it again and tell everyone you know!  They have restarted and set the votes to 0.   Please share with everyone you know and ask them to vote for us (parents, grandparents, friends, Facebook, twitter ....). Voting will now go until May 1st!

The winner will be the video that has the most votes so click on this link and vote, vote, vote 

http://hitmenhockey.com/community-restoration-program-voting

Thank you everyone for your support.  We have the chance to win 50,000 towards building our playground!! You can vote on multiple devices (ie. Ipad, phone, computer, etc.) and you can vote 4 times per day per device!!


Students were also excited today for the return of Denise Miller, our guest speaker who is an amazing storyteller of Metis and other Aboriginal stories. The class was especially pleased that they recognized the format of many of her stories about animals. Kids noticed that she was telling Pourquoi tales! We sang some songs with her as she drummed along. There was some incorporation of Social Studies and Science concepts, such as how early people of Canada lived and what elements are necessary for creating fire.  Students were so entertained and seemed mesmerized with her funny and unique stories. I think it will definitely help them when they are writing and telling their own stories to know what really helps engage the audience. Ask your child what they remember about her visit and if they can describe why the Coyote howls?

Upcoming Info

In honour of the Calgary Flames starting their playoff run tomorrow (April 13) we will be having a fun Red/Black spirit day. Students are encouraged to wear the colours red and black or Flames gear if they would like to but it certainly isn't mandatory. Tomorrow is also Learning Commons Book Exchange day so please remember to bring your books. Home reading books can also be brought back and switched.

Also a reminder that there is no school for students this Friday, April 14th (Good Friday-Stat holiday) or Monday, April 17th which will be the day we are having student-led conferences. If you haven't signed up yet for a block of time, you can go to your MyCbe account and select a time that is convenient for you. We can arrange a separate meeting another day if this date/time doesn't work for you, please just email me at ljstewart@cbe.ab.ca to make alternative arrangements.

Lastly a notice went home today to vote for our school as a finalist for the Calgary Hitmen Hockey grant. We are one of the 3 finalists and the winner is awarded $50,000 for the playground. Please vote for us and spread the word to everyone you know to do the same!

Home Reading Has Started!!

Dear Parents, 

Today we are beginning our Home Reading Program!

Here is how it works:

·       Each day your child will be bringing home their home reading bag with their leveled reading book and a time tree.

• Set aside a convenient and quiet time each evening when you and your child can read and discuss the book together.  
• After reading for 15 minutes, please fill in the “Time Tree” and return the book to school the following day (Even if you aren't done to encourage the habit).
•   Once your child has read for 465 minutes, he/she will 4 Calgary Flames Player cards (from the program- Reading, Give it a shot”) There are 24 to collect in total.  Please keep the time tree at home and return it when it is completed.
• The books that the children are bringing home are chosen according to their reading level. It is important to read the book several times so that your child is familiar with the vocabulary.  At school we suggest reading it 3 times: 1 for reading/problem solving new words, 2 for fluency (how smooth they read) and 3 for understanding.
• You may keep it for a day but please return it to school, as your child will be reading it at Daily 5 Time.  If your child would like to bring it home again, he or she will have the choice.   
• Please note that we have taken great care and time in preparing these books to be ready for your children.  

I hope that you enjoy spending time reading with your child and please be patient with your child and make this reading time fun for your child.  Next week, we will send home some comprehension cards that your child will use to help them gain a deeper understanding of their book.

Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions,

Lisa Stewart: ljstewart@cbe.ab.ca

April 9

I deeply apologize for the length of time in between blog posts. It sounded like everyone had a great Spring Break and we got right back into the swing of things this week! 

We continued to work on developing our story writing skills this week- specifically in "showing not telling". This means that students are learning how to describe using details that create images in the readers mind. For example, instead of saying "Bob was happy" a good writer would say "Bob skipped down the hall with a smile spread from ear to ear". We are also beginning to explore interesting ways to start a story to get the audience hooked in and wanting to keep reading. The 3 ways we are looking at are starting with a sound effect, an action, or by describing the setting/character. Students are applying these strategies as they write their Pourquoi story (the how or why an animal got its______). 

In Social Studies, students brainstormed thoughtful questions about how Inuit people lived in the past. The main topics of focus this week were Shelter, Clothing, and Food. Students had some basic background knowledge (from previous read aloud books) of how early aboriginal people of Canada utilized animals to meet their basic needs and that some Inuit used Igloos for shelter. I was impressed by the depth of some of the questions that students came up with to investigate. Here are just some of the questions that students asked and researched in a variety of books. 

 Shelter

-"If much of the snow melts in the spring and summer, did they still have igloos or did they have to use something else for shelter?"

-"How did they get the snow and ice to stay up on the top of the igloo and not fall into the middle?"

-"If their house was built out of snow and ice, how did they stay warm?"

-"How did the Inuit keep animals from coming into their igloo?"

Clothing

-"what types of animal fur did the Inuit use most often? Did they use different animals for different articles of clothing?"

-"how long did it take to create their clothes and what tools did they have to sew with?"

-"How did they clean their clothes?"

Food

-"How did they hunt animals if they didn't have weapons back then?"

-"Did Inuit people cook the meat that they ate? How did they cook if there weren't trees there for firewood?"

-"If they couldn't plant anything because of the permafrost, did they ever eat any fruits and vegetables?"

Students did a great job of exploring non-fiction texts to try to find more information about these concepts. We looked at features in these texts that help narrow our focus when researching such as the index, table of contents, labels, and headings/subheadings. 

I will update where we are at in Math and Science later this week. Just a reminder that Student Led Conferences are coming up very soon- next Monday April 17th. There is no school for students that day and you are able to sign up for a block of time on conference manager now. The blocks of time go from 1:00 pm- 8:00 pm. These conferences will be the same as last time- up to 4 families may be in the room at a time and your child will show you some of the work they have been doing. If you would like to have a private conversation or if you are unable to meet on this day, we can set up an alternative time. Feel free to email or call me to arrange this. 

Merry Unbirthday Tomorrow!

So our class actually doesn't have any July, August, or September birthdays- however, in connection with the whole school Unbirthday acknowledgement we will celebrate everyones birthday tomorrow! All students can bring in a special snack treat for themselves to enjoy as a mini birthday celebration.

Another reminder about tomorrow nights special movie night- Trolls! Doors open at 6:15 and all donations will go to the playground fund. There will also be drinks and snacks for sale at the concession. It would be a great kickoff to Spring Break! No school from March 23-April 3

Rollerblading Fun and Upcoming Events

The students loved inline skating and did such a fantastic job!! Going into skating, we came up with 2 things that couldn't be said during the experience- "I can't do it" or "This is easy". I was so impressed with how students persevered and improved their skills over the 3 hours of skating. There were some pretty epic falls but students just got right back up, brushed themselves off, and kept going. Everyone was successful in being able to stand up on their own and glide. They also learned how to stop properly using their brake and fall as safely as they can. After watching the students for a day, I couldn't resist joining them skating for the last 2 days- after all I couldn't let them have all the fun! Mrs. Jordan's class and our class were joined up together on Friday.

In Math, students learned a new addition strategy- counting on with a number line. Many of them were familiar with counting on by 1's (as we used a similar strategy with the hundreds chart) but we tried to skip count on my 10's and 1's using the number line. For example if they were trying to calculate the equation 36+24 then they would draw a line and start it with the number 36. After that they could add 10 to get 46, another 10 to get 56 and then 4 more to 60. We will continue to practice this strategy as well as the others we have already learned, to add 2 digit numbers up to 100. 

For writing, students are working through their plans for their pourquoi stories- they have now decided on their animal character, the setting (the landform in the arctic), the adaptation they are going to explain, and the problem in their story (what happened to their character). We will complete our entire plan this week and will hopefully have our beginnings done by Wednesday. 

In Social Studies, students have been asking some very interesting questions about how Inuit people lived in the arctic in the past. Some of the questions that were asked on Thursday and Friday were "How long did it take to make their jackets and clothing?" "What animal fur did they use for different items of clothing?" and "what fur kept them dry or the warmest?" Students began to explore resources to find some answers to their questions. We will also explore traditional food, shelter and language in the next few weeks. 

Reminder that this Thursday and Friday (March 23 and March 24) are professional development days so there is no school, and Spring Break goes from March 27-April 3. There is also a special movie night on Wednesday March 22. The movie Trolls will be playing with the donations going to building our school playground- it's recommended $10 per family which is a great deal! 

March 13-17

Inline skating starts on Wednesday this week! The students are so excited! Our inline skating times are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 9:15-10:15. If students have their own helmet (like bike helmet) they can bring them. All equipment including rollerblades, helmet, elbow pads and knee pads will be provided and are mandatory regardless of ability level.

Friday, March 17 is an early dismissal day so students will be dismissed at 11:30. It is also St. Patrick's day so students are encouraged but not required to wear green for this fun spirit day.

We will continue to explore the cold arctic and the Inuit people who live there. Students are learning about how both animals and humans survive the freezing winter temperatures and are beginning to understand how where you live impacts how you live. The kids have discovered that Polar Bears have 2 layers of fur, one that acts as waterproof type coating and another that has hollow tube hairs that store the heat inside. Other animals such as walrus', seals, and whales have thick layers of blubber that help . Students participated in a science experiment where they compared how cold cold water felt with their bare skin and with a blubber coating on their skin. They concluded that the blubber really did work as a protectant coating to keep them warm.

The class is focusing on writing Pourquoi stories about Arctic animals. We are writing a class story about how the Walrus got its long tusks and students are in the middle of planning their own story using a graphic organizer to ensure they complete all the required details.

We have started a new Math schedule. 2 days a week we will focus on learning new skills and develop our number sense, 1 day will be centers and math games to practice basic facts and increase logical reasoning, and 2 days will be spent working on a project that involves a variety of math problem solving tasks. The project is to plan a Birthday Party! We used the book Moira's Birthday by Robert Munsch to get us started. In this story, Moira ended up accidentally inviting her entire school to her birthday! This required a lot of cake and pizza.

In this project, students will not be inviting the whole school but will be going through the steps of organizing an imaginary party for a set number of people. Some students will be inviting smaller numbers (like just their family), some will invite a few friends and family and some students may invite their whole class. It is important that students are working with numbers that will challenge them but not be too difficult to build their knowledge and understanding. We started with creating their invitations and brainstormed what information is required on an invitation. Kids were amazed at how much math is a part of our everyday lives like dates, time, address' and phone numbers. Because it's an imaginary birthday party, we said that students could use their home address and phone numbers on their invitations to allow them to practice learning them. It also allowed us to have a great conversation about not sharing personal information like this online or with strangers. Next we will be brainstorming what supplies are required at a birthday party and start calculating the costs of supplies like plates, cups, napkins, etc.

Great Field Trip

It was a great morning down at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary! It was pretty chilly for our nature walk and we cut our time outside down because of the cold. I'm so proud of how well the kids did despite the wind chill- they were troopers! Many chickadees were very interested in what we were doing out there! Inside the sanctuary, students had the opportunity to learn about how animals have adaptations that help them to survive the elements. Hibernation, Migration and Adaptations were the key ideas discussed. The main building of Inglewood is full of interesting animal information and even has examples of these birds and animal bodies/replicas for students to see up close. In our program, the classes got to feel coyote and muskrat fur as well as examine bird skull replicas to identify differences in beaks based on what the bird uses its beak to do. I'm sure your child is tired tonight- field trips are so exciting but can be tiring!

Field Trip Tomorrow!

Don't forget... tomorrow is our 2nd field trip of the year to the Bird Sanctuary.  We are all so excited for the morning. We will be leaving the school right after 8:00 in order to get to the Bird Sanctuary in time, so please ensure that all students are on time tomorrow!

Here is the approximate schedule for the day:

½ of group at ‘Surviving the Seasons’ program ½ of group on ‘Nature Walk’	9:00 – 9:45 am
½ of group at ‘Surviving the Seasons’ program ½ of group on ‘Nature Walk’	9:45 – 10:30 am
Departure from Bird Sanctuary to School	10:45am
Arrive back at Ken Taylor School	11:15am

We will be outside for part of the morning on a walk of the sanctuary.  As the walk is an important part of our morning, we will still participate in it, but we will watch the temperature carefully and if it is too cold, we will cut our walk shorter.  Keeping this in mind, please ensure that students are dressed very warmly tomorrow with good boots, snow pants, mittens, hats etc.  

Great Week Ahead!

We have a great week of learning ahead of us! Please make sure that your child is dressed warm on Tuesday for our field trip to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. Half of the morning will be spent in a classroom on site and the other half (45 minutes) will be spent outside doing a nature walk. Because it's a half day trip we have to use the most of our time and we won't be able to take snacks to the bird sanctuary with us. Hopefully kids can have a big breakfast before they come to school to hold them over until lunch :) 

Wednesday March 8th is fun lunch if you were able to order it. 

Writing

In writing, we have been reading and learning about the story structure of "pourquoi tales". Pourquoi means 'why' in French and these stories typically attempt to explain why or how things are the way they are (such as animal traits or natural phenomenon like thunder or rainbows). Students are enjoying hearing stories like "How the tiger got its stripes" and "How the elephant got its long trunk". This week we will start crafting our own pourquoi stories about an animal of their choosing that lives in the arctic. They get to choose what animal feature/characteristic they would like to explain and imagine what that animal used to look like 'long ago'. While their stories will be fictional, they will also have an opportunity to research the actual scientific aspects of their animal's adaptation. 

Social Studies

We have finished up our focus on the diverse landscapes of our communities in Canada and will now be exploring the people, cultures, and traditions of an Inuit community, an Acadian community, and a Prairie community. To start we will focus primarily on the people that live up north in Nunavut. We are looking at what early life was like and how people survived the extremely cold winters and lived off the land and animals. Students are beginning to understand how important animals are to the Inuit culture and will be exploring how this culture honours and utilizes every element of the animals that sacrifice their lives for human survival. 

Science

We are jumping into our unit on Hot and Cold Temperatures and will be using our Social Studies topic of the Arctic to get started. Students will be excited to do an experiment this week to discover how marine arctic animals can stay warm. 

New Motto in our room

As we have been diving into 2 digit addition problems and discovering different strategies to calculate totals, there has been a lot of discussion about communicating our understanding. We have really been stressing that while getting the correct answer is important, it is the process that we want to focus on. Being able to prove/back up our calculations and communicate our thinking process is more important than just writing down the answer. As we discussed this idea- the class came up with a motto to help remind us of the importance of documenting our steps/thinking. Corbin helped synthesize our ideas into the statement "It's not just what you know, it's what you show that counts".

One reason that showing their work is important is that it helps me to identify what strategies they are comfortable with and where any misunderstandings are so that I can help students work through it. Also, when students make errors it is easier for them to go back and identify where they may have made a mistake to fix it up if they can see how they got there. When students document their steps it gives them visual support to explain or prove their calculations.

Give your child a double digit equation in which they need to combine numbers above 10 but below 50 together and see what they are able to show and share with you.

Upcoming Events + Info

We've already received many field trip forms back for next Tuesday March 7th field trip- if you haven't already returned the permission forms them please do so right away. If you do not wish for your child to join us on this experience, we will arrange for them to work in another classroom that morning. We will likely be outside for a large amount of time on our trip so please ensure your child is dressed appropriately for outdoor walking and weather. A big thank you as well to our 3 volunteers -Mrs. Dack (Eddie's mom), Mrs. Cottam (Scotty's mom)  and Mrs. Saran (Manav's Mom) for stepping forward to help out on this trip.

March 2- Learning commons book exchange
March 7- Field Trip to Inglewood bird sanctuary
March 8- Fun Lunch (please order online this week)
March 10- Inline skating starts
March 17- Early Dismissal

Adding with Base 10 and Expanded Notation

In the past few weeks students have been working hard to apply several addition strategies when adding two digit numbers. The first strategy involves using base 10 manipulatives (rods and units) to represent the 10's and the 1's. Once students have either built the numbers with blocks or drawn the pictures of them they combine the blocks together. They can start with the ones (units) and then combine the tens (rods). The part that is most confusing for students is knowing when to regroup their blocks. Students are learning that the highest digit that you can have in any place value is 9- if they have 10 or more then they need to regroup them and move them to the next column (10 units should become a rod).

Here is another picture that represents the process that we have been practicing- it also shows our other strategy which is using expanded notation to break the numbers apart in a very similar way to base 10. When we pull a number apart or break it apart we call it expanded notation. This way requires students to have a more abstract knowledge of numbers and can lead students towards using mental math to solve equations.

This example starts by adding the 10's first but I have been encouraging the students to start with the ones because if there is more than 10 ones they will have to regroup before adding the tens. You can have your child practice adding 2 digit numbers using these strategies at home. Some students require the physical blocks of tens and ones to work with so you could use a variety of creative counter tools that would represent the numbers like legos, beans, really anything that can be separated into piles of 10 and left over ones. Many students are able to draw the pictures of the rods and units and can record the problems symbolically. It is important that students are able to document and explain their thinking so that they can identify if they have made any mistakes and can also prove/back up their answer.

Field Trip Forms and 100th Day!

We are going on another field trip!! The grade 2's will be spending the morning (not the full day) at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary on March 7th. The forms went home with students today but we are asking that they be returned by Monday Feb. 27th so that we are well prepared for the trip. Students will leave first thing in the morning and will return to school for lunch that day. We are in need of volunteers once again to make sure that the appropriate supervision ratio is met. Please let me know if you have a police clearance and are interested in joining us. Once again we will need to have volunteers drive themselves and meet us at the Sanctuary as we don't have enough space on the bus to accommodate parents. 

Today was the 100th day of school for us and we had lots of fun with the number 100! We started our morning with a whooping 100 jumping jacks (I was going to let them stop after 75- we went in increments of 25 with breaks in between- but they insisted we keep going and rose to the challenge to complete 100!). We read the book 100 Hungry Ants and looked at how ants could be grouped in different ways to get to the picnic faster ie. 2 lines of 50, 4 lines of 25, 5 lines of 20, 10 lines of 10. Students did some brainstorming and free writing on "I could eat 100.... I could not eat 100...  as well as "I would like 100 ....". In the afternoon we played the game Race to 100. Students worked in partners to roll the dice and built their numbers. They had to practice adding by counting on and representing their number with base 10 blocks. It was an excellent opportunity for me to see which students are comfortable with the process of regrouping and adding numbers accurately. Thank you to Ryker, Scotty, Sara, Corbin, Fofo, Amaan for bringing in 100 little treasures from home to help us see what 100 really looks like in different items. We didn't finish doing our work with these items so I told the students that if they would still like to bring in more things (100 smaller items that could fit in a ziploc bag which I will provide) they can still bring them in tomorrow. 

The 100th day of school

Hopefully you are all having an excellent long weekend! Tuesday is the 100th day of school for us and we will be celebrating with different lessons around the number 100. It would be awesome if students could bring in a collection of 100 items that we can put into ziploc bags and display to compare what 100 looks like with different things. The students brainstormed a list on Wednesday of items that they could collect from around their house to bring in that weren't too big. They don't need to go buy anything and they were told that they need to ask permission first- items will be returned after a few weeks. They can bring them in whatever container or bag they can and I will transfer them into clear ziploc bags at school. Here are a few ideas they could bring- 100:  paperclips, chocolate chips, rubber bands, pennies, popcorn kernals, pieces of dog food or cereal, mini marshmellows, beads etc. Students are encouraged to count and recount to ensure they are accurate with their 100 items. If they are not able to bring anything that is ok- I will be bringing in quite a few items as well.

Valentines

List for valentines- You don't have to bring them if you don't want to but if you choose to participate in exchanging valentines, here is the official list (all students included!)

Aikam       Amaan     Arash     Ava
Corbin       Eddie       Ethan     Fofo
Hannah     Hayden    Malalai   Manav
Morgan     Mushfik   Peyton    Priscilla
Ryker        Sambit     Sara        Scotty
Sisi            Zahra


Box of Cards Fundraiser
Parent Council is just wrapping up the Big box of Cards fundraiser. Our class has already raised a great amount towards this fundraiser. A special thanks to Ryker and his family for selling a whopping 21 boxes of cards! Please return order forms and money by Wednesday, Feb. 15th and if you do not want to purchase the sample box your child brought home, please return the box to the school with all 33 cards included inside. Thanks so much for your support!!

Eek! Error

 I realized in my reformatting 3 names got cut off from our class list for valentines. My deepest apologies! Please also include:

Peyton, Priscilla, and Ryker

Valentines

Wow!!! What an amazing performance the students had on Friday! I am so proud of them. The celebration was quite long for them but they were troopers through the adult speeches. It was exciting for the students to be a part of it but it will be nice to get back to our regular scheduling. We do have 2 short weeks coming up though. Just a reminder there is no school on Thursday (Feb. 16) and Friday (Feb. 17) due to Teachers Convention and Monday (Feb. 18) because of Family Day.

If anyone would like to exchange valentines, we will have a time on Tuesday (Feb. 14th) to pass them out. It is completely optional, however, if students choose to deliver valentines please ensure that they give one to every student in the class. Here is a list of the names of students in our class:

Aikam                      Malalai
Amaan                     Manav
Arash                       Morgan
Ava                          Mushfik
Corbin                     Sambit
Eddie                       Sara
Ethan                       Scotty
Fofo                         Sisi
Hannah                    Zahra
Hayden

Amazing Performance and Practices!

Today was a super long day for the kids- we had many different rehearsals to ensure we all know our places and our jobs for tomorrow's big day! I was so impressed with the patience and effort that the class put forward today! Their dance was amazing!!! I think tomorrow will be even more exciting and fun filled and we will have many special guests attending the afternoon performance. Students will be wearing their special Ken Taylor t-shirts over their regular clothes but if they have long white t-shirts or white pants that they could also wear it will look really cool with the special effects!

Students were also very happy to be able to go outside again! They burned some energy in the snow at both recess and lunch. We managed to squeeze our book exchange into our morning as well so students have some new books to enjoy at home.

Grand Opening!!!

What a day!! We did some pretty exciting things today to prepare for our Grand Opening ceremony on Friday. The students got to have some fun as we created a whole school video and we had extra practice for our special performance. I spoke with many of you at conferences but just in case I didn't, we want to make sure that you know that our class will be performing a dance at the ceremony. Each student can have 2 tickets for their family members for the Friday 1:00 pm performance or parents are also welcome to come to Thursday afternoon's dress rehearsal. We just ask that if you are planning to attend that you reserve your 2 tickets through the link that was emailed out last week. There will be some special guests and dignitaries attending the event as well. It is a very exciting time for our school and a unique experience for the students and staff to participate in! We will spend a good chunk of this week exploring what our school acronym H.E.A.R.T really means.

What is Empathy?

Today we spent a lot of time talking about the word and concept of Empathy. We started by reading a great book called "Stand in my Shoes" where the main character Emily learns about empathy after her sister yells at her for bugging her while she is trying to study. Emily then tries to pay attention to the people around her throughout the day and works to make a positive difference for others.

We then talked about 5 steps that students could show empathy 

1. Watch and Listen (How is the person acting? What are they saying?)

2. Remember (When did you feel this same way?)

3. Imagine (How would you feel in this same situation?)

4. Ask (Find out how the person is doing? How are they feeling?)

5. Show you care (Let the person know you care by your actions and your words)

Students worked in groups to role play different scenarios and we discussed as a class how we could be both empathetic and helpful in these situations. We will continue to work on this tomorrow and upcoming weeks to help us support each other and identify feelings in others. 

Book Fair and Conferences

This week we have the Scholastic Book Fair at school! Students will have an opportunity on Wednesday morning to go and look at and hear about the books that will be for sale. Students can write down a few things they are interested in and the price. Then on Thursday students that bring money can visit the sale and buy items. It will also be open in the evening for the student-led conferences and on Friday morning as well. There are still quite a few spots available to come visit the classroom Thursday or Friday that you can sign up for online. Your child will share some of their recent learning with you!

We just finished up some beautiful art projects that students have created to represent various regions of Canada. They are also working on written pieces to describe what makes the Arctic, East Coast, and Prairie regions unique.

In math we learned a new game Mancala (it's actually a very old game that originated in Africa) that helps develop logic and spatial awareness- students love it! There are actually quite a few strategies that students are beginning to recognize as they play it more. This game is easy to recreate at home and your child is eager to show you how to play at our conferences!

Big Box of Cards

Every student brought home a big box of cards today- some had a hard time fitting them into their backpacks but I think most of them managed! . They are $33 each and you can send cash or cheque back to the school- if you do not want the box then please return the box with all of the cards still inside. If you would like to have additional boxes (if friends are family are interested in buying) just fill out the order form and include how many boxes you would like. The money raised will go directly back into the school!

Don't forget to sign up for Student led conferences next week (Thursday Feb. 2  evening, or Friday Feb. 3 morning). Just sign into your My CBE account and you should see conference manager listed in there. If you would like to arrange a meeting at a separate time just let me know.

Blizzard Soccer Day and Character Checks

Today we had a special guest today from the Blizzard Soccer Club. Each class had a chance to work with Andy in the gym learning some basic soccer skills. He gave every student a card that had the information for registering for outdoor soccer. It looks like registration starts in February.

As our school year goes on we continue to modify and improve things to work better for everyone. One area that we have fixed up a bit as a school is our Character Check. We have been working on developing "ambassadors" that show HEART to improve themselves and others' around them experiences around them. As a class we discussed examples of these characteristics and what they would look like and sound like. All kids (and adults) make mistakes in how we handle situations at times-  mistakes are how we learn. These character checks are reminders and learning opportunities for students to reflect on their choices and understand how their actions can impact others or themselves. The class has been really great so far and very few character checks have been needed. If your child brings one home please go through the back side with them and sign and return to the school. It is a way for us to document and communicate issues that have arisen as well as letting you know that we are working on these skills of problem solving, etc. Take a look at the school wide document we use. Ask your child to explain how they understand HEART- we will go deeper through these characteristics in Health throughout the year. We've also had many discussions about how  "making it right" might require more than an apology- as we know sometimes actions can be more meaningful than words.

January 23

What a fantastic day today! Students worked so hard on writing their good copies of their Nunavut land write ups. These will accompany their Arctic artwork on display for upcoming events at the school. In social studies we have been looking more specifically at the maritime provinces of Canada. The class has noted some key differences between Alberta, Nunavut and the Maritimes. Ask your child to describe what they have discovered so far in regards to the landforms, animals, and climate of these Atlantic provinces and how they compare to Alberta and Nunavut.

In Science, we continued to talk about the water cycle. Students watched first hand what happens to water when it is heated (by a kettle) and we discussed the concept of evaporation and steam. Everyone thought it was hilarious when they watched my glasses fog up but it also allowed them to better understand the process of condensation. We also held up a pot lid for the steam to condense on and students were surprised that the steam then turned back to liquid and started to drip back down like rain (which helped in our understanding of precipitation). With a partner, students looked through and read a variety of books on the water cycle and shared some of their interesting findings with the class. For example, Sarah shared that over 151 000 litres of water evaporated back up into the sky every year. Ethan noted that precipitation can come in the form of snow, sleet, rain, hail and fog.

Math was super enjoyable for the students today. We continued to work with place value using numbers up to 100. With a partner, students played Race to 100. This is a game they could even play at home (they would just need to draw pictures instead of using the manipulatives). One person rolls the dice and then gathers the units (ones) that would match. Next person does the same thing. Once a person has 10 or more units, they need to regroup them into a rod (tens). They learned that each place value can not have more than 9 as a digit. It took some practice but students really started to understand as they played. This element will be crucial when adding and subtracting numbers because the regrouping principle must be concretely understood before they can accurately do it in their head or as an algorithm. Here are some pictures of students at work:

Don't forget to sign up for the student led conferences on February 2nd and 3rd. There are spots for 4 families at a time and Thursday night is filling up fast! You can also schedule a time separately from that if you would like to discuss anything in a more private or uninterrupted way. If you would like to meet with me at a different time please email me at ljstewart@cbe.ab.ca and we can arrange a time.