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.