Thank You and Happy Holidays

I just wanted to thank you all so much for your support during this time. I am going to miss the children and our class so much, however I feel confident knowing they will be in Ms. Costello's hands. We have done an extensive transition together and this should minimize the amount of change for the class going into the new year. Ms. Costello will be continuing this blog, at the same web address going forward, so you will find updated information here in January. 

I hope you all have a very happy holiday!  

Miss Lobel

Friday December 14th

This week was terrific! We had our first field trip of the year. We learned all about the history of Alberta.

In Math we continued working on how to solve open-ended problems. 

In Social Studies we finished the video on The Great March, learning about how the North West Mounted Police arrived to Calgary.

We have been working very hard on our art projects and started making the door frames for our paintings. 

In Science we continued our flow charts of the life cycle of a plastic bottle. 

Today we read with our Kindergarten buddies and we taught them how to use browsing sticks in the library. 

Next Week's Spelling Pattern:

This pattern will start next week and continue after the break. 

Adding Suffixes Without Changing Spelling - You can add ed, er, or ing to some words without changing the spelling of the base words. 

For example:

clean + ed = cleaned 

wish + ing = wishing 

learn + er = learner 

sing + er = singer

Practice Words:

watching          checking          finishing          learner         bending  cleaned              sorted              missed            singer          guessed   teacher              walker         remembered    following        tossed    turning               wishing            landing          leading         catcher

Reminders:

Read-a-thon - The read-a-thon is now in progress. Students should gather sponsors and log their reading minutes from December 1st-31st. From January 1st-8th students should collect pledges from their sponsors. On January 10th students should return their Minute Recording Sheet, Sponsorship Form and collected money to the school in the provided envelope. 

Winter Concert - This year the winter concert will be on December 19th. The performance times are below. Please note that both the daytime and evening performances are for parents and families. The students will be watching the other classes perform during the dress rehearsal on Tuesday. 

Daytime: 

12:50pm-1:45pm:  Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2.

1:55pm- 2:55pm: Grade 3, Grade 4

Evening:

5:30pm-6:30pm: Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2

7:00pm-8:00pm:  Grade 3, Grade 4.

The Alex Donations - We are still collecting donations for the Alex Youth Center. We are collecting warm socks filled with hygienic products such as toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, lotion, body wash, soap, deodorant, hand sanitizer, nail clippers, mittens, etc. Please indicate if the sock is stuffed for a girl or boy. These will be donated to homeless youth in need. Donations are being accepted until December 19th.

Last Day of Term - The last day of this term is Friday, December 21st. Friday's regular school hours apply this day. 

Winter Weather Clothes - Please remember to have children bring snow pants and boots during the colder, wet season. The field can get very wet as snow melts. Extra socks in their backpack would be great as well.

Friday December 7th

This week in Math we continued working on problem solving. We worked on two problems in particular and discussed using different strategies to help solve them, such as drawing pictures, making a chart, and looking for patterns. Here are links to the problems, you may discuss them with your child and ask them to show you how they tried to solve them.  

Zios and Zepts

Fifteen Cards

In Social Studies we are focusing on the history of Alberta. We have learned about why the first newcomers started voyaging to Alberta, for the fur trade. We have been watching and analyzing a movie about the great march of the North West Mounted Police to Alberta. This is in preparation for our field trip to Fort Calgary next week. 

In Science we made a flow chart about the recycling cycle of a plastic bottle. Now we are in the middle of working on a flow chart of the entire lifecycle of a plastic bottle. This will include the source materials of how a bottle is made, how it is consumed and how it can be disposed of. This will help us see how much energy goes into one plastic bottle and the impact that this has on the environment.

We also got presented a cheque for $1000 for a grant from The Educational Partnership Foundation that will go towards our field trip to the OH Ranch in May. We were awarded this grant because of our work revamping the waste management system of our school and the positive impact that it will have on the environment. 

In Art we have began the sketching and painting phases of our project The Doors to My Imagination. 

Next Week's Spelling Pattern:

We will continue working on this pattern next week.

Silent Letters - Some words contain silent letters. We don't hear those sounds when we say the word.

Practice Words:

knuckle    comb     honest     island    numb   wrench 

exhibit     school    knock      ghost​    thumb    folk

doubt       lamb      chalk

Reminders:

Class Photo - Our class photo is going to be in the morning on December 11th, before we leave for the field trip. Please ensure your child is on time for school so they are included in the photo. 

Field Trip - On December 11th we will be going on our visit out of school field trip to Fort Calgary. As we will be rushed in the morning due to the class photo it is important that the children are all ready to for the field trip when they arrive at school. They will need a snack, lunch and full water bottle in their backpacks. They will also be bringing their indoor shoes with them. 

Read-a-thon - The read-a-thon is now in progress. Students should gather sponsors and log their reading minutes from December 1st-31st. From January 1st-8th students should collect pledges from their sponsors. On January 10th students should return their Minute Recording Sheet, Sponsorship Form and collected money to the school in the provided envelope. 

The Alex Donations - We are now collecting donations for the Alex Youth Center. We are collecting warm socks filled with hygienic products such as toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, lotion, body wash, soap, deodorant, hand sanitizer, nail clippers, mittens, etc. Please indicate if the sock is stuffed for a girl or boy. These will be donated to homeless youth in need. Donations are being accepted until December 19th. 

Winter Concert - This year the winter concert will be on December 19th. The performance times are below. 

Daytime: 

12:50pm-1:45pm:  Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2.

1:55pm- 2:55pm: Grade 3, Grade 4

Evening:

5:30pm-6:30pm: Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2

7:00pm-8:00pm:  Grade 3, Grade 4.

Last Day of Term - The last day of this term is Friday, December 21st. Friday's regular school hours apply this day. 

Winter Weather Clothes - Please remember to have children bring snow pants and boots during the colder, wet season. The field can get very wet as snow melts. Extra socks in their backpack would be great as well.

Friday November 30th

This week in Math we worked on another open-ended problem called Fifteen Cards. We learned how to try and use patterns to solve the problem. We also played games to practice mental math.

In Writing we self-assessed and peer-assessed our descriptive writing pieces. Then we edited our writing to add more of the 4 S's and improve our marks on the rubric. 

In Social Studies we are learning about the First Nations people and also about the newcomers. We learned that Europeans and Eastern Canadian people used to come to Alberta for the fur trade. We are preparing for our field trip to Fort Calgary. 

In Art this week we began to design a painting called The Door to My Imagination. We will be working on this for the next few weeks. 

Today we had an assembly to learn more about The Alex Centre. We can start bringing socks in now to donate to The Alex. We also learned about the Read-a-thon. It kicks off tomorrow! 

In Science we gave all the classes in the school compost bins and we did presentations to teach them how to use the bins properly. 

Next Week's Spelling Pattern:

Silent Letters - Some words contain silent letters. We don't hear those sounds when we say the word.

Practice Words:

knuckle    comb     honest     island    numb   wrench 

exhibit     school    knock      ghost​    thumb    folk

doubt       lamb      chalk

Reminders:

Read-a-thon - Our annual read-a-thon starts tomorrow, on December 1st. Students should gather sponsors and log their reading minutes from December 1st-31st. From January 1st-8th students should collect pledges from their sponsors. On January 10th students should return their Minute Recording Sheet, Sponsorship Form and collected money to the school in the provided envelope. 

The Alex Donations - We are now collecting donations for the Alex Youth Center. We are collecting warm socks filled with hygienic products such as toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, lotion, body wash, soap, deodorant, hand sanitizer, nail clippers, mittens, etc. Please indicate if the sock is stuffed for a girl or boy. These will be donated to homeless youth in need. On Friday November 30th we will have an assembly with more information. Donations are being accepted from November 26th-December 19th. 

No School December 7th - On Friday December 7th the teachers have a professional development day and students have no school.

Field Trip - On December 11th we will be going on our visit out of school field trip to Fort Calgary. Thank you to everyone who volunteered. 

  

Winter Concert - This year the winter concert will be on December 19th. The performance times are below. 

Daytime: 

12:50pm-1:45pm:  Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2.

1:55pm- 2:55pm: Grade 3, Grade 4

Evening:

5:30pm-6:30pm: Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2

7:00pm-8:00pm:  Grade 3, Grade 4.

Last Day of Term - The last day of this term is Friday, December 21st. Friday's regular school hours apply this day. 

Winter Weather Clothes - Please remember to have children bring snow pants and boots during the colder, wet season. The field can get very wet as snow melts. Extra socks in their backpack would be great as well.

Friday, November 23rd

Thank you to everyone who came in for parent teacher conferences this week. It was great to update you on your child's progress in Grade 4. 

This week we continued with descriptive writing. We wrote about a picture prompt of an enchanted land. To  prepared to wrote detail generating questions to generate ideas and we planned sensory words that could be included. 

We worked hard to finish our cardboard challenge indoor recess games. We hope you enjoyed looking at them! Next week we will focus on instruction writing to go along with these games.

In Science we finished our compost posters. We will be presenting them to all the classrooms in the school next week and implementing their compost bins. 

In Social Studies we have continued learning about the natural features of Alberta's regions. 

In Math we have been playing a variety of games to reinforce our mental math, addition and subtraction skills. 

Next Week's Spelling Pattern:

The Sound F - Since this week was busy and short we will be continuing this pattern next week.

The sound /f/ can be spelled in different ways. 

Practice Words:

Photo        Graph         laugh       cough       trophy        shelf    friend        enough       stiff           giraffe       nephew     

Reminders:

The Alex Donations - We are now collecting donations for the Alex Youth Center. We are collecting warm socks filled with hygienic products such as toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, lotion, body wash, soap, deodorant, hand sanitizer, etc. Please indicate if the sock is stuffed for a girl or boy. These will be donated to homeless youth in need. On Friday November 30th we will have an assembly with more information. Donations are being accepted from November 26th-December 19th. 

Field Trip - On December 11th we will be going on our visit out of school field trip to Fort Calgary. Thank you to everyone who volunteered. Field trip forms went home this week. Please fill them in and return them by Monday, November 26th. 

No School December 7th - On Friday December 7th the teachers have a professional development day and students have no school.  

Winter Concert - This year the winter concert will be on December 19th. The performance times are below. 

Daytime: 

12:50pm-1:45pm:  Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2.

1:55pm- 2:55pm: Grade 3, Grade 4

Evening:

5:30pm-6:30pm: Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2

7:00pm-8:00pm:  Grade 3, Grade 4.

Winter Weather Clothes - Please remember to have children bring snow pants and boots during the colder, wet season. The field can get very wet as snow melts. Extra socks in their backpack would be great as well.