Friday, November 29, 2019

Good afternoon!

Today in Peace Pod we stayed indoors and enjoyed some time in Ignite, exchanging our Home Reading, building with Big Blue Blocks and other engaging centres.  We found a comfortable spot and spent some time reading quietly and then had a chance to share our books with a friend.  

Next, Mr. W and Mr. Mccambly introduced a Word work game where rolled dice and built words using what we know about beginning word blends.

During Wonder Time today we read "Franklin gets lost" and students shared their personal experiences of a time when they might have been lost.   Through our Pod discussion, we recognized that landmarks and maps are important for finding our way.  After looking at a variety of maps, students were given the challenge "How might we create a map to help you find EHS if you got lost?".  Students were given a piece of graph to create a map of Tuscany thinking about our community landmarks. Their maps were so thoughtful and creative!

Reminders:

Dec 5/19 - Field trip form for Ralph Klein Park are due for Summer and Winter (Autumn forms will be coming home soon).  If you would like to volunteer, please email your classroom teacher.

Dec 6/19 - Professional Development Day - NO SCHOOL

Stay Warm!

Peace Pod

 
 

Thursday November 28, 2019

Reminder: If your child has received a field trip form already for Ralph Klein Park from Mrs. Bates and Ms. Disher, they are due back by December 6th.   Mr. Kai's group isn't going until Dec. 16th and so his student forms will be going home in the next few days.

Ask your child about the drawing we did with Mr. Kelly during our Fine Arts time.

Ask your child about the story The Wish Tree read by Mrs. Kinsman.  Each student got a "tree cookie" learning to count the rings on a tree. 

We worked on our building things science unit and math unit on 2D shapes and 3D objects.  We started drawing 3D objects, 2 dimensionally in our visual journals in preparation for our final building project.

Below is a link to some more math games we have been doing with 2D shapes and 3D objects.

https://www.themeasuredmom.com/2d-3d-shape-games/

From The Peace Pod
Have a great day!

Wednesday, November 27

Literacy, Landmarks, and Shapes! Oh my! 

Today we switched things up a little bit and moved our Math block to the morning. In fact, we had Math right after we'd cleaned up from Ignite. During this time, we continued our investigation of 3D objects. We're learning about the different attributes that 3D object have, ways that we can sort them, and whether or not they can roll, slide, or be stacked. 

After Math, we ate our snacks inside while we listened to stories because the weather was quite chilly. We also got our wiggles out by dancing to some music. 

Following that, we continued our lesson on letter formation. This time, we colour-coded all the lowercase letters based on whether they fit within the page lines, go above them, or hang below. 

After lunch, we had our normal literacy centres where we read to self, read to a buddy, or read with a teacher. Ask your child about the book their reading with their teacher! 

At about an hour past noon, we began our Inquiry lesson. Our student teachers had a planning activity organized for us. We broke into groups of four and divvied up the four large landmarks of our Tuscany area between each other. Then we identified the 2D shapes and 3D objects that can be found in each building. We also wrote down why each building is important to our community. Finally, we decided on what materials we'd like to use to build our structures. Soon comes the building phase! 

To finish off the day, we had Phys. Ed. with Mr. Der. 

Important Reminders 

Field Trip forms were sent home with students in Summer and Winter. Look for them in your child's knapsack! Autumn forms will be sent out shortly. 

Tuesday November 26, 2019

Ask your child about Roots of Empathy and gym today. 

We worked hard in our guided reading groups, literacy groups and practicing our read to self and read to someone.

Some of us finished the word work we started yesterday.  See below...

Many of us were excited about the change in routine...no mindfulness this afternoon, instead going straight into a community walk.  We set out with I-pads to explore the community and the buildings/landmarks important to our community such as Sobeys, the Fire Hall, The Tuscany Club and our school.  We took lots of pictures of the 2D shapes and 3D objects we found.  Our fantastic student teachers are compiling all the photos taken by students.  We got back to the school mid afternoon to warm up and talk about some of the buildings and shapes/objects we saw.  Next, we worked on building a 3D representation of a house using what we saw on our walk.  We did this with a partner that was assigned to us.  We were looking for 3 things during the building process...

We are now looking for volunteers to join us on the following dates for our trip to Ralph Klein Park:
Dec. 10th Mrs. Bates' group
Dec. 12th Mrs. Disher's group
Dec. 16th Mr. Kai's group
If you can volunteer, please email your child's homeroom teacher.  Thanks so much!

Below are some more photos of our day...

At conferences, some parents asked if we could post some of the math games we have been playing.  Below is one of the games you can play for place value.  There are 3 versions of the game board you can download.  See the link below...
https://www.themeasuredmom.com/free-place-value-games-for-k-2/

Have a great night!
The Peace Pod

Monday, November 25

It's Monday. We're back at it!

We hope you all enjoyed your long weekend! After Ignite, we engaged in our reading groups. We're all getting really good at focusing on our books during read-to-self time! Following that, we went outside for a body break and enjoyed the mild winter weather. It was then time to work on our Word Work. Our letters today were E-N-P-T-S. How many words can you make? To finish off the morning, we had Music with Mrs. Coulson.
After lunch, we did some relaxing yoga for Mindfulness. During Inquiry, we continued our Tuscany landmark building drawings and had a great discussion about how these buildings contribute to our community. Then we broke into our Math groups where we continued our investigation into 3D objects. We're learning about the attributes of 3D objects! You know what they say, the only thing to sphere is sphere itself. Once Math was done, it was time for Phys. Ed. and Math Games.

Important Notices

• We're going on a Community Walk tomorrow afternoon. Dress for the weather!

For all Parents - A Message from the Office:

To ensure all Parents/Guardians are up-to date on all messages sent out, we would like families to know if you are not receiving weekly school emails like our Connect Monday, please click on the following link: http://calgary.ss11.sharpschool.com/cbe_subscribe and add the email that is listed in your child's account to subscribe to receive these emails. It is important that all parents are subscribed to ensure  all families have current, important information regarding the school. 

If you are a parent or guardian who has already subscribed and are still not receiving school emails emails, please email moshabbir@cbe.ab.ca at the office and she will investigate and figure out how to fix the issues.  

• 
  

  Thanks so much!

  
  

  Lorraine Kinsman, Principal

Friday, November 25, 2019

Thank you to all of the families who came to Student Led Conferences.  It was wonderful to see students share their work so enthusiastically and for Teachers to connect with Parents.

Next week we hope to do a Community Walk on Tuesday (Nov 26th), immediately following lunch.  Please ensure your child is dressed appropriately for an extended period of walking outside.
If you would like to join us, please get in touch with your child's homeroom teacher.

Enjoy your weekend!

Peace Pod

Wednesday November 20, 2019

Just a quick reminder that there is no regular school on Friday due to student-led conferences.  If you have not booked a conference yet, there are still spots available.  Please come with your child to conferences as they will be leading you through learning tasks.

Today we had the Book Truck and reminded students to change their home reading if need be.  We continued with our guided reading books, read to self and buddy reading. 

In Math and Inquiry we continued our work with 2D shapes and 3D objects.  We are learning to describe and compare 3D objects.  Ask your child if they can tell you something that is the same and different about a cube and cone (hint: a cube has faces that are square and a cone does not have any square faces, both a cube and cone have some flat faces).  During Inquiry we are learning to build structures using 3D objects and 2D shapes.

Here is more of what we did today...enjoy!

Have a great day and see you at conferences!
The Peace Pod

Tuesday November 19, 2019

Today in Math we worked on the 2D shape and 3D object outcomes.  In Ms. Disher's math group we worked on understanding 3D objects that roll, stack and slide.  We looked closer at what it means for 3D objects to stack versus balance.  Other math groups also explored 3D objects (hint: vertices, edges, faces).

During our Inquiry time, we put what we have been learning about shapes and objects into a design challenge: build a skyscraper or the tallest building you can.  Kids worked on the following identified statement: I can make 3D objects using marshmallows and toothpicks.  The challenge was even more challenging since they were given only 50 marshmallows and 30 toothpicks.  Kids got right to work designing and using the mathematical concepts/terms they have been learning about:

Have a great night and drive safe!
The Peace Pod

Monday, November 18

It's Monday! 

Beginning of a new week, beginning of new learning〜

Today we began our literacy centres and reading groups. Many students practiced their reading to self and reading to a buddy while others worked in small focus groups. After our reading groups, we practiced writing by interviewing our classroom EA, Mrs. Mabley, and recording her answers.
Before lunch, we did some word work and sang during our music class.
After lunch, we had Math where we continued our Shapes & Space studies. We've moved on from 2D  shapes and are now looking at 3D objects. During Inquiry, we built landmark buildings from around Tuscany using large foam blocks, Lego, or sticks and joiners. It was lots of fun and good practice for what's to come. To end the day, we played math games and enojoyed some physical activities with Mr. Der.

Important Notices 

• If you have any 2019 Winter Order Forms orders, those are due back by November 20th. 

• For all Parents - A Message from the Office: To ensure all Parents/Guardians are up-to date on all messages sent out, we would like families to know if you are not receiving weekly school emails like our Connect Monday, please click on the following link: http://calgary.ss11.sharpschool.com/cbe_subscribe and add the email that is listed in your child's account to subscribe to receive these emails. It is important that all parents are subscribed to ensure  all families have current, important information regarding the school.         If you are a parent or guardian who has already subscribed and are still not receiving school emails emails, please email moshabbir@cbe.ab.ca at the office and she will investigate and figure out how to fix the issues.   Thanks so much!    Lorraine Kinsman, Principal

Friday November 15, 2019

Today we had our first Wonder Time.  Wonder Time was organized into pods and will be again for our second Wonder Time later in the month.  Our focus was on ideation: learning to generate ideas.  This is just one piece of the Design Thinking Process: Discovery/Empathy, Defining the Problem, Ideation, Prototyping and Testing.  The Design Thinking Process incorporates all subject areas.  Kids are engaging in literacy, math, science and so on.  Our design challenge that we used to learn about and practice ideation was: How might we design our classroom to share our learning with our families.  We engaged in a sequence of activities to build/generate our ideas:
1. We read the story Iggy Peck The Architect
2.  Think like an architect for the following challenge, you are the designers/builders
3.  Present the design challenge (see above)
4.  Talk Time: in a small group, talk about and share your ideas for this challenge.
5.  Narrow down what we would like to share (each group pick one of their ideas to share with the large group).
6.  After the large group share, engage in more talk time with your group to refine ideas.
7.  Share more ideas as a large group.
8. In your group: pick one of your ideas or "steal" an idea that was shared.
9. Create a map with your group on the paper provided.

Today we also worked on our community maps for our community project.  Ask your child what they put on their heart maps. 

 Ask your child about 2D shapes and 3D objects (hint: names and describing words)

We will be going to Ralph Klein Park.  More details to come.  See below for the dates:
Mrs. Bates - December 10th
Ms. Disher - December 12th
Mr. Kai - December 16th

From the Peace Pod
Have a great weekend!