Friday, March 22nd

Hello Families!

Thank you to everyone who was able to come to our student - led conferences!  Everyone was so excited to show off their work and progress in learning this year.  We could not be prouder of all our learners!

 
Important Dates:

March 25th - April 1st - Spring Break - No School
April 2nd - Classes Resume

April 12th - Our Peace Assembly (time TBD) - Families welcome!

April 19th - Non - Instructional Day - No School

*Once you have had an opportunity to look at your child's work in their blue communication folder, please sign the math rubric and return it with the folder.  

Our Learning:

Literacy:

• We have been practicing our descriptive writing techniques by viewing a picture prompt and then using that as a spring board for writing.  It has been so interesting to see how all our writing and ideas can be so different when all looking at the same picture. 
• We worked through our writers' workshop this week to plan and draft 'how to' instructions of something we know alot about or are really interested in.  We have now added revising to our writing each week.  
• This has helped us as we are working towards our writing goals.  Ask your child what they goal is. 
• In reading, we are continuing to build our skills and working on reading with fluency in our targeted literacy groups. 

Math:

• In grade 2, we have been engaging in math talks to build our mental math strategies and ability explain our mathematical thinking. 
• We played math games to strengthen our addition and subtractions strategies, such as making ten, doubles, doubles +1, using addition for subtraction, adding by rearranging and using related subtraction facts. 
• As we have built a keen understanding of mental math strategies, we will be moving into adding and subtracting two digit numbers.
• In grade1, we worked on balancing equations and building our understanding of equality and inequality.  (Ex. 3 +1 = 2+2)
• We used the pan balances to investigate equality with cubes.  See pictures below. 

Inquiry:

• Mrs. Day's class had an incredible time at the Telus Spark Science Centre on Tuesday.  We were able to use our engineering skills to build with a variety of materials and explore all the exhibits. Can you believe that some of us drank out of a toliet?!  Thank you so much for our parent volunteers, without you this trip would not have been possible.
• As both classes have experienced the trip, ask your child what their favourite part was. 
• Back in the classroom, we learned about the Spring Equinox that happened on March 19th.  We watched a video created by the Indigenous Education team, where Elder Saa'kokoto talked about how after a season of rest, the land comes to life with new growth, movement and sounds. 
• We are now discussing signs of spring and the changes that living things make during this time...now if only it started to look like spring outside.

Friday, March 15

 Hello Families! 

Some important dates:

Tuesday March 19 - Telus Spark field trip with Mrs. Day's class. 

Thursday March 21 - First round of conferences from 4:30 pm - 7:30 pm. 

Friday March 22 - Second round of conferences from 8:30 am - 12:00 pm.

A friendly reminder that Mrs. Day's class will be heading to Telus Spark on Tuesday March 19th. The bus will depart at 8:35am so parent volunteers, please be sure to be here before then! Make sure your child has appropriate foot wear, a nut-free snack, and a water bottle.

Another reminder that you may book for conferences next week. The conference manager will open tomorrow March 16 at 8am.

Also, here is a message from our librarian Ms. Carde regarding our book fair happening next week! 

Our learning: 

Literacy: 

• During our literacy groups, we are continuing to practice reading with more fluency and expression. 
• We also had chance to read more about the characters in our novels and described the character's personality traits in our journals.
• We also have been doing some word work to strengthen our spelling by understanding how to add inflected endings such as an "ing" to words.
• In writing, we learned how to revise and edit our "How To Be" writing on our favourite arctic animal using a 3-2-1 checklist. We used a variety of strategies to improve our writing by fixing spelling, punctuation, using more descriptive words and writing interesting sentences. Most of us even began and completed our good copy! 
• We also picked at least one writing goal that we will work on to improve our writing skills.

Math: 

• In grade 1, we introduced symmetry and discussed how 2 halves make a whole. We used real world examples such pizza and cake to better understand how we would equally share with others. 
• Next week, we will dive back to into practicing more addition and subtraction to make our math skills even stronger. 
• We also did some fun Esti-Mystery games to strengthen our understanding of estimating numbers by observing items in a jar. 
• In grade 2, we continued to practice subtraction through addition strategies, estimating, and problem solving.
• This week we also learned what Pi Day is all about! 

Inquiry: 

• After a lot of research on our favourite arctic animal, this week we began to create our art piece for the animal we chose to write about. We watched guided videos to help us draw our animal and painted a background that matches to wear the arctic animal lives. Next week, we will complete our art piece!
• On Friday, we had the opportunity to go on a Coulee Walk to inquire about and connect with nature.  We became investigators and searched for and observed any bodies of water we saw and used our senses to hear the animals that live near us, feel the fresh air, and see what lives around us (see pictures below of us on the walk).

Friday, March 8th

Hello Families! 

Important Dates:

March 11th - Mrs. Khan's class to Telus Spark (all day)
March 19th - Mrs. Day's class to Telus Spark (all day)

March 21st - Student Led Conferences (evening)

March 22nd - Student Led Conferences - No school
March 25th - April 1st - Spring Break - No School

April 2nd - Classes Resume

Important Information:

A friendly reminder that Mrs. Khan's is going to the Telus Spark Science Centre on Monday. The bus is leaving right at 8:35am, so please be on time for that day.  They will need to be dressed for the weather, appropriate footwear, a nut- free lunch and snack as well as a bottle of water. 

Please sign up for Student Led Conferences on Mach 21st or 22nd.  This will be a chance for your child to show you all their hard work and the progressions they have made!  

We are planning going a Coulee Walk next Friday the 15th.  We will need two parent volunteers to join us.  It will probably be very wet so, if possible, have your child wear boots and waterproof pants. 

Our learning:

Literacy:

• We have dived right back into our targeted literacy groups where we are focusing on reading with greater automaticity and fluency.  We are also working on adding expression to our reading. 
• Ask your child what they did this week in their group.
• In writing, we are continuing to strengthen our abilities of writing instructions.  
• This week we wrote about "how to be kind" and we have picked an animal from our inquiry work to write about how to be a specific animal.  
• During our daily literacy tasks we are also practicing our heart words (words that we need to know by heart) 

Math:

• In grade 1, we practiced subtraction through a variety of strategies, such as using a number line, counting forward and backwards, and using our understanding of part part whole to show the relationship between the numbers.
• Next week we will discuss how two halves equal a whole and introduce money. 
• In grade 2, we are building our mental math strategies and learned how to add and subtract by re- arranging and using subtraction for addition.  
  
• Next week we will move into using these strategies to problem solve and will start 2 - digit addition and subtraction.
• We are also learning how to balance equations (ex. 4 + 3 = 6 + 1)

Inquiry:

• We learned how to use books to research an animal that we had previously discussed during our prairie and arctic communities inquiry.  (see pictures below of us researching)
• Ask your child what animal they researched and some facts they may have discovered. 
• In science, we are beginning to learn about bodies of water and had an opportunity to write what they know, wonder and any questions they might have. 
• In social studies, we are moving towards learning about coastal communities and started by colouring a map of the different regions of Canada. 
• We are also learning about Ramadan and the various traditions that happen during this time.  

Friday, March. 1st

Hello Families! 

Important Dates: 

March 11th - Mrs. Khan's class to Telus Spark (all day)

March 19th - Mrs. Day class to Telus Spark (all day) 

March 25th - April 1st - Spring Break (No School) 

A friendly reminder that Mrs. Khan's class field trip forms need to be filled out and handed in by March 6th. Mrs. Day's class will be getting the field trip forms next week. 

Our learning: 

Literacy: 

• This week we learned how to be expert writers by engaging in 'how to' writing. We practiced this by adding pro tip words to our writing. 
• We read a story called "How to Be" by Lisa Brown which discussed how to be a certain animal. 
• This week we also added 2 new centres within our Daily 6 rounds: Listen to reading and word work.
• Listen to reading gave us the opportunity to explore new books on Epic and we also got to enhance our spelling through some fun word work games.
• Ask your child what new centre they enjoyed this week. 

Math: 

• In grade 1, we introduced the part part whole strategy to understand how numbers can be broken down to make a whole number. 
• We have also worked on using this strategy to make connections to subtraction through daily number talks and a variety of group and independent activities. 
• In grade 2, we are strengthening our understanding of addition by adding numbers to 10.
• We have also been working on the strategy of adding doubles +1 and doubles -1. 
• Ask your child to show you the different strategies they have learned!

Inquiry: 

• During our science inquiry with Mrs. Khan, we learned about the importance of taking care of the environment and the different ways to be kind to nature. 
• We read a book by the Lorax and learned that recycling, not wasting water, saving electricity avoiding littering are some of the eco-friendly choices we will make in our daily lives to keep our Earth healthy. 
• In our social inquiry with Mrs. Day, we read a book called "A Promise is a Promise" by Robert Munsch which talks about keeping ourselves safe when we encounter dangerous situations. For example, walking near ice! We learned that it's important to not ignore warnings from our adults so that we can do a better job at keeping ourselves and others safe.