Friday, May 24

Hello Families!

Important Dates:

June 3rd - 6th - Coulee School *A Sign Up Genius was sent home through CBE messenger

We are planning on going to the Coulee on Monday (May 27th) afternoon and are still in need of one more parent volunteer to join us. Please email Mrs. Day if you are able to join us.  

Important Information:

Thank you to everyone who joined us on our Fun Run this morning!  We had a great time!

Please sign up for our volunteer tea!

Volunteer Tea Sign up:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScFdX1Jxfp0Alk4Cuz2BgYM8NZmfeefYvQ-CLqbeHLTAV9UUg/viewform

Our learning:

Literacy:

• We continued our learning about poetry and how to add alliterations to make our writing more interesting.  
• We then used that knowledge to create Thank You Poems to the Earth.  They were beautiful! 
• In writing, we also used a prompt to demonstrate our growth in writing this year.  We took time to plan and then wrote for 20 minutes.  Ask your child what the topics they were asked to write about (Hint: outside).

Math: 

• In grade one, we continued our learning around fractions and focused on one halves.  
• We then represented our understanding of fractions through an assessment to show what we know.  
• In grade two, we continued to build our understanding of inequality and equality by using equations to solve problems and represent equality.  
• Next week we are moving into learning about fractions.  

Inquiry:

• We continued our Mars and Earth comparison inquiry, where we created some Mars art and looked at the components of Earth.
• We discussed the May Cree Moon and discussed the changes that we have seen in the environment this month. Ask your child the name of the moon (hint: Leaf Budding Moon)
• In art, we spent time sketching and shading tree drawings that will become our Coulee school journal cover pages.  
• We also went to the kindergarten celebration of learning where they showed us their learning this year.  We also got to meet the ducks.  Please see the pictures below as the kindergarten learners were our teachers. 

Friday, May 17

Hello Families!

Important Dates:

May 20 - Victoria Day (no school)
June 3rd - 7th - Coulee School (we will be in the Coulee for at least some part of each day during this 

week)*

*A link for a sign up genius will be coming home for volunteers for this week. 

Our learning:

Literacy:

• We learned about contractions and completed a word sort to reinforce our knowledge about this concept as well as completing another making words out of a mystery word.  See how many words you can make out of the word "flowers"
•  We continued practicing our printing to ensure that our writing is clear to the reader.
• In writing, we learned about acrostic poems and worked with a partner to use the word spring to create a poem using double and triple school word sentences.  
• Later in the week, we created our own acrostic poem using the word flowers.  We examined a rubric to help us understand what success looks like, which included using single/double school words, connecting words to the topic, begin to use descriptive writing devices (ie. similes) as well and using proper finger spaces, punctuation and clear printing. 

Math:

• In grade two, we used our knowledge of 2-digit addition and subtraction to solve word problems.
• We are also strengthening our understanding of equality and inequality and used pan balance to balance equations. 
• In grade one, we have begun learning about fractions and the term one-half. 
  
• We are learning to recognize breaking shapes into different equal parts.  

Inquiry:

• We have begun a Mars inquiry!
• We have started by discussing the components of Earth.  Ask your child these different components.  We then watched videos on Mars and make a list of comparisons of what we have on Earth vs. what has been discovered on Mars. 
• We will continue next week asking ourselves Can we live on Mars?
• We had 14 Chrysalides change into butterflies!  We so enjoyed watching them change and grow, however yesterday we did need to release them into their true home in the wild. 
• We thanked them and said our goodbyes (there may have been a few tears) and released them in the field.  If you see any Painted Lady butterflies around your flowers, they might just be ours. 

Friday, May 10th

Hello Families!

Important Dates:

May 17 - Non Instructional Day (no school)
May 20 - Victoria Day (no school)

*Please keep in mind that we will need parent volunteers for Coulee school which will take place on the first week of June. 

Our learning:

Literacy:

• We are continuing to work on our word building, spelling and reading skills by completing word sorts involving word endings, as well as making words.  Ask you child what the mystery word was this week. (Hint: friendly)
• We also practiced our printing by copying sentences about butterflies and drawing a detailed picture to match.  
• As we are learning about the beginning, middle and endings of stories, we listened to the read aloud Jabari Jumps and used a graphic organizer to retell the story in our own words
• We are continuing to work through our Daily 5 tasks and practicing reading in our guided reading groups.  
• In writing, we have begun poetry!
• We listened to some poems and brainstormed what poems look like, sound like feel like and make us think about.  We came up with some very insightful ideas.  For example poetry sometimes makes us think about something old in a new way or inspires us to make a change. 
• During our writers' workshop, we then wrote our own poems about someone special in our lives. 

Math:

• In grade two, we learned how to subtract using the standard method (also known as the stacking method)
• We used this subtraction method to be able to subtract using regrouping.  ("More on top - that means stop.  If the numbers are the same - zero is your game.  More on the floor - go next door - borrow ten more.")
• In grade one, we are practiced subtraction with numbers to 20 strategies and used the Math Easily website and solved some subtracting puzzles. It is a free website so be sure to check it out at home.
• We also completed some problem solving tasks using our mathematical knowledge. 

Inquiry:

• Some of our caterpillars have turned into a chrysalis and now we are keeping on eye on them to see if/when they might change into butterflies.  
• We drew the life cycle of butterflies and learned how to draw a monarch butterfly.  (Ask your child what type of butterflies we have)
• We also learned how to give and use feedback to strengthen our illustrations. 
• As we have been learning about Nova Scotia, we read stories and looked at pictures to learn about lighthouses and their uses.  We then learned how to draw a lighthouse, where we took our time in adding details and different colours. 
• Today, we went outside and found a sit spot where we could connect with nature.  We then journaled about what we noticed and our wonderings.  

Friday, May 3rd

Hello Families!

Important Dates:

May 8 - Hats on for Mental Health
May 17 - Non Instructional Day (no school)
May 20 - Victoria Day (no school)

Our learning:

Literacy:

• We are continuing to build our spelling and reading skills by engaging in word sorts as well as making words.  This is when we give the students a mystery word and they have to make as many words out of those letters as possible (ex. mystery words: pictures and spinach). See how many words your child can make out of these words. 
• We have added a new centre to our daily 6 literacy tasks where we practiced our no excuse words (words we read or write automatically). 
• In writing ,we learned about personifications and how we can use them to make our writing more interesting. Ask you child to tell you what a personification is and an example of one they created. 

Math:

• In grade one, we completed estimation tasks as well as math games to help strengthen our addition and subtraction fluency.  We also practiced the variety of strategies to add and subtract numbers to 20. 
• In grade two, we learned and practiced subtracting 2 - digit numbers using intuitive procedures.  
• The strategies that we learned included subtracting in parts, subtracting by adding, overlaying, compensating and subtracting by using related subtraction expressions. 
• We also engaged in mathematical problem solving tasks throughout the week. 

Inquiry:

• You may have heard we have caterpillars!! We have been so excited to watch them eat and eat and eat and some of them are starting to change. 
• We have been learning about these caterpillars, their life cycles and metamorphosis.  We are so looking forward to watching them grow and change. Ask your child what stage will be happening next. 
• On our Coulee walk we attempted to find crocuses as we have been learning about them in the classroom.  However, due to the mud we had to turn around before we found any flowers.  It was a fun and exciting walk regardless!  
• In the classroom, we created crocus art and heard about the story of the crocuses.  Ask your child to retell the story.    

Friday, April 26

Hello Families! 

Some Important Dates: 

May 17 - Non instructional day (no school) 

May 20 - Non instructional day (no school)

We will go for a Coulee Walk next Friday May 3rd at 9am - 11am. If anyone is interested in volunteering please email Mrs Day or Mrs. Khan. 

Our learning: 

Literacy

• This week during our writer's workshop we learned all about what similes are and how to use them in our writing. 
• We wrote similes about Spring and later in the week we described what we like about ourselves using similes. Ask your child what their favourite simile was that they wrote about themselves. 
• We also drew self portraits and incorporated our similes into the drawing. 

 

Math

• In grade 1 we introduced money and how to count coins and bills. This allowed us to practice skip counting by 5s, 10s, 25 and also learned how to add the different types of coins together. Take a look at some pictures below of us counting.
• We also introduced fact families to work on our addition and subtraction skills and learned what relationships different numbers have to each other. Noticing the patterns using fact families helped strengthen our understanding of how parts can be added to make a whole and how a part can be taken away from a whole number to give us another part. 
• In grade 2, we introduced 2 digit addition (ex. 25 + 42) and learned different strategies such as skip counting using a 100s chart, using base 10 blocks and an open number line to strengthen our understanding on how to add 2 digit numbers as well as working on regrouping with bigger numbers.

Inquiry: 

• During social, we continued to learn more about the Acadian communities and how they use natural resources and turn them into goods for example, turning lobster into food. 
• This week we had a special guest come in to talk to our kids about Earth Day - Mrs. Khan's husband! Take a look at the pictures below.
• The kids learned about how a sustainability engineer helps to sustain our Earth's life by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. We had a great discussion to see how we can make an impact to take care of our environment and how to be kind to the land. 
• We also made a Earth Day pledge on what we will to take care of the environment and did an art piece of a globe to celebrate Earth Day.

Friday, April 12th

Hello Families!

Some Important Dates:

April 19th - Non Instructional Day - No School 

May 17th - Non Instructional Day - No School

May 20th - Victoria Day - No School 

EHS Fundraiser (sent home this week)

Our Learning:

We were so excited to show you our learning during our assembly today!  We could not be more proud of all our hard work in getting prepared and being able to present to the entire school.

Literacy:

• We are completing another round of our targeted literacy groups next week.  Ask your child the skills that they have been learning and books they are reading in these groups. 
• After using our 5 senses to improve our writing, we are moving on to other literary devices to add make our writing more interesting. 

Math:

• The grade 2s learned more strategies to add 2 - digit numbers (ex. using an open number line, adding by rearranging, adding and then compensating)
• We also used addition and subtraction to engage in problems solving tasks. 
• In grade 1, we strengthened our understanding of addition and subtraction by practicing problem solving questions
• We came up with a strategy (CUBS) to help us break down a problem solving question and practice writing number sentences. 

Inquiry:

• We had an exciting day on Monday watching the NASA live stream and learning all about the solar eclipse and learning.
• We also attended on online Calgary Public Library presentation as a part of their Caretakers of the Land series and learned about Inuit inventions and story telling. 
• On Thursday morning, we had a great time in the (muddy) Coulee looking for signs of spring.
• 

Thanks for reading!

Friday, April 5

 Hello Families! 

Some Important Dates:

April 11th - Coulee Walk at 9:00 am 

April 12th - Our Peace Assembly at 9:30 am - 9:50 am (Families are welcome!)

April 19th - Non instructional day (no school this day) 

* Please have your child come to school with appropriate footwear and clothing for our Coulee walk on Thursday morning (we are hoping for some warmer weather than what we had this week!) We also have our peace assembly next week Friday April 12th beginning at 9:30am in the gym. Please arrive on time so you can find a seat. The assembly will run for about 20 minutes. Some of your children may have come home with a script - practice these lines with them so they feel confident and are ready to speak at the assembly! 

Our learning: 

Literacy: 

• This week we wrote about the signs of Spring using our senses. We read books and watched a video  to help us describe what we might see, hear, smell, and feel in Spring (despite the snowy weather outside right now) 
• We also worked on making our Spring writing more detailed and descriptive to make it sound more interesting.
• Using our prior knowledge of revision and editing, we then went back to our writing at the end of this week to enhance our writing to make it better. Everyone has really been thinking about their writing goals as during our writing process! 
• In reading, we discussed how emphasis/expression of certain words in a sentence can really help us understanding the meaning of sentences. We are also continuing to build our fluency and automaticity when reading in our targeted reading groups. 

Math:

• In grade 1,  we are continuing to engage in number talks and estimation games to help solidify our understanding of mental math and the different strategies we can use to help us solve math problems.
• We also continued to review balanced equations. We are working on strengthening our understanding of different strategies we can use to help us with addition problems.
• This week we introduced problem solving questions, drew pictures and wrote number sentences to help us solve different addition problems. 
• In grade 2, we introduced 2 digit addition (ex. 25 + 30). We had the opportunity to be hands on with some base 10 blocks to help us adding 2 digit numbers. We also used our knowledge of skip counting to help us with 2 digit problems.

Inquiry: 

• In Science, we continued to discuss the different bodies of water and some of their properties. We learnt that these bodies of water are important for us in terms of drinking water, providing a habitat for animals, transporting people and goods, etc. 
• We also made real world connections by discussing the different bodies of water we might have seen on our Coulee walk as well as what bodies of water run through Calgary. 
• We then drew these different bodies of water in our visual journals. 
• In Social, we were introduced the Acadian community and learned about their way of living, traditions and customs.  
• In our visual journals, we created a "I see, I think, I wonder" to help us write what we saw in the videos we watched about the community, what we think is happening in these communities, and finally wrote about some questions we are wondering about. 
• We also had the opportunity to buddy up with our grade 3/4 friends to help us see different signs of Spring! We sketched, coloured, and labeled and we will have the opportunity to show you what we have worked on during the assembly, so stay tuned!