Happy New Year!

January 6th - 10th

Happy New Year! We are looking forward to an exciting month with a ski trip and skating! 

We had an exciting performance from Dallas Arcand Hoop Dancer. Dallas is a 3x World Champion Hoop Dancer, keynote speaker, skilled workshop presenter, storyteller & musician specializing in education and healing workshops, anti-bullying, and Hoop Dance 101. Dallas is from the Alexander First Nation (Kipohtakaw) Treaty 6 in Alberta. The school loved his performance!

Curriculum Update

Our Kidblog writing schedule this week included:

Journal Writing Monday - Weekend Post

Talk About it Tuesday - Indoor vs Outdoor Recess

WeSearch Wednesday - Skiing

3, 2, 1 Thursday - Week in Review

LA

We wrapped up our Chris VanAllsburg author study and spent some time reading “Just a Dream”. We discussed the setting and how this can change over the course of a story. We also created a character map of Walter, the main character, analyzing what he thinks, does, says, feels and wants. We were then able to choose character traits that summarized Walter. Our final activity was to look at the illustrations in this book and see how the pictures help to bring the words to life. We looked at both the close-up and distant points of view and discussed why the author chose these. We will be completing a final assignment next week to wrap up our study of Chris VanAllsburg. 

We also worked on a JUST ONE WORD, New Years Resolution project. This writing activity was a process starting with having the students compile a list of the things they want to accomplish at school and at home this year. The students were also asked to think about how they would want to be remembered when the year is over. They then took their goals and chose 5 words from a list of examples that fit best with what they want to accomplish. They were then asked to narrow down their list to 3 words. They met with a partner to discuss the 3 words and received feedback on the best choice for their one word. Once they chose their one word, the students were asked to look up the dictionary definition and provide synonyms for their ONE WORD. The students will be completing a good copy on why this ONE WORD fits best with their goals.

Social

We started a new unit to explore Alberta’s history, its people, and their stories. We began by discussing what we already know about Alberta’s history and people, as well as, what we want to learn during this unit. These ideas were recorded in a KWL chart. Next we learned about how Canada’s first people were the aboriginal, or Indigenous peoples. The word “aboriginal” is used to represent three different groups of peoples: the Inuit, Metis, and First Nations. We also discussed how the First Nations peoples of Canada have a long history that include relationship to the land, systems of governing, and oral storytelling.

As part of the curricular outcomes in social studies, the students are required to know where Alberta is located in relation to the other provinces and territories in Canada. The students were given a blank map of Canada and were asked to fill in the province and territory names from an online reference.

Math

We have been working through the subtraction portion of our Addition and Subtraction unit. We have been practicing and mastering 2-, 3- and 4-digit subtraction with and without regrouping. We will wrap up and assess this unit next week. 

Congratulations to our XtraMath Superstars!

PE

In PE, we finished up our Dance and Movement unit. We spent some time listening for the beat and moving our bodies to follow the beat. We added in some chopsticks, balls and scarves to challenge our bodies to stay with the beat while moving. 

Art

For art, we created a birds eye view of a snowman. We talked about perspective and how the snowman would looked when viewed from above. The students cut their snowballs, created a patterned scarf and used chalk pastel to show depth with each ball. The finished product was fantastic! These are on display in our hallway.

Congratulations to our new Student of the Week!