January 20 - 24

January 20 - 24

We started off the week with a trip to Rabbit Hill. The students took ski or snowboard lessons and then they spent the day practicing their new skills. They had a lot of fun and progressed so much! We are looking forward to our next trip to Rabbit Hill in March!

Our Kidblog writing schedule this week included:

Talk About it Tuesday - Rabbit Hill Field Trip

WeSearch Wednesday - Skating

3, 2, 1 Thursday - Week in Review

The students did a great job of performing the song “Cool Kind Kid” at the Friday morning assembly. The song was chosen to go along with the school theme for the month, which is manners and good behaviour. 

LA

We started a novel study this week. Fantastic Mr. Fox, by Roald Dahl is about a cunning fox who outwits three farmers at every turn. Mr. Fox doesn't realize how determined the farmers are to get him! 

This whole group novel study allows the students the opportunity to read aloud to the class. This helps to build their fluency, expression and confidence. After every couple chapters, we complete various activities on vocabulary and comprehension.

Math

We began our new unit in math on Multiplication and Division. The main focus this week was on sets and groups. The students were asked to determine which information was provided and which was not among: how many sets, how many in each set, how many altogether.

Social

We learned about buffalo and how they were essential to the survival of the First Nations People, especially the Plains people. Every part of the buffalo/bison was used. Buffalo jumps, buffalo pounds, snow banks and water holes were all used by the First Nations people to hunt these animals. We watched this video https://safeshare.tv/x/ss599219b85301b to learn more about the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in Southern Alberta.

Thank you to Kairo's mom, Jasmine, for sharing some of her knowledge of the Cree culture and language with us. The students even learned the numbers 1-10 in Cree! 

PE

We spent 3 days at the Dale Fisher Arena, practicing our skating skills. We were lucky enough to have some NAX players and coaches on the ice for the last 2 days. The students had a blast developing their skating skills while playing games and rotating through stations. Thank you so much to the volunteers who came to help tie skates and go on the ice with the students! 

 

 

Thank you to Ryker's family for bringing hot chocolate for our WHOLE CLASS!! What a treat to enjoy after skating on Thursday! 

Art

We added the finishing touches to our Birch Tree and Birds pictures and they are now on display. They look fantastic!

We spent some time on Friday afternoon drawing in our sketchpads with 4A. The students were given the choice of using ArtHub for Kids, or just free drawing. They really enjoyed having the opportunity to be creative with friends from the other class.

Congratulations to our new Student of the Week!

Our Student of the Week is also collecting pop tabs for wheelchairs. He would love if you saved yours for him and sent them to school to add to his container! Thank you!

January 13 - 17

January 13 - 17

With the chilly weather and the buses being cancelled, we definitely had fewer students in class this week. Although the students participated in a few “snow day” activities, we still got a fair amount of curriculum covered as well. As they say, the show must go on!

Our Kidblog writing schedule this week included:

Journal Writing Monday - Weekend Post

Talk About it Tuesday - Would You Rather Ice Skate or Ice Fish?

WeSearch Wednesday - Alpine Responsibility Code

3, 2, 1 Thursday - Week in Review

LA

We wrapped up our Just One Word - New Years Resolution Project this week. The students illustrated their “one word” and wrote a paragraph about why they chose that particular word to focus on in 2020.

As a culmination of our Chris Van Allsburg author study, the students were asked to create a comic strip to retell the main events of a story of their choice. They were given a three panel comic strip template to illustrate the beginning, middle and end of their story. 

Math

We completed our Number Sense - Addition and Subtraction Unit is math this week. The students wrote a unit test to assess their knowledge of the unit. Our next unit in Math is Number Sense - Multiplication and Division.

Social

The students were asked to use the website www.firstpeoplesofcanada.com to fill in a web about five of Alberta’s First Peoples groups. They were asked to record at least two facts about each of the following First Nations groups in Alberta: Chipewyan (Subarctic), Kainai (Plains), Slavey (Subarctic), The Plains Cree (Plains), and Siksika (Plains).

Art

Based on the book "Snowballs" by Lois Elhert, the students created a mixed media Birch Trees and Birds art project. The book features some really beautiful winter-themed collages. The illustrations in the book were unique and inspired us to create our own versions of Birch Trees and Birds.

Congratulations to our Student of the Week!

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!