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!

December 16th - 20th

We had a very busy, but fun last week of school before Christmas holidays!

A highlight this week was having Kym Simon come to the school to sing Christmas carols with the kids. They LOVED it! Thank you Keaton for sharing your talented mom with us!

PJ and Stuffie Day

Christmas Breakfast

WHAT A FEAST!! Thank you so much to the parents who sent food and juice for our Christmas breakfast. Everything was so delicious and greatly appreciated!

Christmas Party

In the afternoon the students chose to attend one of the three Christmas activities.

In Mrs. Tewitz’ room the students made the cutest snowman ornaments out of birch trees.

In Mrs. Rothfos’ room the students watched “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.”

In Mrs. Spreen’s room the students played board games.

As part of our behaviour program in the classroom, the students earn tickets if they receive a one on the chart. They have been collecting tickets since September. On Friday, the students were served hot chocolate in the mugs brought from home. They were given the opportunity to purchase toppings for their hot chocolate using the tickets earned. There were some pretty yummy looking drinks!

The students were so excited to receive their letters from Santa. These letters were sent home with your child on Friday.

In the afternoon, all of the RBES students watched the Polar Express in the gym.

Curriculum Update

AUTHOR STUDY

This week we continued our author study of Chris Van Allsburg. The students partnered up again with 4A to explore the theme of the books chosen from the week previous. They pulled four examples from each book to support their theme.

We also read one of Chris Van Allsburg’s award winning books, Jumanji. We discussed that during an author study, it is important for the reader to focus in on the style of writing used in order to really get to know that author. After reading Jumanji we talked about how Chris Van Allsburg used descriptive language to make his stories come alive to the reader. The students were asked to identify 5 strong, descriptive verbs used to help the reader visualize the story.

Another focus this week was on the critical events of a story. The students were introduced to a “Story Mountain” graphic organizer. After reading Zathura, we identified the major parts of the story mountain. 

The major parts of a story include:

Background knowledge - we meet the characters and learn about the setting

Building action - we read about the main events that lead up to the main problem of the story

Climax - we find out the main problem of the story

Falling action - the problem begins to get solved

Solution - the story wraps up and the problem is solved

We also used a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast Jumanji and Zathura. The students found many similarities and differences between the two books.

To reinforce this skill, the students were also asked to identify the major parts of the book “The Sweetest Fig.” After reading the story, the students filled in the story mountain graphic organizer.

This week we completed the cursive letters Oo and Hh.

Congratulations to our December Laser Tag winner!

MATH

In math this week we focused on subtraction.The students started by subtracting 2- and 3- digit numbers without regrouping. Then we moved to subtraction with regrouping using base ten blocks and standard algorithm. When deciding whether or not to regroup the students were reminded to think about the following poem:

SOCIAL STUDIES

In social studies we looked at agriculture, forestry and water in Alberta. Agriculture refers to the growing of crops and the raising of animals for food and other products. Alberta is actually the 2nd highest agricultural producer in all of Canada! We watched the following video and then the students were asked to identify 2 facts they learned about Farming in Alberta.

Farming in Alberta

We also discussed forestry and the boreal forest region has the greatest amount of logging (cutting down trees) in Alberta. Forests are a renewable resource: it is always possible to grow new trees. The students watched the following video on Forestry in Alberta and then were asked to identify a few concerns in regards to forestry.

Forestry in Alberta

Finally we talked about water being an important natural resource in Alberta. Water sources in Alberta include glaciers near the Canadian Rocky Mountains, groundwater stored under the earth’s surface, rivers, and more. 

We watched the following video about some of the ways we use water every day.

After watching the video the students were asked to write down at least two ways that they use water in their own life that were not mentioned in the video.

Uses of Water

PE

This week the focus in PE was Christmas themed movement and cooperative games. The students enjoyed playing Abominable Snowball and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

Congratulations to our new Student of the Week!