Dec 21 - Winter Walk

Happy Fresh Air Friday~

As it was winter solstice, we decided to go outside for a winter walk. We observed how low the sun was in the sky and how it effected things like our shadows - we noticed that our shadows were very long!

We went with our big buddies and also got to play the camouflage game. It was a great time to socialize and catch up with our buddies before the holidays!

A reminder: Special helper for the first Monday after holidays (Jan. 7) is Joachim. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure :)

Dec. 20 - Polar Express Day

Today was our last morning of carolling and it was a lot of fun. Many of us were dressed up for Spirit Day in the Polar Express theme so it was perfect for the carolling. Here is a picture from the morning:

For language arts we worked on our prairie poems, and in math we continued on with our pattern centers. 

Then in gym we had a game of ringette - some of us thought it was a lot easier than floor hockey but they shared many similarities. 

We also had the opportunity to hear many holiday stories - we finished Auntie Claus with Mrs. Kidd during our library time. Then, we ended the day with hot chocolate and the Polar Express read to the entire school. 

The golden ticket for grade 1-2 was awarded to Anya from the portables!

Here are a couple of reminders:

1.  Special helper for the first Monday after holidays (Jan. 7) is Joachim. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure :)

2. If you brought home a Pattern Palooza, please bring it back to school tomorrow!

3. Tomorrow, for Fresh Air Friday, we will be going for a nature walk outside so please dress for the weather. 

4. Fun Lunch food order deadline is Friday, Jan. 11, 2019 (orders for Panago Pizza can be made online at: www.healthyhunger.ca). Fun Lunch will be held on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019.

Dec 19 - Preparing Prairie Poems

After another fun morning of carolling, we worked hard on our prairie poems, and some people shared what they have created so far. 

Here is an example from Aiden:

"If you're not from the prairie you don't know the rising sun,

You can't know the rising sun. 

It beautifully turns the clouds pink while it brightens up the sky in the morning."

This one is by Joachim:

"If you're not from the prairie you don't know the clear sky,

You can't know the clear sky. 

The clear sky in the prairie is so clear it's like you can see space

But sometimes the clear sky is not clear at all. 

Cloudy, storms, dust. 

Bust the sky is mostly clear."

And here is one more by Josie (she really wanted to share it in class but we ran out of time at the end of the day so here it is):

"If you're not from the prairie you don't know the winter sky,

You can't know the winter sky. 

The winter sky at night as biter as can be,

The animals die because of the bitter cold sky.

It stops the wildfires at night."

For math, we continued on with our pattern centers. Senna shared with us her patterns using the xylophone - she strung together different patterns that she created and it sounded like beautiful music!

In gym we played another game of floor hockey! We are getting better at problem solving in teams and making decisions about player positions. We make sure to rotate the goalies and people who do the face off, and sometimes use Rock-Paper-Sissors to settle matters. Tomorrow, we will be trying out a game of ringette!

Here are a couple of reminders:

1. All families are invited to carolling, which will start tomorrow at 9:00am. Volunteers are welcome to join us in the singing, but if you prefer to come after, we will be done by 9:30am.

2. Special helper for Thursday is Aiden. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure :)

3. For Spirit Day is tomorrow (Thursday), the theme is Polar Express - we are invited to wear our Christmas sweaters or colors (like red or green). Our lovely parent volunteers will be serving hot chocolate in the afternoon and at 2:45pm we will be heading to the learning commons to hear Mrs. Kidd read the Polar Express. Also, the names of the students who were showing exceptional behavior and hard work today will be put into a draw to receive the prize!

4. Please remember to bring library books tomorrow and place them in the returns bin (in the classroom) first thing in the morning for Mrs. Kidd.

5. Fun Lunch food order deadline is Friday, Jan. 11, 2019 (orders for Panago Pizza can be made online at: www.healthyhunger.ca). Fun Lunch will be held on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019.

Dec 18 - Completed Ornaments

Today was our first day of carolling with the entire school. Most of the songs were from the festive evening so it was really fun to watch the different grade groups lead their songs while we sang along. 

Afterwards, we did more work on our If You're Not from the Prairie poems by brainstorming different adjectives to go along with the things found on the prairies. Some of the ideas we came up with were "blazing bright sun" and "golden grass waving in the wind." We will be continuing to work on these poems this week. 

In math, we continued on with our pattern centers and then moved onto Pattern Palooza posters. For some students, Pattern Palooza posters were assigned as homework to help them catch up with the progress of the class. Our goal is to complete these posters by the end of the week so that they can be laminated and used as placemats for the upcoming Fun Lunch in January. 

Finally, we added our finishing touches to the ornaments and decorated them with different sequences and stickers. Mod Podge was added at the end to create a clear hard finish. Here are a few finished creations:

Here are a couple of reminders:

1. All families are invited to carolling, which will start tomorrow at 9:00am. Volunteers are welcome to join us in the singing, but if you prefer to come after, we will be done by 9:30am.

2. Special helper for Wednesday is Lawrence. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure :)

3. For Spirit Day this Thursday, the theme is Polar Express - we are invited to wear our Christmas pajamas  or colors. There will also be a golden ticket draw for a prize on this day. Mrs. Yoon will be watching to see who is being kind and write the names of these students on the tickets to go into the draw. 

4. Fun Lunch food order deadline is Friday, Jan. 11, 2019 (orders for Panago Pizza can be made online at: www.healthyhunger.ca). Fun Lunch will be held on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019.

Dec 17 - Brainstorming Web

Today we learned how to using a web to reflect on our weekends before writing in our journals. This will help us add more details and organize our ideas better. Here is an example of the template we used and the ideas we came up with together in class today:

Then, we put the ideas together into full sentences:

Since this was the first day using this template, most of us only got one web and paragraph written. In the future, we hope to write about multiple activities or events from our weekends and holidays and organize them into separate paragraphs. For the upcoming holidays, it would be great practice to jot some notes down on these webs so we don't forget about all the fun stuff we got up to. Then we can write about them when we come back to school! 

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Here are a couple of reminders:

1. All families are invited to carolling, which will start tomorrow at 9:00am. Volunteers are welcome to join us in the singing, but if you prefer to come after, we will be done by 9:30am.

2. Special helper for Tuesday is Taylor. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure :)

3. For Spirit Day this Thursday, the theme is Polar Express - we are invited to wear our Christmas pajamas  or colors. There will also be a golden ticket draw for a prize on this day. Mrs. Yoon will be watching to see who is being kind and write the names of these students on the tickets to go into the draw. 

4. Fun Lunch food order deadline is Friday, Jan. 11, 2019 (orders for Panago Pizza can be made online at: www.healthyhunger.ca). Fun Lunch will be held on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019.

Dec 14 - Fresh Air Friday #12

Today, we went out to the Whispering Woods and played a game of Arthropod Survival, where we got to experience what it would be like to live as a herbivore, carnivore and omnivore. While the herbivores went searching for "food" (beans hidden in the woods), they were "preyed" upon by the carnivores and omnivores. The carnivores were also preyed upon by the omnivorous. After the game, we all came inside to share our survival strategies and feelings as these imaginary arthropods. Here were some of the discussion points:

• Herbivores felt tired because they were always getting chased. Most felt annoyed and did not enjoy this role. Some strategies were to hide and constantly move, find a hiding spot near food and water so that if you got tagged more food was close by. Also, it was easier to stay at the top of the hill because most predators were down at the bottom of the hill. We realize now that life as a herbivore is very difficult!
• Carnivores felt exhausted because they keep chasing the herbivores but also had to run away from omnivores. They believed that their lives were harder than that of the herbivores. They felt scared and tired. A strategy was to stay in groups of 2 or three other carnivores so that they could team up and keep a watch out while other members were getting food from Herbivores. 
• Omnivores loved their role. They reported how easy and fun it was to get food from their prey since there were so many. Some worked in pairs because it was easier to corner the prey and get their food. Another strategy was to stay near the food sources to catch the Herbivores and Carnivores. 

Then, for the rest of the morning we were busy working away at our nature paintings. Many of us started adding snow to finish the image.

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Here are a couple of reminders:

1. Special helper for Monday is Senna. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure :)

2. Fun Lunch food order deadline is Friday, Jan. 11, 2019 (orders for Panago Pizza can be made online at: www.healthyhunger.ca). Fun Lunch will be held on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019.

3. Volunteer Spots Available: Home Reading & Fun Lunch. Please sign up on Sign Up Genius page once you have your CBE security clearance.

Dec 13 Festive Evening

Room 2 was very festive in their attire today - great effort for Spirit Day!

Today was our last chance to prepare for tonight's festive evening, so all the grade 1s and 2s gathered together to practice Mr. Grinch. Then, we got started on writing our prairie poems, inspired by the book If You're not from the Prairie. We are learned about adding adjectives in front of our nouns to make our prairie poems sound more interesting and detailed. We also got to add our second layer to our ornaments. Next steps will be to add decorations and then Mod Podge. During computers, we experimented with Make a Flake and created different snowflake designs. This will help us when we make snowflakes during centers. 

For gym, we got to apply our floor hockey skills by playing our first floor hockey game! We learned about cooperation and spreading out our players on defensive and offensive positions when playing in teams. 

Finally, during our library time, Mrs. Kidd read us a holiday book, Auntie Claus. We will have to finish the rest of the book next week!

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Here are a couple of reminders:

1. Fill-A-Sock will finish tomorrow! Donations of the following items will be stuffed into socks and gifted to the Calgary-Drop In Centre:

    -gloves, mitts, hats, hand warmers       -socks & underwear (adult size)    -chocolate & candies

    -lip balms & mini hand lotion              -razors                                            -travel mugs    

    -Calgary Transit Tickets                       -deodorant (non-alcohol based)     -travel size toiletries 

2. Special helper for Monday is Senna. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure :)

3. Festive Evening is tonight from 6pm-8pm. 

4. Fun Lunch food order deadline is Friday, Jan. 11, 2019 (orders for Panago Pizza can be made online at: www.healthyhunger.ca). Fun Lunch will be held on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019.

5. Volunteer Spots Available: Home Reading & Fun Lunch. Please sign up on Sign Up Genius page once you have your CBE security clearance.

Dec 12 - New Centers

Today we got to work on our new centers for the morning and in math.

In preparation for the festive season, we are being creative with various winter center activities. For example, we are creating snowflakes, making 3D trees and decorating them with sequins, coloring in festive images, and completing festive crossword puzzles.

In math, many of us were working on our Pattern Palooza challenge, but those of us that finished got started on the new math centers. While some people practiced counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s, others explored more patterning using their names, colors, shape blocks, beads, design sheets, and music.

 

 Each time a math center is completed, we have to record our findings in our math books.

Here is a journal entry of the pattern translated into letter form.  

We also started building a winter ornament for an art project. We took tin foil and rolled it up into a ball then attached ribbon on the top. Then, we added our first layer of tissue paper and glue. Next, we will have to add another layer of tissue and decorate it before putting on Mod Podge to make it glossy.

Here are a couple of reminders:

1. Fill-A-Sock will finish on Friday - donations of the following items will be stuffed into socks and gifted to the Calgary-Drop In Centre:

    -gloves, mitts, hats, hand warmers       -socks & underwear (adult size)    -chocolate & candies

    -lip balms & mini hand lotion              -razors                                            -travel mugs    

    -Calgary Transit Tickets                       -deodorant (non-alcohol based)     -travel size toiletries 

2. Special helper for Thursday is Enxin. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure :)

3. Spirit Day is tomorrow! Please dress in festive wear such as a Santa hat, antlers, elf hat, tinsel, Christmas sweater, etc. 

4. Festive Evening is this Thursday (Dec 13th) from 6pm-8pm. 

5. Home Reading spots for January to spring break are now available on Sign-up Genius.

Dec 11 - WITS

Today we had a visit from Constable Richard Valstar. He showed us his police belt and the "just-in-case" tools he has to help him and other citizens stay safe. He taught us about the different emotions that we have and the choices that we can make. Poor choices are often made when we get upset, angry or out of control. But, good choices are made when we are happy, calm and feeling okay. In order to avoid poor choices, we should stop if we feel frustrated.  

Also, we learned how to manage our actions when dealing with people who may be making poor choices. Constable Richard called it "WITS" - please ask us about what this stands for!

Here are a couple of reminders:

1. Fill-A-Sock will finish on Friday - donations of the following items will be stuffed into socks and gifted to the Calgary-Drop In Centre:

    -gloves, mitts, hats, hand warmers       -socks & underwear (adult size)    -chocolate & candies

    -lip balms & mini hand lotion              -razors                                            -travel mugs    

    -Calgary Transit Tickets                       -deodorant (non-alcohol based)     -travel size toiletries 

2. Special helper for Wednesday is Eli. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure :)

3. Spirit Day is Thursday - please dress in festive wear such as a Santa hat, antlers, elf hat, tinsel, Christmas sweater, etc. 

4. Festive Evening is this Thursday (Dec 13th) from 6pm-8pm. Mr. O'Reilly has suggested the following attire for the evening: collard shirt, dress shirt, dress, or business casual (but anything would be fine, really :) )

5. Home Reading spots for January to spring break are now available on Sign-up Genius.

W-H Questions for Journals

For our weekend journal writing, we learned to double space our writing so that we can edit our spelling and sentences in between the lines. We also learned how to add more detail to our responses by answering the following questions when writing in our journals: 

• Who was I with? 
• What did I do? 
• Where did I go? 
• When was it? ("On Saturday, I ____" / "On Sunday, I ____")
• and How did I feel? ("I felt ____ because _______.")

Moving forward, journal writing will now be assigned for homework on Mondays (due the following day) for those that do not finish writing in their responses in class.

We continued to work away at our Pattern Palooza posters after looking at some interesting increasing and decreasing patterns made by students in room 1 & 2.

Then, in gym, we added on to our skills for floor hockey by learning how to dribble with a puck and stick, then weaving through pylons while dribbling, and then passing to a partner before shooting in the goal. 

We ended our day with our nature paintings. Many of us moved on to adding details to our painting with skinny brushes and water-color paint, such as branches, grass, trees, and so on. We also learned how to add snow to our nature paintings with white Tempera paint. 

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Here are a couple of reminders:

1. Fill-A-Sock will finish on Friday - donations of the following items will be stuffed into socks and gifted to the Calgary-Drop In Centre:

    -gloves, mitts, hats, hand warmers       -socks & underwear (adult size)    -chocolate & candies

    -lip balms & mini hand lotion              -razors                                            -travel mugs    

    -Calgary Transit Tickets                       -deodorant (non-alcohol based)     -travel size toiletries 

2. Special helper for Tuesday is Liam. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure :)

3. Tomorrow is treat day, if you would like a treat please bring $0.25 for a cookie. 

Big Buddies and Special Visitors

Arthropod sharing was a hit! Thank you to the grade 5 and 6 buddies as well as family and friends who came to view our showcase. This gave us the opportunity to share all the knowledge we have been gathering during science time and highlight facts about our arthropod's habitat, diet, survival and interesting facts. 

Thanks again everyone for coming and for all the great feedback!

We also had the opportunity to join Mrs. Saunders and her grade 5-6 class for gym. It was a lot of fun having a "snowball" fight with them! Here are some photos from our time in gym:

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Here are a couple of reminders:

1. There is no school tomorrow

2. Fill-A-Sock starts Monday - donations of the following items will be stuffed into socks and gifted to the Calgary-Drop In Centre:

    -gloves, mitts, hats, hand warmers       -socks & underwear (adult size)    -chocolate & candies

    -lip balms & mini hand lotion              -razors                                            -travel mugs    

    -Calgary Transit Tickets                       -deodorant (non-alcohol based)     -travel size toiletries 

3. Special helper for Monday is Kais. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure :)

Have a great long weekend!

Preparation for Arthropod Sharing Day

Today, during our Social Studies time, we learned about natural resources. We watched a video that showed us the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources in our world. We also discovered that the resources in the prairies include oil, wheat, canola, minerals, cattle, water, trees, plants and wind. Then, we were off to do more research on our own through books and looking at images online. 

Then for science, we worked on completing our dioramas and then practiced presenting to each other. We used the question sheet that our big buddies will be using tomorrow during our sharing time to help us anticipate the questions and prepare some answers. We will still have a bit of time tomorrow before sharing to practice one last time and add finishing touches.

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Here are some reminders:

1. The Arthropod Sharing, will be tomorrow in Room 2 from 2-2:30 pm. 
    Family are welcome to stop by and view the showcase. 
   **Please bring in a large bag to carry the diorama home after sharing!

2. Spirit Day is tomorrow so you may wear your favorite pajamas, slippers, and/or a comfy robe! One small stuffy is allowed as well.

3. Don't forget, our special helper for tomorrow is Inaya. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure! :)

Dec. 4

Today, we started looking through the lyrics of our Festive Evening song, You're a Mean One Mr Grinch, and highlighted rhyming words and alliterations. For the next two weeks, we will be using these lyrics to practice singing with each other and memorizing the song. 

We also spent some time to with our research of the prairie community after reading Under a Prairie Sky. Some of the things we learned are that Saskatoon berries grow in the prairies, wheat can be harvested from the land, and jobs can include farming, ranching or being a mountie. Finally, the weather can suddenly change from sunny days to thunderstorms and hail in the prairies.   

For math, there is still lots of work to be done for the Pattern Palooza challenge. Today we got to share a few designs from the work in room 1 and 2 to get more inspiration and ideas for our own work. 

As for the Arthropod Sharing, this Thursday, Room 2 will be sharing from 2-2:30 pm - family are welcome to stop by and view the showcase. 

Also, for Spirit Day on Thursday you may wear your favorite pajamas, slippers, and/or a comfy robe! One small stuffy is allowed as well.

Don't forget, our special helper for tomorrow is Aksel. Please remember to bring your favorite stuffy, toy or action figure! :)

Festive Evening is Coming Up

In preparation for the upcoming Festive Evening, which is on Thursday, December 13th, the grades 1s and 2s began practicing their song together: You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch. This song can be practiced at home as well following this link: https://youtu.be/dr0vCg8dCA0

For gym we started a new unit of Floor Hockey. We learned about proper stance, stick handling and passing. After some drills we played a game, Around the World, where we had to pass multiple pucks in a circle. Then we played a game called Walk the Dog, where we imagined the puck was a dog and we had to avoid the dog catchers who were chasing us while we were walking our "dogs" with our sticks along the lines on the gym floor.

We also got to work on our Arthropod projects. While some are working away on the dioramas, others started to practice presenting their projects to their peers in preparation for our Arthropod sharing day! Arthropod sharing will happen this Thursday afternoon.

Also, Spirit Day is Thursday so please wear your pajamas!

Fresh Air Friday #10

Today for Fresh Air Friday Room 2 went into the Whispering Woods to create art in nature using things found in nature. We were inspired by a British artist named Andy Goldsworthy, who creates temporary art installations out of sticks, stones, leaves and anything else he can find in nature.  Some students worked in groups while others worked by themselves, using leaves, dead branches, and twigs to create their art on snow, in the woods, on live trees or large stones.

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Afterwards, we continued our work on our nature sketches and watched a demonstration on how to use watercolor paints. Some of the students were able to get started on their painting and filled in the background or sky with a light wash of color. 

Pattern Palooza & Special Helpers

Today we got started a new project in math called Pattern Palooza Challenge. The objective is to create a large placemat of various patterns by filling in chart paper. However, there are two rules: (1) you can only repeat the same type of pattern twice, and (2) two patterns of the same type cannot be beside each other. Each pattern's core is highlighted and described with letters. Once they are complete we will be laminating them so that they could be used as placemats for fun lunch!




We also found out that our CBC Music Challenge video has been published on YouTube, so we watched it in music class!


It can be viewed at the following link: https://youtu.be/SUauc7Yyluk








We also started Helper Jar today. A special helper will be selected for each day and this person will have the opportunity to share something about themselves based on a selected topic from a list that the class brainstormed today. Also, the special helper will have special duties such as being the line leader, handing out materials, or helping the teacher with various tasks.

For the first round, the topic is: favorite stuffy, toy or action figure.

Our special helper for tomorrow is: Nooray

Finally, at the end of the day, the whole school gathered to say goodbye to Mr. O as he is retiring!