May 31

This morning we worked on story writing. We haven't had a chance to work on our stories for quite a few days so it was nice to get back to them. Some of us are even finished our stories and are ready to have them made into books!

After story writing we went to swimming. Today was our last day. Jason and Emma's group worked on their head-up front crawl.  Dominic, Peter, Hussain, Levi, Bilal, and Isla's group practiced jumping into the deep pool without life jackets.

After lunch we went on the computers and used the City of Calgary website to find out about historic buildings in Calgary. When we found a building that we thought was interesting we put its name on a sticky note and added it to our class chart. Here is the website we used:

http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/pd/Pages/Heritage-planning/Inventory-of-evaluated-historic-resources.aspx#DHCresult

We also watched a short video about Calgary 1911-1929. Here is a link to the movie:

http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/pd/Pages/CPC-Teachers-Guides/CPC-Teachers-Guide-Episode1.aspx

Today we also got to play on the iPads after we did 15 minutes of solo booktime. We used the timer to make sure we all really did 15 minutes of reading before we earned the iPad time. 

Reminders:

1. No more swimming so don't bring your swimsuit!

2. Please return field trip forms ASAP

3. Sports Day is on Friday!

Our helper tomorrow is: Jason

May 30

As historians we are learning about Calgary 100 years ago. If you have some time at home tonight here is your challenge:

What buildings existed in Calgary in 1916? What were some of the most important buildings? What were they used for? 

Reminders:
1. Tomorrow is our last day of swimming.
2. Please return your field trip forms ASAP
3. We are bringing home a new book order today. Orders are due June 6.

Our helper tomorrow is: Morgan

May 27

Reminders:

1. We have swimming on Monday and Tuesday. Please remember your swimming bag.
2. Please return your field trip forms ASAP.
3. Hussain is the helper on Monday.
4. Sports day is on Friday.

Have a great weekend!

May 26

This morning we started by working on our Nose Hill viewpoint pictures. If we were finished we got to play Mathletics. After we got back from swimming we worked on story writing.

At lunch Jason found a lot of grasshoppers in the Natureground. It looked like a whole nest of them! Please be careful to watch out for this if you are exploring in the Natureground.

This afternoon we started a new project about long ago. We went on the computers and looked up pictures of Calgary in 1916 on the Glenbow Museum archives. We are trying to figure out what the homes, buildings, people, jobs, land, and modes of transportation were like 100 years ago. Then we had library. Some people forgot their books and need to return them tomorrow. At the end of our day we had some time to finish up our journals and our Nose Hill viewpoints. If you had everything finished you got to play on the iPads.

Please remember that we are still swimming tomorrow even though its Fresh Air Friday. You will need your swimming things and you might want to bring a bigger snack than usual since lunch is later on Fridays. Lots of us have been very hungry after swimming!

We are bringing home a field trip notice today! 

Our helper on Monday is: Hussain

May 25

This morning we started by finishing up our journal entries from yesterday. Then we had swimming. Some of us learned scissor kicks and treading water. Some of us got to try jumping into the water by ourselves! After swimming we learned how to do Mathletics on the iPads. If you want to do this at home you just need to download the Mathletics app.

This afternoon we looked at some artifacts from long ago. We saw a washboard, a butter churn, a berry picker, an iron, and some very very old spoons that might have been used by First Nations people. After that we talked about the different between thinking something and knowing something. We watched a video that Ms. Lee helped us to make. In the video we share some of our ideas about the past. We share our ideas, or what we think it used to be like. Starting tomorrow we are going to start researching and finding evidence to see if our ideas are true. This is part of our work to become Calgary historians. This work is leading up to our field trip to Heritage Park on June 8.

In music we learned a new song. The song was called "In the Tall Tall Grass".  We sang and also used instruments in this song. We shared our instruments with a buddy.

Don't forget about swimming tomorrow. So far we have had 100% success in remembering our swimming bags, let's keep up the good work!

May 24

Today we started swimming lessons! When we were at swimming we went in groups based on our swimming level.  Some people were invited to join different groups if they needed to be in a different level. Some of the groups got to go in the deep pool today and some groups are going in there tomorrow. We got to eat our snacks after we finished swimming. Don't forget that we have swimming again tomorrow.

Before we went to swimming we worked on our journals. We were working on choosing two or three very important things that happened and writing paragraphs about those things rather than writing about every little thing we did on the weekend.  After lunch we worked on our 1916 View from Nose Hill pictures. We started adding colour to our pictures.  We read a book about the prairies long ago. We learned that people used wagons instead of cars. At the end of the day we got to have some iPad time.

Tomorrow our helper is: David

May 19

Today was Privilege day! A highlight of the day was our new teacher Miss Henderson! She taught a great lesson and we all made special tools to help us remember to put finger spaces between our words.


Please remember that there is no school tomorrow or Monday. Have a great long weekend!

When we return to school on Tuesday we will be starting our swimming lessons. We will be leaving the school at 9:40 each day and returning to the school at approximately 11:30.

Please make sure you bring:

- Bag to carry your swim things in
- Your swimming suit
- Towel
- Snack
- Plastic bag for your wet swim suit
- Hair brush (optional)
- Goggles (optional)
- Flip flops for the pool deck (optional)
- Anything else you might need

If you are volunteering your child will be coming home with schedule for you.

Our helper on Tuesday is: Ellie

May 18

Today we had the book fair. We were allowed to buy three books during our first visit.  We didn't end up working on our Nose Hill viewpoints because the book fair took a little longer than we thought. We will start working on it again next week.  After music the people who still had more money were allowed to go buy more books.

Tomorrow is Privilege Day! Please remember to bring you pyjamas, or stuffies, or special drinks if you bought those privileges. Our whole school photo is also first thing tomorrow morning. If you do not want to be in your pyjamas for the photo you are welcome to bring your pyjamas and change into them after the photo has been taken. Or, you are welcome to be in your pyjamas for the photo!

May 17

Today was the last day of WeeReads for the grade 1's.  For our last day celebration we got to have hot chocolate while we read and we invited all the grade 1's to join even if they don't usually do WeeReads. We gave our high school buddies thank you cards that we made yesterday.

Today we also had a guest from Little Green Thumbs come to visit. We learned about harvesting. At the end we had a race to try to shell a whole bunch of peas before our instructor said that the frost had arrived. At the end we got to eat the peas that we shelled. When it wasn't our turn to do the Little Green Thumbs activity we worked on our story writing.

This afternoon we talked about our Nosehill viewpoints. We talked about what Calgary looked like 100 years ago and what the view from Nosehill would have looked like. Tomorrow we are going to start another viewpoint from Nosehill but imagining what it looked like in 1916 (If you have time tonight you might want to look up some pictures of Calgary in 1916). Then we finished our journals and worked to get the Nosehill Viewpoint 2016 finished. If we had both of those jobs done we got to play raz-kids, dance mat typing, or mathletics on the computers.

In gym we went outside and we practiced our soccer skills again. We practiced dribbling and passing, running, and playing defense.

Remember, tomorrow is the Book Fair! Please remember to bring your money so that you can buy a new book. Tomorrow is also the last day to buy privileges for Privilege day. Privilege day will happen on Thursday morning. 

Our helper tomorrow is: Teagan

May 16

This morning the grade 1's who do WeeReads and Calgary Reads made thank you cards for their big buddies. Tomorrow will be our last day of WeeReads. In math the grade 1's did more adding and subtracting using the counting-on strategy. We practiced using the dice and playing with a partner. After lunch we worked on finishing our Nose Hill viewpoint that we started on Friday. We had to keep looking at the checklist on the board to make sure we had met the expectations for the project. In gym we worked on our soccer skills outside. We started with two laps of the field and then we did passing, running fast on a break away, and we practiced playing defense.  In music we learned a new song called Kids Promise to the Earth. We also learned another song called Path to the Moon.

Today an order form for the school photo is coming home. We are also still accepting gently used books for our bookfair. If you have any to donate please bring them tomorrow. Students in grade 5 and 6 have started taking "privilege" orders for Thursday. If you would like to buy any privileges please bring your money tomorrow or on Wednesday. 

Our helper tomorrow is: Jessica

May 13

Today was Fresh Air Friday and we went to Nose Hill. On our walk we saw lots of Buffalo Bean, but the Crocuses seem to be gone now. When we were at Nose Hill we had to draw the landmarks we can see from Nose Hill. We needed to include: The Children's Hospital, Northland Mall, the University of Calgary, Downtown, McMahon Stadium, C.O.P. , and the mountains. When we got back to the school we worked on finishing our maps by adding colour and labels. Most of us will need to finish this job during centres next week.

Our helper on Monday is: Isabel

May 12

At story writing time some of us got our stories finished and have started editing and doing the pictures. After recess we had math. The grade 2's worked adding two digit numbers using the regular adding algorithm now that we have a good understanding of what is happening behind the scenes. The grade 1's had to finish up their addition and subtraction stories work and then got to play math games with the dominoes.

Today we had fun lunch and our animal museum. There were toys in the Happy Meals! The animal museum was for an hour this afternoon and we shared our dioramas and told the visitors facts about our animals. All of the other classes came to visit, even the grade 6's! Some of our parents and even a few grandmas were also able to come. If you weren't able to come, don't worry! We're bringing our dioramas home today! Then we had outdoor gym. It was raining a little bit.

We are now collecting book donations for our annual Dr. Coffin book fair. Please send in any gently used books that you aren't reading anymore so that other students can buy them. This book sale is a fundraiser for our environmental initiatives.

We will be having a special fundraiser for Ft. McMurray next Thursday. It is called Privilege Day! Starting on Monday students will be able to buy privileges such as "15 minutes of free time",  "chewing gum", or even a draw to have Mrs. Polski as your butler for a cost of $1-5. More details about this will be shared by the Grade 5-6 classes.

Tomorrow is Fresh Air Friday. We are planning to go to Nosehill. Please dress for the weather and bring an extra snack. If you are able to volunteer we could use another volunteer. Please email Ms. Boyer. 

Our helper on Monday is: Isabel

May 11

This morning we had a special performance. We listened to a Celtic fiddle performance. Celtic music comes from Ireland and Scotland.  The performer told us about different types of fiddle music and Celtic music and then she demonstrated the different types.

After recess we worked on story writing. Usually we do story writing after centres but today we did it after solo booktime and recess because of the performance this morning.

This afternoon we did a reflection about our Dioramas.  We all had a copy of our target and we had to circle the parts of the target that matched what we did in our diorama. When we finished our reflections we had to find a partner so we could practice sharing our dioramas.

Reminders: Our Animal Museum will be open in the learning commons from 1:30-2:30 tomorrow! Tomorrow is also Fun Lunch. 

In music we learned a new spanish song called El Coqui. We also watched a Sesame Street clip about Irish Step Dancing and we tried it on the carpet. The performer this morning did a small step dancing demonstration too!

Our helper tomorrow is: Evelyn

May 10

This morning during story writing all of us moved on to writing our stories down. We looked at the calendar and realized we better get moving if we're going to have our stories published before the end of the school year!

This afternoon we worked to finish our "Did you knows" about our animals. We are using our animal research to write at least 5 facts about our animals on the computer. We are getting ready to open up an Animal Museum for all of the other classes and any of our parents who are able to come.

Our Animal Museum will be open on Thursday May 12 from 1:30-2:30 in the learning commons. If you are able to come we would love to see you. If you can't make it don't worry, we will be bringing our dioramas and facts home to share with you.

During journal finishing time this afternoon we worked on doing a peer edit if we were finished. We learned that a peer is someone who has the same job as you.  So, our peers are the other kids in our class. We tried to help each other edit our journals by looking for spelling mistakes, punctuation, and correct capital letters.

Tomorrow our helper is: Peter

May 6

Today we learned about what used to be here.  This area used to be all prairie grasslands and trees. From Nosehill you could see all the way down to the river. Now we can't see the river because there are houses and buildings in the way but the river is still there!

We went outside in three groups and learned about how the First Nations people from this area used to hunt the buffalo and how they used to live.  We learned that when they killed a buffalo they used all the parts and didn't let anything go to waste. We learned that the buffalo used to roam in the Bow River valley.  We learned that the Blackfoot and other people who have lived here for a very long time used Teepees instead of houses because they wanted something portable that they could take with them when they followed the buffalo herds.

After that we learned about the Buffalo Beans. The Buffalo bean is also called Golden Bean. We learned that the First Nations people could tell it was time to get ready to hunt the Buffalo when the Golden Bean began to bloom. We sketched the Buffalo Beans in the Whispering Woods and then used watercolor pencil crayons to add details and color.



Please remember tonight is the Family Dance!

Our helper on Monday is: Isla

May 5

This morning we started working on a special Mother's Day surprise. But, you will have to wait until tomorrow to see it! The surprise includes two different projects that we have put together to make something beautiful!

During math the Grade 1's spent some time practicing adding and subtracting on Mathletics.  The grade 2's worked on a hidden picture activity where they had to do 2-digit addition and subtraction and also use a hundred's chart to find the picture.  This activity will become a centre choice next week so we can have even more practice with our adding and subtracting skills.

After lunch we continued working on the Mother's Day surprise until it was time for the Volunteer Tea. At the Volunteer Tea we sang "Tomorrow" and "Red Red Robin".  We were very jealous of the beautiful tea cups the Volunteers got to use and the yummy treats they had! There were beautiful flowers on the table for the volunteers and some of the volunteers got to take the flowers home as a prize. After we performed we got to have an extra recess break instead of having gym because the gym was being used for babysitting.

Please remember that tomorrow is the Family Dance! Tomorrow is also Fresh Air Friday. Please be sure to dress for the weather. We will be working in the Whispering Woods. 

On Monday our helper is: Isla

May 4

Happy Star Wars day!

This morning we worked on our story writing and finished record ourselves on Photobooth. We are working on trying to break our stories up on to lots of pages to keep our reader in suspense. We looked at some books last week to see how other authors do this and now we are trying to do it ourselves. Hopefully our books will be real page-turners!

In math the grade 1's kept working on addition and subtraction stories. The grade 2's worked on using our "exploded number" strategy for 2-digit addition. We are going to explore three different strategies for adding that help us to see what is happening "behind the scenes" when we add using the traditional algorithm.

This afternoon we tried to get our dioramas finished. We are planning to open an Animal Museum next week. Once we have the date finalized we will let you know. If you are available you will be invited to come visit our museum!

Tomorrow is the Volunteer Tea. We hope to see many of you there. We will be singing some of our songs as part of the performance. 

Tomorrow our helper is: Emma

May 3

This morning we worked on our storywriting. There are only two people who are still making up their stories. Most people are recording their stories on photobooth and some people are writing heir stories down.

After recess we had math.  in math the grade 2's worked on playing "race to 100" unless they needed to work to finish their adding and subtracting numbers that end in 0. Those students worked with Mrs. Wolff to try and finish.

This afternoon we went outside to the Whispering Woods to finish our journals because it was so nice out!  Then in gym time some grade 12 students from Churchill Highschool came to teach us. We played "What time is it Mr. Wolf?" and hula-hoop tag.

Tomorrow there will be another treat day to sell the leftover treats from today. Please also remember that tomorrow is the last day bring items for the class raffle baskets. Our theme is "The Lego Movie". 

Our helper tomorrow is: Claire

May 2

In math the grade 2's did a special assignment in math to help Ms. Boyer. She is going to a special meeting tomorrow and is going to talk to other teachers about what we are learning in math. The grade 1's worked on writing adding and subtracting stories. Here is an example: I had 1 candy. My friend had 7. How many candies would I have if he gave me all of his?

This afternoon we worked on our dioramas. More of us were ready to start typing up our fact cards on the computer.

Please be sure to return your swimming forms ASAP. We are hoping to go to Nosehill on Friday. If you are able to volunteer please email Ms. Boyer. 

Tomorrow our helper is: Aiden