September 28, 2018

Hello Families, 

We have had a busy week with lots of fun events happening at Lake Bonavista School. We introduced our brand new multi-aged color groups, where each student is a member of a color. In this group, we will be participating in school wide events, with students in all grades, Kindergarten to Grade 6. For our first activity, we got to know our group members and made hand prints in our colors . Two other teachers and I are members of the purple group, but there are also blue, red, yellow, green, and orange groups with different teachers!

It was also our 2018 Terry Fox Run on Tuesday. Students had a challenge of running as many laps as possible in a challenge against Andrew Sibbald school. The school which earns the most laps per student will have a chicken dance from the opposing schools principals at the next assembly! This was a great incentive for students to run a lot of laps! We also talked about the bravery and strength of Terry Fox, and how he was the kind of person who would never give up.  After the run we completed a visual journal page, where we learned to lace up (using string) a paper running shoe. We talked about the big concept of empathy!

Today our school participated in Orange Shirt Day, and attended an assembly hosted by two grade 3/4 classes. Orange Shirt Day is a big, tricky concept for our little ones. We did some exercises in class to evoke some feeling, for example, taking away a favorite item and never getting it back, or discussing what it would feel like if school was no longer a safe place to be. Please remember the official Orange Shirt Day takes place on September 30th. 

We finished off our loose parts color wheel and it looks amazing! :)

I look forward to jumping into October and continuing with our MindUp learning! Our class and Ms. Thomas's class are leading the  whole school October assembly (most likely in the morning on October 25), parents and guests are welcome to attend! I will keep you posted on the official date once it is finalized. 

Take care and enjoy your weekend!

Lindsay Brown

September Pictures

Hello Families, 

I have uploaded some of our best September photos from the iPad and wanted to share them with you all! Since the blog is public I will not post any photos of students. Here is a glimpse at some of our work thus far, feel free to show the pictures to your child and ask them to share with you:

Have a great evening!

Lindsay Brown

Scholastic Orders

Hello Families,

I have signed up for online Scholastic ordering and the account seems to be working properly now! If you are interested in ordering scholastic materials here is the website: https://canadaclubs.scholastic.ca/en/home

You will need to create a parent account and enter Lake Bonavista School and order under Lindsay Brown. All orders will be due on the last day of every month! I am unsure if Scholastic will be sending me paper copies of their flyers for browsing or if it will all be online.

Lindsay Brown

September 24, 2018

Hello Families,

I hope you were all able to enjoy the weekend. I wanted to share a few important things with you:

SUPT Books
Please send the money ($25) or return your ADmazings Savings Coupon Books to the school. If you would like to order more than one book, send the money in and I will send the additional books home with your child.

School Picture Day
Mark your calendars -- school photos are on October 10!!

Scholastic Orders
I have created a Scholastic account that allows for online orders. Currently, the account is experiencing some difficulties. I will send home the Scholastic flyers when they arrive at the school. Sorry for the delay with this process, we may miss out on September ordering.

Terry Fox Run
Tomorrow is our school wide Terry Fox Run!! We will be having an assembly/pep rally and completing a 25 minute run tomorrow. Make sure your child has appropriate running shoes suitable for outdoor use. Please see the blog post below if you would like to donate money.

Home Reading
Thanks for all of your support with home reading! Home reading is a great opportunity for guided reading practice, try to keep it as fun as possible! Please ensure the reading packages are coming back to school with the books inside the sealed envelope, and the duotang in the front pocket with name showing. It really helps speed up the process of changing books when they are returned this way!

Library
We visit the library every Wednesday morning. Please send books back on Wednesdays (or earlier) so your child has a chance to exchange library books. Library books are selected by students based on interest.

Thanks! Take care!

Lindsay Brown

Terry Fox Run

Terry Fox Run 2018

We will be having our Annual Terry Fox Run on Tuesday, September 25th at 1:45 pm. Teachers will be discussing with students the life of Terry Fox and the contributions he has made to cancer research. We would like to extend the invitation to all parents and families to join us for the Terry Fox Run.

Students can dedicate their run to someone who they know that has been affected by cancer. Please speak to your child prior to our run and if they choose to, they can write who they are running for on a sticker that they will wear during the run. These will be available in the classroom on Tuesday.

Should you wish to make a donation online, please use the following link to donate through the Terry Fox website: 

http://www.terryfox.ca/lakebonavistaschool

or

Feel free to send in cash donations with your child which will be collected by the teachers.  (Donations will be accepted until next Thursday, September 28th.)

Let’s keep Terry’s dream to find a cure for cancer alive.

Thank you!

Open House and BBQ

Thursday September 20, 2018 LBS Open House and School Council Welcome Back BBQ

Welcome back! It is exciting to start a new school year. 

OPEN HOUSE 3:15 – 4:15 PM

We are inviting you to come in to the school to explore your children’s classrooms. Come to see where they spend their time learning and exploring. You will meet their teachers and see the materials and spaces they use every day.

SCHOOL COUNCIL WELCOME BACK BBQ 

The Welcome Back BBQ is a great way to meet up with old friends and make new ones. The BBQ will be held after the open house on September 20^th from 4:00 to 6:30pm. Tickets are available at: https://lakebonavista.yapsody.com/event/index/303966/welcome-back-bbq

Tickets are $3. and include a hot dog, chips, choice of a juice box or water bottle and ice cream.

Looking forward to seeing you there!!

Don't forget to check out our Dot Day artwork and ask your child about what it means to have a growth mindset!! 

Home Reading

Hi Families,

Today is an exciting day... home reading packages were sent home!! In these packages you should find a red folder containing information about home reading, and a place to record the books your child reads with the level of difficulty. There will also be a folder containing two books, and a raz-kids login card for reading and comprehension support on a tablet or computer. We spent some time on raz-kids today as a class, so the login process should be familiar to your child.

To increase motivation around home reading, children will earn one class dojo point each time they return their home reading. We are aiming for students reading "just right" books (ie. in the instructional range, fluency about 90-95%) and if they would like to read the same book more than once to support fluency that is always encouraged. Check out this article if you're interested: http://www.readbrightly.com/why-reading-the-same-book-repeatedly-is-good-for-kids/

Please note, I have not done any formal reading assessments yet, so current reading level has been an educated guess on my part. Sometimes starting the year with books that are easier can be a great boost for self-confidence!

I wanted to send home the home reading packages today, so that if there are any questions I can address them at the LBS Open House on Thursday evening. If you have any questions before then please let me know.

Enjoy your evening!

Lindsay Brown

Save the Date!

Save the Date!!

The grade 1 and 2 classes at LBS are going on our first field trip of the year to Fort Calgary! We are looking for parent/family volunteers to join us!

When: Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Time: we will be departing the school at 9:00am and returning to the school around 2:20pm.

What you need: a valid police clearance, a lunch and a water bottle

If you are available to join us that would be greatly appreciated! We will be needing about 4 or 5 parents to accompany us! All field trip package forms will be sent at a later date. 

Let me know by email if you can come! Thanks!

Lindsay Brown

September 14, 2018

Hi Families,

Students have some "homework" this weekend!

As part of our exploration of colour, we have been sorting colours into a variety of categories:

- primary vs. secondary colours

- warm vs. cool vs. neutral colours

- tints vs. shades

Colour will be embedded throughout our year, across the curriculum, and we would like to have something that we can refer to whenever the topic comes up. So, we've decided to construct a "Loose Parts Collaborative Colour Wheel"!

Students are asked to collect small items that can be sorted and glued onto a large colour wheel for display in our classroom. Objects will be glued on and not returned. An example of such a colour wheel is below. Today, students brainstormed some small items that could be glued on:

- scraps of ribbon, string, wrapping paper or cloth

- paperclips, stray penlids, too-small crayons

- buttons, pompoms, beads, paint chips

- feathers, foam pieces, lego pieces

- bottle caps, bag clips, bingo chips

- etc, etc, etc...

Please have your child bring their items to school in a small baggie. No need to sort different colours into different bags, that's part of the fun for us to have here!

Today, we concluded the week by celebrating Dot Day! http://www.thedotclub.org/dotday/get-started

If you are unfamiliar with the story "The Dot", you can view it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5mGeR4AQdM

We uncovered that the book is not only an art book, but also a book about growth mindset. Once the idea of a growth mindset was discussed , students were all able to identify something that they've had to practice to improve on, or that they were practicing/learning, and came up with an easy way to encourage their own growth mindset everyday, by using one of two statement:

"I can't do that yet."
"I'm still learning how to..."

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of Growth Mindset, and the work of Carol Dweck, I encourage you to see what it's all about: https://www.mindsetworks.com/science/

Each student created a dot based on pre-established criteria to contribute to a grade 1/2 collaborative art project celebrating Dot Day. We hope to have it on display for you to view when you come to our Open House before the Family BBQ next week!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Lindsay Brown

ADmazings Savings

ADmazing Savings Coupon Books

Admazing Savings Fundraiser has begun! The proceeds from this fundraising activity will be used directly in your child’s classroom. 

Books are still available for $25.00 each, of which Lake Bonavista will use $10.50 for the benefit of our students.

If you wish to take advantage of these discounts, please complete the order form printed on the back on the ADmazing envelope, and enclose the correct amount of money - $25.00 per book ordered. - directly to your child’s classroom teacher by Friday, October 12^th, 2018  or earlier.

This year there is a free app included in each coupon book. Please ensure if you are returning the book that you have not scratched off the code area for the app, as the book will not be returnable if the code is visable. 

Additional books for Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer or Southern Alberta may be ordered at $25.00 each for family, friends and relatives.  If you wish to order additional books, please send your order as soon as possible to your child’s teacher so that the order can be filled.  As a school, we discourage door-to-door solicitation.

September 10, 2018

Hello Families,

I hope you are doing well and adjusting to the school routines after the weekend! Here is some of our current learning:

Today in class we discussed the importance of friendships and being kind to one another. We listened to the audio book version of the story Enemy Pie, and talked about how it is important to be forgiving and see the best in others. Then we exchanged a friendship bracelet with a new friend from our class. The friendship bracelets are a small gift for the students that I picked up traveling in Vietnam (SaPa) this summer. We also looked at some pictures of Canada and Asia (Vietnam and Bali) and students categorized them based on where they were taken. It was great that students were able to identify photos from all over Canada as being Canadian landscapes! Eventually, we will be moving into a study of our community, accompanied by a field trip to Fort Calgary.

A major focus this year has been on mindfulness, with a specific focus on teaching self regulation, coping skills, and problem solving. We will be implementing the MindUp curriculum, with our first formal lesson about the brain tomorrow.

We continue to build number sense by working our number of the day. Today was day 5, so our work was focused around number 5 (one more and one less, 10 more, odd or even, etc.). Students are doing great with this work thus far and building it into routines during work period.

Please try to return your information packages with their envelopes as soon as possible.

Take care,
Lindsay

September 6, 2018

Hello Families,

We are having a great time getting to know each other in room 11. The last few days we have been working on building routines in the classroom and working collaboratively. All of the students seem eager to make new friends and work hard! Today we will be completing our first S.T.E.A.M [science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics] challenge in the classroom, where students will be asked to construct and share an artifact that represents them. I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Just a reminder that Friday's are now half days at school, with dismissal time at 12:15pm. Please make sure you keep this in mind for tomorrow.

Take care,

Ms. Brown

Hello and Welcome!

Hello Families of Room 11, 

My name is Lindsay Brown and I am so excited to be teaching a dynamic group of grade 1 and 2 students again this year at Lake Bonavista School. Tomorrow, September 4, is the first day of school, and I can't wait to see what this year has in store for us! Just so you are aware, important notices will come home in backpacks in what is called a "Communication Folder". In the folder tomorrow there will be a document outlining some important information for the classroom and school, I have copied and pasted the information below as well for your convenience. 

Please sign up for email alerts on blog postings if you have not already done so. If you have any questions feel free to call or email me :) I look forward to getting to know all of the children and families!

Here is the welcoming document (paper copy sent home on Sept. 4):

Dear Families of Room 11,                                          September 2018

Welcome to the 2018/2019 school year at Lake Bonavista School. We have a very exciting year ahead of us in grades 1 and 2, and I can’t wait to get started! Please take the time to read over this letter as it contains important information that will ensure your child has a successful school year.

Change of Bell Times

If your child attended Lake Bonavista School last year, please note that bell times have changed:

·       Morning 8:13 AM – 11:40 AM

·       Lunch break 11:40 AM – 12:26 PM

·       Dismissal 2:45 PM

Every Friday is an early dismissal at 12:15pm.

Communication

There will be many forms coming home with your child in the next few days. Please read through the notices and return the appropriate forms to ensure we have the most up-to-date information on your child.

Your child will be supplied with a Communication Folder (red) to ensure important items get delivered to/from school safely. Please be sure to check and return the Communication Folders on a daily basis.

Our class blog is a great place to visit to understand what your child is doing in school. The blog is regularly updated to inform you of the activities and lessons that your child is participating in, as well as upcoming events that may be of importance. Pleae visit the blog to sign up for email updates: https://mslindsaybrownsblog.blogspot.com

Email is the best way to get ahold of me. My email is listed below for your convenience.

In the case of absences or changes in pick up/drop off – including bus routine – please call the office before 12:00pm, or use the Report an Absence link at the bottom of the Lake Bonavista School homepage.

Lunch and Snacks

On a regular day, students will have a morning nutrition break (snack) as well as midday lunch. There is outdoor recess in the afternoon, but no scheduled snack. Children are to bring their own healthy snacks and lunch to school as well as a water bottle.

On Fridays, students will not eat lunch at school. A snack will still be required for our morning nutrition break.

Allergies

We ask that nuts or food containing nuts are not brought to our school. See our Illness & Medical section on the Lake Bonavista School webpage for more allergy information. 

Additional information regarding classroom allergies will be provided in the upcoming weeks through the blog.

Clothes and Shoes

Please send your child in comfortable clothing that they can sit on the carpet in, play in, and possibly get slightly dirty. Also, please send an extra set of clothing with your child in a labeled bag, to hang on their hook in case of accidents, spills or wet, rainy days.

For safety reasons, children at Lake Bonavista School are required to wear shoes at all times. Please send a pair of shoes to school with your child (indoor shoes) that they can use for the classroom. Students participate in daily Physical Education activities, and sandals, crocs, etc. are not safe for these activities. If your child is most comfortable in dressier shoes for indoors, please consider also sending a pair of runners to be kept at school for them to change into for running and games. 

Please label all your child’s belongings. Two Lost & Found boxes are located in the main hallway if you find your child is missing an item.

Book Exchange

Both the library schedule and Home Reading schedule are yet to be determined. Please watch the blog for information on our exchange dates.

Technology

Students will have the opportunity to engage in the use of school provided technology throughout the school year. I ask that you provide your child with headphones for minimal classroom disruption.

Please label the headphones with your child’s name. They will be kept in their cubby for the duration of the school year

Volunteers

All volunteers are required to fill out volunteer registration forms in the office. These forms take time to process, so if you are considering volunteering at all this year, please fill out the forms at your earliest convenience. Information regarding Calgary Board of Education volunteer registration, ethics, and procedures is available on the school homepage.

There are many ways to volunteer – please check the blog and look for emails from our classroom Volunteer Coordinator (with your permission given) explaining opportunities that may be available and that fit a number of different schedules and lifestyles.

If you are interested in being our classroom Volunteer Coordinator, please email me expressing your interest.

I’m looking forward to a wonderful year with your child. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Most Sincerely,

Ms. Lindsay Brown

librown@cbe.ab.ca

Complete and return this portion at your earliest convenience.

Child’s Name: _______________________________________________________

Parent/Guardian Name: _____________________________________________

Email: _______________________________________________________________

Parent/Guardian Name: _____________________________________________

Email: _______________________________________________________________

☐ I give permission for my email to be given to the classroom Volunteer Coordinator.

_____________________________________________________________________

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