Word Work and Pictographs

Hello Families,

Now that we are back into our regular routines, our word work program will continue. We missed most of our word practice over the past few weeks with all our field trips. Today, word lists were sent home on purple paper. They are the same words from May 13th as we did not get much time to practice those ones, so now we will formally target them and word work will continue for the month of June.

Additionally, we started to learn about interpreting information from graphs today to track the life cycle of our caterpillars! It was interesting to observe our caterpillars today after the weekend break! We watched a video on pictographs and talked about how we can interpret the data. Here's the link if you're interested: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/early-math/cc-early-math-measure-data-topic/cc-early-picture-graphs/v/picture-graphs
Thus far, our caterpillars have spent 5 days in caterpillar form, we tracked these observations on our own pictographs!

Take care,
Lindsay Brown

20 Min Teacher Schedule

May 24, 2019

Hi Families,

We had a wonderful field-trip to Arts Commons yesterday, participating in workshops on masks, and indigenous drumming. Thank you to the volunteers who were able to join us for the day!

Our final Fish Creek Park visit continued to match our expectations for weather and experiences! Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make our series such a success! During our walk-alongside we viewed Ms. Thomas' favourite plant, Wolf Willow, and learned about it's different uses, as well as explored some evidence of insects, wood ants and a goldenrod gall fly.

We had some hairy, crawling friends join our classroom at the end of his week. Most students have predicted they are caterpillars and that they will soon transform. Watch the blog for updates!

Next week, we are back to routine! Lots of fantastic learning still to happen this year, especially as we bring the learning form our field-trips back to the classroom and make connections throughout the curriculum, and developing writing and art projects. As always, our learning is cumulative, so when your child misses time in the classroom, it leaves gaps in their understanding as they are not present for supporting activities, rich conversation and micro-teaching moments. Please do your best to encourage full attendance in these last few weeks before summer holidays!

Reminders for next week:
- Independent Spelling Program will resume on Monday. Look for lists in your child's folder, if applicable.
- Please send Home Reading for exchange.
- Library exchange on Wednesday.

Enjoy the weekend!
Lindsay Brown

20 Minute Teacher

Hello!

Here's some fun and exciting news!

We have been trialling having some grade 2 students teach a 20-minute lesson to the class on an area of personal interest! Just to give you an idea, thus far, we have had two students teach: one taught a guided drawing for a mythical creature she invented, and the other student brought materials from home to teach a fine motor/art task of weaving bracelets. Currently, only grade 2’s will have this opportunity, as they are working towards leadership roles within the classroom. 

Please note that not all grade 2’s were interested in this opportunity, that is okay! We will see how this process goes for grade 2’s and then there will either be an opportunity for current grade 1 students to teach a lesson next year (2019-2020) or at the end of this year (June 2019).

This is connected to our Montessori philosophy at LBS as it allows for students to develop:

1. Co-operation, Collaboration, Not Competition.
   Children are encouraged to respect and support one another in their learning, and with their daily needs and experiences.  Learning is a social process. 
2. Independence and Choice.
   Children construct their own intelligence.  

Students have free choice of what content to teach so long as it is appropriate for school. If you are unsure of the suitability, the students can run their ideas past me beforehand. The main educational outcome is for students to work towards being able to break down the steps of learning to support the learning of their peers, and take on the role of an “expert”. Additionally, children are developing presentation skills of speaking to a large group. When students are the “teacher” they are in charge of classroom management, which practices respectful communication with peers.

For students who are observing the lessons, they are learning something new, as well as the importance of clear and concise delivery of information, and what effective speaking and sharing looks like. In addition, they are learning, through peer modeling, how to scaffold instruction to ensure the success of all students participating in a task. 

On Thursday, I made up a schedule for all grade 2’s who were interested, I will post the schedule on my blog once I have returned to the school. Please note this project is meant to be independent student work based on their areas of interest, thus, preparation work for this opportunity will be done outside of school time. 

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Take care,

Lindsay Brown

MAPSS Movie Night

May 13, 2019

Hello Families, 

We had another wonderful, rain free, day at Fish Creek Park. It is evident the students are becoming more familiar with the environment and making more connections with the land. Thus far, we have learned and identified the following bird calls:

Ring Necked Pheasant

Northern Flicker https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_flicker

American Robin

Black-Capped Chickadee https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-capped_Chickadee/

Red-Breasted Nuthatch https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-breasted_Nuthatch/

Just a reminder that tomorrow is our final day of swimming lessons at the Trico Centre. Feel free to return to ordering fun lunches and sending cards for card clubs on Thursday's if you would like.  Thanks so much to all of our amazing parent volunteers who have made the Fish Creek Park and Trico Centre field trips possible!! :)

Additionally, please return all Arts Commons forms as soon as possible... last field trip, I promise :)! I will be placing Scholastic orders tonight if you have anything you'd like to order before then!

I shared some of my smoothie with some students who were interested on Friday and they INSISTED that I put the recipe up on the blog because it was SO TASTY! Here is the recipe for a healthy, kid tested and approved smoothie!

Green Smoothie:

1 banana

approx. 1/2 cup of frozen mango

3 big handfuls of spinach

approx. 1 cup of mango juice

optional - add raw mint

blend until smooth and enjoy! 

Take care, 

Lindsay Brown

May 8, 2018

Hello Families,

The busy weeks continue for us with more adventures to Trico Center and Fish Creek Park! Word work for the week was sent home yesterday on blue paper. Additionally, I know students are enjoying the extra snacks they are being sent to school with on swimming and field trip days, thanks!

We had such a fantastic day on Monday with the sun shining! In the morning, we had small group exploration time. I had the opportunity to explore with a small group and it was such an interesting experience to learn with the students, as opposed to being the teacher. I loved hearing the ideas, observations, and experiences of the group I was working with, and it was so interesting to take a step back and let them take the lead! I will be seeking more experiences like this, as they all have such valuable contributions and creative ideas and thoughts!!

We also got a great look at the Great Horned Owl and it's nest. We saw the owl feeding her three babies! The babies looked very fluffy and cute with their heads popping out. I tried to take some pictures at full zoom.

We also listened to some bird calls before leaving LBS to help us identify different birds in the park. Our group heard several Northern Flickers, Canadian Geese, and Chickadees on Monday. As a whole group, we also continued our Indigenous Land Based Learning sessions, with a sharing circle where we talked about the practice of smudging, and burned some sage to purify the space. Ms. Thomas lead a walk alongside through the park and shared different First Nations Creator Stories about Napi. She is an excellent storyteller, and many students have reported loving the stories she has told. 

Additionally, after many weeks of hard work, our Minecraft Selfie math/art project is finished! They turned out incredibly well! This long process required lots of self reflection and self assessment from students for how they could improve the quality of their art and math work, putting everything together for a final product. The timeline was about 6 weeks and students will have an opportunity to showcase this work with our school principal and assistant principal as well as some members from the CBE head office! Here are all of the steps that were involved:

Step 1: Exploring Symmetry

We used our grid paper to make symmetrical designs using only vertical and horizontal lines.

Step 2: Minecraft Selfies

We created a line of symmetry on our Minecraft Selfie grid paper. Since there are 16 columns, we knew the line had to be after 8 columns.  

Step 3: Looking at Exemplars

We looked at some exemplars to decide what a successful Minecraft Selfie should look like. We decided upon success criteria:

1.                   Design must be symmetrical 

2.                Lines must be vertical or horizontal on the grid paper

3.                 Selfie must look like you

Step 4: Guided Drawing

Step by step instruction for drawing the eyes, nose (optional), mouth, and face. Students added other features independently to match their individual traits.

Step 5: Coloring Rubrics

Step 6: Parallel Math Task

Students chose to find the total number of grid squares on either a mild, medium, or spicy shape. This work was presented in a math conference.

Step 7: Rough Copy Math

Each student was given their own “just right” word problem based on selfie design. They did the rough copy on a photocopy of their selfie. 

Step 8: Peer Feedback

Students looked at each other’s rough copy work and gave feedback to one another about the organization, neatness, and strategies used in their math work. 

Step 9: Good Copy Math

Using the same word problem and incorporating their peer feedback, students used tracing paper to show their strategies on top of their good copy artwork. 

Step 10: Student Self-Assessment

Using a co-created rubric, students assessed their level of success on a scale. Here’s the rubric:

Minecraft Selfie Self Assessment

Name:______________________________

My selfie is symmetrical:

                                                                                                                     

My math is neat and organized:

                                                                                                                     

I used an efficient strategy: 

                                                                                                                     

 My strategy or strategies were:  

Scholastic
Scholastic order forms for the month of May were sent home last week, sorry I have not posted the due date yet -- our orders will be due on Monday, May 13th!

Volunteer Tea

Today is the last day to RSVP for our Volunteer Tea Celebration!

BS Volunteer Celebration 

Please join us for tea!  We will treat you to delicious treats and student entertainment. 

Date: Friday, May 10, 2019 

Time: 11:00am 

Location: Lake Bonavista School Gymnasium  

Please RSVP to lakebonavista@cbe.ab.ca on or before May 8^th.

Please indicate the number of adults attending.

Note that we do not have supervision or space for non-school children.

Arts Commons
Paperwork for Arts Commons is going home today! Please return this paperwork as soon as possible and let me know via email if you're available to volunteer.

Take care,
Lindsay Brown

Nature is Awesome!

Hello Families,

Here is an awesome email written by one of our parents!

Hi All!

Start your week off right exploring Fish Creek Park with our curious kiddos! 9 excellent reasons to get outside on a Monday with this class:

1. Mondays stink, so changing up the routine will be a pick-me-up for your week
2. The smells in fresh air bust stress and increase happiness
3. Fresh air helps improve blood pressure and heart rate
4. Fresh air strengthens your immune system
5. Fresh air cleans your lungs
6. Fresh air gives you more energy and a sharper mind
7. Spending time with our kids builds memories
8. Going for a walk releases endorphins
9. The class could really use a few more volunteers 😊

Monday is the second field trip for our kids to enjoy learning in this outdoor classroom. The good weather news is that it will be warmer on Monday than it will be this weekend!! Our kids still need volunteers for these field trip days, so if you're able to come, please let us know asap. Thanks for all of your time and support of these class excursions - we appreciate it! 

·  Monday, May 6th

·  Monday, May 13th

·  Wednesday, May 22nd

Please email me at librown@cbe.ab.ca if you're available to join us!

Thanks!

Lindsay Brown