Thursday, January 30, 2020

Report Cards

Hi Families,

Just a reminder that January 2020 Report Cards went home with your children today! The kids were all explicitly told that they are not to open the report cards by themselves and that they are for parents eyes first and/or only. Of course, it is your choice if you'd like to share the report cards with your child or not.

Everything inside the envelope is yours to keep. Once you have removed the documents can you please sign the white envelope and return it to school as soon as possible. The same envelopes will be used again in June.

Thanks everyone! Enjoy your weekend!

Lindsay Brown

P.S.- thanks for sending all the toilet paper rolls, we have completed the fireworks for our Chinese New Year art project and do not require anymore rolls at this time! :)

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

TP ROLLS!

Hello Families,

We are collecting toilet paper rolls this week for an art project connected to our learning about Chinese New Year Celebrations and Zodiak Animals! :)

If you have empty toilet paper rolls please send them into school with your child!

Thanks,
Lindsay :)

Friday, January 24, 2020

In-Kind-Donations

IN-KIND-DONATIONS
Thank you to everyone who has made a generous contribution to Lake Bonavista Improvement Society’sIN-KIND-DONATIONS. We have raised just over $3000 this year! You can make a donation at any time throughout the school year. If you would like to donate, please click on the link below for a copy of the donation form.
Donations over $25.00 are eligible for a charitable tax receipt.
In order to reach our fundraising goal, we need to raise an additional $40 per student to provide the same ongoing support as in previous years.
Please make cheques payable to LBIS (Lake Bonavista Improvement Society)


Thursday, January 23, 2020

Netball

Netball

Lake Bonavista School is participating in Netball from February 3-7h in our gymnasium. This sport involves foundational movement skills such as jumping, running, throwing, and catching. As described on the Netball Alberta website (www.netballalberta.com): “Netball is an exciting, fast and skillful game of fair contest: It is a game in which two teams of seven players each strive to keep or gain possession of the ball. Players have specified areas in which they can move.” 
Parent Council has graciously provided the funding to bring this event into our school.

Consent forms will be sent home in your child’s communication folder. Please sign and return the forms so your child is able to participate in this fun LBS event!

Thanks, 

Active Living

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

January 22, 2020

Hello Families,

This Friday, January 24 is TWIN DAY! Students are coordinating similar outfits to dress as twins/triplets/quadruplets.. etc on Friday! Please do not feel the need to buy anything new, all kiddos have been encouraged to find clothing that is generic enough that it can pass off as similar. Of course, participation is always optional.

We also learned a new game last week to join the home math games! This game practices basic fast facts and mental math for addition and subtraction. Here is how to play:

Shut the Box

Materials:
Deck of cards
Two dice
Score keeping sheet

Steps:
1. Place one row of cards face up from Ace (1) to Queen (12)
2. Player 1 rolls both die and chooses either the sum (addition) or difference (subtraction), for example, if a 3 and 5 are rolled, the answer could either be 8 or 2
3. Player 1 chooses which card they would like to flip, from the example above it would be either the 8 or the 2 ** hint -- try to cover the higher numbers first as they are worth a lot of points
4. Player 1 gets to keep rolling and taking turns until they have covered as many numbers as they can, once they take a turn and there is nothing left to flip (the sum and difference have already been flipped) that players turn is over
    -- If you'd like you can play that both players get ONE bonus roll after they get stuck :)
5. Total up Player 1's score - we talked about strategies for effective score keeping such as making 10's
6. Flip all cards back over and now it's Player 2's turn to try and get a lower score than Player 1

Different Levels for Scorekeeping:
The goal is to get the lowest score possible, as scoring a 0 means you were able to flip all cards over on your turn! You can choose to play with tallies where the winner gets a tally mark or to keep track of the score using running addition, and play to a certain number of points (ie. 50, 100). If you're keeping track of points to practice addition this is a grade two curriculum outcome! :)

This game is super fun and tricky at the beginning! It's a great one to add to your home practice as mental math is an essential building block for understanding! :)

Take care,
Lindsay Brown

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

January 15, 2020

Hello Families,

Brr, this cold weather combined with numerous indoor recess times is leading to super high energy kiddos! We are doing our best to have lots of movement breaks in the schedule so we can keep our bodies moving and burn up some energy!

We continue to work on patterns this week! Some students are having the chance to apply their understanding of representing and extending repeating patterns when the element that changes is shape. Students are very successful with color changing repeating patterns at this point, and need a little help understanding that repeating patterns can change in lots of different ways, for example, shape, size, direction, etc. Here is our question from today:




Other kiddos are ready to add a level of complexity and look specifically at growing or increasing patterns. Increasing patterns are a component of the grade 2 curriculum. Here is our question from today:


We have also started to make some I see, I know, I wonder statements about worms! This will be part of our next inquiry around worms and their environmental impact. We used our knowledge of sensory words (descriptive words for the five senses) to make observations about a worm and it's habitat yesterday.
"I know worms have slime to slide around in the soil"

We are reading a novel in class called My Fathers Dragon. It is about a boy's father who is taking a journey to Wild Island. Here is the map, you can ask your child to summarize the journey using the map to show where the main character has been. They should be able to retell the journey thus far and answer these questions about the story: Who is the main character? Who is the narrator (hint, different from the main character)?




Exciting news -- Room 11 has earned a reward for tomorrow! After collecting data today, we have decided to have a Toy and/or Jersey day (it was a tie). Students can choose to bring one toy, or wear a jersey, or both! Please limit it to only one toy of an appropriate size.

Important Dates:
Friday, January 17 - PD DAY
Thursday, Janaury 30 - Report Cards
Friday, January 31 - PD DAY
Tuesday, February 18 - full day field trip, Leighton Art Center! Please contact me via email if you'd like to volunteer, paperwork for students will be coming home soon-ish :)

Take care, stay warm!

Lindsay

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Memory Museum

Hello Families,

I forgot to add this into my last post -- here is the Memory Museum documentation board! The task is for other students in the school to try to match the memory descriptor to the artifact using string, we have three guesses so far :). Steps from the process are also shown.


:) Ms. Brown

January 9, 2020

Hello Families,

Happy New Year to all, I hope you enjoyed your holiday season! We are back in action this week finishing off a few things from December and moving forward full swing into the new year!

As you may remember, before the break we were working on an elaborate art and patterning project with our big buddies in Mrs. Morden's class, grade 3/4. We have finished this work and the final products look amazing! Students were reminded to collaborate with their buddies every step of the way to use similar details and sketching techniques, allowing for intentional discussions about the most appropriate sketching techniques.

 If you're visiting our school in the near future, the art is displayed in the frames as you enter through the front office. Yesterday we worked with our buddies to complete the final step of this task, a self-assessment based on pre-determined success criteria. Here are some images of this work:












We are also continuing a more in-depth investigation of patterning. You may have seen some evidence of this on SeeSaw, students were tasked with creating a core and a repeating pattern matching the criteria we learned about. We looked at each of the patterns created and collected data based on which attributes were changing in each pattern (ex. size, direction, color, etc.). Yesterday, students began a train word problem where they had to extend the pattern to determine what colour various train cars would be. Today or tomorrow we will share work that demonstrates successful problem solving and organization so students can learn from one another and then will complete a parallel task (with fish, seen below) to demonstrate how they have learned new organization and problem solving strategies from their peers.



We have also begun formal small group number strings talks where students can share their understanding and application of various mathematical strategies to promote mental math learning. These talks happen in small groups and students work with whiteboards, which promotes moving from the concrete (Montessori materials) into the pictorial/symbolic representations of number.







As a whole class, we continue to build vocabulary words about our five senses to promote adding details into writing and oral sharing. Yesterday we did some scientific experimenting with different tastes, making predictions, observations, and conclusions. We will continue this work by sorting various vocabulary words from each of the 5 senses to make a classroom word wall to support descriptive word use!

Best wishes in 2020!

Take care,
Lindsay Brown

Monday, January 6, 2020

Gymnastics

Gymnastics
We will begin gymnastics in our regularly scheduled gym classes on Monday, January 6, 2020.  The gymnastics unit will last approximately four weeks.  Safety routines, cooperation and good sportsmanship are taught and reviewed in each class.  
This physical activity opportunity will help students acquire individual skills through a variety of developmentally appropriate movement activities.
It is important for students to come to school prepared for being actively engaged. The following guidelines are very helpful…

HEAD TO TOE - READY TO GO!!! 
Head ....................... long hair pulled back
Ears/Throat/Wrist ............... jewelry off
Shirt.................................. one layer shirt
Waist ................................................tucked in
Pants.........................sporty pants or shorts, no belts or zippers
Ankles..........................pants rolled up if ankles are covered
Toes...............running shoes, gymnastic slippers or bare feet (no footed tights)

“Playing & moving safely is everyone’s responsibility”