April 21, 2023

 Hello Families, 

 

I hope everyone is doing well. We had to say goodbye to Ms. Mia our student teacher yesterday (Thursday) as she has finished her student teaching! Congratulations to her on her successes in the last 8 weeks at LBS and on her future teaching career. 

Artist in residence started again this week - we learned about how all materials at one point came from the earth. We also talked about patterns in nature.

    

We had a lot of fun this week testing the stability and strength of our bridges (grade 3) and the successful movement of our vehicles (grade 4). Groups had opportunities to test the cars on each of the bridges to see if they could make it from one table to the next. Students were then given the opportunity to reflect on what worked well and what they could improve upon for next time. 

We are wrapping up our travel guide work and will begin presentations next week. Some students have chosen to present to the whole class, while others are more comfortable with small group or individual presentations. I have attached the schedule below. 

Our daily runs are back, and we are tracking our daily distances using decimal and fraction form to practice the skill. Additionally, we will be collecting data at the end of each month to connect to statistics learning. 

In connection to waste in our world, we are now also looking at data collecting and representing based on the markers we have recycled within our school. This week we learned the importance of a referent group to guide our estimating. We also looked at benchmark categories to support with the sorting of sets of data. We will represent the data in bar graph, line graph, and pictograph format.

 

Friendly Reminders:  

• April 26 - wear a pattern day
• May 5 - PD day - no school for students
• May 8 - 16 - Netball 
• in school experience
• more info to come 
• Wednesday, May 10 - Ann & Sandy Cross Field Trip
• more info to come 
• Monday, May 22 - Victoria Day - No School 
• Monday, May 29 - Non-Instruction Day - No School 

Take care, 

Ms. Brown

 

April 14, 2023

 Hello Families, 

This week Ms. Mia continued to teach us some important things about grammar, including some spelling rules and homonyms and homophones. We read a book "Stacy's Extraordinary Words" where it talked about at spelling bee. I noticed Webber Academy is hosting a spelling bee and some students shared they may be interested in participating, here's the link to the website for more information: https://www.webberacademy.ca/calendar/spelling-bee-registration.cfm

As we learn about waste in our world, sustainability and graphing, Rooms 2 and 3 will be collecting all dry/not working writing instruments from all classrooms at LBS. Take a look at our news article on the school website. 
Room 2 and 3 Caring for Our Place

We continue to explore division within mathematics, with grade 4's taking on the challenging work of learning long division with three digit by one digit numbers. We recognize that this work will take some time to process and understand but we learned the basic procedure and will continue to review.

Thanks so much for all the cardboard and tape donations. Students have been really enjoying designing and building their bridges and cars as part of our science learning!

Have a great weekend, 

Ms. Brown & Ms. Mia

Monday, April 10th

 Hello Families, 

 

We had an exciting week of new things! We started our gymnastics unit for physical education and have been learning different types of movements to support strength and balance. In Math, we have started practicing division using our multiplication facts, repeated addition and subtraction, and model grouping. In Science, we spent the week exploring different building materials, the properties of building materials, and applying strength, durability, and flexibility in building structures. We participated in a STEM challenge to see who could build the tallest structure using either plastic or wood, that would support a small load for a 5-minute duration. In ELAL we have been working on good copies for our Travel Guides and they have been coming along quite nicely. 

 

Best, 

Ms. Mia (student teacher).

GYMNASTICS:

All classes at LBS are currently taking part in gymnastics.The gymnastics unit will last two weeks.  Safety routines, cooperation and 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 to be actively engaged. The following guidelines are very helpful…  

HEAD TO TOE - READY TO GO!!!   

Head ....................... long hair pulled back  

Ears/Throat/Wrist ............... jewellery 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” 

March 17, 2023

Hello Families, 

This week Ms. Mia has taken over most of the classroom teaching. Ms. Kassam and I are still teaching math and we have been playing lots of math games to practice skills and support mathematical understanding through communication of strategies, and reviewing our times tables to build a strong foundation for division.

We also had a visit from student nurses to teach us about brain health and how it connects resilience. We reviewed the Zones of Regulation and discussed various strategies to get back to the green zone when needed. 

Here are some student highlights from the week: 

- creating our own non-fiction travel guides about India, Peru, Ukraine, or Tunisia or a specific place in Alberta

- using feedback loops to guide and enhance the work

- a visit from Lucky the LBS leprechaun today who caused chaos in the school

- designing, building, and testing the strength of structures following the design thinking process

Take care, 

Ms. Brown

 

Book Fair Help!

 Volunteers Needed for Book Fair!!  

 

We are pleased to be offering our second book fair this year. We are looking for parent volunteers who would be able to help run the fair during the dates and timeslots below.   

 

If you are able to volunteer during any of the time slots below, we would greatly appreciate it! Please email Ms. Kassam (shkassam@cbe.ab.ca) with the time and day you are available to help. If you are able to volunteer but for a shorter time slot, please email Ms. Kassam with your preferred time.  

 

In order to volunteer, you will need your volunteer clearance completed and up to date.  

   

Friday, March 10^th    

1.     8:00am – 10:00am 

2.     10:00am – 12:00pm  

 

 * All volunteers are asked to arrive a couple of minutes early to learn the systems and procedures. * 

 

March 3, 2023

Hello Families,

We continued our work with fractions, learning new games that help with the conceptual understanding of comparing fractions and equivalent fractions, and adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators. 

Ms. Mia (student teacher) has introduced our new unit on simple machines and building with a variety of materials. Stay tuned for more fun to come over the next week. 

Student-Led Conferences

Please take time to book a conference timeslot online through conference manager. Each timeslot will be 45 minutes long and will include you and 2 other families. There will be stations set up for you and your child to flow through at your own pace anytime within your timeslot. 

Take care,

Ms. Brown

 Friendly Reminders:  

• Monday, March 6 - Monday - Monday, March 13 - Book Fair 
• See blog post

• Thursday, March 9 - Student - Led Conferences (3:30 - 7:30)

• Friday, March 10 - No School - Student - Led Conferences (8:00 - 12:00)

• Monday, March 27 - Sunday, April 2 - SPRING BREAK 

• Monday, April 3 - Classes Resume 

Book Fair - Volunteers Needed

 Volunteers Needed for Book Fair!!  

 

We are pleased to be offering our second book fair this year. We are looking for parent volunteers who would be able to help run the fair during the dates and timeslots below.   

 

If you are able to volunteer during any of the time slots below, we would greatly appreciate it! Please email Ms. Kassam (shkassam@cbe.ab.ca) with the time and day you are available to help. If you are able to volunteer but for a shorter time slot, please email Ms. Kassam with your preferred time.  

 

In order to volunteer, you will need your volunteer clearance completed and up to date.  

  

Thursday, March 9^th  

1.     3:30pm – 5:30pm 

2.     5:30pm – 7:30pm  

 

Friday, March 10^th    

1.     8:00am – 10:00am 

2.     10:00am – 12:00pm  

 

 * All volunteers are asked to arrive a couple of minutes early to learn the systems and procedures. * 

 

February 24, 2023

 Hello Families, 

It was an awesome week with the BE BRAVE Hitmen Hockey Game being a major highlight! About half of our class had never been to the Saddledome before so it a really fun and unique experience. Throughout the game they had lots of guest speakers talking about the importance of being an ally and standing up against bullying. Additionally, the concourse had lots of giveaways and freebies like photo booths, stickers, mascots, etc. 

Before the game, we talked about what it means to debate a topic, and use convincing arguments to persuade your audience. We had a couple of mini debates in class to practice this thinking style. Our two questions were:

1. Should we always have 5 day weekends?

2. Should boo-ing be allowed in professional sports?

Students generated interesting and creative reasons to support their perspectives from both sides. Debating is also a great way to practice listening and responding to others when they have opinions that may differ from yours. 

We are continuing to learn about fractions and place fractions on a number line by changing the numerator and using the denominator as a guide to create equal sections. As we move forward we will look at equivalent fractions.

We are also preparing to support Ms. Kassam and Mrs. Bouchard's classes with their sharing assembly in March as they are speaking to the Artist in Residence project we completed about celebrations in India, Tunisia, Ukraine, Peru, and Alberta. We look forward to sharing this work with you during March Conferences. 

Ms. Mia our student teacher started on February 14th and will be joining us for 8 weeks, and eventually teaching 100% of the time. I will post an introduction from her next week.

Take care, 

Ms. Brown