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

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

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”

Happy Holidays!

Hello Families,

Thank you so much for all of your amazing contributions to our celebration yesterday! It certainly was an amazing end to a fabulous year thus far! :)

Instead of giving individual gifts and/or cards for students this year I made a contribution to Brown Bagging for Kids on behalf of our classroom. If you're not familiar with this organization they provide food for children in need in Calgary. Here is a link to their website if you'd like to know more: https://bb4ck.org/what-we-do/

Happy Holidays to all!! I look forward to seeing everyone again in the new year!

Ms. Brown

Games

Hello Families,

Lake Bonavista School is looking for donations of board games, card games, puzzles and coloring books. If you have any gently used games that your family has outgrown, would you consider donating them to the school?

We are particularly interested in ‘classic’ games, as well as any additional games or puzzles that are appropriate for approximately ages 5-12, multi-player, and support turn taking and collaboration.

Please only send games complete with all pieces, and that do not require batteries, plugging in, or access to computers/tablets or other technology.

Our wish-list includes, but is not limited to:

Puzzles under 100 pieces

Battleship

Checkers

Connect 4

Jenga

Variations of Memory

Chutes and Ladders

Guess Who?

Eye Found It! Games

Quirkle

Sorry

Spot It

Blokus

Santorini

Animal Upon Animal

Outfoxed

With gratitude,

Lake Bonavista School    

Celebration Snacks

Hello Families,

Here is what is being brought to the celebration thus far, I think we should have plenty of snacks with this assortment:

- Plates and napkins
- Snack
- Fruit
- Goody bags
- Gluten-Free Mini Muffins
- Salty Snack
- Juice Boxes

Thanks for your help and support in our celebration!

Take care,
Lindsay

December 16, 2019

Hello Families, 

I hope you were all able to enjoy the wonderful Winter Concert put on by the students at Lake Bonavista School! They always do such a lovely job at spreading holiday excitement and joy. I know the concert is a highlight for many students in Room 11! 

Caroling
This week we have opportunities for families to join us for caroling in the gym, if you're interested we will be caroling on Tuesday, December 17 at 12:45PM, Wednesday, December 18 at 8:30AM, and Thursday, December 19 at 12:45PM. 

Winter Celebration
On Thursday, December 19th in the afternoon we will have a small celebration to end the 2019 year as a group! Students are invited to wear holiday sweaters for this event. If you'd like to provide plates, napkins, or snacks for a group of 22 students that would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you'd like to come and join us for treats and celebrations you're more than welcome, just come through the main office anytime after 1:15PM and join us in the classroom!

Current Learning
We are working hard at wrapping up a few important pieces of learning before going our separate ways for the winter break. The biggest piece of this work is around the Memory Museum. Last week, students used their 5 senses to recall the memory that is connected to their museum artifact. Using their visual journals and palm prints, we brainstormed and documented the memories through words and pictures. From here, grade two students (along with a few grade ones) turned their brainstorming into sentences to reflect the memory artifact information cards that came with the museokits (as seen in previous blog posts). Thus, the final product for some students will be a written artifact card. For other students, they will orally share their memories from the visual journal page, and I will help them document by acting as their scribe, to ensure success for all students. I am hoping to have the memory artifacts returned by Thursday so they will be home over the break!

Here are the pictures of our Memory Museum.

We continue to work with our big buddies to complete our animal artwork that incorporates sketching techniques, giving and receiving effective feedback, repeating patterns, and self-assessment of work.  Today, students moved to their good copy work and shared how they would implement the feedback they received about their drafts. This is another piece of work we are hoping to have completed before the break. Here are some pictures from the work today, the improvement between drafts is really evident which shows students were doing an excellent job at incorporating their feedback and revising their work to make it better!

We brought our "On the weekend I..." journal writing back in time today... to 100 years ago!! We learned from the museokits that 100 years ago, there were no pencils and erasers to write with! Instead, all students had to use what is called a "straight pen" and ink for writing. We practiced this in our own version using skinny paintbrushes and black "ink" (paint). Students had to create their own lines in their journals to write on and then paint their journal entries, you may have seen evidence of this work on SeeSaw. While this was happening I told them it needed to be completely silent work like in the schools of 100 years ago... needless to say this brought on lots of giggles and laughter from the kids!

Last, here are our math puzzles from today. We are still working with doubles facts but in a different way!

Important Dates:

Wednesday, December 18 - last library session for stuents in Room 11, can take a book home for the holidays

Thursday, December 19 - Last day of classes for students, holiday sweaters

Monday, January 6 - School resumes

Take care, 

Lindsay Brown

Tickets and Scholastic

Hello All,

Winter Concert
Yesterday, the Winter Concert tickets were sent home with the oldest child in your family. Please note that ALL people attending the concert require a ticket, including babies. If you require additional tickets please contact the office to be entered into the raffle to get extras.

Please arrive at the school at 5:40PM on Thursday, December 12, and your child can come down to the classroom.

Scholastic
Scholastic orders are due this Friday, December 13 at 3:00PM. If you'd like your order to be secretive (ie. Christmas presents) please let me know via email and I can package them up to keep them a secret from your child.


Take care!
Lindsay Brown

AARCS FUNDRAISER

AARCS Fundraiser

Rooms 12, 16, 13 and 4 are doing another fundraiser this year to raise money for the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society (AARCS). During the daytime and evening winter concert shows on Thursday, December 12th, we will be selling homemade Crunchy Tuna Cat Treats and Wowbutter Banana Dog Bites. Each bag will cost $3 and all proceeds will go towards AARCS to help ensure the animals in their care have their basic necessities this holiday season. Please bring cash if you are interested in purchasing treats for your own pets or as a holiday gift! Thank you for your support!

If you have any questions please email Ms. Midgley (lemidgley@cbe.ab.ca) or Mrs. Ireland (hlireland@cbe.ab.ca)

December 6, 2019

Hello Families,

We have had another busy and exciting week exploring with the grade 1 and 2 Muesokits from Glenbow Museum. Last week, we explored kitchen tools from the past (about 100 years ago) and looked at artifacts making connections and comparisons to what is currently in our kitchens at home.

This week, we have the One Room Schoolhouse kit. We have explored and deepened our understanding of life in the past by making mind-maps about what is in a school, sharing our ideas, and adding information and then talking about how things may have changed since 100 years ago. Today we learned more about the artifacts and documented using a Venn Diagram.

We also talked about the difference between math strategies and math materials and made an anchor chart to support our understanding. Last week, students were learning and practicing their doubles facts through the games that were shared on my previous blog. This week we spiced things up by implementing doubles facts, along with other strategies into word problems. This was a surprisingly challenging activity for the majority of students. They also completed a self assessment after completion. Here is what that work looked like:

Dec 3, 2019

Doubles Word Problems:

Itzy and her twin sister Zoey have all the same toys. Each of them has: 

8 markers	4 dolls
6 coloring books	16 stuffed animals

Mild

How many markers do Itzy and Zoey have ALTOGETHER?

Medium

How many markers, dolls, and coloring books do Itzy and Zoey have IN TOTAL?

Spicy

How many markers, dolls, coloring books, and stuffed animals do Itzy and Zoey have IN ALL?

Personal Reflection: I chose work that is “just right” for me – Yes / No My work is organized and easy to understand - Yes / No I used an efficient strategy or strategies: ________________________________ Next time I will improve my work by: ____________________________________

To improve this work in future, we will complete a "math conference" next week where different students will share their strategies for organization and problem solving so we can learn from one another. Then there will be a parallel task to see how new skills and ideas are implemented after the peer learning takes place. Here is the work that will be shared at math conferences:

In addition, with our big buddies in Mrs. Morden's class, we have been learning new sketching techniques called Pen Sketching Techniques. We were inspired by the cute Telus holiday animals to create artwork alongside our buddies where we can implement different sketching techniques as well as demonstrate our understanding of patterning and our growing understanding of providing one another with effective feedback. Here are some pictures of the students hard at work practicing their newly learned techniques:

Please note that anyone attending the Winter Concert on Thursday, December 12th needs a ticket! Even babies count as people who require tickets. If you need extra tickets please notify the office so you can be entered into the lottery. As a great alternative we also offer daytime shows at 9:30AM and 12:45PM. Our class will be participating in the 9:30AM show. 

Also, next Friday, December 13th is a school wide PJ DAY for everyone who would like to participate! :)

Enjoy your weekend!

Lindsay

Winter Concert

Hello parents!

Our Winter Concert is just over a week away!

Students performing in the 6:00 show (rooms 3,5,6,10,11,12 and 16) need to arrive at school at 5:40 pm on Thursday Dec. 12. 

Students performing in the 7:30 show (rooms 2.4.7.8.9.13.17) need to arrive at school at 7:10 pm on Thursday Dec. 12.

Students in Grades 1-4 can wear what they like to the concert.  No hats/novelty headbands please so we can see everyone’s smiling faces when they are on the stage! 

Thank you for your support, the students are excited.

Julie Kawchuk

Jrhayneskawc@cbe.ab.ca

PS. We are looking for donations to decorate the gym, we are in search of:

• Wrapping paper – sufficient to wrap large and medium sized boxes
• Scrapbook paper appropriate to make snowflakes

:)