January 5 - 9

 Welcome back! I hope you and your family had a restful and enjoyable holiday break. It has been wonderful welcoming the students back to school, and they have settled in nicely. We have jumped right back into learning and re-established our classroom routines. The students are showing enthusiasm as we begin this next stretch of learning together. I’m looking forward to a great term ahead!

Reminders:

- Library is on Tuesday. All books need to be returned on Monday's to ensure new books can be taken home.

- The weather is getting cold and each student need to bring the proper winter clothing to keep them warm and safe at recess and lunch.

-Students will bring home a read and roll every Monday. This sheet will contain the skill we will be working on for the week and the words they need to practice for their Friday check in phonics test.

Looking back on learning..........

Phonics:

- R-Controlled Vowels

- What does "r" do to vowels?

- Ar, or, ore, ir, er, ur, w+or

- We learned some helpful hints to help us use these sounds in our spelling.

- "Or" comes in the middle, and "ore" comes at the end of a word.

- We use "er" at the end of a two syllable word. 

Writing:

- This week we started an investigation into Orca whales. This will be a part of our informational writing unit.

-Students worked hard to collect jot notes and record them using a graphic organizer.

-We begun to look at what a paragraph is?

-Students wrote their first paragraph all about van Orca whales' appearance.

New Years Resolutions:

- We had a sharing circle to share where each student talked about a part of their break.

- Then we talked about goals that are realistic and in our control to achieve.

- Each student came up with one, small goal/new years resolution they would like to work toward achieving this year.

Math:

- We started two new units this week, statistics and addition/subtraction strategies.

-Student learned that date is information we collect and read.

- Students created their own survey question and then travelled around the room gathering answer from each of their peers.

- We then looked at the date to see which option was liked the most/least.

- Students engaged in math talks to widen their awareness of addition strategies.

- We worked hard on the "making ten" or "friendly numbers' strategy to help us with large numbers.

- Students practice fact families and learned how to use an inverse equation to check their answers.

December 15-19

  What a week! This week has been filled with laughter and Christmas joy! Students gathered in the gym to sing Christmas carols and experienced a beautiful read aloud read by Dr. Slater, while munching on oranges and candy canes provided by parent council. Then came PJ day and all students were thrilled to come in their comfiest jammies. It was a week filled with spirit and joy!

Reminder: Classes resume on January 5th

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December 8-12

 Looking back on learning......

Phonics:

-We learned about the trigraphs "dge" and "tch".

-Our helpful saying to remember when to use a trigraph instead of a digraph (ie. dge vs ge) is short vowel = long spelling. (ie. bridge, grudge vs cage, rage)

-We continued learning about compound words.

Social Studies:

-We spent the week completing our projects.

-Students picked a region to research and identified the weather, landscape, natural resources, animals and plant life found in each region.

-Students compared our region (the prairies) to the Canadian Arctic to identify the similarities and differences.

Math:

-Students continued to practice skip counting.

-We learned the new terms "greater than, less than and equal to" and the symbols that go with each.

-Students practice individually using the symbol to determine large and smaller numbers.

December 1 - 5

 Looking back on learning......

Phonics:

- We learning the "ing" is the ending we can use to change a verb tense.

-We can break off the "ing" to make the word easier to decode.

-Students learning about open and closed syllables to help them approach decoding longer words.

-We practice breaking words apart by syllable. *Our trick to help us, is to place your hand under your chain. When you say a word, your chin will dip down for each syllable.

-Open syllables end in a vowel and scream their name (long sound) at the end. Ie. she, go, no, etc.

-Closed syllables end in a consonant and the vowel sound gets trapped turning it into their short sound. Ie. shed, got, not, etc.

-We learned what a verb is and brainstormed them with a friend.

Math:

-Students continued to work with coins.

-They completed a "Shopping For School Supplies" task where they paid for various items using combinations of coins.

-Students learned how to determine if a number is odd or even. 

-If the last digit is a 0, 2, 4, ,6 ,8 - then it is even

-If the last digit is a 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 - then it is odd.

-Students worked with numbers to 1000, determining if they were even or odd.

Social Studies:

-Students learned about the different regions in Canada.

-Regions are an area of land that share similar landforms, weather, animals and natural resources.

-Next week, they start a projects where they will "visit" one of the regions of their choice. They will use the computers to help them complete a picture album of all the aspects found in the region.

Writing:

- We reflected on our weekends, focusing on elaborating on our ideas.

-We used the book "Snowman at Night" to inspire our own snowman stories.

November 24-27

Looking back on learning....... 

On Wednesday, our class enjoyed a wonderful field trip to the Calgary Confluence. Their team offers rich, engaging programming that helps students build a deeper understanding of the history of how Calgary came to be. Throughout the day, students explored the stories of the land and the people who have shaped this area over time.

A highlight for many was the chance to play traditional Indigenous games, which encouraged teamwork, problem-solving, and an appreciation for cultural teachings. We also visited a Métis cabin, where students were able to step into the past and learn about Métis life, traditions, and contributions to the region.

It was a meaningful and hands-on learning experience, and the students represented our school with curiosity and respect.

Phonics:

- The sounds of "ed" - d, t, ed

-Students learned "ed" is added to a verb to make it past tense ( call - called)

-Students sorted words with "ed" based on their ending sound.

Math:

-We continued with skip counting by 20 and 25 to 1000.

-Students became more familiar with coins and their value.

-We counting coins to find their totals and "paid" for items using multiple coin combinations. 

-Students are working hard to skip count by 10 starting at various numbers (ie. 25 - 35, 45, 55).

Writing:

-Students gathered information on Jellyfish through text.

-We pulled out the important facts and used jot notes to form brain webs.

-Students used their jot notes to form completes sentences to write a body of informational writing.

Social Studies:

-Students are now exploring the different regions of Canada.

-We learned about the arctic region (weather, landscape, vegetation and animals).

-We learned about the Canadian Shield and viewed images on the rocky landscape (weather, landscape, vegetation and animals).

November 17 - 21

 Special Notes:

- If you have not signed and sent back the field trip form, please have your child bring them to school on Monday.

- The weather is changing quickly. Students are outside for recess and lunch. Please make sure your child has winter items in their backpack to ensure they are warm enough.

Looking back on learning......

Phonics:

- Students learned how to make a noun plural by adding "s" or "es".

- When words end in hissing sounds (ch, sh, z, x, or s) you add an "es". If they don't have these special endings, we just add "s"

- Example - kiss - kisses, bush - bushes, plant - plants

- Students practice reading out loud with a buddy to help them pause appropriately at punctuation. 

Winter Count:

- We learned about an Indigenous tradition called a "Winter Count". Each year as the first snow falls, some Indigenous people reflect on the previous year. They take the time to use images to share things of significance by drawing them on an animal hide. This helps keep oral stories and memories alive.

- We talked about events in our lives over the last year and students picked one that really stood out to them. Some if the things were new animals, trips, getting new pets, having pets pass away, and some family members became very ill and others beating illness. 

- Together we put our memories on a "bear hide".

Metis Like Me:

- We read the book "Metis Like Me" by Tasha Hilderman. The book highlights some of the Metis traditions and celebrations.

- Students read and conversed about bannock, Saskatoon berries, crafting with beads, traditional dance/songs and bead work.

- We looked closely at the bead work on moccasins and then students drew a nature picture. Once their picture was done, they used a dot technique with paint to paint their pictures to look like it was done with beads.

Writing:

- Students started informational writing this week.

- They practiced making their own brain webs full of facts and explored. writing jot notes (not full sentences).

- Students learned how to use recorded facts to write answer the question "what is a cavity" using at least 4 sentences.

-Continuing to focus on using full sentences, capitals and end punctuation.