Monday May 30, 2016

Today's Learning:
Class meeting - I am Confident' book read by student
Gym - 'Mystery Island' Relaxation activity
Health - safety posters with partner
Class novel: 'Author and the Minimoys'
Math in Motion - artist residency
Art - watercolour with Kandi

Ask me:
- to tell you about our 'Math in Motion' guest fun in the gym
     - what was our four beat pattern? snap, clap, flap, march.  number pattern was: 8, 4, 2, 1
     - how do we get from 8 to for?  how do we do this subtracting? what is the pattern rule? (we take      away half, or divide by two)
     - to show you a 4 point balance, 6 point balance
     - to show you a square with my body? can I change it to a rectangle?
     - how can I make a 2D shape with my body?  how can I change is so that it is 3D?
     - what the form of our dance presentation is - AABA?
     - what food was our dance based on? (potato chips)
     - to show you 'icecream and sprinkles' and 'tornado and sprinkles' (all movements)
- about my watercolor art piece

Reminders:
- no school this Friday due to PD Day

Friday May 27, 2016

Today's Learning:
- Gym: (outside - running warmup), tag games - toilet, freeze
- Science: butterfly life cycle discussion - parts of a butterfly - antenna, proboscis, wings, feet
- Guest Presentation: 'Math in Motion'
- ART afternoon - water colour techniques

Ask me:
- about the pattern in our 'Math in Motion' presentation (8, 4, 2,1)
- what are the opposites: shorter/longer, tall/short, small/big, forward/backward, odd/even, down/up, melt/blastoff, AABA, bicycle, bicycle, helmet, bicycle, circle, circle, square, circle
- what shapes we made with our bodies during our 'Math in Motion' movement? (triangle, square, diamond, rectangle, circle)
- what does 'gender', 'opaque' and 'translucent' mean?
- about these after color techniques: wash - solid & flat; wash - graded; wet in wet, dry brush; color lifting; salt; white crayon resist; transparency layers
- what the TIME is at different times of the day over the weekend

Reminders:
- last chance for pizza orders - due Monday

Thursday May 26, 2016

APOLOGIES for the late post - our BLOG was inopperable

Today's Learning:
-Learning Commons Book Exchange
- Science: life of a butterfly KWL chart.  working with a partner, writing down all of the things we think we know about butterflies
- Learning Commons computers - researching painted lady butterflies
Science - circle sharing of hide and seek rock descriptions
 - Math: Brainpop videos: time (elapsed time, time to the minute and time to the quarter and half hour)

Ask me:
- about the life cycle of a butterfly
- what books I signed out this week
- to show you the brain pop videos on TIME
- what the time is, at different times during the evening and after school

Reminders:
- pizza orders due Monday

Wednesday May 25, 2016

Today's Learning:
- Gym: 3-5 running laps, octopus tag
- Science: rock descriptive paragraphs 'Which rock am I?'
- Digital Champions Club sharing
- L.A. - continued writing of rock descriptions
- Music: pls see music blog
- Body break - outside run and games
- Math: extra 'time' practice on the iPods

Ask me:
- to tell you the time
- about our new 'babies' in our classrooms
- about the cool rock that I chose to describe today
- if I shared my 'Digital Champions' project with the classrooms
- how I enjoyed the sharing of the green screen, iMovie, Comic Life, Garageband and PhotoBooth projects

Reminders:
- pizza lunch forms due
- HOMEWORK - research: are 'Painted Lady Butterlies' only girls?  bring some name suggestions for tomorrow

Tuesday May 24, 2016

Today's Learning:
- Class meeting
- Creative Writing and art - volunteer cards
- Science - classifying rocks and minerals, describing rocks
- Music - pls see music blog
- Body break
- Math - introduction to 'TIME', brainpop videos.  www.jr.brainpop.com   login: vistaheights     password: brainpop    videos: 'calendar and dates', 'parts of a clock', 'time to the hour'

Ask me:
- to tell you the time
- to tell you the parts of a clock
- how I did at the volunteer tea performance this afternoon
- to go and find a few interesting rocks - I'll choose one, describe it to you (using works such as: hardness, color, texture - hough, smooth, weight - light/heavy,  shape: oval, square, rectangle, triangle, heart, diamond, lustre: shiny/dul, light: translucent/opaque, cleavage and fracture), then you have to guess which rock it is from the pile

Reminders:
- HOMEWORK - bring some interesting rocks and/or minerals to share with our class
- pink pizza notice

Thursday May 19, 2016

Today's Learning:
Music - practicing for the kindergarten assembly this afternoon
Class meeting - various students sharing reading
Assembly (Room 1 students perform 'My Paddle's Keen and Bright' singing and instruments)
Creative Writing - making cards for our volunteers
Body Break -
Math - using laptops, students explored various websites and played games to help them learn the days of the week and the months of the year

Ask me:
- to sing 'My Paddle's Keen and Bright'
- to show you my plastice earth - ask me what a half is and a quarter!!!

- to show you these cool websites:

Days of the Week:

http://www.abcya.com/days_of_the_week.htm

Months of the Year Games:

http://www.abcya.com/months_of_the_year.htm

Reminders:
- CBE annual POW WOW tonight at Crescent Heights School - begins at 6pm, dancer registration prior
- no school tomorrow (PD day)
- no school Monday (Victoria Day)

Wednesday May 18, 2016

Today's Learning:
Gym - 6 running mini laps, floor hockey game, LEAP mark
Learning Commons Book Exchange
Science - Geological Study: discussion of lustre, color, texture and hardness, then 'mystery mineral hide and seek'
Music - pls see music blog
Body Break -
Math - review songs: Days of the Week and months of the Year

Ask me:
- to shoe you all of the cool rocks and minerals websites from yesterday (check blog)
- what my LEAP mark was today
- to describe my 'mystery mineral'
- what do the following mean: lustre, hardness, color and texture?
- to sing you the 'Days of the Week' and the 'Months of the Year Songs'
- Mrs. Turk's Riddle:

Can you name three consecutive days
without using the words 
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

Answer: Yesterday, today and tomorrow n HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Reminders:
- Kindergarten assembly - All families and friends are invited to our Kindergarten Assembly tomorrow Thursday, May 19th at 11:00 a.m. Everyone is welcome!
- some students have YMCA notices in backpack
- some students who were away yesterday have a 'safety precaution notice' in backpack
- no school Friday or Monday!

Tuesday May 17, 2016

Today's Learning:
Gym - 3-5 running laps, floor hockey tournament
Science - completion of the plasticine earths - adding continents and extra ocean water bodies
Science - rocks and mineral study (see websites below)
Music - pls see music blog
Body break - outside for noodle tag
Math - calendar - days of week, months of the year

Ask me:
- to sing you the months of the year song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5enDRrWyXaw
- to sing you the days of the week song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIvQOab00OQ
- how many days in a week? how many days in a month? how many weeks in a month? how many days in a year?
- did I bring home the health poster for homework tonight?
- to show you these cool rock and mineral websites:
Information:
http://www.kiddle.co/s.php?q=rocks+and+minerals#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=rocks%20and%20minerals&gsc.page=1  
Cute song:http://www.kidsknowit.com/educational-songs/play-educational-song.php?song=rocks%20and%20gems%20and%20minerals song:http://www.songsforteaching.com/earthsciencegeology/minerals.htm Some cool videos and music in the “suggestions” section, down the right-hand sidehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GveEff11k4 Some fantastic website suggestions on the left-hand side. “cool websites”http://www.bcminerals.ca/s/RocksMusic.asp a great website for information:http://www.rocksforkids.com/RFK/TableofContents.html Rock Cycle:http://www.uen.org/themepark/cycles/rock.shtml

Reminders:
- safety precautions notice in backpack
- several students took their health posters home last night to complete work not finished during class time and they forgot to bring the poster back today.  Pls ensure your child has returned their health poster to school
- Learning Commons book exchange tomorrow - pls bring all overdue books, or books for exchange and renewal.  Also, a reminder to a few students have OVERDUE books and money owing for lost books.

Monday May 16, 2016

Today's Learning:
Class meeting: intro of substitute for this morning (Mrs. Turk in the office)
Gym: floor hockey tournament
Science: class discussion - igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks
Science - school garden with horticulturalist Rikki - planting our peat moss pods
Body break - quick run outside
Math: Introduction to TIME and FRACTIONS

Ask me: 
- if it was my night to bring home the health poster
- about our school garden
- me to tell you the difference between sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks
- what does a 'tilled garden' mean?
- what does 'analog clock' mean?
- to draw you a pizza, then ask me to shade in (eat) a HALF
- to draw you a HALF on a clock
- how many seconds in a minute?
- how many minutes in an hour?

Reminders:
- some students have their health poster home tonight to work on

Friday May 13, 2016

Today's Learning:
Class meeting - welcoming our new student
Gym - 3-5 running laps, floor hockey tournament
Class meeting - individual students reading stories
New seating arrangement
Reward time - iPods
Body break - outside
Math - subtraction, addition, mass and estimation centers

Ask me:
- about our new student from Fort McMurray!!!
- what weighs about a gram? (paperclip)
- what weighs about a kilogram? (pineapple, dictionary)
- who I now sit beside?

Reminders:
- purple Casino volunteer notice in backpack - VOLUNTEERS URGENTLY NEEDED!

Thursday May 12, 2016

Today's Learning:

Gym - 3 - 5 running laps, tag, floor hockey tournament

Music - pls see music blog

Class meeting - academic vocabulary discussion, May's virtue: confidence

Science - adding continents to our plasticine earth models
Talking Circle - individual sharing about feelings

Health - working with partners on safety posters

Math - estimation homework 'how many in my container?' and estimation pre-test 

Ask me:

- to spell 'centimeter' and 'meter' and 'gram' and 'kilogram' and 'confidence'

- what spelling strategies could I use to spell big words like 'centimeter' and kilogram' (sounding it out with my mouth and breaking the word into smaller parts/words)
- how I am showing this month's virtue of 'confidence'?
- what are the continents? (what are some of the shapes we see in the continents?)
- what continent do we live on?
- what is the 'Hudson Bay'?
- what I shared during our 'talking circle'?

Reminders:

- the Hot Soup program has concluded for this year :(
- HOMEWORK - bring 2 words for tomorrow - one that has a 'prefix' and one that has a 'suffix'. see some examples below:

Wednesday May 11, 2016

Today's Learning: 
Gym:
Learning Commons Book exchange and story: 'Leo the Lightening Bug' (confidence virtue)
Class meeting: several students sharing 'The Important Thing About' playground creative writing
Science: rocks and minerals discussion and watching videos
Laptops: reviewing with a partner the Brainpop videos (see below)
Music: pls see music blog
Body break:
Math: estimation - mass: gram and kilogram centres HOMEWORK (see below)

Ask me:
- did I bring home the health poster to work on?
- how many kilograms I weigh?
- to show you the cool Brainpop videos about rocks and minerals
                             - Brainpop videos:  website: www.brainpopjr.com  
                              - log on:   vistaheights     passsword:  brainpop
                              - watch: 'land forms', 'fast land forms', 'slow land forms',  'rocks and minerals', 'soil'
                              - do easy and hard quizzes, word wall, and related activities
- what does a 'geologist ' do? (studies the earth, rocks, minerals and soil)
- what earth layer do we live on? (mantle)
- to explain the following: earthquake, volcano, flood, tsunami, wild fire and hurricane
- what is the hardest mineral? (diamond)
- how we use rocks and minerals? (cement sidewalks, clay pots and dishes, cutlery
- what mineral do we eat? (salt)
- what are the properties of rocks and minerals? (lustre, color, texture, hardness)
- what is another word that means the same as 'balance'? (same as, equal,

Reminders:
- MATH HOMEWORK - count and add some 'things' to the cup.  Bring tomorrow!
- HEALTH poster homework
- Child Safe CANADA pamphlet in backpack

Tuesday May 10, 2016

Today's Learning:
Gym - 3-5 running laps, spider tag,  ball inflation
Class meeting -
Health - safety posters
L.A. - creative writing task 'The Important Book', scaffolding for student writing, 'the important thing about the new Vista Heights playground is that it is fun'..... (what is important to each student about the new playground being constructed next year?)  Ideas shared by Mrs. Turk to the parent council tonight at the meeting
Class meeting: sharing of creative writing
Music - pls see music blog
Body break - 'Jump Start Dance', 'Children's Hot Air Balloon Relaxation'
Extra Music class - see music blog

Ask me:
- if I brought home the health safety poster for homework tonight, or will I bring it home tomorrow to work on?
- about the relaxation listening I participated in this afternoon

Reminders:
- overdue and lost library books *Learning Commons book exchange tomorrow - bring books for renewal or exchange
- health poster homework

Monday May 9, 2016

Today's Learning: 
Gym: 3-5 running laps, indoor soccer, indoor lacrosse
Class meeting
Science - adding blue layer to represent the oceans
Science - class Bean growth observations
Body break
Math: mass - grams and kilograms

Ask me: 
- do I have any overdue library books?
- to show you something from around our house that weighs about a 'gram', a 'kilogram'

Reminders: 
- several students have overdue books from our school library that are lost.  There is a pink overdue notice in your child's backpack

Thursday May 5, 2016

Today's Learning:
Gym - 3+ running laps, scissor tag, scooter hockey
Music: pls see music blog
Guest Performance: Canadian National Ballet streamed performance of YOU (Youth Outreach
Spring Word Search
Buddies: Mr. Beattie's Gr. 1/2 class - plants and cards
Body Break:
Math: Rounding numbers (Brainpop video)

Ask me:
- what I learned about ballet
- what are 'friendly numbers'? (hey end in a 5, or a 0)
- what does 'perimeter' mean?
- how should I measure our garden with? (centimeters or meters)
- what does 'germinate' mean?

Reminders:
-

Friday May 6, 2016

Today's Learning:
Gym - running warmup, mirror tag, parachute fun
Creative Writing - Mother's day cards, spring crossword puzzle
Science - rocks and minerals laptop research
Mother's Day coupons
Math - perimeter: measuring the school garden with non-standard and standard (meter) measurements

Ask me:
- what is the perimeter of our school garden
- how am I modeling this month's virtue 'confidence'?

Reminders:
- pls return all overdue library books
- Happy Mother's Day

Wednesday May 4, 2016

Today's Learning:
Gym - 3 or 5 laps, dinosaur tag, scooter skills
Music - pls see music blog
Class Meeting: review of lockdown procedures
Art: finishing toilette paper butterflies, HATS on for mental health (some students made hats)
Science: rocks and minerals research
Learning Commons book exchange
Math: estimation tasks - guess and check beads, shell noodles, styrofoam balls, pom poms and connect blocks

Ask me:
- what I do if there is a lockdown?  where do I go? what do I do?  What if I am in the hall, where do I go?  What if I am in the bathroom, where do I go?
- what is an estimation strategy I use?

Reminders:
- if you have a cardboard egg carton, pls bring so we can plant some seeds in them
- fill a clear container with a certain number of items for the rest of the class to estimate

Tuesday May 3, 2016

Today's Learning:
Gym: (outside) running warmup, Zombie Tag, Graveyard
Health: safety posters
Science: Geological Study - adding the water and continents to our plasticine earth models
Music: see music blog
Body Break: outside
Math: estimation - making educated guesses about number of objects in clear containers
                            - what is a centimeter, meter?
                            - outside estimation:  what would you use to measure: a blade of grass, a leaf, a          branch, a tree, a garbage container, the slide, the parking lot, the baseball diamond?

Ask me:
- how many centimeters in a meter?
- what part of my body is about the same length as a centimeter?
- what part of my body is about as long as a meter?

Reminders:
- wear a HAT tomorrow for 'Hats on for Mental Health' - teachers and students can show their support for positive mental health by participating in Hats On! For Mental Health, which is sponsored by the Alberta Teachers’ Association, the Canadian Mental Health Association and Global TV.

Everyone has a role in promoting positive mental health and healthy relationships – in our schools, communities and workplaces.

Monday May 2, 2016

Today's Learning: 

Gym:  outside games

Art: toilet paper butterfly art

Buddies: Grade 1/2 pot decorations

Creative Writing: Butterfly Acrostic poem

Body Break: outside take

Math:  Estimation - pre-test and 'guesstimating' amounts

Ask me:

- what does 'estimate' mean?

Reminders:
- Learning Commons Book Exchange tomorrow - pls bring library books for renewal or exchange
- head lice letter in packpack if youngest/only child at school
- if you could, pls pack a recess snack for your child (we have apples for those children who do not have a snack)
- warmer weather: water bottle, hat? sunscreen?
- no more hot soup
-