Thursday October 31, 2019

Learning intentions for our day...

• We did several rounds of Daily 5 today which allowed us to practice writing and reading. 
• In Math we finished our Robot Stepper investigation.  Our focus was on communicating our patterns clearly and looking deeply for patterns.  Some of us even began exploring multiplication patterns!  We also reviewed mathematical vocabulary (i.e.. less than, more than) through a Halloween activity.
• We categorized (or continued to categorize) pictures as examples or non-examples of natural resources in Inquiry today and justified our thinking.   Mrs. Danchuk, Mrs. Zwack and Ms. Woo's classes began to refine their definition.  Debates began as students considered our use of natural resources. 

Ask me about...

the incredible costumes everyone wore today!  

Reminders...

• Jacket Racket will continue to Wednesday Nov. 6^th.  Please send gently used winter wear including coats, mittens, scarves, hats, boots, etc. to school in a bag marked with the items and sizes inside.  We appreciate your support of this much needed program!
• Tomorrow is a Professional Day so no school for students.
• Have a safe and wonderful time tonight!  Happy Halloween!  See you Monday!

Wednesday October 30

Learning intentions for our day...

• In Writer's Workshop we considered why a writer writes.  We made two goals for ourselves as writers:  To make our writing interesting and clear for our readers.  All of our learning will support these two goals throughout the year.
• In Math we continued our Robot Stepper investigation.  This investigation is helping us skip count and notice patterns within sets of numbers.
• Some of us continued to record our thinking about archaeology while others of us began to consider what a natural resource is within Inquiry.  Knowing what the traditional Blackfoot resources were, we created a definition for 'natural resources'.  Categorizing pictures as examples or non-examples and justifying our thinking is helping us to refine our definition.

Ask me about...

the patterns I discovered in my robot stepper investigation today.

Reminders...

• Jacket Racket will continue to Wednesday Nov. 6^th.  Please send gently used winter wear including coats, mittens, scarves, hats, boots, etc. to school in a bag marked with the items and sizes inside.  We appreciate your support of this much needed program!
• Intramurals for Grades Three and Four will begin on Thursday, November 28 and run at 11:45 to 12:10 on Thursdays. Intramurals focuses on game play in activities such as badminton, basketball, football, team handball, soccer, volleyball, etc.  There is a limit of 40 participants.  If more than 40 people sign up, a random draw will be held to decide the participants.  Please go to the EHS Physical Education blog to sign up (link).
• Halloween is Thursday.  Students are welcome to wear costumes to school that day.  No weapons or masks though for safety reasons.  Thank you for leaving treats at home too!  Goodness knows we will all get lots on Thursday night!!
• Friday is a Professional Day so no school for students.

Tuesday October 29, 2019

Learning intentions for our day...

• We worked hard in Daily 5 today reading and writing.  This allowed our teachers an opportunity to work with individual students on reading.  We discussed how we could be thoughtful during our 'work on writing' making sure that we are carefully thinking about what we write and how we write it.
• In Math we began a new investigation - the Robot Stepper.  This investigation is helping us skip count and notice patterns within sets of numbers.
• As we continued to summarize our time at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, we thought about how we know about this place and how the Indigenous people lived.  Some of us remembered the oral practices of the Blackfoot but others reminded us that archaeologists work to learn more about how people lived through artifacts.  We watched a video to learn more ( Solving Mysteries with Archaeologists! ) .  Mr. Kelly heard that when archaeologists studied Head-Smashed-In they didn't find any bison skeletons! We began to think carefully about what we know to solve this mystery.
• Mr. Kelly worked with us to begin drawing a rabbit in our visual journals.  We focussed on how simple shapes and lines can be used to create a picture.

Ask me about...

why I think there were no skeletons found at the Buffalo Jump.  What does this tell us about Indigenous People and how they lived?

Reminders...

• Jacket Racket will continue to Wednesday Nov. 6^th.  Please send gently used winter wear including coats, mittens, scarves, hats, boots, etc. to school in a bag marked with the items and sizes inside.  We appreciate your support of this much needed program!
• Intramurals for Grades Three and Four will begin on Thursday, November 28 and run at 11:45 to 12:10 on Thursdays. Intramurals focuses on game play in activities such as badminton, basketball, football, team handball, soccer, volleyball, etc.  There is a limit of 40 participants.  If more than 40 people sign up, a random draw will be held to decide the participants.  Please go to the EHS Physical Education blog to sign up (link).
• Halloween is Thursday.  Students are welcome to wear costumes to school that day.  No weapons or masks though for safety reasons.  Thank you for leaving treats at home too!  Goodness knows we will all get lots on Thursday night!!

October 28, 2019

Learning intentions for our day...

• In Math, some of us went with Mr. Kelly to complete an 'on my own' assignment from last week while the rest of us reviewed and practiced adding to 30 by doing Magic Square puzzles.
• We began to summarize our time at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in Inquiry today.  In groups we brainstormed the many different ways Indigenous people used the bison.  We also watched a video to learn more about the bison as a species.
• We were fortunate to have author, Marty Chan, visit us today.  He shared how he comes up with ideas for books - by using events from his own life for inspiration!  By adding details, description  and changing the solutions of actual events, he creates books for kids.

Ask me about...

which Marty Chan novel I would like to read and why.

Reminders...

• Jacket Racket begins today and will continue to Wednesday Nov. 6^th.  Please send gently used winter wear including coats, mittens, scarves, hats, boots, etc. to school in a bag marked with the items and sizes inside.  We appreciate your support of this much needed program!
• Intramurals for Grades Three and Four will begin on Thursday, November 28 and run at 11:45 to 12:10 on Thursdays. Intramurals focuses on game play in activities such as badminton, basketball, football, team handball, soccer, volleyball, etc.  There is a limit of 40 participants.  If more than 40 people sign up, a random draw will be held to decide the participants.  Please go to the EHS Physical Education blog to sign up (link).
• Halloween is Thursday.  Students are welcome to wear costumes to school that day.  No weapons or masks though for safety reasons.

Oct. 24

We had a wonderful day at Head Smashed -In Buffalo Jump. We learned many things and really enjoyed the museum. The landscape was very cool.
There are important reminders below!!

Reminders:
- Our assembly is tomorrow at 11am
- If you are holding a sign in the black light performance, make sure you wear plain dark clothes.

- We missed retakes today because of our field trip. There will be special retakes for the Kindness Pod only on Monday October 28

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019

WE ARE GOING TO HEAD-SMASHED-IN BUFFALO JUMP tomorrow!

We had a Kindness Pod meeting about our field trip tomorrow and discussed the schedule for the trip.

Check out the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHB4jhmXSFg

7:45 am parent volunteers check in at the main office and proceed to the Chickadee Room

8:00 am Early arrival students are to arrive at their usual doors

8:15 am boarding bus

8:20 am depart form school

5:00 pm PLEASE NOTE WE WILL BE ARRIVING TO THE SCHOOL VERY LATE

It is a long trip: 2-3 hours

students are encouraged to eat a good breakfast

Students will need:

    Back pack

    Eat a good breakfast

    Hearty lunch

    Water bottle

    2 snacks (one when we get there and one for the trip back)

    Hat that covers ears (it is expected to be windy)

    Book(s) to read on the bus

Weather forecast is favourable but windy.

We spent time rehearsing for our Peace Assembly this afternoon.

Reminders:

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump field trip tomorrow

Peace Assembly-Friday, Oct. 25

Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019

It was a very busy day in the Kindness Pod. We worked diligently on our Peace Assembly.

The students are very excited about the upcoming performance.

The following is a student generated list of all the things we did today:

Vocal recording

Photography

Special word and symbol paintings

Speech writing

Music-rehearing of our assembly songs

Daily Five- 2 rounds

Inquiry research

Drawing

P.E.

Reminders:

Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo Jump field trip- Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019

Field trip forms must be returned ASAP (a small number of students still have not returned them)

Peace Assembly-Friday, Oct. 25, 2019

Monday, October 21, 2019

We went to the Glenbow Ranch today!

What the weather was very cooperative. We hiked and hikes... "like a 1000 kilometres"

Students discuss your favourite part of the trip!

Reminders:

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump field trip forms are still needing to be returned by some students. Field trip is this Thursday!

Kindness Peace Assembly on Friday, October 25th at 11:00 am. We look forward to seeing you there!

October 18, 2019

Learning Intentions for the Day...

• We had a large time today for Daily 5.  We read, wrote and completed our good copies of our 'best part of me'.  
• We were awesome during our free drill today!  The Calgary Fire Department came to observe and reminded us about the importance of practicing our plan both at school and at home.
• In our small inquiry groups, we continued to finalize our plans to represent the person we have been researching.  We are ready to begin creating our final presentation pieces next week.

Ask me...

what I am most excited about doing or seeing at Glenbow Ranch on Monday.

Reminders...

• Glenbow Ranch field trip is on Monday!  Please be prepared for Calgary weather (which can change on a dime)!  Bring with you:
• layered clothing
• good walking shoes that will keep your feet warm
• mittens, hat and warm jacket
• water bottle 9that doesn't leak)
• bigger lunch (we get hungry with so much exploring) 
• snack
• Students with inhalers which they keep in their backpacks need to ensure they have them please!!!
• Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump field trip forms are still needing to be returned by some students.    Field trip is next Thursday!
• If you feel you are missing emails regarding volunteering opportunities, please check your 'junk' email file.
• Kindness Peace Assembly October 25 at 11:00 am.  We look forward to sharing our learning with you.

October 17, 2019

Learning Intentions for the Day...

• We used our literacy times today to complete our written responses to the a chapter of Because of the Rabbit.  We focussed on making predictions of what Emma will do next based on what we know of her actions in previous chapters.  We also completed the rough copies of our paragraphs about our favorite parts of us.  Using a pencil crayon, we edited for spelling, periods and capitals.
• In Math we reviewed the concepts of regrouping and representing numbers in words, standard and expanded form.  
• In Inquiry we began to think about how we would represent the person we have researched through words and symbols.  This work is also in preparation for our upcoming assembly.
• We continued our work identifying big, medium and small problems by classifying situations we might encounter every day.

Ask me...

if I had 3 hundreds, 13 tens and 6 ones what would my number be?  Ask me to explain how I would figure this out.  Can you write this number in words and expanded form?

Reminders...

• Glenbow Ranch field trip forms came home today.  Please return them as soon as you can.
• Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump field trip forms came home Thursday.  Please return them as soon as you can.
• Volunteers are needed for both of these trips!  Please see links:  Glenbow Ranch trip October 21 - https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080d44afab28abf94-glenbow3    Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump trip October 24 - email was sent today with the link
• Kindness Peace Assembly October 25 at 11:00 am.  We look forward to sharing our learning with you.

October 15, 2019

Learning Intentions...

• In Ignite we introduced a few new activities that students will be working on in the next few weeks: loose part story telling, clothing design and uploading reading videos into Iris.  
• In Math we did an 'on my own' assignment to demonstrate our understating of estimation using a number line.  
• We continue to build our stamina within our Daily 5 'Work on Writing'.  This time is an opportunity to choose what to write about and practice the skills we have learned within lessons.
• We worked towards building community with our kindergarten buddies today by playing games, reading and helping them prepare to go home.  We demonstrated leadership and care for them as we thought about how we can help them during our Glenbow Ranch trip next week.
• Within our research of our famous person, we continue to focus on identifying main ideas and details from paragraphs as well as creating jot notes to record these ideas.
• Some of us took photos to represent our best parts of ourselves, we worked to demonstrate our understanding of space, light and the 'rule of thirds'.  The rest of us will have an opportunity to do this tomorrow.

Ask me about...

how I showed leadership and care for our kindergarten buddies toady.

Reminders...

• Glenbow Ranch field trip forms came home today.  Please return them as soon as you can.
• Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump field trip forms came home Thursday.  Please return them as soon as you can.
• Volunteers are needed for both of these trips!  Please see links:  Glenbow Ranch trip October 21 - https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080d44afab28abf94-glenbow3    Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump trip October 24 - email was sent today with the link
• Kindness Peace Assembly October 25 at 11:00 am.  We look forward to sharing our learning with you.

Oct. 10

Learning Intentions

In math we connected our number sense to spatial reasoning by placing numbers on a blank number line.


We continued to write about our characteristics and we tried to be very specific in our examples and reasons. We incorporated our "magic words" - once, if, sometimes, when


During inquiry we wrote down more jot notes about our "say something" person.

We finished the day with a gratitude circle.

Reminders:

No school tomorrow - PD Day
No School Monday - Thanksgiving
Head Smashed - In forms were sent home today

Oct. 9

Learning Intentions

In Math we continued working on estimation. Today we learned about how to use a grid and clumping to estimate.

In Inquiry we started to learn research skills. We had to find key information in paragraphs and we began taking jot notes on the person we are researching

We began to compare one of our characteristics to symbols/body parts using metaphors (i.e. my eyes are generosity)

During Daily 5 we started "work on writing" ask me what I wrote about.


If you are in choir, Music Blog
Ehsmusic.blogspot.com

Reminders:
No school on Friday - PD Day
No school on Monday - Thanksgiving
An email was sent to parents regarding volunteering

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

The snowfall brought some extra energy to our day.

Learning Intentions for Today

Students tell your parents what person you decided to study and why.  

In math, we continued to explore estimation by comparing smaller known quantities to larger (unknown quantity).

We continued to look at the characteristics of nonfiction text and we began our research project. We broke up into our research group.

We had music and P.E.

In art when discussed the element of space (composition/Rule of Thirds) for upcoming photograph project

REMINDERS:

Tomorrow is Peace Ambassadors at lunch

No school for students (PD Day)

No school on Monday, October 14, 2019 (Thanksgiving Day)

Field Trips:

Glenbow Ranch (Monday, Oct. 21)

Head-Smashed-In (Thursday, Oct 24)

Please note that these field trips are all day adventures

Please stay posted about further information about parent volunteers