Dec 10th, 2018 week Gingerbread Houses and MORE

Dear Parents and Students,

We have a lot of fun activities occurring over the month of December! On Monday afternoon, students engaged in a FUN-TIVITY in the gym with Grade 1 to 3/4 classrooms where they participated at 3 interactive stations; Mike and Ike, Dice Stack, and Save Fred (gummy worm & lifesaver).  There was a lot of laughter, group participation and cheering.

Austin was our amazing STAR OF THE WEEK.  His favourite colours are red and blue and his favourite food is a cheese burger with ketchup and mustard from Burger King.  He loves his parents very much.  He enjoys camping with his dad and spending time with his mom and ‘Hammy’ his hamster.  He is a fan of the Calgary Flames and loves collecting Batman toys and more.

Open the Bonnie Ewing attachment and have your child ‘sing’ the love song to our wonderful, amazing Admin.  Assistant, Mrs. Bonnie Ewing, who will be retiring at the end of 2018.  We will MISS HER SO MUCH!  On Wednesday morning we sang the song to her and videoed.

REMINDER:  Food hamper donations until Dec. 19^th.

This week’s writing traits lessons focused on DETAILS and supporting your TOPIC with details.  Wednesday’s lesson involved providing details about themselves.

Ms. Holtby continued exploring First Nations and Metis art expressions and Traditions.  The students are learning that art can be expressed in various ways that illustrate their feelings, portraying a message or passing on knowledge. The class explored a webpage that provided information about artist Leah Dorion. Then, Ms. Holtby read Leah Dorion’s story The Giving Tree, and discussed the artwork. Pointillism was introduced. The class had the opportunity to create their own art piece using pointillism. The class reviewed as a group what pointillism means in art. Ms. Holtby provided the students with examples of Leah Dorion’s work. She then shared with the students an example she created.  She described the meaning and the symbols used to portray the message of her artwork. Students chose an animal and were provided the symbolic meaning according to the Michif (Metis) culture. The students then created their own art piece using paint and Q-tips.

The Grade 1s continued to play the “cup game” for math to reinforce subtraction.  Example:  There are 9 bats flying.  3 are still flying.  How many went inside the bat cave (cup)?  9 - __ = 3   We also used dominoes to create addition/subtraction facts. Grade 1; Unit 3 Math booklets will go home next week.  Please review with your child, sign, and return.

Grade 2 parents:    Check out the Roller Coaster question the children solved for math using subtraction strategies and drawings on Monday. We had a blast taking a “rollercoaster” ride on GoNoodle to begin the lesson.  Subtraction vocabulary was reinforced: difference, subtract, how many more.  Addition and subtraction of 1 and 2 was another target area.  The children played the ONE LESS, TWO LESS GAME (see purple game card in attachments).  We used POWER OF TEN CARDS too.  If you want to place some games at home with your child, Google or check out ‘Power of Ten’ sites like: 

                                 http://poweroften.ca/concentration/

Our phonics letter of the week was Kk.  Kate and Kintley thinks it’s an awesome letter. ;)   We brainstormed words beginning with Kk, explored rhymes and solved mystery sentences.  They children were able to successfully figure out the sentences with “k” words.

On Thursday afternoon, the children had a BLAST creating their gingerbread houses with their Grade 4 Learning Buddies.  Our classroom smelled amazing!  We hope the houses made it home safely.

For French we learned a new song; Quand Le Pere Noel Vient Me Visiter.  We used a Santa puppet to review prepositions vocabulary in an interactive way.   See photos.

NEXT WEEK: 

1.   Mon. 17^th (Day 5)  Multicultural December Celebrations homework is due.  I have ATTACHED IT TO the weekly e-mail.

2.  Tues. 18^th (Day 1)   Bowling in p.m.  & School Carnival from 6 to 8 p.m.  Grade 1 parents;  See your child’s Unit 3 Math booklet.  Sign and return.

3.    Wed. 19^th        Multicultural Breakfast - send 6 to 12 portions.

4.    READING LOGS #4 due THURS. 20^TH BEFORE BREAK!  To receive 4/4, you will need to read 160 minutes or MORE, as 2/3 of month will have passed.

5.  Fri.  21^st     Bring ONE favourite BOARD GAME & 1 healthy drink.  DO NOT send computer gadgets, etc.  EARLY DISMISSAL is at 2:30 p.m.    

  Mon. JAN. 7^th, 2018 (Day 5)     Classes resume

                                          HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019

                                        Kate is Star of the Week & Spelling Test

Ms. Selimos, Ms. Holtby, and Ms. Daniels

  

   

  

  

 

December 3rd 2018 week with Ms. Selimos

Dear Parents and Students,

We have a lot of fun activities occurring over the month of December!

 Ian was our STAR OF THE WEEK.  Ian’s favourite colour is green and he enjoys eating cheeseburgers from Fuddruckers.  His twin brother is Derek.  Ian is his baby brother.  Ian enjoys his time with his family at the farm where he rides a dirt bike, a tractor and spends time with his grandparents.  He loves cheering on our Saskatchewan Roughriders.  He is presently playing indoor soccer.

On Monday, as a Grant Road School community, we celebrated our United Way fundraiser in the gym, as various teachers were ‘pied’ in the face and one of our teachers was taped to the gym wall.  On Monday, I sent out the video of Jake ‘pieing’ our amazing Vice Principal, Mrs. Wagner!  What a sport!  Thank you again parents and students for your monetary contributions.

Austin is the STAR OF THE WEEK the week of Dec. 10^th, Kintley the week of Dec. 17^th, and Kate on Jan. 7^th, 2019!

1.  You may send GINGERBREAD HOUSE MATERIALS to school the morning of Thursday, DEC. 13^th.

2.  Remember to hand in your ONE PAGE “Celebrations” homework by Dec. 17^th.We have already received a few and are looking forward to the children sharing their celebrations with their classmates.

3.  On Tues. Dec. 18^th you, your child, and family are invited to the GRANT ROAD CARNIVAL (6 to 8 p.m.) There will be free entertainment, stations, and more, for all of you to enjoy.  We will be performing a 3 song medley.  It begins with Deck the Halls, then Jingle Bells, and finally, We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  If possible, please find a SANTA HAT for your child to wear. We are accepting a monetary donation of your choice or food items for the FOOD BANK. We will also hold a bake sale. At the carnival, we will start at 6 pm with a performance in gym. Grade 1/2 students are to arrive at 5:45 pm in the classroom, where they will store their jackets.

4.  Bowling  in p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 18^th.

5.  December Reading Log minutes will be due on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20^th, before the holidays.

6.  The Grade 1/2 MULTICULTURAL BREAKFAST will be on WED. DEC. 19^th.  Please send your child to school with a food sample of a dish (small portion), if possible, from your cultural background.  No nuts please. EXAMPLES:  6 to 12 portions of something:  6 yogurt cups, 6 cheese strings, 6 spring rolls, 6 samosas, 6 tiropites (Greek cheese pies), small bag of crackers or tortilla chips.  Each child will be asked to bring something and to present their items.

On Monday, we practiced our printing, as we wrote the poem; Christmas Cookies in our printing booklets.  Have your child read it/sing it to you (Tune:  Frere Jacques).  On Tuesday we began the week creating letters to Santa Claus!  The kids enjoyed writing to him.  They were to ask him a question or two. They are featured in the hallway for everyone to read at the carnival.   In the afternoon, the children wrote a poem called:  My Peppermint Stick in their printing notebooks. 

On Wednesday, the Grade 1 students played the “cup game” for math to reinforce subtraction.  Look at the pictures and try the cup game at home with your child. Example:  There are 10 bumble bees flying.  2 are still flying.  How many went inside the hive (cup)?  10 - __ = 2

Grade 2 parents:  Check out the elevator question we worked on using “picture /drawing strategy” and number families to solve.  Also, check out the Roller Coaster question the children solved for math using subtraction strategies and drawings on Monday.  As well, subtraction vocabulary was reinforced: difference, subtract, how many more.  Addition and subtraction of 1 and 2 was another target area.  The children played the ONE LESS, TWO LESS GAME.

We wrapped up our farm animal unit on Monday with ‘Animal bingo’ and the story:  Petit Poussin, Que Dis-Tu?  We began our new Core French unit; Christmas vocabulary, this week. 

Some of the videos we enjoyed was:  Notre Arbre de Noel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h81AK0-s7xM

                                    and

Quand le Père Noël.wmv - YouTube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynt7aO8CuGw

Through Santa puppetry and song, the children learned their prepositions in French:  sur, sous, dans, devant, derrière, à côté de. 

On Thursday, with the children we read Do Not Open Until Christmas by Jean Little. The activity involved reading comprehension; discussing the problem, solution, and theme of the story which is one of our reading goals, as discussed at the interviews. 

For Social Studies Ms. Holtby began a new unit with a focus on First Nations, Inuit and Metis Traditional Art. She began her lesson with the Treaty Promise, explaining that we are on Treaty 4 Territory. The Treaty Promise was also used as an example of a form of Art with expression through poetry. The students discussed and brainstormed different art forms such as, painting, drawing, coloring, dance, bead work, and acting! As a class we read the book Inuksuk by Laura Edlund. The students then created their own Inuksuk describing what it represents. Student then shared the meaning of their Inuksuk.

This afternoon, staff will be challenging the boys and girls volleyball teams to a match the last hour of school.   Go teachers go!  ;)   ;)   ;)

A friendly reminder that there is NO SCHOOL on Friday, as it is a Professional Development Day. 

Happy weekend!

Ms. Selimos, Ms. Holtby, and Ms. Daniels

  

November 26th, 2018 week with Ms. Selimos FARM INQUIRY and more

Hello Parents and Students,

This week we wrapped up our farm unit by completing a series of activities. With our learning buddies we created 3-D barns as a home for each child’s farm animal. For French we made 2-D barns with animals we drew in the barns and the French sounds they make.  In class, we made bread in the bread maker and discussed that bread comes from grains. As a team, we made our very own butter by shaking whipping cream in a jar until it became solid. We enjoyed our butter and Ms. Selimos’ homemade jam on our fresh loaf of bread we made in our bread maker this morning. YUM! See this week’s photos of the students with the bread and eating the delicious homemade treats.

On Wednesday, George Bothwell Librarian, Jane Grigg, visited our class in the afternoon for half an hour.  She read Polar Bear’s Underwear and performed the Gingerbread Man puppet show. We sang some Christmas carols using musical instruments. It was a great session!

Try making butter at home as a fun family experiment. Click on this link for the directions:

https://www.thebalance.com/homemade-butter-in-a-jar-1388339

 ‘Sitting on the Farm’ by Bob King was a huge hit on our class. Sing this great song with your child and have them show you the actions.

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

This week, we completed the farm inquiry study with poster presentations. The Grade 1/2 put a lot of effort creating their posters.  They are very proud of their finished product. Please have your child present to you at home and celebrate their inquiry learning.

For math, both grades continued their work on number families. See the new NUMBER FACTS DOUBLES RAP attached in the pictures. With addition, we have been trying to memorize our doubles (2 + 2 = 4; 6 + 6 = 12; 9 + 9 = 18). Ask your child if they know their double facts. Play the doubles songs to them as a tool for them to memorize the facts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jOzhiACB68

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9YQ4phTB0E

The Grade Ones have started working with subtraction stories in their math this week. The Grade Twos have been working with missing parts addition and subtraction. See the photos for students work samples.

Continue at home to make addition and subtraction stories with your child. If I had 2 bananas at home and I bought a bunch of 6 bananas at the grocery store, how many do I have now? OR I baked 18 holiday cookies and I gave 8 away to my friends, how many are left?

Great job Grade Ones and Twos with your Reading Log minutes! We are so proud of the many minutes you have logged by reading at home. Enjoy your Pizza Hut coupon for a personal pan pizza before the end of December.

Remember to hand in your ONE PAGE “Celebrations” homework by Dec. 17^th.We have already received a few and are looking forward to the children sharing their celebrations with their classmates.

The Grade 1/2 MULTICULTURAL BREAKFAST will be on WED. DEC. 19^th.  Please send your child to school with a food sample of a dish (small portion), if possible, from your cultural background.  No nuts please. EXAMPLES:  6 to 12 portions of something:  6 yogurt cups, 6 cheese strings, 6 spring rolls, 6 samosas, 6 tiropites (Greek cheese pies), small bag of crackers or tortilla chips.  Each child will be asked to bring something and to present their items.

On Tues. Dec. 18^th you, your child, and family are invited to the GRANT ROAD CARNIVAL (6 to 8 p.m.) There will be free entertainment, stations, and more, for all of you to enjoy.  We will be performing a 3 song medley.  It begins with Deck the Halls, then Jingle Bells, and finally, We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  If possible, please find a SANTA HAT for your child to wear. We are accepting a monetary donation of your choice or food items for the FOOD BANK. We will also hold a bake sale.

Also, a friendly reminder to please send a 2 L carton (cut and taped into the shape of a gingerbread house) to school with your child the morning of DEC. 13^th with the icing, candy decorations, etc. The instructions were given to you at the 3 Way Conferences.

Ian will be our next STAR OF THE WEEK on Dec. 3^rd. Austin is the STAR OF THE WEEK the week of Dec. 10^th, and Kintley the week of Dec. 17^th.

Have fun today at Grant Road’s INCREDIBLES II movie night in the gym.

 

Have a wonderful beginning of December weekend everyone!

Cheers,

Ms. Holtby, Ms. Selimos and Ms. Daniels

  

  

  

   

  

  

Nov. 19th, 2018 Week with Ms. Selimos Agribition Fun and MORE

Hello Parents and Students,

Thank you to all the families who came to our 3 Way Conferences to celebrate your child’s learning with us. It was so great to see each and every one of you!

Deklan was our incredible Star of the Week.  His favourite colour is orange and he likes to eat cheese pizza.  Deklan likes to build Lego Ninjajo robots.  He enjoyed going to Fuddruckers for his birthday.  He enjoyed watching the movie, Inside Out, at Victoria Park this summer with his family.  He loves cheering on the Saskatchewan Roughriders!  He proudly saved his money on his own this past year to purchase a Nintendo Switch and even has 7 video games. 

On Monday, Outdoor Education Teacher, Fred, visited our classroom for the ‘Animals in Winter’ presentation.  The children enjoyed learning about our Saskatchewan animals and their methods of hunting and surviving in winter.  He shared taxidermy animals such as:  hare, fox, coyote, bison coat, lynx, mallard duck, badger, and more.  He discussed migration.  Jake was so excited when Fred chose him as a volunteer to try on the bison coat!  He discussed the importance of a long tail for a coyote and fox (keeps nose warm when sleeping).  A hare eats tree bark in the winter and they only search for every second meal, surviving on their scats to survive, as well.  The kids absolutely LOVED this presentation and were a ‘green zone’ audience.

Agribition highlights and special moments: Thank you VERY much to   parents for volunteering their time to join us for the day.  We could not have done the trip without you!  Your children were in excellent hands in small groups of 2 to 4. The day was educational, high energy and a lot of fun for everyone.  There was so much to see and do in the barns, at the Family Pavilion, in the Brandt Center and much more. We were fortunate to participate in the Rodeo Clown session in the morning. What a ‘barrel of laughs’. Please enjoy the many photos (over 100) attached and ask your child what he/she enjoyed about the Agribition experience.

Following Wednesday’s Agribition trip, the children engaged in a writing project of Agribition brochures. The brochures are to promote and share about our great experience at Agribition. Stay tuned for pictures of the Farm Inquiry posters and Agribition brochures next week.

For math this week the Gr. 2s continued to practice writing number sentences and describing what a number family is.  Ask your child how many number sentences are in a family.

Use numbers 9 and 7.  There are four number sentences in the family: 2 addition and 2 subtraction.

 1. 9+7=16

2. 7+9=16

3. 16-9=7

4. 16-7=9

 Gr. 2s   also revisited inequality and equality.  To practice this, ask your child the sign for inequality or “not the same as.”  Try the question: 3+7 ? 10 OR 2+5  ?   8   Is this the same as, or not the same as?  Try even more questions with your child for FUN! A great math gift is a set of dominoes for your child to learn to add and to subtract.  See photos.  Begin with doubles. 

Doubles song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik_-OAgzD-8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9YQ4phTB0E

The Gr. 1s worked on learning their DOUBLES.  1+1=2; 2+2=4; 3+3=6 Remember that the SUMS for all addition questions are EVEN. 

Please begin gathering materials for the Gingerbread Houses we will be making on the afternoon of Dec. 13^th.  Store bought icing is best, and is cheaper in the grocery stores in November. As well, please pay on-line for the December 18^th bowling/bus activity ($8.50). This covers the cost of the bus, the bowling fee for an hour and a half, as well as one drink for your child to enjoy while bowling.

At the 3 Way Conferences, you received the DECEMBER CELEBRATIONS writing assignment for you to complete with your child.  This assignment is due on Monday, Dec. 17^th. We look forward to sharing these in class the last school week of December.

Just a reminder that our READING LOGS are due this Thursday, November 29^th. Get your 250 reading minutes completed to receive a Pizza Hut coupon for a personal pan pizza.

Cheers,

Ms. Holtby, Ms. Selimos and Ms. Daniels