March 20-24

Hello families, 

Happy March Break! I hope you all have a restful break! 

This week we enjoyed the warmer weather and celebrated the Spring Equinox. We learned from Elder Saa'kokoto (an online presentation from the CBE) about the gifts of springtime. 

This week, students practiced some writing skills to share what they did over the weekend. During our small group Daily LA time, I worked with students to add more detail to their writing. We talked about the 5Ws (who, what, where, when, why) when writing to try to "paint a picture" in the reader's mind. We also continued learning about nouns, adjectives and verbs. Students were introduced to some of the Montessori Grammar Materials. We use a large black pyramid (first manmade structure and colour of the first mineral - coal) to represent nouns, the medium size, dark blue pyramid to represent adjectives, and the red sphere (shows movement and fire which has energy) to show verbs. During our morning work task, students were given pictures and had to write adjectives to describe it, and given simple sentences and had to add adjectives and detail to make it more interesting. 

In math, we learned about doubles facts that can help us solve other addition problems. We learned about visuals that can help us remember the doubles and learned a song as well. We are also working on building our fact fluency with these facts and are practicing them during our math groups fact fluency station as well. 


Students were very excited to move on to the next part of our nutrition lessons! We have learned the food groups and how to describe food using different characteristics. Students had a mystery food in a hidden container - they were able to feel it, smell it, and shake it to make predictions about what it is. They shared characteristics to determine what the food was. They were excited to learn it was bread! Students then had the opportunity to taste some fresh white bread from the Safeway bakery. Students brought home a bread collector card with a recipe you can try at home! We have a few more foods to taste throughout the next few weeks and students will bring home a recipe for each one! Here's a photo in case you missed it! 

On Friday, students wrote about their food in their Food Explorers journal! 






We are continuing to learn about communities in Social Studies. We read the book, "I'm Part of My Community" and students discussed in groups what they would like to do when they grow up, and how that might help their community. After the break, we will be moving into learning ore about Calgary, Alberta, and Canada! 

In science, we explored the question: Are humans good to our water? Students worked in groups to brainstorm examples and non-examples of how to protect our water and oceans. I compiled their ideas in a chart to summarize. Students did an excellent job working as a team and contributing to their groups.







Gymnastics!!

We will begin gymnastics in our regularly scheduled gym classes on Monday, April 3rd.  The gymnastics unit will last two weeks.  Safety routines, cooperation and 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 to be actively engaged. The following guidelines are very helpful…  


HEAD TO TOE - READY TO GO!!!   

Head ....................... long hair pulled back  

Ears/Throat/Wrist ............... jewellery 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


Our class has access to the gym Monday-Wednesday and some Fridays. We have PE outdoors on Thursdays or join another class if it is too cold.


Upcoming Dates

  • Every Monday - Card Club & Drama Club (for those who have signed up - 3 more Mondays of Drama Club)
  • March 27-31 - March Break - No school 
  • Thursday, April 6th - Taco Time Fun Lunch
  • Friday, April 7th - Good Friday - No School
  • Monday, April 10th - Non Instructional Day - No School
  • Thursday, April 20th - Edo Fun Lunch
  • Friday, April 21st - Mrs. Carreño's Last Day! 

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