Wednesday 16 December 2015

December 16

Tomorrow Thursday December 17 is Pajama Day!  You may come to school in your jammies.  You may bring a stuffie with you but please no blankets or slippers.  Please keep your stuffies small and compact.

Tomorrow is our last day before the Christmas Break. School resumes on January 4 2016. We are working on creating a wonderful masterpiece which we will give to our parents for Christmas.  Please except this gift to be in your child's backpack tomorrow.

Everyday this week we have been practicing our Christmas Carols in the gym.  We sound amazing.  

Tomorrow afternoon we will finish our gifts and do some Christmas activities.  Also, tomorrow will be Mr. S's last day however.... don't panic kids.....he will be back with us in Feburary for an 8 week practicum.  We are very thankful for this :)

Have a wonderful evening.




Wednesday 9 December 2015

CHRISTMAS CONCERT INFORMATION

Tonight is our Christmas Concert.  Here is some important information:
- concert starts at 6:00pm
- please be in our classroom (room 73) at 5:45pm
- please pick your child up at our classroom when the concert is done.  No children will be allowed to go and look for their parents else where in the school.
- wear your best western wear tonight.  No cowboy hats please.
- if you do not want to dress in western wear, please wear your best clothes.
- our concert will last about 25-30 minutes.
- If your child has speaking/solo singing part they may wear a cowboy hat

We are looking forward to performing for you tonight.  Make sure you pay close attention to Finnah's speaking parts and Sophia's solo.  They are amazing!

Monday 7 December 2015

December 7

Tomorrow morning and Wednesday morning our class will be doing a full run through of our Christmas concerts at 8:45am.  Our dress rehearsal is Wednesday at 2:00pm.  

Today was the last day for book orders I will be placing the order tonight.  

This morning we talked about our amazing weekends.  We then moved on to one round of Daily 5.  After this we worked on stretching out our sentences to  make our writing more interesting.  We will be moving on tomorrow.

This morning we also practiced our singing with Mr. Soulliere's class.  AND......this afternoon we headed over to the Auburn Heights Retirement Residence.  We sang for a group of seniors in the local dining room and then we headed upstairs to the Memory Care Ward.  Everyone thought we sounded beautiful.  We also had some down time while at the Residence.  The kids enjoyed some colouring and juice with snack.  What a wonderful way to spend our afternoon.

Have a wonderful evening!


Thursday 3 December 2015

December 3

Tonight is Parent Teacher interviews.  Looking forward to telling all of you about  the amazing things your child is doing.  Tomorrow there is no school as Parent Teacher conferences will be continuing.

We continue to work on reading strategies during guided reading.  Please ask your child which strategy is their favourite and post it on the blog.

Today during writer's workshop we continued to work on adding more details/stretching our sentences.  

After lunch we did calendar activities. We then moved on to math.  Thank you to Reid and Yahia for showing us a more challenging way to play Face Off.  Please ask your child how to play this more challenging game.  It can be played at home with a regular deck of cards.

We had gym today and worked very hard on our circuit training.  Please have your child demonstrate at least one of the activities they did in gym today.  Reid and Mathew both said "my legs were burning after the wall sit."  This is great news :)

At the end of the day, we got our December book orders.  Please return on Monday so I can place the order and have it back before Christmas holidays.

We also worked on our personal time lines.

Monday afternoon is our field trip.  We will be leaving at 12:30 and returning around 2:45.

Book Fair will be open tonight and tomorrow during the day.

Have a wonderful evening.


Wednesday 2 December 2015

December 2

What a fabulous day!  We have been practicing our songs for the Christmas concert.  We sound amazing.  Thank you to Sophia for her beautiful solo.  I am so excited for everyone to hear her.  She has the voice of an angel.

Today in writing we worked on making our sentences/writing more interesting by adding details that answer the questions, who, what where, when and why.

This morning we went to the book fair and saw many awesome books.  Each child made a wish list which includes 2 or 3 books they are interested in.

This afternoon flew by.  We worked on an awesome math word problem that Mr. S presented to us.  The problem says:  You have 10 blocks that are 2 different colors.  What patterns can you make.  The kids used blocks to create their patterns and represented their mathematical thinking in their journals.

We had dance this afternoon and then we moved right into Social Studies.  We are beginning to talk about our own personal time lines and in the near future, your child will be conducting an interview with you.  How fun!!!

I will send the December book orders home tomorrow.  Thank you Mrs. Herbert for putting these together for us.

Have a wonderful evening.


Tuesday 1 December 2015

December 1

When I started to write this blog, I accidentally wrote November.....I cannot believe that today is the first day of December.

We have been working on a number of different reading strategies.  Here is a list of the ones we are "experts" on: Chunky Monkey (look for the parts of the word that you know), Back track and read again (if you get mixed up or don't know a word go back to the beginning of the sentence and try again), skippy frog(If you are stuck on a word, skip it, read to the end of the sentence and then go back to the word), Does it make sense? (Think of a word that would be make sense and match the sounds), Eagle Eyes ( Look at the pictures) and Look for little words in big words.

We have also reviewed that "Good Writing" looks like.  Here are our suggestions: Onomatopoeia, Leave spaces between words, add texture words, use voice, add sound words, add juicy words, add feeling words, add action words, use sentence starters, add punctuation, use your dictionary and most important sound out your words and TRY YOUR BEST!

Permission forms are due by Friday for our field trip to the retirement residence on Monday December 7.  We will be leaving the school at 12:30 and returning before 3:00.

In math we have been talking about patterning.  Please have your child show you an abc pattern if they are in grade one and a growing pattern if they are in grade 2.

Question of the day:  If you lived long ago, what is one way that your life would be different from today?  Please post your answers on the blog.

Monday 30 November 2015

November 30

Hello Families....I am back.  Last week I was away on a brief medical leave but I am back and feeling great.  Looking forward to working hard through these 3 weeks.

While I was away, our student teacher Mr. S. did a fantastic job keeping the ship afloat.  Him and I were able to plan each night over email/text and he did an amazing job teaching our children.  We are very grateful for him.  Thank you Mr. S.

Here is some important information.
1.  We are a bit low on gifts for our families helping families.  I know this year is tough on many families and I completely understand if you are not able to support this year.  I am only mentioning this in case some families still have gifts at home at they are planning on sending in (a couple kids did mention this today).  Thank you for your continued support with this.

2. We are going on a field trip on Monday to the Auburn Heights Retirement Residence.  We are super excited to take part in this community building activity.  We will be singing to the residence and working on a Christmas craft with them.  I am looking for one parent who would be interested in joining us next Monday afternoon.  Please email me if you are interested.

3.  Parent teacher conferences are this Thursday evening and Friday morning.  I am looking forward to meeting with you.  I still have a few spots available if you have not yet booked a time.  This goal for this parent teacher conference is for me to tell you where your child is functioning for their grade, what they are doing well and where they might need to improve.  We will look at some of their work together which will help give you a better perspective as to what they are doing.  The meetings are only 15 minutes so I will have to talk fast :)  If you have any questions ahead of time please email me so I can have an answer prepared and ready to go for our meeting.

4.  Next week is our Christmas concert.  It is on Wednesday evening.  The kids are asked to dress in their best cowboy/cowgirl attire.  Concert begins at 6pm.

5. November book orders have not yet arrived.  I will be sending home the Decembers orders tomorrow in hopes of having all orders in by Friday.  This way the books will arrive before Christmas for sure.

I think that is it for now.  If I think of more things that I need to catch you up on I will add another post called November 30 #2.

Have a wonderful evening.

P.S.  I really missed the kids and I was so happy to see their smiling faces this morning.  What a great day!

Tuesday 17 November 2015

November 17

What a wonderful day.  Tomorrow we have a very special event planned.  Hawk the Calgary Police therapy dog will be coming to visit us tomorrow at the end of the day.  Soooo excited!  Also, tomorrow is fun lunch.

Grade ones received a book called Mr. Zinger's Hat.  This is part of the TD Grade One book giveaway program.  School photos were sent home today as well.

Mr. S has been working very hard on our writing skills.  We have been adding sound and feeling words to our stories.  Tomorrow we will begin to talk about "juicy words" and how to add them to our stories as well.

In math we have been working very hard on measuring all kinds of things around our classroom.  This is a lot of hands on fun.

In Social Studies we have started talking about the groups that we belong to and have represented this in our visual journals.

I showed the class a new app today that helps them learn their phone number and practice calling 911.  The app is free and is called DialSafe Pro.  

Landyn says if you want to measure something at home you can measure anything.  Mathew thinks he may try and measure his dog.  This should be an adventure.

Thursday 12 November 2015

November 12

Welcome back!  Did anyone else think today was Monday?  Yikes!

This morning we had 2 rounds of Daily 5.  Our new student teacher Mr. S has started working with some small guided reading groups.  This is awesome as we will now be able to meet with each student twice as much.

During Writer's Workshop, Mr. S and the kids brainstormed a list of "feeling words" that we are able to add to our own writing projects.  The kids sure do love listening to Mr. S's stories.  

We had music this morning with Mrs. Jones.

After lunch we watched the movie Inside Out.  Here is a message from Mrs. Kinsman regarding this movie.


To Families of Cranston Students:

Part of our work at Cranston School is to provide our students with opportunities to grow in their character development and to learn how to best respond in particular social situations. 

We know from brain research that how we react to others, and in particular situations, can often be changed through the power of story. This Thursday, November 12, we are going to share in a story-event as a whole student body when we come together to view the video "Inside Out". This Pixar film tells the story of a character who lives inside a child's brain and tries to keep core memories of positive personal stories strong in the face of challenges associated with moving to a new city and school. As the students encounter the story of the main character, Riley, they will begin to share understanding of how they can control and manage their responses to new events based on their past experiences, and that their responses can be changed.

A shared experience of story like this provides all students with opportunities to develop common language and understanding that will support our daily work at Cranston School to build peaceful communities of strong, connected, responsible and positive young citizens. 

The film is 102 minutes long and we will be showing it in the gym right after lunch.  Please discuss the film with your children to reinforce the positive messages the video contains.

Thank you.

Mrs. Kinsman, Principal

When the movie was done we played scooter tag in gym.  We came back and had out snack and then we worked on math games.

Have a wonderful evening.


Tuesday 10 November 2015

Families Helping Families


Cranston families, if you are interested in helping…

IMPORTANT à  Please send your child’s teacher a comment through this BLOG post titled ‘FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES AT CHRISTMAS’. State what item you are willing to contribute or donate based off of the needs the family has indicated so that all other families in your child’s class can see what has been contributed and what still is in need.
Please remember that our families would love to not have to worry about the purchase of food items and more than one gift card to their chosen grocery store would be welcomed!
**We welcome donations of gently used items for our families as well.

All gifts/donations will need to be wrapped and labeled for whom they are intended for. Wrapped contributions will be due by:
Wednesday December 2nd, 2015

In the spirit of giving this holiday season, all staff at Cranston school would like to thank families in advance for their thoughts and contributions! Thank you for making a families Christmas a little brighter!!

Monday 9 November 2015

November 9

Happy Monday families.  We had a lot of fun talking about all of the things we did this weekend.  I enjoyed hearing that some children were out playing in the snow.  

During Daily 5 this morning, I worked with a group of grade 2's.  I have started to introduce the Literature Circle jobs to them.  Today we learned about being a reporter.  This group is going to make a "newspaper" that tells about the events in their book called Brad's Brilliant Ideas.

During writer's workshop, we learned about adding sound words to our stories. We learned a great big new word today called onomatopoeia.  Question of the day:  What does onomatopoeia mean?  Please give an example and post your answers on the blog.

We had music this morning and we are learning to square dance.

After lunch we did calendar activities and then learned a new doubles math game.

At the end of the day we worked on our clay log houses and finished a page in our visual journals comparing the past to the present.

Just a reminder there is no school on Wednesday.

Friday 6 November 2015

Happy wonderful Friday.  I have been away from school for a few days but things seemed to have run very smoothly.  That is because your children are amazing!

This morning we continued to work on our Remembrance Day art.  We will post them in the hallway next week.

This morning we had our Friday Fun Snack.  The kids loved the smoothies but they were freezing afterwards.  Some even said they had a brain freeze :)

After this we had 2 rounds of Daily 5.  One of the grade 2 groups is working on a book about Asteroids.  We had a very rich discussion this morning about asteroids and dinosaurs

After Daily 5 we worked on math.  We have been learning about the doubles.  We represented the double in our math journal.  We thought of real life examples that represented each double.  For example 7+7 can be presented by 2 weeks on a calendar.  6+6 can be represented by 2 rows in a dozen of eggs.

After this we played a game with dice that helps us with basic addition skills along with the doubles.  This game you can play at home to help solidify your child's mental math skills.  Roll 2 dice, add those numbers together and then double.

Question of the Day:  How would you represent 9+9?  What is a real life example?  Or how would you represent 4+4 using a real life example?

Tuesday 3 November 2015

November 3

We started our day off working with our grade 3/4 buddies on a Remembrance Day art project.  We will be using sharpies and chalk pastels.  Our creations are looking wonderful so far.

After our buddy time we moved to Daily 5.  I worked with a group of grade twos on nouns, verbs and adjectives.  

When Daily 5 was over it was lunch time already.

After lunch we worked on calendar activities.  Thank you to Kaitlyn for doing such a great job leading this activity.  It is one of our new classroom jobs.

We continued to work on the friendly facts in math.  We are representing the friendly facts in our math journals using 10 frames and number sentences.

At 1:00 we had a presentation by an author named Trevor Enfield.  This was awesome.

At the end of the day we continued working on our friendly facts.

Book and Movie club starts tomorrow.

Picture re-take day on Thursday.

This Friday is Fun Snack Friday.

Please everyone dress for the weather.  There  were a lot of cold kids at recess today.

Have a wonderful evening.

Wednesday 28 October 2015

October 28

Today during Writer's Workshop we continued to talk about ways to organize our writing.  We did an example together where we organized our writing by colours.  Here is our example:


Red is a bright colour.  Apples are often red as they grow on trees.  I see red on the Canadian flag as it blows in the wind.  Have you ever see a red pear?  Red peppers are hot and they burn my mouth.  My blood is red as it flows through my body.
Blue is one of my favourite colours.  It represents a beautiful flower called "Forget me not".  Do you know what this looks like?  The sky is a bright blue and it makes me think of warm days. Can you believe there is a crab that has blue on its legs.

What does green make you think of?  Green as the grass that grows in the prairies.  Many vegetables are green and some of my favourites are broccoli brussel sprouts.   Green reminds me of the smell of grass right after a rain. 


This morning we also had music and then after lunch we learned to play a new math game with our grade 3/4 buddies.  It is a game you can play at home.  Please ask your child about this game.

We did calendar activities and then headed off to dance.  We learned the thriller dance.  See if you can show off your moves to your family.

At the end of the day we worked with our 3/4 buddies on a witch/Halloween art project.

Please remember to bring your Halloween costume to school tomorrow.

The following students have been chose to attend intramurals:  Eden, Trevor, Grace, Landyn, Kale, Grayson and Dexter.  Please return permission forms ASAP.

Tuesday 27 October 2015

October 27

Do you know how many more sleeps until Halloween?  Do you think there is a full moon?  How do you know?

This morning we finished our Fall Trees art project. Here is an example of one of our completed masterpieces.  



We had 2 rounds of Daily 5 this morning.  I worked with a group of grade one students on the silent e rule.  In lively letters we call this the King Ed rule.  If your name is Eden, Jamie, Hayden, Dexter or Kale please talk to your parents about this rule.  Finnah very quickly realized that Kale's name follows this very important rule.

During Writer's Workshop today we had a lot of fun.  It was our last day to focus on making lists. We decided to make a list of 10 things we do not like.  Some of the things we do not like include: broccoli, brussel spouts, getting out of bed and cleaning the playroom.  

After lunch we worked on calendar and continued working on comparing big numbers and little numbers and finding the difference.

After gym we continued working on our Settler Effects.

Have a wonderful evening.

Information about Calgary Flames tickets

Calgary Flames and CBE have partnered up again to offer 'Press Level' seating to families at a discounted price.  $36 for a ticket, and $10 from each ticket purchased goes right back to Cranston School.  Go to www.calgary.flames/studentnight for more information.  Remember to choose Cranston from the drop down menu.  Tickets sell out fast, so please order soon!  

Monday 26 October 2015

October 25

This morning we started our day off working with our buddies on an Original Artwork project.  We are making Fall trees and today we did a wash for the background.  Please ask your child what a wash is.  Kaitlyn is planning to show her mom and dad at home how to do a wash.  How fun!

After buddies Constable Mattice was in our classroom.  She read a book called How to fill your bucket.  After this story we reviewed our Emotions Scale.  I posted a picture of it last week.  Today we made our own emotions scale and drew pictures to represent each feeling.  On the back of the paper we wrote down a couple of calming down strategies that work best for us.  I have attached a picture of the strategies we came up with as a class.


After music we chose 3 students who will be part of the Book and Movie club.  Congratulation to Ruby, Madyson and Sophee.  Please return permission forms ASAP.

After lunch we worked on calendar activities and then straight on to math.  Today in math we worked on a very difficult math problem.  Here it is:


There are 7 chairs in a room.  There are 4 children in the room.  How many more chairs are there than children.  Show your work.  Can you use addition and subtraction to show your thinking?  The numbers were change to 11 and 6 for the grade 2s.  The idea around this problem is to use subtraction to compare to numbers.

We had a fire drill this afternoon.

We have started talking about the past in Social Studies.  We are reading a book called Ticket to Curlew.  After gym we worked on a page in our visual journals.  We created a suitcase and we added some "settler effects".  Please ask your child what this means.

Please see previous post about Jacket Racket.

This Thursday we will be celebrating Halloween in our classroom.  Please bring your costume to school as we will be changing in to them after lunch.  Please no masks or weapons.

Thursday evening is the Halloween Howler.
Friday there is no school.

Question of the day:  What is the difference between 8 and 12?  How will you figure this out?


Jacket Racket

Cranston Peace Ambassadors will be starting a drive for Jacket Racket beginning Monday, October 26th and running to Friday, November 6thThis is a wonderful opportunity for all students to help other children here in our city, by donating warm outerwear that they no longer need. It is a valuable experience for our students and reinforces Cranston School’s commitment to peace and citizenship education. Please take some time with your children to go through their winter items. It is that time of year when we all realize that hats, mittens, boots, snow pants and coats have been outgrown! Please give them a wash and put them in a plastic bag to be brought to school. If you could list the items and sizes on the outside of the bag, it would help the students with the sorting process! We also accept adult sizes, as many older students need help to stay warm in the winter as well!

Thursday 22 October 2015

October 22

Happy Thursday wonderful families.

Just a reminder that tonight is student led learning walks for N-Z however if you were unable to make it last night and tonight works for you.... that is totally fine.  I look forward to seeing you tonight.

I would like to welcome our new Educational Assistant Mrs. Rumsey to our classroom.  She will be spending every afternoon with us.

This morning we continued to work on our independent works still during Daily 5.  

In Writer's Workshop we are working on making lists.  We brainstormed a list of favourite things that we could write about.  Here are some things we thought would be great to write about:  Favourite animals, things, songs, food, toys, movies and places.

We had music this morning.

This afternoon we did calendar activities and then we reviewed our "one more" game.  This was a lot of fun.  After math we had snack and then headed outside for gym/body break.  At the end of the day we had a special presentation in the gym by Author Marty Chan.  He was so funny.  I am hoping to get some of his books for our classroom.

Halloween Howler tickets have been sent home.

Question of the day:  How do you play the game "one more"?  Thank you Ruby for this question.

Have a wonderful evening.

Tuesday 20 October 2015

October 20

Another fabulous day with the leaders of team 73.  This morning we had 2 rounds of Daily 5.  After Daily 5 we moved onto Writer's Workshop.  We finished up our poems that we will have out for display at the Student Led Learning Walks. Here is some important information about the SLLW.


Student Led Learning Walks offer you and your child(ren) an opportunity to glimpse a snapshot of what “writing to communicate and represent” looks like at every grade level across Cranston School with your child as the guide.
 
Families whose last names begin with A – L  attend on Wed. Oct. 21/15
Families whose last names begin with M – Z attend on  Thu. Oct. 22/15
*While there will be teachers from every grade level present both evenings, not every teacher will be present both evenings. All student work will be on display both evenings.
 
**If there are families who are getting family photos done on Thursday whose last name begins with A-L, you can choose to come whichever night works best 


This morning we also did our making words activity and we focused on the following word families: as, ash and ark.

After lunch we did calendar activities.  We are really working on understanding how a calendar works.  We are identifying days that are a week from now or were a week ago.  Any extra help at home would be greatly appreciated. 

Today we reviewed all the math games we have learned since the beginning of the year.  Tomorrow we will be talking about strategies for adding one and two more.

We had a visit from Constable Mattice this afternoon. She talked about emotions and strategies for staying safe and calm.  


I am hoping to have Hawk the Calgary Police therapy dog come to our classroom.  I am going to write a proposal as to why I think this is a good idea.  We are super excited or this possibility.  How doesn't love this dog???



We went to gym and we played Evolution Tag.  It sounds like they had a lot of fun.

At the end of the day I had out school pictures.  Orders are due October 28 if you are interested.

Tomorrow is Fun Lunch from Boston Pizza.



Question of the day:  What is one strategy you think would be helpful when someone needs to calm their body?

Monday 19 October 2015

October 19

This morning I was away from the classroom for a meeting however the kids just carried on with their usual routine.  I got a message from the substitute teacher about how amazing my class is.  I was smiling from ear to ear.

After lunch we worked on our calendar activities and then straight into math.  We had a challenge problem that the kids worked on in their journals.  The question was: "Does it matter which order the numbers are in when doing a subtraction question?"  This was tricky.  I asked the kids is 6-2 the same as 2-6?  Please ask your child this question.  After math we played outside for gym as the gym was being used for voting.

At the end of the day we worked on a visual journal page on How Animals use their Senses.  

Have a wonderful evening.


We need Roots of Empathy babies!!

Attention All Cranston Families:

We are in need of 5 more babies, ages 6 months and younger, to participate in our Roots of Empathy program.  If you have family members, friends or neighbours who would be willing to volunteer 45 minutes/month with their babies to the school we would love to talk to them!  Please contact Mrs. Susanne Jones at the office 403-777-6267 ext. '0' for further information or if you would like the school to contact them directly.  Thanks so much!  Roots of Empathy begins in classrooms over the next two weeks and we would love to go forward with a full complement of 14 baby teachers!

Thank you!

Mrs. Kinsman (Principal)

Wednesday 14 October 2015

October 14

Today we were off our routine just a little bit today however the kids adjusted well.  Here are a few important bits of information:

1. Safety assembly tomorrow with Constable Mattice at 12:10

2. Lockdown practice tomorrow at 1:30

3. Please return Halloween Howler form ASAP

4. We forgot to change home reading however we will do so tomorrow.  I am going to assign a grade 2 student each week to help all the kids change their books.

5.  Everyone will be set up on Raz Kids by the end of the week.  I am going to make sure everyone has a password and then I will print the cards and send them home.

Have a wonderful evening.

Tuesday 13 October 2015

Sure sounds like everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope you enjoy our "How to catch a turkey" project.  I really enjoyed heading about everyone's weekend.

This morning I worked with a group of grade 2's discussing different types of homes in different parts of the world. The cool thing about these homes is that they can all be moved.  These grade 2's are making a "brochure" describing what they have learned.  Hopefully they can share with the entire class.

Today in Writer's Workshop, we talked about organizing our writing in a way that makes sense.  We listened to a story called Cookie's Week and we modelled our writing after this story.

Today we also worked on the following word families: at, an and ank.

This afternoon we did calendar activities and we created a cool Halloween attendance page.  

In Math today we talked about addition.  We worked on adding sentences while changing the order of the addends.  Please ask your child if it matters which order the addends are in.

We had gym today and then we worked on our I Am poems with our grade 3/4 buddies.  We have started to talk about revising and editing.

Halloween Howler forms were sent home today.

Please return home reading tomorrow.

Question of the Day?   Can you make a subtraction number sentence that goes along with 6+4=10? Please post your answers on the blog.

Friday 9 October 2015

October 9

Happy Thanksgiving!  We worked on a fun writing/art project this morning.  I introduced procedural writing on How to Catch a Turkey.  We described how to catch a turkey using the words first, next and then.  We made turkeys using coffee filters.  Hope you think they are as amazing as I do.

This morning we sang O Canada.  We sounded beautiful.

Right after this we had snack and we worked very hard to finish our writing/art project before the end of the day.

Just a reminder the concert is at 2:00pm not 2:15 as I had written in previous blogs.  Sorry about the confusion.  Please be in the classroom at 1:45.

No School on Monday.

Internal lockdown practice on Thursday not Wednesday at 1:30.  We will be having a safety assembly prior to this lockdown with Cst.Mattice at 12:15.

Halloween Howler forms are on the weekly message sent out to parents.  Please return by October 19 if you are interested in going.

Question of the day: Can you name an animal that uses its senses in a way that is different than we do?  How do they use that sense to help them survive?  Please post your answers on the blog.  

Thursday 8 October 2015

October 8

When we came in the morning Mrs. Sloane worked with a group of grade 2 on guided reading. They talked about the a new word.  The word is narrative.  If you were in the my reading group, please talk to you parents about this word.  

During writer's workshop, we created a winter picture with a lot details and then we wrote about it.  We are doing an amazing job using sentence starters.

Before lunch we did Making Words and talked about the an and ack families.  During Lively Letters we learned what /ar/ says and a quick little story to remember what it says.  Please ask your child about this story.

We had a busy afternoon.  After lunch we had music and then we went straight to drumming.  After drumming we had gym and then worked with our grade 3/4 buddies on a writing activity.  

Book orders due tomorrow.  Drumming concert tomorrow at 2:15.  We are singing O Canada at 9:20.  Don't forget to wear red and white tomorrow.

Have a wonderful evening.

Important Message from Mrs. Kinsman

CRANSTON SCHOOL NEEDS 7 BABIES FOR ROOTS OF EMPATHY

We have 7 families signed up so far to participate in the Roots of Empathy program for this school year, and are in need of 7 more. Babies who are 6 months or younger are ideally suited to participate as 'baby teachers' in this most worthwhile program. Babies and and their parent(s) are asked to visit the school for a half hour per month to be present in classrooms with students, teachers and a trained Roots of Empathy Coordinator. We are need of babies for Mrs. Richardson, Ms. MacEwen, Mrs. Grummett, Mrs. Rumpel, Ms. Weldrick, Ms. Klein, Mrs. McEvoy and Ms. MacMillan/Mrs. Sedgewick's classrooms. If you have a baby in this age range, or know someone else who does, I encourage you to consider joining us once a month!  You do not need to have a child attending Cranston School to participate or be a resident of Cranston community - all babies are welcome :)

If you would like more information or to sign up for this fun-filled program, please contact Susanne Jones at the office, 403-777-6267 ext '0'.  We are hoping to begin the program the last week in October so please register as soon as possible.  We love our Baby Teachers!

Thank you!

Mrs. Kinsman

Wednesday 7 October 2015

October 7

This morning we worked very hard on our writing.  We added stories to our house illustrations from yesterday.  We have also added a few new sentence starters to our list to include In the distance I heard and The air was filled with the smell of.

This afternoon we worked on our calendar activities.  We have started to talk about reading dates on a calendar and how do you figure out when a date is a week away.  Please show your parents how to figure this out.  Show them when it will be a week from today and how do you know.

In math we learned a new word.  It is inequality.  Today we compared number sentences and had to decide if their are equal or not equal.  Please ask your child to show you the sign that represent inequality.

Just as we were about to start snack time, they called us for pictures.  We headed off to pictures and then to Dance.  After this we had time to finish our snack and work on some science activities.  

Just a reminder about our Drumming performance on Friday at 2:15.  Also book orders are due on Friday.  No School on Monday.

On Friday we will be singing O Canada at 9:20.  Please send your permission forms to school tomorrow if you have not already done so.




Question of day? What was the word texture mean?  Please post your answers on the blog.

Tuesday 6 October 2015

October 6

What a wonderful day.  We had 2 rounds of Daily 5 this morning. The grade ones continue to work on the following reading strategies: Point to each word as you say it, look at the pictures, look at the first sound and look for any parts that you know.  Grade twos are working on comprehension strategies which include making predictions.  We are also talking about contractions.

During writer's workshop this morning we listened to a story called A House for Hermit Crab my Eric Carle.  We watched this book being read on YouTube as an introduction to adding details to the stories we write.  In this story, Hermit Crab starts with a plain shell and adds more and more objects to his home to make it more interesting and beautiful.  Much like details do to a story.  After we listened to this story I drew a square on the board and told the kids this was a house.  Each one came up an added a detail.  After this they drew their type of house in their journals.  Tomorrow we will do the writing that goes along with this picture.

We worked on the following word families today: as, an and ash.  Please ask your child how they know when a word belongs to a certain word family.

After lunch we did calendar and then practiced the games we learned yesterday.

During gym we worked cooperatively with small omnikin balls.  This was fun!

At the end of the day we finished up our visual journal pages about protecting the senses.  We were suppose to finish this yesterday except we got talking about the internal lockdown practice we are having on Wednesday October 15. So today is officially the last day for this senses activity :)

Picture day tomorrow.

Please send back the orange O Canada performance permission form by Thursday.  Thank you!

Have a wonderful evening.

Monday 5 October 2015

October 5

Happy Monday everyone!  Sounds like we all had a great weekend.  Many kids went to see Hotel Transylvania 2 this weekend.  The movie was awesome.

This morning we worked on using a story organizer to help us during Writer's Workshop.  We are thinking about who our characters are, where the story takes place and what happens (usually a problem followed by a solution).  Here is a picture.


We have been reviewing some letter combinations and the sounds they make through lively letters.  We have been talking about ir, er, and ur.  Please ask your child the story I told to help them remember the sound these letter combinations make.

After lunch we worked on calendar activities and then moved on to math.  We played 2 different games.  The first game practiced adding 10 to a number and the second game worked on subtracting a number from 10. 

After gym we worked in our visual journals on a senses page.

On Friday we are participating in a singing celebration.  Canada's flag turns 50 years old and we will be recording the kids singing O Canada.  A permission form has been sent home.  Please return on Thursday.

Also just a reminder that Picture Day is on Wednesday.

One world drumming concert is on Friday.  The Hope hallway will be performing at 2:15 - 2:55pm.  Hope to see you there.

Have a wonderful evening.

Wednesday 30 September 2015

September 30

Who can believe that today is the last day of September.  Here is some important information.

- Terry Fox run on Friday at 10:30
- Book orders for October went home today and are due on Friday October 9.  We will have our special snack right after the run.
- Home reading is in your child's backpack.  Please return every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for new books.  
- Your child's mathletics sign in card is in their book bag.  Today we learned how to sign in and create a character.  If you have any questions about this program please email me.

Today we had a visit from Constable Mattice from the Calgary Police Service.  We talked about how our senses keep us safe.  Please, please (Kaitlyn asked me to say this) post on the blog one way that your sense help keep you safe.

Have a wonderful evening!

Tuesday 29 September 2015

September 29

We had a great morning.  We continue to work on building our stamina during Daily 5.  We have added writing to our job choices and within a week or so we will add the final job of Word Work.  Last year's kids especially like word work as it often involves games.

During writer's workshop today we continued to work on using sentence starters.  Please remember to post your ideas on the blog so I can add them to our list.

This morning we also worked on a visual journal page with Mr. Soulliere's class.  We decorated the page with all the things we know about addition.

After lunch we did calendar activities.  Do you know how many days we have been at school so far?  This is question we keep track of using base 10 blocks on the smartboard.

After this we went to One World Drumming.  It was a surpasses to Mrs. Sloane so we had to move fast.  It was so much fun!  

Today in gym the kids said they had a lot of great exercise.  Sounds like they were moving a lot as I seen many red faces when I went to pick them up.

At the end of the day we talked about how to protect our senses.  We watched a quick video and then we worked in our visual journals.  We will finish this activity tomorrow.

Just a reminder that Friday is our Terry Fox run at 10:30.  Please be dressed for the weather and do not forget your water bottle.

Please post your answers to the question of the day: What does the term Friendly Facts mean in math?  Do you know your friendly facts?  Can you practice them with a family member?

Have a wonderful evening.

Monday 28 September 2015

September 28

Today we talked about he lunar eclipse that happened yesterday evening.  We also watched a short time lapse video of the lunar eclipse.

This morning we talked about our wonderful weekends.  It sure sounds like we were all quite busy.  Glad to see so many of you made it out to the Fall Fair.  Fingers crossed that someone from our classroom wins the new car.

This morning during Writer's Workshop we learned to use Sentence Starters.  Here is a list of the ones that we have used so far:  Suddenly right before my eyes....., Looking closely I noticed......, I was surprised to see......, I stared at. If you can think of any more awesome sentence starters please post on the blog and we will add them to our list.

We had music this morning!

After lunch we worked on calendar activities and then we had math.  We reviewed some old math games and then we learned about subtraction.  Our goal is to learn to connect addition and subtraction.  We played a fun mystery subtraction game.  Please have your child talk to you about this game as it can easily be played at home.

After math we went to gym and we learned 3 new exercises: cross jacks, plank jacks and trunk twists.  Please have your child demonstrate these 3 exercises.

At the end of the day we played senses bingo.  I read a story to the class and each time they heard a description that used one of their senses they had to cover it up on their bingo card.

Question of the day?  Please post your answers on the blog.

What is the answer to a subtraction question called?