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.

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!  

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 6th. This 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!

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.

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?

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)

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.

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.

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.  

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

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.

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.

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.