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.