Thursday, May 26th, 2022

Hi Families, 

A short, but busy week!

Teacher's Pet

Thank you to all our volunteers who were able to support our learning around making birdhouses! We so appreciate your time, energy and smiles! Our birdhouses are currently spread out all around the school, bringing lots of colour and happiness! 

Photos from this experience are located in Google Classroom --> Classwork --> Whole Class Artifacts of Learning --> Building Birdhouses

Thank you also to School Council for subsidizing this amazing, in-class experience!

Fish Creek Park

We will be going on a field-trip to Fish Creek Park on Friday, June 10th! 

Paperwork came home today with your child. As this is an off-site field-trip, the paperwork is more extensive, so please read each section carefully, fill in the required information and return no later than Monday, June 6th. 

There is a small payment associated with this field-trip which can be paid through your MyCBE/PowerSchool account. You cannot access the Fees section using the mobile app, you must be on a computer. 

We would love to have a couple more volunteers join us on our field-trip. If you are are interested, and have your Police Clearance on file with the school, please contact your child's teacher.

Bird Observation Sheets

If you have not already done so, please return all "Have You Seen...?" bird observation sheets (5), as well as the poly-envelope, by Monday. 

If you need additional copies of the sheets, they are in Google Classroom --> Classwork --> Resources --> Have You Seen: Backyard Birds

Assembly

Our virtual assembly is fast approaching, so we have been consolidating all the pieces of our bird study in order to share with the school. Our virtual assembly will be recorded and posted in Google Classroom to share with families at the end of the day on Wednesday, June 1st. 

Part of our work with our assembly, is understanding Land Acknowledgements; what they are and why they are important. 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Ms. Thomas

Thursday, May 19th, 2022

Hi Families, 

This week, our *fifth and final* bird of study was the Red-Breasted Nuthatch. Many students were able to comment on similarities and differences between the Red-Breasted Nuthatch and the other birds we've studied. We enjoyed learning how fierce, intelligent and acrobatic these little birds are!

We unfortunately forgot to send home the observation sheets for the Red Breasted Nuthatch today. We encourage the children to keep their eyes open and embrace any opportunities to look for them. Nuthatches may be another be another bird that is more challenging to observe at home. For myself, I usually see them in Fish Creek Park, in the same areas as Chickadees. 

Observation sheets will be sent home on Tuesday. Children can document past sightings (like this weekend) or if none are seen during the observation period, bring the observation sheet back with a "0" marked on it. 

Summer Birthdays

If your child celebrates their birthday during the summer months, we will be celebrating these birthdays during the week of June 20th. For more information on the Montessori Birthday Celebration, see this blog post from earlier in the year: September 17 Blog Note

Teacher's Pet In-Class Experience

We are still missing a few Acknowledgement of Risk forms for our in-class experience on Wednesday, May 25th. Without this form, your child will not be able to participate. If you require an additional form, please contact your child's teacher. 

Volunteer Opportunities:

Thank you to all the parents who have contacted us about volunteering for the upcoming in-class and off-site opportunities. The more the merrier, so if you are available and would like to join us for either upcoming date, please contact your child's teacher:

- Wednesday, May 25th: In-Class Experience with Teacher's Pet
- Friday, June 10th: Off-Site Field Trip to Fish Creek Park

Heading into the end-of-the-year, we will be looking for incidental volunteers to help with in-class tasks (mostly taking down items, cutting, glueing, etc.) If you'd like to support in this role, please contact your child's teacher with dates that work for you. 

Important Dates:

Friday, May 20th: PD Day. No school for students. 
Monday, May 23rd: Victoria Day holiday. No school for students.
Wednesday, May 25th: Teacher's Pet In-Class Experience. All students.
Friday, May 27th: AM Kindergarten

Have a wonderful long weekend families! See everyone on TUESDAY! 

Ms. Thomas

Thursday, May 12th, 2022

Hi Families, 

Physical Education

This week, we have been enjoying having students from grades 4/5 teach us about skipping! They have been helping us develop the coordination and confidence to jump over the rope as they swing it, working towards our personal best "jump count". We are learning about rhythm and sound cues, as we listen for the "click" of the rope hitting the floor to indicate when to jump. We have even tried by-ourselves skipping with hula-hoops AND ropes. We are loving skipping, and loving our student-teachers! 

Interdisciplinary Studies

This week, our bird of study is the Northern Flicker. We learned we will often hear Northern Flickers before seeing them, and there are a few common places to look for them:

- the tops of trees...ask your child why...
- the ground...ask your child why...
- the top of lamp posts or metal chimneys...ask your child why...

Children are coming home with an observation sheet for the Northern Flicker. If you need another copy, the template has been uploaded to our Google Classroom --> Classwork --> Resources --> Have You Seen...Backyard Birds

We have been practicing a poem this week for our upcoming assembly! At our school, each class is responsible for hosting an assembly to celebrate the learning they are doing in the classroom. The children in kindergarten will be hosting an assembly at the end of May/beginning of June to share all our learning around local species of birds, and Calgary's Bird vote. Our assembly will be recorded for sharing at home later.

Literacy:

We continue to focus on developing accurate and efficient lowercase letter formation, especially in our own name. Using the Handwriting Without Tears scope and sequence, and prompts, we have been focusing our most recent lowercase letter work on what are called "Magic c" letters.

Here are some visuals from the Handwriting Without Tears program, showing the accurate and efficient formation for each capital and lowercase letter. The most consistent and important prompts you can reinforce at home: "We always start our letters at the TOP!" See below for information from an Occupational therapist on why. 

Forming Letters from Bottom to Top*– There’s not a letter in the alphabet that starts at the baseline and ends on the top line. When we write, we start at the top and move the pencil to the base line, or below the baseline.

When kids start the letters at the bottom, they will run into legibility and efficiency issues. It’s harder to move the pencil on to the next letter with the bottom-to-top formation. And, when kids then need to keep up in writing tasks, (beginning as soon as first grade as they copy words and sentences from a model), they will lose the legibility piece.

*https://www.theottoolbox.com/letter-formation/

Volunteer Opportunities:

Thank you to all the parents who have contacted us about volunteering for the upcoming in-class and off-site opportunities. The more the merrier, so if you are available and would like to join us for either upcoming date, please contact your child's teacher:

- Wednesday, May 25th: In-Class Experience with Teacher's Pet
- Friday, June 10th: Off-Site Field Trip to Fish Creek Park

Heading into the end-of-the-year, we will be looking for incidental volunteers to help with in-class tasks (mostly taking down items, cutting, glueing, etc.) If you'd like to support in this role, please contact your child's teacher with dates that work for you. 

Important Dates:

Friday, May 13th: PM Kindergarten
Friday, May 20th: PD Day. No school for students. 
Monday, May 23rd: Victoria Day holiday. No school for students.
Wednesday, May 25th: Teacher's Pet In-Class Experience. All students.
Friday, May 27th: AM Kindergarten

Have a wonderful weekend families!
Ms. Thomas

Go Flames Go!

In the Spirit of the NHL Playoffs, we are going to have Jersey Day next Wednesday, May 11th when the Flames have their next home game. 

Go Flames Go! 

Thursday, May 5th, 2022

Hi Families, 

Physical Education

We've had a great week exploring the mats, benches and climber in Phys.Ed. The climber has lots of different opportunities for students to safely risk-take while developing their strength, coordination and sense of personal accomplishment. 

Additional photos can be found in our Google Classroom --> Classwork --> Whole Class Artifacts of Learning

Ask your child:

1. What was their favourite activity?
2. What activity was uncomfortable (scary/hard) in the beginning? 
3. What activity are they proud of doing? Why?

Interdisciplinary Studies

Thank you for your continued engagement in our Have You Seen...? bird studies. The observation sheets are providing dynamic conversations in our classroom, and exciting stories of exploration and sightings. 

This week's bird of study has been the Blue Jay. We understand that the Blue Jay is not as common in some communities in Calgary as others. Historically they have a connection to oak forests. I feel like it is only in the last couple of years that I've consistently seem them in my own backyard. 

If you have an opportunity to visit other communities or natural areas, that is wonderful, but if you are unable to, your child can always return the sheet with a 0 recorded. This still helps us with data collection and final voting. 

The students have shared their top picks for best bird watching places:

- Fish Creek Park
- Carburn Park
- Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

If you need any copies of the observation sheets, for any bird, you can find them in Google Classroom --> Classwork --> Resources --> Have You Seen...Backyard Birds

We've been using visuals of groups of Chickadees, Magpies and Blue Jays for counting strategies in Math. Ask your child if they can tell you which group of birds - Chickadee, Magpie or Blue Jay - is called a: Party, Banditry and Tiding.

Happy Mother's Day!

Your child is bringing home some special handmade gifts for you! We hope you have a wonderful weekend celebrating Mother's Day.

Art Cards Fundraiser

We hope you enjoyed seeing your child's published work of art! Ordering details are inside the card. 

Teacher Pet In-Class Experience

Paperwork went home this week for our upcoming Teacher's Pet In-Class Experience. The date on the Acknowledgement of Risk says "2020" which should be "2022" You can change it yourself, or we will do it once the forms are returned to class. 

ImportantUpcoming Dates:

- Friday, May 6th: AM Kindergarten
- Friday, May 13th: PM Kindergarten
- Friday, May 20th: PD Day for Teachers. No School for Students.
- Monday, May 23rd: Victoria Day Holiday. School Closed.
- Wednesday, May 25th: Teacher Pet In-Class Experience. Acknowledgement of Risk form required.
- Friday, May 27th: AM Kindergarten. 

Have a wonderful weekend families!
Ms. Thomas

Friday, April 29th, 2022

 Hi Families, 

Interdisciplinary Learning

As we explore local bird species, we have also been exploring different sources of information. We know that the internet, and the Calgary's Bird website was a great place to start, but we also learned this week, that authors and illustrators often embed real information in picture books. Ask your child what was learned about Magpies from these two texts:

As we closely study each of the City of Calgary bird nominees, students are also exploring different art media. We are using them as documentation to share with others, as well as creating groups of each bird in the classroom for bird watching with binoculars. 

We really enjoyed seeing the students Black-Capped Chickadee observation sheets this week, the stories of exploring new places in our community, and even running into classroom friends while out and about! Thank you for so enthusiastically sharing this home-school learning opportunity! 

A student example from this week. Great use of details to record their ideas. 
The annotations are mine, to document the what is shared orally.  

This week, students are coming home with an observation sheet for the Black-Billed Magpie. If you need another copy, the template has been uploaded to our Google Classroom --> Classwork --> Resources --> Have You Seen...Backyard Birds

Students are asked to record how many Magpies they observed in the space, where they saw the bird (tree, ground, bird-feeder, roof, light-post, etc.) as well as what the bird was doing (eating, drilling, calling, etc.)

No writing necessary. Students should record in pictures they can speak to. 

We will need the Magpie observation sheets back by Thursday, May 5th. Please ensure your child's name is written on the back. 

Finally, we have been creating a collaborative art project between all three kindergarten classes, using our learning last week with the City of Calgary Nature Kits and the book, "An Egg is Quiet". As a responsible choice in the Work Period, students can paint a watercolour egg of their choice and add it to the nest. 

An Egg is Quiet: Video

Literacy

In our Literacy work this week, we practiced our rhyming in order to predict rhyming couplets in our poem. Students had a lot of fun with their predictions, and are embedding skills taught throughout the year by identifying not just a rhyming word, but isolating the rhyming part.

Physical Education

Our unit on gymnastics continues this week, with the introduction of the climber, and other apparatuses. Please ensure your child is coming to school "Head to Toe, Ready to Go" 

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) 

Some reminders:
- Thursday, May 5th: Please return your child's Magpie observation sheet
- Friday, May6th: AM Kindergarten
- School Council Growing Smiles Fundraiser: Fundraiser Link

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Ms. Thomas