Monday, 31 October 2016

Oct 31

This morning we went down to the Gathering Space to see all of the pumpkins! We sketched our favourite pumpkins and then came back to the classroom to write about them. Ask me which pumpkin was my favourite!


Reminder:
1) Who keep is safe inquiry group field trip: On Thursday, Ms. Percival's "Who keeps us safe" Inquiry group is going to visit the Royal Oak firehall. If your student is in this group they will be bringing home an orange notice about the trip. There is no cost to the trip and there are no field trip permission forms required as it is within close proximity to the school. 
Next Monday Nov 7th, Ms. MacDonald's group will be going to the firehall so an orange note will be sent home today with those students. 

2) Photo packages: Please return by Nov 3rd if you would like to order photos.

Friday, 28 October 2016

Oct 28th

Monday is orange and black day. Please no costumes at school.


1) Pumpkinella: Monday is Pumpkinella please drop your pumpkin off in the Gathering Space

2) Dance Kreations: Monday our dance unit begins in Gym. Students will be dancing on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week. They are encouraged to dress in Bollywood, Hip Hop or Latin style :)

3) Halloween treats: Some parents have been asking about handing out Halloween treats. Students are not allowed to hand out any candy or edible treats at school. Thank you for your understanding. 

Literacy Update:
In Ms. MacDonald’s and Ms. Percival’s literacy group we are continued to work on words with short vowel sounds. We also had a special delivery! Lip the Fish arrived and we learned that he helps say the first few sounds of the word out loud and read to the end of the sentence and say the sounds again.
                            
This week in our literacy group in Mrs. Daniel’s class we continued working on words with short vowel sounds.  In our guided reading groups we discussed a non-fiction text about seasons. We looked at the table of contents and how this can help us locate information.  We are continuing to use picture clues, chunking, and our knowledge of short vowel sounds to help decode those tricky words. 

In Ms. Plaxin’s literacy group, we worked with words that ended in “OP” and “OT”  We worked on creating words with our “A,E,I,O,U,” booklets.  Many students felt the feeling  of “I can read and write the words”. We started to work with our vowels and have learned that every word has a vowel or vowel sound!  Ask your child about the jingles they know to help remember them?

This week in Ms. Barley's Literacy Group we introduced 2 new reading strategies: A Decoding strategy called Tryin' Lion (give it a try! Re-read the sentence and try again) and a Comprehension Strategy called Kit-Kat Connector (making connections to other books and to our everyday lives). We read non-fiction books this week and looked at how to find important information within the text.


                             

Thursday, 27 October 2016

Oct 27

Today in math we opened the pumpkins in and took out all of the seeds. We used words like "slimy and gooey" to describe how it felt. Then we counted the pumpkin seeds. Ask me how many pumpkin seeds where in my group's pumpkin.


1) Who keeps our community safe inquiry group: Today we had a police officer come share what he does for his job. He answer a lot of our questions. Ask me about something I learned.

2) Literacy Night: is tonight from 6:30-8:00

3) Pumpkin Seeds: We have now completed all of our pumpkin math and literacy work and will have the oppertunity to try sampling baked pumpkin seeds tomorrow. Please let me know here if your child has any allergies or if he/she is unable to eat a sample of the pumpkin seeds by today.

3) Digital Citizenship forms: Please return as soon as possible

4) Photo packages: Please return by Nov 3rd if you would like to order photos

Wednesday, 26 October 2016

Oct 26

1) RAZ kids: login information and letter was sent home today

2) Digital citizenship: please return signed form

3) Family Literacy night: is on Thursday, Oct. 27th from 6:30-8pm. 

4) Pumpkinella & Socktober: Will take place on October 31, 2016. Reminder that you can drop off new socks of any size and your jack-o-lantern on Oct.30, 2016 from 2 - 4 pm or on Oct. 31, 2016 from 7am - 8:48am.Did you know that counting the seeds of your pumpkin is a great math activity for your child? Have them estimate how many seeds they think are inside first and then count by 2s, 5s, or 10s to see how many it really had. Talking about their counting strategy and which counting method was most effective in counting all the seeds is a great way to engage your child in mathematical conversation! Happy carving!

Tuesday, 25 October 2016

Oct 25

Today in writing we used the writing prompt "One day my pumpkin came alive and it . . ." Ask me about what happened when my pumpkin came alive.

1) Digital Citizenship Forms: please return signed form

2)  Family Literacy night: is on Thursday, Oct. 27th from 6:30-8pm. 

2) Pumpkinella & Socktober: Will take place on October 31, 2016. Reminder that you can drop off new socks of any size and your jack-o-lantern on Oct.30, 2016 from 2 - 4 pm or on Oct. 31, 2016 from 7am - 8:48am.Did you know that counting the seeds of your pumpkin is a great math activity for your child? Have them estimate how many seeds they think are inside first and then count by 2s, 5s, or 10s to see how many it really had. Talking about their counting strategy and which counting method was most effective in counting all the seeds is a great way to engage your child in mathematical conversation! Happy carving!

Monday, 24 October 2016

Oct 24

This morning we started some pumpkin math!! We estimated our pumpkins height, measured the actual height using cubes and also measured the width of our pumpkins. This afternoon we posted our October independent writing sample on Iris.  We also worked hard to set a writing goal for ourselves. We hope you log onto Iris to look at our writing and talk about our goal with us.   
                                    

1) Family Literacy night: is on Thursday, Oct. 27th from 6:30-8pm. 

2) Pumpkinella & Socktober: Will take place on October 31, 2016. Reminder that you can drop off new socks of any size and your jack-o-lantern on Oct.30, 2016 from 2 - 4 pm or on Oct. 31, 2016 from 7am - 8:48am.Did you know that counting the seeds of your pumpkin is a great math activity for your child? Have them estimate how many seeds they think are inside first and then count by 2s, 5s, or 10s to see how many it really had. Talking about their counting strategy and which counting method was most effective in counting all the seeds is a great way to engage your child in mathematical conversation! Happy carving!

Friday, 21 October 2016

Oct 21


Literacy Group Update:

Ms Daniel's group: This week in Mrs. Daniels’ literacy group we are continuing to work on our reading strategies in small groups, reading with the teacher or volunteer. This week students are demonstrating success using picture clues and letter sound knowledge to decode new words and are recognizing sight words in their reading.  Students had the opportunity to participate in several activities this week. 
Going on a word hunt: looking for and tallying sight words in leveled readers.
Making words: manipulating consonant and vowels to form small words.
Rainbow roll and write: writing our word families og, ot, and op in rainbow colours.
Searching for words: reviewing last week’s word families (at, an, am, ad) and recognizing them with a friend in a sea of letters.
Reading to someone: reading and listening to reading with a partner.

Ms. MacDonald's and Ms. Percival's group:This week in Ms. MacDonald and Ms. Percival's literacy group, we worked on end sounds that have a short a such as "an, at, ag, ad, and ap." We also reviewed our letter names and sounds. We have been continuing to use stretchy the snake to sound out new words! Please continue to work on my letters and words that are coming home today.

Ms. Plaxin's group: This week in Ms. Plaxin’s literacy group,  we all worked at our own level.  Some students continued to identify the names and sounds of the letters.   Some were working on  matching  upper case letters to lower case letters.  Many students ended the week by working on their beginning sounds of words and the creation of 3 and 4 letter words.    Many students felt the great feeling of success and accomplishment this week.   They experienced the feeling, that their efforts to keep on task,  actually, helped them progress through to their center,  tasks and activities.  We have added two new activities for next week.  One is based on vowel  sounds and the other is the creation of words with duple blocks.  Please feel free to discuss with your child, the accomplishments they had this week. 

Ms. Barley's group: In Ms. Barley's literacy group we continued using "Chunky Monkey" to break-down words we don't know. We discovered that we can break down "Important" into Im-por-tant, instead of sounding out each individual letter. Practice using this strategy at home! We introduced a new rule called the Silent 'e' and how that 'e' can make the other vowel say it's name, like in the word "same". We will continue looking at this rule next week.

The Literacy Centres we explored were:
1. Making & Breaking words
2. Building Sentences by cutting words out of magazines
3. Roll & Write words on our word wall
4. Playing Sight Word games such as "popcorn"
5. Reading through the exploration of I Spy and Search books
6. Guided Reading at the teacher centre - This week we explored Non-Fiction texts

Ask your child to explain the centres in further details!

1) Fundraising society: Happy Weekend everyone!  Your Fundraising Society really appreciates all the work, effort and orders that have come through so far!  Remember to take advantage of this extra weekend to reach out to friends and families to share our awesome fundraiser with them!  Parents are loving the chocolates, the wrapping paper and some of the fun kitchen gadgets!  There is still time to register your child for online sales, and easily share your shopping link through email, facebook, twitter and more!  You can also help friends and neighbours browse through the catalogues and fill out the order forms to pay by cash or cheque (payable to ROS Fundraising Society)!  
 
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to direct them to ROSFundraisingsociety@gmail.com, or visit our Facebook page!  Thank you again for all your support in making our great school even better!  
 
PS. Watch for upcoming news on sweet deals for Calgary Flames tickets!!!   

2) Sobey's Pumpkin Challenge - The students in Grades 1 - 3 were challenged by Royal Oak Sobey's to creatively design a pumpkin to display in their store as part of their Halloween Challenge. Each class took up this collaborative task with their students based on interests, student designs, or things they are learning about in the classroom. Parents and the community are encouraged to see the pumpkins at the store starting Friday Oct. 21, 2016. Hopefully they will last until Monday Oct. 31, 2016! Sobey's will select a class with the best design to win a class prize. The winning class will be announced during Pumpkinella on Oct. 31, 2016. 

Thank you to everyone for your hard work in getting this project done, sorry for the sort timeline. We will be more prepared for this challenge next year!

Thursday, 20 October 2016

Oct 20

Today in writing we chose one of the pictures to write about. Ask me about the picture I decided to write about and what I wrote. Watch for when we post our writing on IRIS.


1) Literacy Night form: was sent home today. Please return by Tuesday Oct 25th if you are able to attend.

2) Royal Oak School Council Halloween Dance form: was sent home today. Please return with a cheque by Wed Oct 26th if you would like to attend.

3) Pumpkins: If you offered to donate a pumpkin to the class please bring it tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for all of your support.

Tuesday, 18 October 2016

Oct 18

This morning we also decorated a pumpkin for the Sobey's pumpkin contest. Our classroom pumpkin (and all the other pumpkins from ROS) will be on display at Royal Oak Sobey's this weekend. 


1) ROS Fundraising society: The ROS Fundraising society would like to thank all families who have already submitted orders for the DFS Fundraiser currently in progress.  Please note, due to a number of issues we have extended the fundraiser due date to MONDAY, OCTOBER 24TH at 9:00AM (1PM for afternoon kindergarten students).  Any late orders may incur extra shipping fees, and will therefore not be accepted without prior arrangements directly with the Fundraising Society. 
 
Please remember to share with friends and family who can order online once you have registered your child, and they can choose to have orders delivered to their home or the school.  The link you will share with them will look like this... https://orderentry.fundtrackersql.com/shopdfscanada/Home/ShopNow?SellerId=XXXXX with your child's seller ID in place of the XXXXX.  When you register your child for online orders according to the instructions in your fundraising package, please note that the Student ID requested is the 7 digit ID Number on their Order form, NOT their CBE number!
 
There are lots of great prize incentives with DFS, so be sure to choose the prizes you are eligible for when you order!  If you have any questions or concerns, please email me us atROSFundraisingSociety@gmail.com

2) Pumpkins: Thank you to everyone who donated a pumpkin

Monday, 17 October 2016

Oct 17

Today we worked on our shape monster writing. Ask me about my shape monsters name and what my shape monster likes to eat.

1) Sobey's Royal Oak Pumpkin Contest: Sobey's in Royal Oak has asked each class to create a pumpkin to be displayed in their store for a pumpkin contest next week. I am hoping to have 2 or 3 volunteers who are able to come into the classroom this week and help get this big job done. A majority of the pumpkin will be painted rather than carved but it would be great if small groups of students could work with a few volunteers to get this accomplished. Sobey's is coming to collect the pumpkins on Friday, October 21st.

If you're available to volunteer tomorrow or Wednesday and you have your volunteer clearance please e-mail Ms. MacDonald here. You're help is greatly appreciated! 

2) Pumpkins:
We are still looking for families willing to donate a medium-large sized pumpkin to our classroom for the week of October 24th-28th. Students will be using these pumpkins for various learning experiences at school in both numeracy and literacy. If you're able to donate a pumpkin to the classroom please e-mail Ms. MacDonald here Pumpkins can be dropped off at the classroom beginning on Friday, October 21st.

Friday, 14 October 2016

Oct 14

1) Pumpkins:
We are still looking for families willing to donate a medium-large sized pumpkin to our classroom for the week of October 24th-28th. Students will be using these pumpkins for various learning experiences at school in both numeracy and literacy. If you're able to donate a pumpkin to the classroom please e-mail Ms. MacDonald here Pumpkins can be dropped off at the classroom beginning on Friday, October 21st.

Literacy Groups Update

1) Ms. Plaxin's literacy group: This week in Ms. Plaxin’s literacy class we started with the review of  alphabet sounds and names.  We introduced the  "at" and “an” words and practiced writing them.  Everyone is working at their own level and progressing forward when ready.  We are working on starting letters and sounds of words.   Ask me about which letter and sound begins the words in your everyday life!  

2) Ms. MacDonald's and Percival's literacy group:This week in Ms. MacDonald's and Ms Percival's literacy group we had a special delivery! Stretchy the Snake arrived and we learned how he helps us read new words. Ask me about what Stretchy helps me to do? We reviewed our reading strategy Eagle Eye along with long and short vowel sounds. Please help me work on the letter and word list that was sent home. I need to learn the names and sounds of each letters and how to write and read my words.


3) Ms. Daniel's Literacy Group: In Mrs. Daniels’ literacy group, we have been focusing on the word families “at”, “an”, “ap” & “ad”. Please practice these word families at home with your child. For example “What rhymes with cat?” ….rat, hat etc.  In our reading groups, we have been practicing pointing to the words and tracking as we read as well as looking to the pictures to give us clues to an unknown word and making sure the beginning letter matches the sound. 
These are some common sight words that are frequent in the books we are reading right now:
Me 
I
Can
To
My
We
In
Like
It 
Up
Mom
The
And
He 
Look
Is
See
Come
Get
At

Practice these words at home so that students recognize them from memory to increase their reading fluency. 

4) Ms. Barley's literacy Group: In Ms. Barley's Literacy Group students have been working on using Reading Strategies such as Eagle Eye (looking at the picture for clues), Stretchy Snake (Stretching out each letter sound) and we have introduced Chunky Monkey (chunking sounds together such as 'ch' and 'th'). We spent the week looking at double vowel sounds and talked about the rule: "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking." Ask your child if they can go on a Word Hunt and find any words with this double vowel rule!

In our Literacy Centres this week we:
1. Built our own Silly Sentences using magnet words
2. Made new words out of the letters found in "Halloween"
3. Went on a word hunt looking for sight words such as: the, and, it, in and kept tally marks of how many times we found the words
4. Listened to Stories 
5. Read with the Teacher

Thursday, 13 October 2016

Oct 13

This morning we got our photo taken! In Math we continued to work on our 'logic trains'. We took one shape, and changed it by 1 attribute 3 times to end up with a totally different shape! We are excited to finish our logic trains and share them on Iris soon! 

1) Friday: Tomorrow is a half day

2) Wetlands Club: If your child expressed interest in being part of the Wetland club they are bringing home an application form. Students who return their forms will be put into a draw to be in the club as the club can only accept one student from our class. Forms are due tomorrow. 

3) Pumpkins:
We are still looking for families willing to donate a medium-large sized pumpkin to our classroom for the week of October 24th-28th. Students will be using these pumpkins for various learning experiences at school in both numeracy and literacy. If you're able to donate a pumpkin to the classroom please e-mail Ms. MacDonald here Pumpkins can be dropped off at the classroom beginning on Friday, October 21st

Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Oct 12

This morning we created our shape monster! I can't wait to give him a name and write all about him tomorrow. In Inquiry was presented our 'people in our community' pages that we worked on as a group. In Gym we continued to work on throwing underhand at a target. Ask me to demonstrate the proper form for throwing. 

Pumpkins:
We are still looking for families willing to donate a medium-large sized pumpkin to our classroom for the week of October 24th-28th. Students will be using these pumpkins for various learning experiences at school in both numeracy and literacy. If you're able to donate a pumpkin to the classroom please e-mail Ms. MacDonald here Pumpkins can be dropped off at the classroom beginning on Friday, October 21st

**Pumpkins can be returned after school on Friday, October 28th. The pumpkins will be emptied out but will not be carved. If you would like your pumpkin back so it can be carved for Halloween or Pumpkinella please also let the classroom teacher know. Otherwise, all donated pumpkins will be disposed of on Oct. 28th. 


1) Wetlands club: If your child expressed interest in being part of the Wetland club they are bringing home an application form. Students who return their forms will be put into a draw to be in the club as the club can only accept one student from our class. 
2) Scholastic book orders: are due tomorrow
3) Picture day: tomorrow
4) New fundraiser packages: went home yesterday

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Oct 11

We are looking for families willing to donate a medium-large sized pumpkin to our classroom for the week of October 24th-28th. Students will be using these pumpkins for various learning experiences at school in both numeracy and literacy. If you're able to donate pumpkins to the classroom please e-mail Ms. MacDonald at here. Pumpkins can be dropped off at the classroom beginning on Friday, October 21st. We are hoping to get 6 pumpkins donated so we can have one for each table group!



**Pumpkins will be returned after school on Friday, October 28th. The pumpkins will be emptied out but will not be carved. If you would like your pumpkin back so it can be carved for Halloween or Pumpkinella please also let the classroom teacher know. Otherwise, all donated pumpkins will be disposed of on Oct. 28th. 


1) Scholastic book orders: Were originally due tomorrow but due to the long weekend the due date has been extended to Thursday Oct 13th. 
2) Picture day is on Thursday
3)New fundraiser package: is coming home today! 

Thursday, 6 October 2016

Oct 6

Today we had a fundraising assembly and learned about how exciting it is to raise money for the school! Thank you for all of your support!



1) No school: Friday and Monday

Wednesday, 5 October 2016

Oct 5

Students continued to work on finding 'new' information about Royal Oak and Rocky Ridge. Today students collaborated together to navigated the community using Google Earth. 

Today we also had a circle meeting where we also had the opportunity to listen to one of the friends from our class present their items for belonging, independence, mastery and generosity. 

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1) Home Reading: went home yesterday it is exchanged on Tuesday and Thursday. 
2) No School: Friday (PD Day)
3) No School: Monday (Thanksgiving holiday)
4) Fun Lunch:Tuesday, October 11th
5) Picture day: is Thursday, October 13th

Tuesday, 4 October 2016

Oct 4

Today in Math we picked an item from the classroom and began to analyze it's attributes. We looked for the number of sides, the colour, the size, the thickness and the shape. Ask me what some of the attributes of a triangle are. 

In Inquiry, students looked at the words 'knew' and 'new.' We were shocked to see that even though they are spelled differently, they sound the same. After some brainstorming of ideas of what 'new' means (new car, new books, new toy) some students shared that maybe 'knew' could mean that you already know something! Students began to think about things they already knew before coming to school (spelling their name, adding 1+1 etc.) After sharing with their friends 2 things they already know about their community students began to fill in the 'knew' side of the chart. 

Before the end of the day students explored using Google Earth and took a tutorial on how to use their fingers to manipulate the program to spin, rotate and zoom for viewing. We're really excited to begin exploring Royal Oak using Google Earth all on our own tomorrow! We think we will find LOTS of 'new' information for our chart!  



1) Friday is a PD Day for students
2) Monday is a holiday

Monday, 3 October 2016

Oct 3

Today we had a fire drill and started to work on our door writing. Ask me about the items hiding behind my door.