March 20, 2020

Here are the links for Mental Health and CBE Learning at Home. I have also included the e-mail I sent this morning.

Mental Health Information

https://www.cbe.ab.ca/about-us/school-culture-and-environment/health-and-wellness-in-school/Pages/Positive-Mental-Health.aspx

CBE Learning at Home 

https://cbe.ab.ca/programs/curriculum/learning-at-home/Pages/default.aspx

Good Morning,


I am able to share with you this morning about what we were completing in class just before the break. Information about how things will look moving on will come to you via e-mail after the break. You will receive that information through CBE e-mails from the board and/or Auburn Bay Administration. Thank you for your patience as we all learn together how we will move forward in the upcoming weeks.


At this time, I want to share with you well wishes and hope that you are enjoying your family time together. I also want to thank you for the messages and well wishes, I have enjoyed them and maybe even shed a couple tears at seeing my beautiful student’s faces.


IRIS SHARING

As most of you are aware, your child has an IRIS account. Over the last couple weeks, we have been developing personal, “I CAN STATEMENTS” along with goals and strategies. Most students were able to complete this work before the break. If your child had absences, my apologies as they weren’t able to complete this work.


You should be able to see;
- Understanding Myself As A Learner – I Can Statements, Goal and Strategy
-  Book Club Reading – Video Reading, I Can Statements and Next Step Goal
- Grade Three Writing – Video Reading India Story, I Can Statements and Next Step Goal


GOOGLE SHARING


In addition to the IRIS sharing, your child has been working on GOOGLE Drive.


You should be able to see;
- Monthly Reading Graphing Chart (most are up to date except for the last reading month)
- Their typed out India Story



I hope you enjoy going through the IRIS and GOOGLE Drive, it was meant to be our Celebration of Learning at Parent Teacher Interviews. Please send me back an e-mail letting me know that you were able to see everything. This will also help me to know that you are receiving my e-mails. If your child requires their passwords, please e-mail and I can share those.


Wishing you and your family a wonderful Spring Break!


Thank you,
Mrs. MacQueen

Sending you BIG HUGS and WELL WISHES!

FIELD TRIP VOLUNTEERS

FIELD TRIP VOLUNTEERS

Can you please e-mail me at ejmacqueen@cbe.ab.ca with your availability for the following field trips. Please include which field trip(s) you are available for. If you are available for both field trips, include whether you would like to volunteer for one or both and if you have a preference.

*You have to have a CBE security check completed and an information session with Donna Diaz complete (this part can be scheduled if your check is already completed).


The Glenbow Museum - Tuesday, April 7th, 2020

The Calgary Zoo - Thursday, May 14th, 2020

THIS WEEK - Our Grade 3 Story - March 2nd - 6th

PLEASE BRING IN FEBRUARY READING CALENDARS 

HEALTH - Continued work on goal setting and updating student's individual IRIS pages. Students are working in many different small groupings this week providing opportunities for collaboration and development of personal skills (listening, focus, group collaborative, leadership).

ART - This week we are going to start on our second piece of animal folklore art!

MATH - starting math centres, telling time and the Thinking Routine, Is/It Isn't

GYM - Basketball

SCIENCE - continuing on with Hearing and Sound Experiments

SOCIAL STUDIES - Research on Ukraine

LANUAGE ARTS - webbing (graphic organizer) to support brainstorming multiple ideas on a topic, paragraph writing and writing goal reflection

WORD WORK- 
Orange Group Long E Sound (beat, eat, feel, keep, near, real, seat, seem, seen, speak)

Set Design Club

Last Call for Set Design Club - forms are due tomorrow!

- if you need a printed copy, e-mail me and I will send one home today with your child

SET DESIGN CLUB Opportunity for The Lion King Musical (don't have to be part of the musical)

- for grade 3 and 4 students

- 3 or 4 students selected per class

- after school commitment 

For more information, check the parent permission form link provided below. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/161IaHWjhFA3KaFc_04r6YVYTz6yWQnkW/view?usp=sharing

The Set Design Club is still looking for donations of the following item;

1. Paint
2. Pop bottles
3. Spray foam
4. Large paper bags, ex. Compost bags for leaves
5. Moss
6. Fake vines or plants
7. Pieces of wood for the stand of 2 trees

Our Grade 3 Story for February 24th - 28th

Wednesday, February 26th - Anti-Bullying Day - Wear Pink (red or orange)

- Everyone is encouraged to wear pink shirts. If you don't have pink, try red or orange. 

- At 8:15 am, the whole school will join in the hallways to sing, "You've Got A Friend In Me" by  Randy Newman. 

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Jump Rope for Heart campaign!

SET DESIGN CLUB Opportunity for The Lion King Musical (don't have to be part of the musical)

- for grade 3 and 4 students

- 3 or 4 students selected per class

- after school commitment 

For more information, check the parent permission form link provided below. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/161IaHWjhFA3KaFc_04r6YVYTz6yWQnkW/view?usp=sharing

Book Club Presentations will be this week. Students will present their book along with their Book Club members. Students co-created criteria for a rubric that will be used to grade their presentations.

The following areas are what they will be marked on;

- presentation skills; clear speaking, standing straight and making proper eye-contact

- presenting information (title, author, problem, solution, beginning, middle, end)

- ability to answer classmates questions

- ability to listen and ask appropriate questions to other group presentations 

Students have been preparing in class with their groups. The criteria of what they need to present on is provided for them on chart paper (created as a class) and I support as needed. It is important that students understand that this is just a slightly more formalized way of sharing with their classmates. Students share regularly with their classmates up to several times a day with no problems. I ensure that all students are successful and they always feel very proud after they have presented. It is a great learning experience for them. Therefore, there is no need to have extra practices at home or cue cards as they have had more than enough time to prepare with their groups at school. This is meant to be a relaxed time to shine! 

The Book Report itself will be marked as well. Each question is out of a certain amount (including one of those marks for grammar). The students have participated in several lessons around how to write and edit proper responses for the book report. This included lessons where the class created quality answers together as well as lessons where we took students examples and edited them together. Students have also learned how marks are rewarded.

This level of using rubrics and acknowledging how marks are given has been a focus over the school year but with a more focussed emphasis on moving to the next level of ownership since January. Particularly in writing, students are able to make connections around what is expected in order to produce a well finished piece of writing. Emphasis on creating and using a detailed writing plan (graphic organizer) in writing has been important in students creating both their personal India stories and book reports. This has resulted in building self-editing skills, as well as increasing writing stamina (how much they are writing in a given amount of time). 

How will these be shared with you?

- over the next couple weeks we will be uploading our learning onto IRIS (I will tweet out when we have added things to make it easier)

- items marked and sent home to be signed and returned back to school (this is important so that you can see where your child is at and ask any necessary questions as well as support at home)

MATH 

As you are aware, we continue to look at all strands of the math curriculum throughout the year so that concepts are repeated continuously In order for students to build upon concepts and understanding. We do this through our daily thinking routines as well as problem solving. 

We have been concentrating on learning multiplication and division over the last couple weeks and will continue this learning moving forward. We will also be moving into learning how to tell time, including concepts of half-pass, quarter after/to, ect. This will also lend itself to understanding fractions as well! Lots of new learning to come! Students are very excited to learn how to tell time and the ones who already know how to are excited to be the experts! We will also be attacking some challenging word problems in relation to time and fractions!

February 3rd-7th Update

This Week at School
Monday10th, Tuesday11th & Wednesday12th - regular school days
Wednesday 12th - Valentine's Day Card Share *optional / Grade 2/4 Talent Show 1pm
Thursday 13th & Friday 14th - NO SCHOOL ON THESE DAYS - Teacher Convention
Monday 17th - Family Day - No school

BOOK-A-DAY
Have your child tell you about one of the book-a-day books this past week and how they used a story planner graphic organizer to pull out different parts of the story (setting, characters, problem, solution, juicy words and three events). This activity will continue this week, We previously used a Mountain Climber graphic organizer to pick out different parts of Jan Brett stories. This learning will support students to understand and plan for a detailed story that includes all the above mentioned elements.

WRITING - India Stories
Students continue to work on the editing cycle in order to enhance their writing into a polished piece of work. This process includes many mini conferences with peers as well as myself. The stories are intentionally written to demonstrate students' learning of India through intentional setting, events, problem and solution and of course vocabulary! As we have just finished learning about Jan Brett and her ability to tell the story through images in a border, we will be adding our own border to the India stories. Stay tuned for the final project!

BOOK CLUB - FINAL PROJECTS & PRESENTATIONS
Students are in their finishing stages of completing their book reports. On Thursday, as a class we took group examples and edited them together to a finished paragraph that would receive full marks. This week we will be co-creating the rubric that will be used to mark the book report presentations. I am hopeful to have this all accomplished by the end of the month.

This weeks finished homophone work. We sketched mini pictures for clues.

This weeks word work and Silent e work. 

Math - 

Students continue to work on their no excuse multiplication times tables (0,1,2,3,4,5, 10 & 11). This week we started to look at division. Thank you to everyone for continuing to work on developing their child's recognition of basic addition, subtraction and multiplication facts through the use of cards, dice, games, etc. Students have been sharing as a group what they are doing at home for others to try as well. Some pretty amazing work going on both in and out of the classroom!

Thank you to everyone who signed and returned math quizzes this week. Please return in you haven't done so already. I will continue to add on twitter pictures and brief descriptions of what we are doing in class to keep you informed about how to support your child. 

Science - Hearing & Sound - Ear parts and functions.

Gym - Skipping - Thank you for fundraising! An online $5 donation is rewarded with a skipping rope! It's all about Healthy Hearts!

Upcoming Field Trips - I will be looking for volunteers that are able to be very hands on in helping students completing tasks as well as guiding and delivering learning to small groups. I have been asked to give lots of notice for upcoming field trips so that people can make arrangements. A reminder that you need to have a completed security check with the CBE as well as a completed volunteer session with Donna Diaz at Auburn Bay in order to volunteer. Please e-mail me directly if you are able to volunteer for either or both of these opportunities. Once I have confirmed volunteers (you will be chosen as either a volunteer or an alternate if someone can no longer attend) I will e-mail  out the lists to everyone involved.

April 7th - Glenbow Museum for two programs; Rock Cycle and Our World, and What is this? (looking at story telling through artifacts).

May 13th - Calgary Zoo for two programs - Scutes, Scales and Slime and Teacher Guided Tour of the Savannah including artifacts.

Valentine's Day Cards

If you are bringing Valentine's Day Cards, I ask that you bring enough for everyone (24) and only write from and your child's name. This makes it super easy and no hurt feelings! Bring on Wednesday or before (I'll put them to the side) to share!

Thank you!

Mathematics

Mathematics Update

Research has shown that students benefit by having mathematical concepts repeated throughout the year in order to achieve understanding. This is also important as students develop and grow throughout the year. 

How we target this in our classroom is by three ways;

1) Thinking Routines

2) Problem Solving - Explain Your Thinking 

3) paper and pencil check reviews (you will see this come home shortly)

We also strive to present concepts in different ways in order to meet "multiple points of entry" as well as "different learning styles". I like to "tweet out" pictures and short explanations throughout the week so that you can see and follow up with our classroom learning with your child. This is an easy way to understand what we are doing in class, how we are learning, as well as how you can help at home. If you don't follow Twitter, there is a button that should be just to the right of this update that says Twitter. Tap it and it should link to the Twitter feed. If you check the blog/twitter once or twice a week, you shouldn't miss anything important. 

Students have completed two assessments over the last week. The yellow sheet is a multiplication quiz and the white is a problem solving quiz. Students have been working diligently on learning their multiplication tables and working in groups to solve problems like the ones on the two quizzes. 

Students are asked to show you their quizzes, have you sign them and return them back to school tomorrow. Students had the opportunity to go over their work and conference one-to-one with me if they felt necessary. Please keep in mind that multi-step problem solving is a more challenging task, so ideally, we are looking for growth over the year in order to develop this skill. This was an area of growth that was written on many students report cards for their next steps to work on.  

FEBRUARY 3rd - 7th, 2020 THIS WEEK

MATHEMATICS - Continuation of Multiplication and Introduction of Division

Focus on the 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 tables. These should prove rather easy to build quick recall, as students are recognizing the patterns/rules. We are focusing on these this week and then they will become what we are referring to as the "NO EXCUSE MULTIPLICATION FACTS".

How can you help at home?
- use one die, roll and then recall the double of the number shown (to help with the 2 times table)
- use flashcards (either homemade or bought, just take out the times tables that are being focused on)
- practice skip counting for each of 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11


OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT YOUR CHILD IN MATHS
- continue to practice borrowing and regrouping (2 digit by 2 digit, challenge to 3 digit by 3 digit) with both the stacking and number line methods (links with videos of how to teach this were previously posted on the November Blog update and can be found at the following; mathsolutions.com/NTWNC32, mathsolutions.com/NTWNC33, mathsolutions.com/NTWNC31)

- Make sure you are checking out the Twitter Feed (click the Twitter button on the main page) and see what we are up to in class. A lot of the pictures/videos show/demo what you can replicate at home for practice. These are also great tools to use when asking your child about what they are learning in class. 

-Problem Solving questions shared on Twitter this past week- ask your child to solve the problems and explain their thinking to you!


WORD WORK THIS WEEK - 

Word Study Week - Your child knows which color group that they are in. This was assessed at the beginning of the school year and then reassessed just before the winter break.
Monday - write out words and then place them into a sorting chart based on the spelling pattern/rule for the week, Tuesday - sort the words into alphabetical order, Wednesday - write five sentences using the word list, Thursday - practice spelling words with a wipe off board, Friday - quiz day

The second picture is of the Grammar that we are focusing on which for this week will be homophones.




Social Studies - We have continued learning through story about the different celebrations and traditions of Ukraine. This week we will be using Google Maps to zoom in and explore the different areas of Ukraine. Students enjoyed doing this for India in November. This time around, students should be able to demonstrate their ability to use their computer skills along with mapping skills in order to examine the different regions and landforms.

Science - Hearing and Sound
Students have been engaged with learning definitions and watching videos about how sound is created. This week we will continue to explore and revisit pleasant and unpleasant sound, anatomy of the ear and protection of our ear.

Gym - Skip Rope for Heart - Forms were sent home on Thursday as well as an e-mail from Auburn Bay school explaining the process. Last year the school collected more than $17,000! We are hoping to surpass this amount this year! With just a $5.00 online donation, your child will earn a skipping rope!

ART -  Please send in any hammers ASAP that you can lend us for the next two weeks for a special project!

WEEK OF JANUARY 13th - 17th

This week in MULTIPLICATION!

Focus on the 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 11 tables. These should prove rather easy to build quick recall, as students are recognizing the patterns/rules. We are focusing on these this week and then they will become what we are referring to as the "NO EXCUSE MULTIPLICATION FACTS".

How can you help at home?

- use one die, roll and then recall the double of the number shown (to help with the 2 times table)
- use flashcards (either homemade or bought, just take out the times tables that are being focused on)
- practice skip counting for each of 2, 5, 10, 11

Next weeks focus will be the 3 and 5 times tables.

OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT YOUR CHILD IN MATHS
- continue to practice borrowing and regrouping (2 digit by 2 digit, challenge to 3 digit by 3 digit) with both the stacking and number line methods (links with videos of how to teach this were previously posted on the November Blog update and can be found at the following; mathsolutions.com/NTWNC32, mathsolutions.com/NTWNC33, mathsolutions.com/NTWNC31)

- Make sure you are checking out the Twitter Feed (click the Twitter button on the main page) and see what we are up to in class. A lot of the pictures/videos show/demo what you can replicate at home for practice. These are also great tools to use when asking your child about what they are learning in class. 


WORD WORK THIS WEEK - 

Word Study Week - Your child knows which color group that they are in. This was assessed at the beginning of the school year and then reassessed just before the winter break.
Monday - write out words and then place them into a sorting chart based on the spelling pattern/rule for the week, Tuesday - sort the words into alphabetical order, Wednesday - write five sentences using the word list, Thursday - practice spelling words with a wipe off board, Friday - quiz day

The second picture is of the Grammar that we are focusing on which for this week was the different sounds we can hear when adding -ed to a word.

MUSIC

Here is some information about the upcoming musical at Auburn Bay School. For more information and/or to find the permission form (to print off at home and return filled out to your child's teacher) please go to Mrs. Bourgeois's Blog. https://auburnbaymusicmakers.blogspot.com/

January 2020

6th - Classes Resume (7:50AM)

23rd - Fun Lunch Taco Time

31st - Non - Instructional Day

Physical Education - Students will be studying gymnastics during Phys Ed from Tuesday, January 7^th till Thursday, January 24^th.

*Please wear clothing that is easy to move in and comfortable. Sweats and a t-shirt are great clothing options (Remembering not to have TOO loose of a top on)

*Please try to avoid dresses or skirts 

*If you have long hair please try your best to have it in a ponytail so that it does not go in your face

Art - Bring in an art canvas if you haven't already and would like to for Monday, January 6th. Any size will work (12x12, 11x14 or any med to larger size). Students who do not have a canvas will be given card stock to work on. 

Handwriting & Printing - We will be starting handwriting this week. Proper formation will be focused on. Additional targeted printing practice with emphasis on proper formation will also be provided for students who require additional supports. 

Writing - We will continue to work on Great Beginnings for our India stories. 

Math - Multiplication as well as an emphasis on multi-step problem solving will be targeted over the next couple weeks. Basic facts can be supported at home through the use of flashcards, dice games, card games and/or ABCya.com games that support basic facts acquisition. 

Social Studies - Students will be learning and celebrating Ukrainian Christmas traditions this week as Ukrainian Christmas is on Tuesday! Opportunities to view clips, sketch artifacts, learn and act out a folktale along with other fun and educational activities are sure to have the students excited and engaged this week!