Happy Halloween!

It was a great day today at Maple Ridge as we saw lots of dinosaurs, unicorns and superheroes! Room 2 enjoyed The Great Pumpkin Slinger Challenge. We spent a lot of our day planning our catapults and then testing them out. It was the Super Slinger 2000 group that sent their pumpkin 10.7m!

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "We learned in our pumpkin slinging challenge that we need to improve our designs to  help the pumpkin go further" L.L.
2. "In Gym we learned a new game called Halloween Signals" N.G.
3. "We performed a play called Pumpkin Head for the Grade 4s. We learned that next time we need to use stronger singing"A.D.

Thank you to the parents who are volunteering in the classroom next week while we make our clay animals.

Reminders:
1. Please think carefully when sending snacks to school over the next couple of days. Even a little bit of extra sugar from Halloween treats can greatly impact learning and behaviors at school.

All Hallow's Eve....

'Twas the night before....

 You have to love technology. We had a blog post, but it seems to have disappeared. This is just a reminder for tomorrow that if you would like to send a change of clothes with your child please do. We will be engaged in Halloween related learning activities all day. Please watch the blog tomorrow night for some great pictures!

A new song to learn!

Today your child will come home and will be eager to share a new song that we learned today. We have been reviewing our vowel names, and sounds to help us both with reading and writing.

Vowel Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh11mx9tF9o 

I encourage you to listen and sing along with your child. Also when reading and writing, identify the vowel sounds they hear from the song in their books or texts.

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. We learned what the word 'resource' means in regards to providing for our basic needs. We looked at a picture from the East coast and identified the resources in the picture that we may use to help us build a shelter.
2. We learned the mathematical names for ones, tens and hundreds blocks.
3. We put our snow devices on display in the iLab to receive feedback from the students this week.


Special Request:
We are needing 2-3 volunteers next week for a clay project. We will require about 2 hours of your time as the students are creating an animal from a specific region within Canada. You will receive specific instructions from our resident expert to assist the students. We don't know the exact day yet, but it would most likely be Monday-Thursday in the a.m. If you could help us out for a couple of hours on one of these days, please email me and I will put your name down.

Reminders:
1. Halloween parade on Wednesday morning. Please do not send any weapons, gore or scary costumes to school.
2. Fun Snack this Friday, November 2nd. 

Happy Long Weekend!

3 Things I learned today:
1. "We had a new problem to solve in Math. We have a question to answer. It is 'How do good Mathematicians communicate' "N.G.
2. "We learned that in a story the problem must be solved" S.C.
3. "We had Mr. Cartier come to our class because he will be teaching us every Thursday from after Morning Break until lunch" D.G.


Reminders:
1. No school tomorrow.
2. Next Wednesday we can wear our costumes to school all day. No weapons. No gore. No helmets or masks that cover my eyes.
3. Please read weekly update on the school website.

A Morning at Carburn Park

We had a great morning at Carburn Park! The students did a FANTASTIC job walking both to and from the park. We enjoyed collecting materials in the park to build our own shelter for our Carburn Park protectors. We came back to school and reflected as to why we chose particular materials and why we thought our shelters were strong and stable.

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Carburn Park we had to figure out how to make a house for our Carburn Park dolls and it had to be prepared for everything" N.G.
2. "We learned to how to serve with a partner playing volleyball in Gym" S.M.
3. "We were tired on the walk and we saw lots of dogs" A.M.

Getting Ready for Carburn Park

Apologies once again as I see yesterday's blog post got stuck in draft mode. Please read yesterday's post as well for important updates.

We are off to Carburn Park tomorrow as to what looks like it's going to be a nice day. We are expecting it to take about 45 minutes to walk each way. With that being said, please make sure your child has:
1. good walking shoes
2. a full water bottle
3. a larger snack than usual as we expect the students to be extra hungry from their walk

A reminder to please send your child's Carburn Park Protector doll to school tomorrow to be used during our time at Carburn Park. Some of our students have indicated they no longer have their doll, which is fine. However if your child is able to locate their doll tonight, please have them bring them tomorrow.

3 things we learned today:
1. We learned what the words 'digit' and 'number' mean. Are they the same? Different? Ask your child!
2. We learned what needs to be included in an excellent inventor's description. We are working on creating descriptions for our Snow devices.
3. We learned why each pig in the story The 3 Little Pigs chose the materials they did to build their houses. We learned that they chose these materials because that's what was available at the landscape.

As part of our time in Carburn Park the students will be using their dolls from last year. If you know where your child's felt doll is that was made with the help of Ms. Tracy, please send to school for Wednesday. If the doll is no longer accessible, that is okay as we have a small supply of alternate 'people' they can use.

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "Today we learned what a need and want is. We got sticky notes and had to decide where it was. A need or a want" S.M.
2. "We started to write descriptions for our snow devices."L.M.
3. "Today in Music we learned a new song called Pumpkin, Pumpkin Round and Round" M.C.

Reminders:
1. Bring your felt doll to school.
2. No school on Friday.

The First Sharing of Learning Assembly Day

We had a fantastic assembly today from our friends in Grade 3. We learned a lot about sound, how sound travels through the ear and also got to listen to some homemade instruments created by the students. Thanks for teaching us!

3 Things We learned Today:
1. "I learned that sound is all around us at the assembly" L.M.
2. "We learned that we have to fill in all of the white spots on the paper with paint" N.G.
3. "We learned that the place in a story is called a setting in Writer's Workshop" D.T.

Mr. Emery gave everyone at Maple Ridge School homework this weekend! Ask me what my homework is!

Reminders:
1. Fun lunch next Thursday, October 25th.
2. Photo Re-Take Day on Tuesday, October 23rd. Please email me if you would like to have your child's photo retaken.

A Need or A Want?

Today your child took home a paper called Needs and Wants Sort. Their job tonight is to explain why they put certain items under needs and why they put certain items under wants. If they did not finish sorting, please give them time to do this first. This is our kick off activity into our big inquiry focus this year of: 'What is the power of movement?'
Stay tuned for more updates!

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "We learned how to reason." A.D. What does reasoning mean? Ask me!
2. "We did more of our building with snow problem. We learned that it is okay to change your plan when you are building" S.M.
3. "In Music we learned a new song called Pumpkin Round and Round and we had a lockdown. " J.V.

Lots Coming Home Today!

Sorry about the missed blog post last night....I forgot to press 'publish'! 😂

Your child had lots to take home today! They may have come home with a pamplet about Fire Safety week, their School Picture and learning to complete at home.


3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Math we had a new problem....Sophia started at 3 but she counted by 5s. What numbers would be in her pattern?" S.M.
2. "In Inquiry we continued our moving the snow problem." A.D. We learned what a model is.
3. "In Writer's Workshop we learned how to use Book Creator on the iPad" N.G.

If you have an iLab plan in your home folder you need to finish it tonight and bring it back to school tomorrow. Parents: Students DO NOT need to build their model at home. They just need to finish their plans.
Remember that your iLab plan must include:
1. Accurate: Does it actually look like what you are wanting to make?
2. Scientific: Does it help solve the problem?
3. Labels-both of parts and of what you are making it from

We are still looking for adults to come along on our community walk next Wednesday morning to Carburn Park. We will be leaving shortly after 9 and returning just before the lunch break. If you can help, please email me.

We are planning to go on a Community Walk next Wednesday, October 24th to Carburn Park. We are planning to leave the school at 9am and return just before lunch. While we are at Carburn Park we will be deepening our understanding of needs and wants and what is required to built a habitat for themselves. We will be walking both to Carburn Park and back to Maple Ridge School. If you are able to help us out, please email me. P.S.-the weather looks great! ;)

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "We continued our contour line pumpkins" N.G.
2. "We worked with Mrs. Ramsay of getting a ball to the start of a table to the end of a table"L.L.
3. "We sang in Music what we are going to do in Remembrance Day" S.M.

Thank you parents! We have enough volunteers for our November Field Study.  😁

Scientific Drawings

The end of the day crept up upon us very quickly, therefore we did not get around to sharing our learning. So, instead Miss. Moore will be giving an overview of the learning that occurred in Room 2 today.

1. We chose to count by 2s, 5s or 3s up to 100 using a Hundreds Chart. Then we reflected upon the question of 'What do you notice about your number pattern?' We will be looking at this question in more depth tomorrow.
2. This afternoon we returned to our Scientific Drawings of our devices to remove the most amount of snow possible. We learned that a scientific drawing must:
a) be accurate
b) be scientific (does it show how to solve the problem?)
c)include labels for both the parts and also what those parts will be made from
We are hoping to get our 3 checkmarks tomorrow to indicate that our diagrams are complete and that we can begin building.
3. We are continuing to write and reflect upon stories that have a clear beginning, middle and end. I encourage you to practice this skill at home whether it be with a home reading book, bedtime story or even reflecting upon the day.

Reminders:
1. Photo Retake Day tomorrow. Please email me if your child will require a photo retake. Photo Retake day is Tuesday, October 23rd.
2. We still require one more volunteer for our field trip to the zoo on November 14th. This is an all day field study.. Please email me if you can help out.

Learning to Take Care of Our Place

When our old Learning Commons space was being transformed into our new iLab space, Mrs. Ramsay noticed that several materials including our paintbrushes had to be thrown out. Today we had a lesson about how to care for our brushes, clean paint palettes properly and also how to mix paint. We had time to practice on our own and experiment with mixing colors.

2 Things We Learned Today:
1. "We started doing Art Part 3 on our contour line pumpkins with Sharpies" N.G.
2. "We learned how to paint with paintbrushes and we mixed the colours like above" L.M.

Reminders:
1. Fun Lunch Thursday, October 25th.
2. School Council meeting next Thursday, October 18th at 6:30pm. All welcome.

This afternoon we explored the problem of Melting Snow in Calgary. We decided that as Scientists the best way to help with the large amounts of snow that will melt with the rising temperatures is to  create a device to move the most amount of snow possible. Today we brainstormed different ideas and began to draw our first blueprints of our devices. 

3 Things We Learned Today:

1. "We started our plans to get rid all the snow" N.G.

2. "Today we learned that a pattern can be if you just jump by 1 or 2 or any number in Math" S.M.

3. "In Gym we played with the Deckie rings" C.S.

Reminders:

1.Field study to the Calgary Zoo on November 14th. Please email me if you can volunteer. 

New Reader's Workshop Station!

We are really working on 3 Important Pillars of Learning in our Classroom these days. They are:
1. Take Care of Myself
2. Take Care of Others
3. Take Care of This Place (our school)

A lot of us have been struggling with taking care of ourselves and others. The consequence is that we or others are getting hurt by our actions and words.

Dinner table conversation piece: What can I do to make sure that I take care of myself, others and our school? (Parents: Thanks for your support with this!)

4 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Gym we played Ant Tag" S.C.
2. "We learned a new station in Reader's Workshop called Work on Writing." L.L.
3. "In Music we played this game called The Witches Cat is Sleeping" M.C.
4. "We learned that we are having lots of snow and it's blocking the drainpipes. And when it melts the water starts rising" D.G.

Reminders:
1. Please return your Family Traditions sheet. We still have lots of students who need to share.
2. Please continue to regularly do Home Reading with your children. I haven't seen some books changed for awhile.

The Families of Fish Creek

Grade 2 really enjoyed their day down at the Bow Valley Ranch site. We learned about the different families that have lived, or do live in this area. We went way back to the 1800s when we learned about the Blackfoot people which inhabited the land. Jump to today when we learned about the different animals and trees that populate this part of Fish Creek Park.

3 Things I learned today:
1. "We learned about the Blackfoot people. They lived in tipi's" M.S.
2. "We learned that the Blackfoot people chased down Bison down the hill into a closed area and trapped them." D.G.
3. "We learned that the Blackfoot people told legends/myths about nature" M.S.

Reminders:
1. Please continue to work on and complete your Family Tradition sheets. We have begun sharing about them at school.

Traditions and Thanksgiving

Today every child brought home a Traditions in my Family paper. I am encouraging you to sit and chat with your child about the traditions they identified celebrating/recognizing in their families. We are going to be talking about traditions at our Field Trip to Fish Creek Park on Tuesday. We will be learning about the traditions of the Aboriginal/First Nations people in that area and connecting those traditions to ours.
If you have something special about traditions in your family that you would like to share at school, please bring it next week and we will share with our friends in Room 2.

3 Things We Learned/Did Today:
1. "We did some Math that we needed to fill in numbers for the number pattern" S.M.
2. "Part of Math we sorted the things that people donated to the iLab" N.G.
3. "We watched a video about letter blends" D.T.  Question to answer:??????????

Reminders:
1. No School on Friday. No School on Monday.
2. Field Trip on Tuesday. Please dress properly for being outside.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families! I am so thankful for each one of your children and enjoy learning alongside them every day!

A Thanksgiving Story

Today we finished reading a traditional Cree story about a young warrior who was born with special gifts. He had the ability to know when the others in his tribe were hungry and also could speak to the animals. However, he became lazy and greedy and stopped hunting for his tribe. Because of this he lost his gifts. He went to speak to the elders who gave him some advice on how to get his gift back. Ask your child what he did!

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "We played Vegetable Soup in Gym" J. V.
2. "We continued to work on our contour pumpkin art" L.L.
3. "In Math today we got a new problem to solve" S.M.

Reminders:
1. There is a PD Day on Friday. No school for students.
2. We need 3 more volunteers for our field study on Tuesday. Please email me if you can help out
3. Fun lunch tomorrow.

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Hello Winter! Wow-we weren't quite expecting this early arrival of the white stuff. Thank you parents for ensuring your child is dressed properly.

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "We started art project. We learned a new word that is contour". D.G. and M.S.
2. "In Math we did thinking about patterns"-L.M.
3. "We started Math workshop today. We saw that we were in groups" O.S.

Reminders:
1.We got 1 volunteer for our field trip next week. We still need 3 more volunteers. Please email Miss. Moore if you can help out.
2. Field trip forms due back no later than Thursday.

Next Tuesday we are going on a field study to Fish Creek Park. You will find the forms in your child's home folder today. Please sign and return no later than Thursday.

This morning we began our day with a water provocation. The students had time to explore with different objects in the water. This led to many interesting questions and ideas about water. We will be exploring water each morning this week.

3 Things We Learned:
1. "We learned a game called Old Mother Witch in the gym" M.S.
2. "We had a 'show you what I know' in Math." S.C.
3. "We did water exploration and we wrote about it" L.L.

Reminders:
1. We NEED 4 volunteers for our field study to Fish Creek Park. Please email me if you are able to help. This is a full day field study.
2. Please ensure that your child's home folder is returned each day. Many students are not coming to school with their folders.