Fact and Opinion

The forecast for tomorrow looks promising for outside recess - please ensure your child is dressed for the weather with boots, snowpants, hat, mitts etc.  If you are in need of outdoor gear drop me an email.  I can help out⛄ 

We continue to work hard in our classroom!

We tackled fact and opinion today in a little game about caribou.  We are all becoming experts on caribou.  Has your little learner shared with you that Rudolph is female?  Please ask them how we know that Rudolph must be female.

We conducted a survey on favorite 2-D shapes this morning - collecting data, putting it on a graph and answering questions.  

Tomorrow is red and black plaid day

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This is the link for winter concert.  It will be live Thursday night at 5

Anderson https://youtu.be/fd0dGo-kOCY

 

Reindeer/Caribou

 Using the vocabulary of 2-D (circle, oval, square) we completed a directed drawing of a reindeer today and then created a tree map to gather information about reindeer.  During a brainstorm as a whole group we knew reindeer have antlers, live in cold places and are mammals.  After watching 4 Facts About Reindeer we found out they reindeer and caribou are the same animal, they have 2 coats, they live on the Tundra and migrate about 5,000 km a year.  Ask your little learner what they know about caribou.

We were using various strategies to subtract larger numbers this morning.  We can use a number line to jump and subtract.  We can decompose numbers to make them easier to work with, estimate and use an algorithm.  We were subtracting to find out what a dog's favorite vegetable might be.

Wednesday is pyjama day -

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Dates for next week

 Next week there are several fun activities going on in the building.

Wednesday, December 15 - pyjama day especially your winter ones!

Whole school sing-a-long @ 2:00

Thursday, December 16 - red/black checker day - you know those cozy sweaters/jackets that look like something a lumberjack would wear

Whole school sing a-long @ 8:30

Friday, December 17 - ugly (or cute) Christmas sweater day

Pillars of Care assembly @ 8:30

Ask your little learner how many different shapes they can make with 2 triangles and 4 triangles -

We were busy this morning getting creative with making things.

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What's In My Bag?

 We played, What's In My Bag? this morning - students were encouraged to ask questions about the item in my bag.  The question had to gather information - is it round, is it soft, is it a toy not ask, Is it an apple?  I was a bit hopeful that students would change their questions based on the answers showing they had an understanding of what might have been in the bag.  Ask your little learner what I had in my bag.

We are coming to the end of our Rocks and Minerals unit.  Most scientists have completed their rock book.  We had a look at 'Magic School Bus Blows Its Top' this morning for those writers still looking for some interesting facts to add to their book.

We are collecting toonies for lunches until Christmas and also collecting for the food bank if you are interested in donating.

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Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back

 We have been working on quality of life being:  a sense of safety, security, comfort, health and happiness.  Little learners have learned to distinguish between needs and wants to meet a certain quality of life.  Today we looked at "The Bedrooms of Children Around the World" discussing as we went if the needs and wants of those children were being meet.  We were pretty sure that our own bedrooms look pretty good in comparison to some children around the world.

We have been working on using the author's words to put pictures in our head while reading/listening to story.  We have used the First Nations book, "Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back" for its descriptive language to practise our skills.  Students each had a copy of one of the poems from the book that they first highlighted the picture words then talked to a partner about what they saw in their heads.  They then took a piece of the turtle's back and drew the picture that was in their head.  We put all the puzzle pieces together on the turtle and then looked at the pictures the author had in the book. 

Our finished turtle!

We are so proud - we kind of like our art work better than the books!

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How do cookies compare to rocks?

 How do cookies compare to rocks?  

That was the question we attempted to answer in science this morning.  We started by observing our cookie as a geologist would and then using our senses describing the cookie.  We drew the cookie, counted the visible chocolate chips and then compared our cookie to a piece of granite, schist or gneiss.  Little geologists should have made the connection that both are made of more than one thing (different minerals) and created using heat and pressure. Was a delicious experiment!

We have made the longest number line ever together to help ourselves as we begin to round numbers.  In order to round to the nearest 100 we land marked all the hundreds and coloured the numbers that would round to them red or blue.  It makes a visual representation for us to see the numbers.  We will create another number line to show the numbers that round to the nearest 10, but we are running our of wall space!

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With the holiday season soon approaching it's important to care for others and give back to those who are less fortunate than us.  This holiday season, Beddington Heights School will be a part of 2 programs that the city of Calgary runs for those less fortunate.  

The first program is Loonies for Lunches.  Loonies for Lunches would bring students together to collect loonies to donate to the food bank. Each school and/or classroom would create a donation box to collect the loonies and perhaps have some healthy competition to see which class could raise the most. The loonies would then be used by the Food Bank to purchase food for our Weekends and More program that makes sure kids get the nutritious food they need on the weekends to stay healthy and learning.  

The Mayor's Food Drive is where we collect non-perishable items, i.e. can goods, sealed boxed items, for Calgary's Food Bank.  Both programs start this Monday to Dec 14th. 

For more information, please visit https://www.calgaryfoodbank.com/wam/, thank you for the support on this!

Pillars of Care

 The November Pillars of Care assembly was held virtually this afternoon and we would like to recognize the winners in room 10:

Care for Place - Lucas

Care for Self - Calvin

Care for Learning - Noah

Care for Others - Kenny

Courage - Sophia

Parent/Student/Teacher conferences are Thursday evening and Friday morning - please book an appointment using your CBE account for a virtual meeting or give me a phone call and we can chat!

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Nonfiction Writing

 We began nonfiction writing today with the purpose of providing our reader with facts and information about the 3 types of rocks in the rock cycle.  Our rock book will share our understanding of rocks, use descriptive language, and include non-fiction text features such as chapters, diagrams and headings.  We continue to  work towards our writing goals of making our writing interesting for our reader and making our writing clear for our reader.

Thirteen Moons On A Turtles Back is our mentor text this week for visualizing.  The poems explain the changing seasons and the thirteen cycles of the moon according to Indigenous legend.  Everyone has a poem to read, picture words to find, sense words to look for, visualize and draw.  We will put all our pictures together on the turtle's back when we are finished and I will share with you the results!

Please book a conference time for Thursday or Friday this week on your CBE account.

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Simple Lines

 All art starts with lines and we can create lots of things with simple lines.  After watching, 'Harold and the Purple Crayon' this morning we created 15 different kinds of lines that we can use in our drawing.  We made zig zags, spirals, loops, wavy (we noted that we use a lot of these lines in our handwriting! Great connection between activities😀) and then we took our line for a walk and created organic shapes that we filled in with other kinds of lines.

The Magic School Bus flew through here this morning in the episode, Battle for Rock Mountain. The students in her class were learning about the three kinds of rocks - igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.  Coincidence because that is what we are doing!!  We talked about what we already knew about the rock cycle and the three types of rocks and then we added the information that was new from Ms. Frizzle.  We are getting set to write our own book about the rock cycle.  Perhaps, Magic School Bus style!

We are beginning to set goals for student/teacher/parent conferences next week.  Every one already has writing goals that they can talk about and we will also have a reading goal, math goal and wellness goal that will be the foundation for our discussion together.  Please make sure you book an on-line appointment.

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Minerals make rocks!

 We have discovered that rocks are made of minerals.  Every rock has different amounts and types of minerals.  Today we took a purple ball of clay and pretended it was a pure purple mineral, a blue ball of clay and pretended it was as a pure blue mineral and a yellow ball of clay and pretended it was a yellow mineral and put them together to make rocks!!  You will see each rock is a different size and shape.  

        

                                                Minerals make rocks!

After reading stories, looking at a video and some pictures we have determined that the quality of life has to do with 5 feelings: being safe, secure, comfortable, healthy and happy.  When you have a good quality of life you feel safe, secure, comfortable, healthy and happy.  When you have a poor quality of life you do not feel safe, secure, comfortable, healthy and happy.  As we look at the countries of India, Tunisia, Ukraine and Peru we will keep this in mind.

Math quiz today on number sense (even and odd numbers, skip counting and using a hundreds chart).  Our next basic facts test will be on Monday.  We are all working to improve our basic facts to 18.

We are writing a walking story (a story that describes - nothing really happens there are no characters, setting, problem or solution but it includes lots of detail) about one of our friends.  Today we told a partner about our story plan and tomorrow we will begin to write.  Our walking story will include a great beginning so that our reader will want to read our story. 

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Remembrance Day at Beddington Heights

 

The poppy puzzle we created in our classroom with words of remembrance around the edges.  The picture of Corporal B.G. Anderson was taken in 1942 before my father-in-law was shipped to Italy to fight during World War II.  He was injured during a battle and sent home to recover.

At Beddington Heights today we stopped to remember all those who went to war for us to ensure the freedoms we enjoy today.  Lest we forget.

No school tomorrow or Friday.

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Question Words

We used the rocks we found on Nose Hill Friday for writing today.  We completed the last part of our work, Everybody Needs a Rock.  Tomorrow we will conduct experiments on our rocks to determine their properties.

Good readers ask questions before, during and after reading.  After brainstorming question words (who, what where, when, should, could) we wrote questions we would like to ask Captain Harry Colebourn about the baby bear he rescued and named Winnie.  During social studies we used the same question words to ask questions about India - we are lucky enough to have a student in our classroom who lived in India and she did her best to answer our inquiring questions!

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No school Thursday and Friday

FROM PARENT COUNCIL

Get Your Christmas On....

Beddington Heights Elementary Parent Council is happy to announce their first fundraiser of the year, Growing Smiles. They are selling beautiful poinsettias, wreaths, boughs, outdoor greenery and indoor planter.

The Campaign will run from November 5th -19th, 2021.

Pick up will be December 3rd. Details to follow

Thank you for your interest and your continued support of our school 

 

https://beddingtonheightsschool.growingsmilesfundraising.com/home

 

 

Community Walk

 Tomorrow morning we will head out into the community to go on a rock hunt.  We will head over to Nose Hill at 9:30 am.  Children should bring their backpack with a water bottle and be dressed in layers. Walking shoes are recommended.  The forecast for tomorrow is decent but it is November and it takes time to warm up everyday.  Your little learner had written their own personal rules for finding the perfect rock.  Ask them about their rules.

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Rock Hunt

 Friday morning we are going on a rock hunt!  

Today we read the book, 'Everybody Needs a Rock' with the ten rules for finding the perfect rock.  Tomorrow we will write our own rules for finding a rock.  Friday we will put our rules into action.  We will leave the building around 9:30 and return for dismissal.  We will leave after we have had snack but students will need their backpack for water bottles, extra clothing and to put their rocks in.  The forecast looks good for Friday😎

We worked with odd and even numbers in math today - creating our own numbers, double, triple or more digits and working with the rule we created for determining odd and even.

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Lockdown Practise

 Our first lockdown practise was held today and a great job was done by all.  Everyone was at the green dot quickly and able to stay quiet.  Ask your little learner how a lockdown makes them feel.

We went on a rock hunt this morning through the buckets of rocks from our science room.  We were examining them and classifying them based on their shape, texture and colour.  There are many interesting rocks to be had!

Our work on the comprehension strategy of visualizing continues.  Good readers not only see pictures in their head but they can also use their other senses to hear sounds, taste tastes and feel the emotions of the characters.  We kept track of the words that put pictures in our heads and drew what we were seeing.  

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Rock Hunt

 Before the snow starts piling up we all need to go on a rock hunt.  We are looking for a rock that is roundish, with a flatish surface about 10 to 12 cm across.  Something that is perfect for painting.  A rock that reminds of something else.  Scientists should also bring to school their favorite rock, a rock they can tell a story about and that they can perform tests on.

Just a friendly reminder that we need brain food for our bodies at school - fruit, vegetables, protein - the Halloween treats while tasty, don't provide us with the nutrition we need to get through the day.  

Have a great weekend!

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Soil Quiz

In a backpack near you is a completed Soil Horizon flipbook that was made to show the layers of soil under our feet.  Please read through it with your little scientist - we will be having a science quiz on Thursday.  Your scientist should know what soil is used for (to support plants and provide nutrients) why it is important (it helps plants grow) and what we saw in the soil sample (clay, silt, sand, leaves, plants) as well as the layers of soil.

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Weathering

 We conducted our first science experiment today about weathering.  We were investigating how rocks break apart to become soil.  Ask your little learner what happens when a force strikes a rock.

This is the anchor chart we created together about the strategies we can use to add numbers and the words that tell us we should add.

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Plastic containers with lids - please

 If you have any small (yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream) containers at home that you've been collecting and are wondering what to do with now -  please send them to school.  We will be conducting a weathering experiment on Monday and if we had some containers with lids it would be helpful to our end result!

Everyone made a set of bones today for the Blackfoot math game, Bones.  Originally, the game would have been played with carved bones from the ribs of bison.  We used craft sticks as our bison bones and drew the traditional Blackfoot markings on each stick to represent a number.  The bones are tossed on the floor and the points counted and added together until one player reaches 50.  It is great to introduce an Indigenous game that helps us develop our basic facts and strategies for adding.

We used the picture book 'Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar' by Emily MacKenzie as an introduction to characters this morning.  We loved how Ralfy made a list of all the books he read, all the books he wanted to read and a list of books to recommend to his family and he gave them all carrot ratings!

Friday October 29 students are welcome to wear their Halloween costume to school. 

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Flipbooks

 We have been working hard to finish up our Soil Horizons flip book.  Our flip books show what we know about the humus, topsoil, subsoil and bedrock.  Once they are all finished I will be sending them home for review prior to a unit quiz on soil.  

We have been working on the comprehension strategy of visualization to help us better understand what the author is trying to tell us.  We have created a tree map about scarecrows, been reading picture books about scarecrows and drawing scarecrows in art and now we have taken the poem, Scarecrow by Kristen Riley, and highlighted the picture words the author used and drawn the picture that is in our heads.  The picture should show what is in the text, including the detail ie: the scarecrow is sitting on a haystack with patches on his elbows and a big hat on his head.

Our work representing numbers in various ways continues and we are becoming more confident using numbers in different ways.  Ask your little learner how they best like to represent a number.  We are also working to improve our basic facts (adding and subtracting to 18) by playing games and talking about strategies that are helpful for efficiency.  

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Components of soil

     

Warm colours/Cool colours Fall Art 

We have been using the poem, "Under Your Feet" to understand the various component of soil (clay, sand, pebbles, decaying plants etc) and how to describe them.  In the poem the child has a shovel and invites the reader to help them dig and they come up with the world that lives below us.  So we went outside today with our shovels (spoons) and dug holes and collected the layers of twig, leaf, rock etc and then sorted them. We found a lot of the same things.  Tomorrow we will have a closer look at sand, silt and clay.

No school Monday

Picture day Tuesday Oct. 19

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Components of soil

 We used poetry today to have a look at the layers of soil in our world - this begins our little science unit on the various components of soil (sand, clay and silt).  We will be spending some time outside this week collecting soil samples and going on a rock hunt.

We sorted in science last week and this week we started sorting in math - today we used a variety of attributes to sort the children in the room (hair colour, shirt colour, age etc) by playing  several rounds of Four Corners.  The only thing we couldn't do was sort ourselves by height without talking.  We tried several times with no luck😞

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Thankful Pumpkin

Our Thankful Pumpkin

Have a great Thanksgiving!

No school Friday Oct. 8 or Monday Oct. 11

 

Walking Stories

 We have begun planning our first personal narrative story!   We call it a walking story.  A story based on our own experiences, memories and feelings.  Our stories star us and are all about something we know a lot about.  Us.  Good writers make a plan - the plan is important for putting ideas on the paper.  So we have started by drawing our plan.  We talked to a partner about our plan and got ideas from them about our plan.  Now we are ready to write using our plan.

We have been building numbers with blocks, taking numbers apart and looking at how many ones, tens and hundreds, skip counting by 2, 5 and 10 and today we collected data on our favourite colour and then used the data to answer questions.  Busy, busy, busy.

We have looked at what science is and what a scientist does and next we will begin being a great scientist by working with properties.

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Terry Fox Run

 Tomorrow is Terry Fox day at Beddington Heights.  

Please help us reach our goal of $500.00 by sending a toonie for Terry.

We have been working hard to answer the question, "Who was Terry Fox?"  We have looked at some videos, read a few books, had several discussions, shared out thinking and even read a letter from Terry's brother to the children of Beddington Heights!

We have been skip counting by 2, 5 and 10 in math.  Next we will review odd and even numbers on ten frames.

"What is a scientist?"  is a question we began exploring today with a video and discussion.

Wednesday will be Orange Shirt Day at Beddington - please wear orange for our smudging ceremony at 8:30 am.  We started a discussion of residential schools by reading Shi-Shi-Etko this morning.  Shi-Shi-Etko was going away to a residential school and collecting memories from her home to take with her.  We helped her to make a memory bag.

No school Thursday

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Meet The Teacher Presentation

 Meet the Teacher Presentation

Here is the link to see the slides that we were unable to share tonight

Meet The Classroom

 Meet the Teacher is tonight and since you can't come to the classroom we've included some pictures of our classroom so you can see where we spend our days.

Run Terry Run

 Our annual Terry Fox Run is being held on Tuesday, September 28, 2021.  We will be doing our run during our gym classes to maintain our cohorts and physical distancing.  Unfortunately, families are not allowed to come participate or watch due to COVID restrictions.  Please make sure your child is dressed ready to run on that day.  Proper outdoor footwear is required (running shoes please).  If the weather does not cooperate, we will do the run in the gym.  We are taking donations for the Terry Fox Foundation (for cancer research).  Our preferred method of donation is online.  You can access the Beddington Heights donation page: 

 

Beddington Heights School Fundraising Link: http://www.terryfox.ca/BeddingtonHeights
Username: 2021AB1927 
Password: CUREAB1907 

 

Your child has a pledge sheet in their backpack today.  It has more information on how to access the online donation page as well as room for bigger donations if you wish.  You can still just send in cash without the sheet. 

We will be collecting donations until Oct. 1, 2021.  If the school raises at least $500, Mr. Shackelton will allow his students to dress him up and he will come around to each class to show us his outfit. 

 

Last year we raised $1017.85.  Let’s see if we can raise even more this year!!! 

RUN TERRY RUN!

 

Patience

 Patience is the fifth pillar of the month for September at Beddington.  Today after reading the story, 

'The Impatient Caterpillar' we discussed all the ways someone in a classroom might be impatient and created ourselves a list of non-examples.  We thought of, cutting in line, being rude, yelling out, being distracted etc.  We really had a good time coming up with those!  Then we brainstormed what being patient looks like, and can be in our school.

Work continues with putting together a one hundreds chart.  We have determined one must look closely at all the numbers and what goes around a number.

Word work activity today was around rhyming words and their spelling patterns.  

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On A Roll

 With two other partners every one built a hundreds chart this morning, which proved to be very difficult.  Playing, 'On A Roll to 100' little learners were tasked to work together to place the numbers one to one hundred in the correct position to create a life size hundreds chart.  They rolled dice and placed numbers together.

We read, 'Oscar Lives Next Door' which is the true story of Oscar Peterson the Canadian jazz musician and then talked about how to chat with a partner about a story.  Ideas that will be useful when we are reading with a partner.  While we chatted we listened to some of Mr. Peterson's music.  We decided we liked his style!

We began a discussion about First Nations people and how they see themselves connecting to everything.  We each began drawing ourselves and how we are all connected to our families, homes, communities and our land.

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Number Detectives

 We are well on our way to becoming number detectives!  We are starting each morning by building a number from two digits and then answering 10 questions about that number.  Little learners are showing that they think flexibly about numbers and can represent their number in various ways.  Questions such as write the number in words, write the standard form of your number, write the expanded form of your number are explored.

We have read the poem, Friends by Jessica Crum, together and found that she wrote in a pattern!  We also found that there was a pattern to her use of capitals and periods.  We brainstormed together things we like to do with our friends and then we started writing our own poem following Ms. Crum's pattern about friends.  

Please have headphones for your child that they can keep at school for computer use - labeled with their name please.

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Medicine Wheel

 Demographic and digital citizenship papers due tomorrow -

We have created together a Medicine Wheel and linked it to our pillars of care.  we are encouraging students at Beddington Heights to be open to different perspectives, cultural traditions, and ways of seeing and knowing.  We also looked at some pictures of the Medicine Wheel that is on Nose Hill Park.  If you are interested in a family field trip it is located just above the Winter Club on 14 Street.

We continue to lay the ground work for our reading and writing times.  We have started recording different ideas that we could use as a writing topic and students have begun a writing sample for me.

Today in math we were looking at patterns on the 100 chart and students coloured the pattern they could best explain using math words.

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Who reads?

 We have begun practising reading to ourselves in the classroom.  We started with a discussion about who reads and quickly came to the conclusion that everyone reads!  We will be building stamina in the month of September for reading to ourselves.  My goal is 30 minutes of uninterrupted reading time every day.  Staying in one spot, quiet, reading the book 3 ways, and thinking about the book are the rules we agreed on. Today we made it to 1:34 seconds and someone got out of their desk.  So we reset the stopwatch and tried again.  We made 10 minutes before little voices were heard.  Not too shabby for our first try.

Ask your child to tell you about Number Detectives that we started today.  We begin every morning with the 10 question activity.

A set of forms were sent home today for your completion and signatures.  Please return them with the Digital Citizenship form by Friday this week.

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3 Ways to read a book

 In a backpack near you there is a Digital Citizenship form for you and your little learner to sign.  Today we talked about what a digital citizen looks like and who they are.  Students need to return their form to me before the can use any technology at school.

We have been busy this week becoming readers and writers.  One of the discoveries we made was that there is 3 ways to read a book.  

1.  Read the pictures - look at the pictures and think about what is happening

2. Read the words - read the words on the page and think about what is happening in the book.  Ask questions when you don't understand.

3.  Retell the story - using the pictures and the words we remember to think about what is happening.

Grade 3 students should be reading 20 minutes a day at home by themselves and 10 minutes a day to someone else.  Practise, practise, practise.  

See you Tuesday!

Welcome Back -

 Welcome to the 2021 - 2022 school year!!  

I am super excited to be back in the building with your little learner.  I am looking forward to a great year together.  This is my 31 year with CBE and before that I taught 4 years in the Foothills School Division.  While I have lots of experience in the classroom I am still a work in progress and I'm learning about learning!  I believe in the power of play, and we play a lot in the classroom. I enjoy playing myself and this summer we took up Pickle Ball.  We play outside without fail. I like to walk, hike, kayak, snowshoe, ski and skate. I believe you can't get better at something without practising.  So every day we practise our reading and I will ask you to practise at home as well.  I read myself every day and occasionally I even share with my students what I am reading.  With your help we will have a successful year together.

If you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me either through email, ljanderson@cbe.ab.ca or phone - 403-777-6610.

Mrs. Anderson -

Split Rock Walk

 We have finished up our novel study, Masterpiece by Elise Broach.  We have some great work in our response journal and I hope you take the time to have a look at it with your little learner tomorrow.  We wrote a review today and rated the story.  There were many 9/10 and 10/10 in the room.

Tomorrow we will clean out our desks.  Please send an extra carry bag to school.  Some of us have our entire lives in our desk drawers.

Friday morning we will have an assembly at 8:30 to say our farewells and the June Pillars of Care.  After assembly is over we will be going to Confluence Park, weather permitting.  We will walk over to the split rock and be back at school for 11:45 dismissal.  Your child will want their snack, water bottle and a jacket to take with them.  Please use sunscreen, bug spray etc. at home.  This is a walking trip within the 2 km. distance permitted by CBE so no paper work is required.

Indigenous Day

 We took part in the smudging ceremony this morning and then listened to the Chief Superintendent of CBE read an Indigenous story.  Ask your child about our offering.

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COVID - 19 consent forms

 In a backpack near you there are COVID - 19 rapid testing forms.  AHS will be in our building on Tuesday to screen students.  Please sign and return the forms on Monday if you wish for your child to participate in the program.  If you do not want your child to be tested the forms do not need to be returned.

We read, "The Medicine Wheel: Stories of a Hoop Dancer," looked at a National Film Board video of hoop dancing and then built our own version of a medicine wheel this morning.  We also looked at pictures of the medicine wheel on Nose Hill.  It is located on the east side of Nose Hill over looking 14 Street NW.  If you were to park behind the 3 district police station and the Calgary Winter Club and use the set of stairs there you will arrive at the medicine wheel.  Little learners were keen on visiting the medicine wheel and sharing their knowledge with you.  Great Father's day activity.

Happy Father's Day to you all -

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The end is near

 The end is near... you can feel it in the air😎

Report cards will be posted on line again.  Please use you CBE account to have a look and perhaps download for your personal files.  

We attended two online events today - one in preparation for Monday's smudging ceremony and the other the grade 6 farewell.  Tomorrow we will do a little more work around a medicine wheel so everyone is understanding the significance of our event on Monday.

All library books should now be returned -

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Spring Pictures

 In a backpack near you are the spring pictures taken of your little learner.  Should you choose, orders are due June 23, 2021.

We began writing the informational text, How To Be A Beetle today.  As we have been reading through Masterpiece we have been collecting notes about beetles.  Instead of writing a report about beetles we will write instructions on being a beetle.  The hope is the reading is more interesting and teaches the reader a thing or tow about beetles.

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As part of our ongoing learning, students at Beddington Heights School will have an opportunity to participate in a traditional smudge on June 21. Smudge involves burning a small amount of dried plant such as sage, sweet grass or cedar inside a cast-iron dish or abalone shell. During smudge, participants sit in a circle and listen to the Elder/facilitator offer teachings about the practice and its role in historical and contemporary Indigenous communities. The smudge bowl may be passed around the circle as part of this traditional way of opening or beginning time together. Participation in smudge is informed, voluntary, and always connected to learning. If, for any reason, a student is not participating in the experiential learning, the teacher will ensure that associated learning outcomes are available. The inclusion of Indigenous perspectives and experiences in classrooms is supported and encouraged by The Education Act, Section 16. This experience connects to various outcomes in the Alberta Programs of Study which demonstrates Alberta’s commitment to First Nations, Metis and Inuit Perspectives and experiences in curriculum. We are honoured to offer this learning opportunity to our students. For additional information and questions please contact me at ljanderson@cbe.ab.ca

Friday MART (math meets art)

 We started with a question -

Then we took it outside - 

Look for our work at the front door of the building - 

We're kinda proud of the work we did -

We Made Cookies

 We made camp cookies today - some of us used our own name and some of us adopted a camp name.  See if you can find yours!

We fought the weather and lost today but tomorrow is looking a little more promising.  We did a couple of indoor activities today and then tomorrow we will be outside all day.  If we have to we will slide a few activities into Wednesday.

I hope everyone had a great day!

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Kamp Kiwanis

Traditionally at Beddington Heights the grade 3 and grade 4 classes go on a field trip to Kamp Kiwanis.  Kamp Kiwanis focus on sharing the outdoor experience with children through games and nature that are tied to our curriculum.  This year kamp is coming to us through virtual kampfires, games and activities that we will run out on our school field.  Monday June 7 and Tuesday June 8 we will be involved all day long with Kamp Kiwanis.  Please ensure your child is dressed for the weather.  Proper footwear is essential.  Water bottle, hat, rain gear and another layer may all be needed.  Our daily schedule will be maintained, just kamp activities all day long!  We are so excited!

Jersey day tomorrow - show school spirit - Calgary Flames, Calgary Stampeders, school t-shirt, favourite soccer team, baseball shirt.

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Tangrams

 We made our own personal set of tangram shapes today after we read the book, Grandfather Tang.  We looked at all the polygons we were making as we went along and talked about their attributes.  Little learners were then challenged to make all the animals that Grandfather Tang had made in the story.

We are well into our novel study of Masterpiece and the action is starting to get exciting.  Today our hero, Marvin, was taken away from the main setting of the story.  We are eagerly anticipating how he is going to deal with his problem.

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Permission Form

In a grade 4 backpack near you is a permission form for the Human Sexuality portion of the health curriculum.  Please sign and return the form tomorrow.  Students who choose not to participate will have alternate work to complete.

We were working this morning on 3-D shapes and naming them based on the shape of their base.  Grade 3's need to be able to describe a 3-D shape according to the shape of the faces, the number of edges and the number of vertices.  Grade 4 need to be able to construct a triangular and rectangular prism from a net and sort shapes.

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Fourth First Day Back

 We had a great first day back together and we were all happy about it!

Everyone should have had their stories (climbing and event) in their hand or delivered into the Google classroom - please check with your little learner I had many people promise that their stories were done but at home.  

A few of us forgot that the indoor shoes went home and had no clean shoes to wear on our freshly polished floors.

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Reminder of dates

 Just a reminder that tomorrow is a Professional Development Day.  As a staff we are all involved in moo'kaaksin - a day of learning sessions provided by Indigenous leaders.

Tuesday May 25 we will be back in-person at school and I for one am very excited!

Grade 3's should come with their bridge that spans a 30 cm and holds 1 kg of weight.

Grade 4's should come with their recycle gears.

Everyone should have their climbing story if they haven't already sent that to me in the Google classroom.  If it is there I can print it for your little learner.

Have a great weekend!

Schedule Change

 We are changing the phys. ed. time to accommodate the karate instructor and kick boxing instructors that led us in activities in January.  Tomorrow at 9:00 we will welcome Anthony back and on Wednesday at 9:00 we will meet Jerry.  If this change creates a problem with the technology use in the house then just use the activity board posted in the classroom last week.  Use gonoodle for indoor recess - go for a bike ride - lace up your shoes for a neighbourhood walk.

Classroom code - Room9Ninjas

This week we are writing an event story from our imaginations.  Every day I will give a little writing lesson to help break down the work.  Writing an imaginary story can be over whelming but if you help your little author with the 4 lessons posted in the classroom they will be successful.

Fingers crossed that we will be back at school on May 25.

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Classroom code

 Thank you for your emails and messages about online school.  The kids are rocking it!

Thank you for supporting your little learners at home and all the patience that requires.  I miss each and everyone of them.

We have shifted to using a classroom code to access the classroom.  I sent all my students an email with this change on Tuesday morning.  Just to review:

Google home page

Click on the nine dots in the upper right hand corner

click on the meet button

enter the code bhsanderson

classroom will open for you - if I'm not there yet just be patient and try again in a few minutes.

Our first meeting on Thursday is at 8:00 am with Mr. Sadowsky his code is bhspe34

Thanks everyone

Schedule for On-line Learning

 I have sent you all a schedule through School Messenger for on-line learning.  It looks similar to the schedule we followed in January.  

Monday we start at 8:30 with Mr. Sadowsky for phys. ed.

Our first classroom meet will be at 10.  I will take attendance at this time for the day.  

Reading group A will meet Monday at 11:30.  I will let students know Monday morning if they are in that group.

Education Assistants are supporting our students and may be contacting your child to offer their help.

If you have any questions or see a conflict in the schedule send me an email!

Have a great weekend.

Google Classroom

 Tomorrow morning we will have our first Google classroom meet.  In a backpack near you is all the log in information in order for that to be successful.  Your little learner also has some lined paper for story writing, paper folded into 8 squares for story planning, a tape measure and a paper they will need for tomorrow's literacy lesson.  A full schedule for the next two weeks will be sent to you once we have determined how to best roll this out to everyone.

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Online Learning

 Please ensure your child still has their log-in information for online access.  We will be returning to the Goggle classroom as we did in January.  If you are not able to locate the card please e-mail me or call me tomorrow so I can get that information to you.  I will be sending home some paper and a few things I would like students to have.  Please check backpacks tomorrow.

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Textbooks

 Grade 3 have packed their suitcases and hit the road!  They are taking their cameras to either India, Ukraine, Tunisia or Peru and finding out a few things and then reporting back to us here at school!!  Today they used an old fashioned textbook to find the continent they are going to, the oceans they will cross and the direction they will travel.  Upon their arrival they took note of similarities and differences between their country's  flag and Canada.  Ask your little learner which country they travelled to -

Grade 4's also used an old fashioned textbook today (we had no internet).  Working with a partner they were finding information about Alberta's natural resources and what is renewable and what is non-renewable.  They discovered things like our sugar comes from sugar beets!!  Some of us decided not to eat sugar ever again!

Good readers can determine important information and interesting information.  After we read chapter 15/16 of Masterpiece everyone determined what they thought to be the most important event of the two chapters (hint - it was that Marvin's mom said he can no longer help James) and then picked an interesting detail such as Marvin's family ate Life Savers for dessert or that Marvin and James played hot and cold.

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Science

 We have different science experiments going on in the classroom right now!  They are fun and interactive, but it is very loud in here!!  Grade 3's have been challenged to build a bridge (using one piece of paper) that spans 15 cm and can hold the weight of Nanabush ( a character from a story we read) and his pack of fish.  They have no tools and no other materials, Nanabush only had birch bark.  Meanwhile grade 4's are deciding if a simple machine of a roller makes a job easier.  They are using playdough and a rolling pin to determine their answer.

Pillars of Care virtual assembly tomorrow.

Dress like a teacher tomorrow.

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Raisins in math

 I am a phone call or email away if you were not available for interviews last week.  

This morning we were estimating, grouping and counting raisins from the small raisin box we were each given.  Watching little learners group objects tells me a great deal about them and the numbers they are comfortable using.  We wrote about the raisins in our boxes and completed the math that matched.  For example: My raisin box had 7 groups of 4 raisins.  7x4=28 4x7=28. 28/4=7 and 28/7=4.  This brought us back to fact families and tomorrow we will look at larger numbers as we add together our raisin boxes with a partner and then in groups.

Grade 3 were surveying friends about bridges they are familiar with ie: someone who has been on a swinging bridge.

Grade 4 were building a roller system from materials in their desk to move a textbook.

Alliterations in our personal writing was our goal last week when we were writing to the earth on Earth Day.  Today we continued that piece of writing and promised action to look after our earth.

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Dress like a teacher (pick one in the building) on Friday

Alliteration

 We put to use our new writing technique of alliteration today.  We wrote thank you letters to the earth since today is Earth Day!  We thanked the Earth for red raspberries, magnificent mountains and raging rivers and promised to do something to make our earth a better place to be.  

Mixing math and art is one of my favourite activities and we did just that today with a perimeter and area activity.  Everyone drew themselves, or an alien, or a robot etc. and then grade 3 figured out the perimeter while grade  4 found the area and the perimeter.  Now I have some great work to put up on the wall.  Win.  Win.

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No school tomorrow or Monday

See you Tuesday

Constable Courchesne

 We had Constable Courchesne from the Calgary Police department visit us today in the classroom.  Ask your little learner what his message was today.

Parent/Teacher/Student conferences are Thursday evening and Friday morning.  Please book a spot through your CBE account or call me and we can chat.  Please note that your child should be in on the video conference.

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Lockdown

 We had a practise lockdown this afternoon that was a surprise to us.  Your children did an excellent job of getting themselves into their safe space and remaining quiet while we waited for the police officer to release us.  Please ask your child how they felt about the situation.

We heard a few more stories about families coming from England, Pakistan, Ireland and South Africa this afternoon.  One thing we are beginning to see is everyone seems to come here seeking a better way of life.

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Rivet

 We heard some great stories of families coming to Canada from other parts of the world.  If you have not shared with your child your family story please have that conversation tonight.  Tomorrow we will be writing.

We have been playing a great game called Rivet during Word Work. When facing a new word a good reader looks at all the letters in the word in sequence, to figure out the word so Rivet is an activity designed to get students in the habit of paying close attention to all the letters in an unfamiliar word.  Ask your child to show you how to play.

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Outside Gym

 Mr. Sadowsky is moving gym outside for the remainder of the year due to safety concerns.  Please be sure your child is prepared for all types of weather.

Grade 3's have been retelling the story, The Doorbell Rang using math.  Mother has made 12 cookies to share with her children but other children keep arriving and wanting to share.  Their understanding of sharing, division sentences and problem situations is shown in the retelling.  Grade 4 are using their own numbers (24, 36, 48 cookies) to express their understanding of division.

We continued our writing about our personal names in social studies - please share with your child the origins of their name if you haven't done so yet.

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Homework For All

 I told the very compelling story of my grandmothers journey from Prussia to Canada as a young 14 year old girl today.  My story is not your story and so tonight please answer the questions that were in yesterdays blog about where in the world the family came from and the story behind it.  Also, talk about your child's name and how it came to be.  We looked at the story, Alma and How She Got Her Name for a little inspiration!  Students should be ready to do some writing tomorrow.

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Name/Family Story

 Welcome back to school - we had a great first day back!

Inclusion is the fifth pillar for the month of April so today we started with an anchor book.  We read The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig which will tug at the heartstrings a bit whether you were the invisible child or the one who over looked other students.  We dug into included and excluded and represented the ideas with what that would look like, sound like and feel like.  I found we had really good ideas about being excluded and it is the inclusion we need to work on.

This week in social studies we are going to have a look at how we are all connected.  We will start with ourselves.  Please have a supper table conversation about the story of your child's name.  Why did you give them the name they have?  Is the name a family name?  What is interesting about their name?  Does the name mean something in your home language?  Then talk about the origins of your family.  What is the family story? What country does your family come from?  Who came to Canada first?  How did they travel here?  Why Canada?  Include any interesting details that will make a for a good story.

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Sharing Circle

We were busy today putting the finishing touches on our answers to the comprehension questions surrounding the story, The Sharing Circle.  We have been working on being able to identify the elements of a story (characters, setting, plot) etc and so we are showing off what we know!  As an added bonus we use sharing circles in the classroom so your little learner has experience with the concept of a sharing circle.  Ask your little learner how they felt about their work.

Crazy Hair day tomorrow

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Have a great spring break everyone!!

Good Readers

 Good readers make connections while they are reading.  To themselves, to another story, to the world.  

In Masterpiece, Marvin the beetle swims in a bottle cap.  He uses a peanut shell as a float device.  We wrote about ourselves and our experiences swimming.  We ranked ourselves from 0 to 5 and then gave a few important details to back up our rating.  Ask your little reader how they ranked themselves.

We are trying to tie up a few odds and ends in math this week.  We will be reviewing fractions, multiplication, patterns and skip counting.  Grade 4's have a lot of unfinished work that they have been tasked with getting in for marking.

Crazy hair day on Friday

Pillars of Care on Friday

Collecting reading records on Thursday so I can put in our data.

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Sharing Circles

 Here at school we have been using sharing circles to encourage listening skills and problem solving across the grades. Today we read the story, 'Sharing Circle' conducted a sharing circle and then wrote instructions for having a sharing circle.  Since we have been practising the format for instructional writing we used what, what, how to begin our work.  Little learners have the experience and background knowledge to write with authority!

Reading Give it A Shot will end next week and I will collect all the recording sheets on Friday.

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Getting There -

 We are wrapping up our time unit in math.  Grade 3's can relate the passage of time to a common activity ie: do 60 jumping jacks in one minute, watch a TV show for 1 hour and tell how many hours in a day and the number of days in a month.  We have been solving problems and using a calendar.  Meanwhile, the grade 4's are reading and recording time using an analog clock and discussing how much time has gone by.  

We are also wrapping up out two science units.  Grade 3 are just about finished writing How To Be (their choice of animal) and grade 4 are coming to the end of Light and Shadow.  If we stick to the plan we will be done both units next week.

The authors in the classroom were putting the final touches on their instructional writing today.  They have followed the format of what, what, how to give instructions for an alien to do something and written How To Be Me.  I'm looking forward to reading their ideas!  I will be looking for transition words - first, second, then, finally and the use of verbs.

Reading Give it a Shot will wrap up next week.  I have had some very faithful readers who have been recording every day for the last two months!

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Good Readers

Good readers can make predictions before, during and after reading.  A prediction is made based off the clues in the pictures the author leaves for us.  We drew 6 different pictures today of objects from a story we are going to read together.  Everyone then wrote their own prediction of what the story might be about.  Ask your little learner what they are thinking.

Problem solving was done today around the passing of time.  We continue to work on making our thinking visible - so solving with a time line, a T chart, addition or subtraction.

Round 2 Battle of The Books started today -

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Fifth Pillar of Care

 The fifth pillar for the month of March is patience.  In the classroom we are working on doing one thing at a time, to be mindful of that one activity, and to be patient.  One thing thing this pandemic has taught us is to be patient.  Patient with healthcare workers.  Patient waiting in line.  Patient that an end is in sight.  Patient that we can have play dates, birthday parties, and sleep overs soon.  Just not yet.  Patience and these things will come again. Patience.

Our patience anchor chart that we created together.

No school tomorrow.

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Back up and running

 Please excuse my absence from the blog - my computer decided to take a vacation and since I am the least tech savvy around I had to wait for help.  I hope your little learner was keeping you up to date on all our activities.

We have been so busy!!

We are working our way through a unit on time.  Grade 3 need to be able to relate the passage of time to common activities such as a TV show usually lasts 30 minutes and a song about 2 minutes.  Grade 4 are reading and recording time from a 12 hour clock and discussing elapsed time.  We have worked together and independently practising our skills.

Using the What?-What?-How? structure for writing we have been trying our hand at instructional writing.  The important features of instructional text are language and sentence structure.  Little learners wrote instructions for the alien to brush his teeth using transitional words such as first, second, then, next followed by an action word.  They have planned and written their own set of steps for the alien to follow for an activity of their choice.  Today they started a piece of writing, How To Be and their name.  Giving instructions on how to be them. 

Little readers complain most about figuring out unknown words.  We have been working on using fix-up strategies in our reading focusing this week on using context clues.  Reading around the word and using clues to figure out the unknown.

Grade 4 are almost through the Light and Shadow unit - we have one of two activities left. Grade 3 are busy reading and writing about animals.  They are have added a portion to a poem we read, I'd Like To Be A Butterfly.  Now they are writing, How To Be an animal that they have researched.

And finally, we have this going on in our classroom that we are having a great time with.  Ask your little learner about Battle of the Books!

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Upstander

 Friday is fancy sock day!

Ask your child if they are an upstander - this is a new word we learned today while completing Pink Shirt day activities.  An upstander would intervene when someone was being bullied.   

Four Upstanding Options

1. Be a buddy

2. Interrupt the bully giving the victim a reason to walk away

3. Speak Out - use your words so others will look

4.  Tell someone - trying to keep others safe

I introduced the reading strategy of determining importance with a little game.  We imagined that we were going to spend a year on a deserted island to win a fortune.  The island has nothing but sand and palm trees.  We were allowed to bring 15 items with us.  We all made a list of 15 items and then we had to cut 5 items out and only take 10!  We justified what we were keeping and why they were important.  Tomorrow we will cut 5 more items and justify what we were taking - this will help little readers to see that thinking through the text they will be able to take away important information. 

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What/What/How

 Pink Shirt Day tomorrow -

Following a recipe is a great application of instructional writing.  Today we looked at my favorite recipe website which has very clear WHAT/WHAT/HOW using pictures, words and video.  We had a look at several recipes and then began planning our own piece of writing.

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Instructional Text

 Wednesday February 24 is Pink Shirt Day.  We will all be wearing pink and completing some activities around anti-bullying.  

We spent some time today looking at the important features of instructional text.  When we write instructions we get to be the boss and order people to do exactly what we want them to do!  We discovered instructional text is written from the second person point of view where the writer is talking to the reader and telling them what to do.  We then looked at the transition words used in instructional writing: first, second, third, then, afterward, later and so on.  These are the words that tell the reader to move from one step to the next.  Finally, we looked at action words that writers could use to signal their reader to do something.  We brainstormed topics we could write about and then talked with a partner about what we thought we would try and write.  Tomorrow we will plan our instructional writing.

Grade 3 were drawing a picture of the basic needs their home provides for them in preparation for our look at habitats.  Some great ideas were put forth!

Grade 4 were preparing their experiment with spinning white light.  We hit a few snags and had to problem solve.  Like all good scientists.

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