what does home mean?

In Social Studies, we need to understand both people and places.  In our journey to learn about our personal stories and our city’s story, we need to understand the places that are important.  Today we delved into a big idea about place.  We asked:  

What does HOME mean?  When students were asked to imagine home, this is what they drew. 

Does home = house?   After looking at provocations like (maps, artifacts, photos) and having discussions, we decided that home could mean the structure we live in, but it could also mean more. 

Some ideas from the beginning of our conversation:

Anhad:  Home means living happy and safe

Victor: A home can be many places or anywhere

Kinsley:  Families live in houses to keep them safe

Autumn: Home is shelter

Parsa: There are many different kinds of homes

Haruto: Home is sleeping

Natalie: Home is safe

Ethan W: My home keeps me cheerful.  It keeps my things safe

Anhad: Home is everything I need

Ella: Home is where I sleep

Rihansh: playful

Parsa: Helps keep me alive

Haruto: Helps keep me cozy

Summer: It keeps me safe

Briaunna: A place you can stay warm

Anhad:  My home is Fort McMurray and Calgary.

Kinsley:  CJP is my home

Can home be a house, a community, a school, a city, a country? 

Kids mentioned that their home made them feel:

SAFE    FAMILIAR    COMFORTABLE     SUPPORTED

We thought about when we are away, what do we miss.  What are we homesick for?

Mrs. Wacker has lived in over 15 houses, in 5 different provinces and a tent in the wilderness for many summers.  Where or what is my home? 

How is my culture, language and hobbies connected to my sense of home.

We looked at Mrs. Wacker’s nesting boxes.  They show that Canada a part of the world.  Within Canada, there are provinces like Alberta.  Within Alberta, there are cities, like Calgary.  Within Calgary, there are many communities like Brentwood and Ranchlands.  These communities are filled with homes and families. 

Story writing success criteria

We've been starting to create stories. Students are learning the components of stories - characters, setting, problem, solution. We started out by brainstorming possible characters and settings and then creating problems for these characters to solve. Today we looked at exemplars and created writing rubrics so everyone can understand the success criteria. Over the next week or so we will continue developing our stories.
Posted below are the rubrics for writing. Outlined is the success criteria (and an exemplar) to achieve each level.

 

Exploring magnets

   

As scientists, we're making predictions about what materials will be attracted to a magnet and which will not be attracted to a magnet. We're testing our predictions and recording our observations in our learning journals!

Monthly Math Game

This is a version of the Salute game we played today. All you need is a deck of cards. To make it easier, only use cards to 5. To make it more difficult assign the values of 11,12,13 to Jack, Queen, King.

100th Day of School!

    

We are 100 days smarter! We celebrated by doing activities with 100 materials - magnets, lego, paint, cups, shapes, numbers!

100th day of school tomorrow!!!!

Thursday is our 100th day of school! 

Today we celebrated the 99th day, by showing different ways to make 99. 

These were some of the student's ideas

100-1=99

90+9=99

10+10+10+10+10+10+10+10+10+9=99

50+50-1=99

59+50-11=99

Magnetic or Not?

 
Today we started exploring magnets. We recorded what we think we know and what we wonder. Students had the opportunity to explore the classroom and find out what is magnetic and not. They will now independently continue this exploration as a science choice during Montessori work period.

*Please note a science assessment came home today. Please review this with your child and then sign and return it.

Valentine's Day

The kids made cool patterns and designed on their bags.  They also practiced a paper folding technique to create symmetrical hearts (a symbol of caring and friendship). We put our bags in alphabetical order, and kids worked hard to read and match the names. 

Ask your child a way they showed kindness to others at school today. 

REMINDER:  NO SCHOOL Thursday, Friday or Monday

Comparing temperatures

   

Over the past couple weeks we have been monitoring the school temperature. We put thermometers around the school and students have been recording what they've read. Today we compared the graphs from each room and wrote our conclusions. We worked on creating neat titles and headings and writing informative statements about the differences in temperatures throughout the weeks.

CAFE menu

Today we added a new strategy under FLUENCY. 

We noticed that the author helps us know when to use expression by bolding words, making words bigger or by writing words in all capitals.

Ask your child which area of the CAFE they are working on:  Comprehension (I understand what I read), Accuracy (I can read the words), Fluency (I can read smoothly and with expression) or Expand Vocabulary (I can learn and understand new words).

CJP Talent Show!

CJP’s Got Talent!

CJP will be hosting a Talent Show in March. We are looking for a variety of acts, including: singing, dancing, playing an instrument, juggling, comedy, gymnastics, magicians, acting, etc.

When: 

Division 1 (Grades 1-3): Wednesday, March 18th 1:30-2:30pm

Division 2 (Grades 4-6): Thursday, March 19th 10:00-11:00am

(If your child is in a grade 3/4 class, we will let you know which talent show they are performing in after auditions take place) 

Auditions: All interested students must audition. Auditions will take place during the last week of February (24-27) at lunch recess (12:15-12:35pm) in front of a panel of teachers. Consideration will be given to those who are attending field trips during this week. 

Audition Requirements:

• Acts must be 2 minutes or less
• If you are singing a song or performing an act with music, the lyrics must be appropriate and have a positive message
• If you are singing, you must use a karaoke track (no one singing along with you)
• You must provide your own costumes, music and materials for both the audition and performance
• If you are performing in a group, each student must complete an audition form

If you are interested in performing, please fill out an audition form and return it to Ms. Nair by Tuesday, February 18th. If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Nair at canair@cbe.ab.ca.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

We watched some videos of the Chinese New Years festivities in Hong Kong, read a non-fiction book and made some dancing dragons today. 

Art Felt

   

Today we had our art felt residency. It was great! Projects will come home later this week when they are dry!

Thanks to our parent volunteers for your help!

Building an Insulator

  

Today we learned about insulation. Students explored various materials and created their own insulator. Tomorrow we will test to see which material is the most effective. I encouraged you to make your insulator at home and bring it to school to share with others!

Montessori work period

This is what it looks like when you present a new lesson to a group of grade 1 students who are ready and willing to learn. So many students in grade 1 are eager to practice their adding and subtracting lessons. They worked side-by-side completing their own addition/subtraction questions.