Learning updates

Hi Families,

Tomorrow you will be receiving an email from Mrs. Halsall or Mrs. Wacker about your child's learning progress at this point in the school year. If you do not receive an email by end of day tomorrow (Friday), please reach out to one of us.

Over the next week, it's important we take this time to rest and relax like we would have on a regular March break. At the end of the month we hope to have more direction and answers about all our futures. Right now, let's focus on what's important - staying healthy and enjoying our time with our family... and if you have some time, read with one another :)

We miss all of you already and hope you enjoy a well-deserved March break.

A message from Ms. Nair:

A message from Ms. Nair:

Hi Students! I miss you already! I’m glad you are all safe at home. I hope you take some time to play with your family, read lots of books and listen to your favourite music. Feel free to send me an email anytime telling me about what you’re doing and how you’re doing. I’d love to hear from you, and I’ll definitely respond. See you all soon!

Love,

Ms. Nair

canair@cbe.ab.ca

Student belongings can be picked up tomorrow

Hello CJP families, Please see in the schedule below the pick-up times for you to pick-up your child’s personal belongings and return library and home reading materials.  We have divided the pick-up times into several sessions to assist with social distancing. We respectfully request that only ONE parent enter the school to reduce the number of people visiting the building. We recommend that children stay home as this will likely be a difficult time for them to remain a safe distance away from peers and friends, however, this remains a parent decision as we are not allowed to restrict student access to the building for belonging pick-up.   Please bring a backpack or shopping bag as most children have many items that will need to be taken home.Please do NOT take the bin holding your child’s items.  All lost and found items will also be in the gym. If your child has medication stored at school, please check in with the teacher who will be at a table in the hall. They will be able to provide you with your child’s medications. If you are unable to pick-up at your scheduled time, please plan to pick-up in the additional times scheduled. If you are only dropping off library books and home reading materials, a bin will be located at the front entrance for these items. Personal items (Inside Shoes) not picked up will remain at the school for pick-up when school resumes. School work remaining will be recycled. Please plan to enter through the unlocked front doors and proceed directly to the gym where all belongings are located. We ask that you exit through the gym doors (south or east).  Thank you First Letter of Student’s LAST name Date and Time A, B Wednesday, March 18, 8:00 – 8:30 AM C, D, E Wednesday, March 18, 8:45 – 9:15 AM F, G, H Wednesday, March 18, 9:30 – 10:00 AM I, J, K Wednesday, March 18, 10:15 – 10:45 AM L, M, N Wednesday, March 18, 11:00 – 11:30 AM O, P, Q, R Wednesday, March 18, 11:45 – 12:15 PM S, T Wednesday, March 18, 12:30 –  1:00 PM U, V, W, X, Y, Z Wednesday, March 18, 1:15  – 1:45 PM Additional Time Wednesday, March 18, 2:30- 3:30 PM Additional Time Wednesday, March 18, 4:00 – 5:00 PM

Landmarks in Calgary

Today we talked about how our houses and communities are within the city of Calgary.  We discussed how a city was different from a neighbourhood.  Then we talked about some of the places that make Calgary unique.  Most cities have lots of big buildings, stores, universities, parks and stadiums.  We talked about what a landmark was.  A place that is easily recognizable and helps us know where we are.  We imagined Calgary and its landmarks, discussed them and looked at many pictures.  Talk about some Calgarian landmarks with your child. 

Since we are not having parents visit the school for interviews, here is the amazing art the children did for our Social Unit on Calgary's past.  

Read to Someone

  

Students in grade 1 and 2 are constantly developing their reading skills. Read to Someone is an activity that students take part in every day. This involves sitting with a partner and quietly reading aloud their books that are the just right level. This activity helps students develop their fluency skills and their comprehension skills. At home, you can help develop these skills by reading aloud to your child and having them read aloud to you. It's also important that you're talking about books: retell stories, make personal connections, talk about the characters, anything else you can think about to allow your child to develop a deeper understanding of the books you read together.

Basic Facts Assessment- FROM Last week!

Oops, this did not publish last Wednesday.  Better late than never.

The children brought home a basic facts assessment they did last week.

If it looks like a rainbow, the kids were testing out a strategy.  We don't use the same strategy for all facts.  If the child knows their facts well, they started at the top left corner and answered the questions down the row.  HOWEVER, we discussed that if we come across a fact we don't know....we did not want to get struck.   (note parents: we should not be giving kids questions to practice if they do not have a strategy to solve it.  Practice the facts they know a strategy for.  We do not want kids practicing adding on large numbers).

This is a common test taking skill.  When stuck, kids practiced looking for facts groups they KNOW and are confident with.  Most kids first looked for adding 0 facts.  ie.  0+4=, or 8+0=.  They identified (by colouring them a particular colour) and then solved all of these facts. Then they thought of another strategy family they knew well like: COUNTING ON strategy.  It is only efficient to count on 1 or 2, so kids coloured +1 and +2 facts a different colour. ie. 5+2=, 1+7=

Some kids just coloured everything pretty randomly, but they begun to think about looking for facts in fact strategy families.....
others include:
-doubles,
-doubles +1. (or neighbour numbers)
-make 10 facts (also known as friendly facts 3+7, or 8+2)
-add 9 facts

After doing the ones they knew well, kids could see which facts they didn't know.  Kids looked at their tests, and identified in small groups what strategies they need to work on next.

Many kids found adding 7 and 8 questions hard, so today we looked at how MAKE TEN facts can help.

If we know 7+3=10 ...then 7+4=11.   because the four can be decomposed to make 3 and 1     7+(3+1)

We also explored open ended math questions where we could apply our basic facts:

TODAY, we looked at strategies for subtraction word problems.  We looked for key phrases to help use decide if it was an addition or subtraction question.   Ie.  How many left?  

Parsa used "think addition to solve subtraction" as a strategy.

Anhad used a numberline strategy

Nowellia used a regrouping strategy

We had a great time doing our felt art with Leah.  Our school art is going to be beautiful. Ask your child what they worked on. 

Stories are coming home today

  


We have been working on story telling. This process is very guided by the teachers. We go through step by step, talking about characters, setting, problems that the characters have to solve, attempts to solve the problem and a solution. Students shared ideas with partners and teachers and then did the writing. This one story has taken us 2 weeks to write. We worked through the editing process last week and then finally shared our stories to our peers and buddies. The stories are now coming home. Please celebrate your child's success, we worked very hard on these.
We are now starting our second story, which should be ready to share next week at conferences.

Learning about WHERE?

We looked at maps today and talked about how a compass rose can help use with describing a

location or directions. 

We will be talking about our communities tomorrow.  Does your child know which community they live in?  Our school is located in Brentwood.  (Did you know most of the streets in Brentwood start with a "B"?  The streets in neighbouring Charleswood mostly start with "CH".  Does your street name and community match?

I can compare and measure the strength of magnets

 

Today we explored more about magnets. We talked about the strength of different types of magnets and how the size sometimes impacts the strength of the magnetic pull. Student were real scientists and made predictions, then tested their predictions as to which magnets would be the strongest. We did multiple trials to ensure accuracy of our results.
As part of work period this week, students will explore more magnets and see which are the strongest.