Happy Spring Break!

It was very nice to meet with everyone and have the students share their learning with you!  I hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing spring break and I look forward to seeing everyone back in April.

A reminder for when we return:

Teacher’s Pet is an in-class field trip coming to our class Tuesday, April 4^th. We’re flying off to explore the world with scheduled stops in India, Ukraine, Peru and Tunisia. We will learn about celebrations, discuss exports, map exploration, and much more!

A big thank you to the Parent Council for providing this experience. J

E-Recycling!

Our Electronic Recycling drop-off will be tomorrow from 9am-3pm! Our bins have been delivered and if you do have any thing you would like to drop off today you are welcome to put them in the metal bins provided (next to the parking lot, on the west side of the school ). Bring your old TV's, VCRs, DVD's, printers, CD players, fax machines, etc. Let's keep these old electronics out of the landfill!

Wednesday March 15

Students worked on their UNESCO writing this morning on Google Docs - we are focusing on organizing our ideas and writing complete sentences from our research jot notes.  These will take us a few more days to complete!

Students worked this afternoon on planning out their Pourquoi story.  We used the following template to have them work through the format for these stories.  Once completed, the next step will be for students to create a digital story on the App "Toontastic."

We tried a to post a math question with the Explain Everything App today - but many students had technical difficulties.  We will try again soon!

Reid shared his rainstick that he made at home.  Students had lots of good questions for him!

Everyone posted a picture to Iris of one of the hearing and sound experiments that they completed and how it worked.

Environmental Activities Part 2

Do you have any old TVs, VCRs, or computers that you have wanted to get rid of?? On Saturday, March 18^thEcycle Solutions will be setting up a drop-off spot here at ROS. You can come and drop off any of your old electronics at the school to be recycled! It is good for the environment as it keeps these items out of the landfill and will also help us raise money for the school. Items can be dropped off between 9am-3pm on March 18th.

Environmental Actions at ROS

"Inspired by the City of Calgary’s new Commercial Recycling Bylaw the Grade 1 students would like to invite the whole school to participate in “Litter-less Lunch Days” at Royal Oak! Every Wednesday, we would like to ask that the students’ lunch come only in reusable containers and/or bags. Our Litter-less Lunch Days will begin this Wednesday, March 8^th. Thank you for supporting our initiative!"

How can we reduce our litter in our lunches:

Peter - put our garbage back in our lunch kits

Sophia M - reuse plastic bags

Maycie - try not to use plastic bags - put things in a container 

Charlotte - try not bring garbage (put chips/crackers into a plastic container)

Sophia G. - ask mom not to pack so many bags (or dad, or grandma, or whoever packs your lunch)

Alana - put yogurt into a container

Jackson - rinse out plastic cups and reuse them

Sean - put drinks in a water bottle (or reuse plastic bottles like Sophie did)

Dimitri - use a thermos or big container

Monday, March 13

Peter demonstrated the instrument he made at home today.  It is called a "Thumb Piano" and it is an African instrument.  You can change the pitch by sliding the popsicle sticks into different spots.

Story Groups
Check Iris for your child's video on their Pourquoi story.  We think we've got them all uploaded!  Please note that if your child was absent on the day their group had this station then there won't be a video for them.

Inquiry
Students are continuing to gather research about their World Heritage Site.  They can access a video from the links on the previous blog post, as well as LearnAlberta (sign in: LA06, password: 4105), or from a google search for information (under your supervision of course).  We will begin writing our information paragraphs this week in Google Docs.

Math
We looked at some division strategies this afternoon.  We saw how the same strategies we used for multiplication can be used for division.  Students are also exploring how to break numbers apart by place value in order to divide.  Ask your child how they solved the division questions!

UNESCO Research

Students are currently working on researching a UNESCO site that they are interested in.  Ms. Asis found the following videos to assist students with their research.

Taj Mahal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6i8cLXPGQE

Great Wall of China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dIyk65vR-g

Machu Picchu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cVSWA37xiI

Stonehenge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf7xwHFuH2o

Great Barrier Reef: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w7qflkeKdE

Venice and its Lagoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEUQTczycIw

Archeological Site of Carthage 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa_l-d3YoPc

Archeological Site of Carthage 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OABGDengovU

St. Sophia Cathedral (watch 3:35 to 5:10): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4P8EnrzHOE

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh2Z6s68R0s

Maya City of Calakmul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQbMlnngrOA

Waterton Glacier National Peace Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS7ev_e7xZw

Wednesday, March 8

Science

Students were sent home today with an OPTIONAL instrument making assignment, however, if your child is absent from school for a period of time, this would be a nice way for them to review the hearing and sound concepts.  Please disregard the "marking" page on the back - but students are welcome to bring in their instrument whenever they complete it and share it with the class.  Students are working through learning centres and are discovering lots of information about sound and how it travels.

Physical Education Update

Dear Parents

We have started our gymnastics unit in our regularly scheduled gym classes. This unit will run until the end of March. Safety procedures are being carefully covered with each class. While students in elementary school are not expected to change their clothing for gym, I do talk to them about being dressed in preparation to participate. Please consider the following when sending your child to school:

• Clothing that allows freedom of movement (no special uniforms or outfits are required – sweats and a t-shirt work best).

• Loose fitting/baggy clothing may get caught on equipment when climbing.

• Tucking shirts in may help to prevent an accident.

• All jewelry that could get caught on equipment should be removed (left in classrooms or left at home). e.g. watches, rings, necklaces, etc...

• Students with long hair should have their hair tied back. Tying hair back with elastics is recommended.

• Students may wear shorts under clothing if they wish.

• Students will participate in bare feet unless there is a medical reason (warts).

Please be aware that students have gym class each day. Students will be reminded that they must remain very quiet while participating on the climbing equipment. Sudden noises could startle a student using the equipment and result in a fall.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to email me. Thank you in advance for your understanding in helping to ensure the safety of our students.

Sincerely,

Helen Hennick

Math Game

Equipment: 2 dice and either markers or bingo chips

Here is a math game you can play at home to practice multiplication facts.  Each player takes turns rolling 2 dice and multiplying those together to find the product. (Factor x Factor = product)
There are 2 versions to the game:
1) Players can play a "Connect 4" version where you are trying to capture 4 numbers in a row
2) The "Lines" version whereby each person rolls 2 dice to find a product.  Player A would draw one  line around that number.  Player B now rolls and draws one line around their answer.  Play continues and each time a player can "close" a box (they draw the 4th line around a number) they score a point.
If you are unable to print the game board and would like one sent home with your child, please let me know and I can send one home.
Happy Multiplying!

Monday, March 6

I realize that many students are away right now on holidays or due to illness so please review the blog information with your child so that they can stay up to date with what's happening in class while absent.

Math
If students are away, they could practice multiplication and division facts and word problems.  In class, students are working through a math problem called Muffles Truffles.  In this story, Mr. Muffles is a baker who makes many different kinds of truffles.  His assistant puts them in boxes of 10.  Students need to discover how many boxes he will need in total, including the assorted boxes.  With a math partner, students created a poster to show how they would solve this problem.  Today, they had an opportunity to see each others work and some are now revising their posters, or in some cases, starting over.  Because we had so many students away last week, some of our math partners are switching also.  Here are the first drafts of the posters:

  

Science

Students started working today with hearing and sound centres.  We will be working on this over the next week.  If students are away, I will be sending home an extension project on making an instrument that they can complete at home and share with the class when they return.  (Anyone whoe is interested is invited to create an instrument!)  We will also post some hearing and sound website links for students to explore at home.

Writing

We are continuing with our "Pourquoi Story" centres for a couple more days - then students will begin to write their own "how and why" legends later in the week.

Inquiry

We are continuing with our UNESCO World Heritage Site research and art this week.  

The Week That T'was

Math
In Math, we are continuing to work with multiplication and division problems.  Students were creating their own equations and word problems from the following prompts:

Of course, as a teacher, you always get something that surprises you.  But Noah walked us through his thinking for how he solved 30x24:

Inquiry:

We are continuing with our exploration of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  Students are going to be researching a site and working on a piece of art to go with it this week.

Language Arts:

Students are working through "how and why" stories to explore the typical structure and content of these stories.  One of the stations has the students act out a legend with their group.  These will be posted to Iris over the next few days!

Science

Students viewed a short video and labeled the parts of the ear.