Friday, March 13, 2020

Friday March 13

Hello Parents/Guardians! 
Please make sure to read all of the information in the reminders section.

W.O.W (Words of the Week) Words: 
  1. take
  2. every
  3. old
  4. by
  5. after

Weekly Highlights:
  • This week in math we learned about skip counting and practiced skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s.  We practiced counting objects by organizing them into groups of 2s and 5s. We then compared whether it was faster to count the objects by 1s or by skip counting. After making our groups, if we had leftovers (eg. not enough to make another full group), we used the counting on strategy to figure out how many we had in all.  For example, 4 groups of 5 with 2 leftover- 5, 10, 15, 20, (counting on the two extra) 21, 22.  We also solved word problems related to skip counting. Such as, a class has 3 groups of 5 children working together and one more group of 4 children. How many children are in the class?  Here are some skip counting videos we used to practice this week:
  • Last week we read Snowmen at Night and this week we read Snowmen at work by Caralyn Buehner.  We brainstormed all the different things a snowman could do at night such as drinking hot chocolate, sledding, shoveling their neighbours walkway, and shopping at the grocery store.  We then wrote all about what we would do if we were a snowman at night.  When writing, the students were reminded to make sure that their sentences made sense, they started with an uppercase letter, and ended with a period.  Some of the ideas students came up with were:
    • “My snowman is scraping the crunchy snow.”
    • “My snowman will run a cafe.”
    • “My snowman would go next door and pull out her sparkly gold shovel and shovel the crunchy snow.”
  • We finished our read aloud called, Little House on the Prairie: School Days by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  We learned more about what life and school was like in the past. We then watched an episode from the TV series The Little House on the Prairies which was set in the past.  We saw many differences between our school environment and what it was like long ago.  Some of the things that we saw were: 
    • Blackboards
    • Lanterns
    • Wood burning stove in the classroom
    • One room for all the students in every grade (and one teacher)
    • No technology (E.g. School bell was an actual bell not an electronic chime) 
  • We looked at two more artifacts related to the past.  They were a washboard and a wooden ice cream maker.  We enjoyed learning about how these would have been used.  
  • The grade 4 students had their celebration of learning, hosting a Heritage Fair.  We enjoyed  looking at all the fabulous presentations and enjoyed learning all about their family histories! Great job!  

Reminders:
COVID -19
Schools have received information from Calgary Board of Education Communications in regards to gatherings from now until Spring Break.
Please note:
  • Events including the school and regular staff population of the school MAY continue. This includes events such as after school clubs, practices etc. Schools with scheduled field trips may still continue at this time.
  • Events that expand to include populations from other schools and/or parents or other community members should be postponed and further information will be provided after March break if they will be rescheduled or cancelled. This includes events such as Parent Teacher Interviews, school athletic competitions, drama/musical performances etc.
We have chosen to postpone the following:
  • March 19th and 20th - Parent Teacher Conferences

Thank you to all parents who have offered to volunteer for the book fair. We will create a new signup sheet when we reschedule Scholastic Book Fair.
We will reschedule our Parent Teacher Conferences at a later date.  Dismissal for Thursday March 19th will continue to be  EARLY DISMISSAL at 1:30pm for Grades 1-6 as well as SKILL. Kindergarten there will be NO SCHOOL.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your support as we all share in these unique times.

Please see the most recent update from the CBE. Keep an eye on the Simons Valley school website for the most up to date information.
http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/simonsvalley/_layouts/ci/post.aspx?oaid=b598c64d-cd5c-4437-b0bb-067b0ca76d07&oact=20003

Scholastic Book Fair:
The Scholastic Book Fair has unfortunately been cancelled at this time.

Winter Sports Day:
Due to the weather, Winter Sports Day was cancelled for Friday March 13th.  This event has been postponed until further notice.

Ask Me About:
o   Practice skip counting:
o   by 2s, 5s, and 10s. 
o   By 2s, 5s, and 10s with counting on by 1s.  E.g. Hold up 2 fingers for your child they count by 2s.  Then hold up 1 finger-they stop counting by 2s and count on by 1s. Hold up 2 fingers again and then stop counting and start over at 0 counting by 2s.  You can do this for 2s, 5s, and 10s.  
o   Gather large groups of objects:
o   Count them by 2s
o   Count them by 5s
o   Count them by 10s
o   READ, READ, READ
o   When completing your home reading try using at least one adjective (juicy word). 
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