Last Day of September!!

Hello families.
Tomorrow students will be handing in their home reading logs for the month of September so we can see how many books they have read as well as how much time they spent reading during the month of September.  There will be a new reading log coming home tomorrow.  Some students are participating in the home reading program by changing their books daily at the school, while others are participating by reading from a particular chapter book, as well as from the various online options.  Keep up the great work.  Remember we become better readers by READING!! Please make sure that your child is reading each night and that they are recording what they have read and for how long.  Their Raz-Kids accounts should all be working now, and this is a great option for reading.

In math, the students played "Four Strikes and You're Out!" On the board was a blank math sentence, students were then asked to guess a number and if it was in the equation, it was recorded, otherwise they got a strike through that number.  Their goal is to figure out the math sentence before receiving their fourth strike.

EG:
__ __ + __ __ =__ __

A student guesses 5,

__ 5 +__ __= __ 5

then another student guesses, 4, which isn't in the equation.  So they get an X.  Another student guesses, 0 and explains that they are guessing this because they know that they have to add 0 to the 5 in order to get 5.

__5 + __ 0= __ 5.

And so on, until we get to the solution.  Ask your child to play this game with you and see if they can solve your math sentence.

We read another chapter in Goonie Bird Greene today and got to hear her tell her first story.  It was about how she got her name.  Ask your child to share with you how her parents chose her name.

This afternoon was busy as we were able to work again with Mrs. Gail Bartel and learn how to use water colours to create a landscape.  We will continue to work with her on Friday morning.

Tomorrow students will have the opportunity to go to the library to exchange their books.

I just received our Aussie- X schedule for next week.  The students will be working with Aussie X twice during the week, each session will be an hour.  This will replace our normally schedule PE.  If you have not turned in the consent forms please do so ASAP.  We will be participating in Aussie X on Monday and Wednesday next week from 1-2.  If you are curious as to what Aussie-X is, please check out their website! AUSSIE X!!

Homework:
Parents: Check out the class website for October's Calendar.  Hand in Aussie X forms and Picture Day forms ASAP.  
If you would like to volunteer and help out with the home reading program, please send me an email and we can schedule it at a time that is convenient for you!

Students:  Read 15-30 minutes and record on the reading log (the last time for September!)
Play "Four Strikes and You're Out!" with someone in your family.

Question for the Blog:

What book are you reading at home? 


See you tomorrow,
Ms. Handelsman

Last week in September!

Where has the time gone!
I cannot believe that October is next week, though you can definitely feel it in the air!
We ended our week with dance on Friday!  The students worked hard to learn the beginning steps to a new dance! The class website is live and on it is the calendar for the month of October.  Please check it to see what is coming up in October, including the days the students have dance!

The students enjoyed writing about who their hero is.  Ask them to share who they began to write about!  We also started reading a new book. It is about a girl who is just started a new school.  She asks to have her desk in middle of the class as she LOVES to be in the middle of everything.  She is also a wonderful story teller and every story she tells is absolutely true!  The description of how Goony Bird Greene likes to dress up reminds me of how I used to like to dress up when I was a little girl.

Next week is going to be a busy one as we continue to work with our artist in residence, Gail Bartel. We will be working with her on Monday and then again on Friday.  We will also be finishing up writing about who our super hero is, and our art and poetry project we began earlier this week. 

As the weather is beginning to get chillier, please make sure that you send your child to school dressed appropriately for the weather so that they are comfortable playing outside everyday for at least 30 minutes (during lunch), as well as before and after school.

Important reminders:

Homework-

Parents: Terry Fox pledge forms and picture day forms.

Students: read 15-30 minutes and record on their home reading forms.  Hand in these forms on Monday so that we can see how many books and how many minutes each child has read.

Question for the blog:

What was something you learned in school during the week that you would like to share with the class?

Terry Fox Run!!!

It was wonderful to see so many heroes running for Terry Fox today!!

Today just flew by! Students were so excited to get out and run to the windmill and back.  Ask them to share who they ran with, and who they chose to run for!!
To celebrate being heroes, we had our hero sandwiches in the afternoon! Thank you so much to all the families who donated the ingredients! They were very YUMMY!

Tomorrow's community walk is CANCELLED! Our dance time has changed to later in the day, so we will re-schedule our walk to NEXT Friday!  

Homework:
Parents: photo day forms
             terry fox donations and pledge forms
Students:
read 15-30 minutes and record on home reading sheet.  Check the class website and use the links to Raz-kids and Tumblebooks as an option for home reading.

Question for the blog:
What is an important fact that you learned about Terry Fox and his Marathon of Hope?
See you tomorrow,
Ms. Handelsman

First time using technology to enrich our learning!

Hello room 75 families!

Students were very excited to be using IPADS and Macbooks to enrich their learning.  We used IPADS to record the different patterns we found throughout the school, (and in some cases on each other).  We also used IPADS to record the different patterns that students created using a variety of different manipulatives, while working with a partner.  Ask your child to share with you what patterns they found and what patterns they created.  Tomorrow we are going to take what we did and try to identify the different types of patterns found and created and see if we can apply it to create new and different patterns.

Students were busy typing this afternoon! Working with a partner they were typing up a variety of words that describe their character.  After writing their words they get to decide what it will look like.  These words will become a part of an art and poetry project.  Tomorrow the students will finish typing up their words.

Tomorrow is going to be a BUSY day!
We have TERRY FOX run in the morning! 10am! The students are encouraged to dress up as a favorite super hero either fictional or non-fictional.  If they don't want to dress up that is OK as well.
Then in the afternoon we will be having our HERO sandwiches! YUM!! After finishing those and with full bellies the students will finish up their typing project!! (hopefully:)  Volunteers are welcome for the run as well as in the afternoon!

Homework:
For parents:
-If you cannot print the consent form for AUSSIE X, (a copy should have been emailed to everyone from Angele with the Monday Message)  please email me and I can send home a hard copy for you. Please print, read, sign and return ASAP!
-Picture day forms are due back.
-Terry Fox donations and pledge forms due by next week.

For students:
-Read 15-30 mins and record on the home reading sheet. Remember to go to the class website and use the links to either RAZ-KIDS, Tumblebooks, or Mathletics.
-take a picture of a pattern you find in or around your home and email it to me (if you can) achandelsman@cbe.ab.ca

question for the blog:
-Will you be dressing up tomorrow? IF you are, what super hero will you be dressing up as?

Room 75 Welcomed a New Student Today!

Hello room 75 families.

We were very excited to welcome a new student into room 75.  He is joining us in grade 3.  Ask your child to share with you his name and something they learned about him today.

In math, students spent time thinking and talking about what they know about patterns, where there are patterns in our world, and why we create patterns.   They were encouraged to go home and discover patterns in and around their house.  Some vocabulary that the students introduced today in regards to patterns are increasing and decreasing patterns; repeating; shapes; numbers; season; time of day; calendar.

This afternoon was busy with our first Fire Drill.  The students in room 75 did a pretty good job demonstrating what they should be doing once they hear the fire alarm.  (As a school we were able to evacuate the building in less than a minute!) A goal for our next practice, is to WALK once we are outside and to remain SILENT.  Upon our return we discussed how a fire drill helps us to prepare in case we do need to leave the building quickly.  Many students shared what their plans are in case they have to leave their homes in a hurry if there were to be a fire.  This would be a good dinner conversation with your family this evening.  What is your plan?

We also began an art and writing project this afternoon, where students came up with many words that describe their character, "who they are", what they are good at; and who in their lives, both fiction and non-fiction, who are their heroes.

This Thursday is our Terry Fox run!  Students are encouraged to create their own costumes and come as their favorite hero as they participate in the run!
Thank you families for such a quick response in regards to bringing in the ingredients for our Hero sandwich snacks for that afternoon!

Today the pledge forms for Terry Fox Run came home as well as the forms for the upcoming Picture day.  Please read, fill in and return these forms as soon as possible.

Homework:
Parents: read the forms that went home today and fill in and return as soon as possible.
             check out the class website!

students: read 15-30 minutes
              check out the class website and use one of the links, perhaps Raz-Kids, Tumblebooks or Mathletics.
               Look around your house, inside and outside and see what patterns you can find.

Question for the blog:
        What is something new that we did or learned today that you would like to share with the class?What patterns did you find in and around your house? (PS thank you Ansharah and Bailey for reminding me that this was going to be the question.)

First school day in Autumn!!

Hello!
I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend and that you were able to get outside to celebrate the first day of Autumn!

It was great to get to meet so many of you at Meet the Teacher Night this past Thursday!! The teachers were busy on Friday at the Leighton Art Centre working and learning on the professional day!!

Today we started our first day working with Gaily Bartel. Gail Bartel has an amazing blog. (Click on her name to go and check it out).  We started to learn how to draw and paint a landscape. This is something we will be working on all year as we prepare for our field trip to Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation.  This Friday we will be exploring what the landscape looks like from the ridge when we go on our community walk.  We will be working with her again next Monday, September 30th (12:40-1:40),  and Friday, October 4th from 1015-1115 and Monday, October 7th from 1240-140, please let me know if you would like to volunteer at either of these times.

This morning we had our Terry Fox Kick off assembly! Ask your child to share with you what super hero they would like to dress up as. They can dress up as a fictional or non-fictional super hero!  I sent out a group email that included a more detailed letter about the run.  Please let me know if you did not get the email.

I had quite a few students go home early today as they were not feeling well.  Please make sure to take care of yourselves and rest up if you are not well.

Homework:
Parents: please make sure you have returned your Entertainment books if you are not going to buy them.
            Please read email about Terry Fox week and the many volunteering opportunities that are coming up.
Students: read the blog and read 15-30 minutes and record in your home reading sheet.
                share with your families what you did with Gail Bartel today.

question for the blog:
What is our fundraising goal for Terry Fox? and What did you do on the weekend that was outside?

             

Our First Raining Day of School!

What a wet Wednesday!
Thanks to the students who remembered to dress appropriately for the weather! Wearing a rain coat and boots and even carrying an umbrella are a good idea to help you stay warm and dry on wet days like this.  There were a few students who came to school just in hoodies.  Please remember that it is important that your child dresses appropriately so that they don't spend the day cold and wet.  This is good advice especially as we will be going on our FIRST FIELD TRIP tomorrow.  A large portion of the day will be spent outside, rain or shine.  Please make sure your child has appropriate clothing so that they are comfortable for the entire day!  Also please make sure they pack a large and HEALTHY lunch for tomorrow as they will be burning a great deal of energy and will need to have plenty of food to replenish themselves.  Please remember to pack a water bottle as well.  Juice should be left at home as we don't want to risk any spills while on our field trip!!

What a busy day! We started off the morning by sharing our comments from the blog! I enjoyed reading about what the students did while I was an my conference.  I shared with them a few picture books that I purchased for the school and the students were eager to listen to one of the stories.  The chose to listen to "SPOON" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

This story was all about a spoon who was jealous of all the things that the forks, spoons and chopsticks got to do that he couldn't.  The students listened to the story and were asked to think about what they thought the message was.  Some of the messages they heard were:

-Be happy with what you have as others may have less than you.

-Love yourself for who you are.

-Be happy with who you are and what you can do.

Ask your child what they thought the message was that they heard.

The afternoon was quite busy with our first PEACE ASSEMBLY lead by our Peace Ambassadors!  We discussed Pinwheels for Peace and the school, while we are on our field trip tomorrow will be gathering on the field to take a large school shot with their made pinwheels. After the assembly we worked very hard on our messages of peace that we put onto our pinwheels and then room 51 joined us and we listened to Mr. Southworth read one of his 100 favorite picture books! Then we took our picture of all of us with our pinwheels! After the field trip we will be putting our pinwheels outside along a tree. When you come for the Meet The Teacher Night tomorrow, please ask your child to show you their pinwheel and ask them what their messages of peace were.

reminders:

Tomorrow is our field trip.

Tomorrow night is Meet the Teacher Night

Friday is NO SCHOOL.

 Homework: forms if they have not been handed in.

Students: read the blog and read for 15-30 minutes and record on your home reading shirt.

               help your parents to pack you a healthy lunch and snack for tomorrow's field trip.

Question for the blog: What do you like to do on rainy days?

See you tomorrow, I am vey excited for our field trip!!

Ms. Handelsman

Ms. Handelsman was at a conference all day!

Hello room 75!
This will be a quick post as I was at a conference all day! If you are curious about the conference, the link is on yesterday's post!
I hope that students in room 75 were respectful and responsible citizens for their guest teacher and I am looking forward to hearing about what they did while I was away.

Homework:
Parents: Field trip forms are due in ASAP, if you have not already done so.
             Mrs. McBride wanted me to remind you that any pre-corder order forms that haven't been handed in yet, are due TOMORROW.
Students: Play outside.
               Read the blog and read for 15-30 minutes and record on your home reading sheets.

Question for the blog:
 What did you do/learn at school that you would like to share with me? Please read the different posts and try to come up with something different from your friends. I look forward to reading what each of you learned in our class meeting tomorrow.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS!!!

-NO SCHOOL Friday, September 20th- PD day.

-Meet the teacher open house! Please book your appointment times if you have not already done so.  The link to do this is on the school website at Cranston School Website.  Remember you are booking one time slot for your entire family.  The first fifteen minutes begins in the gym, then there is time to visit each of your childs' classrooms and meet their teachers.

This school year, there are some significant changes to student assessment and reporting taking place at Cranston School, reflecting the beginning of new assessment directions being set by Alberta Education.  The school has also introduced new organizational structures to accommodate significant student growth and to reflect the continually changing nature of education, teaching and learning in the 21^st century.  Your children are experiencing thinking and learning in ways that were unheard of as little as 10 or 15 years ago!

The very first change to student reporting begins with our “Meet the Teacher’ Night, September 19, 2013.  Instead of the traditional ‘sign up for individual sessions with teachers to begin conversations about each child’, we will be hosting brief information sessions in the gym at 3 different times (more for Kindergarten) to help parents and students better understand and appreciate the upcoming changes.  Each session in the gym will be approximately 15 minutes in duration, followed by a 45–minute time for families to go to children’s classrooms, meet the teacher and share with students their new learning environment.  The whole school will be open for parents to tour during their designated information session/open house time.

PARENTS WILL USE THE CONFERENCE MANAGER TO SIGN UP FOR EACH DESIGNATED SESSION AND CAN EXPECT TO BE IN THE SCHOOL FOR APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR WITH THEIR CHILDREN.

The 3 sessions will take place at:

4:15 – 5:15 pm

5:15 – 6:15 pm

6:15 – 7:15 pm

Kindergarten parents may sign up for any of these 3 sessions. However, Kindergarten teachers have two classes of students each, so to accommodate these larger responsibility groups, Additional Kindergarten-only sessions will also be available on the Conference Manager at:

9:00 – 10:00 am

10:00 – 11:00 am

1:00 – 2:00 pm

2:00 – 3:00 pm

Using the Conference Manager link provided in the e-mail message, or the button on the school webpage at www.cbe.ab.ca/b408, parents will sign into one of these sessions. Please sign up for one child only – you can visit all your children’s classrooms briefly during the 45 minute Open House, and touch base with their teachers. There is room for 150 families to register for each evening session, and for 20 families to register for each Kindergarten-only session.  Please be on time for your session when it starts in the gym - following the completion of the 15 minute information portion, families are welcome to tour the school and speak with teachers.  Just before the next session is scheduled to begin, there will be an announcement asking families from the previous session to please leave the school and make way for the next group of families to arrive for their designated session/open house. 

In the information session, parents will learn about reporting changes, the software tool ‘IRIS’ their children will continue to use to showcase their school work all year, the online tools we recommend students and families use frequently to enhance learning, school communication using blogs/email/web pages, learning celebrations, school organization – including the new triad structures, and some general information about changing assessment strategies that better reflect actual student performance and achievement of specific outcomes.

During the Open House, families will get to speak briefly to teachers about classroom routines and expectations, class/teacher/parent communication, homework expectations, volunteer opportunities in classrooms, the new school inquiry project and general school policies and procedures.  This is not a time to address specific learning concerns since teachers are still getting to know children, but rather a time to celebrate the beginning of a new school year. 

We look forward to welcoming all families to our September 19/13 ‘MEET THE TEACHER’ Information Evening JJ

Beautiful Monday!!

Hello families of room 75!
What a great start to the week.  Though it got quite windy when we went outside to do some observations, overall the day was quite nice out!

A quick reminder that our field trip is THIS Thursday, September 19th. Check the communication folders and make sure that you have filled in and your child has returned their permission slip before Thursday. Without a filled in form, your child won't be able to go on the field trip and will spend the day in another grade 3/4 class.

Tomorrow, I will not be at school. I will be going with Mr. McDougall to a workshop on Start Smart Stay Safe (press link to find out more!) as this will be a large part of our school this year. We did talk a little about each of the four squares as a group today. Ask your child to share with you something they remember from our conversation.

In math, we started off the week with a word problem.

School Supplies

Sharpies come in packages of 3, 5, and 8.

I bought 26 sharpies for the class. 

How many packages of each type could I have bought?

From the working in small groups on a word problem and exploring with different strategies we discover as a class what we need to work on to strengthen our understandings and make sense of what we are learning in math.

Students in room 75 had fun visiting the library and exchanging their books.  Next Monday we will be going to the library as a class for book exchange but after that students will be assigned a day that they can go and exchange or renew their library books. They will be able to do this during their Daily Five time on their assigned library day!  For now, book exchange will be next Monday!

Homework:

Parents: FORMS FORMS FORMS:)

Students: Play outside

               Read the blog

               Read for 15-30 minutes and record your book on your reading log

               PS Mrs. Morris the guest teacher will be reading the blog and sharing the comments with the class. So please make sure she has yours to read!

Question for the blog:  What did you do after school on Monday?

Our First Community Walk!!

Hello Room 75.

First I would like to give a big THANK YOU to the four volunteers we had join us on our community walk!  Students had a wonderful time on their first walk through the community to the pond.  Before leaving we looked at the image that I took when I was at my workshop at Cross Conservation.  We talked about what we saw in the landscape of Cross Conservation and what might be similar or different to the landscape of the walk we were going on today.  We also opened the website and looked at some of the images that were captured by other people who were there and noticed a variety of animals that we may get to see in March at Cross Conservation, but perhaps not here in Cranston.  

Once we got to the pond, students found their "special spot", where they were to observe using as many senses as possible and record in their journals in their own style.  Some students drew and some students wrote, and some students did both.  They were asked to notice things that they feel may or may not be there the next time we go on our community walk.  They noticed leaves are already changing colours, ducks swimming the pond, and some berries on a variety of bushes.  They were also asked to notice what colours they observed.  Ask them to share with you something they noticed and something they think may not be around the next time we go on our walk.

After journalling, the students walked around the pond silently.  We talked about what we can notice when we are quiet and are looking around instead of just talking to our friends.  Our class did a wonderful job of making observations and participating on the walk.

Once we returned to school we had a yummy birthday celebration as our friend Wilson had his 9th birthday today! And ended our day with Daily Five!

Homework:

Parents: Fill in the field trip forms. 

Entertainment Book sale still on. Final date for orders and returns is MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16th.

Students: Play outside.

                Read the blog

                Read for 15-30 minutes.

Question for the blog: What are you doing or what have you done this weekend that you would like to share with the class?

Have a great weekend! Enjoy this beautiful weather while we still have it!

Ms. Handelsman

Hot and Sunny Thursday!

Hello,
Sorry for the late post, we just got out of our staff meeting!
Students brought home NEW field trip forms as our field trip has been rescheduled to Thursday, September, 19th.  Please make sure when you are filling them out that you are filling out the correct one! Please read, fill in and sign and return ASAP!! Also, please email me, achandelsman@cbe.ab.ca if you are able to volunteer.

Room 75 did a wonderful job of working together as a group and demonstrated a great understanding of what it should look like and sound like when working on reading with a buddy, reading to themselves, and when they were working on writing! Ask them to share about one of their great successes of their day!

In math, students worked to strengthen their understanding of how using columns to organize their thinking when solving certain math problems is a good strategy.  After working in a small group and listening and participating in class discussions, students were able to take what they learned and apply it to their own set of numbers!  Ask them if they chose to use 3, 4 or 5 digits to put in an order and see how many ways they could do so without repeating any numbers.

Reminder! Tomorrow we will be going on our first community walk to the pond where we will be able to observe and then sketch or write about what we notice around us. Thanks again to the parents who have said they would volunteer! We will be leaving at 930am.

TOMORROW IS OUR FIRST DANCE CLASS! IT STARTS RIGHT AT 830, SO I WILL BE LETTING THE KIDS IN THE DOORS FIRST. PLEASE BE SURE TO BE ON TIME, OR EVEN A FEW MINUTES EARLY SO WE CAN GET AS MUCH DANCE TIME AS POSSIBLE!!

Homework:
Parents: return signed field trip forms asap
             Entertainment books are still being sold. If you do not want to buy yours please return them with you child asap.

Students: play outside
                read the blog
                read for 15-30 minutes and record on the sheet
Questions for the blog: Where are we going tomorrow? Where are we going on the 19th? Whose birthday is tomorrow?

Field Trip Date Has Changed!!!

Hello!

We have had to re-schedule our field trip to the Bow Habitat Fish Hatchery.  We WILL be going on THURSDAY, September 19th.

I apologize for the inconvenience that this may cause.  We will be sending home the NEW field trip forms tomorrow with the correct date.  If you have NOT sent in the forms yet for next week, you do not have to as we will be sending you new ones tomorrow.  If you have sent them in, they will be shredded.

In class, we started our first read aloud.  We started to read "Clementine" by Sara Pennypacker.

Ask your child to share with you what they remember from the first chapter we read.  Who are the main characters we have met so far? Where did Clementine end up at the end of the chapter?

In math, Ms. Goldberg worked with us on another word problem.  After reading the problem together as a class and discussing it as a large group, we each visualized what we were going to do to get started on our work.  In groups of three, we worked together on solving the problem.  Working in a small group is different than working independently, and the students are learning how to collaborate (share their ideas), and problem solve! After working in groups of 3 we came back as a large group and shared what we did to solve the problem and then worked together on recording the solution.  Ask your child to share with you what strategy did we find worked best to help keep the information organized.  What did Ms. Goldberg write on the board as we shared the answers?

Here is the math problem if you wanted to discuss it further at home.

Playing Cards

There are 4 numbered cards, 3, 4, 5, 6.

How many ways can you order the cards  without repeating any numbers?

Tomorrow will be HOT! Please make sure to send your child to school with a hat and water bottle!

Homework:

Parents: Hand in school forms if you have not already. 

Students: Read the blog.

                  Read for 15-30 minutes and record on your home reading sheets! 

                  Play outside.

                  If you have to finish your writing about the classroom ambassador it is due TOMORROW.
                  If your math journal is still at home you need to bring it to school on THURSDAY.

Question for the blog: What strategy did you learn to use when solving a problem that will help you to keep the numbers organized? 

See you tomorrow,
PS if you cannot post a comment to the blog, you can send an email to me.  achandelsman@cbe.ab.ca

Ms. Handelsman

Home Reading Begins!!

Hello!

Thank you so much for the quick response from volunteers for our community walk for Friday.  I will email those who have spoken with me or emailed me to confirm the time on Friday. (930) Thank you so much for supporting the classroom!!

We continue to be busy learning new routines and expectations.  Today room 75 went to music and gym.  The grade 3 students are coming home today with forms to order a pre-corder.  Some of the grade 4 students may be bringing the form home as well as they are not sure where their pre-corder is.  If they have a pre-corder at home, students are being asked to bring it to school as they will be using it in Music. (Their music days are Tuesdays and Thursdays).  They are encouraged to practice with their pre-corders at home, or can leave it at the school to be stored when it is not being used.  Mrs. McBride does have extra ones in the classroom that she lends out as needed and then cleans after each use.  She does not have many extra ones though.

In Math, students worked on writing a reflection about what they have done so far in Math and how they feel about the Math they have done, or Math in general.  This was tricky for some students to try and put into words their thoughts and feelings about Math, but it is important for them to think about their thinking, and what works as strategies for them and what perhaps doesn't.  One student wrote that he liked working with a partner in Math because they help him to come up with the answer.  As this was their first time journalling about Math, some students were not able to finish in the allotted time.

All kids brought their math journals home to share with you what they have done so far, some of the kids may have to finish their reflection writing as they didn't get it done in class.  Here are some examples of sentence starters the kids came up with.

Yesterday when I was doing math, I ….felt…..

The strategy I used to solve the problem was…..

I got started on the problem by…..

I like math because…. 

I don’t like it in math when…

It was hard/it was easy because… 

I did math at home and it felt…

Many forms and bits of information came home today.  Please make sure to go through the communication folders with your child tonight.  There are the field trip forms which are due FRIDAY, for our field trip next week. (Volunteers needed).

We also officially started the home reading program.  Some students will be bringing books home each night for home reading, and some will be participating in home reading by reading a chapter book that they are keeping at home, or reading on Raz-Kids or Tumblebooks etc.

I have included a purple tracking sheet so that the kids can record how much time they spend reading and how many books, or pages they read each month.  The students are to write the date, title of the book, (pages read if it is a chapter book, they can record the home reading book pages if they want as well), and the amount of time they spend reading.  (If they are reading on Raz-kids and they are reading more than one book, they can just write Raz-kids and the number of books they listened to.)

The Final column is to check off if the book is completed or NY for Not Yet.

(Please email me if you have any questions or concerns, and we can go through this more at meet the teacher night next Thursday:)

Homework:

Parents: hand in school forms if you have not already; read, fill in, sign and return field trip forms (DUE FRIDAY,SEPTEMBER 13th)

Students: -share your math journals with your family

               -IF you have NOT finished your math reflections, please finish- Due Wednesday.

               -IF you have not finished your writing about the Class Ambassadors, please finish, DUE Thursday.

               -Read for 15-30 and record on the purple home reading sheet.

Blog question: How much is the name of someone in your family worth? 

Sunny start to the week!

After a weekend of rain and hail it was a great to have such a sunny and warm day to start our week.  

Mr. McDougal would like to remind you that as the weather is nice we will be having outside physical education.  That being said, we are asking that students wear outdoor shoes that are appropriate for playing outdoor activities such as soccer in the field, various field games and playing on the playground structure.  Flip flops make it difficult to participate safely during outdoor Phys. Ed and play at lunch.  

OUR CLASS WEBSITE IS LIVE!! CHECK IT OUT BY CLICKING ON THE WEBSITE LINK...

Ms. Goldberg joined us for math this morning and worked with us on our "Pancake Math" word problem.  We got to work with a partner and discuss the problem and discover what we needed to do in  order to work towards figuring out the solution.  Ask your child to explain what they did to start the problem. Here is the problem we worked on this morning.

Pancake Breakfast 

Each box of pancake mix makes 90 pancakes. There are 400 people to feed at the pancake breakfast.  How many boxes of pancake mix are needed? 

Try this!

Each package of sausage has 48 inside. If each person gets one sausage how many boxes do we need?

Actually,

Parent council said they made 1000 pancakes. How many boxes of pancake mix did they actually go through?

GRADE FOUR PEACE AMBASSADORS

REMINDER THAT THE FIRST MEETING IS AT LUNCH ON TUESDAY (TOMORROW) AT 11:23AM. PLEASE BE SURE TO BRING A NONE MESSY LUNCH AS WE WILL BE MEETING IN THE LEARNING COMMONS. 

Friday, September 13th we would like to go for our first COMMUNITY WALK to the pond. If you are free to volunteer, please email me, achandelsman@cbe.ab.ca to let me know. We would leave at about 930 in the morning.

Homework:

Parents: Thanks to the parents who have handed in their forms.  If you have not done so, please send in your school forms and school fees ASAP as they were due today.

Students: Read 15-30 minutes

Question for the blog: What is something that you did at school today that you will be sharing with your family?

See you tomorrow,

Ms. Handelsman 

Apples and Honey!

Hello,
Sorry about the delay in getting today's blog up.  I went with Mrs. Zwack, Mr. Southworth and Ms. Goldberg to the Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation.  Each of our classes will be going on separate weeks through Open Minds later in the year.  It is beautiful there and we enjoyed our hike and opportunity to explore and discover what the area has to offer for our students.

Here is the link:

http://www.crossconservation.org/

Students in room 75 worked hard during this first week back, learning new routines, meeting new and familiar friends and getting to know their teacher and the different teachers in the school.  We ended off the week by celebrating Rosh Hashanah, The Jewish New Year, with Mrs. Bowles, Mrs. Cooper and Ms. Secord's classes.  Students enjoyed learning about how some families celebrate Rosh Hashanah and were eager to share the many different celebrations that they do with their families.  Students learned why we eat apples dipped in honey at this time of year (to wish each other a healthy (apple) and sweet (honey) new year.  Many students were eager to have seconds after trying this treat for the first time!

Don't forget that the Entertainment coupon book fundraiser is going on.  If you do not want to participate or sell the coupon book, please return the book to school in its original condition as soon as possible.

Homework:
Parents: School Forms and Fees are due MONDAY, September 9th.
Students: read at least 15-30 minutes each day; play outside; have a good weekend.
Question for blog: What is at least one thing you learned  today about Rosh Hashanah or different celebrations?

Pancake Breakfast!!

We had a yummy start to our Thursday as students and families had pancakes and juice or coffee!  Shortly after the pancake breakfast we had our Entertainment Book Sale Kick Off Assembly led by a Fairy.  Our fundraising goal for the books is $11,000.  The Fairy said that if we reached or exceeded that goal Mr. Southworth would agree to wear that costume!

Your child came home today with an Entertainment Coupon book.  If you are interested in purchasing or selling it, it is $40.  If you do NOT want it nor do you want to participate in it, please return the Coupon book ASAP.  Students are asked to treat it like a library book and return it in the EXACT same condition if they are not going to buy it.  

Tomorrow is our first half-day Friday.  Please remember to send your child to school with a healthy snack, but they do not need to have a complete lunch as they will be going home at 12:03PM.

The Terry Fox Run at the school is approaching, Thursday, September 26th.  This year's theme will be "We Can All be a Hero."

In the morning we met with Mrs. Bowles' class and read a story and watched a video about a holiday, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.  Ask your child to share with you what they learned and what we are going to eat tomorrow(yummy).  In the afternoon we met with Mr. Southworth's class and we worked on Science as we prepare for our field trip to the Bow Habitat Fish Hatchery.  This field trip was originally scheduled for Thursday, June 20th, 203.  Unfortunately Calgary was hit by a huge flood on that date and the trip was cancelled.  The Bow Habitat Station was one of the facilities that was hit quite hard by the flood. They are excited to be re-opened and to schedule our trip for the 18th of this month.  As a class we went to their website today and read and discussed and wrote in our journals information about how the flood impacted the fish at the hatchery.  They are quite excited to be going, and for the opportunity to learn more about the fish and to see if they can actually catch a trout in the "Catch and Release"pond.   Forms should be coming home tomorrow for the field trip!

Here is a link for you and your child to read about the Bow Habitat Fish Hatchery.

Bow Habitat Fish Hatchery (I hope that it works)

HOMEWORK:

Parents: school forms are due September 9th.

Students: read 15-30 minutes. Answer question on blog: What is at least one thing you learned from our discussion about the Bow Habitat Fish Hatchery?

See you tomorrow,

From Ms. Handelsman

Day 2 of the New School Year!

Day 2 is done!
Students in room 75 were busy today continuing to get to know each other and become familiar with the routines and expectations of being back and school.  We learned playground safety rules in physical education.  Ask your child to share with you some of the ways they can be safe while on the playground.  Grade 3 and 4 students' playground days for before school and during lunch are Mondays and Wednesdays.
Students in room 75 and in room 51 will be going on a field trip on Wednesday, September 18th.  We will be asking for volunteers in order to attend.  Field trip forms will be coming home on Friday.  If you are able to volunteer please email me at achandelsman@cbe.ab.ca.

Homework:
Parents please fill out the school forms and return to the school no later than September 9th.
Students, please read 15-30 mins and don't forget to bring back your communication folder tomorrow!
Question to answer in the blog.
Do you have any siblings or pets?  If so, please tell me about them. (hopefully clicking on the word "comments"at the bottom of this post, will allow you to post your answer! Good luck).
Ms. Handelsman

See you at the  pancake breakfast tomorrow!

WELCOME BACK PANCAKE BREAKFAST

8:00 – 9:30 am

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Compound, Cranston School

Families are welcome to join us on the compound for pancakes in the morning before school JJ

At 8:30 am, the bell will ring and teachers will go to their rooms with students.  Family members are welcome to tour the school and visit classrooms 8:30 – 9:00 am

Any students who have not had pancakes by 8:30 am and who have a parent with them are welcome to stay on the compound and eat before entering the school – please just let your teacher know you are at school JJ Students whose parents are unable to attend and haven’t had pancakes before 8:30 am will be given a supervised opportunity to eat with other staff – they will be picked up in their classrooms and returned. Students who have already had their pancakes will remain in their classrooms with their teacher.

We will ask parents to clear the building at 9:00 am so teachers and students can begin to resume regular activities, although pancakes and coffee will be available on the compound till about 9:30 am

Many thanks and much appreciation to the Cranston School Council and Shelaine Thompson for organizing this fantastic start to our new school year!