We have a new blog page!

Hello families
Please go back to the school website and to the teacher blog page. Once you are there, hit the refresh button or arrow to refresh the screen, then scroll over my blog and click on it. You should be brought to our new class blog! I hope this works. If it does not work, please email me at
achandelsman@cbe.ab.ca Thanks
Ms. Handelsman

Great first day of the New school year!!

Hello Room 75!

It was great to see everyone and to hear all your wonderful stories from how you spent your holidays with your friends and families.  Thanks to the students who brought in their pictures to share with the class as this helped to add more of an understanding of their stories.  One student even decided to make a collage out of his pictures from his break.  Through his collage he was able to share a detailed story of what he did with his family while on break!  Great work.
 This morning we had a special guest, a grade 3/4 teacher from Canyon Meadows School.  She teaches Spanish Emersion to her students and even shared some Spanish with our kids today! She and her colleagues were at our school today to learn how we use IRIS at school.  Bruce, Ria and Marek did a wonderful job sharing their experiences, stories and goals with the teacher as well as the Assistant Principal from their school.  They were given a message to say to their parents in Spanish, (hopefully they can remember what that message was and share it with you!)
We had a wonderful class meeting where we got to listen to each other share their stories of the holidays, followed by what each of our goal's are for the New Year! (Thanks again to the students who did their homework for today!)
After gym we started reading a new story by Andrew Clements called "The School Story".  It is a about a young girl who has decided to write a story and would like to try and get it published.  This is a great book for us as we will be writing stories throughout this term and by the end of the school year will have worked collectively with all grade 3/4 students to have written and published our own book as we work with an author!  More information to follow. After listening to the story we discussed what type of school we would write about if we were to write our own "School Story". Ask your child to share their beginning thoughts with you.
In the afternoon we went to the library to sign out new books then we worked on math.  We have begun our exploration of multiplication and division.  Today we discussed how when we are asked to multiply we need to think of groups.  We used the number of students in our class today, 20 as our starting point to work with and discovered many different multiplication sentences that we could make where the product is 20.  We also learned that it didn't matter what direction you wrote your multiplication sentence in. For example 5X4=20 and 4X5=20.  We  learned that when we write 4X5=20 we are saying 4 GROUPS of 5 is 20.  We learned about what happens when we multiply any number by 1 and any number by 0.  Ask your child to share with you what they learned in math today.

We ended our day with French.  Ask your child to share with you what they learned in French class and who their teacher was.

Important information.
Please see the attached calendar for upcoming dates.
Tomorrow the blog page should look different...

Homework:

Read 30 minutes

Mathletics 30 minutes

Question for the blog (homework journal):

What book are you reading? Who wrote the book? What is your favorite part so far and why?

See you tomorrow.

Ms. Handelsman

Happy New Year!!

Hello room 75!
I hope that you have had a wonderful holidays!
I just wanted to send a quick note to say hello and that I am looking forward to seeing you all on Monday morning!

Homework:
Read 30 minutes
Mathletics 30 minutes.
Please bring in three images (pictures) of something of significance that you did or happened over the holidays so that we can share them with the class and write about them as well.

Question for the blog (homework journal):
What is something you would like to get better at in 2014? How will you go about doing this?

See you on Monday!
Ms. Handelsman

Happy Holidays!!

Hello Room 75!
Have a wonderful holiday! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Thank you for such a wonderful few months in room 75!  It was great fun today, playing games, wrapping our gifts, eating snacks, watching a movie and singing Christmas Carols!
See you all on January 6th, 2014!!!

Homework over the holidays.
Please try to read and work on Mathletics each day for 30 minutes.
Please try to capture images of three events that you feel are significant to you or your family and bring them with you to school on January 6th.  (take a picture, draw a picture etc).

Question for the blog: (to write in your homework journal.)
What is a goal you have for 2014? (What is something you want to get better at in 2014 and how will you go about doing this?)

Have a wonderful holiday with your friends and family and see you in the new year!!

Ms. Handelsman

Pajama day tomorrow!

Hello room 75!
I hope that everyone got home safely and are now nice and warm!
Tomorrow is our last day before the winter break!
A quick reminder that the students have decided to have pajama day and they want to bring a stuffed animal.  They should only bring one animal that has been ok'd by you.  If they do not want to dress in their pajamas, they can choose to wear their favorite shirt, that is appropriate for school, again ok'd by you.  We will be playing board games, watching a movie and having snacks in the afternoon. Students can bring snacks to share with their class if they would like as well as a board game that they would like to play with their friends.
Tomorrow is a full day and students will be dismissed at their regular time!

Just a quick note that again yesterday someone was posting inappropriate comments on the blog. We had a very good class meeting this morning and talked about how it is not ok to write mean things on the internet and that once it is out there that it is difficult to take it back.  Parents, please make sure that when your child is on the computer and on the internet that you are aware of what they are doing, writing or seeing.  The students know that if they see something that is innapropriate they should tell an adult. Please talk to your child about the class meeting and ask them to share with you what we discussed, what they can do if they notice something inappropriate on the internet, and what they can do if they are having a problem with someone at home or at school, instead of saying or writing mean things. On that note, I will continue to use this blog until the holidays, but I will be blocking the ability for people to make comments, but instead ask the students answer the blog questions in their homework journal. If you would like to send a comment or question, please email me directly at achandelsman@cbe.ab.ca . Thank you for your support in helping your child to become responsible and respectful digital citizens.

We shared quite a few projects today and have just one more to go tomorrow!!  Mykayla shared her powerpoint of her country, Scotland! She was very proud to be presenting in front of the class and of the research she did on the internet!Riley shared his poster of his interview with his dad about China! His poster included a great deal of images of significant locations and monuments in China, such as The Great Wall of China and the Terra Cotta Soldiers (both places I have visited as a child:)  And Ria was excited to share her poster of India which included artifacts of significance, a variety of pictures and a great deal of information!  And Cohen was pleased when his name was chosen to share his powerpoint on England!!  His project included pictures from the past as well as the present and he even included a little dance as he finished his presentation!  Way to go!
Ask your child to share with you something they learned from listening to one of their friends share today!
As I said we have one more to go tomorrow (maybe two!!)  We will do this tomorrow morning before we go music!!

Important information:
Tomorrow is the last day of school.
January 6th is the first day back in the new year!

Homework:
read 30 minutes
mathletics 30 minutes

Question for the blog:
What will you be doing to celebrate Christmas this year? If you do not celebrate Christmas what will you be doing instead?
(PS remember to write your answer in your homework journal and bring in to school so that we can share with each other in the morning!)

Have a great WARM evening!
Ms. Handelsman

The kids have decided...

Hello room 75...
The kids have decided to have Pajama day on Thursday! We put it to a vote and they decided to have pajama day for the entire day, as well as they can bring in 1 stuffy if they would like. If they do not want to dress in pajamas they can wear a favorite t-shirt and still bring in a stuffy.  After deciding that we wanted to have a pajama day our buddies joined us and then we found out that they are also having pajama day!
We listened to a few more of our students share their origins projects today.
Cassie shared her interview of her mom about her great grandma who was from Scotland and emigrated to Canada in 1945.  She did a wonderful job of reading what she had typed on the page and then showing the pictures of the flag as well as of her great grandma!!
Meghan was very excited to share her project about her family and included pictures on her poster of the many different countries her family is from.  The countries included, Germany, the Ukraine and Poland.  She enjoyed sharing some of the many pictures of her family members with the class!
Ethan was quite excited when his name was chosen to share his powerpoint of his interview with his mom about China!  He made sure I knew when to press the buttons in the powerpoint so that his graphics could change as he was talking about different things, such as the different parks and different foods of China!  Ask your child to share with you what Ethan's favorite part of his presentation was!
We still have a few more friends to listen share their projects and will do so tomorrow and Thursday.  Remember if you have not finished and handed in your project to please do so ASAP.

During our Christmas carols we were pleasantly surprised to see that our friends in tone chimes were going to be performing some of the Christmas songs they have been practicing!  Brooke, Ally, Ria and Meghan did a wonderful job reading their music and playing their tone chimes in front of the entire school!  Way to go you guys!

Many of the students have been hungry in the afternoon and so we have introduced an afternoon snack.  This gives the students an opportunity to finish up some of their healthy snacks and parts of their lunch that they may not have gotten to earlier in the day.  If you are finding that your child is hungry, please make sure to send additional healthy and fresh snacks as these fill them up much better than processed foods and candies or chocolate.  If you are finding that they are not finishing their lunches or eating all their snacks, hopefully the afternoon snack will help them to do so.

Important information:
Thursday is our last day of school. It is pajama and bring your stuffy day for us and our buddies!  We will be watching a video as well as playing board games and eating snacks.  If your child has a game at home that they would like to bring to school and you are ok with that please do so!  If you would like to send a snack or treat to school you are more than welcome to.  We have 21 students.  We would like the snack to be healthy/ish if at all possible and as always no nuts please.  Someone has already brought in a baked treat for the class that is sitting on my table waiting eagerly to be shared on Thursday!!
January 6th- return to school!
Fun lunch orders are due in January- The information is available through our website and weekly newsletters!

Question for the blog:
As 2013 comes to a close, what is something that you are most proud of having accomplished either at school or at home that you would like to share? (Please do not post about video games etc). If you are having a difficult time making sure your answer posts, please write it in your homework journal and bring to school tomorrow:)
PLEASE WRITE YOUR RESPONSE IN YOUR JOURNAL IF YOU WOULD LIKE AS I HAVE BLOCKED THE COMMENT OPTION FROM THE BLOG. WE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THIS IN CLASS TOMORROW.
MS. HANDELSMAN

See you tomorrow,
Ms. Handelsman

3 more days!

Hello room 75!
What a great Monday!  Students are very excited as the holidays are approaching! Many are choosing to write letters to Santa during Daily 5!  We continue to be listening to our friends share their origins projects.  Today we listened as Kareem shared his powerpoint on Egypt. In his project he included a video of him interviewing his dad and asking him many questions.  Then he shared a variety of foods that are from Egypt, many of which he has eaten himself!  This afternoon we listened to Bailey share her report on Germany, and she was proud to pass around an artifact from home.  An extremely old book written in German!  Jullianne shared the book she made about her country of origin, The Philippines.  She included a variety of pictures to add to her report on the information she got from interviewing her mom.  Ask your child to share with you the greeting that young people give to their elders as a sign of respect.  Wilson shared his powerpoint project on his country of origin, England.  He included a picture of his great great grandpa in his project.  He also included the birth signs with each of the famous people he included in his report, which lead to all the students wanting to know that theirs is. (Mine is aquarius.)
Remember, if you have not finished your project, please do so and bring it in so that you can share it with your class. We will continue to decide who will be presenting, by random draw!!

This morning we met with our buddies from Mrs. Sloane's class and we started to work on our ornaments.  Ask you child to share with you who their buddy is and what their ornament is that they are creating.

We ended the day by coming together as a school and singing Christmas Carols.  Tomorrow we will be singing the songs at 11, then again on Wednesday at 230...

important information:
Thursday is a full day of school. It is our last day of school before the holidays.  We return to school on Monday, January 6th, 2014!!
Fun lunch orders due Jan 10th.(The information about the fun lunches went out in the weekly newsletters.) The students's yellow communication folders will be coming home tomorrow.


Homework:
Read 30 minutes
Mathletics 30 (everyone has new assignments!)
finish your origins project if you have not already done so

Question for the blog.
What was your favorite Christmas Carol that we sang together?

Have a great evening.
Ms. Handelsman

Caine's Arcade at RT Alderman!

Hello room 75!
What a great field we had today to RT ALDERMAN!  Thanks to the families who brought donations for the Mustard Seed.  The students were excited to be at RT ALDERMAN and many were pleased to see some old friends who are now in Grade 5.  Ask your child to share with you their favorite game they played in the arcade.  Thanks to Mrs. Sturgeon, Mrs. Spurrell and Mrs. Litman for volunteering on our field trip!
Here is the link to the video that the students watched today, that explains where the grade 5 and grade 9 students at RT ALDERMAN got their inspiration to create their paper arcade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faIFNkdq96U

Next week is going to fly by I am sure as we are quickly approaching the holidays!  We will be spending the days singing carols, working with our buddies, sharing our Origins Projects and on Thursday we would like to have a class party.  Similar to what we did for Halloween, we will have a games afternoon, as well we will be watching a video with our buddy class.  If students want to bring treats to share with the class they can do so. We would like the snacks to be "relatively" healthy please.  Please remember that there should be no nuts in any products brought to school.  If students have a board game that they would like to bring and you are OK for them to do so, that would be great!

Also...
The students in our class and Mrs. Sloane's class did an amazing job singing the songs they have been working so hard on! It was great to see so many students and to meet many of their extended family members, such as the aunts, uncles and grandparents who came!! If you were not able to attend, we will find time for you in the week to make your Reindeer family picture!!  Here are the videos of the songs along with the students's artwork.

If there was anyone who happened to have video taped the performance of the students singing both the songs and would be willing to send me a copy that would be greatly appreciated.  I can then show the video to the students as well as  take the recording of the students voices singing and put that into the video with their artwork.  If so, could you please email me? achandelsman@cbe.ab.ca? Thanks.

I hope that you have a great weekend as it is supposed to be warming up finally!!(At least on Sunday!)

Important Information:
Thursday we will have a class party, with board games, a movie and snacks.
Thursday is also our last day of school before the holidays

Homework:
Read 30 minutes
Mathletics 30 minutes
if you have not finished your origins project, please do so and hand it in on Monday.

Question for the blog:
What game or part of today did you enjoy the most at the paper arcade and why?

See you on Monday,
Ms. Handelsman

It is tomorrow night!

Hello room 75!
Sorry for the late post!
We had a staff meeting and then one of the teachers from High River came to collect as much of the gifts for the families in High River as she could fit into her vehicle! And guess what?!?! The Cranston families have been so generous that there was not enough room to fit all the gifts.  Since Mrs. Secord lives in High River, she will be bringing her truck to school tomorrow and will bring the remainder of the presents to Spitzee School in High River on her way home.  Thanks again for the generosity the families in room 75 and in the rest of Cranston school demonstrated through their donations in support of our families helping families!

Thanks to Ally for sharing her interview with her grandpa about her country of origin, England!  She included a "bobby hat"; some Lego figures for the kids to see what a "bobby looks like", as well as the "Royal Guard"; and a double decker bus.  She was very confident and she shared the vast amount of information she gained about the different landmarks, foods, famous individuals, transportation and sports to name a few.  She included a picture of her grandpa from when he was a young boy in his school uniform to show what it was like.  As more students are sharing, they are making connections between their family's stories and the stories of their peers.  For example, Ally's grandpa emigrated to Canada in the same manner and in around the same time period, as Brooke's grandpa and Wilson's relative: by boat!  My dad's family also came from England, but my dad emigrated by plane shortly after he finished university and then my grandma emigrated after I was born to be closer to her grandchildren!

Marek did a wonderful job present the powerpoint he created about his interview.  He interviewed his mom and asked her questions about his grandpa who emigrated from Scotland! Ask your child if he or she remembers the reason why Marek's grandpa came to Canada!  He was very excited to include the different famous athletes and well known sports that are played in Scotland!

Way to go! Remember that the interview projects are due by Friday of this week!

We spent most of the day working to prepare for tomorrow evening.  Some of you will be receiving invitations today or tomorrow that were made by your child in regards to the Winter Wonderland!  We met with our buddies this morning to practice our songs as well as to work on our "gingerbread buddies" display.  Ask your child to share with you what they created today with their buddies and what the different steps were in the process. Tomorrow will be our final rehearsal in music class before the big event at 630 tomorrow night!  We are asking that if you are coming to the evening tomorrow night and your child will be there to sing, to try and arrive by 620.  I will close up my classroom at that time so that we can all meet in the music room. If you are at a younger sibling's performance in Kindergarten, then as soon as that one is finished, you can quickly make your way to the music room. They are adjacent to each other:)  We tried to time it so that you will be able to see all the kids strut their stuff tomorrow night! So, if we have to wait a few minutes that will be alright...The students in the tone chime club will be performing afterwards, I think they were planning to do so at about 645 or 7, again to allow for the families to see their younger siblings perform afterwards.  In between these performances there will be activities in the hub, and in the gym (hot cocoa and cookie decorating to name a few), plus there will be an activity planned for you to do as a family in our classroom!)  It is an open house, in that you can come and go as you please, so except for when we are in the music room, room 75 will be open for you and your family to come in and visit! Also, please be sure to check out the wonderful work on display in front of our buddy class as well as in front of ours!

Thank you to all the families as we have ALL the field trip forms handed in and so we are ready to go on our field trip this Friday!!
As Friday will be Mrs. Secord's last day with us as a student teacher, she is wanting to do something special tomorrow. She would like to bring in a special family member. Here are the clues:
This family member has 4 legs.
This family member has long ears.
This family member has a bushy tail.
This family member probably LOVES to eat carrots!
This family member would hop all over the place if it wasn't in its crate.
This family member has whiskers and fur.
What do you think her special family member is?Ask your child to share with you their answer.

Important information:
Winter Wonderland is tomorrow
We have a special visitor tomorrow
Field trip is Friday.

Homework:
read 30 minutes
mathletics 30 minutes
finish your interview project if you have not done so yet...

Question for the blog:
What would you like to say to Mrs. Litman as it is almost her last day and we won't have time to share the blog on Friday morning?

See you tomorrow,
Ms. Handelsman

Two more days until the winter wonderland!

Hello room 75!
We have been busy practicing and working hard with our buddies to get ready for the winter wonderland at Cranston School on Friday! Ask your child to share with you what they did today with their buddies and what they did in music class.

This afternoon we listened to three of our classmates share their Origins Projects.
Lucas interviewed his grandfather and shared what he learned about Portugal.   He was very proud to show the picture he included of his grandfather holding a trophy from when he played "futebol".

Nik interviewed his dad and enjoyed sharing his powerpoint on his country of Origin, the Ukraine.  He did a wonderful job reading the information from the slides, especially when he was discussing all the different foods.

Kaden interviewed his Grandpa about growing up on a farm in British Columbia, Canada.  Kaden included photographs to show the different artifacts that he was talking about.  He showed pictures of the battery powered radio his grandpa used to listen to the news on, as well as a picture of some of the coal lanterns they used to light up their house.
Way to go you guys!!
Ask your child to share with you something they learned from listening to their friends share their projects!

Tomorrow, we will continue to listen to a few more students share their projects to the class!  Keep up the good work.

Just a reminder that we are going on our field trip to RT Alderman on Friday for the paper arcade.  Here is a letter that RT Alderman has written in regards to the donations they are asking for for the Mustard Seed.  Bringing a donation is OPTIONAL.

Important information:

Thursday night from 6-8 is the school's Winter Wonderland

Friday is our field trip to RT ALDERMAN

Friday is also Mrs. Litman's last day with us as our student teacher.

If you have any donations for our family in High River and have not done so already, please bring them in.

If you have not filled in your field trip form please do so and send them in tomorrow. (We are only missing 2!)

Homework:

Finish your origins project

Read 30 minutes

Mathletics 30 minutes

Question for the blog:

What have you enjoyed the most about working with our buddies? And why?

See you tomorrow.

Ms. Handelsman

Aujourd'hui nous avions français!

Bonjour mes amis! Comment ça va?
Aujourd'hui, tous les enfants sont allés à la classe française.

Yes, we all went to French class today! Ask your child who their teacher was and what they worked on in French class!
I was away in the morning at the dentist and was happy to hear how hard the students worked for Mrs. Hofer!  Ask your child to share with you something they learned when working on Mathletics.
In the afternoon we went and did our book exchange at the library and then worked on Daily Five.  The students were very excited to share their presentations today on their Origins Interview projects.  We listened to Brooke share her Keynote presentation about her Grandma who came from England!  The students were amazed by the original photos of Brooke's grandma as a child and then of Brooke's great grandma as a baby (Grandma Brooke who Brooke was named for).
Bruce shared his poster on his interview of his dad who is originally from China!  Bruce did an amazing job of laying out the questions, answers and pictures in a circular method all around his poster.  He told the class that his favorite part was putting all the pictures and writing onto his poster.  The students really enjoyed hearing about the many different sports that are popular in China, such as ping pong and badminton.
We will continue to listen to each other's presentations throughout this week. If your child is choosing to present a keynote or powerpoint,or has images that he or she would like to display, please feel free to email them tome so that we can project them on the Smartboard during the presentation!

Important Information
Origins interview projects are due this week.
If you have items you wish to donate to our family in High River and have not yet done so, please bring into the school ASAP.
Field Trip forms are due! If you have not filled them out yet, please do so ASAP and make sure it is in your child's communication folder for school tomorrow.
Thursday night 6-8 Winter wonderland.
Friday is our Field Trip to RT Alderman
Thursday, December 19th- we will be having some type of an Xmas celebration in our class (playing board games, eating tasty snacks, watching a movie. More info to follow.
Friday, December 20th- NO SCHOOL Winter break begins!

Homework:
Finish your origins project!
Read 30 minutes
Mathletics 30 minutes
There is no work for your homework journals as most of you are continuing to work on your Origins project this week. If you would like to write me a Dear. Ms. Handelsman you are more than welcome to and I will read it over the lunch hour!  This can be on any topic of interest to you, for example, if you are in a hockey tournament, what you will be doing over the winter holidays, what you did over the weekend, what you do after school, etc...

Question for the blog:

Qu'avez vous fait dans la classe française aujourd'hui? Qui était votre professeur?

(What did you do in French class today? Who was your teacher?
à demain!

Mme. Handelsman

Parent Teacher Interviews went really well!

Hello room 75!
Thank you to the families who booked an appointment to come and visit with me so we could discuss your child during parent teacher interviews!
We are approaching our final 9 days of school before Winter holidays.
They will be a busy nine days with our Winter Wonderland on Thursday night and our field trip to RT Alderman on Friday.
If you have not done so, please make sure you have filled in, signed and returned the permission slips to the school on Monday.  If you would like to volunteer please email me achandelsman@cbe.ab.ca to let me know.
For the Winter Wonderland, it will be an open house from 6-8pm on Thursday.  We will be singing our songs with our buddies just once in the evening. We will be singing at 630 in the music room. If you will be attending the evening, please make sure that your child is there by 620 so that we can prepare.  There will be an activity for the students and their families in the classroom that they can do together anytime in the evening (except for when we are singing at 630).  There is more information about the evening the monthly newsletter as well as in the Monday Morning Messages.

Important information:
Monday the field trip forms are due
Monday is library book exchange
Winter Wunderland this Thursday, 6-8pm (singing at 630)
Friday is our Field Trip to RT Alderman

Homework:
Read 30 minutes
Mathletics 30 minutes

Question for the blog:
WHat did you do over the long weekend that you would like to share with the class?

See you tomorrow,
Ms. Handelsman

Field Trip forms home today

Hello room 75!
I hope that you had a good day today and worked hard for Mrs. Litman and Mrs. Hofer.
Tomorrow will be a busy day as we work on finishing up our posters with our buddies, our anthologies and posters.
I know that there was a Citizenship assembly that was hosted by Ms. Goldberg's and Mr. Soulier's class.  I hope that you were on your best audience behaviour as you watched the hard work of each of the students who presented in the assembly.  Please share with your family something that you learned from the assembly today.

Mrs. Litman told me that the field trip forms went home today.  Please make sure that you have given them to your family so that they can read them over and sign them quickly, as they are due back to school on MONDAY.  If one of your parents would like to volunteer, please have them email me at achandelsman@cbe.ab.ca to let me know.

Important information:
Parent teacher interviews tomorrow night and Friday.
No school this FRIDAY
If you are participating, please be sure to bring in your donations for the family we are supporting from High River.
Field trip forms due in MONDAY.
Thursday, December 12th: Cranston's Winter Wonderland from 6-8PM.  It is an open house, but we will be performing with our buddies a few songs and we will try to do so at 630/700/730...

Homework:
read 15-30 minutes
Mathletics 15-30 minutes
work on your origins project which is due next week.

Question for the blog:
What did you do today, or what happened today that you would like to share with the class?

See you tomorrow,
Ms. Handelsman

snow drifts

Hello room 75
Sorry for such a late post, but I have been busy this evening shoveling out the large amount of snow that blew onto my sidewalk and driveway.
I know that half of you stayed home and half of you went to school.
I hope that for everyone their Tuesday was a warm and safe one.

Have a great Wednesday with Mrs. Hofer, Mrs. Litman & Mr. Wong!

Question for the blog (I know that it was a late post, so don't worry if you were not able to answer the question, you can just discuss in class during the morning meeting)
What did you do on Tuesday that you would like to share with the class (and with me when I read the blog)?

Have a great and WARM Wednesday!
Ms. Handelsman

It's a blizzard out there!

Hello room 75!
I was glad to see so many students dressed warmly for the incredibly cold weather we had today.  Please make sure that if you do come to school tomorrow, that you wear enough clothing to keep you warm!!(toque, gloves, snowpants, winter jacket, boots, scarf!)

The students worked hard today to put together their poetry anthology!!  They are coming along really well and should be completed by tomorrow!

I know that some students have completed their interview project. If they would like to start bringing in their work this week, that is alright and we will try to make time to share, even though they are not due until next week!  Tomorrow, Nik and Wilson will share theirs!  In school we worked with Mrs. Zwack's class who are also researching for their origins project.  Ask your child to share with you something they learned about their country today.

Important information:

Book Fair Volunteers urgently needed for Friday!

Parents,

If you can volunteer on Friday for the Book Fair, would you please email KRaris@cbe.ab.ca . Thank you

Parent teacher interviews are this Thursday evening and Friday morning.

The book fair is running this week, notices went home today.

No school Friday.

Homework:

Mathletics 15-30 minutes

Reading 15-30 minutes

continue to work on your interview project

Question for the blog:

 What did you do after you got home and inside out of this blizzard?

Have a great day tomorrow with Mrs. Hofer and Mrs. Litman

Ms. Handelsman

Families Helping Families

Hello,

For those of you who are participating, can you please start to bring in your donations this week so that we can see what we have collected and what we need to collect before the deadline of December 9th!
Thanks.

Here is a repost of the message that was posted a few weeks ago.  If you are interested in participating and have not posted what you will be contributing, please do so.

This year we will be supporting a family from High River who has lost everything in the flood this past June.  If you are interested in helping:

Please post on the blog what item you are willing to contribute or donate based off of the needs the family has indicated so that all other families in our class can see what has been contributed and what is still in need.  Please remember that our families would love to not have to worry about the purchase of food items and more than one gift card to their chosen grocery story would be welcomed.  

***We welcome donations of gently used items for our families as well.***

ALL GIFTS NEED TO BE WRAPPED AND LABELED TO WHO THEY ARE INTENDED FOR. WRAPPED CONTRIBUTIONS WILL BE DUE BY: MONDAY, DECEMBER 9TH, 2013.

You should have received a sheet with the information about the family a few weeks ago.  Please let me know on the blog if you need me to send home another sheet with your child!

Also, we are trying to collect dried and canned food for the Mayor's Food Bank.  If you are willing and able to, please send in donations with your child throughout the week, or bring them with you to parent teacher interviews.

Thanks for your support!!

Ms. Handelsman

Important dates:

Tuesday December 3 and Wednesday December 4th, I will be at a workshop- Mrs. Hofer and Ms. Litman will be teaching.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday is our Scholastic Book Fair!

Parent teacher interviews- This Thursday evening and Friday morning

Friday, December 5th- NO SCHOOL

Thursday, December 12th- Cranston's Winter Wonderland- 6-8pm. We will be singing two songs with our buddy class, and will be doing so at 630/700 and 730 in the evening.

Friday, December 13th- FIELD TRIP to RT Alderman! We have been invited to participate in a fundraising event that has been created by their grade 5 and 9 students.  It is a paper arcade!  We will be leaving Cranston at 900am and leaving RT Alderman at 1130.  If you would like to volunteer on this field trip, please email me at achandelsman@cbe.ab.ca  Students from RT Alderman are asking for donations to the Mustard Seed as the entry fee to their arcade...

Homework:

Work on your Origins interview project.

Read 15-30 minutes

Mathletics 15-30 minutes

Question for the blog:

What are you doing, have done, or will be doing this weekend that you would like to share with the class?

See you on Monday,

Ms. Handelsman

Digital Citizenship

Hello room 75.
I sent home an email to the families of students about digital citizenship.  If you did not get the email please let me know and I will send it directly to you.
Please talk to your child about the importance of being a safe and caring digital citizen.

Important reminders. If you have not done so, please book your interview time to meet with me next week, either Thursday night or Friday morning.

Homework:

• If possible, please have your Origins interview questions done so we can share them tomorrow. I know that some families will be doing their interviews over the weekend or have scheduled a time for next week, and that is OK.  We will be sharing some of the questions and answers with the kids in class tomorrow, as many are excited to share their stories.
• Read 15-30 minutes
• Mathletics 15-30 minutes
• In your homework journal, please write to me letting me know that you have talked to your parents about internet safety and being a digital citizen.

Question for the blog:

What will you be doing this weekend that you would like to share with the class?

See you tomorrow,

Ally Handelsman

What did you do in school today?

Hello room 75!
I hope that you had a good day with Ms. Hofer.
Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is our Fun Lunch!

Homework:
read 15-30 minutes
Mathletics 15-30 minutes
In your homework journal write me a Dear Ms. Handelsman on the topic of your choice!  I look forward to reading what you will write!

Question for the blog:
What is something you did with Mrs. Hofer and Mrs. Litman today that you would like to share with me? Try to make your post different than what your friends' may have written!

See you tomorrow,
Ms. Handelsman

Re-Post of Families Helping Families

Hello,
Just a quick update.
Tomorrow, Mrs. Hofer will be as I will be at appointments all day.
Ask your child to share with you about their poetry anthology they are working on, and about the questions they have chosen to research into further about their country while they are at school.

Cranston Families Helping Families This is the link to the former post about Families Helping Families.  If you are wanting to participate but have not written on the blog, please re-read and add your comments.

Important dates:
Friday, November 29th- If possible, have completed the interview with your child at home.  If you plan on working on this on the weekend that is alright, please email me or let me know if you have not done so already.
Thursday, December 5th- (evening) and Friday, December 6th(day, NO SCHOOL for students)- Parent Teacher Interviews

Homework:
read 15-30 minutes
mathletics 15-30 minutes
in your homework journal write a letter to Mrs. Horner about something you are involved in outside of school.

Question for the blog:
What did you do today after school that you would like to share with the class?

Have a great Wednesday.
Ms. Handelsman

The interviews begin!

Hello room 75.
A quick post today.
Please make sure your child has highlighted and chosen their questions for their interview.  This week they should be working on actually interviewing their family member and recording their answers.

Here are two messages from teachers so that I don't have to write too much tonight.

1.

Hello Everyone

Cranston is in the process of planning our Winter Wonderland (more about this to follow later in the month). If you have an old artificial tree (any size, any colour) you were thinking of getting rid of, we will take it!

We are also looking for lights, (especially the white ones) outdoor-lighted animals (deer, moose etc., as well as sleighs), and artificial cedar garlands or wreathes for our displays. We are also looking for a disco ball!

So far we have had 5 trees donated, and we are really hoping  for many more this week.  We would like to have most items in the school by the end of the week so that we can start planning our Winter Wonderland.

If you have anything to donate (or loan – if you would like it back!) please email Mrs. Wood at clwood@cbe.ab.ca.  or just bring it into the front office.  Thanks so much!

and

2.

Good Afternoon Parents,

The students of Learning Studio 74 are raising money to help the people of typhoon ravaged Philippines.  We will be selling art cards at lunch for $2.00/piece or 5 for $10.00.  If you would like to help us out with this heartfelt endeavour you may send the money with you child tomorrow, Tuesday November 26^th.  We will have a booth set up at the front of the school by the office.  All the money raised with go to the Red Cross Philippine Effort.

Thank you for your support

Members of Learning Studio 74 (gr. ¾)

Important information:

See yesterday's blog for important dates

homework:

read 15-30 minutes

mathletics 15-30 minutes

Chose your questions that you will be asking and practice asking the questions.  Think about how you are going to record your answers.

Question for the blog:

How are you going to be recording your questions and answers for your interview?

see you tomorrow