October 31, 2019

Happy Halloween! 👻

We spent the day:
-keeping active with Halloween themed games in Phys. Ed.
-showing off our costumes in the Halloween parade
-working independently on a reading comprehension activity about the history of Halloween
-finishing up work in the iLab for our plant project OR doing literacy activities in the classroom if we were already finished
-self-assessing where we feel we landed on the rubric for our plant life cycle project
-working in groups to build a mini pumpkin elevator (with or without a crank) 🎃 . *See pictures below

It was a busy day!

Remember all plant life cycle projects need to be completed and in the classroom Monday morning.  Ask me if I'm finished.
Please return forms for Telus Spark on Monday.




 

October 30, 2019

This afternoon we continued to work on our life cycle projects.  Here's what some students had to say about our work:

• It was really fun and most people finished (KB)
• It was kind of stressful because the art part took more time than I planned (MF)
• Some people got finished and some people still need to work on it (LM)
• The people that were done got to help others by gathering materials, helping with computer issues and giving feedback (MS)
• Some people did not print their captions and may need to work at home (MH)

Reminders:  Students are welcome to wear costumes tomorrow.  Please remember to leave masks and weapons at home and make sure costumes are non-violent or too scary for younger children.🎃

See my notice about the upcoming field study to Telus Spark Nov. 12th 🔬

October 29, 2019

We have been very busy in room 5. 

This morning we discussed what other people might feel, think and say when someone is unexpectedly in the blue, yellow or red zones.  Next we will look at little problems, medium problems and big problems.

This afternoon we worked in the iLab.  We spent our time making our artistic representation of the plant life cycle we have each researched.  Ask me about:

• what my plan is
• how far I got on my work today
• what I have left to complete

Mrs. Bowers would like each of us to remember to dress for the weather.  We went outside for recess and lunch recess today and many students still felt cold.  Ask me if I felt prepared for recess today or if I need more layers.

October 25, 2019

We focused on our plant research today.  Each of us has chosen a plant's life cycle to research.  We used the laptops to search for information and then write captions in our own words.  Next week we will be making the artistic representation of our plant's life cycle.

Our alfalfa plant experiment has come to a conclusion today.  We made observations for 21 days total.  Each of us had a question that we wanted to test and today we wrote our final conclusion statement.  Ask me about my question and conclusion.

October 24, 2019

This week we have been busy with:

• a visit to OH Ranch!  At OH Ranch we:
• each made our own rope
• played games such as barrel racing, horseshoes, calf roping, predator vs prey
• learned about ranching in Alberta and what makes good ranch land
• learned about the importance of giving back to the community
• learned about the history of the ranch and how it is now a historical site
• each tried getting on and off of a saddle
• walked up a hill and sketched the landscape
• observed the difference in tree growth on the north and south sides of the path
• talked about invasive species on the ridge
• giving feedback to our buddies for their research on animals
• continued our research for our chosen plant and its life cycle
• observed changes in our alfalfa plants
• discussed expected behaviours in each of the zones of regulation

OH Ranch field study tomorrow

Just a reminder that our field study is tomorrow.  Here is an update about the conditions out at OH Ranch:

It has melted in the sunny parts. There are still some wet/ muddy areas but on the whole it’s quite good. It may be windy, especially on top of the ridge and it will be cooler in the am.

Please remember to dress accordingly (layers may be best).  Pack a litter-less lunch, snack, water bottle and possibly a book to read on the bus.  We will take our visual journals and pencils with us as well.  Looking forward to a great day tomorrow! 🚌

October 17, 2019

Today was a busy day for room 5.  We had a special guest visit our classroom.  She is a naturalist who showed us some different types of plants that grow naturally in our school yard.  We also learned about the ways plants survive (adaptations) and how they make food (photosynthesis).  We learned about the Fibonacci sequence and how it can be found right in our own school yard.

We will be having a Math assessment on patterns on Monday.  Ask me to show you how to write a story problem that has an equation with a missing number. 

October 10, 2019

Many of our plants are growing!  We have a control plant, plants that are being watered with different liquids (flavoured water, milk, pop, coloured water, vinegar, ice and juice), plants that are being denied sunlight and plants that are being talked to in order to see if it affects the growth.  Some of us do not have any sprouts but have noticed mold, odours and tightly clumped together soil.

Today we learned all about reading comprehension strategies.  We are learning how to help us understand what we read and use those strategies when we are reading silently.

We worked on a math task that helps to show what we are already strong at in math and what we need to revisit this year.  We also worked on a new type of esti-mystery that we had to wait to find the answer for.  The reveal was posted late last night and we discovered it today.  Ask me about it.

The AM class is bringing home off-site forms and a letter for an upcoming field study to OH Ranch on October 22nd.  Please return all forms by Friday, October 18th.

Reminder:  No school tomorrow (PD) or Monday.  Happy Thanksgiving!🦃🍁

Parents:  We are very excited to use whiteboards as learning tools in the classroom.  Unfortunately we do not have anything to erase with.  If you have clean socks at home that are no longer useful to you feel free to send them to our room.  They make great whiteboard erasers for the class.

October 8, 2019

We have been busy in room 5!  Some of the amazing learning we have done includes:

• today we sketched a really big sunflower! 🌻 We estimated the height of the flower as well as how many seeds we thought were inside.  
• recording our observations of our alfalfa sprouts 🌱- we were very excited to see they had sprouted over the weekend
• we learned some strategies for finding information when we read and answer questions about that reading 📖
• we looked for patterns in calendar to solve a problem 🗓

Reminder:  Scholastic book orders are due today.  Please order online if your child did not bring their order to school.

October 4, 2019

Some of the learning we engaged in today included:

• met with our grade 2 buddies and read with them
• recorded our wonders and questions from our field study to Fish Creek Park
• watered our plants again
• finished our work with using charts to solve problems
• handed in our reading logs to show Mrs. Bowers how much we typically read

Reminders:  Book orders are due Tuesday - remember that online purchases are enabled or you can send the order with your child

Homework:  Find the name of a plant that grows naturally in Alberta.  We will investigate the life cycle of that plant next week.

October 3, 2019

A lot has been happening in room 5!

• Yesterday we planted our alfalfa seeds and today we watered them with either water or our alternate liquid (depending on the variable we each chose to manipulate)
• We went on our first off-site field study on Tuesday.  We sketched something in the landscape that we enjoyed or were interested in including leaves, deer, trees, snow, bubbles in the water etc.
• We used charts (100 chart, calendar, + tables) to find patterns and used them to solve problems
• Tried to solve an esti-mystery on Monday...which we call esti-Monday 🆒

Reminders:  Scholastic orders went home yesterday.  They are due on Tuesday.

Reading logs should be finished today and need to be handed in tomorrow.