January 29, 2015

Today we continued planning out our Native Legend. Our focus was on the main character of our legend. We had to brainstorm ideas about; what their name would be; describe what they would look like and wear for clothes; what Tribe they belonged to; their role in the Tribe; details about their family; what kind of personality traits they could have; how old they are; and whether they are a human or an animal character. Finally we had to come up with a name that we think would best suit our character once we knew all these other details about them.

Today was our last day doing the Mission Impossible course in gym. In Music we are learning to sing "O Canada" in french and we have even listened to "We Are One" in french, the Music Monday song. We have also been practicing reading rhythms and music with mallets on various instruments.

We continued our work in math and Daily 5 today. Then we ended the day with another Tanga art project. We learned how to paint using a splattering technique. Messy but fun!

Students do not have school tomorrow(PD Day)- See you on Monday.

Please look at the following message from the Carnival planning committee:

Bonjour mes amis!

We are looking for parents to assist with our Carnival activities on Tuesday Feb 10. There will be stations set up between 10:30 and 1:30- led by teachers with your support. Volunteers are asked to meet in the hub at 10:30 for a quick debrief, assist a classroom with station set up, stay with that station, and then assist with transporting station materials back in again. 

If you are interested in joining us for our winter celebration, please email Shannon McMaster at Cranston.Volunteers@Outlook.com       

Merci Beaucoup!

Just a few reminders:

1. Please return signed Report Card envelopes if you haven't already.
2. Review Scholastic Book orders.

January 28, 2015

We looked deeper into some of the other native regions in Alberta today. Our focus was to learn more about the Parklands, the Boreal Forest, and the Canadian Shield. Ask me what I learned about these regions! Now that we know more information about these regions, we have started to brainstorm ideas for our legends.

In Miss Jackson's math class, we have been working through word problems involving multiplication. In trying to further develop our problem solving skills, we have been putting word problem solving strategies to use. Ask me about the acronyms we have learned to remember the steps! In Mrs. Cooper's math class, we did a review of the strategies we have been practicing for adding and subtracting.  Students were given a reminder to be using Mathletics and for those students that are needing extra work with basic facts, please practice these everyday.

In gym we continued Mission Impossible, working again with partners and trying to communicate using signals and body language instead of using our voices. We are getting better at making our way through the course successfully.

This afternoon we worked further on our inquiry projects. We are practicing good researching skills and learning more about collaborating on Google Drive. We can log into our google account from home so we can show you how much our group has researched so far.

Reminders:

1. Please return signed Report Card envelopes if you haven't already.
2. Review Scholastic Book orders.
3. Bring in precorders if you have them already, and submit forms to purchase if you don't. Thursday. January 29th is the deadline for both!
4. Calgary Young Writer's Conference forms are due tomorrow, Thursday, January 29th. Please make sure to look over these tonight and get them in if you want your child to be considered.

January 27th, 2015

Today we started learning about the First Nations regions in Alberta. We looked at the Rocky Mountains, Grasslands, Boreal Forest, Parklands, Foothills, and Canadian Shield regions. Today's focus was on the Grasslands and Foothills. Ask we what I learned about these two regions!

We continued Mission Impossible in gym today, this time working with partners to make our way like spies through the obstacle course.

We received new words today in our Words Their Way program. We also continued reading "Out of My Mind".

This afternoon we continued working on our writing kits for Tanga. As we continue to work on these projects, we have been talking a lot about taking our time and doing our best work since we will be selling our kits just like a professional artist!

In the Grade 4 communication folders, there is a form regarding the Calgary Young Writer's Conference. If Grade 4 students would like to be considered for this conference, they must submit forms by Thursday, January 28th. From the submissions we receive, a group of 15 students will be selected to attend with an additional 5 being added to a waiting list, as there may be additional spots. Please make sure that you review this form with your child.

Reminders:

1. Please return signed Report Card envelopes if you haven't already.
2. Review Scholastic Book orders.
3. Bring in precorders if you have them already, and submit forms to purchase if you don't. Friday. January 29th is the deadline for both!
4. New Bus Routes begin TOMORROW. Please make sure you have reviewed the bus info sheets that went home last week, and the revised info for Bus B that went home yesterday.

January 26th, 2015

Today we started Mission Impossible in gym! We had to make our way through the course carefully as we didn't want to touch any of the traps or obstacles. Since spies don't talk when they are on a mission, we did the course in silence as well. We will be continuing Mission Impossible for the rest of the week.

Mrs. McBride would like to remind everyone to get in their precorder forms if you haven't already. Students who plan on using their precorder from last year should start taking in their instruments to school so we can make sure that everyone is ready to start!

We continued reading "Out of My Mind" today. We are finding this story to have similarities to "Wonder"and there are parts that are quite humorous! Ask me what my favourite part is so far!

In math, Miss Jackson's class are working on problem solving strategies in multi-step words problems that involve multiplication through math centres. Mrs. Cooper's class also did multi-step problems using the 'Working Backwards' strategy for problems that involve addition and subtraction.

We would like to remind parents and students that signed Report Card envelopes need to be returned. Also Scholastic book orders went home on Friday(Miss Jackson) so take a look at these over the next two weeks and return your order form if you wish to make a purchase. Mrs. Cooper will send the Scholastic book orders this week.

Last week, bus students received information on the new bus system that will be coming into place on January 28th. Today, those students on Bus B received a revised plan so please make sure to review this before Wednesday.

                                          FROM THE OFFICE - IMPORTANT NOTICE

We would like to direct your attention to the letter below in regards to tobogganing/sledding on CBE property.

Dear Cranston Parents/Guardians

The question of whether Tobogganing/sledding is permitted on school grounds (CBE property) has been circulating lately with differing opinions and interpretations.

After contacting Risk Management, we now have confirmation that Tobogganing/sledding is on the list of “Prohibited Activities on CBE Property”.

In view of this, we respectfully ask for your cooperation in adhering to this safety policy.  Thanks.

Please direct all questions to the school’s administration.

January 23, 2014

It was a day full of art and music.  We continued to work on our watercolor prints and Miss Jackson demonstrated how we create silhouettes onto our painted background.  Students needed to work with their fine motor skills as they cut, traced and filled in very small and detailed African animals for their silhouettes.

Students are encouraged to go onto their google drive this weekend.  It is very very important that they put their edu email in exactly and their password or it won't work.  If your child has discovered facts about their topic they are encouraged to add this information to their shared document.

Their are some changes to the bussing for bus students at Cranston School. If your child is a bus student, there will be a note in their folder showing the new bus route.

Have a great weekend!

January 22, 2015

We continued our Tanga art projects using watercolors to paint gradients for our African background.  These will be used to make cards that will go into our writing kit.

Both math classes worked on math problems with a focus on strategies.  Mrs. Cooper's math class is encouraged to practice basic subtraction facts and 3 digit subtraction.  Miss Jackson's math class should be practicing multiplication facts at home to reinforce quick recall of facts.

We continued with our read aloud and we are very excited to keep reading it.  Tell your parent what has happened in the story so far.

We had both music and dance today. Please remember to send the form and money in for the precorder orders.

January 21st, 2015

Yesterday we started talking about Native Legends. We first discussed what we thought might be a component of a legend. Then we listened to Mrs. Cooper read a Native legend, The Enchanted Caribou, and talked about the characteristics of the story that we think would make it uniquely a legend. Today we watched a Native legend animated by the National Film Board of Canada called Summer Legend. As we move forward in learning about Native legends, we will be comparing them to one another in order to determine what makes a legend. Ask us about what we have learned so far about Native Legends!

In gym we are continuing to do gymnastics. Students are reminded to wear appropriate clothing to school as we are continuing this work in gymnastics for the rest of January!

In Music, Mrs. McBride told us what the new song is for Music Monday on May 4th, 2015. The song is called "We are One". It was selected by a contest this year. The winner was Connor Ross and he was only 16 years old. You can listen and learn this song at home too!

Also, Mrs. McBride sent home pink forms to order precorders. Please be sure to order our precorder as she will be starting lessons on these very soon!

In math, Miss Jackson's class are continuing their work on multiplication skills. We have been reinforcing our strategies through open-ended word problems and then sharing our strategies on the SmartBoard with our peers. In Mrs. Cooper's class we worked on using mental math strategies to do subtraction - this took a little more practice than using mental math strategies for addition.  Please remember to keep practicing both addition and subtraction basic facts!

Our art lessons this week have been focused on our Tanga projects. We are continuing to add to our writing kits. They are coming long beautifully and we are getting excited to present and sell them at the end of February!

A couple of Reminders:

1. Please return the signed envelope from Report Cards. 
2. Scholastic orders are due on January 23rd (Friday) Oops Mrs. Cooper forgot to send hers but February orders will go out shortly.
3. Please send in Precorder forms for Mrs. McBride.

January 19, 2015

We had a guest come in to speak to our two classes and our buddy classrooms - Mr. Dadano from Tanzania share his experiences of living in and visiting Tanzania.  He has helped us with our Tanga project and has been involved with delivering the money and supplies that we make form our Tanga fundraising.  He had many pictures and lots of information to share.

There are a few students that need to finish their final copy of their letter to Ms. Rauser.  Your child will have their journal with a good copy of paper in their home communication folder if they need to finish it.

This is a reminder that students are expected to do home reading everyday.  This can be their home reading book form school, a book from home or Razkids.  We are also encouraging students to use Mathletics for math practice.

We finished our page in our Art Journal to represent our learning from our Read-a-loud Mud City.  We are starting a new book this week called Out Of My Mind  by Sharon Draper. We made some predictions about the book today and we will begin reading it tomorrow.

Calling All Readers and Movie Buffs!

Cranston School will be having a Book and Movie Club.  The membership is open to all students in grades 1 - 4.  This is a club that parents can participate in with their children.     Members of this club will meet in the Cranston Learning Commons each Wednesday morning from 8:00 – 8:25 am.  The Book and Movie Club will have its first meeting on Wednesday, January 21^st, 2014. Each month a book will be chosen that has had a movie made from it.  During the month students and their parents will read the book and student will be part of weekly meetings and discussions with other students.  At the end of the book, students will have the opportunity to watch the movie during our weekly meeting times with discussions on what they thought of the book and how it was adapted to the big screen.

The books chosen will be both picture books and chapter books.  Parents will be responsible for getting the book for their child either through the library (Public or school) or purchasing it new or used.  If the book is beyond your child’s reading level it can be read with a parent as a bedtime story or a shared reading book.

To register for the Book/Movie Club please email Mrs. Bowles attabowles@cbe.ab.ca and give her either your home or your child’s email address and they will be added to the list.

 

The first book and movie that we will be studying will be the picture book,Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss 

Looking forward to sharing a love of reading (and movie watching!)
Mrs. T. Bowles
Mr. Russell

Mrs. Peterson

January 16th, 2015

Today we finished our Mud City book! After our read, we collaborated together to write down what we learned in the book using the following prompts that we all came up with:

1. New words we learned
2. Our favourite part of the story
3. The happiest moment of the story
4. The saddest moment of the story
5. The most inspiring moment of the story
6. Adjectives to describe Shauzia
7. What I want to learn more about
8. What would you do if you could live like Shauzia?

Throughout the book, we hear of Shauzia's dream of seeing lavender fields in France so we created our own picture of lavender fields in our Visual Art Journals using various techniques with watercolour and liquid tempura paints.  

Report Cards are going home today.  Please make sure to sign the outer envelope and send it back to school next week.

Have a good weekend!! :)

January 15, 2015

Today we started working on the good copies of our letters to Mrs. Rauser. They will be ready to go soon so we can ask her the questions we about Africa!

We had music this morning. Mrs. McBride told us that on Monday we are going to get a new song to learn for Music Monday which will be on May 4th, 2015. We were excited about this news and we can't wait to hear it!

In dance today, we practiced some break dancing and we did swing too!

In math, Mrs. Cooper's class continued their work on subtracting 2 digit numbers using regrouping.  We used base ten blocks to show why we need to trade a ten in for ten ones when the number in the ones is too small to subtract.   Miss Jackson's class had iPad's and used an app called....

At the end of the day, Mr. McDougall came to our classroom to continue our learning in using Google Docs. He demonstrated how we can use google docs to share a learning document.  We will be using this as we begin discovery information with our inquiry groups.  It was really exciting for those that were able to log on and share a document.  Students are encouraged to log into their gmail google account that we set up.  We have taped their username into their folders.  The password is their first name with a capital letter followed by the last four digits of their username.  It is important that they type in the username exactly how it is on the strip of paper in their folder.  We had a brief discussion at the end of the day that using google docs is a learning tool and should be used only for school projects.

Mrs. Cooper's gmail - cacooper@educbe.ca

Miss Jackson's gmail - arjackson@educbe.ca

January 14, 2015

We are almost done our letters to Ms. Rauser asking her questions about Africa.  Some students will need to complete their rough drafts in their journals for homework.  If your child has a journal in their home communication folder then they need to complete the letter.  Below is an example of a letter to see what is expected for a business letter.
___________________________________________________________________

29 Cranfield Green

Calgary, AB R3D 5T2

January 7, 2015

Ms. Candice Rauser

205 Cranston Dr. SE

Calgary, AB T3M 1E8

Dear Ms. Rauser:

My name is _________ and I am a grade 4 student at Cranston School in Calgary.  We are doing a fundraising project to help a school in Tanga, Africa and I would like to learn more about Africa.

Since you have spent time in Africa and you have done a lot of reading about Africa I would like to ask you some questions.  I am wondering about the animals in Africa and how they are different from the animals in Canada. What do the animals eat and how do they survive the climate in Africa?

I would also like to know more about the lifestyle of people in Africa. What type of houses do they live in?  I am wondering about the types of jobs people have?  Sports is important in Canada so do they play sports in Africa and if they do what type of sports do they play?

Thank you for reading this letter.  I'm hoping that you will be able to answer my questions.  I appreciate the time you have taken to help me out with my project.

Sincerely,

Student name

________________________________________________________________


We worked as a a whole group for a math problem using measurement today.  Students had the opportunity to use both standard and nonstandard tools to measure a variety of objects.  Ask your child how many paperclips does it take to be the same length as 5 pencils and how many cm is 5 pencils put together.

January 13, 2015

Today the students in rooms 79 and 80 did Daily 5, they worked with new words in Word Work, and we did gymnastics in gym. We are continuing to read Mud City with Mrs. Cooper and we're almost done!

During our writing time, we continued our learning in writing a formal business letter to Mrs. Rauser so we can find answers to our questions about Africa. In order to complete these letters, we also need our address and postal code. Can you please make sure to bring these in to school if you don't know them already?

We spent time this afternoon working on our Inquiry Project. During our time with the laptops we continued our research for sources to use in our inquiry. We also made sure to enter our questions into Iris so that we can access them from home. We would like to remind students to print articles from home and bring them in so that we can have access to information when we are not on the laptops. Also, we are encouraging students to visit the public library to sign out books on their topic to use for gathering information.  We will keep their library books in their bucket so that they can keep track of the books they bring.

January 12, 2015

We had a wonderful experience with a guest artist in our classrooms today.  Scott from the Leighton Art Centre was with each class for half the day to explore various art techniques.  We learned how to properly draw a portrait looking at contour and proportion.  After using a pencil to outline a portrait, we used chalk pastel to shade it in.  They look fantastic.  We then made a banner use sand paper and wax crayons.  It was a really fun art day!


The other half of the day, we did Daily 5, word work, gym and music.  Wow a busy Monday!

The students will continue with their inquiry questions and we will have the computers to continue our search for articles related to our topics.  If your child has found articles on a reliable website at home, please print it off and send it in this week.

January 8th, 2015 *INQUIRY UPDATE*

PARENTS & STUDENTS -->

please check out our classroom webpage for information pertaining to your child's chosen interest-based inquiry question. It outlines in detail some of the current expectations for your child.

http://room79and80.weebly.com/whats-happening_our-inquiry.html

Tomorrow is Ms. Rauser's last day! Miss Jackson will be taking over next week as the main teacher in Room. 79.
For Parents of room 79: we will add Miss Jackson's email to your child's blue communication folder to allow you to contact her with any question or concerns. :0) BUT for now...here it is:
arjackson@cbe.ab.ca

Students set up their google docs account (through the CBE) at school. This is an exciting step in preparation for them to collaborate with their peers with their inquiry research. 

Wednesday January 7th, 2014

Parents: multiple pairs of glasses have been turned into the front office. If any of your children are missing a pair please check the below descriptions. 

Pair #1  purple rims with black/white striped arms.

Pair#2  black wire rims with turquoise and black arms

Pair#3  navy blue rims with navy and blue arms

Pair#4  tortoise shell reading glasses

Hello Parents...

Please join us on Thursday evening (January 8th) at 7pm for a Cranston Middle School information session. Amber Stewart, CBE School Trustee and Sydney Smith, CBE Area Director will be there to answer any questions we may have and address any concerns about this new project on the Cranston horizon. Please consider coming out to support this parent council initiative and to see what this new middle school project will look like. We look forward to seeing you in the Cranston School gym on Thursday night!

If you have any questions about this meeting please contact Parent Council at cranstoncouncil@gmail.com

Today -->

Students started gymnastics in gym and have been practicing difference balances (2, 3, 4 point balances). They also played some small cooperative group games with a hula hoop! 

We have been busy creating our pieces for the TANGA art sale coming up in February. 

Mrs. Cooper continued reading our novel read 'Mud City'. Ask me to tell you what has happened so far!!

Ms. Rauser's class has new home reading books in their folders as of today. 

Great job on students remembering to line up at door #1 today! 

January 6, 2015 BIG NEWS!!!!!!

Welcome back and Happy New Year! It was exciting to see everyone after the 2 week break.  The students started the day with some time to share and write about their holidays.  We were thrilled that the students were very quick to remember our classroom expectations so that we have the best possible learning environment.

BIG NEWS...... Ms. Rauser is getting closer to having her baby so this will be her last week of teaching with us.  Her last day is Friday, January 10th.   Miss Jackson will be in room 79 all week working with Ms. Rauser to prepare to take over starting next week.  We will miss Ms. Rauser and wish her all the best as she prepares for the arrival of baby.  We welcome Miss Jackson to our classrooms.  Ms. Rauser promises to bring baby for a meet and greet after baby arrives:)

We started to discuss letter writing today to start preparing for writing letters to experts as we continue on our inquiry journal.  We discussed the difference between friendly letters and business letters. Our focus will be on business letters and we will begin practicing tomorrow.  As a practice, the students will be writing Ms. Rauser a letter to ask her questions about Africa.  Ms. Rauser knows a lot about Africa and visited there to learn even more.  We are working on our Tanga art project and would benefit from knowing more about Africa.  Students have been asked to think of some questions to ask Ms. Rauser in the letter they will write to her.

Mrs. Cooper's math group worked on subtracting today - we made some interesting discoveries about subtracting 2 digit numbers.  The students were trying to figure our how to subtract a number when the first number in the ones is smaller than the second number in the ones.  Hmmmmm... we know that we can't subtract a bigger number from a smaller number. e.g. (74-47=).  Ms. Rauser's math group did a quick review and then some word problems to get the Miss Jackson familiar with what we have been working on.

Please help your child to dress appropriately for the weather - hats, mittens, snow pants and boots are all needed to be warm enough outside!

DOOR CHANGES... Both room 79 and room 80 will now be using Door 1 as we did at the beginning of the year.  Our students practiced using these doors today and will continue to use them for the remainder of the year.