Thursday, December 20, 2018

December 20th, 2018

Happy Holidays!!!


We had a fantastic day today.  A big thank-you from the teachers for all the lovely gifts and yummy treats!!   


No School tomorrow

School begins again on Tuesday, January 8th 2019.


Enjoy the break and see you soon:)




Wednesday, December 19, 2018

December 19th, 2018

Our day in our words......

- In Ignite some of us went the maker space and started building a home for a hedgehog.
- We did some caroling in the gym and watched funny jib jabs.   We sang the Canadian version of the Twelve Days Of Christmas.
- In Words Their Way we found new words in books we were reading.
- In CCT time we watched a movie about a Rat that is an amazing cook.
- In PE we voted on what to play.   The most votes went to playing 4 corners.
- In Sports Club we changed the game from Soccer to Floor Hockey.  It was really fun!!


Reminders......

- No School Friday.   Tomorrow is a full day.   Dismissal at 3:05.

- Pajama day is tomorrow.   Wear your cozy PJ's all day long.   You do not have to wear you PJ's.

Parents of Choir students ONLY are invited to attend the Choir presentation at 2:00 pm tomorrow. This will be a very short, maybe 20 minute presentation to celebrate the work the children have done.  We look forward to welcoming parents of Choir students tomorrow!

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

December 18th, 2018

Our Day In Our Words.....

- Today we started our day with Ignite.  Some of us started work on a 1000 piece puzzle.   Very challenging.
- In Literacy we did a couple of rounds of daily 5.   Students are beginning to be put into book club groups which will be starting in January.
- During Math students were working in their groups.
- In Words Their Way we did blind and speed sorts.
- During inquiry we finished our CSI (colour, symbol, image) work on Homelessness.
- The HOPE POD hosted the Merry Afternoon at the end of the day.   We sang, danced and watched a funny Jib Jab involving the staff.


Reminders......

- There is no school on Friday.   Thursday is a full school day.
- Most likely there is pajama day on Thursday.   Stay tuned for 100% confirmation.





Monday, December 17, 2018

December 17th, 2018

Our day in our words.........

- We had ignite first thing in the morning.  I played some cards with Emmett.  We played "Go Fish".


- After ignite we did our first MERRY MORNING in the gym with the whole school.   The kindness pod was leading it.   We sang songs and watched Jib Jabs.   They were funny.  The teacher sang a song called The Twelve Days of Eric Harvie.


- We had snack and then we had a guest speaker named Daniel.   Daniel works with the Homeless.   We learned a lot about Homelessness in Calgary


- We split into Math groups after lunch.


- We had movement break.   It was quite warm and sunny outside.


- After we had inquiry.   We had to CSI.   Colour, Symbol, Image.   We had to represent Homelessness with these three things.   


Reminders......


- There is no school Friday.    Thursday is a full day.

Friday, December 14, 2018

Friday December 14

Friday December 14

Our day...

We began our day by thinking about peaceful problem solving.  We created skits that showed peaceful ways to solve playground problems.  

Again, we went in our math groups today and continued to focus on addition and subtraction.  

We used the arguments we brainstormed yesterday to debate the question:  should children be given a time limit of 30 minutes of green time a day?  Students were assigned a perspective (either children or parents) from which to debate from.  Very interesting arguments emerged from both sides throughout the debate!

We were so thrilled to have so many parents attend our One World Drumming performance today.  Thank you parents! We were very excited to show our new skills!

Reminders...

Please continue to work on your Words Their Way lists.

If you have any books from our Learning Commons at home, please make sure you return them to school to either renew or return them.  Overdue book notices will be coming next week.

Instrumental Club notices came home today with those students who are interested in joining in the new year.  

Ask me about...

what I am most proud of learning, accomplishing, doing this week.

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Thursday December 13

Thursday December 13, 2018

Our day in our words...

We did a self-assessment today about our writing notebooks.  We had to think about whether we choose writing often, our spelling, punctuation and what help we need.  

In PE we played full body Rock, Paper, Scissors.  It was fun!

We got into our new math groups today for addition and subtraction.  We worked on addition today in our groups.

Today in inquiry we had a question:  should children have a time limit on their screen time?  We made a t-chart and on one side we put 'children' and they wanted screen time.  On the other side we put 'parents'   - they only wanted 30 minutes of screen time. We had to make arguments from each point of view.

Reminders...

Yesterday we met the 2 incredible student teachers who will be joining our Pod full time for 14 weeks in January.  Both student teachers are in their final year of studying Education at Mount Royal University.  We are excited to have Ms. Baxter and Miss. Merilovich join us!  Ms. Baxter wanted to share this introduction with you.


The One World Drumming Performances take place this afternoon and tomorrow morning (Friday). Similar to the Sound Kreations Celebration in October, we are going to be doing smaller group presentations very quickly. We will open the doors to parents 5 minutes before each presentation begins and when the presentations are over, we will ask parents to exit out the gym doors onto the compound to facilitate getting the groups into the school quickly.  Here is the Performance Schedule:

One World Drumming Performance Schedule
Time
Pod Sharing
Teachers
Thursday
2:30pm
PM Kindergarten
Khan/Watterson
Friday:
9:30
AM Kindergarten
Khan/Conley/Watterson
Friday
10:00
Kindness Grade 1/2
Cox/Low/Blenkhorne/Disher/Le
Friday
10:30
Joy Grade 1/2
Chang/KCambpell/Sigurdson/Ross
Friday
11:00
Peace Grade 3/4
MCampbell/Huebner/Lawson
Friday
11:30
Hope Grade 3/4
Danchuk/SCambpell/Neily/Kai



















A UNIQUE
SCHOOL FUNDRAISER FOR THE HOPE POD FAMILIES
JJ
‘MR. KELLY’S KID PHOTOS’

Mr. Kelly, our Fine & Performing Arts Teacher, has framed some of the photos of Hope Pod students taken during their Peace Assembly preparation in November. He is offering them to Hope Pod families as a unique, 100% return to the school fundraising effort.
There are 3 sizes of framed photos randomly printed and framed. Families will be able to see their photos on display at the Drumming Celebration on Friday, December 14/18.
If you would like to purchase your child’s framed photo, they are priced at $35, $40 & $50, depending on the size. (Unfortunately, we cannot fill any special orders – we only have what is available)
Families can pay with cash, credit or debit in the office
Thank you
JJ 

Ask me about...

the arguments about screen time limits that I have already recorded in my journal for both children and parents.  

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Wednesday December 12, 2018

Our day in our words...

We had fun in Fine & Performing Arts with Mr. Kelly. We took pictures and today we learned about 'frame in frame'.

All of the classes did One World Drumming.  We learned a new song.  We played games and some of our hands hurt after it.

During inquiry we learned more about homelessness and watched a couple of videos about it. I discovered that homeless shelters have bowls and furniture that can fill up homes when a person finally gets one.  I never knew that homeless shelters helped people find homes.  We made questions for Daniel, who works at a homeless shelter, and will talk to us about homelessness on Monday.

We did 2 rounds of Daily 5 today and got a word list to bring home to practice our words for Words Their Way.  (See reminders section for more information...)

In PE we played soccer and before that we warmed up by playing 'Garbage in My Yard' but we changed it to 'Garbage in the Coulee'.

In CCT we got to watch Ratatouille, the movie.

Reminders...


Dear Parents,

The Hope Pod has embarked on their word work journey and you will now begin to see a sheet of word cards coming home in your child’s backpack about every two weeks.  These words have been introduced in class and students have discovered the patterns with their teacher.  Students are working on lists that are appropriate to them as determined by their teachers.  The groups are fluid and as they progress the words will target more challenging patterns.

Students will continue to work on these words over the next 8 days at school and at home.  After this they will do a quick “check in” quiz to see if they understand the patterns and can spell these words and other similar words before moving on to the next set of words.  We will give you a warning in the blog so that you know when the check-up will be.

How can you help? Have your child cut the words apart and store them in an envelope or zip lock bag.  Please do not drill the words!  Your child can do the sort for you, explain the sort pattern, play games with the words, do a timed speed sort to challenge themselves, look for other words in books they are reading at home that fit the pattern, etc.  Practice should not be more than 10 minutes at a time and should be fun.  

The Hope Pod Teachers


Tomorrow is choir at lunch!

Tomorrow is also the last day to bring Families Helping Families donations.  Thank you families for your INCREDIBLY GENEROUS donations!

Performance Schedule for One World Drumming Performances – December 14 2018
Time
Pod Sharing
Teachers
9:30
AM Kindergarten
Khan/Conley/Watterson
10:00
Kindness Grade 1/2
Cox/Low/Blenkhorne/Disher/Le
10:30
Joy Grade 1/2
Chang/KCambpell/Sigurdson/Ross
11:00
Peace Grade 3/4
Campbell/Huebner/Lawson
11:30
Hope Grade 3/4
Danchuk/Campbell/Neily/Kai


Ask me about...

what surprised me or what I now know about homelessness that I didn't know before watching the videos today?

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Tuesday December 11, 2018

Our day in our words...

We heard a band at Twelve Mile Coulee School.  The bands were from Bowness High School and Twelve Mile Coulee School.  The grade 7, 8 and 9s played as well as the Jazz Ensemble and Stage Bands.

We read the book, The Pain and The Great One by Judy Blume.  It was a great example of different points of view.  

In gym, all of us played soccer and on the sidelines we put players that were 'off' to help us keep the ball in.

We did Words Their Way and then afterwards we did Daily 5.  More information about the Words Their Way program will be coming so parents can support students at home.

Reminders...

Families Helping Families contributions need to be at school by Thursday December 13.  A HUGE thank you to those of you have already contributed.  We appreciate your generosity.

We are excited to share with you our drumming which we have been working on with One World Drumming.  Our celebration will take place on Friday.  Times of our performance are below.  We hope you are able to join us!

Performance Schedule – December 14 2018


Time
Pod Sharing
Teachers
9:30
AM Kindergarten
Khan/Conley/Watterson
10:00
Kindness Grade 1/2
Cox/Low/Blenkhorne/Disher/Le
10:30
Joy Grade 1/2
Chang/KCambpell/Sigurdson/Ross
11:00
Peace Grade 3/4
Campbell/Huebner/Lawson
11:30
Hope Grade 3/4
Danchuk/Campbell/Neily/Kai

Ask me about...

What a point of view or perspective is? What were the characters' points of view in the book?

Monday, December 10, 2018

Monday December 10, 2018

Our day in our words...


During Ignite we were introduced to new activities.  One of them is tapigami (building a structure using tape) for the Beakerhead Challenge.

For literacy, we wrote stories using a picture prompt on the Smartboard.

In drumming we have new drums.  There are 3 really big drums on a stick.  They have a bell on the side.  To use the drum there are 2 wooden sticks.  One of them is thin and the other is thick.  One is to play the bell and the other is to play the drum.

For gym we played Speedball.  First, it was basketball but when the ball touched the ground the game became soccer.  It was really fun!

Reminders...

Tomorrow we are going to Twelve Mile Coulee School in the morning for their band concert.  We are very excited!  Please make sure to dress for the weather.

Families Helping Families contributions need to be at school by Thursday December 13.  A HUGE thank you to those of you have already contributed.  We appreciate your generosity.

We are excited to share with you our drumming which we have been working on with One World Drumming.  Our celebration will take place on Friday.  Times of our performance are below.  We hope you are able to join us!

Performance Schedule – December 14 2018
Time
Pod Sharing
Teachers
9:30
AM Kindergarten
Khan/Conley/Watterson
10:00
Kindness Grade 1/2
Cox/Low/Blenkhorne/Disher/Le
10:30
Joy Grade 1/2
Chang/KCambpell/Sigurdson/Ross
11:00
Peace Grade 3/4
Campbell/Huebner/Lawson
11:30
Hope Grade 3/4
Danchuk/Campbell/Neily/Kai

Ask me...

to teach you one of the math games we learned today.  These games are helping us review our basic facts as we prepare to delve more deeply into addition and subtraction in math.


Thursday, December 6, 2018

Thursday, December 6th


Our Day in Our Words...

Today we began with Ignite, as usual. In Literacy, we used visual prompts to write out our story plans. "I enjoyed it," said a student. "I also enjoyed it," said a chorus of students.
Then we had Phys. Ed., we worked on our basket ball strategies. We got a thumbs from a student. I guess it was fun.
In Math, we worked on subtraction and addition problems. We were encouraged to skip problems we had trouble with and return to them later. "The last one was really hard for me," said one student with an enthusiastic fist bump.
After lunch, we made Christmas cards for Make It Merry. The cards will be sent to homeless people to hopefully bring a bit of joy to the holiday season.



Reminders....

We will be going to TMC first thing in the morning to see a musical performance. Prepare for the walk there.

The Polar Express PJ Party is tonight! See you there!




Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Wednesday, December 5th



Our Day in Our Words...

First, we started our day with Drumming. It was awesome! We learned a new drumming beat. So cool! Then we did a Number Talk in Math. We also had the Book Truck stop by and the Book Fair was happening at the same time. That was exciting. Books galore! After that, we did Fine & Performing Arts with Mr. Kelly were we took pictures around the school. They turned out great. Look!

 

In Phys. E.d, we finished our basket ball tournament. The Shirts Team won! Whooooo! 
Then we had Daily 5 and we did one round. In CCT, we watched three short videos and we discussed the differences between them. Finally, in Inquiry, we continued the work we did in our Visual Journals about homelessness. And that was our day! How was yours?

Reminders.....

Book Fair
Our Scholastic Book Fair is open for sales to parents and students the following times:

Wed. Dec. 5 8:30 to 3:30
Thu. Dec. 6  8:30 to 3:30
Thu. Dec. 6  6:30 to 8:00 (Polar Express ticket holders only)

One World Drumming
Our drumming residency started today and the sounds of drums have filled the hallways. Our students will be learning songs to share with you on the morning of December 14th in a similar fashion to our performances from Sound Kreations. The schedule with specific times is being confirmed with our instructor today and will be available tomorrow.

Families Helping Families 
Eric Harvie families, if you are interested in helping…
We are calling on your kindness and generosity to help support a family in need at Christmas.  We are supporting 7 families from Colonel Fred J. Scott School. Each pod has been assigned a family/families to support this season. A sign up genius has been set up with the family needs and wishes. Please go to the following site to make your contribution(s):


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 store would be welcomed!
Please wrap and label all gifts/donations with who it is for.
Wrapped contributions will be due on or before:  
Thursday, December 13, 2018
In the spirit of giving this holiday season, all staff at Eric Harvie School would like to thank families in advance for their thoughts and contributions! Thank you for making a family’s Christmas a little brighter!!

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Tuesday, December 4th

Our Day in Our Words...

To start off our day, after the usual Ignite activities had ended, we had a quick spelling test. This was just a review of the words that we had been working with for the last little while. After that, we went to visit the book fair in the learning commons. It was also a popcorn Fun Snack day! During Math, we revisited the Fibonacci sequence that we had looked at yesterday. We examined how the sequence can be observed in nature. It was all very exciting. After lunch, we had our team basket ball matches. These games will continue again tomorrow! Following this, we did Daily 5 and then began our Inquiry were we read a book about homelessness and considered social stigmas and how we could help those less fortunate. To end the day, we read a bit more of Hatchet.
What will happen next?? Tune in next time!

Reminders...

Book Fair
Our Scholastic Book Fair is open for sales to parents and students the following times:

Wed. Dec. 5 8:30 to 3:30
Thu. Dec. 6  8:30 to 3:30
Thu. Dec. 6  6:30 to 8:00 (Polar Express ticket holders only)

One World Drumming
Our drumming residency started today and the sounds of drums have filled the hallways. Our students will be learning songs to share with you on the morning of December 14th in a similar fashion to our performances from Sound Kreations. The schedule with specific times is being confirmed with our instructor today and will be available tomorrow.

Families Helping Families 
Eric Harvie families, if you are interested in helping…
We are calling on your kindness and generosity to help support a family in need at Christmas.  We are supporting 7 families from Colonel Fred J. Scott School. Each pod has been assigned a family/families to support this season. A sign up genius has been set up with the family needs and wishes. Please go to the following site to make your contribution(s):


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 store would be welcomed!
Please wrap and label all gifts/donations with who it is for.
Wrapped contributions will be due on or before:  
Thursday, December 13, 2018
In the spirit of giving this holiday season, all staff at Eric Harvie School would like to thank families in advance for their thoughts and contributions! Thank you for making a family’s Christmas a little brighter!!

Monday, December 3, 2018

Monday, December 3rd

Our Words in Our Way....

Our day began with an exciting visit from the Grey Cup! A big thanks to Mark and Andrea Kilam for bringing it over! After that, we had a healthy dose of Physical Education. After that, we continued our Words Their Way work where we searched our reading books for words that ended in either -k, -ck, -ke. During our Inquiry, we reviewed the photos we took during our community walk on Friday. We had a discussion about the needs of a community and we thought critically about how Tuscany might be fulfilling these needs. In the afternoon, we did our first session of One World Drumming where we learned some basic beats and a bit about African drumming culture. Following this, we read the book Fly Away Home and engaged in a discussion about homelessness. Finally, we had math where we learned about the Fibonacci Sequence. It was a good day and we can't wait for tomorrow!



Reminders....

One World Drumming:

Our drumming residency started today and the sounds of drums have filled the hallways. Our students will be learning songs to share with you on the morning of December 14th in a similar fashion to our performances from Sound Kreations. The schedule with specific times is being confirmed with our instructor today and will be available tomorrow.

Eric Harvie families, if you are interested in helping…
We are calling on your kindness and generosity to help support a family in need at Christmas.  We are supporting 7 families from Colonel Fred J. Scott School. Each pod has been assigned a family/families to support this season. A sign up genius has been set up with the family needs and wishes. Please go to the following site to make your contribution(s):


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 store would be welcomed!
Please wrap and label all gifts/donations with who it is for.
Wrapped contributions will be due on or before:  
Thursday, December 13, 2018
In the spirit of giving this holiday season, all staff at Eric Harvie School would like to thank families in advance for their thoughts and contributions! Thank you for making a family’s Christmas a little brighter!!

Friday, November 30, 2018

November 30th, 2018

Our day in our words......

Today we walked around our own community of Tuscany.   We were taking photo evidence to answer the question "How does our community meet our needs?"    We were to take photo's to gather evidence of how Tuscany meets our needs as people and a community.


There was a fantastic Peace Assembly put on my the Hope Pod.

Reminders

Sports Club is beginning next week, Wednesday, December 5.  It runs every Wednesday and Thursday after Lunch, starting at 11:45 a.m.  The club will meet in the Thunder Dome. 

Interested Grade Three and Four students must complete the electronic form and submit it by Tuesday, December 4. 

There is a limit of 40 participants.  If more than 40 students apply, a random draw will be held to determine the participants.

Activities will include Soccer, Basketball, Polish Handball, and Badminton. 

Sports Club Application Form:

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Our Day in Our Words

Today during IGNITE some kids made Donald Trump's Wall (Ironically I believe). Some people completed a math puzzle called Same Sum. The kids hub drawing club was in full effect!

We had 3 rounds of Daily 5 again followed by Words Their Way (blind sort.....ask me about this). 

The we worked on our dribbling and shooting skills. Ask me about L, I, cookie jar!!

For lunch we had fun snack. All the dishes were excellent and the drink boxes were a favorite.

Then we had math. We worked on word problems that had both increasing and decreasing number patterns. 

After an outdoor movement break we looked at what we all want to see in our communities. The blue and yellow group had really different ideas from the red and green group which was great to see.




Reminders:

Mustard Seed donation (See yesterdays blog).
Tomorrow is our community walk so dress warm and bring water.


Sports Club is beginning next week, Wednesday, December 5.  It runs every Wednesday and Thursday after Lunch, starting at 11:45 a.m.  The club will meet in the Thunder Dome. 

Interested Grade Three and Four students must complete the electronic form and submit it by Tuesday, December 4. 

There is a limit of 40 participants.  If more than 40 students apply, a random draw will be held to determine the participants.

Activities will include Soccer, Basketball, Polish Handball, and Badminton. 

Sports Club Application Form: