November 30th, 2016

Hello families and friends,

Today we started with looking at the difference between domestic and wild.  In the comments below, post an animal that could be both wild and domestic.  Then we worked on the /l/ sound to go with the /r/ sound that we worked on yesterday.  We also continued working on our Read to Someone and Read to Self skills, and went to the Learning Commons.  In the afternoon we finished up our list of doubles facts and played some new math games.  Then the students worked on their snowflake art that we started last week.  Those that had finished got to try a more challenging fractal art piece.

There is no school on Friday for students.

Help us bring some Christmas joy to our city’s homeless

The Fill a Sock, Fill a Need campaign provides a Christmas “stocking” of essential needs and small personal items to those in need.

We are asking each student to donate $5 (or more J) to help fill socks to be donated to the Drop In Centre.  If possible, we would also ask students to donate a pair of new, warm, adult sized socks.

We strongly encourage students to earn their donation money by doing chores around the house - shoveling snow, taking out the garbage…etc.

Tomorrow will be the last day for collecting socks and money.  Help us with this final stretch to reach our goal! 

Have a great evening,

Mr. Soulliere

November 28th, 2016

Hello families and friends,

Today we started our day with the book "How Cold Was It?", and talked about "triple scoop words".  These are more interesting and exciting ways to say our common words like "good", "big", and "hungry".  In the comments below, post a "single scoop word" with a "triple scoop word" for it.  Then we started some work on descriptive writing by coming up with "triple scoop words" to describe what a dog looks like, what it does, and how it acts.  Then we continued practicing our Read to Self and Read to Someone skills.  We ended our morning with our words of the week.  They are "cold", "winter", "mittens", "tuque", "snow", and "boots".  Can you make a sentence that uses all six words of the week?  In the afternoon we started with our calendar work, then started looking at our doubles facts in math.  We also learned a new math game, Doubles Go Fish.  For this game, the students have to ask for the card that is the answer to their number sentence, or the number sentence that makes their answer.  After that we watched a video on migration, and started a writing page explaining what migration is and showing three animals that migrate.  We ended our day with our stick handling skills in gym and practicing our Christmas concert songs with Mrs. Redwood's and Mrs. Stols' classes.

Tickets for the Christmas concert went home today.  There are two tickets for the evening show.  The afternoon performance is open to all, space permitted.  Parent Council is asking for a donation to the Food Bank by people attending the concerts.

Have a great afternoon,
Mr. Soulliere

November 22nd, 2016

Hello families and friends,

Yesterday we read the story "Andrew's Loose Tooth" by Robert Munsch, and then worked on a retell using 'first', 'next', 'then', and 'last'.  We worked on finishing it up today.  Then we continued practicing our Read to Self and Read to Someone skills.  We finished our morning yesterday with our words of the week.  Our words for this week are "came", "for", "said", "weekend", and "at" for all students.  This morning we finished by watching a video about hibernation.  We talked about what we remember from last week and some of the animals that hibernate.  Then we started writing some facts about hibernation.  In the afternoon we have started by using our representation skills that we have learned in math to show how we can solve some addition problems.  We used a number line, ten frames, and an array.  We ended our day with gym and music.

Words for the songs for our Christmas concert went home last week.  Please email me at <gasoulliere@cbe.ab.ca> if your child did not get a copy.

Scholastic Book orders are due back by this Friday, November 25th.

A reminder that parent teacher conferences are this Thursday evening and Friday morning.  If you have not already booked a time for this you can do so from My CBE Account.  Due to conferences, there is no school on Friday.

Help us bring some Christmas joy to our city’s homeless

The Fill a Sock, Fill a Need campaign provides a Christmas “stocking” of essential needs and small personal items to those in need.

We are asking each student to donate $5 (or more J) to help fill socks to be donated to the Drop In Centre.  If possible, we would also ask students to donate a pair of new, warm, adult sized socks.

We strongly encourage students to earn their donation money by doing chores around the house - shoveling snow, taking out the garbage…etc.

We will be collecting money from students between November 21^st and December 1^st.  We will also be collecting cash donations during Parent Teacher Interviews. 

Have a great afternoon,
Mr. Soulliere

November 17th, 2016

Hello families and friends,

Just a quick note that tomorrow is Popcorn Fun Friday.  Parent volunteers will be coming to the classroom to sell small bags of popcorn for $2 each.

Also, Lifetouch Picture retake order forms are due in by tomorrow.

Have a great evening,
Mr. Soulliere

November 16th, 2016

Hello families and friends,

Today we started off with our lead-up to our Daily 5 work; we did one round of 20 minutes where the students got to choose if they wanted to work on writing or independent reading, and then another round of 20 minutes where they worked on the other choice.  As we continue getting better at this we will start adding other choices for them to work on into the routine.  This is also time where I get to work with individual students or small groups on reading skills.  After that we worked on representing numbers using four of the different ways that we have looked at so far this year: arrays; ten frames; tally marks; and pictures.  In the afternoon we started with our calendar work.  Then we read the book "The Vowel Family" by Sally M. Walker, and did the /o/ sound for our word work.  After that we watched a video about the seasons.  What kind of weather do we get in the winter here in Calgary?  Post your answers in the comments below.  Then we tried doing another snowflake using our fractal art skills.  This one was quite a challenge for them.

Scholastic Book Orders have gone home.  They are due back by next Friday, November 25th.

Next Thursday evening and Friday morning are Parent Teacher Interviews.  Stay tuned for when registration for this goes live.

This Friday we will be having our second Friday Club Day.

Have a wonderful Wednesday,
Mr. Soulliere

November 14th, 2016

Hello families and friends,

Today we started our day by writing about our weekends.  Before we started we reviewed our rubric that we had created together as a group last week for what we should be looking for and working on in our writing.  We will use this to start some goal setting work tomorrow.  Then in math we practiced using the arrays that we learned about last week to represent different numbers.  This is a quick and efficient way of using a hundred chart to show a number.  After lunch we practiced our Read to Self skill.  Then we did our words of the week.  Our words of the week for this week are "as", "is", "can", and "so" for grade ones, and "happy", "funny", "pretty", and "many" for grade twos.  Then we did another fractal art activity with our buddies in room 74.  Today we did a tree. After that we went to gym and did our calendar.

All Fundscrip order forms are due back tomorrow.

On Wednesday we will be going back to the Learning Commons.  Please help your child to remember their books.

Have a great evening,
Mr. Soulliere

November 9th, 2016

Hello families and friends,

Today we started off with re-looking at what our good Read to Someone looks and sounds like, and then practicing it.  We made it for 12 minutes as a whole group.  Then we practiced our Read to Self and went to the Learning Commons to take out new books.  After that we spent some time looking at a new tool for our math, a 100-dot array.  We looked at different things we can make and show on the array, and then practiced showing how we can make and represent numbers using them.  In the afternoon we looked at some writing that we did yesterday and talked about what kinds of things we are looking for in good writing.  Next week we will use this to start some goal setting for our writing.  Then we had a surprise practice lockdown!  The students did an excellent job with this.  Then we continued working on the coding work that we started with Ms. Handelsman.  After that we had gym and finished off our day with a couple Robert Munsch stories.

Tomorrow we will be having our Remembrance Day assembly.  Students that are involved in Beavers, Cubs, Sparks, and Brownies are welcome to wear their uniforms tomorrow if they wish.

Have a great evening,
Mr. Soulliere

November 7th, 2016

Hello families and friends,

This morning we started with writer's workshop.  We talked about what to do if you are not sure how to spell a word.  Then we wrote about our weekend and did author's chair.  We continued working on giving feedback using 1 compliment, 1 critique, and 1 question.  Then we played a game where we practiced showing and reading body language.  They had a lot of fun with this.  We finished off our morning working on our Read to Self and Read to Someone skills.

In the afternoon we did our words of the week.  They are "eat", "thank", "try", and "stop" for grade ones, and "walk", "call", "draw", and "start" for grade twos.  After that we did some work with the hundred charts.  First we played a game of Race to 100, then we worked on number recognition and using the hundred chart for counting.  We finished off our day with gym.

Cranston School is joining with the Veterans Food Bank to collect non-perishable food items, as well as cash donations to purchase  Co-op gift cards for veterans to use to purchase fresh produce and meats.  We will be collecting donations until November 15th, so please send in what you can.  If your child is in rooms 54, 55, or 82, and you are planning to attend our Remembrance Day celebration on November 10th, we ask that you bring a donation to support this cause.  Our school goal is to fill all 4 boxes that were sent for the food drive, but we will always welcome more!  If you are able to make a cash donation, even if it is only your spare change, we will have a jar in the office for students to add to.  Thank you for all of your support!!!

Have a great evening,

Mr. Soulliere

November 3rd, 2016

Hello families and friends,

Today we started by continuing work on the mouse story strips that we started on Monday; the students were given six pictures of a mouse getting a Halloween pumpkin that they needed to cut out and put into the correct sequence, then write a story to go with the pictures.  After that we had our first practice lockdown of the year.  We did a great job with this; when administration opened the door they didn't even know we were there!  Then we went on a walk down to the windmill, did a Fall scavenger hunt, and sketched a tree.

In the afternoon we worked on our first "nose sound", /m/.  Ask your child why it is called a "nose sound".  Then we looked at our temperature graphs that we made through September and October, and we worked on some questions that tested the students' ability to read the information on the graphs.  Ask your child about this.  We finished off our day with gym and music.

Cranston School is joining with the Veterans Food Bank to collect non-perishable food items, as well as cash donations to purchase  Co-op gift cards for veterans to use to purchase fresh produce and meats.  We will be collecting donations until November 15th, so please send in what you can.  If your child is in rooms 54, 55, or 82, and you are planning to attend our Remembrance Day celebration on November 10th, we ask that you bring a donation to support this cause.  Our school goal is to fill all 4 boxes that were sent for the food drive, but we will always welcome more!  If you are able to make a cash donation, even if it is only your spare change, we will have a jar in the office for students to add to.  Thank you for all of your support!!!

Have a great evening,
Mr. Soulliere

November 1st, 2016

Hello families and friends,

Yesterday we spent our morning working on a lot of different activities involving our pumpkins with room 72.  The students practiced doing some estimation and predictions, measuring, comparing, counting large numbers, and using their senses for writing.  A few pictures from the groups working in our room can be found at the bottom of this post.  In the afternoon, we worked on some Halloween themed art, math, and writing.

Today we started by continuing the writing work we began yesterday and finishing up our Halloween "walking" story that we began last week.  Then we watched a video on given criticism and feedback, and the students had an opportunity to share their work and practice giving feedback on the pictures that the students had drawn.  We finished off our morning practicing our good Read to Self and Read to Someone.  In the afternoon, we started by working on a visualization exercise.  Why do we do these exercises and how do they help us?  Post your answer in the comments below.  Then we continued working on the math exercise that we had started yesterday.  After that we worked on a new vowel sound in our word work; the /i/ sound.  Ask your child how this sound is the same and how it is different from our last vowel sound, /a/.  We finished off our day with gym and music.

A few notices and reminders:

• FundScrip forms will be going home with the students today.  These are due back by Monday, November 14th.
• It looks like the weather is going to cooperate, so we will be going on our community walk this Thursday morning.  My plan is to leave the school around 9:30 and return for recess/lunch time.  If you are available to help out with this please email me at <gasoulliere@cbe.ab.ca>.
• As always, if you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me at any time.  I will always do my best to get back to you within 24 hours.

Have a great afternoon,
Mr. Soulliere