Winter Walk

On Wednesday, December 18, Miss Caughey and Ms. Adharsingh's classes went for a winter walk to Confederation Park. We spent the morning exploring the colours of winter, sea and the propensity of snow. Many students built a snowman, tunnels, forts with the snow. Others found a stick and drew pictures in untouched snow patches. A few made snow angels, rolled or slid down the hills. We had a lot of fun investigating the wonder of snow. I hope everyone has a relaxing and restful winter break and we will see you in 2020.

 Reminders: 
Please return signed report card envelopes to Ms. Adharsingh
No school from December 20 - January 6
Book orders due January 17

Curriculum News

Curriculum News - Grade ½

December 2019

 

Dear Parents and/or Guardians,

This is a brief outline of what the Grade ½ classrooms have been working on throughout the duration of this reporting period. As each teacher’s schedule varies depending upon when she has Music and/or Physical Education, subjects including: Math, Science and Social Studies take place at different times throughout the day.

It is also important to remember that Science and Social Studies are often integrated with Language Arts.

Language Arts

We usually begin each morning with a variety of Balanced Literacy types of learning tasks including: guided reading, guided writing, shared reading, shared writing, calendar tasks, teacher read alouds, an assortment of word work activities as well as independent journal writing. Teachers have many personal favourites when it comes to what books they like to read to the students but, we select and share texts pertaining to topics which are currently being studied. We also read a high number of books about mental wellness, self-esteem, bullying, getting along with others and friendship skills.

Math       

The primary focus for the students has been learning all about creating, extending and translating repeating patterns. The Grade 2 children have also been introduced to growing or increasing patterns.

The Grade 1 students have been working on developing Number Sense by enhancing their ability to subitize arrangements of dots from 0 to 10, counting by 1s up to 100, skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s up to 100, representing numbers from 0 to 20 in a variety of ways as well as working on mental recall of the basic addition/subtraction facts up 20.

The Grade 2 children have been introduced to the strand of Statistics and Probability. They have engaged in a variety of graphing tasks which include: conducting surveys, collecting data in the form of tally marks and interpreting the data in the form of bar graphs and pictographs. The students have also been developing Number Sense by participating in a wide assortment of learning tasks revolving around the use of dice games (i.e. Hit 100, Hit 0), Power of Ten cards and problem-solving types of activities. 

Science

Creating Colour and Seasonal Changes are the two units of study which have been presented this term.

Throughout the Creating Colour unit, students have engaged in learning tasks pertaining to primary colours, secondary colours, tints, shades, value and tones. They have conducted various experiments relating to colour (i.e. chromatography where they learned the colour black is actually made up of all of the other colours).

Throughout our study of Seasonal Changes, the students had an opportunity to go on a Community Walk to Confederation Park to explore the changes in nature as we transitioned from summer to fall (ie. colour changes, leaves falling). We also went to the Leighton Art Centre where we had the opportunity to discuss animal patterns as they get ready for winter. We read many stories about fall, collected natural found objects and created nature collages.

       

Social Studies

                        

In Social Studies, we have begun the unit of study entitled, “My Family, My History and My Community.” Students have been discussing or bringing in items from home to share their family’s heritage, traditions, and celebrations with their peers. We have talked about all of the different languages students speak at home and have engaged in whole group discussions about how every family is special with their own unique culture.

Physical Education

The students have been developing their basic skills (ie. locomotor, non-locomotor) in the areas of Cooperative Games, Skipping, Soccer, Volleyball, Badminton and Curling. Throughout these units, students have also been working on developing the skills of sportsmanship, fair play, teamwork and communication needed to be successful in team activities.

Health

Making healthy food choices, engaging in physical fitness, establishing positive friendships, setting personal goals and mental wellness are all integral components of the Health program. 

Sincerely,

The Grade ½ Team

*Please Note – You can access more information about the Alberta Program of Studies by

  going to the link below:

https://www.learnalberta.ca/content/mychildslearning/

Floor Curling

For the last 2 weeks we have been learning the sport of curling. We first practiced the curling stance and pointing to the target. Then we released the rock so it rolls to the target. We self-evaluated every time we "threw a rock" so we would either roll it a little harder or lighter the next time so we can get it in the house and hopefully on the button. Then we learned to bump the other team's rock away from the house and get our rock in. The last few days that we played, we counted a point for the closest rock to the button and for the quietist team to retrieve their stones at the end of each round. We played many different teams throughout our class time.

Winter Celebration

Hello Families,

Please join us this Thursday December 12 between 6-8pm for carolling, make and give winter activities, buskers and some warm drinks (hot chocolate and cider). Some of the activities will include stuffing socks with the toiletry donations for the Mustard Seed, bird seed feeders, letters for seniors and place mats. 

Please bring cash to purchase drinks and make donations. 

The children are so excited to give back to the community this winter.

We look forward to seeing you all there!🎄

Animal Research

This week we started learning about research on animals. First, we learned how to organize information using headings in our "flip books". As a large group we read sentences about bears and then underlined the important information. In the flip book, students found the correct page to add a "jot note". Students learned to only write 3 or 4 words from a sentence (not complete sentences at this time). I want the students to know that we always write sentences in their own words when we do inquiry work.

For our animal inquiry project, students chose their own animal that prepares for winter. They are working in a group using non-fiction books from the public and school library as well as using iPads for internet access.

Letters to Santa

This week we learned how to write a friendly letter. Friendly letters are written for people that live far away. There are many reasons to write a friendly letter. For example, to make people feel happy, to apologize or to say thank you.

We learned the parts of a letter and then we wrote our first letter as a class and sent it to Miss Caughey's class. 

Then we wanted to write letters to SANTA! We brainstormed lots of Christmas type words that we add to our Santa letters. When we finished writing, we drew Santa some amazing pictures.

Leighton Art Centre Field Trip

On Thursday November 14,  we went to the Leighton Art Centre. It took us  one hour to get there on the school bus because it is outside of Calgary. When we got there we went into the red house which is the main studio. The red house used to be a one room school house that was moved to the property many years ago.

The first activity we did was a blind contour of our partner across from us. They turned out super funny and weird. Then we learned about our first art project which was a wire sculpture of a person. We followed the instructor, Coreen, to make sure that the proportions were correct so I didn't end up with one leg longer than the other. When the wire person was finished we got to dress our person up into its own identity. Some of us even put accessories to add details.

Then we went for a walk to see Mrs. and Mr. Leighton's house. It is now a museum and art gallery for the public to see. We learned that Mrs. Leighton loved to teach art in her house. She made batik fabric and stamps out of wood. Mr and Mrs. Leighton loved to paint mountains! It was a good place to have their house. Mr. Leighton worked for the CP Railway and would paint the landscapes he saw while travelling on the train.

Our second project was working with clay. We practiced using different tools to make textures on our clay cookie. Then we created a winter scene using what we learned. At school, we will paint our winter landscape projects when they dry.

We went on a nature walk and saw lots of different antlers and bones from animals that inhabit the area. Then we went up to a place called Echo Hill. As a team, we yelled the word "Echo" and it bounced off the mountains and came back to us so we could hear it.

It was a fun learning day!

 

Working with our Buddies

On Monday afternoon, we worked with our Grade 5/6 buddies. We talked about the importance and reasons that we acknowledge the land that we live on. When we gather natural materials we need to remember to say "thank you" for giving me this living thing.

Mrs. Kousouris took a class with a professor that taught her that Wy'zun (wise one) exists in nature. She wanted to bring her learning to us so that we can understand that there is a strong connection between nature and other living beings.

We began our work with designing our house for our Wy'zun. First we sketched our houses with our Big buddies and then we labelled the parts of our houses.

An example of a Wy'zun house drawing

Volunteers Needed

On Thursday November 14, 2019 Ms. Adharsingh and Miss Caughey's Grade 1/2 classrooms will be attending a field trip to the Leighton Arts Centre. Field trip forms will be going home today. Please fill out and return as soon as possible. 

I am looking for 4 parent volunteers to assist us with the trip for the day. If you are able to attend the trip and have a current police security clearance with the CBE, please let me know by email or on the form and I will contact you through email.

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Ms. Adharsingh

Halloween Activities

Thursday was an exciting day for the students with the anticipation of trick or treating that evening with friends and family. We were engaged in curriculum based activities with a Halloween twist. In the morning the story Creepy Carrots was read to the students and then with the letters in the title of the book, they were to create a repeating pattern. In the afternoon, the students challenged Ms. Adharsingh to a making words competition using the letters in
H A P P Y  H A L L O W E E N. In pairs, students were to come up with as many words as possible. The Grade 1/2's did a great job and many groups found 20 or more words. Unfortunately they were no match for Ms. Adharsingh who found 59 words. Maybe next time they will get me! I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. Reminder: candy needs to stay at home!

Mixing Colours Centres

We used primary colours in our centres to create secondary colours. At the centres, we only got red, yellow and blue to create new colours.  Each centre had different materials to experiment with such as coloured water, Mr. Sketch Markers, paint, shaving cream, flashlights and transparent materials on light tables. For one of the centres, we used black Mr. Sketch markers on coffee filters then we sprayed water on it to uncover some of the other colours used to make black. We saw blue, red, orange, and brown, purple and pink when the black was gone.

Writing our Colour Stories

In our class, we read a story called "Red is Best". We decided on our favourite colour and began writing our own Red is Best story. It is a pattern story to help students develop their sentence structure and remember sight words and colour words that were used in their story. Each students story is unique to them.

For example,

I like my grey sneakers the best.
My mom says, "Wear your blue sneakers
But my grey sneakers make me run faster.
I like my geeky sneakers the best.

By Zander

I like my Red is best story because it is funny. ~Faye

Confederation Park Community Walk

On Friday October 4, we had our first community walk to Confederation Park. The students observed many patterns on the way to the park and were engaged in sketching and painting from their observations of the park. The best part of the walk was building with leaves. Students built leaf piles, buried each other, jumped in them and threw them in the air like confetti. It was a beautiful sight to see! Students became one with nature.

Orange Shirt Day

On Monday September 30, 2019, Capitol Hill School will recognize the Indigenous children who were sent away to residential schools in Canada by encouraging students to wear an orange shirt. Orange Shirt Day began in Williams Lake in 2013 and has since spread to schools across B.C. and Canada.To learn more about orange shirt day and Phyllis' story, please refer to the link provided.

The “orange shirt” in Orange Shirt Day refers to the new shirt that Phyllis Webstad was given to her by her grandmother for her first day of school at St. Joseph’s Mission residential school in British Columbia. When Phyllis got to school, they took away her clothes, including her new shirt. It was never returned. To Phyllis, the colour orange has always reminded her of her experiences at residential school and, as she has said, “how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying and no one cared.”

http://www.orangeshirtday.org

Terry Fox Day!

On Thursday September 26, 2019 the students in Capitol Hill School were apart of the National School Run in support of the Terry Fox Foundation. In the morning we attended an assembly where we watched acknowledge the land, sang O'Canada, watched an inspiring video of Terry's Marathon of Hope journey, heard Terry's words from his diary.

In our classroom, we made a scrapbook page of Terry Fox and images of Canada and worked through a Terry Fox math challenge. It was challenging for many students!

At 1:00 we met our buddies from Mrs. Kousouris' class to run the field. Each loop was 0.5 km long! Our goal as a school was to take Terry to the Pacific Ocean. We ran enough kilometers to get him to Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Design Challenge #1

This week students were given a challenge to build a tower. The criteria the students were given was the tower must be free standing and as tall as possible. The only materials available to use were straws, popsicle sticks, masking tape, elastics. Students collaborated with a partner to design and build a tower. There were lots of conversations between each pair of students so they re-adjusted their tower or added to it to make it more stable. Next week we will write about our successes, challenges encountered and the next steps to make the tower better.

Beginning The Year with Sorting

This week we have begun discussing different places we find sorting in our world. Students came up with lots of ideas. For example, food at the grocery store, clothes in my drawer, animals in the zoo, library books, classroom supplies, and many more. Through exploration, the Grade 1/2's figured out that we can sort items by colour, shape, size and thickness. Then we began working with Attribute blocks to organize our work using colour. Students recorded the information into their notebook.