My how the weeks just seem to be speeding by, one second we've just started and the next we are cruising into November already. As with our previous weeks the learning was fast, furious, and of course fun. We continued our core units of study in multiplication, the Regions of Alberta, and language skills involving increased phonemic awareness and breaking words into syllables as tools for improving the decoding of unknown words in reading. This past week we also began work in our new Science unit involving the study of Simple Machines. Our first few lessons related to the topic of friction and how simple machines like rollers can help reduce friction. Rollers make "work" easier by reducing the amount "force" needed to overcome the friction and subsequently make completing the task easier.
Next week we will be studying the themes of remembrance and what it means to be a hero in advance of Remembrance Day ceremonies being held on November 9th at 1:40PM here at the school.
And now onto the curricular stuff...
In Math the students continued to develop their fluency and accurate recall with multiplication equations involving facts 0 through 10. This is definitely a skill that improves only through continued exposure to opportunities for repeated practice - the more they see the problems and the correct solution, the more likely they are to make the mental connections needed to commit the information to long term memory. We will continue to get that needed practice here in class and additional practice at home will undoubtedly help solidify that needed base of basic facts so that we can continue increasing the challenge of more digits to the problems. All the kids have a shared document on their Google drives ("Multiplication Links") listing websites that will allow them a fun way to practice their computation skills.
In Language Arts, a quick reminder to everyone to keep up with the home reading. Our individual student monthly goal is 400 minutes, which is roughly 15 minutes per night. As of right now the entries into the reading logs have been sporadic for many students (and some I've yet to see). Reading fluency and comprehension skills are important life skills that require practice so please encourage a few minutes of reading every night. The next draw date for the Oilers Home Reading program is mid November and it would be great if everyone reached their goal and we could enter the class into the draw!
Congratulations to Sarah, who was our second home reading winner of the Laser City passes for the month of October. The Laser City reading logs will continue to come home daily (green folders) provided they have been returned to the school. I check them daily.
In Science we have jumped right into the study of Simple Machines. Like I told the students this is very much a hands-on unit as we will be building and testing a variety of different gizmos in class to see how the simple machines within them help to make work easier. Over the next few weeks we will be working with wheels and axles, gears, pulleys, levers (class 1, 2, and 3), inclined planes, wedges, and screws. With the upcoming building projects I will be sending home a note next week listing some of the "construction materials" that can be wrangled out of the recycling bag and sent to class instead.
In Social Studies the individual project presentations have continued. I have been really impressed with many of the projects and with the amount of information that is being presented. Our final presentations will wrap up next week and then there will be a quick quiz based off of all the regional information that has been presented, i.e. what animals can be found in the Grasslands? What are some land forms you would find in the Rocky Mountain region? The class is aware there is a quiz about all the presentations so they have been good about keeping an attentive ear and eye on all the presenters. As a guide to study have them go through their own presentations. There will be regional questions relating to location within the province, unique land forms, animals and vegetation, natural resources, climate, communities located within each region and the types of recreational activities found within the regions.
Parent-Teacher Conferences/Term 1 Report Cards
As I had sent out earlier this week report cards for Term 1 will go home on Friday, November 25, and parent conferences will be held the following week on Tuesday, November 29th, 3:45 –6:00 p.m. and 6:15—8:00 p.m (i.e. last conference at 7:45p.m.). and on Thursday, December 1st, 3:45 - 6:00 p.m.
Conference times for all students will be arranged on-line only starting on Monday, November 21st.
Registration Instructions for Parent/Teacher Conference
As per the information shared in this month's school newsletter here is the procedure for registering and booking your upcoming parent-teacher conference. Parents click on the “Register” tab and fill in the registration form to create an account. Once parents have successfully registered, they can log-in to the system and then must register their students by name.
To Book Appointments Select Teachers Parents can schedule appointments for any student that they have added to the system by clicking on the “Appointments” button beside the student’s name. The parent is then taken to a page where they can select the teachers with whom they wish to meet. Multiple teachers can be selected by using the “Ctrl” key on a PC keyboard or the “Command” key on a Macintosh keyboard.
Teacher Appointment Calendars Parents are shown the calendars of the selected teachers. It also shows them appointment times that are unavailable for booking. Parents can select appointment times by simply clicking the check boxes or by clicking in the time block beside the check box. Once an appointment time has been selected it will change to green. If no appointments are available, click on the call back button at the top of the list. It is not possible for parents to select more than one appointment at the same time or to select more than one appointment with the same teacher. Javascript enabled browsers are required for validation on the screen.
Appointments Booked Successfully Once the appointments are booked the screen will display the list of appointments for the student. When the parent clicks on the “Return to Home Page” button, they will return to the home page with their students and their appointments listed. They can book additional appointments, or they can book appointments for another student.
Parents with More Than One Student If a parent has more than one student at the school, the teacher appointment calendars will have an additional feature displayed when the second (or third, etc.) student bookings are made. If a sibling has an appointment booked, the student’s name will be displayed for a parent, thus making it easier to book adjacent appointments.
Printing Parent Appointment Schedule From the home page it is possible for you to generate a PDF document with the list of your appointments. By clicking on the “Print Appointments” button a window will pop-up asking the parent what they wish to do with the document.. In Internet Explorer, it is recommended that people click the “Save” button, save the file and then click “Open” to view the file. IE sometimes has a problem downloading and opening PDF documents that are generated from web sites. Click “Open” after the download is complete to view the PDF. Parent Schedule PDF The generated PDF will list the appointment times, the student and the teacher with whom the appointment is booked.
If you have any further questions you may contact the school @ 780-986-5991. Thank you.
Thank you!
A big thank you to all the families that were able to send in treats for the class Halloween party. As you can see the treats were a big success! Thank you again to the parent reps for coordinating.
Important Upcoming Events/Dates
Wednesday, November 9 - Remembrance Day Theme Day - Wear Red
Wednesday, November 9 - Remembrance Day Ceremony @ 1:40PM
Thursday, November 10 - Mid-Term Break: No School
Friday, November 11 - Remembrance Day: No School
Monday, November 14 - Spelling Test #10
Tuesday, November 15 - Social Studies Regions of Alberta Quiz
In Language Arts we continued on with our routine language activities, and shifted our writing focus this week to all about Elves! Building on our role as elves in our Christmas concert we played around with an online elf name generator and all gave ourselves elf names to use in our various writing assignments. With one task we wrote about what our daily routines would be; in another we wrote about what we did for work for Santa; and with another we wrote about how Santa got his elves.
This month's home reading Laser City winner is Jenna! 
