November 17, 2014

Families Helping families

Students have started to bring in gifts for our family that we are supporting.  Thank you to those who have brought in gifts and for those that have already posted what they are bringing.  Please remember to use the previous Families Helping Families posts to indicate what you are able to contribute for your class's family.

Students have been reminded to go onto both Razkids and Mathletics 1-2 times per week.  If your child is having difficulties logging in, please let your teacher know.  This is an important part of your child's homework so we encourage your child to do this weekly.

Literacy and Numeracy Night

If you have not yet returned the form indicating that you will be attending the literacy and numeracy night on Thursday, November 20, please send it in tomorrow.  Thank you

Good Guys and GirlPower's Friendology notes are due November 20.  Please return these forms if your child is interested in participating.

Wednesday Nov.12th, 2014

Students continued to work on choosing important information from 4 different articles about Grizzly Bears and writing jot notes in their information web. We will work on this one final time tomorrow. Students will then learn about how to take information from a video clip (pausing and playing) and using this to add to their webs in jot note form. This is to help them practice for when they are researching questions of their choice during our daily 5 'research a question' time and during our big inquiry work. 

In gym, students participated in a combination of 'drum fit' and physical fitness drills. 

In math students in Ms. Rauser's group are creatively sorting numbers from 100-10,000 using a venn diagram (string). They are required to use higher level thinking skills to work through what comparing strategies would work and what would not. Communicating and working collaboartively with their partner is another aspect of this! 

Students in Mrs. Cooper were introduced to adding 3 digit by 3 digit using a variety of strategies (base ten blocks, number lines for counting, blocks and manipulatives, etc.)

Thank you to those families that have already indicated their generous donations to our sponsored families!! What a great way to teach students about the spirit of giving. This will be our focus for this initiative over the next three weeks. :0) A reminder to leave a comment on your teachers (RAUSER or COOPER)' s 'Families Helping Families' blog post to let other families know what has been purchased/donated and where the need is still. 

SCHOLASTIC HOLIDAY BOOK ORDERS will be due by: November 14th, 2014

** We seem to have received another type of Xmas book order and will send this home by the end of the week as it has some really great books in it! This one will have a really quick turn around (deadline) so that we can make sure to get the books in before holiday break. 

RAUSER...FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES AT CHRISTMAS

Cranston families, if you are interested in helping…

IMPORTANT à  Please send your child’s teacher a comment through this BLOG post titled ‘FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES AT CHRISTMAS’. State what item you are willing to contribute or donate based off of the needs the family has indicated so that all other families in your child’s class can see what has been contributed and what still is in need.

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!

**We welcome donations of gently used items for our families as well.

All gifts/donations will need to be wrapped and labeled to whom they are intended for. Wrapped contributions will be due by: Friday December 5^th, 2014

Comments when families were notified that they were chosen for this initiative:

"You have no idea whet this means to us." "This is truly amazing." "This could not have happened at a better time."

“Thank you for everything and for helping my family out. I’m grateful for the help complete strangers are willing to give us. It’s amazing!”

In the spirit of giving this holiday season, all staff at Cranston school would like to thank families in advance for their thoughts and contributions! Thank you for making a families Christmas a little brighter!!

COOPER ...FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES AT CHRISTMAS

Cranston families, if you are interested in helping…

IMPORTANT à  Please send your child’s teacher a comment through this BLOG post titled ‘FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES AT CHRISTMAS’. State what item you are willing to contribute or donate based off of the needs the family has indicated so that all other families in your child’s class can see what has been contributed and what still is in need.

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!

**We welcome donations of gently used items for our families as well.

All gifts/donations will need to be wrapped and labeled to whom they are intended for. Wrapped contributions will be due by: Friday December 5^th, 2014

Comments when families were notified that they were chosen for this initiative:

"You have no idea whet this means to us." "This is truly amazing." "This could not have happened at a better time."

“Thank you for everything and for helping my family out. I’m grateful for the help complete strangers are willing to give us. It’s amazing!”

In the spirit of giving this holiday season, all staff at Cranston school would like to thank families in advance for their thoughts and contributions! Thank you for making a families Christmas a little brighter!!

November 7

READ-A-THON

Our READ-A-THON has been an outstanding success!  Students have met in book clubs, dropped everything and read and listened to a whole host of celebrity readers today.  We are most hopeful the conversations that have run rampant about books in the school this week have also been brought home to parents and that reading is now a focus of conversation throughout the whole community!

We are hoping to collect all the Read-a-thon funds by next Friday, November 14, 2014.  Please send in the funds students raised through their reading minutes next week so we can celebrate together - thank you!!

We started our day with a Remembrance Day Assembly - it was a very thoughtful assembly.  

The students worked with Mrs. Kinsman this morning to finish their work with the map of Canada to put into their mapping journal.  Next week the LARGE map will be arriving and the students will do some more activities with Mrs. Kinsman on mapping.

We enjoyed two buddy reading times today!  That was a great week of READING!!!

Thursday November 6th, 2014

WOW...what a great day. 

We had an amazing special guest presenter this morning (Maria Donoso) who came to speak with the students about her organization that is based out of Miami Florida called GLOW. Her organization works at providing water to children all over the world that do not have access to it. They also work with the people in using water effectively to grow crops, deal with erosion and protect the environment around them in the process. She talked about making a difference and that if you have an idea and you LOVE your idea...that you can do something. This could be in the form of fundraising, awareness raising or just becoming more educated about it and teaching others.

GLOW's Website

It was also GUEST READER DAY! We had many famous people roaming our hallways and reading to each classroom throughout the day. OUR classrooms had the following guest readers:

-Anna O'Neil (professional long boarder)
-Lori Gibbs (Radio Host 97.7)
-Michele Martin-Bossely (Canadian Author)
-Pam Krokker (Play-Wright)

TOMORROW IS OUR REMEMBRANCE DAY ASSEMBLY! 

Please have a conversation with your child about the importance and reasons behind Remembrance Day. You are welcomed to attend this assembly at 8:45am. Poppies will be handed out to each student tomorrow. If you have a donation for the poppy fund it will be most welcomed! 

Wednesday November 5th, 2014

**Your child will be receiving a poppy for our REMEMBRANCE DAY assembly on friday morning. If you have a donation for the poppy fund...please ensure that you send it with your child on that day. 

It was DEAR day today (Drop Everything and Read). Students carried a book wherever they went and when they heard a special bell they would sit down and read for 5minutes. TOMORROW is our 'Guest Reader' day. We will be having a special visitor come in to read to us and talk to us about what they have learned so far in life along their special journey (their special job). 

Constable Matisse came to visit both of our classrooms today about the S4 program. We discussed how we stay safe and take care of each other in our community. 

Students continued with their learning about 'jot note taking' and creating a web to help organize research information. We are having students work in partners to find information from 4 different Grizzly Bear articles and figuring out what is important and what is not. We have discussed what 'plagiarism' is and why we are learning to take jot notes to help us avoid this when we do research!

A reminder that our HOLIDAY BOOK ORDERS are due:

 FRIDAY NOVEMBER 14TH, 2014

November 4, 2014

It was a fun filled day with pajama day and two book clubs.  Ask your child what they did for book clubs today. Please remember to complete the reading log each evening and return to the home communication folder.  We are filling in our minutes fro reading all week and will need the forms both at home and at school. Students can color in one square for every 5 minutes that they read.  We are asking that parents please initial beside each day to show your child did the reading at home.

Tomorrow is dress up as a book character day.  Students are encouraged to make their costumes and use materials from home.  We do not want parents having buy special costumes for Dress as a book Character day!  

Tomorrow is also picture retake day if you are wanting your child to have retakes.

November 3, 2014

Read-A-Thon Week

The kick-off assembly was this morning and we are excited for a very eventful week.  Tomorrow, the students are invited to wear their pajamas and bring a stuffy for "Cuddle Up With A Good Book" day.

A pamphlet went home in your child's communication folder outlining the events for a week.  Each student chose a book club to participate in tomorrow morning and afternoon.  They will have the opportunity to join one in the morning and one in the afternoon. On the back of this pamphlet is a Read-A-Thon Pledge Form.   Students are encouraged to ask family and friends to sponsor them for the Read-A-Thon.  There are also some helpful hints for home reading and reading strategies.

Just a reminder that even though students have many halloween treats at home to eat, we ask that students still bring a healthy snack to eat in the classroom and leave the candy at home.  

As a follow up to our field trip last week, the students worked on a project in their art journals.  We discussed the materials needed and waste involved with building a tipi, a log cabin and a modern home.  There is a big difference in how much materials and waste we need for our home today!  The students recorded this information in their art journals with the art they did to create the three homes in our art journal.

 

Thursday October 30th, 2014

NO SCHOOL TOMORROW 

~ TEACHER PD DAY~

NEXT WEEK --> Read-a-Thon Week

Below are the list of activities we will be participating in as a school

MONDAY: We will have our kick off assembly

TUESDAY: Wear your pj's to school day, bring your favourite stuffy and favourite chapter book to read throughout the day ('Cuddle up and Read Day')

WEDNESDAY: Dress as your favourite book character day

-we would like to encourage students to 'MAKE' their costumes from things at home. We are not promoting buying elaborate store bought costumes for this day as a school!

***This is also PICTURE RETAKE DAY...please keep this in mind for the costume your child wears so that if they are getting retakes they can easily remove their costume temporarily

THURSDAY: Guest Readers Day (we will be having special guests in throughout the day to read to students)

FRIDAY: DEAR DAY (drop everything and read) & Buddy Reading Day

**Our REMEMBRANCE DAY assembly will also be first thing in the morning. This is a serious assembly. Remind your child of the important of Remembrance Day and why we participate in it each year. 

Mrs. Cooper and Ms. Rauser will each be getting a University of Calgary student teacher from the education program. These students will be starting on November13th and will be with us until December 18th. During this time they will take on lessons and teaching and learn to be fabulous teachers! Please help them feel welcome during this period. :0)

Wednesday October 29th, 2014

WHAT  AN AMAZING DAY FOR OUR FIELD TRIP...THE WEATHER WAS PERFECT!!!! Thank you so much to our wonderful volunteers....especially the student teachers that we borrowed for Ms. Rauser's class. We couldn't have gone on our field trip without you!

Some of the things students learned: 

"its not good to litter"
"the first nations did not waste at all"
"plants were medicine for first nations people"
"aspen trees can be used for sunscreen"
"settlers traded with the first nations to get fur in exchange for grain"
"harder to get steaks than to get get porridge for the settlers because of resources needed"
"they did not have machines to cut down crops during the settlers time"
"wasps will take a piece of wood and spit on it to make paper for their nest"
"white tail deer, when scared, will put up their tail which looks like a white flag"
"first nations name for moose is twig eater"
"there were bee boxes attached to trees"


A very important REMINDER that tomorrow the SAMSUNG permission forms are due to school (signed by parents). 
Students AND parents ALSO need to fill out the online surveys. Some students indicated they had problems getting on to these surveys. I've attached the links again below. Its a quick survey for each and will allow your child to use these devices at the school. 

Student Survey Link ---> Student Link

Parent Survey Link ---> Parent Link

Tomorrow students are ALLOWED to wear their costumes IN THE AFTERNOON. They can bring them to school and change into them at lunchtime. We will be working with our 1/2 buddies in the afternoon tomorrow!! Students do not HAVE TO wear a costume if they do not wish to ;0)   

***Please NO weapons, swords, or masks***

Tuesday October 28th, 2014

"Cranston School will soon be receiving the $20,000.00 free technology awarded to Mrs. Kinsman last February from Samsung and The Learning Partnership.  Grades 3/4 students will be participating in a research project about the use of technology in schools as part of this project.  Students will be bringing home three letters in hard copy on Tuesday, October 28, one describing the project from our partners, one describing the project from Mrs. Kinsman and one permission form allowing your child to participate in the project.  Participation requires the student and his/her parent to complete a brief online survey prior to the project beginning and one following student use of the tablets.  Please ensure your child's participation is assured by signing the permission form and returning it to the school no later than THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30. 2014.  

Once you have signed the permission form, please take a moment to participate in the pre-project online survey as soon as possible - before midnight, October 30/14. There is a STUDENT survey that your child will need to take and a PARENT survey that you will need to take. Both are very short!

Students:        https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/cranpre3

Parents:          https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/cranpre4

Thank you for supporting this work :)

Mrs Kinsman, Principal

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Tomorrow is our field trip to Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area. Please refer to the cover letter that was attached to your child's field trip form as to what they should be wearing (layer, layer, layer your clothing!!! Mitts, hats, sweaters, JACKETS. Bring extra socks and good walking shoes!) and bringing (garbageless lunch) and NOT wearing and bringing (no rainboots, umbrellas, heat up lunches or lunches with garbage)

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PICTURE ORDER FORMS/PAYMENT are due tomorrow (October 29th, 2014)

***Retake Picture Day: NOVEMBER 5th, 2014

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Halloween Costumes are ONLY ALLOWED to be worn at school in the afternoon on Thursday October 30th, 2014

Halloween Howler is on Thursday October 30th, 2014 from 6:30-8:00pm

Monday October 27th, 2014

Today students participated in DRUM FIT in gym class. This is an exciting physical fitness program our school has brought in. We have purchased all the required equipment and Mr. McDougall will be implementing this program throughout the year...YAY!!! Look at our class website for some pictures of this amazing program.

In MUSIC students are working on 'rythym'. Please refer to Mrs. Jones and Miss Jacksons BLOG each week if you are interested in knowing what musically is happening each week. Here is a link for their BLOG which you can bookmark if interested.    

Cranston's Music BLOG link  --> MUSIC BLOG link


BOTH of our classes will have our FUN LUNCH tomorrow instead of on Wednesday (due to our field trip)

Students in Mrs. Cooper's math group are currently learning about rounding to the nearest ten digit in a number. This will prepare students in 'estimating' sums and differences in the near future. 

Students in Ms. Rauser's math group are currently ordering numbers in the thousands from greatest to least, least to greatest and using the following signs to show their understanding ( < ,  > )

Friday October 24th, 2014

Today the entire school had the opportunity to listen to an inspirational presentation put on by 'Right To Play' in the gymnasium. We also learned about some Paralympic sports and the need to get out and find something active that you love and not to stay at home, eat unhealthy, and be inactive. 

Click here for information on 'Right To Play'

Students learned about changing their voices when reading according to specific punctuation that is present throughout a book. 

"   " Talking Marks  -->  You need to change your voice according to how the character is feeling, what they are doing, etc. 

.  Periods --> You need to pause and take a breath before beginning the next sentence

? Question Marks --> Your voice goes up in tone at the end of the sentence when you ask a question 

,   Commas --> You need to take a breath as you are reading when you see a comma

!   Exclamation Marks  --> Your voice needs to sound excited as you read it a sentence ending with an exclamation mark. Your making a statement of sorts and it needs to sound like one.

Today both classes participated in Choir with Ms. Jackson and Mrs. Jones. 

Thursday October 23, 2014

Students participated in Dance today. Ask them to show you their 'Michael Jackson: Thriller' moves ;0)

Book orders for October should arrive to school within the next 3-4 days. We are sending home our 'Holiday Book Orders' today to give you plenty of time to peruse if interested. There is a very important letter attached to these book orders for parents to read! These book orders will be due in on November 14th, 2014. This will allow time for the orders to arrive before our holiday break begins. 

Your child will be receiving an 'Assessment Update' anytime between now and October 30th. Parents, this will be arriving by email. If for some reason after October 30th you have not received yours please email your child's teacher. If your email address has changed recently please notify us so that we can send the assessment update to the proper address.  Thanks in advance! 

Ms. Rauser's class is desperately needing volunteers for the field trip. We will have to cancel if we cannot at least get 4 volunteers. :0(

Mrs. Cooper's class needs at least 1-2 more volunteers as well. 

Studies have shown that time outdoors helps students succeed in school, improving memory, problem solving, and creativity. Children who spend time in nature are also physically healthier and more likely to take action for nature as adults. 
~Dr. David Suzuki

Wednesday October 22, 2014

We finished reading 'The Lorax' today. Students responses to this story:

Reed: "a connection between the two books (The Lorax & The Elders are Watching) is Earth Day. You need to protect the earth and keep things clean and that's what people need to do!"

Olivia: "it makes me think of what we are doing to the world. We are wiping out nature, we are biggering what we make like houses, buildings, and shops and we really do not need them all!"

Aiden S: "I think we should be keeping the earth clean everyday...not just on Earth Day!"

Ms. Rauser's Class received new home reading books today! Thank you Mrs. Grubbe for volunteering your time for our home reading program!!!! :0)

Students are getting very excited about our upcoming field trip to the 'Anne and Sandy Cross Conservation Area' next Wednesday. UNFORTUNATELY....currently we have the following volunteers for this field trip:

Mrs. Cooper's Class: 2 volunteers      (need 3 more!)

Ms. Rauser's Class: 0 volunteers        (need 5 more!)

**please email your teacher if you are able to volunteer. We will not be able to go on this field trip if we do not have enough volunteers :0(

Tuesday October 21st, 2014

FIELD TRIP FORMS were sent home yesterday with students for our upcoming field trip to the 'Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation Area' next Wednesday. Please review information and fill out your child's form to allow them to attend this educational trip. We are needing 5 volunteers per class...so far we have 1 per class. If you are able to volunteer please email your child's teacher to let them know. We will be unable to go if we can not find enough volunteers unfortunately :0(

Student worked hard at finishing up projects and assignments today during our 'catch up time'. The level of responsibility and attention to completing individual jobs is increasing with every student. This is great to see and is a skill we are trying to instill in students to help them continue to succeed with their schooling in future years.

Students had gym outside today. Our weather is still pretty chilly in the AM and students need to come dressed appropriately to school for this weather. Having a jacket and having the ability to take it off is MUCH BETTER than having no jacket or a thin sweater in chilly weather.

Mrs. Cooper's students have new home reading books in their folders! 
Ms. Rauser's class will be getting new home reading books TOMORROW. :0)

Adam made a fabulous connection today between 'The Elders Are Watching' book that we read last week and his own personal knowledge with the story of 'The Lorax'. With this connection we brought out 'The Lorax' and started to read it and discuss what messages were connected between the two books.

October 20, 2014

**FIELD TRIP FORMS**

Your child has FIELD TRIP FORMS in their home communication folder.  We are going to Anne and Sandy Cross on October 29, 2014 to participate in the program "Keepers of the Land".  Each class requires 5 volunteers for us to be able to go so please email your child's teacher.  We will take volunteers in the order that we receive emails indicating an interest in volunteering.  If we receive more than 5 we will notify the extra volunteers that we will keep them on a wait list.  

Students had an AMAZING EXPERIENCE today doing DRUM FIT. Ask your child what it involved. 

FUN LUNCH for our two classes will be DIFFERENT than the rest of the school because of our field trip falling on the original school fun lunch planned day. 

**Our fun lunch day (for those that ordered) will be on TUESDAY OCTOBER 28TH, 2014**

***ALL STUDENTS need to bring a lunch on our field trip day!!!

Ms. Rauser's Math Group has been working on representing numbers in a variety of ways. Tonight their job is to: 

Show how you could represent the number --> 4258

**Practice your number words at home for spelling!!! 

October 15, 2014

It was really nice to get back to Daily 5 today and the students did a great job of Write to Self, Buddy Read and Read to Self.

We also had time to get back to working on our final copy of our fall writing. We are excited to complete this art journal page.

We met with Mrs. Kinsman this afternoon to begin a project that we will be doing once a week for the next 5 weeks.  Mrs. Kinsman will be working with our classes to do some inquiry work around mapping skills.

At the end of the day, we read a wonderful book, The Elders are Watching, by David Bouchard.  The students made many connections to this book and the questions that they came up with at the beginning of the year.  After reading the book, the students imagined and started to draw a place of nature that would be perfect for them.  They used their five sense to think about this place.  Have your child describe their perfect nature place to you.

ASSEMBLY ON FRIDAY!!! Just a reminder that our students will be performing at the assembly on Friday at 9am.  Parents are welcome to join us at that time.

A note went home from the office today regarding a Fundraising campaign.

October 14, 2014

The students worked hard on completing the SLA's today.  We worked on both the writing and math so it was a very focused day!  The grade 4 students were with Mrs. Cooper to do a math problem while the grade 3's finished the math portion of the SLA.

It was a nice break to get outside to play Bocce with Mr. McDougal.  We even learned how to play it with frisbees and a tennis ball when you don't have the actual game.

Mrs. Cooper's class have new home reading books so please remember to read 15-20 minutes everyday. We are asking the students to do 1-2 sessions of their home reading on Razkids as indicated in their home communication folder.

Scholastic book orders are due on Friday.

Friday October 10, 2014

Even though it was only a half day, the students accomplished a lot.  We are working towards completing the SLA's with our grade 3 students.  The grade 4's were focused and during their daily 5 read-to-self, read-to-a-buddy, and personal writing period. After snack we started the written SLA and decided to have the grade 4 students join for this part as it will be a piece of writing assessment that we can use in addition to their daily work. We will continue the written assessment on Tuesday.

The students met briefly today to share their findings on their 'difference maker' that they are looking at in their small groups. They successfully recorded this information as a group on their sheets and problem solved how to improve sentences and the overall structure of their paragraphs so that it made sense. 

Please check out Mrs. Jackson's blog to practice the lyrics for the song "WE ARE THE WORLD".  We are singing this song at the assembly on Friday, October 17 at 9 am.  
Here is a link to Mrs. Jackson's blog --->Lyrics to the song 'We Are The World' by: Michael Jackson

No school on Monday.  Enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend.  

October 9, 2014

The grade 3 students completed their first digital SLA for reading comprehension.  They also completed the written math SLA.  Tomorrow they will do the math digital SA.

Both classes have completed the whole process for word work with our practice words.  They now know how to practice their words during Daily 5.  The steps include, sorting and writing words, blind sort, finding other words in books, word search, and a test.  Next week the students will get their individualized words to begin working on independently.

We had dance and music today.  Mrs. Jones and Mrs Jackson are working with our students to prepare a song for our assembly on October 17.

Ms. Rauser sent home the Scholastic book orders yesterday and Mrs. Cooper's class have them in their folders today.  These are due on October 17.

We continued to make discoveries about people who have made a difference.  We discussed how to safely use the internet to find out information when we our researching about a topic. Some groups need more information about their person.  Students have been asked to look up more information at home and record what they find in their inquiry notebook and bring back to share with their group tomorrow. If your child needs to gather more information, he/she will have a notebook with a sticky note in it saying what specifically needs to be looked up.  

No Excuse Spelling Words_By Grade

We have included a document that outlines the words children should know how to spell by the end of each grade on our classroom website (on the home page). This document is titled 'No Excuse Spelling Words_by Grade'

Here is a quick link for parents to our classroom webpage:    

http://room79and80.weebly.com

Wednesday October 8, 2014

The students were excited to begin their work around people who have made a difference.  We watched a video that inspired us to help others.  Students are in groups of 4 researching to find out about a person that has made a difference.  Ask your child who they are exploring.  Students are encouraged to look up more information tonight, if they have time, to share with their group tomorrow.  We are finding out how old the person is when they started to make a difference, what they saw as a problem and what they did about it.

The grade 3 students started their digital LA SLA's this morning and then worked on the written math SLA this afternoon.  We will continue these for the rest of this week and then into next week.

We are working on our good copy of our fall writing and a few students are required to finish the rough copy for homework tonight. If your child has their red journal in their folder, they have homework that is due back to school tomorrow. 

All students now have their Raz-kids log-in information taped in their folder.  We are asking all students to do Raz-kids at least 1-2 times per week.  This is a great website for practicing fluency and comprehension.  Students are encouraged to record their reading and then listen to it to help develop fluency.  Students are also expected tho answer the comprehension questions that follow a reading.

All September book orders have now been delivered to children that ordered them. Ms. Rauser's class now have their October book order forms in their folders. Mrs. Cooper's class will have them within the next couple days. Book orders are due back to school on:
 FRIDAY OCTOBER 17TH, 2014

GRADE 3 SLA INFORMATION

GRADE 3 PARENTS:

Please see our classroom website OR the schools website to view a document that was sent home last week pertaining to the SLA's and what they are all about.


Classroom webisite link  ---->    SLA Information Link_Classroom Website

October 7

We had an excellent presentation by the author Hazel Hutchins this morning.  She was very entertaining and informative about being an author.  She was an inspiration to many of our students to become writers.  After the presentation, the students made a list in their Daily 5 notebook of story writing ideas.  We discussed that even everyday activities can even be made into a story with a little exaggeration and imagination.

Our grade 3 students will begin the SLA's tomorrow morning and we will continue to work on these over the next few weeks.  Grade 4 students will continue to do regular activities such as Daily 5 while the grade 3's work on SLA's.

We completed our fall art project in our art journals and they look awesome! It was very exciting to learn how to use oil pastels to create a fall picture.  The students reflected on their art and shared three parts of the art that they feel they did well and are proud of.  We will begin our good copy of our fall writing to add to the back of this project.

Please remember to read every night for 15-20 minutes and to go on Mathletics to practice basic math skills.

Enjoy the great weather tonight!

October 6

We have a special visiting coming to do a presentation for our students tomorrow morning.  Author Hazel Hutchins will be here to share her experiences as a published author.

Both classes had music together today as they begin to prepare for a song to sing at our assembly on October 17th.  Parents of room 79 and 80 are welcome to join us for our assembly on October 17 at 9am.

PICTURE DAY IS TOMORROW!
Please remember to prepare for picture day tomorrow. Please send in your form for the background choice is you haven't done this already.  

If you have already sent in the form and money for your Halloween Howler, your child will be bringing home the tickets in their folder.  Please check your child's folder for your tickets.  If you have not yet sent in your request for tickets, please do so as soon as possible.

Please remember to do your 15-20 minutes of home reading and Mathletics every night.


Walk to School Week

In 1997, Walk our Children to School Day was launched in Chicago by the Partnership for a Walkable America. Canada held its first national Walk a Child to School Day in 1998 with participants from five provinces. In 2000 the first International Walk to School day officially began and today schools from all thirteen provinces and territories join millions of students all over the world as they walk to school.
Participating countries include Canada, United States, Mexico, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy, India, Australia, New Zealand and other countries.
Join the movement and millions of walkers around the world as we walk to school during this week! Register your school online and ideas, and participant items will be sent to you. Everyone is welcome to participate!

Walk to School week will officially run from October 6-10 and International Walk to School month is for all of October

October 3, 2014

We continued with our fall art project today.  The students are focusing on using different shades and smudging techniques to create realistic looking oil pastel pictures.  To go with this art project, the students continued to work on their fall writing.  We focused on writing a paragraph with 4-5 very descriptive sentences to describe what we see in the fall.  Some students also completed what we hear.  Next week we will continue to do in fall I smell, in fall I taste and in fall I feel.  The students are practicing to use both similes and personification to make their writing create images in the readers head.

Next week the grade 3 students will be starting their SLA's.  They will do the written one on Wednesday, the math one on Thursday and then the digital SLA's will be done the following week.  Ms. Rauser will administer the SLA's with the grade 3 students while Mrs. Cooper works with the grade 4 students.

Please note the upcoming dates: we have a very exciting field trip planned for October 29 to Anne and Sandy Cross Conservation area.  We will be sending out more information about this field trip in the next few weeks but we wanted to give parents a heads up for those that are able to volunteer.  We will require 5 volunteers from each class for this field trip.

Upcoming Dates:

October 7th - Picture Day 
October 13th - Thanksgiving - NO SCHOOL
October 14th - Fun lunch orders due
October 17th - Halloween Howler ticket orders due
October 29th - Ann and Sandy Cross Field trip for room 79 and 80
October 30th - Halloween Howler
October 31st - PD Day - NO SCHOOL

October 2, 2014 *fun lunch information*

Our students continued to work on our visualization fall writing.  It is exciting to talk about and write using descriptive writing.  In the afternoon, Ms. Rauser taught the students to use oil pastels in a fall art page that we will use as a background for our fall writing.

Both classes had music today and Mrs. Jones and Mrs, Jackson introduced them to a great song that the students will be singing at our assembly in October.  The song is a great connection to the work we are doing around the story "The Star Thrower".  Ask your child to tell you the message that the writer of 'The Star Thrower" wants us to know.

The students that are in Mrs. Cooper's math group are reminded to practice their double math facts
example 7+7=14.  We need to know all our doubles!

FAMILY PORTRAIT NIGHT

A note is in your child's folder informing you about the Family portrait night on November 6.  A great opportunity to get a family photo while fundraising for our school.

Our first fun lunches are now up and available through the website. (read the October newsletter to find out more information).

Special Lunch 

Our first two Fun Lunches of the school year will be held Wednesday, October 29, Subway and Wednesday, November 26, Pizza 73 (gluten free pizza is available). 

Please submit the remittance form from the website with your payment (exact change only) to your child’s teacher no later than Tuesday, October 14. If you do not have a printer please send written note with your child’s name and teacher name with payment in an envelope or Ziploc bag. Cheques can be made out to Cranston School. 

To access the site please go tohttp://cranston.hotlunches.net 
Everyone will need to register your children for the 2014/2015 school year by clicking on “REGISTER”. Each family will have one account and each student at the school will be linked to this account. 
To register you will require the SCHOOL ACCESS CODE which is CSHL - please note this IS case sensitive. Once registered you will be on the welcome screen. The next step is to register your child or children so that orders can be placed for them. To add your children click on the“Students” button to access the student management screen. 
Please fill in their name, teacher and grade and then click“Insert”. To add additional children, click the “Add new” that will be on the bottom of the current page or you can click on “Profile” at the top of the screen and then click on “Add New”. 

October 1, 2014

Halloween Howler notes are in your child's folder.  If you wish to attend, please return the form with money in your child's folder.

It was a beautiful afternoon for our students to spend some time outside observing fall to write descriptive words.  We will be using these words to write a  paragraph focusing on creating writing that the reader can visualize.  We read a great fall book this morning that demonstrated strategies such as similes and personification to help the reader paint a picture in their mind.

We started our math groups and the students have written concepts that they think they already understand and concepts that they are working on for addition and subtraction.  Ask your child what was one goal they have for math.  

Have a wonderful evening!!

September 30th, 2014

Update: We have included some more weblinks on our class webpage. These are specifically for extra spelling practice for students.   Our Class Website LINK

Grade 3 Parents: We are sending home some information on the SLA's that we will be doing over the next three weeks with the grade 3's. Please read this information as it illustrates why we are administering them and what they replace. The grade 4's will be participating in a variety of other 'connected' activities in math and writing during these times SLA's times.

Book Orders have been placed and will be coming home as they are sent to us from Scholastic. Normally it takes a week ;0)

A reminder for students to dress for the weather. 

September 29, 2014

We started our day with a very focused Daily 5 time.  We successfully engaged in 20 minutes of write to self, 20 minutes of read to self and 20 minutes of buddy reading.  Please remember that we have started our home reading program and students are expected to be reading 15-20 minutes everyday at home.  We are asking that the students please keep their home reading book in the home communication folder everyday so the book is at school when we have parent volunteers here to read with them.

Mrs. Cooper's class had a few moments to play a little math game while Ms. Rauser's class finished up some word work.  We played Around the World using a website on the Smartboard.  Some students were asking for the link so we are including it in today's blog.

http://www.missmaggie.org/scholastic/roundtheworld_eng_launcher.html

We are starting to work on number operations this week so students are encouraged to practice basic facts at home using the above link or Mathletics.  Math work is made easier for students when they know the basic facts.

The students spent time this afternoon, working on changing jot notes into sentences.  We are preparing the students to be able to make jot notes and then use these notes to create final projects that will be presented for their inquiry question.

In writing, we are finishing out final copies of our Getting To Know Me paragraphs.

We are beginning a new project on Wednesday which will involve a walk in the community to make observations to use visualization when writing about fall. We leave the school at 2:00 pm and return by 3:00 pm.

September 26, 2014

The students worked on some art work for the first page of our art journals.  Ms. Rauser did a lesson about shades.  We discovered that if you add white to a color it makes it a lighter color and black makes it a darker color.  We used this technique to make a ripple effect on our page with paint.  We will later be adding our school inquiry quote along with water drops.

We had a great time with our grade 1/2 buddies this morning.  The buddies learned more about each other by asking each other questions and then creating a Venn Diagram to show how they are alike and different.  We are excited to have met our buddies and look forward to doing many activities with them throughout the year.

Mrs. Cooper's students now have a home reading book in their folder.  After your child reads it each time at home encourage them to put it back in their envelope pocket so that it remains in their folder when coming to and from school.  We have a few parent volunteers that will be coming in throughout the week to read and exchange the books as needed so it is important to have the book at school even if it doesn't need to be exchanged.  A big thank you to the wonderful volunteers that have offered to help us out with home

***Helpful Hints for Parents: Home reading books can be used in a variety of ways. Students should read the book outloud (to practice fluency and expression) the first time. The next night they can take the same book and read it again to their parents. Parents...after this reading ask your child to retell the book with 'detail and description'. This is an area that many children require further practice. Short answers lacking specifics from the book indicate that full understanding of the story may not be present.  The next night the student can look for words that they may not have fully understood and can use a dictionary to find the meaning or a thesaurus to find other words that mean the same thing.

September 25

The students have been asked to practice the dance move they learned in dance class today.  The step is:

BACK, SIDE , FRONT

Scholastic book orders are due September 29th.  Please remember to pay with a cheque made out to Scholastic.

The students practiced taking jot notes after watching a Reading Rainbow video.  This is a skill that they will be using when they begin their investigation into their chosen inquiry topics.  

We posted a few pictures on our website from the Terry Fox run yesterday so check them out!

We are very pleased with the stamina that the students are building in Daily 5 and we had a very successful full hour of Daily 5 doing Read to Self, Write to Self and Buddy Read.