Wednesday, October 30

 Hi parents,

We had an excellent day today. In the morning, the students wrote eerie Halloween poetry.

After that, we had a brief overview of another Montessori material for multiplication - the Decanomial Coloured Bead Bars (Coloured Beads for short).

In the afternoon, we had Daily LA, and then did an art lesson on 'perspective'. We talked about how perspective can be used to trick your eyes into thinking certain aspects of a picture are closer or further away. The students applied this knowledge to draw their own Dracula castles.

At the end of the day, we took apart our community. It was sad, but its nice to have the desks back.

Tomorrow is Halloween! The parade starts at 1:00pm (doors at 12:45pm) and parents are welcome to come and watch!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, October 29

 Hi parents,

We had another good day today. In the morning the students finished up their maps of our community. We also learned about streets and avenues, and about how many roads are named in honour of important people, places, or events.

Blog Homework - Important Roads in Calgary (+3 table points!)

Choose a road in Calgary. Work with an adult to research who / what it is named after. Write 3 sentences about that person, place, or thing.

            example: Deerfoot Trail is named after... They lived in... They were important because.... 

For writing, we wrote sentences for our spelling words. We talked a bit about alliteration, and how it can be used to make a sentence more interesting, or to create poetic effects.

We met up with our buddies and played a "Get to Know Each Other" board game. The students made Venn diagrams to showcase their similarities and differences. 

In the afternoon we did some multiplication work using the Montessori Multiplication Bead Board material. This can feel like a tedious way to solve multiplication problems, but its the best way I know of to build foundational multiplication and array skills. It pays off in the long run!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, October 28

 Hi parents,

We had a good day today all around! In the morning, the students made maps of our cardboard box community. This proved to be a pretty difficult task and we're going to have to keep working at it tomorrow. The hard part was choosing a scale so that everything could fit on two pages of a sketchbook. 

In math, we officially started learning about multiplication. We watched this classic episode of Numberblocks, which introduces it better than I ever could:

Then I introduced the Multiplication Bead Board material. It's another great material like the stamp game that forces kids to slow down and model the process of multiplication carefully. It builds the foundational understanding that needs to come before we start memorizing facts and building fluency.

In the afternoon, we did Daily LA, and then met with younger students from Mrs. Green's class, to showcase our community project and explain the steps we took to make it. Some kids even volunteered to share their writing work from last week.

We ended the day with Spelling Practice. Tomorrow is spooky socks day.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Halloweek at LBS

 

Halloween Parade - October 31 at 1:00pm

 

Spelling Words! (Week of Halloween)

 Spelling List A (Oct. 25 – Nov. 1)

black	broom	boo	spook	goblin
monster	cape	cobweb	dark	grim

 

Spelling List B (Oct. 25 – Nov. 1)

morbid	beast	broomstick	bones	frighten
ghost	howl	haunt	pumpkin	troll

 

Spelling List C (Oct. 25 – Nov. 1)

zombie	ghastly	specter	potion	ogre
ghoulish	graveyard	eerie	coffin	dreadful

The theme this week is spooky words. Good luck!

Thursday, October 23

 Hi parents,

I'll keep this very brief as conferences are starting soon - we had a great day today. We worked on the project and added street signs and crosswalks. We did the spelling quiz. We did a writing task where the students wrote a persuasive paragraph about how a tourist in our fictional community should spend their day. We read Trapped in Transylvania and ended the day with Music.

If you have not booked a conference yet, please email me at zalink@cbe.ab.ca to set one up. I have lots of availability tomorrow.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, October 23

 Hi parents,

Today we had our first big quiz of the year, and the students did a fantastic job all around. I was so impressed by how quietly and attentively they worked. I think we're definitely ready to move on to new things in math, but we'll keep the addition and subtraction skills alive through morning math problems. Also, students will have an opportunity for a rewrite down the road if they're not happy with their scores (different problems, same concepts).

In the afternoon we finally built the city. 

Students made such an amazing contributions to the planning process! We talked about conservation spaces, walkability, pollution reduction, convenience, safety, and efficiency.

Parent Teacher Conferences

The city display will be up tomorrow for conferences too. Please email me if you have not booked yet. I have lots of availability left. Online Conference Booking has closed already for some reason but I can still book you in manually.

Have a nice night,

Zac

 

Tuesday, October 22

 Hi parents,

We had another busy day today with lots of building. The students finished their buildings for our community project, and painted them too. Tomorrow we're going to put it all together!

In math, we did some addition and subtraction word problems, in preparation for our quiz tomorrow. Based on what I saw today, the class is ready to go! I told the class I'd put some homework up, so here it is. These are questions the kids made up.

BLOG HOMEWORK (+1 TABLE POINT per question (max 3 per person))

Mac has 12,345 cookies. She eats 3,492. How many does she have left?

A pizza costs $3.75, and a BIG Pizza costs $5.30. How much would they cost together?

The Pink Power Ranger has 44 Math Books. She writes in 22. How many books did she not write in?

The Giant has 7,502 pens, and he finds 88 more. How many pens does he have now?

Mr. Link has 4,936 books. He drops 1,956. How many books does he still have?

Thankfully the students are not being marked on 'realism' for this one.

We did an experiment to show how a glacier melts to form rivers and lakes. We brought some hard packed snow into the classroom and put it on a slanted board, to represent a glacier high in the mountains. As it melted, it was interesting to see how it had picked up pebbles, and 'dropped' them off along the slope.

In the afternoon we did more work in math, and students who finished early wrote sentences for their spelling words.

We ended the day with Music.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, October 21

 Hi parents,

We had a busy day today. We spent most of the morning working on our Community Building project. Check out these creations!

We also worked on subtraction using five digit numbers. The ten-thousands place usually throws kids off for some reason, even though it's just more of the same thing. 

In the afternoon, we learned more about glaciers. We addressed the question, "Where do rivers come from?" and had a great discussion about how rivers always flow from higher to lower elevation, and as such, they often begin high in the mountains, often as a glacier melts.

We also finally went over our Spelling words.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Friday, October 18

 Hi parents,

We had a great end to our week today.

We finally started building structures for our community project. The students had a great time with this. We talked about the importance of creating everything to scale, and they took that to heart. We'll keep on working next week.

We went outside and practiced football skills for gym. The kids thought they would hate it, but it turned out to be pretty fun.

We're more than halfway done Trapped in Transylvania now! We've met a couple new characters and entered a brand new setting.

In math, I am thrilled with how well the kids are doing with subtraction. Grade 3's worked on four-digit addition and subtraction problems today, and Grade 4's did decimal addition and subtraction. 

We didn't get to Spelling at all this week, so last week's words are going to carry over till next Thursday.

Have a nice weekend!

Zac

Thursday, October 17

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today. We revisited our community planning project and looked at the proposals for buildings. We talked about which ones were essential, and which were just nice to have. We also talked about how sometimes a community may not want certain businesses to be too close to things like schools and houses.

Math was probably the worst part of most students' days, as we did massive subtraction practice worksheets. 3-digit by 3-digit for Grade 3s, and 4-digit for Grade 4s, all with regrouping, sometimes even double regrouping. I am kind of in disbelief at how many students were able to finish! I feel like we've really got the hang of subtraction now!

In the afternoon we went to Room 8 and 12's sharing assembly, which focused on setting boundaries and advocating for yourself if something makes you uncomfortable. 

We had more time to work on our Art Cards, and ended the day with Music.

No spelling quiz tomorrow - we haven't even glued the words in yet, haha. But if you've been practicing at home, good on you! Please see the previous post for upcoming events at our school.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, October 16

 Hi parents,

We had a fantastic day at Fish Creek today! We couldn't have asked for a nicer fall day.

In the morning we learned about how Fish Creek Park was shaped by glaciers thousands of years ago, and how evidence of this can be seen from the random giant rocks that appear throughout the park. We learned that one exceptionally large rock actually came all the way from Jasper!

We also went to the visitor centre and learned about the history of Alberta. We learned that some early settlers, like William Roper Hull, were able to become incredibly wealthy through ranching (others were not so successful). 

We visited the Artisan Gardens and the students each chose an art piece to study and reflect on.

We spent the entire afternoon doing a nature scavenger hunt and exploring the park. 

This field trip really had it all - Science, Social Studies, Art, and plenty of physical activity. Don't worry, we did math before we left. :)

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, October 15

 Hi parents,

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving weekend. We had a good day back at school today, and once again, it was a busy one. In the morning, we learned about how Glaciers have shaped, and continue to shape the land. Fish Creek Park is a great example of this! We'll talk more about that tomorrow.

In math, we worked through some incredibly difficult subtraction problems, using both the Stamp Game and the written algorithm. I've had a chance to check in one-on-one with just about every student in the class to make sure they've got it, and they do - sometimes they're still making minor mistakes, but for the most part things are looking great. We'll have a quiz on addition and subtraction on October 23. I'm confident everyone will be ready for it.

We spent the whole afternoon doing Art, and then had Music at the end of the day.

Fish Creek Field Trip Tomorrow!!

It looks like we'll be lucky enough to get some decent weather tomorrow, but it's still going to be pretty chilly in the morning, so please make sure to send your child with a sweater, jacket, gloves, a hat,  and some warm shoes / boots. Fish Creek is always a little colder.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of October 13)

 Spelling List A (Oct. 11 – 27)

over	were	germs	her	verb
other	never	ever	after	under

 

Spelling List B (Oct. 11 – 27)

paper	different	person	every	offer
anger	sternly	better	camera	center

 

Spelling List C (Oct. 11 – 27)

wonder	members	desert	either	Germany
Mercury	lawyer	answer	superb	modern

The theme this week is -er! Since next week is only four days, and one of those days is our Field trip, we'll continue working on these words the following week as well. This is a great opportunity for everyone to ace this quiz!

Good luck!

Friday, October 11

 Hi parents,

Today we started our Community Building project (the one we've been gathering boxes for). Students learned that their fictional community will be built on the Grasslands Region of Alberta. We looked at some photos and talked about the plant and animal life that a community like this will impact. Then, the students each filled out a proposal for the building or structure they were planning to add. They had to consider the placement of each structure, relative to other services, as well as the impact it would have on the land.

Next week we'll meet as a class to decide which proposals to accept and which ones to change. 

There were three KFC proposals. I'm not sure if a town of 22 people needs that many.

We started working on our Art Card artwork. It's kind of abstract-city themed. We also did our spelling quiz, and ended the day with Music.

Have a nice weekend!

Zac

Thursday, October 10

 Hi parents,

Today we wrapped up our Safe and Actives Routes to School residency. The students worked in groups and came up with some 'action plans' for our school to take that would get kids walking, biking, or scootering (at least part of the way) to school. The plans were actually really awesome and fairly viable! They ranged from things like 'Fall Scavenger Hunt Walks' to 'Explore your Neighborhood Day' to setting up a safe drop-off spot 1-2 blocks from the school.

Tomorrow is our spelling quiz!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, October 9

 Hi parents,

Here are a couple more pictures from our Active and Safe Routes to School Residency.

Today the students worked collaboratively to map out the area around our school. We discussed directions, scale, and most importantly, how to work together as a team. The students made sure to include crosswalks and sidewalks, as well as some of the signs we saw on our walk yesterday.

In math, we're still working on Subtraction with regrouping. This will probably be my 'math update' every day for the next couple of weeks. This is one of those things that takes a lot of practice. I'm planning to have a math quiz on October 23, which is when I anticipate being ready to move on to different topics in math. If we need more time, that's okay too.

Please send back your field trip forms!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, October 8

 Hi parents,

Thanks to everyone who has already sent back their signed field trip forms. :)

We had another cool day today as our Safe and Active Routes to School residency continued on. Today our focus was on Lake Bonavista School, and the potential factors impacting students' abilities to get to school in a more active way. We walked around the school and found that we have quite a few bike racks, but no places to store scooters. We also don't have a designated 'passenger unloading' zone. These are things we may look to change in the future!

We practiced spelling and continued to work on subtraction, with regrouping, using the stamp game. Its a slow process but we're off to a strong start, and I actually do predict we'll wrap this unit up faster than usual.

We read quite a bit of Trapped in Transylvania today. The whole class ended up being in "Listening Club" due to exceptionally poor following of instructions throughout the day, mostly during our residency time and clean-up time. This is pretty typical for this time of year so I am not concerned!

Please send a cardboard box or two if you have some lying around!

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, October 7

 Hi parents,

We had a great, busy day today. 

In the morning, we had our first day of our "Safe and Active Routes to School" residency. We talked about the many benefits of walking to school, and even just of walking part of the way to school. We also talked about the potential obstacles that prevent students from walking to school, such as living far away, not having enough time, and of course bad weather. We did a bunch of activities as well.

It was also picture day today. :)

In the afternoon, we went over this week's spelling words, did a quick round of Daily LA, and then read Trapped in Transylvania. The day ended with Music.

Field Trip Forms were sent home today for our Fish Creek Field Trip on October 16. Please sign and return those as soon as you can, and if you're interested in being a volunteer, let me know, we still have 1-2 spots open.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words and Picture Day Reminder

 Spelling List A (Oct. 4 – Oct. 11)

that	this	the	they	then
them	than	with	both	path

 

Spelling List B (Oct. 4 – Oct. 11)

there	these	think	those	other
things	month	teeth	thanks	youth

 

Spelling List C (Oct. 4 – Oct. 11)

they’re	within	though	father	breath
mother	threat	apathy	worth	thumbs

This week's words are focused on the -th- blend. Before choosing a list, I recommend every student try to spell the words on List A. Those words are essential for effective written communication and I think everyone should make sure they have them mastered before moving on to another list!

Also, remember that it is Picture Day on Monday, October 7.

Good Luck!