Wednesday, April 30

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today. In the morning, we did some 'verse' poetry, which was a follow-up activity to a couplet poem task we attempted yesterday that didn't go very well.

For this task, students had to write poetry in the form 'ABCB' - in other words, the odd numbered lines don't rhyme, but the even lines do. The class wrote poems about Spring in this format.

We re-read a book from yesterday about John Ware, and the students made pages in their sketchbooks to capture some key info.

In math, the students practiced what they've learned so far about fractions with some worksheets. So far we've covered fraction terminology, writing fractions, reading fractions, and equivalent fractions.

We went to the gym to see a showcase put on by the Grade 1 and 2 students of Ms. Green and Ms. Zimmer's classes, that was all about eggs. The Grade 1/2 classes have been incubating and hatching eggs, and they prepared a bunch of cool stations and activities to help share their learning.

In the afternoon, we revisited our learning around hazardous materials. We've learned the symbols for explosive, corrosive, poisonous, and flammable materials, and the students are now in the process of writing 'screenplays' that will later be turned into short, educational videos to help others make safe choices.

We ended our day with Music. 

Field Trip Alert! May 15 - Ann and Sandy Cross

I sent home forms for our upcoming trip to Ann and Sandy Cross. Please sign and return them as soon as you can, pay online, and let me know if you are interested in volunteering. :)

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, April 28

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty busy day today.  In the morning, we went over this week's spelling words, featuring the '-less' suffix, and then the students used them in sentences. We continued working on the boat poetry from Friday too.

We finished up the Book in a Box presentations, and I am just in the process of filling out marks / feedback for those, which I will hopefully be able to send home tomorrow.

In Math, we have moved from Division into our next unit, Fractions. Fractions are a natural next step, because they're basically what you get when you divide a whole number into even smaller parts. We used the Montessori Fraction Circles and Fraction Towers, and then moved quickly into illustrations of fractions. We talked about how we can represent fractions using a wide range of shapes, but that rectangles and circles are generally the most common. Finally, we discussed the terms 'numerator' and 'denominator'. 

In the afternoon, we did Daily LA, watched chicks hatch from eggs (thanks Room 11 and Kindergarten!), and read Ticket to Curlew.

Here's some exciting info about 'Music Monday', which is next week. :)

Lake Bonavista School is thrilled to welcome a Brass Quintet from the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra on Monday May 5.   Thank you to School Council for this wonderful opportunity for our students!

This performance supports our learning of the Alberta Music Curriculum.  Some of the outcomes covered include:

• Awareness and appreciation of a variety of music
• Distinguish among the sounds of common musical instruments
• Recognize the instruments of the Brass Family

Have a nice night,

Zac

Friday, April 25

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. In the morning, more students presented their Books in Boxes, we had our spelling quiz, and we went outside for gym. We took a nice class picture with Ms. Budd, because sadly today is her last day at LBS :(

In writing, we continued working on poetry. We had a good lesson on how you can 'workshop' a poem by considering alternate ways to express what you want to say. 

We used this poem as an example:

"The boats are gliding

on the water

They leave trails behind them

pushed by the wind"

We wanted to create a second stanza to rhyme with the first. The rhyming word would be 'wind'.

After failing to brainstorm enough decent rhymes for 'wind', we decided to go back and replace 'wind' with 'breeze', or 'air'. There were a lot more rhymes for those! 

The students went off and completed the poem on their own.

We had Music after that, and then ended the day with a big goodbye celebration for Ms. Budd.

Stay tuned for next week's spelling words, and have a nice weekend!

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of April 27)

 Spelling List A (April 25 – May 2)

endless	useless	needless	homeless	helpless
harmless	restless	careless	reckless	selfless

 

Spelling List B (April 25 – May 2)

ruthless	fearless	flawless	spotless	timeless
faceless	countless	pointless	powerless	shapeless

 

Spelling List C (April 25 – May 2)

shameless	tasteless	worthless	sleepless	heartless
toothless	regardless	effortless	weightless	bottomless

The theme this week is the -less suffix! The words are long, but not all that hard.

Good luck!

Thursday, April 24

Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today! In the morning, we did some more Book in a Box presentations. The students practiced spelling, and then we re-read a classic Wayside School story, called "Poetry". It's a story about poetry. Because we're starting a unit on Poetry.

The students did a quick activity that came right from the story - writing a couplet poem about a colour of their choice. We talked about the importance of thinking ahead when writing rhyming poetry, and how you should end a line with a word that is easy to rhyme with. It's important to consider how you can reword a line or lyric, in a way that keeps the meaning the same, but allows rhymes to fall more easily.

In math, we did the Division Quiz. It's been an interesting one to mark because it's either been really easy for students, or really hard. I have a very clear idea of what I need to teach more, and what we can move on from, and the good news is, most concepts fall in the latter group. It's really just long division and factor trees that we need to brush up on. I'll gladly give re-rests to anyone who hasn't quite got it figured out yet.

In the afternoon, we read Ticket to Curlew, did a bit of Daily LA, had Social Emotional Learning with Mr. Ripka, and then ended the day with a lesson on Hazardous Materials. It was a busy afternoon!

Our spelling quiz is tomorrow! Also, see below for information on the MAPSS PEACE Night Art Auction, where you can bid on our lovely dollhouse as well as many other (more impressive) items.

Have a nice night,

Zac

The MAPSS PEACE Night Art Auction is LIVE!

MAPSS proudly provided high-quality art materials to every classroom in our three Montessori Public Schools: Killarney, Lake Bonavista, and Captain John Palliser. Teachers thoughtfully selected materials and guided their students in creating artwork that reflects both their curriculum and the unique spirit of each class. The results are truly extraordinary!

These beautiful, one-of-a-kind pieces are now available for bidding through the MAPSS PEACE Night Art Auction:

View and bid on the artwork here

Auction items are organized by school, grade, and room number to make it easy for families to find and bid on their child’s class project.

All artwork will be on display during PEACE Night, taking place on April 24, 2025, from 6:30–8:30 pm at Captain John Palliser School.

Bidding will close promptly at 8:10 pm on April 24, so be sure to place your final bids before then!

Reserve your FREE ticket here:

MAPSS PEACE Night Event with Tammy Schamuhn

All proceeds directly support MAPSS initiatives, including educational materials, teacher training, and parent education across our Montessori Alternative Public Schools.

Winning bidders can take their artwork home at the PEACE Night event. If you can’t attend, don’t worry—winners will be contacted via email with details for pickup at the student’s school.

Thank you for supporting our children, our schools, and our mission!

Wednesday, April 23

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. In the morning, some students did their Book in a Box Presentations, and they all went really well! It's been fun seeing the creative choices for items. 

We had a long work period to finish up all the work I assigned yesterday. Many students were able to.

In math, we basically did a review for tomorrow's quiz. Students reviewed basic division facts, (long division for Grade 4s), division with missing numbers (for example, 12 / ___ = 4), factor trees, and word problems. Students are strongly encouraged to practice skip-counting by 7's, 8's, and 9's - this will surely help! They could also practice the specific concepts above.

In the afternoon, we did Daily LA, and read Ticket to Curlew. The students used loose parts to create the 'setting' of the story, which is basically a big giant empty prairie. We ended our day with Music.

Have a nice night, good luck with studying!

Zac

Tuesday, April 22

 Hi parents,

Today we did a ton of work. We'll need a bunch of catch-up time tomorrow.

In the morning, we talked about 'presentation skills', in anticipation for the Book in a Box presentations, which start tomorrow! We talked about the importance of staying on topic, speaking clearly, looking up at the audience from your script / cue cards, and using a loud voice. Students had a bit of time to practice their presentations in partners or small groups.

In math, we did division word problems. They were pretty tough! We are going to have a quick division quiz on Thursday, April 24. This quiz will feature all the stuff we've done in class over the last few weeks - basic division facts, missing number division and multiplication, factor trees, and a couple word problems. I don't think it will be too hard. If it is too hard, we'll have a re-do next week. :)

As today was Earth Day, we spent some time cleaning up our school field. We also watched a video on Waste Management and sorting in Calgary. The students learned what things go in what bins. They cut out and glued various waste products into corresponding bins.

We did Daily LA, and ending our day with Spelling Sentences. We learned about the -ly suffix (this term was new to many kids), and how it slightly changes the meaning of a word, or allows a word to be used in a different context. For example, "I was glad", vs. "I would gladly have dinner with you". 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Happy Earth Day!

Spelling Words (Week of April 20)

 Spelling List A (April 18 – 25)

gladly	mostly	hardly	rarely	deadly
kindly	yearly	overly	poorly	likely

 

Spelling List B (April 18 – 25)

fairly	daily	easily	merely	surely
exactly	shortly	elderly	utterly	luckily

 

Spelling List C (April 18 – 25)

probably	honestly	terribly	actually	secondly
vividly	cowardly	scraggly	rapidly	timidly

Pretty difficult lists this week, but also some great opportunities for vocabulary building! 

Good luck!

Thursday, April 17

Hi parents,

Today we did an Easter Egg Hunt! The students searched the field for six eggs, each with different patterns. When they found an egg, they recorded its secret pattern to prove they'd found it.

The spelling quiz was a little rough today. Those silent 'w's are tough.

We spent a bit more time working on the shoeboxes for the Book in a Box project, which officially concludes next week, when students will be presenting to their classmates. Today was the final day for completing good copies of paragraphs.

In math, we continued working on factoring, and factoring trees. We talked about some 'tricks' for instantly knowing factors without having to test them out. For example, '2' is a factor of every even number. Any number ending in a '0' will have '5' and '10' as factors (except 0 itself). Things like that.

In the afternoon, we had Daily LA, Social Emotional Learning, and Music.

Have a nice Easter weekend!

Zac 

Wednesday, April 16

 Hi parents,

We had another pretty good day today, the class is getting back on track. 

In the morning, we painted shoeboxes for the project you've probably already heard about way too many times... Tomorrow we'll put the finishing touches on, go over presentation skills, and then next week, it's show time!

In math, we learned about factoring, and creating factor trees. We did a bit of work with this earlier, when we were learning multiplication, but today's lesson clearly showed the growth the students have made. We talked about 'prime numbers' too. This is something we'll revisit again tomorrow. I think we're just about ready to wrap up division - which means we'll probably have a quiz next week for good measure!

In the afternoon, the students did some social studies reading comprehension. We learned about the formation of Canada, and the construction of the railroad. We also learned about the reasons why the Hudson's Bay Company sold its land to the government of Canada, and the fashion trends of the 1800's.

We ended our day with Daily LA.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, April 15

Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today! In the morning, students had about an hour and a half to continue working on their Book in a Box Paragraph good copy write-ups. Since we've now spent about 3 hours working on the good copies, we won't have any more designated class time for this step, but students will still be able to do it as a work choice.

In math, we did more division work. Grade 3s worked on division worksheets featuring missing numbers, building on their knowledge of fact families. Grade 4s worked on long division problems with remainders. We all learned about remainders beforehand too.

In the afternoon, we learned about and experimented with magnets. Students attempted to turn paperclips into temporary magnets, with varying degrees of success. To be fair, I wasn't able to get it to work either - it probably depends on the quality of the magnet you're working with, and you know how it goes with school magnets. Still, the kids had a lot of fun with this, and after a couple were able to do it, they became extra motivated to make it work.

We ended our day with Music.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, April 14

 Hi parents,

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. We had a pretty good day back at school today. I have talked to the class a a lot lately about the effort they've been putting in, and I feel like those conversations have started to pay off. I'm seeing a lot more students line up responsibly and remind others not to talk at the carpet, and the work students did today on their book in a box good copies was definitely better than last week. :)

Please send shoeboxes / other small boxes, with chosen items! We're going to wrap up this project this week and next week. It would be great if everyone had all the stuff they need here at school so we can practice presenting.

In math, we talked more about Fact Families. This is an important skill for Grade 3s and Grade 4s. We talked about how learning the rules of fact families basically quadruples the number of math facts you know. 

Let's say you know that 3 x 33 = 99. If you know how fact families work, that means you'll also know:

33 x 3 = 99

99 / 3 = 33

99 / 33 = 3

This may seem obvious, but a lot of students don't make these connections until Grade 3/4 - and when they do, its pretty mindblowing. 

We started reading a new book! It's called "Ticket to Curlew", and its about a boy and his family who move to Alberta in the early 1900's. It teaches a lot about what life was like back then.

We ended our day by going over this week's spelling words.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of April 13)

 Spelling List A (April 11 – 18)

wrap	write	wrong	wreck	wrist
been	because	they	also	with

 

Spelling List B (April 11 – 18)

writer	wrench	wrongly	wrath	wrinkle
drink	warm	fall	only	better

 

Spelling List C (April 11 – 18)

wrestle	wrapper	wreath	wreckage	wretched
their	they’re	there	many	house

Couldn't find enough relevant 'wr' words to justify a whole list - so each list also has 5 sight words! 

I would encourage everyone to learn all 15 of those sight words, because they're so important in everyday writing tasks. You'll notice 'they' and 'because' have made yet another appearance. That is because they were the #1 most misspelled words on last week's quiz.... :)

Good luck!