This Week in Room 21....

Well, it has been a long countdown to Spring Break, but it is finally here! The students have continued to work hard and learn lots as we prepare for a well-deserved break!

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This week in Language Arts the students continued to explore the elements of stories, in particular, characters. They learned that characters can be people, animals and sometimes even inanimate objects can be brought to life. Students learned to create a character sketch based on what a character looks like (outside) and how they act, talk and think (inside). They discussed the characteristics or traits of characters from different books we have read. Then they brainstormed traits for leprechauns and created an acrostic poem using the traits they came up with. This will help students as they prepare to write their own stories and develop their own characters.

This week we read books by Jan Brett for our Author Study. Jan Brett is known for her highly detailed and elaborate illustrations. Her stories almost always have animal characters who get themselves into uncomfortable scrapes and situations! Children are inspired by her cute and funny tales!

In math, students continued to learn about solving word problems by looking for the important information, determining the clue word and selecting the appropriate operation to solve the problem. They moved on from solving addition problems to using their skills to tackle subtraction problems as well.

In social studies we looked at the roles of men, women and children in Early Calgary. They learned that men were responsible for farming and building among other jobs, women took care of the cooking, sewing, washing and childcare and kids had to learn how to help their families from an early age. They drew a picture of a log cabin and wrote jot notes to show their learning.

We also began to learn about the Medicine Wheel and its importance in First Nations culture. Students discovered the significance of the circle to Indigenous people and related it to many things in the world around us in particular the seasons. Students created their own Medicine Wheel and added pictures to each colour to show the cycle of the seasons-- yellow is spring, red is summer, fall is black and winter is white. 

In gym students worked on developing their skip rope skills. They learned to skip with two feet and alternating feet. They also practiced helicopter skipping. Ask your child what this is!

Important Reminders & Updates:

• GYMNASTICS is coming!! We will begin our gymnastics unit on April 3. Students are required to wear comfortable, properly fitting clothes (No jeans or skirts/dresses or hoodies) as these items can get caught on equipment posing a safety hazard. They are also not able to wear any jewelry and all long hair must be tied back to prevent injury. Students should wear sweatpants/stretchy pants to school each day. We do not have time to change clothes before and after gym so they must come properly dressed in the morning. Thank you for your support of this program!

• RAZ-KIDS (NEW!) : EMJ has purchased a membership to the Raz-Kids website. This is an online reading program with levelled books that your child can practice reading with at home as another option to the Home Reading books that they bring home. Your child had a chance to practice using this site today with their Buddies. They have brought home their login information so that they can access the site from home. Please keep this information in a safe place. You will be able to access the site from our Google Classroom or by searching Raz-kids online. 

• Please have your child return their Spelling Booklet each Monday. This week's spelling words were: one, once, any, after, help, stop

• Our Google Classroom is up and running! This is a resource for students to use at home to support learning here at school. You can log into your child's classroom by following the steps below:

1. Go to Google. com.
2. Click the blue "Sign In" icon near the top right of screen.
3. Click on the "waffle" icon and select the chalkboard icon from the drop down menu.
4. Enter your child's email address. (this can be found in your MyCBE parent account or you can ask me and I can email it to you.)
5. Enter your child's password. (All students have the same password. It is: 12345678 )
6. Click on "Mrs. V's Classroom")
7. Go to "Classwork" tab for links to games and activities.

*Note: If you have any trouble logging in let me know.

Upcoming Events & Dates to Remember:

Mar. 27 - Spring Break begins

Apr. 3 - School resumes

Apr. 3 - Gymnastics unit begins

Apr. 7 - Good Friday/No School

Apr. 10 - PD Day/No school

Apr. 17 - St. Patrick's Day

Apr. 25 - Last day with our Student Teacher

May 5 - No School

May 12 - Mother's Day