I want to start off by saying how proud I am of all the EDC and Kindergarten students this week during swimming! Everyone tried their very best, even though it was a new experience for most of the kids. I had so much fun with all the students and it is always nice to see the students learn in a different environment other than the classroom! Thank you to the parents that volunteered their time to help us out, it was very much appreciated!
EDC A.M. - This past week looked a bit different due to swimming. The students started their day with gym and circle then got ready to head to the pool. The kids got to ride on a big school bus with another class which was a very exciting experience! The students were split into smaller groups with a certified swim instructor. Ms. Jenna went in the pool to help out and also learned a lot from the instructors. The students started the week off by becoming comfortable with the water, learned how to kick our legs like a pencil, putting our chin in the water and blowing bubbles, swimming with a teacher on their stomachs and floating on their backs. Once the kids were comfortable with the water they got a chance to jump into the magic hula hoop with their lifejackets and swim back to the ledge. The instructors ended the lesson by getting into the small, warm pool to play games and dunk our heads under the water! By the end of the lesson, most of the students did not want to leave they were having so much fun. Everyone learned some very valuable skills and how its important to respect the water. I had many students asking if we could go swimming again, so glad they had fun! Kindergarten & EDC P.M. - The afternoon students headed right to swimming after they got to school. They really enjoyed riding the big school bus and were super excited to get to the pool. Just as the morning group did, the students started the week off by becoming comfortable with the water, learned how to kick our legs like a pencil, putting our chin in the water and blowing bubbles, swimming with a teacher on their stomachs and floating on their backs. Once the kids were comfortable with the water they got a chance to jump into the magic hula hoop with their lifejackets and swim back to the ledge. Then they had a chance to swim the length of the pool with the swim instructors and on the last day they got to go down a little slide into the water! They all had so much fun and I was so impressed with the kids who at the beginning of the week were feeling scared of the water and by Thursday were jumping in and embracing being in the pool! Reminders: - Cultural Night will be February 12th from 6:00-7:30! Our class has decided to learn about Ukraine and will be creating some authentic Ukraine art work to display. Ms. Jenna will also be making some perogies to taste that night! - There will be no school Thursday, February 13th due to Teachers Convention! - We will be celebrating Valentines Day in the classroom with some art work and learning about Friendship! If you would like to have your child bring Valentines cards please make sure there is one for every student. There are 10 kids in the morning class and 12 in the afternoon! Thanks
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EDC A.M.
- The EDC students did a wonderful job this week participating at our new table top activities and finishing their snowman art for our bulletin board. We have officially finished our unit on baking this week. The students really enjoyed mixing ingredients, and making cupcakes and cookies at our imaginative baking center! The students have also become confident in our circle routine. They are all verbally participating in our Hello song, following our daily schedule and placing their pictures on the sign in board, followed by engaging in our story. Next week is going to be a bit different, because of swimming. We will be modifying our daily routine and will not be starting a new unit until the first week in February! Kindergarten & EDC P.M. - Ms. Jenna was so impressed with the afternoon group this week! Everyone was very engaged in their learning tasks, playing nicely with their peers and asking very intriguing and interesting questions about our learning. The kindergarten students finished their unit based on the book, Over and Under the Snow by colouring all the animals from the story, cutting them out and gluing them on a sheet in the proper spot (e.g. Does the fox go over or under the snow?) The students also really enjoyed their time during Music Therapy with Mrs. Christina. They had a chance to play her guitar and play a new instrument called a Bell Tree! We will be starting a new unit on Friendship the first week in February as swimming is next week! We will be learning about the country, Ukraine next week in preparation for Cultural Night on February 12th in the evening. We will be looking at where Ukraine is located, what kind of foods they eat, the traditional clothing they wear and deciding on art work that we can do to display for the night! Stay tuned for more information! Reminders: - I have had many questions about swimming next week and what it is going to look like. All of the students have been placed in Preschool Level 1. They will be going into the kitty pool (water is shallow) and will be with certified swim instructors as well as myself and a few other team members. The rest of my team will be on the deck at the pool as extra eyes and support. Parents are not allowed in the pool, but will be able to watch, however if you are volunteering your help will be needed on the bus and getting the kids undressed and dressed for swimming. I know the kids are going to have so much fun and it will be a wonderful learning experience for all! Please remember to put your childs swim suit on in the morning under their clothes and place a towel in their backpack! - There will be a FOP session on Wednesday (January 29th) in the evening in our classroom! - I will sending home forms next week to purchase Rosscarrock School Hoodies. If you would like to order one please send the form back with money. Thank you! The We survived the coldest week of the season so far! The adults are looking forward to seeing all the kids back next week and heading outside for some well deserved fresh air!
EDC A.M. - This week ended up being different than planned as we had most of our group away due to sickness and the cold weather. Because of this Ms. Jenna changed our plans a bit and allowed for lots of one-on-one time with the students that were here and tried some new activities that required only a few students! The students loved the new baking center and did a wonderful job of using their imaginations while mixing, baking and serving cupcakes and cookies to the adults. We also have welcomed Mrs. Christina to our classroom, a music therapist from Blue Sky Music Therapy! She will be joining us every Wednesday until April in both the morning and afternoon. We are so excited to have here! What is Music Therapy: Music therapy is a discipline in which credentialed professionals (MTA*) use music purposefully within therapeutic relationships to support development, health, and well-being. Music therapists use music safely and ethically to address human needs within cognitive, communicative, emotional, musical, physical, social, and spiritual domains. Dear EDC Staff, I am so excited to be part of the EDC team for the 2019/20 school year! As the music therapist for EDC my first priority is to provide a successful and positive music experience for every student. Music therapy is different from music education in that I am not teaching any music concepts but am instead using responses to music to motivate learning, promote social interaction and increase communication. I aim to incorporate IPP goals into my sessions as much as possible to give students opportunities to work on their goals through music. I am also here to provide music resources for EDC staff to use. I have many of my songs on my website. This gives you a little library of tried and true songs that address many goal areas. (My website is currently being upgraded, but should be finished by the time the program begins) www.blueskymusictherapy.com and click on the ‘Members Portal’. The password is simply: edc Kindergarten & EDC P.M. - The students continued their work around the story, Over and Under the Snow this week. We learned which animals live over the snow in the winter and which ones live under. The students did a work task around which animal was their favorite and why. Next week will continue to learn about each animal and start talking about hibernation! The students also finished their books we started back in November around the story, Rosie’s Walk. Ms. Jenna laminated each of the books and put them together. Each Kindergarten student had the chance to read their story to the rest of the class. Everyone did such a great job creating and reading their story to their friends, Ms. Jenna is very proud of them! Reminders: - If you have not sent your child’s swimming permission form back to school yet, please do next week! - For those students eligible for Kindergarten next year.....registration opens on Monday! - There will be a FOP session the evening of January 29th in our classroom - The weather will be warming up next week. I will be taking the students outside, please make sure they are dressed appropriately! Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful break. It was great to see all the students back on Monday with smiles and ready to learn. We had a productive first week back, and hope to continue this into next week!
EDC PM: - The students did an awesome job getting back into the classroom routines this week, and showed all the teachers they were back with excitement and ready to learn. We have started a new unit this month and it is all around cooking and baking. The students started the story, Lets Bake Cookies by Ms. Jenna and Lets Cook by Ms. Tracey. Both books allow students to follow one step directions, practice their prepositions and expressive language. We will continue with these stories into next week and Ms. Jenna will have a new interactive baking center ready to go for Monday. My hope is to end this unit with a day of baking real chocolate chip cookies! Kindergarten & EDC PM: - The Kindergarten students have started a new book, Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner! The book takes the reader on a cross country ski trip through the winter woods to discover the secret world of animals living under the snow. The students will have the chance to make literacy connections between this story and The Mitten, learn about a variety of animals that hibernate during the winter, understand how some animals live above the snow in the winter and how they survive the cold months and will have a variety of opportunities to share their learning through literacy centers. I found that this group of students love learning about animals and have sparked many interesting and engaging conversations through this interest. The EDC students will be starting the book, The Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson. They will also get to learn about the animals in this story and how kindness and working together can make someones day a bit brighter! Reminders: - If you have not sent your child swimming permission form back to school yet, please do so next week as I want to finalize my numbers! Swimming will take place January 27th-30th. Both classes will be going separately and will be taking a bus to the pool. The morning EDC group will be in the water from 10:00-10:40 and the afternoon Kindergarten and EDC group 1:00-1:40. - The weather is suppose to get significantly colder for next week. If your child will not be making it to school, please call the office or send me an e-mail letting me know. I will not be taking the kids outside next week! Information from Mrs. Fraser: Rosscarrock School is extremely fortunate to have been chosen as one of five Calgary schools that will participate in Alberta Education’s School Nutrition Pilot Program from January 13-June 19, 2020. The program will provide students the opportunity to receive all or part of a daily breakfast consisting of the four food groups. This will be provided at no cost. The program follows the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth, and will provide food choices such as cereal, muffins, milk, fresh fruit and eggs. Calgary Meals on Wheels will provide the food choices offered. Every student can participate. If they are hungry, they can eat! Parents and staff members are also welcome to join them for a meal. The program not only provides opportunities for students to try new foods, it will also provide an opportunity for social interaction outside of the classroom. To learn more about the school nutrition program, please visit, Alberta School Nutrition Plan or contact Somer Gotmy, Breakfast Supervisor and Lead Lunch Supervisor: [email protected] Our breakfast program runs daily from 8:40 AM to 9:00 AM, and is free for all students. Students are to come to the lunchroom doors at 8:40 AM. They will have up to 20 minutes to eat, followed by 10 minutes of supervised play outside. Students who arrive at school after 9:00 AM may ‘grab and go’. This means they are permitted to take certain food items (excluding milk) into the classroom to start their day. We look forward to seeing you on January 13, 2020. Brenna Fraser Principal We made it!! I cannot believe it is already the last week of school before winter break! Since September the students have worked so hard and learned so much, I am so proud of everyone, we all have earned a well deserve break. Thank you to all the families for all your support, taking my phone calls, replying to my e-mails and making sure we are all doing what is best for the students. I hope everyone has a safe, fun and restful break! We will see everyone January 6th for the first day back to school!
Here are some updates for next week: Dear Families, As we close out another year, we thought we could bring some school spirit to the building. We will be having a special theme each day next week. Your student is more then welcome to participate. Monday: Jersey and Hat Day Tuesday: Crazy Hair Day Wednesday: Ugly Sweater Day Thursday: Pajama and Stuffy Day On Thursday December 20, 2019, from 2:00-3:45pm, Parent Council will be hosting a movie afternoon. The movie will be the Netflix special Klaus. Klaus is a about a simple act of kindness that always sparks another, even in a frozen, faraway place. When Smeerensburg’s new postman, Jesper, befriends a toymaker Klaus, their gifts melt an age-old feud and deliver a sleigh full of holiday traditions. Students are welcome to wear their PJ’s and bring a stuffed animal. Parent Council will be providing popcorn and a juice box. Also, students will be coming home with their report card, so please look for it and return the signed envelope on January 6, 2020. Have a great Winter Break! December is here, which means a very busy couple of weeks until winter holidays!
EDC A.M. * It has been such a fun couple of weeks! The EDC students have really been enjoying all the interactive stories we've been reading. The story Dear Santa has been a big hit as the students get to open little presents as they read the story and as they learn new vocabulary and work on taking turns. They have also been reading the story, Brrrrr Santa is Cold by Ms. Jenna which has them help dress Santa in his suit so he can go deliver his gifts. They have also been working on many art projects including making sparkle snowflakes to hang in the classroom, fingerprint candy canes, and 3D polar bears & penguins. Next week the students will start a new story called Santa, Santa which will teach sharing and waiting your turn, introduce new vocabulary and allow the students to find the right answer by the process of elimination. We will also be doing something very exciting with Ms. Ellie our Occupational Therapist on Wednesday!! The students are going to help make chocolate chip cookies, they will have a chance to use the cookie cutters, help place the cookies on the tray and then have a chance to taste their creations! EDC & Kindergarten P.M. * The past couple of weeks I have seen the Kindergartens work so hard. They have really impressed me with their abilities to try new things and show persistence while completing their work tasks. As a group we worked together creating our word wall which is now up and being used daily by the students. Everyone got to colour the first letter in their name and then help with the other letters in the alphabet. As we learn about new things and are introduced to new vocabulary, we will add pictures under the letters to help us learn. For example, if a student draws a picture of a dog and would like to print the word dog, they can look at the word wall for the picture of a dog and find the spelling. I have done this in past years and I really like how it encourages independence, problem solving when learning how to print and how it is a working tool in the classroom. The students have also been working very hard on learning all the animals in our story The Mitten. They have mastered the proper sequence of the animals, memorized the story and characters and are able to retell it using our story map and mitten game. They also had the opportunity to draw their favorite animal from the story and print the name of the animal, they all worked so hard on this task! Next week we will be doing something very exciting with Ms. Ellie our Occupational Therapist......we are going to make chocolate chip cookies! Reminders: - The students will be making chocolate chip cookies this coming Wednesday, please let me know if there are any allergies that I do not already know about (they will be nut free). - This coming Thursday will be Ms. Hannahs last day with us Thank you to the parents who came out for parent teacher interviews this week. It is always great to connect and chat about all the learning that has been taking place in the classroom!
A.M. EDC: * The EDC students had another fun week at school. They have really done a great job adapting and following our new gym routine as well as our table top time. The students continued their learning around transportation while reading, 'Here, There, Everywhere' by Ms. Jenna and the book 'Little Blue Truck' by Alice Schertle. For the book 'Little Blue Truck' the students have been practicing sequencing the animals in the proper order as they push the little blue truck out of the mud and listening for new words such as 'stuck, roaring, and muddy'. Next week we will be starting a new unit all about winter and snow! The students will have a chance to create their own snowflakes and expand their vocabulary with all words to do with winter. This is one of my favorite units as there is so much you can do activity wise as well as crafts . P.M. EDC & Kindergarten: * To start the week off, Ms. Jenna had a very special guest come in and do a presentation that tied in with our community helpers unit! We had Cst. Gary Hartmann with Calgary Police Services come in and tell us all about his job and why police officers are important in our community. The students were so excited and had so many questions for him! We learned that police officers help keep us safe and are always there to help us if we need it. It was so wonderful to see the students engaged and taking in all the important information he had to share with us. The students also started to brainstorm ideas around creating their very own book based on the story 'Rosie's Walk' by Pat Hutchins. We will start taking pictures and putting our books together next week! Next week we will also be starting a new unit all around winter and the Ukrainian story 'The Mitten' by Jan Brett. This is one of my all time favorite stories! The students will learn about a variety of winter animals while practicing their sequencing skills and learning new vocabulary. I have a big surprise to kick off our story that I think the students are going to love! Reminders & Updates: * The next FOP session will be Tuesday, December 10th in the evening. * Ms. Jenna is starting to write report cards for the Kindergarten students. These will be coming home the last week before winter holidays. * Here is an update from Mrs. Fraser for the afternoon class: Rosscarrock students will be participating in “The 12 Days of Fitness” challenge. Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday students will learn a new skill and participate in a rigorous workout with either Mrs. Rowein or Mrs. Fraser. This will help students learn about ways to keep their bodies fit and healthy. Please have students dress in comfortable clothes and have them bring a water bottle to school. A.M. EDC:
* This week was very busy in EDC as Ms. Jenna implemented new table top activities and changed our gym routine, however the students did a great job adapting and taking on the new learning. In the morning we always start our day off with free play in the gym. After we clean up, we are now sitting in a circle and Ms. Jenna is teaching the students how to use their breathing to help get us calm and ready to learn. The EDC team noticed a big difference in the students after this technique and how they transition into the classroom much more relaxed. After we come to the classroom from the gym instead of going to learning circle we have started to do table tops. These activities are literacy, numeracy and tactile focused (e.g. letter matching, sorting by colour, building structures) and help the students practice staying focused and following basic one-step directions. The students have done a fantastic job with this change! P.M EDC & Kindergarten: * The afternoon students had such a fun week with all our new learning and dramatic play centers. The students were very busy fixing/building at our tool center and playing doctor on Ms. Jenna! The adults in the room were very happy with how the students were sharing and taking turns with the new toys. The students also started learning about the different parts of a story and what a character is. We read our book, "Rosie's Walk" and discovered it has two characters in it, a fox and a hen and talked about what was happening at the beginning, middle and end of the story. Next week we will be continuing our learning around community helpers. We will learn about firefighters, police officers and teachers! We will also be continuing our work around 'Rosie's Walk' and start making our own stories! Reminders & Updates: * Kindergarten: Parent-teacher interview sign-up is now open. Parents can book an interview time through their CBE Parent Account. Click "CBE Apps" on the navigation bar, then click on 'My School Conferences'. Additionally you can call the office at 403-777-8390 to schedule an interview time. * EDC: There has been a change in the parent-teacher interviews for December. I will no longer be having EDC parent-teacher interviews in December. Parents are welcome to come next week during the interviews for kindergarten if you would like to chat about how your child is doing, however I will not have any IPP's to sign at this time. I will instead be sending your child's updated IPP home in December for you to review, sign and send back to school. If you have any questions regarding this change please e-mail me or give me a call at the school. Happy November! Another busy yet fun week in room 7.
A.M. EDC: * This week the students really enjoyed our new book, "Here, There, Everywhere" by Ms. Jenna and learning about all the different transportation vehicles. We also introduced the interactive book "Bump, Bump, Bump" by Ms. Tracy. The students had a chance to sequence and expand their vocabulary as the truck moved along the road going bump, bump, bump! The students have also started a new art project and are creating their own cars to go on our bulletin board...the best part is we are going to place their pictures on the car so it looks like they are the driver! This coming week we are going to be continuing both our transportation books, however we are going to be introducing a building center, as well as some table top activities to increase attention, focus and following instructions! P.M. EDC & Kindergaten: * This week we started our unit on Community Helpers by playing a trivia game where the students had to listen to a set of clues and pick which community helper it matched! We started off learning about what doctors do and the tools they use to do their job. I was very impressed with the students ability to use the proper vocabulary when labeling the tools (e.g. stethoscope). We then opened our own dramatic play doctor's office! The students had their own doctors kit and had to print their name on a checklist then follow the pictures with different body parts (e.g. heart, ears, eyes, feet) while working/checking over the baby dolls. They baby doll either had a sad face for sick or a happy face for healthy. The students had so much fun at this center and did a great job sharing, turn taking and following the expectations. Next week we will be learning about what builders and construction workers do, what tools they use to do their jobs and will have the opportunity to play at a new dramatic play building center! We will also start learning about the different parts of a story (beginning, middle and end) as well as what a character is with the help of the story, "Rosie's Walk" by Pat Hutchins. This work will be connected to our school's literacy focus. The end goal will be that all the students will create their own 'walk' being the character in their own story and become a published author of their very own book! Reminders: *NO SCHOOL Monday November 11th for Remembrance Day - Kindergarten Parents- the second parent teacher interviews are around the corner. They will be November 21st in the evening and November 22nd from 8:00-1:00. I will send a letter home or the school will letting you know when you can sign up for an interview slot! - EDC Parents- you will not be required to participate in the interviews on November 21st & 22nd we will be having our EDC parent teacher interviews in December. Stay tuned for the dates! - Lost Snow pants- one of our students has lost his snow pants and we can't seem to find them here at school. If you could please make sure that they did not come home with your child by accident that would be much appreciated. They are the ones that have the vest (straps to go over the shoulders) are black with the name Christopher printed on the tag. Thanks! We have officially said goodbye to October and hello to November! I am so proud of all the learning we have accomplished in the month of October, the students have been working so hard and continue to exceed my expectations. I hope everyone had fun yesterday during our Halloween celebration, everyone looked so cute in their costumes!
A.M. EDC: * This past week was full of Halloween and fall fun. The students really enjoyed reading "Stirring The Stew" by Ms. Jenna and did a great job finding the different objects around the classroom. We had the opportunity to carve a pumpkin together as a class. We talked about the different shapes we used to make our jack-o-lantern and afterwards we got to explore the 'pumpkin guts'. We learned some new descriptive words such as 'yucky', 'gooey', 'slimy', 'stinky' and 'slippery' as we separated the seeds from the pumpkin guts. The students also created their own 2D pumpkin faces and spooky mummy's for our bulletin board. Starting next week we will be switching gears and starting our unit on transportation and community helpers! The students will be reading the interactive book, "Here, There, Everywhere" created by Ms. Jenna. They will learn about different ways of transportation (e.g. car, train, boat, airplane ect.) and if those vehicles go by land, air or water. The book will provide them clues on what vehicle they need to find and then place it in the appropriate category (e.g. land, air, water). I have a feeling this is going to be an exciting topic for our students! P.M. EDC & Kindergarten: * This past week was a very busy one for the afternoon. We had the opportunity to design and draw on our own pumpkins donated by Save On Foods, create 2D pumpkin faces and spooky mummy's, and carve a pumpkin together as a class. Before carving our pumpkin we learned that pumpkins grow from seeds that are in the ground, they grow into a flower and then into a pumpkin which eventually we can pick and carve. Once we carved the pumpkin the students were excited to explore the inside and separate the seeds from the pumpkin guts. We have also been working a lot on our alphabet awareness and will soon be creating our own letter wall in the classroom. Every afternoon the students have been participating in a afternoon message with Ms. Jenna. We read the message together and then the students are asked to go on a letter hunt and find the specific letter(s) in the message. This is a bit hit with the students and is just the start to all our great letter work to come. Next week we will be starting our unit on community helpers! The students will have an opportunity to learn about different jobs in our community and why they are important. Some of the community helpers we will be learning about are teachers, police officers, fire fighters, doctors, nurses, vets, dentists, chefs, mechanics, construction workers, farmers and mail carriers. I have some exciting centers and activities planned to extend our learning on this topic! Reminders: * Picture Retakes are this coming Wednesday (November 6th). If your child is having their picture retaken can you please send me a note or e-mail letting me know so I make sure to send them. * Kindergarten parents- I have completed the EYE assessment and will be inputting the results next week. I will have conversations around this during our next parent/teacher interviews. * NO SCHOOL on November 11th- Remembrance Day |
Photo used under Creative Commons from @YannGarPhoto