Fish Creek Park, Arts Commons and Other Goings On

Hi Families,

Our final Fish Creek Park visit continued to match our expectations for weather and experiences! Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make our series such a success! During our walk-alongside we viewed Ms. Thomas' favourite plant, Wolf Willow, and learned about its different uses, as well as explored some evidence of insects: wood ants and a goldenrod gall fly.

We had a wonderful field-trip to Arts Commons yesterday, participating in workshops on masks, and indigenous drumming. Thank you to the volunteers who were able to join us for the day!

We had some hairy, crawling friends join our classroom at the end of his week. Most students have predicted they are caterpillars and that they will soon transform. Watch the blog for updates!

Next week, we are back to routine! Lots of fantastic learning still to happen this year, especially as we bring the learning from our field-trips back to the classroom and make connections throughout the curriculum, and developing writing and art projects. As always, our learning is cumulative, so when your child misses time in the classroom, it leaves gaps in their understanding as they are not present for supporting activities, rich conversation and micro-teaching moments. Please do your best to encourage full attendance in these last few weeks before summer holidays!

Today, the final Scholastic Book order of the school year was sent home. There are a number of great titles to keep students enjoying reading over the summer! I am sending it home early to allow significant time for the shipment to arrive before summer holidays. Please see the note attached to the orders for a special code allowing your child to receive a free book on orders over $30.

Reminders for next week:
- Independent Spelling Program resumes Monday. Look for lists in your child's folder, if applicable.
- Please send Home Reading for exchange.
- Library exchange on Wednesday.

Thank you families! Have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Thomas

Garter Snakes

Hi Families,

Today I was at my final session of Land-Based Learning Professional Development at Shannon Terrace in Fish Creek Park. During our Walk Alongside, experts from Alberta Parks shared information on the garter snake hibernaculum that exists on the property. I can easily say that snakes are not high on my list of favourite animals, but I couldn't help but be fascinated by some of the information they shared, which was enriched by the fact that two little guys serpentined across our path not minutes later!

If you're interested, I recommend making your way down there with your kiddos and see if you can spot one of the two species that make Fish Creek Park their home!

(These are not my pictures from today)

Red-Sided Garter Snake
https://www.ab-conservation.com/downloads/educational_materials/brochures/aca_reptiles_of_alberta.pdf

Wandering Garter Snake
https://www.ab-conservation.com/downloads/educational_materials/brochures/aca_reptiles_of_alberta.pdf

Ms. Thomas

MAPSS Movie Event

For more information and reserve tickets, visit: https://mapss.ca/events/

Fish Creek Park - Day 3

Hi Families,

Another extraordinary day of land-based learning in Fish Creek Park!

Before leaving the classroom, we reviewed the three bird-calls from last week (Northern Flicker, Ring-Necked Pheasant and American Robin) as well as introduced two new birds to listen for:

Black-capped Chickadee: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-capped_Chickadee/id
Red-Breasted Nuthatch: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-breasted_Nuthatch

We could hear both in the trees throughout the day!

Our morning started with student-guided exploration. The students are discovering new things every time we visit the Bow Valley Ranche area, and today we noticed many of the trees are quickly becoming dense with leaves, and there are a lot more insects that we can hear.

In the afternoon, we continued with Walk Alongside, Sharing Circle and Sit Spot practices.

Ms. Brown began Sharing Circle with the book, "Trudy's Rock Story",
a story that teaches children that it is okay to have feelings,
and shows then how to process and release negative thoughts. 

During exploration, we think we saw a beaver track!
We saw additional evidence of beavers in the form of felled trees.
Students heard the story, "How Beaver Got It's Flat Tail" during their Walk Alongside. 

Once upon a time there was a beaver that loved to brag about his tail. One day while taking a walk, the beaver stopped to talk to a bird. The beaver said to the bird, "Don't you love my fluffy tail?"

"Why, yes I do little beaver," replied the bird.

"Don't you wish your feathers were as fluffy as my tail? Don't you wish your feathers were as strong as my tail? Don't you wish your feathers were just as beautiful as my tail?" the beaver asked.

"Why do you think so much of your tail, little beaver?" asked the bird. 

This insulted the beaver and he walked away. After walking for a while, he stopped for a drink by the river and saw a muskrat. He walked to the muskrat and said, "Hello little muskrat. What do you think about my tail?"

"Well, it is very beautiful and big and fluffy," answered the muskrat. "Is it also a strong tail?"

"Why, yes it is," the beaver answered. "Do you wish you had a tail like mine?"

"I didn't say I wanted a tail like yours. I just asked if it was strong," the muskrat replied with a disgusted voice. The beaver quickly turned and began walking back to his dam. He was angry because he felt that the animals were being rude to him. He was very upset and decided to take out his frustration by cutting down trees. After cutting down a couple of trees, he came to a very large one. He knew that it would be a great challenge for him. So he went to it. But as he was cutting, he kept thinking about his tail and didn't notice that he was cutting at a bad angle. Before he knew what was happening, the tree began to fall toward him. He jumped to get out of the way, but he didn't jump fast enough, and the huge tree fell on his beautiful tail! He tugged and pulled and finally dug away the earth to free himself. When he finally pulled his tail from under the tree, he was horrified to see that it was flat. The beaver was very sad and started to cry. As he was crying he heard a voice. It was the Creator. "Why are you crying?" asked the Creator

"A tree has crushed my beautiful tail," the beaver cried. "Now no one will like me."

The Creator told him that a beaver is not liked for his tail but for his kindness and wisdom. He also told him how to use his flat tail. "Now your tail will help you swim rapidly," the Creator said. "And when you want to signal a message to a friend, all you have to do is slap your tail on the water."
Hearing this made the beaver happy again. When the animals saw his flattened tail they were shocked! But the beaver said, "It's better this way." From that day on, the beaver never bragged about his tail, and all the animals liked him. That's how the beaver got his flat tail. 

http://www.uwosh.edu/coehs/cmagproject/ethnomath/legend/legend12.htm

Students also learned about the importance of the Saskatoon bush to the Blackfoot people for food, medicine and wood. See if they can remember any of its uses.

Even though many of us are familiar with Saskatoon and love them for pie,
a reminder that berry picking in Fish Creek Provincial Park in NOT permitted. 

Our final visit to Fish Creek Park will take place on Wednesday, May 22nd!

Ms. Thomas

CBE Traditional Pow Wow

Everyone is welcome to attend our Traditional Pow Wow.

Thursday, May 17, 2018 at 6 p.m. Grand Entry

Crescent Heights High School, 1019 -1 St. N.W.

• Dance registration from 4 – 6 p.m.
• Registered dancers will receive an honorarium. Please come early – limited space in each category.
• First seven registered drum groups will receive honoraria.
• Food will be available for purchase.
• To register for a vendor table please contact: Barb Horsefall at bghorsefall@cbe.ab.ca and Janis Weasel Bear at jmweaselbear@cbe.ab.ca by May 3, 2018

For more information: 

https://www.cbe.ab.ca/news-centre/Pages/cbe-traditional-pow-wow-2018.aspx

https://www.cbe.ab.ca/news-centre/Documents/2018-Traditional-Pow-Wow-Poster.pdf

Fish Creek Park - Day 2

Hello Families,

Well, I hope I don't jinx it, but I think we must all be carrying around horseshoes in our boots! We had another extraordinary day of exploring and learning in Fish Creek Park! As always, thank you to our volunteers who help make the day so successful!

There was little to no snow left on the ground today, which made exploring that much more fun as we were able to explore beyond the paved paths, into the forest and along the creek edge. Students were keen to revisit sights that they saw on our first day, as well as mark sights for next time. Our exploring time sure does fly by!

Before leaving the school today, students were introduced to three very distinct bird calls that they were likely to hear in the park today:

Northern Flicker: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Flicker/sounds

Ring-Necked Pheasant: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ring-necked_Pheasant

American Robin: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/american_robin

Students were very proud of themselves that even though they might not have been able to see the bird making the call, they heard each of these birds (and more!) In the upcoming visits, I will give them additional birds to try and identify with increased complexity! Do any of the above birds visit your home or neighbourhood?

In the afternoon, we continued with our learning practices of Sharing Circle, Walk Alongside and Sit Spot.

This plant is starting to cover some of the slopes in Fish Creek Park.
It is toxic, so the First Nations use it more as a "calendar plant".
Can your child give you one of its names and uses?

Momma Great Horned Owl and her three babies were all visible today!
Students heard a story about Owl being greedy with Creator.
Ask your child to retell some of the important details from the story.

Students were able to locate their same Sit Spot at the end of the day to quietly reflect on the experiences, observations and learning form the day. They've already come up with new wonderings for our third visit on Monday, May 13th!

One of parent volunteers mentioned that you may want to be doing a tick check on your child after our time at Fish Creek Park, as it is the beginning of tick season and students were spending time in both grassy and wooded areas. All students were wearing tall boots and long pants, which help in protecting them from ticks, and are best during all our visits to Fish Creek Park.

Some reminders for the rest of the week:
- swimming Tuesday and Thursday
- library exchange on Wednesday
- Volunteer Celebration on Friday

Thank you everyone!
Ms. Thomas

Volunteers - Monday

Hi Families,

Just wondering if anyone is available to join us for our Monday field trip to Fish Creek Park?

We have two wonderful parents joining us already, but a third (or even a fourth!) would make ratios much more comfortable.

If you are unable to join us this Monday, we are still in need of volunteers for the other dates as well:

Monday, May 13th
Wednesday, May 22nd

Please contact myself or Kathryn if you can join us.

Thank you!
Ms. Thomas