Virtual Open House

Dear Families, 

Our Room 8 Virtual Open House Video 2020 is now available on the LBS YouTube Channel.

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Thomas

Thursday, September 24th, 2020

 Hi Families, 

What a lovely week to celebrate the beginning of Fall! We managed to wrap up a couple of tasks this week, while continuing with our literacy and math routines. 

Ask your child about:

- observing, counting and recording the numbers of spots on 10 ladybugs*

- exploring hexagons, rhombuses and trapezoids with Shape of the Day*

- reviewing/learning new Animated Literacy characters: Rr, Hh, Jj and Kk*

- completing Word Work to support these letters, at our just-right literacy level

- journal writing: On the weekend...

- smelling mystery spices and flavourings to access "smell memories" - who, where and when does it remind you of?

- looking at the piece of art "Pie Counter" by Wayne Thiebaud*

- discussing how artists make images that appeal to our senses of smell and taste

- creating a food collage that includes foods with different tastes: sweet, salty, spicy, bland, juicy, etc.*

- self-assessed our work using our collage success criteria*

- celebrating the changing of the seasons by viewing the book "Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn"*

- illustrating what we enjoyed from Summer (Goodbye Summer), and what we look forward to in Fall (Hello Fall)

- stamping leaf patterns to connect to our new Fall poem: Autumn Leaves*

- sorting warm and cool watercolours to paint the leaves (warm) and background (cool)*

- laughing at "The Very Grouchy Ladybug" with our buddies from Ms. Bouchard's class*

- participating in an "un-taping ceremony" to celebrate each others works of art

Autumn Leaves Art
What's your pattern core?
Do you have a shape or direction pattern?
Which colours are warm? Which are cool?

- participating in our Lake Bonavista School Terry Fox run with our cohort

*Materials/visuals or templates for these activities re available on Google Classroom to support home learning routines, or in the case of a prolonged absence from school*

Sea of Blue!
Getting Ready to Run for Terry Fox!
Thank you School Council for our LBS Shirts!

As part of our literacy learning, we are beginning to explore logging on to school computers, using the same information that was sent home earlier in September. Navigating a keyboard is tricky but worthwhile work for early literacy learners. If you would like to support your child at home, you can open just a blank Word document, and have them practice typing their Student Number (which is their login at school) and password. 

A reminder that tomorrow is a PD Day for teachers, no school for students.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Ms. Thoams

Picture Day - Tuesday, September 29th, 2020

 

Terry Fox Run 2020

We will be having our Annual Terry Fox Run on Thursday, September 24, 2020. Students will be running in cohorts at different times throughout the day to support social distancing. Please encourage your child to wear their Lake Bonavista School t-shirt for the run! 

This year the Terry Fox Run is celebrating its 40th anniversary! Teachers will be discussing with students the life of Terry Fox and the contributions he has made to cancer research.  

Students can dedicate their run to someone who they know that has been affected by cancer. Please speak to your child prior to our run and if they choose to dedicate their run to someone they can share this in their class' sharing circle prior to or after their run. 

Should you wish to make a donation online, please use the following link to donate through the Terry Fox website:  https://secure.terryfox.ca/registrant/TeamFundraisingPage.aspx?TeamID=918010 

Let’s keep Terry’s dream to find a cure for cancer alive! 

Friday, September 18th, 2020

Hi Families, 

Our first full week of school! There were definitely some droopy eyelids by the time today's dismissal rolled around! 

This week, we have been busy developing some work routines. Ask your child about:

- our Animated Literacy characters*
- our connected Word Work where students work at their just-right literacy level
- our Shape of the Day activities that develop our mathematical language for attributes*
- our delicious Apple Pie poem describing our 5 senses*
- their illustrated diagram identifying which body parts match each of the 5 senses
- the book "Our Class is a Family", and what words they used to describe our class family*
- the book "A Place for Mulan", generously shared by a student celebrating her birthday this week
- our Google Meet virtual assembly hosted by Ms. Durnford and Mrs. Jones
- our new school t-shirts! Peace, Gratitude, Montessori! 
- our first fire drill: Quick, Quiet and Calm

*Materials/visuals or templates for these activities re available on Google Classroom to support home learning routines, or in the case of a prolonged absence from school*

A reminder that next Friday, September 25th is a Non-Instructional Day, no school for students. 

Have a wonderful, restful weekend everyone!
Ms. Thomas

Peace, Gratitude, Montessori

Today your child is coming home with a complimentary school t-shirt, generously provided by our Lake Bonavista School Council. 

Your child is welcome to wear the t-shirt any time they like, but watch the blog for specific school spirit days where we will encourage everyone to wear them to represent our wonderful school family! 

                                  

Scholastic Book Orders

Hi Families, 

This year, paper flyers for Scholastic book orders will not be sent home. They are still available online for viewing and purchase. 

When you purchase books through our classroom Scholastic account, a percent of sales gets donated back to the classroom to purchase books and materials.

If you are interested in ordering, I will post a blog note each time new monthly flyers become available. Currently, September flyers are available for viewing/ordering. 

Here is the information regarding ordering online this year: 

Thank you!
Ms. Thomas

Monday, September 14th, 2020

 Hi Families,

 

I hope you all had wonderful weekends!

 

Some updates for you regarding a few different things in the classroom:

 

Soft Entry

 

This year, we are doing a SOFT-ENTRY model in the morning. This means, that as students arrive at the school, between 8:00am and 8:10am, they will be let into the school at their regular entry/dismissal doors by a teacher on supervision. This gradual entry reduces doorway/hallway congestion, supporting social distancing. If your child arrives after 8:10am, and there are no longer any adults on supervision, they are considered LATE and must walk around to the front office on 120^th Avenue for entry. Please do not encourage them to knock, bang or attempt to gather attention from someone in the classroom, as instruction will have started.

 

Weather

 

In addition to being outside for lunch and afternoon recess, we also like to regularly go outside as a class throughout the day. Currently, we are participating in outdoor gym, as well as picnic snack. We hope to also be use our outdoor spaces for additional learning activities as much as possible! Please support your child in dressing comfortably for the variety of weather we can experience in a Calgary day – we go outside in sun, rain and snow! 

 

Allergies/Medical Concerns

 

If your child has a significant health issue that may affect their time at school, please complete the following:

 

Student Health Plan here: https://cbe.ab.ca/FormsManuals/Student-Health-Plan.pdf#search=student%20health%20plan

 

Student Health Emergency Response Protocol Plan here: https://cbe.ab.ca/FormsManuals/Student-Health-Emergency-Response-Protocol-Form.pdf#search=Emergency%20Response%20Protocol (include a photo, if you can)

 

Google Classroom

 

On Friday, you would have received login information for your child’s various school accounts, including Google Classroom. In lieu of paper forms and activities being sent home, they will be uploaded here for access as necessary.

 

Please take some time this week to explore the current content on Google Classroom:

- information about our Home Reading program (RAZ Kids)

- digital copies of our poems from the last two weeks, for home practice

- Math games that have been introduced in class

- Weekly Work (to be updated)

 

 Thank you!

Ms. Thomas

First Week of School - Welcome Back!

 This message was sent to all families on Friday, September 4th, 2020 through SchoolMessenger.

Hello Families, Welcome and welcome back to Lake Bonavista School and Room 8! This year, classroom communication will happen primarily through email and Google Classroom. Next week, I will be sending home your child’s login information for Google Classroom so you can access the Stream (our blog) as well as resources and materials. At this time, I also request that communication from home come digitally as much as possible to reduce touch-points. We’ve had a great week getting to know each other, our space and our routines. The students are demonstrating amazing resilience and flexibility within all the changes involved with returning to school. Ask your child about: - familiar friends and new friends - different ways that we are greeting each other (Ms. Thomas misses hugs!) - our Buddy class (Ms. Bouchard) - games they’ve been learning for field play
- their Guided Drawing this week (Pigeon by Mo Willems) - what math game they learned - materials that are in their cubby - Mindful drawing after lunch - how they first felt about returning to school, and how they feel now (one of our Sharing Circle prompts) - 1 Star (good thing) and 1 Wish (thing they would change) about their day (another Sharing Circle prompt) After so much time away from physical school, it will take time for everyone to build up their “school stamina” (even the teachers!) In the upcoming days and weeks, please let me know if you are concerned about their adjustment to grade 1 and 2. In your child’s backpack this evening, please find two provided face masks to add to your collection. They have been labeled with their initials for easy identification. Thank you families! I hope you have a wonderful long-weekend! See you Tuesday on the South Field! Ms. Thomas