Sunday, November 11th, 2018

Hi Families,

My apologies for the Sunday post, and also the long post! We are transitioning into some new, exciting areas of focus...

MAPSS Movie Event - It was wonderful to see many of you at the MAPSS Movie Event! It was a great opportunity to connect with families from the three different Montessori schools and bring awareness to the Society - who they are, what they do and how they support the Montessori program in Calgary's public schools. Consider following them on Facebook to receive updates on future events! Thank you to MAPSS for the wonderful movie experience! 

Remembrance Day - Thank you to the grade 5 and 6 students for a lovely Remembrance ceremony on Friday. In the classroom, we had thoughtful discussions, not only about the sacrifices made by others, but also about the general nature of conflict and peace. We used the video "Poppies" as a springboard to talk about the feelings of war, as well as the books, "A Bear in War" and "A Poppy is to Remember" to develop our perspective of families influenced by the war, and to understand why the poppy is a symbol associated with Remembrance Day. 

Letters Home Folder - This week, students will have brought home their "Letters Home" folder (navy blue) which contains their first letter sharing their October learning. Please read the information at the front of the folder to understand the purpose of the writing, what to look for while reading, and how to follow up with your child. As well, look for some anecdotal notes in the top corner of your child's letter, explaining what individual supports and strategies your child used in the writing process. Your child's folder needs to be returned after you have had time to enjoy it with your child, preferably Monday or Tuesday of the following week.

Math: Attributes - We continue to develop our understanding of attributes in math. In mathematics, the word attribute is used to describe a characteristic or feature of an object, that allows for grouping of it with similar objects and is typically used to describe size, shape or colour of objects. Developing their ability to analyze attributes supports understanding of attributes at the quality level )shape, size, weight, length, width, height, etc.) and quantity level (many, few, more, less, none, etc.) and later, more specific number values (e.g., sets of 2, sets of 10, sets of values greater than 2).

Sound Study: Syllables and Digraphs - In the last couple of weeks, we have completed our review of letters, sounds and actions within the Animated Literacy program. For students who are still developing their understanding of letters and sounds, they are being supported through targeted small group or 1:1 practice. As a class, we have started to look at two big ideas in our sound study: that words have pieces (syllables), and that some letters don't always make their original sound (currently look at the digraph /ch/).

Syllables are sometimes described as the beats in words, as we often clap them out to determine how many syllables are in each word. Syllables play a vital role in reading and writing for young learners but also for advanced readers and writers. Being aware of syllables in words (syllable awareness) develops before the awareness of sounds in words (phonemic awareness). This is because the chunks are more obvious. Syllables are used in reading and writing through:

1) Syllable Segmentation: this involves saying the word in its syllable chunks. Later, this is important for spelling long words. We have been developing our understanding of syllable spelling this week with great success!

    

2) Syllable Blending. This involves listening to syllable chunks and pulling them together to make a word. Later, this is important for reading long words.

Community: Landforms - Together with Ms Brown's class, we began to explore different landforms and bodies of water. By identifying key words in a given definition, students were able to match and sort terms and illustrations. I wonder which landforms and bodies of water students will choose for our constructed community?

Mixed Media Art: Monsters - We self-assessed our monsters this week and noticed that aside from eyes and teeth, many of us did not add any additional details to make our monster stand out from the others. Using various loose parts donated from families (thank you families!), they students enthusiastically added details that created unique art pieces with character! In the upcoming week, we'll use our monsters as writing prompts inspired by the book, "Glad Monster, Sad Monster"

Needs of Livings Things: Pumpkin and Corn - Finally, we set up an experiment to observe over the next couple of weeks exploring what our pumpkin and calico corn need to survive. Students made predictions about what would happen when we added dirt to the pumpkin, and water to the corn, based on their understanding of the needs of living things. They demonstrated excellent reasoning skill based on their knowledge!