Thursday, January 31st, 2019

Hi Families,

Since the new year, we have been exploring r-controlled vowels in our Sound Study. R-controlled vowels, which are also referred to as bossy R, are vowels that are modified in sound by the R that follows them. Our poems have been accompanied by Sound Study worksheets targeting r-controlled vowel words, giving students to not only practice decoding skills, but also the strategy "Does it make sense?" with the fill in the blank style worksheet. Ask your child to show you the actions and sounds from our Sound Study (hint: there's only 3, as -er, -ir and -ur make the same sound...)

We started our week by participating in the visiting art program, Clay for Kids. Students created two different art pieces: a clay bowl on the pottery wheel, and a glass suncatcher using cut mosaic pieces. Thank you to our volunteers who joined us for the afternoon and helped make the experience so successful! Your time and patience is greatly appreciated! 

Making a plan. 

Adding mosaic pieces. 

Colour buffet!

Gluing our pieces in place.  

Taking turns on the pottery wheel.

A mystery line appeared in our hallways on Monday, and students made predictions about its use and intention. As the week progressed, we noticed that images were added to the line, and it became apparent that it was a Number Line, and each image was a representation of a numbers. We talked about the different representations, and figured out some of their values. We look forward to this ongoing, collaborative, whole school Number Line exploration! Thanks to our Learning Leaders for creating this learning provocation for us! 

Miss Herman introduced us to the Seven Grandfather Teaching this week. The Seven Grandfather Teachings are a set of teachings on human conduct towards others, originating from traditional Anishinaabe teachings from elders. Each teaching is focused on a virtue, and paired with an animal representation. This week, we began exploring the teaching of Love (Eagle), Respect (Bison) and Courage/Bravery (Bear).

Miss Herman has added the teaching of sign language to her lessons, giving students non-verbal representation of communicating love, respect, and bravery to each other. Ask your child to show you at home. 

We continued our exploration of Japan and Japanese culture, by documenting our mochi experience in our scrapbooks, as well as learning how to use chopsticks. We also learned about the art form of origami, and created paper carps. The koi carp is thought to be a symbol of luck, prosperity and good fortune. 

Report cards were sent home today. The report cards are for your records, you may keep them at home. Please sign the envelope indicating you have received the report card document, and return JUST the envelope to school by the end of next week. 

A reminder that there is no school tomorrow, February 1st. 

Please see the additional blog notes on the upcoming School Dance.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Ms Thomas