Jan 30

Volunteers for ice skating.

A letter was sent home yesterday for ice skating. It contained information and a consent form. I would be grateful if you could please have a look at these and return the attached form. We will be going to the outdoor skating rink at Varsity Community Centre on Monday February 10th and Wednesday February 11th from 10:00-10:40. We are in need of volunteers to help students to put on their boots and helmets. If you are available, please let me know via email. Volunteers are welcome to skate with the kids once everyone is set up to go.

We started our day with centres practicing our spelling and phonemic awareness through play. We looked at a text about the geography of Ukraine in social studies. We read it through and highlighted any bits of the text that we found interesting. We then wrote notes in our books and illustrated them.

We combined art with maths to produce some artwork based on perimeter. We finished gymnastics with M. Trevor.

We wrote our journals and some more students presented their science projects. We read another chapter of The Iron Man and then demonstrate our comprehension by drawing the events of the chapter.


A copy of your child's report card will be available online after 3:15 pm today through your Parent PowerSchool Account.  Full instructions on how to access the report are available in the attached PDF document: MyCBE-Accessing-Online-Report-Cards.pdf.  When you view the report card, you will notice the following statement, **Not Official Report Card **.  The reason for this is because the Official Student Record (student file housed at the school) contains the only official copy of the report card. This online copy is the same as the official copy the school will file.  From home you may save this report card as a PDF or print it for your own records.

Jan 29

We started the day with Music with Madame Zdrill. Upon returning we began planning and practising a role-play in which we demonstrate a dispute and find an appropriate solution. It was great to see everyone working really hard on these and I am excited to see them shared with the class tomorrow.

We used the Canadian Climber equipment to do circuits on the gym in PE and then we had a recap of chapter 2 of The Iron Man in which we practised our past tense verbs in English.

After math with Madame Moreau, we were free to finish any unfinished work that we had in our dossier while some students shared their science projects.

Students have asked me to place a few of the videos we have seen recently on blogger so that they may watch them again.

3 Little Pigs

Can silence drive you crazy?

How loud is a slithering snail?

Can you shatter glass with your voice?

An email has been sent out regarding field trips and volunteering.

Following on from yesterday's theme  in French today we wrote about times we have had disputes. We reflected on how we solved them and shared some of them anonymously with the class. We discussed our thoughts on the arguements and what strategies we could use to resolve the situation.

We had reading buddies followed by centres in which we practised spelling words from our word wall.

In science, we looked at resonant frequencies and saw a lady smash a glass with her voice. We also looked at anechoic chambers, where we listened to snails eating and moving; millipedes walking and maggots squirming. We also examined if it's true that staying in an anechoic chamber can drive someone to madness.
We read a bit of The Pagemaster and switched classes with Madame Moreau during our math period. In her room, she had attached shapes to the floor which we then measured to look at their perimeter.

Jan 27

We started the day by working on unfinished items in our folders and then had music with Madame Zdrill. We went on the Canadian climber during P.E. and then we reflected on the first few chapters of the novel we are reading in English - The Iron Man. We started to think about similes and how we could use them to describe the titular character's giant proportions.

After lunch, Madame Moreau came by to help us with our measurements in Math and then we went to do afternoon reading buddies with Kindergarten. We helped them practise their writing, showing them the correct way to write certain letters to form sentences.

We finished the day by discussing how to be a good friend and shared instances in which we had been a good friend. This will be an ongoing topic as we look at conflict avoidance and resolution as a class.

Jan 24

We started the day by reading The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. We then had a sharing circle in which we discussed our plans for the weekend.
Madame Moreau came in to help us practise measuring and we had some silent reading time. In science we discussed how sonic booms are made and we learnt that the speed of sound is approximately 1,200 km/h.
Our GOTD was Barnes Wallis and his bouncing bomb.

A note from Madame Brinson:

On February 12, students are welcome to bring Valentine Cards to school if they choose.  If your child does choose to participate, please have them bring one for each student in their class.  Please do not send any candy, food or toys with the Valentines to school . Any food or candy that arrives at the school will not be sent home with other children.  Thank you for your understanding.  Valentines that have games/activities attached as part of their design will be permitted.  

A note from Madame McCann

Hello families,

Our ultimate goal as teachers and parents is to raise lifelong readers.

On Thursday, February 6^th at 6:30 pm, parents are invited to Varsity’s first Literacy Night.

Parents and guardians are invited to Join teacher Mme Jennifer McCann for a session covering how children learn to read, what the current research tells us is most effective and important, and how to best support your child.  A question and answer period will follow.

Although this presentation is best suited for parents with students in K-3, anyone is welcome to attend.

Please register online: https://forms.gle/585rrbPeSx5Krtf2A if you are able to attend.  We ask families to please arrange childcare and that only adults attend.  Thanks!

Have a great weekend!

Jan 23

Good evening parents and guardians,

We started the day by imagining what we would do if we were invisible for a day. Our answers varied from throwing a pie in Mr Richardson's face to stealing all the animals in Petland! We then started to write our answers in our books.

We then went to the gym where Monsieur Trevor started to record our gymnastics evaluations. We will be uploading these into Iris soon so that can share them at home.

We then went to the library to get new reading books.

After lunch we had centres and Math.

To finish off the day, we combined English and Science to look at waveforms and how we can interpret them. We also did a review quiz as a class and got them all right.

Jan 22

Hello everyone. Apologies for their being no blog yesterday, I had to go home sick from school.

We have been talking about painting pictures with our words in class. Yesterday we spoke of the oral tradition and how histories and stories were passed down orally, often around camp fires. We watched Beowulf and  although the narrator never described Grendel, we commented on now suspenseful the narrator's voice and words were.

In French we have also been looking at the acronym P.O.M.M.E.S. that we can use to edit our work for punctuation, spelling, gender of nouns, capital letters, neat writing and plural/singular. We drew our own pommes and gave examples in our books.

We then used this checklist to edit each others work and found that we had overlooked quite a lot in our work. We talked about how mistakes can be a powerful learning tool and can be the best teachers sometimes. We can harness that embarassing feeling to ensure we never make the same mistake again.

 We started to read a French  story about a mouse with 120 children.

In Math we have been looking at measuring so we practised some more measuring today and in science we plotted a graph based on some decibel measurements.

In English we played madlibs to practise our spelling and we also read some of The Pagemaster.

Tomorrow we will be going to the library. Please bring books back, in their plastic sleeves, yellow folders or a carrier bag if possible.

January 20

We started the day with music and then continued to write our gymnastic routines with Monsieur Trevor. 

Today in English we looked at how we can paint a picture with our words. We thought about the five senses and how we can incorporate them into our writing to paint a vivid image for our reader. We took some prompt sentences and thought about how they might smell, feel, sound, taste and look 

 We read some of The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, a story about a robot that has been eating tractors and upsetting farmers. 

" He is painting a picture in my mind with his words" - Bennett

In social studies, we looked at traditional Ukranian food and we discussed the delicate political situation between Russia, Ukraine and The E.U. We discussed how conflict can impact quality of life:

"If they have to pay the soldiers fighting then there may not be money to pay for other things"

"If a farm got destroyed by the conflict then that could affect food production" - Zac

With Madame Moreau, we continued to work on measurements by measuring and comparing different sizes of dinosaurs. 

I would like to put another appeal for volunteers for the morning of February 6 for our Pysanky egg field trip. Unfortunately, if we do not receive enough parent volunteers, we will have to cancel the session. If you would like to volunteer, please ensure you have a police check handed into the office.

A note from Mr. McKenna:

VAS Yearbook Sales

Dear Parents & Guardians, 

ÉcoleVarsity Acres School has once again partnered with Jostens, Canada’s largest creator and distributor of school yearbooks, to produce a yearbook this year for all students. This will give students an opportunity to explore areas of planning, marketing and design. Our school yearbook club has already started to meet and we are excited to get to work on planning and organizing our learning experiences and activities.

ÉcoleVarsity Acres School Yearbooks will be sold for $15.00 per copy from Monday, January 20^thuntil Friday, January 31^st2020. Please complete the payment on your PowerSchool account and a receipt will be available once the fee has been paid. The purchase of a school yearbook is optional. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact M. Daniel McKenna at dkmckenna@cbe.ab.caor at (403) 777-6090. 

Our school yearbook will help build pride and community for our students with memories to last a lifetime. Thank you for your support and we look forward in sharing our school yearbook with you and your family.

Sincerely, 

M. Daniel McKenna

January 16

In Math we learnt continued to learn about meters and we measured things around the classroom. 

"It was great " Duaa

We wrote a plan for our audiobooks that we will record at the Apple Store. We will be writing them on computer to practice our word processing skills.  For our plan, "We looked at what makes a good story and broke down where they would fit such as at the beginning, the middle or the end." - Merrick

" Conflicts, cliffhangers, drama, characters - What do they look like? What is their personality like?

Where does the story take place?  We could use adjectives and adverbs to add extra detail for our reader"

We continued to share our science projects and we read some more of Princess Cora and the crocodile. 

"We had reading buddies and continued to do our research on Ukraine" -  Jessica

January 15

We started the day reading the beginning of a story about a witch who gets invited to participate in a fashion show in Paris that is just for witches and ghosts.

We then worked on completing some unfinished tasks including a reading comprehension task and a sheet in which we thought about adjectives we could use to describe the word ballon which can mean a balloon, ball or an airship.

We had music, PE in the morning and math in the afternoon with Madame Moreau  where we practised measuring width, depth and height. After, we took animal themed books to help our reading buddies in kindergarten. After reading our book, we played hangman to help them practise their animal vocabulary in French.

We worked on our science projects with some students presenting and others refining their design process.

Our GOTD was capoeira - a Brazilian martial art that combines aspects of traditional African music and dance.

January 14

We practised how to land safely and minimize impact the tumbling with M. Trevor. We then went to the library to select some new books.

We read a little more of The Crumble Lady and played Mad Libs with short texts from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory to practise how understanding of parts of speech.

In science, some students shared their sound amplifying/blocking devices. We shared ideas about how we could have improved our devices and discussed why some were more successful than others. As a class, we came to realize that making mistakes and improving upon design is a crucial part of science.

We had centres this afternoon and Madame Moreau came by the help us with our math.

January 13

Today we started reading a story called Princess Clara and the Crocodile. About a young princess who is overworked trying to please others in her life. She wishes for a pet and isn't very specific in her wish. She awakes to a parcel at the end of her bed with an enormous friendly crocodile inside, eager to help her have a day off from her royal duties.

In social studies, we looked at how to use an index to help us with our research as we continued to read about Ukraine.

" Wow, they celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January!" - Jessica

We learned about Cossack dancing and saw a video showing us the beautiful sites Ukraine has to offer. We were particularly impressed by the old streets and amazing architecture of Ukranian churches.

In French, we discussed what we did at the weekend and extra reading tracker sheets were sent home. As students are going to the library tomorrow for the first time since we broke for the holidays, I would like to give students some time to read their library books before collecting their tracker sheets. I will, therefore, collect them on Friday 24th January.

We then reviewed adjective placement in sentences and learnt the acronym B.A.N.G.S. to remember when to put the adjective before the noun ( just like English).

Beauty  - Une belle fille
Age - Un vieux monsieur
Number - Deux pommes
Goodness - Une bonne idée
Size - Une grande maison

We then combined 2 adjectives with a noun of our choosing to create short sentences practising adjective placement.

" An aggressive, angry noodle!"
" A fat intelligent bat"
" A sick and anxious panda"

As part of our brain break today we played Telestrations on the board which was great fun.

In health, we discussed ways we can stay safe in case of a fire. We started by brainstorming our current knowledge and then watched a short video on fire safety to compare. We were surprised to find out that some of the things we thought we should do, wasn't advised by the fire department. We initially thought that you should open a window and doors to help let the smoke out. We now know this is one of the worst things to do

" If you see smoke coming from around the door or the handle is too hot to touch, do not open the door"

" Staying low to the ground helps you avoid breathing in the dirty smoke. Putting a wet towel over your face can help you breathe too!"

Ask me: How can we stay safe if there is ever a fire? What is our plan of escape? Where is our muster point

Thank you for the parents that have offered to volunteer for the school trips. I am still looking for some more volunteers if you are able to helo out it would be greatly appreciated. I will double-check with the office regarding police checks for volunteers and will be in touch if there are any potential issues.

January 10

Apologies for not having a blog yesterday due to technical difficulties.

Today we had a Spanish club in which we did colours and looked at some pronunciation features of Spanish including : ñ, rr and ll. We learnt the phrase : me llamo - my name is.

I will attach some videos into the blog so that students who were not able to make it to class can still learn some Spanish if they wish, and those that do attend can practise for next week.

Number 1-10
Colours
Introductions

We will be doing this vocabulary in Spanish club in the weeks to come in preparation for some games.

In class we finished our wool craft and finished the first part of ' The Crumble Lady' book.

In social studies, we watched a short video in which a Ukranian girl told us about her life. We compared her quality of life to ours. A good activity to try at home would be to rewatch this video and discuss how her life is different to yours. Would you like to switch places with her? Why / why not?

The video led us to discuss the Russian - Ukrainian dispute over the Crimean Peninsula and a song written about war and sang partly in the Crimean language. This can be seen here.

The class were fascinated by how artistic her performance was and as part of our brain break we watched the following song which students agreed was very creative for a visual perspective.

Heroes by Måns Zelmerlöw

It was noted that during the video from the Ukranian girl, her home had been destroyed by war and that there were bullet holes in the walls of her house. We talked about how in 2014 Russia faced condemnation for its hostile actions not only towards Ukraine, but also Georgia and its attacks on freedom of expression and civil rights. We watched a winning video from the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in which Austria sent a rather unusual competitor to make a statement in support of civil liberties and freedom of expression.

" When we disagree with someone, we don't have to get into fights or arguments. We can all use our voices to share our points of view respectfully to stand up for what we believe in"

Conchita Wurst - Rise Like a Phoenix.

Yesterday we also worked on our science projects which we will present next week.

Jan 8

Today's GOTD was the Chernobyl incident as we prepare to look at Ukraine in Social studies.
There will be no GOTD tomorrow.

We worked on our science projects today in class and will continue to work on them tomorrow too. If you did not bring in your materials today, please try and bring some things for tomorrow. I have some supplies but they are being shared between 2 classes so resources are becoming scarcer.

We had music with Madame Zdrill and with Monsieur Trevor we looked at different ways we can move our bodies. We played a game where we had to chase other players, moving like walruses, apes and bears. It was a lot of fun!

I have noted that some students are requiring extra pages for their reading blog, I will hand those out tomorrow to take home.

Thank you for getting in touch regarding the field trips, I now have some more information regarding the times.

Our trip to the Apple store will take place on February 18th. We will be leaving the school by foot at 8:30 am and hope to leave at 11:00 and be back at school by approximately 11:25 in time for lunch. We will be writing short stories which we will learn how to narrate using Apple equipment.

The Pysanky egg workshop on February 6th will take place at 8:00am- 9:25 for our classroom. If you are available to volunteer for this, it would be very appreciated as the workshop requires approximately 1 adult per 4 students.

In social studies we wrote sentences in our books thinking about how our currently quality of life would change if we lived in the desert, the jungle or the mountains.

" We wouldn't have clean water necessarily. There would be water but there could be dangerous animals or even dead animals in it".

" There would be fewer people." -  We were quite divided as a class over whether this was a good or bad thing!

" There wouldn't be nice big houses"

January 7th

We got our first response from our letters to the soldiers:

We also received a book, CD and signed postcard from the crumble lady - Lorraine Bowen.

Our GOTD was Chichen Itza, we watched a short video demonstrating how the architects designed the buildings to honour the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl. Depending on where you stand and clap, you can hear the sound of a serpent or a bird reflected back by the rebounding sound waves.

On the topic of sound, in science we discussed the Doppler effect and how we can hear it when cars pass by. We learnt that it also affects light waves and we can use it to find out if objects in space are moving away from us or towards us. We started on our project to make an object that can either quieten or amplify a sound using a cell phone alarm as our test sound. Students spent some time today designing their object, thinking about its intended purpose, how it will function to amplify or block the sound and what materials they may need. Students have been asked to look for items at home to bring in to work in class. If you want to work on it at home you may, but refinements and critical thinking are parts of this project. Is is expected that you are able to discuss your design process. For example:

" I decided to make a tube shape out of newspaper"  -  Why a tube? Why newspaper? Would another material be better or worse? Try it and then report back your results.

We will be trying to build these tomorrow in class.  While it would be ideal to get started as soon as possible, parents please do not worry if you do not have many things at home. It is not my intention to cause panic or any last minute rushing around to go to Walmart etc for science supplies.
I have a small amount of materials that we can use, but any spares will be greatly appreciated. Here are some ideas:

• Elastic bands, bottles, paper, cardboard, cotton wool, aluminium foil, wool, kitchen roll or toilet paper tubes

We will be presenting them next week in class and testing their efficacy with the phone alarm.

In art we worked on a weaving craft inspired by the Indigenous peoples of Mexico called an Eye of God. They aren't quite finished yet, so we will continue to work on them when we have some time and they will be sent home soon. Students were very excited to be working on then and although tricky to start, they proved very addictive and a hit.

We read some more of Granny and in French we wrote our Resolutions for the New Year, using our new personal dictionary books to help us with the spelling.

Madame Moreau came by to help us work on our Maths.

The clue for yesterday's GOTD proved a little tricky. Hopefully this one is easier:

What 'Elephants foot' could kill you, even though it can't move?

Jan 6

Happy New Year!

We have 2 upcoming field trips. We are still trying to pinpoint exact times but we are in need of volunteers if you are available the following days:


Visit to the Apple Store - Tuesday, February 18.

We also have a Pysanky egg workshop on February 6th. This is very volunteer heavy - the person running the workshop has asked for 1 adult per 4 children ideally. This will be approximately 90 minutes.

This Friday the Spanish class will start from 12 - 12:40 approximately. Siblings are allowed but students must make their own travel arrangements if they usually take the school bus. I would be grateful if parents could email me if their child is interested so that I may track attendance safe in the knowledge that alternative transport has been arranged. If I have not received confirmation from a parent or guardian, I will be sending the student home on the busses on Friday so as to avoid any confusion.

Today went extremely quickly!

- We had music with Madame Zdrill, Math with Madame Moreau and then we started our Gymnastics unit with M. Trevor.

In French we talked about what we did over the holidays and will continue that tomorrow.

While I didn't leave a clue for the GOTD on the blog, we looked at The Day of the Kings from Spain. Children attend processions from the 3 Wise Men/ Wise Kings and collect candy thrown out into the crowd. Children also leave their shoes by the door in hopes of waking to find presents inside them.

Our clue for tomorrow is related to our current science topic of sound: 
Which place sounds like a bird AND a snake depending on where you stand?

In science we talked about the horrendous fires in Australia and what is causing them.

We read another chapter of Granny.

In the afternoon we had art where we spoke about all the different colours in the sky at different times of the day : the rosy reds, pinks and yellows of dawn, or the purple and blues of an evening. We then created our own sky-inspired background and added a snowman to it.