December 16 - 20

We had a very busy, but fun last week of school before Christmas holidays.

Christmas Breakfast

Thank you so much to the parents who sent food and juice for our Christmas breakfast. Everything was so delicious and greatly appreciated. 

Christmas Party

In the afternoon the students chose to attend one of the three Christmas activities.

In Mrs. Tewitz’s room the students made the cutest snowman ornaments out of birch trees.

In Mrs. Rothfos’s room the students watch “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.”

In Mrs. Spreen’s room the students played board games.

We were so excited to have Kym Simon play her guitar and lead us in singing Christmas carols.

Hot Chocolate, PJ and Stuffie Day

Everyone was so cozy in their PJ's on Friday.

As part of our behaviour program in the classroom, the students ear tickets if they receive a one on the chart. They have been collecting tickets since September. On Friday, the students were served hot chocolate in the mugs brought from home. They were given the opportunity to purchase toppings for their hot chocolate using the tickets earned. There were some pretty yummy looking drinks!

 

The students were so excited to receive their letters from Santa.

In the afternoon, all of the RBES students watch the Polar Express in the gym.

Curriculum Update

Author Study

This week we continued our author study of Chris Van Allsburg. The students partnered up again with 4B to explore the theme of the books chosen from the week previous. They pulled four examples from each book to support their theme.

We also read one of Chris Van Allsburg’s award winning books, Jumanji. We discussed that during an author’s study, it is important for the reader to focus in on the style of writing used in order to really get to know that author. After reading Jumanji we talked about how Chris Van Allsburg used descriptive language to make his stories come alive to the reader. The students were asked to identify 5 strong, descriptive verbs used to help the reader visualize the story.

Another focus this week was on the critical events of a story. The students were introduced to a “Story Mountain” graphic organizer. After reading Zathura, we identified the major parts of the story mountain. 

The major parts of a story include:

1. Background knowledge - we meet the characters and learn about the setting.
2. Building action - we read about the main events that lead up to the main problem of the story.
3. Climax - we find out the main problem of the story.
4. Falling action - the problem begins to get solved.
5. Solution - the story wraps up and the problem is solved.

We also used a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast Jumanji and Zathura. The students found many similarities and differences between the two books.

To reinforce this skill, the students were also asked to identify the major parts of the book “The Sweetest Fig.” After reading the story, the students filled in the story mountain graphic organizer.

Math

In math this week we focused on subtraction.The students started by subtracting 2- and 3- digit numbers without regrouping. Then we moved to subtraction with regrouping using base ten blocks and using the standard algorithm. When deciding whether or not to regroup the students were reminded to think about the following poem:

Social Studies

In social studies we looked at agriculture, forestry and water in Alberta. Agriculture refers to the growing of crops and the raising of animals for food and other products. Alberta is actually the 2nd highest agricultural producer in all of Canada! We watched the following video and then the students were asked to identify 2 facts they learned about Farming in Alberta.

Farming in Alberta

We also discussed forestry and the boreal forest region has the greatest amount of logging (cutting down trees) in Alberta. Forests are a renewable resource: it is always possible to grow new trees. The students watched the following video on Forestry in Alberta and then were asked to identify a few concerns in regards to forestry.

Forestry in Alberta

Finally we talked about water being an important natural resource in Alberta. Water sources in Alberta include glaciers near the Canadian Rocky Mountains, groundwater stored under the earth’s surface, rivers, and more. 

We watched the following video about some of the ways we use water every day. After watching the video the students were asked to write down at least two ways that they use water in their own life that were not mentioned in the video.

Uses of Water

PE

This week the focus in PE was Christmas themed movement and cooperative games. The students enjoyed playing Abominable Snowball and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.