IMPORTANT INFORMATION
A Now For Some Exciting News! (Get it? News?) This letter has been sent home. It is yellow. This year, we had the great fortune to be part of the Campus Calgary Open Minds (CCOM) – Zoo School program, which is celebrating its 25th year. Chevron is a major sponsor of the CCOM Zoo School program, and they are marking this silver anniversary with a variety of events, which will be covered by the media. They asked the CCOM team to share a "compelling story" about the positive impact the program has had on teachers, students, site coordinators, and the Calgary Zoo itself. I had been asked to submit my CCOM experience for consideration, and I am excited to say that I have been selected. I have been working with a media relations company hired by Chevron, as well as the CBE Communications, to help me share my story. Several television and radio outlets have expressed interest in this, and so far CTV has committed to it. They would like to come into the classroom to film. Your child may be filmed during their visit. If you are receiving this letter with NO attachment then you have already signed the third party media consent form in the fall. IF you would like to withdraw consent please email Nicole Bezugley by June 7th. If you are receiving this letter with an attached form then you declined consent in the fall. If you would like to consent to this opportunity please return the form by June 7th.
If you have any questions, please contact me. I will get back to you as soon as possible. IMPORTANT DATES June 7: School Council Meeting at 6:30 pm June 11: CTV in our class for Campus Calgary Open Minds interview! June 20: Fun Lunch! (Boston Pizza) June 20: Grade 6 Farewell Assembly at 1:30 pm June 22: Sports Day June 26: Farewell Assembly at 8:15 am June 27: Last Day of School —> Early Dismissal at 11:45 am OUR DAY 164 days down, 16 days left. The class were experts in learning today, sharing their experience with the Story Sticks with both the morning and afternoon Kindergarten classes. The Kindergartners were just at the Calgary Zoo, and they are inspired by our sticks. We are excited to see what they create. We set our Painted Lady butterflies free today. One tentatively flew out. The others were coaxed out, and eventually made their way to the flowers around the school. Some students they were going to be eaten by the house sparrows that are nesting in the school shrubbery, but that is, to quote one of our boys, “the circle of life”. Yes indeed. We continued to work on our 13-Room poems. Today, I pulled one of the animal groups out to give them some guidance. I will continue tomorrow with the other groups. We also tackled perimeter today. We will continue this tomorrow. We finished the day with finishing off Chapter 6 in Harry Potter. One student proposed, and several motioned to pass, a Day of Harry Potter. I agree. They will have an opportunity to catch up with their event maps, and add to their character, setting, vocabulary, and problem booklets. They will also be given some comprehension questions. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Something exciting is coming down the pipeline, involving tv… Come back tomorrow for the news!!! IMPORTANT DATES June 6: Fun Lunch! (Subway) June 7: School Council Meeting at 6:30 pm June 20: Fun Lunch! (Boston Pizza) June 20: Grade 6 Farewell Assembly at 1:30 pm June 22: Sports Day June 26: Farewell Assembly at 8:15 am June 27: Last Day of School —> Early Dismissal at 11:45 am OUR DAY 163 days down, 17 days left. Can it already be June 5th? Today was a Day of Writing. Most students finished their rough copy of the Pickle. We have now called it the Pickle, because the Zoo School Thank-You Memory Story Stick for Chevron was getting too confusing, and I didn’t help it much by changing the wording around. (I am one of those people that make up words for songs, even if I have heard it 2000 times.) I will sit with the handful of students tomorrow to help them get to the feedback stage. Those that finished continued on with filling up the rooms for their 13-Room Observation Animal Writing (only known as 13 Room Writing). In-between, there was recess, Music, Harry Potter & snack, lunch, and gym. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY, JUNE 4th!!! BIKE TO SCHOOL ON JUNE 5th! Or walk, rollerblade, scooter, skate, skip, jump, gallop, … IMPORTANT DATES June 4: A PD Day (no school for students) June 5: Bike to School Day June 6: Fun Lunch! (Subway) June 7: School Council Meeting at 6:30 pm June 20: Fun Lunch! (Boston Pizza) June 20: Grade 6 Farewell Assembly at 1:30 pm June 22: Sports Day June 26: Farewell Assembly at 8:15 am June 27: Last Day of School —> Early Dismissal at 11:45 am OUR DAY 162 days down, 18 days left. A beautiful, rainy day out there. I can almost hear the waves in Tofino… Okay! Today, we worked on this, and worked on that. This was pairing up with a partner and doing a blind weird animal drawing (ask your child). That was making our final Painted Lady butterfly observation before they get released tomorrow. (Boy! There was an amazing discussion that sprang from this observation!) This was uploading our Bridge Reflections onto Iris. That was posing with our Story Sticks for our Journals. This was touching base on our 13 Room poems. That was our final PoWer Hour. This was lacrosse in gym. That was finishing up our Ron Weasley drawings in our Harry Potter Reader’s Response. I am away tomorrow, and Mrs K will be leading the Day of Math tomorrow. NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY!!! Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION BIKE TO SCHOOL ON JUNE 4th! Or walk, rollerblade, scooter, skate, skip, jump, gallop, … IMPORTANT DATES June 4: A PD Day (no school for students) June 5: Bike to School Day June 6: Fun Lunch! (Subway) June 7: School Council Meeting at 6:30 pm June 20: Fun Lunch! (Boston Pizza) June 20: Grade 6 Farewell Assembly at 1:30 pm June 22: Sports Day June 26: Farewell Assembly at 8:15 am June 27: Last Day of School —> Early Dismissal at 11:45 am OUR DAY 161 days down, 19 days left. The gears are spinning, the steam is billowing, and the sweat is on the brow. Today, we continued with our Thank-You Memory Story Sticks writing. Many should be good for feedback tomorrow. Students received a booklet of information about their observation animals today. They got into their Zoo School groups and did a round robin read aloud. As they were reading, they highlighted words and phrases they liked. We paused in-between to go over the difference between words, phrases, and complete sentences. Always good to do in context and a practical situation. There were many Ohhhhhhh’s in the class after the quick chat, and then they were really out of the starting blocks. Next step will be to plunk those words and phrases into the “rooms”, teacher and peer feedback, and then play with the words. After lunch, students finished up their bridge reflection videos, and they will upload them to Iris tomorrow. After gym, we did a guided drawing of Ron Weasley from Harry Potter in the reader’s response in their visual journals. We will colour the tomorrow, and start adding in the information we know about Ron. Here is the link to Art Hub for any students that would like to practice the drawing at home: Cheerios!
Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
The fingerprints of a koala are so indistinguishable from humans that they have on occasion been confused at a crime scene. (I don’t want to know how they know this…) IMPORTANT DATES June 4: A PD Day (no school for students) June 5: Bike to School Day June 6: Fun Lunch! (Subway) June 7: School Council Meeting at 6:30 pm June 20: Fun Lunch! (Boston Pizza) June 20: Grade 6 Farewell Assembly at 1:30 pm June 22: Sports Day June 26: Farewell Assembly at 8:15 am June 27: Last Day of School —> Early Dismissal at 11:45 am OUR DAY 160 days down, 20 days left. Today, many students added their bridge reflections into Iris. We also tackled some cursive handwriting. After recess, we looked at making sure we knew how to sequence our memory for the story stick. We did a whole group activity with this, and then discussed how using sticky notes and a timeline help us move things around. Using this strategy helps us see any glaring gaps in our story, and how we can add in that information. Next steps are turning that timeline into sentences that flow and make sense, then adding in that interesting beginning and juicy words. After gym, we looked at the book Spaghetti and Meatballs for All. This is a multiplication story that presents some real life problems when planning a party for a number of people. We will finish this up tomorrow. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Cooler Weather and a Percentage of Rain is Heading Our Way! Please make sure your child has the right clothing for the cooler weather. It is looking nicer for the weekend. IMPORTANT DATES June 4: A PD Day (no school for students) June 5: Bike to School Day June 6: Fun Lunch! (Subway) June 7: School Council Meeting at 6:30 pm June 20: Fun Lunch! (Boston Pizza) June 20: Grade 6 Farewell Assembly at 1:30 pm June 22: Sports Day June 26: Farewell Assembly at 8:15 am June 27: Last Day of School —> Early Dismissal at 11:45 am OUR DAY 159 days down, 21 days left. Friday & Monday… Well, we are winding down the school year, but really, we still have 4ish weeks left! We are continuing with our 13 Room Poetry. We added the 13th room as threats to animal and habitat, which is really the driving point of our writing conservation poems relating to Zoo School. We will be doing a check-in tomorrow, and I will be giving feedback to students to help them along. We will continue to look at Ukraine, with the current focus on community and how leaders are selected and decisions are made. With this, we are dipping our toes into the history of Ukraine, discussing their independence from Russia. We will be doing a Double-Bubble Map to compare Ukraine to Canada. Students were also given pictures of Ukrainian artifacts, clothing, and symbols, and they are doing an See, Think, Wonder about them. I will discuss with them tomorrow if they think this type of note-taking strategy is an effective one for them and the information we are trying gather, or if they can think of another one. This process will hopefully provide them with critical thinking skills both for content, and how can they collect and document that content in a proficient way. Students also did a closed reading from Harry Potter, a passage that we have already read once. This time, they are creating a Setting Map, highlighting the key points from the text, and then drawing/labelling it. They also answered comprehension questions, both recall, and an inference question. Today, students played a Multiplication Connect Four game, which is great to practice their multiplication facts, as well as their strategizing skills to win the game. Students also heard the book Spaghetti and Meatballs for All!, by Marilyn Burns. This is a wonderful book to help them use multiplication in a practical sense. Today they heard the book, tomorrow, we will do the activity. It is also a great book to reinforce division and how division is connected to multiplication, and area (and perimeter). Students also practiced their multiplication in different activities and tasks. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Dead Battery Drop Off The Prince of Wales We Club is asking for dead battery donations. Did you know that zinc deficiency in our diet can have a huge impact on brain and body growth? One battery has enough zinc to be processed into vitamin pills for 6 children! Send any non-leaking batteries down. They are collecting them until end of May. IMPORTANT DATES May 25: Volunteer Tea OUR DAY 157 days down, 23 days left. Today was a busy day. We made our most beeautiful art pieces for the Volunteer Tea tomorrow. The class was buzzing around, being artistic and creat-hive. We also finished up discussing Services in Ukraine. Students then wrote jot-notes from the discussion points, as well as what they read. They are flying on their own with this one, as I am seeing how they are taking their year-long learning of pulling out the important information. I also beelieve we are all done the Six-Room Poetry. I was helping a handful of students in a small-group. A strategy I teach them is to read their work out loud to hear how it flows, if it makes sense, and how our ideas pop in which help us add in more detail. After I read one student’s piece, she said, “Wow! That’s a really good poem. I mean, that’s really good!” YES IT IS! I can’t wait for them to share it with you. We will now use this glorious feeling to catapult us into our final piece of the 12-Room Zoo School Animal Observation Poems. (We need to come up with a more eloquent way of saying this…) Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Dead Battery Drop Off The Prince of Wales We Club is asking for dead battery donations. Did you know that zinc deficiency in our diet can have a huge impact on brain and body growth? One battery has enough zinc to be processed into vitamin pills for 6 children! Send any non-leaking batteries down. They are collecting them until end of May. IMPORTANT DATES May 25: Volunteer Tea OUR DAY 156 days down, 24 days left. This will be a short and sweet post. I have a right arm injury (contraction syndrome of my flexor pollicis longus and flexor carpi radialis muscles) and typing is painful. We had our bridge build yesterday with Room 14. Students buddied up and went to task. Many students completed their bridge to test and make changes, and others were figuring out time management. All students learned something from this build, and when I have been specifically asking students questions about their bridge, they are able to give me thoughtful answers. Today, students worked on their reflections for the bridge build, and they will get these into Iris. Students also read about services in Ukraine, and we began our discussion about that. They will be making a comparison with Canada/Calgary. Students also wrote a response to Harry Potter question in their Visual Journals. We continue tomorrow. Cheerios! Ms Lauf NO SCHOOL TOMORROW OR MONDAY!
IMPORTANT INFORMATION Dead Battery Drop Off The Prince of Wales We Club is asking for dead battery donations. Did you know that zinc deficiency in our diet can have a huge impact on brain and body growth? One battery has enough zinc to be processed into vitamin pills for 6 children! Send any non-leaking batteries down. They are collecting them until end of May. IMPORTANT DATES May 18: PD Day (no school for students) May 21: Victoria Day (school closed) May 22: Room 18 Bridge Slam Build with Room 14 May 25: Volunteer Tea OUR DAY 153 days down, 27 days left. Today was pretty fantastic! We did another experiment, where we compared arches spanning two different distances. We discussed what makes this a fair test, problem solved how to hold the mass on the arch, and documented all the information. We also played around with making pillars. I feel pretty good about all the kids readiness for our Bridge Slam Build on Tuesday. We had PoWer Hour today, played a new game in gym called Chicken in the Henhouse (OH MY GOSH, THAT LOOKS FUN), and worked on the Six-Room Poetry. Students are typing in their good copies into the computer. I hope everyone has a beautiful long weekend! We are heading into the home stretch for the year. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Spring Pictures Spring Picture Order Forms are due May 17th. We Club Info! The Prince of Wales We Club is holding a fundraiser for Unicef this week. They have 2 activities planned, and to participate is by donation.
Dead Battery Drop Off The Prince of Wales We Club is asking for dead battery donations. Did you know that zinc deficiency in our diet can have a huge impact on brain and body growth? One battery has enough zinc to be processed into vitamin pills for 6 children! Send any non-leaking batteries down. They are collecting them until end of May. IMPORTANT DATES May 17: Spring Picture Order Forms Due May 18: PD Day (no school for students) May 21: Victoria Day (school closed) May 25: Volunteer Tea OUR DAY 152 days down, 28 days left. We started our day in the fresh morning air. We had a couple gym classes to make-up from time where it just didn’t make sense to stop the amazing learning and focus in the classroom. We played two games, S-P-U-D, and Shark in the Water, and a movement activity called Ship to Shore. Ask your child about how to play. The coolest thing to see was the problem solving going on in the smaller groups. Everyone listened and took turns to speak. After Music, I addressed some choices and behaviours in the class during recess, where some students have been excluded from play, where sometimes they run away from others, or the choice of words might not have the kindness they should have. Sometimes when these choices are being made, students might not be aware of the impact their words and actions have on others. I gave the students a blank sheet of paper, and told them they had only one minute to crumple it, stomp on it, and drag it on the floor. Some even started to yell at the paper., while some refused to participate, not wanting to waste paper. When the minute was up, I had students sit in Circle with their paper. I had them smooth it out, and place it on the floor in front of them. I had them look around at each one. Some students commented on how hard it was to unfold the paper, that it was dirty, that it wouldn’t go flat anymore, and that some were ripped. We then talked about how the paper is actually a symbol of a person when unkind things are said or done to them, that it hurts their hearts, body and mind. Circle became very quiet. We talked about how we need to make sure our actions always keep people whole and open, and not make them close off and shut down. We glued the crumpled sheets into our journals, and on the page next to it, we are writing things we can do to make sure we aren't the ones crumpling people. Everyone was very serious about this, and wanted to keep adding ideas to our board. After recess, students received feedback for their Zoo School Thank-You Story Stick Memory Writing (Is that all in order?). We also went over 10 different interesting beginnings that they will use in their memory writing. Students had to select the one they wanted to use before leaving for lunch. After lunch, we wrote our thank-you letter and cards for everyone who helped us out during our week. It may seem like a long time to send out thank-yous, however the students are becoming mindful writers. It fills my heart! After gym, we had library, and finished off the day visiting Mrs O in her Kindergarten classroom. The Kindies are incubating eggs. (What kind are they? The Kindies made many predictions, and we will not spoil it!) Mrs O candled 6 of them, showing the growth in the egg after 15 days. The students were fascinated with the movement they could see inside the egg, and had great questions about the growth process. I love these little activities, because they experiential learning is so rich and important for learning. We will be visiting throughout the learning process. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring! Cheerios! Ms Lauf |
AuthorMs Lauf Archives
June 2018
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