Happy Friday

Monday is Orange Shirt Day. We are encouraging students to wear an orange shirt to honour and recognize the accomplishments of the First Nations People within the Treaty Seven are.

Our library book exchange will begin next week. We do not have a specific day that we will visit the library so your child may return and take out books on whatever days they need to. There is also not a limit to how many books students can take but they are responsible for all books checked out. Students must have their library book bag to return books and to check out books. This bag will also help protect books in backpacks from any spills.

Today students participated in the Terry Fox run. Between Mrs. Fraser's and Mrs. Pittman's class, the students donated over $70! Thank you for your support!

Have a great weekend!

Important Updates from Room 15/16

A few important updates from Room 15/16

-Tomorrow is the Terry Fox Run. We will be having an assembly at 11am and running around the field with R.T. Alderman students at approximately 11:30am. Students are encouraged to wear their red Maple Ridge School t-shirts. If you would like to donate to the Terry Fox Foundation, you are welcome to send a toonie (or any donation) to school with your child tomorrow. 

-Both rooms 15 and 16 are still looking for volunteers for our field trip to Weaselhead/North Glenmore Park on October 9th. If you are available and have a current police check completed, please email your child's teacher.

-Class pictures will be coming home with your child tomorrow. We will be using them for an art project in the morning and then will be sending them home with the students. 

-If you are wanting to order individual student pictures, orders are due by Monday, October 1st. If you would like your child to have retakes, retake day is October 23rd.

Students in room 15/16 have continued to work on building their Most Magnificent Things this week. Today we finished building and started to write about them. Ask your child if they can tell you about their invention. What does it do? How is it useful? What materials did they use? 

Primary and Secondary Colors

Last week we started talking about primary and secondary colors. On Thursday, we started an experiment using jars, food coloring, paper towel and water. Today we looked closely to observe changes, and recorded our ideas about the experiment. Can your child explain the experiment to you? If we only used primary colors, how did secondary colors appear?

Most Magnificent Thing!

You will find student photos in their backpacks today. Instructions to order online are inside the envelope.

Today students planned and began building their 'Most Magnificent Thing!"

We learned:
1) It's helpful to collaborate with others to generate ideas.
2) People invent things when they have a problem to solve.
3) What's magnificent and important to one person may not be a need for others.

Field trips and Fun Lunch/Snack

Mrs. Pittman needs 5 volunteers for our upcoming trip to Weaslehead October 9. This is an all day trip outdoors. Please email me if you are able to come. You must have your police clearance. kjpittman@cbe.ab.ca

Mrs. Fraser also needs 5 volunteer for our trip to Weaslehead October 9. Please email meafraser@cbe.ab.ca if you can join the class on this learning experience.

Important Reminder:
Healthy Hunger Fun Lunches and Snacks can now be ordered online. The first fun snack is Friday Sept. 28 and they MUST be ordered by tomorrow (Saturday Sept. 22).

Have a great weekend!

Colour Wheel

Today students were introduced to the colour wheel. They used paint to explore primary colours and

secondary colours.  We reviewed living and non living things and sketched seashells. Students worked toward creating sketches that showed 'lots of information' with accurate colours, labels and details. Below are some works in progress.

 Reminder: Parent teacher conferences will be held this Thursday from 3:30-7:30 and Friday from 8-12. This means students will be dismissed at 12:30 on Thursday and do not have school Friday. To sign up for conference please log into the my cbe/powerschool link located on the Maple Ridge School Homepage.

Colour mixing

Today students explored how colors mix together. Using milk, food coloring and dish soap, children explored what happens when yellow, blue and red mix together. Can your child explain the experiment to you? Students then used watercolour paints to show their observations. Here are some pictures from our day:

Also, on Friday our students were given a very special gift! Our Maple Ridge School Parent Association gave each student in our school a beautiful, red t-shirt! These shirts can be worn on school community days, as well as on field trips, as an easy way for us to identify Maple Ridge students. If possible, please write your child's name in permanent marker on the tag. 

The students began the day focusing on the setting of a story. They chose and animal figure and worked with a partner to create a setting using classroom materials. Tomorrow students will write and draw stories based on the character and setting they made.

We were excited to test out our bubble wands today to see if our predictions were correct. "Is a bubble always round?" Many students thought the bubble would take the shape of their wand design but found out that the bubbles were a sphere shape. We watched a video explaining that water in a bubble solution is sandwiched between the soap and that water is many small molecules pulling toward each other. The students generated more new questions from this investigation including "Why does a bubble pop in the air when nothing touches it?" Interesting hypotheses included "it floats up high and the cold air pops it,"when it gets hot from the sun it pops,"because high up the air doesn't have oxygen so the bubble pops." Amazing scientific thinking!! We will continue to explore...

Room 15 & 16

Are bubbles always round?

The students in Room 15/16 had a very busy day today!
Our day started out with a surprise! Mrs. Pittman was on a walk last night and found some beautiful leaves. They were all different shapes, sizes and colors. Students spent time observing the leaves, and then drew detailed sketches. We have been focusing on how scientists use their senses to make observations. If you happen to have leaves in your yard that we could add to our collection, feel free to send them in with your child. You could even go on a leaf hunt, and see how many different colors you can find!
We have also been spending time learning more about bubbles this week. After looking at pictures of bubbles, and creating bubble paint art yesterday, students were asked the question, "are bubbles always round?" This afternoon students created bubbles wands, using many different shapes. Tomorrow they will test their predictions about whether bubbles are always round, or whether they will take the shape of the bubble wand. What do you think? Are bubbles always round? Or can they be different shapes?
Next week we are going to begin some building work in the classroom. Students are welcome to bring in a small grocery bag of materials, including cardboard boxes, paper towel rolls, yarn/string and yogurt containers to share with the class. Please feel free to send us an email if you have any questions about this.
Here are some pictures from our day:

                 

Today we continued to answer the question "What does a scientist do?" Students used magnifying glasses to look closely at natural and manmade objects around the classroom.

We learned that scientists observe, use their senses and use tools. We learned how to read a story with a buddy.

What does a scientist do?

Today we asked the question, "What does a scientist do"? In the large group, students were asked what they think a scientist looks like, and what they believe scientists do. Children were then encouraged to share their ideas using pictures and words in their journals. After reading a story together, students then drew a picture of themself as a scientist. What do you think a scientist does? Can children be scientists? What about babies? This came up during our discussion today!
Here are some examples of our work:

It was great to meet so many families last night. Today students were challenged to create a tall tower using toothpicks and plastecine. They needed to cooperate with a partner, modify their design to make improvements, sketch and measure their tower.

Reminder: Picture day is Monday. Please fill out and return demographic forms that were sent home yesterday.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. P and Mrs. F

Making faces!

Today we read a book called, "Let's Make Faces" by Hanoch Piven. We then drew a self-portrait in our blue sketchbooks and used found materials to make our faces in different ways. Here are some examples of our work: