Ornaments

This afternoon the boys and girls were busy making Christmas ornaments. Thanks to a generous donation from Michaels, we were able to make some beautiful ornaments that students will be bringing home later this week. Here are some pictures of our hard work:

Important Information:
-We have a lot of things to bring home before the Winter Break! If possible, please send a bag to school with your child (either a reusable bag, or a plastic bag labelled with their name) for them to use to bring their work home
-Tomorrow is PJ day in grade 1, students are welcome to wear their PJs to school (no stuffies this time, please)
-Caroling tomorrow at 2:45pm

Sled and Slope

Today students finished building and testing their sleds and slopes. They reflected on their design and material choices and explained what worked well and what they think they would change to improve it.

Some discoveries:

"The tape is not as slippery as the cardboard so we need to take the tape off."
"Our slope is to steep and the animals fall out. We need to make it so they don't crash into the ground."
"Our hill keeps collapsing so we need to make it stronger."
"The jump at the end slowed it down, so we moved it."

After lunch, students in Room 10, 15 and 16 watched part of Wall-e and students created a storyboard to show a timeline of events. This movie connects to our community focus and the positive and negative impact humans have in their environment. After the break we will continue to refer back to this movie as students will be required to solve some of the problems they observed.

Keep up the community spirit and wear your silly socks tomorrow!

Leighton Art Center

We had a busy, and fun filled day at the Leighton Art Center. We completed two art projects, spent some time sketching and went for a walk to the museum. Here are some pictures from our day. Our art projects are a bit of a secret, so your child may not want to tell you too much about them...yet!

This week, the students at Maple Ridge are participating in caroling each day. You are welcome to join us in the gym at the following times for caroling, if you would like:
Tuesday 2:45pm
Wednesday 9:15am
Thursday 2:45pm
Friday 11:30am

Also, tomorrow is fun hat day in Grade 1. Students are welcome to wear a festive hat for the day!

We reached our goal!

We are excited to share that we reached our goal of 100 donations for the Mayor's Food Drive! Our final tally was 119 items! Thank you families of room 15/16 students for your generous donations!

Field Trip and Spirit Days

Happy Friday!

Reminder: Leighton Center field trip is on Monday. Please ensure your child has boots, snow pants, mitts, hats, lunch, snacks and backpack. They need to be prepared to be outdoor for part of our day.

Spirit Days in Room 15 and 16. Kids are welcome in our dress up days but it is optional. 

Tuesday Dec. 18 Hat Day
Wednesday Dec. 19 Fun/Silly Sock day
Thursday Dec. 20 Pajama Day
Friday Dec. 21 Holiday Sweater Day.

Have a great weekend!

We are SO close to our goal!

Exciting news!!! Today we counted the food bank donations that have arrived in our classroom this week. We are only 6 donations away from our goal of 100 items for the food bank! The final day for donations is tomorrow. Do you think we can reach 100?

Today the students were busy working on their dioramas. They worked hard to create miniature scenes that represent something they learned during our Fish Creek Park and Glenbow Museum field trips. Here are some pictures of their hard work:

Dioramas, Slopes and Sleds!

This morning students were busy planning a diorama to represent their learning from our recent field studies. They are working on creating a scene to show their understanding from our Fish Creek Park and Glenbow Museum trips. Today they worked on planning what their diorama will look like. Tomorrow they will begin building. 

This afternoon the students were presented with a unique building challenge! Using the materials provided students have been challenged to create a slope and a sled for 4 forest animals. The goal is to create a slope and sled that will transport their animals as far as possible, without falling out. Here is the list of materials that they can use. Ask your child about their design! 

Reminders: 

-Field trip forms for our trip to the Leighton Art Center on Monday are now due!

-Food donations for the Mayor's Food Drive can be brought to school until this Friday. 

Reflecting

Today students got a chance to look at pictures from our Glenbow trip and we reflected on our experience. We encouraged students to think beyond what they observed and add more to their reflections and journal entries. Today instead of journalling about objects we saw and things we did,  we imagined being in the time periods we learned about. "What would it be like living in the medieval period and training to become a knight as a 7 year old?"  Students brainstormed how they would feel about this and why.  Ask your child what they think it might have been like to be one of the first peoples of Alberta. What would life be like? How would it compare to today?

Tomorrow students will create a 3D scene that shares something they learned about on our trip.

Reminder: Field trip forms for our Leighton Center trip are due tomorrow please.

Glenbow Museum

We had a wonderful day of learning at the Glenbow Museum! Can your child tell you about the pictures below? What else can they remember from today?

Important Information:
A field trip form came home today for our trip to the Leighton Art Center next Monday, December 17th. Please return the form to your child's teacher by Wednesday!

Glenbow Museum Preparation

Parents,

Just a quick reminder we have a field study on Monday to the Glenbow Museum. Backpacks are not permitted at the museum so we will be leaving them at school. Please make sure your child has a lunch and water bottle to bring along for the day.

Thanks!

Reminder: Field trip forms were due today. We sent home new copies with all the students who had not returned a form yet. Please check your child's backpack. Forms MUST be returned by tomorrow since students don't have school Friday and the trip is Monday. Thank you!


Today students:
-continued making their brochures
-tried to solve a braille riddle (see below)
-sketched and wrote about our braille presentation

All About Braille!

Today the students in Room 15/16 had a special guest come in to teach us all about Braille. Ms. Stephanie works as a vision teacher with students in the CBE. Together we watched a video about how and why braille was invented. A boy named Louis Braille invented the braille code in the 1800s.
We then practiced writing the braille alphabet, learned how to use a brailler, used vision simulation googles to try and complete a maze and even played games (like tic-tac-toe and battleship) that vision students enjoy in their classrooms! Here are some pictures:

Then, we got to explore a braille floor plan of our school!

Can your child tell you about the pictures below? How do these items help students who are visually impaired?

Reminders:
- STEM night - Thursday, December 6th from 6-7:30pm
- Field trip forms due TOMORROW!
- Food bank donations will be accepted until Friday, December 14th - thank you for all the donations that have already come in!