Good Afternoon,

The last 2 weeks have gone by in a blur.  We have been busy in the classroom as usual.  The learning the students continue to do is fantastic.

We have not done a lot that is different in the past 2 weeks.  We still read and try to write everyday.  We are beginning to use computers to do some of our writing which includes opinion writing and even beginning to do some story writing.

Math has seen us continue on problem solving.  We have tackled mixed problems and multi-step problems.  The students are learning to read through them and pick out what is important and then apply the appropriate function to find the answer.

We are finishing up our Waste unit in Science, and our next unit will focus on Weather.  We are beginning to find out more about Alberta in Social Studies, then moving back into the history of Canada as time goes on.

We completed yoga and dance in Physical Education and next we will be doing some floor hockey and ringette.

I do not get to see your wonderful children now until the 4th of January.  Mr. Bennett has also sent an update out to families that gives details about what to expect. 

From January 4th - 8th, 2021 your children will be learning online.  There are times when they will be online with me, Ms. Hanan or Ms. Murphy, being instructed, receiving support and asking or answering questions.  These online times will be for attendance as well.  A schedule came home with your student today, but it is not perfect, so there may be changes.  In that case, a new schedule will be sent out to you by Sunday, January 3, 2021.  I will also be posting it on our Google Classroom.

Stay tuned to your email for any updates that are coming.  Thank you for your ongoing support, your children could not do what they do without you.

Have an amazing break and I can't wait to see everyone in January.

Mrs. Mahon

 Hello Fabulous Families,

In the last 2 weeks we have tried to do a lot, so let us update you on what has happened and what will happen next week.

In reading we continue to read with our teacher, read with a buddy (safely and at a bit of a distance). We choose books that are at a level that we are great at reading.  We have access to a lot of books online over the break coming up.  Ask me how.

In writing we continue to write about Ivan the Shopping Mall Gorilla and we get to free write about anything we want but appropriate for school.  Some of us have written letters to Santa, written about our weekends, what we want for Christmas,  We have written about how we feel about things using our own opinions.

In mathematics we have started to learn all about word problems.  We are learning the steps to solve word problems and some of our problems are more than 2 steps to solve. We continue to practice basic facts to learn to multiply and divide bigger numbers.  

In science we have been learning about toxic waste, e-waste and other types of waste.  We found out that we have a lot of e-waste in our houses. We get to learn all about our carbon footprint next week.

In social studies we have learned about confederation and Canada becoming a country.  We have learned about the railway and how it was built to expand to the west.  We are learning all about Alberta now and we get to become "Travel Agents" to write brochures to tell how great our wonderful province is.

In Phys. Ed we are doing dance and yoga, and we also got to play some games of basketball.  We also get to continue playing a variety of tag games.  Dance and yoga will continue next week.

We have school 5 days next week.  Yes, we are in school on Friday, December 18, and it will be a half day.  After that we are on a 2 week winter break.  Online School is starting on Monday, January 4, 2021.

We will do one more blog entry next week! Stay tuned.

Mrs. Mahon's Marvellous Monsters from Room 16

 Good Morning Families,

The last 2 weeks have been busy with a lot of different learning happening.

Literacy

We have been writing about Asian and African elephants. We will be posting our posters on Iris early next week for you to see. We read everyday and get to read at a distance with our classmates and teacher.

Mathematics

We have been learning about division.  We have learned to break larger numbers into smaller groups.  We have also begun learning long division.  It is okay if we practice at home.

Science

We have been learning about waste, where it goes (the dump) and what happens to it. Glass bottles can take up to a million years to decompose so it is better to recycle them. We also learned that in the USA at UCLA they are using reusable take out containers. They are scanned like library books. It was pretty interesting. Clothes that come from China, that are polyester are more than likely made from recycled plastic bottles. Science has been pretty fun.

Social Studies

We have learned about the beaver and the buffalo and how the First Nations hunted and trapped them. We have also been learning about how the fur trade happened and how it worked. For example, the First Nations people traded beaver pelts for items like, pots, pans, and other items not normally used. Beaver fur is so popular in making hats in Europe at the time because the felt is waterproof. 

Music

We continue to learn about Canadian Musicians.  We are creating Google Slide Presentations that we will be showing to the class and putting on Iris next week.

We have been learning about squilts with Ms. Murphy. It is all about listening to music and drawing what or how you feel.

Phys. Ed

We have been doing basketball and next week we will start our units on dance and yoga. Please remember to wear comfortable clothes (no dresses or tight clothes).

Stay tuned for more interesting updates from Mrs. Mahon's Marvelous Monsters.

Have an amazing weekend.

Room 16 Monsters

 Hello Fabulous Families of Room 16,

Happy Friday the 13th!

This week we have spent a lot of time talking and writing about Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day happens on November 11th every year.  On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month we stay silent for 2 minutes to help us remember the soldiers who have fought in major conflicts around the world. We also learned the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, this was used when the allies communicated with each other during war. We got a chance to write our full names.  For example Cappy Smart School would be written as

Charlie Alpha Papa Papa Yankee   

Sierra Mike Alpha Romeo Tango

Sierra Charlie Hotel Oscar Oscar Lima

We have written about Ivan the Gorilla as well. He was the shopping mall gorilla that was eventually moved to the Atlanta Zoo.  We are currently reading the chapter book about him called, "The One and Only Ivan".

In mathematics we are learning to multiply numbers. First we multiply the ones. We have learned to multiply 2-digit by 1-digit and 2-digit by 2-digit.  Some of us are even trying to multiply larger numbers. If it is a single digit number, the we will only multiply the single digit.  If it is a 2-digit number, then we also have to multiply the tens.  We do some adding when we carry and to find the final product. 

We are learning about Waste in science. We have learned about biodegradable and non-biodegradable things.  We have talked about what goes in the black, blue and green bins that are collected every one to two weeks outside our houses. 

In Phys. Ed we continue to play a variety of tag games.  Ask me about them. We have also been learning how to throw and catch Frisbees.  We discovered that we do not throw Frisbees when it is really windy out.

We continue to draw different things, and this weeks focus was on poppies. 

Room 16 wants to welcome the wonderful Ms. Murphy to our school.  She joined us to teach us this week about using different symbols to create our own alphabet.

We have been studying Canadian Musicians in Music.  We can't wait to share our research projects with each other.

It has been a successful week of learning.  

Fabulous Friends of Room 16

 Hello Families of Fabulous 4/5s,

We have been learning about wetlands in science. We are creating an informational cube to help us teach each other about different types of wetlands. We have been learning about animal food chains in the wetlands. We also wrote riddles about different animals.  We will be sharing our learning on Iris (stayed tuned for more information in the coming week).

We have been learning about gorillas and are now using the internet to help us create posters to display all the information we have learned.

We are playing different games with our friends in math.  We are learning place value.  We finished learning about patters.  We drew a giraffe to help show animals that have patterns in them.  We learned the 3 different ways to write numbers.  We write them in written form (one hundred twenty-three), standard form (123) and expanded form (100 + 20 +3).  We have also used dice to play games, we try to beat the teacher in math (ask me how).

In Physical Education we are playing different tag games and playing badminton. We play RPS Tag, Line Tag, Octopus Tag, British Bulldog Tag.

We have been learning about the land with Ms. Watkins.  We walked over a kilometer last week to help us learn about the land. We learned about Charlie Windjack.  He tried to walk home but due to hunger, cold and no water he didn't make it. It taught us about Residential Schools and their impact on Indigenous People.

Mrs. Mahon wants you to know that Parent/Teacher Conferences are online next Thursday evening and Friday morning.  You will be able to go online to MyCBEAccount to book a time when you would like to chat with her about our learning.  

Mrs Mahon's Grade 4/5 Class

 Happy Friday Families,

This week we have been learning about Terry Fox.  We used what we learned to write about our heroes.  A hero is someone who is a survivor, ordinary, someone who helps, creative, fun, someone who motivates you to do what you love, and is a fighter (in a good way). We finished off the week by participating in our own Terry Fox Run.  We ran over 1 and a half kilometers this morning.

We learned about Orange Shirt Day as well this week. We spent time with Ms. Watkins and she helped us learn about the meaning behind Orange Shirt Day. We read Shi-Shi Etko and When I was Eight to help us learn and understand more about Residential Schools and Reconciliation. We made our own memory bags and drew pictures of what is most important to us, as well, we wrote about how we might feel if we had to leave our families. 

In math we have learned about probability.  We use words to help us: likely, unlikely, equally likely, certain, impossible, possible. We were able to make our own spinners and come up with our own data to help us.

In art we drew our heroes, gorillas and canoes. We were able to draw our own shirt and it helped us talk about what school should be like.

We play a lot of non contact tag games in Phys. Ed.  Next week we will be doing other fun activities both inside and outside depending on the weather.

In health we are learning about feelings and how they impact us others around us.

We had our first practice/fire drill this week as well.  We did fabulous.

To finish off every afternoon we share about our favorite part of the day in our circle time.

Have a great weekend and stay tuned for more next week.

Mrs. Mahon's Marvelous Monsters

 Happy Friday,

Another week has passed and we have had 4 fabulous days of learning this week.  I hope that you are all enjoying the little bit of extra time you get to spend together.

We have finished up our graphing unit in math, and will be moving on to probability.  When they come home next week, don't forget to ask them about their learning.

In writing, we have continued to learn about gorillas and have begun learning about different rules when writing.  We have started with learning about the apostrophe.  Ask them when we use an apostrophe, and see what they remember.  We will continue with this throughout the year. Next week we will be writing about Orange Shirt Day.  It is on September 30.

In social studies we will be learning all about Terry Fox and what he did. We have also learned about the map of Canada, what is on our borders and the 10 provinces and 3 territories.  When we move forward we will learn all about Canada's and Alberta's history.

Wetlands is the focus in science. We are learning about the types of wetlands and will be learning about the animals that live in wetlands and their adaptations to live and survive. We also had a wonderful time have Inside Education join our classroom through Google Meet on Monday to share information on wetlands.

Scholastic book orders went home this week. Things look different as orders are now done online for all parents.  If you go to scholastic.ca, click on the link on the left hand side that is labeled "Parents New to Learning Club", it will guide you through making an account. Books you order for your child will now be shipped directly to your house.

Have a fabulous weekend, and I can't wait to see my wonderful students on Monday.

Mrs. Mahon

First Blog of the 20/21 School Year - Room 16

 Hi,

We have been learning about wetlands in science.  Wetlands have water and soil underneath it. There are wetlands in the middle of Canada around the Hudson Bay. Swampy wetlands are covered in trees. Wetlands is a safe place for animals to live.

We are learning about graphing in math.  We have done bar graphs, line graphs and we are learning about calendars and dates.

We have been learning about gorillas. Koko was a Lowland gorilla that could speak ASL (American Sign Language). We have learned a little bit of sign language ourselves. Koko learned her sign language from Francine Patterson. Koko was born on July 4, 1971 and died in her sleep on June 19, 2018. Gorillas are 98% genetically connected to humans. They eat bamboo, thistles and bugs. Gorillas can also get human diseases. Silverback gorillas are the leaders of the troops.

We are learning to draw different animals like frogs, gorillas and fish.  We learned to draw trees.  We are hoping to get outside more often to draw what we see in nature as we learn to protect and care for it.

We participate in modified circle time by sharing how our day went and other things we want our classmates to know.

In social we have been learning about the continents, and what borders the country of Canada. Next we will be learning about the provinces and territories.  We have had many discussions about what it means to be Canadian, and what we thought about what Canada is.

We are learning about friendships and respect.

In Phys Ed we have been playing Shadow RPS tag outside on the hill. We have learned to pass and trap a soccer ball, learning to not use our hands at all. 

Just a reminder, there is no school tomorrow, Friday, September 18, 2020.  

Stay tuned next week for an update from Room 16.

Mrs. Mahon's Marvelous Masked Monsters :)

Update

Hello Friends and Families,

It has been an awesome week.

We have planned and researched meals on flyers, and then priced out what it would cost to feed 4 people for under a day.  We used a limit of $100.00 and the students were really engaged in the activity and really excited to be able to add and subtract decimals.

We edited our writing a bit, did some free writing and learned more about the figures of speech (synonyms, antonyms and homonyms) from our wonderful Ms. Reid.

We have done more directed drawings of animals this week and learned how to draw a sea turtle and a sloth.  We are both creative and imaginative.

We began building/creating our 3D sections of our maps of Alberta and Canada in Social Studies.  It has been a fun-filled, creative learning experience.  We can't wait to show you what we have learned on the 19th/20th.

We have a field trip coming up on March 16th for the morning only.  Forms went home yesterday, are due back by the 13th and we need 2 - 3 volunteers from our classroom. Please let me know if you can.

Parent/Teacher Conferences are coming up on the 19th and 20th of March.  Please book in as soon as you can as time slots fill up fast, especially on Thursday.  If you are unable to book online, please let me know and I will help.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs. Mahon

Happy Tuesday,

It has been a while since our last blog, but be prepared, it will begin happening more often as the students will be doing the official blog 2 - 3 times per week starting next week.

We continue reading daily in Guided Reading. 

In music, we are doing bucket drumming.  We are learning to count beats and rhythm.  Did you know that chocolate milk and potato chips can help us keep the beat?  It is pretty cool.  We might learn to play the recorder soon.

In Mathematics we are learning about money.  We have been shopping with flyers and are learning how to add and subtract different totals of money.

According to Waleed we learn all about electricity in Science.  We are learning how to build circuits using a Snap Circuit kit.  We created circuits that make a siren sound, and one that sings Happy Birthday.  Today we learned about opening and closing circuits.

In Phys. Ed we are playing badminton. We are hoping to soon play games.

Ms. Reid, our student teacher is reading a book about word play titled, The Phantom Tollbooth.  We are learning about synonyms, homonyms, homophones and eventually antonyms. 

In writing we learned about fireflies and what is causing them to be endangered.  The paragraphs we wrote will soon be available for you to read on IRIS. 

In Classroom Champions we have set long and short term goals.  We hope to achieve them as the year progresses.

In Social Studies we are continuing to learn about the regions of Canada and Alberta.  We will start building our 3D maps tomorrow.  You will be able to see them at Parent/Teacher Conferences on the 19th and 20th of March.

We are having a half day (fully funded) field trip on March 16th. It will take place from 8:30 - 12:00 PM at the Arts Commons in downtown Calgary.  We need at least 7 volunteers to make this a successful trip.  If you have a current police clearance and can take the time, please let Mrs. Mahon know as soon as possible.

Stay tuned for notices for both the field trip and parent/teacher conferences.

Mrs. Mahon and her Munchkins from Room 16

2 great weeks of learning

Hello Families,

The students in room 16 have had 2 amazing weeks of learning.  We have enjoyed learning about fractions in math, we have learned about friendships, respect and being our best selves.  In writing we are learning about paragraph writing, and also creating new friends across the ocean.  We have a chance to communicate with pen pals in Japan.  We are learning about electricity and circuits in science.

We have had the pleasure of learning from Elder Shirley Hill these past 2 weeks.  She has shared with us her knowledge, ways of knowing, understanding and reflections.  We participated in discussions around nature and natural resources, the land and dancing.  The learning experiences had by all will be remembered for a very long time to come.

There is no school for students today, tomorrow or Monday.  We will see them back on Tuesday for a regular, full day of learning.

Ms. Helen Dang will be in our classroom for the next week starting on Tuesday as Mrs. Mahon is away for the week. 

We are still looking for recyclables to help us with our map creation.

Thank you for raising wonderful students, and let's have another great week of learning.

Mrs. Mahon and her Room 16 Munchkins

Happy Friday Families,

This week we started to play with fractions and learning all about fractions.  Please stay tuned for a letter early next week regarding making pizza to help build our understanding of fractions through cooking.  Mrs. Mahon says that helping cook at home will also be beneficial.

We are learning cursive writing and have learned the letters, a, c, d, g and o.

We are learning to write proper paragraphs in writing.  In reading we are starting guiding reading and Ms. Blake will be helping.  It is awesome.

We have been playing floor hockey in gym and next week Mr. Bennett will help us learn about ringette.

We have been doing circle to express our feelings and how our days went.

We will be building 3D maps of Alberta and Canada in the next few weeks, please send recyclables with your child, to help us build.

As the weather gets warmer, continue to plan for wet days, cold days maybe and prepare accordingly.

Thank you,

Stay tuned next week for another update from room 16.

Mrs. Mahon's Marvelous Monsters