To my wonderful families,

This is the final blog of the 2020-2021 school year. 

We have learned a lot, we have done a lot. We have built friendships and we have become a fabulous classroom community.

I am not going to share in the blog what we have done the last two weeks, as much of it has been review and finishing up units of study.

I can't wait to see your children on Monday and Tuesday as they are both full days of learning and gathering up belongings.

It is supposed to be very hot this week, so please remember to send a hat, and water with your child. We will be spending some time outside, but not sure how much.

Have a great Sunday!

Mrs. Mahon

 Good Friday Afternoon Families,

The last 2 weeks have been fun-filled with a lot of learning still happening in the classroom. We are moving closer to the end of the year and we still have a lot to do! We are excited to see every student, every day!

In room 16 we have been completing and starting new topics all the time.

In reading we are enjoying the book Front Desk by Kelly Yang. It is about a girled named Mia, who is an immigrant from China who lives in a motel with her parents. We are learning about topics such as racism and prejudice. We are also responding to what we are reading by answering question both out loud and in our writing journals.

In mathematics we have learned about the differences between volume and capacity and how to calculate volume. We also know that 1 ㎤ = 1 mL.  We have also been learning about about motion geometry.  It involves drawing shapes and then sliding, flipping or turning them. Using different shapes we are also combining math and art and doing tesselations.

In science we finished off our chemistry unit by doing different experiments. Out favourite experiment was watching what happens when you put a whole roll of Mentos into a 2L bottle of diet cola.When the Mentos went into the pop it became really fizzy and exploded out the top of the bottle. It could be seen from the hill to the play structure. We have started a new unit learning about plant growth. We are finding out how seeds grow. We put a bean seed in a clear plastic glass with a damp paper towel. After 4 days, some beans have started to sprout. We also learned about the parts of a plant and why they are important.

In social studies we are going to learn about forts and where they are in Alberta. We finished learning about the Famous Five. We have also had discussions about Residential Schools and the impact that they had on the Indigenous People of Canada. These discussions have focused more on the discovery in Kamloops. To remember the 215 children, today we each tied an orange ribbon on the fence closest to Madigan Drive.

In art we want to paint rocks, however, we keep forgetting to bring a rock to school. We need them for Friday. The rock needs to be no bigger than the palm of our hands.

In physical education we have learned how to throw and catch a softball. We have used a glove to help us. Next week we start soccer baseball. We are really excited.

Mrs. Mahon wants us to remember to check the weather every day. It is going to be very warm all week next week and we will be spending more time outside. She is asking us to bring a hat, wear sunscreen if we can and make sure we have plain water, as many things like juice, flavorings, etc, add sugar, and are not as thirst quenching.

It is going to be a great last 2 weeks of school.

Mrs. Mahon's Marvelous Monsters

 Hello Friends and Families,

Since we last touched base we have done a week of online learning and now a week of back to school, face to face learning.

This week we have learned about the Famous Five and really enjoyed it.

Most of us are happy to be back and we are learning more than we did when we were online.

In reading we have been learning about Front Desk, a book by Kelly Yang. We get to buddy read to read it and it helps us with words we may not know, and to understand what we are reading.

In math we have been learning about area and perimeter. We got to plan a flower garden and count the perimeter and area of each bed and total. 

When we were online we got to watch Ms. Mahon do science experiments in her kitchen. We tried to do walking water, but it didn't work. (Ms. Mahon says we will try again next week). We also watched what happens when you heat up air. We made a candle float. We found out what colours the black ink in markers is actually made of. We watched what happens when you add warm water to Skittles and started to make crystals.

We are learning new things in music. We had a quiz to remind us about what we know.

Have a great weekend,

Ms. Mahon and her Marvelous Monsters (all 11 of them today!)

 Happy Friday Families,

For the last week we have been working online. We would rather be in school, but we are making it work.

We have been reading and writing about "Front Desk" by Kelly Yang. We have met Mia, a Chinese immigrant who is working with her family at the Calivista Motel in California. She has been teaching us through her words about life as an immigrant and the trials and tribulations she is going through as a 10 year old.

In math we are learning about measurement. We have learned about lines, line segments and rays. We have learned how to draw and measure angles and the different names of triangles. We have learned about isosceles, scalene and equilateral triangles.

In science we are studying chemistry. We have learned about mixtures and chemical reactions. We did science experiments with Skittles, jellybeans, a few liquids, baking soda, vinegar and food colouring. We had fun watching chemical reactions happen. Check out what we did on Google Classroom.

In social studies we are studying the Famous Five. They are a group of women who were trying to change the laws in Canada regarding women's rights.

In art we are doing free draw, drawing optical illusions and following along with Art Hub for Kids on youtube.

Stay tuned for another update next week.

Mrs. Mahon's Marvelous Monsters

 Good Afternoon Families,

The last 2 weeks have just flown by and we have accomplished so much in the classroom. I can't believe how quickly April has come and gone.

In our Literacy block each day we read and write. In reading we often read and share our understanding of what we are reading with others. We are learning to ask and answer questions that need more thought to answer, not just finding the information inside the book.

In writing, we are beginning to do a novel study on the book "Front Desk", by Kelly Yang. It is read aloud and then we have been having some really good conversations about what we are reading. We are learning to make connections to the book from our own lives.

We are finishing up 2D and 3D shapes in Math by creating 3D shape mobiles. The will be displayed in the classroom before we bring them home. This week we will be starting to learn about measurement. We will learn about units of measure, weights and volume. These units are a lot of fun to learn as it is a lot of hands on work.

Science has us learning about classroom chemistry. We have already discussed the 3 states of matter and will be moving on to mixtures this week and next. Science experiments are fun.

We will be finishing up learning about confederation and the Fathers of Confederation in social this week. Next week we will learn all about the move west and the NWMP. 

In art we finished Leah Dorion and now we are doing some dot art. Next week we will be connecting to the land in art by doing some rock painting. Keep your eyes open for a rock that is about the size of the palm of your child's hand that they can wash and paint next week.

Iris is a program that we are using at school to help students document their learning. We have recently posted some of the work that we have done in class. By logging in to Iris, you can see what your child has been doing. 

A letter went home today regarding Disc Golf. Please ask your student for it and if you have any questions please call me at (403) 777-8110 or email me at: wjmahon@cbe.ab.ca.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Mahon

Latest Update from Room 16

Hello, Room 16 Families!  

We had a busy week of learning, finishing off some units and moving into some new ones.

In science this week, we continued learning about the sun's energy and how it affects daily and seasonal weather. We also took the time to go outside to notice signs of spring, such as the budding trees and greening grass. 

In math, we started learning about 2D and 3D shapes. We sorted 3D shapes into different groups based on the number of edges, vertices, and bases. 

In social studies, we finished off learning about Alberta by presenting our Alberta Natural Region slides in front of the class. Ask me about the natural region I researched! Then on Friday, we went on a virtual field trip to the grass land region to visit the Royal Tyrell Museum where we learned about digging up dinosaur bones and fossils! 

In writing, we used our stories from home to plan and write our rough draft of our story. We also started to draw a scene from our story in art class! We have been working on using art to tell stories, using Leah Dorain books as our inspiration. 

We have been having a blast in gym class learning and playing different games involving scoops, hula hoops, blowing pins, and bean bags! Ask me about the "Sink the Ship" game.

Mrs. Mahon's Marvellous Monsters  

 Good Afternoon Families of Room 16!

I am so excited about what is happening in our classroom. 

In literacy we continue to read and write every day. We are learning about myths, legends, fairy tales and other stories. When we get back from spring break we will be focusing on writing or rewriting stories that we have learned from our familes. A letter went home Wednesday, if you have any questions feel free to email me at wjmahon@cbe.ab.ca.

Math has focused on adding and subtracting decimals, grocery shopping using flyers and menu planning for our families. Over the break would be a good chance to let you children work with you to plan and shop using a budget. We have enjoyed this and have learned a lot. After break the focus in math will move to shapes, space and measurement.

The weather unit in science will be completed right after spring break, and I will let you know what units will happen next.

In social studies we are finishing up the section on the regions of Alberta and are ready to move on to more of the history and stories from both Alberta and Canada. We enjoyed an Alberta Online escape room that focused on using the information learned these past few weeks to help escape. We loved it.

Physical Education has focused on using hula hoops and scoops to work on both fine and gross motor skills. The students are learning teamwork, how to pass and catch with a scoop and how to use and work with hula hoops. After spring break we are hoping to do more phys. ed classes outdoors.

Art has involved sketching, painting and analyzing different pieces from different artists. We are currently focused on Leah Dorion's work. We will post pictures when they are completed. Today we took it a step further and enjoyed painting on the snow.

Conversations have happened in health around friendships, and the difference between small problems and big problems. These conversations can also happen at home. We will be moving on to hygiene and review healthy eating and activity habits after the break.

Have a great spring break and we will see everyone back on Tuesday, April 6th.

 Hello Families of Room 16!

The past two weeks have been fabulous. The students have done so much learning, interacting and building community and I must say, they are definitely making me so proud.

I will start off in the order of our daily schedule. The students have told me what to blog about so I am just following the ideas given.

Literacy 

- We read everyday in class. We are either reading independently, with a buddy (side by side not face to face), or with the teacher. When we read we are answering questions that are either literal (answers can be found inside the pages) or inferential (we have to really think about them). We have to make inferences and predictions as well as explain what we are reading. We are using different strategies to read words that are harder, or ask questions if we need more information.

- In writing we have been learning about myths. We are currently planning and writing our own myths. We are really working on adding descriptive language and detail to our stories.

Math

- Decimals is what we have really focused on. We have been comparing, adding and subtracting decimals to the hundredths. We continue to use our basic facts and the skills we learned to carry and borrow if we need to. We have also been learning about money and the connection to decimals. We are doing a meal planning activity next week and it is really exciting. It is on our Google Classroom so we can share it with our families when it is completed.

Health

 - We are learning all about friendships. We have spoken a lot about what a good friend is and how we are good friends. This conversation will continue for the next few lessons.

Art

- The focus this week and next week will be on the works of Leah Dorion, an Indigenous artist. We have read The Giving Tree and are now working on using her ideas and style of painting to create our own.

Science

- The water cycle and weather continue to be our focus here. We have learned the parts of the water cycle and how climate change happens through the greenhouse effect.

Social Studies

- We continue to learn about Alberta. Mrs. Mahon has even said she has also discovered something new, and in turn is changing our research project to incorporate more teamwork and less technology. We will be working more hands on to answer our questions. Ms Neal has also been really helpful in making this happen as well.

Phys Ed

- We have played a lot of different games and activities using hula hoops, as well as continued our traditional tag games to get us moving in the morning.

Fridays are our Land Based Learning Day

- We get to spend time outside focused on learning from the land,  making connections to nature. Today we learned how to filtre water because not everyone has clean water to drink.

Lastly, Circle

- In Circle we are always present, following specific expectations and listening carefully to others. We have been learning to share our feelings with our classmates. We start every morning with circle and always end the day on a positive note with circle.

Stay tuned for our blog in 3 weeks to get an update on what is happening in Room 16! Have a great wekend.

Mrs. Mahon's Marvelous Monsters.

 Good Friday Afternoon Families,

Learning is always happening in Room 16.

LA - Reading and writing are going well. We are learning strategies on how to read more challenging words and learning to answer questions that make us really think about what we are reading. At home, you can help by listening to us read and asking questions when we are done.

Math - We have come to the end of our unit on fractions. We have learned about equivalent fractions, how to make equivalent fractions and how to add and subtract fractions with common and uncommon denominators.

Science - We are learning about weather. We know about temperature, climate and different weather phenomena. We are learning how to write about what we see and feel when we go outside. We are using more descriptive language when we write.

Social Studies - We are learning all about Alberta. We are currently working on a project called Alberta Bound. Through a webquest we will be researching the land, resources, weather, climate, leisure activities and the traditional Indigenous territories of all of Alberta.

Art - We have finished our Jason Carter Art study using the medium of tinfoil to create pictures. We will be moving on to learning about Leah Dorion. She uses dots and colours to create pictures.

Reminders:

1. For March 11th and 12th, Conferences are going to be happening on the Thursday evening and Friday during the day. There is no school on Friday for students. Please book online through the MyCBE Account. If you have challenges booking a time, please let me know asap and I will see where we can assist, but I am unable to book for you.

2. We will be going outside often for learning in the next few weeks before spring break. Please ensure that your student comes prepared for any type of weather.

Have a great weekend,

Mrs. Mahon

 Hello Happy Cappy Families,

Two weeks have passed and even though they have been short weeks we continue to learn every day.

Math

We are learning all about fractions. We have learned about equivalent fractions. We are learning how to multiply and divide to make larger and smaller fractions. Next we will be learning about adding and subtracting fractions, converting fractions into decimals. We will be working with money when we learn more about decimals.

Writing

We have been writing fractured fairy tales. We got to rewrite The 3 Little Pigs using our own characters. We had a lot of fun sharing our stories with each other when they were finished. We will be moving on to learn about myths and legends next.

Reading

We are beginning to learn about answering more challenging questions when we read. This helps us to better understand what we are reading. We will be learning how to read a variety of texts more carefully. For example, we will be learning about graphic novels and how to pull important information out of reference books.

Science

We continue to learn about the weather. We have created and shared Google Slides on chosen places. We learned about interesting weather phenomenon that occur in different places. We have been taught about monsoons, chinooks, sundogs, tsunamis and sea smoke.  We took a break from our regular scheduled lessons yesterday to watch the Perseverance Rover land on Mars. So many questions were asked and Mrs. Mahon tried to answer. Today we learned about anemometers. Ask me all about it.

Social

We have focused on Black History Month learning about how people of African descent have influenced and been a large part of both Canadian and Albertan history. 

Art

Our art has been from the perspective of Jason Carter. He is an Indigenous artist from Alberta. He focuses on lines to create mountains, animals and other scenes that represent the land he lives on and respects.

 Good Morning Parents and Guardians,

In writing we have been learning about stories.  We are learning about fairy tales, fables, myths and legends. We learned that there are many parts to a story. The parts we have learned about this week are the characters, setting, kick off and feelings.  We will learn about the others next week.

In science we are learning about the climate in Canada, Alberta, and other places in the world. We are learning about weather and that it is different than climate.

In social we have learned about the great places to visit in Alberta.  The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology is the largest and only museum in Canada that tells about dinosaurs. We created Jamboards about where we would like to visit and what we have learned. We learned where dinosaurs lived in Alberta.

In math we are learning about fractions and decimals.

In art we have been learning about Jason Carter. He is an Indigenous artist from Alberta. We sketched and painted mountain landscapes. Ms. Neal taught us how and what to do. It was awesome, amazing, and fun.

Next week is a short, 3-day week due to teachers convention.  We are only in school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We get Thursday, Friday and the following Monday off as it is Family Day long weekend.

Please ask me about Healthy Hunger. (It is in my backpack)

Have a great weekend and enjoy inside with your family as it is supposed to be cold.

Mrs. Mahon's Marvelous Masked Monsters

 Hello Families and Friends of Room 16,

We have been learning about the land today.  We went outside for a walk. We connected to nature. We got to feel, smell, listen, see, but not taste everything around us.

We are learning all about fractions with Ms. Neal.  There can be a whole, half and a set. Fractions are a part of a whole. They can be in cards, recipes, animals and there can also be fractions in a calendar. There can be fractions in a clock. Fractions are everywhere.

We shared our Jamboards with our classmates.  We created Dream Boards about what we want to see and do in Alberta. We were giving feedback to our classmates, compliments on how they did, asking questions and making connections.

In Phys Ed we have been learning to play floor hockey. We have been learning skills, like how to hold a stick, play safe and spatial awareness.

Ms. Neal has been working with us to learn about Heart Health. We learned that with a healthy heart we will live longer. We learned that it is possible to have a broken heart. 

In writing we have been writing about ourselves so that Ms. Neal can learn more about us.

In Science we discussed our carbon footprint and how everything we use is part of that. We learned how to decrease our carbon footprint.

We are looking forward to what is coming in the next few weeks.  We are starting some new units and we are getting excited to share our learning with you.

Mrs. Mahon's Magnificent Monsters

 Hello Friends,

Online we have been learning multiplication and division. We have reviewed addition and subtraction. We are learning about these by solving word problems. To solve a word problem there are 5 steps: 

1. Read the problem

2. Circle the important numbers

3. Underline the question that needs to be answered.  This will tell us what "function" to use to solve the problem. The function is whether we add, subtract, multiply or divide.

4. Write out the equation and solve it.

5. Answer the question.

We learned all about healthy food. We started to plan out a healthy menu for a day of eating. We found out that we need half of our meal to be colourful and the other half protein and grains.

We learned all about Alberta in social studies. We learned that the Canadian Shield is pretty old (4.5 billion years) and it is the smallest geographical region in Alberta. Alberta has 6 geographical regions. Calgary is in the Parkland Region of Alberta. Edmonton is the capital city of Alberta. The Boreal Forest takes up 58% of Alberta. We are looking forward to doing a webquest when we come back to school.

In art we have been asked to draw different animals that have a variety of adaptations. We have also been allowed at times to draw our own things. 

In science we have learned all about how plastics have affected marine life in our oceans. Some people have invented devices to help clean up the plastic and to make our earth cleaner.

In reading and writing we have been able to free write, we read books on Epic Books online and we have also reading with Mrs. Mahon.  On Google Classroom we were able to read a variety of stories and facts and answer comprehension questions so that we know and understand what we have read.

Online learning was good because we had a lot of meets so that we could talk to each other and our teacher.  We also got to read a lot. It was good because we got to stay home but still talk to each other. We didn't have to get up early to go to school. 

Some of us prefer to learn in school so we are happy we get to go back on Monday. We also prefer to see our friends and teachers face to face and not on a monitor or screen of any kind. 

It has been a very full and busy week. The students have done a great job in their learning and I am very proud of them.

Have a great weekend and stay tuned for an update again before the end of January.