Today we got together with our Grade one buddies for the first time! We worked with them to create some candy cane art. It was nice to have a chance to work with new friends and see all of the beautiful patterns they were able to create.

Reminders:
- Warm Feet for the Street collections needed. Evening celebrations next Thursday
- Fun lunch next week
- Book orders due Thursday

Happy Thursday!

This morning we continued working on some poinsettia art. This project will take a few steps. Yesterday we worked on sketching and today added glue to outline our flowers. A few of us were surprised when our outlines "disappeared" when dry. Stay tuned for some pics of the results!

Today we continued researching our animal and the Alberta region it lives in. Next week we will begin writing using our notes and start on some projects. Kids talk to your families about your animal and where it lives. What kind of project do you think you could create to showcase what you have learned??

If you are looking for a fun way to countdown to Christmas follow this link for a yoga advent calendar. Starts on December 1st :) Cosmic Kids Advent

Reminders:
- Book orders due Wednesday
- Warm Feet for the Street donations are being collected. Stuff a sock night is next Thursday!
- Plant orders will be available for pick up next Thursday
- A&W Fun lunch orders need to be placed ASAP.

Warm Feet for the Street

Great items to donate are:

• soap
• toothbrush/toothpaste
• lip balm
• travel sized: shampoo/conditioner, deodorant, razors
• Tim Horton’s gift card
• Bus tickets

The event is on December 6 from 6:00 to 7:30. If you are still wanting to come, it is $5 per family to stuff a sock. Please make sure you RSVP by December 3rd!

Thank you for your support as we work together to help others in need. 

From: The Grade Twos

Today we started researching Animals of Alberta, focussing on the region the animal lives in. Each student has chosen a different animal for their project. Families you can look forward to seeing the results of this research and the related artifacts we create at conferences in a month. To help us with the artifacts we are seeking donations of cardboard boxes, yarn, clay, etc.

We had a math test today to see how we were doing with addition and subtraction. Most of us did well and are ready to try some new challenges. A reminder to families that reviewing basic facts is a beneficial activity for everyone, as we begin to work with larger numbers counting on our fingers is a slow inefficient strategy when adding to 18.

FYI-
- photos orders were sent home today
- book orders sent home today
- donations for Warm Feet for the Street are needed.
- Warm feet for the Street night next Thursday

This week we explored Owl Pellets in our Wonder station.

We completed our research on the six regions of Alberta and chose animals to study starting next week. Ask your child which animal they chose and what region it can be found in.

In Math talked about subtraction and the different strategies we can use to solve 16-7. We came up with six different strategies, can you think of more?

Reminders:
- No school tomorrow
- containers and soil are needed for our pumpkin plants
- cardboard boxes are needed for an upcoming project

We started our day today with a Word Scramble. It was a tricky one and no one figured out the 'Mystery Word'. Can you figure it out?

a b c i n o r s t t u

In our novel today we read about a secret package that was lost and then found. We made lots of predictions about what this package might hold. Such as: war plans, photographs, secret documents, instructions, etc. Number the Stars has really inspired us to think about life in another place and time!

We had a special visit from some students from Grade 2. They were reminding us about Warm Feet for the Street. This is our 3rd annual collection in support of the Mustard Seed. Any donations are much appreciated by those in need.

Reminders:

- Donations for Warm Feet for the Street are needed!

- Christmas plant orders are due tomorrow

- Fun Lunch tomorrow

- No school Friday

Today we worked on some writing about a Big Horned Sheep. Did you know that these animals live in the Rocky Mountain region of Alberta? They have amazing eye sight and can see up to 1 km away! If you want to know if you are looking at a male or female big horned sheep you look at their horns. Males have large horns that curl all the way around, females and young have shorter horns.

In math we have been working on solving word problems involving addition of numbers to 10000. We are using estimation and opposite operation to check our work!

Reminders:
- Plant order forms are due by Thursday!
- Donations for Warm Feet for the Street are being collected. Mark your calendars! Our family "stuff a sock" night is December 6th.
- Fun Lunch Thursday
- PD Day Friday, No School

Lost and Found

Our Lost and Found collection has quite a few long term residents, which are looking to return to their owners.  Please take a look at the photos below and see any items may belong to your child.  On November 30th, the items remaining will be donated.

All week we have been working on a piece of descriptive writing inspired by a picture prompt. Today we worked with partners to give peer feedback on this writing. We used a Grade 4 writing rubric to assess our classmate's writing and then gave them 2 stars and 1 wish that we thought could help them improve their work. Many of us noticed the interesting word choices our friends made and a few of us were surprised to see that some of our friends are still forgetting to put capitals at the beginning of our sentences. All of us have something to work on because we want to be great writers!

We were all disappointed about the cancellation of our Choir trip to Spruce Meadows today. Our choir students have been working for almost 3 months, 2 days a week to prepare for this. Thank you to families who were able to make short notice arrangements because of this unforeseen cancellation.

Reminders:
- Warm Feet for the Street donations are being collected please send in items to help those less fortunate
- Fun Lunch next Thursday - orders can still be placed online with Healthy Hunger
- No school next Friday

 

Full of wonder here in Grade 4!

During our Literacy centres one of the favourite activities this year has been our "Wonder" or "Think Tank" station. When at this activity students have the chance to explore, wonder and journal about an object or group of objects. This week we had a mystery object in our tank. One student thought maybe it was the broken wing of an owl - it isn't - no animals will be harmed in the education of your child here at New Brighton :) Other students noticed the roots and leaf beginning to grow. Today we planted this "thing" in some soil to see what happens. Stay tuned!

As we have been working with bigger numbers in math and doing some investigating around things we buy that are compostable, recyclable, or destined for landfill, a few boys in our class decided to gather some numbers from the flyers and make this poster. What do you notice about the numbers they found?

Reminders:
- Choir sings at Spruce Meadows TOMORROW
- Fun Lunch next Thursday
- Next Friday is a PD day - No school
- We are seeking donations of plastic containers and soil for our pumpkin seedlings as they grow.

IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR CHOIR STUDENTS:

Blue media release forms were sent home today. These forms must be returned before Friday's performance.

Thank you

When we opened up our pumpkins on halloween we planted some of our seeds and they are sprouting! It has been very exciting to see out plants grow roots, stems and leaves. As our plants grow we will need pots to transplant them into. If you have any plastic containers (sour cream, large yogurt, etc) please rinse them well and send them in. Also we will be looking for donations of planting soil if you have any :)

Reminders:
- Jersey Day Thursday
- Choir forms need to be returned tomorrow

Happy Monday!

Today we began researching Regions of Alberta using the Zooming in Alberta website. We are working on filling in a chart about all 6 regions and the landforms, climate, vegetation, animals, bodies of water and natural resources found there. Some interesting things we learned are:

- The Canadian Shield is like a wall of rock
- The Boreal forest covers almost half of Alberta
- There are a lot of animals in Alberta
- On a map the rocky mountain region looks like a zig-zag
- There are flowers in the mountains
- The grassland is the driest, hottest and windiest region
- Alberta looks like a rectangle with one corner chipped off
- In the Canadian Shield there are animals like wolverines, grizzly bears and caribou
- In the Foothills there are animals called mink
- There is a flower called the western wood lily
- There is a plant called bear grass

In math we worked on estimation and rounding. We used rounding to estimate the answer to addition and subtraction questions, solve them and see how close we were. We used plickers to  see what we knew.

We observed a picture of an owl swooping down to catch some prey. We will be using this photo to work on writing a good paragraph all week.

In literacy for word work we made a 3 section t-chart and cut out pictures of things that are recyclable, compostable and landfill - please send in more flyers.

We have been reading the novel, Number the Stars. Ask us what happened today.

Reminders: 
- Photo orders were due today
- Choir on Tuesday & Thursday
- Choir at Spruce Meadows on Friday
- Jersey day is Thursday

We started talking about Alberta this week and a few students have already brought in artifacts that help to tell the story of Alberta. If you have something at home that might help us understand our province please sent it in!

In math we reviewed our pre-test from earlier this week. Many of us noticed things that we could work on to improve our accuracy. Ask your child what they noticed and what they need to work on. We will continue working on strategies to accurately add and subtract numbers to 10 000. At home practicing basic facts recall would be beneficial.


Reminders:

Ralph Klein Park Payment for Field Trip - if you have not yet paid for our trip to RKP please send in payment ASAP.

Class photos tomorrow!

Photo orders due by Monday, November 12th

Food Drive collections due by Monday, November 12th

Happy Monday!

Today we had a special visit from The Earth Rangers! We played a game and collected points while learning about climate change. They brought some animal ambassadors for us to meet! We met Sonney who's is a Harris Hawk, a caiman lizard who had a red head,  and a pre-hensile tailed porcupine name Quillo. The last animal we met was a green toucan from the South American rainforest - Did you know these types of birds don't fly well so they hop everywhere?!

Homework:
We are beginning our focus on Alberta. If you have an artifact that represents Alberta, or tells a story from our beautiful province bring it in!

Reminders:
- Book orders due Wednesday
- Remembrance Day assembly on Friday at 10:15
- Fun lunch Thursday - SUBWAY
- Class photo day is Thursday
- Individual photo proofs home today

Today we started our day with a word problem and figured out how much candy Fudge had after Trick-or-Treating last night. We used base ten to represent our thinking to solve this problem. We also created a November calendar and had a math quiz today.

In literacy some of us had a chance to work with some puppets and we all had a chance to do some quiet independent writing.

We did a guided sketch and worked to use shading and colour to make realistic drawings of pumpkins. We talked about how adding a shadow underneath the object makes it appear more grounded and how thinking about where the light is coming from helps us to think about where to add shadow and highlights.

Reminders:
- Fun lunch orders for next week need to be placed before midnight on Saturday.
- Book orders were sent home today. Please return by next Wednesday.
- Remembrance assembly will be held next Friday morning at 10:15
- Veteran's Food Drive Donations are being collected
- Choir blue forms are due tomorrow