Thursday, Dec. 22nd

Well that's the end of that!.... For a couple weeks!

We have been keeping very busy this week, right until the end. 

In math we have been practicing our multiplication and addition skills by playing games. 

In science we have finished off our Waste In Our World unit. Students created their final life cycle posters, which are proudly on display in the hallway.

In Social we are very close to wrapping up our work on the regions of Alberta. 

In English students will have the chance to finish off their diorama when they return after the break.

In Spanish we will continue to work with the house, verbs, writing, read and listening!

On our last day, today, we made the desks into blanket forts and read, did some carolling, had a dance party, did some art and took on some technology-based tasks, posted in Google Classroom this morning. Unfortunately, we ended our day today with a little bit of disappointment, as students did not participate well in showing respect for the classroom and cleaning up after themselves, so we had to have another chat about that. We will continue to work together as a team (students and teachers) to create a collaborative environment where all students participate to grow their skills in independent problem solving and understanding of respect and kindness. 

On behalf of both of us (Srta. Marasescu and Srta. Sutherland), we would like to wish all our fabulous students and their families and very warm, relaxing and joyful holiday break. We will look forward to reuniting on January 9th!

From the school:

Classes resume on January 9, 2023.  If your child will be absent in the new year, please let the office know ahead of time.

 

The next Dalhousie School Council/Parent Society meeting will be held on January 11, 2023 at 6pm through Microsoft Teams.  All are welcome to attend.

 

Coming back from the break, January 13, 2023 will be Crazy Sock Day.  Wear your comfiest, craziest socks to show them off!

 

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo!  We wish everyone a season and year of health, wealth and happiness.  Nos vemos in 2023!

Tuesday, Dec. 20th

We are keeping warm over here... We hope you are too!

We continue to practice reading in Spanish, reading out loud for the first fifteen minutes of most days! We continue to work on all things about the house, currently we are working on polishing our verb usage in sentences. 

In math, we will finish the year out playing a variety of different math games to practice our addition and multiplication skills. 

In ELA/Art students have completed their final summary for their chapter and are starting to creating some very impressive dioramas!

Im gym when both groups are together we have been enjoying the game Caribou Carry and Cranes and Crows. Separately we are both working on basketball. 

In science students are finishing up their group work on a poster about the life cycle of a specific school supply.

Please remember that Thursday is pyjama day! Students have the option of bring a sheet or blanket to create a classroom fort and also can bring one stuffy if they would like. 

Friday, Dec. 16th

Friday's go by quickly!! Here is a recap.

This morning some students worked on a science project on Minecraft, while others caught up on missing work and projects.  Students then had gym class and also had some time to complete their Fatty Legs final summary project. Students are reminded to bring in any recycled materials that they can use to create their diorama.  For the afternoon, students got started on the plan, design and background painting of their shoe boxes for their diorama. They closed out the day with reading buddies with a grade one class. They really love the chance to read with the younger kids!!

Please see the ski and snowboarding email that was sent out today regarding all the why's of the trip being cancelled. We are very disappointed, but we will try to make the most of next week and also have a special day on Thursday with p.j's and some special plans!

FROM THE SCHOOL:

Please check your MyCBE account to see if you have any outstanding fees. We would appreciate that these fees be taken care of as soon as possible as it otherwise the school has to pay and it affects the programming we can offer.   They can be paid online through your MyCBE account.  If you need help with the payment process or if you feel that you received this message in error, please contact the office.  It you need to make payment arrangements, please contact the school directly as soon as possible.

 

If your child has overdue library books, please return them to school by December as soon as possible.

 

A reminder that the last day of classes before winter break is Thursday, December 22, 2022.  Classes will resume on Monday, January 9, 2023. If your child will be absent in the new year, please let the office know ahead of time.

 

Thursday, December 22 will be Pajama Day at Dalhousie.  Wear your coziest PJs!  Carolling will take place in classrooms.

 

The next Dalhousie School Council/Parent Society meeting will be held on January 11, 2023 at 6pm through Microsoft Teams.  All are welcome to attend.

 

Coming back from the break, January 13, 2023 will be Crazy Sock Day.  Wear your comfiest, craziest socks to show them off!

 

Tuesday December 14

 Hola Parents and Guardians!

In Spanish, we continue to tackle learning about the house, and have been wrestling with a copy and fill in the blank activity, that required students to conjugate known and practiced verbs such as estar ("to be"), ser (also "to be"), tener ("to have"), and llamarse ("to be named/called"). 

In Science we are wrapping up "Waste in our World" by exploring the lifecycle of a product, and making some posters of the lifecycle product of an object we use often in school. It has been fascinating learning more about the manufacturing (production) stage of the lifecycle. The teachers even pulled out some old dusty "How it's Made videos" from their youth. ;) 

In English we have been expanding our inferencing skills, by learning about how to figure out the meaning of words through context clues! See the picture attached below for some of the things we have been looking at for interpreting context clues. 

We are trying to wrap up our novel "Fatty Legs" with a diorama art installation in the learning commons, for which students will be summarizing different chapters in small groups, and then choosing two scenes from each chapter to build dioramas of. We are also tapping into the concept of recycled art for this project, where we have been exploring how art can make a statement or be a protest, and specifically looking at recycled art as a way to draw people's attention to the problem of plastic and garbage pollution. Students will be building their dioramas from only materials found in our recycling bins at home, to explore how to give new life and purpose to things that would otherwise be discarded. 

In Social Studies we hope to finish the Natural regions of Alberta before the break. 

In Math we have been working to explain our procedure for 4-digit addition, and students have demonstrated their strengths in doing addition, as well as some word problems. We continue to work on the process of extracting the correct information from word problems, to know what we are solving and why (as well as how!). We are also dipping our toe in some estimation in addition. 

In Art we have been exploring Recycled art. Stay tuned for some slides to be uploaded onto Google Classroom, to make all of the inspiration we have been given available to students at home as well. 

Please do not forget this Friday, December 16 is Crazy Hat Day!

See you soon!

Friday, Dec. 9th

 From the classroom: (It's long - important school info at the end!)

In math we are working through finding the most important words in a word problem and then ensuring the correct numbers are used to solve the problem. Let's not forget, we must write a sentence to complete the answer!

In English students are working in their groups to complete their final summary of "Fatty Legs". Next week we will start the art portion of this project. Students need to bring a box to school. The boxes range in size from a standard width shoe box, up to a printer paper box.  They will only use recycled materials to create all the components of their diorama art, which can be brought in from home, starting on Monday. 

Today in art we looked at art as a statement, which lead to our conversation around recycled art (art made from materials that would end up in a land fill) and how it can be used to draw peoples attention to the problem of plastic pollution around the planet. We will be using these concepts for the project explained above.

In Spanish we are starting to work with verbs and on Thursday we completed our guided reading.

In social we are currently on the grasslands region.

In science we are exploring the life cycle of project and reflecting on how the things we use everyday are made, used and discarded. 

From the school

A reminder that the last day of classes before winter break is Thursday, December 22, 2022.  Classes will resume on Monday, January 9, 2023.

Dalhousie Parent Society News – Please direct any questions to the dalhousieschoolparentsociety@gmail.com

www.dalhousieparentsociety.com – check out our website for all this info and more!

The Purdy’s Chocolate orders have come in early! Please email us at dalhousieschoolparentsociety@gmail.com to arrange a pick-up time between now and next Tuesday. Thank you for your support!

We need volunteers to help with fundraising for the playground. Please ask around your work to see if there are corporate donations available. Please email us at dalhousieschoolparentsociety@gmail.com if you would like to help. We really need more bodies as this is a giant project.

Fun Lunch dates have been added for the new year! Check out your healthy hunger account to see what is available! Volunteer spots for the new fun lunch dates in 2023 are available here

 CONTEST TIME!!

Bring your reusable straw on Dec 13 to be entered to win a free fun lunch!

Dec 21 – Subway (deadline Dec 16)If your student is going to be absent for fun lunch, please email dalhousieschoolparentsociety@gmail.com  (BEFORE 11 am – we can’t ensure requests if emails are received after) with your student’s NAME, TEACHER/ ROOM # and if you would like to pick up, donate, or send home with a sibling.

 

Grade 4 & 5 Skiing/Snowboarding

Please see the separate email and form that was sent home regarding Grade 4 & 5 Skiing & Snowboarding.  Please note the following and complete numbers 1 & 2 by December 14 at the latest:

 

1. The Acknowledgement of Risk form – this paper form that will be sent home with your child indicates your permission for your child to participate in the Skiing and Snowboarding program as well as use the bus to go to and from Winsport
2. Winsport Information – this electronic form is information for Winsport and must be filled out.
3. Volunteers - Parents wishing to volunteer their support for students must have a current CBE volunteer clearance.  Due to insurance regulations, adults (teachers and volunteers) may not participate in the lessons or be on the hill skiing/snowboarding.  Volunteers will support students in the rental shop and in the lodge.  If you are able to volunteer, please sign up through SignUp Genius. 
4. Fee - The approved fee for Skiing/Snowboarding is $105 and covers 3 Lessons, lift ticket and equipment rental.  The fee has been posted to your on-line My CBE Account and should be paid through your account; we do not accept cheques for fees and discourage cash payments as fees paid on-line are secure and provide you with an official receipt for your records.

Tuesday Dec 6

We are rolling along into our second week of December...

In math we are working on our four digit addition practice and will be moving on to the same thing but with word problems. 

In English we have finished reading Fatty Legs. Students were presented with their final project today. Tomorrow they will get into their groups and get planning. Students need to write a summary of a portion of a chapter and then create a diorama of a scene from the chapter. They will be making it out of recycled materials that they can bring in. They will need a shoe box and then other materials to create the scene. We are also continuing to work on inferences and practice our skills.

We had a full grade 4 gym class and continued to play a variety of Indigenous games.  When we are just one class we will continue with basketball.

In Spanish we have completed the house vocabulary in our visual dictionaries and have practiced speaking about the rooms. We will start working and practicing verbs tomorrow.

FROM THE SCHOOL:

December 9 will be Anything but a Backpack Day. This is a chance for the students to use their creativity by using a household item in lieu of a backpack. We want to emphasize that student should not need to buy anything for this spirit day and what is brought to school is safe for the student and those around them.

 

This year Dalhousie School has decided to give back to the community by participating in the Salvation Army Toy Angel Drive. This toy drive is designed to bring cheer to low-income families with children aged 0-12. A box has been set up in the main office to collect donations. If you would like to contribute please bring your unwrapped toys into the office before noon on 15 December 2022. 

 

We are in the last month before Winter Break.  A reminder that if your child will be absent for 5 days or more due to a holiday, an extended absence form must be filled out.  Please email  dalhousie@cbe.ab.ca to request the form and have it submitted before your child’s absence.

Friday, December 2

Hola parents and guardians!

 

We continue to work on understanding plastic pollution in our Science class. This week we explored the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and started looking into the 3 Rs (Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle), to learn ways in which we can be part of the solution. 

In Social Studies we have all but wrapped up our fourth natural region of Alberta, the Canadian Shield. Students have been participating very actively during our exploration. 

In Math, we continue to work on addition of 4-digit numbers with regrouping (carrying the 1), and we spent some time learning how to describe our process of addition using the standard algorithm (stacking the numbers) in Spanish. We continue to work to expand our verbal fluency and to explain our ideas, processes and our thinking across all subjects. 

In English, we continue to practice making inferences, and learning how to explain how we reached our inference ( "The text says.... I know that ..... I can infer that..."). We will also be looking in how we can infer or derive the meaning of novel (new) words from context clues, as part of this exploration. 

In Spanish, we continue to explore the house, learning names for rooms and furnishings found typically in each room of the house. We continue to build our visual dictionaries at this stage, to have all the vocabulary we will be using in our binders. 

In gym we have spent some time playing some indigenous games such as Cranes and Crows, and the Caribou Carry, twice a week, when we have shared our gym time with the other grade 4 class (to avoid going outside in extreme cold weather conditions). The rest of the time, we are tackling our basketball unit, by working on dribbling and stealing the ball. 

In Art we are starting to learn Neurographic art, a type of doodle-based art that allowed students to practice mindfulness while drawing. 

See you next week!

Challenge completed!

 Our students in room 8 have been diligently working to complete their first 1000 piece puzzle since September, and yesterday, put the finishing touches on it (with the exception of two permanently-lost puzzle pieces)! The theme of our next 1000-piece puzzle will be cupcakes! Stay tuned, and check out a picture of our success (and an extra picture of one of our dynamic shape small puzzle)!

Puzzles have many benefits. They develop memory skills, as well as an ability to plan, test ideas and solve problems. While completing a puzzle, students need to remember shapes, colours, positions and strategies to complete them. In our classroom, our puzzle table also requires students to work collaboratively to reach goals together. Students can take on the puzzle any time they have finished work and have some extra time, but also during lunches and indoor recesses. 

Tuesday Nov 29

Hola Parents and Guardians.

Apologies for the late post. 

In English we have read chapter 7 of Fatty Legs. We are working on the book work, that should be completed and done to the best of their abilities after six other chapters of practice on summarizing and responding to the text. We will also continue our work on inferencing. 

Srta. M also shared some short video clips about life in the north to give the students a better understanding of the indigenous ways of being and knowing in a real life context. The were able to make connections between the videos that we saw and the main characters life. The videos are from a game that the students were interested n knowing more about. The game is called "Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)", and it is an indigenous-made game which follows a little girl who tries to stop a blizzard that has gone on for too long. This game requires students to problem solve, and it reveals cultural insights about First nations people living up North in the form of short videos. At different checkpoints in the game, students can pause to watch a new video and sometimes these videos provide more context for the video game, sometimes they provide a little information to help them master the skills necessary in the next part of the game. We have been watching these videos in class to better understand life in the arctic for Indigenous communities, as this also connects back to our Novel study "Fatty Legs", about an Inuvialuit girl who goes to residential school.  Please see Google Classroom for the videos we have been watching in class. Finally, the game is beautifully unfolded (like a story) and the graphics are stunning.

There are also some slides available on Google Classroom for recommendations about new books to read in grade 4. The slides have been created into categories based on difficulty and on interests. 

In math we are working on a strategy to support students when adding numbers that end in 8 and 9. We will be moving onto the process of adding three and then four digit numbers today. The Google Classroom shell has been updated with more math strategies for addition and subtraction to help support students with what we are doing in the classroom. 

In social we are talking about the Foothills region. 

In science we continue to talk about Waste In Our World. Today we will be looking at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. 

In Spanish we have worked on reviewing and creating visual journals for the bathroom, bedroom and living room. We will start with the kitchen today. Students are encouraged to label furniture and house vocabulary in their rooms and home, to help support their learning of this new vocabulary. 

When we are supposed to be outside for gym this week both groups will play a variety of Indigenous games in the gym together. When it is just our class we will be working on our basketball skills.