![]() We read the Canadian 12 Days of Canadian Christmas in our classroom. Then we solved a math problem based on the gifts given in the song. There are two answers to the math problem. We started solving the problem in class, but we are bringing the math problem home so we can finish it with our family. Please return the 12 Days of Canadian Christmas math problem to school by Friday, December 18 (we do have school that day). We will share our answers with the class. Here is a copy of the math problem: Here’s the list of the all of the gifts that were given on each of the 12 days: 1 Porcupine in a pine tree 2 Caribou 3 Beaver tails 4 Calling Moose 5 Stanley Cups 6 Curling Squirrels 7 Sledding Sled Dogs 8 Munching Mounties 9 Canoeing Loons 10 Leaping (Toronto Maple) Leafs 11 Piping Puffins 12 Dancing Cubs Math Challenge: If you added up all of these gifts together from the 1st day to the 12th day, how many gifts would you have? *Show all of your calculations and how you found your answer! As a writing practice our class reviewed all the work we have completed since September and we have written our own 12 Days of Schoolmas. Feel free to sing is as a family! 12 beehives stolen 11 worm diary writings 10 Terry Fox laps 9 buttermilk baths (for Wilbur) 8 legs on Charlotte 7 crawling creatures 6 waggle dances 5 dropped coffees (by Ms. Bates) 4 webs by Charlotte (some pig, terrific, radiant, humble) 3 clocks ticking 2 snowmen butt dancing 1 earth spinning around the sun! Thank you for all the students hard work so far this year. We will see you all again in school on Monday, January 4! Today your child will be coming home with their report card. Please take the time to sit with your child and read through the mark descriptions and marks they have achieved.
Please celebrate achievements together and discuss the areas of improvement for the coming months. If you are new to the Calgary Board of Education and are unfamiliar with our assessment practices, the link below is a website that will answer many of your questions: CBE Assessment Practices Parents, students, and classroom teachers will sit down at the end of January 2016 for conferences to discuss the report card and student progress during December and January. What ever you celebrate this time of year, may you and your family experience and share the gratitude of this season! - Ms. Bates ![]() Thank you to all the students, families and friends who participated in our Bee Help-A-Thon. The teachers are impressed and excited about the attitude of giving we have seen in so many of our students. Many took this challenge seriously and we are grateful for everyone's support. This week teachers will total the amount of money we were able to raise and have a discussion with students about how we can use the money to help the honeybees in Calgary and Alberta. We will share our decision with families and parents as soon as we have put our fundraising dollars to good use. Thank you again for your participation! Our honeybee Help-A-Thon begins today Monday, December 7 and will be done at the end of the day on Sunday, December 13.
We learned in September that a bee farm, the Nixon Bee Farm, had twelve of their hives stolen in August. This launched us into our work answering questions such as:
Over the past three months we have been answering these questions and thinking about how we can help the declining honeybee populations around Calgary and Alberta. This is a problem that countries are experiencing around the world. We have learned about the biology of the bee, we have talked about hive communities, we have researched possible threats to honeybees, and we have created possible solutions that may help the bees. Now we are working as a community to help Nixon Bee Farms and the honeybees of Alberta. Your child brought home a yellow paper last week that included a letter and form. All week, each student is going to use the form to record acts of service that your child will complete for family and friends. Those people receiving the service can give the student money as a thank you. On Monday, December 14 students will return their forms and money to their classroom. Grade two's will then decide how we are going to use the money we have earned to help the bees of the Nixon Bee Farm or help honeybees around Alberta. It is in this way, of giving service to others, that we act as catalysts to create change in our communities. In this case, our classroom communities helping to improve the lives of the honeybee communities. Please support your child this week as she or he completes work in order to give to the honeybees. Thank you! Our root words for the next two weeks are:
We will create challenge words early this week then add them to this post. Remember, talking about and pointing out root words within challenge words around your home and in your community is a fantastic benefit for children as we learn these words in class. Extra Big Words for the next two weeks are focused on our Help-A-Thon happening this week. They are:
Enjoy these words! ![]() As your children may have told you, we have been reading the classic novel Charlotte's Web written by E. B. White over the past two weeks. We have been talking and writing about the characters in the book, the different settings in the book, and how the animals and humans treat each other throughout the novel. Today we took the opportunity to talk about friendship and the way in which the characters in Charlotte's Web can teach us how to be better friends. As we completed the novel we created this mind map, or idea web, to remind us how to be a great friend. Ask your child to describe which characters were friends in the book and how they showed each other the kindness of friendship. For example, Charlotte and Wilbur were friends. Charlotte helped to save Wilbur's life, and in turn Wilbur helped Charlotte's children.
We will be keeping our friendship poster posted in the wall in the classroom so we can remind ourselves each day how friends treat each other. Feel free to take the time to also watch an old cartoon version of Charlotte's Web with your children as the visual story will help reinforce what we learned while we read the book. Charlotte's Web Cartoon from 1973 |
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