We are currently working to complete some of our projects before summer vacation.  In writing we are working to complete all the illustrations for our stories as well as a prairie poem and painting.  In math we are wrapping up our number operations unit.  If you are planning to leave for vacation early please let us know so that we can make sure that students are taking all their work home.

We are planning a Nose Hill picnic the morning of Thursday June 29th,  the last day of school, weather permitting.  If any families would like to join us for the picnic we would be more than happy to have them come along.   More details will follow at the beginning of next week.

Our safety patrol

Our painters

Our storm drain message

Today we painted our yellow fish road storm drains on the streets around the school.  We had 7 painting crews.  Each group had an adult leader and a kit.  In each group we had six or seven children and they each had special jobs.  Two people that hung information on the door handles of homes; two that were the safety guards and cleaners and two that were the painters. Each time we got to a drain we had special jobs to do.  First we had to set up our safety zone.  The safety patrols set out an orange cone on the road close to the drain.  Next we had to clean all the debris from the drain.  After that we had to clean the surface for painting.  We had a brush and dust pan to gather it up.  Then we set down the stencil and put a loonie size blob of paint on the road in the middle of the fish stencil.  We used a roller to roll the paint over the fish and the words "Only Rain".  Then we made sure that we delivered the information to the homes and tallied the homes and storm drains to keep track on a sheet.  This information will be delivered to the Yellow Fish Road and they will track all that information for their records.    We even got to talk about it to some of the people that live in the community along the way.  We painted 47 drains all together.

Today we began our morning with a story writing time and working to finish up journals.  We met at the carpet together and we shared two prairie stories.  One was called "The Strongest Man This side of Cremona".  It is a true story about a farm on the prairies that had been hit by a tornado.  After this story we created a poem together about a tornado.  It is in the pattern of David Bouchard's book called "If You're Not From the Prairie"  Soon we will be creating our own prairie poems.
We also read another story called "Prairie Fire".  In this story a homesteading family living on the prairies has to protect its house and livestock from a fire.

After recess we had word work and then math.  In math the grade ones had a show what you know for addition story problems.  They had to read the addition story, draw the picture and write the number sentence with the answer.  They also had to make a number story to go with 3 different pictures.  We will be working to show what we know for the next two days.  Today the grade twos worked on subtraction of double digit numbers.

This afternoon we began our boat building.  We had to take out our plans and supplies and begin building our boats.  We will also work on them again on Thursday.  Friday we will get to test the boats.

We also had music and gym. In gym we played kickball.

Tomorrow afternoon we will be painting the yellow fish by the storm drains around the school.  If you are still able to help out please come for 1:00 right after lunch.

Our helper tomorrow is Malik.

Today we made a plan for building our own boat.  Our boat has to be able to carry cargo, be stable, float and move without us pushing it.  We will be working on them tomorrow afternoon.  We should bring the supplies that we need from home if there is anything that the school does not have.  At school we have: tape, elastics, meat trays, straws, popsicle sticks, skewers and plasticine and paper.  Your child has written supplies that they need to bring on a sticky note.   Below is the rubric for the boat.

Tomorrow is environmental treat day.  Please send money for them to buy a doughnut if you would like your child to have a treat.  The money collected for this treat day goes towards purchasing things for the outdoor gardens and other needs such as gardening gloves, tools for the planters.

The helper tomorrow is Muhammed.

Sports Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Sports Day.  The children will be involved in outdoor sports activities all morning so please make sure that they have good running shoes and appropriate clothing for the weather and activities.

We will be working on boat building next week.  We have done some activities on stability and on how to make boats move.  Now that we have completed these ideas we have a really good idea of the supplies that we would need,  Please collect some supplies over the weekend and our boat building will begin on Tuesday.  Please bring some of your boat building supplies in a bag with your child's name on it.

Boat Academy Day Three

This morning we worked with a buddy to build a boat frame for a test we would be doing in the afternoon.  The test was going to be to build a boat and make it move.  We also had to finish our stability writing.  When we were done we moved on to story writing.  We worked on our stories until we met at the carpet.  

We read a story called "The Dust Bowl".  It was about a farmer trying to grow his crops during a time when it was really dry, like the "dirty thirties". We talked about how this is a reality for the farmers living on the prairies.  The farmers living on the prairies need to have both rain and sun in order to have a great crop.  We learned that irrigation canals help farmers to water their crops even when it is dry.  The water can come from a river close by or some other water source.

After recess we had word work and math.  In math today the grade ones worked on reading a number word story.  We had to decide if the story was an addition story or a subtraction story.  Then we had to write a number sentence to go with the story.  Our number sentence had to include the two numbers in the story, plus or minus,  an equals sign and then the answer.  The grade twos kept on working on what they were doing yesterday, practicing adding two and three digit numbers.

After lunch today we had boat building day three.  We had to build three different types of boats. They were a paddle boat, sail boat and a boat propelled by a balloon releasing air.  Our challenge toady was "Can you make a boat move without pushing it?" We met together afterwards to share what we had discovered.

After we finished we went outside to play on the playground or to play soccer.

We ended the day with a story called, "Diary of a Worm".

Tomorrow the helper will be Chelsea.

Today we had 7 room one kids ride their bike to school.  It was a great way to start off the day.  The gym was more than half full of bikes and scooters.

We began our day with some story writing and journal finish up time.  After that we read a story called, "The Prairie Sky".  We had to go in small groups and write down things that we would see if we went for a car ride in the prairies.  We came back together and grouped our ideas on the same chart that we had used for the Atlantic region of Nova Scotia.  We found out that we already know so many things about the prairies!

After recess we had word work and then math.  In math today the grade ones learned a new game called Dozen Domino Dilemma.  You have to play with two players and before you start you have to decide which player is going to be the greater than 6 player, and which one will be the less than 6. each player has to try and fill their side of the board by turning over the dominos and placing it on their side.  If they pick one up that doesn't fit into their own category they have to put it back.  The first player to 12 dominos wins!  Grade twos had to practice adding by looking at blocks of ones, tens and hundreds and they had to count them up and write the number.  On the second side of the page they tried not to use the blocks and add up by just using the numbers.  We could only use the blocks for the first two.

This afternoon we had boat building academy day two.  We had to share strategies we had learned yesterday for keeping a boat stable.  We learned about outriggers, catamarans and keels.  Some of the key words were balance and counterbalance, hull, keel, bobbing, tipping.  We also had to choose a strategy that we would use for our boat and why.

We also had music and gym.  For gym we began to learn how to play kick ball outside.

Leo is the helper tomorrow.

Tomorrow is bike to school day. This is optional should you  They will be expected to wear a helmut and they will be allowed to have their bike stored in the gym for the day should you decide to participate.  There is a website called Calgarybiketoschool, for more information.

Here is some more information:

Dear Dr. Coffin Families,

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Coffin will be participating in Bike to School Day tomorrow!

Here’s what you need to know:

1.     Students are encouraged to ride their bikes to school. Please make sure to read the City of Calgary bike safety guidelines: http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation/TP/Pages/Cycling/Cycling-Education-and-Safety/Cycling-tips-for-safe-kids.aspx

2.     Students will be invited to store their bikes in the gym for that day. Please make sure that your child’s bike is labeled with their name and classroom number.

3.     As this ride will be occurring before school hours and is considered transportation to school there will not be teacher supervision.  Parents and caregivers are responsible for the safety of their children.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Can I ride to school with my child?

A: Yes please! If your child is under 9 years of age they should be accompanied by an adult (see city of Calgary bike safety).

Q: We live very far away, how can we participate?

A: Even if you live far away we hope that you can find a way to participate. Some ideas are:

-       Meeting at a friend’s house and then biking as a group.

-       Parking near the bike path and riding from there.

 Happy Pedaling!

Last Day of Swimming

We have had a great week of swimming.  The kids enjoyed the week and all worked hard with their instructors to practice their swimming skills.  They had all made great progress as the week  came to an end.  It usually takes at least two weeks before we get their swimming progress cards.  They will be delivered to the school when they are ready.

Today when we got back to the school we got to share our dioramas with our big buddies.  Our big buddies recorded all the things that we had made in our dioramas as we were sharing them.

Reminder for next week, June 6th is bike to school day.  See the weekly update for more information.  This is voluntary and not an expectation.

Poorvi is our helper on Monday.