Wetlands Insects, 100's Chart Puzzles, and Raz Kids!

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Inquiry

This week students had the opportunity to learn from experts from the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. We learnt more about insect life cycles, complete and incomplete metamorphosis, and how insects survive the winter. Student also had the opportunity to go down to the wetlands with an expert guide who taught us to look for evidence of insects in the winter. 

Ask your child:

What is a gall?

Where do insects go in the winter?

What insects can we find in the wetlands?

We also listened to more Blackfoot stories and learnt some Blackfoot phrases and words. We heard the stories of Napi and the Buffalo Berries, as well as Raven and Thunder. Ask your child to retell on of the stories.

Artist in Residence!

YUSS! We are so lucky to have Sharon Fortowsky back with us leading our students in a 4-series art project based on beneficial and harmful insects that are found in the prairies. In our first session we experimented with a variety of crop colours and acrylic paint. If you are interested in volunteering for the Artist in Residence, please email your child's teacher. 

Early Readers

Below is a link to short video with lots of great suggestions for helping your child with their nightly reading.

Nightly Reading: Best Practices For Parents

Math

Word problems, puzzles and First to Fifteen

This week we started with some Hundreds Chart Puzzles:

Then we spent some time tackling some word problems. We explicitly spent time practicing identifying and circling important numbers in our word problems and then drawing a picture to build our understanding of the problem. Below are some of the problems we worked on.

Finally we learnt a new math game, based on cribbage. Using a deck of cards with no face cards, students try to play cards that will add up to fifteen. Each player has 4 cards in their hand. If you have less at any point, draw another card. Students take turns playing their cards being careful not to go over 15, the student who plays the last card that adds up to 15, gets a point. Give it a try.

Homework!

1. Where can you see patterns in the world?

2. Can you find evidence of insects in the backyard?

RAZ Kids is Back!

Dear Parents:

Your child has received access to RAZ- Kids, a reading website that allows students to work independently to: hear fluent reading modeled, practice reading skills, and to check their own comprehension by completing questions after they have read the story.

Using the RAZ Kids Reading Program provides an opportunity for your child to have additional reading practice at the “just right” independent level. This provides a means of applying reading strategies they have learned at school when they are reading at home.  In addition, to listening and reading the books, students are able to answer different types of comprehension questions. (Eg. Sequencing events, identifying main ideas and details, inferring, and synthesizing information).

Please Note: RAZ-kids uses an alphabetical levelling system similar to Fountas and Pinnell’s Assessment Benchmarking System that the teachers at Royal Oak School use to assess your child’s reading level. Fountas and Pinnell Assessment Benchmarking System is a diagnostic reading assessment tool, which determines a child’s reading level. However, the RAZ-kids materials are not directly related to this assessment benchmark. For example, as the reading level increases, RAZ-kids becomes more discrepant from the Fountas and Pinnell System we use in class. Therefore, if your child is bringing home level J books as a part of their home reading books and on the other hand, be reading at Level K on RAZ kids website. This is due to the different assessment criteria.  

If you have any questions or concerns about RAZ-kids, please contact your child’s teacher directly.

Sincerely,

Debbie Bradbury

Assistant Principal, Royal Oak School

Raz Kids Website

**Home Reading Update**

• Our Home Reading Program has been running now for a few weeks. Our lunch room supervisors are the wonderful ladies who exchange these books weekly for all students in our school. 
• They are currently short-staffed, and at this time are only able to exchange grade 2 books on Thursdays.
• We recommend keeping your books for the full week. Every time your child reads the books, high frequency words become more automatic, fluency improves, and student's confidence improves. 
• Have your child bring their book bag back on either Wednesday or Thursday morning. 

Halloween

Halloween 2019

Royal Oak is excited to invite students to wear their Halloween costumes on October 31^st. Please have students come dressed in their costume in the morning (PM Kindergarten & EDC, please come ready in the afternoon!). 

Please have your child practice getting in and out of their costume so they can independently dress for washroom breaks.  We ask that costumes do not include: masks, weapons, accessories, or blood/gore. 

Regular learning activities will continue throughout the day. Students will get the opportunity to share their costumes with each other by participating in a parade in the halls at 9:30 am. This year, parents are invited to watch the parade in the gym. Please arrive a few minutes early to find a seat. PM Kindergarten students are also invited to watch the parade in the morning, and will have their own parade in their classrooms in the afternoon. In keeping with learning about healthy eating, please do not send any special treats or snacks to share.

 We look forward to seeing all of your costumes!