Week 14!

It is hard to believe but the Christmas season is upon us already.  Where does the time go?  

We celebrated the first week of Advent by lighting our first purple candle, the candle of hope.

Each morning during Advent we gather as a school to sing and pray together as we prepare to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus.  We always end by singing "Violets in the Snow".  

The Alberta Opera came to present a wonderful performance of Hansel and Gretel.  

To support our literacy learning at school, it is critical that when your child brings home a puzzle that they have completed at school, they read it out loud to you.  The puzzle is sent home when we have reviewed and practiced that sound and song in class.  If your child struggles to read the puzzle to you, please have them practice until they can read it to you.  These repetitions and exposures in context are essential to growing their reading brain.  

Several students have commented to me that they do not read every day.  Research has shown that to further develop reading skills it is vitally important to read every day, out loud, to an adult.  This is  especially important if you know your child is experiencing a challenge with their literacy skills.  As the students in our grade two class will tell you,  the only way to become a good reader is to read, read, read.  Please help your child to grow their reading brain by having them read to you every day.

In math we learned some new games to help us with our numeracy skills.  The students really enjoyed playing these games and would love to teach you them.

Growth As A Learner reports were sent home and added to Fresh Grade this week .  Your child has set a goal for themselves for the coming month.  A report was sent home and put on Fresh Grade in September and October too.  Please talk with your child about this report and contact me if you would like to discuss their progress reports further.

Mrs.  Morgan spent more time in our classroom this week.  This time she was teaching us how to access our Google Classroom and create Google slides.  Some students started creating projects on Iqaluit.  They can show their work to you home at.

Below is some further information about Google in the classroom.  It is beneficial to be familiar with Google as students will be working with Google classroom on a regular basis in the coming years and are required to bring their own devices to work with Google in grade 4.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments please feel free to contact me at 780 997 0589 or lesleyh@eics.ab.ca.