Field Trip!

Thank you to all parents for helping your child prepare for the field trip so all the students were well fed and watered with comfortable shoes. We had a great time and I am sure you will also reap the benefits as your children will probably be heading off to bed early tonight!

A very special thanks to our volunteers. Without you this trip could not happen. You helped keep a vigilant eye on your group of students and engaged them in meaningful conversations about bridges. Your interest and enthusiasm kept the students engaged and focussed. The photos I have of you are truly wonderful and capture these precious moments of conversation. I can't publish them as I did not ask for consent though. I did sneak in a few that do not show faces, so I hope you do not mind!

I do have a few photos to share though:

A gusset.

 Peace Bridge - a helix truss bridge

 So proud of how the students kept to one side of the bridge, being thoughtful of other users!

 We exercised great self control by walking past this park to continue on with our bridge walk!

 My personal favorite - there is something nostalgic about arch bridges!

 More walking! There was lots of wildlife to see, from squirrels to wood peckers to geese!

 How many arches?

 The students worked hard and took their job to sketch and 'See, Think, Wonder' (Thinking Routine), very seriously.

 I eavesdropped in on many interesting conversations about bridges that the wonderful volunteers facilitated!

 And another conversation!

 And another! It was awesome to listen in. Thank you for helping all the students!

 What name do you know this bridge by? We had great conversations about what and why the bridge is now called (apart from being a great example of a truss bridge!)

 We looked at how the metal was joined and remarked that the rust might indicate this bridge was affected by the flood and/or meant the bridge was very old. These thoughts all came directly from the students. When conversations like these happen, we know we have done a good job of teaching the students to be thinkers!

 We got hot - but we kept on walking (after a sketch break!)

 Don't forget to look up!

 This is a glimpse go St. Vlad's through the trees.

It was such a lot of fun to have a day out with the kids and hear their connections to Downtown or watch them marvel at the sights for the first time. I think we all feel more connected to Calgary than we did before. We are so lucky to have such a beautiful and vibrant city. Some students expressed that they would love to take you on a tour and explain their new understanding of bridges (and visit a park or two!!)

Field Trip!

The students have done a great job of remembering what they need to bring tomorrow. They have written a list of things that include:

sun screen
hat
water
healthy lunch
extra snack
comfortable shoes
layers of clothes for the warm/cool day (who knows in Calgary!)

The students know that they will be doing a LOT of walking so have been advised that if they wake up and don't feel well, to really consider taking the time at home to get better. They cannot lie down quietly in a corner. We have to keep on moving!

In preparation to this field trip, the students are getting very competent at recognizing the various parts of a bridge, including abutments, pier, pile, tower and deck.

They can use the features of a bridge to decide if the bridge is cable stay, truss, beam or arch. Not all bridges are easy to categorize so Mr. Njie has come in quite useful, as he is a bridge engineer! Today our question for him was:

'Is a pillar the same thing as a tower?'

What do you think?

It is the discussion around these questions that promotes critical thinking skills. Next time you go for a walk, try to decide what types of bridges you are seeing and why you think they are this type.

Don't be late for school tomorrow. The bus cannot wait! Volunteers, please come at 8am, sign in and meet outside the classroom. All the parent volunteers will have an orientation with Ms. Pearson.

Field Trip on Thursday

I still only have two out of the four volunteers for the field trip on Thursday. Please let me know if you can volunteer but have just not had time to let me know. I know some of you have small children. Maybe one person might make an arrangement with another parent to babysit so they can volunteer. In my last school, this was what the parents did and it worked very well.

If we do not have the required ratio, the trip will be cancelled.

Volunteer forms went home today with those parents who already said they could volunteer. Thank you very much, I really appreciate you!

Urgent Business!

Thank you to all the parents who sent back their field trip forms. I have most back now! However I only have one volunteer. If I do not get the required number to meet the mandated supervision ratio, the field trip will be cancelled. Please consider volunteering if you have current police clearance.

As Student Led interviews start tomorrow, there is no school on Friday!

The highlight of today was watching Steve Hamner. His magician show also teaches about friendship and acceptance in a fun and child friendly way.

Correction | Student Led Conference Reminder

Hello Parents and Guardians, Just a friendly reminder that our Student Led Conferences will begin tomorrow.  Please note the following: Thursday April 19th - Kindergarten Only No School  Friday April 20th -  All students No School. Please feel free to contact the office if you have any questions. Barb Rocca Administrative Assistant, Kenneth D. Taylor School Calgary Board of Education | cbe.ab.ca t | 403-817-3504

Conferences

If you have not done so already, please book your conference at your earliest convenience. I still have a few people who have not signed up and I don't want you to miss seeing your child's work. Let me know if I can help you in any way.

Community Walk and Conferences

Don't forget to dress for the weather and for our community water walk. Waterproof footwear and a warm jacket are highly recommended! The walk is Monday afternoon.

There are still quite a few people who have not signed up for conferences. If you are experiencing difficulties booking, let me know and I can help you.

You can find the booking in MyCBE (just Google this)  if you cannot find the link the school gave you.

A highlight of this week was our visiting engineer, Colin Murch.

He gave a very interesting talk about some of the different types of engineers. He then let us experiment joining up all sorts of different types of materials. Some students put into practice what they had learned previously, such as making sure the base was wide to make it stable. Some students made a truss like structure, that was strong. What the students learned will help them revise some of their ideas for their dog house.

Some people tested out different shapes to satisfy ourselves that the triangle is the strongest shape:

 Some people built a truss structure into a triangular shape, reasoning that if triangles are strong then multiple triangles will be even stronger:

We had a lot of different materials to choose from:

We started to imagine and to build:

We got help and advice along the way:

Our structures improved and got more complex:

We summarized what we learned about. Ask me what a load is and what some different types of loads are:

It was a lot of fun and we also learned a lot.

We talked a lot about the new style entry in the morning. One point that the students found it hard to understand was that they cannot be outside unless you, as their parent, are supervising them. The supervisors at the doors cannot have eyes on all the areas outside, they are there to receive students into the building. We are excited to try this new style entry. Please discuss with your child.

Important Housekeeping:

Water walk on Monday afternoon. I have had no volunteers for this walk, which is fine as between the four classes, we do have enough. But I REALLY need volunteers for the bridge walk that will  be happening Downtown on the 26th of this month. If we do not get the required quota, we will not be able to go.

For Monday's walk, please ensure your child has appropriate footwear and clothing as we plan to go whatever the weather (within reason!)

New entry system begins on Monday morning.

If you have not yet booked a spot for student led conferences, please do so as soon as you can before the spots fill up. So far only half the class has signed up, but some popular spots have already been filled. Remember that your child must attend as they will be leading you through their work. 

Thursday

To honor the young lives lost in the tragic crash, students may choose to wear jerseys tomorrow. I have suggested that if they don't have one, they might like to wear green. Participation is, as always, totally optional.

Today we had a brief and age appropriate discussion about why the school flag is at half-mast and why some people will be wearing jerseys tomorrow. I encouraged students to have family discussions at home if they felt the need to talk more.

On lighter note:

On Monday, 16th April we will be going on a community water walk to celebrate 'International Water Day'.  This walk connects to our learning in that we have been exploring the importance of water in the world.  We are planning to leave the school at 12:45pm and return for approximately 2:00pm.  Students are encouraged to wear appropriate footwear and bring an extra snack for our 5km walk. 

I can't seem to upload the map, so check out one of the other grade three teacher's Blog for that if you are interested. 

If any parents would like to volunteer that afternoon, we would be very grateful. Let me know if you can come.

I am Back!

Thank you for your patience with no Blogs last week. As you probably know I have been at home resting because of illness (nothing serious, just a nasty virus). I am so glad to be out of bed and back at school! Luckily for the students, the days went on pretty normally, as our student teacher Mr. Waters just carried on with what we had planned together.

In math we are just about finishing division and are ready to use our mathematical thinking skills to create a division game for you to play when you come in for Student Led interviews next week!

In science, we continue to test beams and pillars and are just about ready to complete the task that Mr. Waters has asked us to do. Ask me about Wilson and what the task is. You will also get to see that at conference time.

After writing a story of our own, we have begun to look at how we can improve our story writing skills. We started by looking at what types of writing there are. We have looked at three types. Ask me what these are. We are looking most closely at stories called Character, Problem, Solution stories. In the next picture book we share together, have me decide what type of book it is. If it is a Character, Problem, Solution book, I can tell you where authors first hint at the problem before we even begin the book! Ask me where it would be.

We related where the problem is in a picture book to fractions. When we were first asked what we knew about fractions, we did not know very much! We are now getting more comfortable with using terms such as 1/2 or 1/4. Help me understand by noticing fractions in everyday life, such as commenting that the cereal box is almost 3/4 empty. By putting fractions into context, I will have a much better understanding of what they mean and what their value is.

Once we decided the story was Character, Problem Solution narrative, we summarized the story and put it into a chart:

The summary of a story is also the pre-writing plan of a story. By getting good at writing summaries, we will be getting good at writing story plans! If we can write a good plan, then we are well on our way to writing a good story.

The highlight of our day today was listening to our guest drummer in music. Ask me about it.