TWAS

Hello Families and friends of 51 A and B,


       What a fun week we had!  This week the Foothills Soccer Club was in with their amazing coaches teaching us some fantastic soccer skills.  The weather cooperated so we were able to enjoy some beautiful spring weather while learning some excellent new soccer moves. Likewise we were able to take some of our math and language arts learning outside as well.  The children were practicing their number sense playing math toss (skip counting in all different shapes and forms) and making number relationship connections. Each of the students was given assigned numbers and then had to find number "partners." They were incredibly skilled at making connections between numbers, and in some cases were able to explain how 5 or even 6 numbers in a group were all connected. We were also able to practice the "art of performance," sharing our stories, and using our big theatre voices, around our new arbor day tree.
       Back in the school A and B continued to work on the skill of breaking down math word problems, pulling out the information that we actually need, deciding what type of computations are necessary to answer a variety of questions, and then pulling from our tool belts of strategies to work through the answers.
       Ms. Handelsman got our week started by teaching us how to code the "Canada Space Arm." I have to admit that the students caught on much quicker than their teachers . . .
       In social studies we began our inquiry into bridges.  While many important observations were made, the most wonderful was the metaphoric discussion about bridges in human relationships and how we use "bridges" to make connections to each other and literature.
      Our temperature lessons continue with an interesting experiment on conductors, and learning about the heating and cooling systems that we use in our homes.
     51 A continues to show exemplary citizenship by helping out the Kindies with sewing on Friday mornings.  It was wonderful to see that everyone in our group volunteered to be a kindie mentor this week, knowing full well the challenges that can come with that responsibility. Meanwhile back in 51B the students continued to work on a fun poetry project.
     Somehow we also managed to fit a fantastic assembly into our day.  The Redwood/Stols classes put on an amazing black light/drum fit performance and showcased some lovely ideas about the importance of being and cherishing the "you" in all of us.
     Finally our day ended with a flood of Circle of Courage nominations.  It is brilliant to see the students recognizing so many acts of kindness, generosity, inclusion and mastery in each other. They really are such a lovely group, and it does not go unnoticed throughout our Cranston community. Staff and students all across the school are continually commenting on the kindness and generosity that is consistently shown by all of the children in 51 A and B.  We are so very proud of them!

We hope you have a wonderfully restful weekend that is full of laughter,

The 51 A and B team!

BTW my apologies to 51 A. We will be redoing our spelling test on Monday (with the last spelling list posted on the blog).  Yes I gave them the wrong test this past Monday . . . somehow I just can't seem to keep those spelling lists organized!  They were good sports and tried their hardest, but it's only fair to let them have another go at it. Thanks for helping them out with their spelling; amazingly enough they just love writing those tests :)