Truth and Reconciliation

 Our first field trip was a huge success, due in part to our amazing volunteers. We could not have such fun, engaging, meaningful experiences without you. Thanks!!

LRD is still raising money for the Love of Reading campaign. Please see the posts below for more information and to donate. The more money we raise, the more books we can buy for our school library. 

Click the picture below to watch a video about the Love of Reading campaign for our school. 

Donation Link: https://indigoloveofreadingfoundation.givecloud.co/fundraisers/le-roi-daniels-calgary-alberta

Thursday was our Terry Fox walk. Thank you to all students and grownups who donated money to that amazing cause. Our class watched a video about Terry Fox, read the book "Terry Fox and Me" and talked about why he was a hero. It is amazing to see their level of understanding increase every year and solidify their knowledge about why we think of Terry Fox as brave and determined. They wrote about why Terry Fox was a hero to them, looked at a map of Canada to see where he ran, and then the whole school went outside for our Terry Fox walk/run. 

This Monday is picture day. Students need to be in full formal uniform to be in our class picture. THIS INCLUDES BLACK SHOES. If you have not sent in black indoor shoes for your child, they need to be in on Monday. This was an expectation for the first day of school and there is no reason not to have them yet. 

Tuesday we will have our IN-SCHOOL field trip- Teacher's Pet. Students will learn all about Acadian culture and traditions, which ties into our social studies unit. If you are available in the morning to volunteer for this, please email me as soon as possible. 

This week we will be learning about Orange Shirt Day, and the day for Truth and Reconciliation. Students will consider what those words mean, why we learn about it, and what steps they can take in reconciliation. We will use picture books, videos, and discussions to learn about Residential Schools, culture and traditions. In acknowledgement of this day, students are invited to wear an orange shirt and casual bottoms on Wednesday. 

Truth and Reconciliation day is celebrated across Canada on September 30th. It is a federal holiday, therefore there is NO SCHOOL on THURSDAY. Students are expected to be back at school on Friday, October 1st. 

Homework is due on Friday, Oct. 1st. Please make sure your child is completing all of the homework for their assigned colour. Please email if you have questions or if anything is unclear. 

Monday- PICTURE DAY! Formal uniform REQUIRED TO BE IN PICTURES
Tuesday- Teacher's Pet (volunteers needed, please email me)
Wednesday- Orange shirt/casual day

Thursday- NO SCHOOL (Truth & Reconciliation Day)
Friday- Homework due

Homework has begun!

We are full force back into the school year. It is extra important that you are checking the homework page AND reading these posts in full every week so as not to miss any important notes for your child's education. 

I try to keep them short and sweet, while also keeping you in the loop about what we have been doing in the classroom. 

LAST WEEK: 

Writing- Students have started working on writing using their 5 senses. We will continue with this for the next couple weeks. They have also been introduced to the stages of writing- planning, drafting, editing, and sharing. 

Reading- Literacy centres have started, where students explore different elements of reading. These include listening to reading, reading with a partner, manipulating words, playing word games, and practice writing. 

Math- We have started work on patterns. Last week we looked at sorting by 2 attributes, and now we are reviewing naming and describing patterns with 3-5 elements. 

Science- Students brainstormed and sorted various crawling, slithering, and flying animals. Then, we dove into looking at spiders. Our class drew a spider and labelled its parts. 

Social Studies- We have worked on mapping skills- identifying North, East, South, and West and reading elements of maps, such as legends and keys. We have looked at maps of the world and of Canada and talked about the difference between a neighbourhood, city, province/territory, and country. 

IMPORTANT UPDATES: 

Toonies for Terry- This Thursday, Sept. 23rd is our annual Terry Fox walk. Students are invited to bring in toonies to contribute to our school's donation to the Terry Fox foundation. If you would like to donate $20 or more and receive a tax receipt, please click HERE. 

Field Trip- Our first field trip is on Wednesday, Sept. 22nd to Granary Road. If you have volunteered to come with us please arrive at the school for 8:00am so we can leave on time. All volunteers have been sent an email with additional details. You must park on the street as all spots in our lot and Fairview's lot are spoken for. 

Love of Reading- Please see post below for more information. Click HERE to donate. 

Fun Lunch: Sign up on the Healthy Hunger website to participate in fun lunch this year. The first one will be on Thursday, Sept. 23rd. Please send your child with a snack, even if you have ordered lunch. 

NEXT WEEK: 

Monday- FORMAL UNIFORM
Tuesday- 
Wednesday- GRANARY ROAD FIELD TRIP
Thursday- Terry Fox; Fun lunch 
Friday- PD DAY- No school 

Love of Reading!

 

We are thrilled and excited that our school has been adopted by Chapters Chinook! From September 13th to October 3rd, this store is going to fundraise on our behalf through donations done directly at the Chapters Chinook location. We’re also going to be raising funds to support our library through the direct fundraising page, located below. Please spread the work by sharing this link with family and friends.  

https://indigoloveofreadingfoundation.givecloud.co/fundraisers/le-roi-daniels-calgary-alberta

Our school is going to receive every dollar raised to support our library and receive an additional 30% discount off books when we shop at Indigo & Chapters program donations. These funds will go long way to bringing more diverse and inclusive picture books to our classrooms. 

Please help us by showing your support for our library and our school community! We look forward to surprising the staff and children at Le Roi Daniels School with all the new library books this year!  Thank you for your continued support. 

Passing on Kindness...

Hello Room 15 families! Please read this entire post for important updates and news items!

As you may have heard, we are excited to have been selected as the Love of Reading School for Chapters Chinook! The campaign runs from Sept. 13th-October 3rd. Donations given by customers at this store will be used to buy new culturally responsive books for Le Roi Daniels. In preparing for this campaign, all students at our school read the book "Pass it On" by Sophy Henn. We talked about ways that we can pass on kindness, then decorated bookmarks and made art themed around the book. 

Room 15 made 3D hot air balloons, glued them onto a page, and then wrote different ways to be kind inside cloud. I was amazed by their creative ideas!

We also dove right into Science last week, starting with our unit on Small Crawling and Flying Animals. Students brainstormed different animals that fit this category, and then we headed outside to see what we could find! The young scientists of Room 15 found spiders, ants, bees, and even worms!

Our Granary Road field trip is coming up on Sept. 22nd! Be sure to send back your child's permission slip if you have not already. THANK YOU again to all of the parents who volunteered! We have more than enough from our class for this trip! If you would like to volunteer for our next field trip, it is IN-SCHOOL, only in the morning, for Teacher's Pet. Please send me an email if you are able to attend. 

FUN LUNCH begins soon! Sign up your child on the Healthy Hunger website to order fun lunch throughout the year. The first lunch is Subway, on September 23rd. 

Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend the Meet the Teacher presentation. It has been posted below for your reference, or if you missed it. 

Superstar of the Week! Our class is starting our weekly "Superstar of the Week" activities. Each week, ONE student (chosen by me) will be invited to bring items in and share with the class so we can get to know them better. Please pay attention to your child's purple homework folder to know when they are superstar of the week (it does involve some fun weekend work to do together). 

Monday- FORMAL uniform
Tuesday- 
Wednesday-
Thursday-
Friday- Homework due

Meet the Teacher Presentation

 Thank you to all parents who could be at the Meet the Teacher presentation Thursday evening! For those of you who could not make it, or who would like to take another look, please click on the picture below to access all the information covered. 

Thank you!

If you have any questions please send me an email! 

Grade Two... Which Shoe?

 

Hello Room 15 families!

We have now officially had our first week of grade two for the 2021-2022 school year and, I may be biased, but I think is was AMAZING! You should be so proud of your child's resiliency, attitude, and effort already. We have an outstanding class and I am so excited for everyone to become great friends and learn together throughout the year. 

Please be sure to check this blog regularly- both the home page (here) and the homework page (click the tab at the top that says "homework"). Important notices and information will always be shared on the blog, but might not be emailed. We are counting on you, as parents, to stay in the loop using this blog. 

Speaking of important notices...

- Meet the Teacher is a virtual night, which will be THIS THURSDAY at 6:30pm. I will be repeating the same information at 7pm if you have a younger child at Le Roi and need to attend two teacher's sessions. Please email me if you will not be attending until 7pm so I know who to expect for the second presentation. 

- You may have noticed in the Newsletter that we have some field trips already planned and scheduled! We will be needing 5 volunteers for each grade 2 class for Granary Road on September 22nd and 4 volunteers for Teacher's Pet (in-school field trip) on September 28th. If you would like to volunteer for either of these special days, you must already have your police clearance. We will need many more volunteers later in the year if you do not have your clearance and would like to get it for the future. Call the school if you are not sure if you have it or not. Send me an email if you are cleared and would like to volunteer. Make sure you list which field trip you would like to volunteer for. If we can more volunteers than necessary for our class, you may be asked to help in another grade 2 class. 

- Homework will be starting during the week of September 13th. All homework should be completed in the notebook that will be sent home in their purple communication folder. More details about homework expectations will be shared during the Meet the Teacher presentation. 

- Please send in your start-of-year forms (given out at Ice Cream Social or sent with your child on the first day of school) if you have not already. These were due last Friday so we need them as soon as possible. 

- I understand that shoe expectations can be confusing... students require 3 pairs of shoes for school. 

1) The first pair, is what they wear to and from school. These shoes should relate to the weather (eg. sneakers on nice days, rain boots on rainy days, boots when it's cold/snowy). 

2) The second pair are black, formal shoes that they change into when they get to school. These shoes stay at school. They are worn all day and need to be ALL black (no coloured markings). 

3) The third pair are running shoes that they change into when Gym is inside. These shoes also stay at school. They need to be something they can run in (not dress shoes, not boots, etc.). They can be any colour but must be non-marking for the Gym floors. 

Feel free to send me an email if you still have questions related to shoes or other uniform expectations. 

I hope you all had a productive and fun labour day! 

- Ms. MacDonald