Thursday, September 27, 2018

Rainy Run

We had a very motivating and moving Terry Fox Assembly today, and although it was wet outside, our class completed a lap of the pond in honour of Terry. Students completed two new Visual Journal projects on what they have learned about Terry Fox and his Marathon of Hope. 

The Orange Shirt Day Assembly is Monday, Oct. 1 at 9:00am in the gym. Families welcome! Grade 1s and Grade 2s will be singing a song and Cree, Ojibwa, Metis singer, drummer and storyteller Chantal Songstorm-Chagnon will be our special guest for the assembly. Please wear orange to show your support- "Every Child Matters". 
Learn more at http://www.orangeshirtday.org/

October 3rd is the kickoff day to International Walk to School Week. We encourage our students to walk, wheel or ride to school during the month of ‘Walktober’. Who knows? We may even have some special guests join us on this fun morning.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Yesterday we took a stroll down Copperstone Blvd to the "Red Park" where students explored and enjoyed this community playground. We noticed how the leaves are turning so many bright colours. 

Today we logged in to the school laptops for the first time.We had a presentation on Digital Citizenship to go over all of the rules of our technology use. As we will be using the laptops and iPads quite often, students would benefit from using a pair of personal headphones. Please send a set of headphones labelled in a large ziploc bag.

The Terry Fox Assembly and Run is tomorrow (Thursday, Sept. 2) at 9:00am starting in the gym. Families are welcome to attend the assembly and join us on the run, or stay to cheer us on! Grade 3’s and Grade 4’s will be performing a song. Please remember to send a Toonie for Terry.

Reminders:
- Copperfield clothing order and Scholastic book order are both due back by Friday, Sept 28th
- Many students forgot their library books today, feel free to send them in this week so your child can choose another book 

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Many Updates!




It was lovely to visit with all of you during conferences on Thursday and Friday. Thank you for coming to see our space and what we have been working on, and for sharing information about your child as a learner. 

On Thursday, students met in the gym for an assembly to celebrate International Peace Day, and sang two beautiful songs they had been practicing. Peace is such a huge and important concept worldwide, and in our class there were some deep discussions about what peace means to us. 

Our water inquiry in Science has been helping to inform our work around writing. Students have explored books about water to find water nouns, verbs, and prepositions, and then used the words they found to create new sentences. "The icicle melted and dripped water droplets down the window." "The elephant splashed into the river and sprayed with its trunk." Ask your child which water words they found. 

Students created some beautiful pattern art using their math knowledge; both colour patterns and letter patterns. Next, we will work on increasing number patterns. 

We've been chopping and rearranging assortments of letters and challenging ourselves to see how many words we can make. This week we focused on words with the short A sound, using no other vowels but A. It was tough, but we managed to make words with 6+ letters! 


   




Information Items:
Our walking distance zones have been updated. Please take a look at the latest information regarding parks and ponds.There has been a change to the permission form for parents that allows your child to go across the street to the pond and the park. We have now added the park off of the Blvd. onto this form as well, as we will be using both parks daily for recess and outdoor activities. Please review the form, and let me know if you have any questions or concerns about your child visiting this new park with their class.
http://school.cbe.ab.ca/School/Repository/SBAttachments/2721994d-9b5e-4666-bdea-5fc0bfacffaa_WalkingDistance.pdf

Copperfield’s third annual Terry Fox Run is Thursday September 27th. We will begin with an assembly at 9am and families are welcome to attend. We will be collecting Toonies for Terry the week of September 24th to 28th. If students bring their money on the 27th there will be a money jar at the pond to drop their Toonie for Terry. For the rest of the week there will be a jar in the office to collect money as it comes in. We love it when parents volunteer to help supervise students as they run around the pond.

Did you know you can complete your Scholastic Book Order online? Visit https://canadaclubs.scholastic.ca/en/home to create a Parent Account and search for Angela Depner. If you have more than one child at our school, items can be entered under each teacher and processed on the same order, arriving to the appropriate child's class. Voila! Your orders help to fill out our classroom library, thank you for your support.

Reminders:
- Picture Day is on Tuesday
- Library Day is Wednesday
- Terry Fox Assembly and Run is on Thursday
- Book orders are due on Friday

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Patterns at the Pond

We took advantage of the amazing sunshine yesterday and went for a stroll around Wildflower Pond. The students looked for patterns in nature, then collected items to make their own patterns.














Ask your child what type of pattern they made.

In gym, we have been learning a number of cooperative tag games, such as hospital tag, hot dog tag, toilet tag, and rock paper scissors tag. 


Reminders:
-Tomorrow is Library day
- I have eight students whose names do not yet appear in the conference schedule; please be sure to book your conference!


Friday, September 14, 2018

Courage, Character and Caring

Happy Friday! What a busy and exciting week. 

Thank you for your patience, tolerance, respect and cooperation as our Copperfield School grass grows. The community developer Vesta has decided that now is the opportune time to redo the soccer field, as of Monday. As this will impact our students, we would like to assure you that our students will continue to have ample opportunity to be outside and enjoy the fresh air.  It is our pleasure as a grade two team to provide plentiful chances for our students to play at our two different community playgrounds, explore our beautiful community ponds and to become more familiar with outdoor compound games. Please walk, ride or wheel to school to help reduce congestion. Supervision begins at 8:05 am and you are encouraged to say farewell to your child at this time.  Rest assured your children will be well supervised during this time of transition. The grade 2 "D" doors will remain the same. 

Steve Harmer the Magician was with us today during an assembly. Steve is a past Principal who travels the continent, teaching students and staff about the virtues of Courage, Character and Caring. He rode a unicycle and it was amazing!


Thursday, September 13, 2018

Students chose a book from the Learning Commons on Wednesday- this will be our weekly library day. We have been practicing Read to Self and preparing to Read to Someone, ask your child how to sit EEKK!

We've been digging deeper into our patterning work, and students have been creating patterns using multiple attributes. Our sharp 2's have been practicing their Doubles and can use the doubling strategy to quickly compute addition equations. 

Parent Conferences are next week on Thursday evening and Friday morning, and booking is now open. You can book your conference through your PowerSchool account under My Conferences. Please bring your Parent Viewpoint with you. I look forward to meeting with you! Reminder: Thursday September 20 is Early Dismissal at 11:55 am and Friday September 21 is a non-instructional day.


Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Hello families,
So far, this week we have been: 
- beginning to work in our writing journals
- exploring the subject of Water through book research and hands-on experiences
- discovering patterns in Math
- creating some beautiful artwork for you to see at Parent Conferences next week


We are all set up for students to begin using Raz Kids at home. Most students used this program last year and will be familiar with the login process and the site itself. Your child will bring home a card with their teacher username, their username, and their picture password. At home, they can visit www.kidsa-z.com to log in and begin working on their Raz Kids assignments. I encourage you to check out the site with your child and have them show you what they can do. Have fun!

Remember, tomorrow is Walking and Wheeling Wednesday. We love to see those bike racks bursting with bikes.

Please be sure to complete your "Parent Homework" assignment, and fill out and send in any school forms you have not yet submitted.

Friday, September 7, 2018

Today we wrapped up our first amazing week. 
This morning, Ms. Handelsman shared information about her family's celebration of Rosh Hashanah, and we had the chance to taste some apples and honey. As the year goes on, we will enjoy learning about holidays and celebrations from all cultures. If your family has a special tradition or celebration, we'd love to hear about it. 


In math, we've been flexing our mental math muscles and practicing our Doubles and Friends of 10. At home, you can help your child practice by asking them to double the digits from 5-9. What do eggs, a calendar, markers, and a semi truck have to do with doubling? Your child knows! 


Tuesday, September 4, 2018

The First Day of Grade 2!

Today marked our first day as a Grade 2 class. It was wonderful to meet all the students and for all of us to start to get to know one another. We took our time in learning classroom routines and procedures, read stories, took a tour of the school, had some physical time outside, and attended the first whole-school assembly of the year. I am excited for all the things we'll explore together; there is already a sense of community in our classroom.


Our Classroom


Making Patterns
Parents and guardians, with your support from home, I do believe that each child can experience growth and success in Grade 2. I would like to start off this school year with a quick and painless “Parent Homework” assignment, for my eyes only. Your child’s education is very important to me and I would like to know more about them. I realize that no one knows the students like their families, that is why I am asking you to write a letter, telling me about your scholar in a million words or less. Please tell me anything you wish and send it to me by email at ajdepner@cbe.ab.ca.

Please include any of the following helpful information in your letter:

·      What makes your child special?

·      What are some of your child’s strengths?
·      What areas do you think your child needs to work on?
·      Interests/hobbies/sports, what do they like to do on the weekend?
·      What kind of books does your child like to read or look at?
·      What motivates your child to learn?
·      What are your expectations for me as a teacher?
·      Any living situations that I may need to be aware of (at another person’s house on                 certain days, etc.)
·      Any recent medical concerns?
·      Is there anything else about your child I should know?

I am a firm believer in establishing open communication between parents and teachers. Remember that we are working towards the same goal- for your child to succeed! Please always keep me informed of any questions/concerns you may have. I look forward to reading your Parent Homework. Thank you for your support. I know this will be a fantastic year.

Tomorrow is our first Walking and Wheeling Wednesday of the year; Copperfield School encourages all families to walk or ride to school. 

Monday, September 3, 2018

Welcome to Grade 2!


Dear Parents and Guardians of students in grade two,

We are extremely excited to begin a wonderful journey of learning together at Copperfield School. We are really looking forward to getting to know you and your child over the 2018-2019 year! 

The following is a summary of some of our preliminary routines and expectations.

Communication
There are several forms of communication between home and school that you can feel free to use. One form of communication is through the school website and teacher blogs (accessible via RSS feed). Information will be regularly posted, thus it is of the utmost importance that your family checks frequently. Teachers can also be reached by school email. I can be reached at ajdepner@cbe.ab.ca. For urgent messages during the day, you will need to call the main office and talk to the office staff directly. During the school year, we will communicate through a variety of means, such as email, phone, notes, formal report cards and parent/teacher conferences.

Programming
The grade two program of studies is available at https://education.alberta.ca Students will have opportunities to learn in various ways through inquiry, guest speakers and field trips. Please refer to the blog so you can support your child's understanding at home. Your child is responsible for sharing their day-to-day learning experiences with you.

Indoor Shoes/Clothing/Water Bottles
Every student will need a good pair of indoor runners to wear while in the school and especially for gym class. Please ensure that your child is able to independently tie laces, or consider other options such as Velcro or zippers.
Children in the primary grades are often confused about whether or not clothing items belong to them when they are at school. It is suggested that every item of clothing is labeled with either your child’s name or initials. With the changing Calgary weather, please ensure your child comes to school dressed appropriately. We venture outside everyday; it is important to be prepared!
We ask that each child come with a spill-proof water bottle (hard plastic or metal please), which your child can keep in the classroom. Due to the quick buildup of bacteria on water bottles, it is important that these are washed regularly.

Entry/Exit Doors and Appointments
Students are expected to enter and exit through the designated grade two doors (door D) at the beginning and end of the day. The main front office doors are meant for deliveries and office business. If your child needs to leave mid-day, you will meet your child at the main office and sign them out.
If you need to take your child out of school during class time, CBE’s policy is for the parent to go directly to the main office and ask office staff to contact the classroom teacher, who will send your child to the office to meet you. Students need to be signed in and out of the school if they are coming or leaving during instructional time. This is for safety reasons.

Snacks, Lunches, Allergies
Thank you for sending nutritious food for snacks and lunch each day. We promote environmental awareness and encourage your child to bring lunches and snacks in reusable and recyclable containers when possible. We encourage your child to recycle beverage containers as well as organic matter in our composting bins. As there are children in our school with life-threatening food allergies, please be allergy aware.

Toys and Electronics
Children are generally discouraged from bringing toys and/or valuables to school. We cannot be responsible should they go missing or become damaged. If children wish to play with something at break times, it is to remain in their backpacks until then. That being said, children are welcome to bring in artifacts that relate to our curricular studies. These belongings will be displayed in the classroom and care will be taken to ensure they are not misplaced or damaged. Special notes for these artifacts will come home throughout the year.
Thank you for your anticipated understanding and cooperation as we work together to support the students and Copperfield School. We look forward to meeting you!

Sincerely,
The 2018-2019 Grade Two Team:
Jai-Lyn Brice, Tammy Brown, Angela Depner, Kelsie Moravec,
Rebecca Thouin, Roberta Thumm