Christmas Break Countdown

Hello everyone.  These next two weeks are a very busy time at East Elementary.  This Thursday will be our last library class before the break.  If your child is into reading lengthier books, may I suggest picking out an easy or short chapter book that can be read over the break.  They will have the book for a whole 4 weeks.  It may be a great opportunity for them to challenge themselves.

This Friday, Dec 11, we have our Christmas dress up day.  Feel free to wear reds and greens, Christmas hats, reindeer antlers, or whatever festive outfits you can think of.  It is all in good fun and celebrating. By no means is it mandatory.

Anyone that ordered Scholastic products, the order has been placed and I hope it will arrive in time to send home before the break.

Next week we have the annual East Elementary Christmas concert.  The students will be doing rehearsals Mon., Tues., and Wed. afternoons.  The first concert is at 1:00pm on Thursday Dec. 17th. The evening show will begin at 7:00pm, with the doors to East Elementary opening at 6:30pm.  The annual grade 6 fundraiser, the cake raffle, will also be taking place.  

The Grade 2's are asked to wear jeans and a western shirt for their concert "costumes".  

Friday, Dec. 18th, the last day before the break is going to be pajama dress up day.  The students will be watching a movie in the gym all together in the afternoon, kinda like a big pajama party. We will also be having our "Christmas" potluck.  I ask that everyone still brings their regular snacks and their regular but "light" lunch.  We will have some parents bring in cheese & crackers, a veggie platter, as well as a dessert/treat.  I will supply hot chocolate for the class as well.

We do have a spelling test this week, as well as next week, even though it is a very busy week with the concert, we still need to have one to stay on track with our spelling lessons.

There is no hot lunch on Friday December 18th.

I hope that everyone can have a wonderful and relaxing Christmas break.  I look forward to spending time with my family and friends as well as celebrating my birthday on New Years Eve.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Mr. Aasen

Book Orders

I have handed out the December book order forms today.  If your child would like to place an order, please have them returned to me by Tuesday December 1st, in order for them to arrive before Christmas break.  Thank you.

Mr. Aasen

Nov 23 - 26

Good evening.  This week there is no school for the students on Friday (Nov 27) as the teachers have a P.D day.  Other than that it is business as usual.  If you ordered Christmas cards they should be here by next week (December... Crazy!).  

Writing

This week in writing we will be looking at adding descriptive detail to our writing.  Writing in journals today, we talked about the 5 W's and how you can incorporate these questions into your writing to make it more detailed.  (Who did you go with?  What did you do/play/get/eat/watch? Where did you go?  Why did you do that/go there/like it?  When did you go?)

Math

This week in math we will be looking at estimation, and estimating numbers up to 100.  This is a difficult task for many students.  It is difficult to distinguish a pile of objects from being 30 or 100 for some and we will spend ample time on strategies and estimating skills.

Science

We continue our hot and cold temperatures unit.  Any opportunity you get to read a thermometer with your child at home will be beneficial in mastering the skills of reading thermometers and telling temperature.  Students will continue to struggle with the concept of having zero in the middle and getting bigger whether you go up or down from zero.  Emphasize with them the idea that any number with a minus in front of it is below zero and any number without a minus is above zero. (-4°C is 4 "ticks" below zero. 4°C is 4 "ticks" above zero).  We also are looking at the concepts of "warmer than" and "colder than" as well as freezing/melting/cooking/burning and how objects are affected by changes in temperature.

Social Studies

In social, we will be looking at the history of Iqaluit and why people have settled there.  We will discuss the cold climate and how it affects living there.  We will then do the same thing for Saskatoon and Meteghan.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Mr. Aasen

Nov 16 - Nov 20

Good day parents.  I hope everyone had an amazing Remembrance Day and "long" weekend. Just a few reminders.  If you want to order Christmas cards, the green form that was sent home last week must be returned by Wednesday with payment.  Also, another form is being sent home tomorrow regarding yearbooks.  If you are interested in ordering a yearbook, please return it by the stated date letting us know if you plan on ordering a yearbook so we can get an idea of numbers. As usual, Wednesday is popcorn day, Thursday is library, and Friday is hot lunch for those who ordered.

Language Arts

Writing:

We are continuing to look at the different types of writing, narrative and expository/informative.  We are going into detail about how to write a narrative piece versus an expository/informative piece of writing.  During writing exercises, we still focus on proper conventions and sentence structure, making sure to include beginning capital letters, as well as punctuation, regardless of the type of writing we are doing.

Reading:

I just wanted to quickly touch on the home reading.  When your child has completed any number of hours of reading, send in their red duotang so I can record their reading hours.  We are now recording how many hours we can read as a class throughout the school year.  I am challenging the students to see if we can reach a specific goal of combined reading hours.  

Math

We are continuing our unit in Math, Numbers to 100.  We will continue a lesson we started last week on odd and even numbers and finish up the week talking about ordinal numbers (ex. 1st (first), 2nd (second), and so on). 

Science

We have begun our second science unit, Hot and Cold temperatures.  Some of the things we will be discovering in this unit will be; reading thermometers (measuring temperature in degrees Celsius, using terms such as hotter than, colder than), how to change temperatures in homes and buildings, insulation and insulating properties, how buildings are heated, safe practices for handling hot and cold materials, how heating and cooling materials can change them (freezing, melting, cooking, burning), and the human body and how temperature changes can affect us.

Social

In social, we will be looking at the geography of the 3 communities we are studying, Iqaluit, Meteghan, and Saskatoon.  We are looking at things like climate, land formations, and natural resources we might find.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Mr. Aasen

Week of Oct 26-30

Happy Halloween week everyone.  First off I just want to say I hope you all have a safe and fun evening trick or treating this Saturday.  This week at East, we have our picture retakes taking place on Wednesday, Oct 28th.  If you have sent in your form, make sure your child is dressed to your liking.  We will do our best to make sure your concerns for pictures are taken care of.  Also our popcorn Wednesday is beginning.  If your child brings 50 cents they can have a bag of popcorn at snack time.

We will also be doing our Halloween parade through Salem Manor on Friday afternoon.  Send your child dressed in their Halloween costume so we can show it off.  We will be having our potluck lunch as well with a wonderful Halloween dessert treat.  I will be sending out the sign up sheet shortly to sign up for either Juice Boxes, Cheese and Crackers, and a fruit/veggie platter.  Please still send a protein with your child for lunch to eat as the potluck items are considered sides for them to eat with whatever they bring.

Math

This week in math we are starting our Numbers to 100 unit.   The outcomes we will be covering in this unit are as follows;

I Can:

• Say the number sequence 0 to 100 by:
• 2s, 5s and 10s, forward and backward, using starting points that are multiples of 2, 5 and 10 respectively
• 10s, using starting points from 1 to 9 
• 2s, starting from 1.
• Demonstrate if a number (up to 100) is even or odd.
• Describe order or relative position, using ordinal numbers (up to tenth).
• Represent and describe numbers to 100, concretely, pictorially and symbolically.
• Compare and order numbers up to 100.
• Estimate quantities to 100.
• Illustrate, concretely and pictorially, the meaning of place value for numerals to 100.
• Demonstrate and explain the effect of adding zero to, or subtracting zero from, any number

Science

This week we will be finishing up our unit on magnetism and writing our unit test.

Social Studies

In social we are looking at the 3 different communities we will be studying.  So far we have introduced a prairie community (Saskatoon) and an Inuit community (Iqaluit).  The final community we will introduce is an Acadian community (Meteghan).  We have looked at the three areas of Canada that have the prairie provinces, the Inuit provinces/territories, as well as the Acadian provinces.  

I hope everyone has a great week ahead and a great Halloween Weekend.

Mr. Aasen

Parent Teacher Interviews

Good evening parents.  Just a reminder that if you have not yet signed up for parent teacher interviews, to do so.  They take place next Wednesday or Thursday, Oct 21 or 22. Use the link below to sign up.

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0C44A4A629A6FD0-parent

Week of Oct 5-9

Good evening parents.  A few reminders this week.  We have picture day on Tuesday, October 6th.  Also, for anyone returning book orders from Scholastic, please have them returned by Friday, Oct 9th, as I would like to make sure the order gets put in this weekend.  I want the books to arrive in time for Halloween.  Also, Thanksgiving Monday, Oct 12th is a holiday, as well as Tuesday, Oct 13th, a PD day, there is no school.

Tuesday I am also sending home reading logs for home reading.  All the info that you need will be in the duotangs.  The reading logs stay at home until 1 hour of reading has been completed. I will check it off and return it home.

When I send home the spelling test booklets, please return them as soon as possible as we need them to write the next spelling test.

Language Arts

Writing:

Our focus this week on writing is making sure we are writing a complete sentence.  Sentences must have 4 things to be considered complete. 1. An upper case letter at the beginning. 2. Punctuation (A period) at the end.  3. A subject (Who/What) 4. A predicate (doing/describing).  When I look at the students writing I am looking for punctuation and capitalization, as well. do they have a subject and a predicate.  I let the students look for those things if I ask them if they are missing something from their sentence so they can first attempt to self correct.  

Math

We are looking at increasing patterns this week in math.  An increasing pattern is a pattern that grows.  In order for it to be considered a pattern it must follow a "Pattern rule"  The rule must be followed each time you ad a new element.  2   5   8   11   14   is an increasing pattern.  The pattern rule is "add 3".     O        O        O         O           This is also an increasing pattern. The rule is to add

                                   OO      OO       OO            a row underneath the previous row that is 1 more.

                                             OOO    OOO

                                                       OOOO

Social Studies

We will be writing our mapping test this week and beginning Unit 1, Looking at places.  We will be looking at 3 different communities in Canada that are all different in their own way.  We will look at things like geography, climate/weather, natural resources, and location. 

I hope everyone has a great week and a fantastic Thanksgiving break!

Mr. Aasen