Monday, November 23, 2009

Week of November 16-20, 2009


Progress Reports have come home and we trust that you have taken the opportunity to read over them and share them with your child. We are so proud of each of the students and the progress they have made since the beginning of the school year.

If you have any specific questions, we look forward to talking with you during the Celebration of Learning. Please sign the back of the report folder and return it to school as soon as possible along with the purple conference form.

Each day in the Primary Cluster we are working on becoming better readers and writers!

The photo above shows our special reader from the Public Library sharing a book with us. He visits once a month to read stories to us. We especially love his felt board stories. This month's was very funny. Ask your child to re-tell it to you!

Our book boxes are full of good fit books that we enjoy reading during Read to Self and Read to Someone. Ask your child what's inside their book box!

This week we learned more about sea creatures during our Unit of Inquiry. We watched some very interesting videos and learned specifically about whale sharks, dolphins and sea turtles. Some of us even wrote about sea creatures during Work on Writing time.

We created some flashy fish during art as well as some starfish using Cheerios. We cannot wait to share these with families at our Celebration of Learning.

Our monthly virtue is RESPECT. Ask your child to recite our Cluster Pledge. Most of the students know this by heart as it is something we say together each morning during our Family Group time. We are learning how to treat others as we wish to be treated. Congratulations to so many of the students in the Primary Cluster who are shining stars and are modeling what respect looks like and sounds like for their peers.

We look forward to sharing samples of work with families next Friday at our Celebration of Learning. It will be a wonderful time for your child to share their learning with you and show you some of the ways that they have grown already this year.

We are so excited to see you all and we know that the students are anticipating sharing with you. They will be busy selecting their work to share with you next week. It is so important that families attend this Celebration of Learning. Please contact us if you need to schedule an alternate appointment.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Week of November 9 - 13, 2009

This week we have been working on our "Deep Blue Sea" inquiry. We have been discussing the characteristics of ocean water, and took part in an exciting water experiment! We had two jars, one labeled A and one labeled B, where the students predicted what was going to happen when the egg was dropped into the jars. Some students predicted that the egg would sink, turn blue, a fish would come out of it, crack, and float. See what happened!


The jar with the sinking egg had just water in it, while the jar with the floating egg had salt mixed into the water. We learned that salt water makes objects float, as it suspends it in the water. We smelled and tasted the water from both jars to see the difference.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Week of November 2-6, 2009


What a busy week it was in the Primary Cluster!

We are working hard at building our stamina during Daily 5 time. We are so proud of the students and their hard work during literacy time. Take a peek at this photo of students during Read to Someone and ask your child what EEKK means!

Miss Robinson and Miss Paul's literacy groups have spent the week building their stamina during Read to Self and Work on Writing.

Mrs. Friesen's literacy group was excited to begin Word Work this week using our PWIM words! Ask your child all about our choices during Word Work.

Our virtue this month is RESPECT. The students have been learning that respect means treating others as you want to be treated. Ask your child how they are showing respect to others.

This weekend is a long weekend. There is no school on Friday as we have a staff professional development day.

Please take time to read with your child each night. Many students have brought home a literacy bag with a cuddly reading buddy inside. These bags are full of books for you and your child to read together. The bags get sent home on a Monday and need to be returned on Friday so we can circulate them to a new set of students the following week.

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the beautiful fall weather!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Welcome!

The Primary Cluster at ARC is a fantastic place to be! Our days are filled with lots of learning and fun!

Stop by each week to catch up on cluster news, find out what we're learning about and look at photos of us as we work, play, and enjoy life in the PRIMARY CLUSTER!!!

We look forward to sharing our learning with you!

Mrs. Friesen, Miss Paul & Miss Robinson