January 27 - 30

Inquiry:

DESIGN THINKING WITH IGGY PECK

This week our class read the book, "Iggy Peck, Architect." We stopped reading when Iggy and his class crossed over the Blue River Pass and the footbridge collapsed! 

At this time, we explored the Design Thinking process in order to solve the problem.  

First Step - Empathy
In groups, students empathized with our characters, especially Miss Lila Greer. Who are we building this bridge for? What are the students feeling? Seeing? Hearing? Thinking? 

Second Step - Define
Students decided that the problem was that the students were stranded and needed to find a way to get to the other side safely. 

Third Step - Ideation
In this step, students were tasked with coming up with AS MANY IDEAS as possible. We accept every idea! No bad ideas! This was an opportunity for students to be creative with their ideas. Ask your child what their best ideas were. 

Fourth Step - Prototype
Students then created blueprints of their chosen design and began to build! Students work on their design by testing and then fixing their design based on criteria and function. Is it safe? Is it stable? Is it strong? 

Criteria: 

• Free standing structure 
• Span a gap of 40 cm
• Must support 30 unifix cubes

Fifth Step - Test

Ask your child how many UNIFIX CUBES their free-standing bridge could support!

 

 

 

LITERACY:

Students in Ms. Gierl's literacy group are reading the novel the Big Friendly Giant. As a group, we are working on our fluency and comprehension strategies such as stopping to check for understanding and backing up to reread things that need more attention. While reading chapters aloud, we generate a word bank of unfamiliar words. Then together, we work with dictionaries to define the words in order to give us a greater understanding of the text. 

Ask your child about a new word that they learned in the BFG novel! 

Ice Skating

January 27, 2020

Hello Parents and Guardians!

The Royal Oak School Physical Education department is pleased to provide you with the opportunity to join us for an evening of Ice Skating. Please join us on Tuesday, February 4th from 5:00–7:00 p.m. at the Royal Oak Community outdoor rink. We will have skates and helmets available to borrow from the Skate Shack. There will be music, hot chocolate and snacks. We hope to see you there!

Kid Sport Calgary has generously donated the use of their Skate Shack, which is a trailer full of skates! The skate shack will provide us with child, youth and adult skates as well as helmets. You will need to sign out the equipment with one of our volunteers.  All persons on the ice during this time will be required to wear a helmet and the equipment will be available on a “first come, first served basis.” 

All children must be accompanied by a parent/guardian.  School staff will not be supervising this event.  If a child is coming with an adult other than their parent/guardian, they would not be able to participate unless they have a written note from their parent/guardian indicating that another parent/guardian will supervise them for this activity.

We are looking for volunteers to help manage the skate shack (handing out and bringing in the equipment).  Also, assistance is needed attending to the hot beverage area. If you are available to volunteer, use the following link to sign up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0A4FA9AE2CA5F94-family

Thank you for supporting the Physical Education program and I hope to see you all soon!

Helen Hennick

ROS Physical Education Specialist

January 20 - 24

No Excuse Words:

3-D shapes
objects
attribute
face
edge
vertex
base

Housekeeping:

Please send recycled supplies for instruments!

-Your child will be building a musical instrument on Thursday! Please send recycled items to school for their building. Thank you!

Save the Date: 
Thursday, March 5th, 6-7pm
Grade 3 Celebration of Learning

Fieldtrip: Our Studio Bell field trip was a huge success! Thank you to all the volunteers.

INQUIRY:

We read the book, "One Plastic Bag: the Recycling Women of the Gambia" Ask your child about this story :)

You can watch the video of the story here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHskUChyKgs

We use the story to understand the 'Design Thinking' Framework on solving human problems. Here is the framework we will be working with as we head into our Building and Testing unit.

We also read the 'Builder Brothers' Big Plans book. Ask your child about their doghouse or birdhouse design :)

January 13 - 17

Literacy: 

We continue to work on story writing, specifically looking at the genre, fairytales. We have been reading and listening to various fairytales (The Little Pigs and Jack and the Beanstalk) and breaking them down into their elements. Students will begin to create their own 'fractured fairytales', using the specific fairytale format. We then compared the original fairytale to one of the fractured ones we read.

Ask your student - how are you twisting the 3 Little Pigs Fairytale? 

Math: 

In math, students have been using the 'CUBES' method to attack several word problems involving multi-digit addition and subtraction! Ask your student about the book Decibella! 

















Inquiry: 

We have begun exploring the concept of Design Thinking! As a triad, we read the true story titled "One Plastic Bag." Students worked together to understand each part of the design thinking process in relation to the story. Ask your student about each step 

• What emotions did you feel?
• What was the problem? 
• What did Isatou do to solve the problem? 
• Did her first try work? Did she have to try more than once?
• How did she test?

 


Buddies: 

Great job to us and our Grade 1 Buddies! Our Winter Tree art looks amazing! 

 

Gymnastics!

Dear Parents and Guardians

We have started our gymnastics unit in our regularly scheduled Physical Education classes. This unit will run until the end of January. Safety procedures are being carefully covered with each class. While students in elementary school are not expected to change their clothing for gym, I do talk to them about being dressed in preparation to participate. Please consider the following when sending your child to school:

• Clothing that allows freedom of movement (no special uniforms or outfits are required – sweats and a t-shirt work best).

• Loose fitting/baggy clothing may get caught on equipment when climbing.

• Tucking shirts in may help to prevent an accident.

• All jewelry that could get caught on equipment should be removed (left in classrooms or left at home). e.g. watches, rings, necklaces, etc...

• Students with long hair should have their hair tied back. Tying hair back with elastics is recommended.

• Students may wear shorts under clothing if they wish.

• Students will participate in bare feet unless there is a medical reason (warts).

Please be aware that students have Physical Education class each day. Students will be reminded that they must remain very quiet while participating on the climbing equipment. Sudden noises could startle a student using the equipment and result in a fall.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to email me. Thank you in advance for your understanding in helping to ensure the safety of our students.

Sincerely,

Helen Hennick