Back to School - September 2013

Today was a wonderful first day of school. We spent the morning playing community building games and learning about our new classmates. We learned that "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" is a very popular series and that many students went camping this summer. We also organized our school supplies into the various bins and everything was colour coded! In the afternoon, we completed a reading survey to learn about our reading habits. We also read a funny poem entitled "Welcome Back to School". We then headed to the gym where M Senecal talked about signing up to be a leader for various intra-mural activities throughout the year. Finally, we went over the bus rules and got ready for home. It was a first day filled with fun and a little dancing!

Winnipeg Public Library

Summer is almost here and Winnipeg Public Library is working to make sure it’s full of fun and learning for children and families!

We’ve just launched  our Summer Reading page bringing together all the TD Summer Reading Club and programming information you’ll need.

We have great programs lined up for pre-schoolers, families and school-age children (include special programs just for Tween ages 9-12).  You’ll find story times, writing workshops, a video workshop, Family Literacy Fun Days, Lego Block Parties, musical performers and magicians and readings by Goldeyes players – lots to choose from!

The highlight of our summer with the community is the TD Summer Reading Club – a reading incentive program for school-age children and pre-readers and their families, too.

Visit any of our  20 branches to join the Club. No required reading lists - just read for the fun of it! 

Kids can have fun, improve their reading skills, and reduce summer learning loss. Receive a free activity book, reading calendar log and stickers when you register for the club.  Track your reading to earn ballots for great prize draws in August.

Join us for the annual visit by Goldeyes baseball players who share with kids the fun and importance of reading.

Library Night at the Ballpark is August 1st!  Thanks to the Goldeyes for donating game tickets for a draw at each library.

Registration begins Monday, June 24 - the program ends Friday, August 9.

Divisional Track & Field

Yesterday the students participated in the Divisional Track & Field meet at the Sturgeon Heights Collegiate Track. We participated in the 100 m dash, hurdles, long jump, team dodgeball, ball throw and many more activities. The weather was beautiful and we all had a fantastic day in the sun. Good job to the 4X100 relay teams who all did really well! A big thank you to Mrs. Erickson who brought us popsicles at the end of the day.

Miss Teen Manitoba - Alyssa Wyspianski

This week our class attended a presentation about bullying.  The presentation was given by Alyssa Wyspianski, a former student and now Miss Teen Manitoba.  Alyssa was in Mme Lachance's class in 2004 and graduated from Sturgeon Heights Collegiate last year. 

Alyssa talked about ways to prevent bullying and help people who are being bullied.  She also shared her experiences in middle school and how adults helped her with bullying.  She talked about exclusion which is another way of being bullied.  She really wanted to be part of a group when she was growing up and had difficulty being accepted in the “cool group”.  During her presentation, she did a skit with Arièle to demonstrate how to deal with a bully. 

As Miss Teen Manitoba, Alyssa shares her story with various groups hoping to help people realize that there is help out there. If you are being bullied, you can tell an adult you trust, your friends or your parents. The more tools we have to deal with these situations, the better we will be equipped when it arises.

You can follow Alyssa's blog at http://www.missteenmanitoba.com. She will be competing in Miss Teen World this summer. We wish her all the best!

This Week at School

This has been a very busy week at school.

In music we are doing Garage Band and Mme Burdeniuk is teaching us different ways to add tracks, change volume, use fade out, and put different sounds together.

Today we went to Fort Gibraltar and listened to a storyteller (Evelyn) who told us about how the bear lost his tail and a few other stories. We also did an activity with puppets and retelling classic stories and changing the ending. Finally, some of  played a game with Red Riding Hood and the wolf or a song with emotions.  To learn more about the story telling festival visit: http://umanitoba.ca/storytelling

In French we are doing "Demandons aux spécialistes". There are different topics you can choose from, such as Chef, Gardien du zoo and scientifique.

In Phys. Ed we are doing tennis with a partner. We played a game where the girls sat on one side and the boys sat on the other. The object of the game is to not get eliminated.

The volunteer tea had a baseball theme and the Orff club, Flute club and the choir all sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." There were announcers to tie the whole presentation together.

In English, we are working on memorizing a poem. We can choose "Two Little Dragons" or "What's Mean, Green and Eats Princes?". We are working on facial expression, voice and actions.

In math we are working on large number division. We divide 3 digit numbers by 1 digit numbers. We are also working on our basic facts for multiplication and division.

In art, we did a project about Emily Carr and trees with our artist was Sandra Wiebe. On our first session, we sketched trees with pencils, During our second session, we drew the trees with oil pastels and then painted over it with water colours. On our third session, we used modelling clay to make the trees and then used pastels to add texture.

In Sciences Humaines we started learning about the Plains Aboriginals. We learned that their main food is bison but they also eat berries, fish, caribou, rabbits and other animals. They also made pemmican. They usually lived in teepees and lived a nomadic life.

Celebration of Learning

This Thursday, April 11, at 12:30 our class will be participating in the Celebration of Learning. All parents are welcome to attend. We will perform a Readers' Theatre and song based on our study of Space in Français. Hope to see you there!

Battle of Seven Oaks

Murray Peterson a local historian came in to talk to the class about the differences between 1850 and today. He discussed how our world has changed and how in some ways it has stayed the same. Here is a list of some of connections the students made about this discussion:

1850 - 2013

no iPods or technology in the 1800's

no cars - they used kayaks, canoes, or walked

buildings - they used to live in teepees, and log cabins

recycling is different

clothing - no zippers - back then buttons

population - now there is 7 billion

More mega cities today

food - how we get the food, how we make it and how we prepare it

back then winter was the vacation time - easier to get around on the rivers

summer was time for working - hunting, gardening, prepping for winter

Murray also talked about the "Battle of Seven Oaks" and how pemmican was a valuable asset in the 1800's. So much so, that people were willing to go to war over the control and the sale of pemmican.