Week of Decembern19, 2025
We had a fun time caroling this week.
Looking Back:
Literacy:
There will not be a Friday Letter this week as our Friday was full of Grinch day, story with Dr. Slater, buddy time with our Kindergarten buddies and buddies with our Grade 1 friends.
Novel Study:
This week, we dove into Ollie’s Odyssey and explored the building blocks of a great story. Students practiced identifying the characters, setting, and problem, becoming story detectives as they searched for important clues in the text.
We have not uncovered the solution yet, so students have been making thoughtful predictions about how the story might unfold. It has been exciting to hear their ideas and reasoning as the adventure continues.
At home, ask your child what has happened so far in Ollie’s Odyssey. See if they can explain who the characters are, where the story takes place, and what problem Ollie is facing. It is a great way to reinforce our learning and spark some storytelling fun.
Grammar:
This week, students were introduced to Mad Libs and had a lot of fun discovering how grammar can be playful and creative. They practiced identifying and using grammatical features we have been learning all year, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and plural nouns. Using these skills, students created their own holiday-themed Mad Libs, resulting in some very silly and imaginative stories.
These Mad Libs have come home with your child. Be sure to ask them to read their story aloud and enjoy the laughter together.
When your kids ask you what their homework is over the holidays, share this image with them!
Math:
We wrapped up our place value unit by practicing how to count money using bills, loonies, toonies, and other coin denominations. On Tuesday, students reviewed all of the concepts from the unit by playing Blooket games, which helped reinforce their learning in a fun and interactive way. Additional review games have been posted in Google Classroom and will remain available for students to access until December 24.
On Thursday, students completed their place value unit quiz. Looking ahead, I have encouraged students to continue practicing skip counting by 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s over the holidays as preparation for our multiplication and division unit beginning in January. You can refer back to a previous blog post where I shared helpful videos to support this practice, including songs for counting by 3s using Jingle Bells and by 4s using Row, Row, Row Your Boat.
This week in Social Studies, students explored landmarks in Alberta. They learned to identify both natural and man made landmarks by closely examining images and discussing their features. To reinforce their learning, students played a Blooket game to review and check their understanding in a fun and interactive way.
Students also participated in a broader review of our Social Studies learning so far, including treaties, First Peoples of Canada, physical regions of Alberta, Alberta’s borders, treaty regions, landforms, and landmarks.
Looking Ahead:
Food Support
Did you know that the Breakfast Club of Canada has shared research demonstrating that 40% of Alberta’s children experience food insecurity? This means that 4 out of 10 children do not have access to food when they are hungry.
If your family is experiencing challenges with providing food for your children you can find help at Brown Bagging Calgary.
Complete this form for support and they can deliver lunches to McKenzie Towne School for your children. https://go.bb4ck.org/l/858913/2024-01-15/38fdbw You can also find out more information on their website https://bb4ck.org/
Brown Bagging for Calgary's Kids
Upcoming Dates
FRIDAY Pajama Day - Grinch Day in Mrs. Coleman's Class
December 22 - January 2 Winter Break - NO SCHOOL
January 28 Fun Lunch - Subway
January 28 Heritage Park - Kruger/Wickenheiser
January 29 NO SCHOOL for Kindergarten - Kindergarten Assessments
January 30 Non-Instructional Day - NO SCHOOL
