Vista Heights School
2411 Vermilliion St. NE, Calgary, AB T2E 6J3
http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b239
t | 403-777-6000 f | 403-777-6002 | [email protected]
January 2016
Principal’s Message
Welcome to January and a new calendar year – 2016! During our
conferences on December 3rd and 4th teachers shared evidence of student
learning, students shared their goals and parents provided input. Since then,
students have been continuing their learning journey. Students know their
targets and goals and they have the support of strategies and tools provided by
teachers and families. Teachers continue to design rigorous learning tasks so
that students can be provided with opportunities to grow and show what they
know. Our first report card will be sent home on Friday, January 29 th. A
reminder, marks are not given by teachers; rather marks are earned by
students. Teachers gather evidence of student learning in an ongoing manner.
Each day teachers provide formative feedback to students about their learning
so that students know what they are doing well, what they need to improve,
and what strategies they can use for their next steps. Report cards are a time
for summative assessment. That is when we stop, look at all of the evidence to
this point, and provide a mark and a comment. We do not have formal
conferences scheduled again until April. If you have questions or concerns
about your child‟s report card, please contact your child‟s teacher and have a
conversation. We welcome and encourage ongoing communication.
Character Corner
January Virtue: Sportsmanship
Sportsmanship is how people behave when
they are playing a game or a sport. When
you are demonstrating good sportsmanship
you are polite and fair to other players.
You are gracious when you win and you are
gracious when you lose a game. A good sport is someone
who plays because they love the game or the sport. Displaying good
sportsmanship includes being kind, generous, encouraging, dedicated and
understanding. All of these virtues can be shown every day when we are
working and playing together.
“Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play.”
- Mike Singletary
School Council
Please mark Tuesday, January 8th on your calendar. All parents are
welcome! Attending meetings is a great way to stay in touch with what is
happening in the school, how money raised from the casino fundraiser is
being spent at the school and teachers present at each meeting. Come and
join the conversation!
Meetings start at 6:30 pm.
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Vista Heights School
January, 2015
Kindergarten registration
for the 2016-2017 school
year starts Jan. 11, 2016.
Children must turn five
years of age by March 1
during their kindergarten
school year. You have to
register in person at your
school with proof of
residence, your child's
name, date of birth and
citizenship. Visit our
Registration page for more
information and for the
forms you'll need. More
information is available on
our Kindergarten page.
Alien In-Line Skating K-6
Vista Heights students in all grades had an opportunity to
experience In-line Skating during their Physical Education
period. In-Line Skating sessions were taught by an expert
from Alien In-line Skating. During these lessons all grades
learned the following techniques: balancing, standing, safe
falling, coordinating movements, stopping and striding. All
students were provided with challenges according to their
abilities assessed by the instructor. Within the week these
skills lay the foundation for proficient inline skating
especially for our Kindergarten student‟s as this was their
first time experiencing this sport. Our Kindergarten
students showed confidence and initiative in taking risks in learning this this
new sport. Practicing the basic skills of In- Line skating
helped
students
develop
muscular
strength,
flexibility,
proficiency, promoting
safety and increasing
their level of enjoyment
in trying out advanced
techniques of skating.
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Vista Heights School
January, 2015
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Vista Heights School
January, 2015
Grade 1 & 2 Room 6 &7
Science Topic – Colors
In our science classroom stuents engage in learning tasks and make discoveries and grapple with
real world problems.
What will happen when I mix blue and yellow/
How do you make purple?
Can we make black from red, yellow and blue?
Why is knowing about colors important?
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Vista Heights School
January, 2015
Grade 2 & 3 Room 1
Room 1 has been working on a map project for Social Studies. After each
student researched the various countries in their
personal ancestry, each picked one country from that
list to focus on. Each student researched their country,
mapped out the capital cities and other major cities,
landscapes, resources, and transportation. They
coloured in their maps, and then created a collage on
the back of the map using pictures of their country. On
the last day of school, Room 1 held their World Fair.
Different classes around the school signed-up for times
to come and visit our World Fair, as did many
parents! The students then became the teachers and
taught all our visitors about their country! Our World
Fair was a huge success!"
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Vista Heights School
January, 2015
Grade 3 & 4 Room 4
Snowmen At Night
Upon reading the highly creative literary piece, „Snowmen At Night‟ by Carolyn
Buehner, students in room 4 were inspired to strengthen their sentence writing
skills using adverbs and adjectives to describe snowmen.
The literature also served as a source of inspiration for students to integrate
their discoveries in science about light and shadow with realistic art pieces. In
this piece, students used a moon as their natural source of light to illuminate
their snowmen and cast a shadow upon the snow below. Students identified
that when an opaque object such as a snowman blocks light, the light travels
around the object and casts a darker, wider and longer shadow.
Room 4 also explored the concept of value in art. As you can notice, the left
side of the snowman has a light value whereas the right side of the snowman
has a darker value. As the moon is shining down from the top left side of the
piece, the shadow of the snowman is accurately projecting towards the right
side of the piece causing the snowman to appear darker on the right side.
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Vista Heights School
January, 2015
Grade 5 & 6 Room 5
Grade 5/6 Best Book Pics for the Holidays
Grade 5/6's have been busy developing their persuasive writing skills by
utilizing persuasive writing structure and vocabulary. Hopefully the following
examples will persuade you to read over the holidays!
"Foooosshhh!!! The plane passes by the city 1000 feet above... everyone enter
the closest building!"
In the following paragraph I will persuade you that the Giver is
the best book ever written. I will support my thinking with
many examples from the book. First of all, it is an excellent
book because Lois Lowry, the author engages her reader. She
included numerous smilies, metaphors and personifications to
create images for her reader. An example of a simile was,
“Jonas was so quiet and stealthy it was as if he was a snake".
If that does not impress you enough, take a look at these
descriptive, triple scoop words. There were so many examples
such as spontaneously, furious, horrible, vicious, shivering,
rapid, slithery, diabolic, stunning, glorious and beaming! A final
reason to read this novel is to show us a great lesson about
having choices and being thankful. We are not forced in Canada to
do a certain job, or marry, or told we can only get a bicycle at a certain age.
People across the world beg for the life that was given to us. I hope after
reading this paragraph, I have persuaded you that The Giver will open you up
like a blooming rose.
By Diyar
This book will blow your mind...Maddy Kettle is full of tons of
adventure and action. You feel like you are in the book yourself
and on the same adventure, facing challenges right beside Maddy
and her family. For those of you who like pictures this is a graphic
novel. The author and illustrator, Eric Orchard, helps you to make
the pictures in your head. You can even fly as high as the clouds.
It‟s incredible!
By Melody
"A man's soul is not black or white because of his skin. Its
how he treats others that you can tell what colour his soul
is".
Underground to Canada is the greatest book I have ever read. In
my opinion the author speaks to you, using her voice and she
makes you feel so many emotions. I learned all about the injustice
of slavery. I felt so much empathy for the slaves, my heart was
breaking. You must read this book!
By Letaya
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Vista Heights School
January, 2015
Grade 4 & 5 Room 2
Travel Alberta and Tourism Canada Advertisements
The Grade 4 and 5 students in room 2 have been studying the regions of
Alberta and Canada! We researched the different regions in our province and
country to create advertisements for Destination Canada and Travel Alberta.
Our advertisements included information for tourists on the geography, climate,
natural resources and quality of life across Alberta and Canada. These creative
advertisements included art displays, news broadcasts, song compositions,
webpage design, and technology presentation tools! We applied our
understanding of the physical geography and natural environment of these
regions to create multimedia postcards for Travel Alberta and Destination
Canada! Which regions would you like to travel to?
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Vista Heights School
January, 2015
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