May 18-22, 2026

 We are scientists! We are learning about living things like plants and ducks!

On Tuesday, we announced that we have duck eggs in our classroom! They are inside a special incubator that keeps the eggs warm. We learned that ducks can swim, fly, and even make nests inside trees where they lay their eggs. We also learned that ducks have webbed feet, which help them swim fast, and that they like to eat plants and insects. We “candled” our 7 duck eggs and feel excited that some may have ducklings growing inside!

On Wednesday, we read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle, which inspired the questions: Where does a seed go? What does a seed need to grow? We began our exploration of plant life by asking, “What do plants need to grow?” As a class, we shared ideas including sunlight, soil/dirt, water, and air. Check out our science drawings of flowers and the things they need to grow! The Lively Letters program is helping us spell our labels using kid printing: “d-r-t” for dirt, “s-u-n” for sun, “w-o-t-r” for water, and more.

On Thursday, we continued our observations of spring using our five senses. What does spring feel like? What does it look like? What can we hear? What do we smell? What things in spring can we taste? Check out our “Signs of Spring” charts to see what we discovered during our exploration!

 

Fun Book Fridays are a time for us to enjoy imaginative and creative stories. They are also important opportunities for us to practice printing our lowercase alphabet letters.  Here is a sample alphabet tracing sheet you might like to try at home with your child.  Students need to be able to print their name with an uppercase for the first letter and ALL lowercase letters for the rest of their name. 

Link to our school  calendar: Simons Valley School Calendar

Friday Class Schedule

Library Day is Tuesday, May 26, 2026! 

Thank you for helping your child to remember their library book AND plastic protector BAG each Tuesday!! We will return books but not sign out new ones until after Spring Break.

Important Kindergarten Dates...

Tuesday, May 26 -  Library Book Return

Friday, May 29 - PM Kindergarten Attends (9:02-11:58am)

Friday, June 5 - Volunteer Tea, 10:30am

Our Emails

 If you have any questions or need to contact us, our emails are:

Mrs. Oster: rdoster@cbe.ab.ca 

Mrs. Sutherland: klsutherland@cbe.ab.ca 

Mrs. Wiskar: mjwiskar@cbe.ab.ca  

Mrs. Cheng: kjcheng@cbe.ab.ca

May 11-15, 2026

This week, we continued our work as writers! We learned that we can draw, write, and share our ideas in many ways. We used techniques from Adrienne Gear’s Powerful Writing Structures, including writing about special memories, facts, and using our imaginations. Even if we can’t write all the letter sounds in words yet, we can still use squiggles and symbols to express ourselves!

First, we read When I Am Old With You to learn about our “Memory Pockets: I remember when…” writing. We shared special memories, such as birthday parties, taking a walk with gramma, going on vacation to Jasper. Ask your child about the memory they chose to write about!

Next, we explored facts by looking at non-fiction books. We read What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? and discovered many interesting animal facts. We wrote from our “Fact Pockets: I know…” Here are some cool facts our students shared:

• Cheetahs run fast and have spots.
• Bees go to hives and make honey.
• Bunnies change colour with the seasons. In summer they are brown, and in winter they turn white.
• Butterflies drink nectar from flowers.

We also learned about imaginative stories by reading Grumpycorn. We discovered that imaginative stories do not have to be real — they can be fun, silly, and exciting! Here are some creative ideas our students came up with:

• I have powers to spray water.
• I am standing on rainbow clouds.
• I like to jump in the clouds with teddy.
• An alien visited my house one day.

On Wednesday morning, we enjoyed a special performance by the Valley Creek Middle School band. We learned about different instruments like drums, flutes, saxophones, trumpets, clarinets, and tubas, and how they can make music that is loud, soft, fast, slow, happy, or calm. Maybe your child will choose to play an instrument one day too!

More Lively Letters! Ask your child about tired "h" and the crashing sound of the letter "x."  We spelled out a huge math word today!  Then we used it in a sentence. "A hexagon is a shape that has 6 sides."

We also checked on Fletcher’s tree by the playground.
The branches have leaves now!  Spring is here!

Link to our school  calendar: Simons Valley School Calendar

Friday Class Schedule

Library Day is Tuesday, May 19, 2026! 

Thank you for helping your child to remember their library book AND plastic protector BAG each Tuesday!! We will return books but not sign out new ones until after Spring Break.

Important Kindergarten Dates...

Monday, May 18 - Victoria Day- NO SCHOOL

Tuesday, May 19 -  Library Book Return

Thursday, May 21 - Kindergarten Orientation for Fall Entry Students 5:30pm

Friday, May 22 - AM Kindergarten Attends (9:02-11:58am)

Our Emails

 If you have any questions or need to contact us, our emails are:

Mrs. Oster: rdoster@cbe.ab.ca 

Mrs. Sutherland: klsutherland@cbe.ab.ca 

Mrs. Wiskar: mjwiskar@cbe.ab.ca  

Mrs. Cheng: kjcheng@cbe.ab.ca