Friday, November 30, 2018

Hello Ranchlands School Community!

Letter recognition and the understanding of the sound-letter connection are the building blocks to reading. This has largely been referred to as phonics. Being able to identify the letters of the English alphabet and the sound(s) that each symbol represents is necessary for all students learning English and can have many benefits including becoming familiar with an alphabet system different from one's home language, spelling patterns unique to the English language, pronunciation, decoding strategies, and confidence. 

An easily accessible and free site on almost all electronic and mobile devices is www.starfall.com.



This is an excellent resource to practice the sound-symbol connection as well as other extension activities related to phonics, word families, and early reading. 📚

Friday, November 23, 2018

Hello Ranchlands School Community!

It was such a pleasure to meet so many families at our student-led conferences this week! Parents and students alike enjoyed the opportunity to share in learning. Some of our families used an interpreter to help bridge communication and this allowed teachers and parents to connect meaningfully about their child's strengths and learning targets. 

All of our patrollers have now had atleast one rotation of duty. They have shown enthusiasm, dedication, and responsibility in their role as school safety patrollers. 

Here is the new schedule for this month:

RANCHLANDS SCHOOL PATROL SCHEDULE

November-December

Patrol Meeting Thursday, December 13 in Room 22 

Bring your lunch!

Monday - Thursday

(Arrive at patrol station)   Nov. 26-Nov. 30 Dec. 3-Dec. 6      

(8:50)     8:55 – 9:10           Team 1               Team  3  

(12:20)   12:25 – 12:40       Team  9             Team 10 

(12:55)   1:00 – 1:15           Team  12           Team 13

(3:45)     3:50 – 4:05           Team 2               Team 4

Friday: only before and after school teams go out.

(8:50)     8:55 – 9:10           Team 1              Team 3

(1:15)     1:20 –1:35            Team  2             Team 4

Monday - Thursday

(Arrive at patrol station) Dec. 10-Dec. 14 Dec. 17-Dec. 20

(8:50)     8:55 – 9:10           Team 5                Team  8  

(12:20)   12:25 – 12:40       Team  11            Team  19  

(12:55)   1:00 – 1:15           Team  16            Team  17

(3:45)     3:50 – 4:05           Team  6              Team 7

Friday: only before and after school teams go out.

(8:50)     8:55 – 9:10            Team  5               Team 8

(1:15)     1:20 –1:35             Team  6              Team 7

*Please arrive at the patrol station 5 minutes before you scheduled time in order to be ready.

Keep up the great work patrollers!

Friday, November 16, 2018

Hello Ranchlands School Community!

Our new patrol schedule for November/December is posted up at the Patrol Station as well as in grade 5/6 classrooms. Patrollers can check when they are patrolling in advance. The new schedule will be up on our website soon.


We are having a very exciting time in our Cultural Creativity TSN Fridays! In the past few weeks we have learned about Russia, India, and Africa. We are learning to read maps and globes and discovering just how big - and small- our world really is! 

Did you know that Russia is the biggest country in the world? We learned this and many other interesting facts about Russia our first week. The nesting doll, also known as the matryoshka doll, originated in Russia in 1890. These stacking dolls are made from wood with smaller dolls placed inside larger dolls. We made our nesting dolls from paper, but they are just as beautiful with their bright and bold colours!

Next we learned about India and the Festival of Lights-Diwali. During this time, a special craft called Rangoli is done which consists of making beautiful designs with colourful rice.

Our adventure continues to Africa! Stay tuned for more!

Friday, November 9, 2018

Hello Ranchlands School Community,

I mentioned in an earlier post that for English Language Learners, it is important to maintain the home language even while learning English. ELL students should continue to be encouraged to speak their home language with their families and community. The same applies for reading. ELL students that have learned to read and write in their home language should continue to do so as well. Research has shown that ELL students that have learned to read in their native language will have an easier time learning to read in their second language (English). The following link provides more detail:

http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/why-reading-your-kids-your-home-language-will-help-them-become-better-readers

Dual and multi language books can be found in some public libraries and specialized book stores; but are usually limited. As such, the International Children's Digital Library is an excellent resource to access dual language stories for children. By using the following link:
http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/SimpleSearchCategory?ilang=English you can search for hundreds of books in many different languages that you can enjoy together with your child. Use the pull down tab next to the word Show to find several books in your home language.

Happy reading!

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The boat ride Author and Illustrator - Herminder Ohri Translator - Pratham Books Team Read this Book  Also available to read in: English, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Telugu, Urdu    Add tag for this book:     ?  Number of Pages - 13 Find other books like this one in the library

Summary Vikki, the squirrel, likes to talk big. His cousin came to visit him and they went on a boat ride. They were having fun when things turned rather adventurous.  Publication Date  2009  Languages  Hindi  Contributor  Pratham Books - India  Publisher  Pratham Books - India    This book is available under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Full terms of use and attribution available at: www.prathambooks.org/cc. ISBN  81-8263-042-8   Get This Book  WorldCat (Get this book from a library) Policies  Link to This Book

Friday, November 2, 2018

Hello Ranchlands School Community!

Adjusting to a new country comes with many new and exciting challenges. At Ranchlands School we can offer supports to our English Language Learners and families to help ease this transition. If you feel you would benefit from an interpreter in your home language for parent-teacher meetings, please feel free to contact me at the school. We also have an in-school settlement worker that can help newcomer families connect to community, school, and government resources and services as well as provide information on various programs in our city. If you feel you could benefit, please let me know and I can assist you with our in-school settlement worker.

The new patrol schedule for November is up. Please check the Ranchlands School website under "Extracurricular".

This week's safety tip: