December 18, 19 & 20
December 20, 2017 is the last day of instruction for all students; it is a full day of instruction.
If students wish, this week they can wear their festive hats and festive shirts.
We had a wonderful concert for our grades three, four and five students and an equally delightful concert for our K – 2 students. Thank-you to all involved in showcasing our student’s musical and artistic learning. Parents were very supportive at both performances with some families coming twice to see their child / children perform.
On Tuesday December 19th all students will bring home to share with parents / guardians a math problem solving question. As part of our commitment to our math cohort work, we are asked to keep parents informed two extra times throughout the year on how students are achieving based on the intense focus Valley View school has committed to do in our School Development Plan (SDP).
Teachers planned together and developed a grade level question with a focus on math reasoning / problem solving. Teachers worked with students throughout this past week to practice and to prepare students for the question that was presented toward the end of the week. Unfortunately some students who were absent or late a few days had a harder time engaging in the activity as they received less practice.
Teachers have reviewed the student’s answers with them and have a learning plan for students who had difficulty with math that moves beyond “rote learning”. Students who seem to understand the question scored eight and up on the scoring rubric which is displayed directly on the answer sheet. Students who are experiencing difficulty with the grade level question were helped with the process of math reasoning with a math question from a younger grade.
Please review the math problem with your child and ask them to explain how they reasoned the answer. A high score on the sheet indicates that after days of teaching and learning, students were able to do this question with a small degree of support. This one question does not indicate the final report card mark. Many questions in this one mathematical stem “uses mathematical reasoning to analyze and solve problems” are considered before the summative report card mark is assigned. We are committed to supporting students in all areas of the Alberta Program of studies of which math is but just one area. Parents can fully support their child’s achievement by ensuring that our students arrive at school daily (unless too sick to come to school) and on time.
Valley View School has been offered the opportunity to work with one of the CBE's new Math coaches. We are looking forward to working with our Math Coach, Elise Thomas 1.5 days per week in our grades four and five classrooms from now until the end of the school year.
The opportunity to bring additional expertise in Math teaching and learning to our school is most welcome. Our goals for our work with the Math coach include deepening student understanding in the shape and space portion of the program of studies, working with computational skills and strengthening mathematical reasoning and problem solving which is the achievement goal identified in our School Development Plan.
Our staff wishes all of our families a meaningful and safe winter break and we look forward to seeing everyone on January 15, 2018 our first day back at Valley View.
December 20, 2017 is the last day of instruction for all students; it is a full day of instruction.
If students wish, this week they can wear their festive hats and festive shirts.
We had a wonderful concert for our grades three, four and five students and an equally delightful concert for our K – 2 students. Thank-you to all involved in showcasing our student’s musical and artistic learning. Parents were very supportive at both performances with some families coming twice to see their child / children perform.
On Tuesday December 19th all students will bring home to share with parents / guardians a math problem solving question. As part of our commitment to our math cohort work, we are asked to keep parents informed two extra times throughout the year on how students are achieving based on the intense focus Valley View school has committed to do in our School Development Plan (SDP).
Teachers planned together and developed a grade level question with a focus on math reasoning / problem solving. Teachers worked with students throughout this past week to practice and to prepare students for the question that was presented toward the end of the week. Unfortunately some students who were absent or late a few days had a harder time engaging in the activity as they received less practice.
Teachers have reviewed the student’s answers with them and have a learning plan for students who had difficulty with math that moves beyond “rote learning”. Students who seem to understand the question scored eight and up on the scoring rubric which is displayed directly on the answer sheet. Students who are experiencing difficulty with the grade level question were helped with the process of math reasoning with a math question from a younger grade.
Please review the math problem with your child and ask them to explain how they reasoned the answer. A high score on the sheet indicates that after days of teaching and learning, students were able to do this question with a small degree of support. This one question does not indicate the final report card mark. Many questions in this one mathematical stem “uses mathematical reasoning to analyze and solve problems” are considered before the summative report card mark is assigned. We are committed to supporting students in all areas of the Alberta Program of studies of which math is but just one area. Parents can fully support their child’s achievement by ensuring that our students arrive at school daily (unless too sick to come to school) and on time.
Valley View School has been offered the opportunity to work with one of the CBE's new Math coaches. We are looking forward to working with our Math Coach, Elise Thomas 1.5 days per week in our grades four and five classrooms from now until the end of the school year.
The opportunity to bring additional expertise in Math teaching and learning to our school is most welcome. Our goals for our work with the Math coach include deepening student understanding in the shape and space portion of the program of studies, working with computational skills and strengthening mathematical reasoning and problem solving which is the achievement goal identified in our School Development Plan.
Our staff wishes all of our families a meaningful and safe winter break and we look forward to seeing everyone on January 15, 2018 our first day back at Valley View.