September 14-18
🍂 A Wonderful Week of Learning in Grade 1! 🍂
What a busy and exciting week of learning we had in Grade 1! We continued building our classroom routines and learning through hands-on activities, stories, discussion, and creative exploration.
📚 Literacy – Letters P, S, N and I
This week, we focused on the letters P, S, N, and I. Students practiced recognizing the letters, identifying their sounds, and finding words that begin with each sound. We are continuing to build our phonics knowledge and strengthen our ability to connect letters and sounds as we become confident readers and writers.
🔢 Math – A Closer Look at Teen Numbers
In math, we continued with our Number of the Day and took a closer look at teen numbers. Students explored what makes a teen number and practiced representing numbers in different ways using ten frames, manipulatives, drawings, and numerals. We learned that teen numbers are made up of one group of ten and some extra ones. Students enjoyed discovering the many ways they can show and explain a number!
🦸 Zero the Hero Visits!
We were excited to welcome a special visitor to our classroom — Zero the Hero! Zero helped us learn why zero is such an important number. We talked about how zero means none or nothing, but when it joins a number, it can help create a much bigger number!
To celebrate our learning, students made their very own bracelets using 10 beads. As they counted each bead, they practiced one-to-one counting and reinforced the idea that 10 ones make one group of ten. Our bracelets became a fun reminder of the importance of ten in our number system!
🍁 Signs of Fall
We have also been noticing the changing season around us. Students explored the signs of fall, sharing observations about changes they see in the weather, trees, plants, animals, and daylight. We are beginning to use our observations to help us understand how the world around us changes with the seasons.
🎨 Dot Day – “My Dot Can Be…”
We celebrated Dot Day by thinking creatively about what a simple dot can become! Students completed the sentence “My dot can be…” and used their imaginations to turn a simple dot into something wonderful. This activity encouraged students to think creatively, share their ideas, and celebrate that everyone can create something unique.
It has been wonderful watching our Grade 1 students learn, explore, and grow together. We are looking forward to another week filled with curiosity, creativity, and learning! 🌟
Looking Forward
We enjoy recognizing your child’s birthday as close to the date as we can. Please don't send treats to share with others on your child’s birthday. Instead, we would love to celebrate by reading a book of your child’s choice on or close to their birthday. If your child’s birthday falls in July or August, we will decide on a date in June to celebrate their birthday.
Library: Our library day is Tuesday. We will visit the library next week and will bring home our first book on Tuesday. Please return library books by Monday or Tuesday, so your child can sign out a book the following week.
Mrs. Fell: klfell@cbe.ab.ca
From Mr. van Sluys (Physical Education Teacher)
Annual Volunteer Forms
To have a successful school year, MTS requires parent volunteers to help support the school throughout the year.
Here are just a few events that require Parent Volunteers.
- Terry Fox Run, Sports Day
- Field Trips (Calgary Zoo, Calgary Farmyard, Storybook Theatre)
- Fun Lunch support
- Classroom events and reading with students
The CBE requires volunteers to complete an Annual Volunteer Form.
Parents and guardians can register as volunteers through the SchoolEngage tab in their MyCBE account. As part of the registration process, all volunteers must review the POPA requirements and sign to indicate their agreement with the conditions outlined in the form.
Once completed, the school will process the information and email the parent/guardian a letter to submit to the Police Service. Once approved, the volunteer is asked to share it with the school. Clearances are good for 5 years.
Approved Volunteer phone numbers and email addresses will be shared with the MTSPA Parent Co-ordinator.
If you have any questions, please email mckenzietowne@cbe.ab.ca
Terry Fox Run
MTS Terry Fox Run will take place on Wednesday, September 23 at 9:00 am.
We encourage students to bring in a toonie for Terry. Our fundraising goal is $1200, which is about a toonie per student and staff member in the school.
Bus Students
Reminder: Notify the office, not the teacher, if your child is not riding the bus home.
We take attendance at the end of the day and will hold a bus if we can't find a student.
If you have decided to cancel transportation this year, please log in to your account and click the cancel button before fees are added in October.
Don't Forget to Label
To ensure your student doesn't lose any items, please label all outdoor clothing, lunch bags, and water bottles.
Items with no names will go in the lost and found box at the front entrance.
Fun Lunch
Fun Lunch will start on Wednesday, September 23. You will have until September 18th to register for the first lunch.
Fun Lunch is only for grades 1-4 and our EES students.
- Go to healthyhunger.ca
- Log in to your existing account or create a new one.
- Add your child’s information in the “add child” box – name, province, city, school, grade and class.
- All Fun Lunches will then populate – select the " Order Now " button!
Please send a morning snack with your child on Fun Lunch Days.
Nut Aware School
We are a “nut-aware " school. We have students with severe allergies that are life-threatening. Please avoid sending nut products to school.
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 having trouble 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
September 23 Fun Lunch - Subway
September 23 Terry Fox Run
September 24 MTS Open House 5:00pm - 6:30pm (More Information to Follow)
September 25 NO SCHOOL - Non-Instructional Day
September 29 Orange Shirt Day
September 30 NO SCHOOL - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
October 7 Picture Day
October 12 NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving
October 19 NO SCHOOL - Non-Instructional Day
October 28 Fun Lunch - Domino's
For more information, please visit our website or your teacher's blog.
MTS Traditional Calendar 2026-27.pdf
