Hello Division 11 Montecito Friends and Families,

I want to extend a big thank you for sending in your photos of your child’s work being so engaged with the different learning activities suggested last week.  You have worked incredibly hard in our new home learning journey.  We have successfully completed our first week of online learning. I have been so excited to have been able to reach out to you to hear the way you are navigating this new experience.  I’ve also enjoyed re-connecting with the children and hearing their voices; listening to their laughter, stories and fun home adventures.  From Rembrandt art classes, to nature walks, to bike rides, to baking, to virtual birthday parties, to zoom play dates to losing a tooth, having the tooth fair come for a visit, to getting an ear pierced, to building a huge gigantic Lego Unicorn castle, to building an airplane with jewels.. just to name a few… has incredibly touched me and inspired me to try new things.  I think one family mentioned that their child began to read a few words on a page. Another child told me that he is learning his own mother tongue; Malayalam! It is all so fascinating and exciting, like taking their first baby steps and or riding a bike etc. !  This definitely has been the beginning of a whole new chapter for all of us!  It has been so nice to be reminded that although there are numerous hands on activities, learning should be meaningful, manageable, play based and FUN!

The Week at a Glance this week features our Sihouette, “All About Me”,  with some different fun Science mini lessons. Please remember that the Week at a Glance along with other activities, such as Language Arts Grade One are provided for you to work with us to maintain continuous learning for your child.  I’m also excited to hear about the stories your child creates in your home studio for Story workshop this week. I’m excited about our daily Morning Messages along with listening to Mrs. Field, our librarian, reading a story.

Our main goal is to ensure your child’s social emotional well-being.  Please keep the following in mind while helping your child learn:

• Always try to use encouraging words
• Breaks are recommended
• Less is more
• Create a routine

Also,  a special thank you to Ms. Pavic,  Ms. Peters and Ms. Foy for helping our class to set up RAZ kids (K) and Reading Assistant (Gr. 1).  You now would have received a log in and password ID.  Do you enjoy reading the books? I am so excited to check the website and hear your voice recordings.  Please make sure you are trying to read the ‘just’ right books.  If some stories have 3-5 words that you don’t know how to read on the page, it might not be the right book for you to practice.  Don’t forget to point to each word when you are reading and to stretch out words you don’t know by sounding them out.

I hope you had a restful and lovely Easter weekend with your family. My family continues to enjoy our family walks.  During our walks, we notice rocks that people have painted and windows decorated with encouraging messages for all of our essential service workers.  Do you notice anything different about spring? I am also noticing the brightly coloured yellow daffodils. I also love seeing the pink and white cherry blossoms too.

This week I would like you to work on a few fun activities:

         By: Jayden Deo, Kindergarten

Make a poster or a sign to share a word of encouragement or a positive message to our friends in the community. You can write something like ‘stay strong’ or ‘thank you’ to essential service workers (grocery store workers, health care professionals, mailman, etc.) to lift up everyone’s spirits. Don’t forget to write your name and message clearly in big letters so that your neighbors can see what you wrote. You can also draw pictures to decorate the sign. When you are finished, you can stick this sign on your window or your door or somewhere in your house. Please send me a picture of what you did through email!

Please click on the menu bar to find activities through the week.  Week at a Glance, Question of the Day, Blast Off Book Reports just to name a few. Please email me at amy.chin@burnabyschools.ca if you have any questions, comments or concerns.