Spring, Shapes, and Student Led Conferences

We have enjoyed a beautiful week with lots of outside time and opportunities to observe the gorgeous flowers that are blossoming around us.

At the art table this week, students sketched cherry blossoms then painted them. Now we have a beautiful blossoming tree in our classroom.

Shapes

The Kindergarten students have been learning about measurement for the past few weeks. We will now explore shapes during our Kindergarten math lessons.

Today the students played with shapes at various centre activities.

Student Led Conferences

Thank you for returning your purple papers to confirm a time for your visit to our classroom on May 1.

The groups will be as follows:

2:00 – 2:30 – Jessica, Niko, Kien, Aiden, Niharika, Olivia, Elvin, Amara, Lucas

5:00 – 5:30 – Kaiya, Leo G., Jaydon, Sofia, Evie, Vihana

Class Photos 

We will have class photos taken on April 26 (next Friday).

Have a lovely weekend!

Nowruz and Vaisakhi

This week we had the opportunity to learn about Nowruz and had a special Persian cookie to celebrate.

We also learned about Vaisakhi and tasted a sweet treat, gulab jamun.

Thank you to the parents who provided these treats!

Rosie’s Walk

Many of our lessons this week were based around the story, Rosie’s Walk. We explored setting and sequencing in this story.

Your child has brought home their story map and puppets to retell the story for you at home.

Note: I have not sent an April calendar home because the only date to note is Pro-D Day on Monday April 29.

Happy Vaisakhi to those who will be celebrating this weekend!

Welcome back from the break!

We have had a wonderful first week back with beautiful weather.

This week, we continued to look for signs of spring including comparing the heights of daffodils growing in our school garden.

We were excited to see that our potato plants have grown so much over the break. We are looking forward to taking care of them so they can continue to grow this term.

Next week we will be learning about the solar eclipse, Nowruz, and Vaisakhi.

Gr. 1’s – please read your home reading books and return them on Monday.

Date to remember:

• Monday April 29 – Pro-D Day – School will be closed to students.

Enjoy the weekend!

Happy Spring Break!

This past week we enjoyed some warmer weather and noticed many signs that Spring is almost here!

We planted seed potatoes and cannot wait to see what they look like after our break.

Once again, the students have shown tremendous growth in all areas this term. I am very excited to continue to watch them grow in third term. Thank you for all of your support at home!

Reminder that school re-opens on Tuesday April 2.

Please return your child’s report card envelope after the break (you can keep the papers that are inside).

Wishing you a wonderful break!

Buddies

This week we worked with our Gr. 4/5 buddies to build a structure using 10 tile squares and 6 popsicle sticks. This is an open ended activity that encourages higher level thinking. The students were prompted with questions like: How can you build your structure higher? How can you make it strong enough to hold a wood peg person? Here are some of the designs.

Read to Self

Every week the students choose new books to add to their “book boxes”. We work towards reading quietly throughout the week. We practice looking for words we know, reading the “pictures”, and sounding out unknown words.

Kindergarten Math

The K students have been learning about different Canadian coins. Ask them about the symbols on the coins!

Here is a photo of the K’s representing numbers on 10 frames during our group activity.

Bucket Filling

Over the past few weeks, the students have been working on “filling each others buckets” with kind words and acts of kindness. They have so many wonderful ideas to fill imaginary buckets!

Report cards will be sent home on Thursday March 14.

Spring Break begins March 18 with school re-opening on Tuesday April 2.

Have a lovely weekend!

100 days of school!

It’s hard to believe that we have been at school for 100 days this year! We have been keeping track of the days by adding a stick everyday and bundling groups of 10. We have been practicing counting to 100 by 10s, and 5s. Ask your child to sing the skip counting song to you.

Here are our cool collections of 100 things!

and we completed a 100 piece puzzle!

Will Stroet and Skeena Performance

We were fortunate to have an awesome performance by this wonderful duo yesterday.

You can find more of their songs online.

Friends for Foxy

We really enjoy reading “Foxy and Friends” books. Last week, each student made a plan for a new character in the Foxy books. We then created the new animal friends using plasticine. Our plans and characters are on display in the hallway display case.

Gr. 1 Book Bags and RAZ Kids

Parents, please encourage your child to practice reading every day! The home reading books can be re-read many times throughout the week to reinforce reading skills. They can also practice on the raz kids app. The more we read, the better readers we become!!!

Pink Shirt Day

Wednesday Feb. 28 is Pink Shirt Day. Students are encouraged to wear pink in support of friendship and anti-bullying. We will have many lessons next week about being kind friends and problem solving.

Cold and Cough Season

We have many students away every day due to colds and coughs. Thank you for keeping your child at home until they are well enough to return to school. I am encouraging anyone who is coughing a lot at school to wear a mask and I’m encouraging more hand washing. I hope we are able to curb this never-ending cold/cough!

Have a lovely wekend!

Happy family day long weekend!

Just a few reminders:

-school is closed for students on Friday Feb. 16

-no school on Family Day, Monday Feb. 19

– please complete the “family” homework that was sent home earlier this week. I would love to have them all returned on Tuesday if possible.

– our 100th day of school is on Wednesday Feb. 21. Students are invited to bring a collection of 100 small inexpensive items. I encourage the kids to count the items by groups of 10. Thank you!

Have a lovely weekend! I hope you get a chance to play a game, go for a nature walk, or enjoy an adventure as a family. 💕

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

The Kindergarten students made a pattern dragon for Lunar New Year!

We all enjoyed the glass fusing workshop where we used small pieces of glass to create our first initial. I will be picking these creations up next week after they have been heated in the glass kiln. Thank you to the PAC for funding this experience for us. Thank you to Debbie Hungle, the glass artist that facilitated this workshop.

The following information was sent home on a purple notice earlier this week:

Division 14 is getting excited about some special days that we will be celebrating in February.

On Wednesday Feb. 14, we will be celebrating Valentine’s Day.  Students may wish to distribute Valentine cards to their classmates.  If your child chooses to do so, please ensure that there is a valentine card for every class member.  Valentine cards can be homemade or store bought.  I am including a list of classmates’ names to help your child with printing their friends’ names.  We will be making mailboxes in class for the students to put cards into. **It is not necessary to include little toys are treats with the Valentine cards.

Our “100^th Day of School” will be celebrated on Wednesday, Feb. 21.  Each student is encouraged to bring 100 small items in a bag or container for various classroom activities.  Examples of 100 items are 100 pieces of pasta, cereal (cheerios), paperclips, stickers, dried beans, or any other small inexpensive item.  Please encourage your child to count 100 of these items. Counting 10 groups of 10 is a great way to count to 100.

On Wednesday Feb. 28, our school will be encouraging students to wear pink shirts for “Pink Shirt Day.” Pink shirt day is a day when we remember to be a kind friend and to stop “bullying” when we see it happening.  Your child is welcome to wear a pink shirt or other pink clothing item.  Please do not feel that you need to buy pink clothing specifically for this occasion as we will have extra items that the students can borrow to wear.

Division 14 Names for Valentine Cards

Aiden                         Amara                        Elvin                Evie

Jaydon                       Jessica                       Kaiya              Kien

Leo (Gr. 1)                  Leo G. (K)                   Lucas              Niharika

Niko                            Olivia                          Silas                 Sofia

Titus                             Vihana

Reminders:

Friday Feb. 16 is a pro d day so school is closed.

Monday Feb. 19 is Family Day so schools will be closed.

Please look for “Family Day” homework that will be sent home next week.

Gung Hay Fat Choy to everyone that will be celebrating this weekend!

What do we do in math?

All of our math lessons begin with a “hands on” activity.

Today we learned how to use Venn diagrams (2 overlapping circles) to organize information. We sorted shoes based on whether they were black, had velcro, both or none. Sorting based on attributes is an important first step in mathematical understanding.

Skating!

We had a wonderful time skating on Wednesday. I was so proud to see everyone’s determination and enthusiasm. Thank you to all of the parent helpers who came to tie skates-much appreciated!

Important dates in February:

Wednesday Feb. 7 – Glass Fusing Workshop (Thank you to the PAC for funding this activity!)

Wednesday Feb. 14 – Valentine’s Day- students are welcome to bring Valentine cards for their classmates (I will send home more info about this on Monday!)

Friday Feb. 16 – School is closed for students – Professional Development Day

Monday Feb. 19 – Family Day – School closed

Wednesday Feb. 21 – 100th Day of School

Wednesday Feb. 28 – Pink Shirt Day

Thursday Feb. 29 – Fire Safety Presentation

Missing shirt:

A student in our class is missing a blue GAP sweatshirt/pullover. Please have a look at your home in case it went home with your child. Thank you.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Literacy Week!

We had a great time this week celebrating all things about books! Cozy reading, book swap, wearing words, teacher reading swap, fun activity with Mrs. Dias…lots of ways to show how words are all around us!

Click on “The Mitten” link below to watch our “high quality” production of a fun story. The ending was cut off but I think you get a good taste of the fun we had making the video. It may take a few seconds to load the video.

The Mitten Re-enactment

Homework:

Kindergarten – Students are bringing home their “Alphabet Rap” book. Please read this over and over with your child so they can review letter sounds. I highly recommend keeping it in a safe place so you can read it often.

Grade 1s– Please keep up with your home reading book bags. I’m seeing amazing progress so keep up with the home reading!

Skating on Wednesday

Our class will be skating at 11am on Wednesday. We will be leaving the school at 10:30. Please return the pink permission form on Monday if you have not already done so.  So far I have 3 volunteers and can offer them a place on the school bus. If anyone else would like to join us to help tie skates, I will need you to drive yourself to the ice rink.

Please ensure students are prepared for skating on Wednesday by brining: winter coat, snowpants, mittens, helmet (if they have one), and skates (if they own their own skates). PLEASE LABEL ALL ITEMS WITH YOUR CHILD’S NAME.

The rink will provide helmets and skates for all students who are not bringing their own.

Reminder; If I do not have a family photo please email me one as soon as possible. I can print it at school for you. We will use these photos for a variety of activities in February. 

Looking forward to another fun week ahead!