What an absolutely gorgeous day!

I hope you are all able to get out today. I encourage you to ask your child to name 5 ways they can describe their outdoor surroundings (ie. what do you hear? what do you see? what do you feel? what do you smell?).

I am excited to be a part of some amazing workshops today about writing, outdoor learning, and social emotional learning.

Pink Shirt Day

We were fortunate to have our own Ms. Androsoff read her story “Scout and Kit” to our class on Pink Shirt Day. We learned all about ways that we can make new friends and play nicely.

Habitats

Our habitat creations are looking amazing! If your child wants to bring a specific material to add to their habitat, they are more than welcome to make that addition.  We will be using clay to create our animals this week and add to our habitat!  Thank you very much for all of your shoebox donations!

See you next week!

Happy 100th Day of school!

We had so much fun today exploring all things “100”! The students planned our activities today which included making 100 hats, playing snakes/ladders to 100, doing 100 exercises, and singing our Skip Counting song to 100.

Ms. Serka found some of the students working together to create a “nest”!

We have finally started to create habitats for our animals. If you have time, I am sure your child would love to look online for pictures of their animal’s habitat so they have more ideas on how to create an accurate habitat.

Upcoming Special days:

-Wednesday Feb. 24 – Pink Shirt Day – Students are welcome to wear something pink (not necessary but welcome) to recognize the importance of being “kind” all year long. We will have a very special guest author read her story to our class.

-Friday Feb. 26 – Pro-D Day – School will be closed for students.

Have a lovely weekend!!!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!  Happy Valentine’s Day!  Happy Family Day!

Wow-what a festive weekend it will be!

Even though we could not distribute valentine cards and goodies from home this year, the kids were just as excited to open their Valentine mailboxes full of messages from their classmates!

Valentine puzzles!

The alevin hatched from their eggs!

Can you see the yolk sac attached to their bodies?

Amazing marble works structures!!!

If you want to draw baby yoda at home, here is the link to Art for Kids hub on youtube. Click here

Have a wonderful weekend!

Please remember that there is no school on Monday. 

Read lots, practice skip counting by 5 and 2, and get outside for some fresh air!

WELCOME February!

February is month full of so many celebrations and festivities! Hang on for the ride!

Here is one sample of our salmon life cycles.

Here we are working very hard at our animal research projects:

Here are our beautiful “Heart Maps”:

Please remember that February 15 is Family DAy. School will be closed

Friday February 26 is a Pro-D Day. School is closed for students.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hello families,

Once again, we have had an amazing week of warm weather. Where is this snow they keep talking about?

Home Reading:

Thank you very much for reading with your children at home using the books from the “RED folder” bag. We have almost 100% of students returning their bag for new books every Friday. I mentioned to the class that they can write the title for each book once on the reading log and then place a check mark every time they re-read the story. Something like this:

Place Value Game:

The Grade Ones learned a place value game. They have 9 popsicle sticks, each with 10 dots on one side and one dot on the other side. They drop them, sort them into 10s and 1s, then figure out the number of dots that are showing without counting each individual dot. Have fun playing this at home!

Dry hands:

We have noticed that many of the students’ hands are very dry from so much hand washing. If you would like to send a small bottle of hand lotion for your child to use at school, I am fine with them keeping it in their desk.

Valentine’s Day:

Due to the unique situation at school this year, students are not to bring any Valentine cards, goodie bags, treats, or any other item from home to distribute to their classmates. I know this does not sound like very much fun but I will make sure they all get to have the full Valentine/friendship experience at school. Thank you for your support with this.

Have a lovely weekend!

I hope you were all able to enjoy the beautiful weather today! I feel very lucky to have been able to go for a forest walk and feel the warmth of the sun!

This week we continued to explore the water cycle and learn about “water as a force”. We also learned about erosion.

Here are our water cycle paintings:

We will be learning about salmon this week.  In February, we will move onto researching animals that the students choose. They will be creating a habitat for their chosen animal.

We will be collecting shoeboxes for their habitat creations. We will begin this project in about 2 weeks.  If you have a shoebox that you can donate, I would greatly appreciate that. 

Example:

In math, the Grade Ones are working on subtraction. They will begin to learn about place value (ones and tens).

The Grade Two students have been learning about geometric solids and will be learning to add/subtract to 100.

As I am sure you have heard, there is snow in the forecast this week. I would love to be able to take the class outside to enjoy the snow if we get a good amount of it. Please send your child to school in weather appropriate clothing. I have a few pairs of snow boots and waterproof pants that I can lend to students if needed.  Learning outdoors is much more fun when we are prepared for the weather. Thank you!

Please note the following dates:

Friday February 12 – We will celebrate Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day (more info to come)

Friday February 19 – Our 100th Day of School !

Friday February 26 – Pro D Day – No School for students

Friday March 12 – Reports Go Home and last day of school before Spring Break

Monday March 29 – School Re-opens after Spring Break

Friday April 2 and Monday April 5 – School Closed for Easter weekend

Snapshots of learning from this past week:

Winter Writing

Math tub fun: sorting, stacking, building…

Learning about evaporation.  Does the steam turn into water when it cools on your hand?

We read the story “100 things that make me happy”. Then we thought about all of the little things that make us happy. From cuddles and smiles to donuts and friends…we realized that the little things in our daily lives are the things that can bring great joy! Click here for the link to the story 100 THINGS THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY

Reading books to friends!

For Black Shirt Day, we read “The Colour of Us” and had a discussion about all of the wonderful shades of skin that exist.  We were able to have a deeper discussion about how some people in the world do not treat others equally because they have different a colour of skin. We learned that this is called racism. The students were able to share their thoughts on how they can take a stand against racism. Click here for a link to THE COLOUR OF US

Have a lovely weekend!

PS Thank you to Ms. Serka for being our class’ unofficial “photographer”!

Welcome back and Happy new year 2021!

I hope you all had a peaceful break and were able to spend some quality time with your family. The students have settled back into classroom routines nicely. This second term of school is always a term full of a lot of growth and progress-I am sure you will notice this when reading and working with your child at home too!

This week we talked about resolutions (setting goals for self-improvement). Each of us decided on a resolution for home, school, and personal growth. Ask your child to share their resolutions with you.

I will not be sending home a calendar for January as there are not many important dates to add to it.

Please take note that Tuesday January 12 will be individual photo day for the students.

A reminder that dismissal is at 1:58 every Monday and at 2:58 every other day of the week.

Our classroom door opens at 8:50 and everyone should be in class by 8:55 when our outside door will close.

Library day continues to be on Wednesday so please ensure that your child returns their books by Wednesday each week.

This month we will begin learning about the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation) and the salmon life cycle. We continue to focus on stories about feelings, kindness, problem solving, and being a kind friend.

Have a lovely weekend!

Thank you for all of your holidays wishes! I truly appreciate all of your support and patience this term as we have navigated a very unique school year. The students have grown in so many ways which are especially evident in their kindness to one another and dedication to learning activities.

This week we learned about Winter Solstice (the longest night of the year) and that various cultures that celebrate this event with lantern festivals.  We created nature lanterns and enjoyed eating snack by lantern light.  We also visited Ms. Thompson and her Christmas village display at the office.

You will notice that your child has brought home their inside shoes and extra clothing bag.  Please ensure that their shoes and clothing still fit them! You can return inside shoes and extra clothing (shirt, pants, socks, and underwear) on Monday January 4.

School reopens on Monday January 4.

I wish you all a peaceful and wonderful break together! See you in 2021!

We had so much fun today in our PJ’s (maybe too much fun-LOL!).

Please look for your child’s “Informal Report” for Term 1 in their planner bag.  This report will give you a quick snapshot of your child’s learning this term.  If you would like to discuss your child’s progress further, I am available to meet via zoom.  Please contact me by email if you would like to schedule a meeting.

This week we did a Candy Cane experiment. We put candy canes into 3 different liquids: warm water, cool water, and vinegar. We learned how to make predictions and record our observations.

The Grade 7s have organized “Spirit Week” for next week at school.  Students are welcome to dress in the following ways to celebrate our last week of school before our winter break (this is completely optional):

Monday – dress like a character from a book or movie (I know this is a challenging way to dress so no pressure at all). The class and I discussed that maybe even a Santa hat would be great option.

Tuesday – Look alike day – Our class decided to dress in red, green, white or black clothing so we can all look alike.

Wednesday – Wear Words day – wear any clothing that has letters or words on it.

Thursday – wear your favourite colour day

Friday – PJ day (again!)

…and I have let the class know that my daughter is getting braces on Monday so I will not be at school, but I have made sure that the class will have a wonderful TOC!

Have a lovely weekend!