Dear families,

During our community circle time, we started the day sharing what we appreciate most about water. Then we read a story called The Water Walker written and illustrated by Joanne Robertson about a grandmother who walks to raise awareness about the importance of protecting water for life on our planet and for generations to come. Students wrote thoughtful reflections on what they appreciate about water, what they can do to protect or conserve, and their hope for how others will use water responsibly. 

Pukana /ˈpuːkənə/ game is a traditional Maori (Indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand) hand game that Ms. Innes taught them last week. When I asked them about it, they said they wanted to play again so they taught me how. I couldn’t find anything online that is exactly the same as how we played but this video gives you a sense. They had so much fun playing this. Ask your child about it!

On Monday, grade 4 students wrote their decimals test. The package of tests were sent home for parents to review. If your child still has their tests at home, please return to school on Monday. The re-test will be on Monday, December 16th. If you need a copy of the study guide, please go to We Are Learners page – Mathematicians.

For our new Math, we are learning about probability. First we watched a video that taught us about equal, likely, unlikely, certainly, and impossible and we practiced with some examples:

Then we watched an animation video that further reviewed these concepts. To learn more about the learning outcomes for grade 3’s and 4’s, go to our We Are Learners – Mathematicians page.

Students have been given Prodigy accounts to learn and practice Math concepts or if they had an existing account, it has been linked to our classroom. It’s a responsive online Math program that is tailored to your child’s needs based on the accuracy of their answers. Click here to learn more or sign in to play. For students, they need to click on the white button: Play Prodigy. They brought home their login information today.

This week, students started writing a Christmas story with a partner. I am always so pleased to see that no matter who I match up, each partnership works so well together. They look forward to this story writing time. We will continue with these stories next week.

I was noticing that there was an overuse of conjunctions in their writing or situations where using a conjunction would have been effective so Ms. Tas and I did a lesson on what a conjunction is and how to use. Students were either given a subject, conjunction, or predicate to start. Then they had to move around the room to find different people to create sentences that make sense. Students enjoyed themselves and laughed at some of the silly sentences that were put together.

Mr. Baumann has been teaching Division 9 art since the beginning of the year for a half hour a week. Recently, they have been working on winter and Christmas art but I wanted to share their toucans completed earlier in the year. If you have your child log in to their O365 account, their individual toucans have been uploaded for you to enjoy. I love seeing their creativity come alive as they produce different art pieces even though they are given the same instructions. I also appreciate the perseverance they show with the various art projects too.

Students have been practicing their song every day this week in preparation for the Christmas concert next Tuesday night. I videotaped them each time and they self-assessed so they could think about how to improve. They look better and better each time! If your child did not bring concert clothes in a labelled bag yet, please send to school on Monday. On the night of the concert, please have your child return to school before 6:30 pm. They will report to Ms. Walji and Ms. Basso’s classroom – Room 6. Please arrive on time. Thank you.

We had a great time today decorating gingerbread cookies with your big buddies today. We also enjoyed our last session of yoga with Ms. Gomes in the afternoon. We both noticed an improvement from last week in the way that they were able to be calm and practice yoga postures. She gave them a mini book to take home. Thank you for the support from PAC that made these sessions possible.

---

Ice skating forms are due on Thursday, December 19th. To learn more, go to our Field Trips page. 

In preparation for Breakfast with Santa on Friday, December 20th, please have your child bring a reusable plate, fork, and knife in a labelled bag to school. Students can bring these items in starting on Monday.

We are collecting food for the Food Bank all of next week. Please bring non-perishable food items. Thank you.