Dear Division 6 families,

We had another amazing week! We ended our week definitely on a high note! After Flex time, our day always begins with our Community Circle time where we always share how we are feeling and talk about the theme or question of the day. On Friday morning, my heart was touched by the number of people who shared how they were feeling: “amazing, great, fantastic, awesome…” We often talk about the mindset that we have especially as we begin our day. When we feel strong positive emotions, it can influence the kind of day we are going to have so verbalizing in this way sets their day off on a positive note. I noticed an increase in the number of people who are choosing these types of emotions to share. I am smiling virtually the whole time we are meeting in our Community Circle because what they share so often touches my heart and is music to my soul!

We can celebrate!
This daily sharing time is a genuine way we build our community. We listen with respect, show that we value each other and what we have to say, while learning more about each other. On Fridays, we have a tradition to celebrate something from the past week. Some of the things I heard that warmed my heart:

• I am celebrating the kindness I see from each other.
• I am celebrating a good week at school.
• I am celebrating my family and friends.

We are scientists.
As medical doctors in training, we dove further into the circulatory system. We created a class PowerPoint project where all groups were given the opportunity to choose their own questions that sparked the most interest. This is called student “voice and choice”. What this means is that they get to choose what they want to learn more about. With choice, comes a natural excitement, engagement, and motivation to learn. I absolutely loved how focussed each group was to find the answers to their questions and display their finding in their PowerPoint slide. They all work so well together! Click on the image and it will bring you to our project. It is a work in progress so if you see unfinished slides, it is because they are still working on this!

We are writers.
For writing, we used a couple images as inspiration. I loved the creativity in their stories! Ask your child what their story is about.

We are mathematicians.
We have continued to work on decimals and fractions. I love how engaged they are during our lessons. One of the things we love is to have interactive lessons as we learn and practice together. Every student has their own whiteboard with markers and erasers. As we learn together, they have opportunities to practice and show their understanding. This is a great way for me to check their understanding as the lesson progresses. What I love is seeing their growth mindset in action! Even though they may get it wrong, they accept it and just try again. We have worked hard on making math fun and just slightly in their stretch zone. I can happily say that the negative feelings many had at the beginning of the year about math have changed! You’ll see, by the end of the year, they will love math as much as I do! When they have a positive attitude and feel happy when they learn, research shows that they learn better!

We are proud.

Many students have a few pieces of work uploaded in their Digital Portfolios. If you have not checked it out yet, please ask your child to show you what they are proud of and their reflection on their learning. Our goal is that these entries are not just to brag but the main purpose is to reflect – to celebrate what they did well or what they are proud of, what they found challenging or in their stretch zone, and probably the most important, is what they would do differently if they were to do something similar in the future. They can learn from their experiences. For some, it may look like there is a lot of artwork in their portfolios. We will be working on adding other pieces of work to reflect on too. We just had some catching up to do with their art. This past week, the Grinch came to visit!

We are presenters with a passion!
Next week, we will be presenting our Passion Projects! Students were asked to have their presentations ready for Monday. I understand that some may need more time so if they need more time, that is okay too!

Friday, December 18 will be Pajama Day! Please keep the stuffed animals at home, sorry.

Being your child’s teacher brings us so much pure joy! Both Ms. Paulich and I feel so blessed to be their teachers. Our class is filled with happy children who not only get along well, they are kind, caring, and empathetic to each other too and so willing to help and include others too. They are reminded often that they are loved. We may sound like a broken record but we want you to know how much we appreciate you and your support at home. As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or just want an update, please reach out. Thank you!

With a heart full of gratitude, Ms. Chan and Ms. Paulich