Dear families,

Wow, what a week FULL of learning! I can’t wait for you to read all about our rich learning!

We are writers and communicators.

On Monday, we started with reading a story called Diary of a Spider as a launch pad for reflection on our own past weekend.

After reading the story, I introduced the writing process by explaining that writing is so much more than just writing. A big part of our writing time is not spent on writing but actually on thinking. I developed this graphic a few years ago and have used it to help not only children but adults understand the writing process. Actually, I believe in this so much that I created an online course about these tips and strategies to help adults become better writers too. The pre-writing stage and the during writing stage develops their metacognition about writing.

Click on the image to take a closer look!

Then we talked about how once we are finished writing, it’s not the “rush to the teacher to say I’m finished” but instead, an opportunity to make our writing BETTER before we conference with Ms. Chan. This is the after writing stage.

How is this done? We read it over at least THREE times. Each time they read it over, it is for a different purpose. Click on the image to take a closer look!

I was so impressed with their writing after this ONE lesson. Many students felt they did their best writing EVER and felt so proud of themselves as writers! I have seen such academic growth when children become more aware of this writing AND thinking process.

We learned about our 4 Questions.

One of the takeaways from attending the Teach Better conference was from my good friend and High School Assistant Principal in Ohio, Mark Horner. He asks himself 4 questions every day. As part of our Social Emotional Learning, I thought about the questions we would like to ask ourselves each day and blended it with the 3 questions I used in the past with my students.

These questions have really been the foundation for our language around our personal and social development. Learning about and reflecting on our core values and beliefs was highlighted  when we were showing perseverance and determination in science (which you’ll read about later in this post).

At the end of the week, we reviewed our affirmations. If these resonate with you, feel free to use the same questions at home to reinforce learning. I will be referring to these all year.

1. What are you feeding your mind? What are you choosing to say to yourself? Are you using positive self talk and being kind to yourself? Do you have a growth mindset and a “I can do it!” attitude? Do you feed your mind with books and knowledge or tv and video games?
2. What is your foundation? What are your strengths, core values, and beliefs? It is imperative for our self-development to begin to understand what these mean as they drive our thoughts, actions, and emotions.
3. What is your today’s best? Learning to give our today’s best is key to being our best selves. Some days we have more energy than other days. Some days we feel better physically, emotionally, and mentally than other days. If we choose to give our today’s best, then it’s hard for anyone else to ask for more. This allows us grace for ourselves and each other.
4. How will you lead and serve? We all have leadership qualities and have the potential to be a leader. We aim to live our lives like a role model. Serving can bring us joy too.

“Atomic interactions” is a phrase I coined. If atoms are the basic building block of all matter, then atomic interactions are the basic building blocks for all relationships. Each interaction we have is an opportunity to show our love, kindness, and gratitude. Relationships are a gift and building connections with each other really help to build our classroom community…one interaction at a time!

We are authors (and body scientists).

On Wednesday, we learned about our skeleton and bones in a book called A Book About Your Skeleton. I add YouTube links so you can watch with your child at home if you would like to listen again but sometimes I am reading the actual book to your child.

After this, we talked about all of the elements that make a good story. Children then started writing their Hallowe’en inspired stories. On Friday, we met in our Author’s Circle to share what we’ve written so far and to receive compliments and constructive feedback so we know how we can make our stories even better!

When I write work that is going to be published, I often share it with friends to receive feedback so I wanted to share that this is something that even adults do and especially people who publish books!

We are scientists.

The main goal of this week was to introduce fun ways to show students there are physical and chemical ways to change materials.

Earlier in the week, we explored physical ways to change materials by warming, cooling, bending, mixing, and cutting using modeling clay. We manipulated our piece to try to make it float on water and to see how many marbles our creation can hold. I loved seeing the different iterations, the determination, perseverance, teamwork, collaboration, and the power of reiterations & YET! Growth mindset at its best! We also had to exercise our core competency of critical thinking and creative thinking skills! Each child brought home some modelling clay to try to make their boat float.

On Friday, we learned all about chemical ways to change materials by baking dinner rolls and making fresh butter from whipping cream (turning a liquid into a solid)!

Click here to review our content learning standards in Science.

Click here for the dinner rolls recipe to make at home.

We reviewed many of our science vocabulary while we were baking: solid, liquid, gas, evaporation, melting, mixing, and heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation).

Spaces (e-Portfolios)

We now have a couple of posts in our e-Portfolios. You will be added to your child’s account this week so you can view and comment on their reflections on learning.

Reminders

• Monday, October 31 starting at 8:40am – Drop off pumpkins for the carving contest in the gym.
• Monday, October 31 at 9:15am – Whole school costume parade
• Monday, October 31 in the afternoon – Bring your own snacks to enjoy.
• Tuesday, November 1 at 1:00pm – Ice skating at Kensington Complex! Wear long socks, bring gloves or mittens to protect hands, AND booster seat to school. If your child has their own helmet (not a bike helmet) and skates, please bring to school too. Thank you SO much to the parents who volunteered to drive and go on the ice to support us!

We would like to request that you limit the amount of candy, chocolate, and sugars (especially after Hallowe’en) for your child to consume at school. We always prefer they have healthy foods at school. Thank you so much for your cooperation.

We appreciate you for your continued support at home. These blog posts are to give you a sense of what we are learning about in class so that you can reinforce and extend learning at home.

Looking forward to seeing some of you this week!

With gratitude, Ms. Chan (and Ms. Paulich)