Dear families,

I bring up the word joy often in our class. I truly believe we can not only find joy when we look for it, we can take action to cultivate it too on a regular basis. Sometimes, it’s about being mindful and truly present to notice our blessings and to feel grateful for them.

Daily, they are encouraged to thank the people who brought them joy during our Heart Time every morning. We regularly share what brings us joy and different things we feel grateful for during our Community Connection time too. My hope is that with consistent practice at school and with your encouragement at home too, this mindset becomes a habit so in their teenage years and into adulthood, they regularly scan for blessings, feel gratitude, and learn to find and cultivate their own joy. Leaning into gratitude and joy can lead to a much happier life filled with positivity for overall well-being.

We believe in inclusion.

We read the book Love Monster by Rachel Bright. We had a great discussion at the end of the story about the Love Monster and how even though he took initiative to find a friend, in the end, the friend he found looked like him. What we try to teach is to accept others who are different from us, to value diversity, and foster inclusivity.

We are athletes.

We started the week with our exciting skating adventure at Bill Copeland! Thank you so much to the parents of Seb, Evelyn, James, James, Layla, Maissa, Adrian, Dali, Satvika who drove and helped supervise and to Dhruv, Senara, Haruka, and Lydia’s parents offered as well but we just had too many graciously volunteer!

Our skating time is at 9:30 to 10:30 AM. I believe we can all be on the ice at 9:30 am when everyone comes to school on time. I am requesting that everyone arrives at 8:55 AM on Monday, February 26, please, so we can leave right away.

I noticed that some students did not bring gloves or mittens. For added safety, it is highly recommended they bring along to protect their hands when they fall to the ice.

We are communicators.

We had an opportunity to practice our paragraph writing again as we reflected on our skating field trip. Students were reminded to start with an opening sentence, write details that include thoughts and feelings, and end with a closing paragraph. I enjoyed reading their recount of our field trip to the rink.

We are artists.

From Ms. Kapusta: This week students experimented with making Valentine’s Day hearts using white wax crayons and watercolour paint. We talked about the importance of planning beforehand, especially when your “ink” (the white crayon) is invisible. We made rough drafts of designs on scrap paper and then we got to painting. It was fun watching the class experiment with different shades of crayons and pencil crayons and different weights of paint to see what kind of effect they would have. Not every heart showed up, but every student had a fun time painting! Afterwards, we decorated Valentine’s Day themed bingo cards and played bingo together as a class as a special treat.

We are mathematicians.

We explored our understanding of 2-D and 3-D shapes and will dive further next week. Please check out our Math page for the curriculum covered this term.

We are readers.

Since your child will be at home on Friday and Monday, they will have access to Epic books (online library of high interest books) from 7 AM to 3 PM. Our class code is ycr9510. Your child’s passcode is the first four digits of their username. If your child is sick at home, this is a great option on those days too if they are up to reading.

Applied Design, Skills, and Technology

Thank you for your fruit contribution to our Friendship Fruit Salad on Valentine’s Day. We appreciate the time that parents of Maissa, Sonya, Lydia, Jason, and Haruka spent to support us in preparing the fruit salad. Everyone was careful and did well with cutting. We made so much that we enjoyed some more today! May I encourage you to have your child help with food preparation for home meals. I learned too late that I should have encouraged my son to help more with meal preparations when he was younger.

On Wednesday, we also made small Valentine cards for every adult in the school. This was to spread some joy, share appreciation, and to brighten their day! They discovered that in doing so, it actually brightened their own day too! I often have shared this: Kindness to others is like kindness to ourselves. It’s like a boomerang. When you intentionally share kindness, while uplifting others, you are uplifted too.

We have continued to work on our Passion Projects. If your child would like to spend some time at home to work on it, please allow them to work on the slides. You can support them by helping them find facts. One thing we are working on is putting facts into our own words so we are not plagiarizing.

Save the Dates

• Friday, February 16 – District Professional Day. No school for students.
• Monday, February 19 – Family Day. School is closed.
• Monday, March 4 to 8 – Hip Hop lessons
• Monday, March 11 – Whole school performance (AM)
• Thursday, March 14 – Primary Days of Music for all grade 2/3s at Kitchener
• Monday, March 18 to Monday, April 1 – Spring break, school closure, and Easter Monday
• Thursday, April 11 – Student Led Conferences from 3 to 6 PM (Families are invited to celebrate learning. Your child will lead the conversation and show you what they’ve learned so far.)
• Friday, April 12 – Early dismissal at 2 PM
• Monday, April 29 – Pro-D day. No school for students.
• Friday, May 10 – We will be going to the Vancouver Aquarium by school bus with Ms. Santorelli and Ms. Tai’s classes. We will need parent volunteers to help supervise. Thank you!

Every day, I feel truly blessed to be your child’s teacher and to work alongside you as partners. We bring each other much love and joy throughout our day. My heart was warmed today when some students said they were going to miss me because of the extra long weekend. I feel the same way! ❤️

Thank you for your continued support at home. I am grateful for you.

Sincerely, Ms. Chan