Category: ADST

Dear families,

We hope you had a wonderful and Happy Mother’s day! I had both of my brother’s family come over for the first time in over a year, and I felt so grateful for the opportunity to have our family together again. It filled my heart with gratitude and joy. Speaking of gratitude, I was recently a guest on my friend’s new podcast called Evolving with Gratitude where I got to share what gratitude means to me. I also had the greatest opportunity to talk about how gratitude is embedded in our daily practices in the classroom. If you’re interested, I’d love for you to CLICK HERE to listen. I also wrote a blog post almost a year ago called The Gift of Gratitude if you’d like to check that out too. I truly believe that gratitude is a mindset and a way of living that helps me cultivate joy every day and throughout the day.

First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your generosity and dedication to supporting our students at Gilmore! What an incredible collective effort to raise funds for our Walkathon! They had a great walk around the neighbourhood last Friday! Our hearts are full of gratitude!

Grade 5s to Camp Jubilee on Tuesday, May 10. Please have your child arrive at or before 7:15am. The bus will leave promptly at 7:30am. We will not be able to wait if your child is not here on time because we need to catch the boat on the north shore.

The grade 4s will line up in our usual spot in the morning. Mr. Anchor will pick them up in the morning. Students will be spending the day with the other grade 4s in his class. Sounds like a fun day he’s planned for them!

We are poets.

This past week, we started our unit on poetry. Our monthly theme at Gilmore is creativity so poetry fits right in! We started with a list poem, writing our our personal affirmations. I follow Jon Acuff‘s work and he calls it anthems so some students have chosen to call it that too. Each student had an opportunity to share their favourite statements and wow, they have blown me away with how insightful they are. I am so excited to see their final products so they can use these as anchors in their personal development. By the way, I highly recommend looking into Jon Acuff. He’s written a number of books, his latest called Soundtracks, and has a great podcast called All it Takes is a Goal.) Click here to see a copy of Jon’s Anthem to give you an idea or google affirmations to get a better idea too.

We also tried our hand at writing tongue twisters. We came up with some creative and difficult ones to say out loud!

On Friday, we wrote an acrostic poem with the word: CREATIVITY. This was brought home for homework to finish. This is a poem where the first letter in each line spells out the word.

I think it’s always fun if you do what we do. So, if you’d like to try your hand at writing an anthem or affirmations, a tongue twister, or an acrostic poem for creativity, I would love for you to share it with your child! If you’re comfortable, have your child bring it to school to share it with all of us! I bet the other kids will think it’s so cool!

We are mathematicians.

Both grade 4s and 5s started division. Please continue to encourage your child to practice their multiplication/division math facts. It really does make a world of a difference when they just know them by heart and don’t have to check their multiplication chart, which really slows down their computations.

Reminders

Dragsters – Students were asked to bring their carved dragsters back to school on Monday, ready for our sanding party. Thank you for helping your child prepare their dragsters. I am so looking forward to seeing how their concepts come to reality! Next week, we will paint.

Coffee & Conversation – The Community Room is now open again for coffee time! Since I have Head Teacher time, I get to be a part of this wonderful time to connect with parents. If you are available, I would SO love for you to join us on Thursday mornings from 9 to 10am. It’s a great opportunity to get to know other parents better too!

Thank you so very much for your continued dedication to reading these blog posts to keep up to date. We appreciate your support at home!

Loving being your child’s teacher, Ms. Chan

Dear families,

On Monday, we had a very productive Pro-D day. In the morning, we dove into a new area for our school growth plan because we will be moving away from our reading goal, which we focused on for the past few years already. This just means that the focus for staff will now shift to a numeracy goal. In the afternoon, we reviewed and worked on our other school growth goal for social emotional learning. We had a great day of working together and collaborating!

Our first assembly in two years!

On Wednesday, we had a great treat to watch a young group of actors from Arts Umbrella, aged 12-15, do a performance called Kindness. Students really enjoyed it! To learn more, read the Kindness School FAQs. Special thanks to Mrs. Barndt for organizing this for the school.

We are mathematicians.

Grade 5’s had an opportunity to show what they know about multiplication. Students will bring it home to show you. Take a look at their progress and journey of learning. They’ve come a long way! Lots to celebrate! Thank you so much for your support at home. Please sign and return it to school, thank you! This week, we will begin learning about division.

We are designers.

Students were given class time to explore different ideas, do some rough drafts, and choose a design. Your child brought home their wooden dragster on Friday. Here is some important information you will need to know:

The wheels on the planning sheet does not match the holes for the wheels on the actual dragster so they will need to mark the spots on their drawing.

Here’s the class schedule:

• Week 1: May 1-8 Students carve down their dragster to their desired design. Please make sure there is a minimum of a 3mm rim around the hole in the back of the vehicle. There is a minimum distance from the bottom to where the hole for the wheel too. Carefully review the other requirements.
• Week 2: May 9-13 On Monday, bring the dragster vehicle back to school. We will have a calming sanding party to sand down our vehicles.
• Week 3: May 16-20 Painting party!
• Week 4: May 23-27 Add wheels and finishing touches
• Early June: Get ready to race! The date is still to be determined.

Reminders

• The weather can change and be unpredictable. Please have your child come prepared for changing weather. Thank you!
• Please return the swimming permission forms. We are so grateful to parents for their fundraising efforts so no money will be collected for this opportunity.
• Please continue to ask for sponsors for the Walkathon. ALL forms must be returned to school even if you do not have any sponsors. Forms are due at the end of this week. The Walkathon will be on Friday, May 6, rain or shine.
• Thank you for your continued support for our litterless lunches!

We so appreciate you for your continued support at home!

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

Dear Division 6 families,

Time is flying by! I cannot believe we are moving into our last week in April! We will continue to make each day count and thoroughly enjoy learning together.

I have different opportunities to share my experiences with people in our district and around the world. One thing I absolutely love sharing is the joy I feel being your child’s teacher and the connection we share. It has been such a memorable year so far and I have been so blessed and honoured to work with you and your children. We are so very grateful for your continued support! Please always feel free to reach out should you have any positive feedback so we know what is effective for your child and we keep doing it but also any concerns so we can better support you and your child.

We are communicators and can reflect on our learning.

Last week, your child had the great opportunity to share their learning with you during their Student Led conference at home. We have thoroughly enjoyed reading the Two Stars and a Wish sheets! Thank you for your time to fill them out so thoughtfully! It was a great opportunity for your child to not just reflect on their learning but to celebrate their progress and also set some goals for the remainder of this year. If you have feedback you’d like to share  or want to elaborate on what was written on the Two Stars and a Wish sheets, please feel free to send me an email at Livia.Chan@burnabyschools.ca. We are looking forward to in-person conferences next year!

We are mathematicians.

Grade 4s are continuing to practice multiplication x 1 digit. The grade 5s had an opportunity to show what they know so far on Wednesday. It was a point of progress for me to check their understanding,  inform me on what I need to review/reteach, and an opportunity for them to see where they are at in their learning journey too. Your child should have brought home their progress sheet with specific feedback along with an answer sheet for you to compare. Most students still need to review the distributive property so we would appreciate your support, thank you! They will have another opportunity to show what they know on Friday, April 29! Please continue to have your child practice their math facts. It makes a world of a difference and helps with their confidence when children know their facts. We will be starting division very soon!

We are scientists.

We learned about the respiratory system. Please feel free to rewatch the video and talk about how the system works. I taught them a movement “dance” to remember. We have two dances so far…one for the circulatory system and one for the respiratory system! Ask them to show you!

Passion Projects

Aside from a handful of students who have yet to present (they will this coming week), most students have started on their next passion project. On Friday, they had an opportunity to formally record. Your child brought it home to work on. Feel free to review it with them this week. Most important are the questions that will drive their research. Please remind your child to return it before Friday. Click the link Passion Project proposal for a copy. It includes the progress sheet too.

We are critical and creative thinkers who design!

This past week, students were introduced to the CO2 dragsters ADST project (Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies). They had some time to investigate other people’s designs and are free to continue to do so at home. This week, they will be:

We are so looking forward to seeing their progress over time!

Swimming Update

Thank you so much for sharing your feedback so quickly on the survey! There was an overwhelming response so we will be planning two swimming sessions at Eileen Dailly pool. As soon as more details are available, we will happily share!

Some reminders:

• Grade 5s: Please sign forms and pay for Camp Jubilee.
• If your child has not returned their Student Led conference envelopes yet, please return.
• Donations for Canucks Autism Network will be closing on April 28. Go to School Cash Online if you would like to donate, thank you.

With a heart of gratitude, Ms. Chan

Dear families of Division 6,

The more I teach your children, the more I love and adore them! We had another great week together! Every morning after Flex time, I play a song to indicate that it’s time to clean up and come to our Community Circle. I was playing a song called Best Thing Ever and I dedicated it to them. Here’s the best line that reflects how I feel: There’s nothing better than feeling alright. Together. This is the best thing ever. We really do enjoy being together.

Click on image to watch the video update

We are writers.

This week, we continued to work on our paragraph writing. I have to say that how they responded to the writing lessons was so heartwarming! I asked them how many felt they wrote their best paragraphs ever and many proud hands went up! They followed a set of criteria as they wrote. Then used the simplified rubric to self-assess. Next, they were paired with a partner for peer assessments. Click here to see the rubric we used. Reflecting on our writing is an important piece of our learning. Reviewing a peer’s work teaches us different skills too!

I just launched an online course on Writing Strategies with the Teach Better Team last week so it’s exciting to share the same tried, tested, and true lessons I teach your children but to a wider audience!

Students worked hard on their spelling words. It’s rare I give spelling tests but students were having trouble with some basic homophones so I wanted them to spend some time learning them. After a pretest, some didn’t need practice so I gave them personal challenge words instead based on their own writing. They chose the number of spelling words they wanted. Yesterday, I gave 17 spelling tests at the same time! Personalized learning!

Click here to watch this video if your child is still having trouble with there, their, and they’re.

We reflect on our learning using FreshGrade.

It has been a little while since they last logged in to FreshGrade. To refresh your memory, this is their e-portfolio where they reflect on their learning. All students uploaded a sample of their paragraph writing and reflected on their development and should have added a recording of their reading as well along with a lot of their art! Here are the questions they are asked to respond to as part of their reflection:

• Explain what we did in this task.
• What are you proud of? What are your strengths?
  • I can…
  • I can…
• What would you do differently next time?
• What did you learn about yourself?

Each entry should answer the above. I will be adding you to their account so you can view their posts. This is another great way that we communicate student learning with you and complementary to the Learning Update that was sent home today. I told them that you have homework…sorry! I know they will really appreciate it if you log in (once I add your email to their account) and comment on their learning. Here are some guiding questions that may help you with writing your comments:

• I love how you…
• I appreciate how hard you worked on…
• I am proud of the way you…
• Tell me more about…

We are mathematicians.

Grade 5 students received their Fractions Test #2 back. The first test gives students a very clear picture of where they were at and the second test gives them an opportunity to show how they’ve learned it better. Even students who showed proficiency the first time did a much better job of explaining equivalent fractions the second time around so they even noticed an improvement! This is exactly why I love giving a re-test. Because math is so foundational, this is an important practice in assessment. I was so very impressed how so many of them have become proficient! Thank you so very much for your continued support at home.

This week, we learned about comparing and ordering fractions when the denominator is the same and when the numerator is the same. We also learned about mixed fractions. We will be learning about decimals next week so if you’d like to spend some time reviewing at home, they will be more prepared next week. Feel free to watch this video at home: Math Antics Decimals Place Value

All About Me Presentations

I wish you can be in the room when we work on our All About Me projects on PowerPoint. They have been working so hard and they are so engaged! They ask to work on it! And when they do that, you know they love to work on it! One student shared that he forgot all about his pain (from a fall) because he was having so much fun!

Another student said this year was the first year he used laptops, so I am so impressed with how quickly they learned how to navigate, learn all of the features, and be creative! Next week, we will begin presentations. Students should come prepared to present. Each slide should have minimal words with an engaging image(s). They should be able to share 3-5 sentences about each slide. Please ask your child to practice their presentation at home.

Learning Updates

Writing these felt like a gift. I tweeted it out too!

If you have any questions about the Learning Update for your child, please reach out. Remember, we work as partners in your child’s education. We highly recommend you sit down with your child to talk about all of their successes and discuss the goals they set for themselves. Give them a voice. Ask them how you can support them.

Reminders:

• Scholastic Book Fair – last day to purchase is Friday, November 26 online only. Thank you so much for your support!
• Please sign and return the progress report envelope on Monday. Thank you!
• Tuesday, November 30 – Hot lunch (Tentatsu)
• Friday, December 3 – Jingle Bell Walk food collection

My words alone cannot truly express how much joy it brings me to be your child’s teacher but you can’t quite see into my heart so I guess my words (and video) will have to do! Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with us and for your continued support at home.

If you feel inclined, we’d love to hear from you after you read these blog posts. Please feel free to leave a comment or email us!

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