Category: Indigenous Education

Dear Division 11 Families, 

We’ve been having so much fun during our skating field trips! It has been wonderful to see the students’ confidence grow in just two sessions. We’re sad that this Tuesday will be our last session, but I know they will enjoy it to the fullest! One of the staff members last week mentioned that this group of students is easily the most helpful and kind group he has ever seen. The students assisted with cleanup and returned the skating bars without being asked. I couldn’t agree more and am so proud of our Division 11 students! – Ms. Kim

Please note: Family Reading will be cancelled this Tuesday but will resume next Tuesday, December 17th. We are looking forward to having you back in our class!

Here is some of the exciting learning happening in our class: 

We are writers.
In writing, the students have been learning how to make their writing more engaging by using similes. After a group matching activity, they used similes to describe a car they would like to build—they came up with so many creative ideas! In class, we read My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks. The author also wrote My Best Friend is as Sharp as a Pencil, and McGill Library has a copy if you’d like to check it out. 

Ways to support at home: Bring your child to visit the library often. It used to be our weekend family outing when my children were growing up. They have such a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction books to choose from!

We have been working on another piece of writing to further develop our own identity. One of our core competencies of building a positive personal identity: identifying personal strengths and abilities. “Students acknowledge their strengths and abilities, and they intentionally consider these as assets, helping them in all aspects of their lives. Students understand that they are unique and are a part of larger, and often multiple, communities. They explain how they are using their strengths and abilities in their families, their relationships, and their communities.”

Last week, we read the story “What’s My Superpower?” by Aviaq Johnston. Click here to watch an animated storytelling of the book.

We followed up this week with two books written, illustrated, and published by one of my best friends, Jillian DuBois: Liv’s Messages and Destiny’s Amazingly Different Dreams. All highlight how what makes us special and different can also be our superpowers (strengths and abilities). There was a lesson on acceptance too.

From Amazon about Liv’s Seashells – Beyond the collection of her treasured seashells, Liv knows that there are people around that need to be shown compassion and empathy. She carefully crafts a plan for a journey that promises to reach out and share hope past the limits of the warm sunshine and sandy beach. Liv has a chance to make a difference and uplift others with joy.

From Amazon about Destiny – The story of one amazing girl who understands that being different is BETTER than being ordinary. We each have different gifts + talents to celebrate. Remarkable human beings deserve to be accepted for WHO they are with great JOY.

Ways to support at home: Follow up this learning by talking about your child’s superpowers and your own. What makes you shine? What are your strengths, abilities, and core values? How can you help your child discover their own? This is such an important understanding to develop especially when we face challenges because during hard times, we can anchor into our strengths and core values as our base. As they grow and become immersed in social media, when children have a strong foundation in who they are and have a strong sense of self-worth, then it takes a lot more adversity to shake how they see themselves.

Word Sorts

We introduced word sorts to the class and started with the spelling rule for regular past tense verbs: We learned about base words (aka root words) and how we add “ed” to the end of regular verbs.

When we sorted the words, we discovered that there are 3 sounds of the past tense ed. They cut and then sorted their own words. We practiced sorting the words so we can see the patterns. They were getting faster and more accurate as the week went on.

When we finish with this word sort, it will go home. Please continue to practice until they are proficient. They can practice spelling these words too.

When looking at the words, there are some with two vowels next to each other. We learned a new song that reinforces that when two vowels to walking, the first one does the talking and says its own name. It’s the same tune as the Addams Family song and catchy. I had it stuck in my head many times over the weekend! Ask your child to sing it to you! Here’s the song:

When two vowels go walking, 
The first one does the talking.
When two vowels to walking,
The first one says its name.

We are Mathematicians.
During Wondering Wednesday, Division 18 students joined our class, and our students helped them learn about fractions. In pairs, they looked for fraction cards hidden in the classroom and compared each fraction to 1/2, deciding whether it was greater than, equal to, or less than 1/2.

Afterward, they played a place value game we’ve been practicing in class. I’ve attached a link below so you can try it at home. To extend the activity, you can include a fourth card to create numbers in the thousands. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi6mVOA2pIU&t=289s 

For place value, we did an assessment to check for understanding, and we were so very proud of how well they learned these number concepts!

This week, they will bring home their Patterns booklets from earlier in the year to show you.

We learned our next math fluency strategy: Adding or subtracting by 2’s is like skip counting by 2’s.

Using our random numbers chart, we practiced adding by 2’s and subtracting by 2’s. It is not as efficient to calculate + or -2 but instead, it is quicker to see a number and see the next number before or after by 2.

For example:

If I am adding by 2, then when I see a 6, I automatically see 8 without thinking, “What is 6 + 2?” Instead, If I know how to fluently count by 2’s, then I know that 8 follows 6.

Ways to support at home: Using a random numbers chart, have your child practice +1, -1, +2, -2. Even if your child practices for a few minutes each day, they will definitely gain fluency by the end of the school year!

We are scientists.

They are excited to bring home their Matter & Thermal Energy booklets to show you what they know too! When they bring these booklets home, ask them to teach you the concepts learned. This solidifies their learning.

We started a new science unit about biodiversity and ecosystems. Stay tuned for more of our learning shared with you!

ADST – We are developing our tech skills!

On Friday, we logged into Office 365 and learned a few tools on Microsoft Word. To reinforce their learning, I encouraged them to practice logging in at home. To do this, go to our Kitchener website.

On the drop down menu, click on Microsoft 365. A sign in box will appear. Have them practice typing in their email address which is their pupilnumber@edu.burnabyschools.ca. Click Next.

A new box will ask for their password. It is the same one they memorized.

Then they were directed to find the list of apps using the icon on the top left corner and find the W (which stands for Word):

Once they launched Word, they were taught to create a new document, rename their document, type their name, and then play! They played with the size, font, colour, alignment, highlighting, bolding, italicizing, or underlining their names. They loved it and thought it was so cool!

I highly recommend that you support your child’s learning by practicing logging into Word at home and having fun together playing with the tools available. This will help them become more proficient at logging in and using Word the next time we use the laptops this Friday. Thank you!

If your child has not memorized their usernames and passwords yet, please spend some time at home to memorize them. It really diminishes their frustration at school when they struggle with the first part of using laptops. The ones who have become proficient are able to have more time on the task too. Thank you.

We are a interconnected community of learners.

One of my favourite tried and true activities that I, Ms. Chan, love to do is our spider web activity. I started with a ball of yarn and shared what I love and appreciate about our classroom community. Then I passed it to someone across from me. Then that person shared what they love or appreciate about our community and so on and so on until everyone had an opportunity to share.

It built a beautiful web which resulted in a powerful visual to see. We talked about how we are all interconnected, which is one of the Indigenous ways of knowing and being. We discussed how what we say and do affects others maybe not directly but indirectly.

Then I gave an example of someone saying something mean to someone else as I shook the yarn. They could see that when I shook the yarn, others were impacted. Others could hear what was said (or see what was done) and that makes others feel sad and bad. We dove into talking about emotional contagion.

Next, I demonstrated how when one person says something kind (they got to go on their knees) and the another person does something thoughtful (they got to go on their knees) until everyone’s name was called and everyone was on their knees. We stood up to demonstrate how we all can uplift each other through positive actions and words. They visually got to experience how since we are all connected, small actions and words uplift not only the other person but everyone else in our community.

When we were finished, we reflected on this activity. My heart melted when I heard about how they enjoyed listening to each other share. They experienced the impact of their actions and words, and how they all contribute to making our classroom community a great place to be. They got to hear exactly what their classmates appreciated about being in our class. One child mentioned how what we shared touched his heart and how he felt teary (and emotional) because of our shared positive emotions.

I reinforced how every interaction makes a difference.

Thank you for your continued support at home! We appreciate you!

Events to note

• Ice skating on Tuesday, December 10
• PAC meeting on Thursday, December 12 at 6:30pm (virtual)
• Reports are available online on Wednesday, December 18. Please ensure you have your login information to access before the date. If you do not, click here to have your login and password reset. It may take a few days.

With hearts full of gratitude, Ms. Kim and Ms. Chan

Dear Division 11 Families,

We are looking forward to our first skating field trip coming up on Tuesday! 

• Thank you to the families who have volunteered to be our drivers. If you have not already done so, please return the volunteer driver form by Monday. Click here to download a copy.
• Read the email that was sent on Friday from Ms. Chan about how and what to prepare for our skating field trip.

• Family Reading will be canceled since our skating field trip will take place on Tuesday. We will resume Family Reading after our field trips. 

Here are some highlights of the exciting learning happening in our class: 

Indigenous Education
On Wednesday, we joined the district-wide Indigenous education session via Zoom. Our students listened to the story The Moccasins by Earl Einerson and had the opportunity to design their own moccasins. Click here to watch the story read to you.

We are Mathematicians.
We are demonstrating our understanding of fractions by representing them in multiple ways: as parts of a whole, parts of a set, on a number line, and in word form.  Each student is working on their own version of the image to show what they know.

We continued our learning about number concepts and place value. We learned the difference between a digit and a number. Digits are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Digits become a number when we give the digit a value. Using our own place value charts and a deck of cards, we worked with partners to compare who had the larger number.

How to support at home:

• Quantities to 1 000 practice: Flip over 3 cards to make a number. Flip over 3 more cards for a second number. Flip over 3 more cards for a third number. Then ask the following:
  • Compare and order the numbers – Which number is the largest? Smallest?
  • How many hundreds, tens, ones in the first number, second number, and third number?
  • What is the value of the hundreds, tens or ones in each number?

We are writers using Triple Scoop Words.
In writing, we learned how “triple scoop words” can make our writing more engaging. Instead of using simple words like good, mad, or sad, we are choosing more vivid words like fantastic, furious, or devastated. This helps make our writing more engaging for readers and expands our vocabulary! Students will use this strategy when editing their own writing during DYRIO: Did you read it over? If you need a refresher as to what DYRIO means, click here to read a previous post that explains our system for re-reading our writing 3 times to make it better each time. Many students in the school are learning about DYRIO too!

We are readers.

We are gathering in reading groups to learn how to read better, support each other as readers, and make connections to what we read. So far, they have learned how to guide their classmate when they come across a word they mispronounced or are struggling with sounding out. They are instructed to not just tell them what the word is. This robs them of the opportunity to try sounding it out with scaffolded help. This is also such a great opportunity for the others in their group to teach, coach, and encourage the one who is trying to sound it out. I loved seeing the kind support so far!

Ways to support at home: When reading with your child and they come across a challenging word, please do not just tell them what the word is. Instead, guide them through noticing which letters are consonants/vowels, breaking up the word into syllables, reminding them that every syllable has a vowel, and figuring out whether the vowel is a short or long vowel sound, which remember the spelling rules (like when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking and says its own name).

Feel free to review last week’s blog post for how to break up longer words into syllables.

Social Studies
This week, our students explored the topic of breakfasts around the world, thinking about similarities and differences compared to their own experiences. 

We are Scientists.

Previously, we learned that thermal energy can be transferred in 3 ways. One way is conduction. This week, we learned about convection: heat is transferred by the movement of liquids or gas (like air). After learning about this, we watched a short video to make it more visible. Click here to review with your child.

Thank you, families, and have a restful rest of your weekend! 

 Grateful for you, Ms. Kim and Ms. Chan

Dear Division 11 Families,

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

We are continuing our focus on family, and this week our students will be exploring different wedding traditions around the world. Please have a conversation with your child about some wedding traditions from your culture or other cultures you have experienced. Since we are focusing on “aspects of life shared by and common to people and cultures,” discuss the similarities and differences in wedding traditions from your experiences. We will continue using a Venn diagram in class to help illustrate our thinking.

In math, our students are becoming experts at analyzing graphs. They are starting to show more confidence when interpreting bar graphs or pictographs and sharing what they have learned. This week, we will be wrapping up our data analysis unit. Students will go through the entire process on their own: coming up with survey questions, collecting data using a tally chart, representing their data with either a bar graph or a pictograph, and sharing their findings.

In art, our students have been learning about warm and cool colors and have created two watercolor paintings using patterns. This week, we will dive deeper into how patterns are used in art by weaving these two paintings together to create one unique piece!

Thank you, families, for your continued support!

Warm regards, Ms. Kim

We are grateful.

There is so much to feel grateful for. We have many opportunities throughout our day to consider what we are grateful for. We worked on our Thankful Poems inspired after we read The Thankful Book by Todd Parr and Feeling Grateful: How to Add More Goodness to Your Gladness by Kobi Yamada. Watch this book here.

One of my most favourite videos on YouTube is titled Gratitude. This video reminds us to find beauty in the simple things in life like how each day is a gift and the beauty in our world. “Nature’s beauty is a gift that cultivates appreciation and gratitude.” We started watching this video at 4:30.

Many happiness researchers found that practicing gratitude and focusing on the positive aspects of life can enhance happiness. This leads to an improved sense of overall well-being and a mindset we can cultivate. One way we can develop our social awareness and build positive relationships is by noticing and expressing gratitude.

This also reminded me of how Indigenous People honour the land and have a deep sense of place. Louie Schwartzberg stated, “We protect what we fall in love with.” Imagine if everyone fell in love with nature and the unceded land we have the privilege to live on.

Ways to support at home: Regularly practice gratitude by modeling what you are grateful for. I wrote a blog post called The Gift of Gratitude if you are interested to read it and if you’re curious about how gratitude is taught and modelled in the classroom, I wrote a post that was published on Edutopia called Teaching and Modeling Gratitude in Elementary School. These posts may provide you with some ideas on how our gratitude practice at school can be aligned with what you do at home.

We are mathematicians.

We continued to learn about patterns. Last week we reviewed increasing patterns and learned about decreasing patterns. Here are some examples during play and in our Patterns Books.

Students are expected to know the following:

• increasing and decreasing patterns using words and numbers, based on concrete experiences
  • creating patterns using concrete, pictorial, and numerical representations
  • representing increasing and decreasing patterns in multiple ways

Repeating patterns

Increasing patterns

Decreasing patterns

Ways to support at home: Reinforce their learning about patterns – repeating, increasing, and decreasing at home by creating their own and asking them to describe their pattern.

We are scientists.

This week, we learned about the three states of matter.

We watched this video and then practiced being molecules. On the carpet, we were solids where we (as particles) are in a fixed position. Then we were liquid particles moving around on the carpet area only. Finally, we were free to roam around the room in a completely random and much farther apart like in a gas; they loved this one the most!

Students were given the opportunity to add to their Matter Science Books to show understanding in their own way.

Applied Design, Skills and Technologies (ADST) Curriculum

Your children are fast learners! On Friday, we logged into the laptops for the first time. They quickly learned how to login and shut down. All students brought home a blue sheet to memorize their login information and password.

Ways to support at home: Please help your child find a strategy to memorize their username, email address, and password. The next lesson will be to learn how to communicate through email so it will be important to learn how to login to Office 365 with their email address. Thank you!

Stream of Dreams

Have you had a chance to look at all of the fish students of Kitchener painted? They are now on the fence at the front of the school. Enjoy finding the fish your child painted!

Kitchener’s Family Movie Night is this Friday, October 18 at 4:00 PM! Doors open at 3:30 PM.

Please click here to learn more. If you plan to attend, CLICK HERE to RSVP. Hope to see you there!

If you ordered apples, you can pick them up before the movie.

Reminders

• Friday, October 25 is Pro-D day; students do not attend

We are excited to share that starting next week, Ms. Kim will be in our class on Mondays as well! I am looking forward to having some opportunities to be in the classroom to team teach with her on Monday and Wednesday. Thank you for your continued support at home. Should you have any questions, please feel free to ask. We are here as partners and we appreciate you!

Sincerely, Ms. Chan

Dear Division 11 Families,

Our hearts were warmed by your presence at our Families as Partners conversations last week. We thoroughly enjoyed meeting you in person and learning more about your child through your stories. Thank you for your investment of time to share as we journey and work alongside each other this year.

Patterns
In Math, we continued to learn about different varieties of patterns. For example, a pattern can be different by shape, colour, size, and rotation. We started our Patterns booklet where we got to create our own book cover and demonstrate our understanding of repeating patterns including identifying the core pattern. Next steps: Learn how to identify, create, continue, and describe increasing patterns.

Way to support at home: When you are outside, look for patterns in nature. At home, take out items to create varying patterns that change by shape, colour, size or rotation.

One of our core competencies is personal awareness and identity.

We read a story called I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont. Watch the animated video on YouTube of the story. The goal of reading this story was to critically think about our strengths, core values, and character traits we appreciate about ourselves. This isn’t an easy task even for some adults! Students had an opportunity to respond to this story by writing about what they like about themselves.

Learning requires exploration of one‘s identity. – First Peoples Principals of Learning

This principle reflects the importance of identity in relation to learning. Identity is what connects people to each other, to communities, and to the land. The exploration of one’s identity includes developing an understanding of one’s place in the world, in addition to being able to identify all the factors that contribute to how people see themselves. These factors include their strengths and their challenges, their innate abilities (gifts) and capacities to learn. In addition to using this understanding to help one grow in life, knowing one’s own strengths and challenges is a part of the responsibility a person has to his or her family and community, as a people are considered to have a duty to use them to contribute to others (family, community, and land). Taken from https://firstpeoplesprinciplesoflearning.wordpress.com/learning-requires-exploration-of-ones-identity/

We are each unique and beautiful but together we are a masterpiece!

Ways to support learning at home: Have a conversation about what they wrote in their writing books. Help them extend understanding of themselves by helping them see some of the positive characteristics they have. Support them in seeing the examples (or receipts in their lives) that demonstrate these positive traits that you see. Developing a positive self image through awareness of strengths and core values is one of the first steps in building a strong foundational relationship with themselves. When they know who they are, what they stand for, and what brings them joy, then they can anchor into these when faced with adversity or challenges. If you were to model this, what would you say to your child?

We are scientists.

Big idea: All matter is made of particles.

You may have seen a yellow sticky note come home in their planner with the word “matter” written on it. We went around the room and in the hallways to “label” everything we saw as matter to demonstrate our understanding that matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. They were asked to tell you what we did with the sticky note and show you examples of matter in your home.

We also talked about atoms. Their minds were blown away when they learned how many atoms are on the top of a pinhead!

Orange Shirt Day

During our Orange Shirt Day assembly on Friday, we learned about why we wear orange shirts. Why? An orange shirt was taken away from a residential school Survivor: Phyllis Webstad. This day raises awareness of the residential school system in Canada. Wearing orange reminds us of the impact of residential schools still felt today. We also went for a short walk around the school.

On Monday, September 30, the school will not be in session for National Day for Truth & Reconciliation. This is an important day of reflection to honour Survivors, families, communities, and remember the ancestors that never made it home. For me as a mother, I can’t help but feel emotional when I think about children being separated from their families. Some children may have emotions about this too when they try to empathize. Please have a conversation to help them understand our history and why National Day for Truth & Reconciliation is an important day. Thank you.

Ways to support at home: Please feel free to visit the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation website to continue the learning and reflection at home. Feel free to watch the video we also watched at our assembly.

Scholastic Book Orders

One of the ways we have built up our classroom library is through the Scholastic Reading Club. The books in these flyers are generally wonderful and are very reasonable. Teachers are awarded points to use toward books and classroom supplies when students place orders. We will be sending home flyers regularly. Learn more.

Our class code: RC235868

Some of our class books were donated by previous students. This is so appreciated! If you have books at home that your child is no longer interested in, please consider donating them to the classroom. Children need an interesting variety of books to be motivated to read and we do a lot of reading! If we cannot use them, we know many new teachers who can. Any unwanted craft supplies, puzzles, or games are also greatly appreciated. 

Thank you for your support at home. If you returned the student information forms that went home last week, thank you! If you have not yet, then please return this week.

Looking forward to another great week at school!

With gratitude, Ms. Chan

A message from Ms. Kim

This week in art, our students learned about the artist Keith Haring. We explored the concept of pop art and discussed his unique style. Next week, the students will create Keith Haring-inspired family portraits and learn about complementary colors through his artwork.

We spent a significant amount of time in class discussing Orange Shirt Day and the importance of this day. This year, the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation event will be taking place on Sunday, September 29th, 2024 at Memorial Peace Park in Maple Ridge, beginning at 10am until 3pm. This will be a good opportunity for students to learn more about the significance behind this day.

In math, we are continuing our work on data analysis. The students have been developing their own survey questions to gather and display data.

In Social Studies, we read a wonderful book called A Family is a Family is a Family by Sara O’Leary. This book celebrates all types of families, and we will continue our conversation about families into next week, eventually exploring family traditions from around the world.

As always, I am thankful for your support in your child’s learning journey.

Kindly, Ms. Kim

Dates to Note:

• Wednesday, October 2: Picture Day
• Friday, October 5: Painting our fish for Stream of Dreams; send children with clothing appropriate for painting just in case. I am not sure if the paint is washable. These fish will replaced the ones currently on the fence along Gilmore Ave.
• Every Friday: Conversation Circles for English Language Learners newer to Canada. Come practice your speaking and make new connections at school!
• PAC fundraiser: Apples! Last day to order is October 9.
• Friday, October 18: Family movie night. Save the date!

This was our writing and art about our names! Look at all of the cool designs we made with our names!