Category: Indigenous Education

Dear Division 6 families,

What a wonderful week of learning! Students have been investigating whether chocolate is a natural resource. Yes, you read it correctly chocolate! Students began their inquiry with background knowledge and understanding the importance of referencing and citations when researching. We took a closer look at cocoa beans as a natural resource. Students participated in guided group work that investigated how the production of cocoa beans contributed to the economy. Students learned about working conditions in first and third world countries, fair trade, and direct trade. They particularly enjoyed their taste testing homework. Completion of this activity allowed them to participate in an interactive zoom call with the owner of Truffle Pig. This was such a powerful activity that had students asking thoughtful questions. Over the past few weeks with the support of Mrs. Papapanagioutou and myself, the inquiry process led them to the question: What are the pros and cons of cocoa beans as a natural resource? I am so proud of the research that has taken place thus far and there is more to come! Next, we look at how media is connected to our findings. – Mrs. Paulich

To echo Mrs. Paulich, it has been a great week of learning! I feel like I say this every week but as I reflect at the end of every week, I can’t help but feel proud of their accomplishments and learning!

This week, we had a deep conversation about the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Kamloops Indian Band Residential School where they detected the remains of 215 children. We also read the book Race Cars. From Amazon:

Race Cars is a children’s book about white privilege created to help parents and educators facilitate tough conversations about race, privilege, and oppression.

Written by a clinical social worker and child therapist with experience in anti-bias training and edited by a diversity expert, Race Cars tells the story of 2 best friends, a white car and a black car, that have different experiences and face different rules while entering the same race.

Students then had an opportunity to do a free-write to unpack their thoughts and feelings about the news. Journalling is a great form of writing to sort through emotions and events that are hard for us to understand.

Speeches

This week, we continued working on our speeches. Click here for the single-point rubric we have been using all year for personal writing. The lessons and tips to help improve our writing:

• One thing I noticed was that some students started to write one very long paragraph with many different ideas. Instead, break down ideas into separate paragraphs. One paragraph = one idea to dive into. Then dive into “magnifying glass” writing where you lean into the details by adding reasons, explanations, and examples. Here, you may also include a story. See next tip.
• Tell your story: It’s important to add personal stories to help your audience make connections. Add stories that evoke emotions or helps them understand your point better.
• Your opening sentence should introduce the audience to the topic of the paragraph. End your paragraph by restating your opening sentence. We will dive further into closing sentences next week.
• Know your central theme. Aim for paragraphs to point back to your central theme. It’s like a flagpole or target that you want to make sure you’re always headed towards. Your paragraphs should help your audience better understand your main author’s message.
• To spark your audience to think. Feel free to insert a question here and there to inspire critical thinking or reflection but don’t overuse it!
• Every time you sit down to write again, re-read everything you wrote first before you continue writing. This refreshes your memory as to what you already wrote. Read it over for different purposes. They were reminded of DYRIO (click image to view PDF):

As you support your child at home with their speeches, please review these tips. At any point, should you have any questions, please email me! I am happy to help!

Speeches are to be a minimum of 3 minutes and a maximum of 5 minutes. Next week, we will co-construct our criteria that will be specific to the delivery of these speeches. It will be similar to but not exactly the same as the single point rubric for our Passion Projects.

Passion Project presentations

We celebrated many things this week during our Passion Projects! Oscar and Kingston collaboratively presented on the video game named Battle Cats and Quinson talked about the history of video games. Both created a Kahoot game that all enjoyed! Vienna worked hard on her presentation about Italy. Gabriella and Iman came all the way from Australia to teach us about Quokkas; they had a creative idea to have me introduce them as experts from Australia and had the kids play a quiz game as review of the facts. Olivia H. enthusiastically shared How to Read the Body Language of a Dog. Maya presented an informative on Snow Leopards. Dante shared so many facts about Minecraft.

NOTE: All presenters brought home their single-point rubric assessments. Please sign and return to school. Thank you!

Oscar’s book was officially released! It is titled Fate’s Mirage, The Ultra Blade. Oscar has worked on his story since the beginning of the year. Great tenacity and perseverance. He wrote a five chapter story that classmates excitedly took turns reading to the class! I am so grateful to Oscar and his mom, Jen, who made a copy for me to keep and included me in his Acknowledgements, thank you! One thing I complimented him on what his ability to effectively use dialogue to move the story along and help us get to know the characters better. Oscar had a great blend of dialogue between characters and then a paragraph that explained what was happening. He did this throughout the story so I wanted to point out the effectiveness of this. Then Oscar shared that this was something his mom taught him! Jen is a talented writer who has published many of her own books so I thought it was so cool that we were learning how to become better writers through Oscar’s work with the support of his mom. Thank you, Jen!

Speaking of Passion Projects, one of my passion projects is writing just like Oscar and his mom! I am now a contributing author to a book called 100 No-Nonsense Things that Teachers Should STOP Doing. It was released three weeks ago. I wrote a chapter called Stop Boredom at All Costs and had the great privilege to talk about it on the Pushing Boundaries podcast. This is the second time my writing has been featured in a book. I am currently working on writing my own book with a couple of principals in the US. We signed a book contract a few months ago! It’ll be my summer passion project!

Mathematicians

This past week, students finished their patterns book using Book Creator, an app on the iPad. They had fun testing out whether they wrote their pattern description correctly. They had to describe it to a partner using only words to see if their partner can replicate it without seeing the pattern. Next week, we will begin learning about quadrilaterals.

Anyone who still needs extra review and explanations about long division, please reach out. I am happy to set up a Zoom call to work with your child.

Self-assessment for the year

Students were assigned a self-assessment to complete in Teams. If your child did not finish, it was assigned for homework to be completed this weekend. Sorry, it was not recorded in their planners. Please remind them to work on it. Thank you!

We are always so grateful for your continued support at home. We are nearing the end but not slowing down. As I preach to the kids often, I equate the end of work time and learning time to the same feelings as the end of a marathon. While I’ve never run one, I can imagine how exhausted people may feel or at least how I would feel! It is in these moments that I push them outside of their comfort zone to challenge themselves to push on and to finish off strong. We will continue to do that until the end.

Gratefully, Ms. Chan and Mrs. Paulich

Dear Parents,

Wow, what a fast two weeks! A lot has happened! Click here to watch the video update. No time to watch? Feel free to read our summary here.

This was two weeks ago but on Monday, September 21, we had a great turnout at our Meet Ms. Chan over Zoom. Thank you so very much for being there. I felt so blessed and honoured to meet so many of you! Then on September 23 and 24, we had the privilege to connect for our Meet the Teacher Conferences. Your sharing and insight are invaluable to us!

We continued to build our community and relationships through our Community Circle time. One day, we played Car & Driver. This activity helped us experience trust. Trust in each other. We talked about how trust is generally and generously given until there’s a reason to take it back. Our goal is to live our lives with integrity so that there is no reason for others not to trust you. This goes back to our three essential questions:

1. Will you do the right thing?
2. Will you do today’s best?
3. What will you do for others today?

If we regularly ask ourselves these questions, and reflect on our mindset, language, and actions, then we will be well on our way to being positive role models and good citizens of the world! We have been using these questions after our tasks and reviewing them before beginning our new related tasks. We have seen improvements already!

On October 1st during our Community Circle, we shared our September highlights. It was so heartwarming to hear that almost all of them shared how grateful they felt to be back in school with their friends, learning, and in our class! I so love how comfortable they feel to share!

For Reading, we learned about the Say Something strategy. It is important for readers to have opportunities to talk about what they are reading in order to develop deeper understanding of text, characters, and meaning, for example. This is why we spend time practicing our “Say Something” strategy. Here, they practice their communication skills – speaking and listening, as they dive deeper into the book like what adults do during Book Club talks. They also will practice critical thinking skills as the year progresses. Many students continue to enjoy reading books on Epic. If you need more information, please reach out!

Last week, we read the story A Walk in the Rain with a Brain and tried our hand at sketchnoting, which has become very popular in the past few years in education. Here, students record key words and draw images that help them remember. It was my first time sketchnoting too! This story was about the importance of discovering how our brains are different and that everyone is “smart”. We need to spend time to figure out how we are “smart” and not compare ourselves to others.

For Math, we have been doing Number Talks. Through doing these, we used our critical thinking skills to learn what digits are, what the commutative property is (2+3=5 and 3+2=5, 3×5=15 and 5×3=15), the all about digital roots! I have loved seeing critical thinking in action during these math times as we processed our new information! We will be moving into learning Place Value this week.

For Science, we started our Rock unit by recording what we think we know and what we wonder about rocks. For this inquiry-based unit, we will learn about and dive into what interests them most!

In the Computer Lab, students have learned a lot in a short time. In the last couple weeks, they learned how to write an email using proper etiquette, became familiar with Assignments in Teams, learned how to navigate their online Class Notebook (which looks like a binder with tabs), started their Digital Portfolios in PowerPoint, and started writing their stories. We finally have our Computer Lab times set. We have the lab booked on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Students had a chance to spend some time flushing out what their Passion Projects will be. They spent some time talking to different classmates about their ideas. The hope was that the more they talked about their plans, the more excited they would get! That’s how we can tell if we have found the right Passion Project for us!

Ms. Paulich did a cool art activity with them that shows what is Behind My Mask. They wrote words that described them.

Last week, we went on our Terry Fox Run in the neighbourhood. As a school, we decided to walk as a class to keep our cohorts safely together. We walked the route twice and everyone represented Gilmore well. It was such a beautiful day! I absolutely loved all of the social interactions I saw happening as we walked!

We also acknowledged Orange Shirt Day. In the past couple weeks, they learned about residential schools and the meaning behind this day with Mrs. Siu and Ms. Paulich.

We are looking forward to a fantastic October! Thank you for your continued support at home! As always, should you have any questions, please ask! We are here to support you and your child as we work as partners! We feel SO fortunate to be teaching your wonderful children. We have the best class family ever!!

Gratefully, Ms. Chan & Ms. Paulich

Dear families,

A lot has happened since the last time there was a post on our blog. I have surely missed providing you with an update on our learning. I want you to have a full sense of what we did for the last three weeks so rather than writing one long post, you will be receiving separate weekly posts to catch you up. Enjoy!

This past week, Ms. Grewal taught the class for two full days on Monday and Tuesday as part of her SFU Education program. She will spend one more week with us after spring break.

Mar. 9 – In the morning, we read the book The Most Magnificent Thing. Click on the link to have the story read to you. This story is about a girl who tries to build the most magnificent thing but experiences repeated failure until she quits but after a break, has a renewed sense of creativity and enthusiasm to continue. Ms. Grewal stopped at the part of the story where she quit so that students could write their own ending before the real ending of the story was revealed.

In the afternoon, the grade 3’s went to Kitchener for Primary Days of Music to present their two songs and sing along with other schools that learned the same songs. This tradition is a long-standing one in Burnaby and another testament to how our District honours the arts and the love of music.

While the grade 3’s were away, the grade 4’s read a story called I Am Not a Number. The author’s grandmother told her what it was like when she went to the residential school. She felt it was important to share what happened through this book. To learn more and listen to the author speak about why she wrote her grandmother’s story, click here (2:33 minutes).

Mar. 10 – We have Music with Mr. Maroney every Tuesday. For the next while, please have your child bring their recorders to school every Tuesday. If your child still does not have a recorder, please pay online for one.

We read a story called My Mouth is a Volcano. Click on the link to have the story read to you. This story is about a boy who has a habit of interrupting. The author teaches children a creative technique to hold onto thoughts to share at an appropriate time instead. Students were given the choice to write about their own experiences or to write a creative story of their own based on this story.

Mar. 11 – To interact further with the same book, My Mouth is a Volcano, students became screen writers and actors. Ms. Grewal selected students to work in groups to create a short skit that demonstrated a scenario where the main character’s mouth was like a volcano and how the issue was resolved. Students worked collaboratively in their groups sharing ideas, recording it on a storyboard, and then practicing their acting skills. I loved listening to their conversations as they worked together on a common goal. I also loved how the audience enjoyed each skit and how supportive they were. At the end, each person had to write their “I can” statements as they self-assessed their own teamwork skills. 

I was truly touched when I came into the room after lunch break. As I walked in to a full room of students, I heard, “Surprise! Happy birthday!” with a birthday banner, a message on the whiteboard, a table set up with my favourite fruit to share, two chopsticks and a blue paper ring to play table ringette, a crown to wear, thoughtful cards, and a wrapped gift. My heart was warmed and I felt loved. My birthday is over the break. This was the best birthday surprise ever!

In the afternoon, we spent some time reviewing our reading, writing, listening, and speaking goals by reflecting on how we were progressing, what we were proud of, what we still need to work on, and whether we were ready for a new goal. I was very impressed with how everyone so thoughtfully and honestly assessed their progress. They were so focussed on this writing as this was evidence of growth we wanted to share with you during our Student Led Conferences.

Mar. 12 – During the day, we were busy preparing for our Student Led Conferences. They thoroughly enjoyed pretending to be a parent as they practiced. I am so grateful to all of you who invested your time to celebrate your child’s learning. It was so heartwarming and endearing to watch your child share their learning and interact with you. I loved seeing the smiles, hearing the laughter, and watching you do your movement break together! Thank you for continuing to be a partner in your child’s education. [Deepest gratitude to Ana for creating our “Welcome to Student Led Conferences” signs. She came up with this idea on her own, created the beautiful signs under my nose, and posted them up! I didn’t even know who put up these lovely welcoming signs until I asked around. Thank you, Ana! Such a thoughtful gesture.]

Mar. 13 – We became potato farmers and potato scientists. First, we read through the list of instructions together which was sent to me in an email from Ms. Hickman. We had to use our critical thinking skills to figure out what steps to take because this was my first time planting potatoes. Just to be sure, we quickly found a short video on YouTube that solidified our understanding. Next, we took pictures of our potato seeds. Then, to capture our observations as scientists, we took notes on what we saw, what it looked like, describing it by colour, shape, size, and smell, for example. Students were given a choice in which app they preferred to use: Book Creator or Explain Everything. I was impressed with their proficiency in using their app of choice and how quickly they were able to record their observations. When I told them we were going to record our observations, they were so anxious and motivated to get started. It was just like a child who couldn’t wait to open their present. Off they went in using their creativity for their title pages and observations. I absolutely love how real their learning is and having the iPads are a great way for them to capture their ideas in photographs and words. While they were diligently working in the class, we took turns outside putting dirt into our pot and planting our seeds!

I hope you have had a good start to your spring break. As I shared with my students, I am looking forward to staying home and spending more time with my family. Enjoy your time as well. Stay healthy and safe! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, my door is open. Please feel free to reach out and contact me by email, in a note, in person, or call the school.

To keep updated, regularly check the Burnaby School District website at http://burnabyschools.ca. For the latest post about COVID-19 including a message from our Board Office and a number of links, click here. 

Sincerely, Ms. Chan

Looking for ways to keep your child occupied? Here are some suggestions:

• Go for a walk together rain or shine. Each day, find ten new things you haven’t ever noticed before in nature or take turns discovering. It may become more challenging the more walks you take together! Bring a little notebook along to record.
• Play Math games with cards to review facts to practice fluency:
  • Making tens – Each player has 5 cards. Goal is to have combinations that equal 10. For example, if you have a 6 in your hand, say, “Do you have a 4?” If not, “go fish.” Take a card.
  • Addition war – Divide deck in two for each player. Flip over one card. First person to say the sum gains the cards. Challenge: Each person flips over two cards at the same time to add!
  • Doubles war – Flip over one card at a time. First person to call out the double gains the cards. For example, turn over a 6. 6 doubled, call out 12!
  • Doubles +1 strategy – Flip over one card at a time. First person to call out the double plus one gains the cards. For example, flip over a 6. The question would be 6 + 7  = 13. (6 doubled plus one)
  • +2 strategy – Flip over two cards. First person to call out the next number counting by two’s gains the cards. The idea is that rather than calculating, the automatic response is to count up by two’s instead. Then practice subtracting by two’s for the -2 strategy.
  • +10 strategy – Flip over one or two cards. First person to call out +10 gains the cards. Then practice -10.
  • +9 strategy – Flip over any number from 1 to 10. Each number, add 9. If they can quickly add +10, then +9 is just one less. For example, flip a 6. Think 6 + 10 = 16 but one less = 15.
  • Addition of larger numbers – Flip two cards and another two cards as random numbers to add (practice using decomposing or compensation strategy or regrouping). For grade 3’s, they are expected to be able to add to 1000 (3 digit plus 3 digit numbers) and for grade 4’s to 10 000 (4 digit plus 4 digit numbers) so using cards, they can create random numbers to add together.
  • Alternative: Go to my Symbaloo weblinks page to practice these math fact fluency strategies. To access, look on the right-hand side under Links on this class blog. Click on Symbaloo and it can be found on the bottom row. I created flashcards using Quizlet.
• Read by taking turns or at the same time together. Children at any age still enjoy listening to an adult read and vice versa. Just a few days ago, my 18 year old son read aloud a short story to me. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
• Keep a journal of what you did each day over the break. Make it fun by asking your child to write and then you write your thoughts afterwards on the same page! We always focus on having an opening and closing sentence with details in the middle that include thoughts and feelings. Another idea is to draw a picture together of what you did like a shared visual journal. I would love to see your shared work!
• Continue writing their creative stories on Office 365, play Prodigy or Tynker. If you need login information again, please email me. We also have a district licence to an online program, called All the Right Type, to learn how to touch type. We will be starting the program as class but if you’d like your child to have a head start, please contact me and I will pass along the login information.

Unfortunately, TELUS World of Science has closed its doors at least until April 6 for a deep clean so our field trip will be cancelled. 

Dear families,

Wow! What a show! We are Hip Hop stars! The kids have worked hard during their Hip Hop lessons with Flo Jo for the last two weeks, learning their dance moves and the routine. They enjoyed transforming their black shirts into skeletons! They had opportunities to watch themselves so they could self-reflect, receive feedback, and make changes to improve their personal performance. The Hip Hop Show is truly a memorable one year after year.

We have continued to learn about early contact between First Peoples and European peoples through visual imagery. Then students were split up into small groups to practice some perspective taking. Each table had a question about different stakeholders and how they may have felt during that time. For example, “Discuss how you think the families of the explorers/sailors felt before they embarked on a long voyage with the possibility of no return?” I am looking forward to further discussions and learning here.

In Math, the grade 3’s continued to learn about linear measurement (mm, cm, m, km) and measuring capacity (mL, L). Next is measuring mass. Please feel free to review these concepts at home to reinforce learning. The grade 4’s reviewed polygons before learning about measuring the perimeter of polygons. They quickly created a new book using the Book Creator app to capture their understanding. Those that completed their books uploaded it to OneDrive so feel free to ask your child to login to view.

In Science, we have continued to learn about landforms. They seemed to really enjoy learning about glaciers and icebergs this week. Some asked if we will continue to learn about more landforms because they are really enjoying it! They have become more confident using the Explain Everything app too. I just love their enthusiasm and have enjoyed learning alongside them as I am creating my very own landforms project on my iPad too; I have learned so much about these landforms that I never knew before! In particular, I love it when someone has researched and found a unique fact and shared it with the class as they look for answers to their own inquiry questions. They certainly are getting better at asking and recording questions on their “I wonder” slide.

In Art, Mr. Baumann has continued to do guided drawings. They have worked on drawing a dog. See some of our examples from Ana, Anna, Tyson, and Yoyo. I love how even though Mr. Baumann walks them through, they all look creatively different!

We have some exciting news to share. Next Monday, we have a student teacher from SFU that will be spending time with us. Her name is Ms. Grewal. The main purpose of the week is to observe, get to know the students, and to learn about the daily operations of the school beyond the classroom. After the week, Ms. Grewal will return to SFU for three weeks and then come back for another four weeks total before and after spring break. Please feel free to ask should you have any questions.

Brentwood Park’s Talent Show will be on February 24. Anyone interested needs to sign up for auditions. This is a great opportunity to showcase creativity! 

Sincerely, Ms. Chan