Category: We are creative thinkers.

Dear Division 11 Families,

We hope you had a restful weekend.

The final theme of the Month of Love was “Love the Land.” During our community circle, students shared what they are grateful for about our land. They then created a fun writing piece, choosing symbols from nature and writing along the outline of each symbol. They were also challenged to complete various random acts of kindness for the land.

Math

We continued exploring different ways to show our learning, with a focus this week on the decomposing strategy. With this strategy, students break apart the numbers they are adding based on place value, then add or subtract each individual place to find the answer.

Below are videos if you’d like to learn more about this strategy. Please keep in mind that since our focus is on showing our thinking in different ways, your child’s approach may look a bit different from the methods shown in the videos!

Adding using decomposing strategy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdMEDX4ra4o

Subtracting using decomposing strategy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVbSJWO8ExI

Social Studies

This week, we explored two different agricultural innovations. First, we examined The Three Sisters, a Haudenosaunee farming method. It is called The Three Sisters because corn, beans, and squash support each other like family when planted together.

We also studied chinampas (floating gardens) used by the Ancient Aztecs. As a check-in activity, students created a Venn diagram to demonstrate their understanding of the four groups we have studied so far. They were able to choose two groups and make connections between them.

This week, we will be exploring architectural innovations. As always, please support your child at home by having conversations about what they learned and making connections to the topics discussed in class.

Typing

Last week, our students practiced to improve their efficiency when using laptops.

If they would like to continue practicing at home, please click on the link below!

https://kitchenerdiv11.edclub.com/

ADST: We Need Your Help!

Our students don’t know it yet, but we will be working on an exciting project during ADST (Applied Design, Skills, and Technology)! The building stage won’t start for another couple of weeks, but we need your help collecting recyclable materials that students can use for their projects.

Some examples include:

• Cardboard (boxes, cereal boxes, snack boxes)
• Egg cartons
• Toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls
• Packaging materials (bubble wrap)
• Plastic containers (including takeout food containers)

Additionally, we would love your help in collecting Styrofoam trays, plates, or takeout containers for an upcoming printmaking art project.

Thank you in advance for your support! We look forward to sharing more about these exciting projects soon.

We truly appreciate your continued support!

Warm regards,
Cailyn, Livia, and Jake

Dear Division 11 Families, 

Happy New Year! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season filled with joy and time spent with loved ones. We had an excellent first week back, and the students really enjoyed the performance at Michael J. Fox Theatre. We were in awe of the incredible talent displayed by the performers. A BIG thank you to our parent volunteers for driving the students and staying with us on such a cold and windy day. 

Here are some of the exciting learning activities our students explored this past week: 

One Word for 2025

Our students chose one word to focus on for this year. On Monday, they brought home a handout about their chosen word to discuss with their families. If you haven’t had a chance to talk about it yet, please ask them why they selected this word.

The students have written about their reasons for choosing their word and outlined some action steps they can take to achieve their goal.

You might also ask them if their word and plan align with the SMART goal framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). We will continue working with their “one word” next week. 

Art

This week, our students were introduced to the artist Jasper Johns and his piece titled “0 Through 9.” They were inspired by how he used everyday objects in his art to challenge viewers to see them in new ways. In celebration of the new year, the students used the numbers 2, 0, 2, and 5, layering them in the style of “0 Through 9” to create their own piece. 

Writing

We reviewed the writing goals we’ve been working on this year. The students practiced descriptive writing by reflecting on the highlight of their winter break, using their senses to vividly capture the experience. 

Social Studies

We learned about how New Year is celebrated around the world. Please chat with your child about whether they’ve noticed any similarities with other countries they’ve learned about, and please share with them any New Year traditions you know of. There are so many fun traditions, I really enjoyed researching and learning about them myself. As the Lunar New Year approaches, it would also be great to start discussions about how it’s celebrated worldwide. We will dive into this topic as we get closer to the date. 

Story writing

We read The Best Story by Eileen Spinelli. Feel free to watch it read to you with your child. I absolutely love this story. I use it when I do teacher presentations on the writing process. What I love about this story is the message. This story was to reinforce the idea that the stories we write come from our hearts. Students worked so hard on a heart map to show all the things that have a place in our hearts. They will use this as inspiration for when they write their stories.

Ways to support at home: Talk to your child about what they wrote on their heart maps. Discuss what you would write on yours.

Math

We practiced our next math fact fluency strategy: Learning combinations that make 10 and played Making 10s Go Fish. Here’s how to play at home:

• Making Tens GO Fish – The goal is to have combinations that equal 10. Take a regular deck of cards. Remove the Jack and King. The Queen represents zero because it looks like a zero. Combinations that make ten: 0+10, 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5.
  • Each player starts with 5 cards. If any of the cards they hold make a combination of 10, they can put the pair of cards down for all to see. For example, if you have a 3 and a 7, you can put the cards down because they equal 10.
  • Then just like how you would play Go Fish, the first player asks anyone playing for a matching card that equals 10. If they have a 6 in their hand, then say, “Do you have a 4?” If they have a 5 in their hand, then say, “Do you have a 5?” If not, “go fish” and take a card from the central deck.
• Math Tappers – Continue to have your child practice addition and subtraction facts so they can become more fluent with accuracy. If your child has an iPad at home, please download Math Tappers. It’s free! Have them practice different sums up to 20. For Making 10s, simply change the sum to 10. Make it fun! You take a turn to see how quickly and accurately you can complete the board and compare it with your child’s OR play together!

Report Cards

If you have not logged in to MyED BC to view your child’s report card, please let us know how we can support you. The last day to view the report card will be on January 31st so we always recommend that you download a PDF if you wish to keep a copy.

If you need your password reset, click here. It may take a few days for our office to reset it for you.

If you have any questions or comments, please reach out as we are happy to discuss. Report card writing time is one of our favourite times of the year because it gives us an opportunity to deeply and intentionally think about each child as we celebrate their strengths, growth, and consider goals with clear next steps. When we look at what they have learned and accomplished collectively in 13 weeks, it’s incredible how much they have improved in so many areas…and this does not happen without your support at home.

We deeply appreciate you for your continued support.

We hope you had a wonderful weekend! We are looking forward to another fantastic and fun week together!

Gratefully, Ms. Kim and Ms. Chan

Upcoming events

• Friday, January 24 – Family movie night @ 6 PM
• January 20 to 24 – Literacy Week
• Tuesday, January 28 – Bowling at Rev’s

Dear families,

Last week, our students learned about Remembrance Day and its significance. Their understanding of the day’s importance was evident in the respect they showed during Friday’s assembly. They also did a fantastic job on our wreath art project. After reading Todd Parr’s The Peace Book, each of us wrote on a leaf to express what peace means to us.

Math

Our students have been expanding their understanding of place value by using base-ten blocks. We’ve also been practicing comparing numbers by playing a fun game called Beat the Teacher. As a class, we roll one die, and each player decides whether to place that number in the ones, tens, or hundreds place. I then reveal my combination, and if they have a larger number than mine, they get points for that round. This time, they didn’t manage to beat me, but I don’t think that will last long; they already came up with so many brilliant strategies!

We’ve also continued our lessons on fractions. On Friday, our students worked in groups on a matching activity, then challenged themselves to see how quickly and accurately they could sort the cards.

Ways to support at home: Review concepts taught at school. Ask your child to teach you what they learned so far.

Social Studies

Our students now have pen pal buddies! We’re connecting with Grade 6/7 students in North Vancouver who are inquiring into ancient civilizations with topics similar to those we’ve discussed in our classroom. Our students wrote letters sharing what they’ve learned about different cultures and some questions they have about certain ancient civilizations. They’re excited to hear back from their buddies soon!

Thank you for your continued support at home.

Sincerely, Ms. Kim

Dear families,

It has been a great first week back after spring break so far reconnecting and listening to our stories about how we spent the break!

We are poets.

This week, we started exploring our creative side as poets. We started the week with writing a poem titled “Who am I?” and then followed up with writing poems about our favourite things. Poetry is a great way to develop our personal awareness and identity (which are our core competencies we aim to develop every day).

We are looking forward to sharing them with you at our Student Led Conference this Thursday!

We are mathematicians.

We are having fun learning about multiplication concepts. Students have learned to demonstrate their understanding in multiple ways. Check them out!

We are artists.

Ms. Kapusta has been working hard to plan different art experiences for your children. Here are some updates from this week:

This week, we hung up students’ finished tulip origami art in the classroom and we can’t wait for families to see them during student led conferences next week!

Students also worked on their springtime animal art (inspired by this blog post: https://www.artwithmrsfilmore.com/springtime-bunnies-and-bear-cubs-2nd-grade/). We finished making our bold and bright backgrounds featuring different flowers blooming. We then painted over the marker and crayon using water, which created a beautiful water colour effect.

We talked about value, an element of art, and how colour changes (it becomes lighter) based on how much water is added when painting. Next week we will be learning about texture and contrast as we create black and white animals to place over top of the paintings.

FROM March 12

This week, students finished their origami tulip art from last week. Students experimented with different sizes, styles, and colours of origami tulips and then glued them down onto a nature-themed background they decorated for a 3D effect. Some students even played with texture, using pine needles they found outside as grass. We also began some springtime bunnies inspired by this blog post: https://www.artwithmrsfilmore.com/springtime-bunnies-and-bear-cubs-2nd-grade/ This week we worked on creating beautiful, bold, bright backgrounds featuring different flowers blooming. We talked about how bright colours will pop in contrast to the black and white bunny that will be placed on top. We also talked about the technique of using markers and crayons as we’ll be painting over their drawings with water to play with the value of colour. Stay tuned for photos of both the origami tulips and springtime bunnies, and please have a restful and refreshing Spring Break. 

FROM March 7

This week, students finished their mini spring weavings. By the end of the day, many students had made at least 2-4 separate paper weavings, which was great practice! It takes time and patience to build up the dexterity to weave using our fine motor skills and to get a grasp of the “over, under” pattern, and it was impressive to watch everyone’s resilience. Afterwards, we explored the process of making origami tulips. Students then glued them onto paper for a 3D effect and decorated the backgrounds. These will be hung up just in time for spring around the corner! “Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place) (First Peoples Principles of Learning).” Before we made our tulips, we talked about the signs of spring we’re beginning to notice and what we’re looking forward to in this upcoming season.

We are excited for you to come into the class during Student Led Conferences to see it with your own eyes and for your child to explain the process and their reflections.

Student Led Conferences

Please see my last email regarding sign up for Thursday, April 11 from 3:00 to 6:00 PM. Click here to go to bookings if you do not have an appointment yet. We are looking forward to having you in our class!

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

Sincerely, Ms. Chan and Ms. Kapusta

Upcoming dates

• Friday, April 12 – 2 PM Early dismissal
• Thursday, April 18 – Class photos
• Monday, April 29 – Pro-D day; school not in session
• Friday, May 10 – Field trip to Vancouver Aquarium; we will need parent volunteers, please
• Friday, May 17 – Sports Day; early dismissal at 12:30 PM
• Friday, May 31 – 2 PM Early dismissal