Category: We are creative thinkers.

Dear Families,

I apologize for no post last week but you will find information from last week here too. Last week, I was preparing for my presentation for one of my District workshops named Using Technology to Enhance Student Writing and then I was focussed on writing report cards. I have always enjoyed this time of year because I have an opportunity to really sit down and reflect on how your child has improved and what the next steps will be moving forward. While it does take many hours to write overall, it’s a rewarding time to see how much growth has taken place in a few month’s time. I also appreciate the way we share student’s progress here at Brentwood Park, in particular, because of how it is strength-based and how it honours student voice. Reports will be going home next Friday, February 14th. 

On Monday, January 27th, we celebrated Family Literacy Day wearing our pajamas to school. We started the day with a quick game of trivia. Then before lunch, we played a few games of animal BINGO with Mr. Ricker announcing the animals over the PA system for the whole school to play. We thought some of the animal sounds were hard to guess! After lunch, it was our turn to read on the mats in the gym. It was great to see some parents come to join us! For the remainder of the week, students were encouraged to participate in any kind of literacy with their family in the evenings. Literacy does not just mean reading. There are different kinds of literacy: math, financial, media, health, physical, and yes, even digital literacy that you can share with your children. We are well on our way with our Home Literacy Club. Some students have now read over 125 days! Please continue to encourage your child to participate. If you need a new form, please let me know. Happy to send a new one home!

Last week, we had the great pleasure to meet our student teacher from SFU, Ms. Grewal. She spent the week getting to know us and observing other teachers in the school. She is back at SFU now but will be returning on February 24 to stay with us for four consecutive weeks (with spring break in between). During this time, she will be teaching a lesson a day leading up to teaching two consecutive half or full days just before spring break. It will be a blessing for our students to have two teachers in the room to support them! Should you have any questions, please contact me. 

We have certainly been working hard on our reading and writing skills by learning about various strategies. In reading, we learned about making predictions and what makes a good one: how our ideas about the story would include thinking about the main characters, where the story takes place, what might the problem be, and possible solution. Then we discussed the clues that help us make these predictions (the title, pictures, headings, or something they have read before that reminds them of the book cover). Finally, we learned about various genres. We discovered that many have not even heard of the word genre before. I follow the teaching strategy: I do, we do, you do. What this means is that I model what making predictions looks like. Then we will do a prediction together. Next, students will have an opportunity to practice making predictions on their own, justifying their predictions with clues they see. If you are interested, click here to learn why making predictions is a good reading strategy to improve comprehension. How can you support your child at home? Before your child cracks open that new book from the book store or library, ask them to make a prediction and have a conversation about what clues they are using to make the prediction. Then watch their excitement when their prediction actually comes true or not!

In writing, we have been practicing writing summaries of stories. This is an important skill to be able to learn how to pull out the main points. Summarizing improves reading skills, critical thinking skills, and writing and editing skills as they draft their summary. I have already seen growth! How you can support your child at home: After your child reads a picture book or a chapter, ask your child to summarize what happened in 1-2 sentences to practice. You can model this as well during your conversations. When your child tells you a story about something that happened to them, for example, repeat what you heard happen but in one sentence and then make it explicit by informing them you just summarized their story! It’ll make them feel heard at the same time too! 

Today, we read a story called Thanks for the Feedback, I Think by Julia Cook. It is about a boy who learns how to appropriately respond to positive and negative feedback. We learned that feedback is just information we can use to help us improve if we have a growth mindset. Click on the link above if you would like to watch the storybook read to you. 

In Math, we dove into addition strategies to become more fluent at mental math. Most of us probably learned how to add by regrouping but now, there is a “new way” of adding two digits plus two digits. Click on the video to view. Please review at home as it will help build their confidence at school. This is one way we practice at school: Take a deck of cards to create random numbers. Flip over two cards for the first number (addend) and then another two cards for the second number (addend). Now this is your addition equation to solve! Then we add the two tens first before adding the ones. Finally, add those together just like in the video. Feel free to ask your child to show you.

Card games to support your child at home with math facts fluency (adding to 20)

(1) Addition War: Take a deck of playing cards and remove the Jack and King. The Queen represents a zero. Divide the deck evenly between partners. Players flip one card at the same time. Whoever calls out the sum first takes the cards. Variation: Each player flips over two cards from their evenly divided deck. Both players add their own two numbers together and compare; whoever has the larger number takes the cards to add to their own deck, like traditional war except compare the sum of both cards.

(2) Today, we played Doubles War to practice our doubles with playing cards. In partners, they took turns flipping over one card at a time (Ace to 10). Whoever calls out the doubled sum first takes the card. I so wish you could have been there to see their excitement and hear their enthusiasm. Many students were popping like popcorn, jumping off the ground, as they called out their sums in hopes of beating their partners. It was so much fun to witness their enjoyment!

(3) Go to my Symbaloo webmix and look at the bottom row. Here, you will find a number of Quizlet flashcards to practice the same math fluency strategies we practice in class like: making tens, doubles, doubles plus one, for example.

Quizlet is one of the top rated quiz websites for review. Try out other people’s quizzes shared in the community or create ones of your own! This site really helped my son practice his French vocabulary so it’s a website to keep in mind for your children in the future too.

Practice math fluency strategies (2 digit addition/subtraction)

We practiced the Adding Ten strategy. Partners took turns to flip over two cards and the first to call out the sum of 10 more gets to take the cards. For example, flip 52. First to call out 62 earns those cards. We also practiced Subtracting Tens the same way. I challenge you to play these games at home to support your child’s learning in math. Who would win? Have your child report back to me. Kids are often motivated to practice when it means they can beat their parents.

In Science, we have continued to learn about landforms, adding islands and plateaus. I am just so thrilled to know they have thoroughly enjoyed learning in this way. I can’t wait for them to share their projects with you during our Student Led Conferences coming up before Spring Break on March 12th. Save the date!

Ice skating next Wednesday, February 12th! We will leave school shortly after 9:00 am. Skating time starts at 9:30 am (1 hour). Click here to view field trip form for more information.

GRADE 3 PARENTS: Your child will need to bring a booster seat to school each time we go skating. This is the law and we cannot ask parent volunteer drivers to take children who do not have booster seats. We only have two students who would be exempt. Thank you.

To bring:

• gloves, ice sport or ski helmet, long socks
• skates (if your child owns a pair)
• booster seat if your child is not yet 9 years old or 4’9″ tall (145 cm)

Thank you so very much to our volunteer drivers! We definitely cannot participate in these skating sessions without your help and support. We are so grateful to the parents of Ana, Eva, Kyle, Lauren, Isaac, Lucas C., Max, and Yunsoo!

Unfortunately, we are still short rides for 3 students on February 18 and March 3. I will be driving on all of our skating days too. If you can help out, please let me know. If you are not comfortable driving other students, even if you bring your own child to and from the rink, that will help too. Thank you. 

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

Dear families,

I apologize for no post last week so this post will cover the last two weeks. I was in a ringette tournament last weekend. My own team lost in the semi-finals and my daughter’s team, who I coach, won gold in their division! It was a very exciting fun-filled weekend.

We welcomed our two new students: Anna and Yoo Joon. I am happy to say that students have been very warm and welcoming.

We listened to a story about making New Year’s resolutions, Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution. Click on image to watch:

Rather than usual New Year’s resolutions, students chose #OneWord2020 and shared on @padlet. Then we dove into our “magnifying glass” writing to record details on why we chose our word, how we are going to remind ourselves, and to come up with strategies when we know we will be challenged. Check out our “one word” resolutions! 

For writing, we have listened to a number of stories about snow since we have seen a lot of it lately! Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright, Deep Snow and So Much Snow by Robert Munsch, The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett, and The First Sign of Snow (animated video). After listening to these stories, students were encouraged to use their creativity and were offered a choice in their writing. They could take any part of the story to change what happens next (almost like a build your own adventure) or they could write a continuation (like Part 2) of the story, or like The Three Snow Bears (which is a variation of Goldilocks and the Three Bears), they were given the option to write their own variation with different characters and different things these characters try before they fall asleep somewhere. I so enjoyed reading these stories because their creativity really shine through and I it makes me feel excited to see examples of how they are taking risks to incorporate new techniques in their writing! Click here to read stories written by Ana and Anna. Happy reading!

The class was introduced to a new app called Explain Everything. It’s one of the most downloaded educational apps and is similar to PowerPoint where they create slides, can add images, videos, audio, and record like an interactive whiteboard. Students are using this app to record their learning about landforms in Science. This unit is like a multi-mini inquiry project. First, we recorded what we think we know about mountains. Some students said they learned about landforms last year but when it was time to record what they think, they did not remember many facts. The next step was to be curious about mountains. Students were encouraged to record what they wonder about mountains. Then after some shared reading and a video, we recorded our new learning on a new Now I Know slide. Any questions that are not answered by our whole class learning then, students researched. This makes their learning personalized as they are able to make new discoveries based on their own curiosities. They have really enjoyed this kind of learning, finding images, and being able to show what they learned in this way! This past week, we learned about deserts. Next week, glaciers! Feel free to discuss what you wonder about glaciers. This thinking will help them with their work tomorrow.

We watched a short video on Wonderopolis on how mountains are formed. Click here to watch or click here for deserts.

In Math, the grade 3’s learned about linear measurement (mm, cm, dm, m, km) and practiced our measuring skills while the grade 4’s learned about regular and irregular polygons. As a class, we explored using our creativity and practiced the concept of symmetry and the line of symmetry. Then we examined how First People’s art often has symmetry and balance with various patterns.

As an introduction to early settlers in Canada, we borrowed Ms. Willis’ classroom and proceeded to use and take their things without the class knowing. (Well, actually, Ms. Willis did inform them we would be using their class for this purpose.) My goal was to help them experience something somewhat relatable so that they can empathize what it may have felt like for the First Peoples when the first settlers came to Canada. Looking forward to diving into further discussions and deeper thinking on this topic in Social Studies.

We watched a whole school performance, Hip Hop Hoop Dance. It is a story between two people from different cultures who teach each other about their people, culture, and dance as they develop a friendship. From Artstarts website:

Our collaborative Hip Hop Hoop Dance tells a story, exploring the topic of truth and reconciliation through the art of live theatre. It’s a sharing of cultures, both between the performer and with the audience. With both of us being people of colour, we realized we had both experienced aspects of colonization and assimilation. We quickly recognized the similarities between our respective cultures’ art forms, traditions and beliefs. We thought, we should celebrate this and build a performative piece that would recognize not only the celebration of similarities between cultures, but to celebrate the differences that are so unique. Terrance says, “… part of reconciliation is educating non-native people about Indigenous history. This show provides that information, to better understand the way of life of my people.”

Young People’s Concert on Monday, January 20: We will be leaving the classroom at 9:00 AM sharp to go to the bus. Please plan to arrive early! The bus will not wait for latecomers. This will be our final show in the Concert series.

Hip Hop: Students have been working hard to practice their dancing. It’s remarkable how quickly they learn. This year, students are to wear all black. If your child does not have a plain black top, feel free to take a shirt and flip it inside out or wear navy blue. Please feel free to bring in a black short or long sleeve shirt starting next Monday so we can add “bones” by using masking tape. The performance will be on Friday, January 24 in the afternoon. 

Family Literacy Day and Readathon on Monday, January 27:  Envelopes went home on Friday, January 17. They are due on Thursday, January 23rd. Regardless of whether you receive any pledges (collect money), your child is expected to return the envelope as this is their ticket in the gym door. This year, the school will be tallying fundraising pledges by division. The division with the most pledges will win a pizza party. Please have your child practice reading for up to 45 minutes so that they can read, uninterrupted for 45-60 minutes. They are to bring or have enough reading material for 45-60 minues and wear pyjamas and bring stuffies and a pillow if they wish. 

Save the date and time! Our time in the Family Literacy Day and Readathon in the gym will be at 1:00 to 2:00pm. Families, please join us in the gym during this time. Parents, siblings, and grandparents are welcome!

Ice skating: We still need parent drivers for skating, please. If you have already volunteered, thank you so much. You should find the Volunteer Driver Authorization form in your child’s planner. 

Dear Families,

I apologize for the late update. In our last week in December, we performed “Your Welcome” at the Winter Showcase. I videotaped them each time the previous week and showed them the video so they could self-reflect on how they can improve. They were keen to watch themselves – well, most of them. I was proud to see that each time they practiced, they looked better and better. Hope you enjoyed their performance too! Thank you to our amazing music teachers for putting on a fantastic show and for the other staff and students who dedicated countless hours to prepare the choir, props, practices, etc. We also appreciate the parents who helped with the Winter Raffle and Pancake Breakfast. Our school is blessed to have such dedicated parents!

During the week, students worked hard to finish their Christmas stories with a partner. First, they used a story frame to brainstorm their ideas and then used storyboards to develop their scenes. Most were partnered with someone they did not know very well. I was so very proud of how every partnership worked so well and so hard together as they brainstormed, shared ideas, collaborated with patience and kindness, took turns, and successfully completed very creative and very different stories. So much laughter I heard as they diligently worked. These puppet shows using Puppet Pals have been uploaded to their OneDrive account. To view, ask your child to login to O365. Go to OneDrive and click on their story projects. Also look for your child’s written reflection on how they worked as a partner and some core competencies, “I can” statements, too.

As you are in your child’s OneDrive, take a look at some of their other work that has been uploaded. You will find their Time and Fractions & Decimals books, and toucan art, among other things. Consider this your child’s e-portfolio. We will be adding more key samples of work with reflections on our learning or core competencies.

In Math, we worked on probability and the likelihood of simulated events. Please check We are Mathematicians page for what was covered. We will continue this week but will move to Measurement soon.

Students have been coding away in Tynker. To make things easier, I have changed their passwords and will share with them when they return. If you wish and your child is interested, they can continue to code or play Prodigy Math at home. Please ask should you have any questions about either of these opportunities.

Some exciting news… we are welcoming two new students to our class! Please help us welcome them to our school family. We sadly say good-bye to Sophia who has returned to Korea though. We will surely miss her kindheartedness and warm smile and wish her well. 

I hope you have had a wonderful break! I am excited to see your children first thing in the morning!

Sincerely, Ms. Chan