Category: We are creative thinkers.

Dear families,

During our community circle time, we started the day sharing what we appreciate most about water. Then we read a story called The Water Walker written and illustrated by Joanne Robertson about a grandmother who walks to raise awareness about the importance of protecting water for life on our planet and for generations to come. Students wrote thoughtful reflections on what they appreciate about water, what they can do to protect or conserve, and their hope for how others will use water responsibly. 

Pukana /ˈpuːkənə/ game is a traditional Maori (Indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand) hand game that Ms. Innes taught them last week. When I asked them about it, they said they wanted to play again so they taught me how. I couldn’t find anything online that is exactly the same as how we played but this video gives you a sense. They had so much fun playing this. Ask your child about it!

On Monday, grade 4 students wrote their decimals test. The package of tests were sent home for parents to review. If your child still has their tests at home, please return to school on Monday. The re-test will be on Monday, December 16th. If you need a copy of the study guide, please go to We Are Learners page – Mathematicians.

For our new Math, we are learning about probability. First we watched a video that taught us about equal, likely, unlikely, certainly, and impossible and we practiced with some examples:

Then we watched an animation video that further reviewed these concepts. To learn more about the learning outcomes for grade 3’s and 4’s, go to our We Are Learners – Mathematicians page.

Students have been given Prodigy accounts to learn and practice Math concepts or if they had an existing account, it has been linked to our classroom. It’s a responsive online Math program that is tailored to your child’s needs based on the accuracy of their answers. Click here to learn more or sign in to play. For students, they need to click on the white button: Play Prodigy. They brought home their login information today.

This week, students started writing a Christmas story with a partner. I am always so pleased to see that no matter who I match up, each partnership works so well together. They look forward to this story writing time. We will continue with these stories next week.

I was noticing that there was an overuse of conjunctions in their writing or situations where using a conjunction would have been effective so Ms. Tas and I did a lesson on what a conjunction is and how to use. Students were either given a subject, conjunction, or predicate to start. Then they had to move around the room to find different people to create sentences that make sense. Students enjoyed themselves and laughed at some of the silly sentences that were put together.

Mr. Baumann has been teaching Division 9 art since the beginning of the year for a half hour a week. Recently, they have been working on winter and Christmas art but I wanted to share their toucans completed earlier in the year. If you have your child log in to their O365 account, their individual toucans have been uploaded for you to enjoy. I love seeing their creativity come alive as they produce different art pieces even though they are given the same instructions. I also appreciate the perseverance they show with the various art projects too.

Students have been practicing their song every day this week in preparation for the Christmas concert next Tuesday night. I videotaped them each time and they self-assessed so they could think about how to improve. They look better and better each time! If your child did not bring concert clothes in a labelled bag yet, please send to school on Monday. On the night of the concert, please have your child return to school before 6:30 pm. They will report to Ms. Walji and Ms. Basso’s classroom – Room 6. Please arrive on time. Thank you.

We had a great time today decorating gingerbread cookies with your big buddies today. We also enjoyed our last session of yoga with Ms. Gomes in the afternoon. We both noticed an improvement from last week in the way that they were able to be calm and practice yoga postures. She gave them a mini book to take home. Thank you for the support from PAC that made these sessions possible.

Ice skating forms are due on Thursday, December 19th. To learn more, go to our Field Trips page. 

In preparation for Breakfast with Santa on Friday, December 20th, please have your child bring a reusable plate, fork, and knife in a labelled bag to school. Students can bring these items in starting on Monday.

We are collecting food for the Food Bank all of next week. Please bring non-perishable food items. Thank you.

Dear families,

It’s hard to believe there are only two more weeks left before the winter break! I feel happy to spend my days with your children because they make me smile and laugh with the things they say, what they do, and how they positively interact with each other. Also, the improvements I see as they work towards their goals in listening, speaking, work habits, reading, writing, math, etc. make it a rewarding day every day. For example, when I see students begin to use or incorporate new learning in their writing, it really fills me with great joy and fills my heart with excitement. Admittedly, sometimes I am so overjoyed that I spontaneously clap with excitement like a little child. Yes, the children look at me strange but it’s like I cannot contain my giddiness over the improvements I see. It actually feels more exciting than opening any present. Here are some things we learned about last week:

Ms. Innes was our TOC again on Monday. This is a write up from her: We talked about the history of First Nation’s Peoples’ in B.C. The discussion flowed into the residential school system. Then we read “When We Were Alone” by David Robertson. This picture book was delivered through a story basket containing many objects to connect students deeply to the concepts of residential schools. They then recreated a page from the book and wrote a reflection on why that page was chosen and what their favourite part was.

Ms. Innes also taught them how to say, “[Name] is my name” from the language of the Squamish Peoples’ called Sḵwx̱wúmesh Sníchim. It looks like this: Ms. Innes ḵwi un sna. There were also signs that went with each word. Please ask your child to demonstrate. 

So as an extension lesson, students were introduced to the alphabet in American Sign Language. They learned how to ask another what their name was by signing, “Your name what?” (The syntax is different than in English.) Then they responded by signing, “My name ______” followed by signing, “Nice to meet you.” They had an opportunity to practice over and over again as they greeted each other. 

Based on what we were seeing with student’s writing, we learned about what makes a sentence = subject and predicate. We then practiced with some examples on the whiteboard. After that, the real fun began. Students each received four strips of paper to write down two subjects and two predicates. We paired up and matched our subjects to our partner’s predicates. What ensued was lots of laughter because of the silly sentences that were put together as we moved from partner to partner. One of Steven’s favourite sentences was: Ms. Chan fell down a rabbit hole. There were some very creative and interesting sentences put together!

We watched the story How to Catch a Star (video link) and then students had a choice to retell the story providing the main parts or to write a sequel to the story. I so enjoyed reading their writing because of their creativity and they enjoyed writing part two to the story.

Over the next couple days, we watched the story Olive the Other Reindeer (video link) and The Elves and the Shoemaker (video link). Students were given the choice to write a prequel or sequel to the story. I so loved the creativity I saw in their writing again. They love listening to the sequels written by their classmates as we showcase word choice, use of dialogue, and creativity, for example. 

Students are really responding to the writing lessons and have continued to improve in this area. After they finish writing, they have an opportunity to conference with me. During this time, we read their writing together to learn about what they are doing well (strengths so they know what they need to continue doing) and to learn from the errors (some of these errors become our new goals). This valuable discussion provides each student with feedback on their personal learning goals so they can improve from exactly where they are as they are offered next steps in how to improve. If there is a clear area of opportunity, children are asked to take that opportunity to re-write or add on to their writing that day for immediate practice in exactly the area they need to improve. I wish you could see their faces when they come back to show me their changes – just full of pride.

We had our first Christmas concert rehearsal in the gym on Thursday. I can’t wait for you to see them perform! A reminder that your concert ticket orders are due on Monday, December 9th. There will be an afternoon performance at 1:30 pm and an evening performance at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, December 17th. 

On Friday, we walked with our little buddies to put their letter to Santa in the mailbox. I so loved hearing the chatter and laughter as they walked and talked with their little buddies. Next week on Friday, we will be decorating gingerbread cookies with our big buddies. Please send candies for our gingerbread cookies starting on Monday. Reminder that NO food products with nuts can be brought to school. We have life threatening allergies. Thank you.

We had our second session of yoga with Ms. Gomes. They learned a little about the history of yoga postures, the importance of breathing, and practiced some new postures to challenge our bodies. We have one more session this coming Friday. Please have your child wear comfortable clothing. Thank you.

Throughout the week, we reviewed fractions and decimals in preparation for their Math test on fractions. Thank you for your support at home to help them review. The decimals study guide went home on Friday. Click here to view. Grade 4’s  Math test on decimals will be on Monday; some grade 3’s wanted to challenge themselves by learning about decimals too but please know that this is not expected for grade 3’s. To find out about what the learning outcomes are for this Math unit, this information can be found on our We Are Learners – Mathematicians page.

Continue to bring in new socks for our Sock It to Poverty campaign. We will be collecting food for the Food Bank starting too.

Forms to return and make payments: Christmas concert, gingerbread cookies, and breakfast with Santa

Bring in clothing for Christmas concert in a labelled bag by Wednesday, December 11th. Thank you.

Being your child’s teacher brings me so much joy. I am blessed to have the privilege to work with them this year.

TUESDAY: In Math, we have been practicing our skip counting by 2s and 10s using a deck of cards to create random numbers. Students flip over three or four cards to make a number; they call out 2 more, 2 less or 10 more, 10 less with speed. This concept helps their addition and subtraction fluency. For grade 3s, they practiced numbers up to 1000 and for grade 4s, they practiced numbers up to 10,000. For Math addition fluency, we practiced a new strategy of making tens by playing Making Tens Go Fish. To learn more about how you can support your child at home in Math, click on our We are Mathematicians page.

WEDNESDAY: Music teacher came in to ask if I teach students to be friendly-yes! He noticed they greet him by saying hi, his name, and look at him in the eye. They have been greeting me in the mornings by saying my name too! They understand how nice it feels when they hear their name. #heartwarmed
*I love it when I hear them greet each other and say their names with a smile too!

THURSDAY: Students didn’t appear to mind walking in the rain to Revs Bowling. They were placed into mixed groups with the other grade 4/5 classes. Here were some of their appreciations: I appreciate Mr. Peters for planning the field trip. I am grateful for meeting new people. I am thankful for my friends who bowled with me.

FRIDAY: This week, students worked on heart maps, story maps and dove in to our inquiry into what makes a good story. Students are becoming more proficient in using O365. Can’t wait to use the commenting feature to provide descriptive feedback and see how they respond and improve in writing over time.

Optional: To access Office 365 at home, use the O365 link or go to our Brentwood Park website and click on Office 365 tab (black menu) on the top bar. Students will need to know their student number. Login looks like this: ######@edu.burnabyschools.ca

Students were so excited to meet our little buddies in Ms. Brolin’s class for the first time on Friday. Another heartwarming event to watch them all in action as they shared about things they have in common and shared a book with them too.

Healthy eating: With Hallowe’en approaching, this is a great time to talk about bringing healthy foods to school. Click here to read about Kids, Sugar, and Healthy Eating by Dietitians of Canada. For the remainder of the year, please refrain from sending snacks that have high sugar content like chocolate and lollipops, for example. Thank you for your support.

Please continue to bring in non-perishable food items for our We Scare Hunger campaign. Thank you.

Inside shoes: With our Westcoast weather, it would be very helpful for your child to bring or keep a pair of inside shoes at school. Wearing shoes is more comfortable than wearing boots all day and it helps keep our classroom cleaner. Thank you.

Our grade 1 and 2 students have worked very hard on their re-creation of the water cycle with their partners and were really excited and engaged in their learning. With practice and repetition, they became more and more confident with their explanation of the water cycle and the moving of the sun, clouds, and precipitation at the same time. Not an easy task! We are very proud of how they improved in their communication skills as they worked as partners negotiating their shared vision while exercising their creative thinking and critical thinking skills in order to pull this off! 

Children have had opportunities to share “I can” statements before and after they worked on their shows again and again. Today, they worked on their final reflections. They really understand their strengths! Click here to read all of their “I can” statements.

Enjoy our Water Cycle shows that we made using Puppet Pals! Hint: Might want to pop some popcorn first. Sorry, videos do not play on iPhones or iPads but play fine on Androids and computers.

Tobee & JeanBenoit	Sasha & Charlotte	Farbod & Lucas	Isla & Dustin
Fisher & Myel	Jeffery & Ronan	Manoj & Priscilla	Leo & Riley
Avia & Sonia	Charlotte & Katherine	Gabby, Hanna & Kailan	Owen & Zachary
Olivya & Mehr	Enjoy!	Made with Puppet Pals

Dear students (and parents),

What do you think about your friend’s shows? Please feel free to offer two stars and a wish or write a comment about why you enjoyed working on this project. What are you most proud of? What appreciations might you have for your partner? If you were to do it again, what would you change? Thank you.

Thoroughly enjoy your spring break, everyone! Looking forward to seeing you on April 1st. We have had such a wonderful year so far with you and your child. Thank you for your continued support at home. We appreciate you!

Sincerely, Ms. Chan & Ms. Cowan