Category: We are creative thinkers.

Dear families,

Wow, what a week FULL of learning! I can’t wait for you to read all about our rich learning!

We are writers and communicators.

On Monday, we started with reading a story called Diary of a Spider as a launch pad for reflection on our own past weekend.

After reading the story, I introduced the writing process by explaining that writing is so much more than just writing. A big part of our writing time is not spent on writing but actually on thinking. I developed this graphic a few years ago and have used it to help not only children but adults understand the writing process. Actually, I believe in this so much that I created an online course about these tips and strategies to help adults become better writers too. The pre-writing stage and the during writing stage develops their metacognition about writing.

Click on the image to take a closer look!

Then we talked about how once we are finished writing, it’s not the “rush to the teacher to say I’m finished” but instead, an opportunity to make our writing BETTER before we conference with Ms. Chan. This is the after writing stage.

How is this done? We read it over at least THREE times. Each time they read it over, it is for a different purpose. Click on the image to take a closer look!

I was so impressed with their writing after this ONE lesson. Many students felt they did their best writing EVER and felt so proud of themselves as writers! I have seen such academic growth when children become more aware of this writing AND thinking process. READ MORE !

Dear families,

Thank you for your continued support at home! We hope you had a fantastic long weekend!

We are poets.

Students should have their affirmations complete by now. I hope to share them with you next week! If they have them finished, they have a second copy for home to read every morning and night time before bed. My hope is that they will do this for 30 days. We will reflect on how this practice has made an impact on how they believe in themselves and their well-being.

I am so impressed with their Creativity poems. Some have really taken their creativity to the next level! Our free verse poems are also SO good! They are having a lot of fun creating them. I love how many of them are so willing to share their poems with the class. I was so inspired by their poems that I wrote my own free verse poem from my heart and shared it on Twitter!

We are mathematicians.

For grade 5s, they learned how to do long division. This Wednesday, they will have an opportunity to show what they know so far in division. This is information is as much for me as it is for them to really see how independently they are grasping the concepts. They will then receive personalized feedback on what they are doing well and will understand what concepts still need more review.

Please continue to have your child practice their math facts at home. The kids who know their facts are having an easier time with understanding division. Your support at home is very appreciated!

Dragsters

Last week, we started to paint our dragster vehicles. This week, we will continue to paint to make our cars even better!

Swimming

I so enjoyed watching the kids have so much fun in the water together. They were respectful and safe.

Reminder: Swimming at Eileen Dailly Pool tomorrow! Thank you so much to the grade 5s who brought their Be Active cards. You helped save our school money! Any parents interested to walk with us is welcome!

Grizzly Games on Friday, June 10

Feel free to order pizza on School Cash online. There will be an early dismissal at 12:15pm so please arrange for pick up at that time. We hope to see many of you there!

There will be another early dismissal on Friday, June 17 as well but at 1:45pm.

Always know that your children are loved and appreciated at school. We aim to push them outside of their comfort zones so they grow in their stretch zones. We aim to help them see themselves as leaders and try to develop their leadership qualities to live their lives like role models. It has been such an amazing fun-filled year so far and it’s because of the culture we continue to build on a daily basis through every interaction. Thank you for your continued support at home. We are stronger together as partners in your child’s education.

With much gratitude, Ms. Chan

Hello Division 6 families!

I hope you had a great week like we did at school! I feel like a broken record but the love and joy we share is so appreciated. Today during our Community Circle, we shared something grateful we are looking forward to on the weekend and something we appreciate about our class. Such heartwarming responses with thankfulness for classmates and me. Our daily gratitude practices are a part of our being together as a community. Just yesterday, I had the greatest honour to have my writing published by one of the biggest education websites in the world! Edutopia shared my article about how gratitude is embedded in our classroom. I’d LOVE for you to read it so you can get a glimpse into our day – Click here!

Practicing gratitude is an important part of our social emotional learning! It improves mindset, builds a positive classroom culture, and fosters social awareness. How can you naturally embed gratitude into your daily routine at home?

We are creative.

The theme at Gilmore this month is creativity so we are fully embracing ours with our dragster cars and poetry! This week, we continued to work on our affirmations and CREATIVITY acrostic poems. Today, a student shared that she was feeling a little on the grumpy side when she woke up. Then she read her affirmations and it turned her day to a positive start! I even noticed she came in this morning with big smiles and I was truly thrilled to learn why! As your child is finishing up their affirmations, they will have two copies – one for home to read in the morning and at night for 30 days and one at school. May I suggest that you write affirmations too? Share it with your child and read it as a way to connect. Perhaps you can do the 30 day challenge together! I am excited to see how that changes your child’s belief in themselves and how it builds their personal inner strength.

We are mathematicians.

So far, the grade 5s have learned about division: sets, sharing, how division and multiplication is related, knowing when to multiply and divide, and dividing with remainders. Today, we had such a great lesson in working collaboratively, communicating our mathematical thinking, and using our critical thinking skills as our first discovery lesson on long division. We were placed in three groups to practice our math discourse by explaining, reasoning, and justifying our process and answer.

It warmed my heart how well they worked together and how engaged they were! I may have been smiling the whole time! I loved and appreciated how once they gained a certain level of understanding, I was able to push them a little more to stretch their thinking and build connections to what they already know about addition and multiplication. They got to come to their own discovery and understanding of how they are all related!

Next week, we will break down the algorithm of long division. Please continue to work with your child to practice their math facts. I had a student today feel SO proud of herself because she now knows all of her x6 facts! All it takes is some dedication, commitment, and time. Eventually, with practice, they will learn them all! Thank you for your support!

ADST

This week, we had our sanding party! Many of the cars are much smoother than when they brought them back in. Next week, we will paint. I am so looking forward to seeing their creativity shine through! If your child still has their cars at home, please ensure they are brought back to school on Monday. Thank you!

Outdoor Education

What an awesome day we had with the grade 5s at Camp Jubilee! They had an opportunity to do archery, low ropes, and kayaking. We ended our day with a campfire and of course, silly campfire songs! We are already looking into the possibility of booking for the grade 5s next year (that’s this year’s grade 4s)! Thank you to the fundraising efforts of parents who covered half of your cost. We appreciate you!

It sounds like the grade 4s enjoyed their day too with the others in Mr. Anchor’s class. 🙂

We are swimmers.

On Tuesday, May 17, we have our first of two swimming sessions! We will be leaving the school shortly after lunch. We will walk to Eileen Dailey pool so please have your child dress appropriately for the weather. Children were encouraged to prepare by writing a list of what they need and packing their own swim items the night before so they are not rushing around on Tuesday morning. This teaches them responsibility and organization.

Grade 5s – If your child has a Be Active pass, please bring it to school on Monday. That way, if they forget, they still have a second opportunity to bring it on Tuesday. If your child does not have one yet, please print and fill it out and return to school on Monday. That way, there will be no cost for them. Thank you so much for your cooperation! Click here to learn more and get access to the registration form.

Please review the safety expectations. Click on the image or click here to read.

Reminder: Students will not be making any purchases so please do not send money.

Reminder: Class Photo Day will be this Friday, May 20!

As always, we appreciate you for your support at home and for sharing your wonderful children with us this year. It has been such a phenomenal year so far! Have an awesome weekend!

Grateful for you, Ms. Chan

Dear families,

We hope you had a wonderful and Happy Mother’s day! I had both of my brother’s family come over for the first time in over a year, and I felt so grateful for the opportunity to have our family together again. It filled my heart with gratitude and joy. Speaking of gratitude, I was recently a guest on my friend’s new podcast called Evolving with Gratitude where I got to share what gratitude means to me. I also had the greatest opportunity to talk about how gratitude is embedded in our daily practices in the classroom. If you’re interested, I’d love for you to CLICK HERE to listen. I also wrote a blog post almost a year ago called The Gift of Gratitude if you’d like to check that out too. I truly believe that gratitude is a mindset and a way of living that helps me cultivate joy every day and throughout the day.

First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your generosity and dedication to supporting our students at Gilmore! What an incredible collective effort to raise funds for our Walkathon! They had a great walk around the neighbourhood last Friday! Our hearts are full of gratitude!

Grade 5s to Camp Jubilee on Tuesday, May 10. Please have your child arrive at or before 7:15am. The bus will leave promptly at 7:30am. We will not be able to wait if your child is not here on time because we need to catch the boat on the north shore.

The grade 4s will line up in our usual spot in the morning. Mr. Anchor will pick them up in the morning. Students will be spending the day with the other grade 4s in his class. Sounds like a fun day he’s planned for them!

We are poets.

This past week, we started our unit on poetry. Our monthly theme at Gilmore is creativity so poetry fits right in! We started with a list poem, writing our our personal affirmations. I follow Jon Acuff‘s work and he calls it anthems so some students have chosen to call it that too. Each student had an opportunity to share their favourite statements and wow, they have blown me away with how insightful they are. I am so excited to see their final products so they can use these as anchors in their personal development. By the way, I highly recommend looking into Jon Acuff. He’s written a number of books, his latest called Soundtracks, and has a great podcast called All it Takes is a Goal.) Click here to see a copy of Jon’s Anthem to give you an idea or google affirmations to get a better idea too.

We also tried our hand at writing tongue twisters. We came up with some creative and difficult ones to say out loud!

On Friday, we wrote an acrostic poem with the word: CREATIVITY. This was brought home for homework to finish. This is a poem where the first letter in each line spells out the word.

I think it’s always fun if you do what we do. So, if you’d like to try your hand at writing an anthem or affirmations, a tongue twister, or an acrostic poem for creativity, I would love for you to share it with your child! If you’re comfortable, have your child bring it to school to share it with all of us! I bet the other kids will think it’s so cool!

We are mathematicians.

Both grade 4s and 5s started division. Please continue to encourage your child to practice their multiplication/division math facts. It really does make a world of a difference when they just know them by heart and don’t have to check their multiplication chart, which really slows down their computations.

Reminders

Dragsters – Students were asked to bring their carved dragsters back to school on Monday, ready for our sanding party. Thank you for helping your child prepare their dragsters. I am so looking forward to seeing how their concepts come to reality! Next week, we will paint.

Coffee & Conversation – The Community Room is now open again for coffee time! Since I have Head Teacher time, I get to be a part of this wonderful time to connect with parents. If you are available, I would SO love for you to join us on Thursday mornings from 9 to 10am. It’s a great opportunity to get to know other parents better too!

Thank you so very much for your continued dedication to reading these blog posts to keep up to date. We appreciate your support at home!

Loving being your child’s teacher, Ms. Chan