Category: We are critical thinkers.

Dear Div. 6 families,

Your children fill me with joy every time I see them. I remind them of this often! Last year, many of my students used the class blog as a way to practice their reading as this gives them a real reason to read. It also provided families with more conversation starters as a way to be more engaged in their child’s learning at school. With all learning at school, there are always opportunities at home to augment, dive deeper, and explore the concepts taught further. Ask your child what else they are curious about. What are some “I wonder” statements. Then together, you can research the questions. This fosters the skill and desire of becoming a lifelong and independent learner. Have fun and be curious together!

We hope you had a good Hallowe’en weekend. We know that some families participated in a collaborative effort to clean up our school property after last weekend. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your time and dedication to take care of our school in this way. We appreciate you!

Every day during our morning announcements, there is a lesson based on our school-wide monthly theme. This month, we are focusing on gratitude. They learn a new mindset tip about gratitude each day and are offered a daily challenge. Then we augment the school message by continuing the theme in class. During our Community Circle time every day, we share how we are feeling along with the question or topic of the day. I must tell you that every day, my heart is either warmed or touched by the things they share. On Monday, they shared the most wonderful things about gratitude.

We followed this up by watching The Gratitude Jar by Kristin Wiens and then created our own gratitude jars! They loved working on these. I’m so sorry but I forgot to take a picture of them before leaving school on Friday! Feel free to ask your child about this story and their gratitude jars! We will be filling these with things we are grateful for.

We are responsible citizens who care for our earth. On Wednesday, TJ from BC Sustainability Association presented a virtual workshop on Climate Change. We took sketch notes on what we learned. This is the first year I have introduced sketch notes to my students and the more we use this strategy, the more I am seeing their value in this type of notetaking! I know this has gained more momentum in the education world in more recent years. Please feel free to read an article (video included) called Why Teachers Are So Excited About the Power of Sketchnoting. I wonder what other areas in your child’s life where sketchnoting can be useful at home?

As part of this program, your child is offered an opportunity to participate in a 4-week challenge with the possibilities to win some prizes. A booklet was sent home on Friday. Click here for the digital version (PDF). Please take your time to carefully and thoughtfully review this with your child. They do not need to complete all of the challenges. We learned that Canada is a country that uses more energy than the average compared to other countries! So this initiative is for children and families to learn how we can reduce our carbon footprint. If we build this mindset of taking care of our earth and related habits now, it will make a difference overall.

We are scientists and presenters. On Thursday, we co-constructed our criteria for our Oral Presentation for our rock inquiry. What does that mean? It means that we came up with the criteria together. To access the single-point rubric as a Word document, it can be found in O365 Teams > Assignments > Rock Inquiry or click here. The first presentations will begin this Friday. We cannot listen to everyone on the same day so if your child still needs more time, no worries! They can have more time! In order to prepare, they need to practice their presentation at home a few times in front of you, their pets, stuffed animals, or a mirror. HINT: It is great feedback to videotape and then watch it to see how they can improve. Feel free to “mark” your child or have them self-assess!

Here is the Mystery Doug video we watched this past week: How were emojis created? Feel free to watch as a family with siblings! Enjoy!

We are readers and communicators. For Language Arts, we are improving in our Say Something strategy. We have now moved to groups of three to talk about the books we are reading. I am so pleased with the improvements I am seeing in our double-entry response journals too! Daily homework: Read 20-30 minutes a night and this includes having a conversation about a part of the book that they had a connection to or resonated with them. Besides reading, this sharing piece is just as important to help develop their critical thinking and communication skills. Ask probing questions to try to draw more. For example, “Tell me more. So what makes you think that? How does that make you feel and why? What else does that remind you of?”

We are writers. We did some creative story writing too! I used these doors to spark their creativity. They had the choice to use one or the other or both! I just love how enthusiastic your children are. I am absolutely sure some of them would have loved to stay in to continue writing during their recess if I let them! It brought me so much joy to see their excitement when I gave them more time to write after recess. They are such keen learners and hard workers! Definitely gave “today’s best”!

We are mathematicians. We now have covered all of the place value they need to know, from the millions place to thousandths place. We updated our personal mini-booklets. Our goal was to ensure they have a positive attitude about math so they can be successful, feel happy, and excited for math because it is fun! I believe this beginning to be a success. It takes time. Thank you for your patience and trust. Now that they have a positive mindset to set them up for further success, we can move on. I recognize that this is not the traditional way that we or your child may have learned math in the past but I have found this way to be highly effective because of the foundation we are building in their understanding of numbers and mindset. Having a growth mindset is a huge part of your child’s learning in school and life! For place value review, please have your child use their Khan Academy account. They can find their login information in O365 OneNote > child’s name > Handouts > Accounts. FYI: This is also where they will find their login to All The Right Type (our typing program) and Epic. Please encourage them to practice their typing at home too. Thank you!

We are grateful people. Fridays are our Celebration Fridays when we celebrate big and small things we are grateful for. We do celebrate throughout our day every day too! Yesterday morning so touched my heart and warmed it at the same time. In my past role in Staff Development, I had the privilege to visit many classrooms and schools across our entire district. I can honestly say that there is something special about our Gilmore Community. Your children are happy, respectful, kind, grateful, enthusiastic learners, and the list goes on. They are truly such a pleasure to teach! They sure know how to make a teacher feel appreciated and loved!

We are artists. Ms. Paulich has been amazing at bringing out your child’s creativity through art. Here’s a taste!

Grateful for you! Whenever I have an opportunity to share with my educator friends from around the world about my experience at Gilmore with you and your wonderful children so far, I feel instant joy. Thank YOU for sharing your child with us and for being our partner in your child’s education. They are who they are because of your family beliefs and values taught and modelled at home. We appreciate your continued support! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out. My daughter’s ringette practice has been cancelled this Monday, November 9 so I am offering “Zoom office hours” for parents who may want to touch base from 7-8pm. Your child is welcome to be there too! It will be on a first-come, first-served basis. This will likely mean you will need to sit in the waiting room so feel free to do other things as you wait. Please let me know if you are interested to chat so I can allot a timeframe and you won’t have to wait as long. Email me at livia.chan@burnabyschools.ca. Thank you!

Please feel free to leave a comment! We love reading them. We would be happy to hear from you! Scroll to the top to find the “Leave a comment” link right under the title of this post.

Gratefully, Ms. Chan and Ms. Paulich

Some great news! This past week in the Burnaby Now, a story was printed about my student from last year. She published a book she wrote in class as part of her Passion Project. Click here to read.

Dear Div 6 family,

I really do see us as a family who comes together to not only spend time but to learn about each other and enjoy our company. Your child may have shared with you that one of our guinea pigs, Coconut, passed early Thursday morning. I thought it was going to be a difficult day at work because I was feeling so sad but as I shared with your children, I also knew I would be surrounded by people who make me feel happier. I knew being around your children would lift my spirits, that their smiles would bring a smile to my face, and their love and care would put a patch on my broken heart. They did just that. 🙂

As you know, every morning, we begin our days with our Community Circle time. We have Thankful Thursdays to remind us there are many things we can be thankful for. Everyone takes a turn to share something they are thankful for. I am a firm believer that gratitude leads to greater feelings of happiness so I see many things as gifts I am grateful for. Every day is a gift. Every interaction is a gift. Every child is a gift for me to teach and get to know better through every interaction. I shared how grateful I am because of how happy they make me feel every day. Thank you for having such wonderful children that bring me such true joy!

There were many lessons I hope your child took away from this: It is okay to not feel okay. Loss and sadness is a real feeling. Even as young children, they can provide valuable support to adults like their teacher, which helps them see their importance and how they can play a big role in caring and comforting others with their words and actions. I spoke about “today’s best” and how I may not be able to give them my usual “today’s best” but I will commit to giving them “today’s best”. It is unrealistic to believe that we can give 100% all of the time but if they can give the best they can at that moment, that is all we can ask for.

Friday and Hallowe’en
Friday was a fun day! Every Friday, we begin our day with Mrs. Pappapanagiotou for our Book Exchange. Feel free to pop that into your calendar so you can remind your child to return their books. When we returned to class, it was time for our Costume Parade. So many cool costumes! After that, we broke into groups for our Cup Challenge. Here, they were given 10 cups with 4 strings attached to an elastic band. They were asked not to use their hands and can only communicate through gestures and hand signals (no voices!). Their challenge was to work as a team to copy the structure on the board. They had so much fun and realized that they HAD to work as a team or the elastic would not stretch well enough to release the cup! In the afternoon, the entire school played BINGO with announcers calling the numbers of the PA. I wish you could see the excitement and smiles on their faces! So much fun!

Math
We learned about decimals this week. In grade 5, they need to know their decimal places up to the thousandths place. We added to our Place Value game boards and practiced understanding decimals with a partner. We watched a couple videos to augment my lessons: Khan Academy and Math Antics. Please feel free to watch it with your child to review at home. We will be starting addition soon so please have your child review their addition facts at home so they will become more fluent. If they have an iPad at home, you can download a free app called Math Tappers: Find Sums. It’s great!

Science
Students are on their way to diving further into their rock inquiry question. If your child has extra time at home, I encouraged them to work on their presentation.

As part of our Science curriculum, this Wednesday afternoon, we will have a virtual workshop with TJ from BC Sustainable Energy Association on Climate Change (over Zoom). Please click here to view the notice that provides more information about the 4-week home program.

As always, thank you so much for your continued support at home. We appreciate you! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!

Gratefully, Ms. Chan & Ms. Paulich

Dear Division 6 family,

I often talk about how we are a family. It very much feels that way for me. It makes me happy to share with you what we have been working on! Click here to watch the video update (6:11) or read the summary below.

On Thursday, students were divided into six random groups of 4. Their first priority was this: Be kind. Be respectful. Be cooperative. Be collaborative. Be creative. Step 2 was to build the tallest tower with 15 rolls of toilet paper and long piece of tape (my arm span). I was SO impressed with how well they communicated, shared ideas, took turns and different roles, and worked together. During our class reflection, we discussed that these are all teamwork skills that are important to hone and practice. Then we took the opportunity to reflect on our team building activity. Some said this was the best thing they have done in grade 5 so far!

I would love for you to know that you have such wonderfully kind, caring, and cooperative children. I think the world of them and absolutely love them!

Language Arts
We have continued to work on our personal reflection writing. We begin by doing a quick write where we compose a paragraph together so they can see my thinking as I write. This helps them think about the targets we want to hit in our writing and what to think about to continuously make our writing better. They are becoming more familiar with using the single-point rubric that I shared with you last week. It gives students a clearer target and they know exactly what they need to do in order to be applying (or proficient) in this type of writing.

Students can always hop onto O365, Teams to work on their Writer’s Workshop stories when at home. They can also practice their typing skills too. Imagine how much they would improve if they spent 10 minutes a few times a week! It’s like any skill. The more time you invest in it, the better you get!

We encourage them to read at least 20-30 minutes every night and then have an opportunity to talk to someone about what they read. I would prefer they read for fewer minutes and spend some time talking than to read but not talk to anyone about what they are reading. To help, feel free to refer to this Say Something strategy.

Math
We have continued on our path to fully understand place value by creating our own Place Value booklets. They have enjoyed creating it as they review the concepts at the same time!

Science
We enjoy our Mystery Doug videos each week! For the last few weeks in October, here are some we watched. I love hearing their enthusiastic responses to some of the new learning we do. If your child has siblings at home, feel free to watch it as a family!

How can you tell if a plant is poisonous?
Why do owls say “hoo”?
Why are so many people scared of bugs?

This past week, we learned from Bill Nye about Rocks and Soil. We have many students who love to draw so we practiced taking sketch notes again. We learned there are three ways that rocks are formed. Later in the week, we had opportunities to take a look at various igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. I wish you could be there to hear the oohs and ahhs. Learning about rocks is one of my favourite things to teach so I’m thrilled to see their excitement too! Next, we will choose a question we are really curious about to research and learn more about. Then, we will become experts to share with our classmates!

Passion Projects
Students are well on their way with their passion projects. It’s one of my favourite times of the week and I gathered it’s the same for them! We set up our PowerPoints so that we can add information that we find as we go along.

Art
High Five to a Great Year! Students wrote words that describe themselves.

Here they learned about colour theory and created beautiful eyes!

We are so looking forward to have a full week with your child! We feel blessed every day to be their teacher! Thank you for your continued support at home.

Sincerely, Ms. Chan and Ms. 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