Category: We are readers.

Hello families,

We have continued to have new experiences and new learning this week. We learned about our brain and how much it grows in the first ten years of our lives and why new or novel experiences are important to our brain’s development.

MONDAY: Our gym time emphasized moving around in the gym safely being mindful of our bodies as we navigated the larger space. In class, we regularly have movement breaks where we dance to music, do jumping jacks, burpees, or hold a plank for as long as we can; their repertoire of exercises will continue to grow over time. Students seem to enjoy these energized moments to help them reset and increase the oxygen in our brain for further learning.

TUESDAY: We did a team building activity called Ha, Ha, Ha. We all stood in a circle. The one person in the middle tried to make others smile. Once they smiled, they joined the person in the middle to try to get others to smile until almost the whole class was in the middle! We learned how smiles were so contagious and it didn’t take very long before they were all in the middle. They asked to play it again!

We read a book called Your Fantastic Elastic Brain and learned about the different parts of our brain, how it can be stretched, and how important it is to us. Click here to read reflections written by Lucas L. and Steven. Feel free to watch the book:

We had an important lesson on Digital Citizenship. We learned about being really mindful of what we say to others online and to THINK before we post anything. This acronym is great for all of us to think about even before we speak to others face-to-face, isn’t it?

Microsoft Office 365 was introduced. Students quickly learned how to log in to Teams and to find their assignment about describing themselves. This online platform will allow me to support your child’s writing in an augmented way. Students will be given the opportunity to revisit, revise, and revise their work again often after mini-lessons or receiving descriptive feedback. As well, they will be offered options to collaborate with classmates on future projects. Using Office 365 provides students with knowledge and experience that will support all aspects of our revised curriculum’s core competencies: communication and collaboration skills, creative thinking as well as critical and reflective thinking, personal awareness and responsibility, positive cultural and cultural identity, and social awareness and responsibility. To learn more about our Core Competencies, click here.

If your child does not have a set of earbuds with a volume control and a mini microphone, please send to school at your earliest convenience. There is no need to purchase an expensive one; I have seen some at a dollar store. I do have some large headphones students can use. This offers them the ability to listen to their own work privately as well as record their voice without picking up the classroom’s ambient noise.

FRIDAY: We will be going to Young People’s Concert at Michael J. Fox Theatre. All students have been asked to arrive at 8:45 AM. The bus will be leaving promptly at 9:05 AM. Thank you for your cooperation.

FOOD BANK: Our school initiative is to Scare Hunger by donating non-perishable food. The goal for each class is to collect enough to fill two boxes. Please continue to bring food in. Thank you for your generosity!

BOWLING: If you have not yet returned the form and paid for bowling, please do so as soon as possible. If you need another form to fill out (or need details), please click here to print out a copy or simply write a note in the planner giving your consent and record the online payment confirmation number. I am still looking for one more parent volunteer to walk with us to Revs, please. Thank you.

SCHOLASTIC: Orders are due on Saturday, October 12 at noon. To learn how to place an order online, click here. If you need the flyers sent home again, please let me know.

INSIDE SHOES: If your child does not have a pair of inside shoes, please send. With the beauty of our west coast weather, it really helps in keeping our classroom space cleaner. It is also more comfortable for your child to wear runners than heavy boots all day. Thank you.

Gung Hei Fat Choi! Happy Lunar New Year! We started the day learning about some of the common traditions that are followed during the Lunar New Year like cleaning the house, eating certain lucky foods, leisees (lucky money), lion dances with loud music and ones that even dance on tall poles! Please ask your child about that!

Our story about Sam and the Lucky Money [click on link to listen to the story] taught us about using the strategy of making predictions. As students listened, they were stopped at four different points in the story to make their predictions. This strategy helps us to think ahead, to revise and verify predictions, and make connections to prior knowledge and the text. Feel free to encourage your child to make predictions when reading at home. We also learned about looking for an author’s message. Often, the author has a message or a “big idea” they are trying to tell the reader. After reading a story at home, encourage your child to tell you what the author’s message is. Here, one strong message was to be grateful for what we have.

During Math, we learned how to count and write from one to ten in Cantonese. Students have been practicing their numbers before and after, ten more, and ten less but writing numbers in Chinese was a tricky challenge for some because of the extra “ten” they had to write to represent how many tens there are. This was a great way to reinforce what they have been learning about. They had so much fun and thoroughly enjoyed this!

Math – How you can support at home: Give your child a random number up to 99 (for grade 2’s). You can use a deck of cards and use 1-9 as digits; draw two random cards as the number to use. Ask the following:

• What is the number before and the number after?
• What is the number that is ten less and ten more?
• What is the number that is two more and two less?
• For extra challenge, what is five more and five less?

Core Competency connection:

• I can be open to learning about cultures.
• I can try my best at learning new things and show determination.

We launched Family Literacy Week on Tuesday with guest readers from our local fire department. Students enjoyed listening to Firefighter Riley read us a storybook about the many different jobs they do. Before he could finish reading, they were unexpectedly called away to respond to an emergency. Fortunately, they were able to come back shortly after to give us a tour of the fire truck. Thanks to Firefighter Greg, they learned a lot about the many parts and tools on the truck. We are grateful for the firefighters for coming in to read and share a part of their knowledge with us!

On Wednesday, we dressed up as a character from a book. In our class, we saw Alice in Wonderland, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and students and teachers from Stephanie’s Ponytail to name a few. Thanks for making the effort to dress up!

During our Family Literacy Week assembly on Thursday, we enjoyed a variety of sharing from many primary classes. We read our haikus about snow. Maybe that might summon the snow next week! We felt proud of how they presented their poems and love to take opportunities to showcase their learning. We came back to class and shared some core competency statements: “I can feel proud of my haiku. I can feel confident in front of the school.” We have really been focussing on “I can” statements and hope that this language will be built into their regular speech at home. The more they can recognize their strengths and what they “can do”, the more they can build on their success and further develop in the areas of communication, thinking, and personal and social competencies. To learn more, go to BC Curriculum on Core Competencies.

It was neat and interesting to see the choices in books that students brought to school to read. They each had an opportunity to share a little something about their book. Although they have had many opportunities to read since the beginning of the year, there seemed to be something extra special during the times they had to Drop Everything And Read today. We always appreciate seeing parents come in during Family Read. Sorry, we know not all of you can but know that your child is still enjoying reading with another parent, a teacher, or their friends during that time.

Thank you for participating in the Family Literacy Week Bingo activities. Parents and students, what literacy activities did you enjoy doing most with your family? What did you think about our Family Literacy Week activities? What suggestions might you have for next year’s Family Literacy Week? Feel free to write a comment on our blog. Thank you!

We have access to a free online resource with hundreds of popular, animated, and narrated stories that have music and sound. To access, go to University Highlands website, hover over Library page, and click on Library Catalogue. Under Reading & Writing section, click on Tumblebooks. You will NOT need to login with a password if you go through this route. Enjoy the stories!

We have been learning about many different reading strategies during our whole class read alouds and during reading groups time. One of the biggest things children are learning is that they need to ALWAYS read for understanding. One way to self-monitor is to regularly ask ourselves, “Does it make sense?” Children are being taught that there are a number of different strategies they can use when reading and to notice the ones they are already using when reading so they continue using them.

Ms. Cowan just returned on Monday feeling invigorated from a 2-day weekend workshop about reading and I am a part of a District book club reading Catching Readers Before They Fall so we are both very excited to have these ideas and strategies fresh in our minds to teach the students.

Today, we introduced students to a new reading strategy: picture walk. Here, we went through the book A Poppy Is to Remember one page at a time to take a look at the pictures before actually reading the words in the book. We discovered that by taking the time to study the pictures, it helped us to understand and make predictions. Next time you read with your child, feel free to take a picture walk through the pages before you read the words in the book and see how this strategy might help improve comprehension.  

After reading the book, we discussed what a poppy is to remember and thought about some of the reasons why we wear a poppy. We then wrote our A Poppy Is to Remember poems which will be shared at our Remembrance Day assembly this Friday, November 9th at 10:45 am. Some of the ideas shared in their poems were simply heartwarming. Here are some examples:

• A poppy is to remember the people who risked their lives.
• A poppy is to remember those who fought for peace because they were brave.
• A poppy is to remember those who went to the war because they sacrificed their lives for us.
• A poppy is to remember those we love because they wanted peace and for us to be free.
• A poppy is to remember people that are still living (who were in the war).

Each child will receive a poppy on Friday. Feel free to send donations to the poppy fund as we are collecting at the school. All families are welcome to join us in the gym this Friday for the Remembrance Day assembly. If you are not available at that time, then we hope to see you during our Family Read at 8:55 am!