I apologize for not having this blog post ready for you to read over the weekend. My Masters ringette team and my daughter’s Open team that I coach was in a tournament. After playing ringette for 15 years, it was my team’s first time winning a gold medal!
We are grateful and at peace.
Last week, we talked about gratitude and what brings us peace. We often share what we are grateful for in our Community Circle.
We watched a part of a Tedx Talk by Louie Schwartzberg on Gratitude. Click here to watch from the part we started watching.
“Nature’s beauty can be easily missed — but not through Louie Schwartzberg’s lens. His stunning time-lapse photography, accompanied by powerful words from Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast, serves as a meditation on being grateful for every day.” READ MORE !
It’s hard to believe it was Hallowe’en just under a week ago! The day started with a whole school parade, time in our Author’s circle to listen to each other’s Hallowe’en stories to enjoy, receive compliments, and suggestions on how to make our stories better. Many children stepped into their stretch zones to courageously read their stories to the class.
On Tuesday, we enjoyed our first field trip to Kensington Complex for an afternoon of ice skating! I felt very proud of everyone for being so responsible and kind to each other. I saw students helping, supporting, and encouraging each other. So heartwarming! Our beginning skaters were ALL moving around on the ice with more confidence than when they first stepped on! READ MORE !
I wanted to start off by saying that I am just so grateful to be your child’s teacher. Each day, they bring me and each other so much joy. When I was off for the week after my knee injury (recovery is going well, finally), the two TOCs informed me that they worked so hard in my absence which made me feel so proud and appreciative. I also thoroughly enjoyed receiving the daily emails from students telling me about their day and reminding me of how much they missed me and loved me. I missed them dearly so that made my absence at least bearable. I thoroughly enjoyed responding to their emails too! I’m sure it helped with my healing! 🙂
This past week was really tough because our sweetest guinea pig, Hazelnut, passed away on Family Day. I knew that going back to work the next day would be hard and it was. It was very hard but you know what I knew was going to make a difference and lift me up? Yes, you guessed it…spending time with your children. Their smiles and their love filled my broken heart. Honestly, it was them that helped me heal a little more each day so thank you for sharing them with us.
Pink Shirt Day
Mr. Phelps read a story to us in the morning called A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo. Then we watched a video about how the day was created by Travis Price. Click here to watch. I was hoping to be able to share with you our class PowerPoint on the theme for us year: Lift Each Other Up but it is not quite finished yet. Each student was assigned a slide to share what that means to them. I love what I see so far!
Check out the video that Mr. Greenwood put together. It can be found on the Gilmore website.
We are mathematicians.
We have been learning about measuring perimeter and area. Please feel free to review these videos at home:
On Thursday, we did a quick Show What You Know (so far) and a number of students can use some extra review at home so please check with your child, thank you. We will continue to solidify and deepen understanding this week.
Black History Month
We learned about Harriet Tubman and did some reflective perspective writing. The writing I saw about slavery was so expressive and truly knocked my socks off.
We are readers.
Students have learned a new technique to practice increasing their reading fluency. I learned this from Jim Kwik. He is a brain and memory coach who wrote a book called Limitless. I recommend reading the book or listening to his podcast. I’m a new follower and find that his tips for learning are insightful. He has some great tips on studying you may want to dive into especially as your children move into the intermediate grades and highschool.
Here’s what we did. We read as many words as we can in one minute. Then we did this again. It is truly incredible how many more words they can read in that period of time. We did it again to discover that we hadn’t reached our potential yet! Of course, the most important part of reading is to fully comprehend and to make connections but this is just one strategy in increasing fluency, which is what some students need to work on.
Report cards go home this Friday. Please sign the envelope and return to school on Monday. Thank you!
As always, we are so grateful for your continued support at home.
With great appreciation, Ms. Chan (and Mrs. Paulich)
Guess what? We had yet another awesome week together! I really do believe our time together is full of happiness and that is planned with great intention and every single interaction is intentional to uplift your child.
I have a monthly blog series on the Teach Better Team called the Gift Better series. Each month, I share a new concept that I see as a gift. These are things that are not generally seen as gifts and we often take these for granted. Since the pandemic, I started to see gifts all around us which led me to feel so much more gratitude for the simple things in life. The more I looked around, the greater the joy I found that exists all around us. It was there my whole life just waiting for me to discover. My hope with this blog series is that others begin to see the same gifts and ones that have been waiting for them to discover.
Just today, my latest post was published called The Gift of Happiness. I share this because when you read it, it will give you a glimpse into how our days in the classroom begin and how much happiness we share every day. Helping children feel happy and learn to live a healthy life with good habits of the mind that include developing an understanding of how to live a life filled with passion, kindness, gratitude, integrity, love, and joy is my goal every day. These life skills and habits, when reinforced throughout their formative years, will lead them to a greater sense of self-awareness, self-worth, self-love, self-discipline, self-compassion, and overall well-being.
Many of the posts I write come from my experience in the classroom. Another example is The Gift of Leadership. If you would like to learn how I am developing each one of your children as leaders, then please check that post out too. I was so humbled that this post and The Gift of Gratitude were two of the most popular posts on the Teach Better website for 2021 from the 500+ blogs that were published last year!
Last week was Literacy week!
The book chosen for our school-wide theme for the week was What’s My Superpower by Aviaq Johnston. It’s one of my favourite stories! She is a young author from writer from Igloolik, but currently living in Iqaluit, Nunavut.
This is a story about Nalvana, a young girl who sees other people’s superpowers and wonders what her superpower is. We had great discussions on the strengths we all have, how we shine in this world, and what gifts we bring to the people close to us. I absolutely LOVED reading their paragraphs as they dove into just one of their superpowers. It is so important to truly know ourselves and our strengths so we keep building on them as we build on our self-awareness and sense of self-worth.
Students LOVED reading with their flashlights in the gym and thoroughly enjoyed our alphabet scavenger hunt as we found words on our shirts. We won a class prize for this…a set of books for the class! The Dress up Like a Word day was a great success with creative costumes! On Friday, we appreciated Mr. Greenwood for being our guest reader.
Reminder: The Family Literacy BINGO sheets are due on Monday, January 31st. Hope you enjoyed the activities as a family! We also hope that these family activities continue throughout the year and not just for a week!
We are mathematicians.
This past week, we continued to learn and review geometry concepts. Students were given their first formal opportunity to show what they know last Wednesday. This was just a first snapshot! They will have another opportunity next Thursday, February 3rd to show what they know again.
I highlight the fact that learning is a journey. We celebrate what we already know and focus our time and effort on learning what we don’t know well yet until they are proficient. My goal is for them to understand concepts well enough so they can teach others! This is a deeper level of understanding than being able to complete a worksheet with accuracy. So, to prepare for next week, have your child explain the concepts to you, their stuffies, or have them record the math “lesson” on an iPad or tablet to watch and review. As Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Reminder: Keep encouraging your child to practice their math facts daily! Spending even five minutes a day, stacked with a habit, will go a long way in building their confidence with calculating facts.
We are artists.
Mrs. Paulich does amazing art projects with the kids. Check it out!
Book Recommendation
This past week, I started reading The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson. This was a book I’ve had on my list to read for a number of years. I mention it because from what I’ve read so far, I believe it can help you better understand how your child’s brain is wired and strategies on how to effectively support their development. Now that I’m reading it, I really wish I read it when my kids were much younger so that’s why I’m sharing this with you! If you visit Amazon, you’ll see how popular this book is!
From Amazon: In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and author of the bestselling Mindsight, and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson offer a revolutionary approach to child rearing with twelve key strategies that foster healthy brain development, leading to calmer, happier children. The authors explain—and make accessible—the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures. The “upstairs brain,” which makes decisions and balances emotions, is under construction until the mid-twenties. And especially in young children, the right brain and its emotions tend to rule over the logic of the left brain. No wonder kids throw tantrums, fight, or sulk in silence. By applying these discoveries to everyday parenting, you can turn any outburst, argument, or fear into a chance to integrate your child’s brain and foster vital growth.
I have read a number of books since the pandemic started. Check out my list here. If there is a book on my list that you’d like to hear more about, please feel free to ask and I’d be happy to share my thoughts. Also, if there is a book that you would highly recommend, please let me know. I love hearing about what others love to read! I prefer non-fiction because I am passionate about learning new things. Thank you!
As always, we appreciate your continued support at home. I will be sharing a short survey later this week as we are approaching the midway mark. Your feedback is very much appreciated. We want to finish the second half of the year strong! We are better together and stronger together. Thank you for being our partners in your child’s education.
