Category: We are readers.

Dear Parents of Division 6,

On Wednesday, we honoured those who served in the war at our Remembrance Day assembly. Here is a short video of our Poppy Art for you to enjoy.

We are writers.

We returned to our book on the 7 Healthy Habits of Happy Kids and learned about the benefits of thinking win-win. Students responded to the chapter by writing a personal response or a story that involved a win-win situation. As a follow-up, please feel free to have a further discussion at home.

We are researchers.

This past week, students finished their practice of recording Resources for citations in Word. Whew! It was a process! Students learned about perseverance and the pursuit of accuracy and excellence. It was a great lesson that sometimes in life, it takes many tries before something is just perfect. Each comma, period, and space mattered. Each capital mattered. Each indent mattered. While some began to express some frustration, we were proud to see that many people’s growth mindset kicked in and they began to see it as a challenge! Great appreciation goes to Mrs. Papapanagiotou for working with us for the past few weeks to teach us how to do research effectively. Last week, we also learned how to navigate in PowerPoint. Students really enjoyed learning how to add slides, text, and images! We are now ready to research our inquiry question for learning more about rocks in Science and our Passion Projects!

We are scientists.

Here are some of the questions groups felt they were most interested in learning more about. Students chose from here or one of their own on a list gathered from their own group.

We are mathematicians.

The grade 5’s were given their Fractions pre-test and test. The main goal was to see how well they understood equivalent fractions. We had a number of students away last Friday so they will write in on Monday. Everyone will have their tests returned on Wednesday. Those who are not yet proficient in certain concepts, they will have an opportunity for a re-test on the specific concepts. Details on re-testing will come later. I believe in helping students gain mastery of the concepts because math is so foundational. Your support at home will be greatly appreciated!

World Kindness Day

On Saturday, it was World Kindness Day. We read a story called Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson. Click the link to watch the story read by the author herself! As a response, students wrote kindness notes to at least five people. They had so much fun running (well, walking hopefully!) around the school delivering their kindness notes! They learned that it brought them so much joy to bring other people joy! I firmly believe that when we give the gift of words, we experience more joy than those who receive them. I know that this is how I feel. Showing kindness and gratitude is a great form of self-care! If you’re interested, click here to read more about a popular happiness course offered at Yale University. They blessed me with so many kindness notes! Every day, your children make me feel so very loved and appreciated for being their teacher. I truly am the most fortunate and feel so grateful to be their teacher. Thank YOU for having such wonderful children to share our lives with. We have a great community of learners!

We are leaders.

We really believe in developing leadership skills. I believe every child has leadership qualities. Last month, I published a blog post on the Gift of Leadership as part of my monthly blog series on the Teach Better Team. I talk about the five aspects of leadership and how it is a skill, just like other skills, that need opportunities to develop. If you are interested to read about how we develop leadership qualities in your children on a daily basis, click the image to go to the post.

Appreciation

We are grateful for your support at home. As parents ourselves, we understand how the evenings and weekends fly by. Please be reminded that we are partners in your child’s education. Please feel free to reach out to us should you have any questions or concerns. We know it takes time to either watch our videos or read our weekly blog posts and we appreciate you for keeping up to date. I can see how many views and how many click to open the notifications so thank you for honouring our time to keep you posted. Our goal is to share information with you so that you can have a deeper dive into what they learn and extend their learning should they have the time and interest. All learning at school can be extended at home if you wish.

With a heart full of gratitude, Ms. Chan and Mrs. Paulich

Dear Division 6 families,

We accomplished a lot this week!

Click on image to view the video update.

SPECIAL REQUEST: Please limit the number of sweet treats your child brings to school for a snack. We prefer they bring healthier snacks to school that will help them learn and focus better. We appreciate your cooperation.

HOMEWORK: Library Research Skills – Complete the sheet and put the cited sources in alphabetical order. On Monday, they will be working in a Word document to record these resources in alphabetical order. Please ensure all papers are returned to school on Monday. Thank you! This resource may help!

Gr. 5 MATH HOMEWORK: Complete work on equivalent fractions. Due Monday.

REVIEW: Please have your child memorize their email address and password if they have not done so yet. Thank you! We will be logging into O365 on Monday.

E-Portfolios

On Thursday, we started adding posts to our e-Portfolios. We use the same email and password to log in. We are using FreshGrade Connect to upload and reflect on our learning. Here are the reflection questions they will need to answer for each post this year:

1. What was the task? Explain. Provide enough details so your parents can understand what you did.
2. What are you proud of? What are your strengths shown through this work?
   • I can…
   • I can…
3. What are 1-2 things you can improve for next time?
4. What did you learn about yourself?

So far, they have just added artwork. They felt so proud! In the future, they will be adding their writing and other projects too. Soon, I will be adding your emails to your child’s accounts so that you will receive notifications when they publish a new post.

We are readers and writers.

The whole school Dropped Everything And Read on Wednesday. Everyone in this class looks like they love to just read. While finding joy in reading for a sustained period of time is important, just as important is having the opportunity to speak to others about what they just read. We had an opportunity to do just that this week as we practiced our Say Something strategy to make connections or share personal stories as it relates to what they read. They practiced taking a deeper dive into what they shared by thinking about looking through a magnifying glass, going deeper when partners asked them more clarifying questions.

After that, they took their ideas, thoughts, and feelings and wrote a response to what they just read in a paragraph. Based on the last couple of writing pieces, each child was given a personal goal to meet for this writing. I believe personalized and timely feedback is so important to their continued growth along with an attainable “next steps” goal.

We are scientists. We were encouraged to be curious! Students were grouped to dive into various books on rocks and minerals. Their job was to come up with many questions.

All students went home with their Passion Project proposal sheets. Please feel free to do the proposal with your child. Once you have reviewed it, please initial the top of the page. Click on Passion Project Proposal to see the sheet. This is due on Wednesday, November 3rd.

Friday was a lot of fun with the parades in the morning and some fun social time with classmates in the afternoon. Have a safe and fun rest of your weekend!

Always grateful for your support at home,

Ms. Chan and Mrs. Paulich

Dear Div. 6 families,

What a fantastic first week! We are having fun getting to know each other’s names and learning more about each other.

Please feel free to watch the video for a run-down of our week and what’s upcoming. If you don’t have time, simply read the blog post as it is a summary of what I shared in the video.

Why do we share weekly blog posts?

The purpose of our weekly blog posts is so that it connects school to home and us to you. Our hope is that the information shared will give you greater opportunities to have conversations about school, what they are learning about, and to take a concept and dive deeper.

How you can support at home:

Be curious. Ask questions that may spark more conversation. Instead of asking, “How was school?” try asking more targeted questions:

• What are you most proud of today?
• What did you do to help others today?
• What is one thing you learned that you can teach me? This question reinforces their learning.
• What made you smile or laugh today?
• What’s one thing that made today fun?
• What’s something you are grateful for that you experienced today?
• What’s one thing you learned that you’d love to know more about? Let’s do some research together!

We push ourselves to grow.

We are learning about growth mindset. The thoughts and language we use determine the outlook we have. The power of yet.

We learned about comfort zones. We want students to be challenged in their stretch/growth zone. I was interviewed about this last spring. Read the post here on the Teacher2Teacher blog to learn more.

Healthy Habits

This week, we started reading a book written by Steven Covey: The 7 Habits of Happy Kids (same author as The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People which some of you may know). It begins with a story about a character who finds himself bored and looks to others to help him find something to do; the character discovers that it is his responsibility to be proactive and not rely on others to “fix” his problem. Be Proactive – take initiative.

Click here to learn more about the 7 habits we will be learning about.

As we are practicing classroom expectations, students are encouraged to build the healthy habits of attentive listening and strong work habits. They are regularly asked to self-reflect and to do better next time.

We are readers and writers.

For our first introduction lesson to writing, we read a story called “I Am Story” by Dan Yaccarino and then we started working on our heart maps. They also shared how they feel about writing. Learning about their mindset about writing and setting a goal for themselves helps inform me of how I can better support them.

Please encourage your child to read at least 20-30 minutes every night. This is their homework. They will have library orientation next week and library book exchange begins on Wednesday.

We are athletes.

We started our Running Club this week.

We will go to the gym every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Please ensure your child wears appropriate clothing and runners.

We are scientists.

Students were introduced to Mystery Doug. We watched a video on pizza. Click here to watch at home.

West Coast weather

Please have your child dress appropriately for the weather. They will go outside even in the rain unless it is raining very hard. Read West Coast Recess & Lunch to learn more.

Looking ahead!

On Monday, September 20, we will begin our “Me in a Bag” presentations. Please help your child decide on 4-5 items to place in the paper bag provided and practice what they will say about each item so they will feel more confident. They will tell us about each item and share a story about why they chose it and/or what it represents and why it is important to them. Be creative! For example, I cannot bring our guinea pig, Hazelnut, to school but I can brought some hay to represent her. I also brought a picture of me in my ringette gear when I talked about being a coach, player, and ref.

Next week, we will start Math on Monday! The grade 4s will go to Mr. Anchor. They will need a 1″ binder.

Monday is a big day! They will also have an online learning module for the Learn2Ride program.

We are so excited to see you on Tuesday, September 21 at 7:00pm for our Meet the Teachers night! A Zoom link will be shared the day before in the reminder email.

On Wednesday, your child should bring their bike helmet (even if they don’t bring a bike) and are encouraged to bring their bikes too. Starting at 8:40am, they can bring their bikes into the school for storage. Our bike session will be between recess and lunch out on the field.

We are equally excited to meet you during our Parents and Partners Conferences! The purpose of these will be to learn more about your child. If you have not signed up to book an appointment, please do so before the deadline: Sept 21 at 3:00pm. The link to the conferences will be shared via email after our Meet the Teachers night so as not to confuse anyone. Our meetings are set for 10 minutes so please arrive on time. You will be placed in the lobby and we will let you in when it is your time. Thank you SO much for your time and interest to meet with us!

Reminder: Early dismissal on Thursday, September 23 at 1:45pm.

Friday will be our first school Pro-D day. Students do not attend.

If you’d like to learn a little more about me, feel free to visit my website: livchan.com.

For the school supplies list, click here. Please send items as soon as you can. Key items to get first if you don’t have time to get the rest yet: 1.5″ binder and dividers. Grade 4’s: an extra 1″ binder for Math. Thank you!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely, Ms. Chan & Mrs. Paulich

Dear Division 6 families,

What a wonderful week of learning! Students have been investigating whether chocolate is a natural resource. Yes, you read it correctly chocolate! Students began their inquiry with background knowledge and understanding the importance of referencing and citations when researching. We took a closer look at cocoa beans as a natural resource. Students participated in guided group work that investigated how the production of cocoa beans contributed to the economy. Students learned about working conditions in first and third world countries, fair trade, and direct trade. They particularly enjoyed their taste testing homework. Completion of this activity allowed them to participate in an interactive zoom call with the owner of Truffle Pig. This was such a powerful activity that had students asking thoughtful questions. Over the past few weeks with the support of Mrs. Papapanagioutou and myself, the inquiry process led them to the question: What are the pros and cons of cocoa beans as a natural resource? I am so proud of the research that has taken place thus far and there is more to come! Next, we look at how media is connected to our findings. – Mrs. Paulich

To echo Mrs. Paulich, it has been a great week of learning! I feel like I say this every week but as I reflect at the end of every week, I can’t help but feel proud of their accomplishments and learning!

This week, we had a deep conversation about the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Kamloops Indian Band Residential School where they detected the remains of 215 children. We also read the book Race Cars. From Amazon:

Race Cars is a children’s book about white privilege created to help parents and educators facilitate tough conversations about race, privilege, and oppression.

Written by a clinical social worker and child therapist with experience in anti-bias training and edited by a diversity expert, Race Cars tells the story of 2 best friends, a white car and a black car, that have different experiences and face different rules while entering the same race.

Students then had an opportunity to do a free-write to unpack their thoughts and feelings about the news. Journalling is a great form of writing to sort through emotions and events that are hard for us to understand.

Speeches

This week, we continued working on our speeches. Click here for the single-point rubric we have been using all year for personal writing. The lessons and tips to help improve our writing:

• One thing I noticed was that some students started to write one very long paragraph with many different ideas. Instead, break down ideas into separate paragraphs. One paragraph = one idea to dive into. Then dive into “magnifying glass” writing where you lean into the details by adding reasons, explanations, and examples. Here, you may also include a story. See next tip.
• Tell your story: It’s important to add personal stories to help your audience make connections. Add stories that evoke emotions or helps them understand your point better.
• Your opening sentence should introduce the audience to the topic of the paragraph. End your paragraph by restating your opening sentence. We will dive further into closing sentences next week.
• Know your central theme. Aim for paragraphs to point back to your central theme. It’s like a flagpole or target that you want to make sure you’re always headed towards. Your paragraphs should help your audience better understand your main author’s message.
• To spark your audience to think. Feel free to insert a question here and there to inspire critical thinking or reflection but don’t overuse it!
• Every time you sit down to write again, re-read everything you wrote first before you continue writing. This refreshes your memory as to what you already wrote. Read it over for different purposes. They were reminded of DYRIO (click image to view PDF):

As you support your child at home with their speeches, please review these tips. At any point, should you have any questions, please email me! I am happy to help!

Speeches are to be a minimum of 3 minutes and a maximum of 5 minutes. Next week, we will co-construct our criteria that will be specific to the delivery of these speeches. It will be similar to but not exactly the same as the single point rubric for our Passion Projects.

Passion Project presentations

We celebrated many things this week during our Passion Projects! Oscar and Kingston collaboratively presented on the video game named Battle Cats and Quinson talked about the history of video games. Both created a Kahoot game that all enjoyed! Vienna worked hard on her presentation about Italy. Gabriella and Iman came all the way from Australia to teach us about Quokkas; they had a creative idea to have me introduce them as experts from Australia and had the kids play a quiz game as review of the facts. Olivia H. enthusiastically shared How to Read the Body Language of a Dog. Maya presented an informative on Snow Leopards. Dante shared so many facts about Minecraft.

NOTE: All presenters brought home their single-point rubric assessments. Please sign and return to school. Thank you!

Oscar’s book was officially released! It is titled Fate’s Mirage, The Ultra Blade. Oscar has worked on his story since the beginning of the year. Great tenacity and perseverance. He wrote a five chapter story that classmates excitedly took turns reading to the class! I am so grateful to Oscar and his mom, Jen, who made a copy for me to keep and included me in his Acknowledgements, thank you! One thing I complimented him on what his ability to effectively use dialogue to move the story along and help us get to know the characters better. Oscar had a great blend of dialogue between characters and then a paragraph that explained what was happening. He did this throughout the story so I wanted to point out the effectiveness of this. Then Oscar shared that this was something his mom taught him! Jen is a talented writer who has published many of her own books so I thought it was so cool that we were learning how to become better writers through Oscar’s work with the support of his mom. Thank you, Jen!

Speaking of Passion Projects, one of my passion projects is writing just like Oscar and his mom! I am now a contributing author to a book called 100 No-Nonsense Things that Teachers Should STOP Doing. It was released three weeks ago. I wrote a chapter called Stop Boredom at All Costs and had the great privilege to talk about it on the Pushing Boundaries podcast. This is the second time my writing has been featured in a book. I am currently working on writing my own book with a couple of principals in the US. We signed a book contract a few months ago! It’ll be my summer passion project!

Mathematicians

This past week, students finished their patterns book using Book Creator, an app on the iPad. They had fun testing out whether they wrote their pattern description correctly. They had to describe it to a partner using only words to see if their partner can replicate it without seeing the pattern. Next week, we will begin learning about quadrilaterals.

Anyone who still needs extra review and explanations about long division, please reach out. I am happy to set up a Zoom call to work with your child.

Self-assessment for the year

Students were assigned a self-assessment to complete in Teams. If your child did not finish, it was assigned for homework to be completed this weekend. Sorry, it was not recorded in their planners. Please remind them to work on it. Thank you!

We are always so grateful for your continued support at home. We are nearing the end but not slowing down. As I preach to the kids often, I equate the end of work time and learning time to the same feelings as the end of a marathon. While I’ve never run one, I can imagine how exhausted people may feel or at least how I would feel! It is in these moments that I push them outside of their comfort zone to challenge themselves to push on and to finish off strong. We will continue to do that until the end.

Gratefully, Ms. Chan and Mrs. Paulich