Category: We are scientists.

Dear families,

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 !

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,

I apologize for not sending an update last weekend. I left for Akron, Ohio last Wednesday at midnight to attend the Teach Better Conference. While it completely consumed the following few days, it was one of the most exhilarating, joy filling, and memorable weekends of my entire life! Since the beginning of the pandemic, I came to know many passionate educators from across the US and Canada. At this conference, I met these same people who have become friends whom I admire. They inspire me to be a better teacher every day!

The keynote speakers and the breakout session speakers were authors, podcasters, classroom teachers, administrators, and international speakers. One of them actually won a Grammy for the Music Educator award! His name is Mickey Smith Jr. If you’d like to be inspired by him, I highly recommend listening here. His message doesn’t just apply to teachers but to everyone. I was over the moon that he chose to come to listen to my presentation about Atomic Interactions! READ MORE !

Dear families,

I hope you had a wonderful long weekend! Last week, it was fantastic to be at school for five days with lots of learning and fun!

We are communicators.

Learning to communicate our thoughts and feelings is an important skill to develop. We have an opportunity every morning during our daily Community Circle. I love how open they are to sharing how they feel and their stories. This is a positive way to listen and learn about each other, show respect, and to discover our similarities and differences.

Another important skill to develop is our written communication. Last week, we brainstormed a list of many things we feel grateful for. Then, we chose one item our hearts were tugged to write about. First, we used an idea planning sheet to record our thoughts. This helped us become more successful at articulating the details needed for writing our first paragraph! So many proud faces when they realized that what they had written was a complete paragraph with an opening sentence, supporting details, and a closing sentence!

We also regularly learn bits of sign language to communicate. We’ve actually learned quite a bit already. Feel free to ask your child what they know! On Friday, we learned how to say, “What’s your name? My name is ____. Nice to meet you!” We practiced this over and over again with our classmates.

Here are some other words they’ve been taught: more, minutes, bathroom, sit, stand, beautiful, and I love you!

Speaking of communicating, public speaking is yet another important form. This week, we will be listening to presenters share all about their name! I am SO looking forward to learning more about each child and about your family! Thank you SO much for helping your child prepare. We enjoyed the story The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. It made us think about whether we would keep our name if we had a choice to change it. READ MORE !