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