Dear Families,

We had a great first meeting on Friday during our Orientation Day! After washing our hands, students got settled by reconnecting with friends and drawing on their “graffiti” paper.

Then we did an activity called Milling to Music. While the music was played, they walked around (or milled around). When the music stopped, their partner was the person closest to them. They chose one of these on the list to share. After a couple minutes, music played again which indicated it was time to mill around. When the music stopped, they found a new partner to share something about themselves again. We did this three times and it was great to see them smile as they reconnected and made new connections! (Staff did this activity too last week!) This is a great activity for students to share ideas. We will be using this strategy again this year!

We also took the opportunity to share a little about ourselves and played some guessing games to do so! It is important for students to get to know their teachers better to help build our new relationship. We are so looking forward to getting to know them better throughout the year! If you haven’t had a chance yet, please fill out the Parent as Partners Information Form (a hard copy was sent home on Friday) or fill out the online version. Thank you so much for your time in sharing valuable information! We will have Parent-Teacher Conferences on Wednesday, September 23 and Thursday, September 24 so please save the dates! There will be an early dismissal at 1:45pm on September 24. More information will be shared soon.

Reminder: Late students are to enter through the front doors to sign in at the office.

We would like to welcome Ms. Hara to our classroom too! She is an EA in our room this year.

Here’s what I tweeted out last Friday! Loved how they left feeling happy!

Such a fantastic uplifting week @gilmoreSD41! Met my Ss today & had so much fun! ❤️ them already! So many shared how happy they were during our circle time at the end. #heartwarmed They left with a gift: Welcome. One of my most favourite words! Here’s why! https://t.co/13GFJ4GCWj pic.twitter.com/SNCLM0XfCy

— Livia Chan (@LiviaChanL) September 12, 2020

We are looking forward to a wonderful start to our school year tomorrow! We will be spending time getting to know each other, building relationships, and our classroom community. We will be regularly reminding them about health and safety protocols. Every morning, please do a DAILY health check before sending your child to school. Ask the following:

• Do you have a sore throat, cough, congestion, fever, nasal drip?
• Are you experiencing nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea?
• Are you not feeling well?
• Is anyone in your home ill?

Thank you for sending your child to school only if they are feeling well! Here’s to an amazing year as we work together!!

Sincerely, Ms. Chan and Ms. Paulich