Dear families,

It’s been a great two weeks minus a couple of fun snow days! Welcome back to school and Happy New Year! Thank you for your understanding about no blog post last weekend as my two ringette teams competed in a tournament.

Outdoor Education

Kate from Sierra Club visited on Monday for our in-school field trip. After teaching us about the importance of land stewardship and how the Indigenous People taught us how to respect our land and the animals, we walked to Willingdon Park to learn more about the trees there. Students also had an opportunity to build homes for the bugs.

On Friday, we followed up by studying spruce pine cones. We examined the patterns of the cone and talked about the seeds. We had samples of some that were closed, some that were open, and some that were just started to open. Then we submersed one in water and as scientists, noticed a number of things that started to happen. I loved the curiosity that was brought out. We will find out what happens when we return to school in the morning! After school, ask your child what we discovered!

We are artists.

This is from Ms. Kapusta the first week back:

This week we began an art project tied to New Year’s Resolutions. We began the lesson by talking about what a resolution is and sharing our different goals for the year with the class. Some students chose phrases like “learn to ice skate,” “read more books,” and “become a better story writer” while others chose words like “leader,” “flexible,” and “inventive.” To make the art, we combined two really fun techniques – tape resistance and splatter paint!  I loved watching the students experiment with abstract versus straight lines for the taping, mixing colours to create beautiful new shades, and purposefully playing around with the splattering technique. The next step was removing the tape carefully. Next week, we will be adding our New Year’s Resolutions into the white spaces using Sharpie. Creating a unique and expressive piece of artwork and connecting it to affirmative statements is a powerful way for students to recognize their strengths while reflecting on how they can still grow further.

This is from Ms. Kapusta for last week:

This week we switched things up and connected art to literacy and SEL. We read “Lost and Found” by Oliver Jeffers, a thoughtful story about a boy who finds a penguin who appears to be lost. The boy works very hard to find the penguin’s home, and in the process becomes close to the penguin. In the end, it turns out the penguin wasn’t so much lost but alone and it’s a gentle tale about friendship and connection. We talked about putting ourselves in both the boy and penguin’s shoes (perspective taking). Then, students responded to a creative writing prompt titled “If I Had a Penguin,” as well as made their own penguin companions to attach to their writing. We talked about expanding on our writing by answering questions like who, what, where, when. We also talked about the importance of editing our work and doing our best jobs. I was really proud of how hard everyone worked! 

ADST

The previous week, we got together with our big buddies and worked collaboratively on creating in Minecraft. We will continue this activity this Friday!

On Friday, students were introduced to PowerPoint. I am building up their skills so that when we start our Passion Projects next week, the tools they will use will be secondary learning. It has been a while since we logged in to laptops so please help your child review their login and password. You can have them log into Office 365 at home to practice using PowerPoint too! Students love becoming proficient and they enjoy being mentor leaders in the classroom.

We are mathematicians.

Students have become more proficient with using the compensation strategy in addition. Please check your child’s understanding by asking them to do a few addition questions at home. What is compensating?

33 + 59 =

Look at the number that is closest to the nearest 10. Here, it would be 59 because it is 1 away from 60.

If you +1 to 59, it equals 60. We call these numbers a “friendly number”. Basically, these are multiples of 10 like 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, etc.

So if you add one to 59, then you need to -1 from 33 so this is the new equation: 32 + 60 = ___

Simply add the tens together and then add the ones: 30 + 60 = 90. Then add 2 = 92.

An alternate way is to compensate after you add the friendly number. Here’s what it looks like: Add one to 59 to make 60. New equation: 33 + 60 =  92. Since you had to add 1, you now subtract 1 so 93-1 = 92. I know it may be harder to understand but here’s a short video that may explain it better.

Literacy Week

We are excited that it is Literacy Week this upcoming week! We will be learning that there are multiple types of literacies.

Take a look at the quick overview of what the week looks like:

Monday – We have a whole school read over the PA. The book will be displayed on the projector for all to see. Then we will have a follow-up activity to share what they hope for. If you would like to read the book with your child after school on Monday, click here to view it on YouTube.

Tuesday – All children will be encouraged to wear any outfit that makes them feel happy! Some suggestions might be pajamas, a sports jersey, a costume, a favourite colour, etc. Be creative!

Wednesday – Throughout the day, we will be doing physical activities. We are invited to read the story “The Snowy Day” outside along the fence. After school, please feel free to walk and read the story with your child(ren) too!

Thursday – In the past, people talked about IQ (intelligence quotient or a person’s ability to reason). Then people started talking about EQ (emotional quotient or the ability to understand and manage emotions in positive ways including communicating effectively). A couple months ago when I was doing some research for my presentation, I learned about CQ (cultural quotient or the ability to adapt to new cultural settings). Understanding our personal and cultural identity is one of our core competencies. Anyway, on Thursday, we invite you and your families to join us for family reading in our classroom! Please feel free to bring other family members and books to share. If you have any books from your culture, that would be wonderful too!

Friday – We will have a celebration of learning at 1:00pm.

One of my favourite times of the day is when I pick the kids up from the undercover area. They make me feel so loved by the way they greet me. I also really love seeing parents as you drop off. It brings me joy to see you too! 🙂

I am very grateful for your continued support at home. I wanted to mention again that if you have not seen your child’s report card yet, no worries at all. Please send me an email to let me know and I will send you a PDF copy. Thank you.

The ice skating notice will go home this week. School Cash online may not be set up yet but I can send you an email to let you know when it is open. We will need parent volunteer drivers and supervisors. If you are a confident skater, please feel free to help out on the ice. If not, we will need parent supervisors at the rink too. This is a new requirement this year at City of Burnaby rinks.

Your children bring me so much joy each day! Looking forward to another full week with them!

Gratefully, Ms. Chan