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 !

Dear Division 11 families,

Although it was a short school week, we still fit in a LOT of learning and we had a FANTASTIC week! One of the sweetest comments from one of your children this past week really touched my heart. She said, “We have the sweetest class.” Every time I think of her comment, my heart was tickled with warmth and love. This lovely thought has visited numerous times since she said it! We DO have the sweetest class! 🙂

Names are important.

Our names are a very important and significant part of who we are. They have power. They can have deep personal, cultural, and historical connections too. It is a part of our identity, may be a part of the communities we belong, and our place in the world. 

We learned that many Indigenous peoples are gifted a traditional name or names that carry deep cultural meaning. We listened to a story called Thunder Boy Jr. Feel free to listen to the story again at home by clicking the image below. Then we did some writing about our own names and will be doing more activities with our names. These activities are meant to help each child learn more about themselves, their family, and each other as we share.

Because names are a person’s greatest connection to their own identity and individuality, it might be the most important word to them. This is one way that children are seen as a part of our  classroom community. This is the reason why your child is greeted by name each and every morning when I pick them up outside. Then during Community Circle, they are greeted by the person to their right so before recess, they would have heard their sweet name at least twice already!  READ MORE !