Dear students and parents, (Please ask your child to read this post and future posts or read it together. Thank you!)

I hope you have all continued to stayed healthy and enjoyed the Easter weekend. I have enjoyed my extra time at home with my family. We enjoy cooking and baking together. I haven’t gone shopping, hence no Easter eggs, so I hid some chocolate hearts (from Valentine’s Day) around the house for my teenage kids to find. They loved it!

Last week, I asked you to participate in our guessing game to tell me how many retakes I did to create the video. Thanks for the guesses! Answer: 95! Yes, I was filming for over an hour and a half outside but I got some great sunshine and fresh air. It surely gave me a glimpse into the acting and producing world! Eva had the closest guess at 102 so she will be our first “guest”. Eva, I’ll reach out to you soon.

Thank you to everyone who completed their first assignment last week – to send me an email. I thoroughly enjoyed reading them! If you haven’t completed it yet, it’s never too late. Take a look at last week’s blog post for the details. I encourage you to use your O365 Outlook Mail.

OFFICE 365 & DAILY TASKS

As we move forward with our official launch of remote learning using OneNote in Office 365 as our primary platform, there are a few things I wanted to mention:

• Understanding what is digital citizenship (0:39 video) and what is being a good digital citizen (2:39 video) is important. Please have a discussion with your child about what this means. Thank you.

• New daily activities will be available on OneNote each morning. There will be a core amount of assignments but I will also offer choice and challenges. Your child will have a few opportunities to dive in further into the learning. The option to be creative to come up with their own challenges based on the activities or assignments too is always there! This will make their learning real and authentic if it is something that sparks an idea for themselves. Ultimately, that’s what we want… to encourage them to be lifelong learners and to dive in to their own interests.

• When students log in to O365, this should provide access to all of their applications: Word, OneNote, Outlook Mail, etc. To move from one app to another, simply look for the “waffle” at the top left-hand corner (looks like a 3 x 3 array). If your child is primarily working on an iPad or tablet, they will need to download each app separately unless they are using the web version. I believe it works better on Chrome rather than Safari.
• Any students logging in today to check OneNote will not see anything yet because I will be activating it later tonight so it’s not visible just yet.

• NEW: Grade 3’s now have full access to Outlook Mail so their email address is their pupilnumber@edu.burnabyschools.ca. For documentation on O365 How To’s, click here.

• It will take some time to become proficient with using O365. This is where we will need to practice the 3 P’s of having a growth mindset: patience and perseverance with a positive attitude. The activities this week will attempt to help build your understanding of the tools available. If you have questions, please reach out to ask. I have been supporting colleagues with the use of O365 so I am proficient and can walk you through any difficulties you may have.

• There will be a mix of online and offline (unplugged) work. Please know that if no device is available or if you and your child would prefer to complete the assignments on paper and take a picture to upload to their page instead, that is welcome too. I am mindful of screen time. If you are interested, click on link to read an article about Should I Feel Guilty About All the Screen Time?

• The daily tasks will be available for your child to complete and it will be more than enough for the day. I don’t want it to be overwhelming so if it is, pick and choose what is manageable. The beauty of this is that your child can easily return to a previous day’s tasks to continue working. The loose “due date” will be to have the tasks completed by the end of the week on Friday partially because I will have more time on the weekend to review. I deeply appreciate how you will be supporting your child’s learning and fully understand that completing all of the tasks may not be desirable. After speaking to each of you, I know that every home is in a different situation. Please do not stress. If it is not done, perhaps return to it at a later point. This work is not meant to be an extra hardship that will negatively affect your relationships. In this time of pandemic crisis, taking care of your mental, emotional, and social well-being is more important than academics for now. Please do not hesitate to contact me about any of the work. I will be sending a short survey at the end of next week to check-in to see how things are going for you. I will adapt the daily tasks depending on the feedback I receive for the following week.

• If your child does not know their pupil number or password to login to O365, please send me an email right away and I will send. To login, they need to type: pupil#@edu.burnabyschools.ca

SCHEDULE

We are aiming for a balance of learning at home every day. As a guideline, this should include approximately 20 minutes (recommended for grade 3’s) to 30 minutes (recommended for grade 4’s) daily on literacy (reading and writing), Math, well-being & connection (physical activity to raise heart rate or yoga and connecting with family/friends), and playful possibilities or flexible learning (where you can exercise your creative and critical thinking like a passion project on researching zebras or drawing, painting, building, coding on Tynker, or learning a new skill, for example).

ONLINE WEBSITES

Since we have been asked to stay safe at home, there have been countless paid websites that have offered free licenses to otherwise paid sites. I believe in offering choice so I have signed up for different reading and Math sites – all will be new to your children except for Prodigy. Each one offers something slightly different. I highly recommend you take some time to check these programs out to figure out which one will best suit your child’s learning. All of the passwords will be available on OneNote tomorrow morning. If you really want them today, please send me an email and I will forward your passwords today.

MATH & ENGLISH (based on BC curriculum):

Review of Math and English are skills-based questions. To login, click here.

“Gain fluency and confidence in math! IXL helps students master essential skills at their own pace through fun and interactive questions, built in support and motivating awards. From phonics and reading comprehension to writing strategies and more, IXL helps learners develop the communication skills needed for success in school.”

What I like about IXL is that it is based on our BC curriculum.

READING:

This is a levelled online reading program. All students have their own account. To login, click here. You can always find the link on the right-hand sidebar under Links. Click on your child’s initials and enter password. I would highly recommend this program because these books are levelled with related comprehension questions. Since this is a US-based program, please let me know if I have placed your child at a level that does not match their current level. I can easily bump them up or down levels. I also like this program because there is an option to record their reading for any book so I can listen to them read. I have purposely placed them at a slightly lower level so that they can become familiar with the program first.

Once logged in to Raz-Kids, your child also has access to Headsprout, which is related program that supports reading comprehension.

We have access to over 40,000 books online: Epic! Books. You have been sent an invitation by email. Just click to sign up and accept! I love this digital library because there are so many high interest books here like ones you can borrow from the library – fiction and non-fiction, videos, read-to-me books, and audiobooks in many genres. It feels limitless! Our class code is: mcj0307

“A kid-safe, ad-free streaming library of read-aloud animated storybooks.” Click here for parent resources. What I love about Vooks is how the books are animated and there are a lot of books to choose from. Parents can get one month access for free – click here.

MATH:

Prodigy is a game-based math practice website that adapts questions to match the skill level of each player. To login, click here.

“What is Khan Academy? We offer exercises, quizzes, and tests so students can practice and master skills, as well as instructional videos to help students learn or review material.” To login, click here. Your child has been placed in their appropriate grade level. If you would like the grade level to be changed, higher or lower, please ask. To learn more, click here.

To login to these sites, your child can access all of the links, username, and password when they login to O365 > OneNote. Click on to their name and go to the section named :

and then look at the page named: . You will find all of the login information here.

Thank you deeply for your support at home! I can’t do this without you!

Sincerely, Ms. Chan

Dear students and parents, (Please ask your child to read this post and future posts or read it together. Thank you!)

I have so missed seeing all of you! I created a short video (2:07) for you and your child to watch together. Click on my picture to view it. I do care about you and your well-being. I know many of you really enjoyed being in my class and coming to school to see your friends. I hope this video helps you feel a little more connected. First and foremost is that I continue to build my relationship with you so I will continue to write blog posts to keep you informed.

Let’s have some fun by having a Guessing Game! Altogether, how many raw short videos did I take to make this? What I mean is how many times did I have to start taking a new video over and over again because I said something wrong or didn’t know what to say next. Under the title of this post (above), click on Leave a comment. Please write your first name only (to keep your identity safe), write your guess, and any other comments about the video. Parents and students each can guess. Note: Your comment will be shared with everyone at the end of the week on Friday night so get your guesses in by then, please. No one will see the email address you type in. Thanks for participating! The person who is closest will have the opportunity to be my first “guest”. You’ll have to wait to find out what that means but don’t let that stop you from guessing, please! Don’t worry, I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. 🙂

The highlight of last week was speaking to you and your child. I tweeted this over the weekend: “My heart was warmed and soul was filled by talking to all my parents and students on the phone. I needed that connection just as much as they did. Relationships are what will help us get through this together. Appreciating collaboration with colleagues as we share ideas too. #deeplygrateful” 

I sincerely thank you for your time in speaking with me over the phone. I am so deeply grateful for your continued support at home as we work as partners in your child’s learning. Remote learning cannot be as successful without your help! I really do feel that this is a great opportunity for all of us and I am excited about embracing this way of teaching. I see it as an opportunity for me and your child to learn. I’ve already learned so many new things in the last few weeks! Since spring break started, I have been on Twitter and Facebook every day and numerous times over the day as my PLN (Professional Learning Network) point me to different posts, articles, and websites with many ideas that colleagues and leaders around the world have shared. Honestly, at times, I have felt overwhelmed while trying to vet the limitless resources that are available but it also has completely activated my brain! Teachers at Brentwood have been collaborating and sharing ideas and resources that strike us so that has been very helpful too. 

“Change is an opportunity to do something amazing.”  – George Couros

So, I have been busily working and have some fun things planned so far but for this week, please check Burnaby’s Continuing Learning website for more ideas. Go to Students > Elementary > choose grade. Spend some time to review what is on the site with your child and make a schedule (click on image to the right to go to website), discuss a plan, choose some activities, and map out your days for this week.

I know some of you are anxious to get started but one of the first things to do is to become familiar with the tools we will be using as we move forward. One is the blog and learning how to leave a comment which is why I encouraged you to play our guessing game. Please play! It’s really just to practice leaving a comment.

Office 365 App #1: Outlook Mail (email) for grade 4’s only. To access it, please go to the page Office 365 on our blog for instructions. To watch a video on how to login on an iPad, click here (courtesy of Ms. Basso – thanks!). 

For grade 3’s, please use your own personal email or your parent’s to communicate with me. Sorry, Outlook Mail has been disabled for primary students across the District.

Note: If your child has their own iPad or tablet, I highly recommend that you download the following Office 365 apps in preparation for our learning at home: Word, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint. Then they can stay signed in and the functionality is better than on the web.

ASSIGNMENT #1: Dear students, It is very important to me that we stay connected. Please send me an email. Use the guiding questions, just like you are familiar with using in class. You don’t have to answer all. They are just suggestions but I would like you to answer the first question, please:

• Honestly, how you are feeling? How are you doing?
• What do you like and dislike about staying at home?
• What have you enjoyed doing to keep busy? Favourite activity so far?
• How have you stayed active? What suggestions do you have so I can share with your classmates?
• What do you want me to know so I can better support you at home?
• What do you wonder about? Feel free to ask me a question too except how old I am because you already know… 102! 😉 Ha ha.

Things to think about:

• Writing an email is just like writing a letter so start with a salutation like, “Dear Ms. Chan,” or “Hello Ms. Chan!”
• Write an opening sentence like, “I have been missing going to school.” or “It has been so different staying at home.”
• Write details supported by thoughts and feelings!
• Write a closing sentence like, “I am looking forward to your email back to me.”
• Finish with an ending like, “Sincerely, your name” 

Read over your writing 3 times (DYRIO) before you hit SEND to livia.chan@burnabyschools.ca

Hint: You can start your writing today and go back to work on it throughout the week. It will be saved as a DRAFT until you hit SEND. An alternate idea would be to write the letter with paper and pencil and then take a picture to send through email.

DUE DATE: Thursday, April 9

At Brentwood, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has been a focus for a number of years. Click here to view and access the links or print out the 4-week SEL Challenge to cross off. I would love to see you share your work with me!

Students have really enjoyed watching our Mystery Doug videos each week. This Tuesday, Mystery Doug is hosting a special LIVE event online! Doug is inviting students into his home for a 20-minute science show. He’ll answer real kids’ questions about the current situation we’re all dealing with, as well as share a few fun surprises. The video will be available for offline viewing mysteryscience.com/live after the event.

Mystery Doug Livestream
Tuesday, April 7, 10 am – Pacific Time 
mysteryscience.com/live

Digital Citizenship – Please review

It is vastly important that students practice good digital citizenship and safe online behavior. It is the responsibility of each student to ensure that the use of technology is appropriate and for educational purposes only. This includes not storing personal information on your OneDrive account or sharing personal information through your Office email account. For more information, please take a look at our Terms of Use for Students and the Student Network Acceptable Use Policy.

Just like how we are staying at home to keep us safe physically, we need our children to be aware of their actions online to keep them safe too. One of our first lessons will be about digital citizenship.

*Resources from SD41 Learning Technologies 

Have you noticed our new pages on the blog?

Books, Office 365, and Continuing Learning (summary of assignments for the week and what is due)

Thank you, everyone, for reading this post and for starting your assignments! You’ve actually finished the “hidden” assignment of reading today – hooray! I am so looking forward to seeing your guesses but even more so, the emails you will be sending to me. It’ll help me cope as I am missing you all!

Love, Ms. Chan

Dear students and families,

While today was not the traditional welcome back at the door that we were expecting when we left school on March 13th, I would still like to extend my warmest welcome back and to let you know that I have been thinking about you and your families throughout spring break. I most certainly missed hearing the “Good morning, Ms. Chan!” and the big smiles I would have normally received on a day like today along with the plethora of stories shared together. Despite the sadness, we are all doing our part to keep us all safe as we stay at home. We will get through this together.

I hope you have been receiving the emails from our Burnaby School District. If not, please let me know and I can help look into why. Alternatively, please check the Burnaby School District website regularly.

Today, you should have received an email with a letter from our Superintendent, Ms. Niccoli-Moen. If not, click here to read. Of importance is an update on what this week will look like and a couple resources that may help you as we transition into continuing learning in an alternate way. The letter is well worth the read. 

Here are a couple resources you may find helpful for ways to support at home. Click on the images to go to the website. I have added these as links which can be found on the right-hand sidebar under School Links so it’ll be easier for you to find in the future.

Burnaby’s Continuing Learning website 

Ministry of Education’s Keep Learning website

As you know, we have access to some online learning which can be found on the right-hand sidebar under the Links section like Prodigy, Tynker, and Office 365 (students can continue to work on their stories or create a new one but please make sure they save it in the folder with their name so I can access it). All the Right Type, Raz-Kids and Headsprout are new but more information will come shortly. Click on Movement Videos if you are looking for some physical activities.

As mentioned in Ms. Niccoli-Moen’s letter, I will be connecting with families (later) this week. I am looking forward to reconnecting with you soon. Thank you for your patience and partnership as we continue to work together to support your child’s learning. In the meantime, please stay safe and healthy at home.

Sincerely, Ms. Chan

Dear families,

A lot has happened since the last time there was a post on our blog. I have surely missed providing you with an update on our learning. I want you to have a full sense of what we did for the last three weeks so rather than writing one long post, you will be receiving separate weekly posts to catch you up. Enjoy!

This past week, Ms. Grewal taught the class for two full days on Monday and Tuesday as part of her SFU Education program. She will spend one more week with us after spring break.

Mar. 9 – In the morning, we read the book The Most Magnificent Thing. Click on the link to have the story read to you. This story is about a girl who tries to build the most magnificent thing but experiences repeated failure until she quits but after a break, has a renewed sense of creativity and enthusiasm to continue. Ms. Grewal stopped at the part of the story where she quit so that students could write their own ending before the real ending of the story was revealed.

In the afternoon, the grade 3’s went to Kitchener for Primary Days of Music to present their two songs and sing along with other schools that learned the same songs. This tradition is a long-standing one in Burnaby and another testament to how our District honours the arts and the love of music.

While the grade 3’s were away, the grade 4’s read a story called I Am Not a Number. The author’s grandmother told her what it was like when she went to the residential school. She felt it was important to share what happened through this book. To learn more and listen to the author speak about why she wrote her grandmother’s story, click here (2:33 minutes).

Mar. 10 – We have Music with Mr. Maroney every Tuesday. For the next while, please have your child bring their recorders to school every Tuesday. If your child still does not have a recorder, please pay online for one.

We read a story called My Mouth is a Volcano. Click on the link to have the story read to you. This story is about a boy who has a habit of interrupting. The author teaches children a creative technique to hold onto thoughts to share at an appropriate time instead. Students were given the choice to write about their own experiences or to write a creative story of their own based on this story.

Mar. 11 – To interact further with the same book, My Mouth is a Volcano, students became screen writers and actors. Ms. Grewal selected students to work in groups to create a short skit that demonstrated a scenario where the main character’s mouth was like a volcano and how the issue was resolved. Students worked collaboratively in their groups sharing ideas, recording it on a storyboard, and then practicing their acting skills. I loved listening to their conversations as they worked together on a common goal. I also loved how the audience enjoyed each skit and how supportive they were. At the end, each person had to write their “I can” statements as they self-assessed their own teamwork skills. 

I was truly touched when I came into the room after lunch break. As I walked in to a full room of students, I heard, “Surprise! Happy birthday!” with a birthday banner, a message on the whiteboard, a table set up with my favourite fruit to share, two chopsticks and a blue paper ring to play table ringette, a crown to wear, thoughtful cards, and a wrapped gift. My heart was warmed and I felt loved. My birthday is over the break. This was the best birthday surprise ever!

In the afternoon, we spent some time reviewing our reading, writing, listening, and speaking goals by reflecting on how we were progressing, what we were proud of, what we still need to work on, and whether we were ready for a new goal. I was very impressed with how everyone so thoughtfully and honestly assessed their progress. They were so focussed on this writing as this was evidence of growth we wanted to share with you during our Student Led Conferences.

Mar. 12 – During the day, we were busy preparing for our Student Led Conferences. They thoroughly enjoyed pretending to be a parent as they practiced. I am so grateful to all of you who invested your time to celebrate your child’s learning. It was so heartwarming and endearing to watch your child share their learning and interact with you. I loved seeing the smiles, hearing the laughter, and watching you do your movement break together! Thank you for continuing to be a partner in your child’s education. [Deepest gratitude to Ana for creating our “Welcome to Student Led Conferences” signs. She came up with this idea on her own, created the beautiful signs under my nose, and posted them up! I didn’t even know who put up these lovely welcoming signs until I asked around. Thank you, Ana! Such a thoughtful gesture.]

Mar. 13 – We became potato farmers and potato scientists. First, we read through the list of instructions together which was sent to me in an email from Ms. Hickman. We had to use our critical thinking skills to figure out what steps to take because this was my first time planting potatoes. Just to be sure, we quickly found a short video on YouTube that solidified our understanding. Next, we took pictures of our potato seeds. Then, to capture our observations as scientists, we took notes on what we saw, what it looked like, describing it by colour, shape, size, and smell, for example. Students were given a choice in which app they preferred to use: Book Creator or Explain Everything. I was impressed with their proficiency in using their app of choice and how quickly they were able to record their observations. When I told them we were going to record our observations, they were so anxious and motivated to get started. It was just like a child who couldn’t wait to open their present. Off they went in using their creativity for their title pages and observations. I absolutely love how real their learning is and having the iPads are a great way for them to capture their ideas in photographs and words. While they were diligently working in the class, we took turns outside putting dirt into our pot and planting our seeds!

I hope you have had a good start to your spring break. As I shared with my students, I am looking forward to staying home and spending more time with my family. Enjoy your time as well. Stay healthy and safe! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, my door is open. Please feel free to reach out and contact me by email, in a note, in person, or call the school.

To keep updated, regularly check the Burnaby School District website at http://burnabyschools.ca. For the latest post about COVID-19 including a message from our Board Office and a number of links, click here. 

Sincerely, Ms. Chan

Looking for ways to keep your child occupied? Here are some suggestions:

• Go for a walk together rain or shine. Each day, find ten new things you haven’t ever noticed before in nature or take turns discovering. It may become more challenging the more walks you take together! Bring a little notebook along to record.
• Play Math games with cards to review facts to practice fluency:
  • Making tens – Each player has 5 cards. Goal is to have combinations that equal 10. For example, if you have a 6 in your hand, say, “Do you have a 4?” If not, “go fish.” Take a card.
  • Addition war – Divide deck in two for each player. Flip over one card. First person to say the sum gains the cards. Challenge: Each person flips over two cards at the same time to add!
  • Doubles war – Flip over one card at a time. First person to call out the double gains the cards. For example, turn over a 6. 6 doubled, call out 12!
  • Doubles +1 strategy – Flip over one card at a time. First person to call out the double plus one gains the cards. For example, flip over a 6. The question would be 6 + 7  = 13. (6 doubled plus one)
  • +2 strategy – Flip over two cards. First person to call out the next number counting by two’s gains the cards. The idea is that rather than calculating, the automatic response is to count up by two’s instead. Then practice subtracting by two’s for the -2 strategy.
  • +10 strategy – Flip over one or two cards. First person to call out +10 gains the cards. Then practice -10.
  • +9 strategy – Flip over any number from 1 to 10. Each number, add 9. If they can quickly add +10, then +9 is just one less. For example, flip a 6. Think 6 + 10 = 16 but one less = 15.
  • Addition of larger numbers – Flip two cards and another two cards as random numbers to add (practice using decomposing or compensation strategy or regrouping). For grade 3’s, they are expected to be able to add to 1000 (3 digit plus 3 digit numbers) and for grade 4’s to 10 000 (4 digit plus 4 digit numbers) so using cards, they can create random numbers to add together.
  • Alternative: Go to my Symbaloo weblinks page to practice these math fact fluency strategies. To access, look on the right-hand side under Links on this class blog. Click on Symbaloo and it can be found on the bottom row. I created flashcards using Quizlet.
• Read by taking turns or at the same time together. Children at any age still enjoy listening to an adult read and vice versa. Just a few days ago, my 18 year old son read aloud a short story to me. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
• Keep a journal of what you did each day over the break. Make it fun by asking your child to write and then you write your thoughts afterwards on the same page! We always focus on having an opening and closing sentence with details in the middle that include thoughts and feelings. Another idea is to draw a picture together of what you did like a shared visual journal. I would love to see your shared work!
• Continue writing their creative stories on Office 365, play Prodigy or Tynker. If you need login information again, please email me. We also have a district licence to an online program, called All the Right Type, to learn how to touch type. We will be starting the program as class but if you’d like your child to have a head start, please contact me and I will pass along the login information.

Unfortunately, TELUS World of Science has closed its doors at least until April 6 for a deep clean so our field trip will be cancelled.