Dear Division 6 family,

I just have to say “wow”! We had a phenomenal week together! When we did our Friday celebrations, my heart was warmed and touched by what your children shared. Many shared about having a great week back and their positive feelings about their one word. Honestly, all week, I felt so inspired every time we worked on their one word. We had a few students read their writing to the class as well. I may have had a smile on my face as I was listening to each one! 🙂

Students were given time to finish writing about their one word. They were asked to write about why they chose this word, why this word is important to them, and how they plan to live their word in all of their communities. If their writing was not finished, they were asked to complete it on the weekend. Next, they will be writing their one word and painting it on canvas. After that, the plan is for them to hold on to their canvas and record themselves talking about their one word in front of a green screen. The background will be their choice so they can start thinking about what they want. For example, if their word is “brave”, they may choose to have a background of a mountain summit.

Please have a conversation with your child at home about their one word they chose. Feel free to remind them that they chose this word as a commitment to themselves and offer gentle encouragement. We are all here to support them as they grow into their word to help them be better every day. For example, if they chose these words:

• TRY: Anytime you see your child struggling or hesitant, encourage them to TRY by saying, “Remember, your one word is to try. I know you can do it when you bring a positive mindset. I’m here to support you. It may be hard but you can try. I believe in you and I know Ms. Chan believes in you too. You just need to believe in yourself that you can try too.”
• COURAGE: Anytime you see your child afraid to do something that might be outside of their comfort zone but just need a little encouragement, say, “Remember, your one word is courage. I know that this is outside of your comfort zone but you grow more by pushing yourself into the stretch zone. I know you can do it. I am here to support you. I believe in you and I know Ms. Chan believes in you too. Inhale courage. Exhale fear.”

They hear this often, we want to be “better today than yesterday and better tomorrow than today.” I also told them that I recently finished a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear. I highly recommend the book if you are looking for a new one to read! One of the things he encourages us to do is to make a 1% improvement every day. Just think, how much better will we be by the end of the year if we made a 1% improvement every day?

As doctors in training, we started looking at the respiratory system by doing research and coming up with questions we wonder about. We discovered a very cool website where we can see the respiratory system in 3D and even go right into the trachea! It almost felt like we were on the Magic School Bus! We will continue to learn more this week.

Previously, we learned about the circulatory system and collectively created a class PowerPoint with interesting facts. Click here to view our slides! I always appreciate how well everyone works with others no matter who I put them with! It’s a true testament to their respect and how inclusive they are!

For Math, we practiced estimating sums and differences. This week, we will dive further into addition and subtraction with regrouping with decimals too. Feel free to review at home as well.

As always, we are here to support you as you support your child at home. Should you have any questions, please reach out to us. We work as partners. Thank you for your continued support at home! We appreciate you and absolutely adore your children! They bring us so much joy every single day!

Sincerely, Ms. Chan and Mrs. Paulich