Dear families,

We hope you are enjoying your weekend so far! We had another great week together! Students have continued to work hard and show kindness to each other. I so love my time with them!

We can reflect.

Two of our core competencies are critical thinking and reflective thinking. We reflected on our learning, experiences, work, and progress and set some goals too!

We read a story called Sorry! by Trudy Ludwig and Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns It’s OK to Back Away (animated story). Then children reflected on their experiences with the word “sorry” and backing away from conflict. Then we wrote about our connections for each story.

(We read the books, but I included the videos here if you are interested to review them with your child.)

We can learn about syllables.

Syllables are fun to learn but why are they important? Being able to divide words into “chunks” can help with decoding and breaking up of words in reading. They learn that words are made up of parts that can be blended together with other parts to decode the whole word. Understanding the rules of syllables can also help with fluency and accuracy because it gives children a strategy to chunk longer words into more manageable parts.

How to support at home: When you are reading with your child, encourage them to use this strategy when they come across a word they are unsure of. Take out a piece of paper to write down the word. Ask your child to “clap it out” the syllables to break the longer word into smaller chunks to decode. Model how to break up the word into syllables. Ask your child to read each syllable rather than just guess what the word might be. This is modelled to them every time we meet in our Reading Groups and we come across a challenging word.

During writing, when children have a stronger understanding of syllables, it can help improve spelling too! At this age, some are still learning to include all of the letter sounds in words. Understanding that all syllables have one vowel sound leads to making sure that more sounds are represented in each word.

Listen to this song at home and dance along with your child! After we sang and danced to this, we dove into books to look for words with different number syllables. Ask your child what we did and try it at home!

We are mathematicians.

Grade 2’s reviewed patterns this week and showed Ms. Chan what we know. They learned a new pattern song too! Play and sing along at home!

They are expected to be able to demonstrate an understanding of the following:

• exploring more complex repeating patterns (e.g., positional patterns, circular patterns)
• identifying the core of repeating patterns (e.g., the pattern of the pattern that repeats over and over)
• increasing patterns using manipulatives, sounds, actions, and numbers (0 to 100); for example, AB, ABB, ABBB, ABBBB

Our grade 3’s have continued to work on Place Value concepts with Mrs. Pears and Mrs. Siu.

We are scientists.

We continued to focus on what scientists do best. Be curious and ask questions! In partners, they came up with a question they wondered about the water cycle. Then they had an opportunity to research the answer and share it with the class!

Students were asked to go home and continue to be curious! Model curiosity. Look all around and say “I wonder…” statements. Then do some research together! Addie came to school to share curiosities by her mom, dad, and herself! She shared her new knowledge with the class and helped to grow our brains. Thanks, Addie and parents! 🙂

Book Fair Information

Monday to Thursday, November 21 to 24 at 8:15 – 8:45 AM, students accompanied by parents are welcome in our Library for the Scholastic Book Fair before school. On Thursday, November 24, there will be an EXTRA opportunity for parents and students to shop between 2:30 – 3:30 PM!

Our class will be visiting the Book Fair on Monday, November 21 at 9:30AM for the best selection! If your child forgets to bring money to purchase items that day, no worries because you can order books online all week or visit the fair in the mornings with your child!

CLICK HERE for the online link to the virtual fair. Currently you can see a preview of books and book trailers. The link will go live for shopping once the Fair opens on Monday, Nov. 21.

We really appreciate your support at the Book Fair. The money raised goes back to the Library for more books!

Jingle Bell Walk

A message from Mrs. Paulich: Please ensure your child dresses appropriately for the weather next week. We are hoping to deliver our Jingle Bell flyers on Monday, November 21, in the afternoon, but may have to postpone for a drier day in the week. That being said, we may have to make our delivery on a rainy day. Ensure your child has proper footwear, a rain jacket and even an umbrella. Thank you in advance for your support! We appreciate the parents who have already volunteered to help out on Friday, December 2 with the collection!

FIFA World Cup 2022 (Soccer)

On Wednesday, students are encouraged to wear RED to support our Canadian team at the World Cup as they play against Belgium!

Save the Date

On Wednesday, December 7, the odd divisions (that’s us!) will be a part of the Winter concert. Students are to arrive at 6:15pm as the show will begin at 6:30pm in the gym. More information will be shared later but we wanted you to save this date. There will be a dress rehearsal on the same day at 1:00pm if your child has younger siblings or other family members (like grandparents) who would like to watch.

Friday, November 25 is a Pro-D day.

School is not in session.

Appreciation

Your support at home truly makes a difference. Thank you for reading our weekly blog updates. Continue to have conversations about what we learned about at school. Remember, be creative with how you ask them. Move away from the “What did you do at school today?” question and be more specific. Feel free to CLICK HERE to go back to our Week 5 & 6 blog post to review the tips on how to learn more about your child’s school day.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to us during pick up/drop off or send us an email. Thank you! We are here to support you and your child!

We appreciate you! 🙂

With such gratitude, Ms. Chan (and Mrs. Paulich)