Dear families,

What a fantastic time celebrating Literacy Week! Every morning, we had students from our class go on the PA during morning announcements to tell jokes! I loved their confidence as they spoke clearly. Thank you for helping them practice at home. We also had daily trivia questions for primaries and intermediates!

We had something special every day of the week. On Monday, all primary classes read Dear Children of the Earth by Schim Schimmer. Then we wrote a letter to Mother Earth, which some students will read at the Celebration of Learning assembly on Wednesday. (It was supposed to be today but it was postponed to next week.) We will be MCing the Celebration of Learning assembly so please have your child dress in blue (again). Every person in our class will be saying something at the assembly. Some already memorized their lines! This is not necessary but it would be great if you help your child practice reading slowly, clearly, and with enthusiasm. Thank you for your support!

Please feel free to watch and listen to the book read by the author himself!

Ways to support at home: Talk about what you are already doing as a family to take care of earth. What more can you and will you be doing? What would you like to thank Mother Earth for?

On Tuesday, it was wear a shirt with words day for our class alphabet scavenger hunt.

On Wednesday, my Uncle Bill come to our class to read The Seven Chinese Brothers because it was guest reader day. It was a very appropriate book for him to read because he has six Chinese brothers! He had so much fun reading to them and giving them a history lesson about the emperor at the time of the story and the Great Wall of China. I learned a few new things too!

Feel free to watch and listen to the story!

On Thursday, we had our first ever book swap. Click on image to see tweet and short video!

All week, Gilmore school has had a continuous reading marathon! What this means is that there was someone in the library every day this week, reading…even during lunch! Friday was our turn in the library to contribute to this marathon. Congratulations to the whole school because we accomplished our goal!

We are mathematicians.
Grade 2’s have been working hard on skip counting for the past two weeks. If they did not finish their workbook, then it was brought home for homework. Please support them in finishing it. It is not due until Wednesday. I offered a hundreds chart to help them. Some may not have taken a hundreds chart home with them. Click here to download one for yourself to use at home.

The random numbers section on the bottom of each side is to practice skip counting from any point from 1-100. Choose a random number to start. If they need more practice with skip counting backwards, you may want them to practice more of these.

Next week, we will start learning how to add with regrouping so please continue to have your child practice their math facts using their random numbers chart or a deck of cards.

Grade 3’s: Please practice math facts for doubles plus one.

As you may or may not know, our school growth plan has a numeracy focus now (new this year). So, if I hosted a Math Literacy Fun Night for you and your child to attend, would you be interested? The purpose of this would be to teach you some fun games you can play to help your child improve their number sense, number concepts, and learning of math facts. I understand that it’s one thing to ask you to help your child practice their math facts, but it’s so much better if I show you how and have you practice and play with them at school so you can replicate the fun at home! 🙂 Please CLICK HERE to fill out this quick questionnaire to share your interest and availability. Thank you!

Exciting news!
Starting on Monday, we will have a student teacher from SFU join our class for the week! The primary goal of this first week is to get to know your children and learn about our classroom and school operations.  Then from February 21 to April 6 (with spring break in between), she will have some co-teaching and teaching opportunities.

We would like to welcome Ms. Kim to our class! We wrote letters to help you get to know each of us better! 🙂

Tennis Lessons Begin!
We have tennis lessons that begin this week! Please ensure your child wears runners on Tuesday and Thursday for the next two weeks.

Gratitude
Every day, I tell your children that I love and appreciate them. They are very special people who bring me such joy every day! The TOCs that come into our class always tell me we have a very lovely and sweet class and that we do! I love the connection we have and how much fun we have together working and playing. Overall, they work hard during assignments and listen well during lessons and activities. I feel blessed to be their teacher. My heart is full of gratitude for the role I get to play in their lives. Thank you so much for being our partners in supporting your child’s learning at home.

Always feel free to leave a comment about what you just read. We’d love to hear from you!

With love and kindness, Ms. Chan