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!

Name Presentations

Thank you for your support at home to help your child prepare their name presentations. There was a noticeable improvement in these second presentations in their confidence, preparedness, and how they spoke more loudly.

We are scientists.

Students really enjoy learning about the 3 states of matter, atoms, and the transfer of heat energy! I try to make learning as experiential, hands on, and fun as possible! Here are some of the concepts they have learned about so far:

• matter is anything that has mass and takes up space
• atoms are building blocks of matter
• sources of thermal energy
  • Sources: thermal energy can be produced by chemical reactions (e.g., hand warmers), friction between moving objects, the sun, etc.
  • Thermal energy: the energy that comes from the movement of particles within matter
• transfer of thermal energy
  • conduction (touching — e.g., hold an ice cube)
  • convection (through a liquid — e.g., hot water can heat a mug)
  • radiation (through space by a wave — e.g., heat from the sun)

Ways to support at home: To reinforce learning, it is best that children review what they learned within 48 hours. So when we add notes in the Planner for your child to explain concepts, the process of them trying to retrieve new knowledge helps solidify learning in their brain. If they don’t remember, then they may need a few hints. It’s perfectly okay to ask Google or YouTube for help!

Encourage your child to be curious. Be curious together! Model being curious! Ask them what questions they may still have about the concepts learned. Fostering curiousity is an important part of their developing brain and the practice of lifelong learning. Ask questions that may spark more conversation.

Tips for Families

It is a common thing we hear from many parents that their children don’t share enough of what they did at school. “What did you do in school today?” Typical response, “I don’t remember or I don’t know.”

This is part of the reason why I write blog posts to keep parents informed. Although it is usually at the end of the week, things they learn about can still be brought up in conversation to reinforce learning. Here are some different questions I have shared with parents in the past and received feedback that it works!

Instead of asking, “How was school?” try asking more targeted questions:

• What’s one thing you did well today OR what are most proud of today?
• What did you do to help others today?
• What is one thing you learned that you can teach me? This question reinforces their learning.
• What made you smile or laugh today?
• What’s one thing that made today fun?
• What’s something you are grateful for that you experienced today?
• What is something you learned about yourself today?
• What is one thing you noticed that you’d like to get better at and how can I support you?
• What’s one thing you learned that you’d love to know more about? Let’s do some research together!

My children are 18 and 20 and in university. I still ask them these questions from time to time! I usually get more information than by asking, “How was school today?”

Also, try modeling by telling your child about your day by sharing some of the things that answer the questions above. They may begin to see that it’s not just the content learning you are valuing but the personal and social development aspect of learning in school.

Ice Skating

As mentioned in the email, we will have fun skating together on Tuesday, November 1 at 1:30 to 2:30pm at Kensington Complex. Thank you for filling out the new permission form so quickly!

We are so very grateful to our parent volunteer drivers who will help on and off the ice. The other class that will join us will be Ms. Lim’s grade 4’s. The kids are SO excited to still have the opportunity to go skating!

Appreciation

I wanted to take the time to appreciate you for sharing your child with us. Every day I step into the classroom, my heart is filled with joy and energy from their energy! They are so sweet! Their love for their teachers and learning, respect and care for each other, and dedication to working hard is your legacy and your family core values and beliefs.

Thank you for your continued support at home. We appreciate you for being our partners in your child’s learning. We feel loved and appreciated being your child’s teachers! They made one for Mrs. Paulich and Ms. Connell too!

As always, please let us know how we can better support you and your child.

After reading, please reply to this email notification and send me your favourite emoji. If you’d like to do more, please share one thing that resonated with you after reading this blog post. Thank you for your time and response! 🙂

With much love and gratitude, Ms. Chan (and Mrs. Paulich)