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. 🙂

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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.

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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

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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!

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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

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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 

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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)

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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