Hopefully this will spark some interesting conversations about what your child is learning at school rather than the usual “school was fine, we didn’t do much” responses to “How was school?” 
At the end of every post, we pose a question that students will need to respond to. This is a way of keeping them accountable and for us to know that they are reading the blog. Eventually, blog responses will be completed and submitted online via our office 365 TEAM, but our school has had some technical issues and we have not yet been able to teach our class how to do this. In the meantime, we will provide a paper response option. Responding to the blog is part of Division 7’s weekend homework routine. 
Most often the blog is ready on Friday evening, but we suggest waiting until Saturday morning before trying to access it. It will definitely be ready by then. 
Consistent completion of the blog is also lucrative. Megabucks will be paid out at the end of the month: One MB for every completed response. A bonus is given if ALL responses have been completed for that month. Responding to the blog every week is a great habit to start and we hope you find reading it enjoyable as well as informative!
Division 7 has been working hard this month! We have done several community building activities and we’re getting to know one another quite well. 
So far we have made a bunch of name tags: the first was our name magnet, then we made one for our window display, another for our desk, yet another for our perpetual growth board, and lastly, the letters of our names make up our huge Scrabble Crossword puzzle. It’s been fun! We have done some discussion around goal setting– individually as well as for our class. 
As part of our personal goals, we were inspired by the book “Big Plans” and then we thought of our own “big plans” for this year at school. We thought about what we want to aim for in our learning and how we want to interact with each other as classmates and members of Division 7. These “Big Plans” are on display in the hallway along with our “mini-me” versions of ourselves. They are super cute and we hope you get the chance to come see them soon!
Along with the community building, we have also been learning about some unique aspects of Division 7 such as the Mega Market, Reading Club, and our KM Club. Both “clubs” have started and the Mega Market is also open for business! 
The Mega Market is unique to our class and all students really love it! Students have been given an initial “welcome” of 5 Megabucks in their account. Aside from that and the 5 birthday bucks they receive on their birthday, the only way to make money is to EARN it. This is where our “clubs” come in. 
Reading club awards TEN Megabucks for every 1000 minutes of reading recorded. 
KM Club also awards 10 Megabucks for every 10 KM milestone reached. Another means for students to grow their account is by consistently doing their classroom job. The saying “many hands make light work” is definitely true and all of Division 7 pitches in daily depending on what job they have chosen.
Thanks parents for all the school supplies! It looks as though most everyone has brought in what was requested on our supply list. 
Binders have been labelled and have subject dividers in them. We have two binders because each of us teaches different subject areas. Mrs. Gil focuses on Language Arts, Math, Science, and Health Education/Career. Mrs. Davis subject areas include Literacy, Social Studies, Math , Graph of the Week, and French. ADST is taught by both of us as is PE. 
Music is taught by Ms. Petrovska for 80 minutes each week and we also have one 40 minute visual Arts block taught by Ms. Willis. 
We are very fortunate to have these specialized teachers being able to deliver high quality experiences for our students! We are excited to see their skills develop in all areas this year.
On Thursday afternoon, we hosted 3 Open House sessions and were so thrilled with how many parents came out to them. THANK YOU! It was lovely meeting you and we hope that you have a gained some insight about how our class runs and what your children will be experiencing this year. If you were not able to come, we will be contacting you to arrange a meeting with us sometime soon.
Our first assembly took place on Friday, September 27th as we commemorated our journey toward reconciliation between Indigenous and non-indigenous cultures. 
We re-visited the “Project Heart” work our school did back in June and dove further into how each of us can contribute to repairing the harm that was done to the Indigenous people of Canada. Each class created a 12 X 12 orange tile that will become part of a larger mosaic to help remind us of our commitment to this process and the importance of it. The finished art piece created by our school last year has been installed in the hallway outside of the library. It is stunning! It’s worth a visit to take a look.
Your blog response is coming home in paper form. Please complete it and bring it back to school on Tuesday.
A reminder to bring a cardboard box to school on TUESDAY. We will need it for our first ADST creative challenge. 
Aim for a box that’s the size of a shoe box or cereal box. Nothing too big or too small.
Have a wonderful LONG weekend Division 7! 
Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Gil