During Kindness month, it was uplifting to witness the students demonstrate many acts of kindness from writing Valentine cards and cooperating during play activities to extending a helping hand and sharing kind and respectful words. On the theme of kindness, we welcome families to our upcoming spring concert and enjoy a repertoire of songs performed by students from all grades.

Happy New Year to students and families of Division 10 and wishing everyone a wonderful year ahead!  It was great to see students well-rested and coming into the classroom with energy and enthusiasm.  Our initial week back included captivating show and tell presentations in which students shared about their winter break activities, making celebration hats, writing New Year resolutions, and participating in a workshop facilitated by an artist from the Burnaby Art Gallery.  It was definitely a fun and action-packed first week back at school.

As the holiday season approached, we discussed the importance of giving and showing compassion towards others in the community. Our school collected canned food and toy donations as a way to assist those who are lacking essential items. We also emphasized the need to care for the elderly residing in care facilities. I am so proud of our students who worked meticulously on making greeting cards to help spread joy to the seniors in our community this Christmas.

This week we learned about symbols and historical events significant of Remembrance Day.  Through read aloud and video stories, the students developed an awareness of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance for the soldiers who served in the Great War fighting for freedom and peace.  Besides discussions, they learned how to write their ideas in poem format in response to the story, A Poppy Is To Remember (view here).

Collaborative Art Project

This week we devoted time to learning more about Terry Fox and his legacy of hope. His story of courage and determination to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research despite having an amputated leg inspires us to be resilient when facing our own personal challenges. We also examined another story called The Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spears about a little girl’s idea to make something that becomes harder than expected. To show their understanding of this concept, students drew from their personal experiences and shared an example of what resilience can look like
(click to view).

All classes came together for our monthly assembly to listen and appreciate presentations related to Orange Shirt Day and truth and reconciliation. In our class, students participated in story and viewing activities that encouraged discussion and pictorial and written responses on this topic (see our virtual bulletin board).

We made it through our first full week of school as a new class with flying colours! It’s great to see students taking initiative to learn names of their new classmates and engage in social interactions. A start-up activity we did was reflecting and sharing a highlight of our summer–click here to view.