Hello Parents! We hope you and your children are settling in at home with a regular routine. By now your children should be able to wake up at an appropriate time, have a healthy breakfast, and be ready to start their learning from home with you. We trust that the weekly email communication and blog activities are adequate in supporting you and your child’s learning needs. We continue to look forward to receiving all the creative and interesting learning experiences you are sharing with your child at home. We have listed many fun and different learning activities for this week, including videos of our salmon release and our school garden so, enjoy!

  • Create a story using Story Stones. Find some stones. Paint different characters or objects on the stones, or use stickers of characters or objects to put onto the stones (see pictures below). Whatever stickers you have at home will do. We used princess, Dora, Minions, Holiday characters, Paw Patrol, Sponge Bob, and forest/ocean/zoo/farm animals. You can also use small plastic figures or dolls if you don’t have materials to make the story stones.

Create a setting using blocks or other objects you have at home. Now make up a story. Remember to include all the story elements (e.g. characters (forest animals), setting (where it takes place-in forest), problem (character sees a polluted lake), solution (ask animal friends to find out who made the mess and to help clean it up).

Take a video of your child telling their story and send it to your teacher. It doesn’t need to be long. We have done a sample story video for you to watch.

After watching the video, retell the story in your own words to your family. The boy and dragon have a special friendship. Why is the dragon sad? What happens at the end of the story that makes him happy again? Who do you see in the last page of the book, peeking around the corner? Who is the little girl? Draw a picture of Puff. Continue the story. What happens to Puff? What other adventures does he go on?

  • Writing Tips for Your Child – Children learn to show their ideas on paper gradually. They begin with pictures, eventually experimenting with strings of letters or “pretend writing,” and eventually work their way towards what we can identify as words and sentences. This does not happen overnight, and each stage of writing development is valuable and worthwhile! Help your child develop confidence as a writer at home. Click here to read some valuable tips on writing.
  • Measure the volume of containers. Volume is how much a container holds. Find several containers such as plastic jars, cups, and measuring spoons and cups of different sizes and shapes. Put them in a box or bin. Fill the bin with anything you have on hand such as rice, beans, pasta, or water. Allow your child to fill the containers with these items and explore how much each container holds. They might discover that a short and wide container may hold more than a narrow and tall container. Perhaps it takes 4 small cupfuls to fill one large container? How many spoonfuls will it take to fill each container? Your child will be learning about Estimation in this activity as well.

You can also extend the learning into Science and explore prediction and measurement. Have your child draw the containers and record their predictions in a chart. In one column draw the container. The next column write their prediction (how many scoops will the container hold?). In the last column write the actual number of scoops used to fill the container.

 

Here is an additional activity that explores volume and water that you can do with your child as an option.

  • Play the card game WAR! All you need is a deck of cards and 2 players. Take out the face cards    (Jacks, Queens, and Kings). Your child will learn the following math concepts: greater than/less than, number value, winning and losing, and rule following. Here is how you play.

 

 

 

  • How are you feeling today? Have a daily discussion with your child about how they are feeling. There might be some anxiety or feelings of confusion during this uncertain time. Your child has had many changes happen in the last few months: learning from home, social distancing (less contact with friends and family), distractions at home, more sibling/parent conflicts, less outdoor playtime, etc. It is important that you encourage your child to talk about how they are feeling, and if they are feeling sad or upset, that they should let you know. Use the playdough you made (or go to Recipes on our blog for the playdough recipe) and have your child choose an emotion face card (happy, sad, silly, scared, etc.) to create on their face mats using playdough.

Click on this link to read about how to do this activity.

Click on this link to download the emotions face cards and playdough face mats.

  • Fruit Salad! One way to stay healthy is to eat healthy! Have your child choose a few fruits that they like. Wash the fruits. Give your child a plastic knife. Teach them how to safely cut the fruit into small pieces. You will need to cut the hard fruits for them. Mix the different fruits together. Now your family can enjoy some fruit salad!

  • Spring Crafts- Celebrate Spring with these easy crafts. You only need a few supplies to create them.

Tie-dye flowers

Watercolour flowers

Cardboard spinners

  • Do Cosmic Yoga every day! Here are a few favourites to get you started:

Star Wars

Frozen

 

  • SALMON!! In January our school received salmon eyed eggs. Our students had the opportunity to learn about the salmon life cycle and watch them grow from eyed eggs to fry. Now the fry are strong enough to be released into a local creek. Mme. Dare and Ms. Rawnsley were at Eagle Creek last week and recorded a video of the salmon fry being released. Make sure to tell your parents what you learned about salmon after watching the video. We wish the salmon fry good luck and safe travels. Goodbye salmon fry!

 

 

 

  • Check out the video of our school garden with Mme. Dare! Look at all the plants that are growing!

 

 

 

Have a wonderful week that is filled with quality family time, active outdoor play, exploration, creativity, and imagination!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic, and Ms. Nero

Parents, thank you for all the hard work you are doing at home, the feedback you are giving us, and for sharing your child’s work with us through photos, notes, and videos.  We miss our students very much and enjoy seeing their faces and the amazing things they are doing at home with you.  Please continue to share their work by emailing their teacher directly.  Emails are listed under the Teacher link above.

Remember our weekly learning activities are like a “Menu” – you can pick and choose what works for you and your child(ren), you are not expected to have your child do everything.  You can also do and share with us other things your child is doing.  We love hearing and sharing your ideas too!

If you feel it is all too much at times, please do less and enjoy your time together more.  Remember, everything you do is a learning opportunity for your child.

Please check the Useful Links (also above in the menu bar) for April Music Activities from our Music Teachers and ELL activities from our ELL teachers.  We are glad to hear that many of you are enjoying the Scholastic Bookflix reading at home.  If you haven’t tried it yet, please do, we think your children will enjoy it!  The link is also listed permanently on the Useful Links page.

This week you can explore the following activities:

 

 

 

 

  • Read together every day, try reading environmental print while walking outdoors, look for letters, words, and signs. Read the labels on your groceries and do letter hunts.
  • Draw a big, beautiful picture each day. Big meaning it fills the page.  Beautiful means it is drawn in pencil and coloured with at least 5 colours.  The picture tells a story. Ask your child to tell you what their picture is about.
  • Write each day. Help your child label parts of their picture, asking them which letters or sounds they know and practice phonetically writing down what they say.  It is not important that they be correct.  It is important that they try.
  • Measure your family! Compare and contrast who is tallest?  Who is shortest?  Draw a picture and label it with the measurements.   Measure your height, size of your feet, size of your hands, your head circumference, your chest, your waist, etc.
  • Measure the weight of different household objects – put 2 objects on the table and ask your child to predict which one would be heavier then ask them to put out their hands and hold the objects – compare to see which is heavier. Hint – an empty cereal box is very big and might look heavier than a jello box, but is it? 😊
  • Write down numbers 1 – 10 on pieces of paper and put into a container.  Ask your child to reach in without looking and pull a number – have them print that number on a piece of paper and draw that many circles.  To make it harder, ask them to write or copy the number in words on their paper.
  • Watch Charlotte Diamond 4 Hugs a Day video on youtube.com and during the week, try having your child learn the song and make a dance to go along with the instructions. Charlotte Diamond 4 Hugs a Day video
  • Go for a daily walk and practice different types of movement. For example, have your child run, jog, skip, slide, shake, for 20 steps each and then do 10 jumping jacks in between.   Be brave, join in the fun!
  • Play I Spy with shapes, textures, colours, animals, insects, anything you can observe on your walks.
  • Bring back an artifact from your walk – a leaf, a cone, pebble, and start a small nature collection.

Talk to your child about “what Zone they are in.”  This is something they are familiar with from school.  (Zones of Regulation)

  • Green – Good level of energy – happy, relaxed, calm.
  • Blue – Low energy – tired, hungry, sad.
  • Yellow – Energetic – silly, can’t sit still, perhaps upset or frustrated, anxious.
  • Red – Very High energy – angry, yelling, out of control.

Zones and feelings can change throughout the day.  Check in with your child about how they are feeling, what zone they are in, share with them what zone you are in.  If Blue, remind them to be kind to themselves and do things slowly until they feel better.  Green is great!  If Yellow or Red, help them breathe calmly, slowly, letting their body and emotions calm down.  It is hard for them to listen when they are upset.   Remind them all their feelings are valid and they can learn to manage them in appropriate ways.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us by email if you have any questions.  We look forward to speaking with you this week and a big hug to all our students!

Warmest regards,

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic and Mrs. Nero

Hello Divisions 36, 38 and 39.

I hope you enjoyed the sunshine with your families this past weekend and maybe a visit from the Easter Bunny.

Here are this week’s activities for you to explore. Some of the activities can be revisited from week to week. You can also visit some newly added sites under the Useful Links tab for more learning opportunities.

Remember to email your individual teacher once a week, or more if you wish, some pictures of your learning. We would love to see your Thank You posters or maybe a picture of your Rock Monster. Email us anything you may have created or a picture of you engaged in any learning activity.

  • Please read a book with an adult or sibling each day. This can include a bedtime story. Try to read a physical book, if possible, to limit screen time.
  • Make a poster or sign to share words of encouragement or a positive message to our community. You can thank the essential service workers (grocery store workers, healthcare professionals, mail carriers, etc.) to lift our spirits. Don’t forget to write your name and message in big letters so that neighbours can see what you wrote. You can also draw pictures to decorate the sign. Place your sign on your window or door in your house. Please send your teacher a picture of what you did through email.
  • Click here for a larger Rock Monster image

    Click this link to read the Rock Monster story with an adult or sibling. Think about all the things you and your family are doing to keep everyone safe. Then draw a picture of how you are helping. You can make your own Rock Monster by collecting a rock from outside your house. Use paint or coloured markers to decorate it. Next place your new friend somewhere in your neighbourhood for others to see.

  • Try to grow a bean seedling in a clear plastic container or glass jar. You can watch it grow and develop over the next few weeks. Remember to place it in a window. It will need sunlight and to be watered each day. Please draw pictures of the changes you notice as the bean grows and develops to record your thinking.
  • Work on your measurement and counting skills by making play dough with an adult’s help. Click this link for a simple play dough recipe. You can help measure and count the ingredients. Once your play dough is made it can be stored in an air tight container or plastic bag. You can use your play dough over and over for the next few weeks.

Play Dough Explorations

    • See how many shapes you can make by forming the play dough. For example, circle, square, triangle, rectangle, octagon, etc. 
    • See how many solids you can form. For example, cone, sphere, cube, cylinder.
    • Form the letters of the alphabet.
    • Form the letters of your name or familiar words.
    • Explore your play dough using familiar household items such as, cookie cutters, buttons, plastic utensils, rolling pin, bottle, small toy animals, straws or tea strainer.
  • Measure the width of your living room using various nonstandard units such as your shoe, the length of a spoon, hand spans, chopsticks, straws. Don’t forget to use a baseline and make sure your units are touching when you measure. What do you notice? Try to measure another room in your house.
  • Go for a walk with your family and look for signs of spring in nature. Draw a picture of what you discovered.
  • Practice forming the letters of the alphabet every day. 
  • Practice alphabet sounds daily. 
  • Put together a counting collection using familiar house hold objects such as bottle caps, bread tags, buttons, small toy animals, marbles, paper clips, etc. A range of approximately 30-50 objects per collection is a good number. Explore how many ways you can count your collection. Try dividing your collection by 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, 5’s, 10’s, etc. This activity can be revisited many times during the week. 
  • Check out the Useful Links tab to explore more learning opportunities. 

Warmest regards,

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic and Mrs. Nero

Welcome parents and a warm hello to all our students in Divisions 36, 38 and 39!

We were very happy to connect with you recently by phone and are relieved to hear that you are all healthy and well. We miss seeing our students in our classrooms and are looking forward to connecting with you and teaching our students in a different way until we are back in our classrooms where we belong.

Look for the Week One post on Tuesday, April 14th.   After that, you will see a new post each Tuesday giving you a selection of activities, weekly information, learning opportunities and invitations.  Please do not attempt them all!  It is like a menu, choose from the list what you think will interest your child and what will work for your family. You do not even have to choose from the activities listed on the weekly blog post.  Everything you do with your child is valid.  Notice the many learning opportunities that occur naturally throughout the day as you engage with your child at home.  Please take a regular peek at our Useful Links section for more resources and our Teaching Tips for hints and suggestions you may find useful.

The school district has focused the expected learning areas while you are doing school work at home – Social Emotional Learning, Literacy and Numeracy are highlighted.  Your child is expected to do approximately 60 minutes of school work per day with flexible learning times in those three areas.   For example, reading is a must.  Each day we would like you to read to your child for at least 15 minutes. Bedtime stories are fun and enjoyable and a lovely way to cuddle!  We would also like your child to draw a picture that tells a story every day.  This usually takes at least 15 to 20 minutes.  Feel free to write on the back, in any language, what your child told you about their drawing.  Doing other activities with you, like helping to prepare a meal with the family by measuring and counting,  for example, counts towards learning and takes another 15 – 30 minutes.  Going for a walk can be a short or long activity.  Some days you may do a 30 minute walk (physical education) and while you are walking you may notice and describe nature and neighbourhood pets (science – plants and animals). Now you have so much learning covered!

Remember to enjoy your child and this special time you get to spend with them.  Housework can always wait another day!

Please email your classroom teacher at least once a week (more is great!) and share examples of your child’s learning.  For example:

  • a photo of your child’s drawing
  • a short video of your child doing one of the suggested activities
  • a photo of something your child created
  • a photo of your child’s artwork
  • your observations of what you noticed about your child….something you are proud of, surprised by, or just a question you might have

We look forward to supporting you and your children in the coming weeks.  Please reach out to us if you have any questions.  Email your teacher directly and we will strive to reply to all emails within 24 hours.  Thank you and hope to hear from you soon!

Warmest regards,

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic and Mrs. Nero