This week, as we discussed topics for Remembrance Day, we have had quite a few serious conversations in Div. 7.  During all these conversations and our solemn assembly today, your children showed maturity and understanding.  They have been thoughtful and respectful throughout.  It has been a sombre pleasure to have shared our feelings on peace and sacrifice.   This past week, Div. 7’s students did a wonderful job of honouring those who gave their lives to serve our country.

Our Wreath

                                                                                                                       All of Our Divisions

Dear Families,

First, a belated Thanksgiving to you.  Using the wreath art project, the students were able to determine the things they were grateful for in their lives.

As well, the students have been working on their Fall pumpkins.  They enjoyed using oil pastels and working in such a large scale.  They worked hard to blend and shade their pumpkins in order to show shadow (see the green pumpkin stem) and light (see the yellow light-filled centre as it catches the light). A class characteristic is that we find joy, calm, and peace when we do art together.

Added to our pumpkin bulletin boards, are the large scale leaves that have been made in cooperation with our Buddy class, Div. 5.  The students worked together to fill each part of the leaf with something they had in common with each other.  The Fall leaves they created accentuated the pumpkin bulletin board in our lower hallway.

Going back to September, the students also completed their Best Selves, highlighting the characteristics they embody when they are being their “best selves”.  For this art project, the students were asked to embrace the perspective of a young child as they drew their self-portrait.  Below, you will find some examples of this project.

Most Marshmallows.  A wonderful book about our similarities with one another and our dreams for our future.  We used this assignment to jump ahead to the future and express, in art and writing, how we saw ourselves in our young adult future.

In Science,  we have been learning about fresh water.  We have made watersheds out of paper which we sprayed with water to see how rainwater naturally gathered:

And, we’ve been making predictions about fresh water availability, globally and locally.  We have used 100 blocks to represent all the water in the world and used these blocks to predict how much of the world’s water is salt vs. fresh (97% salt vs. 3% fresh).  We have also used the blocks to represent how much fresh water Canada has relative to the world.   In making these predictions using 100 blocks, the students have been introduced to the concept of percentage.

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We received 55 Chum salmon on Wednesday and Div. 9 was filled with excitement! Have a look at the video where you will see the salmon eggs being dropped into our tank.  We are carefully watching them and adding up “Accumulated Thermal Units” to track their development as they approach the next stage.

Behind the scenes, we are learning about habitats (streams and oceans), collecting data (accumulated thermal units), and learning about life cycles.  We are also continuing to build understanding of indigenous perspectives with regards to salmon and environmental stewardship.

To our families who are celebrating this week, Happy Diwali.  May the festival of lights brighten your life and bring you moments of joy!

Our wreath turned out beautifully.  The Core Competencies in the B.C. Curriculum highlight the importance of working together to achieve a common goal.  In making this wreath, we had to problem solve and get through small frustrations while showing our flexible thinking.  I wasn’t sure if the students realised how many obstacles we had overcome, as a group, to arrive at our finished wreath as not all students were aware of individual stumbling blocks.  To make this learning and our actions more evident, I decided to display many of our challenges in a way that we could see it from each other’s perspectives.  Ultimately, it was a teachable moment that helped us build our understanding of perseverance.  Congratulations to Div. 9!

Our Remembrance Day Wreath

Mrs. Marto and Mrs. Andrew’s Class (our buddy class), in a choral recitation, performed this poem at our assembly on Friday.

For those who left

Never to return

For those who returned

But were never the same

Poppy

Little poppy

As red as can be

To show that we REMEMBER

Those that fought

To make us free

• Back in June of 2023, Mrs. Marto’s grade 2/3’s and Mrs. Andrew’s 4/5 classes joined forces to design and construct a backpack using Makedo tools and a lot of cardboard
• The objective was to design a wearable and fully functioning backpack, using only the Makedo tools and screws
• The students did not use any tape to construct these backpacks
• this design project followed on the heels of our Geometry Unit and, at its core, the backpack design had to show understanding of cube net so that the cardboard could be folded and formed from a singular cut of cardboard
• Although this post comes late (my daughter’s high school graduation kept me hopping in those final weeks) I’m still hoping enough of my former parents are subscribed and are able to see what the students created.  It was such a rewarding project!

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It’s been an exciting day!

Div. 6 and Div. 7 students had the opportunity to play board games under the guidance of Burnaby North Leadership students. As well, they did a building challenge today with their Buddy Class.  Lastly, our butterflies also began emerging today from their chrysalis.  Also, check out our beautiful Spring art.