Month: December 2020

Please enjoy our festive winter art that we completed last week! To make this art, the students drew a simple winter or holiday picture and then glued string to their drawing. They then pressed tin foil over top of the string and used an embossing technique to show the design underneath. Finally, they coloured the tin foil with markers. The end result is very striking!

Today is the last day of school before winter break. School resumes on Monday, January 4th. Today your child will be bringing home all of their art projects from the first term.

I want to take a moment to say a heartfelt thank you for the many thoughtful cards and gifts. I feel very touched to be in your thoughts. Although this holiday season feels different than normal, I hope you can all have a restful and joyous break within your bubbles. I look forward to more journeys in Division 7 in the new year!

You may have seen in your child’s planner that they have been assigned homework for over the winter break! Please note that I have given them a week before and a week after the break to work on it as I understand that it may not be possible for them to work on it during the break. This assignment is to be done at home and is not due until January 11th.

I have asked the students to take five photographs that are related to their LiD topic. I have encouraged them to get creative and try to find a variety of subjects to photograph. For each photo, they need to give it a title, explain why they chose to take it, and tell where it was taken. They should write or type this information on a separate piece of paper. The photographs can be taken on any device and do not need to be printed because they will be handed in digitally on Microsoft Teams. More information on the assignment is already posted on Microsoft Teams. ***If your child is having trouble logging on to Teams at home please let me know as soon as possible so I can help them get logged on.

I hope that the students have fun with this assignment. I look forward to seeing what they come up with!

Division 7 has been participating in a kindness challenge during the last month of school before winter break! We were inspired by the book Come With Me by Holly M. Mcghee which is about a little girl who is troubled by all of the negative things she sees going on in the world. She asks her parents what she can do and they show her that small acts of kindess and joy can go a long way. We decided to do our own small part to make the world a better place.

Each morning we choose a kindness quote and challenge for the day. The challenges are simple and something that anyone can do such as “leave a nice message or drawing on someone’s desk” or “find someone to read to today”. Then we add that day’s challenge to our growing chain of kindness. It is a great reminder of all of the good we have already done. The students have been reporting some wonderful acts of kindness that they have achieved and I have noticed some going on right here in our classroom. I wonder if you have noticed any acts of kindness happening in your homes!

As you know, Division 7 is working on a year-long project called Learning in Depth (or LiD for short). For more information about this project, read this blog post. LiD is so much more than just a research project. It can connect to all subject areas.

One of the ways that the students explored their LiD topics this month was by finding picture books related to their topic. With the help of the librarian, Ms. Schiml, they learned how to use the library’s catalogue system to find a specific kind of book. Then they practiced using the call number of a book to find its location in the library. Once everyone had signed out their library books we could enjoy reading them to ourselves and each other. Each student made a flip book that gave information on their LiD picture book. Check out the amazing variety of books we found below!

Dear families of Division 7,

This is a note to let you know that I will be sending an interim report home with your child next Friday, Dec. 11th. As you will know from the school notice that went out last week, this will not be a full report card as we would normally be sending home at this time of year. It is just a snapshot to let you know how your child is doing and if there are any concerns. If you wish to set up a meeting with me to discuss the report or anything else, please send me an email and we can arrange a time to meet via Zoom or phone.

As winter break draws near, some students have asked me about bringing in treats to gift to their classmates. We will use the same guidelines as Halloween for those that want to bring something. Due to COVID-19, please make sure that anything to be given out is brought in by Tuesday, Dec. 15 so they can sit in quarantine before being handed out on the last day (Friday, Dec. 18). Everything must be prepackaged and should contain NO NUTS. Please note that it is not expected that you send something in, but I understand that some students may want to.

Lastly, I want to send out a thank you to all of you for your support and cooperation during the first term of the school year. This has been a challenging start for all of us and I appreciate all of the interactions I have had with the Cascade Heights community. Whether you have sent in donations for art projects, commented on blog posts, helped your child with their homework, or simply said hello at pick up/drop off I am thankful to have you all on Division 7’s team!

Sincerely,

Ms. Rudolph

Here it is! The grand reveal of the Egyptian hieroglyphic art that division 7 has been working hard on for the past couple of weeks. This art project was connected to our exploration of the history of story. The reason we know so much about ancient Egyptian culture today is because they used this writing system of pictures and symbols to record their stories. Sharing stories builds understanding!

We started by making the papyrus out of paper bags cut into strips. Thank you for all of the paper bag donations! We had to use a paste made of glue and water and lay the strips in one horizontal layer and one vertical layer. It was a bit messy! Then we used this website to translate our names into hieroglyphs. We printed our names and then used mod podge to adhere them to our dried papyrus, face down. Then the challenging task of carefully rubbing off the paper revealed the prints underneath!

We hope you enjoy the end product!