Category: Class News

Our JUMP Rope for Heart Event

On Friday, January 11th we had a ‘Kick-Off’ assembly with a representative from the Heart and Stroke Foundation.  Our ‘Heart Hero’ (Derek) made an appearance as well.

At the assembly, students learned how to keep their hearts healthy.

This past Friday (January 18th) we held our JUMP event.  We created a Heart Wall with the red paper hearts – where students had recorded their ideas about keeping healthy – that had been sent home with their pledge forms.  In the afternoon, classes each had a 40 minute block where they met their buddy class in the gym and had a lot of fun jumping rope.   We were very lucky that this year we didn’t have rain!  This meant that we got to enjoy jumping outside of the gym on the basketball court.  Students enjoyed skipping on their own – and with the long ropes, as well.

 

If you haven’t already done so, please return your completed pledge forms – or register your collected fundraising on-line by Wednesday, January 23rd.  Thank you for your support of this very worthy charity.

Pringle Comes to Rosser!!

On Monday, January 14th we were thrilled to receive a very COLD package, delivered by Mrs. Ameixa, which had arrived from the South Pole!!  You can still see some of the wet spots on the brown paper from where the ice melted!

Inside this package was: a novel (Mr. Popper’s Penguins); a letter from Admiral Drake (a character in the novel); a lovely little penguin named Pringle; and a Journal in which the students can write and share their home experiences with Pringle.  This was a very exciting arrival for the students – and the adults in the room, as well!

Pringle, our class penguin, has already made home visits to the homes of: Maya A., Ateeq, Alex, and Justin.  She is currently spending this weekend with Lyka and her family.  When students bring Pringle back to school they share their home (and extra-curricular visits) with the rest of us through their written entries in the Journal.  Pringle has been very busy enjoying a lot of different kinds of foods and activities!

All students are anxiously awaiting their turn taking Pringle home.  When she arrives in your home I am sure your family will be very welcoming.  Enjoy the experience!

 

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to a new ‘calendar’ year in the midst of our current ‘school’ year.  We have six short months remaining together and a lot of great learning left to do.

We are currently exploring the sport of hockey – the floor variety.  Students are learning correct hand positions on the sticks and the fundamentals of the game.  A huge focus of ours is in safe play.  We had a great class discussion yesterday on why we have to be more careful than the ice hockey players do.  I was really impressed with how much the Grade 2’s shared about what they had learned last year!!  Without all the padding and safety equipment (helmets, face guards, mouth guards, etc.) that ice hockey players have, we are more vulnerable to injury and therefore need to exercise more caution.

We have also begun the process for our artistic entries which will be included in a biennial art programme put on by the Burnaby Art Gallery called, Arts Alive.  This event is a great opportunity for our students.  Arts Alive happens every year but alternates between secondary and elementary schools – this year being ours.  Completed art is adjudicated by a jury panel from the Burnaby Art Gallery who come out to the schools.  Pieces of art which are chosen are taken to the BAG to be put on display for the duration of the art show – about one month in the Spring.  All art pieces are photographed for the ‘digital display’ which can be viewed at the art gallery and is also available on-line.

Themes are chosen for each year and the theme for this year is ‘places of memory’.  In preparation for our art production we are exploring the concept of ‘memory’.  I read a picture book by Mem Fox called Wilfrid Gordon MacDonald Partridge.  This story is about a young boy learning about and exploring the idea of what memory is through bits of advice he receives in his quest to help an elderly woman from the ‘old folk’s home’ next to his house regain her ‘lost’ memory.

Students have been thinking about their own family memories.  We have had many discussions about the different kinds of memories – happy, sad, angry, worried, precious.  We will be talking about ‘powerful’ memories later this week.  Students will be choosing a  special, powerful memory about a place they have been to or know well.  The process of developing their final art pieces will be explored through drawings and writings and will then be melded into a final artistic piece in an unusual (surprise) medium for creating pictures.  More information to come – stay tuned!

 

The Next Few Days . . .

We are busily getting ready for the Christmas Concert and finalizing our Christmas crafts.  Here is some information to keep you all ‘in the loop’:

**Raffle tickets are on sale at the Office.  Please support the PAC by purchasing some.

**Please send in items for the Food Bank.

Thursday:

Concert Dress Rehearsal: 10:45 – 12:00

Matinee Performance: 1:00 p.m.  No tickets are needed for this show.

Evening Performance: 7:00 p.m.  The two tickets that were sent home are needed for your entrance to this show.  **Students need to be in the classroom by 6:45 p.m.

Friday:

Pancake Breakfast: 9:20 – 9:40 a.m.

School-Wide Bingo: 10:45 – 12:00

Dismissal will be at the regular time of 3:00 p.m.

Return to school after Christmas Break will be on Monday, January 7th.

Gingerbread Houses!

Division 5 had a lot of fun this afternoon creating their lovely little gingerbread (Graham Wafer) houses.

I was very impressed with the generosity of the students with their sharing of their supplies with those who had none.

All students seemed to have a very fun time.  It was a very nice ending to a very busy day of preparation for our Christmas concert.

 

Key of Harmony

I was very lucky to be invited to hear the Burnaby District Children’s Choir, which is called “Key of Harmony”, perform their Christmas concert at the Brentwood Park Alliance Church this evening.  Thank you, Maya F.!!

We are very lucky, at Rosser, that Mr. Phelps has taken on this job this year.  It is great to be able to host this choir at our school as it makes it so accessible for our students.  We have thirteen students (from Grade 1 to Grade 4) in the District Choir this year.  Division 5 has three of these students in our class – Maya F., Ella, and Jackie!!

The choir sang a nice selection of Christmas songs intermingled with an audience participation sing-along of some Christmas carols.  I think I am starting to get that “Christmas feeling”.