Category: Information

The Elements of Art

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Last week we began our study of the Elements of Art.  We did crayon rubbings with which the students demonstrated their understanding of the six elements.  Most of these elements are fairly self-explanatory (colour, shape, line, form) but as an FYI – ‘texture’ is how something feels or ‘looks’ like it feels, and ‘value’ is the lightness or darkness of something.  Value can be with colours or non-colours (black, white, and grey).  The difference between ‘shape’ and ‘form’ is the dimensionality – e.g. a 2-D shape drawn on the board is a ‘shape’ but as I can’t pick it up off the board it has no ‘form’.

Here are some of the crayon rubbings:

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Student Teachers

Our school is hosting two student teachers from Simon Fraser University for their 401 (first) practicum semester.  Our class will be ‘sharing’ these student teachers with Mrs. Iverson for the next two weeks.  Today they both joined us on our field trip to the Laity Pumpkin Patch.  After next Friday they will be back on campus for the rest of October.

Beginning on November 4th one of these student teachers will join our class for the month of November for her first (small) teaching practicum experience.  The other one will be with Division 2 and Mrs. Iverson.

It is also very likely that one of them will be with our class after the Christmas break for their 405 (full immersion) practicum experience.  I will keep you updated.

 

School Photos – Save 10%

The following information has been passed on to me regarding on-line school photo orders.  If you are ordering school photos online you can use a coupon code for 10%off.  You just have to type in ‘save10’ where it asks to ‘apply coupon code’ during payment portion.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Laity Pumpkin Farm Field Trip

Ms. Nazaruk and I have planned a field trip to the pumpkin patch in Maple Ridge for our two classes.  A notice will be coming home in the next day or so.  The trip is planned for Tuesday, October 8th in the morning.  We will be needing parent drivers to transport the students to the farm.  Please look for the notice.  We hope you can help us out.

Mrs. Gojevic is encouraging the use of the on-line payment system for all fees and field trip payments.  This information will be coming home in a notice and will also be an option on the pumpkin farm notice.  Please note that we will still need the completed signed permission form at the bottom of the notice.

Thank you for your on-going support!

Reading Groups / Spelling / Soccer

Today you will have received a letter from me telling you which Reading group your child has been placed in.  As previously stated, these groups will normally meet on Tuesdays through Fridays from 9:45 – 10:30 a.m.  We will not have Reading groups tomorrow, however, as Class Reviews are taking place with the Resource team.  We will re-commence the groups on Thursday.

You also should have received a note from me about our Spelling programme.  Students will get their weekly list on Mondays (these will be in their Planners) and will have their Spelling tests on Thursdays.  Please help your child practise their words before their weekly tests.  These tests will be sent home each week – for your information.

Students have enjoyed two sessions with the PASS soccer coaches so far this week.  We look forward to three more days this week and our last lesson next Monday.

McGill Library Visits

Our class will be making monthly trips to McGill Library.  These trips will be on Tuesdays (between Recess and Lunch) when Mr. Phelps is teaching the class.  Ms. Nazaruk and the Kindergarden class will be going with our class.  Today you received a letter from them requesting that you get a Burnaby Public Library card for your child so that they will be able to borrow books from the library.

I will update our ‘Upcoming Events’ page once I have the confirmed dates of our visits.  At this point it is hoped that the first visit will be next Tuesday (September 24th).  This will be confirmed on Monday.  Please ensure that the ‘start-up’ forms – including the one for the Walking Field Trips – are returned by Monday morning.

Thank you.

Intake Interviews

I really enjoyed getting to meet the parents of my students this past week during our Intake Interviews.  Thank you all for making time in your busy schedules to come into the school!

I hope you take advantage of checking out this blog regularly to keep up on what is happening in our class.  I do get busy sometimes but I try to post something each week.  You could check out the regular pages for such things as the Weekly Schedule (for example) or Upcoming Events – along with the information posts on the Home page.

Thank you to all who have returned the forms packet that I gave you at our interview.  There are only a few outstanding and I hope to receive them on Monday.

Don’t hesitate to email me, drop a note in the front plastic pocket of your child’s Planner, or speak to me after school if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you

Carnival – 90th Anniversary

It was great to see so many of the students – present and former – along with their families at our celebration last Friday afternoon / evening!  The children seemed to really enjoy the wide variety of games, the food (popcorn, cotton candy, cake, and hot dogs), the face painting, and the prizes.  We were very lucky that the weather held off for us.  I hope you all had a chance to check out the displays of the decades (in the gym) that classes had made.

Our class made the posters for the 1960’s and the 1970’s.  In the two weeks before the carnival we discussed important events from these two decades.  Students made Canadian flag-socks as they learned that our current flag became official on February 15, 1965.  We also enjoyed music from these decades during our activities those first two weeks.  Many of these songs the students actually knew as they have been re-used in more current movies.

A huge thank you to all those who helped us out by volunteering at a station for the carnival!  I think it was a great success and will be a great memory for the students as they progress through their school years.

 

 

Welcome to Grade One!!!

On Friday our classes were confirmed and we are ready to get into the business of being Grade One students!!  I am looking forward to a wonderful, fun-filled, and productive year with the students.

You should have noticed that your child brought home a shiny new Planner on Friday.  There will be a notice going home next week asking for payment for these personal planning devices.  All notices are placed into the plastic pocket inside the front cover.  Please remove them, read or respond to them, and place items to be returned to me at school in this pocket each night.

Every day students will write a message in the day’s space which is then signed by the teacher.  At the beginning of the school year most of the students cannot read these messages – and aren’t expected to do so!  It begins as learning how to copy off of the board but as time passes it becomes so much more.

Please check your child’s Planner every day.  You may initial in the space by the teacher’s initials, if you like, to indicate that you have read it.

The Planner has a lot of information about the school written in the first several pages.  The students and I went through all of this very briefly as much of it is for YOUR information more than it is for theirs.  On the front inside page – above the school contact information – I have glued a piece of paper which contains the school website along with the web address for this class blog.

I use this blog to regularly update you on the goings-on in our classroom.  You may peruse previous entries from former years, as you like.

Learning how and using a Planner is a very important part of the Ministry curriculum for Personal Planning and Social Responsibility.  Please help your child by sharing this experience with them by checking it and reading it every night.  The Planner must be returned to school each morning as this is a daily activity in our classroom.

Your continuing support and assistance in your child’s educational welfare is appreciated.

Thank you,

Mrs. S. Temple