Dear Families,

I am really looking forward to sitting with you next week at the student-led conferences where we will get to celebrate your child's strengths and areas of improvement!

It’s been another productive week of learning here in our class!  Below, you will see just how amazing it was :) Thank you for taking the time each week to read and support your child's learning!

This BLOG serves as a communication tool between school and home.  Its purpose is to reinforce all that we're learning and what we're doing in class so you can help guide your child at home too!  It's making a significant difference :)

Progress Reports:

This evening, you will have received your child's progress report card.  It was a joy writing these as it gives me the opportunity to think and reflect about all the wonderful things your child is contributing in our learning community thus far.  It’s been a remarkable start to the year!  I truly feel blessed to teach and learn from your child each and every day!

I have encouraged my students to carefully go over the Learning Skills portion of this report card with you and to not focus solely on the letter grade (E, G, S, N), but to read the star (areas of strength) and arrow (areas for improvement) comments.  It is these comments that provide valuable insight into what will guide your child into continuing and instilling important work habits which will ultimately help them be successful in their academic, social, and behavioural journey in school.  

Student-Led Conferences:

As shared briefly above, I look forward to connecting with my students' families next week at the student-led conferences!  If you haven't already done so, please ensure you sign up for a day and time.  We are promoting online booking.  If you have difficulty with this, please don't hesitate to contact our office.  I know Mrs. Beattie will be happy to help you with this!

Book Fair:
Our Nottawa Book Fair will be held the week of:  Nov. 20th - Nov. 26th in our school library.  Come on out to show your support and love of reading!

Tues. Nov. 20th - after school
Wed. Nov. 21st - after school
Thurs. Nov. 22nd - after school
Fri. Nov. 23rd - morning (9:00 - 12:00 p.m.)
Mon. Nov. 26th - after school

Reading Comprehension:

This week, we did a reading comprehension activity to get us thinking about what we’re reading and answering questions effectively using the A.P.E. strategy (see picture).  We will be referring to this throughout the school year to help build our comprehension (understanding) skills.  I have sent home the first task students completed in class.  As we do more of these types of tasks, I know students confidence levels will increase as well as their independence in completing these.  Ask your child to summarize what the text was about and what they learned about roof gardens.

Math:

In math, we learned about extending and describing repeating, growing, and shrinking patterns.  Ask your child what the following mean:

• ·        Attribute
• ·        Pattern Core
• ·        Term

You may wish to create a numeric pattern for your child to extend and then describe the pattern to help reinforce learned concepts from this week. 

For example, consider the following pattern:  11, 22, 33, 44, ___, ___, ___

What is the pattern rule?

What kind of pattern is this?

Science:

In science, we learned about a new force called muscular force.  Students planned, designed, and created a paper airplane with a partner.  We tested out the planes by using muscular force (flying them by hand) and measured the distance.  Congratulations to Sebastien and Lyric for flying their plane the farthest distance!

Sonja & Connor:

Thank you to Sonja and Connor for bringing in more magnets for us to learn from and explore how magnetism works.  Our brains are growing from your examples!

Adalyn:

Thank you Adalyn for the yummy rice krispy treats you brought to school to share with your peers on your birthday!  They were DELICIOUS!

Mindfulness:

This week’s mindfulness videos focused on bullying.  Bullying is a concern that is brought to my attention from time to time especially when children are experiencing a problem on the yard.  What is bullying?  We need to know the difference between bullying and unkind behaviour. 

In class, we discussed that bullying is when someone has an intent to hurt another person and it is an ongoing occurrence.  

In other words, bullying is:

·        An intent to hurt someone physically and emotionally

·        It is ongoing and happens to the same person over and over again

We have learned the terms “BYstander” and “UPstander.”  Ask your child what these mean and how they can help support someone who is being bullied. 

Growth Mindset:

“When I bring peace, I can help CHANGE THE WORLD!” - Coleton

Namaste,

Ms. Gill