Dear Families,
It was wonderful meeting with all my students' families this week.  Thank you for taking the time to attend and help celebrate and enjoy all your child's achievements thus far in the school year!

I am extremely proud of each student as they clearly, confidently, and calmly led his or her conference by sharing their self-assessment (Progress Report), personal goals, and their "Star" and "Arrow" pieces of work.  It was their chance to shine and they certainly lit up our hearts and minds!

Throughout the conferences, I experienced some heart-warming moments with parents and I really appreciate and value all your positive and constructive feedback.  I will use it to continue to provide my best as an educator for your child's academic, social, and behavioural needs.  Meeting the needs of my students is of utmost importance to me and I will always work hard to ensure they receive a compassionate, caring, and safe environment to learn in.  

Again, thank you for your continued support, cooperation, and understanding.  If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at the school or via email pgill@scdsb.on.ca

Math:

This week, we continued our learning about patterning.  The goal has been for your child to identify, describe, extend, and create repeating, growing, and shrinking patterns.  For repeating patterns, the focus is on naming attributes of patterns and how those attributes change.  Students practiced this in their Extra Math Homework earlier this week.  The focus for growing or shrinking patterns is to state the pattern rule: the start number and the amount that is added or subtracted each term. 

Please ask your child what the pattern rules were for the following word problems below and what strategy they used to solve the questions.

Language:

In class, there has been an emphasis on mindfulness and what it means.  I had students do a writing activity this week in which they provided their own examples of mindful and unmindful behaviours.  

The importance is for us to put mindful behaviours in our thoughts, words, and ultimately our actions which will make the difference in our daily life.  I hope you get to take an opportunity to read your child’s writing and think of mindful behaviours that he or she can do in your own cozy home :)

Character Assembly:

Next Friday, we will be celebrating November’s character trait of Courage – “We do the right thing even when it’s difficult!”  The spirit day for this assembly will be to dress in GREEN from head to toe!  The green team which is comprised of Mr. Plater’s grade 4’s will be leading the assembly and they want us all to show school spirit and promote a greener and cleaner planet!  I'll be sure to take a class photo and share in next week's post.

Mindfulness:

The kids are really drawn to Ed Sheeran as they are fond of his music.  So this week’s mindfulness really opened their eyes as they learned that one of their favourite musicians was made fun of as a child.  What did you learn from Ed’s wise words? How can you incorporate this in your life?

Unfortunately more often than not, in life, we will all experience some form of hurt because of who we are.  Don’t let others words get you down.  Easier said than done, but trust me, let’s embrace our quirks and BE OURSELVES!  There is only one YOU, stand UP, and shout, “I am worthy!  I am happy just the way I am!” 

Growth Mindset:

“Nothing is impossible. In this word itself, it says I’mPossible!”

Namaste,

Ms. Gill