Dear Families,

First off, I would like to say thank you to all the students and their parents for taking the time to visit my Classroom Blog each week!  It is an opportunity for you to SEE, LEARN ABOUT, and CELEBRATE what's happening in our Learning Community!  As you can see from all my posts I've shared thus far, there's a lot of meaningful learning and growing, YAY!  

Albeit online, I believe it is important and a valuable opportunity for us to connect weekly.  I realize a face to face interaction would be more ideal such as meeting and seeing you at our traditional Meet the Teacher at the end of September, however, due to what's happening in our world currently, we were not able to host this event.  I do appreciate those of you who were able to watch and listen to my virtual video message :)  

I want you all to know, I feel deeply connected with each of you as I can see, hear, and feel your support through your child's daily thoughts, words, and actions at school.  Thank you for this!! 

I look forward to connecting with you virtually for the student-led conferences in November.  I will work hard to ensure it's engaging, interactive and special for us all :)  Stay tuned!

Thankful Stone Sharing:

It was wonderful to hear about all the heart warming thankful stone sharing families did over the Thanksgiving long weekend.  It brought happiness to my heart!  Thank you for embracing and carrying on my teachings from school to your homes.  It means a lot to me!  

Google Classroom:

For the past while, your child has be part of our Google Classroom.  Perhaps he or she has shared this with you already, which is great!  If not, now's the time to ask about this :) 

We have used this tool in class, and now, I encourage students to also access it at home to work on assigned online tasks.  Currently, everyone is working on an Autobiography assignment which is due  Oct. 21st.  A note was sent home about this as well.  

Please set aside some time over the weekend for your child to work on it for 20 minutes Sat. and 20 minutes Sun.  I would appreciate this :)

Students must use their google drive account to sign in.  Example -  User:  pare0322@scdsb.on.ca 

Math:

This week's math focus was on solving "The Money Problem."  See photo below.  

Students completed a guided task with me and then worked on the independent task yesterday (photo above).  I am so proud of everyone doing their personal best on these math problems with a positive math mindset!  It is important for me that I provide guided lessons so students break down the problem into steps using the 4-Block Method (Understand, Plan, Solve, Explain). 

The image below is an example of one student's work!  How we organize our mathematical thinking is crucial to ensure all our steps are included for a level 3 to 4 answer.  

There is not one way to do it, I keep this fairly open ended and allow students to figure out how they'd like to approach the problem on a blank page.  All I request is that it is legible and uses P, N, W!

As the school year progresses, there will be a gradual release in which students will be asked to work through math problems more independently to show what they know and have learned :)  I am optimistic they will do great!!

Math Assessment:

On Tuesday, students will have a math assessment which will focus on Representing Numbers in a variety of ways.  For several weeks, we've worked on this in class and also with our extra math practice homework so I am confident, students will be well prepared.

In class, we have talked about how I am only looking for students to put in their personal best.  I am NEVER looking for perfect.  An assessment aka test - is an opportunity to celebrate my students STARS - their strengths and ARROWS - areas to improve upon.  This IS and WILL CONTINUE to be the focus :)

I do not want to cause any stress, worry, or anxiety for my students.  I promise to be there for your child every step of the way to ensure they feel safe, supported, and loved in all learning situations :)

Language:

Students have been working on writing Recounts - retelling an event in sequence.  This week, they wrote about their Thanksgiving weekend.  I have been enjoying reading their entries so far!  In the coming days, I will provide a detailed rubric (scoring guide) and written feedback for this piece of work so you too can celebrate your child's achievement (strengths & areas to improve). 

Before we began writing, I did a mini-lesson on how good writers add detail to their writing by using adjectives to describe nouns.  As a reader, it is important to be able to visualize (create mental pictures) as you read and an effective writer helps the reader do this through their word choice in their writing.  

It is wonderful to see students try their best every time they write.  To further assistance in getting our ideas flowing, we ensure that we take time to collaborate with our THINK, PAIR, SHARE partners to help inspire our writing!  Check us out below :-)

At this point in our school year, many require reminders to slow down as they write, proof-read their work carefully by asking themselves:  Does it look right?  Does it sound right?  Does it make sense?, and utilizing an editing checklist to make necessary changes.  This will be a continued goal for us throughout term 1.  With continued practice, there will be PROGRESS :)  

What is Feedback?

In class, we are learning about the importance of feedback.  As a teacher, it is very important to me to provide students with timely and ongoing feedback to continually help them improve their achievements in various subject areas.

You will have noticed that some writing pieces have come home with feedback where I have recognized your child's STARS (strengths) - "what they did well" and ARROWS (next step) - "what they can improve upon next time."  Thank you for taking the time to read and celebrate your child's progress in writing and math thus far! 

The next goal for students will be to learn how to self-assess their own work.  This will be a very valuable tool because if we can acknowledge and recognize our own strengths and needs, we are more likely to make changes in our work and continue to BUILD OUR SKILLS!

Health:

In Health, our focus will be on learning about Healthy & Active Living.  This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart and I think it's very important for us all to be mindful and conscientious of our physical, mental, and emotional health / well-being. 

Please read over the expectations as this is what will be covered this term:  

Students will:

• describe the benefits of healthy food choices, physical activity, and healthy bodies
• describe a variety of ways to prevent tooth decay (E.g., brushing, making appropriate food choices, rinsing the mouth)
• ways to incorporate daily activity in your life to increase your physical and mental well-being

Nature Walk:

Hasn't this week been absolutely amazing weather wise!?  The temperatures have been summer-like so our class family took the opportunity to get outside and connect with nature!  We always enjoy these experiences as it gives us time to socialize with our friends and peers about a variety of things.  

In particular, students love sharing with me their knowledge about all things Mother Earth such as about plants, animals, habitats, and how we can better take care of our environment.  

I am always so inspired by our "chats" and it fills my cup knowing my students, YOUR KIDS will serve and protect our Earth for years to come!!

Check us out by this AMAZING TREE FORT which was established in 2018!!  

Please note, for students safety, we did not climb it as I want to ensure no one gets hurt by a branch breaking, etc ... But, we still very much enjoyed getting our photograph taken by it.

If you wish, you may choose to bring your child here over a weekend sometime.  They know our mindful loop and can guide you directly there.  Give it a TRY :-)

Nature Art:

We've been so inspired by our surroundings and nature that we decided to do art activity with pieces from the Earth.  We went outside and found various leaves, flowers, and petals.  Then, we used colourful pastels and rubbed them onto paper.  Our creations turned out well and we definitely felt proud of our efforts.  Check us out:-)

Elliott:

Thank you Elliott for inspiring our class to form a community circle today as we went on another nature walk!  

Elliott has really taken a passion to finding rocks to create his very own gratitude stones.  When I saw and heard this you can probably imagine how much my heart exploded with JOY!!  

As we were on the end of our mindful loop, Elliott asked if we could all find a sit spot and discuss the following topic:  "I am grateful for nature because ..."

Each student then had the opportunity to share why nature is important and valuable to our Earth.  Their responses were so meaningful!!  Ask your child what his or her answer was :-)    

Kinley:

Kinley arrived after the Thanksgiving long weekend and shared a sweet star craft that she made for me.  

It uplifted my spirits and I value her time, energy, and thoughtfulness in making this.  It's now hung proudly in our classroom :)  Thank you, Kinley!!

Mindfulness:

A pep talk about a call to action to people all over the world.  Sure, there's lots of work to do, but there's lots of awesome people out there in the world like YOU!!  Find out ways to make our world MORE AWESOME from this engaging and quick witted young boy!

Growth Mindset:

"Instead of, I can't make this any better, try thinking - I can ALWAYS IMPROVE!"

Meegwich,

Ms. Gill