Dear Families,

Can you believe that we’re soon into the month of December, like next week?!  Winter's arrived and the kids are loving it with building structures outside.  I appreciate you (parents) providing the appropriate attire for your child so he or she is prepared for any weather that may come our way (rain, snow, etc).  After all, we do live in Collingwood/Nottawa ;) 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend as a family and I look forward to reuniting with ALL MY STUDENTS on Monday :-)

Bus Cancellations:

In the event that busses are cancelled due to inclement weather like today, please have your child access Google Classroom and work through the suggested at home activities.   

Thank you for supporting your child in his or her learning at home even on a snow day!

Mental Health & Well-Being: 

Mental illness is a very common form of human pain and suffering.  Being an attentive listener (eyes, ears, and heart) and asking how you can help or simply just being there for people you care about, can be the first step to recovery!

This week, we had a class discussion about the importance of being educated about the stigmas surrounding mental health.  Some were not aware of this topic so it was an excellent opportunity for me to touch upon this.  I will definitely be reinforcing the importance of taking care of our mental health throughout the remainder of our school year.

Talking about mental health can be hard for some people. In the video, we learned about safe ways to talk about mental health or illness and how to support others sharing their challenges with you.

We carefully watched and listened to the video above.  It gave us a clearer understanding about this topic and we have a greater appreciation for those who are affected by mental health.

Please ask your child what some of the ways someone who suffers with mental illness can get help!  Taking care of our mental wellness is equally as important as tending to our physical well-being.

Tessa's Mom (Mrs. Lloyd):

To further reinforce and support the importance of our mental health & well-being, on Tuesday morning, we had the honour and privilege to listen, learn, and grow with Tessa's Mom (Mrs. Lloyd) who is a Manager of Mental Health & Well-Being at Georgian College.

Mrs. Lloyd has a passion for helping others!

"At Georgian, we refer to self-care as taking action to improve one’s own physical, emotional, mental and/or spiritual well-being.  Wisdom from our Indigenous community teaches us that it’s important to pay attention to all areas of our well-being.

Although you may think you don’t have time for this, it’s extremely important as self-care can help you manage stress and increases your ability to learn and succeed in your academics/life."  

WOW!!  We are so fortunate to have had Mrs. Lloyd join us virtually to share her knowledge and passion about taking care of ourselves by being in touch with our emotions.

Mrs. Lloyd (and her lovely colleague) did a virtual lesson inspired by Dr. Daniel Siegel's hand model of the brain (see video below).  

In the video below, he explains that many people experience times in their lives when they feel overwhelmed and need clarity. By understanding our brains, we can SELF-REGULATE our thoughts, feelings, and emotions more effectively.

Dr. Siegel strives to communicate understanding, instill hope and provide direction for change and wellness for youth.

After learning about the hand model of the brain, Mrs. Lloyd brainstormed with the kids about coping strategies they can use in their every day life to help relieve any unsettling emotions (e.g., worry, anxiety, sadness, frustration, etc) that may arise in their day to day lives.

In this photograph, Reeghan had the opportunity to share her emotions & coping strategies with Mrs. Lloyd

Here are some of the ideas the class came up with:

• draw a picture of your happy place
• deep breathing
• listen to music
• talk to someone about the feeling
• do brain gym 
• meditate 
• drink a glass of water

Following this discussion, Mrs. Lloyd taught us about Dr. Siegel's phrase - "NAME IT TO TAME IT."  

The idea is to help children name the overwhelming emotion through words and in doing so, it can reduce stress by up to 50% by simply noticing and naming your state.

Flipping Your Lid:

You may be wondering, what is flipping your lid?  When a person flips their lid, their emotions are firing out of control; they may even feel as if they're in a state of fight, flight, or freeze.

In the wake of a trauma, a child's prefrontal cortex is disconnected, or the fingers of the “hand brain” are flipped up. ... ' This has come to be called “flipping your lid.”  

When a child is in this elevated state, using language may not be an effective tool to help them calm down and self-regulate.  They may need to use other forms of coping to settle and calm their emotions.  

Check out the videos below which offer more information about this concept.  

As a consolidation for our learning, Mrs. Lloyd provided each student with a mental health & well-being fortune teller.  Students were asked to write down different coping strategies that they can use when they're feeling in a heightened state ('Flipped Your Lid!').

When students provided some strategies, Mrs. Lloyd and her colleague were very impressed with our responses!  Way to go boys and girls :-)

The kids loved making these!  Look at how engaged we all are :)  It was also a valuable lesson in resilience for some as it was challenging to make the fortune teller, but we did it :-)  

I hope your child was able to share his or her teller with you when it came home earlier this week and you were able to see what their coping strategies were :)

Thank you Mrs. Lloyd for your time, energy, expertise, and support in helping my students gain a deeper understanding of their brains and how they can self-regulate their BIG EMOTIONS in such meaningful and constructive ways!  Your virtual lesson is sealed in our hearts!!

We are grateful and appreciative of YOU!!!  Meegwich, meegwich, meegwich!  

Aww, look at adorable Dora!  Tessa's new puppy also made an appearance!!

Math:

This week, we began our learning about patterning.  The goal is for your child to identify, describe, extend, and create repeating, growing, and shrinking patterns.  

For repeating patterns, the focus is on naming the attributes (e.g., colour, size, shape, position, number) of patterns and how those attributes change.

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.  

Over the next 2 weeks, students will practice these skills in their "Extra Math Homework."  Thank you so much for your support in this unit.

Grammar Rule #5:

This week, we learned all about plural and singular nouns.  Below, I have posted a video which provides examples for this rule.  

Please take an opportunity to go over the grammar sheets that came home today and see if your child can share the difference between SINGULAR & PLURAL NOUNS.  

Ask:  When do you add an s, es, or ies to a noun to make it plural?  

I shared with the students that I feel English is one of the most challenging languages to effectively learn and apply because there are so MANY RULES and EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULES.  

I have felt this first hand growing up because my first language was Punjabi and I didn't speak English fluently until I was in grade 2, and even then, I struggled for years to read and write properly.  Thankfully, I was placed in an ESL class to help build my grammatical skills :)

Now being a teacher, I truly value explicitly teaching grammar because it's the foundation to WRITING and builds confident and competent writers.  

Additionally, when we learn the RULES TO GRAMMAR, we understand the English language on a deeper level so that we can apply it to every day life (e.g., resumes, cover letters, letter of reference, presentations, etc.,).

Health:
Our focus in health is on Healthy & Active Living.  Please read over the expectations as this is what I will be covering in class.  

Students will:

• identify healthy foods and classify them by food groups
• 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)

This week, we discussed the importance of water consumption and why we must drink it every day!  

As a task, students will work towards creating a poster with a logo, slogan, images, and words to encourage others about the benefits of drinking water!  

We will be working hard on these in class, and when we are finished, we will place them around the school to encourage others to make the right choice when choosing a drink to stay hydrated!

Why Choose Water First? 

• sugary drinks are the single largest source of sugar in most kids' diets
• children need water to stay hydrated and healthy
• water contains no sugar, calories, caffeine, or added ingredients and it's FREE
• drinks that contain added sugar risk replacing foods that children need and add extra calories to children's diets
• sugar sweetened drinks are the single largest source of sugar in children's diet
• too much sugar contributes to chronic disease including heart disease, dental cavities, and type 2 diabetes
• when children are used to consuming water at a young age, they are more likely to drink water later in life
• from ages 4 to 18, around 20% of the calories children and teens consume comes from beverages

WATER DOES WONDERS!  Check out this TedTalk video for all the wonderful things water does for us.

Nottawa E.S. Holiday Charity Campaign:

As an initiative this holiday season, our school will be supporting a charity campaign called BACKPACKS IN OUR BACKYARDS - a project that is geared towards youth & adults in our community that are dealing with homelessness.

From December 1st - 16th, each class will fill a backpack (provided by the office) with personal care items. These items may include (see list below):

All backpacks will be donated to youth living in South Georgian Bay who are currently experiencing homelessness or transitioning from one place to the next.

A poster promoting this meaningful cause and the full list of items will be coming home next week!

Thank you in advance for your continued support in our class' LIVING IS GIVING charity work.

Spirit Days in December:

Thank you to our grade 7 Leadership Team from Mrs. Garvan's class who have organized 3 spirit days in December for our school.  They are listed below.  I recommend that you write these down on your home calendars or on the fridge as I know your child won't want to miss out on these :)

• December 3rd (Red and Green Day) 
• December 10th (PJ Day) 
• December 17th (Festive Wear). 

Additionally, our leadership team will be planning a door decorating contest, daily holiday jokes/songs on the morning announcements, a caroling slideshow and a scavenger hunt. 

Please note, these events will all take place during the last week before the holiday break: December 13th - 17th.  YAHOO, festive fun here we come :-)

Kinley:

Thank you Kinley for gifting our class with a bottle of lavender essential oil which we will use in our diffuser.

It's my most favourite fragrance and plant because of its benefits to the human body - very soothing and calming :)

Thank you also for contributing a zip lock baggy filled with LOTS of tabs for our WHEELCHAIR campaign. Your thoughtful and generous ways are appreciated, Kinley!!

Emily:

On Thursday, Emily sweetly came to school and shared in our end of the day community circle a bag from The Rock Shop. Inside the bag was an amethyst crystal.

Emily said, she would like to put it into our classroom because it has some amazing benefits which links directly to what we've been learning in class - finding ways to help maintain our CALMNESS IN THE MIND, BODY, and SPIRIT.

Wow, this is terrific! We looked up the meaning of this special crystal and this is what we found (see below).

"Amethyst is the most popular variety of quartz crystals that is considered the most powerful and protective stone.  It is a semiprecious violet stone that is often used in jewelry and for healing purposes.  It has been sought after throughout the ages for its stunning colors and ability to stimulate the mind and emotions." 

Thank you Emily for your generous donation to help us in our mind, body, and spirit!  I believe with time and patience, we will feel its (the amethyst's) benefits of cleansing, protection and inspiration!

Mindfulness:

Your extraordinary brain has many regions which control different functions. We've been regularly learning and discussing this since the first day of school.

Ask your child to explain the different parts of the brain by using the hand model of the brain we learned this week!

Like any great team, the BRAIN REGIONS work best when they work together. Let's take a tour to meet these regions and learn more about how they operate!

Getting to know and love your brain is important because it helps set a positive and peaceful tone to your individual thinking, learning, and playing each and everyday!

Growth Mindset:

Thank you to Reeghan for providing this week's growth mindset! It links beautifully to our learning and mission for Bullying Prevention. You're right, we MUST PUT BULLYING OUT!!

"Bullying is like a fire, you have to put it out." - Reeghan

Meegwich,

Ms. Gill