May 16/21

A belated Eid Mubarak for those who celebrate! I hope you were able to have some nice family time.

As our principal, Mr. Fedosoff, noted in his "RTMS Weekly" email last Friday, Google Hangouts has been reinstated at RTMS. For those of you who missed it, here is what Mr. Fedosoff stated:

"Google 'Hangouts' is a part of the Google suite of software that many millions of people around the world use each day. It is a chat software that provides opportunities for small groups to text messages back and forth to each other on their computers. There are some circumstances at RTMS where some staff members use this piece of software to collaborate with and/or support students individually or in small groups. Unless your child’s RTMS educator(s) expressly informs you that ‘Hangouts’ is being used for educational purposes in your child’s online classroom, we strongly discourage it’s use; especially with your child’s pdsb.net Google login."

Class 76 uses Google Hangouts solely as a communication tool about school related questions and conversations. Hangouts is not to be used for personal or social conversations.

At the beginning of our online learning in January, all students participated in a lesson that laid out the expectations for our class Google Hangout:

1. Talk about school work or school activities

   1. questions about homework

   2. reminders of due dates

   3. support for finding something on the website/google classroom

   4. NO SPAMMING

2. Positive communication

   1. no put-downs

   2. C.U.P.S.

3. Respect your classmates

   1. include everyone --- don’t kick anyone out of the chat!

4. Your participation is optional

   1. leave the chat if you want

I am happy to report that interactions on the class Hangout have been very positive and supportive. Most times, it is used as a place to relay quick messages when students and/or teachers are experiencing technical difficulties with Google Meet. Our main source of communication continues to be Google Meet but our class Hangout is a back-up so when problems arise, the messages can be relayed quickly.

For more information, talk with your child about their use of our class chat on Google Hangouts. Also, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Take care,

Ann

May 5/21

Our online learning in Class 76 is moving forward! We've now finished our MeTube presentations; we are working on fractions in math; also learning about how landforms are created in Geography. Science, French, Phys-ed and Health with my co-teachers are humming along as well!

Thanks to all of you who are helping your child with school work, technical issues, and motivation to join our online class with positive attitudes and a commitment to learning. We do not know how long this lockdown is going to last so we are focusing on both taking care of our mental and physical health while preparing the students of 76 for a productive and inspiring grade 8 year.

I encourage you to ask your child what we are working on in class! All 76 teachers are doing their best to provide engaging programming that will prepare the students for grade 8 curriculum. It's tough to stay motivated when working in an online 'bubble' while balancing family and personal needs, but let's keep our eyes on the prize: a smooth transition to grade 8 in a safe and productive school environment.

I thank you for helping the student in your house arrive at class on time and engage regularly in our daily activities. At the beginning of this online portion of our year, students said they needed more time within the school day to complete assigned work and I have honoured that. Family time and time away from technology is important. So, if your child is using their time in class to complete work and/or ask questions then there should be very little (if any) homework outside of class time. The key is keeping up with the work when given independent work time. I am always here for questions and working one-on-one with students.

As always, please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions or concerns. The link to my email is on the homepage of this website.

Stay safe,

Ann

April 6/21

Well, we're back online! What an adventure this year has been. I hope you and your families are staying safe.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns using the link on the homepage of this website.

Take care,

Ann

Here is the note I sent to the students on our Google Classroom yesterday:

Hi 76! I hope you all had a wonderful looooooong weekend.

So, we are headed back to ONLINE LEARNING starting TOMORROW: Tuesday, April 6th. Don't worry about what you may or may not have brought home with you on Friday. We will figure things out.

In the meantime, see if you have some/all of these items around your house and have them with you in your work space:

-pencils

-eraser

-calculator

-paper (lined and blank)

-device

-did you bring home your Independent novel?

-did you bring home the peer feedback and your rough copies for your MeTube paragraphs?

We will be focusing on...

-finishing up our SA and Volume unit (probably a google quiz and a flipgrid)

-Geography

-finishing our MeTube paragraphs and possible starting to put together our presentations

-Art (Geography, Canvas art project and possibly your one-point perspective)

Ms. Salt, Mr. Greenwood, Ms. Angus and Mr. Brown will let you know how your week is going to look separately.

Take a deep breath. See you online tomorrow @ 8:20!

: ) Ms. Shisko

February 11/21

Well, it's the last day of online learning today! Your students have shown up with positive attitudes, a willingness to learn in a different way, and continue to develop their independent learning skills and effective online communication. These are all skills that will help them be successful in high school and beyond. It hasn't always been easy but I'd like to think the good people in 76 have come through this with positive memories and hopefully they are also well-rested!

We will be joining together again in the RTMS building on Tuesday, February 16th, after a long weekend (Friday the 12th = PA Day and Monday the 15th = Family Day). I am excited to see everyone and be in the same room together again. Having said this, I understand students (and parents/guardians!) may be feeling a mixture of excitement and nervousness. The Peel board will be emailing renewed and revised strategies for keeping all students and staff safe when we return. I ask that you review those policies, routines and procedures and go over them with your child before Tuesday's school day. Please ensure your student is sent to school with 2-3 masks DAILY.

I will do my best to help everyone ease into yet another transition. There will be a timetable change. I haven't seen our updated timetable yet but assume I will be able to share it with the students on Tuesday. Also, we will be sending off one of our 76 students to an online learning class so that means we have 19 students in our class going forward.

Report cards will be emailed to students' pdsb.net email on Thursday, February 18th.

Please download and SAVE a copy within 7 days of receiving the report card.

Report cards will NOT be printed and sent home with students.

As always -- take care of yourselves and feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. My email is a click away on the main page of this website.

Ann

January 28th/21

Today is #BellLetsTalk mental health awareness day. I have been reflecting a lot on how our transition to online learning has been affecting the mental health of me, my family and the students I work with. I am discovering that the lunchtime outside duty is a welcome break in my day when I can breathe fresh air, get a little bit of vitamin D and connect with students and staff. It can be a push to get out there on cold winter days but I find myself missing those lunchtime duties and instead go for a short walk around the block. We are all finding ways to take care of ourselves and the activity class 76 is doing as I write this will hopefully give them some space to breathe and reflect.

We are working on a new math concept to grade 7 -- finding the circumference and area of a circle -- which, until this year, was in the grade 8 curriculum. Ask your child to explain the concept to you. There is even a game (off screen!) you can play so they can practice calculating the circumference of a circle.

If your child is having difficulty understanding this concept, please encourage them to review the lessons I've posted on the Google Classroom, find videos on YouTube and/or go on IXL to practice. It's tough for me to have a complete grasp as to the level of understanding on a minute-to-minute basis when I can't see faces or hear voices. And for your reference, here's a summary of what we've learned so far.

Take care of yourselves and please contact me if you have questions or concerns. My email is a click away on the main page of this website.

Ann

January 21/21

Thanks to all families for supporting your child as they figure out this new mode of learning. For the most part, the transition has been very smooth. Learning and teaching on technology has been a fun adventure and our brains are all full at the end of each day.

January 8/21

What a week! We made it!

I am happy to report that 76 had a very successful and positive week of online learning. Thank you for helping your child get set up for success and for encouraging them to attend with a positive attitude and be willing to help each other (including me!) problem solve while feeling safe, happy and respected. Please see below for the class reflections on our week of online learning.

The online adventure continues for the next two weeks. We will continue our work on Measurement and coding in Math, character study in Language & Drama , French, Science, Phys-Ed, Health and music. I put History on hold this week and we will be resuming that subject area as we learn about the expulsion of the Acadians.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. In the meantime, have a fantastic and restful weekend!

December 13/20

Happy December, 76 families!

MLSE Huddle Up! Anti-bullying program

We have been busy in the classroom as we designed a whole school survey about inclusivity at RTMS as part of our participation in the MLSE Huddle Up! Anti-bullying program. A number of other classes are taking part in this leadership program and we look forward to bringing awareness to this issue, teaching lessons on how to be more inclusive and modelling these strategies. The first step is to analyze the data we collect from our survey, which we will be doing in math class this week.

Coding & Math

Coding is now part of the new math curriculum! This past Thursday and Friday, we explored block coding with Scratch through our CS First online classroom. The students are creating code that makes a superhero fly, spin and move up and down at the touch of a button through the use of loops, variables, and conditional statements. We will continue our coding all next week so it is appreciated if you allow your child to bring a device larger than a phone (i.e., Chromebook, tablet, laptop, etc.).

Winter Break

This Covid-19 situation seems to shift quickly so we want to be ready for whatever it throws at us.

Please note: There has been no formal or informal announcement about any sort of closure or extension of the holiday break. I have no "inside information" but am simply thinking ahead so we can continue our learning as seamlessly as possible in the new year.

If we are required to learn virtually for any amount of time, we will be using the same Google Classroom we have been using since the start of the year.

This week, I will be asking students about what access they have to technology devices at home. Ideally, students will be able to access our Google Classroom on a Chromebook, Desktop or laptop. With about half of RTMS students already participating in online learning, we have an extremely limited supply of devices to lend to families.

By next Friday, as per our principal, Mr. Fedosoff, all students will bring home all personal items they have at school (i.e., shoes, pencil cases, bags, etc.). I will also be instructing them to bring home duotangs, binders, notebooks and personal reading books.

Please read any emails or listen to any synervoice messages carefully over the next week with regards to the winter break.

Enjoy a well-deserved break!

November 30/20

Hi 76 families!

Things are humming along in our class. Here's some of what we're working on:

Language: Paragraph writing using descriptive words (I call them Deep Colour Words) and literary devices. We are also working on a number of reading strategies to understand the main points in a piece of writing.

History: New France and the concepts of Historical Significance, Continuity and Change and Gathering and Organizing information

Math: Data Management. We are creating a survey about inclusivity at RTMS as part of the Huddle Up! Anti-bullying program

Science: Ecosystems

Snow Days and Bus Cancellations procedures

Now that winter is upon us, it is important for you to know that there have been some changes to the procedures and expectations around snow days and bus cancellations.

If the buses are cancelled in Mississauga: Learning moves to our online Google Classroom

-Teachers and students are expected to attend class online and follow the same timetable we would in school

If the buses are cancelled in other parts of Peel but NOT Mississauga: Teachers and students report to school in the RTMS building

-regular school day in the RTMS building for students and staff

If the whole Peel system shuts down due to weather: Learning moves to our online Google Classroom

-Teachers and students are expected to attend class online and follow the same timetable we would in school

I am sure the board will be sending more detailed information to you so if there are any mistakes in my description above, please refer to board communication.

November 16/20

It was great talking with you and your children during Parent-Teacher-Student conferences last week! I was really proud of the students and their ability to pinpoint their strengths and next steps for first term.

The Counting On You program is available again this year for those students who would like some extra support in Math, Language, Social Studies, French...and more. COY is being run online this year and is absolutely free. Please look at this letter for more information about how to join.

Have a great week!

November 11/20

I am looking forward to meeting with you and your child tomorrow and Friday! Please look over the email I sent on Monday to prepare. The information was also sent to your student's pdsb.net Gmail and is posted on the Google Classroom.

Did you notice there is a new page on the 76 website that has math help resource links? These are all FREE and extremely helpful for all students.

November 5/20

If you haven't already done so, please fill out this google form indicating when you would like to request a Parent/Teacher Interview. The due date says November 9th but I would really appreciate a response ASAP so I can coordinate with other teachers. Thanks!

November 3/20

Yesterday, you would have received an email from the school with a link to a google form. Please fill out this form ASAP to request a Parent/Teacher interview via phone or video chat. I will do my best to honour your first choice but I assign times on a first-come-first-served basis. I look forward to speaking with all of you about the great stuff your students are doing and learning in class!

You will be receiving a DIGITAL copy of your child's Progress Report on the student gmail account (pdsb.net). Paper copies are not being sent home.

Please keep looking at the Google Classroom, Google calendar and paper agenda with students. I am noticing that a number of deadlines are being missed and/or homework is not being completed by some students. It's nice for them to know we are working together as a team to help them be successful.

Have a good day!

October 21/20

Ask your student to show you the Google Classroom! You will see that I've posted many items (lessons, videos...especially math) students can use to review skills and concepts we talk about in class.

Heads up - we are going to have a math test next week and I have posted it on the Google Calendar and in the Google Classroom. Your child should be reviewing all material we have been working on up to this point and this week. See the notes on the Google Calendar for details.

I am writing Progress Reports right now and am enjoying reading the students' Learning Skills self-evaluation. I will be integrating many of the "Next Steps" the students have created for themselves. I am impressed with how so many of the students are reflective of their strengths, needs and learning. You will be receiving information from the school in the near future about how Student-Teacher-Parent conferences will work on November 12th & 13th. Stay tuned!

Have a great day!

October 14/20

Did you know your child has access to math skills and concepts practice on IXL? Here is a brief explanation of how it works. This tool can be used for at-home practice and consolidation of skills and concepts. I highly recommend regular use of IXL.

We also have a "Classroom Resources" section on our Google Classroom that has literacy and numeracy practice tools and resources.

October 13/20

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all!

We are celebrating Islamic Heritage month and will be welcoming a guest speaker "into" our classrooms tomorrow via video link.

If you haven't logged into the ParentConnect portal, please take a look at Mr. Fedosoff's RTMS Weekly newsletter sent last Friday. You are able to:

• view school based alerts and information

• track real time absence reporting

• view current and historic elementary report cards for your child(ren)

• get up-to-date busing information

• review secondary school credit history and diploma status

Progress Reports will be sent home on Thursday, November 5th.

Have a great day!

September 27/20

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! I wanted to let you know that we will be starting on a new timetable tomorrow. Ms. Salt will still be with us but due to demand of her stellar teaching skills, will only be teaching three classes of Science with 76 per five day cycle going forward. Mr. Greenwood takes over french for Ms. Barrington and Mr. Brown will now be providing one class of music in the 5-day cycle. Ms. Angus will co-teach three periods of Experiential Learning (Phys-Ed) with Ms. Shisko. Lots of changes, I know! Thanks for your flexibility and patience.

Please ask your child to show you the Google Classroom a few times a week so you can stay up-to-date on what's going on in our classroom.

This week, we are participating in Orange Shirt Day (Wednesday) and will be learning about Indigenous history, Residential Schools and deciding how we will take part in Reconciliation.

Take care,

Ann Shisko

September 22/20

We would like to remind all families that there is no school for students this Friday, September 24th as we have a Reorganization Day. We will hear about any possible changes to staffing and classes by the end of the week. The school will communicate with you changes (if any) are confirmed for class 76.

All the best,

Ann & Sarah